Xhaka? Emery? What Do You Think?
Oct 28th, 2019 by 'holic
What a weekend to be away. Yet another Arsenal capitulation, yet more points senselessly dropped. I may have only seen the highlights but mountains have been written about this game, so although everything may have been said I will briefly add my tuppence. It may add little that most haven’t already said or validated.
I only caught Twitter once during the match. David Luiz flicked home an Alexandre Lacazette glancing header to double our advantage after Sokratis Papastathopoulos had finished superbly at the near post. 2-0 look like a statement. No messing around today. We need and must get a result.
For whatever reason we reverted to The Arsenal mode of the last, let’s say year, after the freak 22 match unbeaten run last season. We find it difficult against poor sides away from home and now those same jitters appear to afflict us at The Grove too. Palace were gifted an equaliser and only the hapless Martin Atkinson saw a dive by Zaha. It was a clear penalty and Palace were back in the match, and deservedly so by all accounts.
There was an air of predictability about an equaliser arriving, and so it proved when Ayew cleverly backed into oceans of unmanned space at the back post to head home McArthur’s cross. I’m told they had as many chances as use to take all three points as us although there is some confusion, even today, as to why we were denied a Sokratis winner by VAR.
So to the aftermath. Granit Xhaka is an obvious starting point. One cannot avoid the feeling that Unai Emery was looking for a lightning conductor on the pitch when he appointed the casual Swiss as his Number one captain (of five?). If that was the intention he succeeded spectacularly. Instead of a leader on the pitch he has a player never trusted by the faithful who imploded spectacularly here.
I have to say the trend to handing down vitriolic abuse from those wearing the cannon on the field of play will never sit comfortably with me. That said the reaction from an Arsenal captain went beyond that of Gallas at St Andrews in 2008. He was stripped of the job, something that should also befall Xhaka, along with his place in the team until he demonstrates an ability to act with the class of an Arsenal player.
Yet what does that say of Emery? I have said on Twitter, I believe, that people are wrongly accrediting him as ‘the manager’. Under the new business model he was appointed as head coach. My definition of that is that his sole responsibility is to get his side playing to the maximum of their ability, consistently. For me he has to achieve the former before he can deliver the latter.
In a year has he shown any likelihood of doing that? Without detailing my fairly obvious viewpoint I’m reading from a majority of people a similar opinion. Are we wrong?
Not wrong at all, Holic.
Almost exactly what I wrote – like an Ernie Wise play – in the previous bar.
Repeated Cheers to iBtM, on his usual good form there too.
I doubt we are wrong. The fact is, after Wenger we needed a manager who can (1) show he can continue the traditions the club, ie have a philosphy, an identity, create title winning sides etc (thank you Wenger for showing us this path), and (2) improve on the deterioration then stagnation of the side we had in Wengers latter years. Emery has failed in both these aspects. We now have no vision or identity, and our side is is deteriorating faster than under Wenger. These facts are now blatant. What I despise most out of this situation, is down the road at Chelsea or at Leicester, with lesser teams they are doing more. Because they took what we were supposed to have, an identity/philosophy and are playing into that and succeeding. It actually pains me to see it happening. I think after 1.5 years we can see we are not going to achieve this under Emery. I personally think the soon he leaves the better. I just don’t think the club have any plans other than hand it to Freddie. I dont mind this, by all accounts the players love him, but I also want to really know what happened when we appointment Unai. It seems he came out of nowhere are the end of the process as gazidis losts his cajones in giving it to arteta. I’m not saying Arteta was the right choice, but its clear Emery was a curveball having literally just been fired from PSG and on the market when Arteta looked to take it.
Anyway, were not wrong. There are many more points to prove it in his decision making, or lack thereoff.
It doesn’t say much for Emery. Xhaka was an unsuitable candidate for the captaincy in the first place, and he has now become a scapegoat for all of Arsenal’s failings.
Emery lost me completely during the second half of the Watford game. I have never seen a more shambolic performance from a supposedly professional team. I don’t know what was worse – the obvious and astonishing lack of preparedness, or the complete absence of leadership on the field of play. The inexplicable insistence on playing out of the back when it was clear that the tactic was not working. The complete absence of a functioning midfield.
He has lost his way, and is losing the dressing room. There is still more than enough time to salvage the season, but he is not the man to turn the tide.
Ruggish! ?
Both should go. I could see Emery would be trouble towards the end of last season. We had just drawn away to the Turds, 5 games to go and 3rd in the league. We were favourites to stay there looking at our remaining games. Then Wenger Mark2 decides to rest players in favour of the Europa league – when top 4 was easiest to grasp. He just wanted to go down in history as the man who has won the competition the most.
Rob Holding’s performance and Ramsey papered the cracks. Now we do not have those 2 (Holding has not recovered fully from his injuries) we see Emery’s abilities for what they really are.
And as for Xhaka. This is his 4th season and he is simply getting worse as a footballer. Scores between 4 and 5 marks out of 10 for most games since last season – he is not good enough for Arsenal. This has nothing to do with disrespecting the fans, oh we needed an enforcer or his attitude. He is simply a bang average footballer, who is too slow for the premier league.
[…] Trackback URI | […]
I’m trying to give Emery time. At least he brought in Tierney who did reasonably well. As Holic said he is coach and not manager and thank goodness I say. Were he orchestrating events off the field we would be in a serious mess. Ornstein suggests he is likely to get the rest of the season but it was interesting to see Josh Kroenke bypassed the Rams game at Wembley to attend and he can’t have been impressed with Emery’s efforts and the Xhaka incident. If we struggle on to a Christmas that looks very challenging the resolve and patience of the board will be tested. My sense has been for months that the job is too big for Emery , in a foreign country and such a competitive league.
My sadness is that he hasn’t improved anybody under his charge and several have regressed. As for Xhaka I said what I wanted to in the last drinks.
One bright spot is that at last we have someone who takes great dead-ball kicks in Pepe. I believe in that lad and hope he doesn’t regress like Torreira , Mkhitaryan and Elneny did . Ceballos isn’t pulling up any trees but needs time.
Xhaka showed on saturday everything that is wrong with Arsenal,he along with Mustafi,Ozil are frauds.
They earn high wages and do not do thier job correctly,Emery has had a very difficult job trying to clear up the mess Wenger and Gazitas left the club in but he has made mistakes and appointing xhaka captain was and has now been proven to be a mistake.
Xhaka is a man who talks the talk,says the correct thing,apart from sat and is the perfect player except when it comes to performances on the pitch and that is what he is judged on by the fans.
Emerys second mistake is adking players to vote on the captaincy,would Arsenals best ever captain win a popularity contest,he shouted at players not doing thier jobs,Roy Keane another great captain at Man Unt shouted and screamed at players for not doing thier job but both were respected because they did it on the pitch and that’s the difference.
Arsenal are “soft” and the fans want winners not nice people who are friends with each other and a manager who tries being nice and letting players pick the captain.
Arsenal need a manager and players with balls,there is only one or two in this current sqaud.
Fired by the near-term return of Bellerin, Teirney and Holding; the smouldering promise of Ceballos and Pepe; and the dynamism of the Thursday Night Team, only a few weeks ago I was enthusiastic that a top four finish was a very realistic promise. That confidence was dented by the abysmal second half against Bournemouth.
BUT, with two easy PL games on the horizon to hoist us into third place, only two points of Citeh and seven of the dippers and a cakewalk against Vittoria to enjoy, life looked good and the Faltering Fullback’s beers left a warm glow as they slipped down.
These three games have come and gone. The two PL games showcased all of our weaknesses in tidy bundles for the world to snigger at. The Ropey League game diminished some of the (perhaps) over-vaunted enthusiasm felt for the Young Guns. Mr Pepe’s two marvellous goals painted a thinly glossed veneer over a super-limp night out.
My confidence has been dented. I’m no longer optimistic that we’ll finish in the top four. Changeable as the weather am I? I hope Emery can coach the team back to a place where they play competently going forward and defend even at the level of a mid-table team. Entertaining football would be a real bonus.
Three FA Cups, three shields and top 4 finishes in all but two of the dead, dying, dark years of the previous coach? That level of contribution to Arsenal’s heritage appears to me to be beyond Unai at his best, never mind his worst.
I do hope I’m wrong.
Evening H
Hope the sea air was as bracing in a better way than the fare served up at the Ems on Sunday.
I have said my piece on our current Manager,and feel no more needs to be said.
I look forward to watching the young guns in action at Anfield on Wed night, but it says a lot for the current shambles at first team level,that the game i am most looking forward to at the w/end,isn’t played with a round ball.
BTM@9
Not only are you dismayed by the Arse implosions,but you and Bath must still be reeling from England winning the World Porridge making Championships in Scotland a couple of weeks ago. !!
Two things taken from the Palace debacle:
1) This hasn’t been mentioned much, but yesterday was the second match in a row that Emery subbed out Xhaka early in the second half. Emery’s never done that with Xhaka in my recollection, and he probably never discussed the reasoning on the Sheffield sub with his captain. So one can probably figure Xhaka had a WTF reaction, leading to the slo-mo exit walk, which then exacerbated the booing and the ensuing meltdown. Not excusing or condoning Xhaka’s actions — flat out wrong — but some blame can be directed to Emery’s woeful man management.
2) Match of the day analysts Wrighty and Crouchy both agreed that Sokratis had to be the angriest person at having his goal chalked off. Not as angry as my son, who had gotten 16-1 odds on a 3-2 result.
Evening Clive from the very home of Porridge. It’s braw tae see ye back in the hoose.
I’m looking out the window and can see the Scotts Oats factory churning out the food of the Gods on the back shift with a starlit sky and the Lomond Hills as a splendid backcloth. It’s a chilly but otherwise braw bricht moonlicht nicht the nicht up here in the Kingdom. Were Bath to be here with me we’d be continuing our long love-in, commenced around noon on Sunday, on Slim Jim Baxter, Jimmy Johnstone and the great John Stein, over something wet and straw coloured in an Edinburgh Crystal glass.
We’re delighted that our Sassenach brethren are sufficiently in tune with our fine cuisine to challenge us in the WPC and ‘weel din’ to them for winning it.
We’ll take exception to a win in the WHHC* though. That wouldn’t be easily forgotten and might result in us taking up arms one more time :-). Holic will be with us sporting his mum’s family tartan.
And be sure we two will be cheering for a RWC win in Yokohama on Saturday morning. The rest of our 5 million most probably won’t be though!
* World Haggis Hurling Championship
As one of those who attended all 3 games in the last 7 days you can imagine I am not a happy bunny on several fronts.
I made it quite clear how I felt about Emery in my last post. The team seems to be playing in a thick fog, we can find our men ,we move at a snail’s pace and we can’t find our way out.
Leadership is lacking both on the touchline and on the pitch and the antics of Xhaka summed up the malaise surrounding the club . A core of fans are not exempt from criticism, to boo your own player is not on in my book and I can see that unless Xhaka is removed from the captaincy and relegated to a lengthy period in the stand, the unhealthy atmosphere in the ground will make for an unpleasant match day experience.
I don’t know what can be done to relieve the current situation other than a change of coach which those running the Club may not be prepared to do at this point in time.
In the meantime we the customers are getting short change for the highest ticket prices in the league. The standard of football is mundane and we have very little chance of a top 4 finish while confidence is so low.
I am depressed but I will still be there on Saturday and at Leicester. It’s too late now to give up being a Gooner .
Buck up you Reds !
More power to you Delia. We are all suffering from an incurable disease which is currently inflicting quite a lot of pain but can we give Arsenal up? Not likely !
Thanks for the post Guvnor.
Are we wrong?
No.
I’ve read that UE is talking
with the players about whether
Xhaka should keep the armband.
That decision should not be
made by the players or the
coach. The lack of quick action
is poor.
A measured response and a more than reasonable question to ask H. Some also very learned drinks, both in this bar and in the previous one.
It’s all a bit of a mess and the buck has to stop with the manager. For many years we have lacked leadership on the pitch. Now it seems that we have little of it off the pitch.
First of all, what manager worth his salt selects his captain by a players vote? That to me is incredibly weak. It goes without saying that the captain has to be a leader of men. He has to be in a position to carry out the managers instructions. If he’s not even been chosen by the manager then how does that work? His attitude when being taken off was appalling. Considering we were chasing the game, if he had shown some urgency in leaving the field I do wonder if the reaction would have been slightly different?
Emery just seems clueless. The Özil situation is embarrassing. Again, something that the manager also needs to deal with. He doesn’t seem to know his best side or the best formation. In fairness, he doesn’t seem to know much at the moment.
I’ve not made a game all season and am not exactly chomping at the bit to get to one. The constant change of kick off dates and times do nothing to inspire me to make the effort. Games like Sunday will to little to make me change my mind.
I’m not sure where we actually go from here. I always believed the Emery deserved two seasons to get his own side sorted. Currently I’m not sure if he deserves to make Christmas.
To those going to Liverpool, I salute you. My mind will be elsewhere on Saturday although I would expect Arsenal to take the field with a new captain at the weekend. Hope to catch up with a few of you at least once before Christmas.
Onwards and upwards.
A very good view of what is happening at Arsenal by Holic and the usual Holics in this fine establishment.
I have added my tuppence in the last post and that was fresh after the final whistle, when I boarded my train with my son who was also disappointed with the footballing affairs on the pitch.
Yet again we surrendered a two goal lead in a Premier League fixture, Unai still doesn’t know what he’s doing and we still can’t defend.
For all the chit-chat that he made us more competitive is a complete lie.
I have also read on twitter that indeed Unai will speak to the players if Xhaka should keep the captain armband. If this is true he continues to hide behind others which makes me sick to the stomach. No wonder we are where we are. He has no authority in the dressing room nor on the pitch side, in fact we might as well ask the players what formation we should play and what tactics to use in our next match. It’s a mess and will be bigger if the management won’t do anything about it.
We really ought to part ways as soon as possible it will be a great deal more damaging if nothing is done in the long run.
Arsenal fan base is toxic as hell and the club needs to do something about it.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2019/10/28/exclusive-unai-emery-left-fighting-fires-granit-xhaka-meltdown/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
Hector Bellerin quoted as saying: “We are all humans, we all have emotions, and sometimes it’s not easy dealing with them. It’s time to lift each other up, not to push each other away. We only win when we are together.”
*tickles the big scottish dollop*
chuckles are free
Vito Mannone earns goalkeeper of the year in MLS and is congratulated by his coach and teammates. Having watched all the home games barring one, I must say he had a great season.
https://www.mnufc.com/post/2019/10/24/vito-mannone-goalkeeper-year
He really enjoyed playing here, I thought, and had an excellent relationship with the fans with whom he was very popular.
here , have one
i’ll want it back in the morning though
there’s a welsh cunt down in the mouth
four fields over
.
.
god , people are so needy
.
no need for it
in case
ye all haven’t noticed
i’ve abdicated
scruz
is the new unapologetically HANDSOME gooner
so
direct all adoring/disparaging comments
HIS direction
and
scruz may the burden
not weigh too heavy on you
.
.
.
if i wasn’t drained of energy
i’d say
“c100 told me”
then run away
.
maybe i’ll just sidle
Carlos Vela had a season not to be sneezed at, bettering the league’s single-season goal scoring record.
.
.
.
.
(but it was definitely c100 he touts on everyone)
bite me, cba 🙂
he’s lifted for joyriding and hes out an hour later
.
.
at his age !
nope
then i’d regain the HANDSOME status here
yer on yer own Mr America
good luck
i’d watch out
for some of the elder statesmen
they can get a bit rambunctious
bless you in yer new life
.
.
.
(the reflective part)
“it’s been a varied reign in here
some awe
many awwww
most fer fucks sake “
so
grow a thick skin
.
.
it’ll stand you in good sunbed stead
.
.
.
.
.
.
pps
just read the previous post from ‘holic
not aware what was said controversially
but i won’t weigh in amongst it all
except to say
dino should be / is a reason to read here
FOR
–
i know people don’t like these words (me as well)
(but FUCK YOU )
(and me an all )
–
analysis and [genuine heartfelt] opinion
.
.
.
.
i call you all cunts all the time
every time
it must have been different ?
or maybe not
i didn’t see it
.
.
morons have always been
zapped like bluebottles in a chip shop here
but
by the weight of yer tabs’ and h’s minds
.
.
i say things just out of pure badness
sometimes
(most times)
just to see what will happen
.
.
was that different ?
‘holic is no fuckin daisy
does not need my big mouth
i’m sure he is wishing i’d shut up
sorry ‘hol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry2td7q5ZMc
i’m sleep deprived
fulla cancer an skunk
but
i am officially ugly as fuck
as of clocking off time
.
scruz
you better bring it
cos
the walls weep when i walk by
.
STILL
.
.
(all that was for btm – he said he wanted a smile)
.
.
.
.
(be careful what you ask for in future , peaches)
the crown has melded with your head, cba. you’ve got points and diamonds and stuff.
still blowing hard, though, for all that 😉
that’s as well as maybe
but
remember young man
if the walls ain’t weepin’
you ain’t bringin’
.
.
*snaps*
CBA
You may still be the most handsome Irish Holic. All is not lost .
Her Majesty still asks after you
Even my arse has a smile on it this morning after all that, cba.
@19
That’s a good thought bt8.
Who could disagree with
Hector as he’s such a nice
lad.
In reality we need to win a
couple and sharpish or it’s
divorce paper time for UE.
And a trial separation for
Xhaka 🙂
Excellent post, ‘holic, balanced and fair as always.
Emery got the job because he impressed the board with his background knowledge of the team, including their strengths and weaknesses.
Unfortunately it appears that we picked the candidate who had done the best due diligence, rather than the one that will move the club forward the most.
His main weakness seems to be that he seeks consensus before making decisions, and this approach is not helping our team.
We badly need a Tony or a Paddy in the squad that can instill some backbone and team spirit, and a manager/coach who always picks the best starting eleven available.
@16 Steve
When Xhaka’s number went up there was some jeering from some sections of the crowd. There were also many, like myself, who offered him lukewarm applause. Where I was sitting I heard no boos. It was absolutely his slow walk that led to more jeering and then his ridiculous gesturing which led it to get nastier. If he had just jogged off the pitch there would have been no talking point. Speaking for myself it was absolutely his goading gestures, like some WWE villain winding the crowd up (except without it being a scripted performance) that said directly “Right now, I don’t care about the result, my teammates or the club and you can all do one” that infuriated me.
I am not on social media as it is full of people who spout bile. I condemn any and all comments about Xhaka’s family etc. But if you are a professional footballer who chooses to be on social media then the unfortunate truth is that you will have to grow a thick skin as you are exposing yourself to the unfiltered anger of anyone who wants to abuse you. This is not right but it is how things stand and we all know it. It is not right for any player to bring their resentment of their social media treatment and use it against their own match going fans. Most regular matchday fans have a code of conduct not exhibited on social media. Our matchgoing regulars here are all fine examples of this.
On a personal level I can understand his annoyance (although not how he expressed it). On a personal level I can also understand that seeing your captain behave so contemptuously would rile up otherwise supportive fans as never before. That was certainly my experience.
There are some jobs where part of the job is to maintain a standard of behaviour, regardless of outside factors. Xhaka does not have the luxury of throwing a tantrum in the middle of the pitch. No way round that.
In a raw post on Sunday evening I called him a couple of names. Today that does not sit too well, but, honestly, neither do I feel too bad. He may not be a scumbag but he did have 60 seconds where he behaved like one and I have never seen any professional football player behave so appallingly.
I have realised that for me there is an unwritten contract. Players get my full support on the pitch provided they respect the shirt. That is all i ask. I have seen a lot of crap performances down the years. I have seen players not put a shift in but still not felt this disrespectful enough to withhold my support or actively condemn a player. What Xhaka did was something I have never seen before and hope I never see again. Let us hope this was a one off aberration.
The club needs to make an announcement soon. Hector was the one who came out yesterday with the right message. That is captain’s behaviour and I would give him the armband.
In playing terms hopefully Xhaka will be out of the team for a while and we can work on a different midfield dynamic that gives us a platform for a run of better results. It would only take a win against Watford and in the tricky Leicester game and things would would look a lot less bleak. Football moves fast and I hope to see the club release a statement, Xhaka do the same, and everybody move away from this distraction. I would however be worried if he is not stripped of the captaincy. I am less against his further appearance in our colours than I was on Sunday. We all make mistakes and if he learns from it and does not show that attitude again then he will still have my support on the pitch. But he burned a lot of bridges on Sunday and if he carries on as captain and we don’t improve significantly (which looks unlikely) then I would be genuinely worried we might see part two in a series that should never have started and the club must be pragmatic in ensuring that this does not occur.
It has happened. Please Arsenal, deal with it decisively and effectively and let us all move forwards as one united club. Especially on matchday.
VCC
Cheers Holic. It was a an excellent post, well up to your own high standard.
There are lots of excellent comments above and I am as glad as ever that I am nowhere near social media to discuss this but here instead. Thankyou all.
Cheers cba, much appreciated. And what BTM said @44.
I dont agree that the manager pushes your captain under a bus immediately in a post match interview by saying what he did was wrong, sends a very wrong message to the player and the dressing room. He can always say he did not see it stuff, made legendary by the legend himself.
Granit may or may not be right, it was not about that at all, it was 61 minutes and we had 30 minutes to win the game and not 30 seconds which would have merited that response if at all it was for ” the walk”, highly unlikely though.
Unai and the board in equal measure have messed it up, the manager signing was just being safe when it was the best chance to move on to a better/riskier option considering none of us truly had any expectations last season, yet a ppt was all it took to convince a mid-table team manager.
This team under any manager worth his salt will finish top 4, unai won’t unless he changes his attitude and plays players at their rightful positions, else he is bound to leave/sacked come May.
Xhaka doesn’t need to apologize but then the club may tell him to do so and if thats the case, he needs to simple.
Watch out for a ” spirited performance” at anfield or an ” honourable loss” whichever headlines suit better and yes unai will play Ozil that game and say see I gave him the chance and even the captain’s arm band, bravo.
Bat raised.
Acknowledges the polite applause.
Top drink GSD I agree with everything you wrote, you deserve a large triple żubrówka for that! Top man!
This is exactly how the Xhaka debacle unfolded, he was slow as snail to leave the pitch, chucked the armband then raised both of his arms up, crowd reacted it got worse then the I can’t hear you gesture, fans started to boo him and we all know what happened next.
The issue here is also that Emery’s at fault here too, the voting for captain melancholy is just the start of it. Everything that has happened to Xhaka is on him too but he hides from any responsibility and people management.
UTA
It is a pity that ‘ Xhakagate’ has figured so prominently as the main issue following the Palace game. It was a significant, and to many, an offensive moment, but like Brexit has derailed the political agenda there was much more to worry about than the behaviour of the captain.
In this social-media obsessed age it was always likely to capture the imagination much more than the quality of our defending, the injustice of the disallowed goal ( that would have been a bigger issue if it had denied say Liverpool, United or on the day Palace a legitimate winner), the poverty of our creative build-up play , the consequent starvation of Aubameyang and Lacazette and some of the positives- a decent debut by Tierney, a spirited display by Guendouzi with a body heck thrown in and the contributions of Pepe especially from dead-ball situations.
Xhaka is, as has been pointed out a lightning rod for Emery . He may deflect attention away from his coaching on Sunday but he is so strongly linked with him that it is hard to separate the two in my eyes. I’d love to see the back of both of them but that won’t happen for at least a while.
The older ones among us can remember the demise of Billy Wright as Arsenal Manager in 1966. He had some great attacking players and a defence that surpassed our current one in naivety and disorganisation . He chose to tackle the growing disenchantment by transfer listing our two best players in January and playing the rest of the season with a set of inexperienced players who weren’t up to the job ( with a few notable exceptions) . He would have been sacked months before he was ( in May) just after we had posted an attendance of 4,500 or thereabouts for a home game against Leeds. Emery is nowhere near that situation but he lives in more judgmental times and if we did mortgage a lot of our future budget on achieving Champions League football next season, last summer a decision will have to be made soon whether to stick or twist .
That one of the options for twisting is Mourinho is not only a supreme irony but a very scary thought. If people think things are bad now wait until his toxic handling of our great club poisons the atmosphere still further.
In 1966 we looked internally to solve the problem and it worked brilliantly. That would be harder to do now but the Lampard effect at Chelsea shows how fans will back one of their own. Would a Ljungberg/ Mertesacker axis be the 2019 equivalent of Mee and Howe?
You cannot give a job like this to people who’ve never managed a team before, I don’t care who they are.
VAR – Sunday’s game was officiated by an Australian who has never refereed a Premier League game, isn’t in the top level group of officials and has around ten EFL games under his belt as a ref.
No wonder it’s fucked.
In my note on Billy Wright I meant to have said ‘should’ rather ‘would ‘ in relation to his sacking . Those were different times but the atmosphere inside Highbury was so toxic my father and I decided not to attend for the rest of the season after attending a game in mid- March when to add to the sense of depression Don Howe was carried off with a broken leg.
I agree with Cynic that it would be a huge gamble to appoint internally but on a caretaker basis it may create a much better feeling around the club and it is a role that works in concert with a technical director. The alternative would be a caretaker a la Benitez and Hiddink . A bloke called Wenger might be available ??
As for VAR it needs careful thought. In other sports it is integrated into the drama of the event. It is just conveyed by a dull screen in football and there isn’t even the involvement of the match official in the decision. You can’t now celebrate a goal with any conviction. We will soon see officials stop checking offsides just as umpires stop looking for overstepping in cricket and rely on DRS if a wicket falls. The presentation needs radical rethinking and it must be possible to avoid the sort of stupid decision we suffered from on Sunday .
Hear hear…..
Ozil is traveling to Liverpool tomorrow, yet again he’s has improved and after a good conversation it’s all rosey between him and Emery.
Ozil has not played in months it’s like throwing him to the lions ?
Reality TV at Arsenal FC
It seems like an act of desparation in my view, why couldn’t he talk to him during last international break or at any point during this awful run?
ATG
He may even make Ozil captain !
Lose away at Liverpool and
no more games for another
two months?
A cunning plan m’lud ?
Arthur @51 Cheers. That’s what I saw so I’m glad to hear it tallied with your view. I agree with your last paragraph too.
I had hoped today that the club would make a decision and issue a definitive statement but that does not appear to be Emery’s style. We will have to see what tomorrow brings and perhaps the fact that we have a game will push things along. Perhaps not. I’ve got no idea anymore.
TTG
I was at that match when Don Howe broke his leg , not sure was it his debut for the Arsenal .
Regarding Ozil’s possible return , is he being thrown into the lions den?
What a match to return in with the kids maybe UE’s excuse not to play him anymore
Cynic @53.
I spent no time doing due diligence on the specifics of VAR but I am amazed that is legal. Surely the guy making decisions has to be a qualified Premier League referee? If we fielded an ineligible player we would be sanctioned. What happens when the governing body uses an ineligible ref?
Oh, right. Arsenal get screwed!
It smells fishy this, suddenly we have a U turn around paying Ozil and the club is ok with that too?
I’m not sure I understand the bloke any more, no disrespect towards him but why on earth now include him in a game? We were screaming for some creativity in the last four for crying out loud! Has he run out of ideas? Has he got an agenda against Ozil?
If he makes him captain tomorrow it should tell you a story or two, one thing’s for sure if this is the way he wants to run this team then how on earth did he get to job to begin with?
Forgot to add, how can you trust this guy when he keeps on changing his tune like this?
He is on the second tier of the elite list, which handles EFL games.
This is his refereeing record. As you can see, he’s only been in English football since the arse end of last season. He has, however reffed in fucking China and Saudi Arabia, as well as the A-League.
Leicester got Mike Dean on VAR, we got Jarred Gillett
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/jarred-gillett/profil/schiedsrichter/4929
There’s no U-Turn on Ozil, it’s the Carabao Cup and Liverpool look like they might be playing a load of kids. If he can’t get into our team in those curcumstances, I’d start to think he’d shot Emery’s dog.
As for talking him up, would you prefer Emery to say “It’s a shit competition and he might as well play, so we can save our better players for Saturday”? 🙂
There’s no great mystery around Ozil, I think, following the comments this week about decisions being made by the club regarding him. He’s never going to get another contract, we’d ship him out tomorrow if we could so why not invest time in younger players who are going to be part of the future?
Once the decision was made that he’s not been earning his corn and won;t be getting any more, that, combined with underwhelming performances last season which I’m sure you all remember, cooked his goose I reckon. We probably spent the summer trying to get rid and will spend January doing the same, so there’s four months valuable development time for young players they are not going to waste by picking Ozil, who the club doesn’t want because of his wages and the manager doesn’t want because of his attitude/performances.
That’s how I read it anyway.
Having a spot of difficulty figuring out whether this Jarred Gillett (who?) was applying Chinese, Saudi or Australian interpretations of the rules of the game.
On second thought, probably the Australian one, seeing as he shares with our friend Chris a preference for watching the game on a giant screen TV rather than looking at the real thing.
From Emery’s presser it sounds like the players are holding hands and giving Xhaka hugs.
It’s unbelievable to me that the club hasn’t issued a statement. It could be as simple as, “Arsenal FC does not condone the actions of the team captain on Sunday. We apologize to all of our supporters. The club holds the players, staff, and employees to a high standard of professional and personal conduct on and off the pitch. There are ongoing discussions within the club and additional statements are forthcoming.”
Instead they ignore the supporters, which is just going to fuel the flames of discontent.
Emery in the presser:
“It’s the same as one month ago and in that way, some circumstances weren’t helping us in every moment to be consistent or available to play. But I will say I think the last weeks he has progressively been training well and adding his spirit to help us.
“For example, our conversation this morning was because I wanted to listen to him about how he’s thinking now to help us and be with us tomorrow. Then if we are in the same spirit and the same idea, to play.
“It was a very good conversation and tomorrow he’s in the group.”
What on earth is this dude about? Shambles!
Cynic,
Yes he had a poor last season and he probably didn’t help himself in any way but we ain’t got anything better on the creative side at the very moment plus we are are paying him way too much for him to just turn up for training sessions.
Young players should be eased into the first eleven with some senior help to build up their confidence and learn the trade from seniors and it’s not exactly Emery knows how to coach them let alone make them better players with the football style he brings to the table.
Our strikers are not getting any service what so ever, guess what happens if we don’t finish in the top four? They will most definitely leave.
Steve V @60.
I was at his first game I think it was against Sheffield Wednesday and we missed a penalty. I think he may have taken it! That Blackpool game was his last one I don’t think he ever played again. We got him at the nub-end of his career , a typical Billy Wright deal!
I never met him but all of the players of the Double era who were coached by him thought he walked on water. Huge affection and respect for him although he was a tough coach apparently.
thunder T
forty three
it WAS quite the weekend !
bless her wee diamond socks
big man at
“All the fours”
that’s
“All the fours”
or
“One fat lady”
.
.
happy to help
a fellow traveller
smile
arse or no
dino
i’ve some advice for you
keep it brief
to the point
and
most importantly never stray from that point
but always keep it Arsenal
.
it’s always been my mantra here
?
a long overdue
moooooooooooooooooooooo
.
.
and
never ever ever
do other things
and stuff
.
.
.
you’re welcome
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uxuKjPIdoA
sorry
forgot to say
that was for himself
at
“One fat lady wi four bags o shoppin”
that’s
“One fa.. . . . . .”
etc
ye get the laboured gag
.
.
ye aren’t arseholes
.
*raises quizzical eyebrow*
.
.
here’s one for you dingdongs
derek hatton is older than suzi quatro
.
.
it’s political correctness gone mad
i tell thee
.
it’s getting to the stage
where people are going
to have to pretend better they care
.
.
(anyfuckinbody interviewed in anyfuckinmarkettown in anyfuckinwhere in england)
“let’s just get it done”
.
.
(reporter)
“well thank you for the cliched guff you’ve on cue spouted which my bosses back int telly big ‘ouse sent me out t’harvest”
it’s a fiasco
(remember dino – the bla principles)
.
.
always keep it Arsenal
.
DO NOT MAKE ME REPEAT IT
once ye get the hang of restraint
it’s simple
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnAG4KBOLXI
.
.
.
.
.
twas a cold winters night
in nineteen hundred and sixty
the stars weren’t quite aligned
FUCK OFF
they tried their best
.
.
.
there came a scream
“Sweet holy fuck , wipe the muck off his face ”
“What shall we name him”
.
.
.
“Better looking Jesus?”
.
.
.
“Yes”
“Amen brother , wee stewarty”
*mists roll*
*uilleann pipes wafting o’er said mist *
.
“but what of his football allegiance , pray tell”
.
“why , The Arsenal , of course “
“his strong jaw and fondness for the tit dictate “
“amen”
.
.
.
i bet ye all felt ye were there
at my mother’s business
with the evocative description
i just threw at you
.
honestly
it’s like i was there too
move over guest matchday reporters
there’s a new scribe in town
and lordy lordy
his quill don’t qui
.
.
.
ok ok
calm down mrs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnAG4KBOLXI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcLVIkpE8iM
.
.
.
(well that went smoothly)
sorry Debbie love
best intentions
for a funny joke
shat on by a big stoned lump
you deserve better petal
.
.
in other news
Debbie Harry is older than Derek Hatton
honest to god
if i had my druthers
i’d walk over the Irish Sea
and
beat knowledge into the lotta ye
honestly
what are ye all like !
Lulu – higher or lower ?
it’s like this stuff
isn’t important
to you
.
cher ?
.
.
no ?
.
.
fuckin arseholes
this stuff matters
the answer is …
Debbie Harry is …
.
.
.
older than all of them
and ten times better than all of them
(although derek hatton does wear nice frocks)
?
The “hang of restraint” redefined.
;;:;:
no syllable leaves my face
8ball
un considered
anyhoo
gonna try for a wee hour
sleep has been a stranger of late
goodnight
Sweet dreams CBA!
I fall asleep by counting lying politicians . We have so many here!
Plb
Sweet dreams CBA.
Try counting lying politicians rather than sheep. There are more
Passions running high, people reacting emotionally instead of keeping their heads together and an impatience that I generally do not associate with our club and a majority of it’s fan-base. I am not liking this at all and I think it is doing more damage than we imagine.
I do not condone the actions of Xhaka on Sunday but some so called ‘fans’ abusing his family and dishing out personal insults to him is far worse. I am not surprised he is devastated and am glad that the club has offered counseling. I am also okay with the fact that he takes his time in issuing a statement/apology, it is important that the right words are spoken – not quick ones.
I can understand the stadium fans singing the Ozil song sarcastically as a point to the manager. But all of a sudden there is this belief amongst some now that Ozil is going to solve our problems!! Wasn’t Ozil being booed by a lot of the fans a few months back? The moment when Ozil was subbed with Willock in the Europa League final was almost unanimously accepted as a seminal moment and an end in the Ozil chapter. If anything it is just a sign of how myopic fans are in the age of social media. I personally think that he is no longer suited to this league and agree with Cynic that the club would have gotten rid of him in the summer if they could. In fairness to Ozil he did seem to have a good pre-seaon but that knife incident and his subsequent absence contributed heavily in him losing his place in the side. Also for all those wanting him to start and saying that selecting him for tonight’s game is unfair – that is hypocrisy of the highest order. Again Cynic is spot on about the fact that if he can’t start getting match fit in a league cup game then when does he? Surely not against Wolves on Saturday – that would be literally throwing him to the Wolves…
I just hope that whenever he plays for Arsenal now, Ozil gives it his absolute all and leaves everything out on the pitch. He has to prove that he deserves a place ahead of some very promising youngsters and that he will fight despite being a superstar. If he continues in a lackadaisical fashion, he will lose supporters very quickly.
Desi,
I don’t think anybody said that Ozil is a magic pill to all our issues, when we needed some sort creativity on the pitch in the last few games because it was obvious we lacked exactly that. Having a bloke and paying him a fortune week in and week out is not clever management.
Even when Bellerin and Holding will be back in the first eleven it’s does not guarantee they sort our issues either, that is down to our manager.
Where’s Mesut?
The Guardian has the answer.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2019/oct/29/david-squires-on-wheres-mesut-ozil-arsenal
I hope he plays and plays a blinder.
UTA.
As for the manager, he will find it difficult to survive for long since public opinion has turned against him so much. I think that is highly unfortunate and I would still advocate giving him time – ideally till the summer or at the very least New Year. He improved our points tally and took us to the Europa final last year despite serious long term injuries to key defenders and also his only third choice striker. He has had only one transfer window to improve the team and our re-building job needs atleast 3 if not 4 windows. The team has undergone major changes again this summer and he has not had his first choice team available to him in the dozen or so games this season. The injury to Lacazette has compounded matters further. Also VAR has f*cked us properly and if we had those three points that VAR has robbed us of in the last two games, we would be one point off Leicester and this conversation would not be happening at all.
This is not to say that he hasn’t erred.
He has rightly been criticized for his dithering in naming a captain and delegating that responsibility to a team vote. Also for a manager who is not averse to try various formations and line ups, his reluctance to use the Guendouzi/Torreira double pivot has been baffling and irritating. His inability to communicate his ideas/decisions clearly to the media & fans (despite the language barrier) have also been a major hinderance. It also seems counter productive to change formations so much when the team is struggling for cohesion. His safety first approach in away games against bottom half teams has also been irksome.
But for all those hankering for a change because we do not have a ‘style of play’ are simplifying things a bit. Also it seems slightly entitled to think so. We have two world class players in Auba & Laca, players who could be potentially world class in Pepe, Hector(who hasn’t played for a long time) and probably Guendouzi but they are work in progress still. The rest even including Holding & Torreira are
very promising youngsters who may or may not make the next decisive step. Overall it is a promising and largely young squad(much better than last season) but not one perhaps ready to impose itself through out a season. I think even if we changed managers (head coach rather) and hired someone who preferred a set style of play (which ironically was a major criticism of Wenger! No tactics, No plan B), we would still struggle with the squad we have. The struggles would be of a similar nature week in week out instead of the different ones right now because of variation in approach by the present manager. I know people are pointing towards Chelsea and Leicester but I would like to see where they are in May. I think there will be a natural correction in their results and league position and if there isn’t then I would hail Rodgers and Lampard as very good managers.
Amy Lawrence rightly pointed out in her article that Emery is trying very hard to find the key to unlock the attacking potential of this squad. That explains his tinkering with formations and line ups. It is similar to Antonio Conte early on in his Chelsea reign. Yes this is Emery’s second season, but it is a much changed squad from last season.
Also we are 5th in the league despite bad results in the last two games. If we go into a tailspin (which is very much possible in the given scenario) then it would make sense to sack the manager and cut our losses. But until that happens, until the players are fighting for the manager I don’t think there is a case for sacking him neither is it a case of losing hope for a top four finish. The next two league games will provide a lot of answers, especially the one against Leicester. I just hope that the team shows a seige mentality and fights for each other and the manager. I hope the manager plays the Torreira/Guendouzi double pivot and takes Xhaka out of the firing line. I hope the Emirates crowd absolutely roars in support of the team on Saturday and since I am super optimistic, that there are a couple of good humored banners in support of Xhaka too.
PS: Apologies for the lengthy post…
There is plenty of evidence from Emery’s record at Sevilla, Valencia, Moscow and PSG that where we are now is an entirely predictable outcome of his appointment. The Arsenal directors who appointed him were blinded to this by his dossier and 3 Europa League wins. Things will not improve as he doesn’t have the capacity to improve them. I do hope that the owners have a planned replacement and appreciate they will want to wait until their target is available. However I believe that urgent progress in the correct direction is imperative and would change now even if a stand-in is necessary. We will lose several top players if we finish outside the top 4 again. This squad is perfectly capable of competing for those places though at the moment that target looks unattainable the way they are playing.
In summary: weak and indecisive management; unimproved defending (more shots given up -so worse); dysfunctional midfield;marked reduction in chance creation; poorer attack; insubordinate captain; terrible to watch.
I am quite glad I gave up our STs in the summer and have the luxury of choosing whether or not to continue watching the shite being served up at the Emirates. At the moment, after the last 2 home games, that decision is on a knife edge.
Granit Xhaka: Arsenal to offer counselling to midfielder after fans’ argument
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/50229350
Desi
No need to apologise about the length of posts if they are of the quality of your ones today. A very rational argument , well-presented and although I am very much convinced that Emery doesn’t have what it takes to be Arsenal coach , while he is in situ I want him to be successful.
There are rumours from a few quite well-connected Gooners that there was no dossier and that this was PR spin from Gazidis. Spin…Gazidis? Surely not !? Certainly I find it inconceivable that the Emery we see in interviews ( and interestingly they don’t anglicise his programme notes so we can the benefit of full on Spanglish ) could sweep the selection committee away with a stunning and coherent presentation . It’s not he isn’t fluent in English which is the problem. My Spanish is largely restricted to ‘ dos cervezas por favor’ So I can’t criticise linguistically , but he strikes me as a muddled thinker. His initial pick is rarely if ever right and his teams lack early intensity and if we do get a lead we can’t seem to hang onto it.
Tonight isn’t a particularly significant game. It will feature two shadow sides and it would be wrong to extrapolate too much from the result. But the spirit and organisation we show will be an indication of how together the club is. My sense is the club is not together at all
Ned,
To keep things fair, shouldn’t the club also offer counselling to fans who’ve had to watch him play lately?
ATG@108, that is a fair point regarding there being no guarantees about any player coming in and improving the side. I do not mind Ozil being given a chance but I was just pointing out that some fans might just be over-expecting things of him. He got enough chances last season to prove his worth to this team and he clearly did not come out on top there. Emery has made two telling comments regarding him this season – one was about him not training with the intensity as the other members. If that is the case then the manager is right. The second was after a few weeks where he pointed out that it was not his call alone and a stand by the club. Again if that is the case and if we are trying to get rid of him in January then it makes sense to try and integrate the players who are going to be with us. There could be a revision in that position from the club based on the struggles of the side and as you mentioned since we are paying him such huge wages, we might as well see if he can make a significant difference.
TTG@113, Thanks and I agree that it is difficult to imagine Emery blowing away the committee with a super fluent presentation. You have mentioned your reservations about Emery quite clearly and share some of those reservations myself particularly about first half intensity and cautious approach away from home even against bottom half sides. But as I mentioned in my original post the circumstances have almost always conspired him in many ways. I am not his biggest fan either. But there have been some games(Spurs, Pool, Chelsea at home last season and Europa semis) to provide evidence that he can mould the team into a very combative, exciting and versatile unit. The proportion of disjointed performances outweighs the good ones though. My reservation to sacking him at present comes from the fact that I believe in the fact that most good results in anything are because of processes. I just think that this season the process has been reset and I would like to see him given time to make the team undergo that process of evolving by playing/training together for a reasonable amount of time. The other reservation comes from the fact that we aren’t Chelsea. We gave Wenger many years despite repeated shortcomings of a similar nature year on year. Emery is nowhere near Wenger’s stature but if we have given him a two year contract, I would like to see us atleast try and find out how he manages when the tide is right up against him. I know it is a results business and I think the sack Emery talk could be justified if we don’t manage atleast 4 points in the next two league games. And I just hope every fan replicates your top top sentiment about backing him fully until he is in charge.
Dunno who was on our selection committee but, along with Raul, Ivan also speaks fluent Spanish.
Emery had no English at the time so it was either done with an interpreter or in Spanish. I bet he is a million miles more coherent in his native tongue.
Either that or we should have hired the interpreter!
No.
No.
No.
I do not mean Mourinho.
I do not know who mentioned Moaninho? If any, I think they represent a tiny minority. We might need a new manager, but definitely not JM!
@118
He used to translate for Bobby Robson I believe and is sometimes referred to as the translator, or less commonly, the interpreter.
Desi @ 107
I would absolutely have liked to see a statement from either the club or player by now. I don’t think it is hard to formulate a sensible statement once the club has taken a decisive line and even an interim statement (ecg @67 provides a sensible template) would have been good to see.
In the context of our recent indecision (Ozil, captaincy, playing out from the back etc) it is harder to see this as a sensible cooling off period rather than more indecision than it would otherwise be. I hope when we do hear from the player and club we see a response that is worth the delay in issuing it.
I have a friend who lives in Paris and supports PSG. He commented to me when he joined Arsenal that he hoped his English was better than his French . Later when we met he said there was a lot of derision about Emery’s press conferences because they became very jumbled but he may just not be a great linguist . Great coaches can communicate without being completely fluent . Nevertheless it must be that GSD is right and he presented in Spanish .
I’m hearing that the trains from Euston to Liverpool have been in chaos all afternoon with a number cancelled. Looks like some of our travelling faithful won’t be able to make it tonight.
GSD@120, Totally agree with your point regarding the club issuing a statement and also the template by ecg@67. I meant Xhaka issuing a personal statement should take his time if he doesn’t feel ready yet and is not in the right frame of mind.
TTG@121 ; A Frenchman being derisory about a foreigner’s use of his native tongue ? Surely not ! Sacre bleu. There seems to be an immense amount of overthinking and naval gazing going on with a smattering of hypocrisy too, eg, Emery looks out for a player’s welfare and looks for a measured, civilised response and that’s pathetic dithering but I bet with Wenger it would have been seen as the utter class of the man. As I see it the last week has seen ; VAR screwing us for at least 3 points, Xhaka surely dumped as skipper and sitting a few games out (thank god), Pepe’s finding form which is massive and, yes, things still not quite clicking yet. We haven’t even re-integrated all these defenders ! What kind of hissy fit are we going to get from people if we get some injuries or actually slip down the table ? Yes we finally have a really stupid error we can pin on Emery (Xhaka as captain) but we all make mistakes. COYG.
Be ironic in a way if Ozil
did play well and get back
in the side.
It might save UE’s neck.
Anyway, I’d like Ozil to
play well and The Arsenal to
win tonight. The latter is
more important of course.
A victory for the midweek XI
at Anfield would cheer us all up.
2-0 would be even more cheery.
Brutal but true summary @
111 from Bath.
We can list all the excuses we
want about VAR, injuries, it’s
all AW’s fault, it’s all Ivan’s
fault, we played well in a few
games last season etc etc but
it’s been more than a year and
it’s honestly difficult to find
positives.
Some young players are being
given chances – I like that UE
plays them. That’s it really.
We cleared out some players
and strengthened the squad
but UE is coach and doesn’t
buy the players – he must have
input though so some credit
there.
AW went because the club didn’t
believe he could get us CL football
as a minimum goal. UE has moved
us no further forward from that
point – you could argue we’re
actually worse. I don’t believe this
is overthinking, it just comes from
watching the bad football we churn
nearly every weekend.
Martinez
Bellerin, Holding, Mustafi, Kolasinac
Torriera
Willock, AMN
Ozil, Saka
Martinelli
Ozil does start. Let’s hope he plays well.
Hector captain. More please!
I’m not too bothered about tonight. It would be good to avoid a spanking, great to win, and as long as we play a decent game and work hard then I won’t be overly disappointed if we don’t get the result we want.
If we do then it’s at least one more game for a group of young players who need all the minutes they can get.
UTA
Bellerin!
Captain, my Captain!
Who thinks Torreira will play number 10?
That would give us a chance to reinvent Ozil in a deep lying playmaker position just like Santi. ?
I hear Julio Baptista is on his way to Anfield . A reprise is in order.
Looking at the squads ours is much stronger but the starting elevenscare matched. We’ve got game changers on the bench. They may well have too but Izvestia not heard of them .
3-1 to the Arsenal. Mustafi MOTM
GSD,
Torriera the new box to box midfielder ?
I’ve not turned into a Russian. My auto correct for some reason changes I’ve to Izvestia !
I’m in the same sort of mindset as GSD. I think we will do well.
I expect a 4-2- 3-1 and my bet is that Ozil plays up as a 10 but the Torreira switch might be a clever one . He might play AMN deeper and push Willock forward
AMN will start on the right
I suppose, he and Hector
on that side will work well
I hope. Good to see Joe
back centrally, I think a
partnership with Torreira
will be more solid than the
Vitoria game last week.
2-0 would be nice but can’t
see a clean sheet so I’ll go
for the 3-2 win we were
robbed of against Palace.
COYGs!!
Oh dear Mustafi
It would have helped if he’d gone for it with his correct foot. Staggering to me that so many pros are so insecure about their “swinger” that they tie themselves in a knot to use their “good” foot.
“That’s just classic Mustafi.”
Alan “Smudger” Smith. Sky Sports. Bin Dipper Land.
I was about to post ‘oh dear’ but Arthur has beaten me to it!
Oh well. Keep going lads. It’s still early.
I suggested Mustafi might score
In fairness, if you watch it in slow motion it’s bloody impressive. He slides in with his right foot. Completely misses it and manages to score with his left knee.
That isn’t easy to do. Must have been hours on the training ground working on that one.
Alas poor Mus, another for
the highlight reel.
Get in Torreira!!
Get in Torriera
Twice good play from Ozil in the build up to our goal
Siolololololooooo
MMMMAAAAARRRTTTIIINNNEEELLLLIIIIIIIII
Poachers goal for LT 🙂
the new fox in the box?
Get in!
Quick thinking for the
free kick and nice feet
from Martinelli
Second for Martinelli
3-1. So far ?
Martinelli is a goal machine
They should have had a pen from Bellerin hand ball in all honesty
That looks like a straight up dive to me.
Another 6-3 victory for us?
As GSD said it was a dive and he should have got booked for it!
Of course you can’t rely on Ozil on a cold Wednesday night up north. He will bottle it . Conventional wisdom .
He’s giving Emery a problem .
Arthur. You were right about Bellerin’s handball too. It is just so Arsenal to get away with one and then immediately concede one to a dive!
TTG,
So far Ozil is playing well and may this continue is the the second half, we look so much better going forward.
GSD, yep typical Arsenal 😀
Wow. VAR would have overturned our first goal, their non-penalty, and their given penalty.
Ozil our best player. Martinelli looking good too but should have made it 4-2 before the break.
That penalty… I hate penalties like that, they’re dives.
Contact is not a foul every time FFS, and that handball is not a penalty either, it was hammered straight at him.
Obviously under the stupid new laws it probably would be given, but that doesn’t change the fact that it never should be 🙂
Isn’t this the time of the season the other guys start getting some bad news?
TTG.
Give us the izvestia. The whole izvestia. And nothing but the Izvestia. 😉
Excellent drinks up above from the usual suspects, including desigooner.
Tell you what, I can’t stand Ozil and if he never played for us again I’d be happy, but that touch was fucking quality.
Say what you want about Ozil he’s fucking class!
You just can’t rely on Ozil on a big night away from home.# Bottler
Ha ha @ Cynic
Carabao Cup a big night? Have we sunk that low then? 😉
any streams available, gents?
Scruz. I found one via totalsportek.com. sportsio. It’s been good.
Cracking game this. Top strike from Ox. (No idea why he’s getting booed)
Although AMN far too slow and retreating from the ball waiting for it to drop.
Come on Arsenal!
Oh well.. win or lose from here those who want to bash the manager regardless will have plenty of ammo I guess.
man, i’ve missed a lot of footy. in twenty minutes, we’re drawing? yowza.
gsd, i hope you enjoyed ttg’s company sunday as much as i did thursday…
thanks.
Why sub Ozil?
That surprises even me, unless his legs are going.
I dunno Cynic. This one’s almost off limits. It’s another mad Anfield game. What’s gonna happen next?
You should understand Cynicism Cynic
And now we have Ozil sacrificed by Emery again. The four goals are all his fault
Ozil off? That’s unexpected.
And Emery takes Ozil off. What a twat Unai is
I suppose given that he hasn’t played and must be a bit leggy, combined with them getting on top of us in midfield it was a logical sub, but I would have removed Saka or Willock, personally.
He does like giving people rock to throw at him, Emery.
I talked that one in didn’t I. Who needs coaching badges?
what a strike from willock.
ceballos for torreira. huh?
Screamer!
We could do with Laca and Pepe on now….
No we have Willock ha ha
do we still have another sub?
Yeah we have only used two. Laca and Pepe, Sokratis and Tierny plus Macey left.
thanks, cynic.
so kola is calling for a sub, martinez is calling for kola to be subbed, are we going to get tierney on?
He wouldn’t take off Martinelli. Would he?
I haven’t seen the game but the beeb says Liverpool have had twice as much possession. Does that sound right?
FFS
it had to happen.
Centre backs just standing there going “Go on then mate, have a volley”
it’s not like that was an easy goal, either. LETS GET ONE NOW GUNNERS!
Penalties!
What a game unbelievable ????????
Martinez has had a shocker today
at least our second team is equal to liverpool’s after 90 minutes.
penalties immediately? or extra time?
We score five goals away from home and can’t win . What does that say about Emery’s defensive coaching ? And the let’s wait till Bellerin and Holding return argument ?
Straight to pens. No ET.
It says he should never have picked Ozil, TTG 😉
wow. ok. thanks, c100.
ttg, just because they’re back doesn’t mean they’re back. i mean, mustafi is still in the middle, and half our midfield was kids.
but, yeah, the defensive coaching. not a lot, on evidence.
TTG,
Funny enough I used that as an example earlier here we go again…
Also the Bellerin/Holding/Tierney thing was a classic case of players not in the team just having to be better than those who are. But give it time and as a unit they will be.
totally agree at 208, cynic.
now, that’s a captain’s strike. 🙂
I wish Martinez would stand still. You cannot save a penalty gadding about on the line like that.
Well he looks like he’s going to the electric chair, but he’s scored… Come on ffs save this
Fucking total bollocks shit and cunt.
Goodnight all.
Played a decent a game it has to be said I’m a tad disappointed though
well, then, one less competition to manage. what a terrible little loss.
Inevitable. How can you go out scoring five goals ?
Not sure what brining Cebalos gave us in all honesty I know he missed the pen and it happens but I didn’t really see anything decent from him.
Defensively we are still shit who ever plays in there
We had to work hard to lose but we found a way. Should not have let them back in from 4-2 or conceded the fifth so close to the final whistle. That result has become more disappointing than I expected because we put ourselves in great positions.
It was an absolutely fantastic game to watch though!
A bastard at the end but
I can’t say I didn’t enjoy
the first 90 minutes
Ceballos was the only penalty taker I had little confidence in and he was the one who missed. He just seems a bit lightweight.
Ozil would have scored ?
A very enjoyable game of football up to the equaliser, our CB fell asleep as usual.
Well not a great deal you can do about it now, back to the PL on Saturday and this is the game we can’t afford to loose
Great to see Ozil again on the pitch and I would not have subbed him
It shouldn’t have come to the penalties at all. This hurts because we have been a better team tonight. Also, this could have been a morale booster after Sunday. Shit!
A disappointing end to a memorable game. But hopefully it gives us a bit of confidence for Wolves on Saturday.
Including pens, Martinez conceded 10 out of 11 shots on target he faced today. Where’s Cech when you need him?
I wonder if Ozil will even make the bench on Saturday?
I thought it was fair enough
to take Ozil off, he had
little enough game time
in his legs.
Nice to see him playing
well for us again though
as ATG says.
I’d be surprised if he’s
involved on Saturday.
It’ll be the usual waffly bollocks
about he needs to keep working
hard, blah blah blah.
After his great start it’s been
tough going for Ceballos.
Anyone can miss a penalty
but his contribution from open
play has tailed off.
Hopefully he’ll get used to the
PL, I think there’s a good player
in there and it’s more whether
he can adjust.
That was the Emi Martinez of Reading 5 Arsenal 7 .
Ceballos is becoming increasingly underwhelming butvwe can take pleasure in the quality of Martinelli, Willock and Saka.
Ozil on bench on Saturday at best
Certainly not a good result, and I don’t think it can be any consolation that it was an entertaining game to watch.
(My own consolation, since I didn’t get to watch it.)
If we let five in at the back, we are meant to score six.
Heartbreaking result.
Just watched the match on ESPN+. Didn’t know the score but saw on the video timer that the broadcast would run 20 minutes longer than usual. Knew it was going to pens and was stuck wondering the entire match how we were going to blow it. And blow it we did. We stink.
Can’t read too much into a
one-off cup game I think.
Especially one like that.
The case for the defence?
Time for Hector to start.
Rob and Calum should then
both be available to challenge
Papa/Luiz for places.
On to Wolves and hopefully the
end of the Xhaka affair.
Deserve’s got nothing to do with
it Unai.
Sorry all, No posts for a few days while I am laid up in hospital. Don’t worry about previews or posts, you deserve a few days off. Will let you know when I know what is going on.
OM, agree Hector looks ready to start and Tierney does too. Am I imagining that competition at LB has elevated Kolasinac’s contribution a smidgeon? If so, hopefully Rob/Calum will do the same at CB.
But a sound back four (and our’s is as sound as a pair of fish net stockings right now) is of little, nil, nada, zilch value without cover in front. We have absolutely none. Also far too many mistakes and a MF set-up that welcomes shots on our goal.
For Chamberlain’s goal Kolasinac makes three errors in an Arsenal attacking move on the left and then AMN dithers. For their final goal Sake stands and watches a teenage Scouser dance around him twice before crossing to Origi who’s lost by Mustafi. Hopeless and sadly predictable.
Martinelli, Willock and Saka are real prospects. AMN has real talent but his tendency to err is undermining his contribution. Ceballos won’t make it at Real Madrid. He’s ours if we want him. I wonder of we will by season’s end? Time will tell.
Get well, Holic. Sending barrowloads of positive vibes from the Kingdom. Her Nellieness doing the same and wonders can she send kisses on Goonerholic? (I’ve told her only cba can do that, so hopefully you’ll get some big smackers from the handsome big guy).
iBtM,
Agree with all of @234 and the
sentiments of @235. All the best
Guvnor.
Torriera played last night but it
certainly wasn’t as a DM. I have
no clue what we’re trying to do.
I’d be happy to try even Calum or
Luiz there with an attacking CM
option like Joe or Dani.
Sake stands and watches a teenage Scouser dance around him twice
Well that’s his nickname sorted then. Handbags.
Be well, H.
OM – We are trying to press higher up the pitch, so Torreira isn’t playing as an attacking midfielder, he’s just doing his defending further forward.
I can see why Emery would want to do that, as it injects a tempo into our game that we often lack, but unfortunately I think it will only be seen to work when Tierney and Bellerin are in place consistently, because Kolasinac and Chambers are even more attacking than those two are and the gaps behind are huge.
Witness the first goal last night. Kolasinac gets caught pressing high up, no cover, MUSTAFIIIIIII
Get well soon Dave. You need to be striding round those golf courses and coming to Arsenal games next year.
As you sit back and let pretty nurses tend to your every need, you can mull on one of the best goals we’ve scored for many a long day.
Joe Willock twisting and turning at pace through the Liverpool midfield, before unleashing an unstoppable thunderbolt from the edge of the area brought back memories of another much loved player.
Rocky Rocastle.
A game which no one expected to win, even Liverpool did not want but trust us to go against the script.
We should have won this 6-3, we could have scored quite comfortably more but that was not the point, we just cannot defend. Mustafi was mustafi and less said better about kolasinac the better. Niles as always offensively good, defensively clueless. Whoever is our GK, he won’t stop a penalty and i a am certain of that.
The game was about 3 players, torriera who was brilliant first half and then thrust to go forward which never makes sense, Martinelli who is a natural in finishing and then Mesut Ozil who was just magnificent. I cannot think of too many players in this world who could have played that pass to Niles for the goal, almost an impossible angle and to have the thought process and execute it, just Mesut things. Emery said post-game that it was decided he would play 65 min while indicating he may play the wolves game, wonder why so considering he has hardly played and at 4-4, he was the one who could unlock that defence time and time again. Strange again but then its emery.
Football was fun, it did not matter if they had schoolboys and we had probably college-goers in the team, it finally was refreshing to see a game where no one really cared for tactics etc and instead just went and played their game.
Finally, Mourinho in a recent interview said a lot of good things what we miss out on in this team, a telling point was emery trying to make guendouzi the focal point for everything when the boy is not there yet, i concur but that I no way means Jose at arsenal, rather have Rodgers any given day.
Get well soon H.
Holic get well soon, gather your strength for all the golf and Arsenal as Countryman mentioned earlier.
The moment we subed Ozil ,we lost our attacking mojo. the rare counter attacks we managed were all were all fruitles becouse we did not have the composure of Ozil passing on the field i bellieve we would have scored more had Ozil not been subed .
Get well Holic and Soon.
Get well soon, Holic.
dave, i hope your time in the hospital is instructive and productive, and they figure out what’s up. do let us know what’s going on. be well, and get better soon.
Holic, I hope it’s nothing serious, and best wishes for a speedy recovery. Your health is the most important priority. Even though we need you, the other nutcases/erudite drinkers here are keeping me entertained and sane.
Dave,
My thoughts are with you and I hope you are comfortable and they find and deal successfully with the problem. My random diagnosis is that you have been watching Arsenal defend too much . It hasn’t always been like last night but even a short exposure to Mustafi and Kolasinac can be damaging to health .
C100’s good wishes touched off the erotic vibes that I always get when considering nurses in their starched uniforms and dark stockings. That helped me to forget Mustafi’s og . I hope you get a few erotic vibes and are fighting fit ASAP. ?⚕️ ?⚕️
Deary me, fantasies of matron.
Whatever next? 🙂
‘holic
every good thought i have
is horsing it’s hole to you
you are a good man
thunder T
on the other hand
is NOT a good man
he’s a good and HORNY man
.
.
the dirty oul brute
and
sweet holy fuck btm !
big sloppy kisses for ‘holic are a given
.
he had to install internet guttering to cope
Cynic,
He’s defending further up the pitch,
I see 🙂
To be fair it did mean he was in the
6 yard box to equalise.
TTG
Never forget to use incognito mode, or delete your history.
You’re welcome.
#knowstoomuch
C100
That might have been a good idea.
Henceforth I will metamorphosise into CBA when I’m having a fantasy about Nurse Jenkins ?⚕️
Ah that Nurse Jenkins . Swoons……..
What a woman ?⚕️ ?⚕️.
That Nurse Jenkins…..swoon.
Wot a woman ? ? ?
That CBA . Wot a handsome hunk ?️♀️
But my heart belongs to Holic ??
Conjuring all the medical good news for you ‘holic if it can be conjured with my limited powers. Hope you are back, hale and hearty soon.
257
now you
YOU !
i can do business with
.
.
*shows 70s shag carpet catalogue*
“I fancy the burnt umber ”
“but”
” far be it from me to deny you your singed ochre”
so
nurse J
we’ll just plump for shite
what say you ?
Our ladies beat Slavia Prague 8-0 this evening (13-2 on aggregate)
Ooh CBA you want me to lie down on shag pile.
You cheeky boy?
thunder T
yer making me uncomfortable
retreat retract and basically fuck up
oy vey
TTG,
That’s a massive result for the ladies well done ????????
CBA,
You are the….dogs shiny bollocks
Ned
I don’t suppose the monks know what the longest ever thread on Goonerholic is do they?
Be good to lay the record at the landlord’s feet when he gets out.
Xhaka has finally made his
statement.
That should take us through
to 300 🙂
Personally I think Xhaka’s
free to say anything he
wants really. But I do
expect the club to speak
up, the silence so far is
just odd now.
I think everyone can agree
that the abuse he and his
family were getting on social
media was disgusting.
Apart from that I imagine
there’ll be several different
viewpoints.
c100 i can remember some in the 5-ton range back in the days of wolfie, his jimmy choos, shaft’s moustache wax, dr. feelgood, and the happy train…
Shaft’s moustache wax has been under wraps. Soon to re-emerge?
Given a choice between Shaft’s moustache wax and Xhaka’s statement I know which one I would rather talk about.
aaaahhhhhh
271
‘holic royalty right there !
.
.
?
as many moooooooooooooooooooooos
as i can muster
in salute
?
.
that’s what is unique about this place
genuine good people
proper gooners
giving brilliant insights and analysis
and honest to god pure nonsense
for fuck all
except the mutual admiration of the guvnor
and The Arsenal
.
.
just brilliant
top work ‘holic
ya oul tart
this
moooooooooooooooooooooo
is just for
yooooooooo big man
?
and
should
the sweet stench of shite
waft up yer nostrils
in yer hospital bed
ye’ll know my best herd o girls
have arrived to keep you company
it was their idea
and they’re using their own pocket money
for the ferry
?
(wee heads up)
mildred has lost a bit of weight recently
so if you made a point of saying
how well she’s looking
she’d be over the moooooooooooooooooooooon
ps
she’s the big one with the udders
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEdPe1SxitI
or
if you’ve been bitten
by the thunder T horn bug
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWbB_vStX_8
That is not an apology in all honesty, he talks about his family being abused which is wrong by all means, he used it as as a shield for his reaction on the pitch.
This was a twisted minority who said those things and they were wrong to do so, what about other fans who didn’t said those things why not fully apologise for his actions?
It’s a weird statement by the club as well.
Apologies it seems the club didn’t make this statement at all it just himself on Instagram
I totally agree Arthur. Conflating a few idiots on Twitter with 60,000 matchday fans is wrong. Then using that as an excuse for his behaviour is weak. It is not an apology as he obviously feels he has not done much wrong.
The thing that shines through is a refusal to take responsibility for his own actions. Which is about the last quality I want in a captain.
Still, it’s the best we will get. Though, amazingly, I am now less impressed than I was before this statement and still hope he is stripped of the captaincy, fined, left out of the team (at least for a while, preferably forever) and sold as soon as possible.
A clear and unequivocal statement might have put this to bed. The mealy mouthed waffle we got will leave a lot of people unhappy, whilst also making clear how angry Xhaka is at his Twitter treatment and how closely he links this to his own supporters in the stadium. Any truce between the two will be uneasy, the issues certainly not addressed, and I fear we will see more problems further down the line that will do no good for any of us. I hope I’m wrong but I doubt it.
Damn. I really hoped after 4 days we would get something better.
Agreed GSD,
He should have mentioned that as him being the the team captain he understands his responsibilities and that he was wrong in
He was wrong in the way he reacted and make a full apology.
After four days this was a really lazy attempt i my view. Fans are already taking about this and most are not seeing it as an apology.
It’s not an apology it’s a justification and as for the social media abuse, it’s a sad fact of life that if you are famous and doing a job like this one, where mistakes (and often huge ones) are inevitable, it’s going to be part of of that job.
That doesn’t mean any of it is justified, but if you have social media accounts as a footballer, you should pay a staff to run them for you and stay well clear. Never look at them, or … don’t have them at all.
It seems some footballers would cease to exist as human beings without social media though.
Totally agree @287 Cynic.
I don’t know much about social media accounts but my understanding is that people posting threats and abuse are not prosecuted because they don’t use their real details. So, in this instance, we have no way of knowing whether they are even Arsenal supporters. Is that right?
If so it is an even wiser policy not to react. You might be letting opposition fans ruin your relationship with your own fans. That would be trolling of the highest level.
Being a famous person comes as a package and when you make yourself available on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook etc.. you are guaranteed to get trolls trying to ruin your life with abuse, threats and other means of nasty stuff.
Police can trace IP addresses so in most cases they can be traced.
Hire a PR team to manage those sites and never look at them if you are are too sensitive. If not close those accounts all together.
I can’t really get worked up over the Xhaka episode or his lukewarm pseudo-apology. He is a player who has failed to learn from his mistakes on the field, often the same ones: caught in possession or sloppy passes in our own half & rash challenges come to mind. He is slow of leg and slow of thought. I never regarded him as Arsenal standard let alone captain material. This episode and his ‘apology’ fit in with his previously demonstrated petulant and thoughtless nature. His days at Arsenal are numbered if only as a result of his own desire to leave which I see as the inevitable consequence of recent events. The club should strip him if the captaincy but this is not the club it was. I don’t really care what they do.
More importantly the fallout from this episode may further poison the season and make it even more difficult for the club to finish in the top four.
1) Holic – get well soon.
2) Btm’s comments spot on – none of our midfield were much use defensively. Saka particularly seems to be missing in action which isn’t that helpful when the fullback is Kola. Musa was just himself and Holding was consistently careless. Hence the five goals.
3) Xhaka – he is not “our” captain, he is Unai’s. Many of us would not even have him in the team. Personal abuse like that is unacceptable but here’s an idea, as some have suggested – simply don’t bother with Twitter or Instagram. The world won’t fall in without them.
4) Ozil seemed to try hard and made a decent contribution. His continued exclusion is counter productive and as many have already noted, it’s not though we are currently blessed with abundant creativity.
UTA.
This Presser today is your moment Unai, you must step up. The statement/apology is weak, you must be strong. COYG.
Some good posts on Xhaka, all leaning in the same direction. I understand the German translation of his Instagram words did contain more of an apology but I think GSD nails it here.
It’s easy to play the social media card. Social media is rotten with all sorts of detritus as we have seen in the Brexit and Anti-Semitism debate.
Xhaka didn’t inch off the pitch abusing the fans because they attacked his baby daughter. He did it because he lacked the character of an Arsenal captain ( that he lacks the ability is a separate matter.). He failed to appreciate that the priority was to secure three points, he saw it purely through a personal lens.
He hasn’t got the right stuff and it is one of several errors of judgement by Emery to appoint him . A number of us here have met Arsenal captains of the past ( some sadly no longer with us ) and many of them were men of real character who were worthy to represent this great club and acutely conscious of the honour of that role and responsibility that it carries.Spend some time with Frank Mclintock if you want to understand what makes an Arsenal captain. My dad met Joe Mercer and said he had a real aura of leadership . Could you see Tony Adams sulking off like that on Sunday? ( Faced with his alcohol – related problems no one can deny the strength of character Tony has demonstrated in dealing with them and the way he has devoted his life to helping other sportsmen to fight their demons)
Xhaka is an unworthy successor to men of that ilk irrespective of the fact he is very underwhelming player. Let us hope the custodians of Arsenal Football Club have the slightest inkling of what I am writing about and take the necessary action .
Exquisitely said, TTG.
Hear hear.
word@293, ttg.
Just for the sake of 297
Yet again I feel I am in a minority of one here. My sympathies are totally with Xhaka and I couldn’t give a toss whether he apologises or not. Supporters should never boo their own players. Shamefully, a significant number of our supporters seem to be pretty good at it and have been for a very long time. Off the top of my head I can name Mustafi, Gervinho, Martin Hayes and Jon Sammels all getting similar treatment, but there are probably several more. Of course the obvious one was our last manager. I don’t get it really. What will happen the next time Xhaka makes a bad pass? We know the answer. This is probably the end of his Arsenal career along with Mustafi. Some supporters will no doubt be happy with that but our rather thin and fragile squad is looking weaker. We need to stop looking for scapegoats and really get behind all of our players.
*rolls it across the six yard box …*
ahem.
Good points made by Devon Stu @298 although my sympathies are not with Xhaka. The crowd’s treatment of Eboue was shameful as well, and those who boo our players ought to search their souls. It seems as though as soon as Arsenal get rid of a player who has been the object of this ritualistic booing, the booers find another object of their wrath. Therein lies much of the cause of the toxic atmosphere.
Ooh, well in Scruz. I forgot to lurk.
The player has made a statement and expressed what he feels. It does not have to be what everyone else thinks he should feel. Atleast it is an honest statement of what his mindset is right now – it is not a fake PR agency written waffle. It is up to the fans(all of us included) now to draw a line under it and move on positively. The club should make it clear to the manager and the team that he will no longer be captain. Just be smart and make sure the situation never escalates again.
One thing I will say about Xhaka though – he is one of those who always gives his 100% on the pitch. Also he is one of the fittest guys in the squad and plays a lot of games every season. If anything he perhaps tries too hard which explains his rash tackles when it is clear from afar that he will be second best in a duel or instances like the penalty conceded against Spurs because of his overzealousness to contribute. And he is an emotional guy as seen so many times during on pitch incidents – he can’t prevent himself from reacting (and receiving red cards). He has his shortcomings as a player but lack of effort is not one of them. I hope all the fans recognize that and do not boo him the next time he makes a mistake. If anything he should be fully backed and cheered on so that he recovers his confidence.
Also this booing culture has to stop because we have plenty of youngsters starting out in this squad. Do we want them to feel that it’s better to play safe rather than take risks because they too could be meted out this treatment by fans tomorrow? Do we want potential signings to see this toxic behavior as something symptomatic of the club and create a doubt in their heads about signing for us? The ramifications of such booing are beyond just the single player being targeted.
Devon Stu
You make your point very well although I do not completely share your viewpoint. I was heartbroken when Jon Sammels left our club . He was incredibly harshly treated. He was one of a small group of players good enough to win the Double! Incidentally he was several classes better than Xhaka as a player. It broke his heart to leave Arsenal too. He had a huge love for the club.
I don’t consider Xhaka a victim in the same way. I didn’t boo Xhaka but I did shout at him to get off the pitch and not be so disrespectful as to rip off the armband and tell the fans to fuck off. The booing intensified as a result of his response . Had he walked off in a dignified manner and handed the armband to Aubameyang I think the issue would have been contained and we would be concentrating on other issues rather than the latest brainfart of someone who has cost us points on a regular basis ( and don’t forget his pathetic attempt to stop McArthur skipping past him to cross for their equaliser. My Palace mate who was at the game was killing himself that someone had made the leaden- footed McArthur look like Usain Bolt )
GSD described it well on Monday. We watched the game together and he was horrified by Xhaka’s response .
But the Arsenal crowd have previous. I hated the booing of Eboue and saw no value in it and when the crowd get on to a player it only erodes their confidence and harms the club. There is booing to signify dissatisfaction with the quality of a performance which is counterproductive. Sunday was different. It was a club captain disrespecting the club. My lack of respect for Xhaka as a player is well known but I reluctantly accepted Emery saw something in him I didn’t . After Sunday I believe it is best he moves to a club and set of supporters who appreciate his unique skillsets more .
TTG nails it @293 and 304.
Devon Stu. I hear where you are coming from and it does you credit. But I see it differently. And any comparison between what Xhaka did on Sunday and Xhaka misplacing a pass in his next match seems like chalk and cheese to me.
I don’t like any sort of booing culture. And I think Desi’s suggestion that young players should be worried is well wide of the mark.
For me, what Xhaka did was something unprecedented and i think the response to the crowd’s reaction has to acknowledge that. TTG said it for me, I was horrified. He waded into unchartered waters in terms of the standard of behaviour I have ever witnessed from a professional player. And for every action there will be an equal reaction. For as long as I watch Arsenal play I hope I never see a player do anything like that again. If I do not, then I do not expect to see the crowd react the same way either.
Arsenal is now in limbo, in space where everyone is right and wrong at the same time…like Macclesfield.
“Moron” was actually for Xhaka. Funny stuff, eh? I went along cause I can’t stand pretentious writing, especially about football.
Who the f*ck cares? We are going down.
Anybody saw Joan Baez by chance?
Anyway, Xhaka is not in the
squad tomorrow according to
UE.
UE’s attitude is that Xhaka said
sorry so let’s move on.
Head in the sand stuff but the
disappointing thing to me is the
lack of any statement from the
club. It’s weak and shows a lack
of values.
so
THAT “moron” was not kinda real, you know, but this one is
MORON!
but
like I said
Who the *ucK CaRes
There she is…..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txmlaZbY-f4
I’m more interested in who
will play tomorrow. We
only got a point off Wolves
last season and I’d like us to
stick it to the fuckers tomorrow.
Leno
Hector Calum Luiz Tierney
Torreira Guendouzi
Pepe Ozil Auba
Laca
subs Emi, Rob, Kola, Joe, Dani,
Saka, Martinelli
That won’t be UE’s team or squad
I know, it’s just who I’d pick
If Arsenal PR would check his statement it would never be published, it’s vague as hell.
I know there are two version one in German and one in English but both don’t cover the whole story. I honestly feel for the guy, I would be raging if some twat or twats for that matter would say those things about me or my family but if I could afford a PR team I would ask them to manage those social media sites for me. I think I would have enough on my plate so I would leave it to professionals. On top of that it would minimise my exposure to the hatred online which we all know exists in a big way.
I get where Devon Stu and Desi is coming from, however Xhaka doesn’t know what it means to be an Arsenal Captain. I’m sure it’s a great deal easier for his national team, there is not as much pressure as in the EPL. Emery is at fault here too we have 5 sodding captains for crying out loud, why on earth did Emery allow that to happen?
Xhaka should have highlighted on the importance of having the armband here at Arsenal and it’s values, he should have apologised properly for his behaviour as per my previous post.
GSD and TTG are spot on here too. I’m not being funny but from his statement:
“I let myself be carried away and reacted in a way that disrespected the group of fans that support our club, our team and myself with positive energy.”
So if I’m a silent fan or if I question something the I can fuck off as well?
I honestly think his Arsenal days are numbered.
Anyway I have had enough of this Xhaka debacle, we all care about this club and we all want all the players to do well and since we have a game on tomorrow I shall support them and hope we can pick up some needed points.
UTA
P.S.
I forgot to add support them with positive energy of course 😀
Best of luck to the Rugby
boys too. It’ll be a grind I
think as they’re a tough
side. But to beat Oz, NZ
and then SA to win the
World Cup would be as
good it gets.
SSY
Have you got an English translation of your remarks??
I’m really not sure what the thrust of your argument is?
Certainly there are an awful lot of people on this blog who care . We care too bloody much that’s what makes it so hard
TGSTEL’s book excerpts
were on Grauniad Online
today. It was interesting to
read the short bits about
the people who tried to
help him, Liam and Thierry.
His agent, as recommended
by Ashley Cole, comes
across as a snake.
Quite why the good denizens of this bar are wasting so much air time on the behaviour of yet another piss weak Swiss player that the Arse seem to specialize in buying,is beyond me.
After one of the most exciting crazy games of football I’ve seen in a long time at Anfield on Wednesday,i would rather focus on that in all it’s flawed glory.
A fantastic game to watch from the first minute to the last, and we gave as good as we got.
Some great performances across the board on both sides,with attack the only thing on both teams minds.
All my footballing mates, none of whom follow the Arse,to a man said it was the most exciting game this season.
No other team has gone to Anfield since 1966 and scored 5 and 6
goals against them.
Yes we lost,but we went down with all guns blazing at one of the most difficult grounds to win at.
That will do me.
clive knows.
“Have you got an English translation of your remarks?”
No, only in Chinese. Sorry.
Matt @309, I think the only change from the first eleven you suggest will be Calum starting instead of Hector. We might protect Hector after his 90minutes just two days back. Hector will be on the bench though and hopefully get some important premier league minutes under his belt in the second half after we have a comfortable(I know!) 3 goal cushion. A man can wish!
I hope your wishes come true
desi!
Clive does indeed know.
Bad start to the day in the egg chasing.
Hopefully The Arsenal do better.
Very disappointing to lose but South Africa outplayed us and thoroughly deserved it. Congratulations to them . I watched the 1995 final at Harvard with a group of different blokes many of whom were South African. One was black and said a few years ago he would have supported New Zealand as the team did not represent him. I’d been to South Africa the first time the year before and it was and remains a troubled and dangerous country. Let’s hope this brings them together and it lasts
In the absence of the Guvna ( Get well Dave!) we haven’t got our infusion of optimism before the game. Wolves have a style that really troubles Arsenal. Leno saved us last season and NES coached Emery off the pitch at Molineux.
I hope he picks Ozil today ( even though it’s cold and wet?) and I’d like him to start Martinelli . If it were me I’d have Luiz in defensive midfield too with Guendouzi as a double pivot .
I’m not optimistic we will win today
South Africa were brilliant and full credit to them.
From a personal perspective I think Arsenal are consistently underperforming and watching an England team play such good rugby over the last few weeks has been really great to see and a complete contrast to our club. It was disappointing to see them make so many mistakes today. They did not show how good they are. But they’ve given me a lot of pleasure in this World Cup and I’m proud of them.
Great tournament and a fantastic story for the Springboks. Well deserved.
Owen Farrell is an exemplary captain. I could not think more highly of him. Absolute class, determination and leadership.
I am more hopeful than expectant about Wolves today but anything could happen, we are so unpredictable. Let’s hope today goes our way. I’m very interested in Emery’s team selection and how we setup.
I do quite fancy Ozil behind PAL. Although ironically Xhaka is more effective when he has Ozil in front of him. Without him the whole team changes and it is important Emery sets them up with a defined structure. He has choices about what he wants to do, so I just hope he picks something he likes and makes it clear to the players where he wants them. I’m not expecting us to pull up trees but if we could manage 3 points and a performance to build on then I’d be chuffed.
UTA
Luiz and Guendouzi as a double pivot, TTG? It would confuse the hell out of somebody, hopefully the oppo.
COYG
team news
Leno
Calum Papa Luiz Tierney
Guen Torreira Dani
Ozil
Laca Auba
Not sure if it’s some kind
of 4-1-3-2 or 4-2-2-2 or
maybe one of Dani/Ozil
is shunted wide right
Should baffle Wolves for a
bit and as long as we win I
don’t mind.
Saka, Pepe, Martinelli are
all on the bench if width is
required
Typical Emery playing Ozil out on the flank should have started Pepe with Ozil as number 10
I take the boss has lost his confidence, if he had one before. What kind of team selection is this? Guend, Cebellos, Lucas & Ozil in the same lineup? When is Holding to play in the 1st 11?
Auba gets the first one.
Lulled them into over-confidence
by cunningly looking clueless,
then bang Auba!!
Missing the first bit of the game how’s it looking Holics?
Why is Torriera so high up?
They have played well so far, ATG, but Wolves look threatening. Happy to go into half time with a lead and a clean sheet. Hope it ends that way.
Started slowly ATG. Then
Auba scored and we had a
good 15 minutes.
Good save from Leno kept
us front before half time.
Wolves finished stronger the
last 5 or so minutes.
we are better today than against vitória last week. still not convinced by how much space we are giving them in our final 3d, and we don’t seem to be able to stop carriers running at seams. i think kt has figured out adama, or hope so.
and, at least at the half the results are just fine.
Thanks ksn & OM
Seen the end of the first half and also Leno’s save, they do look dangerous indeed. We need sort that midfield out, Torriera is way too high up for my linking.
Scruz,
We don’t defend as a untit that’s the issue here.
Torreira and Ceballos way too loose. Neither is consistently holding, or even keeping to one side of the pitch. Torreira especially is definitely too far forward. That leaves Guendouzi with too much ground to cover and leaves us completely exposed when he pushes forward, which he does so effectively we should not prevent him from doing occasionally.
Ozil finding space and he is so technically proficient. We looked more assured in the final third. Some good things happening. Still some problems
Playing from the back does not work for us ffs!
Laca still finding fitness but showed glimpses what a top player he is. Glad Martinelli is on.
Laca off for Martinelli.
Laca should have stayed, & taken out Cebellos or Lucas. Unai, man!!
Tapera. Laca looked pretty tired.
Ozil is starting to flag too. He might be next.
Apparently not. I don’t like how often our subs cause us to change formation.
Saka for Lucas. What does this look like?
Too fucking easy for crying out load!
Wolves equalize. We switched off so easily. Ozil, Tierney look tired. We just can’t seem to be able to beat Wolves.
Saka needs to bulk up, strengthen. He is getting knocked off the ball too easily.
COYG, get another goal.
Coach is cluless. Guend holds onto the too long. Lucas starts on the wings ahead of Martinelli, Pepe, Saka – really?
Kola coming back for Tierney. Not a great move. Tierney held off Traore well.
Tapeta,
He is clueless but the management is not seeing it
And Leicester is next in the league. This team is not up to it, me thinks.
Their Jota is such a fine player with his pace, close control and aggressive running at defenses.
Another draw. LDD is relegation form. Agree with Tapera that we could really get tonked in the next match.
We defended well but paid for losing concentration once.
I have had enough of watching Emery’s shit show, I’m sorry he needs to go no!
Why did Emery take off Torreira for Saka? Put us under more pressure instantly. Ozil played well, though, and showed he still has a role in this team. Emery is clearly the wrong manager for us.
Fucking lucky Pool.
After that muddled, befuddled, confused approach to the game I really don’t see why Emery should get any more chance.
His tactics are turning out to be self-fulfilling prophecies. Give so much “respect” to all opponents, play cagey counter-attacking games against opposition that we really must beat at home, and no wonder they go back with points.
Not playing Pepe in front of Ozil and asking Ceballos to defend throughout the match … I think by now Emery has established clearly that he is too much of a chicken to be an Arsenal manager.
Ozil played splendidly. For all 90 minutes.
Substitutions led to loss of organization and composure and we drew (feels like a loss).
The league is so tough that even the top teams are having a difficult time against bottom teams so can take some heart from our performance today.
That is more positive than I can
manage ksn., but yes it wasn’t all
bad.
Ozil was really good today as was Torreira. Tierney tired towards the end but was good otherwise and he will improve as he plays more. Chambers allowed their scorer to get ahead of him to score after Tierney and Saka had ball watched as Coutinho ran into space to provide the assist. Saka is willing but cannot defend.
We slow down while counter attacking by playing the ball backwards.
Not getting Pepe in late when his pace could have made life difficult for Wolves was a mistake as the manager chickened out. His reputation in a Spain was that he was conservative (too scared to go for a win) in the league though he played a more attacking game in the Europa league.
The only good today was United losing.
That Torreira / Saka substitution may just be the moment I lost faith in the manager. Made no sense at all.
yes, why not bring Willock on
if something is wrong with Torreira
It must be Christmas season already for the manager, as he is freely giving away the points.
So how many changes did the manager make to the starting lineup from last weekend? Can he at least tell Guend to relate the ball quickly. & while tell Guend & Papa to stop acting during games.
I cannot fathom the reservation Emery has in using Torreira and Guendouzi as a double pivot!! Didn’t Torreira win something like five consecutive man of the match awards last season playing in a deeper role?! And okay if you do not see him in that role in home games then why play him at all? He clearly does not fit in an advanced role. Just play a 4-2-3-1 with Guendouzi and Ceballos as the double pivots with Auba on the left, Ozil central, Pepe on the right and Laca upfront. Just send bloody shivers down the opposition throats thinking of the attacking firepower we possess with that kind of line up. Just give it an almighty go. If things are not working out then you have 3 substitutions! Just trying to be too smart for his own good and paying the price with precious points and perhaps entering the last chance saloon now Emery. Leicester could be a defining game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0uiy2SWrHQ
I’ve just arrived back and flicking through what I have to say are a batch of measured and sensible comments I can only reiterate that unless we dispense with Emery we will not only fail to attain CL status, lose a lot of our best players and bore the crowd senseless we will struggle to finish in the top half.
His set up today clearly presaged a certain game plan. At one nil up he jinked it bringing on and off the wrong players and losing impetus. His teams cannot defend. The Wolves goal today was simplicity itself.
He is a desperately underwhelming coach as we will sadly increasingly see more and more evidence of and we need to part company ASAP. Toxicity is building up in the club again and that makes the matchday experience awful
Kieran Tierney struggled against Traore and was turned over three times in the first ten minutes. But he steadied the ship and eventually contained him completely, blocking every attempted cross, albeit at the expense of several corners. As soon as Saka came on, he dropped deep on our left and Tierney dropped deeper and seemed to lose some of the excellent focus he’d achieved. The first cross came in from the right (via a throw in!) and it was 1-1. That substitution was a self-inflicted body blow.
Ozil was at the heart of everything good. Chambers impressed me again, but could have done much better for their goal. The crowd was far from full capacity, fairly muted throughout but summoned up the energy to ‘Boo’ at the end. I just shrugged, I’ve seen that movie many times already this season. Good news was that the crowd at Finsbury Park station moved quickly tonight. Small mercies. Onward to Leicester.
Forgot to say that I watched Mesut closely today. I thought he worked hard and almost every time he had the ball he brought a composure and intelligence to the side that we have been sadly lacking. We didn’t miss Xhaka at all but had he been on the bench we could have brought him on to keep the ball in midfield rather than bring two young wingers on and change the shape to absolutely no purpose. He is totally misusing Torreira who at times was playing in the no.10 role and Guendouzi looked utterly knackered and made loads of mistakes in possession .
They had 25 shots to our 10 today. That is a damning statistic .When , as I sadly believe we will , lose to Leicester next week we will be ten points off the CL places. In mid- November with a very gentle run of fixtures.
I have just flicked through the other coaches in the Premier League tonight and apart from Quique Flores , Pellegrini and Bruce I would prefer any of the other coaches to Emery. I hope Sanllehi and Josh Kroenke sort this very quickly
Mercifully I did not see this match but kept an eye on Arseblog’s live match blog. It planned out pretty much as I expected.
This coach is floundering and needs to be put out of his misery. The job is too big for him. Every day that passes is a day wasted for someone else to begin to organise this team. Under Emery we have become dysfunctional in midfield and even more porous in defence. 10 shots for us and 25 for Wolves?
Pull yourself together Josh, read the writing on the wall and do the needful or next season will be even more of a rebuilding exercise.
Never thought I would want an Arsenal manager to be fired mid-season, and even last season I was positive that Emery will eventually be able to outgrow the conservatism and learn to apply his tactical nous on top of a progressive and consistent approach. But the football in PL is now consistently poor. Scared, unimaginative and total waste of our best forward line-up in more than a decade. It just seems he is incapable of the change to become positive in his approach that is absolutely necessary to succeed at the top end of the PL. The management team has really put together a very good team — with a super talented set of youngsters to back up — and really they deserve to play with more panache.
I thought Ozil was pretty average, but then you probably expected me to say that, just as I expected almost universal praise for him from most, no matter what he did today.
That attempted backheel in the last minute of stoppage time. allowing them to clear easily, was sloppy, lazy and sums him up for me.
I only saw the second half, however.
I’m generally on the side of Emery but bringing on Saka today was crazy (no issue with taking off Torreira if he was leggy) and the other night when he went ahead with out substitution after we scored was similarly dim.
There’s no way we should be getting rid of him though. We will become Man Utd if we start ditching managers every 18 months when they don’t work out, only without their spending power to try to fix things.
When do we stop (and by we I mean y’all) hammering on the manager and start questioning the players properly? We know this team is nowhere near good enough, don’t we? Do you really think another coach can come in, especially some of the joke names I’ve seen suggested like Eddie Howe, and fix this midfield/defence?
Will someone else get our front two pressing properly? Take the lazy out of David Luiz? Make Sokratis a player? Make Tierney a Premier League player in five minutes when he’s been playing in a joke league all his life? Make Bellerin better (because let us not forget that Bellerin was in awful form for ages before he got injured)?
Emery has been underwhelming with an underwhelming squad. I still think he has to be given time though.
“Every day that passes is a day wasted for someone else to begin to organise this team.”
Bath sums it up concisely.
@379
desi, funnily enough that’s
the exact 4-2-3-1 line up I
suggested about 6 weeks
ago.
Though now I might have
Joe Willock instead of
Ceballos in the middle.
Just go for it. It’s got to be
better than the slow death
we’re currently enduring.
You are very biased Cynic.
Ozil was much better than average in a dysfunctional team. He scarcely wasted a ball. In either half
My opinion of Ozil is set in stone and was formed after watching him stink the place out for most of his Arsenal career. It’s funny to see how short some memories are of how bad he was.
Anyway fuck it, I just backed Iridessa and it won at a stonking price so blalh to football.
Ozil was instrumental to almost all of our attacking efforts, and he brought a modicum of composure and control in the middle of the pitch that had been lacking.
After 11 matches our goal difference is +1 … that says everything. We cannot be playing football this way. It’s not only soul crushing for the supporters it is demotivating for the players.
Play Ozil, Auba, Pepe and Lacazette consistently in PL. Use Torreira in his natural position. Jettison this strange tactics of giving up free space in the middle of the pitch. Focus on keeping possession high up the pitch. Do the basic and obvious things well. That might just let the quality come through. It’s becoming unwatchable.
I don’t think we can afford to give him any more time, Cynic. If we don’t achieve top 4 this season, do you think Aubameyang, Lacazette et al will stick around next season to give the manager “more time”? Nor would there be any financial windfall to replace these guys without CL football.
Nobody expected him to achieve instant success, but we genuinely haven’t seen anything in 11 matches this season (and nearly all of the 38 matches last season) to suggest top 4 is even possible any time soon.
Cynic,
I can’t see why we would keep an
underwhelming coach just because
we don’t want to make a change
again.
Even if accepting your argument that
the squad is underwhelming (which
I don’t) then we should still make a
change to someone who can get more
from the team than the current “not
all that” guy.
@380: Ozil has 32 goals and 52 assist for Arsenal in PL in 168 games. Similar numbers for cups. After the World Cup debacle and the fall out he hasn’t been the same player, but last couple of games demonstrated that he is still the best midfielder we have.
But people do have pet peeves. It’s okay. 🙂
Aubameyang will be 31, Lacazette 29. Both at the sort of age where they might want to get one last big move, regardless of where we end up finishing. And if Martinelli is The Future, who cares what they do anyway?
Emery is starting to do things that puzzle me greatly and picking Ozil and Ceballos in the same team today was one of them. But do we have a plan and go with that, or do we just swing wildly from coach to coach, hoping to get lucky?
@381 Dr F, good with all of that. Add jettison the futile attempts to pass the ball out from the back. The defenders are totally uncomfortable with it and very often someone ends up booting the ball upfield to get us out of a hole where it is gobbled up by the opposition who promptly build another attacking move. And yes, Ozil’s appearance was worth the price of admission today. It’s a pleasure to watch him play.
Do we have a plan?
If I thought Emery actually had a plan I’d be more likely to go with it. But instead he just swings wildly.
Every manager we hire and
every player we buy are a
gamble.
We tried and the gamble isn’t
working. To steal a phrase, I’ll
be happy if UE never manages
another game for us.
On a happier note, congrats
on Iridessa 🙂
Diamond doesn’t work. No width, too much work for Tierney let alone Chambers. Torreira and Ceballos a land of confusion. Auba is not getting any service. Ozil was good.
Sokratis dives every time there is any contact near his face, no matter how clearly it has barely touched him or how desperately we need in him, you know, in the centre of our defence instead of pretending to be hurt somewhere up the pitch. It’s annoying and pointless.
So many problems at the moment. No solutions yet.
Cynic, it’s also the age where they might decide to commit the rest of their careers to us. Your argument doesn’t really carry any weight.
And Martinelli is the future? Just like Mbappe was Monaco’s future…
Cynic @385. I’ve never looked at our squad and thought “yeah, once we get rid of the deadwood, Auba and Laca, then we’ll really be onto something.” ?
And our squad does not underwhelm me. I thinks it is our best in a long time.
They’re also at an age where they might take up the violin, we just don’t know. The only point I was trying to make was you cannot base everything you do on what players MIGHT do, and that’s why I assume the club has some sort of plan and strategy in place for how we go forward and they’re not simply going to try X then move to Y at the first hints of problems.
All I am saying is once you start dropping managers it’s an easy cycle to get into and all you do is take backward steps constantly.
As for the Martinelli thing, you will note I did say IF. He might be, he might not be. At some stage very soon he is going to replace one of those irreplacable strokers and then we’ll find out.
‘Irreplaceable strokers’. Great line!
CAN BIG SAM SAVE US?
Big Sam! I’d forgotten he was available. But no thanks though he would almost certainly improve defensive organisation. However my gran could improve our defensive organisation. David Moyes is available as well I think. Unai resembles David in multiple ways: lack of courage, poor eye for a player, playing players out of position and most of all being the hapless replacement of a top coach.
Taxi for Emery!
Ozil was the most creative player in the Premiership when he arrived and one of the most productive creative players in Europe. Statistically not in my imagination. He has never stunk the place out but he has been underwhelming in some big games away from home. He has also produced some stunning moments of tremendous skill.
Auba and Laca work incredibly hard but get isolated from the team because Emery aligns the midfield so poorly .
We have had four permanent managers in the last thirty three years. I know blokes who have had more wives than that in that time! We would hardly be flip-flopping around if we made a change. If you make such a monumentally poor appointment as Emery you have to make a change or you could screw the club for years. The players will get very disillusioned if we leave Emery in charge much longer.
That’s what comes of typing with no specs on. 😀
Plays it out to the wing…
A Kolaesque trundle down the
line and cross for…
Just back from our annual trip to the Emirates. Quite enjoyed the game but not the result, The football was certainly better to watch with Ozil and Ceballos playing. Strange substitutions, taking off a defensive midfielder when you’re one nil up and bringing on a youngster when you have Pepe on the bench. According to someone on the train whose cousin knows the Arsenal secretary, Emery is not popular with the board or players and could be on his way this week. I won’t miss him at all. The measure of a good manager is whether the team consistently performs well. This one rarely does. The football is poor, worse than I have seen since Don Howe, and the results are now reflecting the performances. We need a positive manager who believes in entertaining football and can lift the players.
Sorry OM, how ungracious of me.
That’s quite alright DS, it must have
been a long day if you’d only just
got back !
Sadly, I agree with all you said
@400
clown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n5N-78kfS0
And I hope you’re right about
the coming change.
Leicester away is the last
game before the Interlull
and then we have relatively
winnable games until Man
City at home in mid December.
The timing is better than
pulling the plug at Xmas.
Max Allegri, former Juventus manager is available too. He is known to build his team with a strong defensive organization which is just what we need. He is also a serial winner and I feel we will be a lot more competitive with him at the helm. The problem is that Utd would also be looking to appoint him if they don’t make the top four. Unai has been very disappointing this season and unless he turns things around quickly we should be looking for a replacement.
It’s hardly flip flopping to get rid after 18 months given just how poorly he is doing and how unpopular he is. Flip flopping would be doing a Watford and making a change after 3 months. 18 months is probably about the average life of a coach.
Just hope they have been doing due diligence since the Summer and have someone in mind.
Allegri, Vieira, Ljungberg, Arteta, Ten Haag. I’d choose one of our ex players to generate goodwill from fans and see if they can steady the ship until the end of season. The Emirates could really use such a lift. To say that there are no better options than Emery sounds very daft to me.
When those ludicrous piston powered polluters were flying across the sky dragging insulting banners that supposedly represented the views of Arsenal fans everywhere, it didn’t feel like the Arsenal way to me. When I tried considered discussion, “Anyone would be better than that c**t Wenger” was a typical, deeply felt response. My thoughts at the time were “Just be careful what you ask for”.
And so we got Unai. There was no question in my mind that it was time for Wenger to leave – just not under a pile of manure. I was surprised by Emery’s appointment, I’d scarcely heard of him to be honest. But it didn’t seem to me to be a bad appointment at all. Refreshment brought promise. Promise inspired excitement and enthusiasm.
And now we’re pretty much back to where we were 18 months or so ago. There are no air polluters flying banners (yet) but Unai’s head is clearly on the block. Again, my heart tells me that this isn’t the Arsenal way. However, (big however), my head and eyes are beginning to tell me that it is. It is difficult to watch, week after week, a team being selected from a very strong squad, set-up, playing and under-performing as Arsenal are at the moment, while an increasingly lost fellow flaps his arms aimlessly on the touchline, and conclude otherwise.
I don’t know enough to know whether the bullet should be fired now or at the end of the season. Again, my heart would be more comfortable with the latter (it would ensure the requested time be given for Unai to deliver on his grand promises). However, fired it will be. And when it is, Arsenal must decide whether they want an elite manager (which Emery clearly is not) or an inspirational younger man (which Emery clearly is not), i.e. the Lampard model nearly pursued by Arteta’s appointment last time.
A wise management team would, right now, be in urgent priority mode determining which of these routes is to be pursued, who is their lead candidate and what are the strategy, tactics and funds required to secure that individual’s services.
In the meantime a top four finish isn’t on the cards. Neither are multiple cup, shield or CL qualifications that marked the ‘rank bad’ days of the previous incumbent.
I have a trust in Ljungberg to bring us back on the right track. Give him a contract until the end of the season. If he delivers, than he should be given a longer-term appointment. I would also love to see someone like Pires as his assistant. I am really worried that they might bring Mourinho though. In that case, everything that caused me to fall in love with Arsenal will be gone.
Remember the time when we were expressing our displeasure with Wenger’s 4th place?
Bosnian, your last sentence. Never did, never will. Include me out of your ‘we’.
The stats are damning. 2 wins from our last 9 PL games. 2 clean sheets in 11 games this season. I can’t find any way to dress this up positively nor see any reason to expect improvement. At the start of the season I was fully on board with Unai and looking forward to his second season. Since then we have got poor results which have been exactly what we deserved for our poor performances. We are nowhere near top 4 right now.
If it is not the Arsenal way to fire a coach at this point it surely cannot be the Arsenal way to slide into mid table despite an excellent squad because we have reservations about pulling the trigger.
I have said before that I like and respect Emery but it just is not working out. That happens sometimes. We need to get rid of him and get new ideas and impetus into this group before it is too late. Hopefully after the Leicester game when we have the international break.
We were so poor yesterday even with a new system. We need organisation and leadership and we need it soon.
If we do sack Emery I hope we appoint Mourinho, for no other reason than to see grown men cry
More seriously I was watching John Cross on Sunday Supplement this morning and thought he spoke some sense, in amongst the guff. I don’t have a huge amount of time for Cross, but absolutely agree with him about Arsenal Fan TV and to some extent I think much milder, and supposedly well informed, online platforms need to look at the way they present their Arsenal content as well.
iBtM…I am in the same bracket as you. My ‘we’ describes a general sentiment among Gunners in the last couple of years of Le Professeur…and the general sentiment was undeniably anti-Wenger. Little did we know…
It’s horrible to be thinking this way about someone who seems a nice man but maybe Mesut would have a different perspective! We need to act now but I was disturbed that according to the Sunday Times Mourinho met Sanllehi for dinner last week . This sounds like a nightmare unfolding. What’s wrong with that nice Eddie Howe? Mourinho may get us back in the CL but in two years time we will be digesting a shit sandwich
Appoint Mourinho is the perfect path to flip flop.
Should that appointment be made I will join Steve T amongst the ranks of the egg shaped ball chasers (in National League One – not the nosebleed heights at which Steve circulates).
We are in a pickle indeed!
The Kolasinac sub did it for me! We have 15 minutes left and he brings on a left back?
The club needs to act and act fast if we are to salvage anything from this season!
It is possible Mourinho might be effective. But he might not.
And I’d rather have anyone else. Literally anyone else. In a straight up vote I’d sooner see us managed by Theresa May than that awful, awful man.
I wonder if she is on our shortlist.
I hope we have a shortlist.
TTG. The Mourinho and Sanllehi dinner report is very disturbing if true. Either they spoke about him potentially taking over as our manager or Raul chose to spend his own personal time having dinner with Mourinho… for pleasure!
The mind boggles at both possibilities.
Bosnian, I don’t think there’s any shame in wanting better than the 4th place trophy during Wenger’s years. It was the club hierarchy who lied to us fans. Who profited from moving to the Emirates? Certainly not the fans. And we were promised competitiveness at the highest level. I don’t think it’s wrong to demand for what was promised. While the owners profited, we were made to lower our expectations every year, all the while still paying very high ticket prices. No wonder we find it hard to identify with the Club lately.
@422: But venting that frustration on Arsene himself with so much disrespect and boorishness wasn’t at all constructive, was it? I think the magnitude of his achievements in the Emirates years is now becoming clearer and clearer to everyone now. Both on and off the field.
With the possibility of an European super league looming and the gaps between CL haves and have-nots widening every minute, I think the club hierarchy will go for any short-term arrangement that will bring the team back to CL. Even if they appoint Mourinho it will most likely be for the rest of the season. I don’t think any of us forgot his viciousness towards our club especially in the early days of his Chelsea stint, but if he is here for just the short term to get us back in CL I will be willing to hold my nose and cheer the team.
But then I am used to Faustian bargains … 🙂
@423 Gulp.
@422: Very much what Dr F said in his first paragraph. In addition, I don’t have a problem with us asking Wenger to go in order to give a chance to someone else to deliver more titles/trophies. What I am disappointed at is a blatant purging of everything that smacked of Wenger era. I thought we have had a good general direction, solid business principles, positive approach to football. We needed a few tweaks only. Instead, we have been a subject of several major surgeries. Why?
Hope for Freddie until the end of season. Than, if his results are not good, go for someone else…someone who is not scared to play attacking, no-nonsense football and who understands English premier league.
Mourinho should be ruled out on the ground that poor human beings cannot be good managers!
If we’re dumping Emery, we’re hopefully not going to get into the folly of a caretaker and especially not someone like Ljungberg.
Unless you want us to be in Solskjaer Land in about a year’s time.
Cynic, I have a feeling that Freddie is a real deal but I might be wrong. Who else on such a short notice?
I’d have thought it impossible
to appoint Mourinho as even
the most ill-informed Director
of Football would know that
98% of fans would be furious.
If Raul and co choose to shit
on us from such a height then
that tells me all I need to know.
But, it was only dinner guys!
The problem with changing your manager is that you need to give them time to bed in and this can mean you might have to accept a series of results like we are seeing now( or worse) . I think a couple of posters have paid tribute to the job Arsene did in the early years after the move to the Grove. We did take him for granted and for many years , I would say until 2016 , he was still a much better coach than most in the Premier League. He did decline in his last two years. Not only that he was a very appropriate man to manage Arsenal Football Club. My Arsenal neighbour told me yesterday about an incident with some well known young players who shared a house and caused some local disturbance in a plush part of North London.
The complaint was not initially dealt with effectively by Arsenal so the gentleman involved, who was an Arsenal fan , went directly to Wenger.
The day after the three players involved, household names all, appeared on his doorstep with flowers for his wife and wine for him. Wenger wrote a personal letter of apology and every year sent a personal Christmas card to the gentleman . That’s a small example of the class of the man and while I think it was clearly time for him to go he left a massive hole as a personality and a coach .
Would Jose Mourinho act in the same way? Would Unai Emery ( I suspect he might) . The problem is Arsenal is a massive institution which has prided itself on behaving appropriately on and off the pitch. Mourinho would definitely compromise the latter part of that requirement. We need a great coach and a decent , principled man. Any coach of Arsenal has big shoes to fill but by the same token we shouldn’t blanch at making a change if the current incumbent isn’t up to the job and Unai isn’t , sadly , anywhere near up to the job.
My choice if available would be Allegri but I believe Howe , Arteta and Ten Haag would all be very good choices. One wild card is Chris Wilder. It’s quite a step-up but he is a fine coach who organises his team brilliantly and has adapted very well to the Premier League.
That would be a brave call for Raul and Edu because they would be gambling on a man of much lower profile . I think sadly there is a real chance they will go for Mourinho. I hope Sir Chips asserts himself and reminds them why he will never be the right choice for us.
@422 and 425, I agree that the whole Wenger Out situation left a very bitter taste in Wenger’s final year, especially after all he’s done for the Club and the fans. But it was also evident that his team was always only a few minor tweaks away, but we never seemed able to make the breakthrough.
Personally I’m just glad to see Wenger enjoying his time off. He also doesn’t seem the type to hold grudges, especially against the fans who were united in praising him for almost 2 decades.
Most of the fans wanted Wenger out to finally have a change, something new to hope for. Liverpool sacked so many different coaches until they finally appointed Klopp. We should celebrate Wenger’s legacy as it was, a magnificent period in Arsenal history. And now is the time to embrace change, not shy away from it.
I desperately wanted Emery to succeed too, alas it wasn’t meant to be. Replacing Wenger was never going to be easy, but overcomplicated tactics and seemingly weird man-management had left us in a dire state.
I cannot believe some of the names I have seen mentioned, today and on other occasions, as possibles to take over. Chris Wilder? Why not go the full Sam and go for Dyche?
Fuck’s sake, I’d rather my dog was manager than any of these names (bar Allegri) and he’s been dead since 1998.
Bertie, GG and AW were hardly
big managers before they
joined. AW was known in
Europe but not England.
Quite different in their ways
too. They all won us league
titles. It doesn’t have to be a
big name manager like
Allegri, we just have to find
the right fit.
Liverpool went through plenty
of managers before Klopp,
Manure still are, City had been
before Pep and the Chavs have
gone through managers and
still won trophies.
Even if we get it wrong again that
is better than doing nothing and
simply abdicating responsibility
As an ex HR director I have to
tell you hiring is a very tricky
business 🙂
Basically it’s best guess.
I would much prefer Cynic’s
dog – may he RIP – to
Mourinho, Rogers, Spitty Sam,
Dyche or Enrique.
Or we could take our new
Arsenal way and ask the
players to vote on it
🙂
Theo and Iwobi starting for
Everton against the Spuds
today. 0-0 half time with
Theo picking up a yellow.
Cynic,
You have a good point regarding the shitty list of potential names.
Somewhat controversially though, I would live to see Eddie Howe get a chance with a big club. He’s a first rate human being, he’s been getting Bournemouth to punch above their weight AND play good football for years now.
Watching Everton v The Scum. To think we got them to give us over £60 m for Iwobi and Walcott. How must they feel?
Pen for Everton? This is taking ages!
VAR not consistent as usual!
The club have denied there
was any such dinner with
Raul and Mourinho.
They haven’t spoken in years
apparently.
Bad scenes at Goddison Park, looks like a bad break!
In other news the U23s
rolled over the Spuds 3-1.
Nelson returned from injury
and ESR played too.
@441 Outcome reminiscent of the Eduardo thuggery that cost us the title in 2008 and the ‘Shawcross’ on Ramsey at Stoke, Arthur.
Heartburn.
OM – My dog says you’re barking. 😉
I like the idea of the vote. They’d elect King Xhaka though.
In almost 62 years on this planet I have learned very little. I understand that alligators make bad pets and that girls brains are diametrically opposite to a chaps. But that’s about it.
So my views count for absolutely nothing.
If I was asked (which I haven’t been of course) I would say that the time for dilly dallying is over and that UE should we waved off from Euston with a cheery and heartfelt “Farewell”.
cba should immediately be made club captain and no turn should be left unturned in the search for a new head coach.
This time though, we should probably insist that the new man knows something about football.
While the new broom is out we might as well install Stephen Fry as the Prince Regent
I do not think we will ever hire Mourinho and it’s very good that the club have made it clear quickly that no such dinner took place between Raul and Mourinho. Thank heavens for that! A Mourinho appointment would shake the foundations of many an Arsenal supporter and it’s a thought I don’t even want to go in the direction of.
I was reading Pochettino’s statements quoted in an article (before their game v Everton) – the article also had supporting stats as to how Spurs have used the most different formations of any team in the league and have also used the most number of players in the starting eleven 22 (we have used 17). Pochettino was basically saying that he is trying to find a way to get the team to click and that was his explanation for so many changes in formations and personnel. This is the manager of the Champions League runners up of last season and his squad haven’t even undergone the most de-stabilizing changes during the summer. They have retained all of their core players and most of them are fit and playing regularly this season.
His predicament perhaps explains some of Emery’s struggles in trying to get our team to click. Pochettino is fortunate to have performed well in the past to buy himself some time. Emery does not have that luxury with his short history at Arsenal and also the team’s failure to secure a champions league spot last season – albeit by the narrowest of margins. Emery does not help his own cause by over-complicating things when he should be keeping it simple. A simple example of this – Pepe had just recovered confidence after his performances against Vitoria and Palace and can’t even make it from the bench against Wolves!
Emery is just trying too hard it seems. He has always come across as an earnest, decent man – someone who understands the enormity & responsibility of the Arsenal job.
I still wish for his sake that we win against Leicester and he keeps his job. After the international break – he can hopefully start Bellerin and Pepe together for once and also have a fully fit Laca.
Arsene trusted the attacking ability of his sides way too much and Emery distrusts the defensive ability of his teams a lot. The former erred on the side of being over-adventurous while the latter errs on the side of being over-cautious. The inability to find a simple middle path between those two approaches sounds like a very Arsenal problem!!
PS: VAR which was nitpicky enough to somehow spot a Chambers foul in the Palace game denied a clear penalty for Everton against Spurs for handball (the rule explicitly says ball coming in contact with hand in un-natural position in the box = penalty) by Alli. The on field referee was Atkinson again – the review took two and a half minutes to complete. I want VAR to stay – it will make decision making accurate in the long run but it is inexplicable as to why the Premier League does not have the on field referee checking the incident on the screen on the sidelines. They do it in other leagues and once they start doing it in the Premier League, there will be more consistency in VAR decisions.
Desi,
Couldn’t agree more re VAR, that was a blatant hand ball and they need to make the main guy on the pitch make the decision! Make them run a bit to the side lines and check that bloody monitor! It’s a disgrace for such a competitive league not to use this feature it would take less time too! Plus people in the those stadiums would also see something being done by the main guy!!!
IF @446
Hugh Laurie is already the Prince Regent.
450
Thing with VAR is that they’re using the same terrible refs who fuck up every week in the flesh to look at the monitors, and if anything it has become clear in a very short time that some mof them were never just making errors before VAR, they really were just shit at the job.
VAR ill make referees as lazy as DRS has with umpires in cricket. On field umpiring is at its lowest grade in decades and refereeing will go the same way.
Apologies for typos. I have my specs on but my flippers aren’t hitting the keys properly.
Desi,
22 different spuds already in
only 11 games? No wonder they’re
so bad.
But you’re right Poch has
bought himself some time
after changing the Spuds from
losers into… well still losers in
fact ?
The only real solution to the
consistency problem with
VAR is to fire all the VAR
people and build one super
robot to rule them all.
The amazing thing about the reason given for not getting referees to check monitors is to save time ! You couldn’t make it up. They wasted over three minutes making that decision over the penalty ….and at the end of the day they clearly made a wrong decision. The Spuds benefited from an accidental handball by Laporte being ruled out at Citeh early in the season and they got away with it today.
I always enjoy your posts Desi. They are intelligent and thoughtful and today’s is no exception . I fear though your kindness is overruling your footballing instincts. All my footballing instincts suggest to me that Emery is out of his depth and is deeply irrational in his decision-making.
I don’t think he sets up his original sides intelligently, his substitutions which were his strongpoint last season are hopeless , the sides take ages to click into gear. I think it was thirteen minutes before we got the ball into their half yesterday and we are so easy to play against. Wolves got 25 shots off yesterday and they are a counter-attacking side!
Everything tells me he can’t do the job and delay will only ruin any chance we have of reaching the Champions League next season.
I’m interested that the Mourinho rumours are untrue but as ever social media creates untruths and distortions and a lot of people are briefing against Emery . I’ve not enjoyed this season at all. I’ve seen every home game bar Forest and watched most of the away matches and I’ve only enjoyed the Liege game . It’s just not feasible that Emery can turn this around. He shows no signs of knowing where to start to change it .
Viagra, anyone?
Has he got his Pro licence?
GSD @449
Of course!
I told you I know nothing
Does this mean UE is Baldrick?
I have a cunning plan ?
OM @ 460
No I don’t think so.
He at least had a plan ?
Best wishes to the landlord. 460 posts is a great tribute. Observations from a “tourist” inside the stadium on Saturday although of course I accept fully a season ticket holder has every right to be more critical (Oh, that I could be one !). I arrived thinking the atmosphere will be fantastic now the Xhaka boil had been lanced. 1/ The singing about Ozil is nice but, well, a bit odd given Arsenal fans booed him off the park in Baku barely 3-4 appearances ago. It’s still 2 Prem assists in 36 remember. Is it really about Emery in fact ? 2/ The screaming and hollering at the players when they attempt to play out from the back (as all top teams do now) achieves what exactly ? Trying to make them foul up ? 3/ The booing at the final whistle is pretty horrible. 4/ The coach is now heavily influenced by the crowd, meaning his mind has gone and his decisions panicky and illogical, eg, Saka-Torreira at 1-0. He probably wanted to hook Ozil but couldn’t risk the backlash, he probably wanted to introduce Pepe at some point but maybe felt he couldn’t afford two “luxury” players at the same time…I dunno, I speculate but the fans are a big part of all this when you also factor in the Xhaka thing which is, of course, Emery’s own fault entirely. The refusal to play Torreira as DM is baffling too for sure. But my point is this – when people are cornered and targeted, they make strange decisions.
I wonder is Wenger the elephant in the room here ? So he was treated harshly (for probably one year only of 22) so the backlash v’s Emery has to be really, really nasty too. Slag off his language skills constantly (ask yourself how long Poch was doing interviews in Spanish for ?). Ignore the fact he has achieved basically exactly the same results as Wenger’s end phase of 2 years ? Ignore the fact we didn’t completely collapse, either as a team or as a club from a business point of view despite 22 years of well, basically, a dictatorship, although of course a hugely successful one for 10 years or so – and one that played lovely football I accept. The “careful what you wish for” brigade warned of mid-table not top 4 or 5 and a Europa League final. They now think they called it exactly right ! Many would have agreed at the time that a steady pair of hands – maybe even a touch conservative – made sense given where we were and how damaged and split the club had become. The reality is Emery has kept us in contention, by any results-based matrix. I’ll thank him for that and wish him well when he moves on, which will be during the international break barring heroics at the King Power stadium.
He’s a dead man walking and I’m in that camp now too, I’m sad to say. It’s a death spiral. But please, please let’s not be too nasty or the fanbase will never refine it’s behaviour going forward. It’s not the Arsenal I signed up to 50 years ago. COYG.
Cynic@451, the bloke who was monitoring VAR in our game against Palace had a total experience of having refereed just 8 or 9 league games ever! If the VAR referee is on par with the on field referees in terms of experience, there would be less howlers like the Chambers one. Also the on-field referee checking the monitor on the sidelines makes total sense because he has seen the incident from one angle in real time and the monitor would give him different viewing angles in super slow motion. On field referees have had a raw deal ever since television coverage grew sophisticated with multiple cameras and super slow-mos. VAR gives them a chance to redeem themselves if they are given a chance to review their decision on a monitor.
This is the second or third time I have read your claim regarding DRS having affected the quality of on-field umpires in Cricket. I do not see a co-relation between the quality of umpires and DRS at all! It is not like umpires are told to be under-prepared because there is DRS available. If anything DRS has severely exposed wrong decisions by umpires which did not happen earlier. The most celebrated umpires of the past have made a series of howlers. Steve Bucknor perhaps the most famous one having officiated most World Cup finals has dedicated YouTube howler videos under his name. The ones even before that era like Dicky Bird just got lucky because there was not enough technology to expose their decisions like it is now. The umpire I really liked though was David Shepherd. He was far more accurate than other umpires I have seen. Simon Taufel is another one who was really good and kind of bridged the non-DRS and DRS era. He has been an advocate of DRS as far as I know.
I fully expect us to be the first professional football team to have a goal disallowed for LBW.
GSD @463, inevitably. And the very next week, the Marshdwellers will get the decision go the other way in their favour.
Good discussion above. I think TTG, as often, nails it for me. I saw a Twitter poll by Blogs on one of my rare forays onto that vitriol-laden medium which showed remarkable unanimity amongst respondents with 90% of over 36,000 polled being in favour of replacing Emery immediately. UE may or may not still have the dressing room but if that’s at all representative, he has lost almost the entire fan base. I suspect even at the end, the vote for AW to leave would not have been so high.
This nettle must be grasped despite our board’s inexperience in this field. I should underline that an early change of coach is essential not because of a fan poll to win them over (that would be nonsense) but because of the way the team is being managed and the way it now plays. These problems have been evident since the last quarter of last season and show no sign of change despite ‘winning the window’. In the summer I was content to give UE the benefit of the doubt and see how much he could improve the defence and midfield with another close season’s work on the training pitches. There is clearly no improvement and moreover our trajectory is worrying. It must be corrected. UE is no doubt a nice man, as several have said, but he is well rewarded and will be handsomely compensated if he fails to reach June (heaven forbid he should do so). I have no desire for us to hire the Portuguese reptile even as an interim coach but there are several short-term and long-term options out there that could organise this team to make them at least the sum of its parts and have a fighting chance of top four.
Meanwhile my thoughts are with the Guvna in his fight to regain his health.
Scgooner
If you really want a season ticket, now is a great time to apply. I would guess you would have one within three years.
Of course you may live too far away, or can’t make enough games to make it worth while. Completely understand if that’s the case.
While I’m here let me just say that I agree with TTG above in that I am currently loathing this season, the odd bright spot apart. This cannot continue.
Let’s dig in for 500 posts on this thread ….
Still depressed from King’s Lynn and dread to think how I will feel after my Leicester trip as I cannot see us being in anyway competitive against a very good Foxes side.
Please, please Arsenal do not bring Jose to the Emirates, for me that would be a disaster. My suggestion is to get Rafa back from China !!!
Sc Gooner
Lovely post mate , much good sense and as C100 says you may not have long to wait for a season ticket. If Mourinho did come several people here including me might give theirs up! We do need to have sensible expectations or we will end up sacking the manager at half time if the opposition have too many corners. Having said that I’m no fan of the way we play out from the back. I’ve never seen a team less competent at doing it!
Very measured and sensible comments by everyone . I’m particularly in agreement with Bath. There is a lot of vitriol around nowadays and too many idiots with opinions that are grossly unfair. This bar has always been a haven of decent and respectful debate mainly because it was started by someone who was the epitome of decency and reason. I can only imagine what is going on in some of the cesspits that exist for Arsenal ‘ fans’ around the net.
I think we all knew Arsene would be a hard act to follow like MU fans realised SAF would be impossible to replace. Interestingly my experience of them is a refusal to turn on the manager ( and great offence when I called the current incumbent Bilbo Baggins!). They seem very keen not to be seen to be too short-termist. We’ve had a very good debate in here and I would feel most believe Emery should go it’s a question of when . I think once you make the first decision there is nothing to be gained by delaying .
Hi Delia
I’ll be at Leicester as well. Expecting the same football lesson we got last April.
Still it’s my son’s University town so at least I get an easy parking space and a decent ruby after the game.
Perhaps they’ll surprise us (don’t think so).
I am currently loathing this season, the odd bright spot apart. This cannot continue.
Now you know how I felt for the last ten years of Wenger’s tenure!
If the wind really is blowing in a sacking Emery direction there can be only one candidate, if we’re serious about becoming a club that wants to win the title again. Allegri.
He didn’t want the job last time though, as reportedly he thought it was too big a job to rebuild the team so those criticising Emery might wish to think on that for a bit.
Right now Cynic an FA Cup win would seem like more than ‘the odd bright spot’.
A clean sheet would qualify as one of those.
Just taken a look at our Christmas fixtures.
Man City, Chelsea and Man United at home, over a 17 day period, with trips to Everton and Bournemouth in the middle.
Wonder where we’ll be after that lot.
I’d also go for Allegri if possible.
We need to sort out the defence and get some structure in midfield. As long as we give our attacking players a solid base and a bit of support they are good enough that they will score goals, so I’d much rather see us focus on team shape and keeping the opposition from scoring. Allegri knows how to do that.
Good point, GSD. I’d be happy if we kept the oppo down to 15 shots.
Cynic, I would like to believe that the issue with Allegri was his wage demands not his perception of the size of the job. Top managers are top managers for the fact that they know how to turn things around. Maybe he thinks we are ‘too much work for him’…in which case he is either lazy or lacks self-confidence or both.
What about that guy Nagelsmann?
15 shots Cynic?
You’re dreaming mate.
I’d be happy if I could watch us play a Premier League game without feeling a desire to drink 15 shots.
According to an old report from when Allegri was on our short list, which I found when looking for info on when he had been out of contract during the vinegar strokes of Wenger’s reign, he described Arsenal to friends as “an impossible club”.
So…
I know you’ll all be aware of this, but I wasn’t, so just in case anyone doesn’t know… The Vitoria game is at an odd time on an unusual day. Wednesday at 3.50pm.
Allegri is clearly the standout figure. He is taking a sabbatical ( he was working at Juventus before when we were looking ) and is apparently learning English ( Unai missed out that bit?) .
Arteta , Howe , Ancelotti, Benitez , Vieira , Nagelsmann, Wilder, Rodgers, Ten Haag ( at Ajax) all commend themselves for different reasons. All come with pros and cons. But I’d take any of them .
Ideally, I would take Ben Mee with Eddie Howe as his assistant . It provides historical symmetry and he can play centre back .
Are we being too harsh on Emery, depends on what is harsh. is he continuously clueless, yes he is. He still hasn’t found his system/tactic or team which he wants to adopt or establish. He has a set of players who can score more than they concede and instead of that he tries to defend, I wonder why. If he feels our team can defend as a team, he is absolutely insane, we do not have one real proper defender who puts his life on the pitch, no way Sokratis who just flaps his hand and pumps his chest. Tierney is early days but seems to be the odd exception to our poor defence. hector is a wing-back, simple. As ever emery needs to know what does he want to achieve of this team, which he seems clueless about.
We won’t finish top 4, Chelsea and Leicester are better than us, have the momentum and we are too vulnerable defensively to have a consistent run. Will removing Emery help? i am not sure and i am not bothered, expectations were long given up, its the hope that kills.
Good post Vinay but I don’t agree that it’s too late for top 4, but only if we act now.
Sure, Leicester are on great form, but they are still Leicester. They are largely the same XI who finished well below us last season, minus their £80m star CB.
Chelsea have stuttered at times, and will continue to do so in my opinion. Plus they will no doubt have some demanding CL ties to negotiate at the business end of the season.
We still need to play those two above teams twice each.
As bathgooner said, every day we keep Emery is a day wasted for someone else to try to put us back on the right path.
Maybe Allegri simply meant that
following AW was impossible.
Anyway if he’s not interested it
doesn’t matter.
At least Ivan will not be choosing
this time so that gives us a
slightly better chance of finding
the right person.
Maybe we could ask AW for his
thoughts if that wouldn’t be rude.
About this time last year we
rolled Leicester over quite
easily. Lightning strikes the
same place twice right?
And Leicester have made a
good start it’s true but the
couple of times I’ve seen
them they’re nothing special.
The re-invention of Rogers as
anything other than a smirky
little fuck with a portrait of his
stupid self is baffling to me.
Then again I don’t like him so
it possible that’s a subjective
view. Even though it’s fair and
accurate.
So as hope doesn’t kill you
(sorry Vinay but it doesn’t)
I hope for a result and an
enjoyable away trip for C100
and Delia.
*plays a sideways, safe, useless pass* for the 485th time
Correction, it was the 486th
Rattles up pass 488 sideways
to overtake Denilson’s single
game record.
A brief word for Steve Morrow,
who is being let go apparently.
I was at the 1993 League Cup
final and saw Tony break his
arm live (the oaf). I saw his
winner too, it was a dreadful
game but who cares now as I
believe it doubled our number
of League Cup wins.
The best of luck to you Steve.
It’s rumoured that Per is
wielding the axe.
He won’t be called the Big
Friendly German anymore.
Into the Nineties- a good decade
to be a Gooner mostly.
Unless you were Rioch I suppose.
I see your sideways passes. And raise you a backwards pass to the keeper.
A short roll out to an unwanted
centre back amidst the dissatisfied
muttering of a mutinous crowd
Pops up in MF with a Fabregasesque head up turn spotting a runner and releasing a forward ball into his path.
I dunno, I think Bruce Rioch can be proud of his year in charge and if we hadn’t had such a star fucker on the board, he would never had been fired.
David Dein always looked and sounded like the love child of Danny La Rue and Liberace.
To me.
I suspect I’m alone in this. Mainly because you (mostly) youngsters don’t have a clue who Danny La Rue was.
Or Liberace.
Possibly.
I’ve visited the Liberace museum in Las Vegas.
Rolls the ball out to the wing to an on rushing…
Takes the ball in a Pires-esque flat footed stride, drops shoulder, heads for the goal line and cuts the ball back to…
Runs in, taking a defender out of the game, only to dummy the ball which rolls through to…
shimmies across the box running onto gsd’s dummy, chipping it to the back post for…
Puts the ball into the middle of the box with cheeky back heel to…
And fortunately the back heel bounced off the butt of the one of CBs sliding into the box like Mustafi on crack and into the back of the net!
Congratulations ecg on a classic Holic ton.
Lovely team goal. Even if we got a bit lucky with the finish.
Who’s up for 600?
?
Dennis10 who puts a full back on his arse with a spin move and rolls it inside the centre back to
Too late! Story of my life.
Congratulations all on the 500 up!
That what you call a team effort just in time for my 21st again 😀
Lets all raise a glass for the quick return to health for the owner of this fine establishment!
Glass raised, cheers Guvnor.
Odaijini?
Raises glass and drinks Holic’s good health
well in, ecg. even if it was a mustafi.
here’s to dave. best of health, and clear-headed.
Cynic
Are you saying Dein was a prat? Are you Adrian Durham in disguise?
He was the reason we signed Wenger and the person who injected ambition into the board. Without him Wenger was never as effective. I would say Dein was the main reason we became successful. He brought in and worked well with George Graham, he masterminded the bond scheme , he brought in Wenger , he supported him financially, he achieved the signing of Sol Campbell.
What did the Romans ever do for us ?
And another thing Liberace wasn’t much of a centre half . Slightly limp in his challenges and didn’t like heading the ball with his bouffant .
Finally plucked up the moral fibre to look sample the temperature in the Bar.
Sorry to read the Guvnor’s #233. All the very best Dave, I hope you’re soon on the mend.
Wot Saurus said @509.
Just a normal week then? I think I can feel a nap coming on.
It depends if you think completely undermining your manager by being overly chummy with your players is being a prat.
It’s a sure thing we have much to thank him for and the club was rudderless without him.
He was definitely a prat with his shares anyway.
ah now
you fuckin bunch o queens
for reasons that are none of your concern
i missed the 500
though
i always liked ecg
in either CASE
.
.
dave
please be well
please
in a completely selfish way
this place still brings me joy
ya oul cunt
.
how people obviously so different
could be dragged to a point
is brilliantly clear
.
.
get well Dave
you’ve been a really good person to me
herself talks about you like she knows you
“ask ‘holic how he’s doing ?”
.
.
i am not going to get into it but unwellness believe me is a terrible burden for that which exists behind yer eyebrows
and /but/also
people offering support i find annoying
“I HAVE NO MONEY BUT I APPRECIATE YOU WANTING MY RATHER NICE FURNITURE , YOU CUNT ”
.
.
.
anyhoo
dave
i send you every blessed moooooooooooooooooooooo
i can mooooooooooooooooooooooster
and
having heard nothing back
i trust gladys , mildred and the girls
didn’t shite too much
a l’hopital
.
.
although
i have been sent
a banning order cos of them by Stena
but
that was their business
apparently a bunch o herefords
called them black an white paddy bastards
thankfully petunia held assumpta back
cos
assumpta can go
(international incident averted)
.
.
no doubt
i’ll get half a story
as they traipse in tomorrow
.
big eyelashes
.
“Whaaaaaaaaahhhhh”
fuckin herd o cows the lottovem
shitheads
.
.
.
seriously through
Dave
sending every good thought
from Donegal Derry and Belfast
.
this is i know an obscure one
but i hope less so
cos i always post it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqrQ-ZI29Pk&app=desktop
the absolutely almighty He
wouldn’t have felt
PART OF IT
just
part OF IT
but
by buggery i can guarantee
he would have been treated with glee
but glee
universally
not just oul creeper wearing cunts like me
.
.
good people are good people
i have had loads o people staying in my house
people just passing
taking pictures
i make soda bread for
they come back year after year
.
even
*looks left and right*
(english people)
.
.
but
by God
none of them come back
with big ARMFULLS of cocaine
which
is what you people seem to do
.
.
i am running out of organs
i would love a beer
i am smoking skunk
it doesn’t agree with me
i dunno
is this dying bullshitedly
i dunno
is this deflection
i dunno
.
.
what i would say though is
pull yerself together Dave
you’re worth ten o me
ROAR AND SHOUT AND BATTER YOUR WAY OUT
hey hey cba how many patties didya kiss today
lovely @522
.
.
.
or don’t
.
.
.
.
.
.
ya miserable cunt
hello
8ball
?
i used to and always
engage with tourists wanting
a picture of my house
.
.
the only time i lose it
is if people park a few cars
RIGHT UP AGAINST MY HOUSE
look in the windows
and
come out with
“My god , this is so beautiful it’s like a real Irish cottage”
.
.
.
“Indeed it is , now do you mind if i use my english Dr Martens to stand on yer throat ? “
most of the time
i used to say hello to people
have a wee chat
give them a few homebrew
make them a couple of soda breads
to take with them
it costs very little
and it spreads the notion that Irish people are nice
.
.
.
we aren’t
we CRAZY
and
SMARTER
than you
.
.
.
bitches
we all be watchin y’all
and
can i say
to the mighty ‘holic
i spent weeks in the hospital
i hated every second
was in for two days just now
i did sing this to myself a hundred times a day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWbB_vStX_8
and
if you upstage me
i will be very upset
.
i have my chest clutch practiced
even though
i’ve been told
i’ll likely go otherly
.
.
honestly
getting to the half ton ton
without me
i hope you all feel awful
let’s face it
Freddie and the Dreamers
without Freddie
and
as the mighty dorset M says
that fuckin cunt
.
i didn’t know
he was a cunt to them
just awful
.
.
.
but
The Glitter Band were BRILLIANT
without that creep
i loved them for
(checks label)
45 years
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irV5TN7ghGQ
if ye don’t like that song
YOU ARE A TWAT
.
.
.
ps
emery needs booted like nothing has been booted before
booted
and
booted now
.
see bath for verbose reasons
ye know wit they scottish doctors are like !
nope
me neither
.
unintelligible lifesaving dingdongs
cba, you’re making me blush.
here you go:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vo0lYgbwn8
can i just reign in my nonsense
?
baff – despite his limited intellect
has like ‘hol been very kind to me
so
baff can i just say i apologize
for any scottish based insults
i engaged in
(you probably were too busy deep frying tartan to notice)
but
hoots mon
c’mon
.
.
.
.
.
.
we all need salvation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oog9EnBOIVs&app=desktop
that’s a tune ecg
.
.
i used to sing it every day
going down to the beach
haven’t been down recently
i miss it
i am
what can be briefly described
as knackered
constantly knackered
like most elderly people here
?
.
.
.
i understand my insides are eating itself
but
the tired thing i don’t like
.
.
the tiredness i do not like
i
Apparently I need to be doing better drugs.
Sorry you haven’t been to the beach recently. Or the shore as we in the new world sometimes call it. Next time you get a chance to head to the beach/shore you need…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v3CzvQ9e_w
542
pull yerself together
it’s not like i’m a marble statue
.
I am merely an unbelievably handsome person who wants to go about his day to day business without international supermodels lusty nonsense
#cbatoo
ecg
i used to cook food for people
on the most amazing beach
cos i live right beside
.
as i said
i can’t anymore
life and death
bla
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5mtclwloEQ
I’m sorry my friend. I hope you can make it to the beach soon. I love the beach and the mountains, and have not spent time at either recently even though I am only a short distance from both.
it ain’t gonna happen buddy
but
you know
i can wake up to the top
of my half door
being popped open
by a big adorable cow
not
moooooooooooooooooooooo
more
desperation
but
that is a different story
love the cows
gentle and vicious
big lumps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6ki7yvQXgU
It’s about bedtime in Seattle but before I sign off for the evening I’m going to leave you with this little gem that will hopefully get the day started in proper fashion in Ireland.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w59e20ijOpE
?
moooooooooooooooooooooo
Morning cba.
Still putting in the hard yards
with the posts, though there’ll
be no glory when someone nicks
the 600 later today.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BshxCIjNEjY
Though I’ve never heard your views,
on the Swedish superband.
the title seemed apposite
osaka M
i’ll not lie
i have been a bit unwell last few days
but as i’m sure you understand
with great handsomeness
comes great feeling like shiteness
it’s a blessing and a curse
On to Arsenal business and
thoughts turn to Vitoria.
A largely meaningless game
as we’d have to go some to
miss qualification now.
However, play it we must
and hopefully opportunities
will abound for younger
gooners to enjoy a midweek
trip to Portugal. I’m not too
arsed about the result but
I never like losing.
My XI would be
Emi
Hector, Mavro, Rob, Kola
Willock, Xhaka
AMN, ESR, Saka
Martinelli
Just who I’d play of course.
Hopefully Nelson on the bench
for a bit of playing time on his
return.
I’ve heard you should never
explain yourself but anyway….
Now that Mavro is fit and
playing for the U23s I don’t
see the point of playing Mus
as he’s on his way out.
I wouldn’t mind taking Hector
off at half time if we’ve Leicester
in mind but it may be better to
wait until after the interlull.
Xhaka is still our player and a
game in Portugal seems an
easy option plus gives some
rest for Torreira / Guen before
Sunday. Pepe would start
Sunday if I was manager so
he’s not in the squad. That’s
my tuppence worth in good and
early.
A blessing and a curse?
May flocks of angel watch over
your every day, you great turd.
Hope all is as well as possible, cba and have you got any nice bookcases?
CBA
Nothing from Her Majesty this week but I hear confidentially she has your picture by her bed. Hope you keep going old fella. Though we are rude about you, you wouldn’t want it any other way . Bastard.
OM
I think Mavropanos is on the not rated step and I suspect Mustafi will play. We might see the two young strikers John- Jules and Balogun edge towards selection especially once qualified. I hear Burton is rated too but on Wednesday we will have a team similar to the Liverpool selection.
I don’t think he will pick Xhaka at the moment
Good to see cba in good form on the night shift after a few days absence. I hope you are bearing up and striking your handsome pose as elegantly as ever. But your music is shite, pal.
Dunno what you’re like on the old prog rock, cba. Very Pink Floyd, very Norwegian, very good.
If you hate prog, feel free to ignore it 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRDJWAtAHGc
TTG@565
I suspect you are right on all those
points. Mavro seems a good
candidate for a loan in January.
But it’s clear Mus is going so why
not play the player you haven’t
given up on yet. Unless we have of
course.
osaka M – the faraway cunt
cynic – the progressive cunt
thunder T – the thinking cunt’s cunt
baff – the unintelligible cunt
all brilliant
all cunts
the moooooooooooooooooooooos are many for you
all the best fellas
keep up the shite work
?
(but keep the mirth to a minimum please)
(you made me smile)
(thus causing a minor traffic pile up of passing swooning lady motorists)
The injury news is we have
no injuries. A big shiny
treatment room devoid of
malingerers.
I suppose our British core
leaving over the last couple
of seasons has helped the
injury stats but still a nod
to the fitness wonks is due
I think.
We now have a manager who doesn’t just chuck players straight into the fray as soon as they’re fit, which might help also. For all the stick he gets, he’s been very good with his handling of Bellerin, Tierney and Holding.
Maybe Cynic. He’s definitely not rushed them. But it isn’t hard to look at his handling of them and see the theme of excessive caution that often characterises his management.
I would have played Holding ahead of Sokratis a few games ago and many of us were surprised Tierney did not start against Sheffield United when he looked ready and we clearly needed him. Especially as Emery later suggested that he was fully fit but Kola had done nothing to warrant losing his place. Apart from being less good at football, obviously.
He got both fullbacks stuck on midweek games after the interlull meaning that Tierney played against Vitoria and three days later at Crystal Palace, which could have backfired. (Except it didn’t because Tierney was clearly ready for Prem games after an already cautious comeback). And Hector is now playing a game a week but not in the competition we need him in. I’m hardly thrilled by any of this.
It’s not a stick to beat him with. He’s been typically cautious but not done anything awful. But neither can i find a good reason to give him credit for something so basic and which he has handled ‘okay’ but not better than that.
For the first time in ages (ever?) the Holic bar has more regulars in the treatment room than the Arsenal first team. Can we sign Shad Forsythe?
Xhaka not in the squad for tomorrow. Still nothing from the club about him. Or the captaincy. I’d really like to hear something official.
It does slightly make me chuckle to see constant criticism of Emery for being overly cautious in just about everything at the same time as the team is wide open and allowing more shots than at any time I can remember.
That timid/cautious thing is a direct contrast to how people were talking about him up to a few weeks ago, but anything and everything is being used against him it seems.
Since Watford?
CBA
You are the cunt’s cunt.By royal appointment .There can be no higher tribute .
Cows everywhere make mooosic in your honour . ? ?
We are playing in Europe on a Wednesday . May we not have to wait too long until we do it every European game . I’ve just junked BT Sport as austerity bites in the TTG household . I hope to pick up a stream but to be frank I’m not that bothered . I will be out looking for firewood and kindling .
I don’t think that us being so open is because we are trying to play expansive or gung-ho football. Indeed, I think his caution goes hand in hand with the fact that he is aware that we are not setup properly to defend and he does not want to exacerbate that problem by fielding too many players who won’t help out much defensively. That could well be why he left Pepe out on Saturday when Ozil returned to the team.
Furthermore, I was not criticising him for being cautious in the instance you brought up of players returning from injury, merely noting that I am less inclined than you to give him any special credit for it.
577 is a response to Cynic @575.
I think that is obvious enough I wouldn’t usually bother to explain it. But we are getting close to 600…
Cynic
Emery is cautious going forward but can’t organise a defence to save his life . We don’t concede thirty plus shots to the might of Watford because he is secretly an attack monster. We do it because he is a shite coach at both ends of the field .
Honestly Cynic. I don’t remember anyone saying Emery was not cautious for a long time. I dunno where your idea that this happened a few weeks ago came from.
His compound errors are being cautious yet simultaneously defensively frail. Not a good combination.
TTG and I appear to be cross posting much the same thoughts.
I usually find streams are decent for games shown on BT, having jettisoned it a while ago.
@574. I got what I wanted!
Xhaka stripped of captaincy and not part of captaincy group according to BBC and Arseblog. Although I haven’t seen any quotes yet apparently this comes from Emery.
Auba to take over.
Good.
There’s something about Xhaka now. Thank you this was so overdue and never should have happened in the first place
It almost feels like we just won a trophy
I think the medical team have
a lot of input when a player is
coming back from injury,
especially long-term.
UE did say he was simply
following their advice at the
start of the returns – I’d
guess it was medical caution
rather than UE himself.
Now of course timing is down
to him.
Fair play to UE, there is no
point in employing medical
professionals and not
listening to them (though
I’ve regularly ignored my
own doctors advice come to
think of it)
I honestly don’t remember his supposed caution being talked about much before quite recently, but maybe I just didn’t notice.
I’m going to have a look through last season’s Gooner at some point and see if I can detect when the tide really turned.
My personal suspicion is that it didn’t until this season, although there was a lot of angst about not finishing third, but I may be wrong.
OM. Generally speaking I’d agree but that doesn’t tally with his comments after the Sheffield game. That was, by his own admission, nothing to do with medical professionals and fully on him. Which makes me wonder about Bellerin’s integration. I imagine Holding’s absence is nothing to do with his injury but I’d like to see him take Sokratis’ place asap.
Better late than never on the
Xhaka decision I suppose.
It seems the player vote
of confidence wasn’t the
decisive point, which is
also good. I wonder who
did decide.
When Charlie Nicholas said he thought Xhaka would never play for Arsenal again, I thought he was overdoing it but as he’s no longer captain, which was always a bonkers appointment anyway, it might be that he goes as soon as January, if we can unload him.
GSD,
Yes, I thought Sokratis was ok
last season but he’s been quite
poor this season so far. And the
partnership with Luiz doesn’t
look solid at all – though I would
accept that is not entirely their
fault.
To be honest if Hector had come
back quicker I’d have dropped
Papa for Calum by now. Although
I have doubts about Calum as
a CB I thought he’d done well
enough to earn a shot.
Anyway, Rob should be fit now
and even though he didn’t play
well at Liverpool he should come
back soon.
Yes, certainly since Sheff Utd it’s
been UE’s decisions on the returning
players as they were pronounced
fully fit.
My gut feeling (and nothing more) is that Emery was distinctly unimpressed with Xhaka’s reaction. I think he was sensible to say that Xhaka had been wrong in his post match interview but also to go no further and give himself and the club time to consider their reaction (there was a suggestion, possibly from Vinay, that he should have claimed not to see it- which was ludicrous). He did well in his initial response.
It has taken too long to get sorted out. We should have seen something much sooner. And I think he should still be fined by the club as well. If he is not it may be a sop to the fact that he continues to play the victim and is angry at social media. I think he has well earned a fine.
However, I also have the feeling that Unai, without showing any ruthlessness, has made his own clear decision not to rely on Xhaka anymore and has ensured that he is out of the captaincy group. I’m on board with that. I hardly expected him to get the hairdryer out!
OM @590. Agreed on all points.
Hopefully Xhaka has done us a favour and we can see the back of him sooner.
Squad for Vitoria was announced.
Xhaka, Luiz, Auba and
Ozil didn’t travel.
Nelson is included but no place
for ESR. Still quite a strong
squad.
Cynic @589. I hope we can unload him. I’m not interested in seeing him in our colours again.
And a move would be good for him. I have said before that I think he is well suited to Serie A and would expect him to be effective in that league.
Thunders a defensive header forwards to…
I just thought – however will
we cope with only 4 captains
A startled AM but controls the
header on his manly chest and
lays it out to a speeding…
Latches onto GSD’s @596 which skipped by OM, and flicks it onto….
Jeorge Bird
@jeorgebird
·Not sure why, but all of the staff profiles for the first-team and academy have been removed from http://Arsenal.com
https://arsenal.com/staff
I wouldn’t get too excited, the cached version is exactly the same and that was snapshotted days ago.
We are Total Football!
We’re coming in from all angles, finding passes that even Ozil can’t see and finishing so clinically that Auba would doff his cap. TTG taking the plaudits this time, well in sir.
Meanwhile, Chelsea are getting a proper doing, which will hopefully mean certain Arsenal websites stop chucking the jizz over Fat Frank.
Chelsea are unlucky they are 4-1 down against Ajax, not us. You’d expect them to get at least a draw against us from there ?
They might against this mob, now they’re down to nine men. And we think our refs are cunts…
Oh well, let the jizzing recommence tomorrow…
Referee 5 Ajax 4
Oh, maybe not. Not yet anyway. But it will be.
(trying to get to 700)
Cynic, Have you noticed Emery gets no credit for making us way more competitive against other top 4 or 5 ? There was a time for 3 or 4 years when results like 5-0, 6-1, 6-0 or even 8-2 were de rigeur. And that’s before we mention Bayern. Short memories. Also, re injuries, it’s a bit dim to ignore his intensive rotation discipline and just laud the “medical people”. Fab Frankie conceding 4 at home, who would have thought. Two reds now, oh well, when your luck is in….
This Chelski game referee should be fired tomorrow morning!
Emery gets no credit for anything at all, Scg. Everything written thesedays has an angle of attack aimed at him, no matter what. I guess agenda = clicks.
Sc. Emery got more points against the top clubs last year. I think he has been given credit for that.
But if he had done as well as even Wenger’s last teams did against the weaker opponents AS WELL as the top clubs we would be in the Champions League now. All those people who wanted us to do better against the big 6 were not expecting us to do worse against the lesser teams. That made the whole thing a wash.
Also, you get no more points for a 3-1 loss than an 8-2. Clearly one is much better and we were headed in the right direction but this season we have 2 points from 9 against Spuds, Poo and Manure. Not terrible but not wonderful either. How much credit should Emery get for that? Remember the Manure game? They were poor and if we had been half decent we would have won. Poo trounced us. (Although I was quite receptive to Emery’s tactics that day and felt we had a clear system of play which won’t always come off against a good side but was, ironically, a more systematic approach than most of our other games, including ones we got points in). And against Spuds we went two down and did well to rescue a point from a poor situation we should not have been in. So, again, how much credit is the manager due?
Scgooner,
I disagree with you that Emery has made us more competitive even against the the top 4 or 5 as you say. I’m not sure where this Emery praise has come from. It’s not working for him and certainly for us.
Yes Chelski was behind 1:4 but they haven’t given up look at the tempo of this game. I would love to see us play at this pace!
Not just for 15 minutes but for the entire game .
cynic, you’re too right. you’d think he’d been drowning puppies.
here’s something i wrote on the arsenal america facebook page, after people were just *slagging* on unai for cutting xhaka off the captaincy rolls:
“man, people look for a lot of sticks to beat emery with. he says something, he gets stick. he doesn’t say it fast enough, or enough enough, he gets stick. he doesn’t strip granit of the captaincy, he gets stick. he does, he gets stick. feel entitlement much?”
someone then responded, “well bayern just fired their coach and they’re in a better position than us. big clubs, etc.”
to which i answered: “yeah, bayern’ve had five coaches since pep left in 2016. be careful what you wish for.”
no matter what, people are going to complain (not that emery should be the coach we stick with, per se, but it’s like the sanitation worker who kept a bucket of shit in his bedroom…it got good to him. beating up on the coach because they’re not doing the job fans think he should be doing got good to people at the end of the wenger reign, and it still goes on).
Cynic @611
The world’s smallest violin is weeping gently at the unfair treatment of Emery and the evils of all those with an agenda. (Dirty word!)
In seriousness, I get what you’re saying about some of the stuff found elsewhere but I think this place is pretty reasonable. No one in any power is reading our waffle so an agenda is pretty pointless. And just because you disagree it doesn’t mean that people who don’t rate the guy are all out to get him. It is as easy (and as fatuous) to claim that anyone who constantly bemoans the lack of credit given to him and tries to talk up any positive thing he does at all has an agenda to promote him.
People just see it differently. No need to act like it’s a witch hunt.
We don’t score many goals. We concede too many. We don’t pick up points. Of course the manager gets stick. Agenda doesn’t come into it.
We will never ever have another coach for as long as Wenger was in the club, those days are over guys.
As far as I’m concerned Emery had enough time now to show us if he can really improve this squad. It’s not like I have some agenda against him as a person I’m sure he’s a nice guy an all that, however Arsenal has been far too lenient here.
I think he’s given it his best, however on this occasion it’s not what this squad and the club need, we have not improved defensively, our midfield is confused and our strikers are starved of proper service.
Also it’s fair to point out that it’s not the end of the world we are after all still in transition from Wenger but 18 months in charge should give you an indication if the gaffer was the right choice. To me he is not the right guy to take us forward especially in this league. He will move on find another club and that will be the end of it. We need to think about Arsenal more here rather than what happens to Emery.
The worts case scenario is, if we won’t make top 4 this season say goodbye to Laca and Auba!
gsd, i think you’re right, emery should not be our coach. there have been some dire games recently, and we have players that, were they gelling and playing in a system that made sense to them they’d be killing it.
i’m just tired of people bashing emery for everything he does, even if they’re contradictory bashes (i.e., for not cutting xhaka, then cutting him, as captain). that seems like bashing for bashing’s sake, don’t you think?
Scruz. Obviously I’m not on your Facebook page and no longer keen on Emery but I’m genuinely curious what line of argument people are using to dig Emery out for taking the captaincy off Xhaka? He’s spot on there.
Scruz. As a general comment on some off the stuff written in other places then yeah, I’d agree he gets stick for all sorts of unreasonable claptrap. But i don’t see that here and don’t like knowledgeable posters here being lumped in with a lot of absolutely agenda driven posters elsewhere, that’s all.
Arthur @616. Well said. Have a drink on me
I’m keen on 700!
We don’t score many goals. We concede too many. We don’t pick up points. Of course the manager gets stick. Agenda doesn’t come into it.
When it is as relentless as it has been from certain quarters, an agenda is definitely in play. Let us not forget that Emery’s job was in danger after just two games of the season… according to some.
Your points above are obviously correct and I’m disappointed in how the season is going, but I don’t like everything having an Emery Out slant this early in the game.
I wonder if, had certain people been Liverpool fans, they would have had Klopp gone within 18 months? I’m not suggesting Emery is going to do for us what Klopp has for that lot, but the time to fire the guy is not now. I hate the Chelsea mindset that is now firmly in place, where we’re prepared as fans to chuck people out after less than two years in the job.
IF our board is weak enough to dump him before the end of the season, they can get to fuck.
Thanks GSD one for you on Lars card as well 🙂
As the numbers rack up, they provide a reminder to inquire after the health of the Guv’nor.
I’m genuinely curious what line of argument people are using to dig Emery out for taking the captaincy off Xhaka?
Easy. It will have been too late, he shouldn’t have had the job anyway, the club should have made a statement criticising Xhaka before now as well and the kicker will be a claim that Emery didn’t even make the decision and it was forced on him.
The kind of ludicrous stuff that has been in play this season already, where it is claimed that he’s only been playing the younger players because the board sold Iwobi (because, like, he’s such a veteran himself innit) and moved Miki out and forced him to.
He only gets things right because someone else makes him. Obviously.
gsd, completely agree about your take on this place’s denizens. very measured, in general, and frustrated. very few sticks. i see them out elsewhere, however, and i wonder what forest moved in.
on fb, things like “emery should be fired for getting rid of xhaka as captiain”, “emery should be fired for not getting rid of him as captain fast enough”, “emery should be fired for appointing him as captain in the first place”, etc., etc., etc.
emery’s not, i think, the coach we need. however, nothing he does about xhaka even needs to come into that assessment…he’s not been getting the team to do the job on the pitch, so that’s why he should be gone.
ned, i emailed him the other day, and haven’t heard back. i’ll ping him other ways; however, i am assuming that no news is good news.
here’s to you, dave. be well!
Cynic. I agree with 625 but not 622. For me it would be weaker by a long way to keep him than get rid. If things carry on as they are and we finish way down the league there won’t have been any benefit. Do you think a new manager would/could do worse than what we are currently seeing? I don’t.
And on that note I shall bow out before the 650 and allow cba (what about those bookcases?) to take us on through the night, like an Irish Ray Moore.
Apologies for ranting on, it’s not like I even really give a sod any more. 🙂
gsd@628, i’d hope a new manager would be better. but there’s no guarantee, and while now might be the time, change for change’s sake shouldn’t be the motive force.
i want the board to identify a candidate, compare how this team might respond to the new candidate vs. the current coach, and go from there. that takes time, and opportunity, and perhaps *right now* one is missing.
Scruz @ 626
Based on that FB sample I can fully see why you’re hacked off. Load of rubbish mate.
Yeah Scruz. Emery hasn’t worked out. Okay, that can happen and it was always going to be a huge ask for the guy replacing Wenger. The next appointment is important to get right and it is a decision we cannot rush. But we can’t wait too long whilst results keep going against us. Freddie as caretaker maybe? I have no idea who is available right now.
I’ve expressed a preference for Allegri, which I’ll stick with, but my knowledge is limited and as long as the board are on top of it I’ll be happy to see who they go for. Big decision for Raul and Edu. Josh Kroenke might be more involved, although he will presumably defer to the football men, and Vinai probably gets a say but I think we’re looking at Raul and Edu to pull the strings here. What can they come up with?
It’s an interesting one. I’m still a bit torn on Emery but concede the fanbase has turned and so the game is up. The book of evidence results-wise is pretty slim IMHO. Rotation didn’t work in the run-in last season (it was indeed a collapse) but looking to Mavraponos, Elneny, Jenks, Mustafi, etc when games were coming every three days – and remember we did serious jobs on Napoli and Valencia in the same period – was always a big ask. Unfortunately then AMN (who could never defend) got sent off at 0-0 away to Leicester. This squad was too small and indisputably inherited. Not the case now, at all. This will kick in later. Plus there was no funds available in Jan ’19 (and don’t dare point to the net 1mill outlay on Suarez). Sure we ballsed up Baku, confidence probably shot by then. So Exhibit A for the prosecution is barely 3 or 4 games last season. The rest following the opening 2 defeats was good Champions League form. Exhibit 2, looking at results, is this season mainly Sheffield U ( deffo pen) and then Palace (which we “won” in fact) and then Wolves draw. We should be 20 points from 11 games, that’s a fact. Just under 2 per game is our very long term average, no more, so is the case completely clear cut so soon ? I wonder. Europa has been excellent with our 2nd XI and personally I took heart from Anfield. Having attended Wolves and heard the booing and the ridiculous singing about Ozil and the screaming at defenders passing it around, I have a lot of sympathy for the coach. He’s under pressure and his in-game mind has gone a bit short term, in the cauldron, maybe as he tries to keep the fans onside. He’s handled the Xhaka affair with true Arsenal class. If the Management stick with him longer than expected, people should give him a blo*dy break. Stay classy Gooners ! Right that’s enough from a blow in like me, I’ll get my coat before I’m turfed out….before I’m “baayrrred” as we say in Dublin. COYG.
50/50 odds the next manager will be worse in my opinion
arthur 616
massive moooooooooooooooooooooo from me
dino
brainpower aplenty
cynic
i just fuckin love you fella
.
.
now
let me just check back and discover
what thrusting young midfield dynamo took the 6 ton
i’m sure i won’t be disappointed
SCG@627: I hope your assumption is correct.
633
buy some fuckin ‘holic paragraphs
they are clearly signposted
in the gift shop
and
i’ve found
very reasonably priced
oh shit now
well now
ned
proper ‘holic royalty
how are ye ?
of a choice handful
of ‘holics
should tabs and dr feelgood and lester
be added to the stew
oh
what a nourishing intellectual meal of hilarity
i battered into wordy submission
indeed i’ve heard it said
more battering than trev
with a discombobulated kneecap
with his name on it
t’would be
*KLAXON*
this is just a drill
this is just a drill
(it’s still me)
(but what if)
*stares blankly into the middle distance*
*KLAXON*
*KLAXON*
wha?
*KLAXON*
*KLAXON*
well
you see – things are
sometimes
and more importantly – that too
and as well
*KLAXON*
cba@638: as you know, we are humble folk here at Castle Ned, cba, but at least kings in our own castle.
And I should inquire after your health in return. Hope this is a good day.
See you @700.
ned
always a pleasure
to talk to you
health i’ve decided
is a construct
created by The Man
to keep honest to goodness
handsome men like me
from handsoming their handsomeness
without fear or favour
but
saying as ye asked
i’m doing ok
.
what else can i do ?
i just feel so bad
for
the lusty womenfolk of Donegal’s husbands
i’m not as visible as i used to be
so i’m sure that translates
to the dinner plate
cos
fellas
let’s not forget
making dinner shouldn’t concern you
.
bitta feminism right there
(Did ye notice it )
.
the fanny love that
bless ’em
I don’t blame UE for the delay
on the Xhaka decision as to me
that was a club issue and Raul
should have decided it.
Anyway, it’s done now.
Oh, I nicked the 650 with
impeccable timing.
osaka M
have you ever
returned a single unburst by you
ball over the fence
and
i haven’t said it in a while
–
(though
do positive vibes work
if ye aren’t roller skating
an american sea front
in glitter shorts
with more SASS than you can handle)
.
.
dave
every happy thought is sent your direction
but
you better have everything serious
i’m wishing you didn’t have
otherwise
you are just making a mockery
of the whole massive night time joint project
i appear to have embarked on
?
or upon
.
.
.
.
yeah
not him
either
Sokratis has been getting his share of flak lately but there are more letters in his last name than some back fours combined. There. I said it.
cba@645: as they said in Vietnam, survivors are heroes.
They probably never said handsome is as handsome does, but I am sure you do.
Back in the day (15th century or earlier), handsome meant good or chivalrous, so the original phrase was, goodly is a goodly does.
as who said in Vietnam
and
what in the wide wide world of sports
would that have
a single fuckin sliver of importance
to me
round about now
honestly
some of ‘holic’s royalty
are tarnished of tiara
.
gimme back
my signed pennant
ya mad man
.
.
gonna have a right good go at a snooze
so
.
KEEP THE FUCKIN NOISE DOWN
@634
Quite agree bt8.
We should change anyway
though as it’s less than
50/50 that UE can change
the current situation
Tricky game today as Vitoria
showed they could hurt us
last time. It seems likely the
back 4 will be Hector, Mus, Rob
and Kola. Plenty of experience
there but I think they’ll need it
as our midfield often goes
missing defensively.
I guess Saka and Martinelli will
start too, hopefully they can get
the goals in another 3-2 win.
10am on a Wednesday morning and we are 6 hours from kickoff… Ridiculous!
Ten Hag of Ajax had a good audition to be our new head coach last night, showing he knows exactly how to turn a 3 goal lead into a draw. ?
Today’s match will be a challenge. Not because of the quality of the opposition who, after all, had failed to score a single goal in the EL this season until they encountered our Keystone Cop defence and who would have won their first EL game had it not been for the dead-ball skills of Pepe. It will be tough because of our dysfunctional playing style, which more than the results, is the primary reason why UE should have his contract terminated at the earliest feasible opportunity.
The insistence of playing out from the back by players clearly unsuited to and uncomfortable with the tactic, the failure to play a midfield capable of screening a hapless back four or linking effectively with the strikers whose resultant lack of touches explains our lack of shots and goals indicates for me a coach incapable of using these players effectively.
I expect to see Martinez behind Chambers, Mustafi, Holding & Kolasinac. Now Xhaka is PNG, MF selection is more problematic: I expect Torreira and Gwen to join AMN and Willock or possibly Nelson in a young and energetic though not overly creative group behind the boy wonder Martinelli and Saka.
I hope we win this afternoon and suspect the Guvna would back a 2-1 to the Arsenal. Should that transpire I will be delighted but I don’t expect us to dominate the game (when was the last time we did that even at home against low class opposition?) and it won’t change my view on the coach. Indeed I have no expectation of an Arsenal victory in any match this season until there is a new man in charge as I have seen no evidence that UE can set up a team based on the strengths of the players at his disposal that is organised in a manner that attacks and defends effectively.
Nonetheless I will be cheering on the lads at the top of my voice.
COYG
N.B. KO is at 3.50pm UK time.
It’s not a hugely important game today but a win would be great as it takes pressure off the last 2 group games. Hopefully we can play with some freedom in attack and solidity in dedence- which is a standing order at the moment.
Our dedence must be improved!
I keep forgetting we are playing today and may forget again before kick off. ….forget what??
As GSD said it’s not the biggest game we’ve ever played but the exciting football played by our B team has been in stark contrast to our A team for the reasons so lucidly described by Bath,
It seems a bit perverse on an online forum to bemoan the ills of social media but there is far too much bollocks ( to use a technical term) written online and it creates much more heat than light on most forums which are significantly inferior to this one. The furore around Xhaka suggests people just like to whinge whatever the situation is.
I think we will squeak a narrow win today ( are we playing today?) because we will anticipate the problems that Vitoria will set us better than we did a couple of weeks ago.
I’d use the game to trial Luiz in defensive midfield and use Torreira with him in a double pivot so that we can use Willock further forward in a creative unit as a no.10. I agree with Bath that the Holic pound would be on 2-1 to the Arsenal. Sounds decent to me unless it proves to be wrong in which case it was bloody stupid.
Now I’m off to charm my wife before I sneak off to find a stream showing the match. Can’t think for the life of me how I’m going to do that so I may just start looking for the stream anyway ….what am I looking for a stream for??
COYG
TTG. Just to let you know that Arsenal are playing today. At 15.50. (yes, you read that right)
Positive selection: 3 at the back.
Martinez
Mustafi Holding Sokratis
AMN, Ceballos, Willock, Tierney
Pepe, Martinelli, Saka.
UE does like this cup.
Alternative, agenda led, view
FACKIN’ NEGATIVE KHAAAAAANT, FIVE AT THE FACKIN’ BACK AGAINST THEM KHAAAAANTS.
captain rob, love it.
come on, you gooners!!
Been a while since we played 3 at
the back.
Does this mean Hector starts
Saturday? And Calum?
I always said we needed at
least 6 captains
And at least 2 reserve captains…
Our defense survives, as a sweet shot hits our upright.
Martinez makes a great save and they come within a whisker of scoring.
Three chances in the first 13 minutes. We are terrible at defending.
Hmmm
on the bright side Emi is
playing well
I’ve had a wager on this with Skybet that is Martinelli to score, Arsenal to get seven plus corners and Mustafi to be carded at 20/1
Somehow I think the seven corners bit is going to let me down.
ksn,
I think our transition from defending to attacking is really poor. No much of a game plan.
Best form of defense is to attack!
We are improving though with a decent header on goal….
At some point I think we have to stop blaming game plans and recognise that our players are just not that good as a unit. Individually they are fine, but I’ve never in my life known a system make a player a bad passer or incapable of picking up a runner.
@Cynic, a change of coach and quickly turn things around and make players play better as a unit. It’s happened time and time again for different teams, except Arsenal in the past 20 years.
What I mean by “fine” is that they’re talented individuals but they’re obviously flawed. They don’t track runners, they switch off etc. That’s not the system, that’s players.
we’re slowly racking up
corners
it’d be useful if we could get in a cross from the right, that’s where the opportunities are coming.
We’ll stop at six just to fuck me off.
ref is letting a lot of “professional fouling” go on without carding (much). i’d like to see a good warning card for some of these hits in the midfield.
we’re up to three now, yeah?, cynic?
Agree, not good enough defensively from the players. But the coach has to shoulder the blame for not being able to get a performance out of the players. We’re clueless on the ball, too, is that on the players or the coaching?
we skirt and skirt and skirt around the edges, then misplace a pass. no incisiveness. COME ON YOU GOONERS!!
Not a half to live long in
the memory
poor end to a poor half. we’re thankful for the post.
Who needs shots on target anyway?
but there’s nothing stopping us from playing a ball out of the back along the right wing for…
Laca on some time 2nd half
if we want to win. Or possibly
UE is happy enough with a
draw as it’ll probably put us
through
i just don’t want to use laca against injury on this greasy pitch.
i’d rather see the team on the pitch figure it out.
The players look worse at passing because of how little they show for each other. We cannot transition through the lines to get the ball from our defenders into forward positions.
It’s 700 time.
Is this our equivalent of the
Mexican wave when the game
is very very dull ?
puts a curling ball into the area for the head of…
Oh go on then
Lacklustre first half. The defensive coach has to explain that when you hold a high line at a FK, you don’t keep holding it when the kick has been taken and you track runners. Either the defensive coach has overlaboured the keep a high line bit or our players are thicker than I thought.
nicely nodded with yer noggin, cynic.
gsd, yeah, it’s all very static, while vitoria is very mobile. our closing down seems to involve a “leg stuck out” then walking. our passing is hard to feet, which means first touches are heavy, and we lack control. kind of ugly, considering arsenal.
Spot on GSD. Appalling lack of movement.
Well in Cynic.
I dedicate my 700 to cba (in return for his bookcases) and to the guvnor, who I hope is resting up and will be back very soon.
Let’s have a better show for the second half.
COYG.
Looks like Saka can’t hang onto the ball as well as not finding a player with a pass
Cynic gives us something to cheer!
Please Arsenal. Please play better. Pretty please.
put in torreira for mustafi, and go to four at the back with torreira holding (but not holding holding). give joe the box to box role he can clearly play, and put ceballos up at 10. tell amn and tierney to stay home as much as possible, or at least prioritize the defensive half. get crosses in to gabby that are accurate and plentiful.
shit, there goes ceballos’ hammy.
I struggle to see what Willock and Saka offer to this team, to be honest. We have just witnessed Ceballos belting back on the cover and I’m not sure where the rest of the midfield was or the left back.
And now Ceballos has done his hammy and I wonder how much that covering run was to blame for this.
saka has to make that crossfield pass to pepe. he was in, there.
to be fair, the defense, in this first ten minutes, is much better than in the first half. if we could stop giving the ball away near midfield…
Corner number five… come on… two more and a goal for Martinelli…
Cynic denied a corner by a terrible offside decision against Pepe.
cynic, you were screwed there. that was totally onside, and should have been corner no. 6.
We used to look good going forward under Wenger though our defending was shit. Now we defend just as bad or worse and the attacking fluency is gone. We now have few shots on goals and our opponents (however shit) have at least, twice as many shots on our goal. We are going backwards.
ATG, take your point entirely.
We either pass sideways or backwards and look impotent.
SIX CORNERS!
That’s the last one then.
martinelli for the headed goal off corner no. 6?
Still no shots on target.
In other news it looks like Ancelotti might be getting sacked.
Time to bring Laca on for
Martinelli?
Laca for Saka.COYG.
laca for saka. man, i’d hoped we wouldn’t need to bring him on.
Holding commits a foul just as Martinelli was about to run half the length of the pitch and score my goal. Bastard!
I must admit seeing if
Cynic’s bet comes in is
about the only point of
interest in this match
that, om, and seeing it out with no further injuries. *makes the sign of the corna*
It’s not going to come off, although my ability to judge football is so poor, it was the Mustafi card bit I expected to end up failing me.
Joe Willock skies one, which is a bit par for the course really.
I think he might be coming off for Torreira.
If he takes Martinelli off, he can get sacked.
I’m so bored. We are so dull.
I can’t recall a match when we had no shots on target for more than 70 minutes. Sack him in the morning!!!
Absolutely no movement up top.
How bad are we ? No style and despite some excellent players no team quality. Emery needs to go very, very soon . I hope the taxi has been ordered to meet our plane when it lands
that’s a good sub, IF he keeps playing the holding role willock was playing.
Does Emery make our front two jog back and forth in straight lines and not show for the ball then?
4 of our guys standing in a line with their defensive line. Guendouzi and Willock in the middle. The ball with our defenders. No way to get it from back to front. Just terrible.
So many times we go back to our defenders to pass it amongst themselves.
Wrong fucking player but 1-0
Are we allowed to celebrate when ShM scores ??
i suppose this answers the question “can we do it on a rainy night in portugal?”
and, right on cue, we get a goal. mustafi from a beauty of a freekick by that man pepe. no, cynic, he didn’t take it away from martinelli. 🙂
Good header Mustafi.
Get in!
That’s a bit harsh Cynic?
And good delivery from Pepe
1-0 to The Arsenal?
not to get ahead of myself here, but these days “winning when playing poorly” is just a win for us.
Good delivery, good header
but terrible defending by
them
Cynic @ 735.
When are they gonna show for the ball? It’s never with a midfielder in the opposition third who might be able to find them. The problem is not their runs, it is getting the ball into the attacking third for someone to then find a striker’s run.
Unless you expect them to make runs that Mustafi can find from his own half. Because that’s where the ball is.
cynic, if martinelli scores do you still get your biscuit?
Scruz @744.
That made me chuckle. Nicely put.
That’s a bit harsh Cynic?
Not when there’s money at stake and especially not when that money is MINE 🙂
Still on six corners… last minute corner, Martinelli scores. That’ll do me.
What a coach and what a header!
Who ever doubted! Mustafi is a genius ?
scruz – I still get my conkers if Martinelli scores, yes. As long as we get one more corner.
And what would I spend my conkers on? A long sleeved home shirt, that’s what.
Cynic,
Fair enough 😀
Almost lost our lead there..
That’s another shocking goal to give up. We couldn’t defend a fish supper, to quote Big Sam.
cynic, that’s a good spend. fingers crossed for the two to come in. five more minutes.
and, of course, we forget how to defend.
They score.1-1.
and Arsenal loose a lead again ffs!
Guess we’ll be happy with a draw ?
What the fuck is going on?
IN THE MORNING!!!!!!!!!
Why did Martinez just watched the ball?
how the hell do we keep giving in these acrobatic goals? that was SO bad. though if that had gone in off mustafi, it would have been worse.
Mustafi almost scored an OG. Only we can concede twice in two mins but fortunately score still 1-1.
Emery is such an easy target, but the players need to take the flak as well. They are the ones creating fuck all every week.
shouldn’t have gotten ahead of myself, then. sigh.
My stream gave me no reply but I thought Pepe was onside there and through one on one with the keeper.
Phew! That was close. Fair result 1-1, but we were really poor for the entire match.
There are some ( few) in this bar who are very reluctant to change anything- manager, owner, club wallpaper.
You have got to change Emery he has ruined this club’s playing style
It was a poor game by all means
GSD,
Missed that bit as well. Can anyone else confirm?
Cynic, we are indifferent…this is about our behaviour, our mentality. Players just reflect what goes on in the background. The sooner he goes the better for all.
No surprise that we conceded. Which is a concern.
And very frustrating that when breaking at them in injury time Guendouzi plays a poor pass behind Laca at which point we start fannying about with it in the corner instead of trying to create a chance. As soon as we lose it Vitoria bomb up the pitch with their revolutionary tactics of trying to score a winning goal. I wish we’d thought of that.
A laughable last 5 minutes.
We had 5 or 6 players in
front of their bloke when he
scored, there is no way he
should get that shot in.
The ref was rubbish. No high profile decisions but I thought he got a lot wrong for both sides.
What a dull game. Made vaguely interesting by the comedy stylings of our team when defending a lead and a vague sense of wonder as to whether we would turn a winning position into a draw or a loss. Uuurghh.
I really don’t think anything will change if he goes.
We might get a brief, Solskjaeresque, results bump but in the medium to long term, this is a squad that doesn’t have enough good players in it and after all the optimism of “winning the transfer window” we might be realising that we actually didn;t after all.
What we have is experienced players who aren’t good enough (you all know who they are), young players who are not really ready yet and a couple of diamonds.
It’s not JUST tha manager, it’s the whole thing.
Did we make there GK make a save , did we create a chance where we should have scored .
The way we set up it’s not worth playing any forwards/goal scorers unless they can do it on there own .
When we have the chance to break we’re too slow then go wide or backwards , what is UE asking them to do .
We might hear later they carried out his tactics to the letter , this is not good , UE dead man walking .
The main issue here is we all know these players can do so much better, so bloody frustrating!
Match report: Dismal, dismal Arsenal. Over 60% possession, 1 shot on target. Mustafi’s goal. No near misses. It would be boring, boring Arsenal but *they* used to win 1-0.
All at sea. But no captain and the admiral is lost. End it now, please.
All the sevens!
No surprises there.
Disjointed, dull and
panicky in the closing stages.
On to Leicester for a different
XI to be disjointed and dull.
Emi did well 1st half. Good FK
from Pepe, nice finish by Mus.
We didn’t lose in the last 5
minutes. Any other positives
anyone?
As Unai said in his post match interview:
They are a good team and we had to be strong defensively… 😀
“They threw everything up front and sometimes it’s not organised anymore” – Mustafi
Seems a bit generous. When was it ever organised?
That’s true OM: nice glass half full observation. Martinez made 2 excellent saves in the first half and it was a beautiful delivery by Pepe that was nicely dispatched by Mustafi. Other positives: Pepe, Laca and Martinelli didn’t get injured. All three worked their socks off too.
Holding buys a little shimmy to give them space to cross the ball for there goal. It’s not a huge mistake and I think he’s a good player but he still has a lot to improve on.
“We tried. They are a very competitive team and it was very important for us to be strong defensively. I think we did that and we did better offensively. -Emery
Better offensively? Better than what?!
GSD@783, better offensively than abject surrender?
I will agree with you on that Bath. I can fully get behind the opinion that today ‘Arsenal were better offensively than abject surrender’.
Well. That’s alright then.
Carry on.
I completely forgot that this prime sporting festival was taking place today. Given that it is being fairly widely described as the worst game if the Emery era, it must have been pretty bad. We all get lucky sometimes and every dog has his day.
Keep smiling Holics, things will get better, meanwhile keep on the sunny side. This one’s for Holic himself and cba gives it a good Moooooooooooooooo every day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBiLISbw0mQ
Cynic,
I’m very fond of your humour and input but I completely disagree with you on most football issues at present.
This is potentially a VERY good squad who with a good coach who drilled them properly could achieve much. Our front three are dynamic and exciting and with a better midfield structure we could easily be top four and might challenge in this competition. Emery is beyond awful and a good coach who can impose a team structure ( there is absolutely none at present) could make a massive difference.
We reached the CL final in 2006 keeping 14 clean sheets in a row with a defence of
Lehmann
Eboue Senderos Toure Flamini.
The defensive coach then was Martin Keown. If that group could achieve 14 clean sheets we should be able to do something with our defence
Plays the ball backwards to anyone at all. As long as they are not further up the pitch than me…
Didn’t see the match and based on the comments above I’m glad I didn’t waste my time. Just saw a stat that we attempted 589 passes with only 6 going into their box, and only 1 completed pass (Pepe’s free kick I assume).
Yes Emery needs to clear out his office but it isn’t just about his inability. I don’t see too many players taking the initiative out there. The only consistentcy week in week out is poor performance and mistakes. There is such a thing as player responsibilty on the pitch and this sorry bunch are taking the piss.
That was (to use a technicality utilised by the excellent TTG) fucking dire. A waste of my afternoon that could have been spent reading or listening to music.
We are going to be absolutely humped by Leicester.
Totally forgot match was on so early; sounds like we didn’t miss much.
And in other news: for Juve, Ramsey scores the shortest goal of his career as he gets his toe on the back part of the ball as it’s about to go over the line. Best part is that it takes credit for it away from Ronaldo.
And, as many candidates for the Bayern job drop out, AW says of course he’d be interested in taking over.
Quite enjoying watching Andrew Neill reducing politicians of all parties to a puddle of lava.
I know he’s a Tory but he just loves going in for the kill on all of them.
The University of Glasgow should be proud.
Just filling as we close in on 800. Rolls it back to the goalie to build again …..
Plays a panicky ball towards the corner flag…
Humps the ball forward just to annoy the coach…
GSD
Not sure if I dislike Jacob Rees- Mogg or Unai Emery the most at present
Could Neil do over Emery ?
Interested to see that on first day of campaigning a Cabinet Minister resigns , the odious Bridgen and JRM insult the relatives of Grenfell and the cheating bastards doctor a video of Keir Starmer ( Arsenal season ticket holder) …..and I used to vote Tory!
Sees Mustafi rising at far post
Chips ball over
Bang!
I always was a goalhanger ?
Well hung TTG.
Err…
Oooo errr, matron!
Nurse Jenkins rears her lovely head again ?⚕️
Well in TTG
Right lads, we’re going for four figures here.
Countryman. I’m in!
Let’s do it
Absolutely, what 1000 posts among friends?
Count me in!
We can just kick it about in defence for a while. Nice and easy lads.
I am still struggling to find any positives from the game.
I suppose at least our players appear to be waterproof.
Plays it to a midfielder who has dropped deep to collect it…
Passes back to the goalkeeper. Cups ear to mocking noise from the North Bank.
We’re the North Bank
We’re North Bank
We’re North Bank Highbury!
Just noticed that for the 800 TTG headed in his own cross
Not even St Dennis could do that.
Must be a trick Cliff Bastin taught his Dad.
Gooner royalty.
As an only child I had to play football with myself.
Came in useful tonight
I am still struggling to find any positives from the game.
It’s one game nearer to Emery leaving the club? This is a stone cold fact, but whether you see that as a cause for celebration is up to thee.
One thing I did enjoy today was Emery pre-match, when asked why Rob Holding was captain. “Why? Because he is”.
Silly bloody questions deserve answers like this. Then I thought maybe Emery sounds a bit like he’s struggling in pressers because he’s wondering how the fuck to answer the sort of dim questions he gets asked, because we don’t usually hear those.
I dismissed it of course. Wish he’d use an interpreter at least sometimes, he is supposedly really good to listen to when he can express himself in his own lingo.
Saliba has broken his fifth metatarsal and will be out for several weeks . That’s two serious injuries this season although to be fair he began the season with an abdominal injury left over from last year. Ceballos will miss the Leicester game
Looks like a team along the lines of
Leno
Chambers. Sokratis Luiz Tierney
Torreira Guendouzi
Pepe Ozil Aubameyang
Lacazette
That game was crying out for David Luiz’s ability to hit diagonal passes beyond and behind a compact defence. Vitoria’s Ivo Vieira won the tactical game. We were allowed all the possession we wanted among the back five, but were crowded out of midfield when we tried to play through it. Ceballos and Willock sank deeper and deeper in search of the ball, and thus there was no link-up play with the forwards.
Singing along with you @813, C100.
Anyone from the Clock End in?
Sight of Nurse Jenkins, or was it only an auditory sensation?
TTG,
I think Hector and Kola will
start against Leicester. Not
used tonight.
No Calum tonight either, I
wonder if he will replace
Papa as CB.
Tierney’s case is a little odd,
we withdrew him from the
Scotland squad as we wanted
to work on an existing knock
apparently but he played
tonight. It would be taking the
piss if he played again at
Leicester wouldn’t it?
Hesitates for a while to play
the ball out as everyone is
marked, then plays it out
to a marked player anyway
who…
Falls on to the ball at the slightest touch from marker then rolls around clutching various body parts trying to win a free kick. Fools Mike Dean and takes the free kick back to a center back who…
is a centre half
was always a centre half
and will have no truck
with descriptions otherwise
so
until ye call me by my name
i ain’t passing the ball anywhere
SO
THERE !
.
.
*hides ball up jumper*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=010KyIQjkTk
.
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxmZZBJQAKM
Just a thought , UE is now in the process of ruining the cup team from 4 and 5 nil wins in the CC and the ELC to what we witnessed yesterday a fast decline in 6 games (I think)
It’s he’s set up and tactics , I don’t think he’s allowing the players to play to they seem confused , it’s his way or the highway Mesut Ozil for example .
CBA
A very handsome centre half too.
But I bet you can’t head in your own crosses
OM
Speculating on the thinking of Emery is fraught with uncertainty.
You are applying logic to someone who doesn’t use it often . I don’t think he’d play Bellerin for his first game against a team like Leicester. I think he likes what Chambers has been doing and wouldn’t move him to CB and I think Tierney is his first choice LB. I can’t believe he started him yesterday . But Emery is not a logical man . I’d hate him to play Kolasinac in a game like this. So he probably will
We could play CBA at centre back but he wouldn’t pass to anyone . No change there then
Can’t wait, personally, to see what stick will be used to beat the manager with when we beat Leicester, who everybody appears to be wetting the collective bed over.
I mean we finally have a guy on the bench who can use the zips on a jacket ffs, what more do you bleeders want?
If we beat Leicester then of course
it will down to the players ignoring
the hapless UE’s tactics. If not then
it’s all UE’s fault.
Surely you must remember that from
AW’s final seasons? 🙂
Less bitterness this time round I
feel – course I don’t follow social
media at all or other blogs much
so I’m not sure.
TTG,
True enough @831, we’ll have
to wait and see.
Yesterday we played in Europe on a Wednesday. Can we count that as a positive?
GSD,
Yep, we have an extra day to
prepare for another better
offensive performance against
Leicester.
Also the game was finished
by 6pm UK time so it didn’t spoil
the evening for those gooners
watching on TV.
Cynic. Good point.
Emery’s zipper skills are so smooth that I haven’t even noticed them. This may not be the most desirable quality in a head coach but it can’t hurt.
Unlike poor zipper skills, which can hurt quite a lot. ?
OM. It didn’t improve the evening much either!
What time of day were you subjected to it?
Whichever gooners saw it in the late evening must surely have fallen asleep.
For those of you who don’t do Twitter @lucygooner has just tweeted this.
Some of you may have wondered where @TheGoonerholic is. He has asked me to let you know he’s been in hospital and was quite poorly but…he is on the road to recovery and will be out in a day or two ❤️please RT and/or pass on – thank you
Thanks C100.
Good news that the Guvnor is on the way back!
Hello Guvnor if you’re reading – take care of yourself.
ps
What is RT?
Hi OM
RT = retweet, i.e. repeat someone’s tweet via a button on Twitter, either with or without a comment.
GSD,
The clocks went back so it was a 12.50AM kick
off for me. Better than 4AM I suppose.
I did have to resort to coffee to fight off the
soporific effects of our play. In fact, we are
good news for coffee manufacturers now that
I’m in a positive frame of mind.
Thanks C100.
Living and learning 🙂
Excellent news on the Guvna.
Honestly don’t think you can underestimate the value of zipper skills in a coach. You’ve not seen the top top top coaches floundering with the old coat on a rainy day have you.
All he needs to do is master the art of going hoodless in the old torrential and he’ll have proved himself ready for the Champions League. And not just qualifying. Any coat fumbling fool can do that. I mean winning the thing.
Get well soon boss.
hooray ‘holic
?
People defending emery are amazing, he has turned the team into a bore and there is absolute zero creativity. He sets up the game hoping for a miracle and is happy if it comes off, else shrugs his shoulders, scratches his chin and does a presser only he understands.
I cannot believe when I say I am tired watching us play, the same me who would not keep his wedding on a certain day because there was a pre-season game being played on the same day. I know some may say you have not seen us in the earlier years etc but i say based on what i have seen and seen I have for the last 20 years.
I do not expect unai or the board or this team do miracles, all I ask for is being competitive and look like wanting to win the game. I see neither, I am not resting all my blame on unai, the board hired him, he is doing what he thinks is right and it is apparent it is completely wrong.
Matteo Guendouzi is not the answer to his prayers, every single time it is him and as often our fans tend to go overboard about a player, he is good, he is learning but he is not a saviour, he often is out of position and leaves the midfield in the lurch.
last part about the midfield, i remember the 4-4 game against Newcastle, yes the chuck tiote goal one, every time they scored, our midfield literally did not offer the defence a chance to play a pass to them, the ball kept on coming back and they scored 4 goals, this is exactly what is happening nowadays, it is easy to say the defence sucks, the midfield aint any better.
good man c100
Best wishes to the Guv’nor. I knew something serious must have happened for him to miss a match preview. Or a good day’s golf.
But hope you are home shortly and the recuperation is speedy.
Good news about the Guvnor.
We won’t have forever to reach an unprecedented 1000. 150 to go…
We should do the 1,000 in ‘Holic’s honour. How good would it be if he was home in time to knock it in — assuming we can get the ball out of cba’s jumper?
In other news: Wenger seemingly pours cold water on rumours that he might manage Bayern Munich either for the rest of the season or permanently.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/50330107
Doin’ the 853 for the Guvnor.
V. Chuffed to hear to the man is on the mend. ❤️
Ned. That would be brilliant!
1000 posts would not be unprecedented. I definitely remember it happening several years back.. there was an almighty goalmouth scramble, can’t remember who got the crucial touch
Thanks for the link Ned.
I must admit I had mixed feelings about
AW going to Bayern. I’d like him to be
happy but for various reasons I don’t like
Bayern.
Note the Giants fan on drums.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_11c9d0mCvo
Cheers Barack.
We”ll just have to go for 2000 then ?
Wenger can’t take the Bayern job, he’s probably still gigging with The Tits
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUuQGvb8isg
?
Another England squad with none of our players in it. Which is fair enough at the moment but it is good to have reasonable cause to think we have now got some players who may well change that in the next couple of years.
Bloody Interlull hoving sharply into view again. A bad result against Leicester would leave us with a lot of time for navel gazing unless the club gives Emery the boot. For all the fan unrest I have no idea whatsoever how close they are to doing that.
I don’t want any of our players to get picked for England, or any other country, ever again. International Shitball.
Damn cold outside. Prevailing winds being west to east, watch out North London.
Seeing as we’ve got 135 to go.
It’s clear Rob is our new 5th
captain. We should be told if he’s
actually 5th or he’s jumped
straight into the chart at a
higher ranking.
Later when I’ve finished watching
the grass grow I’ll write an agenda
driven post blaming UE for this
calamity.
Given our record it’s also clear
5 just doesn’t cut it. We need a
6th immediately. As he’s longest
serving player, I vote for Emi
And to steal Gunner KS’s
suggestion, 2 reserve captains
as well.
@862
Yes, the bleating of outraged gooners
(including me) will be endless in the
Interlull
Hopefully, the Guvnor will be back to
distract us with ribald tales of Nurse
Jenkins and her very naughty
chums, The Stethoscopettes
Well in OM.
We gotta keep it ticking over…
Kicks the ball off for a throw in. Oops…
The Arsenal faithful groan,
turns slowly yet menacingly
and gives the faithful
a very significant look….
If I had watched more games this season I might be just as critical of Emery as those of you whose opinion I normally agree with, but so far it’s not the case. Having just watched Arsenal v. Wolves for the first time, it looked like a game we dominated that would have been 1-0 to our side if not for Ceballos going to sleep on their goal. It wasn’t a case of Emery being too cautious. With better finishing by Lacazette and a few others we could have won it easily.
so glad to hear you’re on the mend, holic. get yourself home, and build it back slowly up… be well!
bt8 @871.
What?
Our last shot on target was in the 32nd minute. At home against Wolves. Let that sink in.
Lacazette made a great turn and low left-footed shot, which turned a decent ball into him (while he had his back to goal) into a legitimate chance. What other chances did he or others not finish well enough?
What did you think of the substitutions?
I did not see us applying the kind of pressure which would justify claiming that only better finishing prevented us from winning it easily.
Indeed, given we had 10 shot and they had 25, if I were going to argue that better finishing could have decided the match I’d be arguing that we were lucky not to lose.
Lacazette didn’t get much on his low shot in the first half but that wasn’t his best chance. He should have scored his second half chance but put it over the bar. Check out his reaction, putting his hands over his face.
Juggles ball on halfway line, inviting masses 11 man defence to come out to open space for a Bergkampesque killer pass. No response. Sits on ball in style of Slim Jim Baxter at Wembley in 1967. Strikes cba-esque arrogant pose. ?
bt8. I don’t have access to a replay. I’ll take your word for it. But I’m still not buying that one good opportunity missed equates with us being close to an easy win when they comprehensively out shot us. If he had got it on target it would have been our only shot on target in the second half. And they could easily have finished better and won comfortably.
It is possible to look at some of our results this season and say that if things had gone the other way we might have won. (See our 22 game unbeaten streak last season). But all statistics from the dawn of time show that when things are that tight and results hang in the balance there has never been any team that consistently comes out on top. We can’t always be unlucky and blame our strikers for not doing better with finishing when for every two chances they get the opposition get five.
Laughs at Baff’s @875
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=leicester+arsenal+2+5
filbert yobs
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=omd+messages
Liège beat Frankfurt so we can
still go out of the ropey league
It’s Europa League and
NO, we can’t
we’re THE mighty ArsenaL!
We’re gonna win the bloody thing.
(…or Sevilla)
Sevilla – Arsenal, EL final
(but with Emery)
ooooooooooooh
Burn Gdansk burn
not ropey league
it was kinda fun long ago, not anymore
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3c0JgZ59QQ
The Black Sea derby was played today in the Europa League. Final score:
FK Krasnodar 3 Trabzonspor 1
Russian radar signals win the day again, unfortunately.
It’s been under my nose all this time. To improve its porous defence, Arsenal just need to sign a few of cba’s cows and get them to lie down in front of Leno’s goal. The oppo wouldn’t dare foul the cows, would they?
The cows might foul the oppo, though, bt8b
Where’s the ball? Up cba’s jumper or under bath’s arse?
Cows in front of goal?
Would’ve worked for Pat Jennings.
Sorry
Ned.
I’m spinning it on the tip of my tail
Cow-related olfactory issues? Nurse Jennings may have to be called in.
This could call for Chanel No. 6
Or an even higher number
Chanel No. 893
Time for a 2ET substitution.
And the first touch is a backpass to the keeper putting him under great pressure
Leicester 2 Arsenal ?
ssy, seeing as it was Alexis 3, Theo 1, OG 1 we may not have the same firepower as we did then. Unless Martinelli scores five of course.
Hoofs a high one downfield hoping the wind will be favorable
It’ll always be the ropey
league to me as it’s a
second rate shit cup we
don’t even want to be in.
Wins a header in midfield!
looks for TTG goal hanging
Screw it. Runs on to my own bobbled header and lashes it into the top corner from 35 yards.
TABS!
But finds I’m the guilty man
?
Deary me OM. We seem to have cross posted the hell out of 900!
Well in GSD not many can do that.
901 is the new 900.
Sorry, OM.
Oh, no. Flag was up!!
VAR called in for a ruling ….
well in, gents. om, taking it off the toes of gsd 35 yards out and hitting it in with your left ropey league is impressive.
it’s been a while since i’ve seen an actual tabs, too. here’s to you, the original takeabowson, have a drink on lars. well, at the bar, not on lars, just, well, you know.
gsd, om, and bt8, drinks of choice (wee drams, mostly) on the bar for you, too.
Scruz ?
Cheers scruz ?
A team effort it was, just all the
glory for me,me,me ?
om, we’re just lucky you’re not as handsome as cba (no one is!), or as talented balancing on his ball as baff (nurse!)…
GSD@889, You silly twisted boy, you!
Wanted man in Manchester
Wanted man in Middlesbrough
Wanted man in Sheffield City
Wanted man in Gainsborough
Wanted man in fucking Leicester
Wanted man in old Oldham
Wherever you might look tonight you might see this wanted man
I might be in Scunthorpe
Or Brighton by the Sea
Working for some man who may not know at all who I might be
If you ever see me coming and if you know who I am
Don’t you breathe it to nobody cause you know I’m on the lamb…
VAR called in re 900
OM fouling the artist that is TTG
Great news re Dave.
Top man ???
well
i can’t say i’m surprised
today that i was recognised
as The Arsenal’s great lost
HANDSOME centre half
it wasn’t easy
believe me
but
it’s something i’ve addressed
and would hope
you cunts various
don’t lose yer shit over
.
YES
you all want to be my best friend
YES
good luck with that
NO
i don’t judge you
(thunder T notwithstanding)
.
.
but
my playing days are over , fellas
cling ye not to whatever notion
ye have of me reviving this team
.
.
.
cba is leaving the building
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
(herself doesn’t like me toking in the house)
.
.
it’s hilarity like this keeps me going
Called in, TTG, but did it stay? Still awaiting the decision on whether it was ball to tail in GSDs case or OM committed a ropey offense when in a ropey position.
.
.
“God , the hilarity”
cba@918, one of toking’s side effects.
and
if fuckin hospital botherer davey boy
thinks
he can swan back in here
to his own parlour
like nothings happened
and
GIVE IT THE BIG I AM – VIS A VIS THE 1000 !
then
I FOR ONE
think he’s perfectly entitled to
and
support him
in that endeavour
but
by jaysus
he better be ready
.
even Scorsese finally realizes
who the real hard men are
.
.
“do i amoooooooooooooooooooooos you?”
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcgiPxJHQrQ
i can’t say i’m surprised
today that i was recognised
as The Arsenal’s great lost
HANDSOME centre half
Fuck off, that was Terry Mancini. OK, so Mancini actually played for us but he did look lost 98% of the time.
The other 2% was the goal he scored.
*looks at stacks of books littering the floor and sighs*
Xhaka maybe to Newcastle in January. according to The Times:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/sport/newcastle-to-offer-granit-xhaka-exit-route-from-arsenal-x33t0lm2k
frolicus
minimatus
extendatis
what-everis
keyboard warrior isn’t too happy
blogs has his own set of grumbles
clear thinking seems to be an issue
executives
managers
coaches
players
bloggers
fans
seems like some of them can get it right part of the time
on their own or maybe in small groups
others are getting it right most of the time but can’t communicate their message well enough to the rest
management structure changing and what of stability?
change panacea and do we need a chiefer executive?
Everything he writes these days is anti-Emery. I’m seriously waiting for his to start going on about his shifty eyes and greasy hair, he’s done everything else.
players voting on the captain seems to be universally decried as democracy gone amok and maybe the universe is correct
him*
even more so considering the winner of the election(s)
shifty eyes could be part of the problem but greasy hair seems to be universally approved in the football biz until now
clear thinking is not one of my attributes
if it were i would submit a well edited 350 word essay in one drink and be done with it
all an excuse for the 9 1/2 ton trophy
thank you cynic for the well timed assist.
woo hooo or two
His eyes aren’t even all that shifty.
Obviously Freddie Ljungberg would be a better choice as manager because he’s got eyes to give even straight men the raging horn. And that’s a good enough reason when Emery simply has to go no matter what.
Be interesting to see how long it takes the replacement to be “out of his depth” when he gets the same sort of performances out of the players. Six months?
good playing
could be an extra attribute to go along with clear thinking
You’re drinking more than the theoretical love child of Ollie Reed and Yootha Joyce* would.
*OK, so I was struggling to think of a female who liked a shandy…
good playing / commitment / clear thinking / clear chain of command
how many of those do we have?
On here? Only cba, but he ruins it with all that handsomeness chat and rubbish music.
Two ‘holics it looks like, could be about right
I’ve now done myself out of his bookcases with that last post. Oh well, with him being in Ireland it would be a bitch to get them delivered anyway.
Unless he knows a people smuggler who could drop them off on his way to pick up the next load…
Leastways, nobody can accuse me of groupthink.
Normally.
Bit harsh on Blogs Cynic.
You’re right he’s clearly made his mind up about Emery but he bases his opinions on his interpretation of football matters, not the features or background of the manager.
bt8. Top workrate. That’s the sort of dynamism we need in midfield!
I’ve been listening to ‘The Offensive’. It’s a mockumentary podcast series about a fictional Premier League Club, Ashford City. It reminds me a lot of The Thick Of It. I’m finding it hilarious and I’d thoroughly recommend it.
Blimey bt8, wrapped up the
poster of the 900s award
already
stout work that
Xhaka to Newcastle?
He’ll never get Isaac Hayden’s
place in the team
” Can’t wait for the first time Xhaka comes back. ” *
* Not my words, actually, but at least it would mean he is not an Arsenal player.
@962 – I don’t seriously think he would go that far but I do wonder sometimes. If we beat Leicester 8-0 there will still be something to attack the manager about on Sunday.
Anyway fuck that. We have 31 more to go after this one…
Quite tempting to play the part of pre-lurker
considering it is a more important role than pre- pre-lurker
I hope the guvna is well enough to do his >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> and call “Time please” around 997, that would be funny. Have you lot no homes to go to ? I would luv it, just luv it if Emery pulled a good selection (3 CBs please + full-on PAL) and got the away win. The silence would be deafening ! But if we only get the away draw and get hammered again 1-1 or 2-2, the outrage will take the thread to 2k in about half an hour ! COYG.
I’m far more excited about making one thousand than I am about going to tomorrow’s game.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Just kidding ???
C100 @ 974
You are mean! ?
i sense hesitation here…go for it…slides between defenders for…
Rehearses goal celebration
Long time drinker, best part of a decade, first time poster. I usually imbibe my drinks in the back of the bar under the broken lamp. Just thought I would pop my head in to wish the governor a full recovery. This place has always been a paragon of sanity in the increasingly maddening world of football fandom webspace and social media. That tone has undoubtedly been set by the owner of this fine establishment and reaffirmed by its regular patrons. I thank you all for the education, wisdom and perspective you have given me and to the barkeep I wish all the best and a long life of health, joy and never ending posts.
MA carries the bell well through two defenders while cutting in from the wing, but as per current arsenal there’s no one showing to pass to…
I’ve been saving myself for the 1000 rather like CBA saves himself for all the beautiful women who adore him.
In fairness to Blogs I don’t think anyone is blogging in favour of Emery in the Goonerverse . There is an element of mass hysteria here ( counting Liverpool in the Carabao as a draw we’ve only lost one in fourteen ) but the quality of the football is so dire.
It reminds me of the day George sent out a midfield at home to Man U of something like –
Carter Morrow Jensen and Selley. McGoldrick may have been in there as an alternate or possibly Hillier . We drew 0-0 and it was putrid.
We are creatively barren at present
hey, ttg, hope you’re well! thanks again for the ticket and the great time 🙂 excepting pepe’s freekicks it was a dire game, but the company more than made up for it.
speaking of creatively barren, *does* the handsome cba save himself for those women? i rather thought his giving in to them is part of what got him to his present state.
It was in Nov 1994 and we used Morrow ,Jensen, McGoldrick and Carter.
Was that the dullest midfield of all time?
MA your maiden post was warm, polite, respectful, grammatically correct and well spelt. You are very welcome.
If cba calls you a cunt, it’s just his way of saying hi and welcome.
Any statistical questions ask Ned.
Don’t try and take on TTG on historical questions – he has certain genealogical advantages.
Where are you based and how did you come to worship the mighty Arsenal?
not to say it’s absolutely going to happen, ttg, but within two years we’d gone completely the other direction, to a team absolutely *pregnant* with creativity…if we have to suffer in the barren wilds of creativity for a couple of years but come up with *that* again, i say hell yes…
Pleasure was all mine Scruz!
In fact meeting you , Countryman and GSD has been the highlight of my Arsenal watching in recent weeks . I’m still wearing the scarf and hope it turns the corner luckwise.
I hadn’t factored in that CBA may have damaged himself in his selfless quest to bring pleasure to ladies everywhere. It’s a noble way to perish
MA
A lovely post. You are a most welcome poster and in no way am I using this reply to climb towards the magical 1000. Well just a bit ?
god forbid we should pad our posting stats with short, sharp posts.
i mean, we’re making a run into history, right?
glad you’re enjoying the scarf, i sure as hell hope it changes things luckwise. i mean, its seen two pepe freekicks, and a number of pints of guinness, so it should sort us out 😉
and i agree: that night is one of the brightest in recent memory, in no small measure to meeting you two. sure wish gsd and baff were on the scene that night!
i mean, we could be using cba’s example as our manager, or bt8’s…
and either elide the content of every post…
Climbs with trepidation into the nervous 990s.
Of course, I could be behind the 8 ball but gunning for glory, it would be so 2012.
Elide is a ten dollar word.
Educated sods, these Californians.
or have those short little lines.
however, now that we’re in the 90s, we should all be wearing plaid, so andy gorham (or lamby gorham, his wooly döppelganger) won’t feel out of place.
running down the left, i dink a rainbow pass over two defenders and the highbury squirrel to…
…
following that cunt cba, at least i didn’t pull “elision” out of my gob (or my bog)…bloody hahafornians.
i half expect h2h to throw an 8 ball to nurse abb across the table from z, while wolfie preens and lady nina tries to extract mr. hill-wood from her armoire. all while the happy train careens down the track slicked by lars’ wallet, with even ollie and shaft laughing…
Nurse Jenkins appears to tantalise TTG ….
No one wants to jump the gun …
Cups ear
COME ON YOU GUNNERS !
bang.
ah, the honorable tabs’ position… well in countryman.
Get in
Takes ball out of the air with a Bergkampesque ankle movement, shimmies round a prostrate Dr Feelgood, feints a pass to Wolfie who is checking his stockings and Jimmy Choos, feints towards H2H, waves to Snowie and H2H and dinks the ball down the line towards…
Oh well.
Well in CM100. Henceforth thou shalt be CM1000! ?
That one was for the landlord.
I’m emotionally drained now.
Thank you bath.
We must raise one or two at the Faltering Fullback er long.
Nicely done Countryman!
Congratulations Countryman.
Look forward to it CM@1008. BtM now a regular there prematch too.
here’s a landlord for you, c1000. a timothy taylor.
bath, @1004 was epic.
god forbid we should pad our posting stats with short, sharp posts.
This.
A MUST read before every Leicester game.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/archives/football/1210931/revealed-real-premier-league-table-shows-arsenal-should-be-champions-and-leicester-runners-up/
Two words.
Porcupine Tree.
Thank me later.
I’ve not really enjoyed Arseblog this season. His clear antipathy against the manager has, IMHO, been to the detriment of his writing and his column.
But this piece tonight, under the Arsenal Gent banner, strikes a huge chord with me, and is pure gold.
https://arseblog.com/2019/11/arsenal-gentlemans-weekly-review-198/
Salutations to C100. A fine achievement !
He threw me into a wobbly with the Nurse Jenkins remark and I had the bed bath fantasy again. I tell you that gets you funny looks from the wife .
Still all’s fair among committed Gooners . Emery has made some funny remarks about Koscielny saying we wouldn’t have had a problem with the captaincy if he’d stayed! I’m not sure if Unai’s English causes confusion or his thoughts are really jumbled . Poor guy is under a lo5 of pressure but that’s what you are paid for in a job like his.
C100
I liked that article. I was that little boy fifty eight years ago watching an excruciating game against Blackpool, enchanted by that magical place called Highbury . All of us hope our offspring will keep the faith . I have a wavering grandson whose friends all support Liverpool and Citeh . We are going to watch the ladies at The new Shite Hart Lane next week and I hope a glorious Arsenal win over his brother’s team will seal his devotion. I can’t rely on the men to do that at the moment!
????
ya cheeky buncha fuckers
sure where would ye get it
where would ye get it
fuckin dynamite collection o cunts alright
and c100 (well in ?)
i won’t be calling middle A anything of the sort
fuckin brilliant he seems – a regular in all but words
it takes me a while to call someone a cunt
otherwise it’s just rude ?
and
without sounding too much the presumptuous fucker
.
an away day report ?
+what scruz said re baff 1004
delightful dr , delightful
and
8ball – the heart of a true multiposter
right there !
.
cynic –
over there somewhere
*sneaks bookshelves into his front room*
.
.
.
.
[not , repeat , not a euphemism]
.
.
.
i am such a generous person
Hi cba
I’m away at Leicester tomorrow.
An away report there will be, probably on Sunday.
It may not say much about the football …….
possibly wise
look forward to it
always a treat
safe travels
“…your maiden post was warm, polite, respectful, grammatically correct
and well spelt”
How lovely.
May I recommend some other ballet and synchronised swimming blogs?
“Please do”
Thank you. Here’s the link –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhn6k_1xRkM
well now
?
haven’t heard them in ages
discharge
who
like crass and conflict
.
were always loved by complete individuals
paddling their own albeit somewhat identical canoes
“more studs , vicar ?”
Certainly not more fluids for the vicar one might think
With you in spirit c100 as you go out on the road and hoping you and the rest of the away day Gooners get a just reward for your troubles
your maiden post was warm
You dirty bleeder…
COYG!
I’m gonna have no internet access all day until about half-time. I have no idea what I might find when I get an update. Anything could happen. I hope it’s a good day!
Good luck Arsenal and Holics!
Belated congratulations to
C1000!!
Have a good trip to And
Leicester. Last time I went
away to Leicester they had
the boy Lineker and Smudger
up front. And a crappy view
from the away end. Mind you
the way we played that day
you honestly didn’t want to
see much. Hope it’ll be a clear
view of a season-turning win
today.
I’ve not really enjoyed Arseblog this season. His clear antipathy against the manager has, IMHO, been to the detriment of his writing and his column.
It was much better before he went mainstream and stopped using the word cunt all the time.
Also very bit tabloidy in his approach to headlines. He frames everything in a Get Emery Out context and there’s little to no criticism of players, unless it’s Xhaka (who is seen as Emery’s Man and therefore a legit target).
Torreira for example. Supposedly unsettled because that mean bastard Emery is playing him in a role he doesn’t like? Fuck. Off.
I see the collective memory has erased the stories floating around in the summer about Torreira wanting to leave because he hasn’t settled in England, in favour of the new narrative that lays the blame firmly at Emery’s door.
Mental.
Congrats Holics on the ton! Get in the C1000 😀
This is from Unai:
“I think the supporters have seen that their team needs more to improve to achieve the best results. I can and I want to say to them, they must have patience and in some circumstances they did not help us, but we are trying to achieve the best emotional balance with the players.
Can someone at the club please get get him a translator?
An almost impossible game to preview with an optimistic slant. Emery’s utterances this week suggest that he’s losing his marbles as well as the fans and some key players. On the basis of the team selected in midweek, I expect something akin to:
Leno
Chambers, Luiz, Sokratis
Bellerin, Torreira, Guendouzi, Kolasinac
Nelson, Özil, Aubameyang
Lacazette
I expect:
1) Frighteningly inept defending
2) Failure to build through midfield
3) Spaces for Lesta to run into
4) Poor service to the strikers
5) A couple of chances
6) Post-match waffle
I hesitate to suggest a score line. I suspect, based on his principle of always backing the Arsenal, that the Guvna would put his Holic Pound on 3-2 to the Arsenal.
Off to pray to the Norse Pantheon.
COYG
ATG,
The translation would be
“stop moaning”
My reply would be “play better”
I’m not sure why anyone
would be looking for a way
to blame UE if we do win today.
At the moment he is being
criticised roundly because the
results are bad and the football
is dire.
He trains the team, decides the
tactics and picks the team –
what is so unreasonable or
agenda driven about criticism
in that situation?
OM,
This guy is digging his own grave in all honesty. I want us to beat Leicester badly today, but at the same time I just don’t know what to expect from this team and this just highlights what mess we’re in.
Players are to blame too but the manager as you say coaches them, picks formations and tactics.
Off to collect Gooner Malcolm shortly and meet up with the Norfolk Gooners transport.
I suspect the social part of the day will be more memorable than our performance but against a team who like to attack we might find our way through. That thought was until I looked at Leicester’s goals conceded stat !
Well I’m hoping for the best , after all we did hammer them at home in their PL winning season.
Countryman, may see you in the Counting House. I’m the 77yr old blond with a pint in my hand.
COYR
Safe travels Delia!
There goes Google auto fill 🙂
Have a great day out Delia
I know the pub. We had breakfast in the Morrison’s opposite last year (12 am kick off).
My son has charge of the social agenda today so not sure where we’ll be.
A blond eh? Better make sure my son sticks to “what happens at football stays at football”…?
what is so unreasonable or
agenda driven about criticism
in that situation?
What is agenda driven is hanging everything around his neck and making it personal.
It’s not “A must win game for Arsenal” any longer, it’s “A must win game for under pressure Emery”. That’s what gets on my tits.
Emery didn’t switch off Rob Holding and Kieran Tierney’s brains so they just stood and watched Vitoria score the other night.
There’s plenty of reasons why we’re bad and it isn’t ALL the manager, but to listen to some, you’d think he picked 11 clones of himself every week.
And hoping it’s a great day out for Delia and the Norfolk Gooners too. 🙂
Even though my suitcase was stolen in King’s Lynn about 40 years ago. 🙁
Loved Merson digging out Stelling on Soccer Saturday a few minutes ago.
The only time I’ve ever heard racist language used at football was at a King’s Lynn Town match.
AW always got blamed for all sorts
of things, happens to every manager
when things aren’t going well.
But I do agree the piss
poor defending for the
Vitoria goal wasn’t UE’s
fault
It doesn’t matter whose fault it is, it is the manager who gets the sack. Sobering to think that today could be Emery’s last match in charge. Hope not, fingers crossed. I know that is very pessimistic but I feel Leicester at their stadium are too strong for us. The last two results against them away (we lost by 3-1 and 3-0) provides a strong basis for believing that the result will be similar okay. A win for us would be unbelievable and a draw satisfying.
1026 / 1027
Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing !
Timeless genius of a record.
The piss- poor defending in Portugal wasn’t Emery’s fault but he IS responsible for global warming, the flooding in Yorkshire , the Irish potato famine, the outrageous price of soft fruit, the old lady down the road’s subsidence and my cat’s dodgy stomach . But he sails on blithely just speaking ( incomprehensibly) about football. I think .
What sort of attitude is that?
I hope our Gooners on the road have a great day but I have that dread feeling I always have when we are playing away . I fear a 2-0 defeat . Hopefully it’s pessimism rather than realism
Watched Chelsea vs Palace and couldn’t feel sorry at the gulf between Chelsea and us. We looked like we would concede any time against Palace last week whereas Chelsea never looked like conceding. Zaha was a live wire against us but was kept really quite today. Even their youngsters look pacy, strong and good on the ball. Don’t like Chelsea, but we are going backward and they are moving forward.
Amazingly VAR has ruled in Tottenham’s favour again. Has any side had the benefit of the doubt as much as them in the last few months?
KSN
I share your pessimism but in the last two seasons we lost a player early in each game with a red card. Re Chelsea I believe their transfer ban has reduced the pressure around the club and enabled their good youngsters to come through without competition from big signings. I think Lampard is a good coach but he is also liked and trusted by their fans and they are supporting his decisions. Our youngsters are very good too. We don’t have excellent young defenders like Tomori but Willock, Nelson , Saka, Guendouzi , Martinelli and ESR are potentially very good players. Sadly the hothouse atmosphere and the incoherence of Emery’s coaching approach has them growing up in a frenetic atmosphere. If, for example Freddie came in , the fans are likely to give him a free pass until the end of the season a la Lampard. Fans are unusual creatures. I’m not sure quite how they’d view Arteta , much would depend on how he started and how entertaining the football was. If we went for a very big name like Enrique, Allegri or Mourinho the pressure would be ramped up right from the off
@1036
Quite close on the team
today Bath.
Though Emery hasn’t tried
to slip an extra player in 🙂
Holding instead of Sokratis.
Interesting team with what looks like a back five/three
This is actually the defence I have wanted to see us use (apart from a Kolasinac/Tierney swap) assuming he’s playring three centre backs with David Luiz playing like a quarterback and making use of his long passing ability.
Chambers, Holding, David Luiz as a three is what I want to see. Midfield would obviously never include Ozil for me, but meh.
Leno
Chambers, Luiz, Holding, Bellerin
Guendouzi, Torriera, Kolasinac
Ozil
AUba and Laca
I’m a bit gobsmacked that we persevered with Pepe until he found some form and then dropped him . I agree with Cynic IF we use Luiz differently but I’d never pick Kolasinac ahead of Tierney because he can’t defend . Delighted to see Ozil playing if he has his competitive head on and not his indifferent one.
Very much fingers crossed ?
Spuds only drew in the end.
With that point Sheff Utd
went above us.
Anyway on to the game
and glorious victory for
the mighty Arsenal.
2-0 today with our new
look defence
Well spotted OM@1055. I wondered if anyone would notice. Frankly it’s the only way I think we’ve got a decent chance of a win.
Good lineup, got a feeling we’ll nick the three points today 🙂
3-1
TTG, agree with your views, especially that Emery is not the answer and has to go either in Jan or at the end of the season. The biggest problem for me about Emery is that he has not only not improved the defense but he has made our good attack (under Wenger) ineffective. He is a poor man manager, doesn’t know his best playing eleven for each match, and his communication probably confuses the players.
Having said that our players have to take responsibility for the results. Our anrecruitment has to improve. The team is physically the weakest in the league and we have so many who can’t stand up to a tough physical exam on the pitch like Ozil, Pepe, Auba (though Auba does his basic job of scoring very well) etc. We also need to improve our defense hugely to be competitive. I don’t mind giving Ljungberg or Arteta a chance.
The near time problem is today’s match and hope the players are up to it. COYG.
Brainless defending by Guendouzi, what was he doing there?
Guendouzi is silly that could have been a penalty
WTF is Guendouzi doing? Almost gave away a penalty.
Penalty denied us for a handball and Laca had a claim for penalty too. Spurs would have got it.
I was just going to say we look much better in this formation and then the individual errors start to creep in.
All Emery’s fault obviously.
We are competing with each other in giving away the ball. Scary the way we are playing. Leicester look far more composed.
We are being squashed
Cynic,
He’s the motivator here they don’t look very confident and that’s his fault!
To some extant it is, Cynic, as it is the coach’s job to drill the players in passing accurately and to give them the medicine when they keep mispassing. Discipline is very important.
Emery’s undoing is having his centerbacks have all the possession, when it is clear we play better when having the ball further down the field. That is just down to poor coaching and tactics. 100% Emery’s fault. It’s like having Cristiano Ronaldo and telling him to play DM.
I think you’re watching a different game to me. Sure Leicester are making chances but so are we.
Ozil needs to wake the fuck up though, he’s anonymous (you knew I’d say that)
Ozil looks like he’s under instruction to play like a false 9. Laca and Auba on both flanks, tracking back and playing fast on the counter.
Ozil needs to be given the ball as does Aubameyang . We’ve lost the art of controlling possession
It might help if he showed for it occasionally.
Our possesion game is worse than the sterile possesion we had in Wenger’s days. This is now suicidal possesion. Asking defenders to play like midfield orchestrators. Emery is just clueless.
Cynic,
I sense an agenda against Ozil ?
We are being squashed as per my comment earlier, the high press is killing us. We are making individual errors because the team yet again is paying a different setup. We are also not very confident with the ball at our feet. Our midfield is not creating anything we are passing it back to our defense, there are glimpses but we need to do more to f we are to win this game.
Hard game to assess. Awful conditions, we’ve not caved in and have had a couple of moments but you sense we are hanging in there. YpTgey should have had a penalty . We are trying to play from the back, our press is not strong enough and we don’t control possession.
I’m still pessimistic because we don’t have a coherent team shape but we do have dangermen upfront. We are a side struggling with confidence and my view on that woukd be at odds with Cynic’s.
We must dig in , try to control the ball better and release our attacking riches if we can. On a slippery pitch anything can happen and you want the ball as far away from your goal as possible
Guilty as charged, ATG.
Considering most of the drinkers at this bar have been talking all week as if we’re playing Brazil 1970 and going to lose 86-0, level at half time is fine by me.
Ozil shows for the ball all the time but we are continually under pressure especially with two in midfield . The concern most people have is that we aren’t able to maximise our major assets because we are on the back foot. Best we don’t get a lead too early because we can’t sustain it. Maybe we could score with twenty seconds to go and hope
Level at full time will be fine, too.
It must be very disappointing for some that we’re not actually losing.
We do look like we are playing 1970 Brazil. If Rodgers is managing this Arsenal team and Emery Leicester, the roles would probably be reversed. We have the wrong manager on the evidence of things. Unless, of course, he can turn things around. Football is fickle that way. Not much to be optimistic about, though.
We haven’t been involved in a goalless draw in 70 games? Unbelievable.
For all of the commentators clamoring for a penalty against Guendouzi, it wasn’t given because the ball was way too far from Soyuncu who would never have made it even if he had a free run. Although I would not have been surprised by the VAR referee giving it against us.
Hector and Holding both looking rusty and misplacing passes. Guendouzi giving the ball away on plenty of occasions, although you will get that when you anchor your midfield every single game with a 20 year old. We absolutely have to keep it better when we have it. We are playing like a team lacking confidence and if we score first, it would do us a world of good. Massive second half. COYG
Happy with a win or even a draw but would be very sorry to lose.
VAR and Bar keeping us level.
All to play for lads!
It was coming be we got outplayed there like a bunch of amateurs
Poor from Bellerin on the goal, I have no idea why he decides to close down the guy on the edge of the box when there’s three players already in the middle who could close him down if needed.
We are amateurs on professionals pay.
We should know gravbing a clean sheet against Leicester is hard. But not being able to score will once again be a great disappointment. Another match, another underperformance.
Now does Emery change the shape to put Pepe on or does he remove one of Ozil or Lacazette?
The shit is now hitting the fan. 2-0.
FFS……
We are self destructive
And that’s the end of that.
We had chances to win this, blew them in the first half, lost.
Emery will get pelters obviously but Lacazette had a simple chance first half and fucked it up.
Oh well.
If we’re counting chances missed, we should probably be 4-1 down Cynic.
They are lining up to shoot. Poor, poor performance by us.
Bollocks is all I can say
Look at the four or five shots Laca took, no power or timing. Look at their players, Maddison fizzed one, Ndidi can shoot with power. Lot of areas Emery can improve but will he? We know the answer.
You are right Cynic.
Emery will get pelters. That is because he is in a job he isn’t remotely good enough to hold down. It has gone exactly like I expected it to . With Emery in charge we will not finish in the top half and that’s not knee-jerk reaction to a game we have done reasonably in. Taxi please .
We are so fucking slow and keep giving the ball away.
Kolasinac is useless.
This is painful to watch
We’re not actually playing Brazil 1970. Just making Leicester look like them. Much as expected.
That is because he is in a job he isn’t remotely good enough to hold down.
Less than a year ago we’d supposedly got our Arsenal back. He was good enough then.
Still never mind.
I’m no fan of Rodgers, but he’s shown what’s possible with 12 months of good coaching and decent players. Good football and a distinct, imprinted style of play. Emery’s had enough chances and the team has regressed. His man management has been extremely poor. He’s created apathy in a lot of fans. Time’s up. Good riddance.
Well the inevitable has happened I was hoping Emery would rally his troops but we got the gross.
He needs to removed ASAP
Laughable to think Wenger had us playing better with an attack of Giroud, Podolski and Walcott. The first half of last year was a fluke. Stats will back that ti the hilt. We are now regressing to norm under a very mediocre coach.
You have to look at the culpability of the players but these players know they are playing for a coach who isn’t capable of handling a job like Arsenal. They will lose confidence, sharpness, belief and they will get in return the sort of muddled thinking that has characterised Emery’s reign We would look a very different team with a more capable coach. I can’t think of a reason for retaining Emery now. He is a dead man walking .
Leicester look a decent side , organised with a team method that works . Oh that we had one .
Get GG back or at least get a defensive specialist in. Keown and Arteta/Ljungberg would be better than our present incumbent. We won’t finish in the top six let alone top four, at this rate.
Gross? Ha ha dross rather
Who said we had our Arsenal back? A few media hacks. It was too early to judge. He had a decent run and showed some promise but over tge long run he is damaging the club. We are nearer to relegation than the title. I shall hope and pray that we have people in charge of our club who understand the game
Leicester is nine points ahead of us after twelve games and their goal difference is +21 and ours is -1.
I hope we will make a change
immediately too but I’m doubtful
the board will do it.
Just seen the score. Bugger.
@1060 Bath
we should’ve gone with
the 12 men as you say.
Or 13 even.
https://bleacherreport.com/twitter-reacts-to-leicester-win-over-arsenal
Arsenal fans are suffering.
Bayern got rid of Kovac and won 4-0 against Dortmund tonight. Meanwhile we persist with a dead man walking. I don’t even know who decides football things at Arsenal now. Raul? Edu? Josh? Stan? How many signatures do we need before we cut Emery out of his misery?
It is not the loss but the certainty that we will lose, is the killer. We used to beat these teams without breaking sweat but now are happy that the margin of loss was low. We have fallen a lot and will continue to do so under this coach.
Miss Holic’s balanced take on such days. Get well soon boss.
The manager is speaking after the match and I can’t make out what he is saying.
‘ave we sacked Venga yet ??
I never felt so deflated in my 22 years as an Arsenal fan. Is it already too late for us to reach the 4th?
Raul and Edu were at the game tonight, so maybe that does signal an imminent change. As much as I hoped for Emery to succeed, it does seem like we are on a downward spiral and it would be best to part ways early rather than see this epic struggle continue.
I do not think that the next manager will have the easiest task. The squad we have is promising but we have seen promise unfulfilled many a time before. But it would definitely help if we started behaving like a big club and not start every single away game with a defensive mindset. We are not a defensive team anyway – not with that midfield and defense.
Wenger was critised for playing virtually the same formation every game and Emery has tilted too far the other way. Any good team has to have a default mode/system/style but should have the ability to vary if game situation demands it. This team just does not have a default mode/system it seems because the manager has varied things too much.
To think that we were third when the last international break happened to where we are now just shows how quickly things change in football.
UE said we played well 1st
half but we needed to score
first so we could impose our
quality. We didn’t however.
We are behind Leicester and
Chavski but the season is
long and we must continue
to improve little by little and
then we can be successful.
I’m summarising there but
I think that covers it.
He also said yes when asked
if the club are still behind him.
Yeah, because scoring first has worked really well for us lately, hasn’t it Unai?
Our next 4 fixtures:
Southampton at home,
Eintracht at home,
Norwich away
Brighton at home.
The perfect opportunity for a new manager to get off to a flying start and build some much needed momentum.
Lots of good sense. Very much agree with Desi. I think Emery is a defensive coach. His brand of football is certainly tedious and unsuited to the Premier League and it’s hurting us.
It’s not too late to make top four . I’d be quite happy if we make real progress for the rest of the season even if we don’t make top four or even top six but it will affect who we can sign and retain . The key will be to bite the bullet now not let things linger on. It will lift the club to make a change . It will create huge despondency if Emery is in charge for the next game
Agree with every word TTG.
“Is it already too late for us to reach the 4th?”
Not in Rwanda.
Very disappointing but entirely predictable result. Dysfunctional teams lacking confidence rarely beat organised teams even if their players are better.
7am KO has analysed Emery’s previous teams’ performance data. His bizarre and inconsistent selections and substitutions, confusing messages and instructions, scraps with key players and cautious approach is entirely in keeping with his past history. It’s clear that our Appointment team were dazzled by his three EL wins and recent job at PSG and failed to undertake due diligence on their ‘purchase’. It gives me no confidence that the new triumvirate is capable of dealing with this challenge in a timely manner. This coach is incapable of getting Arsenal out of this hole. Someone else needs to grasp the nettle.
Taxi for Emery.
I’ve seen nothing of the game but just saw a stat that we had 1 shot on target all game, which was in the 20th minute. Add that to our one shot on target in the last game and we have a team that isn’t going to score enough goals. Despite having good attacking players.
We also do not defend well.
Yet, bafflingly, our midfield is the worst area of our team.
And I see no reason to expect any of this to change.
Not a good place to find ourselves.
I’m unhappy we lost but it was not unexpected. I’m normally annoyed when I have to miss watching us but I’m not bothered today. We don’t play football that is fun to watch anymore and we don’t get good results. I had something time-consuming yet constructive to do today, so at least I achieved something useful. Arsenal seem to consume more time than a mere ninety minutes in our matches, such is the Simpsons-esque drudgery of our recent performances. And we do almost nothing that could be called constructive.
As I noted earlier… Bugger.
Tony Adams talking sense on Sky Sports News. Obviously he will be written off as some sort of crank because he thinks the team is poor and the manager did a brilliant job last year, but I care not.
He knows what he’s talking about.
He must do, he agrees with me 😉
Best match reports above:
OM: Bollocks
GSD: Bugger
Cynic
When you find yourself agreeing with Tony Adams it’s time to re assess your outlook
Tony is a lovable old legend to be sure but he couldn’t think his way out of a paper bag
I agree with the majority here
It’s on Emery
Unfortunately due to the fact that I live in New Zealand I am not currently available to drive him to the airport but there must be people who are.
TTG?
The funny thing is, I watched the game with my son and from where we sat we weren’t really surprised how this game unfolded. If feels like this is the new norm for a club like Arsenal and it’s fucking scaring me!
If there is one thing more disheartening than that Emery might stay, it is that the bookmakers have Mourinho as the favourite to replace him.
IF
I’m your man. I’ve just filled the car up !
I hope y’all get Mourinho served up to you, ya impatient bastards :-p
Much is being made tonight of Emery’s first 50 league games being worse than Wenger’s last 50 (by a whole point) but in his first 50 games in all competitions, he had the best record of any manager in Arsenal’s history.
So chew that one over if you’re going to try to prove anything with stats.
🙂
Chambers on tonight games:
“It was a tough night. It was a new system for us today. I think there are positives to take from it.”
What positives? Ha ha this is getting better and better!
Cynic,
2 wins in last 10 games that’s a relegation from if you ask me!
And no, none of this is good enough but it’s much too soon and I do not accept the assertion made elsewhere that because football is full of headbanger clubs that get rid of managers at the drop of a point, we have to join that lunacy.
The clubs at the top end that have been chucking managers away like confetti are also the ones that have been chucking billions, literally, of pounds away at the same time.
We just can’t do that, so I would suggest that we need what we have had in the past. Stability.
Since the unfortunate Billy Wright, our permanent managers have had ten years, seven years, three years, nine years (then Rioch) and twenty-two years in the job.
Even Wright was given four!
cynic 1140
beware stats to prove a point
cynic 1142
howdy pardner
https://metro.co.uk/2019/11/09/unai-emery-posts-worse-record-arsene-wenger-arsenals-defeat-leicester-11072267/
Did someone say stats?
.
.
d’ye like yer new bookcases ?
Don’t just look at the points also consider the fact that this was Arsene’s decline!
Look at attempts and clean sheets too!
How can you say you want to give this guy more time and we should be patient is beyond me…
.
but
arthur
let’s not pick on cynic
2 out of both of us know not to
?
he’s got new furniture
likely be rearranging stuff
which
should he make a bollocks of
i’ve no doubt he’d lay equal blame
at the shelves
CBA,
Not picking just teasing 😛
and on that note CBA will keep you entertained… 😀
oh
i’m picking
?
i’m picking alright
?
#ain’t no pickin’ high enough
#ain’t no etc and so on
.
.
i’m sure many of these drink numbers
are promoting chest swells
in our english friends
as they recall
the great victory in 1154
of Big John the Fortunate
over
Big John the Less So
which is commemorated to this day
by rolling a child covered in cheese
up a hill
dressed over the top
and around and about
with a hey nonnie nonnie
and etc and so on
.
strange people
though
having said that
i’m in the noisy north tonight
where i can hear
southern accents being put on
by northerners
to sing songs written by southerners
about the north
as well as
english accents being put on
unconsciously
to sing football songs
about english teams
who on a different day
play that foreign sport soccer
and in 1159
King Haemorrhage the Occasional
did win in battle
over
Borehole of Elsewhere
Gossip that we have held talks with Luis Enrique to replace Emery. Even if turns out to be true, I don’t think Enrique is the remedy as he is another flair manager and our defensive woes will continue.
a rapscallion and a rogue
with big feet and a hump
.
.
flares and woes
that’s the talk of
a forward seeking gooner
shang-a-lang buddy !
Shang-a- Lang was catchy, cba.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytii7-bUxuk
yep
it’s certainly something alright
one of a lot of stuff
pumped through those fellas
into the bank accounts
of the other people
managers and shite
they came out of it with fuck all
seems unfair
.
one of the guys who made a fortune
the tune writer
was from the north of Ireland
who wrote some might say
an iconic song about the deprivation and discrimination
in his home town
from a big house over the border
.
.
no fan of any of them
except
interesting tidbit
Ramones saw their success
and thought
they’re our competition
we need a chant like Saturday Night
if we are gonna get noticed
so
the first Ramones single
has
Hey Ho Lets Go
as an attempt to emulate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57g5Z_3kXOE
so
there’s something good
to come out of that tartan fiasco
hey ho let’s go
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CRAXIZoZv0
an lo
the most influential band of all time
had a chant they didn’t need
but turned out grand in the end up
.
.
jesus fuck
in 1166
nostradamus predicts
disrespectful paddy bastard
talks about the Ramones
on the centenary
of 1066
.
.
.
so typical
two tuts and another
reason to hate !
.
.
but
what about love , people ?
what about love
.
puts dove of peace in envelope
stamps it with optimism
and posts it to you
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpWmlRNfLck
i can’t say fairer than taht
*spins bow tie*
.
simple jokes for simple people
.
know yer audience
.
?
(left some feed lines for cynic to pick up on)
(ssshhhhhh , he could awaken at any time)
in 1174
Sir Boil de belle Pus
fell at the sword of
Sir Lancelot
.
insomnia
coupled with inevitability
is interesting
.
i am finding recently
that
it’s none of your business
ya fuckin misery vultures
.
*blows enormous raspberry*
.
.
.
(don’t forget that one cynic)
in 1176
Bronwyn of Both Beards
acquiesced to
Gilette of the Two Blades
by fuck
i miss beer
if you make yer own dinner
it always tastes better
and
i always made my own beer
though
i have just recently found out
all my homebrew glassware is full and brewing
which i fuckin love
just love it
cos
it’s a hobby that either feeds yer need for something to do
or etc and so on
and
by all accounts
my FORTHRIGHT explanation
that
ye don’t tell !
ye don’t sell !
sank in
in 1180
Lord Lesser Spotted IV
was hanged
in his absence
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koFrPs_80gQ
i suppose i never learn
posting tunes and stuff
here and other genius things
you really should treat
with some respect ya
bunch of established quite
attention span lacking cunts
it’s getting to the stage
where
in 1184
after consultation with his trouser leg
Crown Prince Heft of The Rest
declared a truce
.
.
Brendan Bowyer is
a STAR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGXHyt38sj0
Alvin Stardust was
a well possibly conceivably a bit arrogant just by the name ye know – a star
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4q3Cy8X6Mo
but
Val Doonican was
A STAR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm7t3mHsdBM
.
.
Brendan Bowyer is
a STAR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGXHyt38sj0
Alvin Stardust was
a well possibly conceivably a bit arrogant just by the name ye know – a star
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4q3Cy8X6Mo
but
Val Doonican was
A STAR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm7t3mHsdBM
[my funeral song]
Time isn’t the issue with UE.
Nor is stability the issue for
The Arsenal.
Just watch us play, it’s a mess.
He’s tried changing the team
and the formation, it’s just the
same mess with different players.
The players have no confidence
and neither do the supporters
(well, most of them anyway)
ah fer fuck sake
let it go osaka M
here is a place for relaxing
and
farting the occasional opinion
not
re hammering the same bastardin nail relentlessly
ps
moooooooooooooooooooooo
Cynic
You were chipping at Pepe after two games.
Old- fashioned football stats are not relevant now.
Emery will ruin us
oi
m’lud
unreconstructedly fuck off
my deconstruction of cynic s argument
was better
.
honestly you posh people are so simple
in 1192
anglos said saxons who in the what now
We have a negative goal difference. That can’t have been true for a long time. Certainly not so far into a season.
I wish we didn’t. That way we might be ahead of Sheffield United. Which would be nice.
Cynic.
Of course you love arguing against the consensus, so maybe you’re just doing that. But whatever you are seeing, and how you interpret it, is a million miles away from me. So far that I no longer understand where you are coming from.
You seem to think that our crap manager is unfairly treated like a REALLY crap manager. And that we should opt for the stability and consistency of dire performances because it is more important not to fire a manager than to have a successful team or achieve our stated ambitions.
Do you think we will finish in the top four under Emery? If that’s a yes then I think you might be the only poster here who does.
It’s time.
In fact it’s past time.
Go check the Nike advert, Josh.
I want us to play good football and make the most of our squad. I don’t mind at all if that happens under Emery or someone else. I simply see no reason at all to think this will happen under Emery and every argument I have seen that he has been effective has in my view been either flawed or simply rubbish, not to mention going against all the evidence provided by my eyes.
I started the season very optimistically. I’m gutted that our team is so incredibly boring and we don’t get results. I’d much rather be sitting here praising Emery for a 3-0 win away at Leicester instead of everything being so doom and gloom. But make no mistake, that is primarily due to the dross on the pitch and that is Unai’s responsibility.
It just sucks that we are performing so badly and have to little to cheer.
Punts it upfield, hopes to win a free kick as a goal from open play seems irresponsibly optimistic.
Dives in the box but realised it was a useless gesture as disorientation as a result of manager’s instructions meant I was in our own box.
cynic 1140
beware stats to prove a point
cynic 1142
howdy pardner
That wasn’t using stats, it was using numbers 😉
That “immense dunderhead” Tony Adams made a very good point yesterday about stability when he said we’d lost something like 13 staff, but it goes much deeper than that if you think about it.
We’ve lost a manager, a chief executive, head of recruitment, cleaned out the medical staff including the physio of many years, changed the coaching setup for the first team, restructured the academy and continue to make changes there, thrown out the scouts and there’s bound to be more going on that we either don’t know or I’ve forgotten.
This “stable” club is anything but.
Collects the ball from under Sokratis’ feet (he ignores it whilst screaming at the assistant referee to check VAR for the Baff incident and considers falling to the floor in solidarity) and launches it long into the area.
Bang
Tabs’ed it! ?
Well in GSD. ?
Where it hits a bobble caused by a Kolasinac miskick and bounces over the keep for our first goal from open play in 9 matches.
Celebrates wildly and considers how best to concede two goals to make up for scoring one.
Cheers Baff, top build up play.
Nonchalant assist from Cynic. I would say Ozil-esque but he might not thank me for that! ?
That goal from the opposite penalty area is a spectacular record breaker even on the drinks! ??
Baff. I take back the last line of my 1196, now we have something to cheer! Sunday morning champagne, count me in. ?
Do you think we will finish in the top four under Emery?
I did, but don’t now.
All I am saying really is that I’m bored of hearing everything framed as down to him when our squad is not anywhere good enough.
The reinvention of Ozil as some sort of Messi-like talent who has been hard done to is a joke. The belief that a barely seen Holding* and the return of Bellerin, who was poor for long periods before he got crocked, was daft.
We have centre backs who’d get nowhere near a good team, a midfield that has been below par (and filled with promising kids who aren’t really ready yet and would have been farmed out on loan in previous years) and two good strikers, one of whom has been injured and is making his way back. Plus a £72m player who looks worth less than half that, even allowing for those free kicks.
I know it’s not working at the moment, but nobody had too many complaints until recently and it seems managers and teams are no longer allowed a run of bad form and results thesedays.
We all knew, or at least some did and were prepared to say so, that we were going to have to rebuild things and it would take time. I’m not going to let other people wetting their knickers change my view. For me Emery would get the full season.
*On Holding, the much maligned Tony Adams also got it right pre-match when he said the system suited the team he’d picked, apart from Holding. Holding couldn’t play out from the back yesterday and got caught on the ball more than once.
He also got something else 100% on the nose but it’s gone from my brain as I’ve been typing this drivel. 🙂
Fuck me… I’ll just add a few words for coherence.
The belief that a barely seen Holding* and the return of Bellerin, who was poor for long periods before he got crocked, would fix things was daft.
d’ye like yer new bookcases ?
Bit wobbly but the weight of the intellectual tomes I read will make sure they don’t topple, if I put them in the bottom shelves.
And that box containing the complete run of Razzle will help.
Cynic
You were chipping at Pepe after two games.
I wasn’t actually, I waited until at least his fourth and even that wasn’t a chip, it was a “I hope we haven’t wasted our money on this bloke but he can’t even hit simple passes.” type thing.
Now I am saying we’ve wasted our money. At least £40m of it anyway
Ornstein reporting that our board are fully behind Emery. I’m not expecting this to prove a masterstroke but if he turns this round and we go on a run then the only thing greater than my surprise will be my pleasure to be wrong.
I do wonder what made folk in 1212 get their knickers in a twist. Probably ecclesiastical matters. Or simply getting enough to eat, keeping warm and avoiding diseases such as leprosy and cholera.
i like cynic
i like 8ball
i like baff
.
.
fellas relax
i’m no longer the man who’d rip
yer arm off and
beat you to next weeks edition
.
.
all I see is lovely people
who have been kind to me
Cynic @1208.
I was exactly the same at the start of the season- I expected us to get top four. And thought 3rd was absolutely possible. But not anymore.
Your memory is different to mine. I remember a huge amount of discontent when we slumped at the end of last season and threw away our position in the top 4. And got tumped in the Europa League.
Then a hopeful upsurge of goodwill after a transfer window that most were happy with before the eye-bleeding displays of this season destroyed all hope.
dino
not too
but as well
man
yer brain must hurt
you have got a monumental amount
going on in there
fuckin clever cunt
I read Arseblog today and agree with Cynic and Countryman that his writing is not as good as it was since he decided everything is Emery’s fault. A lot of it is Emery’s responsibility but Blogs sounds increasingly hysterical to me. I fully get the frustration, the desperation but if Emery does have the board’s confidence I won’t want to read a daily diatribe against the guy.
We want our Holic back!
hello cba
sound advice @1188.
I’m sure I will have forgotten it by
tomorrow but today I won’t moan
about UE anymore
Though I can say that because I’m
going out and won’t have time, but
it’s the thought that counts. Though
in fact the thought doesn’t really
count much at all.
I gave a plug for ‘The Offensive’ already but I’m gonna give it another. It’s like The Thick Of It but about football. Absolutely hilarious and has given me a huge amount of football related laughs, which I have sure needed lately. I’d recommend it a lot. Warning- the language is pretty blue.
https://stakhanov.studio/shows/the-offensive/
he’s a hysterical half mick
a very clever one
but
he is the reason
i am called can’t be arsed
.
long time ago
i followed ‘holic home
like a lost dog
from blogs
.
i’d be reluctant to write off blogs
he’s doing Arsenal his way
it’s not mine
but
1,214 –
drinks ?
number of minutes between Arsenal shots these days ?
odds against a top four finish ?
I haven’t had a chance to be around for the last few hundred and just can’t read that many now.
Most important news is that things look to be going in the right direction for Holic – and that cba is still clinging to the wreckage in here.
Arsenal ? An all round sorry tale just now.
If anyone is feeling depressed, my solution is to drink a gallon of water every night just before going to bed. It gives me a reason to get up in the morning. ?
Blogs sounds increasingly hysterical to me.
I said earlier in the week that he’d start on Emery’s appearance when he had run out of things to moan about, and lo and behold today he’s banging on about his facial expressions.
Bloke’s lost it.
Anyway, I’m off to shoot things.
And no, cba, not Irish people.
Not today anyway.
i will never forgive him
or read him
for the reason
i changed my name
to can’t be arsed
.
he’s clever
he’s funny
he’s Arsenal
.
but his grasp of the subtleties of the north of Ireland
is
well
.
non existent
cynic read
can you !
he is a fuckin moron
in that regard
you throw silly little boy tripe
about Bloody Sunday
.
.
he’s been an oddity
for most of the gooners i know
if you can get the analysis
the basic analysis
so wrong
and you
masquerade with an Irish accent
Hi all, it’s a while since I posted here. I’m a mix of both camps in the Emery debate really. I think he’s got to go because, as much as anything, it looks like the players are no longer playing for him – and when that happens, whether it’s fair or not, there can only be one option. However, I agree wholeheartedly with Cynic that I just don’t think our squad is as good as people make out. Or certainly no better than a lot of teams from 4th to 12th in the league (hence why the concertina effect in the league). We’re a mix of mediocrity and untested youth. I’d say the only bang-on class player who would get into a top side is Aubameyang. And, even then, Auba only gives you moments. He relies on supply, and isn’t going to turn round a sinking ship. I think Guendouzi is substantially overrated. I don’t see what he gives you apart from eye-catching energy and semi-decent short-range passing. He’s unreliable defensively and doesn’t give you much going forward (how many assists in 1.5 years?) Bellerin’s been poor apart from his debut season, but, of course, in the era of hyperbolic debate, the less you play in this Arsenal team (a la Ozil, Tierney, Holding, and now Pepe), the more you become the answer to all the problems and a stick to beat Emery with. Don’t get me wrong – Emery probably needs to go, but the squad is not as strong as most people would believe.
When I said I was off to shoot things, I lied. Going to Sainsburys to get a quiche and some bread doessn’t sounds as exciting though.
S’later.
As for the Irish topic, the best thing we could do with that is leave it.
You see what I did there? 🙂
i do not read him
typical southern “paddy”
well
what if i don’t want to
shop boy
.
.
ye off to the plastic paddy site ?
Nope I’m off to buy food and lemonade, as I can’t drink undiluted beer any more.
shit the bed Trev
i missed your post
just seeing your name
is a tonic for everybody
1234!
CBA@1186,
May I suggest something more appropriate for such a solemn occasion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VIAs2xVgG8&list=RDDz-cwXn5cQc&index=2
dorset M
i hope you are feeling the internet hugs i’m sending
if ye aren’t
sort it out
what a song
i love Tommy Cooper
but i have never heard that
how did that happen
in the etc
it’s fuckin brilliant
Every University town has a student ghetto. In Leicester it’s Clarendon Park. Streets and streets of terraced houses, mainly rented to students. Five minutes walk to campus and filled with corner shops, take aways and scruffy front doors opening directly onto the street. Number one son has moved to a new one this year so I parked in his street (easy) and went to inspect. Much the same as last year. Serviceable, scruffy (four lads sharing so what do you expect) and homely. A quick cup of tea later we ventured out into the rain for a pre match pint.
At Delia’s suggestion we head for the Counting House. Great choice Delia. A funny little place on a retail park five minutes from the ground it was rammed to the rooftops with Gooners. As we pushed into the throng the whole pub was singing
Dani Ceballos
Dani Ceballos
He drinks Estrella
He eats paella
He’s fucking magic
The non stop singing continued. Laca’s song, a new song about Martinelli that I didn’t quite get all the words to but sounded quite good, all the usuals, beer flying everywhere. Soccer Saturday on the big screens, cheers when Sheffield United equalised, groans when VAR ruled it out, cheers when they equalised again. Everybody in high, high spirits, enjoying a day out. A brilliant hour.
Delia I did look for you, but it was so rammed I must have missed you. I was there between 4pm and 5pm. There was a blond femme d’un certain age drinking a pint near the bar, but she denied being Delia from Kings Lynn (maybe I just looked dodgy). Hopefully another day.
So out into the rain (why does it always rain when I go to an away game? See Newcastle, Southampton et al). Five minutes walk to the ground and straight in. Good seats about 8 rows back from the corner flag. The Last Post and Remembrance Day impeccably observed apart from a couple of idiots in our bit who were immediately shushed by scandalised Gooners.
I actually thought we played quite well until they scored, especially in the first half when we played some nice attacking football and had several chances. Nobody was awful, many were good. Nobody was outstanding and that’s probably why we didn’t win. No moments of magic. For them I thought James Maddison was brilliant again. Such a good touch. We could do with him in our midfield. I thought compared to last year they didn’t look as solid without McGuire and not such a threat at set pieces. They do move the ball very, very quickly.
Our supporters were terrific for most of the match. Comprehensively out sang the Leicester and were supportive and lovely. It helped that it was actually quite a good game. Their rat faced number 9 who had the cheek to turn us down came in for some hammer
Your wife is a grass
Your wife is a grass
Jamie Vardy
Your wife is a grass!
Laca put the ball in the net but the lino ruled it out for offside. Then they scored, a lovely goal to be honest, with Vardy the spare man at the back post. Then, with ten minutes or so to go, the coup de grace, a terrific hit from Maddison. Game over.
Our crowd turned at that point. A little gobshite behind me, who must have been all of 20, had been chanting “we’re just a Pulis Stoke team” whenever we tried to put Auba in behind (I think he went to football school once and the teacher was sick that day), suddenly started with “We want our Arsenal back”. I wanted to ask him which Arsenal it was that he wanted back. The late 50s, early 60s team beloved of Clive and TTG? The frankly dire early 80s team that I watched a lot of? I bet he was chanting the same at Wenger. Pillock. The Leicester crowd started chanting “sacked in the morning”. Our lot joined in. Some bright spark held up a hastily made “Emery out” poster made from the Remembrance Day stuff we held up at kick off. Classy.
So, out of the crowd, into the rain, and off for a ruby. Number one son came up triumphant tops with his choice of Heritage India on Welford Road, about five minutes from his house. Really lovely people, some of the best Indian food I have had in many a long day and a really diverse crowd in. Evidently they just won “Best restaurant in Leicester 2019”. It was also remarkably cheap (no dishes more than £9). There was far too much food, even though it only cost £50 for two including two rounds of drinks, so the remaining food was boxed up for my son’s Sunday night supper (students hate to see waste). On the way out I stopped by a table of Leicester supporters and congratulated them. They were magnanimous and understanding as real supporters tend to be. “I bet this has been your best hour of the day” they said. Well that and the hour in the pub before, we replied. “So do you guys want Emery out?” I was asked. Well, I said, we’re divided. Half want him gone now and half at the end of the season. “Well keep your bloody hands off Rodgers” they said, as they wished us a fond farewell.
A good day out, despite the football. I suspect 3000 travelling supporters would agree, unless they went straight to the game and straight home again.
Excellent report of what sounds like a fine day out despite the football. In recent years we too have found it essential to enhance the football with fine food and drink. It’s often been by far the best part of the day. ?
Great report, C100. Glad to read you found so much pleasure and o bookend the pain of the result.
Bathgooner,
Rather than waste time travelling to the game, I’d recommend several pints in The Bell, The Star, The Old Green Tree and The Raven before a decent nosh in the Thai Balcony. Then go home and check the result.
…so much pleasure to bookend…
Good recommendations all, DM@1241. ??
crackin read c100
Countryman, ?? ???off, Sir !
cba,
I’ve followed your recent problems in here, mate, both through yourself and herself when she was telling tales on you.
I can’t honestly tell your true state of affairs through the thoroughly unpleasant jibes you leave to all in here, but I sincerely hope you’re as comfortable as possible and it’s great to see you as prolific and uncompromising (look it up !) as ever.
Take care, you funny ol’ git ! ?
Excellent stuff Countryman. Much appreciated and thoroughly enjoyed!
cba @1216
Cheers.
We all have our different styles, which makes this place so great. Many here who I love to read, not least yourself. You make this place so much richer. But your music videos are hit and miss at best.
I assume it’s a genius mockery of the fact that we never know what Arsenal team are gonna turn up. ?
Mick. Cheers for Tommy Cooper. That brightened up my morning.
Far preferable to Eddie Howe. Who Brightons up every morning.
I am so, so sorry.
Trev. Please come back.
One and a quarter thousand.
Hand ball not given by VAR this is bollocks
VAR favors Pool and Spurs. Clear penalty denied to City. The league is rigged?
It was a double handball and not a penalty.
They didn’t show the offside replays for Salah’s goal though…
Agree with Cynic on both counts at 1253.
Although I’d like to see consistency with these decisions. Some games that is given offside and some games it isn’t. For me that should count as a goal (but be consistently given as such)
He looked at least a quarter of a kneecap off.
The commentators are saying the handball is a penalty for City and Salah was not offside and showed visuals to back their statements. City look hard done by though Pool’s goals were really well taken.
C100
A brilliant report. It’s almost as if I was there and I would have loved to have been except for the football bit?
My awayday rambling is very rare now unless it’s a London game. One downside of watching the team away was the few oiks who seemed to have crept out from under a stone and who claimed to support my beloved Arsenal. In the seventies close association with the wrong type of fans could be very dangerous . Now it’s just nauseating.
I tend to feel the people who experience the biggest inconvenience to follow the side deserve to be listened to the most . That would be those who travel away like Delia and C100 or who get up at some unearthly hour to watch the team like Scruz and co. Then I read about some of the rubbish some of our awayday fans spout and you wonder why they bother!
I think C 1000 as he is now known sums it up well. Do we press the button now or at the end of the season? We all would love to see the team stabilise, go on a great run and bring home a trophy even if it’s the fourth place one . But will that happen with Emery at the helm and more to the point if it doesn’t how bad could it get? Look closely at the table and our Christmas programme and we might be clinging to the hope that we can somehow win the Europa League because we might not be in the top half at Christmas. That could be very painful and Emery wouldn’t get the chance to continue if we were that low but it might be too late then to rescue our season and the impact on retaining the best players would be horrendous.
I suspect the Arsenal board’s position is really that there isn’t an available replacement that they fancy or can tempt to join rather than loyalty to Unai.
Something to bear in mind regarding the penalty.
Whether you think the City handball in that passage of play is handball or not, if City score a goal there it is disallowed for handball under the new regulations.
Therefore I do not think any referee (or VAR) would give a penalty there, because a handball would have played a part in getting them a goal if they score the penalty.
Ksn. I’m not taking my opinion from the commentary when I’m ACTUALLY WATCHING the game.
Furthermore replays show a clear handball from Silva and in a much discussed rule change this year that constitutes a foul. One that is prior to the Liverpool handball (which should be a penalty if City had not already handled the ball) So whatever commentators you are watching are wrong.
I haven’t seen the VAR replay of the offside call because, predictably, I am not watching the half time analysis.
Cynic @ 1258.
Exactly. It can’t be given.
Missed the handball by Silva. The offside call was correctly called, a Salah was onside. City never recovered from Fabinho’s thunderbolt and are down 3-0. Pool clear favorites to win the title this season.
Watched the first 20 minutes only. We looked uncertain and likely to concede as per what has become normal. One beautiful move spoiled by Laca’s inability to finish a decent chance but family duties then called me away. Have since seen the lowlights but haven’t felt like watching the whole thing. Wish I had something positive to say but there is really none. Emery sounding pretty shattered in the post match presser.
Wonderful report c1000, especially your friendly repartee with the Leicester fans at the restaurant after the match. That is worth a lot. 🙂
Saw the last handball by Pool, GSD. Penalty not given. The way handball in penalty area is adjudicated is neither clear nor consistent.
Well in Cynic at the coveted 1250, which some consider a diamond in the rough.
And well in TTG at the all-powerful 1111
Almost enough to bestow you with the new title TT1111
Thanks C1000, cracking
report.
Liverpoo really have started
well this season, it’s so annoying
The last handball wasn’t a penalty either. If they start giving those, amputee footballers will be so in demand they’d be able to write their own contracts.
With their feet obviously.
Thanks OM but what are you doing up at this hour? By my reckoning it’s approaching 4am in Japan. Can’t you sleep?
Ksn
I’d agree it is not clear or consistent. But in this case a VAR review would have seen the City handball and so the Pool one was irrelevant.
No one is certain what the VAR officials see or don’t see and how they arrive at their decisions. That is one of the biggest negatives about the system as is being implemented in football. In cricket, for example, you know what is being seen by the in house ref and how the decision is arrived at. In football things are not transparent.
GSD – thank you, Sir, I’ll do my best.
Absence here is not through choice, just pressure of work and a second dog which has reluctantly and inevitably made even lunchtimes too busy. I stupidly agreed to let my two girls have another puppy in the summer and despite all promises to the contrary, it has mostly involved me whenever things are a bit inconvenient for everyone else.
The yappy little thing is driving me mad but I’m giving it dog’s abuse ?
I’m actually thinking of renaming it Unai cos it makes a lot of noise, none of which I can understand, is non-stop manic action – all completely unproductive, and continues despite my pleading to shit on everything I hold dear.
Oh well …..
Trev @1271
?
yes, exactly C1000 ?
but a quick read through
explanations of the current
handball law and VAR soon
sent me off again ?
A glimpse of times gone by
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKLVmBOOqVU
TTG@1257: Looking at the managers the bookmakers consider offering halfway sensible odds on (up to 33/1), the list of those immediately available would seem to comprise Mourinho, Luis Enrique, Freddie Ljungberg and Massimiliano Allegri (although he lost his nine year old daughter in August so may not be ready to return to football).
The rest of the names would have to be prised away from a current employer: Arteta, Brendan Rodgers, Steven Gerrard, Paddy, Didier Deschamps, Jesse Marsch, Nuno Santo, Eddie Howe, Carlo Ancelotti and Thomas Tuchel. Several there I am not sure would be worth the prising.
One option might be for Freddie to take the job for the rest of the season as an audition for it being a permanent appointment
Bring on the NOISE!
TFE
Ned
I think it was Enrique not Allegri who lost his daughter , a tragic circumstance and one that may affect how he views his next job. There are a few coaches in jobs not on that list like Fonseca at Roma, Nagelsmann at Red Bull and Favre at Dortmund who would appeal because of their recent record but we have to face the fact that we might not appeal to top coaches in currently secure and promising positions given our squad challenges and potential transfer budget plus the ownership of KSE. We also mustn’t forget Alan Pardew and Sam Allardyce ??
It is a pretty complete turnaround that is required as I can’t think of an onfield area that Emery has improved . We have certainly improved ( I think) off the field but this isn’t too relevant to fans if you have a poor coach picking and preparing the team.
Of the oven ready managers I think only Freddie and eeeuuuggghhh Mourinho are realistic candidates and Mourinho would require assurances re a big transfer budget so he could sign Nemanja Matic and lots of other exciting holding midfielders . Mourinho is very high risk as well as high maintenance and has more baggage than my wife on a three week holiday ( sorry darling) so you are right about Freddie . You get a bounce with a new coach but it can quickly turn into a dead cat bounce unless the new coach has got really good ideas. Much will depend on the next few results , the possible sudden availability of an eligible caretaker or successor and how confident Sanllehi and Edu are in Freddie’s abilities and potential.
Let’s just say I’m looking forward to the election more than the next few months at Arsenal.
It does make me wonder what is the so-called tactics that the great Unai emery is trying to create with this team, he was given a free run last season and with that team, he still did better than the current one which is better on paper at least.
Wenger was blamed for everything under the sun, he was blamed for being rigid( agreed), far too open and not conservative and a recipe for disaster by overestimating certain player’s ability( his biggest flaw). He did not for once play football the boring way, he did not tell his players not to try and fail, he cannot be accused of playing players against their natural instincts ever even when at times it cost the balance of the team, emery is doing everything opposite. Unai’s team lacks cohesion, there is no belief, players are in auto mode and does not even listen to what he tries to say, he is extremely conservative and in that, positive players like an Ozil or a people who want to try something, are often left in the lurch or on the bench.
The Leicester game was the classic example, very few if any believed we will win, when we held on for about 60 min it felt like this just might be the day, then the inevitable happened, the defence stood motionless and Vardy scored and the immediate sense is they will score one more than we will score the equalizer. Have we come down to this? When we see teams who really give their lives on the pitch, I see this bunch absolutely passionless. I am not saying it should be chest pumping, battle cry but come one, you won’t go for a 50-50 tackle, you won’t try to force the issue, anything, how will things turn then? miracles are in books.
I am tired watching this mediocrity, yes I have not seen the arsenal before 97 and hence I cannot comment on the dire days earlier but this set of players, manager and the board have no passion or desire, they expect things to fall in place on their own which is impossible.
Freddie an oven ready manager? What has he ever run that is remotely as big as Arsenal?
If you want a short term bump to results then a need to go scratching about for someone else in a year or so, appoint Freddie.
I’ll also add two words to the thought that Freddie Ljungberg would be a good idea.
Thierry Henry.
And that’s set it up nicely for 1280, the year in which the Maoris first settled in New Zealand.
Apparently.
TTG@1277: You are right. My apologies for the mix-up. And to the families.
None of Fonseca, Nagelsmann and Favre troubles the bookies sufficiently to quote odds so I surmise you are right that thy cannot be considered as willing candidates.
Allegri would be my pick of what’s available; the football wouldn’t necessarily be pretty but it would be defensively sound. Much the same style as an Emery Arsenal team but without shipping the goals at the back and a stronger winning mentality.
Vinay, I couldn’t have expressed my own feelings more exactly when you wrote this.
“When we see teams who really give their lives on the pitch, I see this bunch absolutely passionless. I am not saying it should be chest pumping, battle cry but come one, you won’t go for a 50-50 tackle, you won’t try to force the issue”
When watching other teams we often see entire teams and crowds lifted by one hard tackle by one player, giving an impetus to the team lifting its game for the entire afternoon, but it is almost never at Arsenal. Xhaka might have been that player but the referees saw to it that every time he tried he was given a yellow card. If the referees won’t let us do it then we must be more crafty but not lose our passion.
Blogs is bang on the money today. After the leaked statement to Ornstein this weekend this is on Raul, Edu and Josh.
We’ve seen what Emery can do. He’s not going to change suddenly into a coach who plays an organised settled team. The chaotic style is not going to change. Nor are results. It’s down to Raul, Edu and Josh to sort this out. They surely recognise how short of their expectations the team is now regularly falling. Hopefully Raul is the duplicitous little bastard that a career at Barca would lead one to expect him to be and this statement is spin designed to conceal his negotiations with a new coach. Sadly I don’t believe that is the case though.
There seems to be blind panic among the faithful now at the thought of Emery NOT leaving NOW, TODAY. I have zero sympathy, I decided it was time for AW after the Hull final and had to wait four bleedin’ years !
By the way, Raul and Edu aren’t stupid (the Summer showed that with those clever deals) so they won’t be so dumb as to install a guy on Nov 23 leaving him hopelessly unprepared for the five game “run of death” Dec 15-Jan 1. What do they do if we collapse over that run with a shiny new coach ? Yes, exactly… so hunker down Gooners and, perish the thought, support the team with gusto on Nov 23. I predict 5-0. I was a treacherous moan about Wenger but there’s different rules for me, obviously. Just thinking now actually, if it’s still Emery after Christmas and we’re too far back for CL, you leave him in for the season cos he’s a Europey League magician ! LOL. COYG.
Bathgooner @ 1283
I agree, Emery using the “emotional balance” excuse starting with Koscielny, Ozil/Kolasianc knife attack and Xhaka….
Are you for real?
Leciceter lost their owners, they sold one of their best CB in he summer….
We are just NOISE….. now that is a the Arsenal way from now on it seems.
Cynic,
My definition of ‘ oven- ready’ would be someone not in a job and easily appointable and perhaps, in addition, I would add ‘ someone who would take the job’. I completely agree it would be a big risk but at the same time it would be easily unwindable if it was a disaster. But I’m dubious they will do it.
Since I wrote that this morning I’m wondering if they might target Arteta but he is not experienced and may feel he is Pep’s successor.
I have to confess that of that team of Invincibles, Freddie would have been one of the least likely, to my mind , to become a top coach ( I didn’t think Henry would be either). If I had to pick a couple who might go on to coach I would have picked out Gilberto and Vieira , given Bergkamp’s flying phobia which would rule him out. Sol has had to start at the very bottom and might also turn into a decent coach.
Blogs is bang on the money today. After the leaked statement to Ornstein this weekend this is on Raul, Edu and Josh.
Now that support has been made public, and it is not just a leaky Ornstein thing, I reckon Blogs will be put on suicide watch.
TTG, having seen Gilberto’s very weak studio commentary on US television during the last WC, I have to disagree about his pedigree to be a manager in England. Weaker communication skills than Emery, by far.
Campbell and Vieira, maybe.
But I’m just sitting at the bar on an early winter Monday afternoon in Minneapolis so what would I know?
Bt8
Sorry I didn’t make my point very well.. I thought at the time they were playing that Gilberto and Paddy would be cerebral enough to be coaches. No way did I think Freddie could. Looking at it now Gilberto is not strong enough character wise. I’m not convinced that Paddy has the experience to turn this around. Freddie is a candidate much to my surprise .
Being a candidate of course does not give Freddie extra qualifications but he might do okay as an interim. I just don’t like our post AW history echoing United’s with the Scandinavian interim but I shouldn’t go on such trivial factors that are little different from numerology. Up for 1300 while the barman slumbers?
Hi bt8. I visited the Twin Cities a lot in my pre retirement career. 3M were a huge client.
They explained to me that Minneapolis/St Paul had two seasons. Winter and construction (road works).
The mossies there were also some of the biggest I ever saw and was bitten by. Made Mediterranean ones look puny in comparison.
Taking joy from Tottenham’s troubles could be just the tonic before Tuesday’s travails.
Biggest mosquitoes I have seen Countryman were when camping in Northern Idaho as a teen. Maybe that built up my tolerance but I would say the local breed are more numerous than huge. Several neighbors work for 3M so next time I am walking the dog I will tell them you said hello. Cheers!
But you are spot on about construction season being on the verge of ending until late April, or more likely early May. If I could be a snowbird I would, most likely to spend the winter in the Canary or Baleric isles. Not because I have ever been to either, just out of curiosity and my impression I could find good bars there.
Lays it off for a striding and confident
Receives ball from keeper in 6 yard box, turns, feints to pass to RWB, draws opposition attacker, turns and passes across the face of the goal to…
Our DM. He puts in a 60 yard pass, drawing cries from our fans of “it’s just like Pulis’s Stoke, into the path of
A rare 1300?
Well in Ned!
I was a bit nervous with Bath fannying about in our area …..
Lurking on the back post just in case you shoot at air. Oh well next time.
Thanks for the assist, C100. Nothing like the lightening Route 1 counter…
Well it’s worked often enough against us Ned.
Well in Ned. Great assist CM1000. Works almost every time against us.
NBN, Ever the lurker… Must be the monk in you?
Well done and I mean that in a secular manner.
Fanning around? I was following the coach’s strict instructions! ?
To quote all those around me on the North Bank and about 57,000 others at the Emirates just get rid!
CM1000@1308, I couldn’t agree more, sir.
The Goonerholic has just been on Twitter, responding to a well wisher. This is what he wrote.
“Hello Bee. In with sclerosis of the liver two weeks ago. Praying out by the weekend. ??“
All the very best Dave. Recover well mate.
Piers Gaveston exiled.
Death of Piers Gaveston. Momentous day in British history. Well worth checking out Derek Jarman’s Edward II, and Mel Gibson’s Braveheart lesser so, to see why.
lucky number?
Repetetive swine, bt8.
*wonders if we’ll manage to reach Agincourt*
You’ve just survived Bannockburn, Cynic. One of the few.
Cynic. You should hear me in person. Embodiment of a boring midwesterner.
Wish we had such literary-sounding battles over here. Appomattox sounds like a detox center.
Only 543 more drinks and we reach the first Bull Run/Manassas!
Well, we better get started then.
The Battle of the Big Hole did not involve the striker playing in the hole, but sounds literary enough for the purposes of this blog.
Not to be setting blog policy on the matter.
Some might say the Battle of the Big Hole sounds like the place where all our points went from the games we should have won so far this season, and it sounds the part to me.
bt8b@1306: You just get into the habit.
I’ll get my cowl…
get better, holic. that’s a toughie, hopefully they’ve caught it early enough that you will need little ongoing treatment!
1325 – notable for The War of the
Bucket.
Wish you an easy and swift recovery holic, all fingers crossed.
Kneel before thy King, peasants.
Usurper!
OMG! King Robert 1 has died. Long live King David.
OM@1325, thanks for that little pearl. I hadn’t heard of it. It’s an interesting story.
https://youtu.be/X30LZYglM-k
Usurper!
Sounds positively revolting
Get better soon Dave!
I’ve sold all my Diageo shares !
Best wishes, Guv’nor. Hope you are home and recuperating soon.
Woulda thought Bologna v. Modena woulda included some mention of olive oil in 4+ minutes but v. interesting nonetheless, Bath and OM your accomplice. ≈
Or was that Modena v. Bologna considering the bucket was “originally” theirs?
Modena is closer to the San Siro let’s call it Modena v. Bologna to increase attendance
Historical vignettes in 4 minutes each disguised as football hooligan rivalries. A great idea.
Clever, humorous and numerically appropriate @1325
*wonders what happened in the 1340s*
seeing as past is prologue
not to mention analogue as you Brits probably spell it
picture of David in 1329
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBT0pFqB5cY
Must be the other Scottish David.
Ructions in the England
camp. Actually I wouldn’t
mind if one of our players
was so pissed off that he
continued to fight next
time he saw the other guy.
bt8 @1341 –
or “supplemented by one additional branch” as you Merkans probably spell it ?
Buckets of posts there bt8.
I imagine the Bolognese must
have been a bit pail after losing
the war though.
Well, I think that’s enough
from me
@1342
oh dear I went straight past
the year David II was put in
an English prison for 11 years.
Perhaps we can note his
release as we stride boldly
past 1357
The bubonic plague reached England in 1348, killed about a third of the population and changed society. Much like Bosman in football, it allowed the serf to say, “Sod you and your conditions! I’m off to work for the fella down the road who is offering heritable land if I’ll work on his estate.
And here’s me, thinking we had moved beyond the pail. Oh well.
Heritable but not irrigable most likely.
Irritability being a moot point if it is swampland I might add, which could pertain to Tottenham marshes.
irritability above having been corrected from irritability by Apple’s favorite spillchucker
See what I mean? Quite irritating
Providing a rousing lead in to the magical release date
Remiss of me not to say hi to Trev who just looked in. Hey Trev ?
You are serfing it up on a plate
despite your irrigability at the
plaguey spillchucker.
1357 – a noted year in
David II’s diary.
As a serfice to the multitudes you are too lazy to look it up or who (even worse) just don’t care,
“On 3 October 1357, after several protracted negotiations with the Scots’ regency council, a treaty was signed at Berwick-upon-Tweed under which Scotland’s nobility agreed to pay 100,000 marks, at the rate of 10,000 marks per year, as a ransom for their king. This was ratified by the Scottish Parliament at Scone on 6 November 1357.”
The Scottish Parliament was doing more than eating scones, apparently.
If Berwick is upon Tweed I would have thought it would have floated away by now.
The story of the actress wannabee turned goalkeeper poised to thwart mighty England:
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/50226853
Not to distract from the historical thread …
Several fascinating things happened in 1363, but in England
Royal decree prohibits all forms of Sunday recreation other than practice with the English longbow.
Sumptuary law regulates dress according to the wearer’s social class.
Not fascinating enough, obvs.
Hi bt8,
they couldn’t be eating scones at 1359 cos that’s almost 2-o-clock and lunchtime is over ?
have a stella.
In 1367, the Black Prince, John of Gaunt and Pedro the Cruel defeated Henry of Castile and the French in the Battle of Navarrete. Presumably the good guys won?
What happened to that web site that listed the kings of Scotland, when they were born, when they reigned, and which member of their family murdered them?
Bit remiss of me to skip over 1368 without noting that was the year the Ming dynasty started.
We’ll just have to press onto @1644 so we can note its end at the appropriate drink.
Hey scruz, Hope you’re having another lovely day in Cali. Even if you went to Colombia. 😉
No wonder Guernsey is not Welsh. In 1372 they abandoned their assault on the island in order to attack the French at La Rochelle. Bigger fish to fry I suppose, as Adrian Durham might have said.
Apologies for my glaring omission in not mentioning in a timely manner the founding in 1364 of the Hieronymite hermitic order, more commonly (?) known as the Order of St. Jerome. This apparently happened near Toledo in Spain. Ned, I apologize if they are rivals of your guys.
Guernsey would have been French rather than Welsh, bt8b.
https://www.theislandwiki.org/index.php/La_Déscente_des_Aragousais
Owain Lawgoch, pretender to the Welsh throne who had led the attack on Guernsey (and was, incongruously, born in Surrey), was ordered by his French paymasters to head to La Rochelle which was held by the English at the time. Damn complicated, the Hundred Years’ War.
Castle Ned is more a disorder than an order, bt8b.
Good morning to you all,
as there is no Arsenal news
of note (vote of confidence in
UE, mutterings of player
unrest, blah blah blah) it’s on
to 1376.
The year of the so called “Good
Parliament” . It’s been 643 years
surely must be due another ?
Thanks for the prompt correction Ned, hopefully saving me from a legacy as the guy who botched Guernseyian history. 🙂
Actress wanna beekeeper unable to do enough thwarting:
England 3 Czech Republic 2
Arseblog continues to look for negatives.
“My teabag burst today and my old granny took one look at the leaves left in the cup and said, ‘That Unai Emery.. he’s going to KILL YOU ALL UNLESS HE’S SACKED NOW!'”
Not worth reading any longer…
If I ever meet any of you boring on about all these old dates you’re history.
@1376,
Scruz can read about all that player unrest stuff in the LAGazette ?
The year after the great peasant revolt, there was an uprising against taxes in France. I guess it took too long to knit waistcoats or there wasn’t enough yellow wool for it to be the beginning of the Gilet Jaune movement. Nonetheless a full year of protests is very impressive (not reported on EU MSM for fear of imitation elsewhere).
A lot of you are older than I thought. ?
History is for the young, GSD.
Fine first-time drink by MiddleArse @978
I couldn’t have said it better what ‘holic has created in this space. Get better soon Guvnor and thanks for having us.
History also being for the old, a partial explanation for Harvey’s Bristol Cream?
The Treaty of Windsor was the diplomatic alliance signed between Portugal and England on 9 May 1386 at Windsor and sealed by the marriage of King John I of Portugal to Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster. With the victory at the Battle of Aljubarrota, assisted by English archers, John I was recognized as the undisputed King of Portugal.
Philippa of Lancaster must have been … ahem … quite attractive.
Maybe she went into the sherry making business in later life.
Aha, contradictory evidence:
“Philippa was considered to be rather plain, and King João I (John I) already had a mistress, Inês Peres Esteves, by whom he had three children.”
Turns out Philippa’s father later married Philippa’s governess.
Which
happened
in
1394, look it up.
Even more interestingly perhaps,
Katherine (Philippa’s governess) had close ties with Geoffrey Chaucer, since her
sister was Chaucer’s wife. King John (aka João I) became Chaucer’s patron and Chaucer spent much time with the family as one of Philippa’s mentors.
In 1395 John “Eleanor” Rykener was brought to court in London for committing an “unmentionable ignominious act”. The verdict is unknown.
Oops! “Tabs-ed it”.
Hey Bath!
The official site sends out this news flash:
“Elneny features in Bestikas win”
Which brings up the question, Who at Arsenal is not using their spillchucker, and/or does not know the name of the Turkish club we loaned him to?
Apologies for ending that last sentence with a proposition.
Some historian must have found out the specific crimes under the umbrella of “unmentionable ignominious act” but the unknown verdict in that case is a bit odd.
Kapow!
And Tamerlane destroys Baghdad.
So past is indeed prologue then. Well in, Bath.
The year 1398 was noteworthy
for arrival of Henry Sinclair,
Jarl of Orkney, Lord of Roslin
and Knight Templar in America.
A modest fellow, he returned
without mentioning it much.
It should be noted some people,
merely reputable historians, have
disputed these facts but the
evidence is compelling to anyone
with a firm grasp of fantasy.
Well in for the 1400, Bath. Skipped right past the death of Chaucer.
That’ll teach me for trying to
lay out the facts – 5 whole
years late.
OM@1403: Fascinating character, Henry Sinclair. As well as discovering or not discovering America a century before Columbus, he also had a dozen daughters and three sons by his second wife. Little wonder he didn’t have much time to record his adventures.
Also invented the C5 almost 600 years before Sir Clive. Having to be pulled by a horse was a bit of a drawback though, if you had a horse why buy a C5?
600 years later, the danger of being shat on by a horse as you drove by it was the thing that killed off the concept for all time.
In 1408, the future Henry V kicked Owain Glyndŵr’s arse all over Wales and back again.
Also, apparently … Zheng He delivers 300 virgins from Korea to the Chinese emperor. He started out with 651 but it’s a long trip and there was nowt else to do once he’d finished the Times crossword.
1409 sees more fun and games in Wales, as they surrender Harlech Castle to the English. Centuries later they had their revenge by sending us Max Boyce.
Hardly sporting.
Arsene Wenger has found himself a job, as FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development. Which is nice for him. Lots of free junkets all over Africa and the oil rich Middle East FA’s I guess.
In 1411 the University of St Andrews was founded, though not by Arsene Wenger.
In 1412, Joan of Arc was born and inspired … a song, centuries later, by OMD, One of their very worst.
In 1413, Henry of Monmouth becomes King Henry V, possibly the greatest King England has ever known.
1414 is 1958 in the Bhuddist calendar.
AGINCOURT
Apologies for cba’ing it, but I had to get to 1415 🙂
Although now I’ve done it, I know how Alexander the Great felt.
(And yeah I know that thing about weeping as there were no more worlds to conquer is a misquote of Plutarch via Sid Waddell and Hans Gruber but it sounds cool so there).
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here
And hold their manhood cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day
Best of luck to AW in his
new role as the one honest
person in FIFA.
After founding St. Andrews,
Oxford & Cambridge, AW
moved on to overseeing the
French Revolution and the
downfall of Bonaparte before
his magnum opus as the
most loved and respected
manager ever. We wish him
every success in his new
role. And hope he has a
very long spoon.
When the Guvna is back in harness he will be delighted that this blog, already by far the most erudite in the Goonerverse has ratcheted up into a work of historical reference and commentary that puts the efforts of Le Grove – eg, ‘ Emery is a cunt’ to shame .
While it is no surprise to find my fellow Holics are so intellectually blessed I believe we have created something of historical value that is unique and precious. Well done colleagues I am extraordinarily impressed as indeed you will be by the knowledge that in 1419
we saw the first defenestration of Prague: anti-Catholic Hussites, followers of executed reformer Jan Hus, stormed Prague town hall and threw the judge, mayor and several city council members out of the windows. They died in the fall or were killed by crowd outside. The first Ultras?
I wonder if we’ll get as far as the execution of William Tyndale..
Birth of Henry VI. One of the few kings to have two reigns as King of England. He was also the king to begin presiding over the War of the Roses. He also warranted three Shakespeare plays; I’m marginally partial to Henry VI: Part 2. And, in other news, Clive Allen is still a twat.
I hope when The Boss returns he reads every single drink left in his absence. That’ll learn ‘im.
In 1423 in the Hundred Years’ War at Battle of Cravant – the French army was defeated by the English on the banks of the river Yonne in Burgundy
Well worth knowing
I hope we brought a few bottles back TTG.
I’m quite partial to some premier cru Meursault or Puligny-Montrachet, especially if someone else is paying.
Carry on.
Never quite got their reds though. Prefer the reds of Bordeaux (especially St Emilion) or a Rhône wine (especially Chateauneuf du Pape).
Mind you, as you know, I’m also happy with a pint ofGuiness.
Now what happened in 1426? I’m all agog!
Countryman,
Stop it, you are making me thirsty!
Le Monrachet, if someone very rich is buying!
In October 1428 The Siege of Orleans began.
In 1429, it ended.
Is it 1428 already?
The aforementioned Joan of
Arc starts hearing those
pesky voices
Bugger it, I’m going back to
sleep
And in going to sleep, you failed to note the death of said woman in 1431, whose last words may or may not have been, “”Ere… who’s burnt the fuckin’ toast!”
meanwhile, brunelleschi’s dome is rising.
ghiberti is working on the second set of the baptistry doors.
On 24 November 1434 the River Thames froze over.
Cynic @ 1432
You’re not confusing this with Alfred and burning the cakes in 878 are you?
BTW with you 100% on Arseblog
Just read back into the 1100s where cba seems to have started the historical thread. Well done. Apologies to anybody I may have missed prior to that but scrolling through 1400 drinks is a large job. 🙂
The Arseblog article on stats today makes very depressing reading but the stats aren’t his and they do underline how serious our position is. Blogs basically can’t write a paragraph without ending it with Emery must go but that doesn’t make him wrong .
As Countryman and I were saying last week this season has been awful. Arsenal have only lost three games but they haven’t played remotely well since the first game of the season for ninety minutes and the creativity of the side is at an all-time low in recent memory . Watching such poor football at both ends of the pitch ( at very high prices) is tough to do.
I’m heading off to the the ladies NLD on Sunday and am really looking forward to it. I’ve never seen a ladies game live before and to win at the neighbours new ground will be terrific if we can. But above all I’m confident they will turn up and play well. I’ve realised I haven’t had that feeling about the men’s side for months and I’m actually enjoying the time when we are not playing more than when we are. That is what Emery has done to me.
In 1439, Hussite movement (see TTG’s@1419) ended by defeat at the Battle of Grotniki
Or at least the Polish branch of the Hussite movement.
And as OM meant to say @1430, Joan of Arc threatened to lead a crusading army against the Hussites unless they returned to the Catholic faith.
It is all connected.
As a pious and virginal woman she had no time for filthy hussites.
😀
1442 – Edward IV was born, the first Yorkist King on his succession to the throne at 19. Married the saucepot Elizabeth Woodville and had a mere ten children with her. Father of the infamously murdered Princes in the Tower.
Oh testicles. Send bt8 to the Tower!
In 1443:
The Crusade of Varna was an unsuccessful military campaign mounted by several European monarchs to check the expansion of the Ottoman Empire into Central Europe, specifically the Balkans between 1443 and 1444. It was called by Pope Eugene IV on 1 January 1443 and led by King Władysław III of Poland, John Hunyadi, Voivode of Transylvania, and Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy.
(No wonder the serbs are so bellicose.)
In 1444 (I think I’ve fallen one year behind, but still):
The Crusade of Varna culminated in a decisive Ottoman victory over the crusader alliance at the Battle of Varna on 10 November 1444, during which Władysław and the expedition’s Papal legate Julian Cesarini were killed.
See what you’ve done now? Off with his noggin!
Even back then there was a lot of stuff happening simultaneously.
A Pause before resumption at 1450
Despots out of control sending people to the Tower without any justification whatsoever.
Speaking of despots…
In 1452, the future Richard III was born.
Some of them might have done something or other. Pause having been breached by nameless hordes, resuming with 1453 when this happened:
The Fall of Constantinople (Byzantine Greek: Ἅλωσις τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, romanized: Halōsis tēs Kōnstantinoupoleōs; Turkish: İstanbul’un Fethi, lit. ‘Conquest of Istanbul’):
The capture of the capital city of the Byzantine Empire by an invading Ottoman army on 29 May 1453.
First Gutenberg Bible printed in 1454.
1455 – The Wars of the Roses begin
Re: Elizabeth Woodville the saucepot of 1453. Pictures show her occasionally hot but occasionally not. Some of them quite hot though.
Suppose she would’ve been less hot ten years after though …
And after ten kids she’d have had a fanny like the Archbishop of Canterbury’s sleeve.
I think that’s my cue to go to bed.
And ten children after too.
*conjures the image and decides it’s convincing enough to decide against converting to the Church of England*
29 March 1461: Battle of Towton: Edward IV defeats Queen Margaret, to make good his claim to the English throne (thought by Wikipedia, and perhaps others, to be the bloodiest battle ever fought in England).
Map study reveals Towton to occupy a small piece of turf between Leeds and York.
Lest anybody accuse this thread of being too European or British, between 1464 and 1466 in southern China, so Wikipedia seems to say, resentment over government support of large waves of immigration sparked the Miao and Yao revolts, which were crushed by 30,000 Ming troops joining 160,000 local Guangxi soldiers.
As not even our Japanese correspondent is likely to recall, on 21 August 1464 Go-Hanazono resigned his throne in favor of his son, who would be known as Go-Tsuchimikado. However, the calendar date was not thought of as a day in August by the locals, who curiously employed an entirely different calendrical system.
In 1465 the Moroccan revolt in Fez ousted the Maranid rulers, and resulted in the killings of almost the entire Jewish community of the city. The Marinid dynasty briefly held sway over all the Maghreb in the mid-14th century, and supported the Kingdom of Granada in al-Andalus in the 13th and 14th centuries.
If I were Arsene Wenger I would be very pleased to be taking his new appointment at FIFA as head of global football development. He will be able to do it supremely well, and at his age will not have to suffer the indignities all managers must suffer, such as explaining losses to the press, being denigrated by the ignorant, and so on. I wish him well.
a topical 1464 from bt8
as the emperor again
abdicated this very year.
The first since 1817 in fact
if we should reach so far.
1468
The end of the line for
Gutenberg, I wonder if
he clutched a copy of his
own bible.
The birth of Vasco da Gama.
For those who may not have
heard of him, he was a well
known sailor who twice won
the Admiral’s Cup defeating the
rival boat of Machiavelli, who
coincidentally was also born
in 1469.
A good year for some of the
Roses as one king runs away
and another one comes back
again. More importantly it
inspired a whiny Elvis Costello
song that I’ve unaccountably
always liked.
The death of Thomas Mallory,
author of Le Morte d’Arthur.
A truly dreadful tome on the
chivalrous behaviours of some
weirdo cultists.
I assume it was satire as Mallory
himself was a murderer, rapist
and thief who spent many well-
deserved periods in Marshalsea.
He should of got at least 5 years
for his book.
A new name for some….
introducing Nezahualcoyotl.
Philosopher, Warrior, Architect,
Poet and Ruler of the Texcoco
city state in present day Mexico.
A reasonable fellow who tried to
stop human sacrifice in his own
lands and those of his neighbours.
In his spare time he fathered
110 children, presumably not
with the same wife.
I thought his passing, of causes
unknown, in 1472 merited
mention in this august historical
blog.
I seem to have posting
diarrhoea
1474 saw the end of the
Anglo Hanseatic War.
Summary
Some wool merchants tried
to fuck over some other wool
merchants and there was a
war lasting 5 years.
One of the participants was
the town of Lübeck. A nice
seaside town on the coast
of Germany, worth a visit
in the summer.
The 3/4 century rolls round
Time for the birth of Michelangelo,
Gringoire and de Lucano. Some
arty fellows apparently.
1476 most likely saw the end
of Vlad the Impaler, 2nd son
of Vlad Dracul.
Vlad, a firm believer in clarity,
went to great lengths to make
sure people got the point.
Ivan III marches against Novgorod marking the beginning of Russian colonialism. Plus ça change…
And…
The Spanish Inquisition begins.
Nobody expected that!
As Mel Brooks said
Hey, Torquemada, whaddaya say?
I just got back from the auto-da-fé
Auto-da-fé, what’s an auto-da-fé?
It’s what you oughtn’t to do but you do anyway
Skit skat voodely vat tootin de day
For full Inquisition lyrics
https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/3458764513820546500/
We will stumble in our up and coming fixtures, despite the level of opponent we’re facing. Nothing will change until the summer. It’s what I anticipate. Arsenal board, owner’s are frightened of change. They don’t understand it. Aren’t equipped to move with the pace of the modern game. In essence we’ve been behind the competition for over a decade. Ineptitude in abundance.
So how many of you are opposed to Brendan Rodgers? I don’t think his time at Liverpool was a failure and he had to deal with a club in transition. Did a job at Celtic, but then again who couldn’t! Has brought an attacking brand of football to Leicester. I wouldn’t necessarily say that Leicester’s first eleven, man for man is better than ours. In fact I could only see one or two of their’s making it into our first eleven. So it’s down to how they are being coached, which is the difference between the two sides. So should we be going for Rodgers in the summer?
How about NES. Brought Wolves up, has an attacking identity, built on defensive solidity. Struggling a bit with getting to grips with Europa league and PL, but it’s a learning curve and new. But they’re still pulling off giant slaying acts like last season and holding their own in Europa league. Would anyone be opposed to NES in the summer?
I don’t think recruitment would hold me back from bringing NES in. Recruitment at Arsenal would be out of his hands any way and he clearly has the coaching ability. Any manager who can get Ryan Bennett to defend against world class striker’s of the likes of Aguero. When Ryan Bennett is a Championship player at best. Would have more success with the higher calibre of player’s that we already have at the club.
He’d be the cheaper of the two manager’s to get. If Rodgers finishes in the top four with Leicester, which I suspect the current top four to be the top four at the end of the season. Then he will be nigh on impossible to prise away from Leicester and his negotiating position would be that much stronger.
I’d prefer a manager who knew this league or had a proven track record of winning league titles (i.e. back to back league win’s, rather than one hit wonder’s) in Spain, Italy or Germany. I see these as strong league’s and of a similar standing to the Premier League.
Martin Luther, who succeeded where Jan Hus failed, was born in 1483.
HNDS@1482: Mourinho fits your preferred qualification for a manager. Would he be acceptable?
HNDS@1481
I personally wouldn’t want him as our manager. He may be a good manager, but:
He has a painting of himself in pride of place at home.
He sometimes speaks about himself in the third person.
He has got those funny white joke teeth – a definite sign of rampant vanity.
Re: 1480. Notice that the last step was to send in the nuns. Genius, doncha think?
excellent points Dorset Mick.
Salient like Rodgers teeth.
What Dorset Mick said.
Ideal if you’re a mid table team wanting to get top six, because if you do well you look like a miracle worker, but not for a top six team expecting top four and hoping to win things.
He’s a good manager when there’s no pressure on him.
For those touting Arteta I was reading some stuff written in May 2018 about Emery and was reminded that when Arteta was linked with taking over from Wenger, nobody much wanted him to and “social media” was awash with angst at the prospect.
Odd, to have grown up in a decade when Inquisition humor seemed possible.
bt8
Well Mel Brooks also did a film taking the piss out of the Nazi’s.
A genius IMHO
c100
Mel Brooks made me laugh helplessly probably like nobody else so we must be in the same “camp”
1492 – Christopher Columbus makes the biggest mistake of his life.
Five hundred years later, his namesake makes an even bigger error by making Home Alone 2
Leading up to 1492, by 1486 Christopher Columbus was firmly in Spain, asking for patronage from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. After at least two rejections, he at last obtained royal support in January 1492, achieved chiefly through the interventions of the Spanish treasurer, Luis de Santángel, and the Franciscan friars of La Rábida, near Huelva, with whom Columbus had stayed in the summer of 1491.
1495: Friar John Cor records the first known batch of Scotch whisky.
1494: Birth of Suleiman the Magnificent.
The Education Act 1496 was an act of the Parliament of Scotland that required landowners to send their eldest sons to school to study Latin, arts and law. This made schooling compulsory for the first time in the world. [Lurking in the classroom outlawed. :;)
Savonarola’s bonfire of the vanities occurred in Florence in 1497.
Chips the ball up the line to…
takes baff’s chip, dips a shoulder and fires a cross in from the left for…
Who swings in the cross for…
SCG sends in the pinpoint cross; my sliced miskick drifts over the line. Cruel game. Bath gets the pre-assist, either way.
Top class lurking to 1500.
Fortuitously, 1502 lets us
note the sad passing of
Gwerful Mechain, foremost
Welsh erotic poetess of her
time. Noted for her verse in
praise of the vulva.
Gwerful’s vulva be praised.
1504: Juan de la Cosa (John of the Thing, for the uninitiated) begins his first independent voyage, to the Isthmus of Panama.
27 June: The future King Henry VIII of England repudiates his engagement to Catherine of Aragon, at his father’s command.
2 July: Martin Luther vows to become a monk in a moment of terror due to a near lightning strike during a thunderstorm.
Well in Ned at the monumental 1500 including well disguised (un)intentionality.
1477 saw on Nov 18 the first English dated printed book “Dictes & Sayengis of the Phylosophers” by Harry Redknapp sorry er William Caxton
One is delightfully gobsmacked to find such a source of historical reference nestling cosily among the ramblings of a set of Arsenal supporters. As a Norwich fan myself the recent thread on the Reformation in East Anglia and why it showed Ipswich were Scum was an intellectual highlight but this thread of mediaeval revelation is a joy and frankly a surprise as I thought you ‘ Gooners’ as I believe you are known spent your lives moaning about the inadequacies of your latest coach. Little do they know that you are on such an inspiring journey . May I commend to you the fascinating background to the The League of Cambrai , formed as an alliance against the Republic of Venice, between Pope Julius II, Louis XII of France, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Ferdinand II of Aragon.
They wouldn’t need one now the place is flooded ?
That bastard interloper Christopher , my half- brother by the Marquis of Great Yarmouth is trying to masquerade as a smarty pants ad a Norwich supporter to boot.
The bastard is a Portman Road scummer and knows nothing about the beautiful game. Nor does he know that in 1509 not only did Henry V111 ascend to the English throne but on Aug 8 of that year the Emperor Krishnadeva Raya was crowned, marking the beginning of the regeneration of the Vijayanagara Empire in Southern India
Ipswich used to be competitive, or so I am told.
well in, ned. you have to feel lucky, then.
and albrecht dürer was a busy boy. woodcuts and paintings of renown.
Mr Fry
Ramblings?
Fucking ramblings!
Cheeky fucker.
(Actually good point well made)
Fackin’ cants.
Sorry to lower the tone from our historical musings but my away brethren wouldn’t forgive me if I didn’t point out
Your sister is your mother
Your uncle is your brother
You all fuck one another
The Norwich family
(To the tune of the Addams family)
Now when and where were we …..
One of the numerous recorded dates of flooding in Venice:
High waters were recorded on May 29, 1511
1516 – Erasmus’ Greek translation of the New Testament is printed.
OM@1502: you have the impassioned ecstasy of Ann Griffiths’s poetry to look forward to once we get to the late 1700s.
For what it is worth, some scholars believe that Gwerful Mechian’s Cywydd y Cedor was a riposte to the great Medieval poet Dafydd ap Gwilym’s Cywydd y Gal, gal being Welsh for penis.
There is a 1950s book by Leslie Harries on Welsh poets in which he says: “In the light of the 20th century, Gwerful Mechain is nothing more than a whore, but in her own century singing dirty songs was more or less a common thing to do.”
C100@1514 has clearly missed his time by a few centuries. 🙂
The Dancing Plague of 1518 broke out In Strasbourg in July. A mania in which people die from constant dancing. And you think people have only recently become crazy?
Facking smolts.
La Noche Triste in Mexico
La Noche Triste, the “sad night” of 30 June 1520, an episode marking the end of the first phase of the Spanish Conquest, when the Aztec confederation slaughtered a large Spanish force and its native allies, the Tlaxcalteca, as they fled from the imperial city of Tenochitlán-Tlatelolco. Less than a year earlier, the Spanish expedition led by Hernán Cortés made landfall in Veracruz and with the help of coastal and Tlaxclan allies marched inland and seized control of the Aztec capital. For months, the Spaniards reigned through Moctezuma, the Aztec ruler. Not long after, Cortés left the city to defeat and incorporate a larger Spanish force charged with arresting him. In his absence, the Spaniards under Pedro de Alvarado massacred unarmed warriors dancing in the temple festival of Toxcatl, triggering a massive revolt.
Cortés returned to find Spanish control of the city lost. Besieged in the heart of Tenochtitlán by tens of thousands of Aztec warriors, Cortés and his approximately 1,100 men had to flee to avoid complete destruction. To prevent their escape, the Aztecs had destroyed many of the bridges throughout the canal-crossed island city. The Spanish decided to try to sneak out during the night but Aztec sentinels soon spread the alarm. Attacked as they proceeded along the Tacuba causeway, the Spanish and Tlaxcalans found it hard to resist the onslaught by their opponents in canoes. Perhaps half of the Spanish force was killed, or captured and later sacrificed, along with more than 1,000 Tlaxcalans. The Spanish rout could be attributed to cunning Mexican military, but it also resulted from their greed—overloaded with booty, their progress was slow and cumbersome and their escape all the more difficult. The survivors successfully retreated to Tlaxcala to regroup. In May 1521, Cortes returned to lay siege on Tenochtitlán.
1522 September 6 – The Vittoria, one of the surviving ships of Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition, returns to Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Spain, under the command of Juan Sebastián Elcano, becoming the first ship to circumnavigate the world.
Presumably, Ferdinand was considered cool in that moment.
Even Juan Sebastián may have impressed some of the locals favorably.
The Early Vasa period of Swedish and Finnish history lasted between 1523–1611. It began with the reconquest of Stockholm by Gustav Vasa and his men from the Danes in 1523, triggered by the event known as the Stockholm Bloodbath in 1520.
Naturally enough.
Giovanni da Verrazzano, an Italian explorer in the service of France, becomes the first European to explore the Atlantic coast of North America between Florida and New Brunswick in 1524, including New York Bay.
I hates them big fuckers
Better luck this time to Thierry Henry, new head coach of Montreal Impact.
You’ve just got a chip on
yer shoulder ye wee fucker
I’ll second that bt8. Didn’t
really get a fair shot at
Monaco.
Sweet.
Farewell Cardinal Wolsey, he’d
have happier in the 1970s and
80s when Ipswich had a decent
side.
Damn, I missed 1526 – William Tyndale printed the first full edition of the New Testament in English, a crime for which he was condemned as a heretic.
Already exiled to Europe at the time, Tyndale’s English translation of the Bible from Greek and Hebrew texts forms over 80% of what we know as the Bible today. He was as influential in the way English is written and spoken today as Shakespeare was, introducing such phrases as “Let there be light”, “My brother’s keeper” and “seek and ye shall find” as well as many other phrases and common words we use to this day.
He spoke seven languages apart from his native English and was a prolific writer and translator. His is a fascinating and ultimately tragic story, as he was strangled at the stake, then burned, in Belgium after being betrayed in 1536.
I should have saved all that for the relevant drink, but I want to go to bed and didn’t want to cba it again. 🙂
Clever these Chinese ?
Yin Pan’s larger and greasier brother.
Battle of the Shirts.
Scottish. Enough said.
Oops. A decade too early. Where is bt8b on a cba run when you need it?
1536 – The aforementioned William Tyndale etc…
On ye goooooo!
1537 is allegedly the year the potato arrives in Europe from North America.
When Holic returns he is going to be well impressed with the quality of our musings or wonder WTF has been going on .
Ned, I’m playing scrabble with the wife actually. Takes a lot of concentration, except on her turns when she doesn’t notice I’ve gone on Goonerholic. 😉
death of Thomas Cromwell,
birth of Francis Drake.
Time to go
First contact for Japan, the
Portuguese arrived.
Follow up visit bringing guns
and christianity. Not sure
which caused more deaths.
Rats make their first appearance in North America (no kidding).
How they have multiplied.
Destroyed her at scrabble by the way
Goals for The Ox and Giroud
last night.
Reportedly, Raul blocked
O’Leary being appointed
to the Arsenal board.
That has to pass for Arsenal
news. Not even halfway in
the Interlull ☹️
Trinity College, Cambridge founded by King Henry XIII.
Henry VIII is gone.
Cervantes arrives.
may as well set up the 31st
half century of this record
breaking run
seeing as my 1548 was a
year late
Was actually founded in 1546.
Good night, OM, and have a pleasant tomorrow.
At 1551 I had a large long black.
And frankly it’s a little late in the day for all that caffeine
The Scots Dyke was built
to settle the boundaries of the
Debatable Lands.
Interestingly, a dyke is seen as
a stone wall in Scotland, but
in England it is seen as a ditch,
which would have been useful
for the current PM if only he
was a man of his word.
However, at the time they went
with a completely pointless
earthworks
Sehzade Mustafa is executed
by order of his father Suleiman
the Magnificent.
The magnificent one went on to
murder more of his sons and
grandsons in the coming years.
Doesn’t seem very magnificent
to me, more cuntish really, but
apparently it was the way of
things in the Ottoman empire
at the time.
Family dinners must have been
a bit fraught
Princess Elizabeth is imprisoned in the Tower of London and Queen Mary I marries King Philip of Naples. Families!
The Scots Dyke was built
Oh the possibilities for innuendo..
1555 – The Oxford Martyrs are burned at the stake. Anglican bishops Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley and Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury.
1556.
The average number of refereeing mistakes Mike Dean has made each season since he became a Premier League referee.
They had Scottish dykes in the 16th century . Who
knew? I can think of a few now but thought they were a recent innovation
like Welsh cakes . England are good aren’t they. Not many teams hand Montenegro their arse on a plate ….what’s that .,..everybody they play does? Oh well it’s good to see that nice Harry Kane doing well
Incidentally shall I pen a few words on the ladies NLD or would you prefer me to bugger off. Binary choice ?
I didn’t watch England but I saw some highlights. The fullbacks got into great positions, created a lot of chances and England ended up with 7. I imagine Emery wants Bellerin and Tierney to do the same. Auba and especially Laca can score headers if we give the right service.
I cannot remember the last time I thought England play with a better attacking gameplan than Arsenal.
Of course, if Arsenal played Montenegro then the first priority would be to setup to nullify their offensive potential.
TTG@1557, a match report would be most welcome, sir.
1558 Mary I dies
1559 Elizabeth I is crowned
1560 The French Dauphine dies and Mary of Scots is widowed at 17.
Crucial 3 years for the future of Britain.
TTG
Be nice to read a match report
on the Women’s NLD
The online Grauniad just
posted their PL team of the
season so far – we’re not
the only ones with nothing
to do in the Interlull ?
Though our electrifying run
through history is far better.
Just in case there are insane
optimists our there – none
of our players troubled the
selectors of the 18 players.
1564 Galileo and Shakespeare born. Michelangelo died.
1565 The first known reference to a pencil in the modern sense of a lead pencil rather than an artist’s brush.
Bacon
I will pen a few words on the match after enjoying the delightful experience of being stuck in Tottenham High Road for hours in traffic . I might even be able to pen something in the standstill. And I will for the first time have a beer filled upside down or whatever they do there .
1568: The Treaty of Adrianople concluded in the Ottoman city of Adrianople (present-day Edirne) by representatives of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II, ruler of Habsburg Monarchy and Ottoman Sultan Selim II, concluding the Austrian-Turkish War and beginnin 25 years of relative peace between the empires. It followed the Siege of Szigetvár, in which the Ottomans took a key Hungarian fortress, but at great cost, including the death of the previous Sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent
Or Suleiman the Cunt as previously referenced.
1570: The native population of the island of Hispaniola, now occupied by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, which was estimated at 100,000 in 1493, by this time was said to have been reduced to around 300. Some say by disease, others by extermination.
Also 1570: Abraham Ortelius publishes the first modern atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, in Antwerp.
1571 sees the death due to
natural causes of the
legendary Japanese swordsman
Tsukahara Bokuden.
He killed 212 men in battles, duels
etc during his life before finally
proving wrong that hoary old
chestnut that those who live by
the sword, die by the sword
Dear H. Fuck Arsenal, life is too short. Please launch Historyholic ‘pon thy return.
Ta.
Cynic
How cheeky is it to suggest that Arsenal are history? ?
1574 Tottenham win the league for the last time. Roughly.
The 1576 Cocoliztli epidemic causes millions of deaths in the territory of New Spain, in modern-day Mexico
The first clock with a minute hand appears in Switzerland
1578. Drake sails through the Strait of Magellan during his second circumnavigation of the world. I hope he made it home in time for dinner.
Drake lands in California, and claims it for Queen Elizabeth I.
Not known if any of the natives, who were presumably enjoying a calm few days, knew or objected.
Not to say Golden Hinds washed up on the beaches as a cotidiano sight back then.
Or hardly ever, really.
Pope Gregory13 launches the modern calendar we use today, and it becomes known as Gregorian. Everybody went along with the idea, since it was better coordinated with the solar system than the old one put into play by Julius Caesar and called the Julian calendar
It appears from Twitter that our landlord is home. This posted about 8pm
“I owe so much, to so many. Thank you to friends and all who sent their good wishes in the last 24 days. I’m home and the recovery starts here. ?? Never forget there are more wonderful Gooners than half-wits.”
Hooray for the good news of the Guvnor!!!
Been a bit logged off from TOP and almost never comment here so I had totally missed this.
‘Holic, here’s to a speedy recovery.
Glad to hear you are home, Guv’nor. Here’s to as speedy a recovery as possible.
Was?
Year of the failed Spanish Armada. Incidentally, less reported in these parts, England launched a riposte in 1589 cunningly called the “English Armada” which was similarly spectacularly unsuccessful.
Here’s some cheerful news. Santi Cazorla scores for Spain.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/50440510
Really excellent news about the Guvnor@1583.
Really excellent.
1583 was the best year. so glad to hear dave’s doing well. and is home. welcome home!
a buncha mutts have been taking care of this place in your absence. historically…
In 1592, Trinity College Dublin, the oldest university in Ireland, was founded.
Shah Jahan, without whom scores of UK curry houses would be nameless, was born.
Welcome home Guvnor. Must be
nice to be back !
1593
Something must have happened
In other good news to
add to the much missed
Santi’s goal
Xhaka and ex Gooner
Licht both played in a
Swiss win
Guen and ex Gooner
Donyell Malan were both
nominated for the Golden
Boy award
The city of Pompeii is rediscovered after being buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
Sir Walter Raleigh travels up the Orinoco River in search of the famed city of El Dorado. Wild goose chase.
The 17th century approaches
and so takes up a lurking
position……
But stops to selflessly note
the birth of Oliver Cromwell
in 1599
A big year in Japan….
The first Dutch ship arrives
with William Adams on board,
inspiration for some grossly
inaccurate historical novels.
Tokugawa Ieyasu wins the
battle of Sekigahara and
takes control of the counrtry.
And sumo becomes a
professional sport
*jumps long queue*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSTKE85yXl4
.
.
.
?
osaka M 1599
grrrrrrrrrrr
if i was around then
(who’s to say i wasn’t)
i’d a beat the livin cunt outta that bastard*
.
.
.
.
.
.
*thought about it
.
.
.
“So … Mrs Cromwell……. ”
.
.
“How ye fixed fer bastards ”
.
.
“Awwww jaysus , says i , it’s lookin like i’m sorted”
“So am are”
“grand so”
“but we’ve had complaints from the neighbours”
.
“so i might need to double up”
“well lets monumentally
AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
till they accept pink and white ice cream “
“or death”
.
.
“the cheeky smarty pants’s’s”
“said i , dramatically”
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
i’ve lost the train
of this hurtling away thought
.
.
.
it’s ok
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivvs_qL6t_c&app=desktop
.
feel i should watch an episode
of
the persuaders now
AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
just back drank
(if only)
.
honestly i could drink the Irishness
outta the eyes o’ the donkeys
queuing up fer blogs signature
cos
‘holic is shuffling outta the goodness
of
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0_6FtRHhYY
.
get in here soon ‘holic
you absolute darlin
*passes the 5skinner pon the etc*
these numbers really do look historical
i’ll leave that to the collective shower
.
i wish someone would make
funny jokes
awwwwww
h?ow i’d chuckle
In 1614 the splendidly named
Sir Julius Caesar was appointed
Master of the Rolls.
They must have been good rolls
as he held the position until his
passing in 1636. It’s not known
whether his last words were
“et tu Brutus”
In Japan Tokugawa Ieyasu laid
siege to Osaka Castle.
He also banned christianity
throughout Japan, busy little
dictator that he was.
Aargh I’ve missed the passing
of the Immortal Bard.
Though he wasn’t immortal
obviously
shit the bed !
.
.
i started this history based sheep nonsense
.
.
“Where’s my money?”
Still I did beat the chief
lurker to the 1600 so
mustn’t grumble
japan !
just you remember
i don t know people
I AM PEOPLE !
and
the rest a ye
any more
humour bereft
historical posts ?
will be filed under
?
-trying to be me
?
.
.
?
.
.
fuckin nit fuckin wits
and yeah
to nonchalant nonchalance
(in contravention of the keep cynic happy European directive)
.
i think i might try for a snooze
but
i’m sure 1625
was a load of faraway bloodshed
to celebrate
sent to keep me awake
Plymouth Rock shot right past like some drunken Puritans
Tryin to decide whether to play spin the tiller or spin the bottle
now you 8ball
you can go for free cos
you take the piss out of me
whilst appearing not to
(fuckin brilliant)
.
here
have a token for the rising bridge of denials
.
.
top man
?
gonna retire
and try for a snooze
the
“No surrender”
number is coming up
and i really don’t want to hear
How brave people were walking to their work
or
How , by taking two buses instead of one tube
they (puffed up chestwise ) showed those paddies
what for
.
.
.
people are like that
“Those wretched paddies won’t stop me getting somewhere…”
“I normally get the 43 but today I doubled back…”
“I remain unbowed !”
such fuckin nonsense
.
.
.
but people are so proud of themselves
for
having SURVIVED a day of inconvenience
“Oh yeah , I lived through the 1970s and the 1980s”
.
.
.
.
.
“Lets vote accordingly”
.
.
deaf ears i’m sure
.
but
please
..
DON’T VOTE TORY
.
.
.
.
in 1632
my historical jokes
were better than yours
I AM PEOPLE !
Your real name is Soylent Green and I claim my five pounds.
Not enough history overnight.
1634 – Oliver Cromwell tries to emigrate to Connecticut but is prevented from doing so. How things may have been different in this country had he succeeded. I wish he had, so much vandalism to fine old English churches and Cathedrals would have been avoided. Probably.
CBA
Nice to see you back
There has been royal concern about your absence and I won’t mention Nurse Jenkins’ concern…..oh dear I have. ?⚕️
There is widespread rejoicing about the Guvna and many good wishes flowing out to you.
Even if you do keep insulting the refined Englishmen on here .
Away match report coming for you tomorrow on the ladies.
It won’t touch the standards of C1000 but that is the gold standard. Mine will be brass or copper .
I don’t post a lot but come this site everyday to find out how the guvnor is progressing and it was great to read he’s on the road to recovery .
It’s good that he hasn’t had to worry too much about he’s site as it’s being well looked after .
Waiting to read your words of wisdom regarding The Arsenal , get well and have a lemonade .
Lots of history passed by overnight. In 1636, the shogun banned Japanese from leaving Japan and those already abroad from returning.
Louis XIV, the Sun King is
born.
Harvard is named after John
Harvard, a dissenting minister
of little distinction other than
leaving the college a few quid
in his will.
Connecticut adopts its first
constitution.
And Fort St George, the
first British fort in India is
built.
John Punch is the first official
slave in the US.
Though indenture existed
already.
The Bay Psalm book is the
first published in the US
The first coffeehouse in Europe
opens in Venice
Tensions mount in England as
Charlie continues with his
Bishops War against the
Scottish covenanters.
Charles I flees London.
The Long Parliament passes
the Grand Remonstrance to
check Charles’ absolutist
tendencies
Ulster revolts against the
English and Scots
Wonderful piece about the legendary Maria. I don’t know her, but she’s always there, in the front row of every away game I go to, shrieking out COME ON YOU GUNNERS!
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2019/11/16/arsenals-80-year-old-superfan-maria-petri-memorabilia-obsession/
Thanks for that link C100 and God Bless Maria Petri, a woman who knows how to enjoy her Arsenal. Long may she prosper
1644:
Explorer Abel Tasman’s second expedition, for the Dutch East India Company, maps the north coast of Australia.
Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud executed for treason on Tower Hill, London.
The Siege of Oxford, the English Civil War military campaigns that besieged the Royalist controlled city of Oxford, ended with a Parliamentarian victory in June 1646.
English Civil War drags on a bit longer. Two Royalist castles in Wales hold out until Raglan surrenders on 19 August, and the last Royalist post of all, Harlech Castle, on 13 March 1647.
Treaty of Westphalia signed, ending the Thirty Years War. The war or series of connected wars began in 1618 when the Austrian Habsburgs tried to impose Roman Catholicism on their Protestant subjects in Bohemia. The treaty gave the Swiss independence of Austria and the Netherlands independence of Spain. The German principalities secured their autonomy. Sweden gained territory and a payment in cash, Brandenburg and Bavaria made gains too, and France acquired most of Alsace-Lorraine. The Protestants cheered, apparently.
King Charles I beheaded for treason on January 30, 1649. In the first year of his reign, 1625, Charles offended his Protestant subjects by marrying a Catholic French princess. He later responded to political opposition by dissolving Parliament and in 1629 decided to rule entirely without Parliament. In 1642, the bitter struggle between for supremacy led to the first English civil war. The Parliamentarians, led by Oliver Cromwell, won victory at Marston Moor in 1644 and at Naseby in 1645. In the second English civil war, Cromwell helped repel the Royalist invasion of Scotland, and in 1646 Charles surrendered to a Scottish army. In 1648, Charles was forced to appear before a high court, convicted of treason and sentenced to death. The monarchy was abolished, and Cromwell assumed control.
Third English Civil War: Battle of Dunbar (1650) – Parliamentarian forces under Oliver Cromwell defeat a Scottish army, commanded by David Leslie.
1651: Henry Ireton, the complex Parliamentarian leader in the English civil war leader, died of the plague during his brutal attempt to conquer Ireland for Cromwell. He was also one of the few people to be executed posthumously, by Charles II following the restoration of the monarchy, in retribution for Ireton signing his father’s death warrant.
No football to watch
🙁
unless you count Cyprus vs
Scotland, which I don’t
Foundation of the Carolina colony.
23 Dutch Jewish colonists arrive in New Amsterdam having fled the city of Recife in the northeast of today’s Brazil, where the Portuguese invaders forced them to Florida flee. The first Jewish colony in America, or so the. Internet thing or tells me.
Apologies for typos in previous drink. Florida was not supposed to be there at all, and “thing or” was supposed to be “thingie ”
No Arsenal football today. I can enjoy the weekend which I have to say I haven’t recently
1656- The first Quakers to land in America (Boston), Englishwomen Ann Austin and Mary Fisher, are arrested and jailed by the Puritan colonial government. After 5 years imprisonment they are deported back to Barbados
Cromwell refuses the crown
and is instead known as
Lord of the Vale or something
like that.
The head of the army is fired
for refusing to swear allegiance
although Cromwell is not King.
He’ll be dead in a year anyway.
Cromwell dies and although he
really, really wasn’t King his
son becomes the new Supreme
Leader Servallan.
english bastards ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMGvQ2v-ZRM
CBA
That was a poignant clip.
I had heard about this performance but not seen it.
He sang his own epitaph . Respect
1661 was one year after the Restoration.
I missed that conversing with CBA. Best excuse I know
thunder T
is a lovely person
.
.
.oops cunt fuck etc unnecessary
.
.
thanks fella
yer proper Arsenal
and
i’m proud to call you names
.
.
ya faaaa caaaa
etc
i’ll likely not be here
in 6 months
so i can’t etc
May you never, cba
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOi_wxypeGc
1665 The Great Plague of London.
CBA
Back at you ! ?
On Sunday, September 2, 1666, London caught on fire. The city burned through Wednesday, and the fire—now known as The Great Fire of London—destroyed the homes of 70,000 out of the 80,000 inhabitants of the city. But for all that fire, the traditional death toll reported is extraordinarily low: just six verified deaths
CBA,
In case you’re getting religion!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1QBY-rnVlc
Isaac Newton invents the reflecting telescope
That’s no reflection on you
Spain recognizes Jamaica as an English possession.
I wonder how that affected the ganja market.
Rosa de Lima is canonized, becoming the first Catholic saint of the America’s.
… of the Americas
If I wanted to include an apostrophe I damn well would have.
Highly pertinent to the history of Minnesota, the French start exploring the western Great Lakes and the upper Mississippi River. Many groups of local Indians view their activities semi-suspiciously (very shrewd) and semi-hopefully.
Birth of Jethro Tull, English agriculturalist.
I thought he stood on one leg and played the flute?
Indeed, it was Ian Anderson.
1677: Two notable events, related no doubt:
The use of male impotence is ended as a factor in French divorce proceedings.
Ice cream becomes popular in Paris.
The Test Act provides that members of both the House of Lords and House of Commons of England must swear an anti-Catholic oath, before taking office.
Wonderful year (like most other years), if you like religious intolerance.
Nothing from the listed events of 1679 strikes my fancy. Apologies to 1679 fans.
The Pueblo Rebellion, the carefully organized revolt of Pueblo Indians (in league with Apaches), succeeds in overthrowing Spanish rule in Nuevo Mexico for 12 years. They remained free until 1692 when the Spanish reconquered the territory.
Coincidentally, after posting 1670 I saw a news headline saying the recent bubble in marijuana industry stocks has burst. No time like the bottom to make money in the stock market, just saying.
Nothing of interest is it now?
Damnable impertinence sir.
Habeas Corpus I say to you sir.
HABEAS CORPUS.
Where wouldst thee and all thy
villainous fellows in this devils
invention of a diary lay without
its kind succour? Cowed and silent
in King Boris Trump’s dungeon
most likely methinks.
Not for I the screechy jezebellian
whorings of a year like some I durst
not name, no sir importune me no
further with your vile drivel.
Rather cherish me as I am; the
piercing light that shields the low,
the fallen and the foolish gainst the
cancerous maw of your cold despotic
states.
Suspend me at your peril sir.
A sunny Sunday afternoon h
here in Osaka.
In 1683 a large Ottoman
army besieged Vienna before
being defeated by a
European army led by Jan
Sobieski.
Nell Gynn’s boy, Charles Beauclerk,
is made Duke of St.Albans.
A real oranges to riches story
Thank you, 1679 for Habeas Corpus and the foundations of our legal protections. Boris Trump without Habeas Corpus would stir in me a violent case of the Heebie Jeebies.
The Café Procope coffeehouse, which remains in business in the 21st century, is opened in Paris.
I’ll raise a cup of espresso to that.
Isaac Newton publishes Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica where he formulates the foundations of classical mechanics.
The Glorious Revolution: the deposition and replacement of James II as ruler of England, Scotland and Ireland by his daughter Mary II and his Dutch nephew and Mary’s husband, William III of Orange.
Resolution of the Glorious Revolution: The Convention Parliament is convened to determine if King James II, the last Roman Catholic British monarch, vacated the throne when he fled to France at the end of 1688. The settlement of this is agreed on 8 February 1689.
In the colonies the series of wars known as the French and Indian War begins with King William’s War. Schenectady, New York and other areas are burned by French and Native Americans.
The Spanish Inquisition condemns and forcibly baptizes 219 Xuetas in Palma, Mallorca; and when 37 of them try to escape they are burned alive at the stake.
The Salem witch trials’ first victim is hanged for witchcraft.
Not lovely bedtime tales, those.
quality btm quality
one of the best gigs i was ever at
me and a good friend
sadly no longer with us
toking the most pungent
totally unhideable
and we sang our hearts out
and laughed our legs off
good man yerself , fella
sláinte
.
.
aww man dorset M
no fear o me getting religion
seen what a toxic load of shite
it can stoke up
so for me
god is in other people
the lovely bunch o cunts i know
keep looking after yerself fella
have a Donegal moooooooooooooooooooooo
from the girls
.
.
.
UP THE ARSENAL
bt8,
@1688
History is looking like one
long family squabble
🙂
and
of course
a moooooooooooooooooooooo
for the mighty ‘holic
here
moooooooooooooooooooooo
have two
.
.
.
all the best big man
?
herself has a massive ham
in the slow cooker
and yes
herself has a massive ham
in my armchair
.
happy sunday ‘holics
may the tender pig of love
fill yer belly today
or
vegetables
if you’re strange
The 18th century has rolled round
it seems.
the big man
left a bucket of spuds and carrots
first thing
at the door
gonna be lovely
she’s doing a chicken too
later on
.
.
.
this is an Arsenal site
fuck up fuckface ?
James II, the unwanted King,
is no more
18th and 19th Century history bores me. I zone out after the Civil War and get interested again around 1914.
See you in 200 years.
as an exercise in piercing living history cynic
my granny
my mother’s mother
used to tell me stories
first hand accounts
she had from hers
about the famine
.
words can’t
1703: John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, leads an allied army to victory over Franco-Bavarian forces at Blenheim during the War of Spanish Succession.
Correction: Blenheim was in 1704
The Annus Horribalis for dear little Nicky Krankie. The Union OG Scottish and English Parliaments saves Scotland from bankruptcy after its reckless Darien venture. Nicky’s life’s work is to reverse both that Union and the resultant financial rescue.
fuck up
seamus o shitehawk
.
happy thoughts
are the prevailing thoughts today
.
i’m having a chicken and ham fiesta on a plate today
spoiled only by the onslaught of the unintelligible
.
och aye the fuckin noo
a fuckin dozen odd o the cunts
?????
CBA,
Here’s one from when he was brilliant – a long, long time ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCKfd0Auu10&list=RDTCKfd0Auu10&index=1
i know Aberdeen ain’t Glasgow
but
if i start floundering
can i call on yer approximate translation services
later on baff
(and yes i have hidden my spoons ?)
awww now dorset M
wee pudgey van
is a man i never got
.
i saw him live once
he was on the bill
with who i wanted to see
Neil Young backed by Booker T and the MGs
.
.
.
i like a few tunes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8Cnh7uD0b4
i met him once ages ago
he just sat down and looked sideways
which to be fair
is the correct response should you encounter me
?
That’s a gem, CBA.
I’d not heard it before, as I stopped buying his stuff two albums before this.
He must be a surly gobshite not to chat with you when he had the opportunity!
1708 was directed at me baff
you schnuck in
though i’m guessing
seamus o shitehawk was self evident
?
dorset M
i’m an insufferable cunt
i either have verbal diarrhoea
or the other 99% of the time
say nothing and hide in the corner
typing on the internet
is perfect for me
i now can do both
simultaneously
CBA, that just confirms that you a likeable fella, on average!
of course i am
i’m fuckin adorable
???????
.
.
.
and the rest
.
are we gonna hit 2 grand ?
well
if 8ball has anything to do with it
we might
dunno
if it’s a tribute
but it’s certainly
an expression
of the love we have for ‘holic and here
yeah
FUCKERS
it’s ok to say ye love himself and here
ya insecure dingdongs ?
Daniel Defoe publishes Robinson Crusoe.
calm yer ben shermans !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE10msGsCn4
a chicken and ham fiesta
Also known as the Reader’s Wives Special
always there to bring the tone down
i [heart] cynic
.
.
.
(i also [heart brackets])
Anything is better than 18 Century history, even dodgy looking fanny.
Speaking of dodgy fanny, Moll Flanders was published in 1722
if you can watch 1721
without huge thundering waves of nostalgia
beating against you
.
i have no interest
CUNT !
If you haven’t got it, you have to get that on DVD. It’s ace.
That and this, as a pair. Christmas telly sorted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Sb9AoirSU
just one of the greatest bits of telly
aww man
we’re really catering
for the junior gooners here
.
fuck em
the wee turds
they need to learn sometime
.
MIDGETS !
“when you have harrowed what i have ploughed”
etc
and such
ya wee shites
(i must stop talking about the grandchildren online)
.
?
If you want to shit em up, make em watch this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcKcat04pM8
They’ll scream “BLACK AND WHITE?” and run hysterically from the room.
they’re all here
over to gawk at me
the hoops shower
.
.
i have taken the temperature
of the room
and will antagonize accordingly
keep yer brain ticking for ammunition cynic
i may call upon you later
should my usual insults falter
.
i can see Wild Man Fischer getting put on earlier than usual
?
*Scottish accent*
“mammy , why is granda so bad to us?”
.
herself interjects
“because yer 18 – sort yer fuckin life out”
Hoops shower? Are they Scots or is it some sort of spaghetti reference I’m not getting?
*Scottish accent*
“mammy , why is granny so mean to us”
aww cynic
full season ticket hoops
plastic paddy
telling me about Irish history
embarrassing
but it’s because i love them that i can hate them
all talking at the one time
i used to have sweet swally
to see me through
now
i am banjoed on puff
with little regard for fuck all
except my dinner
fuck it
i’m going all in
trout mask replica is going on
LOUD
as the chickens just went in
fuckin poetic
fuck it
today’s not the day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4TzjRFfsJs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBBfVBqQif8
fuckin
just fuckin
fuck
what a band !
saw them many times
saw wilko more times
never
saw them together
eternal regret
herself keeps going on to me
about wilko and his situation
and me and mine
.
i think it does nothing for a nice time behind my eyebrows
but
ye know
whatever
oh shit
i forgot
.
Frank McLintock !!!!!!
.
.
gotta put 5p in the meter
‘holic utilizes very complicated software
i dance around these bots
and have so far avoided being killed
like sore killed
hurty
(‘holic is dangerous)
the man is a red and white monster
a totes shootballs
apparently a beef and tomato pot noodle
is not what he thought
when
he said he wanted his beak wetted
i
shivering and tied up
in Dave’s shed
ate it
and i’d give it a resounding 4
1754: Royal & Ancient founded.
when Lord Swindon
comes forward to atone for his sins
can i request the Bombay Bad Boy
“YA BIG QUEER BOY”
.
.
.
*runs away*
cba tripping up history — again.
How are you doing, you old asperser?
hello ned
are you in America ?
i’m in Ireland
(shithole fulla bad tempered cunts and trees)
Sometimes. Other times not.
ah fuck off
pimpernel
you’ll go to get a drink of water
in yer drawers
at 2am
and you’ll see a lethargic bundle of handsomeness
eyeballing you from across the street
.
be afraid
be moderately afraid
i’m only joking
i haven’t shot anybody
in hours
yer totes safeballs
The Pimpernel was a courteous and gallant Englishman who saved aristocrats from the guillotine during the Reign of Terror while overtly leading the life of a fop. You must be mistaking me for someone else in this fine establishment.
nope
yer ned
and yer wonderful
Roast beef and Yorkshire puddings invented.
(Not a historical post)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBiXkuMKnRw
8ball
making those english bastard things
is scary at the best of times
nuclear oven
King Carlos III expels the Jesuits from Spanish dominion throughout the world.
1769 actually happened in 1767.
Howdy cba, looks like you’ve made some headway.
a mere slow coach
in yer hurtling wake
1773: Pope Clement goes with the flow and “suppresses and abolishes” the Jesuits who were apparently too smart and powerful.
.?
Boston Tea Party in the uppity colonies
Happened in 1773 setting a poor precedent for pollution of the ports and harbors
Juan Bautista de Anza expedition reaches San Francisco Bay, in Alta California.
where should that end ?
here
.
.
yer ordinary english man in the street
would forget about northern Ireland
in a heartbeat
and why wouldn’t he
successive governments
said it’s not a war
but send
ACTUAL TANKS
over to deal with the uppity residents
.
.
.
english soldiers should not be on our streets
what would you do if Irish soldiers were on your streets
people are strange
simplistic terms
should but often don’t work
.
.
see blogs for the most ridiculous analysis
(complete spanner)
1777
what would you do ?
if you couldn’t get to the end of your street
without some Irish army bastard harassing you
manhandling you
..
shooting you
.
.
.
.
please don’t vote tory
DON’T VOTE TORY
please
if you want a nicer society
DON’T VOTE TORY
if you want A society
.
DON’T VOTE TORY
DON’T VOTE TORY
DON’T VOTE TORY
DON’T VOTE TORY
please
see 1785
what he said
I’ll vote for anyone who bans the beef and tomato Pot Noodle.
Or who will bung me £500.
The climactic year of the French Revolution.
Some might suggest Bonaparte began as a super sub.
Tyrants, despots and vainglorious vermin on parade.
Not on here mind you.
Out THERE ?
cba
Ive never voted tory in my life – stop going on about it!
And cheer up old man – football is nearly back!
England ! (boooo)
Ireland! (Yay!)
(am I up to speed yet?)
Oh and “Holic ” — speedy return please ( place has turned to shit in your absence)
Plays a cheeky one off IF’s heel before powering a David Luiz like diagonal ball in the general direction of one or two upfield roaming keyboarders
cba@1765: you’re the man, yourself.
Feeling frisky after my roast beef dinner, beats two men and slides through a ball to the midfield where, striding onto it is …
Dummies, and lets the ball roll through to…
1797: Battle of Parramatta, Australian aborigines attempt to strike back.
Speaking of c100’s dinner, lays one on a plate for …
Sixtuple Spartan !!
Impressive teamwork for the build up – thanks to all. Lurking was a skill much admired in days gone by ?
Raising a glass ( or 2 ) to the Guv’na for a full recovery and likewise to the man also known as most handsome fellah in Ireland.
Easy enough to follow your counsel over here cba, seeing as the Tories haven’t even made the ballot. I will have to content myself with the next best thing and not vote Republican
Well in Uply, and it is good to hear from you.
And the same for IF. Impressive pre- pre- pre- pre- pre- assist
Looks like France just sold the whole western half of North America to the colonists, Dear.
*flaps newspaper*
Napoleon invades Russia
Cheers bt8, hope things are well in the Twin Cities.
I regularly read this wonderful blog and the drinks but I’m very busy leading a “retired” life ( where did I find the time to work ) leaving little time to drink regularly. It’s always good to see the high standard of the establishment being maintained.
Good to hear from you Uply.
While you’re here there’s a lemonade on the bar for you. And if you fancy a smoke then cba’s nipped out to the alley round back and might be persuaded to share (he seemed a bit peeved and was muttering something about appalling histories, or maybe it was just appalling Tories)
1679 is my new favourite year. Utterly brilliant!
Although it had to wait three years until 1682 before it was really appreciated.
Cheers GSD, though I might prefer something a little stronger. CBA is moooochin around somewhere I suspect. While I’m here may I commend you for some top notch drinks these past few weeks – have a drink on the bar in return.
1811 Tchaikovsky looks for inspiration for his next composition but gives up forlornly – there’s always next year.
As alluded to by the erudite Uplympian, the French invaded Russia and then retreated (quelle surprise!). Meanwhile the US declared war on Canada and the U.K. and invaded Canada. Nobody wrote a toon about that one.
I had a very special family day today which began in Oxted where I watched my grandson’s team unluckily lose 5-3 to the league leaders ( he is 11). The star of the opposition was a young , swift and skilful right winger who turned out to be the offspring of Glenn Cockerill. Gooners of a certain age will remember him as the lad who was famously lamped by Paul Davis at Highbury. His son was annoyingly good and annoyingly nice when I congratulated him on his display . I did not tell my grandson to give him the Davis treatment but it might have helped and he was much intrigued by the You Tube clips of the incident .
We then headed for White Hart Lane to watch the first North London women’s derby .
I was interested in three things . Firstly what was the new WHL like ?
As you go by train from Finsbury Park to Kings Cross you can see the old Highbury which still looks grand and our new stadium which looks futuristic and impressive. Travelling from Silver Street to Liverpool Street you used to see a rather unimpressive White Hart Lane. It has been replaced by a huge steel edifice which dominates the surrounding area more than any football stadium I can remember. Where it was cramped and squalid in Tottenham High Road the area seems lighter, wider and more open. The ground is massive , very modern and an extraordinary upgrade on what was there before. Our ground appears more elegant and in sync with its surrounding but the new WHL has a phenomenal number of drink and catering outposts without feeling like a food hall on the concourses like Wembley does.
But the big impact is the playing arena itself. It is amazingly impressive especially the wall at one end which will provide an extraordinary atmosphere. It is likely to generate a much better feeling of noise and tension than our stadium .
Secondly what would a high-level ladies match be like?
I’m not a violent man but at Highbury one year our ladies team were doing a lap of honour to celebrate a magnificent trophy haul and the bloke in front of me tried to start up a chant of ‘ Get your tits out for the lads’. It was one of the crassest and most odious things I’ve ever heard in a football ground and it demeaned the girls ( who were Arsenal footballers after all) profoundly. I recalled this today as I watched an authentically good WSL game today . Overall the standard was very high, tactically it was very interesting and it was really good to see a well- coached Arsenal team who knew their jobs , follow a coherent route to victory. I genuinely felt this was a team with a plan and with a range of abilities that complemented each other. The pace was slower than a men’s game but the physicality was surprisingly robust and in the first half Tottenham stood up to the challenge very well.
Thirdly how did the game go?
Arsenal played four at the back with a fluid midfield and Miedema as the focal point upfront . Arsenal have a lot of similar looking players and Nobbs, Little , Mead and Walti played a flowing, possession- based game and it was good to see an Arsenal team play out from the back sensibly with no great alarms.
Leah Williamson at centre back was cool and assured, Zinsberger in goal made a vital early block and as the game,wore on our greater quality and experience began to tell especially when Little and Van de Donk got on the ball. McCabe had hit the bar in the first half after a run from left-back but the breakthrough came on 67 minutes when Kim Little seized on a loose ball that we had tried to thread through to Miedema and drilled it past their keeper . Just over ten minutes later Miedema reached a weak backpass ahead of their keeper and finished emphatically. 2-0 up but would that be enough given our experience with our men’s team recently ? Thankfully it was and it was noticeable how coolly we did it although I felt Jennifer Beattie at centre back lacked pace and authority. But we controlled the ball, our running and movement were fluid and right at the end a long Miedema run set up Evans who blazed over. She should have scored .
No toxic NLD atmosphere, a family occasion ( I watched with four children three Gooners and a Spud ) and an intelligent, entertaining and skilful game. It was great to see us win at White Hart Lane for the first time for a very long time . May it be a lucky ground for us
Wonderful report TTG. Thank you so much for sharing your day with us in such an evocative way.
How was the upside down beer?
TTG@1813: Splendid read, and uplifting in light of what the men have been delivering of late.
Cheers Uply. Much appreciated. Have whatever you want to chase that lemonade with ?
TTG. Top top stuff. Great report.
When are we gonna see a mixed 11 charity match? I wanna see Miedema and Auba up top together. Lethal.
Uply, Good to see you in.
1819, right in the middle of the historical period Cynic likes least.
Spain ceded Florida to the United States, but not Cuba.
The Greek revolution breaks out in 1820 when the Greeks in Moldavia begin a revolt against the Ottomans. Greece then declares its independence from the Ottomans in January 1822.
Correction: The Greek revolution began in 1821, so it is covered in two drinks not one.
Brazil’s Independence: On September 7, 1822 Dom Pedro, the Portuguese regent, declared Brazil independent from Portugal.
Emperor Agustín de Iturbide of Mexico abdicates, thus ending the short-lived First Mexican Empire.
King Kamehameha II of Hawaii dies of measles, during a visit to the United Kingdom, before he can meet with King George IV.
The first horse-drawn omnibuses established in London.
TTG, Thanks for a very comprehensive and entertaining report on the women’s NLD.
The first Mardi Gras celebration is held in New Orleans.
Births of Jules Verne, Henrik Ibsen and Leo Tolstoy.
The Greek war for independence seems to have taken longer than I thought.
March 22, 1829 – Greece receives autonomy from the Ottoman Empire in the London Protocol, signed by Russia, France and Britain, effectively ending the Greek War of Independence. Greece continues to seek full independence through diplomatic negotiations with the three Great Powers.
The United States Congress passes the Indian Removal Act, authorizing the President to negotiate with Native Americans in the United States for their removal from their ancestral homelands.
Also 1830: The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opens, the world’s first intercity passenger railway operated solely by steam locomotives.
1831: In Virginia, escaped slave Nat Turner is arrested and later hanged for leading the bloodiest slave revolt in United States history.
Charles Darwin and the crew of HMS Beagle arrive at South America for the first time.
Slavery Abolition Act, (1833), in British history, an act of Parliament that abolished slavery in most British colonies, freeing more than 800,000 enslaved Africans in the Caribbean and South Africa
William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne becomes the last Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to be dismissed by the British monarch.
Two London men, James Pratt and John Smith, are hanged in front of Newgate Prison in London, after a conviction of buggery. They are the last to suffer capital punishment for homosexual acts in England.
London and Greenwich Railway opens its first section, the first railway in London.
Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist begins publication in serial form in London.
1. The coronation of Queen Victoria
2. Trail of Tears: The Cherokee Nation is forcibly relocated in the United States.
C1000
They do beer much better than us. It’s quickly poured and while what I had wasn’t nectar it was decent . There were a noticeable number of people staying after the match for food and drink. We were in a sort of Club level area with staff everywhere and my daughter was able to have a gin and tonic ( she gets it from her mother ?)
I wrote to Gazidis some time ago suggesting we built external pubs on the concourse in each corner and didn’t hear back. Frankly Camden Ale is a big improvement but nobody seems to pour it properly among the students who work there.
I understand their revenue from catering has way exceeded what they expected. If we started that aspect of our planning again I’m sure we’d look for much more income
The foundation stone of the new Palace of Westminster was laid as its reconstruction following the Burning of Parliament in 1834 began (completed in 1860).
What would we do without Parliament eh?
Thanks for an excellent report TTG. It was a pleasure to read about a competent Arsenal win and must have been a delight to watch particularly at that venue.
The Treaty of Nanking establishes Hong Kong as a British colony until 1997. Thoughts with the people of Hong Kong today.
Josef Groll brews the first Pilsner beer in the city of Pilsen, Bohemia.
Anyone going to the Southampton game on Saturday?
Adding a postscript to my report yesterday about the new White Hart Lane the huge problem they have is the transport links. We were travelling with young children who had school on Monday so wanted to be home ASAP. Well I’d forget about going to Tottenham then!
We went by train from Hackney Downs where we parked the car and proceeded to the revamped station. There were no problems going but coming back we couldn’t board two trains so went up the line to Silver Street and came back to get a seat . It was still ultra-crowded and this was with a half-capacity crowd! Had I been going directly home I would have got back by 8pm. For a 3pm game at our place with a 38,000 crowd I would expect to be home by around 6.30 pm!
My son-in- law got back to Central London after the Bayern game past midnight ( I had heard it was actually at 7 minutes to 2?). People moan about getting back from our place but we are much better served especially by Tube . It must dissuade a lot of potential spectators from attending .
C1000
I am but won’t be available for a drink other than one in the stadium as I have to give my friend his ticket .
Thanks for an interesting report
TTG. Very fair.
The Galician peasants were
revolting in 1846.
The first brewing of Carlsberg
in Copenhagen.
Michigan abolishes the death
penalty.
And the first congress of the
Communist League is held in
London
Revolutions everywhere.
France, Germany, Ireland,
Romania, Sicily, Switzerland,
Sri Lanka and Hungary.
They meet with varying
degrees of success.
Harriet Tubman escapes from
slavery.
California gold rush.
No, Scruz, not that kind of gold!
The Punctuation of Olmutz
cedes control of Prussia to
the Austrian empire
Told you 19th Century history was boring.
Isaac Singer is granted a patent for his new improved sewing machine and both Reuter’s News Service and the New York Times are founded.
Adrian Heath celebrating something in front of the Minnesota United brew hall sign.
https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2019/08/adrian-heaths-minnesota-miracle
Not sure if this is the configuration of pubs near the pitch that TTG had in mind.
The Punctuation of Olmutz
Dostoevsky’s greatest play
Items in 1853 refer to 1851. In 1853 the Crimean War begins. In 1854 U.K. joins in.
In 1856 Crimean War ends. In 1857 Anglo-Persian war ends.
Abraham Lincoln is nominated
for the senate and makes his
famous speech.
1861 is 1858
It’s the American Civil War,
which should cover me!
Lincoln signs the Emancipation
in 1863
Looking back at the outcome of the Crimean War, and seeing the Russian Empire lost to an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, Britain and Sardinia, the Ukrainians today must be wondering if they can find another Sardinia to come to their aid.
I am back,
But not yet with it. Many thanks for your kind thoughts and words.
You are stars.
1863: Battle of Chancellorsville. Stonewall Jackson fatally wounded by friendly fire.
U.S. Civil War ends with the surrender of the South.
Great to see you back Guvna.
The Goonerholic, it is so good to see you back here.
Holic
Wonderful to hear from you
Get well soon and join our history blog. A couple of people on it seem to be football fans ?
Welcome back Guvnor. !!
Getting a few dates off by a year or two never hurt anybody.
1867 happened in 1865 though.
Great to hear from you Guv’nor. Hang tough, there.
Welcome back Landlord.
There’s just a few drinks to catch up with while you recover.
bt8b@1872: You have to get 1886 spot on, however.
1886: Do I get ten tries?
We seem to have gained some extra drinks. I have lost by 1300 to bt8b but usurped Uply from his 1800. All very mysterious.
1865 is my new favourite year… Holic returns!
Great to have you back.
No rush for a new post, at least let us catch-up with real time! ?
Good Ebening Holic !
Glad is me I am to have you back with us in a good way .
I have been giving much love to the team and we are in a good moment at a bad time with no regrets . Soon we will be better and the team will ride high.
One question ; Does anyone have Nurse Jenkins phone number? I have a bad back …in fact I have several
Buenos Noches
Unai
@1877
Oh yes Ned, my 1600 went too.
My Sherlockian deduction is that
some nails held in moderation
have now been released.
anyway, off to bed so not to
screw up the most momentous
event of the 19th century!
1865 was a brilliant year, not least for the end of the civil war in the united states…made even better by seeing you back, holic.
hang in there, be well, get better.
i’m going to play a little keepyuppy…
tragic goings on in sunderland, due to candy. not often said, thankfully.
aaaaaaand, africa is fucked. i mean, partitioned, divvied up between all the colonial powers. leads to the atrocities of leopold and ultimately apartheid. not to mention the rape of the continent.
Getting a few dates off by a year or two never hurt anybody.
Pure amateurism.
Type out your drink, hit refresh before posting. If nobody has usurped your post number, hit submit comment.
1886 – The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is published.
1887 – The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.
How did that work out for you fellas?
1888 – The first season of the Football League
1889 – The birth of Adolf Hitler.
Anything else noteworthy on this history blog happen in 1886 Cynic? ??
Yay! Holic is back!!! This is the best news I’ve heard in weeks. Be well, Holic.
1891 Liliuokalani becomes queen of Hawaii. She ruled her kingdom until her overthrow and subsequent annexation by the US.
Nothing of any note whatsoever, GSD.
*whistles innocently*
That’s the problem with Dr. Jekyll, Cynic. You never know which one is gonna turn up.
“mame” thurber gives birth to a funny little chappie named jim.
The Kiel Canal, connecting the North Sea to the Baltic across the base of the Jutland peninsula in Germany, is officially opened.
Clarification on 1887: Hawaii was a sovereign kingdom, so anything the US Senate “allowed” the US Navy to do involved some “shenanigans” on the US side.
oh brother
this is so sad but
let me cheer you up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlFsXoZkamw
Massive blow to the decayed Spanish empire with the loss of Cuba, the Philippines and Puerto Rico following defeat in the Spanish American War. A great generation of Spanish writers springs up though, including Unamuno and Valle-Inclan.
the century of birth for many
us younger holics hoves into
view
Techno-babble
Herbert Chapman is 21
to have lurked unsuccessfully
is better than never to have
lurked at all
though Herbert was 22 in
1901
Well in OM at 1901, the new 1900
🙂
ah well in bt8
I should have noted the
passing of Queen Victoria in 1901
but I thought it might still be a
shock for some of our older
Holics.
So this seems to be the official list of centurions following the dodgy drinks panel review, with the usurped celebrating scorer at the time in brackets:
100 cba (cba)
200 Barack O’Barman (BO’B)
300 Devon Stu (scruzgooner)
400 Gunnersaurus Stunt Double (Devon Stu)
500 Gunnersaurus Stunt Double (ecg)
600 OsakaMatt (TTG)
700 OsakaMatt (Cynic)
800 TTG (TTG)
900 OsakaMatt (GSD)
1000 Countryman100 (C100)
1100 Der32 (ksn)
1200 Gunnersaurus Stunt Double (GSD)
1300 bt8b (NBN — for it is he)
1400 Bathgooner (Bath)
1500 Bathgooner (NBN)
1600 bt8b (OM)
1700 cba (OM)
1800 North Bank Ned (Uply)
1990 bt8b (bt8b)
What happens if we get to 2019 and ‘holic still hasn’t made a new post? Futurism or counting backwards?
well
that’s a tricky one
Until then I guess we had better make hay while we can. A bit late for the timeline but as far as haymaking goes, the year 1900 brought great advances with the introduction of the side delivery hay rake.
Although I imagine that’s a bit too agricultural for some of you.
Slavery outlawed in China on March 10.
George V ascends the throne on the death of Edward VII.
Oops double entry for 1910!
1911: Lusitania sinks
1912: Chinese Republic established.
March 9, 1910 must have been a bad day to get Shanghaied
1911: start of the the Ítalo-Turkish War, known in Italy as the Guerra di Libia
bloody hell started in europe.
i’m against it in princip-le.
actually, i’m against it totally. all wars, for that matter.
Battles of Verdun and the Somme.
Grim stuff, worth the remembrance in every year.
Thing with that 1905 is I know I got the 700 and subsequent drinks celebrated the fact, so additional drinks have been added since by some interloping bastoid.
Nothing of much note happened in 1917, apart from the Russian Revolution and America finally deciding to join the war. Better late than never I guess.
At least C1000 is still C1000 in the
new order of centurions
The end of World War 1
poor fella actually made a list of something up at 1905
oh lord
proper gooner. brr
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfmKx0Oq8YU
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.—
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Published posthumously in 1920. Worth recording every word.
Wilfred Owen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8MWbh3MWuk
Go ask Cooper, I think he’ll know…
Gandhi’s non-cooperation resistance movement initiated against the British Raj in India seeking self-government 1920-22
January 1924: Death of V.I. Lenin, and the start of Stalin purging his rivals to clear the way for the leadership of the Soviet Union.
1925: Scopes Trial: Dayton, Tennessee, biology teacher John T. Scopes is arrested for teaching Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution.
1926: 9-day long general strike in Britain in support of the coal miners’ strike.
What a player Pires was in 1921.
The first transatlantic phone call
and the first non-stop flight
across the Atlantic too.
Heisenberg is uncertain.
The first transatlantic tv signal
sent by Logie Baird
Fleming lucks into penicillin
Good to hear you’re back Holic. Just get better.
UTA.
The BBC kicks off, so does
Vatican City
Everyone goes skint
That 1930 was actually 1929
but anyway everyone was still
skint and depressed.
A new star shone as the Mighty
Arsenal continued a decade of
world domination
Hattie Caraway becomes the first woman elected to the United States Senate, representing Arkansas.
The President of France,
Paul Doumer is assassinated.
Jacques Chirac is born.
In Prague, the world premiere of Ecstasy, the Czech erotic romance film starring Hedy Lamarr.
1934 happened in 1933, but this happened in 1935:
Porky Pig makes his debut as the first major Looney Tunes character, in I Haven’t Got a Hat.
1936: Jesse Owens wins the 100-meter dash at the Berlin Olympics, dismaying Hitler.
1937: Arsenal finish 3rd in the league, but perhaps would have finished higher if not for a 4-5 away defeat at Derby on 3 February.
1933 was in fact 1932.
Peace in our time in 1938
europe (and the rest of the world) plunged into darkness and confusion yet again. the “war to end all wars” was not to be, just 21 years later…enough time for another generation of warriors to arise from the ashes.
Battle of Britain is fought
in the skies
Coventry destroyed, Sheffield
devastated and nightly
bombings in London.
FDR returns for a 3rd term
The invasion of Russia and the
attack on Pearl Harbour brings
most of the remaining countries
of the world into the war.
the tide continues to slowly
turn in the Pacific and North
Africa.
Fermi initiates the first self-
sustaining chain reaction
Allied invasion of Sicily.
Slaughter everywhere.
I would not like to be a
war historian
D-day. The beginning of the
end for the Axis in Europe
and in Asia too.
Germany & Japan surrender.
FDR passes away, Hitler suicides,
Mussolini is hanged and
Churchill is booted out.
The horror of the Holocaust
emerges.
Accounts are settled in merciful
and merciless ways.
The new world order of the
Atomic age starts to form.
the first meeting of the UN
is held at a methodist hall in
London
1947 – First contact, if you believe the stories. If you don’t, weather balloons have a lot to answer for.
OM.
You did a masterful job in so few words, even for someone who would not want to be a war historian.
We just missed it but 1948 saw the formation of the NHS, one of the finest political and social achievements ever.
Arsenal finish fifth in the table but score five at home against each of Everton, Sunderland and Sheffield United.
While the NHS was being founded as per Countryman, in 1948-49 Arsenal did what it says in the previous drink Arsenal did in 1950.
In November 1952 president-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower went to Korea to try to learn what might end the Korean War, which comes to a cease fire the next year.
Luis Enrique returns to manage Spain, so that shrinks the list of possible Emery successors.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/50471015
1953
Mrs TTG was born ( although she says it was 1969)
What a year eh. Coronation and Everest as well and Arsenal’s seventh title !
I wish you bleeders would stop trying to rewrite history
In 1955 Ruth Ellis, the last woman in England to be executed, is hung at Holloway Prison
Thanks bt8 at 1948 🙂
Very kind of you sir.
Ned,
Not to worry Enrique wasn’t
on my short list anyway 😉
In 1957 Countryman100 was born!
In 1959 bt8 was born!
Also, the Cuban Revolution beat me to it by 2 months.
the trieste bottoms out in the mariana trench, desegregation at woolworths, and sharpeville.
playing a little wall ball here, for a purpose.
president jfk, beatles at the cavern, freedom riders, and a little club from middlesex wins their last title. big club my arse.
Real Madrid beat Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3 in epic European Cup Final at Hampden Park.
silent spring. london smog. cuban missile crisis. the interrobang.
My first visit to Highbury 1959 lost 4-2 to Burnley after leading 2-0 at half time. Nothing Changes ?
If you can remember the ’60s, you weren’t really there.
1962 was intended for 1960.
scruzgooner born.
the only real thing of note, then.
well, delia got my birth year. so much for wall ball 🙂
OM@1957: Well that’s all right then.
Of course, y’all remember that nothing happened in football in 1966.
But something wonderful happened in football in 1971 !
In 1970 there was a wonderful World Cup final in which an iconic and truly brilliant Brazil crushed Italy.
Yes indeed TTG @ 1971.
totaalvoetball still couldn’t overcome german engineering.
One of the biggest travesties of football history, Scruz &’74.
Jimmy Carter elected in response to one of the most corrupt presidencies in U.S. history. Until now.
“god save the queen”. the sex pistols.
baff, yep. totaaltravestie.
Poxy Tina sacked by the Marshdwellers. Impressively decisive.
Meanwhile in 1978 another wonderful Dutch team falls at the last hurdle. At least on this occasion to an Argentinian side with bravado and style.
bath at ’78, impassively failing.
ronald reagan, meet margaret thatcher. we’re all screwed.
i’m off to play basketball, so i am going to miss the second decaton.
have fun leading up to it…he says, booting the ball crossfield 60 yards with pinpoint accuracy to…
One man’s “impressively decisive” is another man’s “ungrateful cunts”
Coincidentally, 1982 wasn’t a great year for Argentinian bosses either.
Ramsey giving a reminder for Wales of what we are missing.
And say what you like about Bale, but he can cross a ball.
Seems that Arsenal are now in good company, in the utterly despicable club of ‘hounding out and sacking their best ever manager’.
And Gnabry just grabbed a hattrick, shame what we let go, hurts every time I watch him
Goodbye Poch.
Strange goings on in
Middlesex now and sadly
in 1987 too
Oh, I went a year too early.
Like Poch perhaps.
There will be lots of
contrasting with UE’s
situation now but we have
no idea about the behind
the scenes stuff.
Perestroika and the beginning of
the end for the Iron Curtain.
What a year !!!!
Never in doubt
1988. The battle of Highbury. We may have eye witness accounts.
https://www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/crime-court/arsenal-v-millwall-in-1988-the-bonkers-afternoon-when-violent-fans-terrorised-highbury-1-5356018
Mourinho is the bookies’ favourite to replace Poch. Just about says it all.
I went to that Millwall game. Absolute nutters . A bit like the Tottenham board. That may have an effect on our senior management . But Poch won’t come to us
Would Poch be an upgrade on Unai?
i don’t know as poch would be an upgrade, ned. but then, i don’t think moaningho is an upgrade to either. and he seems to be short odds to land in the wilds of middlesex.
pings it across on the slick surface of an early 00s highbury to…
Poch has no big club experience
so wouldn’t want him 😉
Anyway, he wouldn’t come I
imagine.
Maureen going to the Spuds will
at least soothe some fevered
gooner brows.
any coach at spuds doesn’t come away with big club experience…unless they get into it with the locals and their muddy blue navels.
AW gets us playing football.
Pings a short crisp pass to..
two minutes to a meeting. wondering what lurker there is in the shadows. cynic? cba (where the hell has that bastard been)? uply?
bad form, probably tabsd it.
To listen to some people, an ingrowing toenail would be an improvement on Emery.
Tabsd indeed, you fucker.
Daniel Levy and Jose Mourinho together, scg; how much disinfectant would you need?
ok, off to the naughty step for me.
Well in for the momentous 2000, scg. It is not a crown often claimed.
I wasn’t lurking for the 2000 by the way, I was prepping various history posts but you bastards want to talk about the swampies, so I had to keep deleting before posting and before I knew it, it was the 21st Century 🙁
well in Scruz for the 2000
?
I vaguely remember C1000
asking if we’d ever made
500 before
Mourinho to Shite Fart Lane will be tossing nitroglycerin onto the Gooner-LWC relationship.
Doesn’t it make sense that the brewery dispensing its product to the LWCs at their stadium is named Beavertown?
Scruz 2000!
Well taken.
the Invincible year whizzed
past!
Ned @2002.
Enough to fill a gigantic toilet bowl. Fortunately they have one of those.
Well in Scruz!
I thought you were off to basketball and you suckered us .
Mourinho will be good for eighteen months at Tottenham and then meltdown . Poch is a much better Premier League coach than Emery but he is still not a winner . But I’d take him in a heartbeat over our man. I suspect he will end up in Barcelona, Real or Man United .
Well in Scruz for the two grand. Well done to everyone for a mighty and entertaining run.
I have been most entertained for the last two hours reading Spurs fans both bewailing the loss of the trophyless one and squabbling over whether they want Maureen or not.
Does anyone ever point out how many trophies Daniel Levy has overseen the winning of at the Swamp? He’s certainly seen off a lot mor3 managers than he has won trophies. But that wouldn’t be difficult
Levy has had a lot of managers, but fewer managers than Unai Emery has won trophies. Just saying 😉
Well in scruz for the true ton. ??Interesting subterfuge about the basketball game too. ?
GSD@2010: 🙂
And we are fast approaching the future…
Will time speed up when we get to the future?
Trump corruption continues
Entering the unknown.
Which is a bit like watching our team.
Although hopefully we can expect more from the limitless future than a long series of passes between centre backs. Fingers crossed.
all, i really did go and play 3 games while i was gone. then back then to meeting, just done.
sorry for the selfie, it is the age of the selfie, i guess.
still riding the dodecaton high. i’d trade it for a healthy holic in a flash.
2021: Arsenal, as always, is in the forefront of footballing revolutions. The managerial duo of Ljungberg-Arteta create record by guiding Arsenal to English football’s first quadruple. Martinelli, the player of the season and scorer of 50 goals in the season — Ronaldo9 cried in joy in the Brazilian television commenting for the champions league final where Gabigoal scored a hat trick on our way to trouncing Manchester City 7-0 after which an equally tearful Pep promised to the world that he will never manage a team again — signs a new contract with Arsenal.
Guendouzi, our charismatic captain, however is suspended for 2 months in the next season after television footages confirmed that it was indeed him who flew into Mourinho, temporary manager of our CL semifinal opponent Liverpool after Jurgen Klopp had to join rehab for overdosing on antidepressants following the Reds’ consecutive 12th position finishes in PL, when a melee had broken out as Liverpool’s aging striker Salah lied down on the pitch in protest of the unfair playing surface as he missed his 7th penalty of the season.
In the year of 2022, I prophecy
that a big team in North London
will conquer Europe.
They will be clad in red and white.
And be led by a man of Spain.
His name will be Michael, I see
lego blocks framing him in my
misty vision.
The captain of the men in red and
white shall be a well loved son of
Germany born under a crescent
moon. All men shall call him Ozil,
captain my captain and be full of
joy.
I also see a man who has
made a faustian bargain
shall make my timing wrong 🙂
Though I hope his prophecy
is true too
Well it’s done and moaning Maureen strolls into Spurs.
Opportunity missed for us?
Or, as I think, bullet dodged?
One things for sure. It’s going to be fascinating to watch the relationship between short arms, long pockets Levy and cheque book manager Maureen.
Expect a short lived honeymoon, then a gradual deterioration and ultimate break down. Because when it involves Maureen it’s always all about him.
I’m with you C100
That’s how it will play out. There will be a short-term bounce and sadly they may finish above us but it will end in tears and the early transfer windows will be interesting !
It struck me on Sunday that historically there is no comparison between us and them. Our history is studded with success. They have had nowhere near the success a big club should have . Their honours board is bereft of real achievement. They are punching above their weight. We are sleeping giants . This will put even more media pressure on Emery though.
North London will not be a stable place over the next few months
If they’re really paying him £15m a year, they will be giving him money to spend. And lots of it.
That’s a good point Cynic but it is Levy we are talking about!
That £15m will be made up of bonuses and incentives if I know Mr.L.
They are also cash constrained by the new stadium.
I envy them the new manager just not the identity!
The reason they have failed and we have been successful is … stability.
By all means dump Emery in the summer if he fails to deliver anything tangible, but he should get two full seasons before being written off.
I wonder which big name Mourinho will have down as the one to drive out of the club. Probably Dele Alli, he’s been shit for a while and he doesn’t strike me as Mourinho’s cup of tea at all, being a bit of a flash tool.
They have a number of players who were on their way out, it seems, but there’s no headlines in the likes of Danny Rose, so it will be Alli. Unless Mourinho decides alienating an English player will be bad for his PR.
Quick question- will Jose at spurs mean Kane and Eriksen stay? Eriksen is a quintessential Jose guy, hard-working, industrious and has the talent as well but will he want to stay? Jose would want kane but will he stay/ interesting times at the enemy territory but in the meantime, the mighty Arsenal are looking forward to hosting 19th placed Southampton this Saturday and the chances of a 1-1 look very likely.
Cynic.
Don’t expect to see this headline:
“Stability is sexy”
…
Alliterative potential though
Eriksen is gone cheaply in
January I think. Or free in the
summer, same with Alderweireld
and Vertonghen.
If they can get rid in January it
will maybe free up some money.
Shrewd Levy priced Eriksen out
of the market with a ridiculous
valuation and will now pay the
price. I seem to be gloating
because I am.
The stability that AW brought us in
the early post Emirates era was so
important in hindsight.
Poch could well be at United by
January. And could well engineer
a bounce for them. He’d certainly
be an improvement on Ole.
Hopefully, Poch will prefer Spain
or Manure will foolishly choose
another duffer.
The sad thing for us is we
look likely to leave things
too late for this season.
Mourinho spent £94 million in his first season at Chelsea to build a winning team, an enormous sum then. Levy is no Abramovich, however. That said, the neighbours have got a lot better at generating cash, despite the costs of building their new stadium. But does any owner have deep enough pockets to satisfy Mourinho?
Three weeks is a long time in modern football because of the screeching from social media . If we get a couple of mediocre results and if the Totts get a bounce from the new manager our league position will start to reflect where we are under Emery and the pressure on Sanllehi and Edu will become intolerable .
Keeping Emery until the summer seems eminently reasonable until our best players won’t resign and others want to leave and we finish outside the top seven and the football is absolutely crap ….and that is what will happen if we let the situation meander on with this inadequate coach . Much may depend on who is available when.
Levy won’t have enjoyed paying £12.5 million compensation to Poch and then taking on Mourinho’s salary. This will call his bluff and maybe prompt a fire sale to give Mourinho some funds . They haven’t got the youth quality we and Chelsea have and if they did he wouldn’t play them anyway
OM@2032: Levy could probably still get 20 million euros for Eriksen in January, and about the same for Danny Rose. Dele Alli would probably go for upwards of 70 million euros. Alderweireld would sell for less than 10 million euros; Vertonghen for less than 5 million euros. I would guess that, at those values, one or both would be allowed to run down their contracts to the end of this season. Shipping out the pair would leave Mourinho with only two centre-backs, Sanchez and the young Argentine Juan Foyth. The two positions Mourinho would seem to need to splash the cash on are a right wing-back and a no 10 to replace Eriksen/Ali (probably not Pogba!)
aaaahhhhhh !
how the history channel i created
can so quickly revert to both
FOOT
and
BALL
honestly
it’s like
King Bigsaysthesamethingallthetime ‘s
momentous defeat
of
Crown Prince Sweatyenot
went
UN FUCKIN NOTICED
don t make me start on ye
cos
i fuckin bastardin will
.
.
ya lukewarm collection o family embarrassment s
Ned,
The numbers look about right – 70m
for the overrated Allo is shocking but
probable.
I doubt Eriksen will leave or be signed
in reality and Rose has no intention of
going it seems. And you’re right on the
CBs.
I guess Lamela may not suit Maureen
either.
i of course jest
can’t believe
the heids up i gave ye
on herself s dinner
and
the tartan terror
.
as i usually forget to KLAXON
i reported
the NOISE in my house
.
.
.
anyhoo
if anyone was offended
i really don’t care
?
Another question is whether Mourinho thinks that either Eric Dier or Victor Wanyama can be his Claude Makelele.
blame them
there’s near a dozen of em
so
if you see em
i’d approach with caution
and big sticks
?
don t get upwind of them
they smell the blood of etc
.
.
.
they have gone home today
i am glad
.
.
IF YOU ARE READING THIS
I JUST WANT QUIET AND PEACE
.
.
you’ve done yer duty
thanks but stay buggered off
too much noise
i’m gonna go outside for a toke
the music currently is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hvrn5RU6Q8
and
i am wearing a late 60s
light grey Italian suit
[creepers as usual]
and
a pair of national health glasses
i got converted to shades
.
if it wasn’t getting dark
and i’m not going out
i am owning today
.
.
particularly the shades
cunts wear raybans
#in the year 2525
.
.
.
must we continue ?
can i just send
a big’ blow up yer skirt’
to ‘holic
.
.
i have really enjoyed talking shite here
and
should or shouldn’t you return
or
should or shouldn’t i still be handsome
.
.
hooray for here
elderly gooners
proper gooners
insufferable foreign gooners*
staunch away day gooners
.
.
triumphant cunts all
.
*me
???
this place is brilliant
i hope
whatever nonsense
is roaring at you ‘holic
a Ben Sherman and a Bowie album
will send it on its cuntin way
.
.
.
i’d a said Ramones
but i’m more than aware
you are tone deaf
(chuckles)
bowie indeed !
“Is he a boy or a girl?”
I’m glad you’re still around in 2045 cba but I can’t believe you are still toking. Haven’t you tried Klaxkan-B? It’s the new drug of choice and legally mandatory under current the Tory government headed by Margaret Thatcher Clone 11.2.
It allows you to forget the monotony of modern world living, the pain of feeling emotions and the pesky doubts about the state of the world that empathy for other human beings previously thrusted unwantedly upon the otherwise suspectible populice.
It became widely available through all official outlets at the Emirates stadium as Arsenal Football Club bidded to quell dissatisfaction at the ninth place finish in the Championship during Unai Emery’s sixth season at the helm but the wily ruling partly quickly saw its potential and ever since it has formed a central tenet of their policy to maintain power. Along with compulsory Facebook and Twitter membership and the watching of the newest TV craze, Love and Death island, which sees contestants furnished with an array of sex toys and heavy artillery and has as its tagline footage of Tommy from Snatch asking “What? Proper f***ed?”
The only good news is that in a desperate manouvre to destroy a dictator so evil that he was deemed unacceptable by everyone (the first recorded instance in history of worldwide agreement on any subject ever) Jose Mourinho was invited to an honorary roasting at The Toilet Bowl only to find himself alone in the centre circle as the airstrike struck.
?? @ gsd’s 2052.
GSD
I really didn’t realise that your day job was being a writer of dystopian science fiction reminiscent of Phillip K. Dick and Ursula Le Guin.
Awesome stuff.
GSD
Maybe you could write Unai’s programme notes? They’d be more entertaining and easier to understand and probably a lot more use even if they’d frighten us to death
i thought that was turgid
you can’t spell manoeuvre
and
i suspect
should you be asked
you add a syllable
to mischievous
.
.
.
but who am i to comment
.
.
me
.
that’s who
.
.
.
*holsters grrrrrrrrrr*
so there
?
.
.
*fishes for insults*