Comments on: Who is insulting whom? A deeper review of the O’Neill comments

By: Sean

Sean — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 07:57:33 +0000

How am I fake Barnet fan?
I’m going to Underhill on Saturday, v. Aldershot, £11, on a terrace.
It’s here in my diary.
And next Saturday, v. Cheltenham Town, £11, on a terrace.
That’s here in my diary too.
And the fortnight after that v. Bury, £11, on a terrace.

How many on this site are going to the next three Arsenal games?
Can everyone afford it?

Pity we haven’t got a time machine because when football was better (the post-war years through to the late 60s) so was fashion, design, film, television, theatre, music and absolutely anything else you could name.

Still, notlager, you’ll never know ‘cos you missed it.
Diddums!

By: notlager

notlager — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:02:38 +0000

Sean,

bitter as ever, aren’t we? I’m sorry to disappoint you but the invention of the time machine that would bring you back the good old days of honest English football hasn’t made any progress. Meanwhile fellow Gooners we just have to tolerate the presence of this fake Barnet fan.

By: Sean

Sean — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 13:22:54 +0000

Whilst I try to avoid the Predictable Premiership (especially The Bore Four) like the plague, the most entertaining team I’ve seen this season are………………Aston Villa.

By: tim

tim — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 01:28:59 +0000

Have you gentlemen seen this?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/aston_villa/article7008792.ece

MON is very, very sensitive. I think he has an inferiority complex.

By: goonergerry

goonergerry — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:24:29 +0000

It is nonsense to argue that Ferguson has managed like Wenger. Admittedly, Ferguson did once build a team from home grown players. But that is far from being the case in recent years-in fact ever since the Glazers took over and plunged United in debt he has spent irresponsibly.
-jjust buying- Ferdinand, Carrick, Hargreaves, Anderson, Nani, Berbatov, Rooney added appox 155m to the debt. Ferguson paid way over the value of every one of these players. Fergie has never operated within the wages structure that Wenger has-in fact he has acted as if they were the richest club in the world-right up until this year.

By: Paul C.

Paul C. — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:23:08 +0000

Femi – you are wrong. Alex Ferguson has never run Utd at a loss. He is cut from the same cloth as Arsene Wenger. If it wasnt for the Glazier family, Utd would have no debt. Fergie has always spent what he earned and no more. It just so happens that Utd have always generated more money than anyone else but until the Glaziers arrived Utd had ZERO debt.

By: Rafael

Rafael — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:03:16 +0000

Great article Walter! They showed the game live over here (in the Philippines) as well – and what a game it was! End-to-end stuff! In my opinion, Aston Villa only started playing the long ball towards the later part of the second half, when their midfield started to disappear from the game. Oh, and Stuart Downing built choke city… Twice!

By: Armin

Armin — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:12:58 +0000

Walter, you didn’t notice O’Neil parapsychologist abilities, which he used to read Arsene mind. Of course he was reading between lines. Thanks to those talents O’spectaclesNeil got correct conclusion-contusion about AW insult.
Shame on you Arsene, shame on you.

By: Wonderman

Wonderman — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:12:15 +0000

Walter no teuer a word spoken .MON has been found out….I have never understood the clamour for his signature as a manager, do we not remember the Leicester team he used to manage back in the early prem days. He then went to Celtic and won the league ..great !! Based on his signings he seems to be looking at a players’ passport rather than their ability. I was at the Emirates for the games against them last season and this. Last season they thoroughly deserved their win and played better than us from the outset. This season different story, we were all over them from the start but they were just managing to contain us…the rest is history

Those of you expecting the media to be fair to us forget it, I ask you

If Gallas had knelt on Gerrards neck and then pulled his hair do you think it would have been ignored the way Cesc’s incident was ?

If Scholes had comitted the tackle that Gallas did against Bolton would not have been ‘Oh Scholesy ..he just does’nt know how to tackle does he’

I could go on and on. When we win the title lets see what they do then

By: yeah

yeah — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:50:53 +0000

well, what can i say, arsenal is the only top4 team that plays a 90% passing game and occasional lob by sagna, but surely villa are the team that play long ball games 90%, don’t know what’s wrong their???may be he just envy the hammering that wenger did to them at emirates, may be he beleives wenger doesn’t rate them higher and hence the frustration…

By: Samuel

Samuel — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:34:36 +0000

Any team ,big or small shouldn,t be allowed to buy players when the debt of the club is so huge ,Trash United and Luckypool ,so who is going to draft legislation concerning this matter ,obviously not the EFA,makes one think as to why the bias ?

By: Samuel

Samuel — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:30:42 +0000

Martin O,Neill knows the truth hurts ,hence the embarrssing remarks about Arsene insulting his team.Yes he,s team does play the long high ball,very evident during the home game for Villa ,so who lost more ,definitely Villa as they,re falling behind the other so called top 4 teams ,Spurs ,Luckypool ,Everton ?

By: Abhishek

Abhishek — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 07:46:20 +0000

so to call it a “long-ball side” is an implied criticism of its passing game.

So what can you say when they actually played long ball in that game. He did not attack their philosphy.He just told what he saw.

it makes it sound like Villa were playing the typical bottom vs top tactic of parking the bus and trying to sneak a goal. Whereas Villa have greater ambitions than that.

No its just about the tactics employed. Italian national team are also ambitious but they rely more on counter attack. Whats wrong with it. Even the Brazilian team seems to have applied this policy.

BTW even if MON did not knew what Wenger said cant he go back and check it and issue a statement. I fail to understand these managers, Wenger praises them and they keep shouting.

By: Shevo

Shevo — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 07:42:05 +0000

Fuck the BBC , fuck Talk Shite an the rest of the English Media.
That’s my tuppence worth added to another blinding piece of work Walter my son. Once again you’ve hit the nail on the head. AW should do a Fergie and blank these tossers, but he won’t do that as he is too much of a gentleman.

By: Ham

Ham — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 07:26:48 +0000

Please pardon MON , the ghost of last season is back to haunt him, it could have been a demon just using his body. Good start then ‘boom boom boom’ everything goes 2 pieces. He is a frustrated man. Secondly he is angry with AW because he has realized we are destined to be THE TOP 1. Yeeeeepeeeeeee!

By: weg

weg — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 05:16:19 +0000

It sounds like a backhanded compliment.

First, a “long-ball game” alludes to a defensive, untechnical football. O’Neill is putting together a side which he hopes will compete on a footballing basis with the top sides, so to call it a “long-ball side” is an implied criticism of its passing game.

Second, by saying that Arsenal were pushing forward, and Villa were sitting back, it makes it sound like Villa were playing the typical bottom vs top tactic of parking the bus and trying to sneak a goal. Whereas Villa have greater ambitions than that.

By: Vaste

Vaste — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 03:59:58 +0000

To be frank, even when i heard Prof speak after the match, i was surprised how come he is praising the opponent!!! And though i have a soft corner for Villa (cause I spent last yr in coventry – when villa was the closest premiership club that yr), I couldnt understand how in the hell those words can be interpreted as insulting!!! Or is it just that now every manager in the league (surprisingly except SAF) has decided to atrociously speak against us as if having some kinda grudge? (it was about “an assault” by Gallas last week). I guess most of them are just jealous of what Prof has succeeded in doing at Arsenal and have to take out there frustration on someone…!!

By: tim

tim — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:52:13 +0000

Walter, once again, a very nice, thoughtful, and logical piece.

As you show, there’s really no logic for why people get angry at Wenger. He is the most articulate and generous manager there is, especially when he speaks of other teams.

There’s obviously something else about Arsene that just irks the media. Whether it’s just the tabloid media doing its thing to create a story, or if it’s something else like jealousy or Wenger being French is the question.

By: tim

tim — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:45:22 +0000

Oh those folks at The Mirror are great at covering themselves in glory.

But still, O’Neill should have realized that Arsene would never say something like that.

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 01:02:51 +0000

or in the case of the Mirror Agitprop, to foment unrest …….