By Tony Attwood
So what looked like being a fun start to the season with the possibility of a record number of games without conceding turned into the worst start of Wenger’s reign. (Actually I haven’t checked that, but it feels like it).
The papers are continuing their theme of a revolt among Arsenal supporters – it appears they are booing Ivan Gazidis as well as Wenger now. In fact the game ended with continuing endless support from the Gooners – a very positive show indeed.
I said the other day after the Reading game, the papers were full of Arsenal fans leaving at half time, and about Arsenal shareholders voting against the board – in both cases it looked to me like about 2% of those there expressed their negative feelings.
So we are all down, it was a defeat that felt far worse than the scoreline, and now always ready to pounce on Arsenal, the knives are out in the papers for Mr Wenger.
And of course there are the blogs. Having been to games, been at the AGM (I was actually sitting just by the BBC Twitter writer who made up all the stuff about the revolt at the AGM which everyone else picked up) and tried to take it all in, I know for sure that the notions of revolt and abject failure are wrong.
But the league table does not lie, and we are having a very poor run of form just now.
Further, we have our inevitable run of injuries – and I have to admit I really did feel that we might this season be able to cope. But Santos does not look good at the moment, and I guess it was considered not a viable option to put Sagna on one side and Jenkinson on the other. Hopefully the Year of the Seven Left Backs is not going to be repeated.
What is the honest supporter to do?
Support the team and the club of course. Many believe Mr Wenger should go – but supposing he did – who would come in and replace him? Do we really want to go through a scenario like Liverpool where even qualification for Europe is thought to be unlikely.
In my house, in my office, we stay with our tribe, we support Arsenal. Perhaps because we were here in the Billy Wright era we know that what we see now is infinitely better than we have seen in many other periods. Anyone remember what it was like most of the time under Bertie Mee? Or the endless defence – defence – defence of Don Howe?
The other blogs will attack and attack the management and the players. I’ll still support Arsenal as it is and as it stands, because I still think that morally, supporting FFP is the best way forwards and I can’t understand who would be better in terms of running the club. (And just giving a list of names of people who would never come to Arsenal is no solution).
Add to all this the failure of our servers, and you can see I had a bad weekend. Let’s just hope that we pull something out of the bag in the Euro tomorrow.
Here’s one final bit, from the Untold match preview of the Man U game vis a vis recent games between the two…
The Penalty Story
And this story is that in the matches between Arsenal and Manchester U there have been nine penalties.
- All of them have been at Old Trafford
- Seven of them have been for Manchester United
- Five of the nine penalties have failed to result in a goal
See – we do occasionally get a hint of what is going to happen.
—————
The books…
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- “The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal”: crowd behaviour at the early matches
The sites…
- Referee Decisions - just what are the refs up to this season?
- The weight loss programme: The only guaranteed wayto stay fit
- Looking for a terraced house in Northamptonshire?
- For all your football betting try these Bookmakers with free bets.
- Tyres, exhausts, batteries, bottled gas, jet wash… Buntingford, Herts
Let’s hope Arsene gets the team into winning ways again, as for sacking Wenger the board, the cleaning ladies ‘ not forgetting of course the grounds man and the man who washes the windows!! where does our next great Manager come from. We all should pray that he can see into future that way we’ll never lost a match again.
@BG: Yeah, and maybe they should choose YOU to become the new man in charge, err? Just try to manage something – you can start with your little miserable life you f*cking twat. I don’t have time to teach you anything right now but I can kindly tell you how much or a moron you are. THIS MUCH!
@asd: What are you, a clone? Too lazy even to create some meaningful nickname? Fuck off!
Now I feel much better
Sorry about the server trouble Tony. I was blaming my own ISP when I couldn’t get onto your website – I guess not everything is their fault lol.
Funny how quickly after a bad spell Arsenal and Mr Wenger get attacked in the English media – as opposed to say Man Utd or Man City or Chelsea or Liverpool or Tottenham or Newcastle or etc. Funny that.
Stuart,
I am sorry mate, but if you think for one second that the board is setting AW the target of winning the league, then you need your head examined, the last time we came close was 07/08 season and we have been just trodding along ever since, yes, the competition is great and hard, but can you seriously say that we have been using our resources to the best effect?
I mean, do you think for one second that someone like Squillaci would command 50-60K per week anywhere else?
Bendtner on 50K? do me a favour, Welbeck was on 15K until recently and he is twice the player!
@Doanythingformoney
The way Ferguson took defeat to Barcelona in the CL final at Wembley so well a couple of years ago is rather worring to me. Was he promised something in return ?
They certainly have a rather easy group stage to get through this season and the final is at Wembley AGAIN for some strange reason.
On not subbing Wilshere it turns out that Ramsey was subbed instead because he was injured.
@Suga3, I don’t think anyone seriously believes we’ll win the league unless we go on a January splurge and that’s unlikely unless we’re about 12th in the league. The team have been systematically weakened every season so now even the fabled fourth place looks in jeopardy.
The ridiculous wage bill is the reason we can’t shift these mediocre players. Many Arsenal fans are sick of the placating words that spew from certain people running the club. We actually want to see some improvement on the pitch and money being used for that purpose rather than being directed to a CEO who has yet to prove his worth.
rupert,
no idea who would we have to buy in January to come anywhere near winning the league in May mate…
can I please be allowed to comment without going into moderation for 12 hours every time?
it kills the debate, you know?
SUGA3
Chill out mate, I was explaining about there being several targets of varying superiority. I do believe that winning the league would be in there somewhere unless of course you are saying they all sit down before season starts and discuss the next season and agree we dont want to win the league this year?
Stuart,
how about we discuss how I want to be worth enough next year to make Kroenke an offer he can’t refuse then?
it would make about as much sense
if they think for one moment that they can actually have a sniff with the squad we have, then they have no business running a football club, as they simply have no clue…