Our very own Arsenal Andrew looks to the future
Normally I’d hesitate to write at any length about a Reserves’ match, regardless of the branding, be it U21’s, U18s’s or this new-fangled Next Generation business we’ve been keeping half an eye on. And certainly, as I drove my post-pneumonic self to Barnet’s bizarre mountain slope of a pitch on Tuesday night I entertained notions of a quick in and out and home in time to catch my favourite radio show of the week – Somer Valley’s Stew Black and the Slow & Dirty Train – not least thanks to the early 7pm kick off time.
What transpired was something very different.
As an FA Cup match, we were primed – braced even – for a game that had to be settled on the evening via the unwelcome mechanisms of extra time and penalties. Heaven forbid it went that far as the weather turned treacherous and an ugly storm blew in.
It had been warm in London on Tuesday – equivalent to a cool summer’s evening. The storm, albeit free of lightning and thunder, was the likely consequence of a temperature swing of 15 degrees from just a few days earlier when snow and ice had gripped the capital. Barnet’s old-school stadium is a remarkable, wonderful place. At no other ground in quite the same way do you feel transported back to the game ‘experience’ as it must have been known to our fathers and grandfathers and their families.
Spectators are placed pretty much level with the pitch and close to the touchline – so close you feel you can almost reach out and touch history itself.
Unfortunately, the finances of the club don’t extend too far these day, if they ever did, and the absence of a big screen forces the fan to follow the game rather than muck about with phones and Twitter. It is in fact the footballing equivalent of watching a film with subtitles; one blink and you risk missing the bit upon which the whole event turns. If you could video spectators watching the game at Barnet and compare with one taken at a game ‘blessed’ with a screen, you could be forgiven for assuming two different sports were being played out, such are the differences in the levels of concentration required.
The only real downside to Underhill’s ‘missing’ screen is that without replays it’s much harder for one not intimately familiar with both teams’ players to write a bona fide match report. So this isn’t one.
But it IS, however, a short acknowledgement from this reluctant weather-cowed spectator that what came to pass in the little publicised U18 FA Cup tie between Arsenal and Fulham, was one of the toughest games I’ve ever seen played. Conducted at blistering pace with breathtaking commitment, skill and sheer raw courage by the lads of both sides, it was a match the likes of which I’d be surprised to see again.
The weather was such that, when the ball was kicked into it by despairing goalkeepers from one end in particular, it frequently barely reached halfway, sometimes got picked up by the breeze, examined and sent back towards the kicker in a gravity defying route dictated by a malevolent gale-force wind that clearly had other, more mischievous, ideas.
A breeze this most certainly was not.
And it DID go to extra time in the end.
In the event, two evenly matched sides more or less blew themselves out as the gale subsided close to the two hour mark. An early goal from Arsenal’s Anthony Jeffrey (“AJ!”) was cancelled out by one from Fulham’s Tankovic. That there were three foul throw-ins tell you something about the conditions as the oily ball was blown from the grip of boys, playing like men – nay warriors – and against the weather, as much as each other. I’ve never seen so many go down with cramp as tackles turned into car crashes and the only things missing from this battling vista was, thankfully, any blood or actual thunder.
That Arsenal eventually ran out worthy 2-1 winners was in no small measure thanks to the second-half arrival, following the substitution of star player Serge Gnabry, of the immaculate and cool-headed Austin Lipman.
Things always seem to happen to me at Barnet. Magical, wonderful things.
On my birthday last summer, at this same stadium I found myself sat a dozen seats from Arsene Wenger. No fuss, no security (I’d left my people outside the ground), and with just the presence of Ivan Gazidis by Arsene’s side – I took a picture that can still be seen today on my Twitter page for anyone caring to look; he’d just smiled at my delighted better half as I fumbled for my phone and its camera to record the moment. You can clearly see how thrilled Arsene looks.
Last night I was sat next to a gentleman who texted someone called Austin halfway through the first half. Unusual name that, Austin. He was arranging to meet ‘Austin’ by the substitutes bench at half time, writing a message using enlarged typography intended for those with poor vision. I don’t normally read other people’s text messages but the seats are very close together at Underhill. No, really, they are. Honestly, I don’t.
A few weeks earlier by chance at Barnet during a similar game I’d sat next to the impossibly young looking mother of an Arsenal Under 18’s player – a substitute who didn’t actually get onto the pitch – the delightful and charming Mrs Lipman. Last night by remarkable coincidence in a crowd of several hundred I’d managed inadvertently to sit myself down on a seat close to the halfway line, next to Mrs Lipman’s Dad – Austin’s Grandfather.
From the scale of this coincidence alone, we can see that this lad Austin is destined for great things. Very great things.
Sadly his mum, who was at that point, according to her dad recovering from ‘flu, wasn’t there to see her boy, at the age of 17 years and two months, as he hit a brilliant winner for his side at the end of this toughest of games. She got an excited call from Dad though, when it happened. No, I didn’t listen in.
But her young Austin, with the club, incredibly, since the age of six, was very much the hero of the (2) hour(s).
I wasn’t going to write about any of this, what with the next evening’s big game ahead against Liverpool, we surely would have much bigger fish to fry, wrap and drown in salt and vinegar.
But an hour after the game ended, a photo started to be tweeted and re-tweeted depicting the celebrations of the players immediately following Austin’s Great Strike. It’s that rarest of rare things, a picture that somehow tells a whole story.
This picture is so good, so special, that had I taken it I’d have given it a name all of it’s own.
Joy.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35115236@N03/8427452323/
Taken by Arsenal’s brilliant club photographer, David Price.
Austin Lipman’s in there somewhere, I’m told. But in the foreground is another player who has to be one of the brightest young prospects for right back since, ooh, well, Carl Jenkinson.
Pacy, VERY pacy, skilful and fearless, repeated checks on the line up sheet confirmed he definitely is a right sided defender though he played more like an out and out winger.
17 year old Hector Bellerin came Arsenal’s way when Cesc went the other two years back in a largely unnoticed (by me) swap deal with Barcelona. His stunning talent made him, on Tuesday night, this observer’s Man of the Match. He’s also my tip for the role of Next Big Young Arsenal Star – ahead, even, of the always impressive Serge Gnabry and Thomas Eisfeld, both huge prospects themselves. He’s that good. His unusual first name reminded me of my reaction upon hearing Robin van Persie’s for the first time and I’ve little doubt he has the potential to make waves of a similarly exciting nature as Robin did, at least before all that transfer trouble blew up last summer …
At the end of the evening and as I battled with the storm’s remnants back to my car, I marveled at how much the cost of the £3 entry fee had given me.
For sure, the game against Liverpool was more ‘important’. But at that moment I doubted whether I could possibly feel quite as connected to the game, the players or the other spectators as I did that evening.
Joy, indeed.
Positively Arsenal 
“i like Arsene Wenger a lot, because he stays true to his ideas and has been loyal to the same club for such a long time. With him, young players become stars. That’s worth having a title or two fewer,”
I did not know Low was an AKB. I have zero respect for him now.
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Thats is a great comment there Finsbury. It is lost on many, but I think what Arsene has done currently is his greatest managing job to date.
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Re: Corruption revealed by Europol – I think Positive Arsenal should do something constructive by asking the club to cut all ties with the Singapore FA until the government extradites Dan Tan, who is at the center of the betting/corruption syndicate, is extradited by their government according to the international arrest warrant. As football fans we should do everything possible to end-limit the blight of corruption which could destroy the sport we all love.
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It has long been my opinion that United ,being the big money draw for selling the TV rights for the PL abroad,are given favorable consideration by the establishment.
I believe this manifests itself in a marginal bias when refereeing decisions are made.Those decisions do not necessarily have to be in head to head games with United.I also feel that clubs pumping huge wads of cash into the PL ,may also get an advantage. .Now I am not claiming a whole sale conspiracy theory against Arsenal ,or even financial payments being made to officials.But I think your career prospects ,as an official or administrator,is aided if United get the nod.
I toook a look at the comments section on ACLF,and of course people are claiming that I said Fergie and the FA conspired against Arsenal in particular.Good job I am banned,Twats
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Arse or Brain (3.43pm)
I’m sorry you didn’t like the main post but can’t please everyone, I guess.
I will just come back to you on one or two points if I may.
You say “its a little unfair on the other lads” – presumably my singling out Austin Lipman by way of congratulation for scoring the winning goal in an important and very tight game. I’m not sure how that is unfair on anybody else to be honest. You say he came on late but he ended up playing 55 minutes so it’s not as though he cropped up at the end with a tap in. I didn’t declare him my Man of the Match so what’s the problem?
I agree with you – there were many stand out Arsenal players and I said pretty much that the players on both sides deserved much credit. The Fulham No 7, for the away side, especially so. But I also prefaced the piece by saying it was not intended to be a full match report so inevitably there are bound to be ‘holes’ in it.
I disagree that Arsenal were in total control at any stage of the game – it was very tight. That’s just my opinion but surely, had we been in TOTAL control we would surely have scored more than we did? I do agree that we had the edge over Fulham and were worthy winners but this was not in any way a walk over.
I agree it wasn’t Serge Gnabry’s best game but again I’d give any one of the players slack for simply having to cope with the conditions. The fact that Hector Bellerin stood out to me as being outstanding given the prevailing conditions is even more remarkable. But that’s not to slight the contributions of any other player.
Yes, you are dead right – it’s a great atmosphere at Underhill. If you regularly go to games at Barnet why don’t you do a full match report for Positively Arsenal in the future? I’d love to read it.
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Very interesting extended interview on Sky News with Declan Hill this evening – worth catching if you can. He says many things but one of the main points is, in his view, that pretty much the whole of Asian sport has been ruined by corruption and that those running the various scams are now turning their attention to Europe.
Apparently these fixers are pretty clever – they will target players and officials who may be vulnerable, perhaps with their own gambling problem or debts. I remember Mat le Tissier causing a storm on Sky Sports by admitting quite cheerfully how he messed up a sting by failing to give away a throw-in in the first few minutes or something similar. For some very strange reason, I don’t recall this being followed up by anyone other than fellow pros suggesting he should just keep quiet. That in itself is suspicious especially as his confession had already appeared in published form in his biography of a few years earlier.
I imagine the problem is likely to go deeper than many suspect.
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That’s classy George, twist your words when you can’t reply. Just don’t read the comments over there.
YW will always have my respect and lets be honest the overwhelming majority of us found each other through ACLF and wouldn’t be here today without it but an awful lot of the tripe in the comments section is unreadable.
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George, you always said that no one was talking about a conspiracy, so I am not sure how anyone could say that. I also believe there is a bias, for whatever reason.
Suarez just recently said that you don’t mess with United because they are powerful and they all but control the media. I know the man is not the most honest but I doubt he is just pulling this out of the air. Even this season, United have gotten some unbelievable calls going their way and that is why they are at the top.
I really don’t care what anyone thinks, but Arsenal do get the crap end of the stick alot. People who have done research agree and that is more than just Untold Arsenal. We could not buy a pen after the Eduardo situation. I guess that was just a coincidence.
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I have been musing on the corruption stories today.
Does it happen ? No doubt in my mind. Too much money not to be susceptible to dishonesty.
Is this Europol investigation the lid lifter that will identify and root out the problem ?
I doubt it – did I see the Europlods calculated that bribes “totalling up to £86K” were paid out to players in a single game.
£86k ! That is mere buttons – no professional footballer in their right mind is going to jeopardise their livelihood even if they picked up the whole £86k, which apparently they did not. Balotelli on his own was earning twice that a week (reportedly) and you could not trust that useless bastard to do anything reliably.
Like all good crime it goes on but the chance of catching anyone at it are very small
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George @ 6.22
That is all anyone else has ever said.
Unfortunately some of the comments you refer to follow the sniping trend. Some but not all of those you refer to wrote (in public!) how different Italy is to England not so long ago…
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Anicoll5 is correct, but football fans should not be discouraged for asking for crazy things like a stopwatch for the fourth official, & some cables to connect up the cameras that are already there to some monitors and the mikes that are also already there. You honestly do not need to have a fixation* on your own club to consider the slight benefits here, but I suppose people wil peole, and forget what has been said and written in the past.
* A viewing of an Olympic hockey match would be interesting. Thousands of people saw those games, millions watched them. Plenty of in game replays, no problem. But I suppose *sighs* the answer to the question ‘why no video in football’ is a little bit Arsenal obsessive!
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I thought the Hat-Cams for the Umpires in the recent 20-20 cricket were brilliant!
Very funny (And nothing to do with AFC).
Cricekt’s an odder game, I know, and I love it. Things like the Hat Cams will help in appealing to kiddies, I can’t deny it. And Cricket needs that help because the five day game is from a different world/era. Asnd the cams also have the slightly important job of helping to restore credibility to the sport (nope, no mention of AFC required. Sharjah? Dubai? No comment needed!)
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Not all players are earning mega bucks. In Europe as well as in the UK there have been numerous times when clubs have not been able to pay player wages, sometimes for weeks and months at a time. But I think where the English game is most susceptible to corruption is less with the players and more with the referees who earn a tiny fraction of the player salaries yet wield the greatest influence over game outcomes.
The absence of things like stop watches for the 4th official, no access to video replay, next to no accountability for referees to anyone outside of their employers (the body headed up by Mike Riley, the shady Professional Game Match Officials Board, the PGMO) these are all grounds for reasonable suspicion, in my view, purely on the basis that the absence of transparency or accountability would, in any other sphere of public life, raise major questions, enquiries and, eventually official government led inquiries.
The PGMO shady? When did you last hear how they allocate referees to games? Or why some refs are disciplined by being dropped, dropped to a lower league or even ‘encouraged’ to retire early following ‘errors’ made in certain games by standards not applied to referees in certain other games? The list of disciplined refs following ‘errors’ in games involving Man U is way longer than any list involving Arsenal!! How can the allocation of one ref in particular – Webb – to a disproportionate number of Man U games be justified or even explained?
If you want more detail on Riley’s antics, check out
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/mike_Riley_(referee)
In 2007, he went to referee the Hong Kong FA Cup final and South China won 3-1 following Riley’s award of 3 penalties in the game, including two to South China who were able as a result to achieve a treble in local competitions (First Division League, Senior Shield and FA Cup). In a part of the world Declan Hill describes as being corrupt on a wide scale basis across many sports including football. Proves nothing in isolation but Riley’s prescence in Asia is of interest.
And reading Riley’s Wiki entry makes ones hair stand on end.
Whilst there is no evidence Riley actually IS corrupt, his record is consistent with one who might be susceptible to corruption because without accountability or transparency, the space for wrong doing will always remain. And, hypothetically, if he has been up to no good all these years, why hasn’t he quit while he was ahead?
Maybe, hypothetically, of course, he’s not been allowed to quit …
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http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/the-fixed-champions-league-game-was-liverpool-1-debrecen-0-sept-2009/
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It has long been my opinion that United ,being the big money draw for selling the TV rights for the PL abroad,are given favorable consideration by the establishment.
mine too.
liverpool fans say the same, chelsea the same, arsenal the same. there is not a fan in the country who wont agree that one way or another united gets a vital “push” every now and again..and its the same abroad. in italy they call fergie the ref.
they dont want the top team in england to be a dominant force of foreignors. they might allow it for a year, or two but the establishment ( fa, refs, media) will always favour the champion who also includes in its roster english/brittish players. peter kenyon who knows about such things ensured that roman kept the trio of john, frank and ash plus the joe and the duff and the bridge for that specific reason. to ease it on the public,. yes a roman owner with a portuguese manager and an ivorain striker with a czeck goalkeeper and french/italian/spannish midfielders/wingers will be called the english epl champions , but look..john the lad is there, our golden frank is there, our best left back in the world is there…
its been the case for united for years….obvious favouritism in more than one way. to deny it means you’ re blind, to defend it makes you an idiot. i have heard a lot of people talk a lot of shit like ” its human error”, or laughin it off as fergie mind games with the liensmen and 4th officials…or how my favourite ” such incidents even themselves out over the coourse of a seaon”..ha yeah right.
..in a way i suppose wenger decided he had to act..if he kept it all foreign his players would all get the eduardo treatment, or would end up leaving in disgust like flamini/hleb….so now he is making it twice as hard for the establishment to abuse arsenal on the pitch. and on the way he is laos preparing englansds real golden generation not that circus that went to japan in 02, but a real generation that will also help the national team in ways fergie and united never did.
and what pisses me off the most is that whenever england calls united players fergie blocks them, noone says a word…wenger does same and is branded a criminal.
rio makes kung fu kick on sagna as last defender..” the light was blinding me ref” – ” its ok rio dont sweat ill just give you a yellow” …sagna is on the floor needing appendix operation…. but it was the lights you see…
fletcher…does a shawcross from behind on arshavin inside the united penalty area..play on says dean ( arsenal fan through and through) ..rooney dives over almunia..penalty immediately no questions asked…
then you have the media, neanderthals in all pitches come and kick arsenal players to frustrate their game, and we are told that its allowed cause its a contact sport, physical you know. ok no problem, just dont come busting our balls when flamini puts his studs right thought someones shin or when gallas kicks nani or when sagna elbows zabaleta after the 47th foul committed on him.
diving? …rooney and owen are smart…pires and eduardo are the biggest crooks in the history of football.
” dont complain, remember vieira ? always red carded, besides wenger’s discipline record is not very good”…well fuck you, half the reds vieira got were essentially second yellows for talking back to refs, not even for violent conduct/play.
we lead at newcastle 4-0 and we are topping the table, dowd gives red to a player of ours who had just been fouled/kicked from behind…madness…he then gives a joke penalty on knoscielny i think and another bigger joke of a penalty on rosicky…..van persie ont h eother end breaks between two and play is stopped for offensive foul (???wtf@#%@???) ..dowd plays dmf for newcastle whole game and wont let arsenal out their own half…..
then these things are picked upon,presented in negative light and then you get arsenal fans tunring against their team.
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ha on those aclfers george…they want to argue about wenge;rs managerial ability but accept no arguemnt regrading united favouritism and arsenal negative bias….
ignore them, hypocrites of the highest order, apparently they are free to form opinions and to doubt wenger and our players but dont you dare doubt the integrity of the english football refereeing system or the motivation of the media pundits ex pros and the pulis/allerdyce/rednap/oneil/pardew/brown and the rest army of bigots who want to see arsenal and wenger take part…..
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“I agree it wasn’t Serge Gnabry’s best game but again I’d give any one of the players slack for simply having to cope with the conditions.”
He was also a little rusty having just returned from injury.
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@hunter 13 8:51 pm
That is well said mate!
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@George
Spot on. I think a lot of the “luck going United’s way” (to put in a more friendly manner for the neutral Arsenal fans) is down to Fergie and United being so intimidating. I am sure that more than one referee has asked himself when having to ponder a difficult decision if he wants to be the guy that gave a wrong decision against United. Because if you make the wrong call and it favours United, one of those small time managers like Roberto Martinez might complain and it will be on the media for a day and then it’s a thing of the past. But if you do that against Fergie, you can be sure it will be on the agenda for half a week and since neither Fergie nor the media don’t forget it will be something that might follow your career around for a little while. I am confident that there are referee’s that have enough integrity to not be intimidated, but others will be swayed in the heat of the moment. Simply knowing you are refereeing an United match and all eyes will be on you can be enough for a referee trying to make a career to ensure he will try not to have a too controversial game.
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And I think Fergie is also very streetwise. He has guys in his squad like Scholes and the like, has always had them, and he knows how far he can let them go. Heck, look at the Dutch skunk booting Sagna off the ball in what surely should have been a red card back when we played them at OT. There are many more examples of Fergie players overstepping the bounds and getting away with it. This is, in my opinion, simply down to Fergie knowing which referee likes to keep the whistle out of his mouth and taking full advantage of that.
We neither have those characters nor do I think we try to use those dark arts all too often, which clearly puts us at an disadvantage.
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I wasn’t aware he’d been injured Passenal – what was the problem I wonder?
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I don’t recall Andrew, but I remember it was only his second game after a little while out. He mentioned on Twitter that the West Ham game before that was his first game back.
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RIP Reg Presley
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Lovely reading. I could read about the youth all day long. Always confuses me why Arsenal fans don’t take as much joy from the Yoof over transfer tittle tattle. As a good portion of our players come from this route. Plus the fact that these lads are already donning the red and white.
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I’m aware I’m probably chatting to myself here but that wont stop me. Oh no. Just want to get a little nod in for a cracking player in the u18’s Isaac Hayden. Too soon to tell but he looks very agile and seems to have everything a defender would need at his age. Another Bartley that hopefully will go the distance.
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I am listening Els
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Cracking post by hunter13
February 4, 2013 at 8:51 pm
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Evil @ 9:32pm – Untold Arsenal, I think, did a piece recently of how refs whom Fergie have publicly criticized for making calls unfavorable to United either get booted down to the Championship for a spell and/or never get another big-game at Old Trafford for a very long time. Was it Martin Atkinson who had to wait a year before another game at United? Someone can confirm. As it is at our various work places, how many are willing to kill their career prospects by standing up to the big-wheel? Easier to go with the flow, no?
We are only speaking of referee intimidation, here, not of covert match fixing. The whole thing stinks. Only the blind and olfactory challenged are stupid enough to deny this odious tilting of the scale.
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Hey George!
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It’s one of those situations where it is so obvious that surely it can’t be true. If it where true then surely someone would have done something about it. Y’know like the whole Jimmy Saville case.
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George – The other place is as dead as a door nail with the the same mind-numbing nonsense by the usual middle-of-the-roaders. Your boy Aman (aka Purple) is pining for your return (and Frank.) He might be well meaning but the MOTRers, who offered him lacklustre support, are only seeking some raw meat to feast on since they only exist to pour doubt and scorn on those who think Wenger’s ambition for our club deserves our full support. I think being binned was the best thing to happen. They were simply sucking you into mindless, dead-end debates and fights. Since then you have opened a so many more doors to those who are Positively Arsenal. Now I am even twittering.
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Now I am even twittering deserves a big smiley 🙂 Ha, Ha, Ha!
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Spare a thought for Yogi though. Despite the canning of people. Which was no doubt ill advised he does write very well. His blog deserves better comments. But he hasn’t helped himself really has he.
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Evil February 4, 2013 at 9:32 pm
rafael…now imagine one of our young fullbacks behaving on the pitch like rafael….how many reds would he have got? how many articles would there be in the newspapers about discipline records ?
the refs essentially let the united players grow in confidence and mess with the opponents psychology with opposite calls. all united back four defend with their arms. ever seen any fouls given? do they not commit any? gimme a break..
and yes they do use bullying tactics and know their limits, but as weve seen with vieira’s arsenal, gatusso’s milan, effenberg’s bayern, puyol’s barca and even bielsa’a bilbao and rafa’s liverpool and silva’s city…they can be destroyed..with their first team and with their manager left there a chewing wreck throwing tantrums at officials…no handhsaking no interviews…game over.
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gunner-getcha February 5, 2013 at 1:12 am
no thoughts for hypocrites who ban the correct to give voice to the ill-informed and negative
i guess their blogs became commercial …so had to follow the line of the sheep…
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and just to make this clear..match fixing in the epl and united favouritism are two different things for me at least. one has to do with betting the other about hierarchy of the local and strong. one has to do with the corruption of money and footballers the other with a “protecting our own” mentality. but i suppose, you steal a car youre a thief you steal millions youre a high profille businessman. the people who own clubs aint virgin marys and the people who benefit from the football industry will secure their interests. i dotn care if le tissier bets on throw ins and captains agree on corners and such what i care about is this joke about united being the team that the english football industry promotes as its flagship and as such must be seen winning. whatever thorn grows to prick united,the media the refs and the fa will show up to protect them, and damage the other.
in contrast to arsenal where they spray viagra on the pricks so that they grow more and make life even more difficult for wenger…cause he is french with a funny accent and fields diving cheating foreigners who are soft pansies that dont like it up em in this physical contact sport on a cold night up north…
look what they did to benitez..then suarez…city seems well protected so far..the arabs obviously flashed them 500 eurobills with a “dont f*Ck with us” sign on them…
can you imagine the backlash if any arsenal captain under wenger on camera calling another player a bfn ? ha….. they would kick us out the league….25 points deduction and 7 games closed gates and make us pay 50% of uefa;s world wide anti-racism campaign.
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Els – Isaac Hayden is another very good call. Arse or Brain also listed a number of other tremendous prospects, earlier.
The thing I find with pretty much all the Arsenal youngsters is their exceptional speed, fitness and ball-playing skills; one could be forgiven for thinking that having got to this level they might all go on to ‘make it’ at the senior level. That comparatively few do (at least for Arsenal) tells its own story about what it must take to make that next step; it goes very much to the heart of why I lose it with supposed fans turning on players for a dip in form or a struggled return from injury.
This anti-player attitude possessed by some reveals to me so much about the perpetrators’ ignorance of the game and those who play it. I’m no expert but I can recognise excellence, endeavour and heart when I see it.
Why can’t they?
Els – you’re never alone on Positively Arsenal.
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I have a confession, I always watch the jumbotrons/screens at a football stadium. I like to see other perspectives on the game. Usually because I haven’t a clue what has happened!
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Hunter – You are a one-man wrecking ball 🙂 But in essence you are correct. The scales are massively tilted in United’s favor. But no use crying about it. Wenger has a plan. We are gonna get em, sooner or later.
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Hunter,
I think that having home grown players in the squad has always been part of the vision for the club. We can thank the Anelka family for funding the academy which produced LJW (Gibbs? etc. )and those who will follow. Don’t have the quotes & I don’t mean to disagree with what you are saying.
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oh i dont disgaree finsbury it might well have been the plan all along but considering the cost of english players wenger had to find them young yet he was getting targeted for “destroying” the soul of the english game whereas maybe he was just preparing. however in the back of my head, i cant shake the idea that with brittish players we will get more favours than fielding just foreigners. maybe in the future the axis of sky/fa views arsenal as the vessel to promote their league due to the inclusion of englands brightest perhaps generation…..
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