I was going to do one of those clever invite the opposition blogs. You know, chat to my Sunderland supporting mate about how he sees Arsenal, what his own side’s strengths and weaknesses are and generally give the P.A. readership, erudite and urbane as you all are, the chance to see the world through their eyes.
Problem is he’s a bit blinkered with hatred for us (doubtlessly born out of jealousy) and tends to answer even the most ambiguous questions with a long drawn out “Aye”. Only the subtlest alteration in stress or inflection gives you a clue to his thinking. Wouldn’t have read well so I scrapped that idea.
Unperturbed and determined to pursue some semblance of the plan I searched for a few Sunderland blogs online so I could quote extensively from the comments they attracted. Unfortunately the first one I came to had me screaming at the monitor after they talked about Per’s injury which lead to their goal the last time we played up there. They seemed to suggest he was somehow inept or bumbling not to have stopped whichever clodhopping Sunderland player it was that lurched passed him as he lay injured on the floor. I fought down the bile and ploughed on. The next site I came to had robbed my idea. Well, ok it’s a pretty well worn and old idea but I had thought of using it so that much was down to me. This Black Cats blog had interviewed a man who shall remain nameless but writes for a leading allegedly Arsenal supporting blog. He used the platform of today’s opponents supporters blog to display disloyalty, dishonesty, dishonour and generally bleat in the most abject way about how miserable he was that we lost to Birmingham in the widdley diddley cup final and how it wasn’t fair that nasty old Arsene wouldn’t change his ways having singularly failed to replace any of the hundred stars he’s sold in the last two weeks. You catch my drift. I was angrier than ever by now so shut down my search and just started to think about Arsenal versus Sunderland without any outside help thank you very much.
Sunderland to me is two memories. The first shared by many of my generation features a trilby hatted man with a flapping mac and red tights who looked like a nineteen fifties car mechanic and part time Butlins Redcoat in his best clothes on a day out, doing a funny hop skip and bouncy jump across the hallowed turf of Wembley. Bob Stokoe had just witnessed his fabulously coiffured and bewhiskered Sunderland team hand out an unlikely FA cup final defeat to an infamous Leeds United team who were in their pomp back in 1973. The nation cheered as the red and white striped journeymen who had come down to London as little more than sacrificial lambs bullied Leeds (not many did that) and kept them at bay, thanks in no small part to some truly incredible goal keeping from Jim Montgomery. The double save from Trevor Cherry’s header and Lorimer’s follow up shot was so ridiculously good that even as I watch the youtube video now, knowing what will happen, I’m still convinced it goes in. Brian Moore commentating for ITV at the time was equally bewildered, shouting “And a goal … NO.. my goodness I thought Lorimer had got that one”. I’ll draw a veil over the fact that Sunderland knocked us out of the FA Cup in the semis to deny us our rightful chance of revenge against a hated Leeds side who had somehow beaten us in the previous year’s final. It’s a measure of how much Leeds were despised in the early seventies that despite the indignity of being dumped out of the cup by second division opposition I still wanted them to go on and win the cup.
My other memory when I think of Sunderland, shared only by me and my immediate family, is being driven around Roker Park about a dozen times on our way to a bizarre holiday destination somewhere on the North East coast. Mum was wrestling with a Bartholomew’s road atlas and Dad was becoming increasingly exasperated as no matter how many different escape routes she plotted for us the magnetic force of Roker Park pulled us back into it’s orbit. 
Of course Sunderland left their historic home back in 1997 exactly a hundred years after building it on what was originally farm land. Like Arsenal they built and moved into a new shiny stadium and despite the financial implications and inevitable stresses of a stadium move they stuck with the same manager and continued to play in an attractive, exciting style and remained firmly among the elite of European football, their beautiful pitch with it’s flawless playing surface being the envy of other less fortunate clubs.
Oh wait.
Sunderland like many others who’ve built new stadia have struggled to find consistent success. Or even consistent top flight status. In fact the last time they achieved consistent success was between 1891 and 1895 when they won the league three times in four seasons. That 1973 triumph against Leeds was their last ever trophy.
Strangely though, as I was trawling the blogosphere to find Sunderland quotes for my abortive article and whenever I speak to my Sunderland supporting friend the mood was and is always positive. The passion and support and self belief are everywhere self evident. One blog had at least five of the current Sunderland first team better than their opposite numbers in our team. And it’s been forty years without a trophy. Seventy seven years since they won the league. Something to ponder the next time you have to read or listen to some whining anti Arsenal ‘fan’ bitching because Sky told him to about seven years, and trophy droughts.
Modern day Sunderland as far as we’re concerned means packed defences and a lack of ambition at our place and a deliberately ploughed pitch with knee high grass at their place. I feel embarrassed for those passionate loyal supporters having to stand up and shout for a side that showed such a craven lack of self belief and desire at the Emirates or for a club that along with Milan should hang their heads for deliberately creating an unplayable surface just to stop their visitors producing decent football. Having said that their fans have been known to stand and applaud some of our players on occasions so hats off to them for that. O’Neill as a manager has always been an annoying waspish presence on the touchline but he knows how to organise his teams and does have some good players. It’ll be vital Theo has a good game to keep their speedy left back penned in his own half, but if we show the same patience we employed against the Orcs and the bravura with which West Ham and Liverpool were put to the sword we have enough to beat them.
Of course as Per can testify, sometimes a deep hoof print in the wrong place at the wrong time can make a mockery of even the best laid plans.
Positively Arsenal 
can bould learn from arsene the way pep learned from luis? or when his time come he fucks it all up so that he gets back in good terms with the clique of the establishment….?
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great win!
Even down a man we should have added another 2 goals.
Sagna was a beast!
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Oh and one more thing, yes we all saw OG miss a couple of very good chances but how about a word for his remarkable performance in defence for the last hectic part of that game. His heading from our area was wonderful.
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“Thank fuck for Positively Arsenal.”
Indeed steww, even had the worst happened, I still could have come on here for solace!
I think some people just have unrealistic expectations of 5 nil thrashings every week. Sometimes the shot of confidence from a hard fought back-to-the wall performance like today’s is worth so much more. The negativity around the team has been sapping their confidence and today will show them that fighting together they can achieve great things
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Finally recovered from my heart-attack enough to peruse the blogosphere. Great heart, great win today. If you can’t support this team now, I don’t know why you even bother to watch. @hunter13 “Ramsey = Swiss Army knife” – brilliant! I’m going to start using that. Whatever has to be done, that boy does it. He would do anything for this team. So proud of him.
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Hunter, I think Bould is on board with the philosophy since he has been following it for years with the under 18’s and spoke many times about how the manager wants the same philosophy and style of play at every level of the club. I think that is why he got the job of Arsene’s assistant.
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Will someone go on ACLF and tell them I said they can fuck right off.
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I’d like to know what the spend now, spend big brigade thinks of the Manchester City experiment thus far. I hope they realize that even a squad which costs upwards of half a billion pounds doesn’t guarantee titles. Hell, Roman spent twice that during Chelsea’s illustrious ten year history and now they are fighting for fourth place with the French miser.
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George.
Best left alone. No point in sounding like the jilted lover endlessly moaning about his ex. We got a great thing going here, so fuck anyone who doesn’t want to join us, leave them to wallow..
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Shotta, those were my balls on twitter. I wish.
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Clowns out tonight with their “Santos not fit to wear the shirt” shite
Even read one blaming Arsene and the board for Citeh losing at St Mary’s
I expect they are a bit fucked up by the 3 points
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The Liverpool game seemed to really get to the team as far as the goals we conceded. You can see that the team is much more focused when defending. The irony is that the team cannot score nor defend but we sit 3rd in the PL in both. And, that is with a team filled with new players.
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I predict that no matter where we finish this year,we will be top two next year.
Not convinced we will be allowed to win it ,but we could.
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things are def coming together as a team, there are some individual mistakes but as a team were improving every week, just hope injuries dont hit us to hard as rotation will undoubtably be needed in the three comps and the less “glamourous” players will become more important hopefully they will be supported and not barracked
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Gareth Barry is deadly in front of goal.
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HahahahAhaaaa Oh to be Gunner..
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Passenal February 9, 2013 at 7:40 pm
thast good to know. keep learning steve!
george..we have consistently been champion’s material..at least in wengers years..just some idiots opened the door and invited the russian and arab circuces but their phase will fade out…and who will be there to take advantage? jack theo and aaron or the tower of babel rafael kagawa littlepea and degea without the gum chewing cretin bullying refs? i say the former!
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I agree with George.
Maaaaan, I cannot wait for us to play Bayern, Arsenal are going to shock the world.
Yes Evil, that was very composed goal from Barry.
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whoever can not see the potential of this team is blind and stupid. i only hope that this time around, when the shawcrosses and the taylors come to abrupt our game, that our players are treated alot better than how dowd dean and webb treated cesc diabby clichy eduardo and that our fans support them a lot more than denilson eboue santos etc
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George – I agree with steww at 7:46 pm. You have created something great. Don’t score an “own-goal” with an angry wild swing. As Mel keeps reminding us, Positively Arsenal is undefeated.
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Whatever has to be done, that boy does it. He would do anything for this team. So proud of him.
sure thing alabama.. this boy had his foot broken while playing for us….it was broken by a thug and some of our fans have been abusing this boy… hehe as g69 said, humble pies arent enough….rather them steaming bowls of shit covered with that flavoured vomit de la creme sauce …
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Yeah Shotta,you are both right.Let the feckers wallow.
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zimpaul or anyone with equal writting skills please be so kind to use my posts of 7.09 and 7.30 ..im sure youll catch the meaning of them ( one style philosophy- academies-generations – clicking – comparisons with us and ajax/barca/baeyrn) plus youre much better in making a blog entry than i ever would and i believe its relative to our cause as a club and as supporters to remember and prioritise before accusing and abusing people.
i will buy you one of the manager’s coat whoever does it..im ordering mine on omnday..colour:black
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For the record, before the village idiots misrepresent the boss. On Jack being kicked, he said:
I just want the referee to give a foul when it’s a foul. I don’t want any special protection. The referee is not a bodyguard. We just want him to give a foul when it’s a foul.
On the potential of this team AW said:
Today we lacked efficiency in our finishing and we didn’t finish what we created. We create and that’s positive. Sometimes it’s like that. If you look at our games, we score five, seven, and suddenly sometimes we don’t score. The team is still learning and developing and needs to be a bit more efficient.
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hunter13 – Your enthusiasm for Arsenal FC is so infectious. Thank heavens you have been liberated by George. Why should you be binned for sometimes being OTT. We need more people like you, not less.
Now if I could truly wear the manager’s coat in the Caribbean I might take you on.
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1-0 to the Arsenal!
I unfollowed 4 people on Twitter before the match. They all said Sagna was going to cost us the game. BEFORE THE MATCH! Some seriously pathetic fans we’ve got at the Arsenal. Rather be right than support.
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shotta i have put my life on hold till this club ( and by club i mean manager players stuff, loyal fans) gets what it deserves, EVERYTHING. and send a huge FUCK YOU sign to everyone who doubted us, kicked us, mocked us, lost faith in us.
the healthy football minds of the world are all with arsenal!
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George is right,this is gonna be some team next season-how these numnuts on other blogs and twitter are still volleying our team escapes me, they can’t enjoy life let alone football or an arsenal win with 10 men,a dodgy ref, a right back at centre half and an o’neill team ordered to kick lumps, well i’m gonna have a beer with a big smile on my face,and treat them with the contempt they deserve. Fuck em.
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Well done bradyesque. Nothing like a good unfollow session. Separates the wheat from the chaff.
Get people tweeting as soon as the team sheet is approved – “HOW COULD YOU NOT PLAY PODOLSKI WENGER ? WHY YOU NOT CONSULT ME FIRST ? I DON’T APPROVE”.
It’s absolutely incredible.
The you get the people mid game given you a heart attack when someone loses the ball in midfield, and this player or that is the female genitalia.
Then it we go 1-0 down it’s a hysterical meltdown, with people preparing a firing squad at dawn for Wenger and several players.
Fuck it.. hit the unfollow button. Or better still, block.
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and yes shotta george is a fucking legend cause now we can all have a meeting point instead of getting banned form arsenal blogs which are meant to drive up support !very comical indeed
we will all grow stronger together..players and fans but we got to start from somewhere right…we cant be liek them 4 bradyesue7 just described
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bradyesqque7 ive never unfollowed anyone so i know just how many unsupporters there are and exactly what rubbish their spouting also its worth retweeting them after the game, i also follow loads of people who i admire and listen to what they say and i dont think they follow me…… basteedo!
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That’s it Muppet. It’s shocking. When did we become so knowledgeable and demanding? I wonder about that a lot. I’d love to hear people’s theories.
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What’s you Twitter handle Arse or Brain?
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a firing squad at dawn for Wenger and several players.
hahaha you mean the kids with them water – pistols ?
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seebs@arse_or_brain
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muppet weve got our place on here to love ARSENAL without feeling guilty or being attacked for it but on other forums we need to carry the fight and ridicule the uneducated thats why i never unfollow although many aaa unfollow me very quickly !
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Yeah, George, let sleeping dogs lie. I would hate it if certain elements found out about this blog and started to make comments comparing Arsenal to teams that play American Carry Ball, baseball or any number of daft sports which have fuck all to do with football.
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g69 what a great comment and so elequent
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arse_or_brain/bradyesque7,
Yeah – sign of the times. People making judgements about players based on one bad pass or shot etc…Think it’s become some kind of sport in itself. Obsessing about player’s performances, to me, is about worthwhile as banging one’s head against a wall.
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Since we started eating caviar and not sausages hunter13..
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Cool, found you, arse or brain.
Agreed Muppet. And the judgements happen so quickly. Last week there were people talking about Nacho being better than Gibbs. I doubt it but he could be. I certainly won’t be calling it after seeing two games.
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no dont get me wrong kitchen sink sausages do fill up your belly no doubt…but its different when you can fill up your belly with lobsters and fillets and mnahm mnahm mnahm …. champagne instead of cheap beer ….so the chef is important….and we dont want some twat chef who will complain about eggs and omelletes all the time ..we need a chef who knows the good fisherman and knows the good wine producer and knows the good grocerer and combines them all as a master facilitator and prepares good food for all the customers not just one day but everyday of the year of operation. neither do we want some tw@t some gordon ramsey screaming at everyone like a fascist dictator, we want to bring the best flavour out of the materials we use, chemistry is important.
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I agree hunter we’ve got just the right components which make for good eatin’..
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b7 cheers,
i know this really nice bloke who once told me he hates gibbs with a passion, after showing genuine suprise i asked him why and he said because he slipped over and gifted utd a goal in cl ,i wanted to say what you dumbfuckpig but managed to gather myself and tried to deliver a logical argument .the point is even the nice guys are sometimes brainwashed by the media and forget why they supported the team in the first place,these people need bringing back to the light side no matter how mad they are. the next type of supporter i feel sorry for are the young lads who spend their money and follow ARSENAL but have been brought up and taught to hate their own team and players rather than learn to enjoy the ride good or bad. the idiot who takes the banner to games and then was suprised to get a punch in the face for his trouble probably thought the banner was a natural progression(after all he seen it on the tv at clubs like blackburn) he went thinking he would be hailed a hero and has twice now come home with a bloody nose how confused he must be!
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oh by the way i not suggesting we should do our missionary work on here i like it just the way it is
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Nice to meet you, Kitchen Sink, you sound like our kind of fan.
Couldn’t see the game but will catch it later. Interesting reading all the comments on here at PA and comparing the tone with comments made elsewhere.
Apparently Lord O’s errors today were worthy of punishment by water boarding.
Personally I find that pretty offensive on so many levels. In general, you’d never believe we actually came away with three points. The feeble nature of some of those supporters at anything less than a 5-0 lead is really quite disappointing. I guess the phrase I’m looking for is “fair weather fans”.
Thank heavens for this place and all its superb contributors; a pleasure to read from start to finish, all day and every day.
*****
Looks like a few managerial changes imminent – awful ‘effort’ from the defending champions, anonymous Nasri, (how much did we get for him? Really should be a law against naughty Arsene taking advantage like that) the rest of them looking like what they are, a collection of over-paid individuals. No ‘i’ in team, and precious little ‘team’ in the blue half of Manchester; farewell Mancini. Maybe they are all missing the idiot Italian?
Rafa’s saved his bacon for another game or two? But what will Spurs be after Bale bales out in the summer?
Top two for our lot next year. Maybe higher, we’ll see.
I love our chances – don’t fancy theirs that much.
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A or B (10.12 pm) – Excellent!
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You’re a very reasonable and understanding guy, Arse or Brain. You’re right and I will try to remember that when faced with these people.
After all, a united support is what would benefit the club most.
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and the right chef 😉
apparently from what i read elsewhere kons passed fitness test but was injured in warm up…sagna as cb was last minute…not planned. and just how cool was he?
really if we put the four early goals of the two big games to one side ( imo all 4 of them came from instances where play was influenced by the wrong call of a ref) and look at:
– team’s reaction when down, = character (?)
– the fact we have dominated every gameand creting chances except in occasions down to 10 and even as that we showed we could get something from game
– the handling of it all with cazorla somewhat overused in previous, arteta back from injury, diabby same, jack finding his feet still from long term injury, ramsey trying to recover confidence through performances, new left back, plus internationals friendlies during the week
id say the vengah has done very well in rotation/formation/team re-callibration/and other general -ations associated with managing football teams.
today we got clean sheet with a cocky arrogant teenager at goal, a slow immobile girly giant, three fullbacks, one of them sent off , one of them new signing and then a midfielder who cant play on the right wing apparently ….haha the haters will have to hide for a while …
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arse_or_brain February 9, 2013 at 10:12 pm
whoever gave that punch is a hero ..should get a statue outside the block he did it in.
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