But in today’s post, Blackburn George asks – exactly who are the real losers here?
I can’t think how yesterday’s result could have been worse.
We lost a game we dominated from start to finish. Blackburn’s solitary effort on goal was struck so badly that it looped into the net via the post. It was a nightmare. But Arsenal undeniably performed below par. Some players were understandably off the pace following extended layoffs and/or lack of playing opportunities. Others just did not seem to have the urgency required to put a poor Blackburn team to the sword.
On the other hand, no player in particular had a stinker.
We were not crap, or even very bad.
Arsene picked a team that should have been more than good enough to win. He later strengthened it further with the introduction of Santi, Jack and Theo. Thomas Rosicky – who was head and shoulders the best player on the pitch – was withdrawn, together with The Ox and Gervinho. I think most would have made the same changes given that Thomas was unlikely to last ninety minutes.
It took a huge slice of good fortune on their part to score and more luck – this time of the bad variety – combined with some poor finishing, for us not to score. Arsene must be livid and desperately disappointed in a team that should have gotten the business done. On any other day it would have. In the words of Lucas Podolski:
“Shit happens”
Onwards and upwards is now our only option.
Twitter, following the game was absolute carnage. A performance of over-reaction and judgmental cowardice that frankly beggared belief.
Forgotten was the West Ham display.
Forgotten was the comeback against Liverpool.
Forgotten was the brilliance – and courage – shown against Sunderland.
The team and manager were disparaged and rubbished in the rudest of terms. It was, by any standards, disgraceful. In response to some of it I tweeted the following:
“If you can’t get behind the team in the worst of circumstances, you are nothing but a fair-weather glory-hunting twat.”
I thought it then and I still do. I am not suggesting we could – or should – not have done better as a unit. But were we bad enough to justify what followed as supposedly ‘loyal’ supporters turned on their team like a pack of deranged halfwits? No, we were not. Not by a long way. True, it is the second time in the season that lightning has struck in the cup, and that undeniably makes it harder to swallow.
But swallow it we must.
Nothing I saw yesterday has changed my opinion that given a settled Summer and the addition of one or two players, this squad will be good enough to compete both domestically and in Europe. The future is bright, despite what the ill-informed may say. For me, Tuesday simply can not come quickly enough.
I am confident we will see the real Arsenal very soon.
Hopefully we’ll see the real fans, too.
Positively Arsenal 
Good post George – your tweet nailed it for me though I’m not confident all your followers would have understood it’s subtle nuancy.
But in sport – as, indeed in life – it’s not how you react to the good things that happen that matter.
It’s how you cope with the set-backs and disappointment.
For some of us this is all too obviously a self-evident truth.
Your reaction to adversity goes to the heart of what makes you the person you are. Those who fold will, spiritually at least, simply fall by the wayside. Those who survive – and even thrive – in adversity often find themselves leading the undecided and occasionally rescuing the fallen.
I’m not a religious person but I often admire the strength of faith in those who are. The weaknesses evident in those who use Twitter and other forums to express their panic and inherent instability as individuals, have simply found a medium through which their collective hysteria, their gloom and their relentless pessimism, can find expression.
The changing nature of the comments section of a certain otherwise excellent blog has come about largely as the leadership shown by so many in standing firmly behind the club was eschewed in favour of wider ‘debate’ . But it’s a debate which is often as negatively critical following a splendid win as it is a loss or a draw. It’s a debate doomed to perpetually repeat itself as the critical mindset – as opposed to the supportive one – will always find something to criticize.
I too am looking forward to Tuesday – not least because I’ll be one of the lucky ones fortunate enough to be in the stadium, excited to be getting right behind the team.
Sadly, these days, I often wonder who else will be turning up …
Having said that, when we played Barcelona at the Emirates, the atmosphere that night was as good as any I’ve ever encountered for any sporting event. So we definitely have it in us – here’s hoping.
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“For me, Tuesday simply can not come quickly enough.”
That.
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Finally a breath of fresh air!!! I now know that I am not one of those “glory hunting twats” and I still believe arsene is the right man for the job 🙂
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Nice post George. Glory hunting twats indeed. Off course the knives came out in the media even before the final whistle blew, and I assume they are still stabbing away like crazy. Roll on Tuesday.
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A game like yesterday’s certainly leaves your head scratching. Losing like that while controlling much of the game. Rosicky’s shot hitting the bar and going out, Blackburn’s hits the bar and goes in. We were wasteful in front of goal though, Gerv really needs to pick up. Must be hard on the players too. But I can’t really blame the team.
As said above, Tuesday can not come quickly enough.
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Wonderful post.I agree people on Twitter go overboard.I was there yesterday and yes It was very disappointing,but luck was also against us.We hit the bar and their only half hit shot goes in.I think we should have started with a stronger team as realistically the FA Cup was a an easier target than the Champions League.
Gerry
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Excellent post, George. Well done for standing up for us (Arsenal) on Twitter. It was always going to be a game in which we had to score the first goal, unfortunately we didn’t – we came close but the damn thing wouldn’t go into the net. We were good enough to win, it’s just that we didn’t. It happens.
I also agree with ArsenalAndrew – great comment. We need stability and the chance to build for once, not turmoil and the challenge of rebuilding, and that should be the case this summer.
There will always be games like that, when it’s not quite happening for us and who knows what might have happened yesterday if we’d been able to bring on a matchwinner, a goal-out-of-nothing player, the kind which the recent defection of crucial players has deprived us of. Such players don’t grow on trees, sadly. Podolski is the nearest we have at the moment, Walcott and Wilshere have that potential. I suspect that’s why AW was trying so hard to get David Villa for the run-in. Our squad is top quality, committed and tough, we have good balance and more variety than we have had for years. You could say we have the cake and even the icing, but not the cherry on top. But you never know in football – yesterday could have turned out to be one of those days, regardless. Anyway, yesterday is gone. Onwards and upwards. Bring on Bayern.
@ Sahil
I wish I could get into the players’ heads, wave a magic wand and stop them thinking about the fans’ expectations, the doubting of their ability, the “trophy drought”. I would stop them internalising all that stuff, and just play for each other. I think that plays a part in the anxiety which inhibits them in front of goal sometimes.
@ Merlot, if you’re reading, thanks for the words of comfort yesterday. There is a black cloud of misery hanging over me this morning, but my brain agrees with you, although my emotions haven’t caught up yet. Yesterday was agony, but we are lucky enough to support a club which gives us many more good times than bad.
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Excellent Excellent article…..I agree with 100% of the content and I really wish the haters would do one and go and follow a team they feel deserves their “support”
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A match like that reminds me of how I felt as a kid when my Dad bought me an ice cream. So excited, looking forward to a rare treat and a change from the bread and lard, and I dropped it on the pavement.
I just stared at the slowly melting, dirty remains of my anticipation and hope as yesterdays result oozed across the tarmac.
Like the fallen ice cream we can’t do anything about it.
There wasn’t anything more the lads could have done in my opinion. Blackburn parked the bus and relied on a fluke goal which by the most miraculous set of circumstances they got. We battered them, hit the target many times and somehow the ball contrived not to go in.
Shit happens; move on and show your character by not lashing out is what I’ve been saying to myself.
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@ steww
great analogy in the ice cream anecdote. Made me smile.
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Glad to be able to raise a smile on a morning like this FG.
Thanks for the post George, not many would feel like even trying to write one after the disappointment of a cup exit.
We are by my count down to two targets now. Top four finish and the Champions League. One will come through consistent hard work, the other is a cup competition and as last season showed (as did yesterday) cup ties can be won by anybody.
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I had the pleasure this morning of not reading the Sports section and I will shortly be utilising it to lay the fire.
In a few seconds and within a crackle of dry wood yesterday’s disappointment with be no more than minuscule particles of ash
And the Bayern game is the focus of my attention and my support
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Very good football team Bayern
We start as underdogs but as many clubs have discovered we have a sharp bite
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Bloody marvellous George. And Andrew as well. And Fungunner.
The ridiculous reaction to yesterday’s result should come as no surprise now, yet somehow never fails to shock and disappoint me. I’ve vowed not to bother returning to a certain other blog (not that they’ll notice I’m gone like), even though I respect the author, because I no longer feel it’s “home”, it has become a place of, as Andrew eloquently nails it “a debate which perpetually repeats itself”. I used to visit there for the like minds, if I was feeling despondent after a bad result or something, I knew there would be that defiant support there that gives you collective comfort, helps you see the woods for the trees. It’s now an endless drip drip of negativity which is ultimately self-defeating and seems the opposite of what I seem to recall supporting a football team was all about. It’s a crying shame it has come to this.
I’m looking forward to Tuesday. And yes, it can’t come soon enough.
COYR.
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it was a bad result but i cant say we played bad.
as for the fans ..lol what can i say, apparently debating ( sponsoring) for change is viewed as a healthier stance than supporting your team..the fans lost the plot ages ago george. when 40 and 50 something fans of arsenal ( who have seen a good 3 decades of the club) advocate the removal of THIS manager, one can only wonder about their football and arsenal culture…tim tried to call us “cult-ists” ..whereas it is the culture of gloryseekers polluting the club
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Good post George and some excellent comments.
Have you heard the latest coming from the idiots in our ‘support’? They want an “Wenger Out” chant on 8 minutes to signify 8 trophy-less years.
They all laughed at BR supporters when they were doing it to Kean. Morons the lot of them
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dups im pissed off…just went through other blogs ..people calling arsenal a mess that needs to be fixed …fuckin bastards the lot of them…a club that is still in transition and still not the finished article presented as a lacking finsihed article that needs to be changed….cunts……sorry to say but arsenal fans make me sick, bunch of idiots with no appreciation for what we do.
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Just got back from the game.
Wow, I really must learn to read Lady Neena’s farts better. Turns out she was trying to warn me. Obviously a really disappointing result, especially as we deserved to win by at least three or four goals.
I agree with the ‘shit happens’ view.
However….. I am getting very concerned about our players ability to play in our own stadium. I hate Robbie Savage but he made a comment many months ago which rings true. He reckoned that when he played for Derby he and the rest of the team became terrified of the home crowd reaction. It got to the point that he would dread home games for days in advance and just froze at times during a game. Home advantage for those games was lost.
The atmosphere in the stadium yesterday was frigid. Many people around me were bitching right from the start. My day started brilliantly and as with little boy Steww’s ice cream I had been really looking forward to the game for several days. But as soon as the whistle went to start the game the whining started. Oxo took a real battering from many fans in the West Upper…..for the entire game.
I won’t pretend that we were at our best and on another day we would have been four or five nil up at half time against such poor opposition. But the derision which started to build from half time in the stands was abominable. The intense booing at the end when our players walked off the pitch was just plain heart breaking. This was not just booing a poor result. This was plain unadulterated hatred. Hatred of Arsenal players. I have never witnessed that before.I am going to think about it for a few days because something terrible has happened at our club. More terrible than a few results not going our way.
I really hope that the players can shut the crowd out on Tuesday.
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I have written to the club to see if I can get our seats changed. If not this season then next. Because at the moment we are surrounded by complete and utter arseholes and it just spoils the game. I love going to watch the Arsenal win lose or draw but these people are just fucking horrible human beings. I wouldnt mind betting that the players feel the same way….and I don’t think that it will change with a change of manager. It really won’t. These people are just dyed in the wool, small minded, mean spirited cunts, and some silly fucker opened the gates and let them in..
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Very true Frank. Funnily enough I also remember those words of Savage (probably the first and last time he’ll say anything of insight, even a stopped clock tells the right time..) and feeling they were pertinent to Arsenal. I dunno..
Media/blogsphere lockdown until Tuesday for me (apart from this good place of course!).
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Tomas Ricky looked excellent in flashes yesterday. But most people in West Upper think he is over the hill and injury prone and say so very loudly. Oxo was at times brilliant and at times naive, as you would expect from a youngster. He is going to be great, Given the chance. Though most people in West Upper think he is useless and say so. Abou looks like he is getting back to form which for me is great. Aboouuuuu. Although most people in West Upper think he is useless and never miss an opportunity to say so….you get the drift.
My take on the game is that our performance lacked the edge required to finish off BR….and I think it had as much to do with playing Bayern Munich on Tuesday as anything else. Players were keeping a lot in reserve.
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@ Frank and dups
Heartbreaking and infuriating. That sort of behaviour is utterly counter-productive but some people just can’t seem to see that.
Enjoying the Lady Neena and Peter updates, Frank.
Right. Dragging myself out of the house now. The sun is shining and I’m going for a walk. See some of you on Tuesday, I have to work so can’t be at the game. Up the Arsenal!
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Goog post george ..Tough result classic sit back in your own 3rd with two banks of four, on another day we woulda had 3 or 4, football being what it is the team that does that will always get a chance to score. On the up tho bayern will think they can just roll us over which is just what we want, they’ll leave holes the way that teams that shit it against us won’t and we’ll expose them with the pace and cutting edge only arsenal can KAMAAANN!!!!!! Aliens arena!!
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I have been on self-enforced lock down since yesterday’s game. Apart from seeing George raise hell on Twitter this is my first return to to the interweb thingy. PA has not dissappointed me. What a flukey, horrible way to lose a game. But that is football. Our team was not as penetrative as I would have liked but given the required changes they dominated the bus parkers of Blackburn and deserved a goal. To have our fans boo and denigrate their own team despite the flukey goal (I know it is about a lot more) is no longer a surprise. That is why we have Positive Arsenal. Upwards and onwards!
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I really like this squad and I have never known an Arsenal squad more in need of support from its fans. If you know other Arsenal supporters, please implore them to get behind the team.
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I just went over to the ‘other blog’ that we all used to be at. It’s full of the usual doomers (Suga 3, don, JJ, etc, etc). I feel sorry for the host, but he has totally lost control. Le Grove II.
Breath of fresh air over here. A team with no less than 6 players lacking match practice came within a whisker of ousting the Rovers – a team which, as AW pointed out before the match, is full of PL players. Sure we should have won, but we didn’t. Roll on Tuesday! #COYG
I had to listen on the radio. From that perspective, Le Coq played well – getting the ball forward a lot – from his unfamiliar position. Rosicky and Diaby improved as the game went on. The front 3 didn’t gel and Giroud was scarcely visible all game, but especially in the 1st half. If I hadn’t read the team sheet I wouldn’t have known he was on the field at all.
PS: Several people have said they ‘parked a bus’. I thought they ‘parked a Bentley’ 😉
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RK
Their Bentley is as maneuverable as a bus
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Well said George!
I am not even trippin over this. That was flukey beyond belief. This is not the first time a team has camped in front of goal and got a win like this. It happens.
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It is understandable that the team lacked a bit of fluidity but we still played some sweet stuff, which is what I focus on because it bodes well for the future. While I hope Arsenal win the CL and believe we can, for me, this is a building season.
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Twitter can be fun for a twat like me.
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It quite tranquil here.
Almost as if people can survive a reverse without throwing a Paddy
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red kangaroo…….why do you bother ? lol…those people there i wonder if they;ve ever kicked a football in their lives .yet they feel entitlement to talk about the management of arsenal fc. ignorant cunts the lot of them.
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so tell phil to return his fucking dvd player ( ticket) and get his money back……..
and tell the jon jon doll that football is unpredictable as a sport and what happens in one game is not a rule for the next one..
they dont even know th ebasics…. but press “enter” – entitled to an opinion….
blx.
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and what odes my head in is how idiots present the the whole “4th will do” as something to complain about. instead of realising that its a miracle we are in top4 all these years they see it as a drop of standards. well didnt they expect this drop of standards when we moved grounds?
they come out saying that it promotes a culture of adequacy…..these people are fucking idiots….this club has invested 450 million and wants to do it on its own….they also forget that arsenal can not compete with oil money …arsenal is doing just enough to get to 4th spot till they recover from their stadium debt. why is that viewed as something bad?
very angry.
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Well done George, you seemed to be enjoying yourself on twitter last night,it can be a horrible place after a result like yesterday’s, not a bad time for me to be out of the country, I bet the media are like dogs with two dicks at the moment, I expect it from them but the so-called fans pffffft…, I saw one idiot bringing up arsene’s alleged affair to make a point about loyalty and guess what? he’s got gooner at the front of his twitter name,I think imposter would be more appropriate, fuck em! roll on Tuesday COYG!
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@ FunGunner (yesterday)
“My short response is that footie fandom is like music fandom. Here we want to listen to jazz. George is entitled to set up a club devoted to jazz and not to play r’n’b or country music. A bit of jazz-funk or fusion might sneak in, but no-one has a right to insist on playing r’n’b or country or anything else in the club. If that is their music of choice, there are plenty of other clubs to cater for them.”
Keep playing that jazz, George, keep playing.
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Frank’s comments are the most upsetting I’ve read. The thought that those fickle fools will turn against their own team when they most need lifting.
Imagine if you were a player and they cheered you off the pitch after a defeat like the one they suffered yesterday. You’d go through hell for those fans. But to try so hard and be so unlucky and get booed for your troubles… Jeez.
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Tell you what though. Everyone stand up and give George a big hand for setting this place up. What a joy to have somewhere safe to go after a defeat. You lot are feeling every bit as bad as the whining bitches and the booing embarrassments and yet you keep your heads up, maintain your dignity and do not waver in your support.
Proud to know every one of you.
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Yup round of applause for the Meerkat, and everyone who has assisted him in getting this up and running. It’s a new safe haven for me. Mind you start playing jazz-funk I might have to change my mind..
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It seems the manager is to blame for everything .At least that gets Ramsey off the hook .
It must be true ,because Arseblog says so,That is a good as it being written in stone as far as the mental pigmies go.
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Frank, you should bring a banner to the games that says: “Get Behind The Team Or Shut Up”. Come to think of it, there should be at least one of these banners in every corner of the stadium. The only way to quiet these turgid bastards is by showing them they’re outnumbered.
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Hear, hear, Steww. Kung Fu George is the man for starting this blog.
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“Ninja George” if you please
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French popular music of the early 60s for me please. I can hear Serge singing every time I visit PA.
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here you go…cut the ad
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..and if it has a reference to BB all the better
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And just to prove that I am not unreconstructed..
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Between George’s excellent post and Steww’s fine comment (3:05) you have summed up my feelings. We’re in fine shape to progress and it’s great to read things other than the insanity of Twitter.
Regrettably, I went to bat for the reason yesterday. I engaged the simpletons and it wasn’t pretty. Lesson learnt. I’m done with that crap.
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leave it to folk like me Brady who dont mind being disliked
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Being disliked by people who call Arsène a c*nt is fine by me. I just think that for my own happiness, I need to just enjoy the game and let the twats be twats. They’re unworthy of my effort, frankly.
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