Fulham. West London, down at the end of the Kings Road and near the river. There you go, ‘O’ level geography put to excellent use at long long last. I’ve never been inside Craven Cottage but I did walk past it once when lost and looking for the five million (one million if you believed the police) others who had invaded the capital for a CND march. Must’ve been 1983 and thank goodness I went as without my encouragement and support for unilateralism I doubt Gorbachev would have had the courage to eventually dismantle the Soviet Union.
I have heard it’s a nice ground, in fact a friend of mine prefers it to all others and he’s visited many of the professional stadia in this country so perhaps he’s on to something. As far as I’m concerned Fulham brings back memories of an unlikely cup run in the mid seventies. I was a teenager in that benighted decade and the FA Cup final was a firm fixture on everybody’s calendar. You watched it on the BBC, you flicked over to see if it looked any different on ‘the other side’, and you ran out onto the street at half time, case ball under your arm, to re enact the first half and again after the final whistle to relive the match with your mates. Ah the innocence of lost youth.
The seventies were an extraordinarily good time for me FA cup wise. The drill was to support Arsenal. Well of course. However in the unlikely event that they had failed to make the grade you had to select one of the two competing teams and get behind them as if your very life depended upon it. This made the final matter that little bit more. In adult life people use online bookies for a similar purpose. In any event we enjoyed the final regardless of who was in it, usually supporting the underdogs but always backing not Leeds and not Man Utd. Why was it such a purple patch for me? Well, despite having to fill in with proxy support for the likes of Newcastle, Sunderland and Southampton I still got to witness Arsenal play in no less than five finals between 1971 and 1980.
The only game I couldn’t really get excited about in all that time was Fulham versus West Ham in ’75. The West London side should have ticked boxes. Playing in the second division conferred unquestioned underdog status, and they had the fading legend that was Bobby Moore playing for them, which was precisely the sort of stuff I needed to have them as my team for the day. For whatever reason that year it dawned upon me at around 9.30am, and about half way through Cup Final It’s A Knockout, that I actually didn’t give a stuff for either side. I cannot explain why, but if the word ‘meh’ had existed then it would have neatly summed up my feelings on the ’75 final.
Modern day Fulham is a rags to riches story beginning in March 1996 when they languished in 91st place in the football league hierarchy. They recovered from the edge of the abyss and then were moderately financially doped by the owner of Harrods and rocketed up through the divisions to the Premier league. They really are the antithesis of Arsenal in many ways, not least the endless manager go round with a succession of coaches as far apart in football philosophy as Keegan, Hughes and Hodgson. They’ve given us a few decent games in recent years and I don’t doubt that they’ll be stung by their most recent embarrassing scoreline and won’t relish another humiliation. So thanks for that Chelsea you bastards. They have a few players who know their way around a football pitch and a goalie who often seems to save his best for when they play us. However well or badly they perform today I just hope and pray that they don’t attempt to emulate Moyes shameful tactics on Tuesday night, which were quite simply unforgivable. And be honest who wants to see a pleasant young man like Phillipe Senderos sent out to try to injure a fellow pro? It’s a hideous thought.
Closer to home now, and we had news yesterday of a Positively Arsenal triumph. Our very own Mel O’Reilly has been working tirelessly behind the scenes to get the club to act more radically on it’s pricing structure and so the news of ‘Mel’s Scheme’ as the club will doubtless be calling it which broke across all major news outlets was music to our ears. In years to come the futuristic equivalent of bloggers will talk of how they first watched Arsenal because of the tenner teen ticket introduced under ‘Mel’s Scheme’ which made watching the world’s premier super club affordable to the meanest of incomes. Doubtless the statue will follow and the O’Reilly Stand should be a formality. Congratulations, and I hope this doesn’t mean you are now too good to comment on our humble blog.
On a personal note, I have to take my Mum out today, so if you see me I’ll have my phone off and fingers in my ears hoping like hell to avoid the result. The plan is to watch Arsenal Player on Sunday morning which in the past has turned into a real trial. When I first subscribed the good folk at dot com used to think it was a wizard wheeze to display the score prominently on the front page of the web site. In order to bypass this skulduggery I saved a short cut to the Player itself on my desktop. Then they decided to put the score below the video of the match itself. Genius. I mean that doesn’t destroy the pleasure of watching at all does it? I assume I wasn’t the only one to moan about this as they have subsequently taken remedial action and the score no longer appears on the day immediately following the match . However they are nothing if not cunning at the Arsenal. The people who run the site are as devious and mischievous as Tomáš Rosický turning pirouettes in amongst the opposition midfield for laughs (like he does). When you open the relevant page they have a still from the match in the window where the video plays. The last time I sat down, congratulating myself on managing to avoid any mention of the match all day Saturday and Sunday morning, I opened the page to see this still image, a freeze frame from the match and guess what? It was from the 82nd minute, at which point the game stood at 2 – 1 to the Arsenal. How did I know? Well in the top left hand corner of the image there was the time and the score. Absolutely fucking unbelievable. In the game in question we had been trailing by a single goal until very near the end and so all the tension and surprise , the anguish and relief were neatly, surgically removed for me. See, who says we are afraid to criticise the club on PA?
In any event, I’m not very good with that kind of thing so if you happen upon me treating my dear old Ma to a cream tea in Burnham On Sea this afternoon, best not mention anything about the match. I may be a pacifist who saved the world from nuclear annihilation, but things might still get a little messy.
Positively Arsenal 
I suppose he couldn’t let OG away with that. Not nasty like Sidwell, just reaching for the ball (and got it in fact) , but from where the ref stood it looked bad.
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Don’t think it was a red card. It’s evident that Giroud went to the ball and slipped over it, but the way the Fulham player exaggerated the contact there was no doubt how the referee was going to act. I hope we can overturn any kind of ban on appeal.
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What a shame. Would’ve loved Aaron to finish it off for us.
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How many games will Oli be banned for?
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wonderfu! love that girl on the lines!
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@FG
Straight red card usually means 3 games (Unless it’s for a professional foul i.e. last man tackle) but I am hopeful we can get that overturned in an appeals hearing.
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Harsh red on OG there.
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@Hunter
Well, Sian Massey is obviously not one of the boys!
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Lovely article, Steww. I love it when local supporters reminisce over their Arsenal pasts. It gives us foreigners a real glimpse of what things were like before football became a global phenomenon. Well done.
Good match. Poor red for Olivier. That was a daft tackle. Now he’s gone for three games.
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I don’t agree that it was daft, Gains. He won the ball and lost his balance.
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the ref tried to equalise it with them “calls” he gave at the edge of the box… i feel wenger should have a word with them about killing it sooner. ..?… from 50 till 77 we passed it magnificently…but a goal would have done nicely wouldnt it? ramsey = hero..everywhere…and the perscielny bossed it
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ha evil! she is great!! we all love sian !!
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clouds and silver linings g69..time for poldi/theo up front perhaps?
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I’m not taking all the credit but since I’ve been on Arsenal.com we’re unbeaten……..
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That sucks, alabamagooner. I’ve also experienced finding an Arsenal supporter in a sea of nothingness only for them to be the worst of doomers. It’s very dispiriting.
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Well done Mel DotCom, sterling effort.
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I thought we were going to murder them. Not a great display from us but 3 points none the less.
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SIAN the best linesperson ever and I love her dearly and when I saw her yellow material flapping in the wind I would have gladly divorced the wife. it was just as well she was on form today as I thought we were awful all game. however to get four points from the context of the last two games is really good form defiantly a better ARSENAL side mentally than we’ve seen for many a year.
I actually don’t blame ARSENE for the selection but George for saying it was 100% the right one (way to jinx it)
After craping myself for 94 minutes I now feel GOOD !!!! COYG
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Jesus Mel how many accolades are you going to attain this week you are fast becoming a god
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Paul, it was a red worthy tackle. Giroud got to the ball first, but his follow through could’ve done significant damage. All of us would have demanded a red if one of our players were to be caught like that. Oli didn’t give Mariner much of a choice, did he?
Hunter, Giroud has been playing like a monster and his work rate is going to be hard to make up whether it is Podolski or Theo upfront. What made it a daft tackle is that it was so deep in their half and in the eighty ninth minute. It was an unfortunate brain fart that may make clinching a CL spot more difficult.
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Good to see my peeps have not gone manic and crazy like some of our “supporters” on twitter. They seem to have absolutely no idea of the fatigue physically and mentally when you are trying to squeeze your way into the last four of the Champions League. Can you imagine fans being happy Giroud has a red card? Happy that our Big F*cking Frenchman (BFF) is out for three cup finals. Belatedly many of them now understand the importance of those precious 3 points we secured. Now the pressure is back on the Spuds and the Chavs. I know which position I prefer.
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Gains, it got so bad I had to unfollow. Slating everybody, particularly Ramsey. And you know I won’t put up with that!
Speaking of Aaron, I mentioned on Twitter he looked tired. But he sets the bar so high on energy levels. I expect when I re-watch with a calmer head, I’ll rethink that. That’s the mom in me talking anyway. I do worry about these boys…
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G69 @ 5:39 pm. Re your critique for the red card – I am loathe to disagree with you but to my assessment is his studs were pointing down over the ball, not up. I know the boss also thinks it was a straight red so you are in fine company.
I do agree he didn’t have to make the tackle and I am on record as saying we will miss him terribly and Poldi is far from being an adequate replacement.
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oh 100% i agree on work rate especially when we play 433 …he is immense ..but perhaps now we can play the ball down thus quicker and expect more clinical finishing now that games must be won? just saturday afternoon brainstorming….. i dont even consider what he did as a tackle lol, he clearly went to protect ball since he was ther first and had won it..the ref had the brainfart…as usual ..thank you sian ! have i said that? thanks sian again for that kacclcianacic thing
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I don’t agree Gains, it was not a clear cut red. The follow through was due to his foot rolling off of the ball, that is how I saw it. I think you are going to have some unfortunate things in football.
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I think we might appeal it when Le Boss looks at it again.
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We might see a post from @arseblaggger tomorrow!
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alabama – I made a point earlier on Twitter earlier today that in less than a month Aaron has almost assumed a Flamini-like cult support because of his all action 90 minute display but warned it would quickly dissipate if he had a game less than his usual high standards. So said, so done. Don’t be disheartened, however, he is a better player than Flamini and more honorable, i.e. unlike Flamini he is not playing with eyes on a fat contract from AC Milan or one of the oily teams.
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I do agree that it was unnecessary but the way how the game was going, I can see why he went for the ball. We were a man up and on the back foot towards the end of the game.
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Credit to the back 4 today and Chezzer, they did well.
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actually i want to see the 4231 of reading home game again…which was reliant on the targetman..without a targetman….yes …rosi cazorla and gervinho behind poldi …we are scientists ..we experiment…..hehe… please god lets fuck united …a 7-0 will do fine… go for 9 if you can …i will accept a 5-0 too… and konscielny bossing robin…surely wenger;s database has the dutchman’s weak points archived… (the knee, the ankle, a calf maybe)…stick yer foot through it laurent…
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Not worried Shotta. This is not even a blip on the radar screen compared to the shit Aaron’s been through. Unless we hear he’s picked up some sort of knock, he’ll be back strong next week!
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tottenham -city / liverpool – chelsea ….
hahahaha …..kun kun kun ..luis luis luis !!!!
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PG @ 5:47 pm – Arseblagger probably checked into the Emergency Room (Casualty as you would say George). Totally lost it. Afterall it should have been 0-6 with Fulham down to 10. Arseblagger wants us to be a George Graham machine but goes crazy if it is 1-0 to the Arsenal. Totally confusing. I would go crazy as well.
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It was not a dead certain red card as Sidwell’s. That much is certain.
What makes the tackle daft is not the execution but the period of the match it happened. To be fair, Giroud went for the ball and ball only and that is the kind of guy he is. The timer doesn’t matter to him – he will always challenge for it.
I believe we should appeal, but my guess is that we won’t.
Intent should be a big factor in making these decisions. If a player is not hurt at all and there is no real malice in tackle then it should never be a red, studs up or not.
But the big problem is it becomes way too subjective and will open the metaphorical can of worms. So I really don’t mind the law the way it is currently. However when the club does choose to appeal, this should be made a very important case in overturning the ban. I hope that is the case for Giroud.
We did not play well in the second half. The team should be happy with the three points but not the performance. Our passing was way mediocre today. Hope it is just a one of game.
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A23 – The problem is if we appeal the ban may be extended to all four games in the rest of the season. No?
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Yes frivolous appeals get you one extra match on the sidelines.
which is why “I believe we should appeal, but my guess is that we won’t.” 😦
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I saw the tackle on replay and it was a studs up tackle. We can argue all day whether he got the ball first, but the fact remains that Giroud made Mariner’s decision for him the minute he lunged after that ball.
Arshavin, what you’re suggesting has the potential of reversing all the rules on tackling which have been set following the broken legs Eduardo and Ramsey suffered. Take Sidwell’s tackle on Arteta, for example. Arteta had the wherewithal to jump out of the way of Sidwell’s meaty challenge. Had he not, he would have had half his leg dangling to one side. What you’re suggesting is to allow players like Sidwell to keep playing until they actually inflict enough damage to merit a red card. That’s just sheer insanity. Let Oli take his red card and let’s leave things the way they are. Can you imagine what a player like Fellaini could do with laxer tackling standards?
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@Gains
We don’t have to argue if Giroud got the ball first, because he clearly did and then his foot slipped over the ball. To me it looked like he was probably attempting to do a pull back but had too much momentum going into the tackle and couldn’t stop himself.
I do agree with the rest of your post. I don’t think it was a red card, but at the same time we can’t have laxer standards, that’s for sure If we have to take this one on the chin, then so be it.
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Wenger said he will have to watch it, as to whether he is going to appeal or not. OG says what I believe, he simply lost his footing.
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If Kompanys red against us got overturned then so should Giroud’s. Now I’m king of the bloggers & teenagers, I’m looking for a new queen,has anyone got Sian Masseys phone number,I think she’s lovely….
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Mel – Is your heart well enough to take on young Sian? Arsenal is already taxing on the ticker. But then again you may be feeling your oats after all the accolades coming your way
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OG tried to get his foot over the ball to drag it back. We must appeal a three game ban.
Watched it on ESPN live over here and enjoyed the dominance so I was surprised to read on BBC that FulhaM deserved a draw..rubbish!
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Shotta, when she put that flag up for their offside goal it was like our eyes met across a crowded room and there was opera playing in my head……I suppose I’m with a shout now mate,I mean, I’m on Arsenal.com these days and the teenage ticket thing was my idea,still haven’t heard from the Arsenal Communications Director though,I don’t think he liked it the other week when I told him to communicate my arse on twitter over the disappointing Rocastle tribute, god I love Sian Massey.
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Points. We need points and we got points. Very pleased. I agree with Hawkeye, worth an appeal. If Olivier is out for 3 he won’t play the 4th anyway…..and Fulham did not deserve a draw.
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Gainsbourg69,
With all due respect, Sir, I don’t think you completely got what I meant.
I am under no illusion that it is not a red card. I just said it is not as dead certain as Sidwell’s.
If you noticed, I put the well being of the opposition player above everything else.
I am just saying the rule should not be as simple as studs up == red card. Well being of opposition player, Force of impact, INTENT, follow through, extenuating circumstances should be considered too.
But I was quick to acknowledge the fact that putting a lot of subjective judgement on the referees is not such a good idea either. The law in its current state is completely justified by my reckoning.
However, When it comes to appeal judgements I believe all the aforementioned factors MUST AND SHOULD play a very key role. Since all the factors are in favour of Giroud in this case, I firmly believe he should be let off the hook.
I hope we are both on the same page now.
P.S : Sidwell’s tackle did knock Arteta very badly. The lunge was very irresponsible. There was a bit of malice too. If you see the replay you can clearly notice how Sidwell’s sight is in not in alignment with the direction of his boots when the contact is made. That would mean he went ahead with the tackle fully knowing he wouldn’t get any of the ball.
http://www.101greatgoals.com/gvideos/gif-steve-sidwell-gets-sent-off-for-a-lunge-on-arteta/
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Olivier was sent off because Siddy was
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Please note that my issue is not with the Red card ruling but with the judgement pertaining to the appeals thereafter.
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Frank what you say is probably true.
But it should not work like that. Not in an ideal world.
I like to believe Giroud got sent off because he deserved to as per the rulebook.
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Craven Cottage is a rat hole of a stadium. Many a bolly has been frozen off there on winter evenings. Fog rolling in off the river or a freezing cold gale. The songs of the home fans fade into consumptive coughing and wheezing. The only games I go to wearing a knitted balaclava.
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