Truth be told,I don’t quite know what to make of that game !
I could quite happily leave it at that.
At 4.55 pm my wife gave me my tea.Very nice too.Roast Chicken,mixed salad and crusty bread.
“I cant eat that now love.I am having palpitations here .I think I am going to faint”
“You are pathetic,they won didn’t they?”
“If only it was as simple as that or you my dear !.Now put that in the fridge and give me some recovery time will you?”
What should have been a lovely relaxing afternoon watching Arsenal romp to a comfortable win ,was in the end a nerve jangling curse filled nightmare.
I only have myself to blame.I know.But still !
When I saw the team Arsene had picked I tweeted
“Positively Arsenal @Blackburngeorge
I think that is our best 11.Bar none”
The way we started ,I sat back relaxing thinking this is marvelous.Wengerball at its best.
We were passing the ball so quickly that no Fulham player could get close enough to make a fair tackle.
Then Sidwell lunged at Mikel and was dismissed .And rightly so.He is always at it.Nothing more than a thug.
Sadly though,that marked the end of our scintillating play.For the rest of the half we were patient and half decent,but the spark had gone.The Urgency lost.
Did the players think “all we have to do is wear them down and the goals will come”?
Perhaps they did think that.But they didn’t come.
When one did come it was down to Fulham deciding not to contest a dead ball swung into the Area.
Still .Who cares .Not a bad half .One up and them down to ten.Time to improve our goal difference.
Yeah right !
What went wrong in the second half is beyond me and Arsene too,as he expressed in his post match interview.
Where we tired after chasing Norwich for almost 90 minutes and from playing flat out against Everton on Tuesday?
We may have been .Everton losing to Sunderland would perhaps suggest its at least a consideration.But weighed against that is the fact that Fulham played 24 hours latter than us against Chelsea.And they only had ten men for 80+ minutes.
Our passing was slow and we created next to nothing .Caught in possession and balls just given away.All a little bit disappointing I must say
If anything Fulham were the better team in the second half.
The substitutes failed to make an impression and we looked like the team that was a man down towards the end .
Giroud gave the Referee an opportunity to even the numbers on 89 minutes and he took it.Personally I think he slipped,rather than having any malicious intentions.
Anyway ,Laurent and Per were fantastic all day and we hung on.
All I have said can be discussed and argued about,but what cant be argued with is that we now sit third and if today’s results go our way we will be in a very strong position
Oh yes ,we won.We won 3 points and its a great result .
At this stage it was a fantastic result.
We didn’t play well and we won.Is that not what they say good teams do?
Well that is what we did.Lets just enjoy the result
I am happy as a Bull meeting a herd of Cows for the first time.
What good will it do pointing the finger at individual players for a collective poor performance ?
Bring on United and we can put our footballing world to rights.
Positively Arsenal 
Is it “if you cant say something nice ,say nothing”?
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Nice one, George.
I thought there were good moments in both halves. A lack of movement from the front three meant that Fulham’s sitting deep left very little space in which to work. Arteta, Ramsey and Rosicky were all decent without being exceptional.
Szczesny had a solid game but for one parried shot and the runner was offside anyway. Sagna was pretty good defencively.
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That was great George, don’t know why you were fretting.
We won. Again. The points are stacking up. That is all that matters now. Every match is a cup final and this team is up for the fight(s). Next up is the return of the ‘ickle Dutch boy and his new dad. Oh yes.
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Wenger talked about the last games being finals, so that’s how the team is playing them. I think we have to forget about Wengerball for this season, because this isn’t about pleasing people anymore, it’s about reaching TOP3 and Champions league football..
Without it our very carefully run club wont be able to even think about bringing new faces in and rightfully so. 🙂
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Nice one George, I asked yesterday what was a healthy heart rate for a 42yr old drunken idiot,because whatever it is-mine was double. We won,it wasn’t wengerball but the 3 points were massive,like you said-lets enjoy it!
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Bulls and cows? One day there were 2 bulls up in a field,when the younger one turns to the older one and says “hey,look,there’s a load of cows down there in the meadow,lets run down there and fuck a few of em” the older bull says “no, lets walk down there and fuck all of em”. I think Robert Duvall tells it better,I can’t remember what film though!
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For the those who grow up on video clips of fantastic goals being scored and having them repeated over and over on the 24-hour sports channels, yesterday must have been the saddest day of their lives. But there is more to football and to life in general, lots, lots more. It is hard to reach those heights consistently. That is why the Henry’s of this world are so revered and honored. For the rest of us lesser mortals, to maintain high standards it is a hard struggle and requires persistence, even for a fantastic group of footballers like those who represented Arsenal. Since that March 3rd defeat to Spurs and the resulting seven point gap, our boys have been going flat-out to cover the gap and behold we are five points ahead. I am just an amateur psychologist but to me yesterday’s performance is and indicator of the inevitable onset of mental and physical fatigue that comes with the effort. Having said that I fear for the next four games. The big advantage we have over Spurs and Chelsea, for that matter, is our experience at this stage of the battle and our mental strength as exemplified by our manager. Hopefully our fans can help us over the line.
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http://www.youtube.com/user/ArsenalSupremo01?feature=watch
Legend : )
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Three points after a mid week time warp (back to Gollum’s cave, again) can’t be bad.
We will miss the Auroch that’s been leading the line. Obviously Poldi has had some kind of niggle so there’ll probably be a mix of players ‘in the middle’ to come. Rosicky and Little Jack with some more minutes under their belts to help get them back to ‘match fitness’. It is all good. Thouygh Rambo has deserved a goal. Maybe he’s saving one for Sah Slurgus?
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Well we one 0-1 – you know, one nil to the Arsenal. That’s good enough for me. Michael Jackson FC have been tricky for us recently. Anyway isn’t that what Manushited do almost every week? Don’t play well, get a lucky goal, scrape a win? Yet they’re brilliant apparently, they have the ruthlessness to go on and grind out a win, the winning mentality etc etc…. Unfortunately it doesn’t sit well with gooners who are used to beautiful football, but at this stage of the season I’ll take it!
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Three points is three points. Bring on the Mancs.
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About right, George.
I would agree with Arsene, that the match was extremely physical. The boys were going at a hundred from beginning to end.
As has been said, all that matters is the 3 points.
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Everton match that is
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Sidwell’s sending off completely changed the psychology of the game. Our boys must surely have been thinking the ref would be looking for any reason to even that up. And what happened to OG shows they would have been right. Hard to play with the proverbial handbrake off when you are worried about potentially ending your season and letting your teammates down for the run in. OG’s face said all of that. And once the yellows came out, it got worse.
Anyway, I’m off to church this morning, where I will say a little prayer for the boys’ health and mental strength, as I always do. Maybe this week, I’ll add all of us to that list! Also, I have to apologize to the big man in advance for missing next week. Hey, it’s Man U…priorities!
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we need to remember that this team is new and the most experienced lad in there is arteta whose career highlight so far has been a transfer to arsenal for which he took paycut to sign.
once we got the goal you could see that the players did not want to risk getting caught into counters and passed it between them for a large part of second half simply to run down time and have an easy afternoon…( 50-77) ..in the last 15 mins the ref started hallucinating and in the “spirit” of providing entertainment for the anti-arsenal sky customers he tried to even things a bit with ridiculous calls and fouls on arteta ramsey mertersarker… thanks to sian the equaliser was cancelled as offside ( correct decission)
also …cazorla had a bad game ..and all these things combined with the pressure to deliver the points and finnish in top 4 while against ten men away where you dont want to fuck it up ..it can backfire sometimes…i remember catching myself saying that if we drop points it will be our fault alone…what i dont know is if this hesitation was the players making or the neaveu managerial approach of wanting to control the lead we have and thus not being adventurous for more…
however we are at a stage where only points matter…its a bit silly to complain to the team about nice football right now… united does it all season and gets hailed for their pragmatism….we are a new team and we are a team that isnt used to play for the result..we play for the game and victory comes due to the brilliance of our game…or something like that…come on nasri kill em…you too luis !!!
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barry you idiot….
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shottagunna April 21, 2013 at 12:15 pm
certainly..lets not forget we play two relegation sides ..qpr and wigan…qpr managed by arry…his previous team tottenham..we all know how the system media and public would love to see arsenal missing on that top4 spot ..ref will be funny in those games….our opponents , “the english underdogs”, will be fighting relegation and we will be under pressure to not drop points or make things risky……not something the team knows how to do….yet. yes we need the fans but what we need the most is the players to play like men…no compacecny no feeling sorry for a wrong pass, block out the fans and pressure and just play like demonically possessed for the next four games..that is all.
plus a game with united which can go either way …. not over yet …
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Sami Nasri!
What a lovey pleasant chap I aways said.
Ha ha.
Come on Gael and Kolo, join in the fun.
Did I really hear the away supporters singing Wenger’s name?
Hunter – Arteta won a treble with Glasgow Rangers (boo!) in his first year up there so he has a winners mentality. However I agree with you about playing for the Arsenal is the highlight of anyone’s carrer. I think Wenger has proved that many times.
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“but what cant be argued with is that we now sit third and if today’s results go our way we will be in a very strong position
Oh yes ,we won.We won 3 points and its a great result .
At this stage it was a fantastic result.”
And I will not be arguing, PG.
***
@ Mel
Where can I find your article on arsenal.com? Or what was it called, so I can search for it.
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FG, it’s on the best of the blogs in the news section ‘Anfield memories’, I don’t like to talk about it though……
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Alternately it’s on here on the Anfield 89 anniversary,it will take stew that long to find photos of Demis Rousos.
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A tenacious performance when it was required and since the disappointment at the Lane our defending has looked far, far better
Unless we can get the red card rescinded it looks like Poldi up front
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Spuds equaliser.
15 mins left.
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I think the three games in a week took its toll on the players, both physically and mentally. Arteta, Ramsey, Cazorla, Giroud started all three games and I felt they all lacked their usual energy. Once Fulham went down to ten that should have been our cue to step up the pressure but instead we seemed to (maybe subconsciously) go for a slow, patient approach to save those heavy legs.
But all that matters now is the 3 points. We have picked up 25 points from our last ten league games, 2.5 points per game – that’s title winning form. Since we’re unlikely to lose anyone important this summer maybe we can finally build from one season to the next, and begin next term the way we are finishing this one.
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Thanks, Mel – and I appreciate you forcing yourself to talk about it (insert banned smiley face)
@ LeoS April 21, 2013 at 3:04 pm
Exactly.
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Stupid mancs.
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bleaaah..
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disgusted is the word.
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Nuts! How did Mancini throw that game away?
This is going to be tight now all the way to the last game.
Only upside (and its minor) is red nose and boy robin can win tomorrow, which would also send twitchy down. Meaning 2 potentially lower intensity games for us.
Our GD might be worth an extra point.
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fucking hate totenham and the media love in ….
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This actually works better for us. If the Mancs clinch it tomorrow, we’ll face a side ready to go on holiday. Spuds still have to play against Wigan away, a resurgent Southampton at home and Chelsea away.
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and they have di canio at the end ….hehe
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Despite swearing never to depend on other teams to help us over the line, after that bottle job by the Oil City mercenaries, here I am sitting and hoping Pool will do us a favor. So far, so good.
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they play wigan first away..we play sunday..should they win they will be 1 point ahead on equal games…i dont know fergie to be doing any favours …
then we play qpr , away, and arry together with the refs and the nation will want to do one over arsenal in favour of totenham who will be playing soton at home.
when we play wigan, totenham plays chelsea who also got united to play with.
my god mancini you fucking idiot….0-1- in the 75 and then 3-1 you muppet champion? making bale a hero on his return and all them cunts gloating….
cant be bothered with that shit and others results to be honest …4 victories and we have nothing to worry about….zen…..
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shotta ive never been so angry for a non arsenal result…..besides the 99 final obviously..
i was also watching it ..and the commentary had a world cup momment..made me so sick…
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I hope you are right Gains. I’m finding it difficult to get with the zen flow right now as well Hunter. The most expensively assembled team since…forever, and they f*ck it up woefully. Ye gods.
We are still 3rd. Just have to keep winning I guess. We knew that anyway. All you can ask is that the players give 100% like they have been giving. Outside of that, what will be, will be.
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no not 100%….150% 🙂
lets tear fergie and robin a new one ..after that…ZEN…
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cazorla and ramsey will score one each …koscielny will eat rooney alive…per will outthink robin’ movement. 2-0 arsenal and they can go celebrate their title on the bus going home
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“For the those who grow up on video clips of fantastic goals being scored and having them repeated over and over on the 24-hour sports channels, yesterday must have been the saddest day of their lives”
😀
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vs manure
1. fabianski
2. gibbs
3.sagna
4. per
5.kons
6.art
7.ros
8.caz
9.theo
10.poldi
11.gerv
433
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Well done Suarez the cannibal!
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love luis….LUIS + SIAN = L.F.E
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hahah its gonna be soooooo tight…come on arsenal !!! punish the traitor!
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Luis Suarez could’ve just handed us a CL spot.
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he is signing for us next season gains 🙂
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No thank you. Unless he openly feels sorry for his behaviour and declares that he has had a complete turnaround in character and henceforth will not dive, will use only his feet, wont push, wont bite, in general not be a dickhead (Like that is going to happen!)
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After the early afternoon shock I am genuinely happy that Liverpool have that despicable Suarez in their ranks. I am still slightly shocked that Sp*rs did City in because I was fully expecting a draw or a loss for them in that game.City are SO useless.
Anyway, the implications are that ManU can win the title tomorrow and if the do… I still don’t expect them to give us an easy game next week. After all, it’s against us, so they will give 100%. Especially the little Dutch boy. If he was really “loving” Arsenal, he would not turn up next week, but we all know that he will.
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I want him to come, I want them to give their best and we should still whoop their ass so bad that they remember this whooping when they lift the title and it makes them a little crappy inside.
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Suarez clearly missed his rabies vaccination.
Dude is definitely nutso!
But hey…he denied Chelski a win.
Unlike friggin’ Mancini who wanted the Spuds to win…twat,
how do you make two DUD SUBS (Sinclair, Lescott) leaving Aguerro & Silva on the bench???
Trying to undermine AW?
Mancini is a weasel
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I was never so happy to see the cannibal score a goal. George you got your answer: glass is half-full and climbing.
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