“The pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong.”
― C.G. Jung
“Walcott with his pace is a threat, Giroud is getting better and better. The midfield, you can’t figure out who is the defensive midfielder and who is the offensive midfielder because they rotate all the time. I think they’ve got one of the best midfield-threes in the country. They’ve got very talented players, as you saw against Fenerbahce because that was probably one of the best results this year until now.”
Obviously the deluded ramblings of a crazy Arsène Wenger fan who needs to wake up and realise he supports Arsenal and not Arsène. That’s right mate whoever you are, you should support the abstract notion of your team and not the manager. Certainly not many of the players and never anyone on the board , medical staff or anyone in any administrative role whether or not you know who they are or what they do. It’s simple isn’t it?
Actually those quotes are from the Fulham manager as he anticipates our visit this lunchtime. His words will be written off as playing down his teams chances , putting pressure on the opposition, mind games or whatever. There is of course a more simple interpretation. The man was talking the plain, unvarnished and manifestly unarguable truth.
Martin Jol entirely failed to get under my skin as the fifty eighth Spurs manager since Arsène began his reign of North London. Or was it fifty ninth? In any event while I know some of you couldn’t stand him I found him a mildly avuncular and unintentionally unchallenging figure. I certainly hope he can try to recapture his form as Spurs manager where he failed to gain a single victory against us in nine meetings. His approach since becoming Fulham boss has been rather more irritating ; one win two draws and one defeat. Still signing Scotty Pigeon Parker is definitely a step in the right direction and for that he is to be pitied rather than censured. Many similarly uninspired managers have made the self same error in judgement.
What of our brave boys? Returning in triumph from Istanbul must have given them a well needed shot in the arm after the ‘special circumstances’ surrounding their defeat at the hands of Anthony Taylor. For once immense good fortune attended us. The player chosen by the Gods to be carried on a stretcher bleeding from the pitch this time around happened to be the one who, thanks to the bizarre and possibly drunken refereeing performance last weekend, is suspended and would miss today’s match anyway. Sometimes we really earn the ‘Lucky Arsenal’ tag don’t we?
Talking of ridiculous superstitions I was whiling away a lonely Friday evening in the bollocking shed after some domestic transgression or other and happened upon a season review of our momentous 1988/89 campaign. While we all recall the climactic conclusion at Anfield (and none more so than Mel who you may or may not know wrote a brief account of the evening. He has just sold the film rights to Disney and is in discussions with Amazon for a Kindle book deal believed to be worth 8p a copy for each and every download. Minus his agents fees) how many of you can with any clarity remember the opening to that particular season? If you remember it with same blinding clarity as that with which you remember just where you were when Kennedy killed Diana or when you first read Mel’s piece on Arsenal.com then skip the following lines and restart your morning reading at word 1, line 1, para 8. If not then pay attention as I dazzle you with a little Arsenal history.
We opened our home account that fateful season by hosting Aston Villa who wore some unlikely colour instead of their classic claret and blue. And we got tonked. Guess by how many? Yep. 1 – 3. Ring any bells? If that little rigging of the laws of chance and coincidence by whichever deity is responsible for such things wasn’t enough then how about this. The first North London Derby was played at some horrible, dingy little place down some lane somewhere and came very early in the fixture list that year. In fact it was the third game of the season. Sound familiar? Spurs were touted as pretty hot stuff at that particular time in their history mainly because they’d splashed the cash and bought some fancy new players including one Paul Gascoine. Their superstar arrivistes even scored against us. After losing his boot, but that needn’t concern you and I. The salient point is that they went on to lose. Steller name signings or not, we beat them like we usually do.
One more landmark on my sojourn down memories leafy byway. You all know we went on to win the title don’t you? If not ask Mel, he has a fund of fascinating anecdotes and isn’t shy about sharing them. Actually what am I saying? If not, then what the hell? Have you literally just been born? No matter. We won the league despite the start I’ve just mentioned and despite the following startling statistic. We didn’t win a home league game until Saturday October the twenty second when we scraped past QPR 2 – 1. Can you begin to imagine – do you even want to – the kind of collective brain hernia that on-line (and sadly some in stadium) Arsenal fans would suffer if the coincidence Goddess referred to earlier decided to repeat that little gem?
And yet we went on to win the league.
You need to have some grasp of history if you want to hold an informed view on the possible outcomes of any situation in this life. We none of us have a crystal ball. We might think we’ll beat Fulham with ease today we might think that if we lose against them then the season is already over. We might think aliens made the pretty patterns in the farmer’s wheat field rather than the students that usually do it, but these are just ideas, possibilities based on wishes and fears. History, the real deal, the facts about what has gone before shows us that seasons are not won nor lost in the first few games. Great teams are often built over a long period and after or during times of adversity. Oh and Arsène Wenger is an exceptional manager with a winning mentality who has achieved feats to boggle the mind and which are so stratospheric they may never be equalled.
Facts. Proven by history.
But hey, we’re all football fans aren’t we? Since when did all that matter to us? I know that my reason, logic and usual commendable good sense goes out the window the moment the first whistle is blown. No one can tell me that dropping and breaking my lucky Arsenal mug on the morning of the day that the Tiny Totts finally beat an Arsène Wenger team wasn’t 100% responsible for the result. No one. I won’t tweet about how well the defence is playing because I know we’ll concede before I finish typing or at the very least just as I hit send. My wife tells me I try to kick the ball at least fifty times a game despite sitting in my living room in Somerset. No matter how often she points out the inevitable failure of this policy it is one to which I am firmly wedded.
What I’m trying to say is we all are prey to superstitions, hopes, fears, poor logic and wild flights of fancy. It is because we are placing our future happiness in the hands of events we cannot control and upon which only the lucky few in the stadium can bring any influence to bear. But we are also intelligent, sentient carbon based life forms. Once the 90 minutes is over and our shredded emotions begin to approach normalcy we must be capable of allowing our rational minds to regain control of the tiller or we are in danger of running aground on the same jagged rocks that have torn the bellies of the ships of those deluded souls who think one or two poor results means the great project, the second coming of Arsenal Football Club should be scrapped after so much hard work, so much joy and heartache has gone into it.
So I shall be all calm reason and rationality up until lunchtime today. Then and only then will I put my lucky socks on and start chewing the coffee table. I trust you all will be similarly engaged.
Positively Arsenal 
G69 @ 1:39 pm
“Robbie Mustoe eating humble pie at half time. That’s what you get for doubting Wenger, you mug.”
At least he had the decency to admit he was wrong. The prophets of D**M are harking to the past while Wenger is in the vanguard. Parker and Sidwell are thoroughly out of their depth. Got to credit the adjustments made by Wenger since Villa letting his deeper lying midfielders, in this case Rosicky and Ramsey, play closer together.
Meanwhile the two fools on BT misquote Wenger and misrepresent Wenger’s transfer plans.
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Hearing these commentators completely ignore the role of the referee in last week’s defeat to fit a particular narrative tells you why the football public, particularly fickle Arsenal fans, to believe the nonsense they are fed by the media.
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Poldi again. But what a flick-on by Giroud.
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Complacency is at the root of that goal.
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Well done, boys. Excellent win.
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The entire team was awesome. If I had to pick a man of the match it would have to be Santi. For me, he was incredible today. He’s an absolute gem of a player.
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A comfortable 1:3 in the end. Our counter-attacking was a beauty to behold and coulda, shoulda score at least two more.
Koscielny returning should shut up the whiners.
We have some tightening up to do with some of our combinations in midfield and not loose the ball in dangerous positions but we are getting better at it.
We currently have a dangerous squad and any additions in the xfer market must be quality, not quantity.
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Hahaha. This is great.
Complacency? Incompetence? Neither.
Its incontinence….
One the part of some taking the piss every five minutes..
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I’ve had a lovely ( iPhone enforced) break from twitter, but I bet the miserable bastards on there could still pick a fly in the ointment from that marvellous performance, has Scott T Parker come out of Ramseys pocket yet?
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Yeah, bang on, shotta.
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Motm??
Can’t decide out of five choices. Awesome team effort. Now bloody chew on you humble pies you squeaky wheels. And oh, grease them wheels, won’t you. Eating so much humble pie can’t be good for you digestive tract.
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Another excellent experience watching the game with Pedantic George and Sensational Arsenal via google hangout! All are welcome.
I’ve lost my voice from shouting so loud!
Excellent performance from the lads!
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Scotty?? ” mom, they beamed me ass up ” ” again, waaaa”
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Its going to be a wonderful wonderful weekend baby……
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GA: Hope to join you guys next time.
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I meant G-P.
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Finsbury @ 3:15pm
This is a player the fickle fans and media declare is not good enough. 3 matches, 3 goals. Will they STFU?
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I will laugh so much when it turns out that Giroud is the 30 goal a season striker the usual suspects have been clamoring for all this time. Can’t see the wood for the trees.
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Chamack scores against Stoke
: )
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Even though this is the second game of the season, there are some dooming idiots complaining about us conceding because they’re concerned about goal difference. The nits these bastards have to pick in order to have a go at the team, huh? Incroyable.
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@ finsbury August 24, 2013 at 3:37 pm
Chamack scores against Stoke
: )
ha ha, excellent. Once a gunner…
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Evil, that would be special wouldn’t it? If Olive scores thirty, I would love to see the faces of all those idiots spewing crap about Wenger having lost his touch in the transfer market.
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Fantastic game of football by the boys. Everyone was brilliant and Sagna at CB was immense. Last week was a blip and Arsene’s faith in the team is justified by the last 15-18 performances. The signings will come, but it is only to bolster an already quality squad!
Bring on the tiny totts!
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I agree with you Evil! That boy has an eye for goal. It’s unmistakable……..at least to the trained eye, not blinkered by media hype of expensive players. He’s well on course for 30+, but watch the doomers shift the posts and moan that he is not skillful enough to wear the shirt!
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He is well on his way and his detractors won’t admit to have been wrong about him even if he gets 30 goals a season. And they won’t admit that AW had anything to do with his success. They will argue that he could have been successful anywhere. Its the system the players in under AW ,fools. The system he teaches them right from the beginning.
The agenda won’t change whether we succeed or fail. We must turn into the next team that buys its success to shut some people up. Its show and tell time , don’t you know. What have you won for me lately boss. ? Morel and ethical considerations never enter their minds.
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I hate when I don’t wake up early enough to read Stew’s piece before kickoff. I’m just going to have to set my alarm earlier. What a game that was. Horrible conditions, I was so afraid someone was going to get hurt. But what a result! And kudos to Jane and all the other away fans, who braved the weather and sang their hearts out. They were loud and proud, I could hear them all the way over here across the pond!
I’d point out my boy Aaron’s MOTM win today, but bless him, his solid play is becoming commonplace now. Almost expected. What say you now, haters? Oh, you’ve moved on to Podolski, have you? The one that scored two today? Or Giroud? Or Jack, for sticking up for his manager? Or Theo, for not scoring enough? Who will you boo next week? Because surely you must boo someone, right? Idiots.
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Did you guys see the move where Wilshere turned defense into attack? The one touch-over-the-top pass to Wally from Rosicky? The pinball passes that switched defense on the left side to deadly counter attack on the right? The numerous times we stole possession? The rockets from Podolski? The more emphatic Mertesacker? So many more gold throughout the match. This team entertains.
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I missed the match.
How was Sanogo in the last 9 minutes?
I was excited to see Gedi Zelalem and Frim both on the bench!
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Too right BAMA. Long live the away fans!
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ZIMPAUL
SANOGO and GIDEON will get their minutes this season. I would love to see FRIMPONG stack out a place for himself in this team. Want to see him pingpong a few opposition AMF’s . Maybe he will get a chance next week on Tuesday or against the spuds.
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Per was not joking today. He was doing his captain thing. love him. Thought he was great today.
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Shotta
Tuesday night? Do you have a gmail account, google+and hangout apps?
Here’s my email again: gdloizou@gmail.com
It really is fun and a pleasure to share a live game in this way…
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Well well well…
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Thames lapping over the pitch but the squad still turn on skill after skill after skill. Imperious one and all. Apparently the world class centre half, Bacary Sagna, plays right back occasionally. Can’t wait to see that.
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Super Star Steww…and thats the truth
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G-P: Tuesday is a doubt. Usually at work in my time zone. Had someone doing some work for me during today’s game.
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Muahaha wenger has built the biggest pie factory in the country. Keep serving them arsene. Dont stop.
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Everyone go laugh at F365 has a pic of a fuckwit and his banner. Hihi….
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Fenerbahce is no fulham or totenham.
Ha…
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Hahahahaha, Frank. Bacary Baresi can slot into the right back position if need be. He’s ployfunctional like that.
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Ramsey:
…leading Arsenal in touches (94), pass attempts (85) and pass completions (73) — just what Wenger’s side needed against a team normally so combative in midfield.
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G69 @ 6:40 pm – According to the keyboard warriors Wenger had no options in central defense and Per cannot play left center-half. Mugs.
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Great result lads – keep up the good work!
Very pleased for Olly G, who has been continually questioned by so called supporters. I’m sure he is going to shut a few people up.
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My Mojo is back,thank you Arsenal and Positistas.
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great piece Steww.
Marvellous result and heck of a performance on the field today .
I have some vague recollection (possibly complete bollocks but fairly sure there’s some substance to this thought) of some pundit/summariser at some point in some year in some league, suggesting a whole team at a given match be given the MOTM. My prediction is that, at some point THIS season, some pundit will say that of The Arsenal.
Anyone have same memory?
Anyway, it’ll happen this season… you heard(read) it here first !
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pedantic george August 24, 2013 at 8:40 pm
fuck the moaners !
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goonerkam…please go mock dukey and jon jon ..i beg you …
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I like Duke and JJ.But mock away
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Will do…
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