I find myself in a state of conflict.
I am ecstatically happy about results and the general development of the team and club, yet angry at the treatment they were receiving until very recently.
People who have spent years running down the board, manager and players, a situation that reached new heights during the summer, are guilty of obscene levels of revisionism.
The manager was said to be unable to “do” defence. This team has conceded 3 goals from open play in the last 18 games. It had the second best defence in the league last year, whilst still playing attacking football. It contains players of the calibre of Sagna ,Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs and Monreal. Not bad picks for a guy that doesn’t know a defender from his elbow. Are these experts on football holding up their collective hands and saying: “Oops, I was talking utter crap.sorry” ?
Where are the agitators who claimed we would never buy a world class player or ever spend over £20 million on one now? What about those who claimed that big names being linked were just a ploy by the money -grabbing board to sell season tickets? Why are they not admitting to being malcontent idiots?
Here are some extract from a post by ZimPaul that puts some great questions:
“One thing is the frustrated fan hurling cheap insults against any target, including Emmanuel, Aaron, Abou, Theo, Denilson, so many others, and always Wenger by default, to vent their infantile anger at not being at the “top table” of trophies for a rather short spell, without thought of incredible ambitions the club had already achieved, was in the process of achieving, and had set its sights on, and the calm, decent manner it was going about all this. Despicable and stupid.
Then what does one call the informed and erudite fan, who knowingly, willfully set out to manipulate malleable, weak minds with outright lies, selective lies, omission of facts, outrageous claims (often dressed up as modest, humble appeals for change and “end of an era”), manipulating and flinging about all manner of base emotions, with the objective to erode team and club morale, it’s achievements, and get Wenger out?
And then what does one call more influential individuals and journalists, pundits, ex-players, football establishment types, who conjured up and fabricated an entire anti-Wengerball culture, week in week out, appealing to Arsenal’s time-honoured (British) traditions and glories, and so set out and all but conspired to use their influence to destroy Arsenal’s achievements during a vulnerable period of building for the long term?”
That’s at least three categories of idiots who should be scoffing humble pie like there is no tomorrow. But are they ?
The relentless moaning and whinging by fans with an over-inflated sense of entitlement has morphed into “We were only asking legitimate questions.”
Where they? Or were they chatting shit?
All last year some of us were suggesting that when the new arrivals settled in and the young players followed their natural progression, that we would see a very good team.
This was deemed delusional. When we said Ramsey, Giroud, Chamberlian, Podolski, Gibbs and others would be much better, we were told that we were mad. Some of these players were classed “not of Arsenal standard” by expert fans and pundits alike.
Were they wrong? Are they sorry?
People claim their moaning was because they were frustrated. Ignoring that it was them and their fellow halfwits that were speculating about nonsense and that was what was fueling their frustrations.
They claim they were right to question. Well it’s the tone and content of the questions that separate a reasonable fan from a spoiled child.
What about those who insisted that Jack would be sold and we were content to be fourth and not challengers?
Are they contrite?
We bought Ozil and still have huge funds for future purchases. Of course the moaners will say we should have spent more and sooner. Because they would make a better fist of running the club? Right?
Anyone with even half a brain could have seen that 2014 was penciled in as the point where we moved through the gears. It was obvious. But despite the evidence some expert fans won’t accept this.
You can question the club and still be behind the team. That’s true. But you must accept that if the questions you are asking are ridiculous and being asked because you have little understanding of almost anything, then its a hindrance rather than a help.
If you are claiming that our injury crisis is a result of poor management and planning consider this. A fit squad would see, by my calculations, ten full and first choice Internationals not in the starting eleven. So swivel.
Things are going rather well at present, but there will come a point when we suffer some reverses. The wheels might not fall off, but one might come loose, or it might just be a flat tyre. At this point all the good that has gone before us up until now, will be forgotten. Blackburn and Bradford will be rolled out and past perceived failings will be regurgitated by those that are temporarily quiet (and asking for amnesty) and used to back up their wild and ridiculous claims of incompetence by some poor sod or other. Be it Aaron, Arsene, Ivan or Stan.
These stupid know-it-all fans haven’t gone away, they are just lurking and waiting for their next chance to express their football know-how.
So don’t ask me to just enjoy the football.
Did they want to allow me to just enjoy the football?
Bollocks to them and any appeaser.
Now I will be accused of not being positive, and for creating more divides with this post. Well I am sorry, but these people make me sick.
Does that make me a flawed individual?
Probably.
Positively Arsenal 
@ double canister September 20, 2013 at 11:18 pm
Me too!
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Spot on DC
I never did. That joony is freaking two faced lie fabricator. Cooks it in his little kitchen and the rest of the gang eat up and believe his shit. No matter mate. I’m home. I quit and I’m proud.
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Most comments are no more than decent chat,but sometimes someone writes something that deserve special mention.This by FunGunner caught my eye
“Another point I would make is that AW did not set out to have an injury and suspension crisis and lose 8-2 to Manure, but others did deliberately abuse Aaron Ramsey. Mistakes have been made by AW, IG etc, but fans did not kick the club, players or manager by mistake, or due to an unforeseen chain of unfortunate circumstances. Your examples of wrongdoing on each side are not comparable or equivalent.”
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Fun, I made the mistake of drifting over to another site, those words poured out, just call it de-tox, if you don’t mind, my home-remedy antidote to snakes tends to be words. Anecdotally, my nick-name locally is mutimbanyoka “the one who digs the snakes”.
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If people want to moan about Yogi or any ACLF poster,please go to ACLF and do it .Unless you are binned (hunter) In which case feel free.
But,It does smack of sour grapes.Personally I would rather move on.Lets not forget it really was the king of blogs once upon a time.
But as I say,its up to you,once you are in here,you can say what you want when you want to whoever you want.
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Hahaha
ZIMPAUL the snake hunter. Awesome irony. 18 games and counting and ARSENAL just barely started doing well. Pfftttt
Apologizing to that ice cream fellow. pffftttt
What a misguided soul. Next it will be suger man they kiss and make up. Le grone plants were right all along. pffftttt
And that doesn’t require an apology. you can’t make this up man.
DC
the man is on a power trip. No democracy there. Sold out last year with that new era crap.
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isnt that a nice way for them to keep their narratives of
a) wenger a stubborn dictator
b) wenger outdated and past it and cant follow modern football
c) we always had money he just chose not to spend it.
remember we don’t need to be proved right we are right, although most of the post on here are directing their wrath towards keyboard warriers, I have to have a different approach with friends, people around me at the stadium and people at work. To be honest whatever narratives and excuses they may use deep down in their heart of hearts they know they are wrong and after eight years realising you’ve not supported your club is a bitter pill to swallow and very hard to admit and so to try and find escape route is probably natural. the aaa on blogs can be slain however for the rest they know we was right are common protocol dictates that’s enough.
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@ ZP
Ah, I see. Glad you got it out of your system – better out than in, as they say! (banned smiley face)
Forgive my ignorance, but what language is “mutimbanyoka”?
@ PG
I) cheers for that.
2) that’s me told
****
Moving on to tomorrow’s match, my first fear is tiredness. Our 11 have held up manfully so I hope they can hang in there for another 95 minutes. If Arteta is on the bench, that will lift them all, I think.
My second fear is the effect of my presence. I only attend a few matches a year, so when I tell you I was there for West Brom three years ago, Liverpool two years ago, Swansea AND Fulham last season and Aston Villa at the start of this season…well, draw your own conclusions.
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GEORGE
supposedly he banned DC yesterday , retroactively. Because he dared question about something not in the meme.
And a whole bunch of others too. Power trip I tell you. Can’t see the initial insults but when it suits him he sees the retaliation. He did the same to GP TOO.
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Sorry PG, for my part I can only plead a kind of temporary melancholia brought about by the idea that someone would (almost formally) apologize to AIC, sniggering king-jackass of snide, and all but beg his return to the lofty portals of said site. It turned my head. I became dizzy. That and the rest of it.
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Yes,Kam,he is a bit of a snide twat.But its his house.And I found out to my cost that he does not like being told that he is a snide twat.
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Like I said Paul,you are free to do and say what you want. I thought it was a great post myself.
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HAHAHA
you the man…..
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Fun, it’s true (as opposed to “street”) Shona, a mainly Zimbabwean language pot-holed with many such idiomatic expressions. I guess that’s why I write English the way I do.
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Thanks, ZP. Good name.
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Paul.It embarrasses me that you write so wonderfully well in English when I am floundering about wondering if its to,too or two and is it a full stop or a comma I need
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The young of today don’t bother PG, they just say “2”, and full stops everybloodywhere.
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the shame is aclf was a good site that occupied the middle ground of debate with naysayers and the righteous both having their say but yogi lost his bottle and fell of the fence when he didn’t have long left before the rays of light began to hit the turf. The phoenix from the flames, the silver lining from that dark cloud was this site which is irrefutably better than aclf ever was and I thank George ,Stew, Andrew and all the rest of the contributor’s for that. When the shit is flying and i’m bored of the doomers its nice to come home.
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At least you care and get that there is a difference in meaning and function between those homophones, PG. So many kids don’t even understand the concept of grammar, that the point of it is to aid understanding. They are only taught spelling, and even that is seen as an optional extra.
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Well said AOB, well said.
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The lowest moment for aclf was when Paul N was attacked for his religious beliefs on ACLF by some who seem to be unaware of the own irrational beliefs, because they were using the work of a discredited popular science writer, the unempirical irrational and militant Dawkins, to justify their beligerence. ‘logic’ that would have been at home under Mao, in post war Scandenavia etc. because Dawkins is not respected by his peers: mocked for his extremism etc. by another (non-religious) scientist (is Dawkins a scientist? i dont think so) I saw give a talk at the V&A last night. Not to mention the genteel Peter Higgs himself!
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/dec/26/peter-higgs-richard-dawkins-fundamentalism
Dawkins also has his own page on loonwatch.
I’m not religious but that was not very pleasant spectacle on a football blog. And this is the mindset that will describe those enjoying the last phase of AW at the club as extremist. During these “bad times” (10 Away wins…)
I don’t think that I am offended.
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FunGunner September 21, 2013 at 10:07 am
I know youre right but on thursday them bastards spent a page abusing me when i wasnt even there or had any form of replying……plus its nice to say i told you so to jerks who thought they knew better than wenger….. hihihihhii….
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I don’t remember that Fins, mind you there are times when I’ve taken a sabbatical, so I guess it was probably then. Paul N is/was a lovely bloke, so I can’t imagine what happened there. All I’ll say is talk of religion is one of those obvious subjects that can get people’s gander up (though not as much as football these days it would seem…) and before you know it someone is left offended.
(I’ve never had any time for dotty Dawkins either btw, An awful little man with obvious fascistic tendencies)
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I remember that Fins,but I dont recall it being an attack,more a sarcastic swipe at religion in general.
Whatever anyone thinks of Yogi,he never would have allowed personal attacks on race or religion.
Talking about Paul N ,he has been very busy of late.I hope we see him soon.A charming man he is.
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harry here thinks that we are stupid and that we follow blindly a despot who is taking arsenal backwards …NO SIR …we support in full knowledge of what the club and manager are trying to do and we are convinced from past experience and verified with our very eyes the last 16 years.
whichever of you pricks wants to call me and others deluded or extremists or wenger fans then thats because my version (my opinion if you like, lol) of what has happened the last 8 years was much closer to reality than yours and it stinks that it has come from a young “crazy” foreigner with no attachments to norris chapman gg or merson …..that is all.
and do you know why our version was/is closer to what really happened/happens? cause they cant take it that i understand football a lot better than them mugs and being foreign and all you wont find me with chips on my shoulders about “we were a big club before wenger was around” ….trust me ….people hardly switched on to check on how gg and arsenal were doing. when my father was forcing me to watch i would fall asleep and beg him to let me go outside and play actual football with my friends.
so what it has taken us 8 years to win stuff? that is no reason to moan or demand change, we were building our football stadium. something that we last us another century in which we have plenty of time to win trophies….
wenger might not be here, we might not be here…but ARSENAL will ..and i thought that was the point!!! but i guess our geriatricos are too selfish and want to see the glory NOW or else things have to change…so who is bigger than the club then? who?
for true fans trophies dont matter that much…trophies are a statistic, a statistic we knowingly and willingly put aside till we get our act together after going through the biggest transition in the club’s history.
TORA TORA TORA..boom boom motherfuckers !! UP THE ARSE!
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Morning Harry,
How’s the thin air here? Hehe.
Anyway, apparently there is some football about to break out.
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Hunter,you are crazy.
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Top Bloke
is Mr Paul N.
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Yes, of course Fins, parallels with Chelsea-Daveishness prickle me. Benitez was well regarded by AW too. I’ve opted for a conundrum of lick-fickle, a Jellystoneism.
Oh well, tomorrow Stoke … and the Manchester derby match that will gather all the great and good of pig-headed punditry in one pot of piss.
Worries: tired legs and minds, home nerves, remaining injuries (especially Santi), Stoke-studs (what passes for midfield), Stoke-artillery and heads, and the early start.
Good stuff: good old Arsenal never-say-die, post-M feel-good tempered with Aaron, a volleying Theo, a flying Jack, Ozil comes home, TV and Arteta quietly in the business, the Flamini effect, good versus evil, mind over matter, Le Boss et son tactics.
Conclusion: Stoke will defend like legion of Roman soldiers, all inter-locking shields, fearsome spears. Arsenal will prod and prize the weak spot, dancing like shadows.
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Which site is “jellystone” DC?
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“What does continue to rile and frankly amaze me is the inability of most of these people to learn from their mistakes. Ironic, given one of their common complaints about AW.”
They are too busy pointing out the splinter in their neighbours eye to see the plank in their own.
I’m with Steww and hope we can move on from this discussion soon. I was not banned, I chose to move on when I saw the writing on the wall. You are known by the company you keep and I no longer wanted to keep company with the majority of people over there. I have deleted that site from my favourites and don’t ever go there. I am not interested in what they are saying and would prefer that those who still visit that cesspool do not track the shit into this site on the soles of their boots.
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” I am not interested in what they are saying and would prefer that those who still visit that cesspool do not track the shit into this site on the soles of their boots.”
Now that.s what I have been trying to say.Thank you Passenal
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I hope this “blood-letting” or “letting off steam” ends soon.
“No, please, do not mistake passion, which can change its mind, for fundamentalism, which never will. Passion for passion, an evangelical Christian and I may be evenly matched. But we are not equally fundamentalist. The true scientist, however passionately he may ‘believe’, in evolution for example, knows exactly what would change his mind: evidence! The fundamentalist knows that nothing will.”
“How dare you call me a fundamentalist”, Richard Dawkins (2007) his website.
Even the strident and militant can offer good advice. Let’s be passionate but be prepared to change our position should the evidence suggest we should.
As I wrote yesterday. I’m attracted to “evidence-based” anything. I see more of that here and on Untold Arsenal.
Arsenal Football Club is described by all and sundry as a classy club. We need to be too….
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Hunter,
There really is no point mate. Good luck to you.
Certainly never my intention to leave any residual shit from my shoes onto your nice white carpets George. Never had an axe to grind with most of you. Anyway, It’s all been said, and yup, it’s boring now.
I shall leave you all to it.
Take it easy and enjoy the football.
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I know I shouldn’t, but … I was there when Paul-N turned and walked away in a dignified and measured way, and never looked back. “Why?” he seemed to ask “after all we have shared and respected one another for”. The answer amounted to “Because I can.”
“No, that is not right” was something like what Paul-N said, asking “what happened to the spirit, the love, the “us”. Do you mind if we can talk?”.
The silence was deafening.
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“Whatever anyone thinks of Yogi,he never would have allowed personal attacks on race or religion.”
But sexism was allowed as I was told to get back in the kitchen for daring to have an opinion about a man’s sport. And the constant and ‘snidey’ swipes at Paul N for his religious beliefs were never challenged. I saw it too.
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Harry good to see you : )
Yes the references to Dawkins were most unfortunate. There was worse (ew…Hitchens!) but it doesn’t matter. I do not see the worth in attempting to make a profile of someone’s personality in order to judge them based upon some comments on a blog or even twitter. And following Passenal’s words of wisdom I leave it there.
–
But I do intend to enjoy this season! As always. And to appreciate the legacy that AW has left the club and the next manager* whether he chooses (as in his choice) to hangs his boots up this season or in a few. Especially after the nail biting finish to last season, a moment when it was more important then at any time previously for the club to sneak into that CL spot so that they could then take advantage of the the new monies (which apparently don’t matter!) coming into the the coffers by the bucketload this summer (at a guess the overall level of PL spending went up this year what with the apparently irrelevant BT lucre etc…add in the post CL qualifier bonus…and…).
They got there, playing with some gr*t.
*see the Brit Pack which has been built up since the F Word effed off. Plan?
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OK, done. Thanks Passenal for that dose of muti. No more.
Harry, your visits are welcome.
Let’s talk football.
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The one with the annoying bear, George.
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In my opinion more ‘Wenger inspired’ wisdom from Brendan Rodgers….
http://tinyurl.com/m3zzk6y
Also, a tacit endorsement of the Wenger inspired philosophy at Arsenal….
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GP
I agree with Higgs, Dawkins a fundamentalist, as in way beyond a militant. I’m no expert but other scientists like the one at the talk I saw last night politely desribed his evolutionary theories as rigid and unflexible. Outdated. Considering that she was also talking about biospheres and off world exploration (it was a good talk) I’m guessing she was not really religious herself.
And of course the most telling observation on poor old Dick is that the work of the greatest artists of the latter twentieth centuary has completely passed him by. Warhol and pals made a living by recording/observing a world where people acted with religious fervour without any need for a deity or any such spiritual involvment. Given the history of the twentieth centuary it seems like an obvious observation, but good art is good art. And profitable too.
Dawkins is out of time. He belongs to an era where people used calipers to measure the size of skulls in order to determine peoples personalties.
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Thank heavens I saw the writing on the wall a long time ago; G69 binned, Frank, George, deadwood, end of an era, root and branch review, blah, blah.
A le grove manifesto wrapped in slick, glossy packaging.
Karma is a bitch,
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Passeral.
I agree with you that we should move on from the other blog…
My final shot though.
There is one smug git over there who should stay in his Kitchen.
I have had to re-check 3 months of posts on this site to find evidence of something I was accused of saying, which clearly isn’t there, ‘cos I didn’t say it. Liar is as liar does.
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Good grief what a morning on here !
Snakes is Shona, Socrates and his cave, Harry leaving his axe embedded in George’s white carpet ?
I may not last til kick off tomorrow
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Fins
I agree it’s one thing to be an Atheist, (why the capital letter, though eh?!?) but the likes of Dawkins are militantly anti-religious and insist on attacking people who have sincere beliefs.
As a very lazy Christian, I was taught that there can be no decisive empirical evidence for a God, one is asked to accept it on Faith. Anyway, a discussion on Religion can lead into very deep water….. Especially where I come from which means it affects which football team you support and which team you are supposed to hate, because of their different religious beliefs.
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Very good from Larow on the been:
“You wonder if one or two people are now starting to realise what a good job Rafa Benitez did at Stamford Bridge last season.”
Hehe.
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Dear me Harry,that was directed at those who are commenting on what is on ACLF ,how you managed to think it was directed at you is quite beyond me.
I promise you it was absolutely not.
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Brendan Rogers was full of praise for what has been done at Arsenal over the years after his 1-2 defeat last season at Anfield. He inferred that it was a model he was following.
And I thought Liverpool played really well in their 2-2. Yes Arsenal made errors but Liverpool were good on the day, and Suarez was clinical when I got the chance to see him live which his critics say he is not.
Liverpool are definitely on the up. If they keep Suarez they could trouble the Gas duo and Utd like others can too. On reflection Everton under Benitez could be a hidden runner this season. Tottenham could take months to settle so could fall beind those two, I guess I agree with those that say that it’s going to be an exciting season.
Was Swansea’s demolition of Valencia another indication of how much stronger the average PL team is now (especially after that irrelevant windfall from BT floated in through the window)?
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Moving right along. Who is watching the Special One being undone by his ego and over inflated self-importance? Jaysus,Trying to deflect criticism by comparing himself to Benitez whose only achievement was to rescue a sinking ship by winning the Europa League and coming 3rd in the PL, when many felt, it was beyond him.
Relevance to Arsenal? Some of the same bootlickers we have been discussing were only too willing to unleash the likes of Mourinho on our club. Can you imagine Wenger publicly humiliating Juan Mata while trying to rebuild his team?
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Heh
There are alwasy such misundertsandings of comments.
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