Just one word.
Where to start?
I assume you have all seen the game, so no point me going through it blow-by- blow.
It was quite simply a thing of beauty.
Wengerball at its finest. This was not merely sterile possession, oh no. It was quite simply football at its very best. Napoli were going to be the big test, ‘they’ said. Well from the first two minutes right up to the whistle at the end of the first-half, Napoli did not get a foot on the ball.
Remember, this was a side wracked with injury, cobbled together from a paper-thin squad supposedly lacking depth, and a manager, we have been told, who doesn’t do tactics.
It was just devastating stuff from the home team, total domination and a joy to behold.
The poor Sky Sports pundits were left without a twig to beat Arsenal with; critics of the club were left scrambling for crumbs of negative comfort in a cupboard that is patently bare; once again, the sound of scripts being torn up were all but audible.
The second half was Wengerball (Part 2) and you could sense the whole of Europe taking heed of the warning now emanating from North London.
We just slipped back into third gear and controlled the game in a way that really makes you think that this team is the real deal. We waited and waited for a counter-attack that simply never came. Napoli knew we would ruthlessly pick them off if they risked anything and sensibly opted for a respectable defeat, three points lost. The other option did not bear thinking about and had season-ruining potential written all over it.
I really can’t think of one of our lads who were not magnificent.
Ok, I don’t have enough superlatives to do the performance justice, so let’s enjoy talking about it in the comments section.
Have I said I love this team?
Oh, ok.
Positively Arsenal 
Phil McNulty (Everton supported) of the BBC is now on the bandwagon:
great Wenger quotes:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24360722
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Well said, George, foreverheady, shotta, anicoll, dc, ha-ha to G-P and I love that Giroud article, Passenal.
@ anicoll5 October 2, 2013 at 12:07 pm
“Well done Pass – getting tickets these days is murder…
Cant understand why they are suddenly so popular ??”
Yeah – funny how ticket prices don’t seem to be so much of an issue now that we are winning. (And yes, I know they are high.)
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And props to Evil as well, just seen your comments.
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@ PG
I have not seen the match yet, not a second of it. There’s always one, isn’t there?
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No sign of JJ or his ilk around, elsewhere.
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I’ll be honest with you guys: there were times I was hoping for Arsene to resign. Not because I thought it would be good for the club, quite the contrary, but seeing this man, this legend of our club, who has led us through these uncertain times, being attacked on all fronts, I felt that this lack of respect was not what he deserved. He created the Invincibles, he built our stadium (am I the only who thinks that “Arsene Wenger Stadium” has a really nice ring to it?) and he kept us the only honest player in a game dominated by crooks. And how was he thanked? Some fans and the disgraceful AST trying to piss all over his legacy. For now, everything is good again, but how many bad results does it take before they all come crawling out of their holes again, smearing the manager and attacking the players? I want us to continue this form, not because I want us to end our trophy drought. I couldn’t care less about trophies, that has not and will never be my main motivation for supporting our club. But I want us to go out and win it all so that Arsene gets what he deserves: unending respect and admiration.
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DC …following awaiting approval….you think the dictator will allow my opinion, after all thats what football is about right ? opinions …ahahaha
++++++
hey there you doubting and negative clowns whats up ? muahahaha…. Arsene Knows Best…loud and proud now ateeb’s left foot …..
come on lads …hows your end of era going ? ….you think youre any better than the army of idiots who lost faith and turned against club and manager ?
any fools here anymore who think they know better than Arsene? where are you experts? now lets see you doing your 180 flips like seals and dolphins …..chop chop….on the double….
+++++++
yes i am a horrible person….i accept all the criticism…… 🙂
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Evil
October 2, 2013 at 1:00 pm
every word.
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General Pompeii, Al Capone (Sicily is close enough to Naples)…etc…
…your boys took one hell of a beating.
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17 years.
17 more please Arsene.
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Payton Out!
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Ozil/Ramsey, Ozil/Rosicky, Ozil/Cazorla? All fantastic of course. But the combination I especially look forward to is Ozil/Walcott. It has Bergkamp/Ljungberg potential.
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Going bit off topic, I don’t understand while people keep going on about Walcotts technic (which is ever improving). Nobody tried turning Ljungberg into a Pires.
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evil,
this team has a lot of players who can score if they’re in or around the box. what we have lacked in the past is that center forward who can hold the ball up for our not so strong players to come into the box. giroud is doing just that for us.
gone are the days when we play some games without having anyone in opposition area. you just can keep giroud out. as for lewandowski? we are just about to find out.
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i read some of the coments by ian wright commending the team performance yesterday. i wonder if he still believes that suarez moving to arsenal is a step down for him.
i will like it that before this guy talk about arsenal again, he should first appologise for rubish he said in the past. when you are paid to talk, you need to talk sence.
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i hate ian wright and tony adams. i’m sorry, they are arsenal legends but thats me. i prefer if they dont have anything good to say about arsenal, they should just keep quiet.
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Sitting on the Eurostar Pars bound….still feeling….no I will not repeat that f**king song title…..
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haha layksite be careful now……dont want to be called a wenger fan now do you ? … i guess its about class…… na nah na nah na……..
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haha
contain the superlatives for now, there is a lot more to come from them.
a few months back during the middle of last season i posted “fuck the trophies they will come anyway, arsene is building something a lot bigger”.
i am still praying for that to happen..and i am quite positive it will.
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Oh dear, layksite@2.04/13
Did you have to bring up Wright & Adams?
Just last night a Chelsea fan/mate was telling me how Adams is right to extort the virtues of “letting the opposition Know You’re There”. I had to point out that if he bothered to watch full matches, he’d realise that Arsenal players, for years, have been regularly penalised, even when not making bad tackles: Gervinho and Song @Newcastle (2 years ago). Song – numerous times. Indeed, Song was often 1st in the book – often, having won the ball fairly. If we go back further there was a period (at Ems) where it was mainly Arsenal’s black players who quickly went into the book. And yet… the opposition made clear fouls that went unpunished. (Still happens, every game).
Arsenal won the fairplay league last year. Who cares? (Me).
Adams seems to want to manage Arsenal. No, and thrice no. TA, you may be a facilitator (Sporting Chance set up), but you’re not a team manager, and certainly at for Arsenal. You’ve spent too much time slagging off your club. You don’t deserve to even be an ambassador, IMO.
Wrighty (or Wrongy, as I now like to call him), how dare you destroy my memory of you! Ian, the only reason I can fathom for your constant slagging off of Mr Wenger, is that to be part of the broadcasting ‘cleek’, you have to be anti-Arsenal, which you clearly are.
(I know you’re annoyed your son wasn’t bought by Arsenal but it ain’t your job to tell our manager what to do and who to buy). Shame on you.
I saw you last night (briefly) and I thought you looked embarrassed to not be in a position say that Arsenal need ‘this and that player’, and Wenger (whatever moan).
What’s all that trash you wrote in the Sun?, and talk on the radio? Shame on you.
Wrongy & TAdams, along with too many others, have contributed massively to de-stabilising a minority of supposed Arsenal fans. STFU!
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haha ranteta..well said..ill just say that both of em and their ‘football culture & philosophy’ have no relevance in modern football let alone today’s Arsenal.
perhaps the foreigner pires could teach them a thing or two……..shhhhh we were always classy …always ….especially in gg era…class personified….
for adams i suspect its because he was denied any active role to do with managing or coaching and for wright its been like that ever since wenger added brocoli on the diet menu and later on when we told him his son was too crap to play for us……dad’s ego couldnt bear with it…
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“fuck the trophies they will come anyway, arsene is building something a lot bigger”.
yeah but we want trophies dude…we pay the most expensive tickets and arsene and ivan are taking us for a ride all these years..fuck the stadium.we should have stayed at highbury….. and kept playing and paying vieira till his knees get shattered like chelsea does with frank and john ….:)
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We’re the Positive Arsenal!, we’re the Positive Arsenal!
Are we, are we, are we!!
…..over to you, other blogs.
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First team line up:
——————— Olive
Santi————– Özil ————– Theo
———– Aaron ———- Mikel
Gibbs — Kos ———— Per —– Bac
——————— Tech9
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Yesterday’s 4-2-3-1 killed an Italian parked bus. That’s the exact line up I’d play against the shit kickers of the league.
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Thats about it in the absence of Abou Gains.
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all others who got a lucky break with a group of players kept them till their last drop and then couldnt show continuation besides ferguson who had the money.
a constant criticism of wenger and arsenal is that we broke up the invincibles and that big clubs dont do such things…would manchester have ever sold their invincibles to field a bunch of kids? look at chelsea who still plat frank and john to pass on their experience to the rest… ( one can only laugh i suppose)
well …not every club has a Wenger who is a specialist ( and his stuff) in developing players….who have record of doing it again and again at the highest level for more than 3 decades now.
fergie kept giggs and scholes till their forties…lol…and spent 300million on berbatov rooney rio carrick ronaldo tevez anderson nani young valencia jones smalling etc etc…when he saw there is no other charismatic gen coming out he decided to go for a last hurrah with robin and then let dave the bus driver sort the mess out…
i dont know who chose to build the emirates but in wenger we had the only manager who could pull it off thanks to his technical know how of player development.
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for those of you who remember shanon a very intelligent striker who become an absolute clown once he was a pundit. He laid the path for ex footballers who seemed so clever on the pitch to suddenly lose all knowledge of the game once commentating on it. These players will always be legends for what they achieved on the pitch for their clubs but for Shannon, Shearer, Lawro, Smith , Wrighty, Big tone and even spider the red noses and big feet are more appropriate
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gains, the interchange with our creative attacking players is such that I believe we no longer have a first team
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Shotta, nothing will shut those twats up like shoving a trophy down their throats. I would love to see how they react when we win a trophy with this team.
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I see EndofanEra.com over in Jellystone Blogland are clinging on to the hope of a Giroud injury.That will give them the chance for one big “i told you so ” moment.
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hah george….clutching at straws ..is it?
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Gainsbourg69
October 2, 2013 at 4:25 pm
1) they will sya it should have happeend sooner
2) they will say we should have won it more comfortably
3) they will say “finally the club bowed to our pressure”
4) they will say “im sorry i am an arsehole who knows fuck all about football…i was only farting i.e giving my opinion.
4 is the least likely …..any of the 1,2,3 wouldnt surprise me..
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A or B, I think you’re right. I think Arsene is picking teams according to the objectives which need to be met. Take last night’s game, for example. The objective was to get around a parked bus and not concede. Playing Flamini gives the team a defensive solidity which allows the creative players to concentrate on just that. I would imagine Theo would be played under other circumstances. The important thing is we have a squad that can take it to whichever opponent and not relent until they’re defeated.
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George, isn’t it funny how Giroud is so shit, yet so key for the team at the same time?
Soon, that straw will be beyond their grasp as well and they’ll have to become positive about this team and Wenger. Having to take that bitter, bitter medicine is what the most ardent doomers are dreading. Hahahahahahaha.
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Hunter, everything is fresh right now. Wait until this team has won a couple of leagues and a few cups. There will be an inquiry and that’s where names will be named and fingers pointed. Right now I’m just enjoying them slip and sliding in their own shit.
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gains, exactly the myth our squad is harry ( down to the bare bones ) is derisory to the players who have come in, the different ways we approach games ( I think there called tactics although I know we don’t use them) and the way the regulars adapt to the new players ( I think this is called team spirit and leadership but we don’t have that either)
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Gains @ 4:07
For a lot of the game, Sanga was running amok in the Napoli half.
It was more like a 3-2-3-2 at times.
Total flexibility.
Total football.
No tactics -haha.
Gains @ 5:08
“The important thing is we have a squad that can take it to whichever opponent and not relent until they’re defeated.”
Exactly!
Can’t wait for the Liverpool and Man United games now. Not something I can imagine they are looking forward too much.
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AorB – agree, we don’t have a first team but a first squad.
And a mightily dangerous one at that.
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pedantic george
October 2, 2013 at 4:59 pm
and what about the straws clutching in the press ? i guess they are struggling to find things to complain about
-wilshere losing his first 11 place…and that he shoul go to utd to continue his development..ahahah..
-the racism incident with young jack which happened …..last march…lol
Gainsbourg69
October 2, 2013 at 5:25 pm
Right now I’m just enjoying them slip and sliding in their own shit.
oh absolutely id just love to be watching them too while i laugh in their faces calling them wankers and going ‘hahahaha you thought you knew more than wenger didnt you you cunt? hahaha’ …im not perfect, i admit…..i believe in revenge…
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PG
is this the same Giroud who was {according to the experts} totally useless last season?
A typical Wenger second rate cheapskate signing from Ligue 2?
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Can’t wait for the Liverpool and Man United games now. Not something I can imagine they are looking forward too much.
has moyes ever beat wenger?
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Wenger said in the post match interview that at half time he asked them to go out and try to get a third goal, but the team collectively decided that they would freeze out the Italians in the second half.
Amazing.
This team is so fucking mature. So many great leaders.
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Oh, the inhumanity.
The dirty bastards.
Not our pies. This means war.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2440594/Napoli-fans-attack-Arsenal-supporters-rampage-Piebury-Corner-restaurant.html
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the fat guy with the tattoos ate them all…
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Hunter
That’s what Di Canio will look like in 6 months time.
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Arsenal are still 18/1 to win the CL
7/2 is the lowest odds available for the Premier League.
You could have got 20/1 on us in August.
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shottagunna
October 2, 2013 at 10:30 am
It was funny to find ourselves remembering what a Flamini brought to the 07/08 team a few days before he re-signed. I had no idea that he was back training with the squad.
I do think that Song was up to the job, he was/is very well suited to the PL. A shame, but his departure helped clear the decks for the current midfield. I guess it is fair to reflect that was a part of the massive, huge, scary, clear out and rebuild. Can someone remind me what the plan was? erm….*twiddles two opposable thumbs*
Answer: After most of the other teams follow suit.
Same as with the shift from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3ish type set set ups here in Blighty. Although people can be a little bit dogmatic with the 442 fetish, things are moving on. e.g. Everton’s midfield looked tasty with McCarthy in for Fellani (who himself is not a bad player…). But if Moyes and rest of the Slurgussians are happy to play two in midfield against a three that includes, say, the skills of a Sessègnon, then I’m not going to complain! On reflection Arsenal sometimes look like they play a 4-4-1-1 type thing (bear with me here) that morphs into, possibly, a 2-2-2-4. Something like that. I dunno! Safe to say that things are continually evolving.
I remember Moyes’ comments after his last visit with Everton about the “game up Norf”.
He was afraid of this Arsenal team and it’s potential (after CL qualification and the next Carzola/Ozil type signing – if he could see it,then why not the Experts?) before he even took over in Manchester. Stopping AFC getting 4th was a bigger priority for him at that time then getting 4th with Everton. Clearly. We all saw the tactics and the officials that day. No doubt about it. Fortunately, they made it!
And those members of the squad who got us there are now reaping the reward. Hopefully there will be some further reward in the future.
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Finsbury
Brilliant analysis.
Yes, I was sure he was in for the manure job with that Everton performance.
His only intent was to stop Arsenal, not to let Everton try to win the game.
Doing his future masters a massive favour no doubt if he could.
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“In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of pies.”
(Nods head sagely)
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