Today a guest post by @Swales1968
Arsenal, have not played anybody yet?
This is a term Arsenal fans have been forced to listen to from our hypocritical media over the past weeks. So let’s look at a few things
Arsenal, have played four teams in the top ten places winning two, drawing one and losing one. Two have been home (2 wins) and two have been away (draw and a loss). This does look like Arsenal have played nobody yet but let’s look at other top ten teams-
Southampton, have played three top ten teams winning two drawing one; they have yet to play a top ten team at home.
Manchester City, have played four games against top ten teams winning three losing one. The three wins have all been at home
Liverpool, have played five top ten teams winning two, drawing one and losing two. The two games away they drew one and lost one.
Chelsea, have played six games against top ten teams, two at home winning one and drawing one. Four have been away drawing two and losing two.
Manchester United, have played six games against top ten teams, four at home winning one, drawing two and losing one. They have lost both away games to top ten teams
Everton, have played five games against top ten teams, winning two, drawing two and losing one. Four of these games have been at home.
Tottenham, have played four games against top ten teams, drawing two and losing two.
Newcastle, have played five games against top ten teams, winning two drawing one and losing two.
West Brom, have played six games against top ten teams, winning one, drawing three and losing two. Only two have been at home.
When we look at the number of top ten teams, the other nine clubs within the top ten have played can similar questions can be asked of them. We can ask how will Manchester City cope away at the other eight clubs from the top ten they have to play. We can ask will Spurs win against any of the other top ten clubs this season. Manchester United how will they do away from Old Trafford etc
Arsenal and Spurs have played seven games against the bottom half of the table clubs but where is the criticism of the team from White Hart Lane from our media, why again have Arsenal been singled out by Mr Hanson, Mr Shearer and the rest of the media punditry circle for not playing anybody yet.
The media, the hypocritical media are again judging Arsenal by one set of rules and conveniently ignoring these rules when it comes to most other clubs. Their point is a relevant one to a point but not to the point they are making it out to be. Arsenal like all other clubs has to play everybody home and away during the season, it is not Arsenals fault as to how the season fixture wise pans out. Again all I ask is for the media to have balance in its questioning of clubs and how they are doing at this moment in time.
Another quick point on who has played top ten clubs most, four teams have played the top ten clubs seven times these four teams occupy positions Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty and Eleven. The team in eleventh would be lower down the league if the ref had done his job properly against one of the top ten teams!!!!
@Swales1968
Positively Arsenal 
i dont know guys this subject infuriates me….. to me arsenal was a joke club before arsene wenger..i would fall asleep and hate my dad for making me watch a bunch of neanderthals going for the 1-0 bashing the opposition and then being mocked in media with our players hitting the clinics for their alcohol/drug/gambling addictions……. fuck that shit…others identify with tony and paul, i identify with patrick pires and thiery… and anyone trying to convince me that the former are better or more arsenal than the latter then they can fuck off too….
the arsenal fans wanted to give shit to young players not beating drogba while seaman who got lobbed from 50 mtrs out in the dying seconds of a european final is forgotten apparently…….
thats what makes me mad….
graham took money under the table and went to coach tottenham yet wenger who has sacrificed 17 years of his life and career to place Arsenal in the elite of football clubs worldwide is slated like some criminal……
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in the house he built for us, we had morons telling him to fuck off…….
big club my arse…big clubs have big fans too..and big fans appreciate those who have done nothing but good things for them.
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I use to love the indomitable Arsenal – a side who never knew when it was beaten – a defence solid as rock – some great individual talents but my God what a collective strength
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Thanks GP. Good man yourself
Reasoning doesn’t really have any effect with you, does it Hunter. It’s just one of verbal volley after another. By skipping your diatribes there may be some nuggets of truth in there I’m missing, but it’s akin to diving through dog shit in search of pearls. No offence. We can agree to disagree though. There’s a novel idea.
Just to say I have nothing to reproach myself for whatsoever over any treatment of AW, I was defending the great man long before you popped your head above the parapet. If you have any issues with any persons elsewhere, then you really need to take it up with the individuals in question. Or let it go. Nothing to do with me. It’s not, and never was, my f*cking argument. Ta.
Sorry George. I like to read the blog, and leave the occasional meaningless comment, and have done since it’s inception. Always in broad agreement with most of you as well.
Toodle pip.
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And the drinking, the drugs and the gambling ?
Well no one is perfect are they ? Let he who is without sin cast the first stone, as we used to say down the quarry.
I was disappointed with George in respect of his dishonesty
He is Scottish though – Lanarkshire poor – they are all like that – they don’t really believe the success and the income will last. Its a generational ethnic thing
I was also disappointed with the club in respect of the GG dishonesty – when he was caught he should have gone on the same day
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“wenger who has sacrificed 17 years of his life ….”
He would have got less for murder Hunter !
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For those interested here’s the podcast with Keown on coaching, with the comments from Klinsmann:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ctvmw
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Harry
November 19, 2013 at 3:44 pm
with all respect none of my bad language is towards you but towards those who had the audacity to ask for change just cause they couldnt get what the CLUB was going through, therefore i reject your comment.
it was not me who branded open-minded loyal fans as deluded blind followers so if you have any problems with fans divisions take it up with those who started them………
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oh i can take it up with them no problem..but you see they are so brave they ban our comments…..then they talk about democracy…lol….
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and what mark did that collective strength leave on the game….i dont mean england or english football..i mean what mark did that era/team/strength leave in europe/world football ?
you reckon millions around the world switch to watch arsenal because of what tony adams and co were doing or because of the wenger influence
wenger hasnt won shit the last 7-8 years and his club is looked up as a blueprint of how football companies should be run.
the results he has achieved while spending peanuts and having to rely on inexperienced youth is a bigger mark left in world football than anything the gg era accomplished. but you see ..we havent won a silver cup for the fans who want sundays at wembleys for the sausage pies and pints ….. 🙂
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Harry (12.44 pm)
I also agree entirely with your sentiments.
Whilst I firmly believe AFC to be a cut above the rest, our fanbase, alas, is as flakey and inconsistent as the fanbase of most other clubs.
The nature of modern life is such that we all have access to a stage of some sort and are able to surrender our views as hostages to fortune at the drop of a hat. Some of us are genuinely remorseful when we get something wrong, some don’t give a s**t. Others don’t think they are wrong at all.
Attempting to wage war on those we disagree with rarely benefits the club as discord and division are invariably seized upon by our opponents as symptoms of a club in disarray.
A club unified, however, is that much harder to attack, whether it’s by fans of other clubs, players or writers of one sort or another.
We should continue to call out the idiotic, but equally recognize we have a role to play in helping to create the unstoppable juggernaut we all think our club deserves to be.
And let us all here remember to be true to our roots, as being positively, Arsenal.
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“and what mark did that collective strength leave on the game”
I thought it had to do with watching good football, good players, winning games, lifting the odd trophy, even the odd European trophy, beating Spurs from time to time – I have to say the 21 man punch up in the middle of Trafford Park took a bit of beating for entertainment
However in order for me to enjoy, to recognise it as ‘good’, it had to leave a MARK on the game – and not in English football but WORLD and EUROPEAN FOOTBALL
Thank Gawd you explained that to me Hunter – I have seen the light
There was me watching all that football for all those years not understanding it had to leave a mark
Well (between us Hunter) it left a mark on me and that is what matters imo – not whether some Albanian peasant or Ecuadorian bus driver has been recently moved
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“wenger hasnt won shit the last 7-8 years and his club is looked up as a blueprint of how football companies should be run.”
Are you sure you are not confusing us with Dortmund – or Bayern maybe ?
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How the fuck did we arrive here again?
Harry,you need not apologise to me.I admire your stance,Georgaki and Andrew’s too.I just dont feel the same.Betrayal because of stupidity is not something I am prepared to put behind me.
As I said,when the culprits hold their hands up,then perhaps,and only then will I consider a truce.First though they have to admit what they did and accept they caused divisions where none had previously existed.
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Anicoll5,Its hard to have a club in England run along the lines of a German club.Different rules and conditions dont you know?
Hunter is right on this one,in England we are head and shoulders above the rest as far as running a club is concerned.
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thats all very good anicoll but when we talk about international standards and the elite of world football, arsenal had no claim in such areas until wenger took over and made us think and act that way.
for some to demand that we return to being kings of the village instead of expanding our talents and ambitions in the big city is in my eyes wrong…thats all.
yes i also identify with comical heroes of panathinaikos that youve neevr even ehard of them even though they may have slapped teams like arsenal or even better than arsenal in their between encounters… or how i bet arsenal fans hold thier club in higher prestige even though one was playing the european final at wembley in 71 and lost to cruyff’s ajax while the arsenal fan was celebrating the ‘triumph’ of some curly moustached folk hero……
you may ot care about the albanian and equadorian …neither do i..but i meant more the universal respect coming from highly more sophisticated football nations than england in the form of italy germany spain etc etc…..
it is not about wenger making you famous to albanians and equadorians but the fact he made traditional football powerhouses to turn and take notice of arsenal…..lets not confuse marketing of a brand with the football and organisation philolosphy wenger brought to arsenal.
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I do know George, or more properly I should admit to knowing jack-shit actually about how German clubs are run and the regulatory system behind it – presumably there are a few total basket cases in the Federal Republic too so it cant just be the system.
However Hunter points out in his 4.31 comment it is the WORLD and EUROPEAN stage that is important not England
I cant resist it – I am sly
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The Arsenal have faced Dortmund 4 times in the last 3 years: P4 W2 D1 L1.
Conveniently for the above link to Keown’s work Paul included a list of coaches with top qualifications in the different powerhouses of European Football (Steve Clardidge’s response to this stat on 5Live has to be heard to be believed). France’s current malaise resembles those Dutch squads that crumbled under the weight of various Egos (they still have a few left), of course it’s still a team game and of course it was the Dutch school that all these different nations, including Belgium except Britain, have now adopted. Simples!
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However Hunter points out in his 4.31 comment it is the WORLD and EUROPEAN stage that is important not England
and what is wrong with that? you reckon liverpool is respected and followed around the world because they won it 19 times or whatever or because they won the other ONE 5 times?
since when is what happens in england the measurement of the prestige of a football club in the world ?
here is another area that i can expand into…..but it wont be nice….. ill talk about chips on shoulders and confusing national identities with a sport…..
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ill put it this way anicol….20 years ago you could not sit on a table with a barcelona a milan or madrid or a juve fan and talk about football…you would have nothing to say to them.
now though ?…… 😉
who is mainly responsible for that? our history? our tradition? our north london pedigree?…..
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Enough with the smiley faces,they are banned .
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😦
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_o_o_
….
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I dunno George, you are right, it always seems to come back to this. Probably my fault for not letting it pass without comment. I won’t get drawn on the subject again. Scouts honour (Dunno why I said that. I wasn’t in the scouts for more than a day. Couldn’t really be doing with all that “dib dib dob” shit….)
As is usually the case I wholeheartedly agree with Andrew’s sentiments on the subject. Well said that man.
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You lot are like my little dog,she does not take a blind bit of notice of anything I say either.
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“ill put it this way anicol….20 years ago you could not sit on a table with a barcelona a milan or madrid or a juve fan and talk about football…you would have nothing to say to them.”
Really Hunter – why would I not be able to talk about football with them ?
I can talk about football with Spuds fans, Chels, even QPR – and did you see Brackley last night – magnificent – if I knew a Brackley fan I would but him or her a drink
What you may be alluding to is that 20 years ago I could not give it THE BIG I AM about my football club as we did not play these clubs regularly – and now we do.
Now whether the likes of Madrid or Barca fans actually think a club that has never won the CL or EC, and only been to one final, is sufficiently big to speak to I don’t know. Juve and AC Milan ? Well they have a lot of work to do these days. No good living on past glories some might say.
I suppose it would depend on whether they wanted to talk about football or give it THE BIG I AM
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The depressing thing of course is there would be a bloody Chelsea fan there too, parking his bus across the conversation
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Bastard Chavs
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Thanks Fins
Poznan’s blog is always excellent, and he hit the nail squarely on the head in comparing Dortmund [a very good club] to Arsenal.
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Sweden or Portugal – Ronnie or Ibra ?
I think tonight I am going Viking
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Finsbury I cant find that link,can you be more specific?
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Hunter
You do rile folks here sometimes that are older than you and remember the pre-Wenger era. As a convert to the true faith, you are a bity more zealous than most.
(and PG too!).
Yes, we had polio, gas lamps, a firm and witch burnings back in those days – but we had our moments of fun too. You might accuses us of having too much fun and not enough total football.
I get your point entirely that Arsene Wenger has moved the club so far forward in terms of the football and the running of the club, but many of our rivals just spent the extra billion or two to achieve similar results without a man like Wenger.
I am happy Arsenal did it our (the Arsenal) way with a man like Wenger. The project is not fully completed, and I hope he stays long enough to make sure the club is in good hands for generations to come.
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The programme with Keown? Try this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03hwsr5
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DC,I suspect I am longer in the tooth than you.
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anicoll
It’s the lesser of two evils for me too.
Go team Zlatan!
It’s the least they can do to qualify, after knocking the Paddies out.
I expect the Germans will not be too bothered to make much of an effort tonight, otherwise old stevie g’s reputation would be destroyed as a modern midfielder.
What’s left of his reputation, anyway.
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Yes but what do I click on when I get there?
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Correction to my own comment on everyone adopting the Dutch template. Whilst that is true (mustn’t forget the pitches, not just coaches…) I also remember hearing comments that Ze Germans had looked around to see who was playing their favourite football at the time, for further inspiration, which turned out to be Arsenal (and Utd in their earlier and possibly less compromised days). This further highlights the negligance of our own FA:
http://www.itv.com/sport/football/article/2013-11-19/former-arsenal-goalkeeper-jens-lehmann-credits-jurgen-klinsmann-for-implementing-english-style-in-german-national-team/
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The Germans always make an effort DC, damn them – I expect their second string, all of whom will be keen to get Low on side, to be right on their game tonight
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The word ‘Chelsea’ appears in that article Fins ??
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PG
you probably are, but you hadn’t been suckered into the whole Arsenal ’till I die lifestyle since 1978.
Fucking Ipswich Town! The fluky bastards.
That set the bar of low expectations for me for a decade.
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PG
On a pc there is a player that you can just click on and scroll forward five minutes till after the news. Otherwise try Monday Night Club (18.11.13 – from 19.00) on a BBC Iplayer (radio) search. Programme presented by the blagging plundit Mark Chapman (it’s his picture staring back at you from the player window if you can see it).
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Anicoll,
Just ignore the Chelsea bit.
–
In fairness for me the first title winning team from Gazprom-upon-Chelsea with Robben and Duff were not too awful. Only after the special one pissed off his flair players through poor man management and they left were Chelsea unbelievably awful and bland.
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PG
I was referring to your zealotry, not age!
Nothing wrong with a bit of zeal, just as long as it doesn’t involve a last minute video to loved ones.
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double canister
November 19, 2013 at 5:58 pm
no mate youre getting the wrong idea and you will force me to make one of them ridiculous car examples to get the point across….( banned smile) …yes it may have been nice to run around the circuits of silverstone with the vauxhaul but now we are racing in monaco and dubai and singapore with a machine that is vastly superior in all aspects etc etc…..
i do not deny anyone his fun or whatever it is that drawed him to the magic of Arsenal but i will not tolerate bullshit that this club was bigger or ever had it better than with Arsene Wenger at the helm.
Also i would liek for once an older arsenal fna to tell me why is it that no other ownership regime or managerial setup ever placed us in the positions of influence and strentgh we enjoy as a club today. what was holding arsenal back all them decades before the frenchman ?
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Finsbury
The gas guzzling fuckers turned Duff from a gifted winger into a full back!
They turned Robben into the nasty turd bucket that he still is.
A gifted turd bucket though.
I hate to admit it bit when they weren’t playing us I could like Zola and Di Mattaeo.
And Desailley was pure class – how Wenger missed out on him, I don’t know.
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Reading through today’s comments I think it’s safe to say that we’re clucking like smack heads for Saturdays game aren’t we? Oh,and I love Harry Flowers! And you to H13!
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I don’t think we are in a position of any more influence than we ever were Hunter ? Who do you think we have influenced ?
I don’t think we are in a position of any more strength than we were ? Richer – certainly but lots of clubs are richer – The fans are hardly cowed by the strength of the club and yap interminably, the media – most have very little respect ? I know the club has little strength in relation to controlling or dictating to its players
So where is all the strength ? Please explain to this poor old Arsenal fan
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Hunter
Ok
I never said, nor do I think that pre-wenger was better than 17 years of Arsene at the helm. I’m not one of the IWMOAB bunch and nor is anyone else here.
It was just different and it was mainly Domestic – It was very difficult to get into Europe. Especially from the English league.
If you ask what was holding Arsenal’s ambition back for so long? you may get many answers.
Our board has had too many of the old and fuddery duddery types [ETON chappies, Bank of England, and the like] for decades, then David Dien bought a nice chunk of the shares for what was in relative terms buttons nowadays for a slice of a club.
One he got involved in the 80’s things started to improve quickly, then the other key active board members decided to push the club forward as well, very soon afterwards the stadium plans and Wenger’s appointment came.
It certainly wasn’t a ‘fuck you’ letter from Robin Van fucking Persie.
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anicoll…you dont feel pep klopp or lowe and germany follow/copy wenger football ideals and see how he does it….even ajax now tries to copy a bit of wenger….
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I think we can all agree Arsene has been a huge influence for the good.
We seem to be arguing as to just how big it has been.
You see I dont think he has been Arsenals greatest manager,I think he has been THE greatest manager,anywhere,ever.
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