This post was a comment by foreverheady on a previous post about the City game. It deserves its own space.
I thought the linesman was as much of a problem as the ref, but maybe we have to learn not to hope that tight 50/50s don’t go against us, as they always seem to. The timing of the game (three in slightly less than six days) didn’t help either, nor the fact that that they were a team of fully mature internationals on a home roll. But whichever way you look at it, we still lost and it ended up as a bit of a lesson.
Most successful teams (either sporting or commercial) tend to go through a form, storm, reform process, and I hope that we will do just this. The team that began to be formed last season and which was then almost fully formed by 02.09.13 has done very nicely. It has come through some difficult moments, it has been tested, and it has risen to the top of the League and qualified for the last 16. I suspect many involved with the club (players, coaches, investors and supporters) would have settled for that 03.03.13: I suspect even more strongly that any of our current darling pundits would have laughed such a suggestion out of court.
But, the fact remains that we have just come up short against Everton, Napoli and Manchester City. I think we also saw some tensions between the players emerge, and we also saw the manager openly dismayed and angered by some of the misses and some of the defending. I suspect that the dressing room was an interesting place to be after the game – and I very much hope that the training ground is an even more interesting place over the next few days. Players need to ask questions of each other, just as they need to ask questions of the manager and he of them. They need to feel happy that everyone is pulling their weight and that everyone is fully committed to the project. There needs to be a proper storm, because if there isn’t then we will all know that we are happy to be very, very good, but not world-class.
But out of that storm will come a much stronger team (as I suspect happened in the aftermath of 03.03.13) because the players that are with the project will step up again. They will demand more of their team mates, and crucially they will demand more of themselves, if they truly want to reach the summit. My money is on them to do just that, but only if they realise that they are not there yet. I have a horrible feeling that they had begun to believe the hype, but Everton, Napoli and City provided timely reminders that the hype was just that. We will look back on this last week with real gratitude over the next five years as this squad go on to show just what they can really do.
Positively Arsenal 
Where are you miserable bastards?
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Interesting comment and a very mature assessment.
Though I am not sanguine about losing 6:3 to City, or any other team for that matter, I am not in the camp of those inclined to navel gaze and wail “beware of the ides of March” (or December for that matter) instead I prefer to believe we came up against a perfect storm in the unlikely guise of duff officials, a quality team unnaturally full of confidence, and the loss through injury of arguably our best defender, neatly wrapped up in a stupid confluence of strength sapping top games, sandwiched in a suicidally tight 6 day timetable.
We got things wrong admittedly, but so did City, and on another day both teams could have conceded 8 goals and if it were possible to cast off out mantle of devout followers of the Arse it was an absolutely spanking game of football, and something the real unaffiliated connoisseurs of such things will rightly regard as an early Xmas present.
Let’s not look back at Xmas past, or indeed Xmas present but stoically to Xmas future because there is a lot that augurs well for this team and for us the fans too in the New Year! 🙂
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still reading GP Juniors work!
And probably twittering like crazy fools over this morning’s news.
AVB – not a surprise, but wrong. Can’t they have the decency to wait until the Hammers and us knock them out of more competitions?
BM, wrong but not a surprise.
They are beatable. Their league is too easy.
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We’re still top of the league and two of our biggest goal threats are making their way back into the team. I say well done, Mr. Wenger and the boys for having accomplished what you have thus far. On to Chelski. If we can play a bit better than Crystal Palace did on saturday, we can expect a win.
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Henry B, I likened those difficult seven days to a rogue wave.
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I agree with the sentiment of the post, but I think fatigue has been the main issue, not complacency. The BFG looked just a little leggy when Higgy turned to shoot the other day. Our squad does not have fuel injection, the extra day made a difference.
Mini rant alert:
“Change” that was the theme a few weeks ago for the malcontents. The reason it was so dissapointing to hear such lameness was that we knew that following any dip it would be the same old same old, “waaaaah, that silly old Venger hasn’t changed, his teams get bullied because Danny Mills said so” type gibberish. So predictable. And boring.
Three months of good form = “Change”
Two defeats = “nothing has changed”
Craven.
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Agrero out for a month!
That was a huge risk by City playing him against us.
shows how desperate they were to beat us.
As for the tinies – what, where & who are Dnipro?
Just shows you how a club who ‘listens to their fans’ is run.
Who exactly spent the fack’in money at the lane?
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ok analysis there foreverheady…
wassup PG,
my take is that we needed (& will need) more rotation for Ramsey, Ozil, Gibbs/Sagna & Per/Kos positions earlier than the Napoli & Shitty games.
Freshness is the key AW tends to gamble with more than not.
The Shitty spank didn’t feel so bad to me considering that Oz & Rambo were basically shadows, Jack was off-colour, it was Theo & Sagna’s first starts in “eons”, and messrs. Mozart, Santi & Arteta didn’t even feature.
We still scored THREE with ease, no wonder Pellegrini was a tad perturbed.
Their CMs were in heaven because for the first time in a long time they were free to express themselves. A balanced fresh Arsenal will smack a balanced fresh Shitty anytime.
ON to Bayern….wow, what a rematch.
UEFA always uses us to try to upend the best team of the moment
Should be a cracker of a tie.
One we can win if we are at full strength.
Till 2014
Poor AVB….poor dumb AVB
bought too many of the same type of player
tried too hard to change spud traditional formation
had too much money to spend
has too little no how in the bigger order of things
could have been undermined but should have known better
The Spuds ain’t nothing but a 2nd rate outfit
Profit matters most to Levy & co.
CL my arse!
RASERS…
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“Where are you miserable bastards?”
I am showing my solidarity with Demetri Comrade
I see Spuds have seized their opportunity to become London’s most larfed at club for another season – there are times when I really, really wonder whether Levy is not a highly skilled placement from AFC who had been infiltrated many years ago, years before he took over as Chairman and CEO, to clamber up the THFC hierarchy.
Originally the plan was to have an insider well placed to inform us of their latest plans and schemes but through some monstrous stroke of fate he suddenly found himself in the top job.
And in the 12 years since he has played a blinder, every time they advance one step, he sends them back two. He sells their best players, replaces them with dogs, sacks every decent manager. Even on one occasion slipping poison into the lasagne.
If Kim Philby had been in football ……………………………Send for Smiley
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another dumb move by AVB was to
loan out Assou-Ekotto. For Danny Rose?
Must have been a salary slash thang…
Q : what players will the Spuds be offloading btw Jan & the summer that could interest us?
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So is everyone commenting here now?
Thanks for the copy paste of my comment PG.
Great comment/post by foreverheady. We will see title winning character of this team now. Also, kudos to Georgaki’s son. It is nice to see young reasoned people.
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DC
The football gods have answered my prayers! What price Abu Dhabi’s victory over Arsenal? They have a big squad but with FC Suarez coming up for them I hope their victory is as costly as Utds. Suarez will also be taking on the Gazprom squad in a few days, that ban has given him good rest after the Copa. Fatigue and fitness: very important!
Suarez could still turn out to be the player that wins the league for Arsenal! Heh.
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“Q : what players will the Spuds be offloading btw Jan & the summer that could interest us?”
My first thought was ‘Are you out of your mind ?’ Aman. The only position we are looking to fill is a second striker and Tottingham’s have absolutely no-one who ticks any boxes in that regard.
Across midfield we have plenty of quality and no one in their squad is outstanding, wingers ditto
All four of our full backs I rate as any one of theirs
Centre backs we have three better than theirs
However they do have some good players, players who a few months back I could have welcomed at the Grove, Paulinho, Eriksen, even Lamela ( who must be having a wtf sort of day today)
And don’t laugh but Kaboul I have always thought a decent footballer – good enough to be a 4th centre back with us
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Q : what players will the Spuds be offloading btw Jan & the summer that could interest us?
has got to be dawson
🙂
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That Kyle Walker is a particular favourite Hunter
What a player
What a total arse
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I ♥* Dawson
* Gareth Bale™
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Chelsea,West Ham,Newcastle & Cardiff- 10/12 points from that lot over Xmas puts us on the pigs back.
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LMAO NEGATIVE SPIRALS AND SHITT..AHAHAH//SO DRUNK..
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mmm we got bayern in champions league huh…mmmm very nice…. shiiiiiiitttt. 😛
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Mel
9 plus the 35 we’ve got would put Arsenal in a great position after playing all teams once.
I see no reason why Arsenal could get a similar points haul in 2014 when we play all the teams again.
If any other team fancy getting 85 to 88 points this season to win the league, good luck because I know Arsenal can.
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anicoll5
December 16, 2013 at 4:04 pm
to be faeir…only dembele as a aletrnatibeve fotr diawbby if he dont makeeew it.
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woohooo …manbure-olympiakos…hope theybreak the previoss wur recdrd juve-oly 7-0 ..muahhaa
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la la la la girouuuuuud
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should we bid for robin in january ? 🙂
hahaha
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levy the usinessman right..sells his best player….doesnt save for stadium….then technical director conducts the transfers and wastes it all …and manager gets the sack? just 3 months in the season? muahaha mabition
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Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Levy gave Hoddle a large wedge, he brought in half a dozen new players and then sacked him in October
Levy gave Jol a large wedge which he spent over the Summer, Jol duly brought in a 5-6 new players, then the chairman sacked him in October
Ramos ? Aided and abetted by Commoli Juande spent the f££££££g lot on new players, and exactly the same result – he went at the end of September
And now Villas-Boas
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Absolutely delighted with the draw – this is what the CL is all about, pitting ourselves against the very best in Europe – and they really are the very best
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I like your choices anicoll5,…Paulinho, Lamela & Ericksen are good players, and I expect Levy will never allow the latter 2 develop and will sell asap, though I don’t see him getting 30m for Lamela.
“levy the usinessman right..sells his best player….doesnt save for stadium….then technical director conducts the transfers and wastes it all …and manager gets the sack? just 3 months in the season? muahaha mabition”
..does smell rather fishy hunter13…hmm?
Levy is clearly unfit to run a truly forward-thinking PL club.
LEVY OUT!…LEVY OUT I say!
wonder who they’ve got on tap to replace AVB.
wonder what the likes of Vertonghen, Salgado, Paulinho, Ericksen, Lamela, Holtby, Dembele & Chadli are thinking about their ball club now?
…especially Jan “I-don’t-want-to-play-DM-for-perenial-CL-seeded-red & white-team” Vertonghen.
..what a doozy
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on Bayern, should be fantastic.
especially if we are still both on top of our leagues by Feb 19.
before that CL clash, we’ve got:
– C.Palace (2nd @H)
– Liverpool (8th @A)
– Man Utd (12th @H)
– FA cup 5th (15th @?)
going to need ALL available players (& fans) on deck!
Any possible roles for the likes of Frimpong, Ryo, Diaby (for the 2nd leg), Sanogo, Zelalem…Park?
…though I expect most will be out on loan or sold in Jan
kinda doubt anyone’s coming in Jan.
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Excellent analysis – bang on, foreverheady. I also saw it as Henry B calls it, a perfect storm. This would always be difficult – we needed not to be at a disadvantage to start with. Although I also agree that fatigue both mental and physical was more of an issue than complacency. I think the pressure might be getting to the boys a little. However, the break of nine days is almost like their winter break and will give them time to recover physically, regroup and decide how much they want this title. And my hunch is that the answer will be, a lot.
And let’s all laugh at Tottenham. Ahahahahahahaha!
Was it Levy or who chose the players?
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“Levy or AVB”, I meant
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“Aguero out for a month! That was a huge risk by City playing him against us.
shows how desperate they were to beat us.”
I think they’ll do alright without Aguero if they can get their midfield to contribute with goals. Otherwise, they’re going to struggle against teams that park the bus.
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Finsbury: “The football gods have answered my prayers! What price Abu Dhabi’s victory over Arsenal? They have a big squad but with FC Suarez coming up for them I hope their victory is as costly as Utds.”
I was thinking that too. Perhaps Arsene looked at the fixture list and decided freshness was more important than the three points at City. I expect to see a completely different line up against Chelski.
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Well, despite playing our third game in under 6 days;
Despite normally reliable players having a shared off day quite possibly as a result of that manic schedule;
Despite the worst refereeing and the worst linesmaning performance since Dowd’s Newcastle Special;
Despite two incorrectly ruled out AFC goals;
Despite the stonewallest penalty shout since stone walls were first erected, not being given;
Despite Milner, already 5 goals to the good doing the old trailing leg routine to win a penalty with a manoeuvre that would have seen Eduardo and all his family crucified;
Despite incorrect corner kicks and throw-ins repeatedly awarded to Team Manchester …
Arsenal STILL scored three goals at the You’vebinhad Stadium, a place where only 15 goals had been conceded in the last fifteen games.
THAT is the real story behind the headlines.
And that is one more reason why Bayern Munich will tread warily in the next round of the CL.
And why my disdain of those STILL out to knock our great club continues to grow, week in, week out.
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@ArsenalAndrew at 8:03 pm
Brilliant, that’s what I want to read…..
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Gervinho is making the Milan defence look stupid.
Hatem Ben Arfa is better than Lamela and Ericksen. So no, I don’t think we need to rummage through the Spuds’ squad. I’d even take Jason Puncheon before Lamela and Ericksen.
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I can assure you
We never ‘rummage’
!
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What an odd injury to Koscielny –
At the time it looked like nothing –
Kosc appeared hardly to notice it –
I assume Negredo must have put his stud into his knee
I can’t understand why it was such a deep cut ?
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Totti on at the San Siro ? – in a minute maybe – a real character who has performed as a creative attacking midfielder at the highest level year after year
He was not quite bright enough to avoid Keown engineer his red card at Highbury
Still ……
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Totti on – Gervinho having a lovely game
Strootman a very capable tall ball playing midfielder
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Strootman I like.
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Yes I was wondering about the injury to Kos – from the pic I saw, it looked like one of those lethat ‘blade’ type boots; really should be an inquest.
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Inquest???? Hes not fucking dead is he??? Shit ,what have I missed.?
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What clever fellows those Winston Smith types are in the media and blogging ‘verse.
… So NOW it was obvious spending £109,000,000 on a dozen new un-tried players was WRONG and coming up with new high-tec tactics and continental training systems was never going to work at a true English bulldog club.
Thank the seven heavens that crusty old stubborn Wenger never listens to the fans, eh?
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PG
I’ve written something.
It’s going to be a long week so you might need some filler material.
You have my gmail account, don’t you from wordpress?
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Years gone by could have ended up gangrenous Georgio …
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DC I will try it and send you my Email ,let me know if you get it .
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Yes I did, thanks.
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Interesting comments from Alan Sugar on Arsene Wenger, I don’t think those who believe the manager has too much power will like to hear it:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01nj6n5
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@ finsbury
Alan Sugar is a sensible man. he comes across as far more likeable than on The Apprentice.
And from what he says it appears that AVB was heavily involved in choosing those players and opting to bring in so many. He seems to have taken the Football Manager approach to building a team. Overall they would have been better off sticking with the team they had and using the Bale windfall as the seed money to fund a new or improved stadium.
I don’t exactly feel sorry for AVB but he definitely has a lot of talent. His fatal flaw is his arrogance. He doesn’t seem to acknowledge that he has a lot to learn. Still….ahahahahahahahahaha
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