Round and round we go …
I have to admit that this transfer window has left me drained and disappointed.
Not because of anything the club has or hasn’t done, but because once again the atmosphere has turned sour. The mood surrounding the club in no way reflects our excellent league and multiple cup positions, or indeed our form over the last 12 months. Anyone would imagine we were out of all the cups, fighting relegation.
Seriously, how the hell has this happened?
If you are not happy now, what will make you happy?
To me it feels like it did before the Aston Villa game, almost a disaster waiting to happen. A huge wave of negativity that could swamp the team and drown our collective high hopes. I just hope we score early and the pressure does not build up and overwhelm everyone. It’s not fair. I don’t want to feel like this. I want to be happy and eager to see the team. Yet if anything, I want to keep the fans as far apart from the team as possible.
Not the ideal way in which to show our support.
There seems to be little room for manoeuvre when it come to team selection. Whatever happens we will see two of the three midfielders not fully match fit. It’s that bad.
As you will have gathered by now I am feeling anything but positive.
I still expect an Arsenal win, but the fear of failure is weighing me down like an anchor with hundreds of negative bloggers and tweeters pulling it down. I don’t like it one little bit.
Roll on 4 pm Sunday, roll on another 3 points.
Roll on the return of the Arsenal feel good factor.
Positively Arsenal 
No need for despair. We knew all along that AW won’t buy anyone if the player won’t really strengthen the team’s prospects of winning a title(s) and he won’t risk upsetting the team chemistry and balance for a quick fix the knee-jerk fanboys are screaming for.
Yes we got few injuries, the latest one with KK not funny either, but more than that counts the players coming out with purpose and get fans support with purpose as well.
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My despair is only at the attitude of the vocal fans.
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We are in a great position – 1 point is nothing. we have 4 home games, including Bayen. We have not been in a position like this for a long time, the squad are playing well – we are always going to have a poor game but we stuck at it and pulled out a point, e.g. Southampton. The squad is playing well and we need to continue with the high energy in midfield. I also believe Ozil will start firing now, he will make a difference for the rest of the season – in that sense it will be like adding a brand new star to the team. Cant start with negativity now its a pivotal point in our season. I also think majority of gunners will not. We made a serious attempt to get a superstar in but it is not easy to bring in a star in Jan window. E.g. Chelsea need a fwd – why did they not get in Diego – blast the transfer fees and bring him in. No clubs wants to sell their players not now anyway. Happy 3 points this afternoon guys! COYG!
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A true indictment on the fans today. As our players run out on the pitch the place should be rocking but if we don’t score within ten minutes I think the moaners will start. While the keyboard warriors moan about players leaving they fail to support them when most it is needed. If your fellow players are being moaned out or booed or your manager slagged from the stands when your near the top of the league, why would you then think that is a conducive atmosphere to play in. After man city topping us for the first time in ages the support should be at its greatest, like when a marathon runner hits the wall thats when he needs the most encouragement to push through it until he can run free again. Unfortunately our home crowd somehow believe that when our team are low swearing, slagging and moaning will make the players fly, how stupid can you get.
We are playing one of the division’s in form sides, no matter what there position is in the league, and they are managed by one of our pantomime villain enemies in pulllis. This at time we have suffered injuries and suspensions, is this our wall maybe, if so any true supporters going to the game need to shout our hearts out for the lads. COYG
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Dont worry george. It will be a good game. The Arsenal are playing!
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Hear you PG. And given Wengers rescent quote about patient fans I think there are some real fear at the top that the negativity might derail our winning campaign. It’s all very sad really. Let’s hope the players are strong enough for this. And you know what, there is reason to believe they are, considering their achievements past year despite the negativity. But really thou, who are all these ppl, do they have a common trait, we know the symptoms, maybe there is a cure, like a solid bitch slap or something.
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The rejection of despair is the midwife of victory George, the cord of defeatism must be cut.
I am off to the game in a minute, lovely sunny morning, onwards and upwards,
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As usual George, nail, hammer, head.
Like many, I have several ‘environments’ in which I follow Arsenal specifically and football in general: here at PA, Twitter, actually in football grounds (mainly the Ems) and with friends/colleagues who support Arsenal or any number of other clubs including our biggest rivals, plus Tottenham, Manure and the rag-tag of other also-rans.
On a sliding scale, I’ve generally found Arsenal fans occupy one of three ‘supporting’ positions: top 20% very positive, bottom 20% very negative and the remaining 60% sitting somewhere in between the two ends, generally open-minded and reactive to events in a very loose adaptation of the 80:20 rule. From time-to-time, that middle 60% are prone to shifting temporarily towards either end of the scale. The end of last summer’s transfer window saw a sudden and prolonged shift towards the positive as a combination of the Ozil effect and terrific playing form saw the bottom 20% isolated and marginalised.
Until Friday, and the closure of the latest transfer window, the last time this bottom 20% had had something to shout about whilst enjoying the tacit support of the middle 60% was the aftermath of the Villa game. Though there was widespread disappointment with the result at Old Trafford, those propagating a hyper-critical agenda against the club failed to really gain traction amongst the 60% for their dismal cause.
That they can be so easily silenced by the symbolism of a marquee signing and the reality of a few good wins should encourage us all to realise that a win against Crystal Palace today will see the bottom-dwellers again on their way back to their shadowy caves of doom.
That they will attempt to re-emerge at the first sign of set-back is as predictable as night follows day. Only a total collapse in form and a reversal of our overall progress will see them remain in the sunshine for any prolonged period of club bashing. Though they may bank on the club failing to win trophies, my gut feeling is that, given the nature of our progress both on and off the pitch, the detractors are unlikely to see long-term gains to their tawdry, motley collection of doom-mongers.
So take heart, George, get back on your sunshine bike and pedal hard like the mad, crazy sprinter that you are.
We’re right there, alongside you.
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Hard to believe the doom & gloomers are actually supporters of the Club. They are the minority but like empty vessels they make the most noise!
Whatever happened to ‘Victory through Harmony’?
Stay positive, George….those of us who just enjoy passionately supporting our club need you!!
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Good man George.
Had a quick look at twatter the other day, against my better judgement, and whilst I wasn’t expecting it be an oasis of rationality, there were folks on there literally incandescent with rage about this Kallstrom malarky. Flinging their own shit about the room, in a metaphorical sense, and for some of ’em perhaps, in a very literal sense. I keep thinking there must be something I’m missing, that I’m looking at it this wrong way, as I can barely muster a shrug of the shoulders. Maybe I’m not trying hard enough. #SacktheboardManagerTealady
All very depressing.
Anyway, looking forward to the game. The return of the Pubis. Should be fun. Three points and top of the league again. Oh yes.
Arsenal.
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George, that is the downside of fighting the good fight on Twitter. The negativistas seem to have quite a foothold there. I’m hoping Andrew’s 60% will look up long enough to see where we are in the table and focus on supporting the guys who are on the pitch. I’ll be doing my bit from the North Bank today – Come On You Gunners!
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The thing is, it is funny! The bleating has evolved beyond pastiche and into self-parody.
Those attempting to claim that Özil was a fluke signing are ignoring the tapping up whilst he was still at Germany pre-Madrid, denying that other clubs were in for him like PSG, ignoring the Bale equation and Geoff’s little nugget regarding the timing of the medical (3 weeks before transfer DDay). That’s quite a checklist to get through! It must take some effort. They want Vengar gone and they want him gone at any cost no doesn’t matter that the club can go back top today over a squad that cost an easy half a billion. The clue is in the name for some: “Le Groan”, methinks they don’t like frogs legs.
You couldn’t make it up. Except they do.
They want a sugar daddy. Very few of these experts appear to have the guts to admit that that is what they want. Maybe then the club could spend say £15M on a thirty eight year old ‘keeper with one season left in him, and the bleating would then stop? Fat chance!
Craig Bellamy was talking about Cardiff fans booing their own players before half time yesterday. He said something like, “maybe that’s modern football, but it’s not for me” (translation from Welsh: “these people are idiots who don’t have a clue about the game”). And he is right.
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Don’t let the punks get to you GEORGE. they will use any reason and any opportunity to feel emboldened and to divert attention. Don’t forget that their ultimate goal isn’t winning anything. Its changing the main players (managment) and the whole culture of the club. they could care less about a tin cup or two. Their rage would not die down until everything about the club changes and soon. The rest is just excuses.
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I’m really looking forward to the game today. It’s an 11.00am KO over here on Super Bowl Sunday.
So, it’s going to be a great day of sport for me. TV coverage of the Super Bowl reminds of the FA Cup when I was a kid and the whole day was wall to wall coverage.
NYC is a Super Bowl circus but I’m all for it even though the game is actually being played across the river in New Jersey!
COYG
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“They want Vengar gone and they want him gone at any cost”
This is the crux of the matter Fins. They want us to be a sugar daddy club and feel that Arsene is holding us back. As long as he can perform miracles on a limited budget, there is no incentive for the Board to sell out to an oily gangster. What they don’t get is that we could continue the self-sustaining approach and without him, the outcome could be very different. Be careful what you wish for indeed!
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“The detractors are unlikely to see long-term gains to their tawdry, motley collection of doom-mongers.
So take heart, George, get back on your sunshine bike and pedal hard like the mad, crazy sprinter that you are.
We’re right there, alongside you.”
Nice one Andrew…
And spot on George, you’re not alone.. COYG
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I don’t expect people who perhaps unwittingly desire to see football clubs used as laundry baskets* for offshore conglomorates to be supportive towards a football club.
*”i will demand, for years just in case there is any doubt, that the club should have spent £15M on a 38 year old ‘keeper no matter how stupid or gullible such a claim will make me appear to be. I will then accuse any who disagree with me as being a cultists.”
Not embarrassing. Not in the slightest!
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What part of world cup year don’t these idiots get? No one with any world cup ambitions is going to take the risk of sitting on the bench this late in the season.
Fin, they want a sugar daddy and they make no bones about it. Like a person dreaming about winnng the lottery, these idiots day dream about how to spend Usmanov’s loot.
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The latest casus bellicus on twitter is the Kallstrom signing. First they fell hook-line-and-sinker for the media/blogger induced malarky that cheap old Vengar was unwilling to spend some farkin money for an unproven 20 year-old, subsequent disclosures proving this to be entirely untrue and that Schalke was unwilling to sell even at a stratospheric price. Then the self-same doom-mongering ninny’s not satisfied with making fools of themselves in a 24-hour stretch, they have gone to war because a last minute loan signing, who they initially despised, disclosed a back niggle initially which is now more serious. You have to wonder if these people live in the real world. Apparently on January 31st, the club could have simply done a product exchange at the football supermarket or made a business decision that best to go forward and have midfield cover in the long-run, rather than short-term.
Despair not, George. Twitter, as many have already described, is ta media designed for emotionalism. The irony is individuals who declare support for the manager and the club are first to stick the boot in because their ego take priority over objectivity and common sense.
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Good start.
Monreal going close, maybe he should’ve tried the finish with his right.
Come on Arsenal!
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We seem to be playing against a very compact back 6 further protected by an additional 3 in front of them!
FFS!!
Arsene will have a word.
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ChamboooooooOOOOO!
What a prospect!
What a player!
What a pass from Carzola!
Great squad. Don’t let any ginormous football brains tell you otherwise.
Come on Arsenal. Three points please.
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Phew!
Chewie!
Three point please!
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Rozza comes on.
Makes the goal.
ChamboooooOOOOOO!
What a prospect.
What a signing he was, a real ‘statement of intent’ at that time (losing the Manc. striker) although the experts still tell themselves there is no strategy…hahahahaha…
Three point and a clean sheet please.
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Correction.
Chambo came in when Cesc F’d off, the timing was the key for the ‘statement’ which was: there’s a new team that is going to be built. After a little bit of demolition. Took a little while, as expected (yet I am no expert!), and they’re looking good today!
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Class all over the filed. Love it!
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In case it hadn’t been obvious Chamberlain was my nomination for breakthrough Player of the Season after a friend gnabbed Ramsey in the pre-season sweepstake.
Still, I can console myself with tears when thinking of the possible quicksilver combinations to come next season involving both Chamberlain and Walcott 🙂
Remember when the Expert fans demanded that Chambo replace Walcott (or Arshavin) because they thought they were similar players…heh!
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Field
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And with two classy goals from the Ox Arsenal’s very own positive zeitgeist returns with a vengeance.
Bad day for the club bashers.
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Anyone passing Blackburn be sure to mention to George we won and won well today.
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Good win. Arteta and Oxo hobbling around worried me more than Palace.
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Ox didn’t mention anything in the post-match interview so hopefully just cramp in his case (guess)? Arteta looked more worrying …
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Excellent effort and win. CONGRATULATIONS TEAM, AW & the true supporters. Onwards and forwards.
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Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
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So Arsene knew Kallstrom had a back problem but went ahead because he was needed for the run-in. While he is injured Spartak has to pay his wages so it represents no financial cost to the club.
Yet Twitter goes into a meltdown by so-called supporters ready to crucify the manager on the basis of very limited information. Where is this “Trust the Manager” that The Beck wrote so eloquently about? It is a meaningless concept to these big egos who because they have a big blog or twitter account can simply project their insecurities of the weak-willed gooners who are lemmings going over the cliff in the face of this constant nonsense.
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we signed ozil, you sold bale
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PG, where is your stiff upper lip?
Supporters with roots set firm , never ever, slag off their club.
Mr Wenger in his pressie, has addressed the KK issue.
The Swedish newspaper that caused the “unwashed” to go into mental meltdown, was of course – Aftonbladet.
COTG
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Yet another professional performance and result for our boys. This team are determined to win something this season and I think this is reflected in the no frills approach to our games. We generally keep things tight, grab the chances when they come along and then defend with our lives to deliver another “2 nil to the Arsenal” just to remind the doomers that we do have a team. Long may it last.
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Never in doubt.
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I was pleased for Chamakh that he got a decent reception from the Emirates crowd.
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Koscielny was flawless today.
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The Hawks are being flawless too. Talk about a spanking.
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mertesacker is fast learning to play fullback from sagna. we may have a good back up to bac and jenko in per. he was there covering for sagna all through yesterday.
off topic: the best manager our clueless board failed to sign may soon lose his job at swansea. second chance? end of an era.
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I hope the win against Palace will bring back a little bit of sanity into the Arsenaldom.
A lot of our fans need to be checked in their brains because I can’t phantom the reason for the meltdown because of transfers or lack of it. We’ve been where we are cos we are good and not by chance or luck.
I hope the few of us who are ready to support come what may will not grow tired. I love PA and George because we believe in a course and we are ready to see it to fruition.
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Injuries come and go, and still this midfield rotation continues without pause, and fires the engine. AW seems to balance the difference between the key players, providing consistent quality, and the whole cast, some still learning their trade, just as important in the team effort and who raise their game when the quality is on the pitch. Mesut, Santi, Tomas and Mikel, Per, Kos, Giroud, Sagna = consistent, steady, mental toughness.
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guys i dont see these fans you talk about…where are they? cool…we are fine…twitter is nothing else but an arena for modern cannibalism….noone takes it seriously.
top of the league!
there to stay!
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We would do well to remind ourselves of Arsenal’s match record starting City away loss and ask themselves whether this is a fluke, or consistency.
It goes, all competitions (2 FA, 9 EPL), 11 games starting with a morale sapping loss:
LDWWWWWWWDW
loss: City (away)
draws: Chelsea (home), S’ampton (away)
goals for: 23 in 11
goals against: 10 in 11 (of which City = 6, balance 4 in 10)
clean sheets: 7 in 11
games in which we scored = 10 in 11
overall played 11, loss 1, drew 2, won 8
EPL: played 9, loss 1, drew 2, won 6; points 20 of 27 possible
What does it say? It says “mental toughness”, mature, consistency, discipline, fluidity, grit, determination, ability to extract the result and ability to overcome parked buses. It says the one “weakness” remains away to excellent or well organised teams where we are marginally disadvantaged, but we still have overall the top away record in the EPL so it is relative.
This is the evidence. For large parts of this stretch Aaron, Jack, Theo and Lukas have been unavailable or returning by the way.
The evidence for the fake supporters for our fragility going forward rests solely on (a) City, not Arsenal results and (b) injuries, both real (list available) and imagined (terminally Giroud etc), and (c) inability of young, fringe, and upcoming players to play much positive role, you know like Gnabry and Gedi, Fabianski and Jenks, Sanogo and um, Ox.
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A City win tonight, but who knows, will reveal an emerging pattern, one I believe will continue and go to the wire, which is fairly common in EPL. Two teams finally will slug it out. A third safe but losing some inches in a title race. The 4th to 6th spots are exciting, tightly contested, and expect a Yoo surge on that, only 7 points adrift from Pool … better than where we were approximately last season this time.
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@ lankylorde
It’s their own fear which they can’t deal with. Even if we had ManCity’s squad, they would be imploring Arsene to buy and rubbishing some of the players.
@ZP
I think a big Man City win tonight is best for us. A decisive blow against Chelsea which makes a big hole in their GD and effectively opens the gap between us to 5 points would be very welcome. We will then have 14 games to overhaul Man City. If we stay within two points and beat them at our place…
But any of the three possible results is good.
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http://www.arsenalvision.co.uk/articles/4523-striking-out-thoughts-on-the-window.html#josc19647
Very good article. PG will love it.
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