London, New York, Paris, Munich – everyone’s talking about Pep’s music. Except of course, they’re not, or at least the UK papers who might, just might, be expected to get behind an English club playing in Europe, aren’t. Are Bayern a good team, a world-class outfit: well yes, but not if they are playing against the Arsenal, partly because The Arsenal are also a very good team who give them a run for their money, but mainly because to praise Bayern extravagantly now would be also to give tacit praise to The Arsenal and the team so carefully assembled and prepared by Arsene Wenger.
So better by far to lambast The Arsenal for lack of imagination, for carelessness in preparation, for profligacy on the injury front. Better to seek out Mesut Ozil and slate him (and by extension Arsene Wenger) for an anonymous performance than make the obvious connection between serious hamstring injury and limping play. Better for the papers to gloat about the German fans’ booing and catcalling of young Mesut, than on the sinister and echoing reminder of previous Holocaustian witch-hunts of Turkish Muslims, the booming “Bayern, Bayern” rolling out across the packed Allianz stands reaching almost Nuremburg proportions, European domination seemingly once more tantalisingly in sight. Better to criticise Arsene for pointing out before the game that the refereeing might be inconsistent and gullible, than to dwell on the cards not given for simulation.
I have just about had enough of the sneering Clive Tyldesley, of the ingratiating Neil Ashton, of the myopic Jim White. Oh how they love it when The Arsenal stumble, and oh how they rejoice in their little England agenda. Almost, but not quite, because like a toxic sponge they soak up any disappointment I might feel, and allow me to vent anger at them rather than dwell on the shortcomings of my team. Because they are my team, and whilst in the privacy of my own mind (and shamefully occasionally out loud in front of the TV) I might conclude that x is the worst player ever after misplacing a pass or snatching a shot, woe betide anyone else who dares to voice such a view.
And I know that despite the sense of loss that accompanies any reverse, that this is a good team, that these are fine players, that this is a great club. Over two legs we came close – very close – to upsetting a fine Bayern Munich team. We are going to Wembley this year, and might hopefully go twice. We have a Premier League run-in to savour, and this weekend a trip to our neighbours to endure and enjoy.
Tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning—
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
Thank to @foreverheady for today’s article. PA was intended as a forum for us all, and its a great help when someone steps up to the plate.
Positively Arsenal 
A fine and very thorough venting of the spleen Heady against the bone idle parasites who make a living out of their alleged knowledge of football and their status as ‘journalists’.
They would not recognise news if it bit them on the arse. Nasty, small minded people, working for nasty, small minded owners and serving a society in which the hysteria of victimhood and blame pervade.
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great post foreverheady and well said. however we shouldnt be afraid to be a bit of bastards sometimes. we could have gotten dante sent off. in fact we should. i dont think players were given the order to go all guns blazing, just follow the plan and if ti works then fine, if not then ok lets just limit the damage and go for the league title. fabianski to start as first gk. nothign to do with sceznhy, just to keep lucas happy and he signs for us again.
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This was a delightful read
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George, thanks for the heads up
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Great tika-taka-out-tacticing from the gaffer over the course of this tie. Biggus Sammus would’ve been proud of his old adversary. Young Pep could not relax, out of his seat constantly reminding his players to take a tumble. How the ref was happy to let the tank Posolski barge/push the much smaller Lahm off the ball but bought the dive from Martinez when the giant Carzola was through is beyond me.
–
As a devotee of Pace it has been hard having Walcott & Chambo out of action. I think they were only on the park together this season for the first half at Home to Villa. This was after the mouthwatering counter attacking master class against City in Pre-season where Ramsey also put down a benchmark that he went on to match and exceed. Admittedly pure Pace is a personal preference. A shame the Experts out there can never admit their own tastes. Sports fans who have no preference for a certain style but who believe they know how to be successful (Shit. On. A Stick)? A strange concept to me.
What interests me is how can these Experts describe Plans A or B (I think they think that a manager is only allowed to have two plans in total?) for a squad that will go on to include Walcott, Chambo, Campbell, Podolski (I hope), Giroud, Gnabbers etc. and maybe even some unknowns. Good luck with that!
After those early losses of Plodders, Chambo and Walcott then Arteta and Carzola who is not proud of how well this team have done this season?
As before Özil’s loss will provide opportunity to others, possibly more minutes for our beloved Plodders (what a thump that was!) , the resurrected deadwood Rozza and even Gnabry too.
This team and squad is still growing. Even if, as is normal for a now stable squad, one or two seniors come and go over the next period. This is why those who are intimidated by AFC’s ability to run a top top club without bungling transparent frauds leaking all over the shop (see the Bunglers at Bayern and Barca. We are not talking about loose change.) provokes the useless hacks who write for funny papers that are owned by the kind of owners who like that kind of bungling.
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people have the media they deserve fins. pep guardiola multi champions league winner was uncomfortable all night yet here cunts like ashton know better obviously……. since people are dumb and uneducated they will be fed the stereotypes that fortify their sense of ‘culture’ ….
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my beef is not with the media per se, but with the arsenal fans who are blind to how this “englishness” is essentially attacking and pissing on their club. one would have thought wenger has done enough in english football to open our eyes…..you know its no shame for them to admit their country treats wenger like shit and they do that cause he is french with a funny accent who owns them in thier national sport…the one for which they only hold one world cup noone knows if th eball crossed th eline or not yet they all know to talk about hands of god and voting for pele as a gesture of revenge and non acknowledgement to diego…..the same ones who smashed eduardo an dhave the nerve to fry wenger on red cards ……cunts
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I believe it is not about culture. Not for these hacks.
Plain old simple gangsterism. Wonga (a legalised gang of loan sharks sponsoring a football team…) talks.
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What’s with the Nuremburg references and implying that the treatment Turkish Muslims get in Germany is in any way comparable to the holocaust? Come on now.
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Hunter,
It’s a good thing you never heard the chant:
‘Two World Wars and a World Cup!’
To be fair I haven’t heard it since I was about six years old.
But I bet Pearce made his U21’s chant that line before sending out Mancienne (a CB) to play in midfield against Spain. The plonker.
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Every inch of space, every flick, every dummy, every milli second. It was a game of chess played on grass by twenty two of the best athletes on the planet. To watch the hacks dumb things down the way they have is an insult to a football fan’s intelligence.
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thats why we need a warrior animal like vieira so they all sit down and shut the fuck up…they have said tons of nasty things the last 10 years and our players are a tad wrong principle-wise for not making them all pay for the disrespect and insults thrown at our manager and club.
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ForeverHeady
Some of the stuff doing the rounds seems to have been written before the game started.
I just saw Le Groves blog about Ryo, and he completely forgets that Ryo was at best a 4th choice striker who was brought along just for the experience. Podolski, Giroud and Gnarby was enough strike power. The Ox was a revelation (to some anyway!), but Bayern got no cards depite the only was to stop his runs was by hauling him down. repeatedly.
Let’s see how the knives come out for City if they probably go out to Barca tonight, a Barca team that is far weaker that Bayern Munich.
If Ramsey and Theo were available to play last night, we would have been watching the QF draw in expectation of getting Real Madrid or Olympiakos.
The only thing left to worry about this season, is does this team have the desire and fight to secure another top 4 (or better finish)?, if anyone seriously has to doubt the answer to that they are deluding themselves.
If Bayern Munich cannot defeat us on their own patch, we should have no fear at the Lane, the Bridge, or Goodison.
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A pressroom ban is in order for the worst repeat offenders.
Wenger should not have to deal with these oxygen stealers.
Arsenal FC media relations need to grow a pair.
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finsbury
March 12, 2014 at 1:29 pm
nah thats what their football culture is all about… savagery and the arrogance
“they have nothing to teach us , we discovered the game” …..
garragher and neville and wright and dixon and all ex players called on panels act and talk as if they have won seedorfs titles or that they were pirlos and zidannes in their playing days….
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Lukas Fabianski is better than any of our rivals 1st choice GK’s.
Fact.
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Gains,
It was a great game of football.
No time for regrets over the first leg.
The only negative for me this week ignoring Arsenal injuries is the injury to Dawson. I hope the players are ready to step down into swamp of Levy’s Tottenham.
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It’s hard to swallow when the only football pundit who’s opinion I take seriously about with his opinion on the Arsenal is Roy Keane. The former Arsenal pros make we wince.
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Fins
Plenty of opportunities for the Middlesex Mini’s to pick up more Injuries over at Benfica tomorrow night.
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Butbutbut
I thought that even the Arsenal bloggers and podcastateers knew more about coaching ‘keepers then the coaches at Arsenal.
Arse. Back to the coaching board. Again.
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Arsenal FC media relations need to grow a pair.
bring back dein!!
hahahaaaaaaaaaaaaa….
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The UK media are a sad bunch, just desperate to believe they can play some part in the departure of the longest serving EPL manager…who just happens to be French, wonder if that is an issue with some? it has been going on for a long time, witness the annual desperation for a shift in the North London balance of power.
And to their eternal shame, supposed Arsenal fans are up amongst the worst of these journalists, and ex players…some of them never even that good, Mr Hartson.. among the most vitriolic of the pundits.
Whatever Wenger is doing to upset these morons, he clearly is doing something very right. He clearly does not think very much of them and rises above them, they know that. Shame some of our so called fanbase trust in the UK media rather than our most successful manager.
A lesser man than Wenger would have called it a day years ago
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muaha..lee dixon you twat …comparing having to get three inside munich for the champions league in the year 2014 with michael thomas in anfield….you little fucking englader..obviously you forget how arsenal is the only english club to get disqualified by a greek club when vryzas was running circles around you…you cunt. sagna pisses all over you lee.
“back in the days when me and tony were there…blah blah fucking blah……”
this particular gg generation of players talk as if they were world beaters back in their day, as if they set the standard of what arsenal must aspire to be…asif they were beating madrid’s bayerns and milans and barcas for fun..they couldnt beat saragosa and paok ffs…..i guess it happens in most clubs..disatisfied veterans venting their spleens for not being employed and cashrolled by the club in some role…….long live wenger keeping these parasites away !
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Excellent piece foreverheady. I’m not in a good mood today and have no intention of following up some of the references folk are making to the legion t*at journos, Neil Ashton, chief amongst them. Arsenal are on the up and we will get even better….
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I’m posting in my lunch break at work. I cannot swear freely as our firewall blocks such naughtiness..but Ashton, whom I loathe from the Sunday Supplement, is a prize T**T!
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Shame some of our so called fanbase trust in the UK media rather than our most successful manager.
A lesser man than Wenger would have called it a day years ago
bingo.jackpot.bullseye.GOAL!
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i know many are blaming arteta or santi for not tracking back sebastian but watch ribery and sagna….hahah bacary does a pirhouete for no reason ..ribery has wrongfooted him…note how angry sagna gets ..he knows….big daddy!!!
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Aneke again. Nice goal straight out of the Dario Gradi handbook.
Crewe are famous for playing Football. Which kind of does support what Hunter is saying above…but still, I think it is true to say that there are lots of football lovers in the UK (like Dario), it’s just that not many of them work for the Oligarchs or the meeedjiah, or for media owned by Oligarchs, or for certain clubs like say Stoke Rugby Club that operate within the Slurgussian school (loans and more etc).
Speaking to an Everton fan I knew after the weekend, following on from our summer speculations at a friend’s wedding, it is fair to say the Everton fans were certainly happy to see the back of the Son of Slurgus.
Yet Arsenal fans were touting that gr*t snorting dinosaur as the next Arsenal manager? I’d rather see Dario’s cadaver on the bench.
As for the the bitter ex-Gunner crowd. Two words that they can stick up their Arsenals:
Steve Bould. Four if you add Pat Rice. Pat Rice who said on the weekend, unambiguously addressing the Home crowd and telling off the idiots within the support, that AW is the best manager the club has ever had. He should know. Those words did not get the coverage you would expect, but then that was also not a surprise.
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just wait and see when mesut tears england apart in world cup …lets see the journalists then ..hehe …thats if they get past suarez…muaha ..thank god theo aint going..i want no arsenal player going there….let the gerrards and the townsends get humiliated all they like….
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Hunter.
the strange thing is that Mesut was at the heart of the 4-1 trouncing England received last time they played ze Germans in the World Cup.
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Likewise, H13 @2:54. Just like 2010.
Our players need to rest, and not get blamed for “that” teams inevitable failure.
Great piece, foreverH.
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/chelsea-handler-rips-piers-morgan-as-terrible-interviewer-on-live-tv-2014-3
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finsbury
March 12, 2014 at 3:02 pm
hehe no wonder theyre on his case and no wonder they play football like barbarians…its what their culture is about…..
eduardo kicked them out the euros a few years back inside wembley…remeber what happened to him? dirty foreigners coming here and owning us at football…….we call it contact sport so that we can bash them and assault them on the pitch and call it “premierleague” and get away with it as part of occupational hazzard….
capello? wenger? ……. who are they?
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shocking how the good journalists of england are silent instead of drawing a line like civilised people should……..
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Gains:
It was this quotation from Jim White that I was referring to: “Oddly, the only people who seemed to notice his presence last night were the home fans. Barely had the oompah anthems died down than they were booing the announcement of Ozil’s name”. I extrapolated from that the idea of a lack of tolerance for difference, a notion perhaps supported by the anti-gay banner displayed in the crowd.
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good thing we got charles barclay, john and amy as the voices of reason to put things straight….muah
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The anti gay Gooners banner was very very very odd indeed – I trust Uefa will deal with the perpetrators in an exemplary way
On a more positive note did anyone watch the Ian Wright programme last night ? It was a joy to watch. Just a camera and IW – no script, or no obvious script and he spoke straight from the heart for 30 minutes about “THE” Arsenal, Rocky, his background, growing up in Brockley and eventually breaking into professional football.
If you did not see it catch it on ITV player – you wont be sorry
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I’m getting annoyed about hearing about Arsenal and Wenger’s performances in Europe. I’ve written a post about this before here, explaining that basically we have been knocked our repeatedly by the best teams in Europe at R16 stage, but only by the skin of their teeth. We never had resources to have 2 teams on the go for most of the season, which is what you need to succeed in Europe.
Compare with Yawnited: who last won in 2007, only thanks to JT bottling it. Since then they have always got the luck of the draw, except when reaching the finals and being properly shown-up by Barcelona.
Where is the witchhunt of Fergie’s crap legacy? He had his team dominating the domestic league in England comparable to Bayern Munich and the Spanish old firm, but didn’t deliver comparable goods.
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Excellent, foreverheady. You certainly know who your enemies are at times like this. It’s all about money in many ways. Arsenal-bashing in its many forms sells, so they will keep doing it. Why it sells is a whole other story, of course.
Regarding the rest of the season, I am upbeat, unless we have more bad news about injuries, we just about have enough to cope. Spurs are going to suffer at the weekend.
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As much as I don’t like RM, I despise them a little less now that Jose isn’t around.
From teams left in the UCL, I hope they do well, and Dortmund too.
Sorry Hunter – Olympiakos going further would be mental.
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Hunter 2:54pm
Do you seriously expect an England team with Hart, Stevie G, Smalling and Carrack to get out of their World Cup group?
Chance of them playing Germany any time soon – nil.
God help Ireland when we have to play them again in the Euro’s qualifying. We had two doses of it last time, and Ozil was superb. (so were all the other Germans too).
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Why it sells is a whole other story, of course.
its because there is noone above wenger at club level to come out like a man and put those cunts at their places.
dc..lol…. manure will score 4 in first 15 minutes and hopefully another 7 by the end of 90 mins. anything else is unacceptable. dont worry, manure will lose in the 1/4fnals anyway…
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Hunter
Let the mankers score 3.
The Joel scores one in the last minute!
Anway – where is the legion of doom behind City’s chances tonight, according to the media, Barcelona are a house of cards and are there for the taking. score a few goals and they will collapse.
What utter bollix.
That said, I was impressed with Vincent Kompany’s handling of the presser last night on his own as club captain. It’s a shame he plays for those feckers.
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haha!!! no!!! no absolutely no way dc that would be the worst thing ever…and just cause cambell scopres for fun there dont mean he will replicate that with ease here…when the first kicks come flying and his confidence is shot to pieces from the fear lets see him then if he has it.
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besides panat boys owned campbell and his teammates last week..3-0 inside their “fortress” ..hehe
we were playing european finals when piraeus was a brothel for the u.s navy..those cheating corrupt bastards should be erased from the chronicles of sports.
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DC – I’m not all that confident the likes of Gerrard, Carrick etc will make it out of the dressing room this summer, let alone the group stages.
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obviously manure aint total mugs….. they would have seen the videos and got angry at themselves on how they managed to lose from those twats….. .
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newsnow is just a litany of bad blogs (except this one!) and shitehawk wannabe web warriors.
Apparently a 1-1 draw at Bayern Munich is now considered a poor performance.
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Hunter
We need to see some kind if improvement from Maure.
5th place is only UEFA spot available, and they can do us a big favour by taking points off ‘Pool and Citeh.
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“If Bayern Munich cannot defeat us on their own patch, we should have no fear at the Lane, the Bridge, or Goodison.”
Golden words DC. I hope our players read this in some form.
Enjoying the comments today.
Did anyone else celebrate the penalty save like we won a match? Sometimes, rarely, justice decides to prevail and in those times it feels like a win!
Fabianski is so good that I slightly resent Szczesny for keeping him out. I always felt that Szczesny is a goal keeper with incredible reflexes and capable of pulling off ridiculous saves, while Fabianski was a very technical and intelligent goal keeper. Tough choice for Wenger to make.
How good are these away fans!? To sing Arsenal songs and be heard loud and clear in stadiums like Allianz Arena, Westfalenstadion, etc. Hats off!
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Sens
even those German fans have to ‘cheat’ to beat our away boys and girls.
Drums, flags, PA systems and cheerleaders being used by home fans in those stadiums.
How infuriating is Podolski? he should have that aggressive attitude every week.
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Great article today expressing accurately what most of have been feeling for a very long time!
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