Some perspective from @arsenalandrew
The notorious over-emotional toxicity of Arsenal’s online support is in stark contrast to most of the support in the stadium. Whereas online, Arsenal could do no right, in the stadium, a largely ‘flat’ crowd grew increasingly despondent at the sight of a rookie referee entirely out of his depth, a willing accomplice to the hateful Bruce’s brilliantly simplistic resort to time-wasting every single time Arsenal started to get momentum.
Truth is, Arsenal rarely look the best after an international break disrupts our natural but precise squad rhythm and the absence of so many first-teamers yesterday took its toll on our usual fluidity. From reaction online you’d be forgiven for assuming we’ve lost all our opening games but the reality is despite needing to bed in new players and accomodate the debilitation of an unenviable injury record, we are, as a side, hard to beat. The margins between these costly draws and the victories we seek are fine, and whilst we can’t simply point the finger of disappointment at the entire refereeing stable, at this level, and with such marginal differences, the impact of key refereeing decisions can not be lightly dismissed.
Online, it’s seemingly all about Arsene. The reality, however, is more complex.
And whilst I have no doubt this squad will come good I’m more concerned that the online poison will seep through to our matchday crowd making life easier for our opponents and ever-tougher for Arsenal. The gleeful joy of those attacking the club are as odious as the time-wasting of the fat one right out of the Ferguson stable, and as infuriating as the incompetent referees that allow him to get away with it.
Arsenal – and Arsenal fans – need to rise above this as surely as the PGMOL need to get a grip on their officials.
From pedantic george @Blackburngeorge
The danger is that we try to shift all the blame onto the referees, or that we are seen to be trying to do so. The reasons we find Chelsea with twice as many points as us are complex and there is a few of them. To absolve Arsene from all blame, without at least considering he is in some part complicit, is as ridiculous and narrow minded as laying all of the blame at his feet.
Well I have considered his part, and I think he has to shoulder some of the blame (if we have to apportion blame) I believe not only will he accept some blame, but he will put things right. In the last 10 years he has had a lot poorer players than these, playing a lot better than these currently are. I see no reason to think he won’t get this squad firing on all cylinders when circumstance permit.
Positively Arsenal 
Get a load of this kid http://goonersphere.com/team-lineup/london-colney/6008-class-fans-temporary
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“if i have to blame arsene, i will say he seems too soft on his players. although this has always been his style but he needs to put the players under pressure sometimes and make them take responsibilities for their mistakes.”
Sorry Layksite, but I have to take issue with this. I think you have fallen for a popular myth. We don’t know that for sure but might surmise based on the fact that he rarely criticises players publicly. This does not necessarily mean that he does not talk them through it in team meetings or on a one to one basis. We have no idea what goes on behind closed doors. I have also seen a news story claiming that he had a go at Alexis for losing the ball against Chelski and Santi for not taking Hazard down before he got into the box. This could equally be true and certainly does not suggest someone who is soft on his players.
And please don’t hold up that attention seeking twat maureen as an example – most normal people do not react well to public criticism and his old school bullying style is not considered the best management practice when you want to get the best out of people.
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below I have posted an extract from a post on Arsenal Times that is typical of the WOB types
can someone please explain to me why the WOB feel they have to disrespect Wenger, (stubborn senile f.ucker) and also why they have to misrepresent the simple question posed by many, of “who could replace Wenger” by adding in “the Mighty”
Maybe the answer to both is in the last line of the post.
From Arsenal Times – Klopp or Simeone
I’m sick of hearing the question of ‘who could possibly replace the mighty Wenger?’. Either of these two I’d take tomorrow and I have no doubt they’d move us forward rather than stagnating for another 10 years under the stubborn senile f.ucker in charge now. Or even if we do have to put up with him for another year, Koeman could possibly be another if he carries on how he’s going.
There is more to Arsenal than the poison that is Arsene f.ucking Wenger and more and more gooners are realising it by the day.
I could do a better job than him these days for f.uck sake.
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I expect if I wanted to read that shite I would probably go on the original site
On here no – no place for it or anything like it.
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passenal
it seems the style works for moreen though. lets look at it this way, wenger has been using the dressing room approach and it seems it has fail to drive home the point. why dont you put a little pressure on them players and see how they respond. i gave an example of joel. and you can see from his attitude when he came on the last time. although he tired a bit towards the end but he tracked back and put in some shift. remember cesc said the same thing about arsene and arsenal that the players have it a little easy at arsenal. flamini said the same. it is not about the media.
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i just hate it seeing wenger put in so much effort and see individual mistakes cost us some valuable points when it matters.
and again arsene needs to go on the offensive against the referees. he shouldnt talk after the game but before. put the referees under the spot before the game. put them under pressure. talk about rotational fouls, kicking our players in other to stop them. talk about the stereotypes that arsenal players are soft. talk about protecting the technical players and how they need protection. put the fa and the league under pressure about the need to see how good players are leaving the league. all this before a game and not after the game. managers do it all the time. the advantage is he wont be sanctioned for it unlike when he says it after a game.
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WBA 2: Man U 2. I really enjoyed this, and nice for once to watch a game without a terrible feeling of dread. I wanted WBA to win, but equally (and strangely) didn’t really mind United equalising. Matches that don’t feature The Arsenal are interesting: I never quite know until they have started who I am supporting, and can never watch a game totally dispassionately. This leads to peculiar and unexpected allegiances, but is testimony I guess to the visceral draw of sport, and why it is so important that it does remain uncorrupted. Nick Hornby writes really well at the end of a small diary he wrote about the 2011/12 season about that issue, and it is worth a read: sport only matters to the spectator (he suggests) because it is not scripted.
But because I wanted to watch some football, and because recent events and discussions have forced referees and their decisions into the limelight I was interested to see how this game would unfold. I thought that it was fairly evenly reffed, that the game seemed pretty free from niggly and cynical fouls, that no one looked like getting injured all night until RVP karate chopped a defender, that Blind was perhaps fortunate not to receive two yellows, and that it was all quite exciting. In fact, from my fairly neutral perspective I thought it was a game that was well handled by Mike Dean. It was, all in all, a far cry from the way that Arsenal matches unfold.
I also thought that the real curate’s egg of the United performance was sympathetically handled by the Sky team and that their manager was treated with courtesy and a degree of deference by the interviewer that had not been extended to Arsene Wenger by the BBC on Saturday.
And perhaps most crucially of all, after Jon Richardson’s extraordinary tour de force on 8 out of 10 Cats last week it was impossible not to look at Gary Neville and wonder. And snigger.
Button mushrooms.
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Disgraceful to have to bring in a ‘plastic’ fan, George.
Plastic meaning someone who doesn’t have toxic levels of entitlement.
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Di Maria is a real threat, FH.
What did you think of LVG’s staggeringly arrogant interview after the game?if that was Arsene saying Arsenal should have 8 points more in this league the media would be lynching him.
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Yes FH it is odd how in games that do not involve Arsenal referees appear to function so much more evenly and effectively. I have often wondered about that myself.
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One thing I would have to agree with though is the impossibility of watching a game of football without wanting one side or the other to win. even when it is two sides that I have barely heard of, or two sides that make no difference to me, or Arsenal, or anything I have to choose one over the other.
It is a contest that to understand you have to participate in, as a spectator anyway.
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In regards to the bias of watching football matches, I cannot but watch it dispassionately. Sure I ‘want’ Arsenal to win. But I cannot help but recognise good and bad from both sides. So when people suggest that I – as an Arsenal supporter – I am somehow biased so therefore I cannot see the blatant referee cheating, I find myself taken aback. As I watch the matches like that and kept up with the ref reviews that Untold used to do and just recently restarted, I found that I was not the only one who could see this. I am tired of it. Its bloody boring to watch the best footballing team in the league kicked to pieces and cheated so blatantly.
I thought I was over the ref performance from the weekend, but I guess I am still quite annoyed. Mr East needs a good smack across his face. But then again. The real blame lies with the ultimate masters, the English FA and the Premier League. They want this, they obvious have this as an unwritten policy, and this acted out. Other teams suffer – e.g. Swansea – but Arsenal take the brunt. If we want fair play and honesty in football in England – not just for Arsenal of course – then the FA and the Premier League should be taken on and stopped. But how? Who knows.
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I feel very strongly that the number of British players in the squad is Wengers “last throw of the dice” to get fair treatment from the FA and PGMOL. If the bias against Arsenal doesn’t slowly fall away over the next few years (which doesn’t appear to be the case yet) than I’m not sure anything save Wengers retirement can stop it. It would truly be a shame if Arsenal cannot get a fair shake until the great man retires. Look whats happened to Uniteds favored status from the PGMOL since Ferguson left.
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Layksite, I don’t really want to get into a huge debate with you, but it’s not like we’re talking about the same players throughout Arsene’s 18 years at Arsenal. If you are going to quote player comments, there are also comments that Theo has let slip about the times AW has lost his rag with them. Even Fabregas told a story about half-time in a match against Liverpool when Arsene told them they were not fit to wear the shirt. The team went on to win the match.
The average football fan cannot handle that they don’t know what goes on behind the scenes so they want as much to happen in the public domain as possible to make them feel better. ‘Splash the cash’ is a very public way of making a statement, calling out your players in public is the other one. There is enough abuse flying around the internet from people who claim to have the clubs best interest at heart. There is absolutely no need for the manager to add to that. maureen’s style is fine when times are good – people will put up with abuse for big bucks and a few trinkets, but the moment things are not going so well, they will turn on him in a heartbeat. Ask the Real Madrid players and fans what they thought of him before he left.
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