A guest post from @double_canister
By Arsenal standards this season, a 4-1 home win against a team that was on the same points level as us in the morning is very much something to cheer about, especially as that team had deservedly seen off Chelsea the week before and were rested and prepared with a weeks training, whereas had to travel to Istanbul and back. Of course nouveau chateau were without several 1st team choices, but so were Arsenal in case anyone noticed.
The match itself was quite straight forward, so I won’t dwell on the details. 4 really good goals including a penalty, a sleepy soft free kick conceded as a consolation goal for the visitors, who never looked like bringing the game back to 3-2 and making Arsenal sweat a bit. Every Arsenal player on the piched preformed admirably – even the unpopular ones. There were no ‘get out while your can’ nonsense from the miserable mob before the match, and after 70 minutes into a very comfortably controlled game there was some rather joyful singing from right around the stadium chanting ‘there is only 1 Arsene Wenger’, it seems the silent majority aren’t going to remain silent when a few buffoons are trying to disgrace this club and it’s supports for the sake of their own over-privileged egos. I don’t know how they will explain what happened, surely 50,000 fake plastic tourist fans must have got a hold of all the tickets for yesterday’s match and have been brainwashed personally into chanting by Ivan Gazidis. The Eskimos and Massi herdsmen I was sitting beside had a long discussion about this after the match over a nice warm pint of yak’s blood.
In case anyone has missed it, Arsenal have been in decent form recently, if you take the 1st half aberration at Stoke out of the equation. We are heading into the busy Christmas holiday schedule with a decent head of steam, true we have a hospital ward full of injured players but many will be back soonish, the sight of Özil in training being a particular highlight to look forward to in the new year. We will know on Monday who we will be facing in Europe but we can probably guess – South Germany again in all likelihood.
A journalist recently told me that our club has been a ‘basket case’ for the last 5 years. What can we say in our clubs defence, I ask you? The squad rebuilding process has taken much longer than expected – we have had too many key players jump ship for bigger money and what appeared to them at the time as better prospects. We were a selling club up until two years ago, our sponsorship deals which were needed to settled the stadium finances at the start of that project were very much under powered in comparison to those of our rivals. And at the same time none of our rivals were carrying out a half a billion infrastructure project through a recession but were pumping vast quantities of dubiously sourced cash into their teams. Chelsea in particular having ran rings around the FFP process – we have to give them credit for their financial deviousness, being able to see their silo of spare players for huge cash deals just at the right time.
Back to Arsenal and it’s own future prospects, things do look rosy for the future, we can buy some star players every year and develop the youth we have into really capable players -Wilshere, Ramsey and Oxlaide Chamberlain are examples of our managers trust in youth and it now looks like a new batch will be showing that that was no fluke. The fact that many of us can contemplate that selling a player of the calibre of Lukas Podolski without it weakening the squad is a measure of our strength.
The main question right now amongst the fanbase is who do we want to lead us into this golden future, the man who built the foundations for this or some new guy with ‘fresher’ ideas? Well, if you suppose having the club with the biggest domestic home support languishing in the relegation places in the bundesliga is a fresh idea, you may be onto something. Perhaps there is a jaded over-familiarity with our own ever present Alsatian, he’s an old dog alright, but can he learn new tricks? Our fans have seen him at our club for nearly a generation of their own lifetimes, we have even have parody video songs about him, his anorak is famous in its own right, his alleged dithering, his parsimony in the transfer market, his wiley ways….. You get the picture. We all think we know everything there is to know about le Professor.
So why would we support him? My trust is in Arsene Wenger, he has won many many things with Arsenal in the past when he has had the players and resources available to him, and he is getting those kind things right again now.
There are many of our supporters who have been using our club as more or less a vehicle for their own over inflated egos if you ask me, if the teams performances decline they feel it reflects badly on themselves. They boast of numbers of twitter followers, blogs and pod casts (yeah I know there may be an irony here, but work with me); we on positively arsenal are not here because of ourselves, we are here to support the club, the team and the man running the show.
Why do we we support Arsene Wenger? Because he is Arsene Wenger and is the best man for the job of developing our club and probably establishing AFC as one of the the best teams in Europe – and that does mean winning the Champions League sooner rather than later.
As the fans sang last night: “there is only one Arsene Wenger”, and our fans are never wrong eh?
Positively Arsenal 
Are Monaco going to play the game at their smallish home ground? That would be a shame as not that many fans will get a chance to go.
It’ll be fun when all the fans home and away start singing “There’s only 1 Arsène! Wenger” IL N’Y A QU’UN ARSÈNE WENGER!
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I have been on the train to Edinburgh today and on way back now so missed out on the ticket sale for Hull – must admi though a bit torn about a Sunday evening kick off !
I am a bad fan I know I know
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Finally a little respite from the football gods. Not having to face Barcelona or a Bayern Munich in the second round is awesome.
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Bournemouth vs Liverpool
Hopefully will finish like this one:
I was there, by the way. Lost to the Busby Babes in the next round.
Them’s were the days. Manager was Freddie Cox – not many who still remember him playing for AFC, I’ll be bound.
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Monaco huh? Damn – now everyone will be expecting us to win.
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@ dkgÖÖnér – yep, everyone + me too.
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Trains must the thing today im on one now on my way to the latest A.I.S.A event and I’ve only got 15 minutes of free wi-fi so I need to be quick.
Yeah the media have already spun it that were the luckiest team in the world and Monaco are just a pub team obviously waiting to give us a monumental slagging if its not a walkover and no credit if we win. The doomers will pick up on that as well. Hopefully by the time the tie comes around we have a fully fit squad and some good form. There are lots of home games and London derbys around that time so traveling shouldnt be that bad apart from Newcastle away straight after the second leg
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5:30pm–you can be tucked into bed by 9 and still have had time for a post match pie and pint Anicoll–no problem. Just wait as we will have PL matches on Friday night soon!
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Hayden is back for the U21’s, he plays in midfield tonight
Arsenal Under-21s team to play Bolton Wanderers: Macey, Johnson, O’Connor, Ajayi, Robinson, Hayden, Kamara, Iwobi, Zelalem, Crowley, Akpom
subs: Huddart, Smith, Sheaf, Willock, Mavididi.
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http://www.licencetoroam.net/analysis-mathieu-debuchys-superb-debut-at-centre-back/
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1-1 at ht in u21 game, o’connor with the afc goal
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Hopefully Isaac Hayden will work his way back to full fitness now. I’m very glad to see him start the U21’s match, if it wasn’t for injury he’d of definitely made the bench these past few games.
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U21’s lost at home to Bolton 1-3
the third goal seen Bolton break from an Arsenal corner to score, so its not only the first team that get caught out this way, which is not good to hear
Arsenal dominated much of the play but could not break down a resolute Bolton defense. Again something we see too often at first team level.
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Good to hear Issac making a return he one of my favourites, I missed the game tonight as I went to an A.I.S.A.event promoting the book The ARSENAL shirt. This is a must read and I strongly recommend it. It dispell many myths that most supporters believed, including myself, such as Forrest giving us our first set of shirts. The authors also explained the origin of the white sleeves and the reasons behind some of our different coloured kits. Like I say great Christmas present to ones self if your thinking of being indulgent.
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Arsenal’s U18’s play Reading in the FA Youth Cup on Friday and the winners play non league Royston in the next round.
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Eduardo I wouldn’t read too much into a 90th minute counter attack leading to a goal from a corner when they had conceded a few minutes earlier and were going for the late equaliser. Less so if it’d happend fifteen minutes earlier in the game, but it was at the death. Previous game we’d seen highlights from the u19s or u21s I can’t remember which and we saw that the corners were really good, lots of variation good short corners too etc.
Plus that eleven last night had lost a few players to the first team squad!
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Henry announced he won’t be playing football anymore.
He will work as a pundit on Sky.
To be honest I’m a bit relieved as he would have been taking a badly needed squad place from one of our up and coming youths.
He has no coaching badges, so he would have to start from the bottom up with that role, and I see Arsenal have offered Gilberto Silva a coaching job – quality.
Good luck Titi.
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DC, I just hope he doesn’t go the way of all pundits and turn into a see you next Tuesday!
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My impression of Thierry is that he is a very bright chap – I doubt that broadcasting will satisfy him and the snake pit of coaching and management in Club football might not attract him. And let’s face it he is wealthy enough not to have to do a hand’ s turn.
Politics though, or more specifically football politics, now that is where I could see him carving a future career.
The current generation of rogues are well past their sell by date and new leaders with no taint of corruption will be required. Step forward TH14.
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Something stirs in the cosmos?
A spacecraft bounces and lands upon a comet. Thierry Henry plays in his last ever game. And The Arsenal are drawn against Monaco for the first time, the two clubs that made the player.
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Tangental thought for the day?
Southampton started the season with their settled and familiar midfield three of Schneidy, Davies and Wanyama ticking along in spite of the other changes in their team. Last five games they’ve been missing Schneiderlan and it’s all gone Pete Tong
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Interesting point Fins: Schneiderlin is to Southampton is as Cabaye was to Newcastle. You get the sense that both players have been slightly under-valued and that both would have fitted in very well to The Arsenal.
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I think Southampton are doing what I expected them to do at the start of the season after a Summer in which they lost a loot of good and mostly experienced players and then Rodriguez picked up a serious injury.
Pelle was a bright spark but since his goals have dried up, and Schneiderlin has been out their results have turned badly, although their football against us and against the Mancs was decent. Last night was a very poor result and there can be no excuses about it from Koeman.
If they lose Schneiderlin in the January window they could be in serious trouble.
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Southampton’s value on Schniedy is a bit pricy.
A cover CB is a much higher priority than any new midfielders. Even if all our players were fit, we could still do with another CB for rotation.
Shame that Basel are still in CL and I would really like to see Schar in red and white.
£20m for Winston Reid seems a bit steep too, but we might swap Jenks as party of the deal – same as I’d like to see him develop with out club. No news about Celtic’s Virgil van Dijk either – this seems the most plausible option, as the price is reasonable and Celtic would sell, Is he cup tied in Europe?
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I don’t expect Southampton to sell anyone in January.
We might pick up Schneiderlin in the summer.
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Apparently we have signed the “new Viera” and are in talks with the “new Messi”…..I want the “new Henry”….
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what about the new Arsene to take over in a couple of seasons
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matin ottergardd is training with us although i think he is going to train with a few clubs and then decide who to sign with he has already trained at bayern
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The “new” Park Chu-young maybe !
For all Arsene’s great encouragement of talent and eye for talent there has been a few odd arrivals.
One minute Park was top scorer at Monaco, about to be signed by Lille
The next minute you professional career is …………… um …….. I dont know what ever happened there
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There’ll always be odd arrivals no matter who’s in charge. Isn’t that a part of the fun?
At least as long as they cost relatively little or nothing when compared with quality like Anderson – I’m sure having spent so much on such useless tat resulted in the poor midfield that Slurgus bequeathed to his heirs
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Anicoll I see that Wenger has suggested that Henry could get a directors role at Arsenal
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Fins, that blog about Debuchy was good. Thanks for sharing.
Southampton were never going to stay in the top four. They just happened to catch a good early season spark and rode that wave all the way to mid-season.
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I notice Mourinho says he came very close to signing Henry when he was at Barcelona, I did not know that Henry was also an interpreter, as that was all jose was doing at Barca or did Barca allow their interpreter make signigns. The special one also seems to have his lies a bit mixed up too, he says it was while Bobby Robson was manager but then says it was at the time Henry chose Juventus, Robson was long gone from Barca by January 99, he was with PSV. It is amazing how Mourinho’s ego means he has to make himself the center of attention every time, even when the story is about someone as great as Henry, I notice no one in the media has dared mention the flaws in his claims.
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