“To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just as long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies – all this is indispensably necessary.”
George Orwell: 1984
I was wondering what it would be like to write for a different Arsenal blog, pretty much any other Arsenal blog it seems to me sometimes. I wondered how I could tailor my words to fit the required narrative, distort my thoughts and opinions and still write with honesty and humour. That is when Orwell’s words came to me. Doublethink. That’s what it would require “To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies,” to somehow see the evidence before us of the remarkable, breathtaking and above all selfless achievements of Arsène Wenger and misrepresent them in an unending litany of unfounded nitpicking, of cynical and above all snide deceit.
We saw this process in action after the almost entirely positive results of the weekend. Bear in mind that this was the best week in our season. That the inexorably rising tide of negativity had told us with complete confidence that we could not progress in the FA Cup once we’d been drawn against Manchester United at Old Trafford. That the best we could hope for was to battle against superior forces for an unlikely fourth place because Chelsea and Man City wouldn’t be dropping any points any time soon and we are too unreliable, too weak and inept not to do so ourselves. Of course these people may have been correct. One good week doesn’t decide a season, but why is a negative, pessimistic assessment of future events not seen as self deluding when a hopeful, positive prediction is? Why can’t folk just celebrate the good times unabashed, unfettered from their usual sarcastic harping? It beats the hell out of me. I imagine them as children, receiving a wonderful birthday present then telling all their friends how badly their mother wrapped the gift, how poor the paper plates were at last years party.
As you all know I start every new season believing we can not only go unbeaten in all competitions but that we can win every game in which we play. Why? Because it’s possible. Likely? Of course not, but possible. It is a wonderful scenario to envisage and fuels my hope and expectation. Granted it makes the first draw hard to bear and the first defeat harder but surely it is better to live in a state of happy excitement than one of perpetual impending doom. The result is the same for people of both mindsets so it seems to me that remaining positive means I spend more of my time happy than they do. This is why I pity rather than censure the fans who elect to believe the worst, to worry and fret about possible or even probable failure. They choose to live in misery before there is even anything to be miserable about. There is an old line which all this brings to mind – worry is interest paid on trouble before it falls due.
This is why I have been happily looking forward to tonight’s match. This is why I am entertaining perhaps fanciful notions of winning the league. And the FA Cup. And the Champions League. Because why not? These outcomes are possible and so I treat them as possibilities. Hardly the behaviour of a delusional person to treat the possible as, well, as possible. It’s a simple equation x = x. What harm does it do anyone to imagine a positive outcome and enjoy the subsequent scenes pictured in one’s imagination right up until the event itself? I’ve looked forward to tonight’s match ever since the final whistle in the first leg. I’ve visualised us scoring towards the end of the first half, and then again with about fifteen minutes still to play. We survive a couple of close calls along the way, maybe a brace of fine saves from our keeper, perhaps they hit the post or have a good call for a penalty turned down. Then, as the clock ticks down, doubts begin to creep into the minds of the players from the home team. They make a few nervous clearances, we begin to bombard them with crosses, with dazzling passing moves. Then, disaster! They break away, our commitment to total attack leaves us bereft of deep defensive cover, through on the keeper they snatch a goal – it seems all over. Until a moment of brilliance from one of our players wipes the smiles from their faces and we go into extra time with the tie level and all to play for.
Now I know what you’re thinking and you are quite right, this is a fantasy. Of course it is, I could just as easily choose to picture us winning by five clear goals and never suffering a moment’s unease. I could imagine Monaco scoring in the first minute and the whole thing crashing around our ears. My point is I have thoroughly enjoyed imagining success. Have those who are inexplicably angered by this enjoyed their fortnight of looking forward to certain defeat? I doubt it, so who is the richer man? Given that I will be no more or less unhappy if things don’t go well then it’s an easy question to answer.
I feel the same about catching Man City. I pictured it, enjoyed imagining how it would feel and now it is a distinct possibility. It might not happen still, but who cares? If it does then I will look forward again and imagine us catching Chelsea. They could still suffer a few injuries, lose a little confidence after a couple more games like the Southampton one, who knows? It would be a rare and historic achievement of course and it remains a distinctly unlikely scenario but as long as it is possible what is to be gained by harping on about games we lost at the start of the season? Why search out negative depressing thoughts when you could be enjoying the ride?
My other sport is mountain biking and I often watch instructional videos by a man called Richard Kelly. Richard is an enthusiast for not getting hung up on obstacles and barriers encountered along the way. He preaches looking through the trail to a successful outcome and above all envisaging that successful outcome before attempting a difficult or hair raising piece of riding. You know what? It works. Picture yourself being successful and you don’t go at an obstacle tense and in a negative frame of mind and consequently you don’t haul on the brakes at the worst possible moment and sail over the handlebars.
This advice can be taken off the trail and into everyday life. Our positive thoughts may not influence the players tonight, but they can make us live with a little more happiness and a little less negativity and what on earth could be wrong with that? Win lose or draw I will always believe in this team. The players and the manager are just too good for me to think otherwise. Enjoy the match, and don’t give up hope until all hope is lost.
Positively Arsenal 
I’m fairly sure the D is simply that part of a circle with a radius of 10 yards and the penalty spot as the centre of that circle. Purely to ensure no one is within 10 yards of the ball when a side has a penalty. That’s it really
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Pete
Untold is my first love, blog wise, cos I stumbled on it in 2008, and boy, I needed it.
The only problem is that UA allow comments from those who are clearly anti Arsenal/Wenger.
For me this means that following a game like yesterday’s, I can happily read articles both here on PA and on UA. However, I choose to read the post match comments here.
If I wanna read trash, I can Twatter, innit?
(I emphasise, this is no put down of UA. I love the site, its aims and all it stands for, and about 96% of comments).
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That was truly a magnificent game from Arsenal last night.
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It would be great if they could rise to that level every match, but maybe that’s too much to ask. They’re only human after all.
Still sticking in my craw this morning that a team with Monaco’s approach to the game goes forward to the next round. Fancy paying to watch that every week … I’d rather flick snot at sparrows.
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Tim Stillman @Stillberto · 1h 1 hour ago
There’s no point in having ‘the Özil debate’ anymore. If people don’t get it by now, they’re never going to and are best ignored.
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That last fifteen minutes DK, after the Ramsey goal, the home side clung on and defended well. Earlier in the game they had been rocking but that last phase we managed only one real chance despite having probably 90% possession. Much as it galls me that short phase win them the tie.
As you say it ain’t pretty on the eye but there is a quality in that rock solid defence we can learn from
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MontyBankes @MontyBankes · 12h 12 hours ago
People hating Ozil because there’s no stepovers or 30yrd screamers. Geeza’s a majestic footballer, makes our game tick with pure ease.
Clockend gooner @Clockend88 · 12h 12 hours ago
Wenger is the ozil of management, majestic,superb,classy, misunderstood and under rated by most, but those who know, know
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DK
Only 5000 pay to watch Monaco every week.
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Anybody as perplexed as me about the ref not calling that back pass as deliberate?
It seemed very blatant to me, if the keeper didn’t handle it the ball would have rebounced back into Arsenal’s path.
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I think because of the first game many people are not considering the fantastic performance last night. To win 2-0 at the home of a side which has one of the best defences in Europe was a big achievement and I believe other clubs may have been given more credit. So with that in mind to then suggest one of our players played badly is ridiculous as it was obvious to greater and lesser extents they all played well.
It was the same at Bayern where they obviously weren’t trying. It might simply be the case that Monaco are a efficient counter attacking team who over two legs will give anyone a game and especially away from home because of the style of their game. Should we have gone through probably, did we have the right to definitely not.
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ianspace its not that.
i dont want to elevate monaco to some imaginary status…zardim ..abeneneoouuu and kobbopoopgia and berbatov? who are they?……
for me it is embarassing to discover that arsenal…..the arsenal of wenger ozil sanchez etc etc loses in europe from fucking monaco when we should have qualified easily
had this happened to chelsa united liverpool etc wed be laughing big time. no?
in my eyes only konsicleny played liek hsi life was depended on it…the rest played well but not as i expected. i expected chaos and anarchy after the 2-0…we really really missed rosicky ..spot on aob.
and wenger is blasting them if you notice …’should have won it in first half’ ..direct complain for the shambles of first leg …followed by ‘ maybe europa league suits us betetr’ ..again attacking their mentality ….rip them to shreds arsene and demand 3-0 till end of season for all games or contracts to be torn apart….
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plus ok…call me crazy….but from monday i was in full voodoo mode…..no blogs no comments…i painted a big red circe in the carpet in the living room and brought my magic three items ( rizlas, mango haze, ashtray) ….phoned the parents…..took the day off work….. and then i check the internet and everyone is 90-95 % confident we will do it! Noooooo ..thats hybris…… you dont say anything till its done. rule number one. it is percicely of this connection with rationality that i love football/arsenal
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I enjoyed this from Barney Ronay in the Guardian today;
“ Plus for all their same-old, same-old defensive naivety at the Emirates Arsenal’s exit was still less depressing than that of Chelsea, who were outplayed by a superior team, who never dominated their opponents, and whose tactics and degree of basic athletic mobility looked at times outmoded. Arsenal did at least look like a progressive modern football team in Monaco. They have now won 13 of their last 15 matches. They will probably be in the Champions League next year and are two matches from retaining the FA Cup. Among English clubs only Chelsea would refuse to swap places with them right now.
Plus, chief among the positives is the fact that behind the obvious repetitions – the same pattern of collapse followed by doomed hope – there are signs of something different stirring. For all the horrors of the Emirates three weeks ago, Arsenal are on an upward curve. This time last year they were losing 6-0 to Chelsea and looking a team entirely devoid of spine, guts, heart, legs and muscle against better opponents.
They now have a Plan B, no matter how loudly those who think they don’t have a Plan B say they don’t have a Plan B. Arsenal can pass long to Olivier Giroud, or play Danny Welbeck in behind. They can attack with that familiar blitz of diffuse sideways passes. They can win without the ball, as they have when Francis Coquelin has excelled this season. More significantly, Mesut Özil was excellent against Monaco, and excellent in a way he hasn’t always been excellent in the past, leading Arsenal’s attacks in the last 15 minutes and seeking out the ball as others tired.”
Full article here;
http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/mar/18/arsenal-arsene-wenger-champions-
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I always felt that Barney Ronan was a good ‘un. That is the nicest article about The Arsenal I have read for many years. Thanks for posting it. We have a club to be proud of and a team that is very nearly very good.
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Fabulous article that.
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Barney knows. We’re definitely on the verge of big things
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Except Larry is the dogs.
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“Tim Stillman @Stillberto · 1h 1 hour ago
There’s no point in having ‘the Özil debate’ anymore. If people don’t get it by now, they’re never going to and are best ignored.”
I’ve been telling people something similar to this ever since the novelty of having an ex-Real Madrid player started wearing off and the realists/football illiterates started to question whether Ozil is a good player. My stock response has always been: “If you’re too stupid to understand the way Ozil plays, you best sit quietly and let others, who do understand his game, explain it to you.”
Mesut is a ghost who finds pockets of space around the pitch where no one else can, he has the ability to ping a pass with the precision of a heat guided missile and his movement off the ball creates huge amounts of space for his teammates. That play for Nacho’s goal against United, where Ozil suddenly found himself in acres of space just in front of their penalty area, which left a two on 1 against Chris Smalling, that’s a typical Ozil move.
By the way, George, I just read your tweet about people having a better opinion of Ozil if he lost the ball more and busted a lung to recover it. It seems people like to see a player shouting or running a lot in order to consider them good players. It boggles the effing mind.
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Right then, after three
1 – 2 – 3
Bleeeeeewwwwww Mooooooooooonnnnnnnn
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cannon, I agree with ianspace although i am in two minds.
while not elevating monaco to legendry status any team making it to the last 16 cant be all bad and if some of the teams chelski own have given them a good game i would suggest “there are no easy games”, of course on paper we should have gone through but on paper we shouldnt have beaten real,barca, both the milans and bayern and most of them in their own back yards. Like Arsene said that is the unpredictability of the game. The team dynamic will always through up more surprises than a solo sport and our consistency over the last few years has not been through Febuary. I do agree Arsene obviously felt we could have done even better in the second leg suggesting their is alot more to come from this team.
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Shocking game at the Camp Nou
Over to Dortmund
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Positively Arsenal @Blackburngeorge · 7h 7 hours ago
If Ozil woud just lose the ball more , he could scamper after it and the fans would love him. Stupid Mesut.
outstanding tweet George. I really do laugh when I see gooners slam Ozil, and then praise Alexis for how hard he works to win back the ball when he loses it. I seen several last night give Alexis a higher match rating than Ozil,
Till English football values skill over brute force and hard running it will never achieve success in International football.
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outstanding goal by Barca, how anyone can doubt he is the best in the World is beyond me.
city being nasty, Nasri should have been sent off for that kick on Neymar
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Adrian Clarke @adrianjclarke · 8h 8 hours ago
Hearing a lot of nonsense about Ozil today. Crazy talk. He was excellent last night & has been since coming back from injury. Lazy critics
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Manchesterspeak @Manchesterspeak · 1h 1 hour ago
We couldn’t even beat MK Dons
@Van_Gaalacticos: Do United miss the CL or does the CL miss United. We would have beaten PSG and Monaco
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city have penalty saved v barca
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dortmund 0-3 juve – 1-5 on agg
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Gains who are you on twitter?
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MailOnline Sport @MailSport · 9h 9 hours ago
Manchester City have spent £327m since 2011 to make two changes to their first XI http://dailym.ai/1BPpN0s
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CAYeUndWoAAwa_l.jpg:large
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Manchester City have spent £327m since 2011 to make two changes to their first XI
but Arsenal should be winning the league
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ok aob but this was not so much in the category of unpredictable..more like …we took them lightly … ..zardim?…wtf?..oh well…its the stink of it..and i remember myself after the draw… now that they all expect us to progress, we will go out, thats how this absurd cosmos works…but i was only joking… .. i dont think ive recovered yet…. and ive lost it with konscielny..the greatest ever in the history of sports..what a player…fix his achiles tendon ..bring japanese nuclear scientists if necessary… and ozil ..phantom menace…. in fact…ozil jack and sanchez need to take the card waving catalan’s wife out for a night in chelsea and film it ……make it the whole squad actually…sanogo too..to be brought back from loan….
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a good piece by a villa blog about the delay in announcing day and time of Fa Cup Semis
http://www.myoldmansaid.com/fa-cup-semi-final-date-delay-aston-villa/
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George: “Gains who are you on twitter?”
@mikeyoranje88
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Great post Tim. My views exactly to always hope.
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The Arsenal were the only British Club to win a match in the Last 16.
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I read that Barney Ronay article yesterday too. The only thing that got up my nose was the bit about OG not being good enough and we needed a better striker – but no suggestions made. Like who, Barney? Who’s available who’s better than Ollie?
Agüero missed a penalty last night.
Costa didn’t score one goal in the CL for Chelsea.
Benzema is in the doldrums.
Higuain has got 13 for Napoli – only 2 more than OG – Has he had a broken leg too?
The Bitey One is happy as a sandboy at Barca and has only scored 7.
Ditto CR7 at Real.
Ditto Müller & Lewandowski at Bayern.
Top scorer in the Bundesliga is Meier of Eintracht Frankfurt and he’s 32 years old.
TGSTEL has got splinters in his arse at Wolfsburg.
Who else is there? Any suggestions? Peter Crouch maybe?
Ollie has just scored two great goals in his last two games and was a goalie’s flailing fingertips away from putting us through against Monaco. He missed a couple of chances in the first leg but what striker doesn’t miss chances?
Ollie is a monster and gets better with each season.
I rest my case.
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anicoll5 yesterday. I take your point about the last 15 minutes but we can do that if we have to – did at Citeh. And the last 15 minutes is when the opposition are most tired. Yes, they defended well but that isn’t so difficult if you set your stall out to do that – to have a line of 4 fronted by a line of 5. We lost because of a deflected goal, a moment of insanity from Per, and Ox tripping over the ball and giving it away. Yes, I’m downhearted about going out but we have another great team getting its act together here in the last months of the season.
We’ll be back in the CL next season – no doubt about that. Monaco may well not be.
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Darren @DarrenArsenal1 · 3h 3 hours ago
It’s weird how some people argue that winning the FA Cup isn’t good enough yet didn’t stop banging on how we won nothing for 9yrs.
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Arsenal FCVerified account
@Arsenal
TEAM NEWS: Rosicky could be available, @m8arteta and @MatDebuchy will be out for at least three more weeks
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aidan @englandyouth · 17h 17 hours ago
contributors to 4 recent #England youth squads (U16s-U19s): #CFC (14), #Spurs (9), #MCFC (9), #EFC (7), #AFC (5). both #LFC and #MUFC – 0.
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Arteta is taking his coaching badges while out injured. He has been coaching at the Hale End Academy on several occasions recently. there has been some rumors that as part of his latest contract talks he has held talks with Arsenal over becoming one of our youth coaches at end of his playing days.
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Our Gainsboug69 i.e. @mikeyoranje88 deserves a follow on Twitter. Get on it Positivistas.
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The Giroud question is a difficult one. You can see what Ronay was driving at, just as it is clear from DK’s response that the truth is not so black and white. I adore Giroud (settle down in the cheap seats, please) but can see why the lack of explosive pace that means he seldom goes past a defender to score causes some to criticise him. I felt that we bought Alexis to be that sort of player, and I see no problems whatsoever with Giroud up front and Alexis as the main man to feed of him, and also take the ball from just outside the area and make something out of nothing. He showed at the start of the season that he would do that, and it is just unfortunate that his slight dip in form has seen him not do it in a crucial game in recent weeks. He hasn’t suddenly become a bad player and will give us lots to be excited about if we are a little bit patient with him.
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Far more interesting to me then Mr.Ronay’s speculative gibberisms was the continued tumbling of Klopp’s Dortmund.
There were those who thought their early season performance against AFC was only possible with the aid of some juicy juju beans. I like to believe that they simply emptied what was left in the tank following a post-WC truncated pre-season. Benefit of the doubt and all that.
And also to reclect on how hard it it is to build a strong team. Watching Dortmund’s trials following the loss of a talisman the team was built around and their main goal threat too, plus a bit of wear and tear on some players from world cups and internationals etc, makes me understand what a good job AFC have done in turning round the squad since 2010. it’s an acheivment that has been made whilst most AFC bloggers were sniping and attacking the club and demanding the start of a “new era”. One was beginning beneath their very noses but they chose to ignore it whilst screaming bile at their own reflections. managers come and go but teams on the pitch are always composed of the players. It’s still remains an athletic sport, regardless of the hyper-real surreal vortex inhabited by the celebrity fans and bloggers – which makes that story about the NFL player retiring after a bad/medium concussion far more interesting to me then any gurgles erupting from the Manchester Grunt.
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forever@10:55 am –
Barney Ronay criticizing Giroud for lack of speed is simply stating the obvious and is simply locking himself into useless binary thinking: speed is good, slow is bad. A more rounded view is to look at all his attributes, pros and cons, and when we do, as you said, then we are looking at a damn good striker. To become excellent he simply needs to improve his efficiency, to make every opportunity a credible threat on the opponent’s goal. The good thing is he has been improving on his efficiency every year for the past 3 years at the club. That has been the pattern ever since he was at the 2nd or 3rd level in France. The argument is really about how better he can become. He is obviously working on it, especially on scoring with his right peg, given two recent goals including his one vs Monaco.t
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Fins, I watched about half of the Dortmund Juve game last night and the home side were poor, despite starting from the decent position of a 1-2 defeat in Turin.
They made no headway against a well drilled Italian defence and were duly picked of three well taken goals as the visitors counter attacked. 0-3 and Juve well deserved winners.
I can’t remember such a disappointing home performance in a R16 home tie for a very long time.
Well actually ………
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Don’t quite understand how Shaw or Walker can be selected as FBs ahead of the Corporal on current form but then Hodgson mistakenly chose to ignore Clyne till after the World Cup so who knows. Not me!
Townsend somehow keeps his spot, getting the hook after only thirty minutes at OT the other day. Walcott back in and that’s no surprise given Chambo’s niggles.
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‘coll,
I was jumping up and down like a lunatic when Chamberlain scored the other week. No doubt in my mind that at 1-2 Arsenal could go to Monaco and win the tie.
Can’t understand anyone groaning after the result on Tuesday, it took me about half an hour to mop up my tears and muster the courage to walk home after that third goal went in. Think I met more Monaco fans that evening in London then I saw in the stadium on Tuesday…
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One difference between the the home leg against Monaco and the away leg was the finishing Fins
We had three at least very good chances that we missed that on another night would have gone in.
In Monaco we had fewer chances, more difficult chances, but our finishing was better.
Puzzling or what ?
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There is a right old negative storm brewing: I hear that Piers Morgan has a slot on Adrian Durham’s Talk Sport show. Just a gentle heads-up for our Twitter warriors to man the barricades.
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