A guest post from shottagunna ( @shotta_gooner )
By now we are all familiar with the recent punditry of Thierry Henry, when, from the comfort of his perch at Sky Sports, he declared that for Arsenal to win the league again “I think they need to buy four players – they need that spine. They need a goalkeeper, they still need a centre back, they still need a holding midfielder…”
A visitor from Mars, scrutinizing the League table, may have cause to wonder if Henry is confused; is he mixing up the red of Arsenal with the free-falling Liverpool. The Gunners have been the best performing club in the top flight since January and in the last 6 games is ranked second only to Everton with 16 points compared to Chelsea’s 14.
In my opinion Henry’s punditry is not only a public declaration of no-confidence in this squad but a virtual flip flop from his opinion two weeks earlier when he was bigging-up Coquelin in particular, famously comparing him to the tv detective Columbo, extolling his ability to sniff out any attack. Henry is no regular TV blowhard, he is an Arsenal legend who is still connected to the club, often working out with the squad at London Colney. Surely he should be aware that he is undermining confidence in players who see him as a mentor and in Wenger, whose approach to squad building is signing talented players whom the lazy pundits have doubts and turning them into world class players, a policy which he personally benefitted.
In my opinion our greatest ever goal-scorer is just another hapless victim of a certain media narrative, echoed in blogs and on twitter until it becomes conventional wisdom with barely a shred of factual evidence. This is exemplified by the repeated nonsense that somehow David Ospina is inferior to all the top goalkeepers in the PL. But as footballrepublik.com observed:
“Comparing Ospina to arguably the other top 2 goalkeepers in the league, David de Gea and Thibaut Courtois, he has the best clean sheet ratio, makes more saves per game, more saves per goal & has conceded the least goals per game.
He also boasts the best win ratio out of the three and has the most successful punches per game. Comparing him to his Polish counterpart (Szczesny), Ospina concedes a goal every 150 mins compared to every 71 mins for Szczesny.”
Those statistics are pretty overwhelming but, no matter how well he does, Ospina’s performances are discounted and subject to thinly disguised skepticism. This is best reflected in a recent headline in a very popular blog which stated “David Ospina’s win ratio makes him the second largest oil producer in the Universe.” Admittedly that was a very funny headline, but certainly a perfect example of being damned by sarcasm, a technique which this particular blogger excels.
All of us with experience of the last 11 years know that at the core of this false narrative concerning Ospina are the following facts; he only cost the club a reported £4 million, he wasn’t signed from a big club and he is not the stereo-typical huge 6ft 6in plus European type goalkeeper. Too Almunia-esque in my opinion.
Hence the usual suspects went into overdrive in the last transfer window demanding Wenger sign Chelsea’s #2, Petr Cech. Ray Parlour, who like Henry is loved by the media for being a famous ex-player (get the pattern) stated in the London Evening Standard. “It is nothing against Ospina but when you look at the games Cech has played in and the trophies he has won, he’d be a great addition for Arsenal. If you are going to challenge for the league, you need a top quality goalkeeper which Cech is.” One very popular tweep who also writes for the Metro went so far as to suggest that “A move to Arsenal would keep Cech in London, a city that has been the home of his evolution into a world class goalkeeper.” Imagine that, Arsenal has a duty to keep him in London.
Look out for more of this guff in the silly season coming up in July, worse if Ospina proves he is only human and by making a big mistake in one of the four upcoming matches. The main thing that keeps us serene in this nonsense is the wise words of our manager who said of our players in a recent interview:
“Every moment is analysed of every event on television. Just after the game the players open the television and hear ‘Why did he move on the right and not on the left?’. That was not the case before. It is the price to pay for the popularity of the sport. We have the good sides and have to take the bad sides as well.”
Positively Arsenal 
Cor.: Murray or Sanogo
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well done to MKDons on their promotion to the Championship for the first time.
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That Pacquiao, Mayweather fight had all the excitement of a Jose Mourinho bus parking display.
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Gains – Back in the day I used to be ripped off by Don King’s ppv offerings as he, Tyson or Holyfield earn another big payday. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me
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What a finish from Agüero.
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And what’s sad, Shotta, is how PPV killed the sport. By taking the big fights away from local tv, we have an entire generation of kids who don’t understand the intricacies of boxing, which, for me, is one of the finest sports.
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The Third Test might be finished before the final whistle at the Lane !!
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Gains: It is the greed of all the players in the game; sanctioning bodies, promoters, PPP providers and the boxers. I never thought I would lose interest in boxing. Once again, last night they robbed the public and will lose another generation of fans. Serves them right.
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Admittedly the 40 minute lunch break might make it a bit tight.
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Gainsbourg69
May 3, 2015 at 3:08 pm
when they hugged in last round i could hear them saying to eachother’s ear ‘see you in barbados with your 120 mil’
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no it wasnt barbados..it was acapulco
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bingham, / murphy ….felt for judd trump last night..but ok he is so young plenty of time.. some of his pots were from the 6th dimesnion
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i so wish i were a snooker pro..scientists..gentlemen.. ken dogherty with the knife scar..i rmeneber also two welsh guys i dont see much nowdays ..williams and stevens
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St. Totteringham is stirring in his crypt.
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tottnum being tottnum, they might even need us to win the FAC for them to get in the Thursday night cup.
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by the looks of it only Debuchy missed training today, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Diaby, Gnabry, Arteta all trained.
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Winning at Hull is champions league.
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st totteringham day with five games to spare. So much for the power shift in North London
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with five games to play Arsenal need a max of – 3pts for top 4, 7pts for top 3 and 13pts for 2nd
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city have QPR(H), Swansea (A), Southampton (H)
utd have Crystal Palace (A), Arsenal (H), Hull(A)
Arsenal have Hull (A), Swansea (H), Man Utd (A), Sunderland (H), West Brom (H)
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well Chelsea winning the league made it a great day for the AAA, all the I told you so’s and the incompetent wenger gang are all out in force across arsenal web world, I even see they have some new material, now its that chelsea’s years of spending had no effect on this season’s title race, they have no one in their squad Arsenal could not have signed.
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PG
Ta formatted”has to be read” link.
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good to see Serge Gnabry saying he will be in action for our U21’s tomorrow.
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@ Eduardo, its more to the point that you actually sound surprised? i do not have a high expectation from those that are determined to be miserable so cant really surprise ma…. glad a few more people are getting to better understand… they are just not many enough or quickly enough!
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lthough after generally repairing our record with the top teams… it was rreally sad that a combination of per being out of sirts, giroud , kos beig infured and WS and few players just generally having bad games with no excuse – never fail to acknowledge the refs in their incompetence, actually cost us some vital points… spurs, stoke, Southampton, Swansea, man u spring to mind… imagine just drawing those 5…. where we would be with 5 more points and an obviously improved goals diff
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The Premier League trophy not as clean as it was this morning, dirty fingerprints have disfigured the award. The same dirty fingerprints that have disfigured clubs and competitions across Europe for the past decade.
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Yes that prick Jose and his “conspiracy” theories about PL referees, his diving players, his stamping striker, his racist captain/legend, his lack of grace turns my stomach.
If that is the price of a PL title you can stick it up your arse.
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And did I forget to mention the anti-football bus ?
I think I did
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yes Chelsea won and well they did take their chances and at other times ground out results when needed, but anything stained with Jose cant be enjoyed
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i see ancoli states my point more clearly
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Ed, how can you congratulate a plastic team who represent all that is wrong with the modern game
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ian are you referring to MKDons, as I don’t agree that they are a plastic team, and I will say that they play good attacking football, and so are far from all that is wrong with the modern game. Them moving to MK is little different that AFC moving from Woolwich to Highbury all those years ago. Wimbledon was fucked at plough lane and then spent a decade as tenants at Shelhurst Park, they had to get their own ground, they had fuck all of a fan base in south london so it made sense to move and try and build a club that could progress.
Will also say that there was little praise worthy of the way the “crazy gang” played the game, a real forerunner of the Stoke type game, possibly even worse.
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I didn’t notice that the weather turned rather beautiful at around 3.30 pm. For me it continued to rain…..
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Paddy PowerVerified account
@paddypower
It takes someone truly special to be as sore a winner as they are a loser. Well played, Jose Mourinho.
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So even Rudd Gullit is having a pop at boring Chelsea:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3066004/Jose-Mourinho-s-Chelsea-team-boring-s-forever-got-hand-handbrake-says-Stamford-Bridge-legend-Ruud-Gullit.html
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Georgaki,
Everyday is just like Sunday,
Come
Armageddon come.
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AW: Henry was wrong:
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/may/03/arsene-wenger-thierry-henry-oliver-giroud-arsenal-sky
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Watch this about Arteta.
One of the best players we’ve ever had.
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I caught the last 5 minutes of normal time in the Crystal Palace vs Chelsea match. I sat there and told my girlfriend to watch how Chelsea cheat. Even I was taken aback as we sat there carefully watching tugs and pulls and kicks off the ball, on the ball, by all the Chelsea players bar the goalkeeper. All done in a way to skirt on the very edge of a foul you say – but rather a referee that is too afraid/corrupt to give the foul. There is a reason their defensive screen is so effective in the English league. The referees allow them the use of tactics that would be called fouls if other teams used them – like certain vintages of Man Utd teams used to do. I think the source of their success is due in no small part, perhaps even the greater part, due to their ability to cheat – be it diving, soft shirt pulls, soft kicks, that disrupt an opponent’s momentum. I will not consider this Chelsea team a football team, they are nothing but cheats. It speaks for the state of football watchers at large that they watch these cheats and cannot or will not see it.
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Sav – I see your point but I thought Marriner was decent in a very difficult environment.
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