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 
Not going on the 20th as I am not allowed out on school nights – too much homework!
However you mentioned you are staying on the Caledonian Road DC
If you are hungry and fancy something diffrent try out the Ethiopian restaurant next to the Copenhagen Street turning. It is called Merkato and not to be confused with the bigger Marathon across the road.
I had lunch there on Sunday and was barely able to stagger the ground – you have to be hungry to do the menu justice though – friendly, plenty of food and very reasonable.
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Will this shut up the Arsenal-needs-a-goalkeeper brigade? AW at today’s presser:
…
“I believe in the goalkeepers I have. I believe that Szczesny is a very good goalkeeper and Ospina has come in and done a fantastic job. You look at the numbers in the Premier League and you look at who is top of all the goalkeepers and you will see it’s Ospina.”
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No work today, so much time to find some nuggets on the net:
http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/15118/9829730/laurent-koscielny-unheralded-defender-is-arsenals-key-player
– I remember some of us having to defend this signing from the majority of “realists” at you-know-where, most of whom were for the signing Cahill from Bolton, who apparently had the secret ingredient of gr*t (thanks to Finsbury).
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Mertens yesterday and more sad news today https://youtu.be/sW56-7hQ_2E
Ben E King RIP
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Was that one of the Juventus directors caught bribing referees in Serie A?
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shame on you dc …….
the great man is cleared of those awful allegations…
you simply dont fuck with the agnelli family
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Some nice comments from Liam Brady about Jack Wilshere. How good it is to see great players of the past supporting those who are trying to tread in their footsteps.
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Going to any remaining matches, Anicoll? Going to Dwansea and Subderland. Was too slow on the draw for WBA and nothing turning up on the exchange or Twitter. Really want two so Little LSG can say goodbye to his heroes before we go back across the pond. Would have liked to catch you at the George once. I did meet up with NorthBank though–great chap and he’ll be back across next year so hopefully he’ll catch you for a match.
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These Monday matches are terrible. Hull, Swansea. We’ve had more than our fair share of them it feels like!
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I still have fingers crossed for the Wst Brom game – there has been very little on the exchange but I suspect it might loosen up when the day draws near
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Now Mr Wenger has done it again!
What has young Ainsley Maitland-Niles, been up to?
I quote “There are some incidents that I don’t know well and I don’t know why but the boy has a perfect behaviour inside our club.”
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Checking on AM-N, I came across this comment from a Chelsea fan:
“: I think the general feeling is that it’s been a “frustratingly good” season – the first half of the season saw Arsenal have to do without Giroud, Sanchez, Ozil, Walcott, Wilshere, and new signing Mathieu Debuchy for several months. Given that the first three are the best players Arsenal have, and the next two are in the top tier of Arsenal players, that would put a kink in any team’s plans to do well. As they cobbled together teams and formations with spare parts, Arsenal struggled to be anything resembling a cohesive team until January, when players started coming back out of the training room. If Arsenal had had a fully healthy squad from day one, I think the title race would be a whole lot closer than it is now.”
I must assume, Mr Wenger was referring to a “pushy mother”?
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NOTH: great find. But if that little nugget of truth was from a Chelsea fan we are entitled to ask why the various ex-players employed by the media have not peddled it more aggressively. Did they not notice – or are they paid to turn eyes blindly? And if so, who is the paymaster? Winter? Durham? Morgan? Scudamore? Usmanov? Abramovich?
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I hope there is something else behind the story than La Mater A-M-N seeing her pride and joy as nothing more than a cash cow for her own future financial security, alas the picture of here standing in front of a Bentley coupe doesn’t not allay those fears.
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Not forgetting Arteta being out too.
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l’agent (spécial) 007 (as he was known after his move to Tottenham),
Ex-AFC scout Damien Comolli:
“van Persie’s success is 5% recruitment & 95% Wenger’s coaching”
There’s a statement that you won’t be retweeted by that unemployed physio who always bleats on. And on.
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Fins
Even if it had been twattered I wouldn’t have seen it, so Thanks (and Like, an’ stuff).
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No probs Ranty. Or very own special agent (he is special to me after what he did to Tottenham – though the presstitutes strangely refuse to ever mention Soldado or Paulinho these days when being racist or hateful towards “lazy” Özil etc.) is just confirming what we all already knew. Even the Groaners. Especially those who spent years abusing RVP and then groaned when he was sold, who booed Ramsey but applauded the F Word off the pitch. Like many and hopefully most others on the day I simply had no reaction to the spineless flip flopping diving cheat. Santi’s reaction to his dive said it all.
But the reaction of the supporters of Gazprom (in the press, forget the club itself) to the Boring Boring Gazprom wind up chant has been properly hilarious. Do you think they are protesting too much?
At the time I thought it wasn’t that clever a chant. Little did and do I know. Well played you Gooners
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Our > or very own
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Hello girls… and George
Just to say that my final post is up on GunnersoreArse… my pilgrimage to the Mecca of football, the Emirates. http://wp.me/p4FeF9-qc
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NB
‘Final’ post??
Say it ain’t so.
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The Pardew Out enlightened Brigade up there in the NW must be loving this.
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For all those not enjoying the ARSENAL less weekend remember it might be St totterings day tomorrow, there is also a possibility we a virtually assured CL football next season before we play at hull. I know there’s still goal difference and the possibility of having to play a qualifier but a this stage of the season that’s still not bad
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Fins @ 2:09pm – Many in the media were egging-on the Pardew-out nonsense particularly the Geordie media. Now they are carving up Carver (pun intended). As you so frequently remind us, fans who allow the media to play them like lemmings get what they deserve. Thank heavens some of us decided to stand up to these bastards in our own small way.
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The owners and management of Liverpool, since their blatant lying about the Suarez buyout clause, have always struck me as a slimy bunch. But their blatant attempts at underpaying Sterling relative to his peers then seeking to destroy him in the media as a greedy, ungrateful, good-for-nothing has reinforced my view they are an unsavoury bunch. The following piece in the Express smack of an attempt to blackmail the kid. http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/574432/Raheem-Sterling-risking-money-delaying-Liverpool-contract-Brendan-Rodgers
Who would be happy giving your all to a club who wants to compensate Sterling at the same level as Henderson.? Crooks.
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Shotta, shocking as it may sound for some I don’t believe that I know more about Ass.Football then Alain Pardéw.
If my memory is correct whilst the FA and media favourite Stuart Pearce was busy playing then Gazprom pawn Mancienne a CB in midfield in the euro u21 final against Spain Pardéw was giving the much missed Chamberlain his debut at Southampton.
His performance with more or less the same squad at Palace as the former Stoke manager shows the gritty level of confirmation bias that was on display there for Pulis, in my opinion. Palace have some decent players.
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Villa warming up well so far in their preparation for the cup final.
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Sunderland winning against Southampton. Hull City will be playing for survival. Not going to be an easy game.
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Fins @ 4:00 pm – Mon amie, a correction is in order. Alain Pardieu I have seen elsewhere. But an astute observation about him knowing a bit about talent. Chamberlain vs Mancienne emblematic of the respective managerial credentials of Pardew vs Pierce.
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At long last somebody gets nailed for shirt grabbing in the box, Onouha. But Gerrard bottles the penalty. His last hurrah has been a nightmare.
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Onouha gets a 2nd yellow but he was exposed as QPR lose their shape leaving him exposed in a 2 v 1.
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Would hope to see the same standard of protection for the players on the pitch applied on Monday night. Liverpool get the goal against the ten men, Gerrard!
Not “strength of character” as John Hartson says but simply, perhaps, a result of the Rangers players trying too much at times and the officials just doing their job?
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Stoke lose.
Anderson taking wickets.
Villa letting in goals.
Liverpool stay ahead of Tottenham and keep some distant pressure on the Mancs.
All good so far.
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Fins: Apart from the title, it’s up for grabs in the PL.
PS: It is hard to even sneak a peak at my Windies. Don’t make it harder.
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That Fabian Delph is blossoming into an incredible footballer. The fact that he forewent the big money signing in order to play every week-end makes me like him even more. Him and Jackie in the middle will make up for all the years we had to watch England manager after England manager stuff that awful Lampard, Gerrard partnership down everyone’s throat.
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The comparison of Pearce and Pardew tells us a lot about Greg Dyke’s recent gibberish and the FA. Chamberlain had played in the championship but Pearce only called him into his u21 squad as far as I know after his big money move to the good old Arsenal.
http://youtu.be/_G1e0bQB-G8
Once he learns to tackle safely he could be the perfect player!
–
Gains the fear is Hodgson will play a rookie like Bartley or Sterling at ten, Wilshere at the base, and Delph slightly wide. As he did at the WC. AW said that is a little bit of a waste to play Wilshere (IMO England’s best tennish player) in that area.
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Sorry shotts.
There’s a comparison there to be made about how hard it is to build a team, the stability required etc. but not today! If ever a call to “sack the board” was appropriate…
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Shotta: “I remember some of us having to defend this signing from the majority of “realists” at you-know-where, most of whom were for the signing Cahill from Bolton, who apparently had the secret ingredient of gr*t (thanks to Finsbury).”
Cheap, French and mediocre. That is how most realists described Koscielny.
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Fin: “Gains the fear is Hodgson will play a rookie like Bartley or Sterling at ten, Wilshere at the base, and Delph slightly wide. As he did at the WC. AW said that is a little bit of a waste to play Wilshere (IMO England’s best tennish player) in that area.”
Delph needs to be at the base with Jackie creating from a slightly deeper position and stepping in the opposition penalty area whenever possible.
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delighted to see Brentford reach the play offs, I hope the best middlesboro in the semi, I have a long standing dislike for boro, think it goes back the 5-0 defeat in 1980. With Bounemouth and Watford already up, it would be amazing to see another small club like Brentford come up with them, Norwich and Ipswich can probably be called small clubs too.
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john carver has accused Mike Williamson of getting sent off on purpose. either way its disgraceful, – disgraceful if true and disgraceful of Carver to accuse him if its not. I wonder how the Pardew out Toon fans like the way things are going for them since he left.
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Fin and Gains: Gotta agree with Delph at the base of the English midfield with Jack beside him in the Cazorla role. Hopefully Hodgson on won’t bow to the bastards in the English media who want Bartley shoehorned in the midfield 3. Carrick is a wildcard though. Him or Delph, I don’t mind. Criminally underrated in my opinion.
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“You’re a fat Cockney bastard, get out of their club”
I had to laugh at the Leicester fans today with this ditty in support of their suffering opponents.
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Arsenal’s U18’s lost to Southampton 2-1 today, the two southampton goals were scored by ex gooner Willard, one of them set up by another ex gooner Regis. Harry Donovan had drew Arsenal level.
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My England line up:
———-Rooney
Sterling————–Theo
———–Wilshere
——Carrick—–Delph
Gibbs—————Clyne
–Jagielka——Cahill
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Half time at Trafford Park and the natives are getting restless. Massed defence from the visitors and the Mancs showing no sign of opening them up so far.
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Poooolis for England. He’d put Greece to shame in the next Euro tournament. Mancienne MOTM in the final, from midfield of course. Arise, Sir Pooolis.
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Hold up, no Chamberlain Gains?
He’ll need a few months to find his levels again, I guess, but he must be close to your XI?
I know the experts choose to believe for some strange reason that those who have supported their manager over the long long years never disagree, I’m going to have to disagree!
Chambo for Sterling for me. It is true, I can be biased *coughs* but it’s (a fit and in decent form) Chambo for me if I had to call between the two.
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for the record..greece played 343 and in the final 442…..
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