Manchester United have provided us with an admirable cast of pantomime villains over the years. Defectors from within our ranks like Persie and Stapleton, outrageous talents who preferred history to remember them as diving, whining cry babies like the lesser Ronaldo, and revolting cheats like Nistelrooy. Despite these and many others and despite Ferguson’s corrupt relationship with officials and the investment the whole football establishment has openly admitted having in United’s success, there are still some people associated with that club who I find impossible to detest. David Beckham is one and Steve Bruce is the other.
Why Steve Bruce? Well, in a world where the doughty English manager is lauded over the sly foreign coach Bruce has never pandered to the media and it’s disgusting hate campaign against Arsène Wenger. Far from it. Bruce recognises, as many alleged Arsenal fans do not, that Arsène Wenger’s achievements since arriving in North London are nothing short of astonishing. Here are some of his more recent comments
“… quite remarkable, he’s had input in the stadium – what a stadium that is. Top four for however long, three Premier Leagues [titles], FA Cups, the final again, but still people question him … How he can get stick is beyond me.”
that’ll do me. Bruce has always been gracious in defeat against us and I for one will be eternally grateful to his players for squandering a two goal lead in the FA Cup final last May.
While I had to watch last week’s match holding my nose and turning away whenever the television cameras showed the visitors bench, tonight’s game ought, in light of the far more palatable opposition players and management, to be a more enjoyable one. I certainly don’t expect it to be an easier one. This is the time of year when teams scrabbling for purchase in the Stygian underworld of the Premier League’s bargain basement often provide tougher opposition than those with their heads in the clouds. Look at West Brom’s refusal to lie down under a veritable battering at Old Trafford on Saturday. Yes they rode a phenomenal wave of luck but they still needed a depth of self belief and will to keep clinging on until the ninety fourth minute. This was similar to the battling bravado Burnley produced against us recently and I don’t doubt that Hull will be similarly determined. It is human nature for competitive people to fight harder when their backs are to the wall. Much more impressive than motivating a squad on the brink of relegation is pushing one for a less tangible goal, say second place in the league. Luckily enough Arsène isn’t just a master tactician his motivational skills are self evident as well.
I don’t know if you watched the recent documentary about the Invincibles, I suspect you did. There was a telling comment repeated by the players that once the title was won it was Arsène alone who not only had the belief that the team could go unbeaten to the end but who single handedly forced the players to believe it as well. They had won the title, they were champions and as all champions should they had won in style with many a flourish and had earned the respect of the footballing world. Then that pesky human nature reared its head once more and whispered into the players ears ‘no one expects you to give a hundred percent from now on – you’ve done your bit, why not put your feet up and relax’. Arsène had other ideas. How he dragged the performances and results out of a carefree, elated bunch of lads who felt they’d already conquered the mountain is the stuff of legend. It is precisely those same motivational powers we need now that the disappointment of missing out on the title will have settled over the club. Like anyone with at least half a brain the manager and his players will not have given up until the title was a factual impossibility. You win nothing by giving up. Now however they must put that behind them, they must forget all about impending trips to Wembley and give every bit as much effort to the conquest of Hull City in the league tonight as they did in overcoming them on that sensational day in May last year.
We all hoped that yesterday would bring us a little joy. West Brom whetted our appetite with their blend of heroism and outrageous good fortune and if Palace could dish out more of the same and Spurs defeat an under strength Man City then we were on course for a fantastic bank holiday. Alas that script was torn up and replaced with one all too familiar. I have to hope and believe that the players aren’t affected by the same sense of anti climax that Sunday’s results have draped over me. I know many people were celebrating St Totteringham’s eve after our so called rivals inept attempt to scrape even a draw yesterday. Indeed it does seem an awfully long time ago that the annual gibberish about a shift in power was being spouted by Spurs’ delusional fans and their friends in the media. I cannot think of a single other instance of complete dominance in sport that has been so consistently misrepresented by so many supposed experts. It represents nothing more than a triumph of blind prejudiced hope over simple truth. But then when the likes of Jamie Carragher are allowed to vomit baseless nonsense about Arsenal spending more than Gazprom Fulham we shouldn’t be surprised. It was just another lie which we all know will soon be repeated by the desperate and the hateful among our fan base.
Supporters may anticipate St Totts with their usual good natured fervour but for the players and manager there is still much work to be done. Finishing above even one of the financially doped clubs is still a hell of an achievement and one well worth fighting for. There would be no shame in finishing beneath both of them, of course not. With their obscene expenditure they ought both to romp home every time. Arsenal shouldn’t really have a prayer of finishing above either of them but if we can do so then along with another cup final appearance we can surely count this season a success. And that’s before we get onto the nature of the mountain we’ve had to climb. I’m not referring just to the sheer volume of injuries we’ve suffered, it is more the way the curse has struck at such inopportune moments. Look at Aaron. Just as an example. We were all saying how he had at last rediscovered his scoring boots and the very next game he was out again. Alex Oxelaide-Chamberlain had just started to show the confidence and skill which suggested he was about to realise his potential when he was injured. Then he recovered and exactly the same thing happened again. We have had, in the past few weeks, a glimpse of an Arsenal side with an unremarkable number of both injured players and of players newly released from the doctors care. Just look at what that side has achieved. Give Arsène one season with no more than the normal level of mishaps that any club might expect and you never know, we may be aiming one place higher than we are this year. For now though let’s focus on testing Steve Bruce’s magnanimity to the full and let’s see if we can’t force him to be gracious in defeat just one more time.
Positively Arsenal 
Steww
You have nailed it. We are going to be the team to beat next season. If we win the PL I expect the trash media will have no choice than to explain to the world why trophies won by Arséne’s Arsenal shine so much brighter than those of the financially doped. Those trophies will shine so brightly no man or woman will be able to look at them directly……..
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Excellent again Steww, reading your previews is part of my match day ritual and I love it.
Like you say these games towards the end of the season are sometimes the hardest of all and just reading the ref review on untold has filled me with dread. However this team is showing such strength I didnt even think we would be defeated by the boring one so again I expect a performance.
I get the feeling the squad enjoy playing at the moment and enjoy winning so motivation for end of season goals is not so high on the agenda. I think city will win all their remaining games so we will need four wins and a draw to guarentee second, acheivable yes easy no.
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are you trying to say the the stinking festering sc*m chavs are financial doping and the only way to stamp out racism in football worldwide is the stinking festering chav sc*m football (club?) should be closed down, put out of business…? i would tend to agree. it was interesting to see a perfectly good goal disallowed and a dive (as usual by the cheating chavs was rewarded with a penalty. the chavs have been diving ever since maureen took over the cheating bas****s
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yep bruce is allright… natural born swimmer…olympian
but this st tots…. .where is that? i know st ives but havent been there yet ..looks great on google earth.
the media are full of pictures of that very same thing our players should not have allowed to happen…i say players..not club , not manager. and the images were too revolting i could not go with it ..i watched interstellar instead..and the alien bingham
and this is where stew needs to gather all his might and science accumen and write an analysis cause this nolan chap is quite selfish and expects us to grasp warmholes and tesseracts in black holes behind libraries… help stew.. have ot give it to the american pilot though…top top actor…
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Now that’s a proper piece of writing from someone who understands far more than just football – and as a result knows far more about football than most who have played the game.
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Great read. Very true, have never heard Bruce dish it out on Wenger, though he will be making it tough for us in this game. That balance of power thing was hilarious, would take a good few years to overturn power lasting so many years. Yet so many believed it including those who shouldn’t have. A section of our so called fans are deliriously celebrating Chelsea’s title win, let’s hope the rest of us have cause to celebrate this evening, a win would go a long way to eliminating the need for one of those pesky Champions league qualifiers, games of such intensity at the start of the season have surely been the source of at least some of our injury problems.
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Nice one Stew,be interesting to see how we perform tonight,having a cup final at the end of the month should ensure the starting 11 & especially any subs will be nudging Arsene for a start in that game. 2-1 to us I reckon.
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Great article again Stew. Thanks
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It’s always a pleasure, Steww.
Some duffer journo from the telegraph said yesterday that it was an embarrassment that AW had never beaten the Dark One in a game. Wenger beats that gimp at life, never mind the footie.
It’s hard to beat someone who only ever sets out to draw against you at your own grounds, and then has the option of having the ability to cheat at will under the noses of less than impartial officials and the media back at his own swamp, and gets praised for having a row of giant thugs across the midfield-back line St. Helens would be envious of.
Oh and don’t forget that the special moan can out-bid you for any player they think you are interested in, and then offer them double the wages if you were close to a deal with someone you thought you’d found in the more obscure margins of European football.
Do I not like Chelsea?
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Proper blog by a proper writer. I so eagerly anticipate a preview by Stew, I often imagine it must be like a junkie needing a fix. Being an Arsenal junkie probably explains it. As Seebs said above, by being so honest and insightful, Stew often reminds us Arsenal is a product of human nature, with all the possibilities of success and failure. Yes, our boys could get complacent, hopefully they get a piece of Stew from the boss. Come on You Gunners!
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Great stuff as always stew. And I agree on Bruce. And beckham. Both have been strong enough to go their own way and always been respectful to Arsene and the club. For certain Wenger appreciated beckham for his professionalism. But then very few players have bad things to say about Arsene. Unless they are paid to do so after their career. I imagine almost all of the active players have secret dreams about getting a call from him to play for him. Not same can be said about the English managers that ganged up under red nose. They seem very quiet now that red nose is gone aren’t they? Small time bullies.
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Just read arseblog news. What the fuck is the mans obsession with Santi moving back to Spain, is he getting a cut or what. Fucking shit stirrer.
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Apropas
What happened to all the fitba managers in the PL as soon as their lord and master Sah Slurgus kicked the bucket? Where did they all go? Scottish football has been doing so well in recent decades, surely the clubs would want to keep on all these stooges sorry I mean quality managers.
Compared to many and most of Slurgus’ foul spawn that still pollute the beautiful game (Is McNair yet another Utd linked clogger who clogged an AFC player and is destined for the call center?) Bruce seems like one of the good ‘uns. He even has shown he can, shock, horror, give time and consideration to developing players. A football manager who can actually manage a person? We’d better not tell the hack dwarfs who write eulogies to the relationship between the special agent and the specialist in signing players from the social agent on a daily basis. Did you all skim past the article on Mangala in the Mudchester Grunt? What a load of proper gibberish. Perhaps the hack should’ve been asking why City were happy to pay £30M for a CB who at best is two/three years away from being able to do the job required and is not even HG (I’m trying to be kind and am refraining from describing the player as a Mendezian Mule today, though all in football have seen a few of those…)? Or would that be too obvious?
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special agent > social(!) agent
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Thank you all for the very kind words. I claim no special insight. my only goal when I put pen to paper is to please George.
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Well you always score then Stew.
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It doesn’t please me that Chelsea won the league, not one little bit. But I can cope with it, because that is the way of sport: I knew how they would be and they have been just like I expected. There will come a time when they don’t win everything, just as there will be a time when the competition is stiffer for longer (I write copy for Viagra).
But what really irritates me is the fawning and the lack of serious analysis by most of the press and pundits and fans – especially when that fawning is somehow used to criticise my team by those who profess to support my team. I read, for instance, that John Cross says that Arsenal are miles behind, that Robin Cesc Henry says we need a new spine.
And then I think of the injuries since Boxing Day 2013, and wonder whether we would be about to win the double for the second season running had Ramsey, Wilshere, Arteta and Ozil stayed more or less fit for the last 17 months. Or, to put it another way, how Chelsea might have coped without Matic, Hazard, Willian and Fabregas for that time. I know there is no point playing the if game – if my aunty had balls she’d be my uncle, as was pointed out to me many years ago by an old pro – and I also know that managing injury and keeping players fit is all part of the equation too. But I do think that it is disingenuous to suggest that these things don’t play their part.
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Haha, Who scored?
Hey, thanks Steww
The first paragraph is so telling, and your piece is, as always, excellent.
I feel I understand where you’re coming from in relation to Steve Bruce, but I’ll politely disagree about any ‘niceness’ relating to him.
For starters, he, like many other British managers, does occasionally say good things about Arsène Wenger, however, this follows a pattern whereby said managers say supposedly complimentary things about our esteemed leader prior to a game against Arsenal, only to then kick the sh*t out of our players. Bruce almighty has done this with astonishing regularity whilst managing Sunderland, Birmingham and others. Bruce also re employs his sh*tkickers as he moves from club to club.
These SK’s didn’t say Boo to a goose when facing ManU, did they? They just lay down and took it (you know where). This tells me he sends said SK’s out to kick Arsenal, and I can’t forgive him for that.
How about last years cup final? Four non awarded penalties and plenty of kicks in between. Did you see his pitch side interview after the final whistle? Bitter, or what? How classy a centre back is his son? Have you seen him “play”?
It’s gonna be sheeting rain at some point during the match and the ref is Lee Mason.
Sky’s MNF will talk about Arsenal’s ability to win by 10 or more goals, knowing that there’ll be the typical tilting – for the poor old relegation threatened tigers.
Anyway, apologies, I’m not slagging off the article. I just have a different point of view about Brucie. (Was he manager when Hull heat Arsenal at the Ems – when Denilson and others were kicked off the park?) No, that might’ve been Phil (you’re white, and you know you are) Brown, or his predecessor.
“the lesser Ronaldo”. So correct, and along with van haus, I can’t forget the Neville’s and the Scholes and the Keanes and the Fletchers and the Youngs, Rooneys, Vidic’s… the list is endless.
Its a brilliant thing to raise – that Arsenal mustn’t give up, and that our players will be playing to be included in the cup final. Arsenal must remain strong.
And as you’ve pointed out, Arsène and Arsenal fully understand how teams like Hull will “play”, and I believe that even with all the bloomin’ refshite, pitch-shite and Northern-ness, we’ll get the result, and no broken limbs, pretty please.
Fins, above:
Spot on.
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“We’re not all jealous”:
http://www.football365.com/john-nicholson/9836492/John-Nicholson
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Foreverheady, there are two ways to win the title. Be consistent and not necessarily the best. Bag the points and wait for others to catch you under pressure. Or you just beat them all and leave no doubts about supremacy. I can accept we lost on the consistency front due to difficult first half. A team of wannabe champions, a team that is pissed off at how their manager is treated/slated….goes out and stuffs chelsea. Not for the title, but for themselves as players. I dont care they parked the bus..beat them. Cheat if you have to. Dont let them leave the pitch happy. Rough them up to if you want. Just beat those cunts… emphatically. Make it known that the smurfs will be our bitches from now on. Thats up to the players, not the manager, not the fans. Do not rest mentally or physically until they’re on their knees begging for mercy. Thats what i want to see from now on. No mercy. Keep the class and good football and all but also learn how to ‘kill’ in a sporting sense and reverse the psychology.
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I read, for instance, that John Cross says that Arsenal are miles behind,
well he is a jerk..we are not far in terms of quality and football standards ,maybe a little bit on the psychology front…they have to kill games and not allow opponents the ‘dream’ that they can come back at us.
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Fins, don’t forget how players accused fat sam for trying to force them to sign up for his agent. Same fat sam that took such pride to be playing golf with red nose regularly. He and Pubis sucked it so hard purple became the new red.
I recall two anecdotes from the secret footballer. 1) when one of his managers finally won a game against a Wenger team, the manager went frenetic, shaking and screaming like a heavy drug abuser in the dressing room. The manager took the win against Wenger so personal it went beyond the ridiculous right into the pathetic realms, leaving the player shaking his head, losing all respect for the manager. 2) Once, one of his manager stormed into the dressing room holding up a case of paper. Waving the case in the air the manager proudly announced due to his personally friendship with the almighty red nose he had got hold of manure uniteds scouting report of their next opponent. Said manager bought so much into his friendship with red nose it never occurred to him red nose might be giving scouting reports of them to other managers as long as the results fit manure. One red nose to rule them all.
Oh, and it is general suspected the secret footballer once played for stoke. Under pubis.
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apropos
May 4, 2015 at 5:21 pm
you have to put yourself into their shoes…they are english ..traditional english…and here comes a frenchman who they traditonally hate …and owns them in their national sport. its a big and bitter pill to swallow. this is the brittish empire..they tell others how its done, not the other way round.
with chelsea though..who are also foreign its different cause roman has lubricated the carousel the last decade and has a firm grip of the command centres …
normally you would expect the empire to kick the russian out but the money is too good to turn down…… and we suffer as consequence…..
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should i be proud we have built the club to the point where we can buy ozil, sanchez or should i feel pissed off that we have to play to their rules to get something out of it? i dont know yet….
i feel we could and should have won titles with 19 year old cesc …why not? but they wouldnt let us. now that we spend a little they take us a little bit more seriously…
the hcicken or the egg?
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Great piece Stew and the scene is set for our contest tonight at the KC.
An interesting sub theme you raised concerning Manc players who, just, might not be regarded as spawn of the Govan Satan. I think Beckham and Bruce enjoy a fair shout to be among the select. The greatest of all however must be the immortal Eric. Impossible to dislike his combination of sometimes exquisite football skill, a sense of humour and his occasional Gallic insanity.
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Hey there anicoll5, I dawdled over this morning’s piece the name Cantona kept trying to nudge its way into the first paragraph. I am conflicted. While playing for them he helped them win too much for me to like him but after decking that racist thug and then putting up two fingers to the media I warmed to him a bit. Put it this way, I’d have loved him if he had played for Arsenal.
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Lovely writing as usual Steww. Much appreciated.
@cannon13 May 4, 2015 at 5:32 pm
Interesting point. A conundrum?
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TEAM NEWS: ARSENAL UNCHANGED FOR HULL
Arsène Wenger has named an unchanged side for Monday night’s clash at KC Stadium.
Per Mertesacker continues to lead out Arsenal in Mikel Arteta’s absence, while Aaron Ramsey retains his place on the right side of midfield.
Elsewhere, Laurent Koscielny makes his 200th appearance for the Gunners while Gabriel and Tomas Rosicky come into the squad to replace the injured Mathieu Debuchy and Danny Welbeck.
Full team: Ospina, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Cazorla, Ramsey, Ozil, Alexis, Giroud
Subs: Szczesny, Gibbs, Gabriel, Flamini, Wilshere, Rosicky, Walcott
Copyright 2015 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source
Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20150504/team-news-arsenal-unchanged-for-hull#fpYlYclUxmuI3sE8.99
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Oh ah Cantona!
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Roy Keane gets a shout out too.
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Quite simply COYG
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Arsenal U21’s beat Brighton U21’s 1-0, Alex Iwobi with the goal
Arsenal U-21s v Brighton: Macey, Pleguezuelo, O’Connor, Dobson, Ormonde-Ottewill, Bielik, Maitland-Niles, Zelalem, Crowley, Gnabry, Iwobi
subs: Huddart, Bola, Kamara, Robinson, Lipman
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Edu, was that you on twitter last night? What is your twitter name?
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Let’s get the job done
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so in all the media’s eagerness to proclaim chelsea’s net spend since june 2013, they fail to notice that they spent £222M on incoming players, that is £87M more than Arsenal, and that £222M is more than any of Arsenal, Man Utd, Man City and Liverpool spent.
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no george, I’m not on twitter, I only view other gooner’s twitter, like yours, have so far resisted the temptation to sign up to it.
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I love a good fast counter attack.
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The other reason I have some sympathy for Bruce is I suspect by looking at him that he has similar demons as I do. It’s just he’s not conquered his yet.
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Hahahawson
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1-0 to the Arsenal, an Alexis free kick takes a deflection off the wall to wrong foot the keeper.
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no more than Hull deserve, they have committed a lot of cynical fouls to stop us getting away
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Wicked little deflection to wrong foot the keeper but he hit it well didn’t he? I like that we won the free kick by putting them under pressure in their half, nicking the ball. When we do that we always profit from it.
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2-0 Ramsey, defender got a block on his shot but not enough to stop it going in, Cazorla had played a fine ball to Ramsey in the build up
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Another helpful deflection and the ref booking Hull players. Has our luck finally started to turn?
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Dawson and Huddlestone feeling the power of St. Totteringham.
So far so good.
Hang on. That’s a gorgeous second goal. Cazorla, Ramsey.
Two deflections, two goals. Arsenal getting the reward for their possession and attacks.
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“Boring boring Chelsea” heh
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Bellerin’s pace scaring the forward into a rushed effort
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My thoughts exactly fins. He felt the typhoon closing in
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Phew,
All these lines across the pitch must be helpful for the linesman.
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Ndoy used to play for panathinaikos heh…
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