Morning everyone and I trust there is a spring in your step this Tuesday morning?
Another pleasant Start to the working week after last night’s demonstration of the football art at its best. You saw it, you coo’ed, you purred, you WOW’ed at Ozil’s back heel to Sanchez about ten minutes before the end. Even Steve Bruce probably WOW’ed at that flick and who could blame him ?
Like most Arsenal fans I suspected a difficult game, with opponents desperate to get at least a point out of the fixture and having enjoyed a couple of decent performances recently. But it was not to be. It was never a contest that would go the distance or require the counting up of points or rounds won. It was a KO. Opponent on the canvas, eyes-rolling, stars swirling, concussed, fight over at the 45. We took control of the game when Mr Mason whistled, and never, as far as I recall, looked like allowing it to slip from our steely grip.
Admittedly the evening got off to a humorous start with Dawson’s slightly unlucky re-direction of Sanchez’s free kick. Having fallen behind Hull knew they were in for a difficult evening. They did try going forward, they really did both in the second part of first half and in the opening phase of the second. But then the sky fell in. Two killer passes cut the centre of the home defence open, the finishing was as good as the passes. The game was decided.
After half time we had our usual ten or fifteen minutes dawdle, by the final 30 we had re-engaged top gear and the only question was whether we might get four or five. Some decent keeping and close misses kept the score reasonable. Harper I thought had a good game and for a 40 year old shows no sign of fading.
Turning to our lads though;
Front and centre stage last night clearly our goal scorers, our German wizard, the French spinal column of Giroud and Coq, and Santi – I must not forget Santi.
And Jack, my goodness that was a great 25 minutes !!
But less obvious was a very good evening from the defenders, all five of them. They concentrated, they marked their men at dead ball kicks, Ospina took the ball cleanly when he could, and punched hard when he was obstructed, they tackled sharply and stayed on their feet, and dealt with every Hull attack. Now very different to the pattern four or five months ago when the likes of Swansea seemed to reduce us to quivering jelly ? A little unlucky to lose a goal but these things happen, a momentary lapse with Kosc temporarily hors de combat thanks to Meyler.
On that point of the occasional overly physical challenge from Hull I must also praise both Kosc and Coq for their high quality efforts at retribution for earlier kicks received. It is not something I often see which makes it all the more welcome when it does happen. Francis’ stamp on Quinn’s ankle was almost Italian in its cynical perfection, and the ginger Irishman departed a short while after. Mason was oblivious. Kosc’s studding of the cheek of Meyler was equally high class and the Hull player did not recover, though stayed on gamely. Again Mason accepted the tangle as a misfortune. It is very difficult to prove intent. Had it been the other way round I would have been spitting. I would never condone a deliberate and violent assault on an opposition player, however the fruit is always sweet.
The Daily Mail has these pictures this morning of the incident and the aftermath.
Reading the mainstream media this morning ample recognition of the dominance that brought us three points. No doubt that will last all of five minutes until the transfer window opens.
For us it must be tracking Citeh and taking the opportunity to secure second place. Onwards to the Swansea game.
And just for you to enjoy one last time, Ozil at his very best;
Positively Arsenal 
and bendtner that awful useless cunt was put through oen on one by jack at the end and had the chance to get as through and fucked it up ..never seen wenger so angry ..that was the end of the dane …
LikeLike
Fins, D_C et al: Don’t forget that great piece of leadership in 2011, I think, when F-word went with his pals to the grand Prix in Spain while the team was fighting for 4th. I don’t get the blind love for such a flawed individual. Of course by then the big blogger had already made Gallas into a villian.
LikeLike
Ummm, i can’t imagine that Clichy was expecting his captain to pre-asist Iniesta, at least not till the following season. He gets a bye on that one from me, and others too I’d have hoped.
By reminding you that he used his lawyers to play the Webster card I don’t think I’m implying anything was black or white. How could it be?
As the gaffer said, events were not “clear” or “clean” can’t remember the word he used.
The F Word certainly treated his future teamates like a gentleman in the tunnel before that game. It was, what it was. Bells and whistles and all. I can’t believe, as someone who loves the passion and emotion of the game, I can’t believe that you are even attempting to excuse this man’s conduct.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again just to be clear in case you don’t understand what it is i am saying: When compared to the F Word RVP cannot be critisied for his conduct, and that’s bearing in mind that both of them were posion in the dressing room.
LikeLike
ok to all of that youre saying on cesc …i agree …why did we sell him so low though?
LikeLike
One did his job on the pitch. The other, did not! All fairly simple to my mind.
LikeLike
well and i cant believe that clichy can be as stupid and not run down the clock when half time is 1-2 minutes away and getting up to act like a hero and wobbling and playing everyone onside…….
im not excusing any conducts.
i asked what would you do if arsenal came calling for you and were at the time the pantheon of football clubs in the world.
i dont understand why you getting agitated either? im not interoggating you ..lol…chill my friend were on the same side.
LikeLike
Webster Rule! You’ll have to look it up because i certainly am no legal eagle hehe.
That low price was the lowest mark of all as far as the F Word was concerened. The mark of the man.
Compare and contrast with RVP not helping Slurgus to lower his final price (not that he had any say in the matter after his letter to the fans, at least he had the sense to wait till after the season was over…).
LikeLike
I would not shit in my dinner plate.
LikeLike
Pardon my french
LikeLike
well one did his job on the pitch and more for than 7 years and the other fucked off in a year and a half and went to a direct rival in the same country talking shit about lack of ambition and directions…..if you want i can agree that both are cunts in the end of the day
the difference is that for rvp we got 25 million at the age of 29 and he is wasted goods now only after one year at o.t while the other one shoudl not have been allowed to go for anythign less than 60.
thats the only difference…..
LikeLike
And there it is Hunter. If you cant see the difference I can only ask you look again, and bear in mind that both players used the same mechanism to leave the club but acted (slightly) differently. Simples.
LikeLike
i think it was wenger’s poker skills that kept the premium as high ….after the cesc experience he was willign to play hardball and take everything he could from fergie. and rightly so. fergie always thankful for that.
LikeLike
No. It was RVP not being as big a king canute with the webster rule. Simples.
LikeLike
You can’t avoid it Hunter.
The contrast between the two is too revealing.
LikeLike
sorry ..the decission to sell for less than 60 was wenger getting sentimental and
‘ok cesc..ill let you go…sniff’ could have easily said ‘ 30m? lolz …you can stay with the guy in the washign machine collecting the players socks till your dna club pays what we want’
LikeLike
Hunter
when CF Soler said he only would go to his hometown club, it kind of killed any negotiating powers Arsenal had.
City, Utd. or Chels might have put in bigger bids, but we could and would not sell him to a domestic rival.
Barca thought they were being oh so clever with all the tapping up around the time of the 2010 World Cup.
LikeLike
You’re taling speculative and emotional gibberish now.
As above, please go and look up the Webster Rule.
One player went on stike, the other did not. You do the maths. Simples.
LikeLike
and ok i think youre talkign about the way they left…im talkign about what we got out of their departure. i take their departure as a given. an unavoidable situation. the question is what we gained from those departures. in rvp’s case we got plenty , in cesc case not as much. sentiment aside, you go with player values, age, resale etc etc
LikeLike
anyway lets beat them both next season …emphatically and piss down their throats
amen!
LikeLike
i dont care about the webster rule or any kind of rule…we have the lawyers to make it drag forever if we wanted and make cesc suffer big time….we didnt….
let it go to courts and let all the strikes and threats go on record in court …why not?
fuck him up or show him that you will fuck him up and his career unless they fork out the price we are willing to sell.
LikeLike
If you want to understand the difference…PLEASE go look up the Webster ruling. There is no sentiment where lawyers are concerned!
The only sentiment was in him keeping the armband after the 2010 WC shirt staining antics. That was an error. Becasue he was the worst Arsenal captain I’ve seen…and then some.
LikeLike
DC : Barca thought they were being oh so clever with all the tapping up around the time of the 2010 World Cup.
use that in court as well…together with the strike threats
if we really wanted we would have fucked him big time……we just didnt think it was worth the ‘soap opera’ and just got on with it.
i respect it ..it shows class….but we cant complain all the time about everything.
LikeLike
You might not care about laywers in football. Neither do I.
Unfortuntaely the likes of Dein and Mendes do care about such things. it’s how they make their living. By applying things such as the….WEBSTER RULE
You don’t have to care about it, but if you’re trying to understand or think about the difference in the two fees, you can’t avoid it. That rule changed the sport. Simples.
LikeLike
fins you know why i cant agree…? cause technically and legally speaking we triggered the suarez clause with our bid too ..just our lawyers/transfer handlers of that particular case were taken for fools……
which essentially means ….fuck the rules/laws…all it takes is desire/will power.
laws /rules are for sheep…..
LikeLike
Suarez chose ot to play the Webster card in that instance. And we ended up with the on-doiving non-biting better player (IBSF).
Then there’s the consideration that the Suarez bid it was always a vapor transfer as the gaggle with Bale/Ozil?MAdrid lasted the whole summer. Events at the end of that window support that understanding, the timing of the Bale sale etc. We can only use the information before us. Tobe clear so that you understand: Suarez for whatever reason chose not to play the Webster card. He could have.
Hunter, you are tying yourself in knots here my good friend.
PLEASE GO LOOK UP THE WEBSTER RULE.
It changed how transfers work. And you can’t understand what’s going on otherwise.
LikeLike
Unless Biter had more then two years left on his contract? I don’t really care! But if you do, go look up the ruling, that would be my advice.
LikeLike
heh i know the webster rule thank you…
however…if illegal tapping was involved (xavi , pep, rossel……)
and if we really wanted to play hardball
we could have let it drag into courts and then appeal under cas and appeal again and again and make his transfer a nightmare.
LikeLike
similar situation with kaka milan and madrid…did you see silvio giving in? like fuck he did lol…… 60m plus or no deal…and lets go to courts anytime you want…
well he was riding high at the time ..lol…
just as an example of will and power…..a departemtn we are not as strong as yet…thats all.
LikeLike
i will agree if youre saying that cesc’ behaviour made it easier for barca to bully us to sell.
but i will also insist that we could and should have acted like utter bastards on this and fuck the reputations and kindness… thats all my friend
happy for the discussion, as always!
LikeLike
We could have, unfortunately it is one of those rules that has unworkable parts if you go through the courts and make the transfer a nightmare ( however much I would have loved that) it actually makes bringing other players in more difficult as well as preparations for the next season even worse. Basically it was a shit situation that we couldn’t win
LikeLiked by 1 person
maybe not ian but make that little shit and barca sweat a little you know…. put them in a situation with courts, tribunals, arbitrations, appeals etc etc….and lose the case in the end …who cares? youre already losing the player anyway…
i said it as well..it is to wenger’s credit and class that he opted to get doen with it and move on but as a business decision it was a strange one.
a powerful owner who does not want anyone fucking with his club (somethign we do not have unfortunately) would not mind dragging it to the mud…when youre losing already what difference if you lose 2-0 , 3-0 …
LikeLike
Hunter Goethe had more wisdom then the sum of Nietzsche and a billion uber-men.
I don’t admire Silvio and other such puppets for that is what they are. I respect an institution that retains it’s character, it’s values, it’s independance as much as it can. I’m sure that as someone who has an eye on events Greece that you can appreciate that sentiment!
Peace bro! I’d better do some work. But you were definitely helping to speed up my poor typo skills there, thanks!
LikeLike
Two things, no, it’s many more,
Arsenal were struggling with finances and personnel.
The witch hunt by Sky and media was in full swing (Titanic, etc).
The fat man added to the destabilising of the Board.
Danny Fizman was still alive, and everyone but me knew he was close to passing.
Another thing or two:
That letter from van Puss – its release timed as it was, still makes me wanna throw up.
Neither CF nor vP have ever talked about their ambitions being thwarted by combination of PGMO/media, etc. (and they’re not alone in being more interested in playing for their countries).
All of these things and more serve to remind me what a wonderful human and manager our leader, Arsène Wenger is.
That Wenger continues to attract players like Özil and Alexis – to come to Arsenal, despite promises of a thorough kicking, barren trowfy years and pittance pay (comparatively/apparently), shows just a smidgen of Arsene’s genius.
All hail the prof! Up with the Arsenal, etc.
LikeLike
I respect an institution that retains it’s character, it’s values, it’s independance as much as it can.
fair words buddy , cant disagree….i just think there is no harm in mixing it a bit and be a c*nt once a while , especially to those who mistreat you. the world is not perfect and turning the other cheek not always the right course of action.
LikeLike
Hunter no one understands that better then arsenal legend Paul Davis.
Ben Thatcher got an 8 game ban. same as Suarez for a lot worse IMO.
9 for the Arsenal man (I wasn’t there but i thinnk that is fair comment).
No other club in the modern era has ever been given a points deduction in the top league. Davis, alongside Rocastle and other AFC players barely played for England when they really should’ve had more caps.
There’s something different about the Arsenal, and there’s no denying it!
LikeLike
I’m not obsessed, but…
Can anybody tell me how I can get a copy of that match at the noo cump?
I keep picturing barfa players with their hands around our throats and making loads of fouls, whilst ref Bussaca grinned, carded our players,mans went on to become head of euro refs! Nice one.
Every month I try google, youtube and dailymotion to find Barca v Arsenal full match – and nothing. You can find Arsenal v Barca, no prob, which is great, but I really want THAT match. Please help.
LikeLike
Ranty, On the Arsenal Player?
LikeLike
http://player.arsenal.com/matches/3349248/fc-barcelona-v-arsenal
LikeLike
I’d recommend monday night’s game instead!
LikeLike
If Fabregas was worth £60 m. he would have still been at Barca and Chelsea would have had to pay that for him. We got at least what he was worth. The little shitebag.
LikeLike
I was there but it was off the ball so no one knew what happened. I have met them both in person and it was like a lightweight knocking out a heavyweight with one punch he should have got a medal not a ban. Also Paul is one the nicest inoffensive blokes you could ever wish to meet, the F.A. knew something racist was said but like you said it was an opportunity to bash ARSENAL
LikeLike
pedantic george
May 6, 2015 at 4:02 pm
but who cares about chelsea or barca …. he was worth 60+ for us at the time..easily
cetrtainly epl’s top midfielder and maybe top3-5 in whole of europe.
LikeLike
So what happened to him?
LikeLike
Or was it just the genius of Arsene , tailoring the team to fit him perfectly, that made him look so good? Events since seem to back my theory.
Ashavin was better than him.
LikeLike
heh..he left ithaca and wenger..themaster of improving players …thats what happened to him
LikeLike
maybe arshavin had better dribbling speed and a finer shot…but the computer that was cesc’s brain and how to pinpoint passes all over the pitch and calculate the movements of 9 other teammates…..not in his dreams andrey…sorry
LikeLike
have a look at arsene’s face when he lost andrey and when he lost cesc…see any difference george?
LikeLike
with andrey it was…’yeahh ok ..ill find plenty like you’ ….with cesc it was ‘god damn it this takes us 6 years back, fuck shit damn meeeeerd’ and was taking antidepressants and nivea face cream for those black bags under the eyes heh… broke my heart watching him like that…he looked devestated.
to cover for cesc he has changed systems, used combination of two for a job done by one. etc etc…
ok he is a shitbag for leaving …but calling him a shit player now ? is that serious ?
LikeLike
Finally, the club have announced an FA Cup final screening at the Emirates like they did last season.
really? did anyone go last year? did they charge for it?
LikeLike
Don’t know about Arshavin (I’m not going there!) but it must of been obvious to all in the ground by the end of the last home game why one WC winning midfielder was a key player for his national team team and the other was not.
LikeLike