Morning Positivistas, or for those of you taking in the blog elsewhere in the world or later in the day good afternoon, evening etc. I am coming into the morning with a greater serenity than yesterday, the job “done”, the adrenaline subsided, the tools required for this supporting malarkey cleaned and stored in the shed until August.
You all saw the game. You all had a slight tightness in the chest until Theo lashed the first goal past Given. You all beamed as the Chilean’s goal went in, and crowed like a rooster as Per signalled to the FA’s in house engraver to get his tools out. And when Olivier tidied away the last vestige of resistance that was the punctured claret and blue balloon you recognised that the club, its players and manager had marked another unique achievement in English football. As the somewhat dubious ceremonies that make up the presentation of the trophy drew on you were proud of those players, the manager, the club, even the bloody Gunnersaurus, and rightly so. I know you felt all these things because we are part of the linked Arsenal community.
Above a snap from david hickman on Twitter captures the stadium colour.
I have read and heard at least 100,000 words about the performance Arsenal put in yesterday, Ozil, Sanchez, Santi, Le Coq, Nacho, everyone in a yellow shirt in fact who performed between the gradings of “played very well” and “ absolutely excellent”. Each man deserved the award they were presented with, their Cup winner’s medal, no man deserved more nor less than that award. To pick one out as MotM, or whose contribution was decisive, seems to me not only excruciatingly difficult but pointless. They were all marvellous.
Even Szcz, who came into the game as the latest target of the club’s pitchfork wielding lynch mob, acquitted himself perfectly on an afternoon and in a stadium where goalkeepers are so often found out. I doubt Benteke expected the keeper to dash 15 yards to knock the ball off his head at the edge of the box each time it was crossed. Szcz’s style may have been untidy but my goodness it worked. The Belgian striker barely had a kick and not one real chance fell his way in 94 minutes. Now that was a surprise for me.
Turning to our opponents much was made in the various commentaries about their poor performance and that the Villains “ did not turn up” on the day. Not my view at all. They came to play football, with what seemed to me an attacking set up and exactly that aggressive approach had worked so well against Liverpool. They did not attempt to park any buses a la Chels, Swansea and Sunlun. The problem was for Villa we also came to play football, and the technical quality of our players is above theirs.
The fans at the Ems’ screening enjoy a post match stroll, courtesy of Joe Nelson on Twitter.
I doubt I have ever seen a more miserable manager than Tim Sherwood when he eventually emerged from the locked dressing room the best part of an hour after the final whistle. I thought it an odd time to tear into his players and announce that some would be on their way as a result of the day’s events. Tragedy affects different people in different ways I suppose.
As with all things in football, actions have consequences. And the immediate consequence is a Community Shield game against ‘them’ on Sunday the 2nd of August at 3 p.m. What a tasty opener to the next campaign.
And so, as a final curtain closes on the 9 months of watching football the Positively Arsenal way, here is me and the boys relaxing after the final whistle, courtesy of JenaC2 on Twitter.
Thank you for reading today, and enjoy your Sunday !
Positively Arsenal 
https://mobile.twitter.com/behnisch/status/604930385571639296/photo/1
Simply the best,
better then all the rest.
–
Anicoll, some pictures didn’t link into the article.
LikeLike
Am I still dreaming. Did arsenal sign Özil and Sanchez, rebuild under difficult circumstances under Arteta’s leadership to build a squad with a multi-dimensional front line composed of Alexis, Giroud, Welbeck, Walcott and others.
Whilst the self-declared experts and Groaners were bleating (some upon these pages unfortunately) it appears that Arsene’s blueprint is indeed not so shockingly different to that which we all saw when he built a squad around the trident of Judas, Eduardo and the unfortunate Adebayor.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Remember the reams of Groaners moaning about the six defenders at the start of the season. If you mentioned to the jibbering weirdos that Bellerin was a part of the squad it would usually provoke some kind exhibition of cognitive dissonance.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Nice one Andrew.
I have one question, prompted by your mention of Gunnersaurus.
What the flipping heck was that other creature on the pitch at the end? (And indeed during the warm up) had a horses head.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Allegedly the other furry figure was the official FA mascot – I thought Olivier went for it at one point !
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not sure about pics Fins – on my way out for a walk now but I will check again later – unhelpfully they look good on my devices
LikeLike
False alarm, I can see them now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wonderful stuff Andrew. You captured my feeling as the goals went in to perfection. It wasn’t until Per scored the 3rd that I leaped up and screamed, knowing that that was indeed that.
I bloody love this team.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you Andrew and to all of you for sharing another exciting and ultimately triumphant season. We never wavered did we? Doesn’t that taste good right now?
LikeLiked by 2 people
steve the other thing was the new FA Cup mascot, The White Horse, which maybe from now on can be called the Arsenal Horse
LikeLike
Morning Positivistas
I’m standing opposite the Armoury with Passenal watching the game on the big screen….great write Anicoll
LikeLike
The parade must be starting soon.
LikeLike
The parade is on Arsenal.player and skysports news.
LikeLike
Its a good day for positivism.
LikeLiked by 5 people
We’re coming for you
We’re coming for you
Jose Mourinho..
We’re coming for you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
From @the12thman on twitter
Arsene Wenger, interviewed by Gabby Logan on BBC.
“My most successful years are 2007-2013. Keeping stability while fighting billionaires.”
LikeLiked by 8 people
Sounds like the 16″ pepperoni pizza I ate last night.
LikeLiked by 1 person
DC: where those the years when he didn’t do tactics?
LikeLiked by 2 people
mou will need to park the uss nimitz against us.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The whole season, the final, the players, the fans – how I currently feel(suspect we all must be feeling this morning – whether hungover or not..lol)..all superbly summarised in the write up, thank you. Thank you Positively Arsenal – writers, members and all. Thank you Arsene. Thank you to all the coaches, physios, and other staffs. Thank you, you lovely lovely Arsenal players. Thank you all for such a wonderful season of football. Can’t wait for it to be August again. We are the Arsenal.
LikeLiked by 7 people
Gingers for Limpar @Gingers4Limpar 1h1 hour ago
Szczesny handed the microphone to address the fans at Islington town hall. He says: “Has anyone got a lighter?”
got to love the guy
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jack being the Lad back at the Emirates.
He’s never leaving this club.
LikeLiked by 1 person
great summary A5, are George and Passenal ever going home or are they permantly camped at the Emirates for us to visit as an when we choose.
The tunnel the club has travelled down since 2005 is approaching the end and more and more fans are actually seeing the light ONE ARSENE WENGER
LikeLiked by 5 people
Uber Football
@UberrSports
DONE DEAL: Arsenal have completed the signing of Porto and Colombia striker Jackson Martínez for £24.7million. #AFC
maybe true maybe not?
I didnt see Dick Law at wembley yesterday
LikeLike
The Arsenal Player was the best this morning (those of us on EST). Jack Wilshere is a club legend no matter his career stats. For the 2nd year running dissing the Totts publicly as a sh*t team. It’s happen ended again, Tottenham, it’s happened again!
Excellent job again Andrew Nicoll. You inherited this role midway the season and your post-game blogging was immaculate. Not a wasted word, no presumptiousness about team tactics and management and most of all a masterful treatment of the referees, dare I say Arsenenesque. I have really enjoyed how Positively Arsenal evolved this year under the guidance of the irrepressible Blackburn George.
LikeLiked by 4 people
” irrepressible” Is that good? If it is,that’s me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It has been a pleasure to write on the highly regarded organ, and given our largely excellent form since the turn of the year, no hardship at all. Subject to contract negotiations currently in progress I am confident of serving another season, though rested on the bench as other PA writers and guests seize their opportunity.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Another gem from twitter
From @underdxg
Reporter: How would you describe Mr Wenger in 3 words
Alexis: Legend
Reporter: That’s just one…
Alexis: That’s it
vine.co/v/eh7zU31pFzm
LikeLiked by 2 people
Anicoll5@3:05 pm
Did George get Ivan’s job? He is now doling out contracts? What about our bonus for a winning season? (Banne smileys)
LikeLiked by 1 person
http://www.gunnerstown.com/arsenal/2015/05/31/media-left-red-faced-as-arsenal-let-them-down-by-being-brilliant-wenger-shows-his-class-i-love-him-and-will-be-forever-grateful/
LikeLiked by 2 people
Good play, anicoll.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for that link Eduardo…and thanks to all who put in their usual positive thoughts.
LikeLike
Thanks for the write up Andrew – really hit the spot.
I am absolutely shattered – a mix of nervous tension, excitement and inability to sleep for more than 3 hours last night. I never want to come down.
Thank you GP for your company this FA cup weekend. It was a pleasure. It will be good to meet more of you in the future.
I’m off for a glass of celebratory champagne and another viewing of the champagne football we were served yesterday. Laters peeps!
LikeLiked by 3 people
A super tweet by @Red_Quadrant 2 hours ago:
“Our best transfer deal will be keeping our players. No coincidence, we’ve won 2 trophies after keeping our players.”
You all know where I stand on this 3-4 world-class players malarkey.
LikeLiked by 3 people
@ Shotta my sentiments exactly.. it will take bravery to not rush out and buy 3 or 4 players… thankfully AW is still in charge so will surely be brave enough to not buy for the sake of it… but then again, if Messi comes on the market, then top tp player, here we come!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I must applaud ALL, who stood firm during the “troubles” from August to December 2014.
It must have felt like a “writer’s block”, to tap the keys and remain truly, truly positive?
Whatever the result, a true fan, never ever, blames the players, or the manager.
NOW, PG, you understand why this blog, your blog, is so essential!
PPPS, thank you Steww and A5. Shotta, over 300?? Wow!
LikeLike
Another excellent piece from the inimitable anicoll5 (^.^)
I don’t know about anyone else but I drank literally all day and all of the night last night. Ouch. It was all worth it though. Thinking some chorizo and eggs ought to do the trick. A bit of grass and some bubbly and then off to hit the road to go gaze at some structures by Frank Lloyd Wright. Probably top it off with a nice ramen and then back to work I suppose. Enjoy your day all.
LikeLike
So our season finally closes on the back of a marvellous victory parade that was as damp as it was joyous.
Aside from the continuing development of the likes of Bellerin, Coquelin and others, the big highlight of the season for me, overall, is that even with another run of injuries this autumn, the squad is now so well bedded in, so familiar with the tune of Wengerball that it feels unlikely we would lose the kind of ground we lost last autumn. This alone makes us a huge threat to the likes of Chelsea, City and Manure.
I have also hugely appreciated all the PA posts and in particular Anicol and Stew’s outstanding contributions to our pre and post-match reading – both, as Sir AW would surely recognise, have been consistently consistent and a real pleasure to make time for as part of our wonderful footballing weekends and evenings.
Thank you one and all.
LikeLiked by 2 people
in recent weeks I have tuned into BBC 606 for a few minutes after most of Arsenal’s games, and found it prone to be negative towards Arsenal, so after yesterdays performance I tuned in expecting it to for once be positive towards Arsenal, but nothing could be further from the fact, if anything it was the most anti Arsenal agenda driven tripe I ever came across on the BBC.
Now I will admit that I only listened to about ten minutes of it, I could not bear to listen to any more of their nonsense.
For me what I listened to started out funny, with the presenter (don’t know who it was, did not recognize the voice and did not wait long enough to hear his name), started out by stating that all Arsenal needed to challenge(yes challenge, not win, just challenge) for the BPL was to sign a goalie of the caliber of a young David Seaman, a commanding vocal leader of a CB like a young Tony Adams, a powerhouse midfielder like a young Patrick Vieira, and a world class striker like Thierry Henry in his prime, yes really its that simple, He stated that not only should Arsenal sign these un-named world class players, but in fact should already have done so in recent years.
From that you can clearly get the agenda being pedaled on 606 yesterday, I turned off right after that load of bull was followed up by a complete and utter lie spouted by the presenter. He stated that Arsenal player after Arsenal player said, not only after yesterday’s FA Cup win, but after last years too, that “the win would mean Arsenal would win the league title next year”. so unless I missed the players making these claims, which I very much doubt, then there is nothing else these spurious claims from the BBC show can be called but downright lies, intended to drive an anti Arsenal agenda. Its the sort of thing I have come to expect from talkshite radio, sky and espn, but to hear it on the National Radio station is incredible.
If any of you tuned in yesterday to it, and managed to put up with more than the few minutes I managed, can you enlighten us as to if I was just unlucky with the bit I tuned into, or was that the line they took for the whole show.
LikeLike
Today Arsenal Ladies U17’s won the Ladies FA Youth Cup, beating Aston Villa Ladies U17’s
LikeLike
LikeLiked by 2 people
that’s not going to go down well with the AAA,
LikeLiked by 1 person
Eduardo, quoting Piers Morgan?
It would seem that at £160,000 stake in Arsenal Holdings plc shares, Morgan now has 10 shares?
LikeLike
what you mean quoting Piers Morgan,
LikeLike
thats WS1 telling them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well done nice lad. He likely starts out at No 1 next season especially with Ospina in Copa america and if Columbia go far!
He likely just reverts back to being No 1 as the season starts afresh.. period!
LikeLike
NOTH
If Piers wants to go toe to toe with Stan,
He’d better match Stan’s $1 billion investment in Arsenal, and a nett personal wealth of $6bn to back that up.
LikeLike
Eduardo: if that Szcz post is real then I shall go to bed a happy man. I remain convinced that he has it within him to be a brilliant keeper, easily the equal of any of the names currently at the top of the tree. His first decisive intervention yesterday took commitment, courage and judgement and was as important a factor in the win as anything else that happened.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Just a great weekend all round, and one that will live long in the memory of Arsenal fans, especially those who have consistently backed the players and manager through the years when we did remarkably well, but such pots were not forthcoming.
I watched at the Emirates, thoroughly enjoyed it, great atmosphere and in the streets afterwards. Even the traditional blocking of traffic in Holloway Rd!
A season of real progress by any standards, especially if you look at what Wenger has been trying to do, and the problems we had at the start of the season, a great reward at the end. And a relaxing summer, no transfer hyper tension, or worries about a tricky ECL qualifier and the fatigue and injuries those games can bring.
Well done all at Arsenal, and those scarves worked a treat from the images beamed around the world!
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’m with George,I bloody love this team. Great write ups all season from everyone on here-turns out we were right all along.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Wenger was right,
We just continued to believed in him.
LikeLiked by 4 people