Because we have a strict door policy here on Positively Arsenal we were, in the early days when anybody cared to take any notice of us, decried for all sorts of reasons. Elitism, snobbery, and being anti democratic to name but three. Yesterday, in a spirit of what I can only assume was one of masochistic self loathing, I was scrolling through tweets from the twisted, spite fuelled, anti intellectual, garbage filled brains of rabid Donald Trump supporters and this blog sprang to mind.
I know what you’re thinking. In a body of work rightly famed for its non sequiturs that one takes the biscuit Stew – but please, bear with me. You see I have been saying for many years, in a conscious or unconscious echo of the late great Bill Hicks, that the trend in what is laughingly termed ‘reality’ TV doesn’t simply lower the standards of television it actually lowers the standards of humanity. It is a dangerous and wicked phenomenon with consequences which have the potential to bring down civilisation as we know it.
Not my most popular conversational opener while sat with she who must be obeyed on a Saturday night as Simon Cowell’s frightening and maliciously lascivious grin is beamed into our living room, but a belief I hold dear nonetheless. The rise of Trump is, however, the only proof one really needs.
As host to one of, if not the, very worst of these appalling programmes, one that celebrates the disgusting ethos of competitive capitalism the man and his values were constantly broadcast into the brains of millions of voters for hours on end. Their own values were corrupted, their standards lowered to the point that now when he spouts utter baseless drivel like a cartoon character from the pages of Viz they whoop it up and cannot wait to scratch a cross beside his name.
Just as in the political world the coverage of football has similarly plummeted to levels of degeneracy unimaginable when first I followed the beautiful game. When the blogging revolution began it seemed humankind had discovered a miraculous antidote. Rather than being spoon fed garbage by intellectual midgets with a slavish adherence to the predetermined editorial line, we could read the thoughts of fellow enthusiasts and even chip in with our own reflections on the players, the game, the manager, the price of pies. In short, the whole shebang. Everything we held dear about our chosen sport was up for discussion. We weren’t being told what to think any more, it was a beautiful new dawn.
Of course, we all know what happened next. Like mainstream pop absorbing the anti establishment spike of punk rock and converting it into something less challenging, safer for the masses to handle, so the blogs moved inexorably closer to the papers. The black hole of mediocrity sucked in the brief flickering flame of hope, and darkness reigned supreme. So George found this dusty corner, swept the floor, put out a few chairs and invited some friends around. First however, he tended to the most important thing of all – a big strong lock on the door.
If the anyone wants sanctuary from the howling wasteland of anti intellectual hatred, bigotry, and bias they only have to knock politely and they’re greeted with open arms. Otherwise they are welcome to remain outside to continue their crawl across the graveyard of individual thought where they’ll find plenty of sieg heiling conformity to satisfy their dark cravings.
What, if anything, does this have to do with a North London derby? Bugger all if I’m honest but I’ve previewed a fair few of these encounters while serving my time among George’s writing drones and there’s only so many ways of saying the same thing you know.
This year, however, the approaching encounter does feel different. There is a sense that while still rooted in our shadow, the upstart pretenders whose only real claim to fame is having such a fine club as Arsenal to call their rivals, are as close to us as they’ve ever been. Only a catastrophic last gasp collapse in their morale, allied to canny, calm and above all experienced leadership from Arsène saw us step over them into second place last time around.
They look like genuine contenders to me, and the fact that we are more than a quarter of the way into the fixture list and they are still unbeaten tells its own story. Granted they’ve not been as invulnerable in cup competitions but early exits from such distractions must only help focus their sights on the Premier League. It’s no secret that this Arsenal squad is also as strong as it has been in a long while. Any improvements down the Lane have been matched in North London’s more prestigious football establishment, but even so the days when we could look forward to a derby match as little more than a guaranteed three points with the potential for some light entertainment along the way are over.
I shan’t pretend to have any special knowledge of our opponents today. Wednesday’s match against Leverkusen was the first time I’ve seen them play this season and apart from Hugo Lloris I couldn’t pick any of them out in a line up. What can’t be questioned is that Pochettino has them organised defensively and playing with a greater resilience than the fragile show pony Spurs sides of old. The one thing I did notice and was accused of being a Kloppite for saying it, was that the work Bayer 04 did off the ball unsettled them and they didn’t respond well to the pressure. It is of course a given that all teams need to work hard to regain possession but I believe that in some games we don’t do this as well as we might.
Every so often we appear content to leave all of that kind of work to Francis Coquelin and while the boy never disappoints we are more successful when two or three players pressure the man on the ball from the moment possession is lost. We won’t win the game with aggressive defence though, I get that. Fortunately we have a blend of the inventive, the clinical and the downright impudent up front which, should we succeed in stopping them playing, ought to be enough to bring home the bacon and put an end to all this silly invincible talk. Having said that neither side is terribly good at losing these days and I wouldn’t discount a draw, in fact it does seem the more likely outcome.
If you are at the match I shall listen out for you, if not I’m afraid I won’t be here to share it with you. My band practice today has been scheduled by some wrestling fan who has no understanding of real sport and so chose a start time of 1pm. As a consequence I shall have to wait until Football Origin have the match up this evening. The rest of you have fun and just make sure the door is locked, it’s a cold, horrible place out there.
Positively Arsenal 
Have to go back and enjoy that again, steww, terrific. All the best with the band.
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Thanks Henry
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steww,
Yup, I had another read and it was as tasty an eyeful as the first time around. [can you have a tasty eyeful? Yeah, I think so]. lol
Parts of the article do not need any embellishment, and will not benefit from tampering with by the likes of me, however on your sage comment regarding pressing the opposition with more than a singleton Le Coq, I could not agree more.
Some of our most delicious and successful games this season have been as a consequence of the whole team pressing as a unit, winning the ball back and allowing our attacking magicians to do their thang.
Perhaps there are tactical reasons for that strategy to be downgraded in certain matches [I know not] but today we need to bring our whole arsenal (no pun intended) to bear in defence, midfield and attack and to do so as one – then, we will reap the benefits of our exciting team/squad and make Gooners throughout the world delirious with delight.
Thanks, again, steww
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Thanks Stew for being part of the greatest blog the Arsenal verse has ever seen. I enjoyed this read from start to end and can only agree with all being said.
Arsenal capitalising on Mancity’s “bad luck” will be much appreciated this afternoon. COYG.
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Seminal stuff Steww, thought-provoking, pertinent and as timely (and indeed, timeless) as ever. I almost said it last week and I know ‘we’ all think it constantly but if ever someone should be writing professionally …
Agree with comments about the high pressure tactics a la Le Coq & Co but suspect permanent use of this tactic is incredibly draining and potentially unsustainable over the course of four competitions in a long unbroken season. But hey, look at me pretending to have a clue!
The result of today’s encounter carries with it all sorts of attendant traps. Lose and, well we don’t need to go there, do we?
But win and we head to the Manc encounter with the highest of expectations. The further we go on this wonderful pre-Xmas run and any setback then becomes ever harder to handle; you just know any defeat will be flagged up by our foes in the media etc as an almost existential collapse predicating earnest discussion about Wenger’s replacement.
Steww references all sorts of genies that escaped with the arrival of the internet and ‘reality’ tv. In a similar way, at this critical point in Arsene’s contract cycle, sufficient exposure to talk of his departure may just hasten that unhappy day.
And the challenge is this: as fans we really do have to re-learn how to cope with two points dropped for a draw, three for a loss. Sadly social media today acts as a kind of accelerant for the most inflammatory of chat, and so much of it is, regrettably of the ‘chat shit’ variety.
Until as a global society we learn to ‘grow up’ and cope with the internet, to learn how to filter out its worst excesses, then protected environs such as George’s enclosure will always find a space on our screens and in our hearts.
We can but hope that over time we will find an online equivalent of ‘natural selection’ occurs whereby the worst ‘virtual’ elements presently among us will lose their credibility on a mass scale and a ‘post-internet’ era will see us all adapt our use of the medium to get shot of the time we currently squander on reading the false prophets and siren voices that today loudly offer so much and ultimately deliver so little.
And it’s already happening – how many reading this will also visit Le Grove today?
And of today’s game? Yes a draw may (I’m guessing here) be statistically the most likely outcome but I think we’ll win. Spurs’ unbeaten run is as much a run of drawn games as anything; they’d love to escape those becalmed waters and an open game will suit us more than a closed one.
Here’s hoping.
Enjoy your band practise Steww; fancy doing a Likely Lads on a Spursday?! (Good luck with that!)
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Morning Stew – the decline of the West and the NLD on one page – what more can a man ask for on a Sunday morning blog ?!
Spring in the step this morning – fresh air and a clear head required.
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Ooh correction required, I just read this on t’internet (so it must be true!):
Arsene Wenger’s home record against Tottenham (in all competitions)
Pld W D L F A
23 15 7 1 48 21
Therefore a win is supposedly twice as likely as a draw, and defeat is statistically unheard of. From this we can see it’s safe to bet your house on a 2-1 win (don’t try this at home).
Where’s Shotta86 when we need him and his trend analysis?
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Great Steww. Now pretend I’m your dog and feed me more biscuits. Bow to the master.
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gf60
Woof?
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Woof, woof indeed.
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Brill Steww, there has been many occasion when the ignorance of the world has left me intelectually depressed and this is a fantastic haven for a good and resonable disscussion.
I’ve just watched match otd and was amazed by how high borough played against city and how badly they played in the first half, it was in compleat contrast to the game against us. Do teams and other managers respect our one touch football more than any other?
chelski looked impressive yesterday against, what I thought, were a pretty good side, underlineing the difficulty of topping the division this season.
As for todays game ive never thought, going in to the game, it would be easy even when the gap in the league was at its biggest. A derby is a derby and fine lines seperate the teams during the match, a lucky break, a piece of magic, an error or a poor ref can make the difference.
Even in games when we have come out as heavy victors I’ve not been able to relax until the final whistle in case of a ridiculas late comeback.
Of course we have a side or indeed a 17 who are more than capable of winning this but again we do need a good performance and the other things to fall in place.
COYG
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Thank you. I’m not the only one who hopes that when you sit down to watch the highlights that they prove to be enjoyable!
The Özil wondergöal on Tuesday was the perfect example of your thoughts. Hustle and bustle from Giroud and Elneney (two relatively fresh pairs of legs) and Özil who we’ve known has the pace, who we’ve seen pushed further and further up the pitch – he made the move over the last two seasons, though you wouldn’t know that if you listen to the Experts and aforementioned Blaggers, the only differ never being that the goals are coming now, which is how we know and understand that the Blaggers don’t actually discuss the footy on the pitch as opposed to some poor arsed narrative. Or meme *shudders*.
So assuming the AFC players get the same kind of protection as the opponents today usually do then they should have the legs and bodies to press or hustle as required: you won’t see a team playing in the CL pressing like Klopp’s Dortmund or perhaps his current team (I’m too busy watching this amazing Arsenal team). Let us be clear because there’s a lot of stinking gibberish written and will be written about this: by Klopp’s own admition you can’t be pressing like that when playing three times a week.
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< three times a week over the course of a PL season. Whereas it might be possible for the last few rounds of tournament football. etc.!
Germany's juggling of their squad, nursing players like Schweiny and Khadeira through injuries in the earlier rounds whilst giving them enough minutes to be up to speed when starting was a key component of their success at the WC.
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And the physio who made their name in that tournament with Germany is not at the Arsenal!
I could’ve groaned if I’d have wanted to alongside the Experts when the club passed up on the opportunity to bring in some independent and leading physios and put them on the books, as in they were already working with the club.
However those physios for all their skill did not have the credentials of a World Cup victory under their belt. And that’s how these things work, because any alternative would’ve been a gamble which would never have succeeded in superceeding the older conventional standards – don’t worry unlike the Chelsea ‘doctors’ the Arsenal physios haven’t been pumping multiple cortisone injections into their players, at least not in recent times (Ian Wright and others can testify!). I wonder if their was a bigger story with the Chelsea doctor who wasn’t there last time the specialist was in town?
On the subject of blood spinning, I hope that the Arsenal leave Tottenham dizzy today!
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Given the pgMOB handicap, Cazorla usually gets less then zero protection in NLDs, so if we accept that pitches haven’t been level then therefore we can understand therefore that Coquelin and Elneney may be have been the best option anyway given the conditions (not the weather but the shocking sad state of the Iceland losing pgMOB standard bearers).
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when you look at the subs you realize just how strong the starting 11 is
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Nice read again Steww but I have descended into irrationally this morning. Why is it so for me and only when we play the Spuds?
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YOUAREMYBORO @THEREALBORO 16h16 hours ago
Special praise for @CalumChambers95 since arriving he’s been excellent so good on the ball thank you Arsenal 👏👏
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Steve Gooner @Merse10 51m51 minutes ago
Need a strong referee today. Alli and Kane love a dive. Spurs love to start kicking if things not going their way
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THFC team: Lloris (C), Walker, Vertonghen, Wimmer, Rose, Dier, Wanyama, Dembele, Eriksen, Son, Kane. #COYS
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I love how Steww set this up by contrasting our blog to the general media landscape. From my contrarian point of view, this is perfectly predictable. The vast majority of fans are motivated by sensationalism and bloggers who want to survive in the popularity stakes will choose the easiest route, the path of least resistance if you like. I love using the stock market as a metaphor; the ordinary investor is moved by prices. Unlike the professional, he/she buys high and sells low. Similarly football fans are moved by results; Wenger is good when he wins titles, poor when he does not. Note that the Board and the bankers have built a mighty club ignoring such emotive thinking.
As for today’s game data wise we are a far better team than them. They are defending better than us but their goal-scoring is awful. 14 goals in 10 games is 1.4 per game while Arsenal at 23 goals is 2.3 per game. AFC is scoring 64% more goals which is beyond significant. In my research of the data, goal-scoring is the leading indicator of premier league superiority. Score at an average 2.1 goals per season and a team is likely to win the league. I would be surprised if we fail to win this game.
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The arsenal team has 5 changes from the cl game midweek.
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Thanks Shotta86!
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Good luck everyone. I’ll be around for the start but then will have to go.
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Arsenal beating your average minute’s silence.
Class.
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where is john moss when you need him, he would surely have given a red for that
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Theo closing down forces a hurried pass – that’s what I like to see.
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this has not been good so far, spurs having the better pressure and better chances so far, our passing has been a little off so far, with a little too much on several long passes when the break was on
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a bit better in attack in last few minutes
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Doesn’t look good for us if Walker is injured. Hope he’s OK
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What about Coquelin’s shot eh? That looked like it was going to break the net.
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poor poor effort from iowbi, after a great breakaway involving ozil and alexis
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Best chance of the game after best move of the game. Come on Arsenal
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We are getting the better of them as we work out this 3 at the back. Less spaces in midfield for Spurs and we are creating more chances.
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oh so close from walcott, his shot from edge of the area hit the bar with lloris beaten
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Fabulous break wonder strike from Theo Spurs saved by the woodwork.
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Ozil goal that. Brilliant free kick.
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We are playing so well now. That was coming.
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ozil freekick, and a power header placed past lloris, gives arsenal the lead, oh yes the goal was headed in by wimmer, very spurzy indeed. 1-0 to the arsenal
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As that was OG does it count as on Ozil assist?
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Wanyama is a dirty cunt.
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Surprise surprise some inarticulate wassock ‘tought it wuz foine’
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Growing into it
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There’s a maturity about this Arsenal team. Even though Spurs started quite well we worked out their game and slowly overcame it. Good first half. I’m off to make some noise with the bass. See you later.
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So Arry doesn’t understand the offside rule. Rio doesn’t understand the offside rule. Lucky Howard Webb and Mark Clattenburg know their trade.
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Spurs started brightly and had two good chances, but once arsenal came to terms with their formation we took over and had several great chances ourselves and justice was done for that awful assault by wimmer on coquelin early in the game when the spurs defender powered a header into his own net to give afc the half time lead
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expect spurs to up the dirty levels in the second half, they normally do in any game they are losing, will be interesting to see how or if clattenburg stamps down on them.
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Based on the season data AFC only need one more goal to put this one to bed. The Scum couldn’t score in a whorehouse.
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anicoll what were they saying about the offside rule
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