Good morning Positive Arsenal fans,
Let me get the grudging congratulations out of the way first to our opponents last night. Over two legs we encountered a team of the highest quality. If it was destined to be our largest ever defeat in the Champions League and at the Emirates we were ruthlessly despatched by a team likely to feature in the final of the competition, at least.
Of the game ? We were very good for 54 minutes. Not ‘good’ in a clinging-on, denying Bayern by the skin of our teeth kind of way but playing fast, creative football. Our first half performance was not down to one or two exceptional performances by Arsenal players, but a genuine team effort, front to back. A special word of praise however for young Hector. Not quite been in top form for a few weeks but best player on the pitch in the opening 45. We opened up the Germans on four occasions. Manuel Neuer, fine keeper that he is, seems oddly accident prone at the Emirates. Had more then one of those chances been put away then “what if …. ?”. Against a team of Bayern’s quality to fail to convert half chances into goals is surely the path to defeat. And so it proved.
Now we reach the 54th minute, and a gentleman who the mainstream media tell me goes by the name of Charalambos Kalogeropoulos. The official burst into the footballing limelight in a most unexpected fashion. Now I do not know about you but the goal line assistant, an invention of Sepp Blatter in his relentless battle against technology, has not much featured in my football watching. I do not understand what they do, or are supposed to do, and because we see and hear so very little of them I suspect they are a vague about it themselves. See no evil, speak no evil et cetera.
Nevertheless the man insisted that the referee convert a yellow card, to a red card. And if I live to be a very old person I will not understand why. Ruined the contest, sank any conceivable chance of recovery on our part, and caused me to drink far more red wine than I would normally do on a Tuesday night. At least my wounds are self inflicted.
At 1-1 in truth I’d say the game was just about done, and would have been done, even with 11v11. A man advantage and our balloon punctured the final 35 minutes saw our lads dismembered in a professional, relentless fashion.
Could we have put ten men behind the ball and battled for a more respectable 2-1, 3-1 or 4-1 ? Would my work this morning have been easier had the defeat been of smaller proportion ? I dunno. And to be honest I don’t care. We play as we play.
Right then, enough of this wallowing in self pity. I spy a FA Cup quarter final on Saturday against Lincoln, who I can never recall seeing before in the flesh. I shall be there, making a noise, enjoying the game. And then there is the little matter of 12 Premier League games, amongst which are some tasty contests.
It is not all bad – enjoy your Wednesdays.
Positively Arsenal 
The old fart’s thoughts:
At last we saw what the lads can do once they motivate themselves. I was so proud of them last night and thought that maybe the miracle we all hoped for might be possible.
Possibly Theo’s goal should have been accompanied by a couple more, even if they wouldn’t have been as sparkling as his, but 1-0 up and looking really good was balm for the recent hurts.
Maybe we should also have had a penalty but to go in at half time with heads held high was great. Could we sustain it?
Yes was the answer and Bayern were starting to draw on some of the dark arts as they frantically tried to keep us out. And then, almost as though it had been ordered by Mike Riley, one of the most outlandish decisions I’ve had the misfortune of seeing slapped down all the effort and skill. A very soft penalty and to rub salt into the wound, a yellow card for Kos which was turned into a red thanks to interference from the moronic goal line assistant. That’s the first time I’ve seen one of these clowns playing any sort of a role. This was “better” than Robin’s dismissal a few years back.
I defy anyone to recover from a blow like that, so it was no surprise that Bayern then started playing keep ball. The other four goals after that to my mind, were inconsequential. Our collective hearts were broken.
If we play half as well on Saturday, at least we’ll see Wembley always assuming that our bête noir, Taylor, does not decide to make a bad week worse.
Keep the faith guys’n’girls. Despite everything we’re still Gooners.
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Fine summary A5, sound of two hands clapping from me.
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And the Pulitzer Prize was won with “Would my work this morning have been easier had the defeat been of smaller proportion ? I dunno. And to be honest I don’t care. We play as we play.” by our very own Andy Nic.
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Thought Theo was the best player on the field in the first 54, but should have had a couple more goals so perhaps you’re correct in saying Bellerin was #1, both were superb either way. Alexis looks gassed to me, possibly emotionally drained. Was poor for his standards. Ramsey played well, Ox also, Mustafi played a few very nice balls. Xhaka looked confident. Despite the final scoreline I come away feeling positive and am proud of the way we played.
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A so often happens I saw Theo on the team sheet and was doubtful, and then the man runs all over Alaba throughout the first half. Not seen Alaba so unsettled before.
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well said! Thanks for just being so normal composed civil in your comment, the world is truelly a worriesome place that the the normal positive reaction is such a rare commodity these days. why is it so hard to see for a lot of fans that this is the only way forward!
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I’m glad you mentioned young Hector, I forgot to add him to my positives last night. It was good to see signs that he is finally starting to get his mojo back after his injury and the assault. It would be great to see that right-sided combo with Theo back up and running.
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I fell a bit into your trap too Andy, so struggling to find words that can make much sense of it all. I enjoyed watching us play as we did in the first half, and felt we were hard done by not to go in 2-0 up. That the goal line official chose to ignore our justifiable claims when Walcott was tripped in the area just before half-time seemed to me to confirm the redundant nature of the post. How wrong I was.
How any supporter of the club can look at the tilted nature of the officiating and still conclude that the players and manager are at fault baffles me. How any serious journalist (Henry Winter, Matthew Syed etc) can ignore it suggests that far from being free our press is for sale.
I find I now watch with a kind of morbid fascination to see what further indignities are heaped upon us and the ease with with which the punditry assume their Newspeak.
Aaron Ramsey was terrific in that first half and along with the Ox and Hector provided the kind of trophy and title winning intensity that makes me already look forward to next season.. I fully expect at least one of them to be terribly injured by an Anthony Taylor legitimised assault on Saturday.
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Andy Nic, Alaba was so discombobulated by Theo that he deliberately pushed him him over the sideline, for which he was rightly booked, just a shame Theo also got booked for reacting.
Jared, I thought a lot of supporters felt the same judging by the singing ’til the end and the tone of the general chatter on the way back to the tube station. I know everyone will focus on the early leavers, but there was also a sizeable proportion of us still there to clap the players off the pitch.
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I think a 2-1, 3-1 would have been quite a bit better. Might have saved us from about 20% of the kicking onslaught I’m sure was unleashed and is still in full swing.
Would still have been hard to achieve even if we attempted it. My surprise at not doing so mutated into wondering whether that’s a section of the football repertoire we simply couldn’t attempt.
6-2 down at home to Bayern, with 1 man less, 35 to play and with a positive attacking performance having just been dealt a death blow is, to put it mildly, an unusual and extremely nasty spot to find yourself in.
Overall,though, I can’t imagine a 5-1 loss I could move on quicker from. There was a lot to enjoy in our play until the sending off. It was nice just to see us play good football and it rekindled hope in me for the games ahead.
Totally different proposition on weekend but I hope we’ll start with the same sort of energy and conviction, break em down early and hopefully show them the same mercy Bayern did us.
Taylor will be working furiously to try make the miracle happen, so I just hope that chump doesn’t help one of ours to injury, conjure up a pen or any of that sort of shite.
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That first 54 minutes Arsenal was the better team, and I can only agree with most that if Arsenal can replicate that over the next few weeks we can make life very uncomfortable for those teams vying for the joy of ‘European nights’.
Not really knowing what the full scope of these goal line refs are, one can only imagine he said Koscielny’s work permit has expired. And as the “old fart” said, anything that happened after that “were inconsequential”.
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I think I saw in the comments section of the previous article that the rule for red cards for denial of obvious goal scoring opportunity had been changed in the PL but not in the CL. I don’t know how that is possible. As far as I know, the rules were changed all through the game, and the fact that no media pundit ever uses the rule book to make an argument on decisions is revealing in itself. Who cares what they ‘feel’ or ‘think’ about an incident? What does the damn rulebook say?
As far as I know the rules only allow a red + penalty to be given if there was no attempt to play the ball, or for dangerous play. No doubt the chap will say Kos didn’t play the ball. (If he is even asked) As with the Xhaka sending(s) off, this interpretation of the rule will be applied only selectively, especially when it’s Arsenal, and consigned to the bin for the rest of the season.
These sort of decisions happen to Arsenal way more than to any other big team, with virtually no such blatantly wrong decisions going for us. And I have no doubt this contributes to any self inflicted wounds that we display. If it were a one off, you expect players to keep fighting even at 1-1 and a man down, and keep the score down. They did keep fighting, but you could tell it was without a true belief, because they’ve seen this show before and they get neither any respite from, nor any understanding for it.
My annoyance with such incidents comes less from the results that they impose, and more from a) an enjoyable game being destroyed, and b) the way the results are used to continue attacks on our club, our players and our manager.
I just take solace in the fact that if football’s authorities (who are proven to be corrupt) find Arsenal so worthy of their ire, we must be doing something right. I know it’s probably harmful for Arsenal if Wenger stays because the narrative will just never let up, nor will the refs allow us to change it. But damn me if I’m going to give in to the bullying. I hope Wenger signs a new deal and tells the ‘fans’ to either get on board or fuck off and take their opinions with them. And I really mean that. Tell fans, they have a choice to either help the cause, no matter how lost it seems, or do their best to not harm it. Give him 2 years in exchange for the 20, and the house he built. I am sure he can make that work. He’s still got that aura and standing among a LOT of Arsenal fans. I also wish he would not hold back about the refereeing we see anymore. Say it like it is. Let the authorities keep punishing him. It’s not like they don’t do that now.
Sorry. Rant over.
On a more positive note, Xhaka and Ramsey seemed to work a treat even against a great opponent. Walcott was THE MAN in the first half. Virtually unplayable even if he wasn’t perfect. Hopefully we can forget the last half an hour or so, and just carry the performance before that into the next game and beyond.
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Apparently, the refs first outing in the ECL knockout stages.
I think Arsenal have become a laboratory for new ways for refs to influence a game.
As far as I know, the first player ever sent off because he carried on not hearing a whistle in a 90000 crowd.
The first team to have a player sent off for a little knock from behind on the halfway line.
The first team to experience a red, changed from a yellow by an official behind the goal….a similar official had let a pretty strong penalty claim for a foul on theo go. I. Fact, that is the first time I have ever seen thous extra officials do anything at all.
The manager was furious, as were the players last night.
Why do Arsenal get such treatment from officials? Why have a fairly clean team conceded ten plus penalties this season? Probably enough reasons for its own blog, but maybe one of the reasons, the club just take it. As ever, silence from those above the manager. I am not sure what they are supposed to do, but surely it has long been time for a word behind the scenes?
There were some positives from the performance last night, but at the moment, it is difficult to correlate the ambitious words of Ivan from a few years ago with present reality. This seems like a project that has stalled a bit.
I back Wenger to put things right. But no more unrealistic words about keeping up with dominant giants in non competitive leagues. But should the great man depart , it would expose the board…..perhaps for the first time. I just hope they are able to step up if their lightening conductor is no longer there.
But now all that matters is This season, starting with Lincoln City.
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Do the door staff work here in the afternoon? I am minded to have a go at Alexis Sanchez ,
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Sanchez way off his best last night and as he was in Munich. No one could accuse him of putting on a display with the intention of attracting interest from other Euro clubs.
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Mandy
Hey. How are you doing? Long time since I’ve been on UA.
What you say is interesting. Maybe Wenger should make increased backing against the refereeing nonsense a condition for him staying. And increased financial budgets while we’re at it.
But if I were Wenger, my contract were winding down, and IF…IF Barcelona were a possibility, I would definitely be tempted. Go manage some of the best players in the world, in a league where officials don’t let opponents go out to injure you, and you have only one real challenger in terms of budgets. On the downside, they are complete and utter *****.
I don’t think Barca will look to hire Wenger though. They are more political than anything and they’ve built up Wenger bashing as a sport over the years too. But you never know.
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Not bad Shard….and you?
Still spend time on UA as they fight the good fight against the WOB, Utd, Spud and Chelsea fans pretending to be Arsenal , and the Le Grove /Online Gooner copy paste merchants.
Think Wenger could make quite a few demands on staying, but my guess, this ultra loyal servant to the club willingly, takes on, possibly too much on his shoulders. But a man as influential as Ivan could be having words behind the scenes, but doubt if he is….in the way Kenyon, Gill, or Dein would most likely have done.
Cannot see Wenger at Barca either, if he leaves, maybe a French club? Or an ambitious German club that needs a bit of building and has a good youth policy. But if he leaves, and I hope he doesn’t, the very best of luck to him.
But looking at the officials last night….maybe the explanation is actually quite simple….don’t the Greeks owe the Germans a few quid?
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Sanchez….he is certainly good….but he needs to weigh up what he is reportedly asking for, his fairly undisciplined style of play, his tendancy for strops, and have a real think about where he is best off.
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This speaks for itself:
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Try this:
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I can understand a player deciding to move on and I don’t have a problem with that Mandy. If layers did not move on then we would have a team made up of academy products. I dislike the months of hoopla that goes with it though who is responsible for it is never clear. The reality of football is you have a short career and clubs are just as ruthless in discarding players if they are not performing.
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Alexis Sanchez? I have been through Vierra, Henry, Adebayor, Fabregas, Van Persie Nasri and even Alex Song. All became stroppy at the end thinking they were bigger than Arsenal. As you all know I am very partial to factual observations.
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Mandy
Not too bad.
(It really amused me the first time I went to Britain that instead of saying ‘good’ or ‘fine’, ‘not too bad’ was the usual answer people gave to being asked how they were)
I would like to be on UA, but the trolls drove me away earlier, and there really was no debate to be had. We all generally agreed on the bigger picture, and the trolls weren’t there to do anything but troll. I don’t have Wenger-esque patience and energy I suppose, despite being less than half his age.
I doubt Wenger would want to go to a smaller club in Europe. I think if he goes, he goes somewhere he can win the CL. PSG might be an option. French, top players, he knows and is friends with the guys running the club. The French league is also doing well once again. But that’s by the by. I would like him to do well wherever he goes, but I really hope he stays and does well with Arsenal.
I’m sure Stan and Ivan have been active behind the scenes. The fact is that the worst of the refereeing is a little bit in the past. It’s still not good, but it’s not as pervasive. Also, that despite it getting horrible, we were never forced out of the CL, suggests to me that Stan did just enough to protect his investment. Whatever that means. Will he do more to protect his manager and club legend? I doubt it, and I am not sure I’d want him to get hand and glove with the shady side of it when that is precisely what Wenger fights against. All speculation of course.
Oooh. Politics AND conspiracy in football. Nice. I like it. Greeks owe the Germans money. Fantastic.
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Shard
Think the ruling is it’s a yellow if player is deemed to have tried to play the ball; red if no attempt to play ball. So you’re completely screwed if a swine like Lewa gets body between you and the ball. It’s an invite for his kind to do what they do, expertly smelling a situation where they can create their pen and get a red.
You’d hope refs, with their vast experience of game situations, and some sort of rudimentary sense of justice, would understand the impossibility of playing ball if someone gets their body in front of you, and be wary of players who get in that position and manipulate it, perhaps with obscene flourishes like actually using their arm to push off from the defender.
Certainly any ref who has watched Lewandowski a bit has no excuse for not knowing he excels at that stuff. Unfortunately they seem to pretend that isn’t the reality.
Depressingly, this includes world cup final refs,too. Howard Webb tweeted his assent to one Robbie Savage’s take that red was correct because Kos pushed him and made no attempt to play ball. ‘Correct interpretation’, sayeth Webb.
Maybe the much lauded Collina, head of Uefa refs, has a better feel for justice, but it won’t help us a jot if ref team from last night are deemed by him to have performed badly.
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Know what you mean about the trolls Shard.
Take the point about top four in the league, remember a few reports over there on how Dean Taylor Atkinson et al would be despatched to ruin any chances of winning the league, but we’re called off near the end of the season, where we were left alone and always able to find a way into the top four . But if that really is the case, this year, we will be up against the darlings of Liverpool, Spurs and Utd……wonder if the same will apply?
I would like to think if involved, Stan or Ivan get us a level playing field,nothing more, nothing less…..but it just doesn’t seem we get that at the moment.
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Rich
Collina is not head of the refs at Uefa. As I recall he was put in charge of training refs but the chief was one Mr. Busacca whose fantastic job in giving RVP a red card to protect Messi and Barcelona, led to him being promoted to that position 2 years ahead of superannuation. Of course, I lost interest in following this tale so the status might have changed, but interesting that Riley in England and Busacca in Europe both got the top jobs ahead of schedule right after a high profile screwup/screwjob involving Arsenal.
As for the Kos incident, there is no way that is the intent of the law and it is never interpreted as such. Except when they decide. As illustrated by the Alexis ‘handball’ goal, the fact that nobody, not the fans, not the media, ex-refs and even the bloody PGMO knows what constitutes a legitimate goal or not, just shows how purposely erratically run football is. If it weren’t a sport but a business (which it actually is) it would be hauled up for possible corruption and definite reform. But football is the equivalent of the circus in Rome now I guess.
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Mandy
A level playing field is what I meant as well. But what would it take to get it? Something not on the level would be my guess.
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Thought Lewandowski dove to earn the penalty and the red card was a disgrace. That Bayern resorted to this, puts paid to the claim that we were better because they didn’t give a fuck.
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Shard
Wasn’t 100% on Collina’s status. Just thought I heard he had that job recently. Lists him as Uefa head of refs on wiki,too.
Gotta share this little gem from there
‘Perhaps one of the greatest distinctions of Collina’s career was earning the hatred of Luciano Moggi, the Juventus executive and chief instigator of the 2006 Italian football scandal. Collina was one of the referees that Moggi attempted to have punished for decisions that Collina made against Juventus. In an intercepted phone call, Moggi claimed that Collina and his colleague Roberto Rosetti were too “objective” and should be “punished” for it.[5] As a result, he and Rosetti were two of the few referees remaining unscathed from the scandal.’
Too ‘objective’- bloody hell. Only us cranks believe there is nothing intrinsically good and noble about the English which guarantees such a sorry, squalid state of affairs couldn’t be possible here.
I’m told Italy took the step of increasing the number of referees, to more than twenty, to try make corruption and foul play more difficult in the aftermath of that scandal. Same idea, I guess, as the one here when pgmol were created and 24 was elected as the appropriate number of refs.
We have something like 16 now, with 9 or 10 doing most of it and the rest a great deal less or barely any.
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Probably very true Shard
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Shard
‘purposely erratically’- missed that first time around. Fantastic phrase. I’m nicking it, and the idea it encapsulates.
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Thanks Rich.
I went to the uefa website to look. It wasn’t the easiest to find but you were right. Collina is the Chief Refereeing Officer.
Referees Committee
Chairman:
Ángel Villar Llona (Spain)
Deputy Chairwoman
Karen Espelund (Norway)
Chief Refereeing Officer:
Pierluigi Collina (UEFA)
Refereeing Officers:
Marc Batta(UEFA)
Hugh Dallas(UEFA)
Members:
Dagmar Damková (Czech Republic)
David R. Elleray (England)
Herbert Fandel (Germany)
Bo Karlsson (Sweden)
Nikolay Levnikov (Russia)
Vladimir Sajn (Slovenia)
Jaap Uilenberg (Netherlands)
Kyros Vassaras (Greece)
The UEFA Executive Committee appoints a Chief Refereeing Officer and two Refereeing Officers who participate in Referees Committee meetings, and whose main responsibilities are:
a) to appoint referees in UEFA’s top competitions (UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA European Football Championship and UEFA European Under-21 Championship);
b) to set development topics for the various levels of UEFA refereeing courses;
c) to draw up proposals for ranking referees twice a year in the existing UEFA referee categories;
d) to set guidelines for referee observer appointments and their assessment;
e) to organise monitoring of UEFA’s top match officials in international and domestic matches.
Also spotted two familiar names in the UEFA Executive Council. David Gill,formerly of ManU (and still non-executive director apparently) and Davor Suker, who is apparently the chief of Croatian football.
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Main observation from last night was after 20 years the players were still willing to bust a gut for the manager an achievement many managers can’t claim after 20 weeks.
The officials let their profession down again proving A5 right when he says our officials are no more incompetent than those abroad.
Certain ex-players proved once again they’ll never make an ambassador for the club as long as they have a whole up their arse.
There will always be players like Alexis that are more individual than a team player and that may be one reason why we didn’t win the league with ian wright until he was injured and on the bench.
The most embarrassing thing about our club at the moment and the biggest target for opposition fans is every increasing ridiculousness of the protest.
If we play like did last night for the rest of the season there will be more to cheer than to tear and the most successful manager in the history of our club might get a little respect.
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Afternoon all – well, I’m not sure I can bring myself to say it but I long ago lost track of the number of times I have commented on PA the day after the night before, on how we have lost a game (or points) thanks to a uniquely awful refereeing decision.
So let’s get it over with.
I have never seen a yellow card upgraded to red. And I have never before seen a goal-line statue get involved in the game. And I have never seen said statue play an instrumental role in the awarding of any card let alone the upgrading of a yellow to red.
Theo was denied an obvious penalty by the same statue and the assault on Alexis failed to inconvenience the referee to halt the game let alone award a card of any colour (or even a mild ticking off/free kick).
These would ordinarily and understandably, have been matters of some contention.
At 1-0 and in complete control, Arsenal were set to make a realistic challenge on the outcome of the tie.
And then came the refereeing intervention to absolutely seal the result in the Germans’ favour.
I have to say also that it’s the uniqueness of decisions against us that have been flowing our way this season that has convinced me of the corrupt nature of the European game.
And that is despite the fact that we all know ‘this sort of thing’ could never happen in England. Yeah, right.
It’s happening people, and it’s happening right in front of our eyes.
Powerless to bring about any change, I would say that beyond this season it is extremely unlikely I will be continuing my pricey subscriptions to Sky or BT which currently set me back around £160 per month.
There is little point in lining the pockets of these crooks any further.
Whilst I will always support the club, with the possible departure of Arsene, I’m not prepared to continue to spend a fortune watching Arsenal turn into, at best Liverpool or Spurs, or at worst, Aston Villa or Leeds.
I refuse to continue to support Sky, BT, the Premier League or UEFA, any further.
I simply do not believe their ‘product’ is worth it any longer.
And in this I know I’m not alone.
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Having devoted a billion words and years of their lives to trying to remove our esteemed manager, and as they see it approaching final victory, I note the uber-bloggers have now decided it won’t make any difference and Stan is and will remain the “problem”.
The perpetually dissatisfied cling on, like a diseased haemorrhoid.
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Arsenal Andrew I share your sentiments and have not been paying Sky or BT for some time now.
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@shotta_gooner
This pattern has been going on longer, that Alexis’ performance reminded me of the attitude and performances of Mark Overmars, once he had been ‘tapped’ by Barca, after Wenger and Arsenal revived his importance (seems really similar circumstance minus the broken ankle) in European and world football . He along with Petit(SMH) thought they had out grown the club,see how that worked out for them.
I call to evidence Overmars’ goal in the FA cup final the difference in performance and commitment the season after.
Alexis has a record of 3 years then off, I think he has gone.
Pienso que ha salido ya.
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Markyb – I quite recently moved house and opposite is a fantastic pub which shows all the games plus the cricket/tennis etc.
I’ve decided I’d sooner give my hard earned to a struggling publican by way of a service contribution than squander vast sums on unsatisfactory tv subscriptions.
For a small additional sum I can apparently mute the drivel spouted by the current generation’s answer to ‘commentary’ and ‘analysis’ by activating the juke box on demand.
I’m assured my principal contributions will be reciprocated in alcohol and food which seems a reasonable deal.
*Anybody able to invent a juke box that switches itself on upon sight or sound of the likes of Robbie, Rio, Gary or Michael would surely find they’d become a millionaire by Xmas.
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AA: I also pay massively for my satellite provider and have to endure the likes of Robbie Earle, Robbie Mustoe Alexi Lalas and Warren Barton. If I cut the cord I will lose most of my streams. There are no publicans around. But if I had a choice I would rid myself of the nonsense. There is absolutely no balance in their punditry. No data to support their opinions. Who is Santi Cazorla? What ref bias? Nothing there. Never existed.
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Blimey, just been on UA and it’s more like Le Grove on there at the moment.
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I thought Owen Hargreaves was pretty fair to AFC and AW last night. He also mentioned that Bayern are run on a different system than British clubs. One thing is Bayern are a massive force because of the people at the club-if AFC was Bayern, then Wenger wouldn’t be going anywhere, in that he would be moved into a directorship position (etc)-George Graham would be back and who knows else, but it would be all big Guns and lots of them.When you have a pool of force like that then that experience isn’t dissipated. Of course we do it to a degree, but not in the way like Bayern. And they are a formidable force.
Do you guys think that Kronke cares about the club?
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markyb-I went on there this lunchtime and thought the same thing. Made me never want to go back. Really sad to see it, they seem overwhelmed.
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“cares” ? Mills – I should not think SK has any more attachment to AFC than any other of his portfolio of investments. He would not be as rich as he is if sentiment crept in. To be honest I am not sure I want an owner who cares – they tend to want to interfere then. The best owners are neither seen nor heard.
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Yes sorry, head in the clouds on my part. But I like what you wrote A5-got to go and eat my nosh.
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Anicoll does it again, thanks.
Sorry this comment is for the boys, especially those who own a shed.
I had a day off work today. I worked in the garden. I felt a sense of peace and tranquillity when in my shed. The battle n’strife has no jurisdiction in there. I am safe. But the icing on the cake is to build a bonfire. Yes sir, a bonfire to burn the logs I chopped from the last Christmas tree.
The sun shone too which really raised my spirits. What happened last night? Who cares….
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Another fine Post you have got us into, Stanley — oops, I mean Anicoll. Mucho gracias.
As a result of some of the above comments that I read above, I went to have a look at Untold Arsenal, and reading thru about 4 Posts, I thought there was little sign of trolls — altho I guess it depends on how you define ‘troll’ — but what I saw was a whole bunch of bloggers swinging their handbags and trying to shout each other down — usually frenetically, and without a jot of common sense. Mandy being a notable exception.
But there are so many other blog sites with agitated and ‘knowledgeable’ dudes (at least in their own heads) who feel the best way to communicate is at the top of their voices (so to speak) and berate every one else, in what they presumably see as a superciliary way.
It would seem that the most popular sport among many Arsenal fans seems to be to do unto another Gooner, before they do unto you. Not clever, not witty – just so boring.
Hiya, Shard.
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ArsenalAndrew at 1:01 pm
Ditto my friend, ditto…
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Wenger pointed out after the game, that Bayern Munich are different to Arsenal in that they do not have a competitor in Germany for any of their transfer targets. And in fact they not only don’t have a competitor for signings, they can buy their direct rivals best players. Kicker(one of the main media outlets in Germany), only last week ran the story that Arsenal hinted at last summer, namely that Serge gnabry was set to sign a new Arsenal contract until Bayern Munich got involved, now they did not want to sign him last summer, but seen him as a future prospect, if he proved himself. So Bayern got on to Werder Brehem, an independent club, with no links to Bayern, but they were able to persuade Werder to sign Gnabry, Bayern Munich would fund(or at least be guarantor) the transfer on condition that they can sign Gnabry whenever they want, most likely this summer.
Add in how Bayern constantly persuade players they want, to run down their contracts and join them for free, usually form their direct rivals, a two fold advantage, weaken their rival, but player wise, and financially, and strengthen themselves too.
I seen some knob say the other day that in Wenger’s 20 years at Arsenal, Bayern Munich were a smaller club than AFC, and that we have let them overtake us, what complete and utter bullshit.
Bayern are set to win their 26th league title in just 48 years, their longest run without a league title in that 48 years is 5 seasons in the late 70’s, and since Wenger has been at AFC, Bayern’s longest run without a league title is 3 barren years.
Also in that 48 years they have won their cup 15 times, and 5 European cups/champion leagues, and they have won the world club title and the european supercup, so by the end of this season Bayern Munich will have won at least 48 major trophies in 48 seasons, yeah they are no bigger than Arsenal.
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Patrick Timmons @PatrickTimmons1 3h3 hours ago
Interesting stat, just shows that body language isn’t everything
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Adrian Clarke @adrianjclarke 12h12 hours ago
Disappointing collapse, bad goals to give away etc but until the sending off that was the best Arsenal had played at home since Chelsea 3-0
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