Good Morning Positive Arsenal fans,
A fine Sunday morning here, windy but bright Autumnal sunshine and mellow fruitfulness.
Of yesterday’s contest as expected a well drilled Swansea defensive side posed a number of problems for the first 45 before cracking and allowing us to pocket the three points, as expected.
Some comments I see have been made about our “laboured” first half performance, not least by the manager. I did not think we were poor, but as in previous home games despite 80%+ control of the ball we got no further than the final third and never really opened up a clear chance. Clearly compared to our ripping-Everton-a-new-one of six days before any performance was likely to be “laboured”. It may however be worth reflecting however that the Swansea were no Everton. They sat deep, had three solid centre back who Lacazette had to battled with on his own, and a screen of midfielders who dropped back to soak up and disrupt. Having gifted them a silly opener they dug in ferociously and denied us space and time in the final third. On another day that might have been enough for the Swans, as in previous painful encounters (!).
We are an older team now, more mature, and with better players. I doubt the teacups flew at half-time in the home dressing room. I suspect the message was more a reminder to the players that we had to use every inch of the pitch to stretch Swansea, and that it is important for players to be dynamic and quick in creating space for themselves to receive a pass.
If that was the message then within 11 minutes the scoreboard had been corrected and the wining goal despatched by Aaron. “Tidy” as they say in the valleys. Sead’s rocket for the first and involvement in the second earned him the man of the match.
The left hand side of our football team I thought stood out yesterday. Nacho, Sead and Alexis click together like the passenger door on a Mercedes-Benz, solid, dependable but with the potential to go very, very fast when required.
Good performances from Granit, Aaron, Lacazette and Ozil and they’d get a 7/10. The right hand side of our side ? Hector and Laurent are not quite in tune and the Frenchman has looked out of sorts since the start of the season. It may be he is playing out of position in the ‘three’ or playing while injured. His slip yesterday was uncharacteristic and just last week he was caught in a similar moment late at Goodison when picked up a deserved yellow card. He is a fine player but has just passed his 32nd birthday. It may be he needs a few games officially injured to rest and recuperate as he has played a lot of football.
Of the opposition as I said yesterday Fernandez seems a capable centre back. At 28 years old he is no spring chicken but he knows his trade. And (inevitably) one top, top class save from Fabianski. Good to see his career has led to football every week, which his talent deserved.
As a general point, having watched Kosc and later Per slip and slide on what seems to me a perfect grass surface, would the club PLEASE STOP watering the f******* pitch obsessively before the game and at half time. The grass won’t die if you leave it alone, trust me.
So onward to the Etihad and a very different challenge next Sunday. In the interim I’d guess we can expect the B team to give Red Star a sound bashing on Thursday.
Enjoy your Sunday.
Positively Arsenal 
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On reflection if our friends including Limestonegunner hadn’t highlighted for AFC that when it came to the plunditary that Stewert Robson is a gr*tting idiot then we wouldn’t have got Adrian Clarke.
And we’d have zero pundits worth listening to.
Fortunately that’s not the case! Another interesting breakdown. You’ll all note that he mentions other tweaks at HT against Swansea but none of these have been mentioned by the uber blaggers, the not so great and good, alongside the crumbs the gaffer threw to these assembled and aspiring hack dwarves in the post match presser.
You can aspire to get the ball quicker from right to left but if you’re going to do that primarily through Xhaka then perhaps there must have been a tiny tweak in CM too? What do we think? Were they watching? Ah well, at lest the experts picked up on something, with a little help and some signposts, better then nothing I suppose.
Another good and interesting Breakdown of the Football from the best commentator/pundit out there on the Swansea match is available and highly recommended. Courtesy of Limestonegunner and those prepared to call out Robson for being sh*te and worse. Sorry for our friends across the ocean as I understand this comedian then joined Robbie Earle in ignominious exile upon the gibbering couch, unfortunately.
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Morning Fins.
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Good morning G,
Clarke didn’t mention was how good a coach the Swansea manager is, possibly the English coach with the highest pedigree out there ATM.
I don’t think he’s ever made the Arsenal holes shortlist alongside the greats like Koeman, Coyle, King Kaput, Phil Brown, me, myself and I, etc.
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I’VE BEEN SUSPENDED FROM TWITTER.
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I think that’s a badge of honour now George.
Personally I think AC got it wrong, how can we have made slight tweaks and changes at half time when everyone knows vengar don’t do tactics he just sends the team out and leaves them to it.
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how did twitter get that brave
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What happened George ?
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What was the final straw that broke the Twitter camel’s back BG ?
You are always v polite from what I can see
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Stupid people get highly offended when you remind them of their utter stupidity.
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I have no idea why I’ve been suspended.
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Oh man. Since you left it’s been chaos. The WOB are rampaging through Twitter. We can’t hold them back. Tell my family I died fighting…
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It is anarchy out there …
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Justice for @Blackburngeorge
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Does that mean you re back in?
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No TS I’m not
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I have never bothered to be in Twitter — imagine sharing software with Trump and other uninteresting people.
Better off out of it, I think,
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Which browser are you using HenryB? I have some bad news for you.
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I wondered what happened to you, George. Twitter has some ‘splanin to do.
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George do they not tell you why you are suspended,
it seems several others have been suspended in recent days, some of which have come back with different accounts and claimed that they were suspended cos others complained about them telling them they were – idiots, cunts, stupid etc etc
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Wtf, have read the PG twitter stuff, inspiring,why the suspension? Not spamming, encouraging terrorism and crime, no illegal porn links, animals are not harmed, not especially abusive, except in highlighting the sheer stupidity and moronicity of others, which in this case is generally doing humanity a favour.
Can only think one or more has squealed to them about bullying or abusive behaviour?
Worth starting again under a new account and seeing what happens?
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Second class? Nowhere to go? It’s British manager nonsense
Date published: Tuesday 31st October 2017 6:44
After the fantastic, joyful, thrilling success of England’s U-17 side winning the World Cup this weekend, discussion quickly turned to concern that these lads will never get first-team game time and will be blocked from progressing at top clubs by all of the imported international talent. But if they’re consistently really good and are prepared, as many now are, to play outside of England at some point, I’m sure things will turn out fine for many of them.
Football is a global game and I’d hope this generation of players fundamentally understand that. Unlike Sam Allardyce. Here he is in a far-flung corner of a foreign land in the grotesque Palace of Little England that is BeIn.
Isn’t that an incredible belch of dumb nonsense? This is the pitiful paranoia which has dragged the English game down for decades. His is a pathetic, weak attitude and yet it infects the whole of the English game. Loud voices are always shouting about the English being denied by the foreign, feeling sorry for themselves, telling us they are being done down. Wrongly painting themselves as the victim and inventing their own narratives to prove their own delusions.
Note how those that believe this rubbish always refer to foreigners as though they are one amorphous group. It’s quite bizarre. When they say a club’s owners have “gone foreign” it obviously doesn’t occur to them that the club has actually just employed an individual defined by his knowledge and experience, and not by his foreignness.
On top of this dreadful weird outlook, they also insist on calling foreign names and, I presume, by extension actual foreigners “sexy”. It feels like they’re grumpy tourists abroad complaining about how all the English lasses are getting off with Italian men as they look on with a mixture of lust, envy and fury.
This week Micky Adams has been promoting his very interesting book. But in an interview about the future of coaching he says:
“They (the clubs) spend a fortune on the sexy foreign coaches and it pushes everybody down the leagues and leaves good people without jobs.”
Sexy?
Phil Thompson on Soccer Saturday said he thought Everton’s owners would want “a more sexy name” than David Unsworth as manager. Phil wanted “Unzie” to get the job. Why? Because “he knows the club”. Of course. This is the man, along with Paul Merson, who shamefully defined Marco Silva’s qualities wholly by his non-Englishness.
This was a man who had won Segunda Liga (2011–12), Taça de Portugal (2014–15), Superleague Greece (2015–16) and been awarded Segunda Liga Coach of the Year (2011–12). It’s not nothing. For this to be dismissed out of hand in this manner was perfectly illustrative of this narrow state of mind which runs through our game like blue veins in a block of Stilton.
And yet, it is typical of this odd cabal who are employed in our media, often unchallenged, presumably to feed a paranoid constituency.
Harry Redknapp also thinks foreigners are sexy: “These new owners come in, they see a sexy name; someone who’s been a famous player or famous manager somewhere, and they bring them into England and think they can do the job. But it doesn’t necessarily work. Foreigners aren’t cleverer than we are. Give our lads a chance and they’ll do the job.”
Such language of sweeping assumption and generalisation is obviously meaningless. Where you’re from doesn’t dictate how good you’ll be at the job. Obviously. And do most people really see foreign names as sexy? Let’s ask Stefan Kuntz.
There was more guff about this from Paul Ince: “We highlight when foreign managers comes in and do well, we don’t highlight when English managers do well.”
If anything the absolute opposite is true. Does he think that no-one has a good word to say for Eddie Howe? We hear nothing but fine words about him and very little criticism. Sean Dyche likewise.
Sean went through a strange phase a year or so ago when he began referring to himself in the third person and expressing a peculiar sort of baseless paranoia which he had conjured up in his own head and mistaken for truth.
“Antonio Conte came in at Chelsea and he got commended for bringing a hard, fast, new leadership to Chelsea, which involved doing 800-metre runs, 400m runs and 200m runs,” the Burnley boss said. “Come to my training and see Sean Dyche doing that and you’d say, ‘Dinosaur, a young English dinosaur manager, hasn’t got a clue’.”
As we said at the time, there was no evidence of anyone thinking Sean was a dinosaur and plenty of evidence of praise being heaped upon him.
Redknapp has also complained that the only way to get into the Premier League for an English manager is to get promoted with a club, the way Eddie Howe did, as if this is a second-rate way of being successful. As if any other route is inferior to being parachuted into a top job without qualification.
But working your way up is the normal way of progressing to the top in any business. Getting your mates big jobs when they’ve no experience or talent, now that’s the strange thing.
Oh yes let’s mention Tim Sherwood because we can always use a laugh. You will remember that he got two of the top jobs in English football without even having managed before. What would Phil Thompson have said about such an appointment if Tim Sherwood was called Silva? Can you imagine?
Jamie Redknapp laid out Timbo’s credentials in 2013.
“He has played the game at the highest level, understands English football and he knows the club inside out. I don’t want to be xenophobic, but it’s not just English players we don’t give a chance to – it’s English coaches as well. Sherwood won’t talk tactics, he’ll talk football. He’s no bluffer, he’s a football man and he’s exactly what Spurs need.”
I mean, where do you start with that?
To the rest of us, it is quite obvious that, firstly, the vast majority of managers are still British and indeed, may well owe their jobs to that fact. Those that are not British have been selected for jobs on their perceived talent, not nationality. People like Conte, like Jurgen Klopp, like Marco Silva or David Wagner have more than proven their worth at other clubs. Their success allowed them to upgrade their jobs, just as it could do for Sean Dyche, especially if he was prepared to manage in Europe. But Europe is foreign and foreign doesn’t count. So in the Allardyce blinkered circle jerk, they’ve “nowhere to go” apparently.
How loudly do we have to say this? There is no anti-English conspiracy. There’s just 20 top-flight English clubs and thousands of football managers in the world. The rest of us understand that football is a global game and that any English manager can go anywhere in the world and manage a football club. For Allardyce to say “we’ve nowhere to go” suggests English managers are narrow-minded, stupid, weak, full of bad attitude and are losers who can’t compete. If you owned a club, would you want to employ someone like that? No. If I was a prospective manager, I’d be telling
him to shut his meat hole and stop painting me in this negative way.
I just hope the Under-17s take absolutely no notice and continue to be successful, simply by being really bloody good because, despite what all of the above might want us to believe, excellent footballers and managers are not being denied a place in any team, or at any club, just because they’re English.
And even in the modern day, stupid-is-the-new-clever crapocracy, it can’t be allowed to stand. Let’s not tolerate our game being dragged down to that level any longer.
John Nicholson
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And that my friends is what they call a post
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george have the given you any reason yet for the suspension
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My temporary/new twitter name is @Arseblagger
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No Eddy, not a peep.
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PG, THAT NAME. LOL.
I really laughed. you are hilarious
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George shortly before his expulsion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejmFSN2qBG0
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Weird. Never seen anything in George’s tweets that is ban worthy.
If arguing fiercely and calling people on their stupidity, maybe with occasional swear word (?) is not allowed, then surely most of Twitter has to go.
Feels very odd given how many horrible people spray their awful, sometimes repulsive, shite around on twitter.
No explanation either makes it more baffling.
I remember getting moderated to oblivion way back in Guardian comments when disagreeing with one of their lousiest football writers but without breaking any of their rules. Complained to the bums and their response was that basically a strong enough rebuttal of writer’s opinion can constitute a personal attack.
Anyway, was surprisingly rotten experience to be shut down like that. Hopefully back in action soon George.
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Tried listening to the mean lean’s podcast, one last time. Thought it might be bearable after a victory. You never know…
Boy was I wrong! First five minutes is a screed about how the club is trapped by its own values. Intriguingly none of those assembled proffered any pearls as to what those values might actually be. Weird huh? Such as the values that mean they’re the only big club to hold an AGM? So out of date huh? It’s unacceptable!
Shambolic?
And whilst discussing Kronke there was zero mention of how he got the club which is, you know, a key and murky part of the story involving the other big shareholder. For all any of us know it’s always been a split deal but I digress: if you’re going to attack someone’s values perhaps it would sound more sane if you were capable of articulating what those values actually are? Or is just me! Caveat: I gave up after five minutes as I was hoping to listen to some footy chat. They’d never had exceeded the content of the Breakdown anyway, and, well, the Breakdown is shorter…lesson learned.
Mean Lean: seriously disappointing. Actually lame.
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Conclusion: it was a shambles of a podcast.
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Where do people find the time to be so precious about Kronke as owner whilst completely ignoring the handover story? I’m curious!
I guess these people with such insight have the kind of amazing talents that meant that they could run before they could walk.
Rather them then me.
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finsburyp
I follow Mean Lean podcast, although I don’t agree with everything and some of the tone in general it’s an entertaining listen.
The contributers in the main have had enough of and want change, so two of the regulars want Mr Wenger gone, have no belief anything he does ,which colours their views every podcast, as all the solutions provided by Mr Wenger are put down to luck.
The ‘ trapped by its own values’ trope has been something of an ongoing theme, seen in the current climate as not feasible by the people who would like to follow the ‘Petro-Dollar- State-Funded- SugarDaddy’ business model as opposed to the self-sustaining model .
They have all mused to a greater or lesser degree, their vision of how the the club could be run if there were structures in place that they believe are missing. Mainly to do with player recruitment and retention, training tactics, basically the infrastructure and culture within in the club at all levels. Their belief in the main, is the club would change for the better if some guy with access to untapped wealth, would take over, spend the majority of that wealth on Arsenal, this would bring the pride back of this once great club.
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So, it’s like, some kind of cult then.
Which is funny because that’s one of the PR genius’ memes.
However supporting a football club does not require a lobotomy. In contrast choosing to believe that the same owner will sack an employee of 20 years in order to give a new stranger access to their private bank account is beyond bizarre.
It’s insane. But there it is. Preserved for posterity on the internet. You’ve got to laugh.
WWB Timmy Stillman came on here once and we rinsed him for “fence sitting”‘and not articulating himself honestly and clearly. Took him a few seasons but he’s mustered up the courage to “come out” now.
I’m going to repeat: GG was sacked by the previous board, before AW arrived at the club. And this is a strange omission from their construct. Why do they have to omit this glaring event from AFCs history? Simply because these allegations they are making against the current manager don’t hold up.
These people are either liars, or stupid, or both.
EIE
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It’s about as entertaining as listening to someone wearing metal gloves run their hand down a blackboard.
If I want to be entertained I can watch Gazproms “SHAMBOLITASTIC” (tm to my PR agent please) defending between £100M worth of defenders. Now that is funny! Fooking hi-larious. I won’t be looking out for 60 minute plus podcasts vaguely and cowardly insinuating that Conte has fluked his way through coaching and management these past two decades.
I’d rather watch YouTube videos of programmes from just before my time; saint and greavsie chatting to Jackie charlton from 30 years ago. Actually better then today’s plunditry. Primarily because they didn’t take themselves too seriously.
We can & do give props to good and enjoyable plunditry, shame there’s so little of it in football…
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Andy Gray isn’t the worst plundit, I’d rather have him back on then some of the braying donkeys about at the current moment never mind the aspiring arseblaggers out there. Here is a transcript of him talking about Ramsey:
https://youtu.be/gmoi3tYl1o0
Couldn’t find an audio sorry. In the audio Keys interrupts to say he doesn’t play like a modern CM, that it’s just how talented CMs have always played.
in a couple of minutes they make more sense regarding Ramsey then any of these Experts have been able to express or describe over many years.
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As football plundits they identify the key concern for Arsenal football club at this moment in time.
No, not the composition of Doris’ tea tray for the next board meeting or AGM, but the resigning to a new contract for the footballer Aaron Ramsey in order for Arsenal Football Club to be at their best upon the football pitch.
And if people don’t like the values of the football club that they are supporting, easy to identify when they predate the current board and manager, then, well, I hate to be the bearer of grim news, but then perhaps they are supporting the wrong football club.
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I once saw an episode of the UK apprentice. A Spanish contestant had a bit of “banter” with Alan Sugar as he was an arsenal fan. When asked how and why he supported the Arsenal, he replied how could he not support a club with such values, such class. And as we all know Sugar accepts and agrees with understanding in public, quite often, usually on twitter!
So if it is possible for a contestant in a reality tv to express what the values of AFC are and why they support them, why are these voiciferous critics incapable of highlighting what these values are in order for any listerner to be able to interpret and have some kind of cogniscent understanding of what their concerns actually are. But they don’t do it!
To be clear:
If you can’t or won’t or don’t explain what it is that you are spending so much time being critical of then you’re going to sound like someone who is very, very, confused. Or a liar. Or both!
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If I was so against the values of a a club and wanted to support a football club with the same values as a petrogarchial laundry there are plenty of options to choose from.
Likewise if I wanted to support a fried chicken shop/club, which might be the appropriate option for these articulate and earnestly concerned bravehearts, there’s Blackburn FC (sorry George).
If I wanted to support the Thai royal family and feel like an aristocrat I’d support Leicester (classic Berlusconi style Oligarchical model as opposed to Petrogarhical).
So many “values” to choose from.
What kind of open minded person demands that all buisiness’ let alone football clubs all follow one model? Strange behaviour.
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–
Phil “it wasn’t me in Valencia!” Neville describes Gazcorps decision to sell Matic as the worst decision he’s ever seen in the premier league. I think all will agree that selling off title winning CMs is unusual for a club that don’t need the money etc. I’d add Man Utd signing three LBs for about £100M whilst simultaneously signing a semi-retired Rooney to a £300p/w contract as a contender (Whilst AW was convincing Özil and Sanchez to come and play for the Arsenal). Everton!
But yes. It’s AFC that are a shambles.
If I keep on repeating myself ad nauseum do you think you’ll all start to believe me?
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This is a invitation:
If any of these people who are so critical of the “values” of the club could please come here and kindly explain to us what these values are.
It’s not a big ask, is it? After all they felt like they wouldn’t look stupid when attempting to come here and snidely troll in the past (not sure they’d counted on Frank being here haha!). Then perhaps we might be able to understand what appears to be beyond us.
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< if a former owner of Tottenham FC can understand and empathise with what those values are I'd like to hear a clear description from these critics as to what those values are otherwise it all sounds like, well, nonsensical gibberish.
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What is it about Kronke Jnr that upsets them so? Were they this manic when Hill-Wood III kindly informed them:
“thank you for taking an interest in our affairs”?
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fins
Like like like like like like like like, etc.
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value
ˈvaljuː/
noun
plural noun: values
1.
the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something.
“your support is of great value”
synonyms: merit, worth, usefulness, use, utility, practicality, advantage, desirability, benefit, gain, profit, good, service, help, helpfulness, assistance, effectiveness, efficacy, avail, importance, significance, point, sense; informalmileage
“the value of adequate preparation cannot be understated”
the material or monetary worth of something.
“prints seldom rise in value”
synonyms: price, cost, worth; More
market price, selling price, asking price, monetary value, face value
“houses exceeding £250,000 in value”
the worth of something compared to the price paid or asked for it.
“at £12.50 the book is good value”
2.
principles or standards of behaviour; one’s judgement of what is important in life.
“they internalize their parents’ rules and values”
synonyms: principles, moral principles, ethics, moral code, morals, moral values, standards, moral standards, code of behaviour, rules of conduct, standards of behaviour
“society’s values are passed on to us as children”
so how can anyone be “trapped by ones Values”
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Let the love in begin
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Real played shite
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Begin? You mean intensify don’t you Mandy?
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I would be hard pushed other than to acknowledge Spuds result as other than an excellent result for the neighbours – a little surprising though it was.
I have no doubt therefore their defeat at our hands in less than two weeks will scatter the beads again.
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Passenal, absolutely correct.
It seems our team, club, and manager are more shit than they were at the start of the evening in the eyes of some of our so called supporters, and no doubt the media, despite the fact we don’t even play until tomorrow,,how does that work? The same who conveniently forget what Wenger has done to said Spurs for pretty much two decades, as well as Wengers consistent record in navigating the group stages, until this year of course.
Spurs did well, but Real we’re pretty poor. I suspect a change of manager there this summer .
Will be interesting to see what happens when we meet the Spuds, it seems we stand no chance in that game, or against City.
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