An early Xmas gift from @anicoll5

Good morning from a grey and windy Norfolk on match day.

Let me open with a quote from the genuinely immortal Mr Shankly in response to a question from a journalist concerning the ‘pressure’ of his Liverpool side topping the First Division at the time.

“Pressure is working down the pit. Pressure is having no work at all. Pressure is trying to escape relegation on 50 shillings a week. Pressure is not the European Cup or the Championship or the Cup Final. That’s the reward.”

Ah yes Bill, and as you had as a teenager worked down the pit, then been on the dole in the early 30’s when your pit shut down you understood this. Drop in serving in the RAF, defeating Naziism, and helping AFC win the League Cup south during those war years and I guess you had the gravitas to opine.  You understood the glaring but eternal truth that football is there to be enjoyed and success revelled in, not shied away from or complained about or feared.

It is a quote that should be marked in every match programme, learned by heart by every football fan before they are issued with access to the ground or social media, chanted rhythmically by Arsenal supporters seeking Buddhist enlightenment, even bannerized (new word alarm bleeps ! ).

The awakening would not be  intellectual, but a change in how we, as fans,  experience and perceive. But no, you’re right,  perhaps not bannerized.

The ‘cherrypickers’ reference btw – Bill’s Ayrshire village team of Glenbuck when he was a boy.

And so on to the game. Plenty of coverage in the media of which I am sure you are all well aware. There seems to be a lot of ‘fence-sitting’ on the outcome. The Scousers first home game since their disaster against Basle, but two good football performances from them since, despite the score line at Trafford Park.

For us the nasty but receding recollection of the equivalent contest last season(shudders) but scoring goals smoothly and good players all over the park. A game in which we have a good record of wins and draws over the last decade, and the ground at which the 49 Invincibles game got underway. Would such a happy glacier begin this afternoon ?

Looking at the pictures of the Ox in training yesterday and apparently actively involved suggests Wenger’s cautious optimism concerning the young man’s groin was well founded. I shall revisit that comment on Ox’s fitness about 4.30 this afternoon however. Indeed if by 4.30 we are still 0-0 or better I shall have a strong fancy of us taking an important step this afternoon.

I shall not detain you longer this Sunday morn as you have presents to buy, gifts to wrap and, perhaps, some chanting to get on with.

A guest post from @foreverheady

One of the comments that irritated Arsenal supporters after the four goal romp against Newcastle last Saturday was the one made by Richard Keys about Santi Cazorla not showing their 21 Year Old Goalkeeper, Jak Alnwick  any respect when he chipped in his Panenka penalty. The idea was put about that this was in some way bullying, and, because The Arsenal was involved, attracted more than its fair share of interest. It got me thinking, and reminded of a time when I was much younger, and similarly treated by an older and much respected pro. Different sport, but essentially the same.

Sussex were going well in the Championship and travelled to Coventry to play Warwickshire at the Courtaulds ground: winning the toss and batting first, runs came easily, courtesy of a Gehan Mendis century , and it was not until late afternoon that I went in to bat. Bob Willis was the bowler, and I was excited (and slightly apprehensive) to face such a Test star. I took my guard, looked round the field and settled into my stance to wait for his long, long run-up, that I had seen so many times before on the TV. Except he hadn’t walked back to his mark, but instead bowled immediately – almost from a standing start. I wasn’t ready at all, although technically I was, and didn’t have the experience or confidence to pull away. The ball clattered into the stumps before I knew it, and I trudged off, out for a Golden Duck, to the sniggers and derision of the Warwickshire team. I had been properly done, and felt humiliated and wretched. Bullied? Maybe, although it was perfectly within the rules. Taught a lesson? Yes, certainly, and also made aware that at that level no quarter is asked for or given. And that is the point about Santi’s penalty. He knew that the keeper was likely to dive too soon, and he also knew that if Alnwick was serious about being a first team player in the Premiership then he deserved the respect of being taken as an equal – and not as a young greenhorn for whom allowances should be made. But perhaps more importantly, Santi knew he was going to score, and I expect the keeper did too – and it is that type of one on one confrontation when sport ceases to be just about physical skill and becomes something far more psychological.

Much was made the following afternoon of David de Gea’s contribution to Manchester United’s ultimately facile dismissal of Liverpool, and it is certainly true that his early save from Sterling allowed Rooney the chance to score only moments later. As the plaudits rained down on de Gea, my Twitter timeline was full of indignation, claiming that he only made these saves because the ball was kicked straight at him, much as had been the case when he frustrated so many Arsenal efforts a few weeks before. But that slightly misses the point, and although Gary Neville talked about the excellence of his positioning, that is only half the story too. De Gea made the saves because he was mentally stronger than the attacker – he had won the psychological battle if you like – and that is why so many of the shots were weak and safely struck at the middle of the goal. I have seen decent first-class bowlers bowl absolute rubbish at top batsmen for the same reason: they momentarily become like rabbits in the headlights and freeze at just the moment that they need to be instinctive and fluid. Sterling’s weak effort in the second half when he had a far more obvious one on one with the keeper seems proof of that, and I suspect it will be a long time before he, or indeed anyone else, will go past De Gea when they have time to think about it. It will take a stronger player to do it, and I shall be interested to see who it is, although I’d wager it will be one of the world’s greats. Aguero or Alexis maybe, seeing as we won’t see United in stronger competition for a while.

Those one on one moments are most obviously in focus when it is striker v keeper, but in truth those little battles happen all over the pitch, and being better or stronger than your immediate counterpart is so important to the overall result of the game. But there are some players who are so much better that they impact a whole game just by their presence alone. It is not just their outrageous skill that does it, although that is obviously important, it is more their force of will. They take games by the scruff of the neck and bully it into submission. Suarez won games for Liverpool last season, just as Bale had done for Tottenham the year before, that they had no right to win, and you could literally see defenders quake when those two were anywhere near. George Best and Giggs did it in their pomp, and at times Rooney has it about him too.  Ronaldo and Messi do it on a regular basis, and it is always exciting to see them go up a gear and do something extraordinary, although often their presence alone means that they frequently get away with not having to do very much, so readily do the opposition wave the white flag. Thierry Henry was one such, and as people celebrate his retirement and use the excuse to spend happy hours replaying golden moments, I hope they will also remember his mental strength as well as his vast talent. Time alone will tell whether we will ever have one to match him, but although he is not yet a personal favourite of mine, I have a sneaky feeling that Alexis might be the one to assume his mantle of sublime game-changer, and a player whom even the greatest keepers respect and fear.

A guest post from   @double_canister

A guest post from Seebs.

While lofty butt cheeks is getting all the press for making the squad for chelski in a game of no consequence our plethora of youngsters was taking on the turkish champions and giving them a good thanksgiving to be honest.

Bulat the turkish keeper started with a full head of hair and was clean shaven however after several Poldolski rockets, including one that broke the back of the net in the opening minutes, he was bald with the hair ending up round his chin giving him the appearance of a beard. Of course the ever increasing lunacy of Paul merson suggesting the keeper should of saved it even though it was measured at 473 MPH.

The youthful team had Bellerin starting at left back and Chambers in the middle and further infused with the young Sanogo, Campbell and the Ox. With the more experienced heads helping them along the gunners went further ahead through Aarons left foot after a clumsy Poldolski challenge wasn’t punished and the Ox carried the ball from the centre circle to the edge of the box before feeding Aaron. Although we didn’t know Aaron was only warming his weak foot up as from a Campbell corner after the ball was headed away from the area he scored a world class goal that even our biggest critics are creaming over.

We had other chances but at half time it was 3-0 and after the break both teams reappeared having made two changes. Aaron and Flamini both being taken off as a precaution after both complaining of minor knocks. Maitland -Niles and Zelalem coming on and performing well although galatasaray started to come back in it and in the end had about 30 attempts although I can’t remember Sczceney  having much to do and he was only beaten after an excellent Sneider free kick that sailed past him. Not to be outdone the ever youthful Lukas P. decided to dance around a few defenders play a one two with Yaya and finish with his weak foot just to match Aaron. The second half also saw the introduction of Stephan O’Conner for his debut after the returning Debuchy ran out of puff in an impressive display.

So 4-1 away from home in the ultra-competition qualifying for the knock out stages for the 103^rd straight year that’s not bad thanks for the new memories Arsene because according to Bredon and Mancheni (and the wob brigades GG who failed against benfica) it’s not that easy. Yeah there were better results we could of hoped for to put us top but once again all the teams finishing top of their respective groups will not want to play us.

P.S. There may have been a few exaggerations in this post however I tend to do that when, in the words of the great JB, I feel good !!!

Confucius once said “Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?”

As I sit here and pen this post, I’m reminiscing the past grandeur our fan base once possessed. We were a joyous bunch renowned for getting behind the team and the manager. We were united as a Club.

But today, we’re a completely mess. Divided into two halves, dolling out vitriol at one another. But amidst all this, there is one man with his stoic persona, still carrying on, immune to the commotion and anarchy our fan base has created. I happened to stumble across a video on YouTube last night, in which Wenger was booed and abused by Gooners as he was on his way to his coach, post the Stoke City game. The first sense I was evoked by, was that of sheer disgust at the reaction from the bunch of classless cretins, which immediately turned into a feeling of guilt and embarrassment as I saw the expression on that man’s face. It was pretty obvious he was shocked by what he heard, but he carried on, like he always has. I’d like to make one thing very clear here. I’m not writing this post just to vouch for Arsene or why we need to believe in him. But rather, also to remind our fan base that one of the most important things in life is to respect one another.
It’s been 18 long years since Wenger’s been at the helm of this great football club. Given us moments of great joy that will be cherished forever and spoken in football folklore. I’m a grateful man, and I’d like to thank him for giving me some of the best moments of my life, right from that Wiltord night at Old Trafford, to that Ramsey moment at Wembley. From that Ray Parlour bomb against Chelsea to that Patrick Vieira sublimity against Leicester, in the club’s greatest ever season. Simply put, these are moments I’ll take with, to my grave. But, it is beyond the realms of my understanding as to how can you abuse a man of such measure? I understand, that people have opinions and we have to respect those opinions regardless of us agreeing to It or not. But why abuse? Let’s take out everything from this. Arsene Wenger just for his seniority of age deserves to be respected. I’m not even going to dwell into what this man has done for this football club. But I have one question!

Whatever happened to “Remember who you are, what you are and who you represent”?
Is it that, our fan base has forgotten about it or are completely oblivious to it?

I take immense pride in supporting the Arsenal, and every Arsenal fan should, and, the basic obligation for a supporter, is to get behind the team. You can raise questions, be critical and disagree with the calls taken by the manager, but at the end of it all, the most important thing is to support and respect. To quote Wenger;
“We’re are at our strongest, when we are together”.

At this moment, we’re not, and, it looks like we will be divided for some time to come. But, all I ask of our supporters is to not stoop to the levels of mediocrity with your support. Football is supposed to be a game that unites, not divide. I plead with you, let’s not do this to ourselves.let’s not treat the club’s greatest signing with such odious character assassination.  There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel, and I see us being led into that light by the great man. But please, he doesn’t deserve this. He deserves better. To quote him once again, before I end this;

“If you do not believe you can do it, then you have no chance at all”

‘Victoria Concordia Crescit’

@OptimisticAkash

From yesterday’s game we can see that officials have two different interpretations of the laws of the game, how can one team compete if they are playing to a different interpretation of the rules to the other team. 

Is it the game that’s funny, the fans or Arsenal’s cash flow?

I was chatting to someone during the game last night who made the point that in the 1960’s and ’70’s we hardly knew who was running the club beyond the Manager. Relatively little was really known about Bertie Mee, even, let alone the Assistant Manager, Physio, the Board, majority or minority shareholders. Attention was fixed on the players pretty much exclusively and, happily, on the wider stage, the ‘culture’ of the game was sufficiently slow and violent to exclude most referees from too much scrutiny.  Probably helped that there was next to no football on tv compared to the modern game.

The idea that the ordinary, unbriefed fan might be making judgements about the cash flow of the club in that era would have been completely laughable.

As many are aware, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

But this has been one of the biggest gifts of the online age; it’s ability to throw up wave after wave of those willing to be exposed as having noticeably thin scraps of expertise loosely dressed up as ‘knowledge’ propagated on a platform with almost infinite reach. This indiscriminate dissemination of half-formed views is as efficient as the ability it offers the unwary to dash their own personal reputation on the rock of flimsy logic and foolish conjecture.  Sharing their views, fleetingly presented as ‘the facts’ until the white horse of truth gallops in from the wings to save us all.

So, another very decent article from Trader Chris on PA yesterday highlighted that few habits are as potentially risky to one’s credibility as making wild and largely unsubstantiated claims about the club’s accounts whilst possessing next to no understanding of the mechanics of cash flow or the importance of budgeting.

Such people – and this probably applies to 99% of fans – really should just concentrate on the football.

Especially those at the back.

Talking of the football, a decent result last night against a magnificently supported German outfit, none of whose supporters, to my knowledge, appeared to be discussing depreciating assets or waving hi-end A4 “Klopp Out” banners. Someone tweeted me that this is linked to the price of their tickets although I don’t recall seeing similar scenes on the terraces in the lower and presumably cheaper echelons of the English league. But, we are told, the downward pressure on morale caused by having to pay for the ‘most expensive tickets in the game’ is now one of the keys to understanding the mindset of the typical Arsenal supporter.

To me, Arsenal’s German Quarter just looked like 3,000 fans taking pride in themselves as much as their team and they are a credit to their club, regardless of any debate on ticketing prices.

Give yourselves a hand …

For Arsenal, the result was pleasing both in the score and in the manner of the way a team that is still badly fractured by injury went about it’s business.

Some have heralded the significance of the return to form of Aaron Ramsey who has himself recently alluded to the fine-tuning going on at squad-level in training and on the pitch.

The loss to any side of players with the outstanding form of midfielder Aaron Ramsey alongside the injuries to key contributors  in attack and defence such as Theo and Kos would have had huge consequences.

That the winner of our Champions’ League group is still in the balance not to mention our place in the English league, is little short of a miracle given the vital importance of these three players alone. Factor in the rest of the injuries and we can see that actually, although not all results have gone our way and in-game finishing and defending errors have clearly been made, what we have here could yet prove to be our strongest squad in many, many years.

That the three of Kos, Theo and Ramsey are about to be reunited is of huge significance both for the Premier League and our future progress in the Champions’ League.

Now if people were to stop wrestling with transfer budgets and get to grips with the realities of the season, they might just begin to appreciate all this.

Sadly, as evidenced last night at least, the joy of an Arsenal win is rarely as heartily celebrated on Twitter or the Blogosphere as are the setbacks, so in certain quarters I suspect the ‘expert’ focus of some may lie elsewhere, for now, at least.

Funny old things, fans.