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Does Arteta Lack Bravery?

Posted by pedantic George @arseblagger on December 16, 2024 in All Posts


I have pinched a post from Eduardo.

I see lots of online ire aimed at Martinelli and Havertz for our lack of scoring, or should I say for our lack of scoring from the one or two chances we create per game that Arteta is so keen to claim should win us all games. Predictively, the bloggers and twitteratti have decided that if we upgrade on these two we will dominate all competitions for years to come. Well see a few flaws in this theory.

  1. We can upgrade big time on these two but who is going to create the chances for their replacements, we predominately play down the right, Saka’s numbers are fantastic, not because he is lethal, but rather he gets enough chances to miss lots of them and still score or assist with enough to see him above criticism, maybe if we actually create for the left side and the middle the volume of play Saka gets on the right then Martinelli and Havertz would have Saka type stats, or at least a lot nearer?
  2. So not only a change in where we attack on the pitch, but how, because in case you didn’t notice, it was not Martinelli and Havertz that missed our big chances v Everton, or in recent weeks, yes Martinelli has had a number of half chances, but they by and large they were not clear cut gilt edge chances, if you want to see who missed those sort of chances look no further than our captain, Martin Odegaard. However, he is a big fan favorite so is above blame or even the ire of the fan base. But that is besides the point here, which is our game plan is attack down the right, Saka does Saka things, and the main spare man in the middle who gets free shots is Odegaard. He has fluffed his lines in recent weeks. So we need to not only share out which side of the pitch we attack from, but also who big openings fall to besides Saka. Odegaard alone is not a great idea.
  3. Basically carrying on from that, our biggest chance v Everton was the Odegaard shot from middle of the area, well I see Havertz get blasted for “where the hell is he, why isn’t he in the middle on the end of things? Well that big chance came about because Havertz dragged the Everton defender 35 or 40 yards from goal, he then played a great ball in-between 2 more everton defenders for Saka to run on to, he did Saka things beating 2 men before playing the ball to the free man Odegaard in the middle of the area, our captain missed, but that chance does not come if Havertz stays in and around the area looking to get on the end of the attack. So Havertz getting involved in the build up is both a strength and a weakness, a strength in that it helps create the opening, but a weakness because Havertz is the striker and you want your best chances falling to your striker.
  4. Arteta said after the game he wants more players who have magic moments, that sounds brilliant, but when in the same interview he says that the reason we did not speed up our attacks v Everton and did not add extra players to our attack to try and make the breakthrough was because if you speed up or commit extra bodies to the attack you in both cases increase the chances of losing the ball and getting caught on the counter, so you see its safety first, as I said after the game, Arteta is very willing to accept dropped points, he is afraid of defeats, he’ll take the 6 draws we have over taking risks of defeat and turning 3 of those draws into wins at the cost of turning the other 3 draws into defeats, even though it would mean having 3 extra points, but it would have us sit with 5 defeats, and for him 0 draws and 5 defeats is unacceptable, but 6 draws and 2 defeats is acceptable.
  5. So to sum up, higher quality players will of course improve us, but it would also have to be aligned to not only a change in where we attack from, but also what is expected from our forwards, how can we expect our forwards to be fresh and alert for scoring when their first job is to track back 70 or 80 yards all the time. Do we want our striker on the end of chances or do we want him to be a big part of the build up. The biggest change and one that I think is furthest from Arteta’s mind is becoming an attack orientated team that create a bucket load of chances, which puts extra men in attack, which takes risks, or a team like now that is reliant on scoring first, have to take that one or two half chances that come along against teams that sit back, higher quality players in attack might see more of those chances taken, a couple more players capable of magic moments would certainly improve us, but how many magic moment players do we need to add to become a team that wins leagues and Champions Leagues.
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HELLO GOODISON!

Posted by pedantic George @arseblagger on December 14, 2024 in All Posts

Hello and how are you?

Saturday the 14th of December sees the Mighty Cannon once again in action, this time at 3.00pm (western European time) against Everton FC at our Ashburton Grove HQ.

Over the course of my life I’m not sure how much I can truly say I’ve learnt, as often responses and considerations can fall apart as we are presented with new challenges? One day we can watch, read, eat things that we like and feel really inspired and excited, and the next day we can try the same formula and it just won’t work? This can be really frustrating, why we can’t repeat sensations exactly as they were? I have no explanation as to why, although all things are in a state of flux, often we can’t see it perhaps as daily life gets in the way, then we look around and the whole landscape has changed. Places gone, people gone, new places, new people.

Back in 1984 I had a small soft spot for Everton, I liked their kit, their players, I liked the city of Liverpool (but hadn’t been there) but not for one second ever Liverpool FC, but Everton seemed different? Don’t worry, I don’t expect anyone else to have such traitorous and daft a soft spots for other clubs and fully expect to be sent to the stocks!

My mates Dad was a milkman ( both hardcore Arsenal fans)and got free tickets for the Milk Cup final in 1984, as the League Cup was called that year.

Although spring was close it was cold,rainy and grey and horrible, I’d been to Wembley many times before, and had experienced being gobbed on by oddballs from Doncaster who ‘supported’ England and felt the urge to share and drench their fellow fans in spittle, witnessed a few internationals including watching a smart 1981 Brazil team, and going on the Wembley Stadium tour, coming out of the tunnel and lifting up a cup up just like dear old Pat Rice did back in ’79. But this game was something else. Speak false memory.

At that point I’d never been to Liverpool, to a little kid it seemed a mysterious place with unusual accents and here we were in the Everton (tunnel) end surrounded by a sea of blue scousers. Of course now perhaps such matters are normal and everyday, but back in them thar days critters didn’t travel much. I can recall the Specials talking about getting in a van to go down to London from Coventry was a major event like going to the end of the world.It seems a old timey joke now?

Back at the game: this match was a very big deal for them, first all Liverpudlian final, first Sunday final ever, high levels of unemployment and discontent in their city, Thatcher hating them and getting revenge on them as much as possible because they stood up to her, and somehow often disliked by the rest of the country; yet this was their day out, not just for regular fans but whole families with many members wearing both blue and red. I think many thought it would happen ever again.

Everyone around us seemed utterly assholed like they’d poured out from a Dickensian Gin house and into Wembley. The atmosphere was electric and every time Everton made an attack the sloshed-out Evertonians would come to life waiting for the moment of ecstasy as they hoped the ball would hit the back of the net. It didn’t come. It carried on raining. In my mind, I can still see Neville Southall making a save, I was right behind him, slightly to the right as I looked and about a block up. It all seemed in slow motion.

About a year ago the highlights of the game finally went up and I searched to see if  I could see the moment, it wasn’t there or didn’t happen. Speak false memory! I would swear I saw it. So where did that come from? Grobbelaar? Some sort of compensation for not much action that day?

Chris Ware/John Kuramoto/Ira Glass examine this phenomena in the short animation ‘this American life animation from season 2’ in an articulate and more interesting detail than I can. Its on YT if you have any interest.

Anyway I don’t have any other pictures preserved in my mind (our memoires are singular images not films) of the game until after extra time the whistle had gone and both teams did a lap of honour, with the whole stadium, and I mean whole stadium united in a chorus of “Merseyside, Merseyside, Merseyside”, which made the hairs on your neck stand up. It was a remarkable moment in my footballing history.

As we shuffled back to the car I saw this kid talking to his Dad, now this kid wasn’t a scouser, but supported Everton and was explaining to his Dad that London clubs could never create such an atmosphere. Man, I got really irked by this and to this day don’t agree, as anyone whose been to a NLD knows.

At school on Monday we talked about the game with our mates and what is was like and recalled some of the songs we had heard, it was all a five minute wonder in the class room. 

Everton lost the replay.Yet we still kept an eye out on that team for a while until like all sides they were eventually broken up. I saw both sides again (who got the tickets and why we even went I’m not sure) in the Charity shield at the beginning of the next season, this time down the bloody Liverpool end which wasn’t nearly as interesting and apart from the lap of honour, I have no memories of the game, which probably says it all?

Now? I have no relationship with Everton at all, I don’t like Goodison (old Archie Leitch again!) much anymore, although watching the drone footage of them building the new stadium has been interesting, if that’s yer kind of thing. How can this be? Affections fade? What was Everton in 1984 isn’t at all now, except in name? One day this works and the next day that? To sustain any kind of relationship needs small and attentive loving care? Zen and the art of football maintenance? 

The Arsenal stayed always front and centre with me though, even in the barren, unhappy years before Mr Graham started the Arsenal revival.Is it still possible these days to have experiences that are bigger than us, that are really exciting, that stay with you throughout your life? A trip to Mars? It wasn’t Arsenal but it was a memorable, unrepeatable day- out.

Arsenal have a 77.8% chance of winning according to stat HQ and Everton only 7.2%. Arsenal proved last time out against Monaco that we can score in open play and also proved we can miss some sitters. But maybe if youre feeling more confident its easier to feel hungry and able to score and less susceptible to over thinking things? Everton are in 15th place.

I don’t expect us to lose this one, but a draw would be also another damaging result, so come on you Gunners!

Well that’s it, lots of bits and pieces that I’m sure have made you feel like going off and watching Ghost Theory on You Tube rather than reading this.

Even so, here’s to a great game for us and lucky horses! 

COYG and keep on keepin’ on!

Mills

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DE MONACO À ARSENAL !

Posted by pedantic George @arseblagger on December 10, 2024 in All Posts

Arsenal FC v AS Monaco

Hello and how are you?

Wednesday the 11th of December will see a visit to the barracks of the Mighty Cannon from the Monégasque as we play our next CL game against AS Monaco FC at 8.00pm ( western European time).

Well I think the damp squib that was the Fulham game has left a slight gloomy bitterness in Goonerverse but the games are coming thick and fast this December so I’m sure we shall be keen to put our riverside experiences behind us as we do battle in another crucial CL game.

What initially springs to mind in reaction to a visit from Monaco? What does a team like that conjure up in our minds? The place they come from? I’ve never been there, all I know is that’s its on the French Riviera and a few kilometres from Italia, it hosts the Monaco Grand Prix, some of the the 1966 film Grand Prix with the interesting Saul Bass graphics and montages was set there, its a microstate, of course Grace Kelly, Jacques Demy’s film La baie des anges, millionaires and more millionaires and even more millionaires, sunshine with clear blue skies and sunglasses and yachts and a few billionaires. I’m sure it has many other sides to its society and multifarious narratives to explore? Do you have any experiences with Monaco?

Despite being a principality, Monaco has no UEFA status, even stranger is that they aren’t a French team and yet are in the French league. The are 2nd in Ligue 1 at the time of writing this, second to PSG who we saw off on their visit to Ashburton Grove earlier this autumn.

Founded in 1924 they play their home games at the Stade Louise II, a stadium smaller than Craven Cottage, which has a capacity of 16,360, yet that number is half the country’s population. They’ve won Ligue 1 eight times and have also been runner up eight times and have won the Coupe de France five times and have been runner up five times. The were also runners up in the old Cup winners Cup and in relatively more recent years, the Champions league.

Monaco used to have this terrible manager who was senile and always dithering, especially in the transfer market,  as well as being an abject failure, who somehow (probably by luck or corruption) managed to attract top-named footballers to the club and nurtured some second-rate players through the youth system, blokes who didn’t amount to much and are now forgotten; Emmanuel Petit and Thierry Henry. Anyway, this manager geezer was known for respecting to almost voyeuristic levels the tactics and game play of  Stoke City. He didn’t amount to much and ended up coaching Sunday league, his name is Arsène Wenger. I know, I asked the same question: Arsène who?

Anyway, back to the Champions league, I’m sure you already know the Mighty Cannon is at the moment  in lucky seventh in the table, whilst visitors Monaco are in 8th. Even though they’ve scored twelve goals so far, they’ve leaked seven, so they’d better watch out at corners! The people at stats HQ have given The Arsenal a 73.3% chance of winning and Monaco on 7.9%. 

The game will also see the return of Arsenal academy favourite Folarin Balogun, who I’m sure wont be giving us any favours. Adi Hütter the Monaco manger has a 58.93% win rate. Head to head with Monaco its, won one, lost one, both back in the 2015 CL campaign.

Well that’s it, lots of bits and pieces that I’m sure have made you feel like going off and swimming to the bottom of the Mariana trench instead of reading this.

Even so, here’s to a great game for us and lucky horses! 

COYG and keep on keepin’ on!

Mills

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THE WILD WEST!

Posted by pedantic George @arseblagger on December 7, 2024 in All Posts

Hello and hope youre well?

Sunday the 8th of December at 2.00pm (western European time) sees the Mighty Cannon wend and weave its way through the traffic of west London to set up positions against Fulham FC at Craven Cottage, down by the riverside.

The Guns have been given a 59.8% chance of winning the game, whilst the Cottagers have only 17.8.

What sort of relationship have you had with this side over the years? I have none at all, so really this feels a tough blog to write! I’ve never been to Craven Cottage nor watched Fulham at the Arsenal. Maybe you guys have and can share some memories, or experiences? My only link that I can recall is a guy in my class at school supported them the year they ‘missed out on promotion’ when Malcolm Macdonald was the manager, which is no link at all and not in the least bit interesting. After that he went off and followed Chelsea.

The Cottage seems to have had a fascinating history and I didn’t realise how long they’d been at that site (since 1896). Our old chum, architect Archibald Leitch makes another appearance again on a PA blog, as the man who rebuilt Craven Cottage back in 1905 and he was responsible for the ‘Cottage Pavilion’, surely one of footballs great oddities? Fulham were the third club to go professional after the Arsenal and Millwall, and played in red and white until 1903 when they went black and white, which is how television was when Tottenham last won the league.

Furthering the Arsenal link, Henry Norris ‘the man who made the Arsenal and irritated the Spuds’ etc was a director along with William Hall at Fulham and Arsenal and due to Woolwich Arsenal being close to liquidation decided to try and merge the clubs and make a ‘London superclub’ a sort of Crosby, Stills Nash and Young but with football boots. These plans fell through, and oddly enough Norris also indirectly helped create Chelsea, in that Guy Mears tried to lure him/Fulham over to the land that Stamford bridge now rests on and build a stadium there, when Norris rejected the offer Mears created his own side, Chelsea.

Later, in the 1930s a new Fulham stadium was planned which would have been a 80,000 seater, but the Great Depression saw that idea go down the toilet. Fulham claim to be the first side to sell the gourmet food known as hot dogs back in 1926, nice, I suppose if you like that kind of thing?

Although the ground has seen many changes and is one of the smallest (under 30,000) in the top flight, it seems remarkable that its still on the original site? The area itself has a pretty interesting history; owned by the 6th Baron of Craven (whose son Wes became a famous director of film) it was once part of Anne Boleyn’s hunting grounds.

The Cottage on that site was supposed to have had many visitors; Queen Victoria, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Jeremy Bentham and Florence Nightingale. Perhaps that’s what lured the celebrity crowd to support Fulham? 

Margot Robbie, Ray Brooks, Sharon Duce, Dominic Guard, Hugh Grant, Daniel Radcliffe, Keith Allen, Liz Fraser, Willie Rushton, Nigel Havers, good ol Sam Kydd, Tony Curtis, Ben Chaplain, Patrick Mower, Nakul Lax, Sméagol from Lord of the Rings, Honor Blackman, Denis Potter, Fulton Mackay, Johnny Speight, Diddy Hamilton, John Sullivan, Jimmy Hill,Tony Blair, Pope John Paul II (eh?), Max Clifford, Tony Booth, Tommy Trinder, Georgie Thompson, Lilly Allen, Keith Chegwin, Isobel Lang, Cathy Shipton, Jacko (only one game though), Michael Redfern, Iain Fletcher,Pierce Brosnan, Bella Emberg, John Woodvine, Richard Osman,Tim Ewart, Richard Parks Andy Kane, Kerok Malikyan and probably more I have missed, all gave up the chance to follow the Mighty Cannon and instead decided follow Fulham. Unlucky!

Keeping alive the Arsenal connection, Bernd, Emile, Alex will perhaps all have something to prove, and I wouldn’t blame them, Reiss wont be playing as hes a loanee, unless the rules have changed?

Marco Silva, their manager has a 44.52% win rate, and Fulham are currently in 10th place.

Fulham don’t have any major honours, runners up in the 1975 FAC final, and runners up in the 2009/10 UEFA cup final, which they lost to Atlético. I don’t expect us to lose this one but every games a potential banana skin in the PL. I’m hoping again for some nicey nice football, swift and intelligent and plenty of goals. COYG!

Well that’s it, lots of bits and pieces that I’m sure have made you feel like going off and climb Mt. Everest instead of reading this.

Even so, here’s to a great game for us and lucky horses! 

COYG and keep on keepin’ on!

Mills

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BACK TO THE EMIRATES!

Posted by pedantic George @arseblagger on December 3, 2024 in All Posts

Arsenal FC v Manchester United FC

Hello, and how are you?

Well, as we enter the dark month of December made pretty by all the Advent lights, the Mighty Cannon is set to play seven games, so like you, I hope we can stay fit and healthy. The first of these matches will be against the our old ‘pals’ Manchester United, so we will set up positions at Ashburton Grove on Wednesday the 4th of December and kick-off  at 8.15pm ( western European time)…

This is another one of those games that drags a Santa sack-worth of historical stats, facts, figures and memories of pleasure and memories of pain. But how will it play out this time? The Arsenal are on a good roll at the moment and Ruben Amorin having left Sporting CP, organised his new team well enough to thump Everton 4-0. A team like MU with such a history and with still a remnant pride concerning the old rivalry with us will want to prove a point; but we aren’t the underdogs going into this one. 

The Arsenal have been given a 65.8% chance of winning by those two calculate such matters and ManUre have only a 14.3%.chance. All global Gunners I’m sure are hoping for another five to add to the ten that have been scored in our last couple of games, and its sure been nice to see those goals meeting the back of the net, and it sure would be nicer than nice to go into this month by giving them a decent beating.

Instead of some kind of thrash around in memories and experiences in days and games of yore I thought it might be a time for a change, so he’s a joke that I hope makes you at least smile.

A Manchester United fan walks into a pub, and says “oh youre the new landlord, here, you’ve only just moved in?”.The Gooner Landlord says “yes I’ve made a few changes, we’ve got a grand opening night tonight, its going to be a big night and really busy, sandwiches laid on, we’ve got pool, we’ve got snooker, new fitted carpet, WIFI and all the Arsenal games on big screen TV, its going to be an Arsenal theme pub-we’ve spent a few quid here”.

So the ManUre fan says said “look pal, don’t get too busy, I’ve come in here for twenty five years,we’ve always had free snuff on the counter, you get some snuff on that bar,its a good tip for yer, I’ll be back myself in a couple of hours-and good luck with the opening night, all the best, even if you are a Gooner”.

The Gooner landlord thinks, “where the bloody hell am I going to get snuff when no-one sells it in this area?”. So he goes out and scrapes some dog shit off the pavement, and goes inside and dries it to a form similar to high- quality snuff and then puts it into a shiny silver box and places it on the bar.

The ManUre fan came back a few hours later and upon seeing the snuff on the bar says; “now youre talking!The lads will really appreciate this!”and proceeds to take a few good pinches, and exclaimed: “you have no (sniff) idea what (sniff) this will mean to the (sniff) lads in here!” and then taking a final nip of snuff, the United fan said to the Gooner landlord, “phoar, can can you smell dogshit in here?” and then immediately checked the bottom of both his shoes.

The Gooner Landlord said “there’s no dogshit in this pub, I’ve been cleaning for the last two weeks and like I said, its all new carpets!”

“Well  I can f*cking smell it” said the ManUre fan, checking both soles of his shoes again.”its getting worse and all, it f*cking reeks in here!”

At that point a Chelsea fan walked through the door,and the Manchester United fan said to him as he reached the bar,”Listen pal, can you smell dogshit in here?”

 “No” said the Chelsea fan sniffing the air of the pub,”well, I can smell it anyway” mumbled the United fan and goes back to his drink, and checks the bottom of his shoes for a third time.

Having ordered his pint the Chelsea fan spies the silver box filled with snuff on the bar, and takes a good pinch and snorts some up and then after a few moments turns to the ManUre fan and says: “Fk me! I tell you what pal, that snuff really clears your head, I can smell that dogshit now!”

Well that’s it, lots of bits and pieces that I’m sure have made you feel like going off and search for the  location of the Holy Grail instead of reading this.

Even so, here’s to a great game for us and lucky horses! 

COYG and keep on keepin’ on!

Mills

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OFF TO THE IRONWORKS!

Posted by pedantic George @arseblagger on November 29, 2024 in All Posts

Hello, and how are you?

Saturday the 30th of November at 5.30pm (western European time) sees the Mighty Cannon make its way east for a visit to the London Stadium and West Ham United.

I’m sure after the thrashing we gave Sporting CP last Tuesday, the team, club and fans all have a spring in their step as we head over to visit our cockney chums by the Old River Lea. Going into this game at the time of writing this we have a 65% chance of winning, but West Ham are a weird side and certainly won’t lie down and think of England when it comes to us, despite having a mixed season so far (they lie in 14th place) and especially after beating Newcastle. But we are at the potential beginning of a mini- renaissance, and a win will take us a step further forward to where we want to go, so hopefully we can build on what’s been happening in the last three games, and perhaps see some more quick-witted one touch football and more, more, more goals. But I don’t expect it will be easy and as years past have proven, any side can be the slippery banana skin, especially the old Irons?

Its amazing how football has become such a dominating sport. My Dad and Grandfather weren’t into football at all, although Dad did support the Irons for a bit. Mostly they watched Speedway and the Dogs over at Wimbledon Stadium. There aren’t any London Speedway teams now, the stadiums have gone, but pre-war and for twenty odd years or so afterwards it was an incredibly popular sport. Speedway riders were paid more than footballers.

West Ham had a stadium that could accommodate 120,000 people. The massive stadium was built by Archibald Leitch who as you know built Highbury, amongst an endless list of other stadiums and sported an Art Deco entrance that perhaps should have been preserved? Many football matches were held at the stadium but it fell into a poor catchment area and to this day holds the record for the lowest league attendance of only 469, which must have been an a strange experience in such a vast stadium?

Once they had arrived at the Wimbledon Stadium, overwhelmed by all the speedway sights, sounds and smells they would buy a cup of brickdust tea and a cheesecake, not the NY cheesecake, but the one with desiccated coconut on the top. We didn’t call it ‘London cheesecake’ as kids, just cheesecake-although our old Nan Mills, born in the Victorian era made the best brickdust tea. The last time I saw cheesecake was on Bovvy market pre- 2005. Still delicious. 

Sadly, Dads hero got killed at West Ham in the early 1950’s when the Dons were visiting, and he didn’t ever get over it. That accident wouldn’t have even happen now, so its even more sad. How many have died in life to pave a way for the safety for others? All those stadiums, fans, riders, competitions, wins losses and accidents and fatalities that were the mainstay of many communities, all (mostly)forgotten now. As mentioned before: fame, obscurity waiting?

I still like watching speedway, I’m not an expert or even mildly knowledgeable either concerning contemporary or historically aspects of the sport, but mostly its the summer Monster-sponsored international competitions I like to follow. Thing is I can’t stand racing of any kind as spinning metal scares the crap out of me, but in true hypocritical form I find speedway really exciting. Of course its changed considerably since the heavy cinder track and gas-goggle days of yesteryear. Its amazing how many other countries are really passionate about it too and how many fans travel from country to country to watch their team or favourite riders.

I started supporting The Arsenal back in the 77/78 season, and although my beard isn’t the longest here on PA, it is a bit grey. Yet after all this time, West Ham still represent something horrible to me: the team that beat us in the 1980 cup final. That boiling hot, uninspired, heavy- atmosphere day. In my mind I can still hear us being heavily taunted towards the end of the game by the West Ham fans: “he’s only a poor little Gunner feather all tattered and torn…” somehow they knew we weren’t going to get back in the match. And we didn’t.

What a season it was, playing all those games(70, a record that exists to this day)an exciting, fascinating, contradictory, heart-breaking season, losing both the finals and the Charity Shield, all those bloody semi-final replays against Liverpool, some of which were epics. Mind you the West Ham / Everton semis were great games too, we might just have easily have played against Everton in the final? I’m sure you guys have lots of your own memories and perspectives of that season and that FAC final? I still have all the programs from the semis lying in our cellar…

“Someone put the lights back on, I’ll love you till all time is gone.You haven’t looked at me, that way in years, but I’m still here.” (Tom Waits ‘I’m still here’)

Trouble is I can’t look at West Ham without thinking of that day. But this is totally illogical. Both clubs have changed, literally nothings the same, except the name? Loss is a part of football and there’s been so many highs since then that really it should mean little or nothing after all these years, but its strange how some games stick in your head more than others, and we carry certain memories and emotions with us until the day we die, illogical or not. Some you just can’t budge?

Anyway, here’s hoping for Wham! Bam! Thank you West Ham!

Well that’s it, lots of bits and pieces that I’m sure have made you feel like going off and collecting stamps instead of reading this tediousness.

Even so, here’s to a great game for us and lucky horses! 

COYG and keep on keepin’ on!

Mills

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GIVE IT TO O’NEILL!

Posted by pedantic George @arseblagger on November 22, 2024 in All Posts

Arsenal FC v Nottingham Forest FC

Hello, how are you?

Well, its dang good to be back and away from the interlull, a lull that witnessed, political and religious changes and scandal, managerial and player transfer speculation, half-baked jingoism, Trossard limping off, snows (of various forms) in November and the usual Victorian-styled propriety being shouted at us by various media outlets in reaction to that. However, much more important is that the Mighty Cannon is back in action, and on Saturday the 23rd of November take up positions at Ashburton Grove as they face up to Nottingham Forest at 3.00pm (western European time).

Our win prediction is 69.9%% and Forest 10.9%, that seems a bit wayward considering all things, but I can’t verify such figures. Only a few weeks ago this wouldn’t have been cast as a ‘top of the table clash’ but now it is. Fings aint wot they used to be! And with four teams (Chelsea, Brighton, Forest and the Mighty Cannon) all on the same stats except for goal difference, and scrapping it out for third place, Forest won’t come down to the Emirates to make up the numbers, and I’m sure they have some self-belief going into the game what with a wins against Liverpool and Newcastle this season.

It might not be tolerated too much but somehow, perhaps for some absurd idea of continuity, I am actually quite pleased to see the Forest revival. Obviously I wasn’t keen we lost in the FAC wearing the curséd white kit, but something has seemed lacking in the PL when Forest lurked outside of it, I feel the same for Villa.

“damn you and your ludicrous continuity!” said General Picton.

A friend of our family was a committed Forest fan and told us an amusing story years ago. He was at the City Ground watching Forest and close to him stood an irate Forest supporter , as the home side started to attack the oppositions goal, was overcome by the self-righteous belief that his sideline insight was necessary for them to score and started repeatedly screaming out instructions: “give it to O’Neill, give it to O’Neill!”

Eventually the ball was passed to Martin O’Neill, who then made a totally hash of the pass, and the supporter then screamed out: ” why the fk did you give it to O’Neill?”

Of course these days this is a very different Forest much revived from their initial re-entry to the PL where they’ve flirted with relegation but avoided her advances(only just). Nuno has done a great job just as he initially did at Wolves, injecting some espirito into the club, question is can he take Forest further than he did at Wolves?

Even though we came away feeling disappointed that we didn’t win against Chelsea, hopefully how we played might have restored a bit of much needed confidence? A win would sure put us back on track, a loss will mean life jackets all round to save us from drowning in the angry spittle of reactionary disappointment, and a draw will just create more frustration? I suppose much depends on whose injured and who isn’t? All of us in the Goonerverse are hoping for some champagne football and a hefty batch of goals. None of us are sure its going to happen, oh, the tyranny of hope!

Well that’s it, lots of bits and pieces that I’m sure have made you feel like going off and sitting on the kasi while you suss out the moon to escape its tediousness.

Even so, here’s to a great game for us and lucky horses! 

COYG and keep on keepin’ on!

Mill

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THE BATTLE OF STAMFORD BRIDGE, NOT 1066!

Posted by pedantic George @arseblagger on November 10, 2024 in All Posts

Hello and hope you’re doing well? Sunday the 10th of November will witness at 4.30pm (western European time) the Mighty Cannon hauling itself over to Stamford Bridge to take on Chelsea FC.

Let me start by saying I have (thank whatever there is to thank) no solutions or answers, I’m someone that Trotsky has condemned to the ash-heap of life (thanks). But to me losers questions are as important as winners answers in our strange existence and especially for our beloved Arsenal football club, and I’m sure the forces of flux and mutation agree with me, but that doesn’t make me right or wrong, nor is it my aim.

Mostly the grey clouds of unhappiness hover over our club, and hover causes bovver? Do we as human sometimes like to feel unhappy? Is it a case of focusing on we don’t want which indicates that which we do want? All forms of aggression and shouting are us reaching out somehow, for help? But as we are shouting out for help does this actually solve the problem we are asking for help with? It might make us feel a bit more happy -according to some psychological systems of analysis, anger on the psychological scale is a notch above depression, and often people will get angry to try and lift themselves out of their depressive state, obviously I’m talking about very mild depression and not some debilitating psychological state that needs a much more prescribed and long-term help.

How bad are Arsenal at the moment? Are we being evaluated on a shifting scale, that perhaps is more than one scale of judgement? The history of Arsenal, players individual ideas, fans, the media, social media, football history in total, and those scales of expectancy, ideas of success and failure, its an endless list of the subtle and not so subtle all from variable, relative viewpoints?

One thing that makes me sad this season is how close we keep coming to getting the results we want, close against Inter, Liverpool, City, you could make the case against Newcastle. I realise that in such a demanding world that close isn’t good enough, but I was conditioned in a demanding world too but at the same time less when it came to football, as there was no internet to vent spleen (for good or bad) and you just had to deal with loss and disappointment in another way. This might make me out of date, but can there really be any ‘out of date’? I feel highly skeptical of Boomer ideas of youth being ‘all knowing’ (life/relevancy ends at 40)and aged  being demented and irrelevant? Thought is thought and its ever changing, and doesn’t really go out of date as the whole of literature and philosophical thinking still stays important even if only as cause and effect, perhaps progress might not mean anything other than progress, any connotation of good gets lost in definition and in time keeps flip-flopping and changing: on and on?

And the Wenger shadow is a mighty one.

I recently saw Bobby Kennedy talking not long before he died, he seemed measured, polite and intelligent in his speech, unlike those in similar positions today, who seem to reduce everything to an ad hominem argument, which seems sort of nuts really? Of course the discussions of yore down the pub are now replaced by monetised You Tubers, and that makes me suspicious of anything that being said ( clickety click bait, staged armies of good and drama to show thy careth more than others etc)…and in reaction to all that I wrote this, as sometimes I find absolutist observances totally overwhelming and not ‘true’ or the whole picture. You too?

How can we tell what good or bad in the long run? If we lose on Sunday against Chelsea, then it will be the final nail the (pundit professed) coffin for Arsenal’s ‘title challenge’, but hammered by whom? Pronounced dead in November, yet in all competitions? But what if by losing, the pressures off and then we might be able to start regrouping? Of course I don’t want us to lose, and hope we are so fired up from the bullshit at the San Siro that Chelsea get a mauling. And even if we lose there’s no guarantee of us pulling it together, lets face there’s always pressure at a PL club, and with no escape. And I’m sure if we lose by some margin Arteta’s head will be called for? Who will be the available saviour to replace him?

 Is there any punditry/analysis in the world that can make a team pull together? It tends to be a private thing between the staff and players? Question is, can anyone’s blogs or YT shows actually help the club and players? How many even try? Blogs tend just to be people conversing back and forth and hence their lack of interest these days, but tv screen punditry can do massive damage, hence there massive interest these days and which ex-player is neutral or even correct? There’s no objectivity so that’s easy to cross off the list. Perhaps its a false premise to be the hindsight expert when the real experts are on the pitch faced with nano-second decisions? Its tough, when as a player the responsibility of multi-millions depend on you to swerve them away from agony and on to ecstasy, knowing that in that nano-second you can be a messiah or pariah? And then there’s the financial responsibility that comes as a player, for the self and others and the club.

Three weeks ago who would have suspected either Chelsea or Forest as contenders for the title race? In four weeks time will they still be there? Perhaps Arteta’s lost the dressing room, its too early for me to say, injuries and red cards( that haven’t been given universally in PL matches) don’t add up to the tribe of the lost dressing room, yet?

The difference between us and Chelsea is three goals scored. So why are they still in the title race and we aren’t? Forest are one point ahead are title contenders? And if we lose we will be one win behind Chelsea, so even if we lose why are they contenders and we aren’t? Of course that makes us three wins off the top spot(s), I don’t have crystal balls, if I did aside to being of great medical intrigue I might have a squint at the future, and I would expect mostly its not that which we think it will be?

My worry is, aside of the team not connecting, that we are walking around in some semi-broken victim mentality due to a hangover from injuries, injustices, red cards, adjusting to new players plus some losing self-confidence and us not quite getting over the line etc This can be rectified.

” oh my word, look up there in the sky, there’s a sus scrofa domesticus flying?”

” no, surely its a stratocumulus that looketh like sus scrofa domesticus flying?”

One last irritating point. What are linesmen looking at during corners, their iPhone? Bruno G grabs Saliba and hauls him to the ground and its no penalty, yet if this happens in open play then its penalised? So pulling players down is ok as long as its at a corner? Why is VAR not looking at it, too much to do? Of course if someone was watching there would be so many penalties that it would stop happening? Oh brother!

Well that’s it, lots of bits and pieces that I’m sure have made you feel like going off and sit on a hot beach with blue seas and blue skies and wandering what time is happy hour?

Even so, here’s to a great game for us and lucky horses! 

COYG and keep on keepin’ on!

Mills

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17 Comments

The Fans are Turning?

Posted by pedantic George @arseblagger on November 8, 2024 in All Posts

Good day one and all.

We got into the game against Chelsea this weekend in a weakened state, both squad wise and mentally. The mood is flat and the rampant optimism of pre season has retreated like the turning tide. We have been playing poorly, losing regularly and all hope of improvement and revival is pinned on one player returning. Yes one player, Martin Odegaard, is expected to turn the tide, well he’s a good player, but King Canute he is not.

Mikel Arteta has been at the helm for 5 years now, I think that makes him the second longest serving manager in the league. It’s a long time. The first two and a half years were diabolical really. Two 8th place finishes and dire paint by numbers football, where effort was king and technique seemed to have been pushed out and paid to leave for Turkey. However, despite people like me being critical and unable to see how a revival could happen, the board stuck with him and spent north of £700m backing him. Then low and behold, I, and many others had to consider that we had been very wrong. Suddenly , for 2 years we appeared to be challenging for the title. We were still spending like drunken sailors and it looked like we might continue on an upward curve and actually win the title this season. It was a magical time for fans, and Arteta was promoted to a position of demigod where any whisper of criticism was met with a salvo, nay a broadside, from his adoring worshipers.

Despite having been unable to sell players, some atrocious value when purchasing, even paying players to leave, due to the two “challenges”, Edu was also promoted to almost demigod status. Not much praise for Stan funding it all, but still, who cares? We had our very own dynamic duo, and they were going to sweep all before them. Marvelous.

But the warning signs were there, ignored by most, but there all the same. When we bought Jesus and Zinchenko, I said we couldn’t expect to pass City by buying their rejects, and expecting them to be our best players. Now, the two who were going to transform our professionalism, experience and technical levels, have morphed into anchors holding us back. So perhaps I was right?

He heart of a team is the midfield, we lost Xhaka and tried to replace him with Havertz, well he was awful in the Xhaka role. However, when Jesus got injured, he was asked to play up front, and luckily this work, in so much as the £65m no longer looked like flushing £ down the drain. The guy, Rice, who we had clearly bought as a 6, was asked to play as an 8, and that too, for a while seemed to work. But, the chickens have come home to roost.

The mood on twitter and other social media sites has massively changed of late. Now I know, people will insist that this isn’t a true reflection of the fans base, but it’s the only one we get to see. Those that had to be quite, for their own digital safety, have turned. It’s open season on Arteta, Edu has flown the coop and Jack has slung his hook as well. The gloves are off and we have gone from not tolerating any criticism of Mikel, to the very opposite.

It’s a pivotal time for the club and the fans, don’t let it turn into an ugly time.

I think Arteta has enough credit in the bank for us to hold off, but that credit is diminishing rapidly.

Pedantic George.

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A TRIP TO THE SAN SIRO!

Posted by pedantic George @arseblagger on November 6, 2024 in All Posts

Hello, and hope you’re well, despite the Arsenal blues, or is it more like how Holly G describes her emotions in ‘Breakfast at Tiffanys’: the ‘mean reds’? Anyway, red, blue or placid green, the mighty cannon makes another trip over the channel and onto the San Siro Stadium in Milano for a Champions League clash against Inter Milan at 8.00pm (western European time) on Wednesday 6th of November.

Obviously we go into the game with much negativity swirling around the club, but then that’s been the case for many years now.  I wondered if the outlets that make a lot of coin on the back of all this would still get their following if the Arsenal stayed mid or under mid- table or even had a flirt with relegation? Would they themselves even carry on? I’m not so sure, you? Trouble is, once you’ve been involved for a lifetime, yes we still have the pendulum of emotions but you still support Arsenal. If we got relegated, I would still support the club, even if we went out of all the football leagues, but I understand that other people have other fish to fry.

And despite playing badly I still think we were the the better side(whatever that might mean) and we were, at least, trying to find a way through the Geordie parked bus. In fairness to them, it was a great goal. On another day we might have converted our chances and come away with a win but still been disappointed with our style of play?

St. James’ might be a difficult ground for us in recent years but they lay in 12th at the start of that game so why was it being billed as a tough game, and this week being a tough week? Yes, Inter are the best of the three teams but Chelsea aren’t that great, not yet anyway. Has it been the case of playing the small guy psychologically? Are we sometimes fighting reputations and ghosts of seasons yore?

Are Timber! and Merino messing up last years system that was working pretty well? Obviously we are missing Martin but perhaps there are other factors at play, that we can only but speculate upon? I don’t know, but like you hope that the click happens again soon. I feel like trying to offer a positive perspective might just make things worse at the moment, so I’ll leave it there.

I don’t have any anecdotes from Milan, I did pass through and had to wait at the Stazione di Milano Centrale for some hours (sorry, but it left me cold), and lost my ticket, and discovered this not long before the train that was to take me onto the next stage was departing, which certainly got the old blood pressure racing! I do have some stories from Torino though, but maybe those will see the light of day if we play Juve.

Inter are sitting second in Serie A at the moment and have a 33% chance of winning this game according to those who predict such figures. In the CL we are 9th, Inter 7th, Aston Villa 1st. I’m not sure if those positionings actually indicate anything? Is this all really, not much different from the group stages and its the next round when things will look more interesting?

Our old friend Henrikh Mkhitaryan plays for Inter, as does Autriche Arnie who had a spell at Wham! Their manager Simone Inzaghi has a 58.39% win rate overall, and a 65.70% with Inter. The San Siro stadium (shared with AC) has a full capacity of just over 80,000, and as anyone knows who has witnessed football in Italia, it can get pretty noisy. We’ve only played twice before, won one, and lost one and that was back in 2003.

Well that’s it, lots of bits and pieces that I’m sure have made you feel like going off and consider using component form notation for vectors.

Even so, here’s to a great game for us and lucky horses! 

COYG and keep on keepin’ on!

Mills

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