Tag Archive | football
Arsenal Versus Everton: Crunching The Numbers
One of the things I dislike most about the Christmas period is that there is far too much football compressed into too little time. It distorts the balance of the race for the title which otherwise has a pleasantly steady momentum. Would the world of athletics stand for it if Mo Farrah, 4,000 metres into […]
Arsenal Versus Stoke: Sparky’s Magic Piano
The last time we enjoyed an extravagant midweek score and performance in the Champion’s League we returned to earth with a bump at the weekend. Despatching a Ludogorets side (which has proven to be far better than the naysayers ever suggested) with style and six of the best, we returned to face Middlesbrough at the […]
Arsenal Versus Basel: What Year Is This? Who Is The President?
I must confess you’ve caught me with my pants down this morning. I woke up still reeling from a stinging rebuke delivered by our very own Foreverheady, which reproof came in response to some perhaps ill advised and waspish comments I made last night. I was responding to the childish and frankly embarrassing shambles which […]
Arsenal Versus West Ham: Esprit De Corps
I was lying in my bath last night reading a yellowing, dog eared paperback when something unexpected popped up. The tome in question, I should add, is the rather excellent To Sea In A Sieve by Peter Bull. First published in 1956 it is an unvarnished account of the author’s experience in the Royal Navy […]
Arsenal Versus Southampton: Wither Young Yaya?
I probably don’t need to tell you what happened the last time we played Southampton in this competition. What did surprise me however was to discover that the match took place more than two years ago. I believe this is a common problem as one gets older, the memory plays tricks and our understanding of […]
Arsenal Versus Paris St Germain: Get Orf Moi Land
I was listening to BBC Somerset on the car radio yesterday. Not proud of it, obviously, but Radio 4 had decided to lead with Nigel Farage and I didn’t want him in the Hyundai with me so had switched channels in haste. They were interviewing some poor beleaguered soul from the Environment Agency or National […]
Arsenal Versus Man United: Sceptic Stew’s Septic Stew
The international break came at rather a good time for me. In one way at least. Not in a ‘let’s all sit down and enjoy some great football kind of way’ – chance would be a fine thing. I refer more to my Quixotic attempt to add a couple of thousand words each day to […]
Arsenal Versus Ludogorets: The Norway Of The Year
The last time I had anything even remotely resembling a proper job, and we are going back into the halcyon mists here, there was a rhythm, a recognisable pattern to my work year. I was shackled in the engine room of academia, not teaching of course – they don’t allow inarticulate, uneducated oafs from the […]
The Goal Is 86 Points – Arsene Wenger
Something really important was stated by Arsene at last week’s AGM, which from my reading has hardly been picked up by the football commentariat and especially the Arsenal bloggers whom one would assume are supposed to support the club. He said: “…. the championship will be decided between 82 to 86 points and what we […]
Arsenal versus Reading: A Royal Flush
I don’t know what Arsène wanted for his birthday, there is in any case little about this most cerebral of football managers to suggest he is particularly motivated by material possessions. I’ll bet he didn’t have a nil nil draw with Middlesbrough particularly high on the list though. Fortunately we weren’t the only club with […]
Positively Arsenal 