Written by Wigan Gooner
I'll not muck about – it's Pat Rice.
My reasoning for this statement is as follows, Arsene is facing a summer of upheaval like he has
never known at Arsenal. There could be more player movement at Arsenal that I have ever seen in all
of my years.
For Part Deux in this occasional series based on viewing our season through the headlines of the
daily posts here on Arsenal Arsenal, we have moved on to October
and November.
You'll see that the cautiously optimistic tone of the August and September headlines is carried
on into October.
Not many players leave Arsène Wenger's Arsenal and thrive.
Look at Alex Hleb.
The ‘new George Best' sold his soul for a Mr Whippy with extra sprinkles and quickly went from
Barcelona to the heady heights of Birmingham FC.
Now, still owned by Barca but not wanted by anyone, he floats in the footballing ether,
dribbling in mazy circles to nowhere and declining clear shooting opportunities to his heart's
content.
This post is based on a conversation between one of the Arsenal Arsenal regular
contributors and two individuals loosely connected with our club. It took place before Sunday's
game against Manchester United.
I would not normally pass on unsubstantiated comments, but Carlito11 (the AA regular) is a
mature and responsible informant and he believes there is no reason to doubt what he was told.
While we all wait eagerly to see who else will be added to Arsenal's squad this summer, it's
worth pointing out that the two most important signings have already been made.
Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere were signed to long term contracts in June and November last year
respectively.
Given the near certainty that we will start the new season without either or both of Cesc
Fabregas and Samir Nasri, it is tempting to feel downhearted.
I spend much time discussing football with fans of other teams. Inevitably we play the "but he
would never play in our team "game, and this could be the first of "How many Arsenal players would
get in ......... first team"?
Let us look at the current leaders of the PL, Man Utd, taking what I believe to be Mr Wenger's
first choice 11 v Aaron's view of the SAF's first choice.
Written by Wigan Gooner
Arsène won't replace Gael Clichy. He believes he has a ready-made replacement in Gibbs. Similar
to the transfer of Cashley in 2006, Arsène thinks he has a player-in-waiting.
I like Kieran Gibbs. I like his desire to get forward and his determination.
Written by dandan
Patrick Barclay, Hugh McIlvanney and Brian Glanville are all journalists getting on in years
and yet, along with a couple of younger ones in the forthright Martin Samuel and the superb Michael
Atherton, are probably the stand out sports writers of their generation.
Form, as they say, is temporary. Class is permanent.
According to the form books, Barcelona are pretty good at the moment. And Chelsea have had a
decent run over the last few years. Manchester United have had a great 20 years and we all know
about the Liverpool heyday in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
Written by mickydidit89
Over the last day or two, I have been alluding to the latest of my brilliant ideas. The beauty
about this one is that I have unearthed not only the cause of our troubles but also the solution.
The other day Mike talked about Eto on RA's excellent post about Wengerball, and between them, I
thought they were going to steal my thunder.
Another season draws to a close. A season that had begun with the fans believing anything was
possible is ending with blatant dissatisfaction among many of the supporters and a vociferous
angry minority demanding the departure of Wenger.
As a long-term supporter, it is difficult not to be amused by the appearance of the gathering
anger clouds.
Everybody understands and wants to see competition for places.
Two world class players for every position should surely be the pursuit of every top club.
This is hardly a revelation, there is nothing new about wanting two world class players for
every position but just like ideal communism it is a good idea in theory the problem being it
simply does not work in practice.
According to the Guardian, Arsenal are prepared to have a busy summer transfer
window with a few players leaving and several new faces joining the club. Chief executive
Ivan Gazidis said,
"Coming off the end of the season, I share with you a sense of profound disappointment.
A few days ago, someone called JRS put up a link to a Twitter page operated by Opta, the
collectors of statistics for all matters football. See http://twitpic.com/4t9shh. I hadn't seen
it when it was published, but it had a table showing what the Premier League table would have
looked like on 1st May had all shots that hit posts and crossbars actually resulted in goals.
Imagine this:
It's our next home game. The interlull is over at last and we're playing Blackburn Rovers in the
latest ‘must win' game.
As the players emerge onto the pitch, the crowd at The Grove gives voice as one. It's a
visceral, emotional outpouring of passion, enough to make the hairs on the back of even Gladstone
Small's neck stand up.
Written by Harry
All I ask of you in my hour of need, after the unexpected defeat at the hands of Bolton, as I
sit here distraught and frustrated, even angry at the events of this season, I ask that you address
the faithful the hordes of fans that support and follow this club of ours as soon as is
practical.
Written by Harry
{What if Wenger says ‘Cela, Je Pars', that's it I am leaving}
It's August 2015, 4 seasons since Wenger was hounded out of his beloved Arsenal, by the Black
Scarf Brigade, after falling short of another trophy in a 6 year continual spell.
Robin van Persie has been a consistent bright light in the poo-coloured gloom of our
end-of-season collapse.
The man who has endured more impact injuries than a crash test dummy has finally managed to have
a campaign in which he has been largely fit to play.
And what a player he has turned out to be.
Last week I listened to a number of end of season podcasts. Needless to say the non-Arsenal
assessments were damning of the team and in particular the podcasts made by professional
journalists.(SkySports, Guardian etc). Almost to a man the journalists blamed Arsenal's failure on
Mr Wenger lack of activity in the transfer market and his reliance on his youth policy.
Written by MickyDidIt89
Today I am prostituting myself and as the title would suggest, I am appealing to the Asian
Market for my "Hits". Now that I am a record breaking AA Poster, I would like to move swiftly on
to today's topic. Total Football and The Wenger Way. At this point, I am about to drop a bomb on
some heads, and would therefore urge the likes of TA to "Tin Hat Up".
Who is the best player ever to have been signed by Arsenal?
Last summer I wrote a post about ‘Arsenal's Best Transfer News Ever'. The point of that piece
was to determine which piece of transfer news was the most exciting when it was announced,
regardless of how that player went on to perform for the club.
Written by Total Arsenal
Seldom have I seen a football player like Abou Diaby. On the one hand he oozes class and
potential, a beautiful athlete: a modern day gladiator. On the other hand he seems to struggle
badly at times with being able to focus on the field, and achieving consistency in his
performance.
Written by Kelsey
I think a reality check is needed and between us we should try to fathom out what is going wrong
at the club. Figures don't lie and we have won just 2 of our last 13 PL games, which would have
been inconceivable in February. Fabregas leaving is going to be a huge miss, and though not
replaceable like for like we have had the best part of this year knowing he would leave to find
another player as a world-class playmaker.
On Wednesday we entertain the Mancunian lottery winners in a second-v-third clash which could
play a major part in deciding the destiny of the title.
It should also have everyone who loves football praying for an Arsenal win.
Simply put, Manchester City represent everything that's wrong with the game in England.
On Wednesday we entertain the Mancunian lottery winners in a second-v-third clash which could
play a major part in deciding the destiny of the title.
It should also have everyone who loves football praying for an Arsenal win.
Simply put, Manchester City represent everything that's wrong with the game in England.
Following on from the news broken by Wrighty7 that the former Newell's Old Boys has agreed a 5
year contract with the Ashburton Grove team AA has gained exclusive access to an interview
conducted with the pocket sized maestro and his agent Jorge Mendes explaining the reasons for his
departure from the team newly sponsored by the Al Thani family of Qatar.
Something about this website has been bugging me for a while. It's a very welcome home for
Arsenal-oriented debate, and the regulars here are great, all bringing something different to our
little party. And the format is excellent, with contributions coming from that group of regulars,
meaning one voice doesn't dominate.
We love you Robin.. We really do!
And then there were two. It looks like Arsenal and Manchester United will fight it out for the
Premier League crown after a pivotal day in the title race.
Sir Alex Ferguson's side beat third-place Manchester City on Saturday lunchtime to pour pressure
on Arsène Wenger's outfit before they faced Wolves at Emirates Stadium.
It may have mellowed in recent years but the rivalry between Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger
looks set to be revived again this season with Manchester united and Arsenal in direct competition
for the FA Cup and Premier League.
November 1996
Sir Alex Ferguson bristles at the notion of Arsene Wenger, newly arrived at Arsenal, as a cerebral
‘professor' of football.
After our loss at Manchester United, I found myself harbouring murderous thoughts towards Abou
Diaby.
He was our worst player by quite a stretch (despite stiff competition from Gibbs and, later,
Rosicky).
Every time the ball went to him he either killed the momentum of an Arsenal attack or lost the
ball.
Written by Harry
The inner workings of Arsène Wengers mind have for some 15 years, had the average Arsenal fan's
imagination captivated. We've been spellbound by the intricate passing and mesmeric breathtaking
counter attacks, in awe of the array of attacking talent on show, which saw us reach the pinnacle
with the Invincibles unbeaten run in 2004, a feat unliklely ever to be matched by another
team.
Yes, that's right: a quiet beach a million miles away from the hurly burly of Premiership
football and the unforgiving scrutiny of the media.
A blue sky, a blazing sun and a long, golden beach as empty as Abou Diaby's head.
Obviously Arsene shouldn't go there right now that would be rude.
Written by Gooner in Exile
Easter weekend brought Gooners to Lancashire in their droves. We took the whole end of the
ground, upper and lower, the normal allocation is 3,000 but that is, I believe, half lower tier and
all the upper. I would estimate the travelling ranks were closer to 5,000 on Sunday.
Written by Wonderman
I'm not going to waste time with a calm orderly build up to the match proceedings followed by
detailed analysis of each half and an ending. In a nutshell Villa came to the grove (not for the
first time in recent seasons ) with a game plan. Not only did they have a game plan, but they
executed it perfectly, accompanied by our continued dose of defendinitus.
Written by Gooner in Exile
Football fans are an interesting breed, we tend to be very introspective and look after our own
backyard without looking at the bigger picture that surrounds us. The 6% increase has been met with
calls for the Board to spend it, and that fans are being priced out of the game.
Last week we published parts one and two of GunnerN5′s rant .................. here's part
3.
Heart, Desire, Commitment, Passion, Pride.
Over the years we have been blessed to have players that exhibited many of these
characteristics.
How funny was that, watching England scrape a 2-2 draw against the Swiss yesterday? Dreadful
defending by England to give away two free kicks Scott Parker and Frank Lampard obliged - that
were neatly converted when the England centre-backs failed to do their jobs and allowed Switzerland
two goals inside 35 minutes.
If Cesc Fabregas leaves Arsenal this summer then you should put a tenner on Samir Nasri taking
over as captain.
Let's deal with the ‘if' first.
There is no guarantee that Cesc will depart, but there are strong hints coming out of the club
(and from people connected with the club) that this time he really is going.
‘Ars-zen and the art of motorcycle
maintenance'
‘Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance', by Robert M. Pirsig is one of my favourite books.
It is a complicated and challenging story about the concept of and quest for ultimate ‘quality',
and it is full of insights I have been able to use in my personal and working life, ever since I
finished reading the book a few decades ago.
