I don’t know anyone who is calling for Arsenal to buy a single £40m player as Arsene suggested today, much less the whole new team of players of Peter Hill-Wood’s fevered imagination. This kind of angry defensiveness, the type where you blend in some hyperbole for good effect, is a sure sign that the speaker is aware of his faults and is trying to cover them up.
How could you not be aware of the faults? Arsenal let Flamini, Gilberto, Hleb, Senderos, and Hoyte go in one summer! Meanwhile, the same cast of injured players is still hanging out in the infirmary (Diaby, Rosicky, Eduardo) and they have been joined by not one, but two new friends (Bischoff and Silvestre). And so, a team that was just a few points away from winning the EPL, a team that just needed a little bit more defensive steel and one more goal-minded midfielder has lost it’s midfield engine, a proven leader, and two promising defenders. Who were effectively replaced by guys who are too injured to play and a teenager.
I’m all about the bargain Arsene, but come on, try to see it from our point of view! And while we’re on my point of view, let me just make myself very clear Arsene; you don’t need to buy any £40m players, because there are some very good £15m players out there who will fill in the team in exactly the spots that the team most needs. Also, since you bang the drum about this being a good team and about developing these players, isn’t it helpful to have competition in a spot? You know, the old story of 27 year old man taking 21 year old man under his wing and showing him a few things? Like what to look out for defensively, how to put in a proper tackle, and what you can and cannot get away with as a defensive midfielder? Then challenging the young man to win the place from him through hard work and effort? A signing like that would only cost around £15m and would make a lot of fans happy AND (more importantly) improve the team.
No, this was a defensive reaction pure and simple. They know what’s wrong with this team and they will either choose to fix it or they won’t. If they don’t then I guess we have no real choice. It’s not like a real Gooner can just leave the club. You love the club no matter what and what did that one guy say “love the one you’re with” or something?
I told Twente puns to make people laugh and no pun in ten did
Yes, my whining friends, Arsenal have a game today and the press is tripping over itself to make puns of their headlines. Probably they are getting all punny because there’s nothing really to report. Silvestre is out, Cesc is healed but the boss is being coy about whether he’ll play him and other than that, there’s no real news. Yeah yeah yeah, Wenger said it would be “criminal” if they get dumped out against Twente, that’s not news, that’s just telling the truth. Essentially, Arsenal would have to concede 3 goals, at home, to a pub team from Europe. That would in fact be criminal negligence on Arsenal’s part.
No, I’m hoping to see Adebayor get a brace, Wilshere get some time, and Clichy to get his first goal. See! I can remain hopeful.
All kidding aside, this is an important game and we all need to get behind the team. We are supporters, we support, especially when the team is struggling. It’s like that picture of footprints on the sand and Jesus is abandoning his followers or something. Yes just like that.
The last game was actually televised live here in the U.S. on ESPN2 but it wasn’t listed in the programming guide. I’m going to go down to Doyle’s pub and see if the game is on any of the various channels they get. If it is, yay. If not, boo. Kick off is at 11:45 PST, see you there if you’re in town.
Come on you Arsenal.
According to ESPN’s online schedule, the match between Arsenal and FC Twente is scheduled to air live on ESPN Deportes. It will also be available on ESPN360 (ESPN’s online video service).
Fulham was an aberration. Even if you have Kaka, Ronaldo, Deco and Gerrard in the midfield, if they all play like shit you still lose. We’re not perfect, but we’re not as bad as we looked on Saturday.
We would all like some experience in the team, but it’s easier said than done. The whole transfer market this summer has been flat. Wenger has said as much, and has also said that he’s having difficulty finding the players he needs. Inler would have been great, but no dice. Alonso would be great, but his availability depends on Barry’s arrival at Anfield. Barry would also be good, but again, what will it take to prise him out of O’Neill’s grasp? Name me one other player who fits your criteria and who is available – cos I’m stumped.
This isn’t fantasy football, you can’t just buy who you want, when you want them. It’s pointless wishing it were otherwise, and doesn’t help the atmosphere around the team to keep banging on about it. For fuck’s sake, we had to rely on Twente manager Steve McLaren today for someone to say something positive about Arsenal – what are the supporters doing? No wonder Wenger and Hill-Wood are on the defensive, it’s because they’re under attack, from critics like you.
I don’t blame Wenger or the club for the fact that Flamini and Hleb walked out, and I don’t blame Wenger or the club for the fact that it’s proved hard to find their replacements. And those are the only two players we’re really missing. We have Nasri in for Hleb, and we’ll have to wait and see how that goes.
On the “same cast of players hanging out in the infirmary”: lots of fans have been sarcastic about some of the players and their bad luck with injuries. I can’t believe you’re complaining about Eduardo being unavailable though. After his injury, implying that he’s somehow unfit or weak is just poor. Rosicky, Silvestre and Bischoff are all on their way back after operations to cure chronic injuries, and will be available soon, Silvestre in a couple of weeks. And funnily enough, one name that isn’t on the sick list is a player who many fans had written off for being permanently injured – van Persie. Writing off injured players winds me up no end.
Sorry for the rant – you probably don’t deserve all this criticism and you write a good piece, but purely by chance you ended up being the straw of negativity that broke this camel’s back.
Fair enough criticism, I meant it as in “the people we’re all used to seeing in the infirmary.” Poorly worded at best, sloppy at worst. I’d be the first person to jump on someone who said what I said. I’ve been a staunch critic of the media language surrounding Taylor’s horrific tackle on Eduardo and I deserve to be called out when I make a similar mistake.
http://7amkickoff.wordpress.com/2008/03/19/taylor-backed-to-recover-from-eduardo-tackle/
I do write these pieces every day at 4am!
Thanks for the praise.
ur a fukkin nightmare for the misguided metaphors… !! anyways, enjoy the game, its on bbc3 so thatll be easily picked up over ther
Thank you, I shall quit writing and become a Chelsea fan, I have seen the light.
Aye, Jeff H is correct, the match will be televised live on ESPN Deportes aka “the ocho.”
I hate to be negative, but unfortunately you speak the truth and should continue to do so. Enjoy your blog and look forward to reading it every day.
Just wondering though, when the hell do you get a chance to sleep (LOL)
Keep up the good work.
harsh critism, first of all wenger is a genius , because he gets great players dat no one has heard of for nothing money….
now about the players dat went,,,senderos is not good enough,,,hoyte is definetly not defencive enough,,,,gilberto was a great player, but is old and dissapointed last season,,, wenger wanted hleb + flamini but they wanted 2 go………..give the legend(arsene)a break and he bought nasri who is gonna be unreal an achievment on its own
Wenger (I’ll start calling him Mr. Wenger when he regains some respect) says that signing players because we played s*** against Fulham is not a good idea, he’s right…but we should sign some players because of the huge number of departures from an already weak squad. It’s as simple as this, Wenger needs to pull his f***ing finger out, sign the overdue solid players we need and win a trophy this season or else you’ll start hearing “WENGER OUT!” at the Emirates (not just from me too). Oh and to all you idiots in the “Arsene knows” crowd…you should SHUT THE F*** UP!!! It’s been four years since our last prem title and you guys need to stop being so naive and recognise that our beloved manager has LOST IT!!!
I love Arsene Wenger and always will, but something is going every wrong in this once great man’s head and maybe his future needs reassessing at the end of this season. Please prove me wrong Wenger!!!
Imothyt you are absolutely right in what you say, Only the mancs and chelsea are in the 40m bracket, but presently we can’t compete in the transfer market with shit teams like the yids and man city for fucks sake. It’s not as bad a picture as Dan paints as yet but it won’t be long if things continue as they are. I expect Cesc to consider his future if we are not challenging seriously this year (with the currect squad I think we will struggle) We need to match Cesc’s ambition and if that means bringing in Alonso (the type of player we desperately need) then come on Arsene dust off the chequebook and bring him in!!
It sucks a bit right now as the team’s not looking very convincing, but thankfully the twente match went well. We may have to live with what we’ve got, but the window’s not quite closed yet. Either way i’m a bit keen on this bischoff character, he was portuguese u21 int’l, there’s got to be something to this kid, I could be wrong but he could be a saviour this season if the squad suffers injuries and he’s fit to step in and show us what he’s capable of. Groin injuries can be tricky, witness Gerrard, but he’s 21 and should heal well enough.
I am concerned about the season especially when i look at other teams who are playing well and have chosen to strengthen comprehensively(no, we don’t need to spend big, but STRENGTHEN). And frankly wengers’ double talk on the transfer issues has been infuriating and smacks of contempt for the fans. In this regard there really is no excuse for his behavior; if you’re going to use the media to play up your probability of a transfer coup at least be somewhat mindful of the fans who pay your salary and have been shamelessly whipsawed by Wenger’s comments. He really needs public relations training in this regard. At the very least an intelligent man chooses his words carefully and should consider some of his quotes beforehand which at times he plainly hasn’t. Some say this is how Wenger operates and we should just be thankful we have him. I think we all have witnessed some wildly contradictory statements from Wenger for the last several months and it doesn’t sound like the normal unflappable wenger, like he’s not quite sure of things?
Well, whatever, it’s speculation and opinion but i’m hunting and pecking for some positives and it’s been bit sparse these days. But if the squad can get fit and some players up their games we’ll improve and string wins together of that i’m sure. But the win v. twente doesn’t erase the problems in the squad and we have effectively announced in the fulham game that if pressurised our midfield can be vulnerable, especially if a strong and tactical team work to neutralize our KEY man cesc and get in the shorts of our othe midfielders, this could be an on-going issue. Well that’s my weekly rant, cya.