Despite plane troubles that nixed the pre-match press conference, Wenger found a way to get out to press a good ole fashioned pep-talk, saying that the destiny of the team is in their hands and that he wants the boys to be rewarded for all their hard work and that he’s personally going to buy them all a pony when they get back to London, if they beat Roma.
Sounding a familiar refrain, he said:
You judge a season at the end of the season and it’s down to us in the coming months to show that we have the necessary quality and that people were too quick to write us off.
Sorry, but I don’t recall any “writing off” of this team. I do recall “slagging off” after shiatty performances but that is perfectly natural and something I think the boss and his creche of players would do well to take on board rather than dismiss out of hand with broad statements like “we have been written off” and “judge us at the end of the season.” Fans, ‘fanatics’ who love the club, are going to judge and be pissed off when they spend $1000 to fly to London to watch Arsenal take on a team of Tottenham rejects and put in a performance that was literally a somniferant to at least one other spectator.
I can’t possibly speak for everyone but I’m fairly certain that what we all want to see is a team that is progressing from year to year. Getting better, challenging for awards, give the fans something to celebrate, and for 3/4 of this season, this was a club that looked more like it was digressing rather than progressing. Yes, Wenger and The Young Ones have turned that around a bit with this current run of form and Arsenal are finally closer to 4th place than 6th. They are also a hound’s tooth away from the Champions League 1/4 finals and still playing catch-up with the rest of the league in the FA Cup.
Huzzah, keep up the good work, but could you all please do us a favor and stop pointing the finger outward for once? Take some responsibility for this mess?
If we have been critical it’s because the team has put in a lot of gormless performances and the manager has refused to bolster key positions that he even admitted that the team needed. Frankly, it’s patently disingenuous to say “oh well, you shouldn’t have written us off” before you win anything. It’s almost as if he’s gloating, like he’s saying “I told you not to write us off” — dude, beating Burnley and West Brom is hardly setting the world on fire. It was only two weeks ago that Arsenal let Fulham, FULHAM, overrun our midfield. So, maybe save the gloating for when you win the Champions League, you know, at the end of the season, when we’re all supposed to judge you?
For me, the worst part of what he’s doing is that by blaming those of us who have been critical, it absolves the team of their responsibility. And in this match today this team will be held accountable by Roma. Roma have watched the Fulham and Sunderland match tapes and they are saying that they are going to be “cautious” and “patient” which translates into “defensive” and “stealing goals on the counter.” Arsenal will need to be at the top of their game and not let off for one second — this is a Champions League game, there’s no do overs.
Fortunately, one characteristic of this team is that they do show up for big matches and if they play the way they did two weeks ago, if Denilson and Song can scratch out a huge performance in the middle again, and if Arsenal can take the chances we are given, I have no doubt that they will beat Roma.
This team has the quality to beat Roma but it’s not about the quality, it’s about the desire. We’ll find out if they have the desire tonight.
I have to disagree, I think he’s just sounding a note of confidence more than an “I told you so” and to be honest I think you’re slightly stuck in the past, even if it is only a couple of weeks time. Personally I think you should give him a little more credit, he has brought Arsenal back from the brink of our worst season with him in charge to having the potential to take home two trophies.
I think now it is time for “fans” to step up and show their belief and support, if Arsenal ever needed that 12th man it is now, at the final stretch.
I’m pretty sick of hearing this whole bolster the squad thing nobody could have predicted the level of injuries we have gotten plus if you’re another one of those “we need a defensive midfielder” idoits then I have nothing more to say than 17 games unbeaten, 10 clean sheets in the last 14 games. This is a cup match only an idiot would play the defensive game in match with a one goal defecit and Roma have too much pride to lose if they don’t try to come out fighting. Have more faith, it hasn’t been an easy season and while your criticism is fair, it’s a bit too cynical for the fan of a team that are going to win the FA cup and Champions league this year.
I’d really rather see an “I told you we’d win them both” post rather than a sheepish “okay I should have had more faith” one at the end of the season. This is our season for European honours and as with the past only poor refereeing decisions will stop us.
thats why we didnt win anything bcos of (fans) like u
Idiot or not, that’s Roma’s plan:
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=626802&sec=uefachampionsleague&cc=5901
Vucinic, parroting his boss said “We need to be patient, control the game and make the most of our chances.”
Also, Arsenal do need a central midfielder, someone who can dominate the midfield like Patrick Vieira did. This is a widely held belief, shared by such “idiots” as Arseblogger, myself, many commentators on this site, and towering moron Arsene Wenger.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jan/09/arsene-wenger-arsenal
I think Denilson is going to be a great little player, he’s not there yet but could get there; if he had someone around to show him the ropes.
What you advocate is blind allegiance and burying my head in the sand, sorry pal, I’m not going to do that if you want to write the “blow smoke up Arsenal supporter’s asses blog” go right ahead.
I’m reporting it like I see it.
Also, I had a comment yesterday that Denilson is listed at 5’10” and Song is listed as 6’1″ on wikipedia, which is true, that’s what wikipedia says.
ESPNSoccernet.com lists them as 5’11” and 6′ respectively and as much as I’d like to trust a bunch people on the internet who can say whatever they want in an “encyclopedia” without backing it up I’m going to go with ESPN.com.
There is a 1 inch height difference until proven otherwise.
Also, yeah, Midou, you got me, it’s because of me, all the way over here in America, with 3 people reading my blog, that’s why Arsenal struggled until last week.
I’ve read some dumb things but that’s about the dumbest thing I’ve read in weeks.
I am finding it hard to have to spend my valuable time reading articles criticising Arsenal by its own supporters. Its hard enough to put up with frustrations,wind-ups and insolance from Manure et al. I do not want to have to go through this at our own web pages. If you have anything worthy publishing then do so otherwise I suggest you take away your critical nonsense.
Dont let me have to look for you so I can beat the sh.. out of you, please.
Your articles are nothing more than the words of a Tottenham fan. I used to reccomend your blogs to people. It is sickening to read your words. Consider yourself one reader down. You are the most negative person I have come across. Then again you are a yank….stick to baseball.
I don’t know why your all taking a pop at Tim. Are you guys all so f*cking blind to honestly say that some of our performances in the league (Sunderland, fulham etc.) were full of commitment from our team. We were pretty f*cking shocking if you ask me.
Now if your one of those fans who preach with their “wenger knows” hat on and you don’t believe the man can do no wrong then I can understand why your sprouting out such utter crap. But until this team actually play like they give a shit consistently then I believe bloggists such as Tim (who is an ardent Arsenal fan) are allowed to comment on our team’s abject performances.
BTW, Wenger does know and I am sure he is rectifying the problems behind the scenes but fans who say pathetic things like that peach of a quote from midou – really bud, pull your head out the sand and wake up to the world.
your an arsehole your meant to support your team is the writer a tottenham fan
Hey Tim, looks to me that you are boxing yourself into an “anti-wenger” corner. Not necessarily at all. I come here because I think u write straight. However, your past few posts carry a hint of frustration. You kept the faith for so long, how come you’re screaming when there is now a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel?
Not sure Wenger is doing an “I told you so”, it sounds more like a “Keep the faith”
correction on Second sentence: Not necessary at all.
Awful negative article. Sounds just like the negative alleged fan I sit next to week in week out and who barely manages any exclamation of joy even when we win. Why bother?
If you LOVE your team, it is unconditional.Period. Thick and thin. Good and bad. Get the gist?
Tim, I also think this is the wrong time to be criticising the lack of ‘bolstering’ and for accusations of gloating.
I must say that at the beginning of the season I was shocked and angry that we had let Gilberto, Diarra and Flamini all go (well, let Gilberto go at least, I actually don’t think we had a choice with the other two). But I gave up on this sulking when I realised that our club is striving to do a great and rare thing in bringing through youngsters from the youth setup. It takes serious balls to stick to your guns like this. United would have just splashed another £50m on 2 warriors. They would have probably won the league, too, but do you know what? I don’t care. I’d rather carry on the way we do and win something through merit one day than just hand pick finished products the whole time. Wheres the satisfaction in that?
That is all without even mentioning the injuries. Everyone is so short sighted. Also, Song and Denilson might actually make it at Arsenal. At the end of the season, if they have developed into stars then you will eat your words about buying someone elses goods.
I’d much rather we did it our way, not someone elses.
Criticism is the antithesis of dogma.
For my dogma, I go to Arsenal.com, they never criticize the team and in fact on days like today make astounding statements like
“Since mid-December, Wenger has spread the captaincy around the side and it has brought results – Arsenal are unbeaten in their last 17 games”
Seriously? Did causality take a vacation?
That’s the kind of stuff that you get when people are purely dogmatic.
I was like that, too. At the start of the season, I spent a lot of my valuable time defending this team from the detractors. But I simply can’t defend some of the stuff I’ve seen of late and remain true to myself. I would be dishonest if I came in here and reported how I thought Arsenal were going to shred their opponents every match or how Arsene’s always right.
Check back in a few weeks when Arsenal are in the semi-finals of the Champions League, in the Final of the FA Cup, and have stormed to 2nd place in the league table. You’ll find this blog to be the happiest place on earth. We have a glimmer of hope right now and like I said yesterday, 17 matches unbeaten would be a hell of a feat and deserves a bunch of credit. But it’s hardly the time to start gloating and blowing smoke up each others’ asses.
As Wenger said, their destiny is in their hands, TAKE IT, I would love to see it.
Yes, I’m secretly a Tottenham supporter, who’s been writing a daily Arsenal blog for a year and a half. It’s all been so I can drop this article on you!
My fiendish plot has been revealed.
I don’t know why everyone’s getting worked up, this author knows nothing about football and that’s been clear for a long time, his articles propose a distinct lack of knowledge of the sport so you just have to take whatever he writes with a pinch of salt. he gets frustrated at the slightest comment, haha like when he wrote a peice on arshavin unlikely to be in the squad against sunderland a few weeks back, i wrote a comment saying its been announced he is, and that adebayor’s absense will prove to be a blessing in disguise as i believe he’s an average striker.
timcock roared back with sarcastic comments galore ahaha. big time hormonal issues. tampons necessary for the tim tim man.
Wenger is now saying what we’ve all been saying for a while, only that he’s using it as a defensive for this rather mediocre season. Does he really think that this recent run of “form”, if you want to call 3 wins and 5 goaless draws form, is due to his own managerial abilities? He’s no doubt one of the greatest managers today but the recent showing by Arsenal is down more to experienced players coming back from injuries. We’ve already been preaching for months now that the team needs depth and experience and with a 27 year old Arshavin, 25 year old Eduardo, they are getting results that the 19 and 20 year olds could not. It’s taken RVP over 3 years to even show an inkling of the talent we’ve expcted from him since his arrive from Feyenoord. While Vela had a good game against Burnley, he was also quite non-existent in previous appearances this year. The youth program is great and producing gems like Gibbs, Wilshere etc. but they cannot win titles or championships on their own. They need experienced players to learn from. When Drogba arrived at Chelsea he whole heartedly admitted to studying Thierry Henry to polish his finishing and that has turned him into one of the best strikers in the game right now. Theo was under Henry’s tutelage for the short time they had together and his England hat-trick shows that some of that work under the Frenchman is working out. There’s physical and psychological tricks experienced players have developed over their years which have made their careers at the highest level. Without them we have a bunch of kids wandering around in the dark feeling their way through football. This is what we cannot afford any longer if we are to be taken seriously again by the opposition. Right now we are living on the legacy of The Invincibles whenever a team says we can be deadly on our day. However, in reality Arsenal are losing the edge where teams come to North London and exect to lose. As it stands most teams suspect they can come to The Emirates and squeeze out a draw or win – this cannot be allowed to continue. We need to have the psychological edge over the opponent to disrupt their mental game. All winning teams have this. Fulham have the 4th best defensive record in the league but have conceded 7 goals in 2 games to Man Utd simply because they just expected to lose and folded. This is the swagger we need to re-discover with the current team.
it’s true, everyone knows this blog is whack, it can’t be taken seriously cos you talk way too much shit.
By ‘some of the stuff you have seen of late’ I assume you mean the games in which we failed to dominate the midfield and consequently drew successive games against teams we used to smash. The midfield we were using comprised mostly: Nasri, Denilson, Song, Eboue. We later added Arshavin, and then Diaby regained fitness too…then we won the next two. We also had our best finisher at the club out.
Our captain, fabregas was out, our most speedy and potent winger, Walcott was out and our most experienced midfielder, Rosicky was out. If you took Lampard, Balack and Malouda out of chelsea midfield and removed either Anelka or Drogba at the same time then I’m pretty sure they would struggle to win games. Similarly so if you removed Scholes, Ronaldo, Carrick and Rooney from the united squad.
We’ve been crippled by injury, not bad management.
Man u write crap…i hate negative people like u…we are all looking for happiness in this sport..thats the reason why we support arsenal..if there is a glimmer of hope then in a season of injuries, we ought to be happy and celebrate…but to read this nosense..Go to hell bruv.Write something postive
any team that had/has the injuries we had would suffer and you talk about the reason were picking up wins is due to experinced players coming back, weve had 5,6,7 of our best players out players that make the diffrence players that win you games, take rooney ronaldo vidic giggs and scholes out of manu and you see how much they suffer and without the players we had injured we beat manu 2-1 at the emirates if i recall, gooners are too negative these days, i dont know why it seems ever since the move to emirates some people have jumped on the bandwagon and say ima support arsenal but they slate us when we lose draw or dont play well but when we win you dont hear them come out and say something, we are as good as manu the diffrence between us is they can win 1-0 where we can only draw we just need that final step,injuries have hit us hard its easy to point out and say injuries is an excuse but in this case with the calibre of players out and the numbers we had out it aint an excuse its a fact.we going to win tonight and we going to do something special this season, the real gooners will enjoy our victory and success more
Dear Rob (aka Jesal, Car insurance tips, and Arsenal heat blogger) no, I will not exchange links with you or your crappy blog.
Also, for the rest of you who are using alts to make the same comments over and over, please note that I can see your IP address, at least have the sense to use an anonymizer or some other way to cover up the fact that you’re using different names to make it look like I have a ton of detractors.
In the future I will remove dupes like Rob/Jesal who is just another butt hurt anonymous Arsenal blogger who proposed a link swap and was denied.
If you need a laugh check out his blog
http://www.arsenalheat.blogspot.com/
Listen matey people don’t wanna hear u whinging before a huge European game, everyone is excited, surely u can’t be so out of touch that you cant feel the vibe. Most Arsenal fans have grown tired now of the constant sniping, where has it got you, Eboue is still in the team, Bendtner too and a host of others that have been slagged off. Just bite the bullet and enjoy.
Lets just stay bloody positive. I’m with Pete. I just wanna think about tonights game and get excited about the good things we do have, not the good things we need or don’t have!
COME ON THE ARSE>>>>>>>>>>>>TAKE IT TO ROMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am positive, I’m very positive, like I said yesterday, Roma need a 2-0 or 3-1 win to advance, I like our chances A LOT.
I’m just disappointed in the way that Wenger chose to “gee up” the boys by claiming that they have overcome their detractors. No, they have not. The memory of Fulham burns bright. I think it’s a dangerous game the manager is playing to gee up the team that way because these boys are headed into Rome against an angry, if depleted, Roma side. Telling them that basically they have overcome their detractors because we beat WBA and Burnley is very dangerous indeed.
They need another kick in the ass, not some psychobabble about other people pulling the team down and how they worked hard in practice so they “deserve” something.
You don’t deserve anything, you earn it, and this team needs to earn that next step in this competition tonight. They don’t deserve it, they earn it or they don’t earn it.
Part of being a fan and a person is also having an opinion, not blindly following your team into some sports oblivion. As great of a manager Wenger is, he’s not the end all be all that some supports have expressed. He’s human just like you and me and he has made mistakes. It’s been 4 years without a trophy and we say it’s down to being in transition. Guess what? Man Utd have been through that transition too but believe me no one wrote them off like they have Arsenal and never were they ever in such a position that they had to fight for their lives. Their idea of a transition still involves comfortably being in the top four, not having to hope that the team above them screws up. Once they came of gae they hit football like dynamite and now I cannot deny they are perhaps the best team in the world right now. We used to be and can get there but Wenger has to show the players that he will get them there again. Throwing a boy into a man’s world every season cannot be a formula for success. We expect these kids to grow up too fast and that usually leads to more failures than success. We promise them too much by putting them on the senior team and then they falter because they’re expectations are far too high. Wenger is slowly re-building his team and that is understandable. However, it can and has been done by others while still being called title contenders. Sure we beat Chelsea and Man Utd already but there’s 30 odd more games in a season, not just playing the top four. We can beat the big boys but utter fail at the minnows – surely there is a problem with that picture.
HaHaHa, you are without a shadow of a doubt the most dense blogger on the net today. You think just because you see IP addresses everyone suddenly is morphed into one person? you think no more than one person can have access to a single pc? yes only one person can live in a house can’t they…you pillock. I.T is clearly not one of your strong subjects, but then again Arsenal football club isn’t either.
Wake up you thick shit, Arsenal Heat is my bro’s blog and to be honest I’m glad you guys didn’t swap links because your blog is a waste of space and people can’t stand you because your views are negative, and you appear to be such an arrogant little cock in your comments.
Thanks for putting Evo’s link up, atleast when he post’s it’s quality from a true gooner which Arsenal fans appreciate, not the negative, arrogant bollocks this blog reaks of.
http://www.arsenalheat.blogspot.com – A blog that pisses all over this amateur one. Mr “I’ve been an Arsenal fan for two mins”. Stick to baseball as a wise commenter said earlier.
COME ON YOU GUNNERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Big performance tonight.
I don’t agree with a lot of the comments here criticizing you, not because they’re wrong but how they say it.
Tim you are joining a long list of bloggers and reporters, jumping on the critical bandwagon, fair enough thats your view but you’ve no objectivity in your post and that leaves it unbalanced, I’m a fan too and like you I’ve had to sit through some awful crap this season watching my favourite team struggle to the point of absurdity and i am quick to criticze when it is warranted but we are finally at a point in our season where we really do have a fantastic chance at winning two trophies. As an Arsenal fan that excites the hell out of me and I find it hard to see any negativity in our current situation.
We are 3 matches away from winning the FA cup, and 6 from our first Champions League trophy. While some see foruth place in the premiership as important I don’t cos whoever is fourth will be sadly disappointed when we earn our place through victory in this years final.
I can’t wait to see all these negative “fans” and sports journalists eat their hats at the end of the season, I bet people will still have some negative crap about “bolstering” to say though.
Maybe I’m being unrealistic but do you really want me to be wrong?
Wenger said we have to sell one big player per year for the coming three years to control the debt from the stadium. I guess 99% they will be replace by youngsters again, so the transition will continue and we have to accept it as we generate our resource in our own way. No fans will want the club to sell their star player, but thats the way it is in Arsenal. So if you cannot accept it, go and support other teams like ManU or Chelsea. They will guarantee consistence performance with the money they put on players, we gunners can’t do that until the debt been pay up. So just be patient and support the team or just call it a quit now. I just couldn’t understand people call themself a fan who slate their own club when other mid-table club fans who always know their club aren’t challenging for the title show passionate support to their club through up and down. Its a shame really, no wonder why so many other club’s fans laughing at us Arsenal fan. You guys always ask for a star signing while if us fans being more supportive like those over Anfield; we can put an extra man on the pitch for our team. You ask for value for the money spend on the ticket, then you may well spend it on other things that give you value mate. If football match is always win by the better team, then whats the point of watching it anyway?? Frustration is understandable, state your opinion is also acceptable but will this help your so call beloved team?? No!!! Is that what a true fan should do?? If so; I must hate my club.
WHOAH!
Where and why is all this venom being spewed on Tim today.
Firstly, if you don’t like the blog you have an obvious choice, don’t read it. Slagging and threatening people because of their views remind me of those fanatical terrorists who attack Cricket players to further their HOLY and JUST cause.
Secondly, Wenger fucked up big time this season by not replacing the likes of Diarra, Lehman, Gilberto, Flamini, and the long term injuries of Rosicky and Eduardo. Crying injuries as a reason is ridiculous when Rosicky and Eduardo were known beforehand, Walcott was and is not a starter. Fab was our only severe injury of note and if you can’t survive without 1 key player then your squad is weak. Manu had 12 players out at one time this year.
Thirdly, as much as I respect Wenger, he is not bigger than Arsenal. He is employed by Arsenal to produce the best team within the financial constraints and ensure we are competitive and win trophies. Arsenal in turn, is funded by all the fans worldwide who attend matches, purchase merchandise, subscribe to ATV and who watch and listen to games so we get immense broadcast revenues.
Two experienced players, Eduardo and Arshavin come into the squad and we immediately look a better team. Arsene took a huge, risky and unnecessary gamble on fielding a pure youth team when he could easily have added a few experienced players. Odds are, if he did we wouldn’t be having this discussion now. For all the accomplished “Arsene can do no wrong” fans, do a little research to see why he was fired from Monaco. He had a winning team at Monaco, dismantled it, replaced it with an all youth side and Monaco was no longer a top side. Sounds familiar.
Yes, we all love Arsenal. Yes, we all support Arsenal. Are you then saying that we have no right to criticize someone, who by their actions have put us in an unneccessary predicament.
Tim has been an Arsenal advocate and although being a YANK, spends mucho dinero by attending Arsenal games, buying their merchandise and spreading the Arsenal doctrine in the US through this blog.
It is people like Tim who have helped to grow the Arsenal following and we should embrace that, rather than subject him to such histrionics.
NUFF SAID, let’s grow up and enjoy the game.
@Ken,
“Wenger said we have to sell one big player per year for the coming three years to control the debt from the stadium. I guess 99% they will be replace by youngsters again, so the transition will continue and we have to accept it as we generate our resource in our own way.”
That is bullshit, we have over 100M in cash reserves, highest NOI of any football club, 4th highest income, highest credit rating and our stadium debt is paid out of game day receipts.
Don’t believe me, just read Arsenal Annual and Semi-annual financial reports. By the way, it is public info. Google it.
Caribkid, your spot on with Wenger at Monaco. History is repeating itself.
The man is a flawed genius, of that I have no doubt. I would hate to see him leave the Arsenal because he is the best man for the job but it is very frustrating watching him use our team as a vehicle to implement his fantasies. I do love Arsenal’s brand of football and I am thankful to Wenger for it, but his stubborness is not helping the situation. As I write were producing one of those insipid performances again with not one player on the park seemingly capable of kicking this team into action.
Hey an English team won a game at penalties!!!! Awesome!
No, wait, none of the players were actually English – sorry, my mistake!
🙂
Ok, not funny.
Very interested to see the draw for the next quarterfinals.
(Crosses fingers for Villareal/Porto…)
That was funny T-Town
“You are my Arsenal, my only Arsenal.
You make me happy when skies are gray.
You’ll never know just how much I love you.
Please don’t take my Arsenal away.”
If this is your club love them. Yes you can criticize and have opinion about them. But the bottome line is you MUST LOVE THEM. Not slag them off every chance you get with negative rhetoric and antics. They are our Arsenal, our one and only club that we so dearly LOVE. So LOVE them…..simply LOVE them. That is all that is required. Gooner4lyf
T-Town Alex, Theo Walcott isn’t English anymore?
So…it the unbeaten streak still on? Or what? I mean, technically, they lost the match, right? But then again, then didn’t.
For the record, Tim, I highly enjoy your blog, you know that, but I will admit I was mildly disappointed to read a “negative” blog on the morning of such a huge match, but it is your blog and it is your prerogative.
UP THE ARSE MOTHER-FUCKERS!!
Tim, it’s a horrible feeling when you turn from being an Eboue booster to an Eboue booer. I still hope that the team will turn good, but I don’t really believe it can anymore, not without major surgery. And no one can defend performances like this morning.
By the way, what’s with all these guys taking pot shots at you? This used to be such a nice blog comments section.
Connoly, I think people are genuinely upset about the season and are looking for someone to blame. I’m OK taking the blame, because unlike Wenger I can accept responsibility.
Well f*ck me, that was tense.
Dear Arsenal Heat Guy,
I actually thought you might say that you had an open WiFi network and that one of your neighbors uses the same router as you and that’s why 6 comments, all with fake email addresses — some of them spam — came from the same IP address but you chose the “my brother used the computer” defense.
Good one.
Hmmm… I could trace back and look at your subnet and see if there are multiple machines bu checking MAC addresses…
Nah.
Also, 7amkickoff 40 comments, Arsenalheat 0, yes, you are truly the champagne of blogs. Keep up the good work!
Oh and one last thing, at least try to make your “history” page less obviously a ripoff of Wikipedia.
Jeez, what went on here? Tim is entitled to his opinion and he expresses it very eruditely. The world doesn’t need a million blind fanboy sites with no critical analysis; the internet thrives on opinion, discussion, debate. Coming on here flaming from other blogs is just pathetic; I met Tim recently in London where he had flown in at considerable personal expense to watch Arsenal grind out an appalling 0-0 draw with Sunderland. Not a real Arsenal fan? Don’t make me laugh. And piss off.