Mike Dean 2-1 Arsenal; the Good, Bad, and the Rooney

Match Reports

ESPNSoccernet: United are hairy cunts.

Telegraph: I said HAIRY cunts. (The Telegraph gave MotM to Clichy, they couldn’t very well give it to a United player.)

Match Video

Arsenalist, who else? Though if anyone can recommend cheap (or free) video editing software, I’m very interested. Now that the dot com offers up the whole match, it would be fascinating to edit together a video of, say, all of United’s fouls and send it to the league.

Man of the Match

Mike Dean handed out 9 yellow cards, awarded 1 non-penalty, failed to award another stonewall penalty, and in the final 30 seconds expelled Arsene Wenger to the seats, no wait, the stands, no, I mean the standing area in front of the stands, or maybe it’s just best to go to the dressing room.  It was a masterful performance from Man U’s 12th man who was right where he likes to be, the center of attention, in the spotlight, dishing out yellows and handing out penalties.

Mike Dean is the most controversial referee in the league. He hands out more yellows than any other and assigns more penalties than any other. As I’ve said already, he loves to be the center of attention and yesterday was no different than any other Mike Dean match.

That said, the big decisions are always the stuff of controversy but the subtle decisions are often more, erm, decisive in the total tally. So, if you don’t want to use the Rooney decision, or the Arshavin decision, you could point to several other early calls by Dean which radically changed the game.

For example, there was an early elbow by Valencia into the face of Vermaelen which went unpunished. It was pretty clear that Valencia led with his elbow and had no hope of getting the ball. Dean even took him aside and explained at length how he had violated the rules, miming why the way he used his elbow was a foul. Not but a few moments later, on LITERALLY his first foul, and for an action that was far from dangerous, Mike Dean gave Alex Song a yellow card.

I’m going to say that again, because I think it’s mildly important: in the 23rd minute of a crucial match and for his first infraction, Mike Dean gave Arsenal’s defensive midfielder a yellow card for a minor challenge. At the same time Darren Fletcher was fouling people all over the pitch, consistently making dangerous tackles. By ESPN’s count, Fletcher ended the day with 6 fouls (which doesn’t even count the two-footed tackle on Arshavin which didn’t get called as a foul) and Song ended the day with 3 fouls — and only Song got the caution. It was a critical decision which left Song hampered the rest of the match.

So, since he was the most important person on the pitch and since his calls so consistently and demonstrably favored United, Mike Dean wins Man of the Match.

In fact, he was so bad that I heard UEFA is going to investigate him for simulating being a referee.

The Good

Don’t let anyone bring you down, Arsenal should have won that game. Against a very average looking Man U team Arsenal put on a hell of a show and outplayed Man U on their home patch. How many teams could boast that they went to Man U’s home, in front of 75,000 hostile fans and went toe to toe with them as far as shots, shots on goal, time of possession, corners, and even forced Man U into more fouls (always the sign of a lesser team)? All the while missing their captain and best player, their captain’s backup, a critical wing player who has single-handedly won games for them against United, their fastest player, and at least two other players? How many teams could do that? Man U were less than ordinary, they were below average. Arsenal should take solace in the fact that Mike Dean won that match, not Man U.

Song and Denilson in the middle of the park were magnificent. Denilson, in particular, hardly put a foot wrong. Moreover, he was a man in constant motion, nipping in to steal the ball when United’s midfielders lost control, then playing the perfect pass to start the attack, dribbling to create space and even had a shot. Neat, tidy, and more than once his vision forward nearly led to a goal.

Song meanwhile tracked back, covered defense, and even with a yellow card was still strong in the challenge and still bossing Man U’s midfield around. But my favorite part was how Song made Giggs look old and obviously outclassed.

And Andrei Arshavin… the English language does not contain enough adjectives to describe how brilliant he is. I mean, all he did was receive a two-footed lunge from Fletcher and promptly dust himself off and rifle home a shot that silenced Old Trafford.

This is a great team, guys, let’s be proud of them, they will do something great, this year.

The Bad

I’ve already heard enough complaints about Diaby and I’m done with it. I don’t really want us to start that trend over from last year when we shredded Eboue on a weekly basis.  Diaby made a mistake, so what? He’s an Arsenal player, he’s a very talented player, with amazing touch, who is working hard on his strength and speed. As far as I can tell his major flaw is that due to his size and shape people keep comparing him to Vieira. Well, he’s not Vieira, he’s more like a Fellaini and it’s unfair of us to be getting on his back. We need to accept him for who he is, not for who we WISH he were.

And for the record, I though he was fantastic today. My big beef with him has always been that he looks lazy some times but today he ran for the full 90 and it showed.

You all can say what you want and it seems endemic to Arsenal fans that we love to hate our own men. Perry Groves talked about it in his book, how people would come up to him and tell him he was shite. But me, I’m not going to get down on Diaby, I don’t feel like I’ve earned that right. Besides which none of you could possibly be more down on Diaby than he probably is on himself at this moment. What he needs from us is support right now, look what it did for Eboue.

The Rooney

Rooney’s “penalty” was a dive. It was actually, in many ways, a worse dive than Eduardo’s and is exactly the type of intentional deception that needs to be stamped out of the game, right?.

Here, watch it again.

Notice the following things:

  1. Rooney does get to the ball first, but he is always looking for the contact. He went into that challenge with the intent to get a penalty, the same that has been said about Eduardo.
  2. Rooney’s touch is so astonishingly poor that he knocks the ball nearly out of the park, there’s no way he could have gotten to the ball, so even if there’s contact it shouldn’t be a penalty. We see that decision waved off for that exact reason pretty much every weekend.
  3. It’s a dive for the exact reason we’re told that Eduardo’s is a dive, watch it again, Rooney is nearly to ground before Mooney gets anywhere near him. In fact, it seems to me like he screws the ball out of play because he was on his way down when he kicks the ball. Rooney goes down before the contact, he was simulating all the way, thus it’s a dive and should be a yellow card.

So, Mike Dean’s only excuse to give the penalty? Dangerous play. What’s funny is that might be what he called because “dangerous play” would explain the strange yellow card. Mike Dean saw Almunia racing out to get the ball and decided that Alumina went out, head first, with intent to injure Rooney. Probably with his head. In which case it IS a penalty and Almunia deserves a yellow card.

Now, I’ve just gone and done a lot of logic there to explain how it’s not a penalty but there’s a simpler way to look at this and that is to apply the “Rooney test.” The “Rooney test” goes like this: would that have been a (foul, yellow card, penalty, etc) if Wayne Rooney did it? Now, take that same test and skew it a bit and ask; would Man U fans have been so certain that this was a penalty if Eduardo was the one going down?

Exactly.

Conclusions

Well, we got fucked.

And now we have a week to lick our wounds. Hopefully, key guys like Cesc, Walcott and Rosicky get a rest, though you can’t count on it because they are still included in their national sides. Wenger’s got some thinking to do this week and the team is going to be coming in for a lot of criticism for all that;s gone on this week. The thing is, this is a young side and they are challenging the status quo. When you do that, when you’re the up and coming side, and when you’re challenging the very fundamentals of the way the game is played, managed and financed, you’re going to get a lot of stick and you’re going to have a lot of games where cunts like Mike Dean screw you over. The only way to beat that is, well, to overcome it. The players, managers, and fans all need to stand up, as one, and keep pushing. Because when we win something, and especially when we win many things, then we will become the status quo and then we will get the benefit of these calls and people like Platini will get off our backs.

Notice I said “when” and not “if.” I still believe in this team with all my heart, this match didn’t lessen that belief. If anything it strengthened it. Arsenal are a massive threat to the footballing order. If we weren’t we wouldn’t be in all the papers. I’m full of belief that this team can do it. Fuck… if I can become an Eboue supporter then anything, and I mean ANYTHING is possible.

Right… I’m thinking I might not post every day during the inter-lull. I hate writing about the daily nothing that happens during inter-lull and refuse to suckle fools and chronicle small beer.* I’d rather, and I think you’d rather, get one or two good articles that week and maybe a caption contest. Sound fair?

Too bad! It’s my blog and I’ll take time off if I want!

*Yes, that is William Shakespeare, from my second favorite play “Othello.”

0 comments

  1. Cool rant, a bit more fiction than fact nevertheless entertaining. Big Brother still trying to police ppl’s thoughts? There is contact in the box … so a penalty is awarded. Not too strange. Altough I do agree the Arshavin tumble shd be a good shout for a penalty, he did silence the crowd with a sublime shot. Lets not chance that. 🙂

  2. Simply hilarious piece of self deluding fiction. The arsenal way whine
    oa. And complain. Fact you will be entertaining to Christmas and then cru
    then crumble as usual.

  3. Us against them. Getting fucked will only make us stronger.

    And there is only one team in Manchester I am worried about, and they don’t play their home matches at Old Trafford.

  4. Well that does it. We lost a game we should have won by a mile. However; I don’t blame Mike Dean, Diaby, or that weasly little shit Wayne Rooney. I blame the fact that my philosophy football shirt that I won in your last contest hadn’t come in yet and I was forced to wear my cursed yellow away strip! I hope you are happy with yourself 😉

  5. Oh, how awful. Arsenal couldn’t win the game. AND, to top it of, they scored United’s winner so the floodgates open. Every time Arsenal lose a game, there are looong tirades going on about the ref, the linesmen and who ever stands in the way. Losing against a below average playing United team doesn’t only mean you got fucked. It means you are seriously in danger of being a shite team. When ever you drop points, it won’t change if you can chalk it up to bad refereeing. Van Persie should have scored in the 47th minute. That miss fucked you, as well. His free kick shouldn’t have hit the bar. That miss fucked you, as well. Stop your fucking whining, and stay real.

    1. @Pjotur, another United hypocrite who is happy to cheat their way to a title. Keep whining about “whiny Arsenal” you can’t have Mike Dean referee every match.

    2. The kind of people that go on to other supporters’ blogs to talk shite after a match are the kind of people that can’t get laid, can’t succeed in life, can’t will their brain to process much information, and generally just feel so f&%$ing insecure and miserable about themselves. Sound about right, “pjotur”? I’m sure I missed some other flattering remarks pertaining to your person. Anyway, I’m sure when you guys are Uefa Cup next year, you’ll be thankful that the likes of us Arsenal supporters won’t deem it worthy of our time to find you and ask how it feels.

  6. Sore loser – Arse have won more games by divingand dodgy than any other team in the Premier _ Wenger preps his players to dive and simulate in traing. So for once you got “hoisted on your on petard’ – now fuck off you bunch of sore fucking loser cockney twats.You got shit all and will win even less and if you do it will be by cheating cos thats how you have won all your trophies in the past ten years. Take your losses like learn by your mistakes – like tell your defenders to head the ball away from your net

    Twats – fuck off

    1. @Peter Smith,

      You tellin people to eff off when your on an Arsenal blog?

      Wenger preps his players to dive in simulation in training???

      Well we have to do something to keep up with all those years of Ronaldo, Drogba and Gerrald.

      You are a well proper complete Muppet.

  7. Nice post, Tim!

    So everyone’s disappointed we lost.

    I am sorry we lost, but am still quite optimistic…this is not the end of the world for us.

    Just want to make a few points :

    1. This team has heart. They ran and they ran and they ran till the whistle.

    2. It is early days yet. Losing to the mancs is not the disaster that everyone seems to think it is. We have a whole season to go, to say nothing of the international break (which has been a bigger problem for us than losing a game).

    3. The team that ran rings around the mancs was a team without Fabregas, Rosicky, Nasri, Theo and Vela. Spend a moment thinking what our first team should look like and the bench strength we have!

    4. The next three teams in the league are City, Wigan and Fulham. What will be important in these three games is how we play, how Arsene rotates and whether we can keep a clean sheet. Nine points from the three games will keep the fires burning till the winter.

    BTW, I know some of you think that we don’t need to rotate at the beginning of the season, but that’s how you keep your best players rested as we approach the crunch months of December, Jan and Feb, which is the period when we have struggled in the past.

    5. Success in October hinges around the Champions League. The UCL draw has been kind to us. We have Std Liege and Olympiacos next month. It will be important for us to get full points from all three. If we can play Wengerball away at Liege and get a tennis score, that will really set the season up.

    6. Th most important thing is that everyone comes back from the international break fit and raring to go.

    Plus, don’t forget, we could get some unexpected presents on the 2nd of Sept! I am still putting my money on a CB, with maybe a DM and a forward. My guess is Subotic (yes, I know he just signed a new contract), Matuidi and Chamakh.

    Lastly, if I may allow myself the indulgence of a curse – I almost choked when I saw Lasagna playing in the same team as Kaka, Ronaldo, etc…may he burn in hell forever! We should have locked him up in the freezer and forced him to serve out his contract! Arsene was too nice to him.

    On the other hand, AW might just be getting his mojo back – he did kick an unsuspecting bottle yesterday!

    BTW, how many red cards did we pick up per season in the Arsene years while we were winning stuff and how many did we pick up in the last five years since Paddy left?

  8. Exhibit B: Rooney is on his way to the ground before Almunia touched him.

    http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/3778/rooneydive.jpg

    Don’t have a picture of the 2004 incident when Rooney did the same and fell over.

    Is this all that Rooney has learned from Ruud van diver and Ronaldo? Man Utd fans probably don’t care as it always works against Arsenal. And even a new Man Utd player in his first game against Arsenal at Old Trafford knows he can get away with an elbow. Is there a behavior book in Man Utd’s locker room which mentions how to get away with fouls?

  9. I like this Article. Very well said.

    Mike Dean, Mike Riley, Howard Webb all United fans.

    It is the equivalent of the NBA giving home court cooking advantage the FA giving Mike Dean the job to do a job and he did it to perfection.

    We can only blame ourselves for putting ourselves in this position. Almunia shouldve never rushed out.

    Diaby oh fk sakes..what can you say?

    The bad news is we lost.

    The good news is with a game back and we are level on points we will still be ahead of United in goal difference.

    The better news is…United lost to us by the same score this time last year and also lost twice to liverpool.

    We just need to convert all our previous draws to wins. Forget United. Lets concentrate On Arsenal.

    Having said that…

    We Need a

    CF, GK, DM, CB, RW(proper right winger)

    Not neccesarily in that order.

  10. That was a great post, it’s refreshing to read a positive outlook on our situation. Keep the faith people and we will win this season.

  11. Great post Arsenalist, I agree whole-heartedly. I have never felt as GOOD after a loss as this one. We clearly were the better team, and with an impartial ref and a bit of luck, would have won this game. But we so clearly are a team on the up that can challenge on all fronts. I’m feeling great about this season!

  12. Man Utd played with 12 men including Mike Dean and he was the man of the match because he did the best for 2-1 win.

  13. When rooney dives he`s intelligent when eduardo does it he`s a cheat. I can safely say we have racist media in england.

  14. @Amerigooner: i completely agree with you…..even with the loss i was hardly dissappointed…..after all at old trafford when nothing else goes their way the referee does and it was a disgrace to see him sending wenger off for kicking a water bottle when he couldnt get half his decisions on the field right!!! Nevertheless for us gunners its just a matter of putting this result aside and continuing performing well and maintaining the good work!!!! Keep up the spirit guys…the season has just begun and the signs are promising!!!!:)

  15. The solution is simple. Very simple. Use video evidence to judge whether a player has dived. It is very difficult for a referee to make a split second decision without the benefit of video evidence. If a player is proven to have dived with the benefit of video evidence, he gets a card. If we want to eradicate diving, then make the referee give a red card. This way players will think twice before diving. It’s same with criminal offences. There will be far fewer people commiting crimes if the can get caught easily and the punishment is severe.

  16. Good post dude!

    Rooney sprinted, touched the ball and what he did next? Preparing to tumble. What a cunt diver.

    Ignore those cunt man utd fans as well who couldn’t admit anyone in their team diving.

    What a shame!

  17. I am disappointed that we lost a game we should have won 3-0 or 4-0. We took it easy as Mancs didn’t offer any resistance. Thats one of our major problems.

    I have put an image on my blog with rooney in training on one side practicing his stretch and rooney diving on the other. See the similarity and do let me know your views. Thanks.

  18. Gunner did not lost to Man U but lost the game to a better mike dean team. What a NO CLASS ref

  19. Fergi to Mike Dean,

    “Hi Mike, howayadoin’ envelopes in your dressing room as usual, and the carriers left the parcel in your garage, OK?”

    “Thanks Mr F, rest easy all the decisions will be your way this afternoon, I’ll have a word with the assistants, and see them alright.”

    Makes you wonder don’t it.

    How may penalties have been awarded against Mancs at Old Trafford, about 2 in ten years.

    Will we get a retropsective penalty, will Rooney be nbanned for two matches for simulation, will Fletcher be retrospectively sent-off for persistent fouling and dangerous play?

    Viva!

  20. I agree w/ everything you said here Tim. But you know what? 2 teams play and one is going to get screwed. 9/10 it’s going to be us and I accept that. CL final we got screwed and today we got screwed and I don’t care because I have this expression just for these ocassions and it is this: we have to win the game. It’s not rocket science. That way we will ‘over come’ all manner of evil that is foisted upon us by the rabble rousing mob and their minions (referees, FA, UEFA, FIFA).

  21. Eduardo and Rooney had the same intentions, to anticipate contact and go down. Eduardo anticipated but no contact, Rooney anticipated, and contact did come.

    I want to say is that if there is absolutely no contact, both of them would have fall as they already “tripped” themselves, and also if no contact is made at all eventually, it is likely Mike will give the penalty too, from his pov and I guess he fears Fergie too much.

  22. fuck the mancs. they have a shite team this year and it showed in the 90 odd minutes we played. they got lucky yesterday and they know it. if we keep playing like this, we will challenge for the title. our players played their hearts out but we came up short thanks to that sob mike dean and an absolute moment of madness from diaby. overall, the whole team was brilliant and even though we lost yesterday, there is not doubt in my mind we will finish above them this year.

  23. http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/blogs/mirror-football-blog/Why-Arsene-Wenger-sending-off-at-Old-Trafford-is-just-the-latest-example-of-his-problems-with-authority-article137687.html

    Here’s another Wenger hatchet job in black and white. The only problem w/ this BS is LMA head Taylor feels that Wenger was wronged by the 4th official Lee Probert and Keith Hackett will be apologizing for Probert’s incompetence. 3 wks into the season and Hackett will now issue his 2nd apology of the season for officials’ incompetence. The first apology was for the 2 dunderheads who failed to see Freddy Sears’ rocket of a goal.

    1. @ctpa, http://football.uk.reuters.com/uk/news/LU630684.php?rpc=401&

      That’s LMA head Bevan who spoke to Hackett and told him that his boy Probert f**ked up and he’d better apologize to Wenger. So “probie” (for you NCIS fans) will get gently ‘paddled’ out back while Wenger has already suffered public scorn. As I said earlier the 4th official was an idiot and now it not just me who knows it. Too bad Mike Dean skates.

        1. @Tim, Let’s see now Everton have 14 British players to Wigan’s 10. I wonder who’s going to get the ‘rub of the green’ today or is it rub of the yellow 😉

  24. http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_5524665,00.html

    Here’s the UEFA stooge defending UEFA’s actions in regards to Eduardo. No Scottish influence he cries aloud and I ask you do ‘bears sh*t in the woods?” The image of the game is at stake he the proclaims and I say combining the words ‘justice’ and Scotland, Scottish, etc. is also a big image problem. Where is the ‘compassion’ for Eduardo who is avoiding injury.

  25. So gutted, still, after yesterday. Can only say we were the better team and we deserved, at worst, a draw. Diaby? No idea what he was thinking. Eboue? To dive like he did on the heels of this Eduardo shit is just inexcusable and embarrassing and angering, and just smacks of his complete indifference at times. Still, hard to be any less angry than I am towards the ref. People have talked about context and how context was not important with the Eduardo dive. Agreed that it didn’t matter what the aggregate score was at the time. At the same time, where is the uproar over one of the most egregious misses of penalty calls on Arshavin in the box? Oh, let’s not talk about it, Arsenal scored shortly thereafter so it makes it okay. Unreal. In a way, it’s good this happened so shortly after Celtic so all the haters that occasionally and cowardly pop off against Arsenal on here and in other places can see that what we’ve been bitching about has clear credibility and warrant. United will get theirs this year, perhaps against Burnley again, and from what I saw yesterday, they’ve no chance whatsoever at winning this league. We, on the other hand, need to show that we can recover from this gutpunch and get the train back on the tracks.

  26. This is just one game in a season at it’s infancy. We all know who deserved to win that match. Even the local commentator here in SEAsia who is a known Arsnal hater said the 2nd class team won this match. 5 things that I noticed during the match.

    1) Rooney can’t get a decent ball when TV5 is marking him. In fact he was owned by TV5. The only time he did his job was when he drifted away from TV5.
    2) We were massacred in the park and we got 9 yellow cards. I think this referee is a close associate of Howard Webb
    3) Rooney is a cheat – that was a dive
    4) I can’t wait for MANURE to come to the Emirates and we will give them a footballing lesson.
    5) Why is SAF wearing the a CITEH colored tie?

  27. It is so lame to whine about that Rooney penalty. So very lame

    Can Arsenal ever lose, or ever have a penalty called against them, without it being an intergalactic conspiracy?

    1. It’s lame to come on to an Arsenal site and cowardly talk gibberish. See my comment above to the other cunt. It certainly applies to you, too. It seems our whining is as predictable as your general douchebaggery. If you’re ever in Chicago, little man, feel free to visit the pub and share more of your thoughts with us.

        1. To my point, friend. You sought us out, not the other way around. Feel free to come and chat with the lot of us in person, since you find this blog and its contents intriguing. I’m sure you’ll find our conversations of European football even more scintillating, enlightening and animated in person. The web is so impersonal, yes? But it’s great for guys like you, as it helps mitigate your lack of intelligence and a set of balls. Cunt off, midget.

    2. Whelp, with that comment you proved yourself to be a hypocrite.

      Rooney dived. He’s a diver. And unless you’re going to start a petition to get Rooney banned for two matches then you can fuck right off my blog.

      Oh wait, you don’t think it was a dive? You’re wrong:

      http://www.epltalk.com/man-united-2-1-arsenal-did-wayne-rooney-dive/10472

      But I don’t expect anything less from United fans, you’re the worst, most one-sided, fans on the planet. Worse than Yankees fans. Worse than Cowboys fans. United fans are a pack of self-important hypocrites.

      And as for your love of “discussion” on my blog, just like I found out over at Fark, you guys don’t discuss anything, you come into threads and troll. You come in to an Arsenal blog and troll, so why don’t you go fuck yourself?

      I guess that’s all you have, I mean you don’t have a team anymore, you won’t win a single trophy this year and you’ll be battling Liverpool for 5th place. So you come in here and troll.

      Typical United fan.

      1. @Tim, Man…you guys really hate when your echo-chamber gets disturbed

        Like I said yesterday, Arsenal could’ve easily won the game and, if Fabregas were there, I suspect they would have. I think they’re better than United, and I agree that they’re in trouble

        That doesn’t mean that your whinging about the refs isn’t pathetic, your context-less blurry screen capture notwithstanding. What a joke

        I shall bother you no more. Rest easy and try to be happier. It’s just a game

        1. @Roy, Just like I thought, you’re a liar and a hypocrite.

          I should have known, the signs were all there, I mean, you’re completely incapable of forming a thought without injecting a cliche.

  28. Mike Dean claims to be from England, but actually has a Kenyan birth certificate. And he supports Death Panels

  29. dont blame the ref,dont blame shrek, dont blame favourtism,blame almunia for being so stupid…and coming out like that,it was obvious arsenal would get punished for any little mistake,he should have known better….and then instead of coming out and claiming giggs floating free kick,he did nothing…arsenal will never win anything with him in goal,because he makes too many stupid costly errors

  30. I hear that Mike Dean was involved in some betting scam a while back, does anyone know more? Is he a fit person to be a referee I ask?

    Rooney is a persistant diver, and a serial abuser of referees, who has no knowledge of words greater than one syllable if you lip read his on-pitch outbursts

    I also believe his family is predominently Irish, good job Jack Charlton isn’t stll managing ROI team, or Wayne would be playing in the Green.

    There is one major factor that separates Manc fans and Arsenal fans, intellect. We have it, Mancs don’t. Read this blog and make your own conclusions.

    Viva!

    1. @viva los gooners, He was suspended from 2/05-5/05 for “using his football status to promote a horse betting ring”. He was also removed from refereeing a Liverpool game because he lives near Pool and it was thought he would be bias in their favor.

  31. Guess who saw red for Celts today? McGeady got a 2nd yellow for simulation. Everyone and their brother is on the look out for simulation and this bright bulb steps right in the dudu.

  32. To All Arsenal fans: I found out something interesting tonight purely by accident. A group of four (4) friends sat at a table next to mine. From their discussion, I gather that two of them are Chelsea fans, one Spud and one ManUre. Apparently, they, as well as some of their other friends, have been visiting many blogsites pretending to be Arsenal fans with very negative comments. They boast that they themselves are amazed at how many Arsenal fans follow their comments.

    Well, if this can happen, Isn’t it time for true fans to stay true and consistently write comments that will encourage our boys as well as ourselves? I just thought that I will let you all know. So what are YOU going to do as a fan?

  33. Tim: Your site is meant for Arsenal supporters, albeit from an American perspective. As an Arsenal supporter, I genuinely love this site. I am afraid that if you do not seriously start considering some sort of control against the invaders, they will end up turning your blogsite into a joke and another Arsenal bashing sparring site. Many true fans may begin to get fed up with it. Please dont let it happen.

    1. @LRV, I’ve been thinking about requiring some moderation in the threads.

      We’ll see if this is a one time thing or if it gets out of control.

    2. @LRV, and Tim: most of this negative commentary is jealousy.
      Arsenal are in good form and our roster is stronger than ever.

      When we lose, you can expect some gubers to jump onto the sight and spin crap. Their remarks just need to be ignored!

      If you have to go out of your way to moderate, then they have achieved their purpose.

  34. Arsenal fans have high expectations for this season. None of us expected the team to go undefeated. Is there anyone we prefer to lose to?

    What we did accomplish against ManU is control of the defensive third and a majority of the midfield play – two major turnarounds from last year. We did create some good chances, and that is a reflection of this team’s chemistry.

    Against ManU, our starting midfield: Song, Denilson, & Diaby (avg. 21 years) Our midfield bench for this match: Ramsey, Wilshere, and Merida.

    As for the officiating aspect of the match, we should not expect to get any breaks at any time – through next May OR ever. Most of the officials have grown up during a period where Pool and ManU dominated the sport’s popularity and they have probably been supporters at some point earlier as can be said for the established media.

    Arsenal need to channel the dejection from this match into a ‘motivating force’. Arsenal must play to a higher concentration, work rate, and skill level – never allowing any match to be close at the end. They must play with new purpose to eliminate subjective calls that can take points from us.

    There is nothing we can do about prejudices towards foreign players or the fact we are Arsenal. What we can do is raise our play to such a high standard, where commentary is centered for our skill and tactical strengths.

    I’m afraid that if Arsene does not sign two quality players ( to give us midfield and CB depth ) the risk for losing OUR key players next summer will be escalated. We can play very well, finish runners up in the league and in other competitions – but the market will throw big money in the direction of Cesc, RvP, Arshavin, Song, Nasri, Vermaelen to the greener grass.
    Winning is the best insulator for this problem, but not full proof.

    I am curious to see how UEFA and the FA react to reviews of match results: players actions. After this weekend, officials seem to be under more scrutiny.

    We have ‘a great roster’. We need some luck to keep most of our players healthy.
    Go Gunners.

    1. @arsesession, That’s exactly what I mean when I say the Arsenal must win the game. That eliminates the BS from biased officials, bad luck, bad timing, “hand of god” occurrences, bad weather, unfortunate injuries and alien intervention on behalf of the teams we are playing.

    1. @Kevin, That article summarizes things very nicely. We are almost but not quite there yet but we are closer now than we were last season to getting there.

  35. I was gutted with the defeat….but strangely…..did not feel as bad as earlier losses to Utd…..its probably we actually dominated the game. The independent ran an article in which i felt the last two lines were the most telling…..

    “When in May these teams had met in the European Cup semi-final in north London, Ronaldo delivered his last great performance for United, fashioning a victory that his team-mate, Patrice Evra, described as “11 men against 11 children”. Despite yesterday’s result, there has been plenty of growing up at the Emirates during the summer and those who streamed away from Old Trafford with a nervous victory in their pocket may have wondered if the long term will still be theirs.”

    http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/panic-and-injustice-leave-arsene-ready-to-kick-cat-1779307.html

    And lastly I must put in a good word for Diaby….apart from his header for the Own Goal ..he was just immense….the run he went on immediately after he scored the OG speaks a lot about what he can do when he gets his mind to it. Ditto…a similar run on the right hand side…which had Rooney lashing out at him because he could not keep up and some other United Defender forcibly putting a foul to stop him….that the ref delivered 2 straight yellow cards to the United players surely says something.

    I had met up with some of my Man Utd supporting friends the day after the game and was subjected to the usual taunts on the loss…..but despite that the guys for the very first time were praising Diaby..and no not for the OG he gifted them…but for his mazy dribbles..which with his power and pace can be a match for any defender in teh world. Wenger earlier said that this could be Abou’s season….i for one am hoping it is…Go Gunners 🙂

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