I was thinking about Bournemouth this morning for approximately five minutes. My thoughts went:
“Eddie Howe. Doing a great job. Has them all the way up to (where are they on the table, ah nevermind). Small budget. That Scottish guy who plays for them is a small budget. What’s he, 5’3”? Howe’s obsessed like Pep. I hear he spends every waking hour on football. Gotta love people like that. Who was it that said that he would be great at Tottenham? Or was it that they expect him to be the next Tottenham manager? After Pochettino leaves for Real Madrid. That’s the real joke though isn’t it? No chance Pochettino goes to Real Madrid. They want a real football manager, not just someone who teaches his players to play snide football while he rides on the coattails of the greatest English striker since Alan Shearer. Lump it up to Benzema isn’t going to work quite as well as Kane. Howe’s a good one though. Would I take him at Arsenal? Sure. Why not. But it’s not a real question because we still have the Process. But I do think he’s more a Tottenham type: small budgets, new stadium, perennially challenging for upper mid-table, no chance of winning the League. Bournemouth have no chance of winning the League but their fans have to be happy with how (get it) they are playing football. How long does that illusion last? “We are playing well” is like smoke. It’s not a bad thing. Sometimes you can catch smoke in a bottle. Leicester did it. Their league title has to go down as one of the most incredible things since the invention of the Premier League. This is a League designed to keep the have-nots permanently feeding off scraps. Mid-table and relegation teams just don’t challenge for the League title. They can do a Burnley and play above their station for a while before they fall back down. We’ve seen that many times, Aston Villa, Burnley, Leicester, Tottenham, etc. At least one a year. This year it’s Bournemouth. Or maybe it’s Arsenal? Expected Goals says it’s us. Maybe we are the little team that overperforms this season, only to drop back down into mid-table obscurity next year? Do any of us really ever challenge for the title, become a football powerhouse, without massive investment from abroad? Can we ever win the League again? Nah. After Pep wins it for the 8th consecutive year they’ll rename it the “Guardiola Goblet” or something. Does it matter? Is football about the process or is it about the results? Do I love Arsenal or do I love Arsenal plus trophies? What’s in it for all of us, really? It’s none of that. It’s not even the people on the pitch. They don’t really matter in the end. We can marvel at their skill, we can celebrate their luck, but in the end they all leave. All that matters is the other supporters. The club. Not the club as a corporate entity. Not the thing that sells us access to the stadium on matchdays or who puts together slick advertising packages on Twitter. Not the thing that makes millions of Pounds on our support. The club in the truest sense. Our clubhouse. Us. Each other.”
I need to get some more sleep I think.
I started to read your Post with a somewhat laconic smile, imothyt, thinking it was just an occupational hiccough that all bloggers/blog owners go through from time to time, but underlying the whimsical nature of the article was a simple truth.
Football clubs, in general, and not just Arsenal have moved so far from their original raison d’être that they look like alien entities viewed through the wrong end of a telescope in a Galaxy far, far away.
Formed from groups of working men based in factories during the industrial revolution around the late 18th century for leisure activities, and spiced up by geographical locations, football teams became ‘competitive’ and in the late 19th century they had at it, and under the auspices of a self elected ‘authority’ leagues were formed and a tribal following of supporters soon evolved, among them Dial Square and then Woolwich Arsenal who finally became THE Arsenal.
Those who could play – played – those who only wanted watch – became supporters and so on.
Look, I am not pretending that I am in any way knowledgeable about this stuff – I am not – but the images I have in my head about that era resonate with me and create a certain type of nostalgic longing, which given that the 17th century origins occurred some 200 years before I was born, is quite some stretch.
Whatever — that leads me back from my own whimsy, and agreeing with your final comments in the Post;
— “in the end they all leave. (the players/owners/et al) – All that matters is the other supporters. The club. Not the club as a corporate entity. Not the thing that sells us access to the stadium on matchdays or who puts together slick advertising packages on Twitter. Not the thing that makes millions of Pounds on our support. The club in the truest sense. Our clubhouse. Us. Each other.”
Hear, hear!
Thanks!
Wow Tim. Either you type REALLY fast or you have an incredible memory. My streams of consciousness are like water flowing under a bridge: here for an instant and then gone forever.
I used to hate Tottenham supporters. Grew up going to a school that was full of them, arrogant ‘cos they were still riding the wave of their last top-flight championship (yes, I’m that old. Heh heh). It didn’t help that I was attacked by a pair of the buggers outside of Euston Station one Saturday afternoon; fortunately I was wearing my running shoes and managed to leave them behind (laughing, I’m sure). But hopefully we outgrow childish prejudice. Last time I was staying in London, my brother and I went to watch a couple of games at his local where the barman is a totts supporter, and we all got on great, lots of banter and laughs. Now, I still get a chuckle when the Spuds fall on their face, literally and figuratively, but your piece reminds me that supporters are the heart of the game regardless of where they choose to invest their emotional energy. (OK, I struggle to extend that magnanimosity to Manure supporters, their arrogance is just so galling, but then I remember they have to put up with Mourinho so I suppose it evens out). We have that in common despite the different colored scarves. Because we all care about the same thing, really.
A few trophies here and there don’t hurt, either.
It is, of course, early days for Emery and his revolution, and it needs to be borne in mind, especially by impatient types, such as myself, but there is a form of latent frustration in watching Arsenal play some sublime football and then descend into some execrable performances with no discernible reason for doing so.
But then — I am really happy with the ‘sublime football’ episodes – the first green shoots of a successful team, who may never win the Guardiola League, to pinch your idea, but which is good enough to possibly get us back into the much derided ( by some anyway) ‘top four league’.
I bet they regret their nonsensical dismissing of that fantastic 20 year run which allowed us to play against some of the other top European teams, with the very welcome financial rewards that brought with it, although sadly, with little identifiable playing success in AW’s latter years.
Not sure if you’re trying to bait people, (you succeeded with me at least) but Pochettino is a real football manager and I’m not a closet Spurs fan. No trophies? Valid criticism. But ridiculous to suggest he’s not a real or good manager. Fact is he probably wouldn’t succeed at Real, but not because he’s a poseur, rather his methods need young moldable talent, and probably would get adopted by established stars. I rate Benitez and Pellegrini as good managers, they both were “failures” at Real.
Poch isn’t just a poser, he’s their prince.
Great post. To paraphrase the great Sheryl Crowe, “Arsenal are my favorite mistake”!
The holiday fixture crush is packed with Manchester United an NLD and Liverpool. Bournemouth are no pushovers to start it all off. It’s about to get real.
Nutshell, imothyt.
As a committed Bunburyist, I’m just here to say I loved the title of this post. So, at the end of the game, will we find out that Bournemouth was the club’s name all along?
In a Game of Thrones twist the third act is a mass murder at the Morning-Room at the Manor House. Striding on to stage is Algernon, revealing that he was a White Walker all along, the ultimate Bunbury.
I did not enjoy Tottenham’s dismantling of Chelsea. Not one bit. Every year I think, “oh, they’ll get gassed soon!” and every year they just keep going. Are they machines?
I am not hopeful of finishing in the top four! Not one bit.
That was gutting. Sarri seemed incapable of adjusting to their plan of man-marking Jorginho. In fact, his entire response was just to play Kante in ever weirder positions on the pitch. When teams man-mark, the answer is to drag the marker into weird positions (typically send them way up top or wide). He didn’t do that at all. The other tactic is to bring on a target man, like Giroud. So, it’s not a surprise they scored after Giroud came on.
But what was most frightening was the 20 minute blitz at the start of the match. I think they will do the same against us and we are NOT as good in possession as Chelsea. They might also try to isolate Xhaka (like they did Jorg) and attack him with fast players. It’s going to be a real test.
All these years of ‘earnest internet discourse’ and I am ashamed to admit I just now understand the literary allusion (did I use that term correctly? I hope so) in your name. That’s what happens when Oscar Wilde is not part of your high school or college reading list, I suppose.
The difference between Tottenham and us in our respective first halves against Chelsea was that they took their chances, and we did not. Our game should have followed this same trajectory. And it is, funny enough, one of the few first halves where we’ve played really well.
Excellent point.
I just watched the highlights and wow wtf happened to Kepa for the Kane goal??
We could talk about tactics but when you concede a set piece goal in the 7th minute, well, there goes your game plan. Then when your Kepa lets in a daisy cutter from 30 yards, well, there goes the ball game.
Also LOL @ David Luiz trying to ‘tackle’ Son on the 3rd goal. Comical. At least when Mustafi does that he can say he hasn’t cost a bijillion pounds in his career.
Bournemouth score three, Arsenal win 2:1.
Brilliant.
I thought that was one of our better performances, certainly since the Liverpool match. Emery’s squad selection was interesting. By leaving Ozil on the bench, it seemed like he was trying to put all of his most hard working players out there at once. The 3CB system also was dusted off for the first full PL game this season. It was probably felt to be necessary due to the defensive frailties of Kolasinac as exhibited in the Wolves game. He also started Aubameyang as a lone center forward. In short, big changes compared to the last PL match. You have to say he got it right as well. After absorbing some early pressure and coming to grips with their energetic high press, Arsenal were the better team for the majority of this game. Also, both of our goals came from Kolasinac raids down the left flank, the first a probably errant center deflected in by Lurma, the second a perfectly measured center tapped in by Aubameyang for the decisive goal.
Emery will have been relieved not to have to make a half time substitution and to see his team perform in the first half, though again we were better after the interval. On the negative side, we have seen many times the team over-commit numbers in the box and being punished on the break as a result from a clearance or misplaced pass. Bournemouth too advantage of Arsenal’s over-enthusiasm expertly just before half time and you feared the worst. But as they have also shown many times, Arsenal had the resilience and quality to gain points in a tough spot away from home after being pegged back. Questions remain about the balance of the squad, the ideal first XI and the role of main men Ozil and Aubameyang, but overall this was an encouraging win over a good team away from home.
Told you guys about Kola. He’ll get better on defence, but I really like him as an energetic full-back. And I’ll repeat whet I said… if he develops reasonably well all-round, he’ll push Nacho out. His defending and positing can sometimes be downright awful, but his ceiling is high.
Doc, I think the Auba at CF change was enforced. Laca (who also had to pull out of the France squad after a long overdue recall), wasnt available.
Ozil’s absence is intriguing. I’d say that the most important members of Emery’s Arsenal team are Bellerin and Torreira, along with the main strikers. They are so, so central to how he wants to play. Bellerin’s transfer value must be now north of 70m.
Need to watch a replay of the game before commenting properly, but these are a good 3 points. Bournemouth haven’t been the easiest of opponents for us of late.
The good news is, after this weekend, only two teams are left to challenge our Invincibles season. That bad is news we have an NLD against a side who are not s$&t and in very good form. With a little side trip to Ukraine in between. In that Europa League match I hope we see no Arsenal players above the age of 12.