Imagine you are taking a flight to Hawaii for vacation. You get in the plane, you get to your seat, you are all settled in and the plane taxis out of the gate. Then, for no reason, the plane just sits there on the tarmac. 30 minutes go by. 45. An hour. The pilot comes on and says that there’s a problem, some of the personnel are sick. It takes two hours to get those people swapped out.
The plane takes off. The food is just as bad as it always is. There’s turbulence. You land just fine but you’re two hours late, you get in to your room late. And now you just need to rest.
You got to your destination but do you complain? Probably a little bit afterward. Maybe you make a joke every time you stop at a stoplight “really hope this light doesn’t take two hours!” Or waiting in a long line for a shave ice “at least it didn’t take two hours!”
Did you complain while you were waiting on the tarmac? I bet you did. I bet you muttered under your breath. I bet a lot of people complained. There’s probably some gallows humor in the plane. A bit of “banta”, some jokes “speaking of sick, I’m sick of waiting!” HA HA HA. Did it help? Not at all.
Meanwhile, while there are some of us grumbling needlessly others get all sanctimonious about the complainers “these people are really sick, they didn’t do this to us on purpose, you’re not helping with your complaints!” And they are right.
Everyone is right in this situation. The complainers are just dealing with stress the way that they deal with stress; by being obnoxious. The sanctimonious crowd are just dealing with stress the way that they deal with stress: by telling other people how to act. If we all just step back a second and realize that what’s going on here is that everyone is just upset about unmet expectations, I wonder if we all feel a bit less stressed? Does it really help to complain? Is it really your job to police other people’s emotions?
Probably not.
Anyway, this has been a metaphor for Huddersfield v. Arsenal.
I complained about the game during the game because it was frustrating to watch Arsenal pass at a 72% rate against the worst team in the world*. I admit that I was caught by surprise. I am the king of lowered expectations and even I didn’t think we would be out-passed by Huddersfield. I understand that we had a lot of injuries and that two of the starters were rushed back from injury to play yesterday, but man, that was hard to watch.
Kolasinac 56% and Iwobi 61%??? Hey, but they had an assist and a goal. Still, ouch. Both reactions are valid.
Kola has bad games but that combination between him and Iwobi was the worst I’ve seen from them. They weren’t the ones rushed back from injury and they have played together all season, so I think Huddersfield targeted them for tight marking. We will have to see if other teams try to play against us this way. We know that Emeryball is all about getting the fullbacks into the box so it’s a good defensive strategy to shut that down.
On the other side of the pitch, Torreira had his worst game of the season. I wonder if he had that bug that seemed to ravage the Arsenal team pre match? Or maybe he needs a rest. It certainly didn’t help him that Maitland-Niles was clearly not match fit and that Mustafi – normally pretty good with the ball – had one of his worst ever passing games. You could see that there were going to be problems on that side when Mustafi kicked the ball out of play with a bad touch in the first 30 seconds.
But.. we got two goals. We won the game. We got to Hawaii. Enjoy it. Complain. Either way the last thing I’m going to do today is moralize on how you should feel today. Which seems to be the thing that a lot of people are doing. There’s no shortage of people who want to police other people’s emotions. It’s one of my maxims: there are two types of Gooners, those who complain about the team and those who complain about the other fans.
*Exaggeration? ME???
I mostly complain about bad opinions, which I would submit is different than complaining about the people themselves. The ability to separate a concept from the individual who utters it is very important. Disagreeing with someone’s take is not the same thing as criticizing that person.
Everybody relax. Football is no different than it was 30 years ago, except that we all have keyboards (also available on phones and iPads, and therefore on the go, anytime, anywhere) and social media accounts. People would be live tweeting while the plane sat on the tarmac.
People who police criticism of the team are deeply tiresome. Said it before, will say it again… you can love and support the team AND criticise it.
Do make one exception though… in the stadium itself. That’s no place to go all intellectual and analytical. Mass groaning at misplaced passes don’t help. Cheering the substitution of a poor Alex Iwobi doesnt help him or the team. Come on 7amkickoff — and go on twitter — and slag him off if you must. I dont care much if the player(s) read it or not. But don’t pile on him at a game.
I didnt see the game yesterday, but many people whose opinions I value said we looked terrible.
To be clear, policing comments is different from contesting them. Policing comments are of the “get behind the team” variety, or “the players may read your criticism and get upset; so lay off.”
One good thing about how we’re playing is that I’ve started watching more football just to get my fix.
Like today’s City-Chelsea game. Glad I watched it. Both for the wow’s and the lol’s.
I now feel better about yesterday.
I now feel better about our own result at the Etihad! Wowzers!
Could we finish 5th after all? One can dream.
Insert Gif of Unai shielding his eyes and looking far into the future
Please remember to lower your expectations.
I’m hoping for a 9th place finish.
Good to lower expectations but below a certain level you’d catch it you’re telling yourself a lie.
I was smirking inwardly about our 3-1 loss after today!
Great perceptive article…I am not telling you how to feel…. OK.. I am, but listen mate. Football is entertainment. It is to be enjoyed. If you cant enjoy the games that we win (at a canter) because the stats are bad, what games can you enjoy?…I love your blog because your writing is excellent, original and engaging, and analysis so so insightful. The negativity is less appetising, but I really really enjoy, so I still keep reading. If your blog started to make me angry, unhappy or any negative emotion; I would have to re-evaluate. If something is making you unhappy that should make you happy…..look deeper. Perhaps the two types of gooners are those who need football to make them happy and gooners who are happy and football makes them happier, but don’t need it to make them happy – maxims modified from Beyonce on her relationship with music/the music industry.
City were unbelievable. And that was with Silva, Mahrez, Jesus and Sane on the bench!
I remember thinking how good we were when we had 4 of the world’s best players in Bergkamp, Pires, Henry and Viera. But City have an embarrassment of riches, so much so, that we’re likely to be a long time in the wilderness.
Much as though I hope Liverpool win this season and show it’s possible for some lucky/inspired transfer dealings coupled with managerial prowess to counter financial dominance, I think City’s depth of squad makes them favourites.
Meanwhile Chelsea were …even worse than us! Result! Rock on moving up to 5th on the back of one of our lamest performances!
Dammit, Tottenham Hotspur. Cooperate!
Tottenham have a horseshoe up their a$$.
They keep winning games they should be losing or at least dropping points in.
Leicester created better chances and just didn’t take them.
Both Sarri and Emery are in their first season, and whilst Sarri inherited a better squad ( imo) and spent twice as much , and arguably has a top three player in the world football at his disposal , and a relatively healthy squad, he has suffered the worst away defeat to one of the B teams and now this.
But why didn’t Arsenal show more ambition and get Sarri instead of Emery 🙂
The last paragraph is the best bit about this whole article. Good one Tim!
You are being polite and kind to the Gooners. They complain like hypochondriacs, they suffer from victim syndrome. Even on a good match which our last one was not, they pick on one or two player and try to destroy them. Airheads shout the loudest and spew halitosis fueled bile all over social media. The one thing they don’t do is call out the Kroenkes
If we’re in Hawaii then why does it feel like New Jersey*? Painful to watch indeed.
With today’s gutting of Chelsea it does very much look like City and Liverpool duking it out for the title. Even with a game in hand, Liverpool are in a fight. With a player like Aguero in form…I mean, wow!
Tottenham are a solid bet for third, leaving a 3-way Arsenal/United/Chelsea fight to play for that CL qualifier in August.
Will Emery Air get us there?
One of my all time favorite comedy albums is George Carlin’s “What am I doing in New Jersey?”
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x49u2rk
It’s painful watching from here in the 808 as well, despite the sun, though it is our “winter” here. Getting smashed away to Liverpool and Chelsea in previous seasons was hard, so it’s not as if recent history is all roses, still I’m not finding myself particularly excited for Emery-ball at the weekend. There’s a tentativeness there I’m not sure goes away in the future with better players. That’s my fear with Emery.
I felt down after the win yesterday. More to do with the own goal at the end rather than how sh*t we were. I felt happy and uplifted today after Chelsea’s goal difference superiority got wiped out Go figure
We need City to take United in the Manchester derby, March 16th.
Liverpool must best Sp&$s, March 31st.
Liverpool must spank Chelsea again, April 13th.
The Man U – Chelsea match April 27th should probably end as a draw.
Meanwhile we need points from all our games and…we’re there! Easy peasy.
So I look at our first team squad and I think, who do we want to be here in 3 years? I’m talking players who we want to build a team around, not just padding. So if we strip out the dross, the mediocrity, or those who will age out, who is the medium-term future of this squad? And, ignoring the youth for a sec (because who knows how they will turn out), this is what I see:
GK:
+ Leno (a sort of middling first season so far, but potential for upside)
No Cech obviously, but not really Martinez either. He’s not young anymore, and he’ll never be more than a backup. Not a player to build around. Sell for 5-10m.
RB:
+ Bellerin
– all the dross we’ve seen here. Licht out. If we could sell Jenks for 5m that would be good business. Also, don’t see AMN as a RB in the long run, so not including him here.
CB:
+ Holding, Mavropanos (including the latter because there is more upside than downside, but it could go either way. Too early to write him off)
– Mustafi should go (15m), Chambers (15m) not good enough.
– Koscielny (free) to age out
~ Sokratis (free) will be 33 and be on the bench at best.
This part of the team needs at least one body, likely two or even three. Big investment needed.
LB:
~ Kolasinac, but only because there is nobody else. Big flaws in his game, despite his offensive potential.
– Monreal (free) will age out.
Serious problems here, but I suspect you could probably get a decent starting left back for 20-25m.
DM:
+ Torreira, Guendouzi, AMN
– Xhaka (20m), Elneny (10m)
We’re probably okay here, but may need another body. Lacking creativity. Still, if we can get 30m from Xhaka and Elneny that would be helpful.
AM:
+ Nelson, Iwobi – this is problematic. Nelson doing well but hard to judge potential; Iwobi needs to continue to improve and show more consistency. Not sure his ceiling is particularly high either.
– Ramsey (free), Ozil (free)
~ Miki (he’ll be 33…)
If the latter three leave, it frees up wages but no transfer revenue. We need 2-3 bodies here, and these types of players are expensive. Problematic.
STRIKERS:
+ Lacazette (29, will be in his prime or just past it)
~ Auba (will be 32 and lost his pace, may be useful but also hard to shift?)
– Welbeck
So in total: Leno; Bellerin, Holding, Mavropanos; Torreira, Guendouzi, AMN, Nelson, Iwobi; Lacazette.
That’s not bad, talent-wise, but it shows how much investment we need in exactly the kind of players who are expensive (young talent). It’s not enough players, to be honest. And I don’t see enough coming through the academy to either fill those gaps or raise enough revenue. And the players we have, if we sell, could probably raise 75m at best. So that’s two potentially very good players, if you get your scouting right. Thin margins, folks.
In 2-3 years time, I hope at least one of ESR, Nketiah & Willock will also make it to the 1st team.
And you forgot Denis Suarez. If his loan goes alright and he finds his footing in the PL with us, we can get a senior AM player in his prime in 2-3 years for a relatively low fee.
Hey Tim. A snowball fight in your neck of the woods, Wright Park, Tacoma, made the papers here in Delhi, with the picture of a guy holding a Captain America shield. And there’s someone who looks suspiciously like you in the background
Just thought you’d find that interesting/amusing.
There’s third/fourth/fifth type of Gooner…the ones you find yourself sitting near at the game and who constantly abuse the players on the pitch…the ones who made me give up my season ticket…the ones who slag the team on blogs…the ones who undermine the manager…the entitled wagon jumpers who’ve never attended a game in their miserable lives.
I detest them all.
Yes it was not a great performance, but I’ve since learned of the abuse aimed at Ainsley & Alex & it disgusts me.
Wouldn’t they technically be type 1 if they are “criticizing the team”? I have a different word for them. People like that aren’t gooners, they are a.s.s.h.o.le.s. You and Penguin were both compelled to give up season tickets in order to be away from such people, and that’s just in our small community here. I think that’s a convincing case that “criticizing the team” in any form is not just some benign different form of support that we are all entitled to like the air we breathe or our vote. No, by creating a toxic atmosphere you are directly detracting from the experience of other people around you, whether you know it or not, whether it’s in the terraces or on the internet.
Having given it further thought, I don’t really like this whole type 1 vs type 2 thing. There are no clear lines as far as I can see because most people probably do a bit of both even if they have tendencies more towards one or the other, a bit like how there are no absolute extroverts or introverts, yet we all get painted into a corner based on our predominant social tendencies. More than that, it gives us another way to divide a fan base which has already in recent seasons been so deeply divided along the Wenger fault line. Victoria Concordia Crescit!
I’m not a fan of Emery’s vision for Arsenal (I think its been long enough for me to come to a temporary/maybe permanent conclusion on this), I do not like the brand of football we have largely displayed this season, I miss the odd moment of magic from Ozil (yes, that is what matters to me in football, that odd moment of magic, not 89 minutes of putting yourself about and lord knows I can’t see anyone else that might be capable of that magic in the current line-up) and I’m repeatedly embarrassed by some Arsenal fans and their disconnect with reality that leads them to think they can throw vile abuse at someone just because they play for/manage/own/work for the Arsenal…..Arsene’s parting words to be mindful of our values seem more like an ominous warning with each passing week…I knew this season would need adjustment to but this has been more trying than expected. I need a match of attacking with reckless abandon with a goal of fluid one-two touch passing movement finished off with a cheeky dinked finish or audacious flick to bring back that lovin feelin…not quite sure if that makes me Type One or Type Two….but yeah, there it is
M/Stroke and LRTR (sorry about the abbreviations) 😁
You both bring something to the discussion that I agree with.
I wanted to go support my team, because doing so was important to me, but the virulent abuse from a minority, where I was sitting anyway, made me so upset and angry that I gave up my two season tickets rather than listening to that crap every game.
The odd thing is, those yelling obscene abuse felt they had done nothing wrong and had a right to do so, presumably because they had paid for a ticket.
Sheesh.