Please suspend 3/4 of all the things going on in the world so that I can catch up, do research, and have leisure time to check twitter
Good morning, as you have heard Arsenal will be Coming to America (today!) this summer (today!). It looks like they are going to four states: LA, Maryland, North Carolina, and Colorado* I won’t be able to make it to any of those matches because I have my travel budget tied up in home repairs at the moment but I hope everyone who can make it out to those matches has an absolutely fantastic time.
The last time I saw Arsenal in real life was in 2014, playing against Thierry Henry and the New Jersey* Red Bulls. Arsenal lost and Henry was kind of mean to the young players. I remember him tackling Jack Wilshere pretty much any time the young Englishman tried to dribble near him.
I’m going to put a quick aside here: I wonder how many of us really feel about Thierry Henry? Take two examples: the tackles on Jack described above and the way he made Benoit Badiashile push in his chair as they were leaving their press conference.
To the first, at the time I was one of those “old school” sports writers who thought that Henry was absolutely correct to tackle Jack the way he did. Wilshere was (and still is) one of those players who just hangs on to the ball too much. It’s annoying when you watch a guy with almost zero end product dance all over the place before losing the ball. It’s even more annoying to play with that guy.
And the other example is Badiashile. As they were leaving a press conference, Badiashile just got up, pushed his chair back, and headed for the exit. His chair blocked Henry’s path. Henry stopped, said something and stared at the 17 year old until he pushed his chair in. Now, unlike the first example, I probably would have not even noticed. I wasn’t raised with those kinds of manners. But I do get it: respect is important and even if you don’t think respect is automatic, I can’t think of many footballers who have earned the right to demand respect more than Thierry Henry.
All that said, it’s anachronistic behavior and when it comes to Wilshere not really his place to discipline. Or is it? Maybe I’m wrong here but he feels like a guy out of step with the world. Maybe you love him for it? Maybe you feel sorry for him?
Anyway, back to the post.
But more than the match, it was the event that was so special. We had an art show featuring dozens of artists from around the world and my friend 11 Cannons put up some of his wonderful drawings – one of which hangs in my living room to this day. There was even a book, a sort of travelogue, produced by some artists from LA, which featured photos of Gooners from all over America, wherever they stopped as they drove from LA to New Jersey.
And of course, the really special thing about going to football games is meeting new people. And I met so many people over those few days. After the game a dozen of us went out to eat at a Brazilian barbeque place and we drank huge quantities of alcohol, sang old Arsenal songs, and made up new songs: I tried to get a song going to the tune of Joan Jett’s “I love Rock and Roll” but we couldn’t get past the first verse of the chorus. I think it’s impossible to make a chant because the original song is just word salad after that (put another dime in the jukebox baby). But I still think “I love Arsenal” is fucking killer and wish my little pea brain could figure out a way to make it work.
I’m also kind of sad we all never kept in touch. I still talk to 11 Cannons and we are friends on most social media networks but the rest of the folks either tired of my Twitter/Blog or moved on with lives full of babies, loves, and local friends.
I guess what I’m trying to say that if you can to go to a game, go. Go with your friends, meet new friends, have a great time. That’s what football’s all about.
*I know that Colorado, North Carolina and New Jersey aren’t really states! Maryland is a state, I saw it on the Wire.
Gday Tim,
Wonder not how many of us feel about Thierry. For me, it’s not complicated. A legend, one of the best players ever to have pulled on an Arsenal shirt, one of the most outrageously skilled athletes I’ve seen in sport in my time following it (a pantheon also occupied by MJ and Magic). That’s not to say there haven’t been better, more accomplished footballers… there have. Two of the most accomplished of my time are currently playing for Juventus and Barca, and there are others who can stake a claim. But Henry’s sheer silkiness — centre forward, wing, creator — was something else.
On a BBC show I saw during the international break, he was voted by his peers (Shearer, Sutton and Gullitt) as the best foreign player ever to have graced the premier league (the spine of 4 was Schmeichel, Vidic, Vieira and Henry). it was a tough vote, Drogba and Aguero ran him close among the forwards, but Titi prevailed.
How do I feel about Thierry? That’s how ☝️
He isn’t the first and I suspect that he wont be the last superbly gifted elite athlete to be a bit of a demanding diva.
No disagreement on Henry as a player and he surely earned his right to be a bit of a diva.
As a manager however, he earned nothing and should’ve been more humble around his and opposition players.
Demanding certain level of conduct from others while himself shouting obscenities at opposition players during one of the games doesn’t say I’m old school and a diva but rather I’m a bit of a pri#k.
Titi won’t the last great footballer to find management to be a steep hill. The list is long… from Arsenal alone we have Tony Adams, and arguably Patrick Vieira. Roy Keane was a great footballer but a terrible manager. Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville arent/werent much better. Im sure that Im leaving off some obvious candidates.
I dunno. The least bit concerning thing in the world to me is that some great players weren’t angels. So we find folks trashing Sanchez OVERALL record at Arsenal, because he was a bit of a richard. Ive lost count of the times that Alexis, through sheer fight and willpower, dragged Arsenal to a point or 3.
None of this, of course, is to excuse all their actions. I’d drop Thierry like a stone if he was even accused of doing what Cristiano Ronaldo credibly was.
I didn’t see Henry’s tackles on Wilshere so I have no opinion on that but the chair incident was over the top I thought.
I’m all for the old school discipline even in this crazy upside down, black is white, fake news , me first kind of reality but humiliating someone in front of the whole world wouldn’t be the way to go for me personally.
I though he was a bit di#kish and petty about it then and I wasn’t surprised one bit he failed in his job as the manager.
Hey 7 AM Nation! AM-ers? Tribe of TIm? (We need a name for ourselves, I think.) Anyway, LA is my home turf and I plan on attending the game here in July vs. Bayern. LMK if any of you plan on coming. Would be fun to meet up!
Now , I get the “Maryland is a state. . . Wire” comment. 🙂
“I love Arsenal” in Joan Jett’s phrasing would be pretty righteous.
Surely some bard here in the comments can find a way to make it work.
I love Arsenal
So put another dime in the team now Kronke!
OHHHH… that might work!
I love arsenal, Henry is the greatest player ever ( if you slide a little on the greatest it’s sort of put a dime in the jukebox baby, maybe ?)
Is there anything more beauteous than a Spurs OG in the 90th?
btw, Kane dived in midfield to wint he FK.
True that, very satisfying result😉.
Yup, saw that (dive). Kane flops. That’s what he does.
Hard to believe we could be in third place by tomorrow night.
Everyone, listen up.
Imagine Mustafi in VVD’s position with Spurs on a 2 on 1 breakaway, closing off the passing lane to Son, and showing Sissoko onto his weaker left foot.
Take your time.
Mustafi easily has that in his locker.
Unfortunately ,after cutting off the passing lane and showing Sissoko onto his left, Mustafi slips and falls down or worse, he scythes Sissoko at the knees with ball nowhere in sight.
Titi is as yet unsurpassed as the best ever player in Premier League history. It will be exciting when he is passed for that type of accolade and beyond exciting if the one to surpass his stature wears the cannon on his shirt.
Ticket pricing looks really for these games in the States. Like college money expensive for son and daughter of 1-Nil. Regrettably, I must demur.
How much are tickets?
You know I saw this same shite at the Red Bulls game: tons of scalpers buying up all the tix and then reselling them for 5X face value. Awful stuff. Especially since people who wanted to go to the game were priced out and the stadium ended up mostly empty. It would piss me off to no end if that happens again.