Comments on: Olympiacozzled… A hard earned victory…

By: Truegooner

Truegooner — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 22:02:59 +0000

Haha u dickheads u got all ur figures wrong by the way!! Think u hav forgot about ljungberg,vieira,petit,overmars,Henry and so on. We made millions on diarra and anelka and again so on! Not only r we a gud team but a fantastic business aswell!!!!

By: salom

salom — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 21:41:42 +0000

It seems a very long time ago that I decided to support Arsenal; it must have been around November, 1970, as I distinctly remember loosely following Chelsea and enjoying their 1970 FA cup win over Leeds. Not for me, though, the bright lights of the Kings Road, Peter Osgood and co. I switched to boring old Arsenal and, after watching Charlie George secure the double in 1971, that was it: a Gooner for life.

I managed my first visit to Highbury at the tender age of 12 in 1973, and watched Liverpool beat us 2-0 and, although I was disappointed, it mattered not a jot. I was bowled over by the experience, much like Nick Hornby was in the film of ‘Fever Pitch’. Many games have followed, and I have witnessed some wonderful times, along with, of course, lots of disappointments too.

At one stage, Arsenal were all that mattered to me, and my weekend mood was completely dependent on how we had fared. I was either the life and soul of the party or in a black mood of despondency if we had lost. This probably peaked in the famous 1989 season with Mickey Thomas’s goal in the incredible 2-0 win at Anfield to clinch the title; something I never thought I would see happen again after such a long time since 1971. I thought to myself: it does not get any better than this, and gradually I brought my Arsenal support into some sort of perspective.

That is not to say that Arsenal had suddenly become unimportant to me, but I was able to as a human being whether we won, drew or lost. Probably because of this, I am – thankfully – happily married, with a lovely wife and daughter who both hate football and cannot understand my passion for a football team. It is, though, a manageable passion now.

I come now to the ‘Wenger Years’. What can I say about 1998 to 2005? Those years probably saw some of the best football Arsenal have ever produced. I am not going to debate whether Wenger was lucky to inherit such a solid defence and keeper, although what we have witnessed post 2005 suggests that he probably was. All I will say is that Wenger gave us some wonderful times, whether he was lucky or not, and I thank him for that. I think this is why many of us have been so very patient with him up until now.

I realised after the Bolton game that I was not happy about us winning. This feeling intensified when I read about Wenger claiming we could still get back in to the title race and Gazidis coming out with the usual empty promises of money to spend in the next transfer window. On top of that, Wenger was also quoted as saying his top players may have to be sold as their contracts are running down. I wonder why the likes of RVP don’t want to commit pen to paper. Could it be that, like so many of us supporters, he has no faith anymore in the manager?

Such is my conviction that Wenger is bleeding our club dry of quality and experience, and such is my bafflement over so many decisions he has made, that I can no longer blindly support my team with him in charge. The Board, too, makes me sick to the stomach with their spineless, greedy behaviour and their blind worship of all things Wenger. Finally, as I said right at the beginning of my article, the fact that we still have fans chanting Wenger’s name was the final straw.

The only way Wenger will be sacked or will resign is for Arsenal to struggle badly this season and, for me, that is more important than Arsenal having another season of scraping home fourth. I want a short, sharp shock, Wenger out, and a huge wake-up call to the club in general that we are sleep-walking to mediocrity. Perhaps then we can start on the road to recovery and get some ambition back at the club (and a defence).

Because of this, I am ‘resigning’ from The Online Gooner as I do not feel that I can contribute anymore. You all know my feelings, and I thank everyone who has agreed with my sentiments. I sincerely hope for better times ahead for Arsenal, but it has to be with a new manager, as my trust and respect for Arsène Wenger has reached the point of no return. So I am now in the football wilderness with no club to support, but even that is better than swallowing any more of Wenger’s ridiculous comments and lies. I just hope it is not for too long, and I hope to be fully behind a new Arsenal manager ASAP. A new Board as well would be even better, but that would be pushing my luck too far, I think.

By: salom

salom — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 21:20:53 +0000

Modric and Parker I’d say are better than all of Arsenal’s central midfielders. Spurs look much more assured when King plays. ith Adebayor up for it I just can’t see how Arsenal will cope. If Arenal lost this one would that be Wenger’s last harrah. At what point would you say eough’s enough. All well and good the board publicly backing him now but what if Arsenal kept on losing? Wenger said qualifying for the Champions League was a distraction but had he kept Arsenal at it until the end of the season then they would’ve finnished 2nd or 3rd and wouldn’t have had to qualify. They only beat Swansea due to a goalie erro, beat 10 man Bolton and hung on against Olymiakos. I don’t think Arsenal’s problems are over yet.

By: salom

salom — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 21:19:49 +0000

Mightygunner here is the list again just to remind you of the real problem, where did the ONE HUNDRED & SEVENTY FIVE MILLION come from for this lot, out of thin air. Koscielny £11, Squillaci £7.8, Vermaelen £8.9, Arshavin £15.52, Nasri £14.08, Bichoff £0.26, Ramsey £5.63, Silvestre £0.84, Bothelho £1.06, Sagna £7.92, Eduardo £10.56, Fabianski, £3.83, Diarra £2.55, Rosicky £8.80, Denilson £4.40, Rui Fonte £0.66, Mertesacker £6.00, Gervinho £12.00, Oxlade-Chamberlain £15.00, Jenkinson £1.00, Arteta £10.00, Santos £6.00. How many of this lot have proved to be successful. You lot have run out of excuses for Wenger so you keep spinning this story about money. Well over £100million totally wasted on poor players, that has nothing to do with being self-sustaining, it’s all about rank bad management.

By: edison

edison — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:00:30 +0000

dare i say it with Song at the back, he is enough of a player to not only defend well, but help frimpong when going forward.

By: Kodjo

Kodjo — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:20:10 +0000

I’d rather keep Song in the middle and play Miquel at the back….its risky which ever way you look at it…cos the midfield have to be smart to track van der vaart and modric runs.

Even though Frimpong okay…he is not as mobile….lots of strength but he needs guile too… will come good though …i’d rather play Song there for his exp and also to help Miquel out whenever possible.

By: edison

edison — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 15:40:29 +0000

No Rosicky or Arshavin in the starting line up? brilliant.
I have faith in Frimpong to deliver and lets see how well we do with Song in the back four. I think a lot of you negative ‘fans’ will be surprised.

By: kp007

kp007 — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 11:09:36 +0000

4-0 to the spuds i rekon…could be more but wont be less.

By: ny

ny — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 09:39:18 +0000

Sunday’s lineup

——— Fridel
Walker-Kaboul-King-Ekkoto
Bale-Sandro-Parker-Modric
—–VanderVart
——Ade

——-Persi
———Ramsey
Gervinho-Frimpong-Arteta-Walcott
Gibbs-Song-Mete-Sagna
———-Szes

———————————————-
subs(Spurs) : Kranjkar,Pienar,Lennon,Pavluchenko,Defoe,Corluka

Subs(Gunners): Rosicky,Alex,Coquelin,Chamakh,Miguel

Gunners , be HONEST .. which is better team?

By: pires

pires — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 09:37:17 +0000

Spurs are favourites for the derby win for the first time I can remember in forever! As someone pointed out, we’re a confidence team more likely to build on good performances and put together streaks. We don’t do well when we have to bounce back from setbacks or surmount mental hurdles. This is why it is absolutely crucial to win this game over the weekend (convincingly or not!) – HOWEVER, this is also the same reason why I feel that the odds are heavily stacked against us. We’ve looked awful on the road this season, and I can’t imagine that the performances and results from the last few games have inspired confidence in the players. Add to the fact that maybe there are too many youngsters and new boys without prior experience or grasp of the enormity of this derby… and I’m very worried! Noone would be happier than me if we can defy logic and gross expectation to pull out this win but… recent history tells me that I should know better! If anything, I’m not so much worried about the loss of three points, but the effect on our league season going forward! This is about the most gloomy post I’ve ever put on here, but…