Every so often an event rolls around that reminds you how lucky you are to be an Arsenal fan. This week, there were three.
It was a week that got off to an inauspicious start as we lost 3-1 to Olympiakos in a game that already feels further away than the 1500 miles we travelled to get there. I wasn’t watching live due to alternative commitments, though from what I can gauge the match was notable for two things: the riveting competition between Lukasz Fabianski and Vito Mannone to decide who could be our most flaptacular back-up goalie, and an injury to Andre Santos which, it has just revealed, will keep him out for three months.
It’s big blow to lose the bulky Brazilian full-back, but as bare as we are in both full-back positions we’re fortunate that we have riches in the centre of defence. We’re now able to field Thomas Vermaelen at full-back, leaving the middle in the hands of Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker – two top-class international defenders. Hopefully the likes of Gibbs, Jenkinson, and even Sagna will soon be back to ease the burden on our versatile centre-halves.
As for Santos – well, he’s been outstanding in the early part of his Arsenal career. According to whoscored.com, he’s put in more tackles p/game than any other defender in the Premier League. That said, I’m told we ought to have expected this: it’s a stipulation of his contract that he never plays any games over the Christmas period. He calls it ‘The Santos Clause’ (I’ll get me coat).
The meaningless result in Greece would prove to be the low-point of my footballing week, which suggests the rest of it was pretty darn good. The following evening, around 500 Arsenal fans gathered to celebrate the release of Arseblog’s Arsenal Anthology – So Paddy Got Up. I only arrived late, as the crowds were finally beginning to dissipate, but it remained a tremendous occasion.
I have written a chapter for the book which attempts to depict how the digital world has changed things for Arsenal supporters, and without giving too much away it’s something of a sign of the times that you can put 500 strangers in a room together, with Arsenal as the sole bond between them, and witness such heartwarming results. I met some lovely folk from the Arsenal blogosphere (including Gingers4Limpar, whose recent piece on the use of the ‘Y’ word is essential reading), as well as several readers of this site, and marvelled at Arseblogger’s achievement in not just compiling and editing the book, but bringing together a community so full of support, goodwill and kindness.
The book, I should add, really would make a tremendous Christmas present for anyone with Arsenal in their height. Red and white are, after all, the most Christmassy of colours. You can order your copy here.
As if the cockels of my heart weren’t sufficiently warmed by that evening, by Thursday afternoon they were positively roasted. I was very grateful to be invited by Arsenal to attend the unveiling of three statues commissioned to commemorate the club’s 125th Anniversary. It was something of an open secret that the statue’s would be of Herbert Chapman, Tony Adams, and Thierry Henry. What I didn’t know was that Mr. Henry would be there in person, and that I would be stood just yards from the legendary striker when he broke down upon seeing his statue.
I was stood there alongside the venerable Goonerholic, and I don’t think he’d mind me saying that we too were a little choked by this obvious display of emotion.
Again, there were plenty of friendly and famous faces present. Special mention is due for Bob Wilson, who took the time to chat to fans and sign countless autographs, and Francis from ArsenalFrance, who is not only charming company but spends a lot of his own time helping Francophonic Gooners get to games.
As for the statues – well, for my money, they look magnificent, and are yet another fitting adornment to the stadium. A lot has been said about the ‘Arsenalisation’ of the Emirates, but for me the club deserve enormous credit for the way they have sought to make the ground feel like home. For me, at last, it does.
So by the time Saturday rolled around, everyone was in the mood for a party, and boy did they get it. The club handled the 125th Anniversary celebrations with the class you would expect, and thanks too are due to the BBC for the special attention we were afforded on Match of the Day:
As for the game itself – well, it wasn’t the most exciting, but as Arsene pointed out there was a certain poignancy in the scoreline: 1-0 to the Arsenal. And the goal scored was one that will be remembered well in to our next century.
It is a truly stunning volley from a player we are honoured to be watching this season.
This week ends with a trip to league leaders Man City. A positive result there and it might come close to matching the last seven days.
first!
the anti wenger mob who said santos is not a proper full back will now say we lost bril player wenger should never have played him
Santos is not a proper full back but now that he’s injured, he’s a brilliant player and Wenger should never have played him.
Well I’m still seeing the glass half full we have a good team that can grow and become even better, most of the other teams have already peaked early season. It was so funny how the pundits said newcastle would be in the top this season and Arsenal would be relegated.
I’m still basking in the glow of that sumptuous strike by RVP. What a beauty.
Now moving on….
Man City.
I had hoped that Chelsea would rough up Man City and leave them bruised and battered and a little tired. What I hadn’t counted on was them winning the match.
I have mixed feelings about the result. Firstly, it pushes us back out of the top 4 which sucks. Secondly it ends Man City’s unbeaten run which is great (Invincibles remain holy). Thirdly if this is Man City’s blip… then will they come back stronger against us or will the blip keep going?
In any case, this next match is vital. I do believe we can win it – Speed on the flanks is going to be critical and if we are a chance, Gervinho & Walcott need to play at the top of their game.
Santos is a huge blow. He’s been causing teams headaches offensively for weeks. I believe that we’re going to suffer offensively without our attacking fullbacks – as the signs showed against Everton.
Can’t wait for the match – I imagine I’ll lose my voice whilst screaming at the top of my lungs.
: )
From the Guardian….
There are plenty of good reasons to hate football. The diving; players snot-rocketing and wiping their noses on their jerseys in front of the camera; the ever-burgeoning breed of hypersensitive fans; Cristiano Ronaldo’s stance before taking a free-kick; the imaginary card waving; the lack of loyalty; the cliché-ridden post-match interview; Alan Shearer; Fifa; Chelsea away jerseys, Fan Blogs. The list goes on. But then, all of a sudden, a moment of unsullied beauty appears and you are reminded why you loved the game in the first place.
Robin van Persie’s volley against Everton was one such moment. The volley is the sculpted Armani model of the goal world: an item of rare beauty. And he’s done it before too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtWUvFu5oqo
It makes you forget about all those other goals. The beating of a few players? The backheel? The diving header? Pah! We’ve seen those executed on a Thursday night at Powerleague. Anyone can do those. But the volley? No way. To do it perfectly, as Van Persie did on Saturday, you have to be good – Gabby Hayes good.
Like the creation of a universe, all the elements have to be in the right place at just the right moment. So rare do these elements combine that volleys generally result in the ball skirting off the shin, over the roof of the stand and bouncing down the road, a new toy for an opportunistic passerby. But when they do come off, sit back and enjoy them. They will restore your faith in football and help to ward off those nightmares riddled by luminous jerseys and inflated egos.
Robin Van Persie, welcome to Madrid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Get a job!!
Get lost you cunt….
I think our players prefer barca mate… something about wanting to win trophies
Funny how afc fans had a go at Santos after the chelsea game, that we won by the way. I saw Clichy yesterday got killed by Sturridge and lost the game for city.
both kolo and gale were good players for us with good attitudes but they were not performing as they once were cabable of and wenger obviously made the right descission there
I love santos. Apart from his first game where he obviously wasnt ready he has been awesome. AW can find great talent and he should focus on that, as opposed to developing some dream. I think he has realised that already though.
Hope we can win against city as well but not completely convinced as dejouro will most likely be playing and that is bad news for us as the guy makes a critical mistake atleast once in everygame and that’s when he is trying to be a center back ….god only knows what will happen when silva starts twisting and turning around him on the right …has penalty written all over it if you ask me although I hope I am wrong and I hope we can manage as this fullback situation is a bit unlucky really or is it ? not sure as it seems any of our players who get injured these days are very serious injurys indeed , I mean who would have thought santos would be out for that long but hey seeing nasri looking all sad on the bench brought a wry smile and although he is a quality player he has a slightly strange attitude in my opinion and is not someone who could be considered loyal highest bidder comes to mind and unfortunately there appears to be a few of the french players who have this attitude viera , nasri ,gallas and anelka all seemed very mercenary to me but that said loved henry and pires and admired viera for his fearsome attitude but it did always seem there were cash issues in the background with him and I don’t feel viera can ever be as revered as henry is as I don’t think henry would have choose city over arsenal for any purpose but veira goes there and then is telling our players that city is the future and trying to lure them away whoops soory gone completely off topic …..anyway lets hope we beat the manc come sunday afternoon as thta victory would do wonders for the team and another away win at a top four team will help with team spirit
Some Festive cheer gooners, – sung to the tune of Rudolph the red nosed reindeer.
Sir Alex, united’s manager
had a very shiny nose
and if you ever saw it
you would even say it glows,
All of the other managers
used to laugh and call him names
they never let Sir Alex
play in any managers games.
Then one fateful Wednesday night
Arsene rang to say
Alex with your nose so bright
you can play on Thursday night
Then all the managers loved him
and they shouted out with glee
“Alex you red nosed bastard,
enjoy playing the Europa league!”
laughed out load when heard this… BRILLIANT
Thank you
was Veira not present on the day?
Top, top, post GBS.
Would have liked to have said hi in the Tolli at the launch.
Hopefully another time.
Santos is not the best LB but he does a job. He’s a much better attacker than a defender. I think Aguero will have a field day against Koscielny and Mertesacker. Especially with our high line.
We desperately need a new LB. Arsene needs to buy in January. Gibbs is injury prone and a mid table calibre player. Santos was OK but won’t be back until March. We can’t keep using Vermaelen in LB as we are wasting his talent.
PS The Henry statue looks nothing like him!
I thought the same thing. The statue has a strange bouffant of hair, like a poodle. It’s as if the Arsenal commissioned an artist who never saw Henry, but had great respect for the French art of grooming miniature dogs.
Somehow we will overcome them. We will find a way. It will be tough but we will do it. Can’t wait to stuff it in Nasri and Clichy’s face.
agreed weg,there was no reason to play santos against the greeks….
true you have some promising youngsters coming through on the cricket front… you may not have enough to blood them in tho, the indians will white was you,,,
you checked out jeffers yet?
the reason they played santos was because the yungun that was supposed to play wasnt allowed a visa so santos was shoe horned in at the last minute…. poor management. Its the little details that make all the difference.
No, RSPCA, I haven’t seen Jeffers in action yet.
I think the Indian team is over-rated. Sure, they have 4 of the best batsmen in the world, and one of the 5 best batsmen ever, but if they were any good they’ll be in the Australian cricket team.
I reckon we’ll lose 3-1, with a stirring Boxing Day victory followed by dismal batting collapses in the following three matches. We have great youngsters in the team, can’t wait for the Ashes to give those uppity Pommies their come-uppence!
I’ve read an article about young Thomas Ince, son of Paul. He seems like a likeable chap with a big future ahead of him. Any chance we can sign him up from Blackpool? He’ll be an interesting addition to our squad of scamps and raggamuffiins.
How dumb can Sp*rs fan get..???
When Chris FOY was the one who fuck’d up their game (heh) these idiots go swearing at some cycling champion (Chris HOY) on his twitter account…!!!
Talk about being bewildered….
Welcome to Madrid Robin Van Persie!!!! You will never win anything with a small time Man city feeder club!!!!
HALA MADRID!!!!!
Get a job! And why would RVP leave to watch Cesc trash them every time. I mean 1-3 at home is an embarresment or 5-0 away if you want. And what do you spanish retard suggest Real will win this season. PD? CL? Sorry sam, woun`t happen. Maybe copa del rey, ehhhh copa del what?
Listen just because you`re unemployed, have no future in a country that start work around 13.00 and take a ciesta until 21.00 and than go to bed. We understand you are frustrated. But why come in this page with your lacy spanish act. You should worry about your fucked up country and your wannabe football team, not if RVP should win nothing at Arsenal or nothing at real.
Get a job, and win something even one game against braca will do, than you can come knocking on RVP`s door, he will probably be 50 by then, but still.
WeI have a perfectly good jobs here in Norway thank you. Don’t be mad just because we come here and smash all the blonde Scandinavian girls. They love the Spanish men. Something to do with Norwegian men being weak…… And small…..
Great, you have to move abroad to get a job and have sex. Maybe you have your holidays in Thailand too, where ugly spanish people can buy sex for the money you steel from Germany and Scandinavia, but nice that you are proud of that;)
Is there anything on this planet that you are not jealouse of? RVP, norwegian wages and blond women. To bad Real have neither;)
haha, why do I need to waste my time in Thailand? You won’t find many Spanish men in Thailand having sex with boys and girls….
That is the exclusive expertise of Germans, British and Scandinavian men! All of whom are so weak and afraid that they are being rejected by their own race of females.
Why else do you see so many western girls finding comfort in superior races such as Spanish/Latino and North Africans/arabs!! But don’t despair my friend, have some Torsk!
_!_
weg… talking of collapses they dont come bigger than any of englands in the 80′s and 90′s… but boy did your boys come close the other day, i felt sorry for the openwho got his ton, must have felt like cesc at times,,,,,
any good aussie bands to look out for in2012?
true mm i heard that as well, someone in admin should be bollocked opr spanished over that.
There are news that chelsea is planning to sell torres for 20 m…..should wenger try to sign him…where does he fit in the current team if RVP is healthy and roaring.
There’s a rumour flying around that we’re after a certain player in January. Now, while I agree that we need to strengthen that position because of injuries and a thin squad, I believe Wenger is thinking that due to our current league position and our run of form, it’s better to wait until the end of season.
RSPCA, I’ve been listening to Christian worship albums for the past year, so I’m not sure who the new up-and-comers on the Aussie music scene are. Although, I am a bit disenchanted by pop-rock these days. All these precocious scamps emerge with promising debut albums but disappear when it comes to bring out album No.2.
But here’s Emma Louise: http://tinyurl.com/3zn4sbu
I quite like my pretty, indie-pop ingenues.
@ Real for life: Nice to see that you are picking up Hitlers idea on superior races, that probably reflects spanish society in geneneral. While most norwegians share the idea of race equality. But good luck with your race view;)
Yes, just ask Anders Behring Breivik. He certainly had some interesting ideas about eugenics and race equality….
Anders Behring Breivik.
You have to grow up! It`s ok to throw some trash talk to eachother about football etc. It is another to support racist views. And Breivik is a single person, he dosn`t speak for norwegians in general, but aparently he speaks for you since you agree with him, just in reverse. That is nice.
“Listen just because you`re unemployed, have no future in a country that start work around 13.00 and take a ciesta until 21.00 and than go to bed. We understand you are frustrated. But why come in this page with your lacy spanish act. You should worry about your fucked up country”
What has the above got to do with football?
You started the trash talking. I’m just finishing it.
Without Mourinho, you are nothing!
Every Year Real Madrid buy buy buy and still can’t be top club in an inferior league.
Barcelona kill you everytime because you are 2nd best in a a league with only one club.
So why don’t you and buy some more players and maybe next year you will be a bit nearer.
Haha…Spanish idiot…now go eat some paella with clams
As I said, trash talk is fine, being a racist is not. It should be easy to understand.
I am not a racist man, but even I agree with that guy would said that Aussies are the greatest people in the world, and Pommies are amongst the bottom quartile. It’s been scientifically proven by our top Aussie life-saver scientists in the National Sports Lab on Bondi Beach.
will give the link a listen to weg… years ago i worked with the publicity department/a&r for cbs records… even then with new bands they were all worried about second album, all had enough material for a single album… so nothings new,,,
whate ever happpened to the big yank we were testing out the other month?
whats the aussie national sport now weg,, now that you are 6th in the world rankings?
Our national sport has always been giving the Poms their come-uppence.
I’m most interested to see how young Neymar will perform against Barcelona. Will he fall victim to their incessant tippy-tappy? Or will he launch himself into the annuals of football by out-performing the feted Lionel Messi and become the greatest player in the history of world football??????
It’s the last chance for Neymar to prove to the world that he’s better than Pele, and it’s the last chance for Messi to show that he can perform against quality opposition. Either way, one of these youngsters will become the greatest player of all time, and the other will be another shit player who’ll probably turn out for Spurs in five years’ time.
A lot riding on this game!
Oh, and Ganso will engage in a bout of fisticuffs with the weathered Master Passer himself, Xavi Hernandez. I expect those two to duke it out with Queensbury rules, with blood flowing from all four nostrils and crinkling their proverbial moustaches until they form stiff upper lips of English gentlemen of old.
These are two fabled clubs with huge history and passionate followings all throughout the world and down the echoing hallways of time. Sometimes I think Pele himself is playing football with the young scamps of Santos, such is his legacy at the club, and I’m sure every Santos fan with erection problems agree that Pele truly speaks for them and is a fearless advocate of noble causes. And no need to mention Barcelona, which is a club that can make the world love and hate them with equal measure, and be good enough to be arrogant enough to think that they play the best football in the world with nary an agricultural defender to be seen at their palace of the soft-shoe shuffle.
I quiver with excitement to watch these two titans of world football duel it out for the title of the champion of the world, and the right to defend Earth’s honour against the galactic hordes of tikki-takka playing aliens in a galaxy far far away.
I am thinking hard about the fullback problem at the Arsenal. We have lost many a fullback in the past, but never in the history of the game has one club lost so many fullbacks in such a short span of time. Yet, irony of ironies, we shall have them fit as a piper once the January transfer window opens again!
What is a march hen to do in this season of madness and misgivings? I believe we must find a way of coping with our full-back shortage for the present, and see if we can overcome our deficiencies until CFJ and Gibbsy come back into the side like two roaring lions hell-bent on having a saucer of milk and a nuzzle under the muzzle.
Against the might of mighty man City, we need to fight like tigers against asps. So we should play all four of our killer elephants in the side, with the Verminator, Kozza, the Sacker, and DJ so as to negate the power ferocity of MAn City’s lethal panther-like strikers. I would suggest we get DJ and the Verminator to man-mark the strikers as much as possible, to get in their faces and rub them the wrong way so as to make them uncomfortable and useless at the job.
I would suggest we could use Iggy Miguel and le Coq as reserve fullbacks once the might of Man City has left, and we’re left to face the munchkins of the EPL again. Against thsoe meager opposition, we need pace and guile and youthful good looks to outcharm, outwit, and outperform the wily old fullbacks of the oppoositon. I believe Iggy on the left and le Coq on the right can do a job for us until the real exictement machines of CFJ and Gibbsy come back in a triumphant rush of adrenaline and nandrolone.
Who is with me in thinking that this is a great plan and something that Wenger should read because it speaks to the heart of the universe and answers many underlying questions of the true nature of time, space, the raison d’etre of all existence and Wenger is a true philosopher who understands that animals are people as well, and should have voting rights concordant with their DNA simliarity to humans????????
Come on you gooners!!!!!!
Let’s support our gunners!!!!!!!!
Up the Arse!!!!!!!!!!!!
AcMilan…ere we come
Fantastic draw. Exactly what this team needs.
The bigger games are better!
I Spurs can do ‘em…then we better.
Check out their forum already bigging it up how they will kill us.
http://forum.acmilan-online.com/showthread.php?t=12893
*If
We are the biggest cocks in world football. AC Milan need to know that. Their cocks are not as large as our cocks.
We are the Well-endowed Arsenal!!!!!!!!
What a boring site this has become. at least when we had morons like respects highbury and the gay boy top prat posting there was always something funny to read. Now theres fuck all of interest on here.
GS has lost interest in the blog and arsenal… earlier the blogs were frequent and were on small small arsenal reports…. but now GS is out of sight even though a big news like the UEFA draw has come…!!
gs …if you vant be arsed why should we?
the only thing to fear against meelan is ther ref?
weg? do the aussies have their own brand of fast food ? or is it all usa ‘d? kfc, mcd and all that?
i remember someone telling nme that at the cricket they have 4/twenty pies? they any good?
RSPCA, we have Red Rooster, which is KFC with roasted chicken. And our Burger King chain is called Hungry Jacks, and there’s no Wendy’s. Otherwise, we have the main US chains.
Yes, our contribution to fast food is the meat pie with sauce. And Four ‘n 20 is the iconic brand of meat pie. It is like dripping with gravy and tomato sauce.
I am very excited about our tie with Milan. We should beat Milan comfortably, but it will be a good tie because Milan are a fashionable side and play elegant football. We need to be careful because Milan is cold at the moment, and our players won’t have the comfort of warm seats on the bench.
How about that Nicklaus Bendtner, hey? What a character.
cheers weg… i assume that they use the classic stones track for red rooster advertising? we played well today before we introduced the chuckle brothers arse and cham,,,, what it have been with the ox and afobe eh?
The youngsters have pep and verve about them, and the spring-footedness of youth behind them to turbo-charge their ankles like a winged hermes in a loincloth an a helmet with wings. This will spur them onto victory against the nebulous hordes of washed northerners than threaten the green and verdant fields of lower southern England like a plaque of frogs in a desert in Egypt fighting for life against vindictive Egyptian monarchs.
Once again, van Persie has chosen to keep his shooting boots in his kit bag while parading around in a pair of lairy white boots which are lairy and fashionable but whichg don’t provide him with the necessary fighting spirit to score big goals in big games againt big opposotion. We need to start thinking long term and 34 goals in 33 matches don’t cut it in the league anymore, we need to bring back Theirry Henry because he’s fleet of foot and his name sounds like a terrier, which is a dog-lke tenacity we need at a time like this, with our season on the line and our figthers fighting for breath in the suffocating pressure of a premier league campaign which started badly and is ending now in a stutter.
Wenger out.
What an extraordinary week to not write a blog post
Well said.
To be fair though – it’s kind of a mental time of year to fit things in. And let’s be honest – you start a blog with lots of earnest youthful enthusiasm when you are young… but as time goes by other things in life become a priority and the time you once lovingly devoted to your passion takes a new form. I know all about this.
I founded a blog once – it went mental and was hugely successful. I used to pour myself into it. 7 years later I just didn’t have the time or urge to continue creating like I once had.
It’s natural.
The only reason it’s natural is because we came from world beaters; “Invincibles”….to the one man RVP show. Hardly surprising you lost your enthusiasm.
So we are 1-0 down to City and who does our wonder manager bring on?
Chamakh & Arshavin
I mean FFS – is this his idea of a joke. Those 2 clowns shouldn’t even be wearing the shirt.
You see there is only one reason we are in a spot whereby we have to bring on Pinky and perky….that’s right….Arsene “fucking” Wenger.
Wenger Out! and take Kroenke and Gazidis with you.
Once we were warriors – big, strong warriors with penis gourds and spears and war-paint on our faces. Now we are bloggers on a blog blogging about Arsenal. We have sheathed our spears in our gourds are we’re watching others gourding their spears into the gourds of others, and we pay for tickets to watch them do it. I say it’s time we fought back against the tide of incessant capitalist castration and turn our once mighty gourds into chalices of maniacal massive manhood and manliness and turn out a full battalion of fighting fungi for the Arsenal to attack the ravaging hordes of repeated memes that the northerners keep sending us as a matter of course to take us down to the river to pray. Some like to say that black dogs of war are dogs of shame, but rabbits are dogs too, and rabbits with ears roar like lions in the days of old when Arsenal were invincible and Wenger was mighty.
Wenger out.