Well, what a week it’s been.
Eurozone Goal-God-cum-Scandinavian-Rhinocerous-impersonator Nicklas Bendtner smashes three past Porto to launch us into the Champions League quarter finals, then nips one past big bald (bad) Boaz in minute 93 to send us joint top.
Two days earlier, Arsene Wenger described Emmanuel Eboue as ‘the complete player’ to the derision of absolutely no-one.
These are days of strange and wonderful events.
The shoe with which the British media and large sections of the Arsenal blogosphere (to their eternal shame) have spent the last year or two kicking this Arsenal side and Arsene for building it, is now not so much on the other foot as in the process of being gleefully jammed inch by inch down the throats of those who chose to doubt and snipe when they should have hoped and cheered.
Former call-centre middle manager Phil Brown could barely get his whimpering and garbled objections out on Match of the Day, and ought to be branded a moaner in precisely the fashion in which Wenger is every time he gives his opinion on a leading question. All the attention was rightly on how big a goal that could be for Arsenal come the season’s end. Wouldn’t it be nice if the point of which Bendtner deprived Orange Brown so late on turned out to be the margin by which the Premier League was finally rid of Hull City?
Eight games left for Arsenal and the expectation, however much we try to keep it under control, is pretty big right now. When you get into this position it’s misery or glory, no mediocre middle-ground. That in itself is a symptom of success.
If we don’t win the league now, then the very same pundits and bloggers who said Arsenal couldn’t even make the top four with this team will be writing the season off as a failure, even though Arsenal have mounted the title challenge they said would never possibly materialise.
We can win this league. Maybe with the relative run-ins of the top three we should now win it. But if we don’t, let’s hope the fans can at least retain the optimism and togetherness forged over recent weeks instead of indulging the panic-button-bashing tabloids.
Tags: Arsenal, Emmanuel Eboue, Hull City, Nicklas Bendtner, Phil Brown
March 14th, 2010 at 1:14 am
Spot on mate
March 14th, 2010 at 1:41 am
“The shoe with which the British media and large sections of the Arsenal blogosphere (to their eternal shame) have spent the last year or two kicking this Arsenal side and Arsene for building it, is now not so much on the other foot as in the process of being gleefully jammed inch by inch down the throats of those who chose to doubt and snipe when they should have hoped and cheered.”
well said. the english media are filth, any free thinking person knows that and the press can be excused from their smear campain and zenophobic words against our team. they are only playing a game to sell newspapers. no one should read any newspaper and take any notice of what they say about football or anything else. do not give them your money; do not click on their websites and their power will dwindle away…
as for the “fans” and bloggers who have tried to undermine and destroy the team spirit with their snide attacks on our players from behind their keyboards. their treacherous acts cannot be excused or forgiven. shame on them, shame on anybody who did not show loyalty to their club. you “people” were in the minority and you will feel no real pride when the team does lift the title because your joy will be an empty feeling. a person without loyalty is a person without a soul. you are nothing to nobody and it is to your eternal shame…
March 14th, 2010 at 2:23 am
“big bald (bad) Boaz”; “rsene Wenger described Emmanuel Eboue as ‘the complete player’ to the derision of absolutely no-one.” – this is gold. What an awesome blog. Expect a plug when I write my next article, this is going in the favourites. Great write up!
March 14th, 2010 at 2:24 am
Well said i also hope we can capture the title i can see the headlines now Arsenal the premiership because man u did not have a defence for half the season and chavs were distracted by terrygate anyway the ONE person i want to SAY SHUT THE F**K UP AND SUPPORT YOUR TEAM IS IAN (LEGEND) WRIGHT who seems to have been spending an awful lot of time whingeing about arsenal fans giving him a hard time over his honest opinions well thank god Arsenes got the bottle to stick by his players. If we can win the rest of our games it is ours cmon guys do it for the good of fooball and Aaron Ramsey most of us are right behind you.
March 14th, 2010 at 2:28 am
And shame on the other arsenal blogs for their knee jerk ’sack wenger’ petitions three weeks ago.
March 14th, 2010 at 2:59 am
if we win the league it will be wengers finest hour,and ours,i cant fuckin wait till may when everyone says,sorry ,we were wrong,arsenal are the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!whilst making 40million profit aswell,not bad for a buch of kids!!!!!!!!
March 14th, 2010 at 3:41 am
There is a lot of hope. Realistically, Chelsea and ManU are much better teams. Chelsea should win the title. But the underdog tag and the fight to the finish will be fun. 3rd place is not bad
March 14th, 2010 at 4:13 am
nice post, well said
March 14th, 2010 at 4:52 am
If we can keep Tevez and Pavlovachinko quiet we will win the league.
March 14th, 2010 at 5:24 am
After the mysery and despair of the Chelsea and Man Utd results, I am absolutely orgasmic to be in the position we are in. I want us to win the league but even if we don’t win it this year with a little Wenger-esque shrewd spending over the summer they might as well abandon the competition next year and just give it to us.
Just to clarify for all you non-believers, we are fighting for the title with a team with an average age of 14 or so, put together on a transfer budget of 94 pence whilst maintaining our record of having the most first team players out injured.
Further good news comes when you look at the financials, we are far healthier in terms of long term stability than nerly every other EPL club (not including spoilt brat rich kids playthings Chelsea and Man City). I live in Abu Dhabi and the latest rumour coming from the uber-rich end of town is that there will be a further 100 million spent on transfers this summer and then they are on their own. No further investment will come.
9 more games…27 points….historical event….blistering hangover.
March 14th, 2010 at 5:36 am
Drog, realistically, your important players like drogba, lampard, ballack, Deco, carvalho and ferriera are 32 or more and therefore close to retiring which means you are very soon going to be spending another 1 hundred million on players to try to buy the title.
Realistically, at the rate you are spending money and not winning very much you’ll be among the premier league teams going into administration in the coming years.
Realistically, Your players are all overpaid and driven by their huge salaries.
Realistically, Terry has proven recently that he isn’t worth the 130,000 he gets per week. Cheating ________!
Realistically, You change managers at least every other season in your greedy pursuit of instant fame and success.
Realistically, Arsenal could have blown huge amounts of money on established star players just as you have but Wenger is a genius who possesses balls of steel and a vision unmatched by any other manager in this league. Why? Because he has taken shit from people like you for years and still has not gone on to spend millions on players, instead opting to take care of the clubs long term ambitions such as the stadium, the youth development system, and more importantly the clubs financial situation.
Realistically, Arsenal have a bright future, Chelsea will become another leeds. Greed runs rife all the way through that team and it’s establishment.
Realistically, Even if arsenal don’t go on to win the title this year they are looking like a real force to be reckoned with and that is down to the patience, vision and hardwork of Wenger the great!
Realistically, Man u are a better team than chelsea. Man u has been built up for years and years by another great manager.
March 14th, 2010 at 7:08 am
First time I have come across this blog and congratulations, a job truly joyously well done. A marvelous little write-up, full of good old-fashioned “I told you so’s”. Not since I first read Yogi Warrior’s A Cultured Left Foot some four or more likely much more years ago, have I felt here is a Gooner who encaptures the very essence of our great club, but who also writes with a sparkling wit that enables a bright enough grown man to feel at home in the frightful feveristic world that is our great game. A game and more specifically our great Club that is more often covered by those completely lacking in humour and intelligence.
March 14th, 2010 at 7:23 am
Great win, but we were three minutes from a big fiasco, playing against TEN men for 45 minutes..
Let´s hope we have Cesc, Song and Gallas back in every game soon…..
March 14th, 2010 at 7:35 am
Good sentiments expressed here. Unfortunate that some Arsenal fans have a such a short term view.
Fans that boo the players or constantly write unbalanced negative blogs are like cancer cells. It transmits and distorts other fans emotions and leads to a direct negative affect on the team and manager.
Everything that Wenger does is for the benefit of Arsenal. It is his lifetime passion, his “art”. The training ground, new stadium, youthful team, financial stability and great football is because of him. Wenger has said that the greatest pleasure in football for him is to see fans go home happy. I wonder how he must feel when such negativity is directed at him by the same people he is trying to please?
Get behind the team.
March 14th, 2010 at 7:39 am
Excellent article. I have been an Arsenal supporter for the last 10 years and since I started paying attention to what is written in many an arse blog, I have to admit that sometimes my judging the team before or after games has been influenced by the poisonous diatribe spout out by so many so-called fans and also from the British media (I am French-speaking African by the way). The funny thing is that the British media has such an anti-Arsenal bias that even many French papers and mostly sports websites decide to wait and see what the Brits say before reproducing somehow their thoughts about Arsenal or Wenger. That much for editorial independence or objectivity!! I am not saying they should not have the same opinion because Wenger is French but the fact that they are unable to put a pinch of salt in the written platters they serve out week in week out shows that the British media-injected anti-Arsenal cancer/gangrene has been viciously spreading in football and media circles, and quite efficiently at times.
So well done for a well balanced and enjoyable piece of writting.
March 14th, 2010 at 8:33 am
Great to see such a well written piece.
Even greater to see most responses are in agreement & recognise the absolutely fantastic job that Arsene Wenger is doing for the club.
My first game was against West Ham in the quarter finals of the FA Cup in 1975 (13 years old), standing in the North Bank surrounded by West Ham & Arsenal supporters. Does anyone know the score, who scored & what were the similarities with that years final ?
A big pat on the back to the first correct answer.
March 14th, 2010 at 8:34 am
so called ex players and idiots have been so disrespectful to Arsene wenger over the years talkspite etc have been slagging arsene off for years i so hope we win the league and all those fools (including some arse fans) wont be welcomed to celebrate with us fans who never gave up surpporting our club win draw or lose WERE BY FAR THE GREATEST TEAM………
manure are skint and wont be able to replaced ageing players with big time buys
chavs team are ageing and the russian owner hates the way they play and cant buy the champs league ARSENAL IS THE BRINK OF WINNING LOTS OF TITLES
March 14th, 2010 at 9:29 am
FA Cup quarter finals 1975, Arsenal 0, West Ham 2. Alan Taylor scored both goals, he went on to score both goals in the final against Fullham with West Ham winning with a similiar 2-0 scoreline.
March 14th, 2010 at 9:35 am
Dear blogger, great piece, however 1 small gripe please dont call brown orange, it makes him sound dutch, and brown is as dutch as i am brazilian (in football terms, i mean) you should call him golden brown, hmm, i think maybe smelly in the toiliet, pls flush me away brown!
3 well earned points! and a close 2nd, hull loosing, a player sent off(should have been more) and a zayete getting carried off, instead of 1 of ours, not that i have a grudge against zayete but i do against brown and it will be very sweet to see that team go under! however there are a few teams i’d like to see relegated, hmm, lets see, boltan, blackburn, burnley, stoke, shit any1 from the north! oh and the spuds!
@ Ric
your right about the chavs, however the mancs have done the same thing also, yes maybe fergie has built more of his team, he still has bought his titles, rooney, 30 mil, rio 30 mil, berb 30 mil, anderson 19 mil, nani 19 mil, carick 18 mil, smalling 12 mil, the cunt, the thing with fergie he was blessed with having the greatest british players in a generation played for man u at the same time, scholes, beckham, nerdville both of them, and several others, which didnt cost him a cent or at least very much! but you give him wenger’s budget and he would playing mid table, thats how good he is!
1 more thing to all gunners,
we will win this league!!!!!!!!!!!
March 14th, 2010 at 10:12 am
Well said sir.
To the points by so many above regarding the disgraceful treatment of Wenger and the team by so many newly sprouted blogs, I think you have to question just who is behind some of them. They do seem to chime in uncannily whenever Arsenal have a ppor performamce/result with any outpourings from Fat and Orange of their media puppets. You know, the ones who went on the all expenses paid by Usmanov booze and whoring trip to Moscow.
Coincidence? You decide……
March 14th, 2010 at 10:29 am
Sick n tired of the Skysports anti Arsenal bias, I sent this email regarding their INACCURATE & DISHONEST report of our match vs Hull to u2us@skysports.com It’s about time Arsenal fans deluged Sky with complaints about their anti Arsenal bias & dishonesty…………
‘Your report on the Hull vs Arsenal match which you broadcast every hour is factually DISHONEST as follows …………. With regard to Hull player Zayatte’s injury, the reporter says that a freekick was awarded but no yellow card to Sol Campbell. WRONG !! A free kick was not awarded to Hull City , play had continued until being stopped for treatment to Zayatte. Play was resumed with Arsenal having the ball back in their possession. Correctly it was therefore NOT a foul by Campbell & therefore a potential yellow card was not an issue. In any case it is clear that it was a fair tackle & therefore mischief making by Skysports who are continuing their usual negative & Arsenal bias. A copy of this email will be sent on to the Press Complaints Commission & Arsenal Football Club as this DISHONEST & INACCURATE broadcasting is unacceptable. Kindly have the decency to amend your broadcast accordingly’
March 14th, 2010 at 10:34 am
There is a lot of envy and spite against Arsenal amongst the dinasours of english football – The fact is that we are a very attractive club both on and off the pitch – We play very attractive football, are extremely well run and highly respected in europe – Unlike chelsea we do not rely on a sugar daddy to pay our bills and buy us expenisve presents – and unlike manure we do not have a manager who was so greedy that he tried to take on the major shareholders of his club resulting them in selling the club to an American family who have berdned them with huge debts.
Also a big cheer to the away fans who seem to take over whole stands whether it be in Europe or hell holes like hull.
Finally, F**k you Phil ’sunbed’ Brown – I hope that last minute goal increased your blood pressure to the point where you will suffer a heart attack like that other c**t allardyce.
March 14th, 2010 at 10:50 am
Top post fella!
The chavs will run out of stream and were thankful to Zola obviously being paid off yesterday! Why else would he keep his best players on the bench???
I do not care how we won yesterday, the 3 points is all it is about now and it was getting boring hearing the pundits saying we play lovely football without end product.
Keep up the good work and, we ARE winning this league!!!
March 14th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Hear Hear my friend, brilliantly put and oh so true. I love the comments as well. If we manage to win the league this season it will be a major shock for all those ( and there are many) that predicted that we would struggle to finish in he top 4, in fact this time last year, they had reduced the top 4 to a top 3, only because we were there. As an Arsenal fan/supporter I try to believe that there is really no bias, that its all in my mind, however and particularly because of the reporting of the Ramsey debacle, I’m sadly changing my view.
March 14th, 2010 at 1:04 pm
OzGooner,
Very well done!
Must be something about Oz, I’m in Perth, where are you?
March 14th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
Reading this from Manila, Philippines. Are you newly-linked to NewsNow? I don’t believe I’ve read you before. If this piece is anything to judge by, it’s been a loss.
If that was not a display of grit from our Gunners, I do not know what is. It would be eminently satisfying if we were to win the Prem, then we can shove all the gloom and doom peddled by those hahahacks up theirs!
January 17th, 2011 at 8:50 pm
I do not even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was good. I don’t know who you are but definitely you’re going to a famous blogger if you aren’t already
Cheers!