They are not Arsenal supporters, I don’t know what but not supporters

108 Replies to “They are not Arsenal supporters, I don’t know what but not supporters”

1. Forgive him/her Walter, he/she is probably only about 12 years old, therefore still haven’t fully develop in the intelligence department.

2. Yesterday represented a perfect example of anti football and it goes to prove that you no longer have to play football to win a football match. A team can now select 10 athletes to run around and close down space and , with the help of the officials , pull , punch , niggle and cheat a victory . The only answer is an early goal , which Giroud scored and was ruled out for a dubious offside. 71% possession against 24% ( the other 5% was Pantillimon walking around with the ball gormlessly looking at it wondering what he should do with it ) and Watford happy to keep 8 defenders in their half . How the Ref awarded only 4 minutes extra time is bafflling given the time wasting , substituions and the ridiculous goal celebrations . The aaa can blame Wenger all they like but the man is a genius to have done what he has done and to have kept his dignity against all the abuse is a wonder .

3. Good post Walter.

4. I know the constant abuse of the football associations and media against AW and Arsenal is surely acknowledged by him and the club and he probably finds it better to ignore it but i’m not so sure if he can ignore the fans as easily.

   Yesterday i had the distinct impression that the ref, or in this case the bald headed one did what he set out to do, stop Arsenal from getting the first goal. Many times the play was stopped when Arsenal are on attack and then of course the offside for the goal we scored.

   Yet i still had the confidence we would win it. Our lack of finishing though was the determinant to not winning the game, and surely needs to be questioned?

   For many, it’s that time of year again, deja vu, where the same process is happening again and again, one we have seen for many of the last seasons, and it is understandable that they will have concerns.

   We all know that if one’s concerns are not aired, there will be no chance of change at all, so give them some rope, some will hang themselves, but the concerns will have been raised by those who genuinely do have them.

   But it is another thing to abuse people, whether abusing AW or any one else, and they should rightly be banned.

5. If you’re happy with 1 win 7 games (and that win was against Hull’s reserves) then so be it.

   A few years back it didn’t seem so bad as the team was at least playing good football. But that is no longer the case.

   Arsenal this season remind me of the team during 1984-85. So much early promise and then completely lost it.

6. @Walter good post. I despair at some of our supporters. This confrontation seemingly started around ‘Arsenal Fan TV’. I dont know if that is accurate or not but I have long thought that ‘Arsenal Fan TV’ is the footballing equivalent of The Jeremy Kyle show.

   @Para Yesterday was a poor day at the office. There have been a few in recent weeks. The referee didn’t overly influence the result.

7. 100% agree with you. So punks pretend to be Arsenal supporters yet they are not. Here in my country Uganda, there is so many xters of that sort who always seat to watch Arsenal games and when our opponents score first, they start wishing the team to lose such that le professor can be sacked. Like you said, no TRUE SUPPOTER or FAN of a SPECIAL CLUB like ARSENAL FC, can wish it a negative result. Sincerely, if they are Arsenal supporters, they’ve only supported Arsenal for the last 11 years. SO THEY ARE CHEAP and SHARROW MINDED.
   Blame them less, TRUE SUPPORTERS/FANS of ARSENAL FC, we are still there in MILLIONS and MILLIONS of HEADS.
   Thank 4 yo observation you a TRUE Arsenal supporter in Mr. WALTER.

8. Three things from yesterday’s match.
   1. The player we have missed the most because of injury is Cazorla. He gives us an extra bit of pace, directness and trickery in the midfield. Watford like many teams park two buses and we try and walk in the goals, which won’t work.
   2. We DO lack leaders on the field when the score goes against us. Yesterday we lacked urgency when we a goal down.
   3. Marriner was a complete waste of space – turning a blind eye to numerous fouls on Giroud and Alexis, allowing tremendous time-wasting (which stops our flow of the game). Players would fall as though shot, stay down for 3-4 minutes, then recover like Lazarus. Even though he got booked, Pantimillion still continued to waste time knowing full well that Marriner would not red card him

   COYG

9. Exactly… however upset we are at our poor results do not personalise criticism. There is always room for constructive criticism and at the team and the manager are inviting some. Our football has become predictable and sterile… discuss the solutions.. not Chuck the baby out with the bathwater

10. Nice one Walter, glad you called that sad git out!
    Whoever he supports, he is clearly not as happy with life as the smiley faces suggest. Think he needs to get out of his room a bit more.
    But ultimately, they are wasting their time, Wenger is going nowhere until at least the end of his contract, and there is nothing they can do to change that

11. one thing I have noticed recently, we move the ball around and create space in the opponents defense. But cannot exploit that space as it will be occupied by the referee. And then we have to move the ball back to start allover again!! Weird or what??

    How many times have we seen referees blocking our passing channels. It can happen a couple of times in a game but everytime??

12. Dear Walter,

    I’ve never met you, but i totally respect you for your work at Untold and your complete positive mindset when it comes to AW & Arsenal.

    But I have to say that you are becoming somewhat of a journalist yourself! To take the comments of a stupid negative person and turn it into an issue is real spin…

    The state of Arsenal since the turn of the year is quite alarming. This is the real issue that we’re all trying to avoid. Our beloved and much respected AW is under pressure and is making some uncharacteristic comments & moves.

    Win, Lose or Draw… Gooner Till I Die.

13. Good stuff Walter.

    Andy L.
    Dispiriting, isn’t it. Strong indications that the trend will increase. When all teams in a league are wealthy compared to all but the mega rich clubs in the rest of football, and when there is, because of that, increased and utter desperation to stay in the league across the board, you have a perfect recipe for a lot of negative football.

    The evidence of this year is that none of the traditional (last ten years) big clubs have coped with it well.

    If you could remove emotion from it you would say that the only choices for us (and the others to an extent) against it are to join (Leicester style, and Chelsea last year) or half-join ’em (Spurs), or to stick with what we’re doing (with a modification or two).

    Watford, West Brom, Southampton, Stoke, Swansea, West Ham et al are not going away- they have become pretty good at the defending bit and now have better players for the breaking bit- so the two choices are to try toughen up and match their style, though on a bigger, but not the biggest, budget; or keep the commitment to attacking play and try make the needed improvement to ensure the first goal comes more often and earlier.

    Utd are still in a bit of limbo, style wise, as are Chelsea, while City under Guardiola will presumably go for the other option of committing to attacking possession football (City are the only team other than us who have done this in England in recent times) and making the play; so the future for us, with or without Wenger, is the choice of trying to improve a few crucial aspects while playing attacking possession football…or joining/ half-joining the rest of them.

    I don’t see many wobs even attempting to think well about that choice or the realities of the league now.

    Do they believe we will become much better with a new man (and it can’t be ‘a little bit, maybe’, or there’d be no cause for getting wound up and making so much noise) at playing in a similar way to now; or do they think a new man playing a different more pragmatic style gives us a much better chance of succeeding (defined as winning the league and going far in the champions league) ?

    I’d say that question takes up about 1-5% of their thinking and that when it does occur there is little evidence of quality thinking. For people who love the club and are desperate for us to succeed it should take up 95-100% of the thinking.

    What’s clear is that games like yesterday make it look superficially stupid to commit to try make the game : not only is it so damn hard to break through a defence like that, but the defending teams chances, when they come, tend to be better; a case of needing three or more passes and a finish to all be superb, versus one decent ball and a decent finish, from an easier chance, to get one.

    It sounds like a no brainer : join em, join em. But it’s superficial. Even if those tactics are, alas, working against us more often than allows us to enjoy ultimate success, it doesn’t mean that the teams it works for are actually having a better season than us (in terms of total points), and it doesn’t mean that if we chose the same tactics as them on the day (10-20 times per year) that we would get the juicy benefits of breaking into space that they currently get against us.

    Nope. What you’d get instead is two teams facing each other with neither committing many forward to attacks. A rubbish game would ensue more often than not, and boos would soon follow from our supporters.

14. Interesting Rich. A depressing scenario.
    Arsenal could certainly find someone more intent on organising the team and making them defensively harder to beat than Wenger seems inclined, but our manager clearly sees attack as the best form of defence. And, therein lies the problem, we are missing an essential component of our attack…..ie our ball players…..Cazorla, Jack and to a lesser extent, Ramsey can be excellent at unlocking tight defences. Other players are not without their merits of course, but are more predictable. Also think we are missing the leadership and guile of a fit and firing arteta.
    I am convinced it is injuries behind this lack of form….especially when you compare our injuries to Spurs, Leicester….and Watford. It seems the physical, more negative teams pick up less injuries.
    I know we have debated injuries and their causes at length on here, and articles have come up with some surprising conclusions on this front.
    But, to move forward, I think we have the right man in charge, but they really must get more on top of these injuries…..any underlying factors, or at least have sufficient cover for them. Know it’s not easy, of it was, we could all be football managers. But no team can lose ten key players, as we did last autumn, without eventually feeling the effects.

15. Patrick Harrington, no one is happy but it does not help when you abuse the team or the manager. Besides, of the two teams, we played the better football. So, I don’t know what you mean when you say, Arsenal was not playing good football – in relation to what? To also lament that much is to assume that on the football pitch there are two teams, and Arsenal MUST win which isn’t always the case in real life.Finally, there’s an escape route for you and your own, just support Barcelona or Bayern. They will win 95% of the time. No, I guess you will be back to the Arsenal fold within no time! So dust yourself up and support your team, stop bitching.

16. brilliant article reminds me of Ozil hitting our yesterday after Getty sandwiched and trailing legged there’s so much you can take from serial cheats and moaners

17. Our immediate focus now should be on the Barca game and not on the Boss’ contract deal. The Boss has already said his performance should be judged after the season has ended.

    Our lose to Watford last Sunday was very painful to me. Moreso, as Welbeck had that golden opportunity to take the contest to a replay at Vicariage Road where I believe Arsenal will win the replay. But alas! That was not destined to happen.

    The Gunners MUST seize their golden opportunities at Nou Camp on Wed’ night to score sufficient goals that will knockout Barca from this season Ucl competition. These golden opportunities fall to the individual Gunner but once or twice in a game. If all the Gunners who got these golden opportunities will convert all his chances, Arsenal will beat Barca very well to knock them out of this season Ucl. That’s the Key for the Gunners to use to unlock Barca’s game application to infest it with trojans to have it corrupted to render it to obsolete state.

18. Mandy

    Unfortunately, my depressing-scenario game is strong! I’m totally sick of being pitted against Watford-type challenges and there really is no end in sight.

    It’s interesting that we still had some troubles on the counter, prior to the goal, even with Coquelin and Elneny playing and one lightening fast cb. I thought that midfield partnership was functioning well, but the suggestion is that even with legs and good defensive instincts in the middle, playing as we do there will nearly always be one or two very dangerous breaks against us from most premier league teams.

    Makes me think getting that first goal is even more important than I thought until recently, and I thought it was exceptionally important already.

    Agree with your thinking on how big a miss Cazorla is, Ramsey and Wilshere,too, but for me the even bigger issue is in the finishing department. We require someone utterly deadly, who can create magic from nowhere and within confined spaces.

    I don’t hold it against Wenger that he has not been able to deliver such a striker in recent years, as all evidence points to it being amazingly hard for us to find that player.

    Might be wrong but I think the most expensive premier league strikers in the last three years have been Soldado, Bony and Benteke. None of those players are an upgrade on what we have; all have struggled.

    Actually, there’s Costa, and he’s a talented player. If you could remove his vile personality, he edges what we have. Wouldn’t want him in our shirt, though, and think he was a total non-starter for Mendes-realted reasons.

    But that’s the lay of the land for me. An incredible striker/finisher would be able to make the breakthrough in many games, then the party begins as all our players get to thrive in the extra space. They would also dig us out of holes on many occasions ( again vs packed defences, as that’s how it goes when behind)

    Won’t run through the usual names, there are about ten of them in the world, all with top clubs already, so my hopes are pinned on us managing to sign someone right on the cusp of joining that bracket ( there’s normally about one per year who emerge as there or thereabouts).

    Even that is difficult, as we saw with United ominously paying 50 million for someone with huge potential who was not yet on the cusp of joining that bracket, but looked like they probably will get there soon. A frightening market.

    Maybe we will capitalise on unusual circumstances somewhere. For instance, with a player like Fekir who was on the verge of great things and now constitutes a risk thanks to doing his cruciate.

    A new manager will not increase our chances of finding that player, not unless we also have a new budget. But that’s not gonna stop wobs squealing as though the reverse is true.

19. I think you guys need a reality check. when there is a problem let’s say at the office and sales are down. do you sweep it under the carpet and say hey let’s support the firm and not ask questions. please to be a fan has its own baggage, and much of it is emotion and personal opinion. I am an arsenal fan not a Wenger fan. I support the badge and not the manager. How many EPL titles more than George Graham did Wenger win at what duration . if all fans where do act and think the same way then their no need to be a fan because we have to pick the perfect fan to adopt. and you my dear fellows are not. I don’t know the meaning of AAA but if a fan has an opinion then that is his own. why must Wenger escape criticism and scrutiny just for a top for position. why would any one in the world say that no one else can achieve what Wenger has done. is he God, that means no hope for out club should Wenger drop dead or suffer a heart problem, please spare me this thinking. I for one do not want any excuse anymore as I Invest heavily emotionally and via my subscription in arsenal as much as you do, that you host a blog gives you no right to judge a fans loyalty,commitment, and love for arsenal. he wants Wenger out is his choice what comes with it he lives with it, you want him to stay fine you make the excuses but to say we all must think like you to be considered a true fan is madness and ridiculous. if Wenger love this club as much as you do he would announce the signing of Pep Guardiola early this year. but he is ego driven. I put it to you that pat rice tactics and the ever so solid defence built by George Graham delivered those trophies Wenger won. how come when George’s defence left we became porous and when Pat retired we lost the beautiful game. I need an answer I no you will be too nervous to publish this. I love you all fellow gonners regardless your position.

20. Good morning all.

    Very disappointing. Can’t hep thinking that had we played the entire game like we did the last 15 minutes, with a high tempo, we would have won that comfortably. Still, we can focus on the League now because that is still attainable when you look at the fixtures. But we do have to play quicker.

    Walter.

    A nice write up.

    In the modern game I think the word ‘supporter’ is misunderstood. We live in a very selfish world now, its becoem about the ‘self’.

    These are not supporters because they don’t support.

    This is about putting their ‘want’ before anything else. This idea that it is driven by trophies is untrue – it is driven by narcissism. They want their own way and nothing will stand in their way.

    They subliminally celebrate defeats because it strengthens their argument, their ‘want’. They discredit wins, champions league qualification and the recent FA Cups because it suits their purpose. The 12 year chant is repeated and they deny we ever had any financial issues. Wenger is never praised for wins or successses, either Bould gets credit or the other team are resposnible. The denial and manipulation of facts is geared by their’ want’ – to get rid of Wenger.

    They are absolutely obsessed by Wenger and their agenda. It is a bizarre way to support any football club.

    Rival fans pretending they are Gooners stoke things up, along with the mischeivous way the media behave – the AAA hang on to every word.

    The real irony is the way they refer to Arsenal as not ‘Arsene FC’, yet it is they that are completely obsessed with Wenger. Hypoctits.

    You can’t rationalise with a lot of these people, yes a lot are kids, because they have become obsessed with the agenda and as I say, that comes before anything. They will be loving this, you watch how they milk it.

    What a sad way to follow a football club – I mean they dont even sing when we’re winning.

21. See, this thing is; they accuse us of putting Wenger in front of the club. This is obviously completely false, as he is part of the club whether they like it or not, so he will get our full support, whether we do good or bad. But what is so utterly hypercritical, that their small brains can’t seem to get around, is that they are putting their hatred for Wenger above all else i.e wanting the team to do poor, so Wenger does poor.

    I’m so sick of arguing with these arseholes. The other day i got called a pathetic, deluded cunt (from a fellow Arsenal “fan”) for sticking by the team. What other fan-base has to deal with this shit from its own supporters?! I know a large portion of football fans are fickle at best, but with Arsenal fans, it just seems to be an unprecedented amount. I can only think that, it has got to be down to how we a portrayed by the pundits and media. For anyone that doesn’t believe the bias against Arsenal; look no further than one of the worst fanbases in the modern game.

22. Our immediate focus now should be on the Barca game and not on the Boss’ contract deal at Arsenal. The Boss has already said his performance should be judged after the season has ended.

    Our lose to Watford last Sunday was very painful to me. Moreso, as Welbeck had that golden opportunity to take the contest to a replay at Vicarage Road where I believe Arsenal will win the replay. But alas! That was not destined to happen.

    The Gunners MUST seize their golden opportunities at Nou Camp on Wed’ night to score sufficient goals that will knockout Barca from this season Ucl competition. These golden opportunities fall to the individual Gunner but once or twice in a game. If all the Gunners who got these golden opportunities will convert all his chances, Arsenal will beat Barca very well and knock them out of this season Ucl. That’s the Key for the Gunners to use it to unlock Barca’s game application to infest it with trojans and have it corrupted to render it into obsolete state.

23. What really depressed me yesterday was the lack of any decent sportsmanship from Watford. From the first moments of the game they were time wasting at every opportunity. When one of their players feigned injury for the first time and we kicked the ball out on the restart instead of gently kicking the ball back to Ospina as everyone else does they kicked the ball out for a goal kick.

    They were aided and abetted by one of the most ineffectual refereeing performances we have seen this year. The keeper having a yellow card for time wasting was allowed to carry on in the same manner all game and certainly should have been sent off. Every Watford throw in was passed to a second or third player before being taken and they were allowed to push, pull and kick us without any sanction.

    We were lucky in not having Gabriel sent off, I haven’t seen a replay of the incident but in real time at the ground I was sure that it was a red card. That was the only decision we got in the game, I thought two definite penalties for us with a third possible.

    We did have more than enough chances to win the game so I am not entirely blaming the referee. At the moment we simply have no luck at all and at times are playing like a bunch of strangers. We need to switch things around with our training routines to shake things up and get all players thinking positively again.

24. Also, on the Sky Sports app this morning, one of the top articles on there is; “Deeney could have broken leg” (referring to the Gabriel challenge). I remember the Flamini challenge had at least 2 articles on there, about how it should have been a red and what poor challenge it was. Compare this to the Drinkwater challenge; the only thing about that on there, was a tiny article titled “Drinkwater apologises to Ramsey”. The article made no real mention of how poor the tackle was, but only read as if to say “Gee, what a great guy that Drinkwater is”.

    It’s just so, so blatant and our gullible fanbase just lap it up every time, like a bunch of brainless sheep who can’t think for themselves.

25. Two great posts from Rich ?

    Just to add some figures to your bit about not scoring

    147 shots (on & off target) in the last 8 games scoring 6 goals. Shows to me that the tactics do work but we either are not good enough to score or we are receiving some incredible bad luck in front of goal.

26. Good points Rich, I have suggested before to Arsenal friends who love Mourinho that if everyone in the league defended deep and played counter attacking football then the PL would struggle as who wants to watch that…

    Greece proved it, Mourinho proved it, now Leicester, and Watford among others are proving it…Defensive football waiting for a mistake or counter works, it is easy to do, but if everyone does it where does it go…

27. Agree Rich, not easy to find these strikers. There have been various reports we have tried, but who knows.
    Giroud is a good player, and an excellent team man, but as Wenger says, a bit of a streaky goal scorer. Would like to be seeing more of Danny, but Wenger says he needs to be cautious bringing him back.
    Agree Andrew, they are a bit unsporting…..but maybe sometimes, we are too sporting, and should play to the whistle when players tactically go down.
    All is not lost yet, but there does need to be some sort of improvement on recent weeks for all our sakes.
    And yes, Wenger is going to have to find a way with dealing with physical , negative teams, refs who sometimes indulge them, and the injuries we are picking up in relative terms to some others.
    And agree, they need to get back in the habit of scoring first, just wonder if things are becoming self fulfilling prophecies in some heads.

28. Against the barca game, my anger was boiling on Pert when he decided to tackle in their half, resulting in him being out of position and then jogging back for their 1st goal and I exploded when Pert passed the ball to Flamini on the box for the penalty. I was sooooo angry on him that I kicked the sofa, resulting in me injuring my ankle. I could not swear as my son was sitting and watching…..but on Saturday I was angry was well, but decided to keep my legs in one piece. U don’t need to be an expert to see that we play one dimensional and are too predictable. The last time we shocked the opponent was back in October when we shredded Manu to pieces in the 1st 20 minus. What happened to that? i saw yesterday’s game and would like to point out a few things, which I guess could be on everyone’s mind. Now I am no expert but just stating what I see/saw and also on my playing experience.
    1. The opponents know that we can pass them to death, so what do they do? Sit back and soak the pressure and hit us on the counter. We know that Pert is rubbish that this sort of technique and target him in this plan. I would do the same.
    2. We all have seen a cobra, [not the drinking one] but the real thing. When it has spread its hood, it sways from side to side backwards and then side to side again. Exactly like our attack, sideways and then back, but in the case of the snake it strikes, we don’t. We expect that the opponents get mesmerized by our swaying or you my say our dance and then allow us to walk through and score. Most off the teams allow us to do our dance and once we have finished, take the ball and hit us on the counter.
    3. How many clear cut chances did we create in the 1st half? Correct me if I am wrong, but the first proper one was by Mohammed in the 53rd minute when he struck from outside the box?
    4. What happened to the art of shooting from outside the box? We need to mix it up, long shots, quick passing, keep the goal keeper guessing and moving the ball around quickly to get the opponents out of positions. The way we play now is so boring, I am surprised our own plyers haven’t fallen asleep on the field.
    5. We had Oliver playing as a lone striker and we all know how good he is in the air, so how many crosses did he get? Cullum on the right was more interested in passing back, than front and every time he tried to cross the ball it was blocked. We know that Hector was kept for the Barca game but don’t we have anyone else? On the left, we know that Gibbs cannot cross the ball. That one of his biggest weakness. So, no crosses. Our passing is very slow so the opponents sit back in numbers and block.
    6. There was no urgency to win the game, it felt that the boys were thinking that the victory would be gifted to them on a plate. You need to take the game to the opponents.
    7. Every time Alexis got the ball he had 2 players on him and he still wants to run and show his strength. Why? What is he trying to prove?
    8. Ozil again, no aggression. When he is pushed off the ball, he just raises his arms. This is not Spanish football. I know that he is play maker, but tell me, which team will allow him to pull the strings, are they mad? Would you?
    9. We were not in the game at all and only came to life once the 3 changes were made.
    10. The 1st goal, I cannot get my head around it when you have Pert a German international and Cullam sticking to one attacker leaving small box free….you guys need to watch it again, its too bloody farcical. What do they do in training, id really like to know.
    11. The 2nd goal, again, where is the midfield covering? Throwing their bodies in line? Not one to be seen. Then the shot….i accept that it was a one off or whatever but the fact that he struck it so sweetly is because there was no pressure on him. Did the defender sprint out and put pressure? Now just stood back allowing the shot. Can anyone off you put your hand on your heart and say that if it was one of our players, he would have hit it? 1st, there would have been bodies chasing back and putting him under pressure, even if he had a free run, our player would have controlled it either passed the ball back or we would start our dance in front of the opponents.
    12. We hope that the opponents tire and then hit them on the last ten minutes, but that does not happen as all the teams are super fit and chase everything till the final whistle….Watford did the same.
    13. Our body language seems to be that we are just going through the motions of playing a football match. The only player with some aggression was Gabriel, but he was lucky. U need defenders like that.
    14. A team like Arsenal and with the players we have, should be able to put teams like Watford to the sword. No disrespect to them or the lesser teams at all….just that we have better players and a better manager.

    I don’t know about changing the manager but he will go one day and some of the fans will be happy…but till then what needs to be done? He has put enough trust in the players and given them a free rein on the pitch…..rather than blaming him, shouldn’t we start asking for accountability from them for a change? We have an impossible task on Wednesday and winning the league is still possible. the question is do we want it or not?

29. Cheers Swales 1968, ob 1977

    As for the question of where does football go if everyone plays like that, I think the answer is ‘to watch another sport’.

    It’s actually annoying that the sport stays just, just far enough away from the tipping point to save it from that fate/ opportunity to become better.

    Barca and Bayern, and to a lesser extent Real, PSG , Man City, us, Dortmund and perhaps a few others, go some way towards keeping true attacking football (defined as anything which isn’t ultra defensive or based primarily on counter attacks) alive, and are joined by the fact that defensive teams alter their play depending on the opposition (sometimes only a little-like Pulis- sometimes quite a bit); those factors, plus all other leagues being less wealthy than the premier league and so not as desperate an environment, are all that is preventing the game from hitting an acute crisis and a fall in popularity. *

    I suppose there’s also the fact counter-attacks can be very exciting and feature good skills, passing and finishing, but that still leaves the issue of somebody needing to attack in the first place in sufficient numbers before a counter is possible.

    Some sadistic (or masochistic- one of them, anyway) part of me wants us to become an ultra negative team, so the premier league can become poorer as a result, and we can be one big step closer to the truth being undeniable that football desperately needs at least some teams to be truly positive or it is in huge trouble. Bring in Mourinho and the Nevilles. At least that would throw the media and the refs.

    Plus it would most likely show some of our most unlikable fans that ultra-defensive football does not improve our prospects and gives us worse football for the same or fewer points.

    But i guess that’s just the old frustration showing and I don’t really wish to see that come to pass.

    *another possible route would be if five or more premier league clubs established themselves safely in the league and showed no desire for anything but survival for years and years. Unlikely to ever happen.

    One or two clubs may be close to this at any point, but it won’t be sufficient to spark anything. Relegation, sackings and the fact survival is just enough to keep most fans of most smaller clubs happy for at least a few years ensures this

30. I’m still waiting for the idiots on Sunday Supplement to ring me because they did say that “Arsenal fans” are calling for AW to go. As I have NEVER, EVER said I want AW to go, and being an Arsenal fan, I want to know how a jumped up little turd from the media can say something about me that is a lie.

    With regards to Jay:-) :-), I think he has been well called out – well done Walter. I’d suggest sending his comments to the so called football media, but which one of them wouldn’t spin it as being “ALL” Arsenal fans?

    Wenger is right, it’s becoming a farce.

31. A part of me would love to see Wenger leave, Arsenal employ another manager, we struggle and finish mid table for a few seasons or so. Then we might get rid of the banner boys, the shirt burners and the celebrity AFTV fans.

    It makes me wonder what the players must think, lose against Swansea and they have a meeting to sort things out. Play well against Spurs and could of won if not for a reckless challenge from Coquelin, then we go to Hull and win comfortably then the players see that banner. If that was me I would be thinking “what’s the point”. We play well in two games and that’s the thanks we as a club get from the fans. The other thing is what player would want to join a club where the fans turn on a manager like they have and are so often so vicious in their condemnation of players abilities. We as fans of our club could be in a position of making the whole situation worse rather than better.

    As for where this style of football will lead, we will be like the old style Italian game two teams sitting there waiting to counter attack, doing nothing and literally giving the ball away to hope to win it back to attack.

32. The thing is Walter, most of these people (aaa’s) would not have become Arsenal fans had it not been for AW. They latched on to a team that was playing wonderful football and winning things (and have subsequently made no allowance for Abramovich and the Manchester Oilers).

    They are the epitome of the old school Man U glory hunter. i.e. supporting the club isn’t the important thing, it is completely about their own insatiable egos and the need to be able to associate themselves with glory. They deserve our pity.

33. Seeing reports of a Wenger out/board out demonstration being organised for the Palace home game next month…details to follow from the self important ones orgaising it

34. There is nothing new about defending and then playing on the break , many teams have done it before not the least The Arsenal in Chapman’s time . We were known as lucky Arsenal then , because we won games despite being under the cosh for most of them.In the sixties it was known as a retreating defence, it’s a tactic that can be defeated but the only way to do that is to get behind by playing with true width and for at least two of your forwards getting amongst the defenders and moving them around. Yesterday Ozil was turning back and forth looking for movement and until Welbeck came on there was none. He is a player that likes to put the ball into a gap where someone can move on to it. Unfortunately Giroud wants the ball played to feet or head or chest for someone to run off him.Sanchez likewise wants the ball so that he can run at defenders and Theo doesn’t move a lot. You could see Ozil’s frustration he has come from a tesam that had runners and with Ronaldo and Benzema in particular there was always somewhere to put the ball . We are static and so we go through the sideways movement . There is little or no penetration and we need to find some and need it fast.

35. Goonermikey; as Tony would say where’s your evidence that aaa’s only started supporting the club when Wenger came to the club and how do you know they are all glory hunters. Where I sit they’ve been coming a lot longer than that mate. Interesting choice of topic Walter after Saturdays shambles. What one posters thinks is hardly relevant. I would have thought the fact that Wenger says he is going to put out a strong team chasing a lost cause in Spain thereby risking the Everton game is slightly more relevant. By next Sunday the season could be all over.

36. See, this thing is; they accuse us of putting Wenger in front of the club. This is obviously completely false, as he is part of the club whether they like it or not, so he will get our full support, whether we do good or bad

    Comment from above.

    I am a fan, a supporter or whatever you want to call it. I find the views on here that I cannot express my personal position that the manager is no longer fit to be in charge of the club somewhat disturbing. Apparently that view makes me mad, or insane, or something worse? I pity the 500 people I employ as they must be being led by a madman.

    This comment, amongst others above, does not allow you to separate the club from the manager. But they are not the same thing. The club will continue when we die, when Wenger leaves, etc. etc. So this comment says he has our full support, is this no matter what he does? That’s probably what they say in North Korea! Surely there is something he could do that you might see fit to challenge?

    I do accept that the abuse and vitriol is unnecessary. I am a level headed middle aged man who has supported Arsenal all my life (I.e. Since the 70’s). I’ve seen bad and good, admittedly a lot worse than current at various times but the world has moved on and we are not the Arsenal of 30 years ago challenging mid table with the occasional league cup run. We have been transformed into a big club by George Graham and then Arsene Wenger that should expect better and we have not had better for a long time. Just lots of broken promises. Blinkered loyalty just doesn’t really cut it anymore. It implies that you cannot think for yourself and have an opinion. Sorry apparently you all have one opinion on here , THE REF DID IT. You may be right sometimes, but not all the time. Gabriel should have gone yesterday, anything after that is kind of irrelevant as the red did us a big favour there. No one seems to mention that stroke of luck yesterday.

    Why is my view that I would like Wenger to leave for the good of the club worth any less than yours? See I think it would be for the good of the club that I support. I don’t celebrate defeats, I scream in frustration at the players. But ultimately 1 man is responsible for those players is he not?

37. It still hurts.

    It always hurts when we lose but not half as much as when the refs win. Then it really hurts for the false fans have a field day.

38. They say decisons even themselves out.

    Girouds goal was onside yesterday.

    Swanseas winning goal last week was offside. To compound matters, their first goal was a clear foul on Ozil.

    If any of the above had been reversed, we would be getting accused of being lucky.

    But we arent being called unlucky.

    Tactically we are creating enough opportunities to bury most teams we play but bad luck and poor finishing has combined to rob us of wins that should be ours. I’m not usre why Wenger gets blamed for that? He isnt officiating or playing in the games. He isn’t flagging onside goals and he certainly isnt misplacing passes or hitting the ball against the post (Iwobi).

    Just saying.

    How do they even themselves out?

39. Proudkev
    Giroud was off sides by about a foot. It’s not even controversial one bit.
    Clutching at straws I see.

40. Nicholas Allen –

    Why is my view that I would like Wenger to leave for the good of the club worth any less than yours?

    As a view, it is not. When given on its own, it is of less value than one that sets out logical reasons as to how the club will be served by a removal or a retention. What is of no help is the statement “apparently you all have one opinion on here , THE REF DID IT. You may be right sometimes, but not all the time,” which is palpably untrue.

    Ultimately, this site was set up to allow those who believe that Wenger should be Arsenal’s manager, on the grounds that there were thousands of site and newspapers set up to argue that he should leave. It is like writing to Bee Keeping Monthly and saying that Bee Keeping is pointless.

41. Tom, have you checked the replay?

    Mind you, not surprised you’re trying to be argumentative again. You are a troll.

42. Bard, the aaa have their origins in the 1930s. Chapman was particularly vocal in attacking them. They rose again in the early 1950s. They seem to have attracted to the club ever since the defeat to Walsall under Chapman.

43. Gouresh,
    point 3: we scored inside the first 10 minutes but was disallowed, Elneny missed 3 shots in the first half. One when completely unmarked in the penalty area with 3 players waiting in the middle to push the ball over the line. Elneny smashed it over from 8 meters out. At least on my stream I saw those chances even when the stream was bad.
    point 8: at least Özil showed aggression when he gave it back after being fouled again without the ref giving fouls. The result a foul and a yellow card. Difference between other players an ours is we cannot do anything or the card will come out.

44. Pecky – you illustrate a lot about how difficult it is to have a discussion here. The essence of the article you respond to is about the AAA. There was a link to the AAA on the article. But you say, ” I don’t know the meaning of AAA” So how are we supposed to have a growing debate?

45. Tom ignores the winning goal from Swansea … it was offside. But hey, it was a decision against Arsenal so nobody mentions it in the media of course.
    I remember Özil scoring against the spuds last season and his too was offside. Really they came up with some 20 lines to show that the tip of his shoe was offside and thus the goal shouldn’t have counted…. I have never seen them using those lines ever again. LOL wonder why….

46. Giroud was onside…. We saw replays and it’s clear that when the player plays the pass to him he was on. The frame that they showed to say it was off side clearly shows that the ball had left the foot of the passing player….

47. I think you will find that the origins of the so called “AAA” are very much in your mind, Tony.

48. Patrick,Our performance was more of the same as it has been in most games since Christmas. Concentrating on possession, knocking the ball around tidily, and hoping we find our way around them. But with it being more of the same, the opposition know how to play against us in advance by watching tapes of Swansea/Manchester United/Southampton etc. Play a flat back four with the midfield two in front of them, and none shall pass. Our players are too tired, our manager will not give them an alternative way of playing; we are done for.

49. For the first time, Arsenal have lost three consecutive home games at The Emirates. Everything which is wrong with the club at the moment is summed up with two of them being against Watford and Swansea. Please don’t embarrass yourself by trying to claim it’s the result of improved standards in the Premier League. This is down to Arsenal and how much of a backward step this season has been.

    Whoever thinks otherwise needs to be slapped in the face so that they come to their senses.

50. After seeing his post-match interviews, I’m confused as to what match Wenger was watching or what team he thinks he has built. “We were the better side and deserved to win because of the number of chances created”… but we don’t need a new striker. We “had enough technical superiority to win the game”… but were beaten in the same way other sides had beaten us recently. “I don’t think we suffered a lot defensively”… but Watford literally walked around our defence to score their two goals. Whilst I appreciate that he has targets set by Kroenke, the sad fact is that by reaching the knock-out stages of the Champions League and us being in the top four, he has essentially met them. Last season, Chelsea won £24m for winning the Premier League, whilst our third place fee was £22m. With the prize money for FA Cup winners being £1.8m and the TV money for finishing fourth in the Premier League being over twenty times that as of next season, it’s clear that silverware is only a bonus and it’s only a day out for us fans and nothing to Wenger. It is time for him to go.

51. Walter – you can substantiate my view, it can be done. It may not be appreciated but the argument one way or the other is essentially based on opinion of various issues. For example, You would say that Wengers hands are tied financially, I would disagree.

    The ref bit was deliberately provocative but you have to admit if you read this site after every defeat the ref always gets the blame first. For someone like me who fundamentally believes the manager and the players should get it first that is very irritating. It’s not the refs fault that we have only won in 4 in 14 in 2016. There is a lot about the ref yesterday iin essentially a game where one big decision went for us and one, the Ozil penalty, went against us. Anything else was a judgement call, not black and white.

    Thought the site should want intelligent debate after the sort of comments I read on here about people who disagree with you all being akin to Neanderthals.

52. Spot on Harry.All the great managers have an autocratic streak. Clough, Paisley, Ferguson come to mind, but all were astute enough to recognize that they needed wise counsel not least to protect them from their own ‘blindness’. Clough relied on Taylor. Paisley used the infamous Anfield ‘bootroom’. Ferguson changed his number 2 at regular intervals. Wenger’s refusal to countenance the use of ‘wise counsel’ in the form of a properly effective number 2 has been a sign of weakness. He is clearly too insecure to risk being challenged. It is a footballing truism that all teams come to embody the values and characteristics of the manager. The Arsenal teams down the years have lots of admirable qualities but they have been undone by the same psychological insecurity that afflicts the manager. The uncomfortable truth is that over the years potential trophies and title challenges have gone begging, sacrificed on the altar of Wenger’s need to protect his insecurity.

53. With regard to the ‘opt-out’ issue, the official ‘attendance’ was 58,346. Some season ticket holders didn’t attend so the Club could not put the cost of an extra Grade ‘B’ fixture on next season’s payment to make it clear to them that football is overwhelmingly expensive nowadays and not just for away fans. Read into it what you will that Watford upgraded their allocation to the full 9,000 on Thursday afternoon, and that Arsenal made many free tickets available to the British Forces through the Tickets for Troops scheme.

54. The sad reality isThe reality is Wenger s going no where, we all know that deep down. The only way is if truly all fans get together on this and sing WENGER OUT, for 90 min for all remaining home matches this season. I for one will try to do that and will rally as many people as possible to join me. ARE YOU WILLING TO DO THE SAME??

    Really hope the crowd turn to abuse this dictator, he needs to be banished before he can cause grave danger. Get rid of him ASAP.

55. Yes we were desperately unlucky to see Girouds goal ruled out for offside , how a linesman can call such a tight decision with such certainty is beyond me, but we were also very lucky not to have been down to ten men, so really blaming officials is sour grapes ! The fact is we were hopeless defensively and clueless in an attacking capacity , Ozil did however fashion a handful of terrific opportunities that should have been taken,if this performance were a one off then the outrage would be unjustified it’s not though is it ? Its almost the norm for us to perform in this way ! We are like a ship struggling through stormy seas rudderless and with no engines, while the captain of the good ship Arsenal refuses to accept responsibility for failing to oversee needed maintenance and for destroying the morale of the Crewe ! It would also appear that the ships owners would be happy to see the ship flounder as long as the captain is happy to stay, it may well be that we hit the massive iceberg looming before us before the captain decides to abandon ship

56. Hey Walter, i’ll be here at some points today to back you up and back the team against these cretins that have suddenly appeared on this beautiful website. From what i’ve seen so far, its the usual- all hype, hysteria and complete ungratefulness as opposed to solid factual arguments.

57. Proudkev

    Yes I checked the replay numerous times . No doubt.

    As for throwing labels around to characterize posters you disagree with, I too can play this game.

    You are what I would call a “delusional zealot” moonlighting for a levelheaded ,unbiased, call it like it is , honesty goodness poster.

    Here’s the proof.
    You claim to have played, managed at a fairly high level , yet you blame players for taking the pitch when manager motions to them to enter the pitch as a sub ( Walcott against Sheffield )

    Ox went down injured with 3:25 on the clock and Wolcot was on the pitch exactly one minute later, on a cold 10C night no less. Even though it was Wenger who waved him on without a proper warm up in a meaningless game no less, you blamed the player.

    Either you know nothing about the game you claim to have played and managed , or you are incapable of any meaningful analysis for reasons mentioned above.

    The funny thing about your analysis ( I use this term veeeery loosely)
    of that particular incident is that Walcott wasn’t entirely blameless in getting himself injured. Nine minutes after entering the game without any sort of warm up, he decided to take the corner kick , again, on a cold evening when the ball is harder than normal, and pulled a muscle after taking said corner.
    What Walcott should’ve done was knock the ball around for a while, play safe defense until his muscles got up to speed. He didn’t – that’s on him.

    I would have more respect for you( not a lot to be fair) if you told me to piss off and not blame anyone for this injury, but instead you absolved Arsene of any blame whatsoever, while apportioning all of it to Walcott for something he had no control over( being entered into the game when he was)

    You my good sir are a buffoon.

    How’s that for a label.

58. @Fransico you’re ship analogy is laughable. We have the most beautiful ship in the prem. That’s why you’re expectations and ungratefulness are so high. We usually call it ‘being spoilt’ and it usually applies to children.

59. Nicholas, if you really read this site you should have noticed that we also rage against refs when we win.

60. Supporters support the team and the club through bad times as well as good. It is really very straightforward!

61. On Friday he was claiming that winning the FA Cup again would be massive . Then after losing at home to Watford ,he also failed to beat Championship side Hull at home as well in the previous tie, Wenger then says that the FA Cup is not really that important! You couldn’t make it up. Arsene is not really as clever as he and some others think that he is .When asked if he will be fielding a weak side against Barcelona ,with Saturday’s high-noon shoot-out away to in-form Everton to play in the more important league game,Wenger replied,no,because we want to do the impossible against Barcelona. This of course comes as no surprise really because Wenger is always doing daft things like this due to his obsession with not ever having won a European Cup. However it should be pointed out to him that if someting is IMPOSSIBLE to do then it can not be POSSIBLE to do it.Otherwise it would not be IMPOSSIBLE. Surely it can’t be so difficult to work that out.It is not impossible for us to beat Barcelona but in the real world against that of Arsene la la land it is very unlikely that we can do so . Winning the FA Cup ,a comp that it must be said Wenger was very very fortunate to wi two times on the trot – the luck of the draw and in running – plays a big part against the other factors involved in winning the much more difficult league .Just 5 games in the cup against 38 in the league. Wenger’s never won that twice running ,now that would be ‘massive’.It’s all about perspective really but with Wenger it is about what he sees fits the situation he finds himself in. I can’t wait to see what he says after Wednesday night’s fun-fest in the Bernabeu…… Regarding Ozil’s performance yesterday, well he made some nice passes and the back-heel Ramseyesque one to set up the far too late in the game Danny Boy goal -but once again came up short in a big game in which he failed to dominate by grabbing it by the scruff of the neck. The new head on the block Elpheny looks a moderate sort of playerno way a top 4 one and the way that Watford ran through our midfield with counter-attacks bodes ill for us when we face Messi ,Suarez and Neymar . Suarez is not likely to miss his chances twice against us. I go for him to score the first goal.

62. Man City couldn’t win back to back matches in the Pl since… November I heard someone say on MOTD the other day… so how much has Man C gone backwards. Or might it be that the standard in the PL has improved a tiny bit Francisco?
    And how much money did City spend during the summer? And yet they seem to suffer from the same problems as Arsenal? And they have a proven goalscorer….

63. A poster yesterday ( stoud) complained about the moaning Wenger out brigade, id ask him this, does it not hurt you when Arsenal lose ? Do you not care that for the umpteenth time we are imploding when it matters? Of course no team has a divine right to win things but we are THE ARSENAL a club with a proud and glorious history a history that was ingrained in English and World football long before Arsene Wengers time , we are now a very, very wealthy club,we have the resources that most only dream of yet our manager acts as though we are paupers at times, no one expects us to buy recklessly we only want those resources used to maximum effect , Wenger does NOT want that he wants success but only on his terms even though those terms are untenable, the board and major shareholder are only interested in the bank balance, so while Wenger maintains the status quo of cl football and keeps the money in the bank they are happy, they care nothing for the grass root supporters only the corporate element, this attitude transmits to the players who then think why should we do any more than we have to , its a malaise that causes complacency which causes meltdowns which we have witnessed every season since the move from Highbury.In my.opinion Wenger should have been sacked after a disastrous pre season which culminated in the 2-8 reverse at O.T a few years ago , since then regular humiliations have been heaped upon us the manager is clearly at fault with the board complicit ! If that does not hurt you then I would suggest you are NOT a true Arsenal supporter with red and white blood pumping through your veins ! We can accept defeat when we have been bested by a superior opponent , after giving our all, but continual surrenders and capitulations without firing a shot in anger is NOT acceptable and never has been !! –

64. Wow I see the non-existing aaa has organised themselves today to visit Untold. 🙂 Hi guys we missed you when we were celebrating two FA cups in a row. Maybe you had other things to do in those days than to celebrate this with us.

65. Francisco and since then Arsenal won 1/3 of the domestic trophies that can be won in the last 2 seasons. Some would dare to say
    2/4 of the trophies if you include the CS but hey….

66. Walter, you cannot make anyone but Wenger the man at fault for this ridiculous decline. It’s like some sort of taboo on here to criticise the manager. Are you part of some Wenger cult? I honestly think in the daily routine of Arsene’s managerial duties, he doesn’t feel that he is doing anything wrong. He’s accountable to the owners and he’s performing at the business level. He meets all the criteria and anything else is just an added bonus. Sure, he would like to win the CL but why go all in when even the top clubs like Barca and Bayern are not guaranteed to win it every season in spite of the huge amounts of money they spend on buying top players each season? This is probably how he sees it.

    What concerns me is that for all the talk of quality and mentality, does he question himself if he is doing justice to players such as Sanchez and Ozil. These are players that have achieved success and glory on a club and country level. They have they quality and mentality he keeps harping about. Barring possibly Cech and Santi as well the rest need to be convinced that they have that mentality. And the look of frustration on the faces of Ozil and Sanchez is telling. It’s that look of disbelief, like ‘what am I doing with this bunch of mediocre players?’ As an Arsenal supporter, I sympathize with them. Yesterday, you could see them going for it and the rest of the team just clueless playing with zero urgency until Welbeck stepped onto the pitch. And if they leave for City or the likes of them, why shouldn’t they? All RVP wanted was to win a premier league title and Arsene was not going to invest further that summer, to reach that goal. Vieira has also brought this up during his time at the club, when Madrid and other such top clubs were trying to secure him.

    And why does Arsene do this to himself? How is it possible that he cannot see the gulf in class and quality between the likes of Santi, Ozil and Sanchez and the rest, who keep having this crisis of confidence, which he keeps excusing them for? It’s like he truly believes in some law of averages where the top players must be surrounded by mediocre talent so that the mediocre talent learn from them and his methods as well. You could perhaps apply this philosophy towards the likes of Iwobi but certainly not towards Theo, Ramsey and Oxlade.

    But it’s the norm isn’t it? It is what we’ve come to expect and what we should continue to expect. Honestly, I won’t be shocked if we survive Camp Nou with a bravely fought draw and we’ll be back to normal. I think things will truly have to go south, like the current Chelsea side and who knows, for possibly more than a season. Until then, we shouldn’t expect anything different. Theo said that prior to the Hull victory, players had a get together and discussed what issues were concerning them. I guess that discussion has yet to be concluded. Maybe a series of discussions to come in future. These players have had it too easy for too long and are ok with where they are now.

    Arsene has generated his own reality and barring a few players, the rest are part of it and have succumbed to this reality.

67. The WOBs are really out in force. These football geniuses should get their football manager licence and show us how easy it is to win trophies, I’m sure the £8 million annually would be enough of an incentive.

    By the tone of their comments, Arsenal must be in a relegation battle. With supporters like these who needs enemies.

68. My guess is that he believes 4th place in the league is safe again and so he is not bothered about the Everton game .He may be right but finishing 4th could be a close run thing as it has been in the past on occasions. Arsene will be pleased though about Stan confirming what we all knew anyway that making money is what he sees as being success and not winning trophies. What a cretin this guy is and Wenger is right up to his neck in Stan’s plans .Only failing to win the Champions League cash will see Stan getting shut of him .Is Stan himself though sending out smoke signals from his ranch that if someone makes him an offer he can’t refuse he will take it. Usmanov bought some more shares recently surely he can’t be interested in just being a ‘silent partner’ at AFC – after all he doesn’t need money -he has more of it than Stan does. If we do fail to finish in the top 4 this season it could see some changes at the club and for us to progress we need Kroenke and Wenger OUT ! Now that would be worth celebrating.

69. Tom.

    You have just displayed your true colours mate.

    You know damn well this isn’t a wob blog but you appear whenever the club has a set back – other times you go missing.

    The fact you seem to make a list of comments people make and are able to recall them and the dates they are made is bordering on obsessional mate. A bit like your fixation on Wenger.

70. Tom.

    PS: You will recall I also said that Wenger does not take the pre match warm ups. You seem to believe that Wenger does EVERYTHING and that therefore everything is his mistake. Injuries, players not doing a proper warm up etc. You are the buffoon. All players know how to stretch their muscles and how to warm up. So yes it is the players responibility. I think you are mistaking Premier League football with an under 8’s kids side but somehow that doesnt surprise me one bit.

71. What is Francisco and Hary on about? I understand your hatred for AW but please be more factual.

    ‘And the look of frustration on the faces of Ozil and Sanchez is telling. It’s that look of disbelief, like ‘what am I doing with this bunch of mediocre players?’ Really? and both these players are likely to sign another contract with Arsenal.

    Why is AW tactics wrong when Arsenal had most of the chances to score in most of the matches played? I mean surely it can’t be his fault if players miss open goal sitters or a moment of defensive lapses?

    All our strikers can score goals when in form but for some strange reasons this season they keep missing chances that they normally would make. I understand it’s AW who bought and field these players but surely as a manager you have to trust your players to perform.

    The WOBs say our game play is predictable but if you look at how Barca play it is very similar to ours but the only difference is they have three of the best strikers in the world who convert chances. Look at Atletico Madrid they are one of the best defensive-counter attacking team and they play similar to Leicester but their league position is way below Barca and just above Real Madrid. I’m only pointing out that if we were clinical with our goal chances we would have been way ahead in the league, it’s not the tactic that’s is the problem.

    AW is not perfect and has faults but what this man has achieved for Arsenal should be respected and be supported. At least support him until his current contract finish.

72. @Fransico – I notice you comment is just copy and pasted from a article on football365. Utterly laughable. Can’t even come up with your own conclusions and have to let other idiots do your thinking for you.

73. If it wasn’t for Leicester, them from the dark side would be even more the darlings of the media than they are.

    If you believe our agenda driven press, they are MUCH MUCH better than us, and wow, they are going to get a spanking new stadium.

    We haven’t won the league for 12 years, they haven’t won it for 55 years.

    FFS

74. Proudkev
    The reason I’m on here is because this isn’t WOB.
    I don’t think he should be let go ,if for no other reason that he is under contract ( I firmly believe in honoring those).

    I don’t only post after setbacks cos if I had I would’ve been posting on here for the last dozens of threads , I haven’t.

    As for keeping track of other people’s comments – I only keep track of my own comments and those in reply , which is fairly simple when you don’t comment often and when you don’t spin tales to justify some bullshit agenda. Also I have a photogfafic memory( if something like that even exist), and once I read something, I retain it for a long time.

    The issue of player fitness and injuries is one of the main ones that keep derailing Arsenal title bid every season , and Wenger is a big part of the problem.

    Whether be it playing Walcott in six games in 21 days that lead to his ACL in 2014 after he just came back from his abdomen injury.

    Or Ozil, Cazorla,Coquelin and Ox being all asked if they could continue playing with knee ligament injuries, thus making them worse.
    Wenger gets a free pass for this in EPL because of its archaic mentality to playing through injuries and taking one for the team, but in Germany or Spain he would’ve been put on the spot for this negligence.

    Sanchez is another example of a player being grossly mismanaged.
    Alexis racked up by far the most minutes for club and country of any Arsenal players during the last season ( over 4,650 minutes) , then he went to Copa America and even though Wenger declared him not to be match fit, he proceeded to play him in the season’s opener against WestHamU, and a total of 1570 minutes until he broke down in the Norwich game.

    For all the talk about having to carefully manage Alexis this season , only Cazorla had played more minutes( 1690) than Alexis till the moment Alexis broke down, and Cazorla had a proper Summer break.

    ” all the players know how to stretch and proper warm up”
    This really sums you up in a nutshell. LoL!!!!!
    I suppose they can do all those proper warm ups and stretches in under a minute too.

    Another case was Ramsey in the Hull game , even though I’m able to cut Wenger some slack on this one, being out of the CL and Pl competitions for all intents and purposes, he kind a had to gamble with Ramsey , still though pretty reckless.

    Of all the things you mentioned you did while managing the team like : ” paying the refs, caching the players, hanging the nets and others”

    I’m assuming hanging the nets was your best skill.

75. @Walter,
    Excellent article calling out the people who only come out with negative comments when Arsenal lose/draw. They do not know what it means to be a “supporter”, even with advancements in technology where they only have to Google search supporter.

    @Francisco,
    In response to your 213 post, of course an Arsenal loss hurts all Arsenal supporters. The difference is how an Arsenal supporter responds and how someone that is not a supporter responds. A supporter encourages (if you don’t believe me, just google search supporter definition).

    An analogy would be, having a child participate in sports, s/he’s trying his/her best, but makes a mistake/passes to the other team/fouls/etc.., Parent A supporting their child, would offer encouragement, cheer, tell them to pick their heads up, they’ll do better next time, etc…
    Parent B, who is not a supporter, would be the one screaming: “you suck, get off the field, you’re not good enough to be on the pitch, etc…, further making their child feel worse and probably do worse.

    The people supporting Arsenal (and Wenger as an Arsenal employee) are like Parent A offering encouragement to the club.

    The Wenger out brigade are like Parent B, not supporting their child/Arsenal, and are nothing more than hecklers/bullies probably with low self esteem issues.

76. Tom.

    My god, you are rude.

    You have no idea how a preofessional football club is run. If you did, you wouldnt show yourself up.

    Blaiming Wenger for all our injuries, you really are nuttier than a bag of KP’s.

    You said: “Whether be it playing Walcott in six games in 21 days that lead to his ACL in 2014”

    Really?

    You said: “Or Ozil, Cazorla, Coquelin and Ox being all asked if they could continue playing with knee ligament injuries, thus making them worse”

    Really?

    You said: “Wenger gets a free pass for this in EPL because of its archaic mentality to playing through injuries and taking one for the team”

    Really?

    Unbelievable. Truly unbelievable.

77. Tom

    “Also I have a photogfafic memory (if something like that even exist)”

    Lol. That genuinely made me laugh.

78. Lots of copy paste posts today.
    Shows the herd like mentality and lack of original thought within the AAA

79. @Francisco,
    You mention the long and proud history of the Arsenal club, but then completely dismiss the work of Wenger which further enhanced that 130 year history!

    1) Wenger won almost 25% of all the League Titles Arsenal has ever won (3 of the 13)
    2) Wenger has won 50% of the FA Cups Arsenal has ever won (6 of the 12)
    3) Wenger has won almost 50% of the FA Community Shields Arsenal ever won (6 of the 14)
    4) Half of the doubles won by Arsenal were led by Wenger (2 out of the 4)

    You mention the resources available and the wealth of the club, but ignore the influence of Wenger on these matters. Wenger is the one that pushed for the building of the stadium to build this wealth and resources.

    You and the other members of the Wenger Out Brigade are NOT true Arsenal supporters with red and white blood pumping like you said if your only focus is sacking and harassing Wenger.

    In fact you and WOB are DISRESPECTING and spitting on the long and proud history of Arsenal FC, by constantly abusing the manager who is directly responsible for a major portion of the club’s significant achievements.

    @Tom,
    You blame Wenger for the mismanagement of Sanchez, yet ignore the fact that his national team manager ignored the advice of Wenger to overuse him before the Norwich game, and used Sanchez in 2 Chile matches during the international break the 2 weeks before the Norwich game and ignored the uncalled foul that pushed him into a camera pit in Norwich. If you watched the match, you’ll notice he was not right after that, and his injury could have been much worse like Debuchy’s the year before.

80. Fact Scholes has a better barometer of the Arsenal situation than most really stings. Mediocrity running rampant from Kroenke and the boards financial stake to Wengers performances being praised for finishing 4th. This clubs been turned into an cup side who finish in the money and do nothing with it and the supporters have been sold this as success. Some have taken the hook, line and sinker, pathetic.

    Wenger has squeezed the lemon dry, theres nothing left.

81. Hary – you need to be breast fed. You are obviously not off mothers milk yet. You do not know what Wenger has brought to Arsenal. Have you ever been to a match? If you have, remember that the seat you sat in was paid for by his astute management while coaching a set of players to play the best sporting football Arsenal have ever seen.

    Tom – you are such a good knowledgeable football coach. Have you won anything? Well you obviously didn’t apply your super intelligent skill to your own life. Your a loser. Picking on proudkevs experience is easy because you have nothing.

    I have watched Arsenal from the north bank in winter when there were 17,000 in the stadium & the football wasn’t up to much but I supported the team despite what it delivered. I never claimed the manager should go ever. I never even claimed a player should be dumped unless he was denegrating the club. I enjoyed the game.

    Today, there are many of you who despite having a superb stadium to sit in & a great team to support, suddenly think you know more than the hand that fed you quality football for decades. You are the most disgraceful undesearving bunch of uneducated morons that have ever had the term supporter used on you. I include Piers Morgan with you as he is a wealthy example of your ilk. Because you have the facility to watch football you think that gives you the right to abuse a man of Wengers integrity. You have neither the right nor the intelligence to wash his socks.

    One thing that galls me is the game has a set of Laws. How many of you have actually read those & kept up with the changes & seen the PGMO interpretation on the field of play? I am disgusted by the PGMO & all the organisation behind them. They are corrupt.

82. Proudkev
    That’s the problem trying to debate someone like yourself.
    Show me where I’m blaming Wenger for All , or even most of Arsenal injuries.
    I don’t.
    The fact that he has repeatedly taken chances with some players’ fitness is beyond any dispute in any reality base environment, one within you clearly refuse to reside.

    Here’s an example of what a reality based poster’s response to my original post to you ,regarding Walcott’s injury might’ve been.

    Dear Tom ,or Fu.k head ,whichever suits you.
    Upon reviewing the timeline of Ox’s injury ( 4 th minute) and Walcott’s subsequent entry not the field of play( 1 minute later) provided by you, I concede that indeed there wasn’t sufficient time for the player in question to have warmed up properly , thusly he should remain blameless for getting himself injured. Lets chalk it up to an unfortunate turn of events, shall we.

    Instead , you propose that a professional player should be able to warm up at a drop of a hat basically , because he is a professional player, and then you complain about me having my facts straight as a sign of being obsessed.

    I wander what Tony thinks about such an obsessive behavior:)

83. Blimey this sites more out of tune than Dylan doing Newport plugged in.

84. This club is.a club I have SUPPORTED for over 40 odd years and will continue to do so till the day I take my last breath. Yes we are having a bad spell of that we all know but when the chips are down that is the time this team and its management need us all to get behind them.
    AW does not send these players out to lose but so called supporters want to see just that. He can’t win whether we win , lose or draw.
    The players are been affected by the by the Wenger out crap they see and here a specially at the Em and if you don’t think that shouting abuse at them also affect’s them then God help us all. All these men are human and putting pressure on them does no one any good at all.
    Yes we need to improve of that I have no doubt and we need to be putting away the chances we create . The refs are a bloody disgrace not only to themselves but to English football and if my two brothers both die hard Spur’s men can see it why the hell cant the rest off the Arsenal fan base not see it.
    Before you start throwing stones at Wenger and these players take a long hard look at yourself and see if you are fit to throw the first one
    No matter who is manager at this club they will always have my support as will the players, I may not be happy with all Wengers decision’s nor at how this teams plays at times but they will always always have my support when they are playing and when they are not. We all have opinions and that’s fine but the abuse this man has had to endure is nothing short of disgusting and degrading but it says more about the fan base than it ever could of the man.

85. Tom – warm up. All players warm up before the match – includes subs. During match all subs will stay warm or keep warm & will continue to stretch. When subbed, all players subbed know that if they are not warmed up it is because they have not done their jobs right, so they perform stretches to prevent muscle injury. Not the fault of coach but may be assistants not ensuring players staying warm.

86. I bet Walter and Tony REVOLTED when Dylan did plug in. Petrified of the change.

    This space is an island and the tides are rising. Untold-Arse is equatable to the Japanese solider’s living their days out on a small Pacific Atoll. Awaiting for the Zero’s to offer support, circa 1976. Even they had to walk into the modern era eventually and face the realities.

87. If we are going back to war times, I am sure the majority of the WOB would have given up, thrown the toys out of the pram, surrendered and got rid of Churchill as soon as times got rough….probably very soon after Dunkirk

88. Tom,

    Having a photographic memory is commendable, but you surely are aware that memory is selective. Or are you suggesting you remember everything you read, for a long time? How long btw?

    I was blessed with such a capacity during childhood. It has deserted me since. In fact, it is demonstrated by studies that this kind of capacity is common only among children, and pretty much disappears during adulthood. So, really, how old are you? Are you even allowed on sites that carry adult discussions?

    Here’s what I’m talking about: Eidetic_memory

89. Mandy had Churchill gone 12 years without winning a title, looking at the likelihood of Leicester or Tottenham taking top honors ahead of him spending a fraction.
    He’d of had the good sense to know he’d lost the pulse and walked quietly, dignity in tact.

90. Yesterday I watched the game in a bar, sitting close to 3 very polite young men who were supporting Arsenal. It was interesting to note that throughout, they were totally influenced by the constant blathering of Mr. Savage. When I pointed out some of the repeated incidences of bias from the match officials, all he could say was that Gabriel was lucky not to be sent off.

    I did attempt to point out a few events which Savage was choosing to ignore, but to no avail. All they kept saying was that because we are a Champions League team, we should beat Watford automatically. It is disappointing that such intelligent young men could reveal such a simplistic view of football and such a gullible attitude to the BT Sport commentary.

    On a separate note, an earlier poster stated that our last league success was founded on George Graham’s back four. Worth pointing out that the Invincible defence of Lauren, Toure, Campbell and Cole was assembled by Arsene.

91. To Linda, re your 6.22 post:

    Very well said!

92. People will remember him as the best manager in FA cup history. People will remember him as the manager that managed to overcome the handicap of building the Emirates stadium. People will remember him as the manager who won most trophies for Arsenal. People will remember him as the manager who won most PL titles for Arsenal

    Totally correct. He’ll also be remembered as the manager who kept Diary for 8 years, and lost a league title to Leicester City, despite having incredible cohesion and stability in his team, and about 5 times their wage budget.

    Still though, he was an amazing manager until sometime around 2009.
    Since then, he’s been average at best, and he’s been making excuses for every failure.

    It’s easy to post the mindless rants of a loser WOB, but why not actually engage in sensible debate with sensible people who think Wenger’s time is up. You can’t call every WOB ab idiot because of one person, just like you can’t call every black person violent because of what’s happening in Chicago

    I’d like if someone here could honestly answer this question: What would it require to consider this season as a success?
    1) Top 4 finish
    ²) league title
    3) Quarter finals of the Champions League

93. He will be remembered as the Best Manager AFC ever had
    For his honesty, integrity, fairness, bringing English football into an era of no drinking before matches, proper diet and doing it the Arsenal way.
    He will be remembered for bringing the likes of Henry, Vieara, Pires, RVP and the rest to be the footballers that they were
    There is a long list of what this man not only brought to Arsenal but to the English game as a whole
    The beautiful football that was amazing to watch and most of all for hid great love of Arsenal FC
    He has nothing to prove to anyone least of all the abusive haters. Now we owe this man one hell of a lot and so also do his players and they will know that without having to be told, it’s a real pity the fan’s who throw the abuse at him with words and banners and the players he picks have not the common decency to do the same.
    Brilliant article and so very very true and it’s such a bloody shame but Their are none so blind as those who cannot and will not see.

94. Linda,

    Your comment seems to simply say that Wenger can do whatever he likes because of the great years of the past.

    How has his reform reflected on Jack Wilshere?

    There is no denying the great things that he has done for us, but you are basically admitting that he has not been doing very well lately, but he should not be questioned because he went unbeaten 12 years ago.

    We owe nothing to Wenger. He did an incredible job and has been paid handsomely for it. That’s as far as it goes. He doesn’t deserve a lifetime job for ten glorious years.

95. Sorry I was so angry reading the moron’s comments, it should read,
    It’s a pity the fan’s who throw abuse at him with words and banners except that they also are to blame and hold their hands up also.

96. I am interested in this site’s perspective on what happens when Wenger finally does leave. He is 66 years old, doesn’t need the money and one day he will decide to leave, if he is not forced out beforehand.

    Will this site get behind the new manager? Given what Tony Attwood said above – “Ultimately, this site was set up to allow those who believe that Wenger should be Arsenal’s manager, on the grounds that there were thousands of site and newspapers set up to argue that he should leave” – will this site even have a purpose then? Will it just shut down?

97. @Col if you look at the banner on top you will see it state ‘ Supporting the club, the players, and the manager’. AW is the current manager hence the support, if new manager comes in I’m sure this site will support him/her too.

98. Col

    It should shut down, views more antiquated and less manoeuvrable than Giroud on a good night.
    You die hard untold memebers think its toxic at the Em now, what happens if Tottenham win the title?

99. @ Tom, so AW is to blame for the players injuries too?? Since when was AW part of the medical staff? These players weekly wage is more than my annual salary, surely it’s their responsibility to keep themselves up to scratch for a match. I mean they are payed to play when called upon not to make up the numbers.

    Managers want their players to play when needed, ask Klopp with Sturridge, how Klopp wanted Sturridge to play through the pain barrier even knowing full well Sturridge is not recovered from injury.

    If you look at the pattern, clubs who play in Europe tends to get injuries to key players? Look at Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool etc, these clubs like us usually play high tempo football and the players push themselves to the limit, by pushing themselves to the limit the risk of injuries are far greater. Now if the players didn’t push to the limit I’m sure fans like you would moan that they are lazy, no mental strength, weak, and are bottlers etc.

    Maybe it’s AW fault that the weather was to cold for the players to play football??

100. @Steely, If Tottenham win the league then we are safe for another 55 years, happy with that…

101. ” Nothing in Nature lives for itself . Rivers don’t drink their own water .
     Trees don’t eat their own fruit. The Sun doesn’t shine for itself .
     A flower ‘s fragrance is not for itself .
     Living for each other is the rule of nature .”

102. I had quite a good laugh at some of the stupid posters on here . However they try none of ‘them’ are ever going to fool me that they are Arsenal fans . Coming in pairs and sometimes more ,they seem to be on here eager to please and pleasure themselves .

     Well whatever does it for you ! Its just that you remind me of these guys .

     Three men are in a prison cell … a rapist , a psycho and a gay .
     Rapist : ” If I find a cat now , I will fuck it till it dies ….”
     Psycho : ” And once its dead , I will fuck it till I die …”
     Gay in the corner says : ” Meow ……!”

     ( Hope I did not miss anyone !)

103. Will we AKBs ever forgive ‘them’ for their insults , stupidity and transgressions ? NO ! NEVER !
     Well , that would mean that they will just have leave us all alone and go on to ‘bluer’ pastures , wouldn’t it ? YES ! PLEASE ?

     It’s Hard To Kiss The Lips At Night That Chew Your Ass Out All Day Long

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjkLf_X88WM

104. Steely O’Leary
     March 14, 2016 at 11:14 pm

     You are obviously more intelligent than this site yet you wallow in it like a pig. Must be hiding something besides your smell. Why comment repeatedly if you know that Untolders are so dim?

     jamiestupid – you are another wallower. Do you know what the value of the club was pre Wenger & what it is now?
     Don’t point to Jack as being a Wenger issue. He is in his current state because of PGMOL & a Man U ‘smash’ tackle.

105. Menace,

     I truly am sorry for being so stupid, but let me explain so you can understand the musings of an idiot like me:

     Linda quite correctly pointed out that Wenger brought in a reform that made players cleaner in terms of alcohol and nightlife that was rampant. I simply asked what the reforms carried out by Wenger had no effect on Jack Wlishere, as he’s been pictured with cigarettes and shisha pipes as well as being shit faced at the FA cup parade. Although I’m sure you’d have us believe that the parade was his first time ever consuming alcohol.

     Concerning the injuries, you may not realize that it’s inadvisable to play 19 year olds 40 games in a season, and that’s forgiven since I seem to be so stupid.

     PS: very classy of you to immediately insult me. I’m sure the spuds and chavs would like someone of your ilk in their ranks

106. steely oleary, Churchill did a lot worse than go 12 years with no title, as first sea Lord in WW1, he was blamed for the needless and tragic fuck up that was the Dardenelles campaign. After that, Churchill went to serve in the trenches .
     In his decision to take on Hitler, he was branded arrogant and but he went against war weary voters, many royals, much of the media, and not only insisted it was right to go into, WW2, n he became able, he stayed there despite mistakes and bad days.
     History is glad he did.

107. ‘We owe nothing to Wenger.’ Wow, who are these morons??

108. I see a lot of fans, but very little supporters.