By Tony Attwood
Of course not the greatest win of all time, but anyone with even the gnarled up remains of what used to be a heart, or a micro litre of emotion would surely celebrate what Eddie did last night.
Wouldn’t they? Here are a few headlines in the aftermath of the match…
Saved by a kid! was
Gunners lucky to escape with a draw said
Arsenal fans are destroying two players after Norwich draw in the Carabao Cup said
So as one of the great stories unfolded in terms of Eddie, we got endless negativity from the multiple sources of poison. At least we know that these people didn’t have the pleasure of the smiles and laughs everyone else add cocooned in their little rooms of lonely negativity.
As Mr Wenger reminded us before the game, “We went to the final with a very young team and nearly won it. I always focus on winning trophies in the Premier League and FA Cup domestically, and always used the League Cup as an education for our young players.”
As for Eddie, he trotted onto the pitch, and kept on trotting forwards to take up his position as the number 9, and then having got there, he trotted on and scored.
How the young man will live with this and evolve his career is hard to know. He’s probably not had any sleep yet, but someone somewhere will have to help him come down. Maybe reminding him of what the twatters said about Theo and Francis will help him realise that there are some thoroughly degenerate people out there who will attack anything Arsenal. What is the point of going to a match and then twatting all the way through it – unless of course they simply weren’t there, and were just twatting because that is what they do. The latter seems quite likely.
The Guardian stated that “The chant of “Eddie, Eddie,” then “coursed round the stadium, which was remarkable considering how few of the crowd had probably heard of Nketiah before kick-off.” And that I suppose is part of their problem. Tucked away in their secured area of the ground, talking among themselves, waiting for the twatters to twat at bit more these journalists really have no idea what it is like to be person who goes to the game and pays for the pleasure.
Either side of me in my season ticket seat I have guys whose knowledge of Arsenal players – and indeed players of other teams – is utterly encyclopedic. It really is at the level of looking at an opposition player and saying “Didn’t his dad use to play for …”
People who pay to go to football know about football – journalists should not mire us with their own lack of knowledge.
Back with Eddie, Mr Wenger added “I like especially the header he scored,” said Wenger. “He is not tall. He has a determined attitude. When the team needs you and you can deliver, that is a quality that you don’t know until you put the player on.
“I don’t regret not putting experienced players on the bench. Eddie is a good example of why. If I had experienced players on the bench I would certainly have put them on instead of Eddie.”
The Standard however with their regular array of mind-readers, knows Mr Wenger is lying. “Wenger must have regretted a bench of young prospects,” they pronounced in a way that brooks no argument.
So what might we expect from Eddie Nketiah? It is too early to say of course – Chuba Akpom promised a lot, and then his career went backwards (although there is still plenty of time for him). Let’s hope Eddie keeps going. Certainly he had enough sense to get himself out of Chelsea aged 14 and come to Arsenal to get some proper football training.
Of course while no newspaper will ever note that the referees got something wrong which caused Arseanl to lose, they are fulsome accounts of Norwich’s bad luck and questionable refereeing decisions. Debuchy and Elneny should have gone off, they say, and Walcott and Coquelin were worse than useless.
Daniel Farke the manager of Norwich spoke in a way which if used by Mr Wenger in reverse would have him hauled up before the beak, fined £20,000 and forced to sit in the stands for a month, but in this case it will, of course, be let pass. “I wondered why he could have all these decisions in favour of Arsenal.” He also complained about the corner which led to the final deciding moments of the game.
And of course some people will write in as they always do saying “you don’t complain when it goes in Arsenal’s favour” showing as ever that either my writing is particularly obtuse or they don’t read what is written here.
We have two concerns over referees. One is the vast number of errors they make, and the other is how in certain games those errors seem to be very lopsided. We’ve pointed out the number of times when refereeing is so bad that a computer giving out decisions at random would do it better. And we’ve outlined Type III match fixing so many times I really can’t bring myself to write it up again. Safe to say, it is selective and the teams involved in Type III games are not the ones benefiting from the wrong decisions.
But let Eddie have his day. He deserved it. And so did everyone who contrary to the Guardian’s expectations, knew his name. Never forget, we are not as ill-informed as journalists.
Nine wins, one draw and one defeat in eleven games is not too bad.
- League cup Arsenal -Norwich 2-1
- Highbury: from start to end with previously unseen pictures of the end of the stadium.
- Giroud wins the Puskas Award for greatest goal of the season. Of course.
I saw the same Give Me Sport headline and shook my head. It’s a shame that we have this type of ‘journalism’ but they do appeal to the Le Grove clientele of Arsenal fans. Like Fox News for Trump supporters.
as a season ticket holder I’ve the pleasure of assessing the game through my eyes and not the biased opinions of a journalist or a tv pundit, the sooner these media experts views are ignored the sooner we get rid of them
Well done Eddie, the AFC ‘one-man demolition squad’. You gave many a sinking Gooner heart hope when you did what you know how to do best – score goals – may many more come your way as you mature into your striker’s role with us.
Well done Arsenal Youths! With a sprinkling of Arsenal regulars yesterday night, you did the true fans, your club and yourselves proud. Often we forget: Football is played for these people and not for commentators or pundits.
Without the true fans, the club and players who have chosen the sport as their profession, football will cease to exist. On the other hand, many are learning to do without those ones that answer to such names as: pundits, commentators, reporters and blogettas….many have come to see them as no better than leeches, in place merely to suck blood and life out of the good game.
Wonder what the (so-called) press are saying about City.
Pep did explain the issue by putting the fault on the ball.
Guess that must be the truth then…maybe the press will make a ‘Ballgate’ out of it like in the US with the ‘Deflategate’
It might also be worth noting that was a genuinely full house last night (save, of course, for Club Level who pay £200 plus to either sit inside or not attend at all). Prices once again were temptingly low and ‘friends and family’ obviously responded big time. The number of very small children present was notable but it was half term for many of them so maybe not too much of a surprise that a late night wasn’t a barrier.
What spoiled the successful marketing of tickets was the fact that having so many people there who arrived late and needed a great deal of help to find their seat. Oh well – you can’ have it all.
Good to hear that crowd numbers were strong for what was a very entertaining game, but it was expected due to the school holiday. I avoided Highbury Corner/Finsbury for that very reason on my way home from work. Credit to Norwich for playing out of their skins and well done that youtman at the end. Rousing finish. Thumbs down to Pep for failing to score against a Championship team for 120 minutes and blaming the ball. Embarrassing, quite frankly. Practically a first choice eleven too.
Ian Wright thinks Walcott should leave. This is the first time I agree with Ian Wright on anything.
A rare opportunity: I was lucky enough to attend last night’s match with my stepson.
We winced at the physical punishment dished out by Norwich orcs. The occasional free kick resulted, but a distinct lack of yellow cards for the boys in yellow. Conversely, when Wilshere, Coquelin, Giroud sought physical parity, the were pulled up much quicker, and were more likely to receive a card. We couldn’t help reflecting that the rather downbeat performances by most of the senior players (Debuchy an honourable exception), was the result of a tired cynicism in the face of this customary inequality of treatment by the arbiter (brother of Bobby, and similar style of ref.).
The younger members of the team showed more resilience and fight, and consequently seemed to give better performances. Gold stars from us for Macey, AMN, Nelson and Holding.
Unlike the ignorant media, our hopes rose when Eddie-Eddie-Eddie! was brought on, aware as we are aware of his goal-scoring capabilities. I was actually disappointed he didn’t complete his hat-trick, which I acknowledge is a bit harsh.
We were also excited at the performance of Josh da Silva, which has received little comment, and pleased by the contribution of Chuba, who, posted out on the left, was neat, technically sound, and imaginative – and gave as good as he got physically!
My overwhelming feeling from the match, however, was that despite Arsenal being second best, and second rate, for much of the game, the support was loud, positive and unflagging, and what a difference this made. The last game I was able to attend was Everton last May, which was spoilt for me by the negative chanting. The last time I experienced the stadium rocking was the Leicester game when Danny scored the winner in extra time – after just coming on as a sub. Another example, like last night, of Wenger being unable to change the dynamic during the course of a match!
Max Kerr
A nice post but why this barbed comment at the end?
“Another example, like last night, of Wenger being unable to change the dynamic during the course of a match!”
“Another example” ?
I’m sure the dynamic did change at around 85 minutes, or did you miss that? Isn’t that during the match or have they shortened match times without me knowing?
I think you’ll find it was actually Pep who failed to ‘change the dynamic’ last night.
If he or Mourinho had bought a young 18 year old on for his PL debut, and he had done what Nketiah had, they would of been hailed as geniuses. You on the other hand choose to have an utterly unnecessary dig at Wenger.
Why? I don’t get it.
Don’t we get enough of this kind of shit from the media without our own fans having these totally unnecessary and baseless digs at our own manager ?
Other than that it was a great post, and I’m glad you had a great night.
When the media rarely criticises Liverpool (the difference between the coverage of their defeats in comparison to ours is truly staggering), even then they have to throw in a dig at Arsenal. Headlines such as “Just like Arsenal, Liverpool have no spine/leader” or “Liverpool are like Arsenal, it’s groundhog day”. What?! When have you ever seen another team arbitrarily insulted like that? Even when the article is about Liverpool’s failings, they just can’t help themselves but throw in yet another dig at Arsenal. But, sure, no media agenda here to speak of..
Nitram,
I think that was sarcasm fella….
Let’s not forget that Walcott almost have a career wreck ACL injury that he recieved from the tackling of one Danny Rose of Tottenham Hotspur in an FA Cup match at the Ems between Arsenal FC and Tottenham Hs. I think since he returned from that injury that sidelined him for a year or so, he’s yet to fully returned to the top level he was for club and country before he had the big injury. Obviously, he had a bad game last night against Norwich City for Arsenal in the Carabao Cup match at the Ems in which he performed poorly lacking sense of optional play in the game which made him to be always caught in offside position. But with his game playing experience, he ought to have outgrown that side of game weakness in him. And his lack of composure in front of goal which has been making him since to be missing many scoring chances for Arsenal overtime was in exhibition yesterday night at the Ems against Norwich, and it is unpardonable.
But despite all these 2 major game failings in Walcott, he has managed on for Arsenal by scoring not less than 10 goals in all competitions for Arsenal every season. I think he scored 17 goals in all matches for Arsenal last seasons. I think it’s the good number of goalscoring side of him every season for Arsenal although not in their twenties but still reasonably accepted is what Le Prof have noted that has maked him to keep Walcott at Arsenal. I believe as the season pans on we will begin to see an improved Walcott and Coquelin in all completions for Arsenal. Coquelin too was a victim of injuries which had him sidelined on some occasions leading his missing many matches for Arsenal. But with time in this first half of the season on to the 2nd half of it, I believe we will see an improved Coquelin doing top DM job in games for Arsenal. Therefore, let’s give these duo the benefit of doubt as we criticise them in their playing for Arsenal when they have a bad time on the pitch for Arsenal. They will comeback strong for Arsenal because they have the attributes to do so.
Thanks, Flares!
Let’s not forget that Walcott almost have a career wreck ACL injury that he recieved from the tackling of one Danny Rose of Tottenham Hotspur in 8an FA Cup match at the Ems between Arsenal FC and Tottenham Hs. I think since he returned from that injury that sidelined him for a year or so, he’s yet to fully returned to the top level he was for club and country before he had the big injury. Obviously, he had a bad gampe last night against Norwich City for Arsenal in the Carabao Cup match at the Ems in which he performed poorly lacking sense of positional play in the game which made him to be always caught in offside position. But with his game playing experience, he ought to have outgrown that side of game weakness in him. And his lack of composure in front of goal which has been making him since to be missing many scoring chances for Arsenal overtime was in exhibition yesterday night at the Ems against Norwich, and it is unpardonable.
But despite all these 2 major game failings in Walcott, he has managed on for Arsenal by scoring not less than 10 goals in all competitions for Arsenal every season. I think he scored 17 goals in all matches for Arsenal last seasons. I think it’s the good number of goalscoring side of him every season for Arsenal although not in their twenties but still reasonably accepted is what Le Prof have noted that has made him to keep Walcott at Arsenal. I believe as the season pans on we will begin to see an improved Walcott and Coquelin in all completions for Arsenal. Coquelin too was a victim of injuries which had him sidelined on some occasions leading to his missing many matches for Arsenal. But with time in this first half of the season on to the 2nd half of it, I believe we will see an improved Coquelin doing top DM job in games for Arsenal. Therefore, let’s give these duo the benefit of doubt as we criticise them in their playing for Arsenal when they have a bad time on the pitch for Arsenal. They will comeback strongly for Arsenal because they have the attributes to do so.
I suspect that everybody had already written their headlines about how AFC were “dumped” out of the Micky Mouse Cup and what a failure we are. I’m sure the disappointment of us turning the game around will have been too much for the meedja and they just had to satisfy their obsession of slagging us off in some way or another.
The other thing that has been alluded to was the physicality of the game. On that point it’s interesting to note that their 18 fouls warranted two yellow cards whilst we committed half the number of fouls for twice the number of cards. (And that doesn’t even take into account fouls they committed which were not awarded at all.) Mike Riley must be more pissed off with us than usual….
Max Kerr and Flares.
If it was, as it seems from your response Max, please accept my humble apologies.
I should of realised given, as I said, the quality of the rest of the post.
Sorry.
Jammy
“Even when the article is about Liverpool’s failings, they just can’t help themselves but throw in yet another dig at Arsenal. But, sure, no media agenda here to speak of.”
Similarly when having a go at Everton.
This from the Telegraph:
“You know it is not your day when Mesut Ozil scores a header against you. You know it is not your day when you gift your opponents their first away win of the season. You know the end must be close when you see your team outplayed, out thought and even – heaven forfend – out muscled by Arsenal.”
This from the Mirror:
‘Ronald Koeman was asked if there were any positives to be taken from Everton’s capitulation to the kings of capitulation.’
It seems they cant make a criticism against anyone without drawing some obscure parallel with Arsenal.
As you say:
“no media agenda here to speak of.”