Why us gooners have much to be proud of
Aria Khani
The recent world cup final was contested between a technically gifted Spanish side and a very hard working and talented Holland. The Spanish victory was hailed by Alan Hansen and co, as a good result for football. They marvelled over the passing game and technical brilliance of Spain.
Yet I was not impressed, probably because I have been accustomed to this calibre of total football week in week out at the Emirates. Pundits were throwing out superlatives as if it was confetti. Conversely they could not wait till they condemned the Dutch as aggressive hooligans who simply ruined the spectacle. As it happens I completely agree with what they had to say. What is mighty irksome is the fact that they are not consistent.
Re-wind to Saturday, 27 February 2010. An away premier league match at the Britannia. Arsenal, much like the Spanish, pass and pass to unlock even the most stubborn of teams. It is this attractive football that makes me feel proud to be a gooner.
The match was marred by the horrific injury to one of our most coveted youngsters, Aaron Ramsey. I can’t help but compare the aggressive style of football Stoke utilized to what the Dutch did to counter the Spanish passing game. And yet the very same pundits were straight to the defence of Tony Pulis’ side. Their game plan was always to roughen us up saying that our foreign contingent can’t handle it. What I cannot understand is why that is acceptable when it comes to players like Ramsey, Eduardo, Diaby, Nasri etc and not when it is the Spanish national side. The standards change as soon as it’s anyone but Arsenal.
All of this makes me think of another similar situation when double standards were once again used. I remember when Eduardo was accused of diving against Celtic and was awarded a penalty. Yes in hindsight I can accept that the challenge was fairly innocuous. But that did not justify the witch hunt which proceeded. The situation is made worse when players like Rooney and Gerrard do the exact same thing, yet when they do it it’s called being a clever footballer but when it comes to Eduardo he is labelled a cheat. Could this all be out of envy?
Arsene Wenger has transformed the world of football. He has improved diets, shown that a football club can be run without a billionaire owner, finish consistently in the top four of the most competitive league in the world and won trophies along the way. And all this was not at the expense of our identity, tradition and history unlike our blue London rivals.
When I go to the Emirates I always have a smile on my face when I see parents who bring their children. I feel at home at the Emirates. And yet when I go to any other stadium I never have the same feeling. This speaks wonders for our fans and speaks wonders for our manager. Someone who has assured our future in a very competitive market has to be applauded. Maybe it is all this that makes the tabloids and pundits inclined to take every opportunity to take a swipe at the gunners?
All I know is that our squad is improving and with possibly a new goalkeeper and one more defender the project that Wenger started may finally come to fruition. For this we must be very proud.
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Well said, couldn’t agree more.
proud to be proud…
We don’t give him enough credit…why dont we chant his name at the Emerates???? we should give more back show our graditude…im not Proud…Im Honourd…CMON ARSENAL
True ,true,well said-in Arsene’s Arsenal we trust.
HERE HERE! Proud to stand by my beloved fans.
Very well said. When the dust settle’s around very one else and the clubs that are beign run on the basis of financial doping. We and our Manager will be vindicated. Look at us, we should be so proud, we don’t have a billonaire suga daddy, we are not 700million ponds in debt and yet we consistently out perform thess team’s who spend millions upon millions more than us.
Being where we are and in the way we have done it is something to be very proud of. Well said Aria.
Two seasons ago we had a number of quotes from Cesc saying how he loved the club and although his heart was always going to be with his boyhood club,he had plenty of time and was in no hurry to leave. This summer has seen a change- despite all the usual quotes and tabloid nonsense, for the first time he has not reaffirmed his allegiance to us. He had a conversation with Wenger before the World Cup and the suspicion is that he was asked for one more season. This echoes what Wenger asked Henry after our Champions League Final defeat- a one-off massive salary boost for another season. Make no mistake, Henry wanted to go before he finally did and when his marriage broke up, that was the final straw. He did not leave because we wanted him out, so no more of that nonsense. Now we have individuals saying “he’s not asked to go.. where has he said that… he just wants to go home.” Rubbish- he’s seen that we will get nowhere with the present regime and has had a bellyful of false dawns. He is carrying this team and realised last season that Wenger is too stubborn to change. Even his most fervent fans cannot justify his lame attempts to justify his inaction in recent seasons. It looks like no goalkeeper will arrive-not even the veteran Shwarzer. To entrust Almunia or Fabianski with the gloves again is beyond belief. How many more games and points do we have to lose with these two clowns between the posts? No-one can blame Cesc for wanting to leave. Finances and “one more season” begging from Wenger will see him here for now, but let no-one doubt this will not be the situation in 12 months time
Great article, I could not believe how Alan Hansen was judgeing my dutch team, saying they were a disgrace. I mean he had a point but being a live long Arsenal supporter I immediately thought about all those time he tells Arsenal to grow up, the men against boys stories.. He really must hate Arsenal and Wenger..
The guy is a complete joke, I’m just waiting for him to tell us again that Liverpool are going to be champions and Arsenal are not getting a CL place this season.
A very well argued and written piece. Well said sir.
The knee jerk reactions of the so called pundits get increasingly tiresome – whoever or whatever they are talking about. Switch them off or fast forward through them – the message will eventually get through to broadcasters.
Let’s remember, they were ‘invented’ in the first place in order to extend the length of highlights programmes in order to get in more ad breaks – and then cpoied by the BBC in order to counteract what was seen to be commercial channel ‘innovation’ (i.e. do the same but do it better).
They’ve served their purpose on linear TV and should, at best, be confined to red button access only.
so proud
I agree with the story but a point being missed is that Spain win trophies so its not possible to aim the level of criticism at them as we get. Our playing field is much harder due to sugar daddies but if we could win a trophy playing this brand of football on our budget it would be a massive thing for football.
I enter every season feeling pessimistic, its my nature so dont kill me, even I have faith in comings years we will be a real force as things are coming together slowly.
Well said. 100% agree (apart from the suggestion that our keeper is any worse than anyone else’s)
I think Sir Alex Ferguson and Gordon Strachan will be saying ‘excuse me, we were all eating pasta at Aberdeen 15 years before anyone in England had heard of Arsene Wenger’….
I trained 3 others and myself to run a marathon in 1994 and was regularly bringing in a tureen of high performance pasta/rice salad for us all to eat 24 hours before a long Saturday morning run. Not to mention stuffing my stomach with spuds 36hrs before a 20 miler. I hadn’t heard of Arsene Wenger then either. And we did the marathon in not too much more than 3 hours.
There’s no question Arsene Wenger is a great sports scientist, but I think to say that he’s the only person who knew about this stuff when he came to England is a bit far of the mark….
Its because such diets were so well known that Wenger was so surprised that English players didn’t follow them. And had a players bar within the ground!
Its that level of ignorance at both health and training levels that have contributed to our home grown players performing so poorly internationally.And the complacency continues.
There’s a programme on youth development on the Beeb at the moment.
At the moment, boring mind numbing chat about some ex-Sp*d’s Soccer School. Of course, it’s not in the UK. For tax reasons? Heh.
Nothing about AFC’s programme over the last decade. Might have missed it. Not sure if I will last til the end of the show, they’re talking about ‘foreigners’ now. And whether English kids play a in ‘Spanish’ style.
Have these p(l)undits not watched AFC’s ever play? Oh, I forget. Every other English p(L)undit was moaning about how boring and slow AFC play last season. And they say English fans won’t accept different styles.
Well as we can see at AFC at this very moment in time, it is only a minority who like to live within their own delusions, who do not understand what has been happening at AFC over the last decade.
These p(l)undits are utterly useless and pathetic.
As better Football Minds then mine can explain, AFC’s evolving style is where we want to be! No doubt at all about that. For me, hopefully the pacier side of our game will come back to fore with TW14 and Vela starting more.
(It’s harder to play at ‘full tilt’ when your speedsters are taken out for half the season by a Brum wage slave, or injured).
It’s amazing to think, that Little Jack was not spotted by the ‘scouts’ till the Emirates Cup last season.
I think, the longer AFC’s new generation (the ‘thank you very much Anelka!’ generation) are kept away from the idiots at the FA, and their supporters, the better.
< whether English kids can play in a 'Spanish' style.
My friends I grew up in London with used to play football in what those jokers would refer to as a ‘Spanish’ style.
I was always playing crcket, but those guys were good. Very good. As in, twining and twisting some youth players on AFC’s books good (in the early nineties, so they were not up to the current lots standards!) Local cricket clubs in London when I was growing up were cool, players from all over the world, very high skill levels, nice sandwiches too. My football playing friends had no interest in playing for local clubs in the end. Some, were not considred ‘big enough’ anyway.
When I asked why, they said the style of football was rubbish, and bored them to death. They were happier in the park.
There’s a famous English scout, can’t remember his name.
He said players like Gazza were flukes, in spite of the ‘system’.
The English FA are hopeless, and they are now bankrupt.
Which is one reason why AFC deserves our support.
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