IOU game will give us all the strength we need to win league

A single defeat in the season is, of course neither here nor there.  Last season I was at Arsenal 2 IOU 1, and it was one of the very best matches I have ever seen in a lifetime of watching football.

Today wasn’t remotely a match in that sort of class; we lost by the same score that we won by last season at home.

So… last season the IOU lost to us, and went on to win the league.  I am quite sure the reverse will be true here.  Last season the IOU did very badly when it came to matches against other top teams – but won because they found a way to wipe out the Team Bus clubs.

I believe this year we can wipe out the Team Bus clubs, and do as well as last year against the top clubs.

We lost today to a penalty and an own goal – hardly a stunning defeat.   That will make the team rally round, as will the SFA-led conspiracy against Eduardo.  The sending off of the Lord Wenger at the end will add further to our solidarity.

Perversely this is all that we need.  We have a remarkable team – who came very close at this game.   What’s more if we can hold off the cretinous imbeciles who operate international football and not let Rosicky, Theo and the rest be called up for international duty, then by the time we play Sheik Yerbooty and the Arabs back in the land of rain, we’ll have a really significant choice of players available, and a developing squad.

One important point is that Ramsey really must follow Giggs.  Giggs played only two or three friendlies for Wales in his “glorious” career for his principality, feigning injury the rest of the time.  Ramsey should learn from that.  OK, if you have to, go and play internationals.  But not the friendlies.

Best of all keep yourself clean, and don’t get contaminated by playing for the corrupt organisations that work hand in glove with the disgraceful UEFA and their allies in FIFA.

Theo too must learn from his tragic error in turning out for England – an error that has led him to manage just 45 minutes since we started off at Barnet.  Keep well clear of their influence – stay with the guys who train you and pay your wages.

The current atmosphere inside Arsenal must be exactly like the moment when the idiots at the football league deducted two points in the 1990 season (see my last post).  All we need is the same strength and determination that George Graham and his team had, and we will see this through and win.

(c) Tony Attwood 2009

21 Replies to “IOU game will give us all the strength we need to win league”

  1. We never should have lost this game. Utd had the luck tonight and that was the difference between the two teams.
    Like I said before: pick ourselves up and next time kill off the game when the chances are there.
    The save just afther half time from the attempt of Van Persie proved lethal as did the freekick against the bar. Feel bad for the moment but we showed up and gave a good performance, just the scoreline doesn’t show it.
    About Diaby, lets just say he had a bad day at the office.

  2. i’m new here, and i’m just looking for a place to vent. btw, nice blog.

    poor wenger, poor diaby, poor arsenal. after the whole eduardo fiasco, wenger and co. really must feel like the world is against them. what have they done to deserve all the crap that has been shoveled their way?

    i kinda wonder if fergie and the scottish FA were in it together to try to see how much they can mess up arsenal’s psyche. a game like today makes me believe in conspiracies.

    you know that recent wenger interview where he says something like he feels the pain of letting down every arsenal supporter after a loss? poor guy. maybe he and abou should get a few beers later.

  3. We lost, so what? thirty something games is in front of us, each can give us points which we have patiently to collect. This game was only prof that Manure cant beat us,except referee helps, but they cant give you league. More than ever tonight I am assured we ll won this year… Best team of Manches cant beat Arsenal semireserves,I just cant wait October and return of all guys we missed tonight.

  4. Just seen an “nice” picture where you can see that Rooney is already on one knee before he reaches Almunia. I dont blame the ref for that (do for the not seeing the pen on Arshavin : foul and handball) but am I dreaming that the press is going to have a go at Rooney ?

  5. The best performer on the pitch was the referee and the first thing that came to my mind was Walter’s comment(http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/?p=1238&cpage=1#comment-5516). How can he miss the fletcher’s tackle on Arshavin in the box and give a penalty when Rooney was ‘felled’ by Almunia. That was the worst part. It felt like it was 12 Vs 11. But I’m proud of the Boys performance. The way they tried their best till the final minute. There wasn’t a single player who gave up…

    I’m sure this will surely motivate the guys and with the return of Cesc/Rosicky after the international break, I’m looking forward to the visit to ManC.

  6. Walter, the Media will be praising Rooney for his striker’s instincts unlike Eduardo. Atleast Boruc’s thighs touched Dudu’s right leg before he fell, whereas Rooney touched Almunia on his way down.. We cant blame the ref for this but surely We can for penalty on Arshavin. It was a clear penalty.

  7. im with ya man…really tough loss but feel that Arsenal outplayed United up until the unraveling gifts, and that this could be a great wake up call to an already stellar squad. No doubt will have more tough matches in the PL, particularly this year. But I think our Gunners are talented & underrated (which is EXACTLY where I like us-no pressure-nothing left to do but surprise the critics and prove a point).

    But damn…wanted to win that one…

  8. There is no justice at the Salford sewage works, the so called ref Mike (i luv utd) dean was a disgrace, this is what pisses me off big time we always get the crap from the officils, but the boys can be proud of the performance today, we were the better team all over the pitch, except for the goal keeper Almunia who i think was at fault for both goals.
    No worries lads we’ll win the league and cup this season with is type of performance

  9. During the first half we were clearly the dominant side, but temporarily lost our cool under pressure from a determined counter attack. But we regained our composure after conceding the goals and created several further opportunities to score. I am absolutely sure we have the character and self belief to learn from this and become stronger. Next time round, they play us at home. That will be an interesting match, to say the least.

  10. That’s a bitter pill to take, MU didn’t win the game we gave it to them. At this level it’s daft mistakes that decide games.

  11. The thing is we had a few chances we should of scored- against a team like everton or portsmouth we would of converted them- the boys are too scared of united- there was so many miss passes and we got dispossessed all the time- Song had a horrible game in the passing department defensively was great- Diaby? What the hell man? And I’m sure Arsenal can do better then Almunia- peter cech, van da sar, reina they’re top 4 material= Almunia is lucky not to get relegated material

    Anyway obvious signs we needed Fab– and why play eboue?

  12. What was Diaby thinking when he put that header past Almunia? This was Man United we’re talking about. Not some sunday football league outfit. The penalty decision was fair enough and they drew level and hoped we could sustain…set pieces have been the achilles heel of Arsenal and it was crucial to prevent Man United from gaining an advantage…but what did diaby came up with? A header gone the wrong way…wake up Diaby…you cost us the match…a draw would have sufficed…If Diaby is gonna keep giving lackluster performances, the fans will get on your back in no time…

  13. The ref shouldn’t award the penalty because the ball that that fat sucker kicked before going down ended up in the stand – meaning there’s no freaking change he could’ve score from that, at most it could be an indirect free kick.

    But I believe we have enough chances to score 2-3 goals, we were just unlucky.

    And I’ll fight anyone who does not think this team has enough to compete. Look at how we performed today, Diaby had a freak freak game and that fat c**t screwed us up once again but last year we beat them too and it proved to be meaningless.

    In the end, it’s how we perform THROUGHOUT the season, if we do good all year long, there’s not enough luck for the other team to beat us to the title.

    Just wait ’til Theo and Samir come back, now we’re talking unbelievable prospect.

    PS: and to send off Wenger was ridiculous, he’s clearly disappointed, not at ref’s decision as it was correct, but (like me) at how great it would be to score then…..next time at the Emirates when we win then it will be much much more a deciding factor into the season

  14. support diaby! it was just a stupid mistake, and you don’t want him feeling guilty about it because it will affect his performance. you saw how he worked his butt-off after to try to atone for it. he, like eduardo, needs everyone’s support, especially in the emirates. with the fans support, eduardo and diaby will flourish.

    uefa, the scottish FA, and even “respectable” media outlets have their knives out. worldwide opinion is against arsenal. fergie is licking his chops.

    as this game proved, arsenal have more than enough talent, but if anything is lacking, it is psychological. fergie knows this–he’s a master manipulator (arsene is too, but in England, his actions are often branded as “delusional” or “blind”).

    now’s the time for fans to get behind arsene and him 100%! because unlike man u, they won’t be getting a free pass from anyone.

  15. I agree with Tim.. Diaby doesnt deserve to be reminded that he fu***d up..he already knows it..

    There were times when he entered though the final third of the pitch and he looked really strong.. I admired that and its been a while since we have seen that in arsenal player.. actually holding on to the ball with brute strength (ala viera)

    Diaby is only 23 ..scary if u think how good this guy could become..

    So lets not look at the Small Picture here Gooners.. theres a whole seson ahead and with players like nasri, walcott, fabregas not playing yesterday..well im very optimistic !!

    Go GUNNERS !!!!

  16. I am sorry for Arshavin’s wasted goal..just like Walcott’s wasted run in the CL vs liverpool. Both matches were lost by ‘divine’ interventions from referee. But only this time, our dominance was clear-cut.

    ‘Time is not right to flatten everything before us, allow some leeways for the enemies, do not make them too pissed!’ – my positives from this match.

    (Diaby’s instant redemption) left foot shot! That miss was a cruel blow from the gods of fortune. But what a dribble!

    Eboue got busted for diving.. Rooney mastered the art of diving.

  17. hello lads. first time posting here. and i need to tell you all something. This was probably the starting 11 of ManU except the defense where Rio could come in. And theres a case for Hargreaves but he would be like us saying Rosicky starting in our first 11. Its not happened in a long time and we can’t believe it will happen for some time. But the main point i want to make is how many of us are actually complaining about the absence of Fabregas? He is the heartbeat of the team and when he plays in the team we are almost 2 times better at attacking. But still most of us haven’t mentioned him and that shows that we have more than enough “squad depth” so to say when it comes to attacking. And then theres the small matter of walcott and nasri coming back. The fact that we had Diaby, Denilson and Song at the middle of the park and still count ourselves unlucky to have lost the game tells us how far we have come since last year and how much better these 3 players have become. Except for the freak own goal i thought Diaby was fantastic. Giving his all, dribbling the ball and mostly the technical ability he shows with his feet are amazing. Yesterday we didn’t miss Cesc as much as we missed him last year and this is where we are so much better. Lets just keep this thing going and i am sure we will in the least be runners up in the league.

  18. Went to bed without watching MOTD and at the moment cannot bring myself to view the match again on Arsenal tele. Maybe later today.
    Of course I knew we were likely to lose to someone at some stage, so the question is how to deal with it, especially when it is ManU? Well, for me there was a lot to feel positive about:
    1. We played damn well right up to the final minute of added time, never capitulated, and came close to scoring again despite ManU defending their advantage in depth.
    2. As others point out, we were not at full strength, and yet were so much better than when we faced similar quality opposition last year.
    3. Winning or losing one match, even against our respected colleagues in the North, will not decide the outcome of the League.
    4. It was absolutely clear that the match really mattered to every one of our players, which was not the case last season.
    5. We don’t need to rely on the kindness and wisdom of referees, we have enough quality and talent to win matches on our own merits.
    6. AW dealt with the post match press with dignity and humour, in the way one might expect from a manager who believes in his team and its approach to football.
    7. How sweet will it be when we trash them in the return match at home?

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