By Tony Attwood
My trip to Wembley starts at noon; I think Walter started at around 4am. One stop in Northampton to meet up with Drew, then we drive to Harrow (or somewhere odd like that) to meet up with Ian and his sons, and then the tube on to Wembley where maybe, if we manage it, we’ll meet Walter too.
And in many ways that’s what football is all about for me. It is about the association of friends, coming together for matches, time spent in the pub, meeting up with friends, and with people you’ll never meet again and about whose lives you really have to wonder…
I think my favourite “character” (as such people used to be called) this season was in the Coronet, a totally Arsenal pub, before the Fulham game. There he was bedecked in black and white sitting with his considerably younger lady, talking some extraordinary stuff and saying “know what I mean” after every fifth word. At one stage he got up to get another round, leaving his lady with us. As he left the table she raised her eyes to the heavens. It must have been a tough season madam.
And as I think of this and wonder about life and all this football stuff…
I think maybe it is largely because I go to football matches (not just Arsenal but lower league games too) with my friends, and because I have deep rooted feelings for another team that currently in a serious state (Torquay), and a really tiny but up and coming club (Guernsey), and because I share my passion with friends, and because I have been at Arsenal during the really bad times like the early 1960s, that I don’t get so negatively worked up as some.
(That was a complex sentence, sorry, I seemed to have got lost within it but basically I’m ruminating that my attitude comes from…
- Going to Arsenal with my friends
- Supporting Arsenal in the 1960s
- Going to watch other clubs
- Having feelings for other clubs, one of whom is in difficulty
What we have been seeing on the blogs and in the press about Arsenal is pretty appalling, but is not new. If you take a peek at the Arsenal History Blog today you’ll find the tale of goalkeeper Harry Storer, our most illustrious early player, the first Arsenal player to play in a representative match, who was so frustrated by the jeering and booing he got as a goalkeeper (and a brilliant goalkeeper at that, by all accounts), that he turned on the crowd.
The club suspended him, and then sold him. It was the Season of the Seven Keepers – 1895/6 – Arsenal’s third season as a Football League Club. The earliest version of the AAA had won.
I doubt that we are going to be able to push the history of the AAA and their antecedents back any further… (although there is always a chance of a report of a Royal Arsenal match in which they boo their team), just like I doubt that any member of the Globetrotters community will ever be able to understand what I am saying when I write about true support as I understand it.
But the story of Harry Storer reminds me that certain aspects of the club are always there and have been with us from the start.
Chapman grew very angry with the booing in the 1930s, and wrote against it vigorously in his newspaper column. The players in the championship winning team of 1953 spoke openly to the media of Arsenal supporters being the worst in the country. I remember Jack Kelsey shouting at the top of his voice at the crowd behind his goal who were slow handclapping the team… it is just Arsenal I guess. Somehow the fame of the club and its origins as the first ever working-man’s Football League team, seems to attract that sort of person.
So Ian, Drew, Walter and I make our journeys to Wembley, and we’ll enjoy it, no matter what. And I know that we’ll enjoy it because when I went with Ian and Roger to see the League Cup Final at Wembley against Luton where we lost 2-3, and we had to drive up the M1 via Luton, with all their banners out, it was utterly ghastly.
But I still remember with the deepest affection the camaraderie of the day, the spirit of being together, the spirit of supporting Arsenal no matter what. And I still remember getting back to the Midlands that evening and my young daughter greeted me at the door with the announcement, “They lost!”
I nodded, picked her up, swung her around a bit in the way that dads do and which makes mums speak reproachfully about “getting them wound up just before bed time”, and knew that the football didn’t matter. Or at least, it mattered, but not when held in any comparison with the well-being of my family it didn’t matter.
Maybe if I hadn’t experienced the Luton final (and of course many other disasters under many different managers), I wouldn’t have got quite so much out of sitting in the upper tier north bank at Highbury and watching in utter disbelief as Tony Adams scored the famous final goal to beat Everton and win the league.
I remember that, and the way the north bank bounced up and down, and the massive crowds outside, just as I remember the trudge back to the car after the Luton final, and Roger putting the champagne back in the boot “ready for next year.”
Maybe to get a real understanding of what life’s all about you need the horror moments and the glory moments. Maybe most of all you need a sense of the journey. Like watching your children grow up to become beautiful, caring adults.
And maybe all we can do is hope that today is a glory moment. Just like on this day in 1994 when we reached the final of the Cup Winners Cup by beating PSG 1-0 in the semi-final 2nd leg. That’ll do. I’d like more goals, but that will do.
———————-
The full anniversary file is published on the Arsenal History Society blog
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal
Give me 1-0 to The Arsenal right now, I will gobble it up in no time. Today, and another trip to Wembley is all that matters. Rosler is a shrewd tactician, he will follow the Chelsea model of beating us, but guts alone will see us through.
I last went to Wembley (old Wembley) to see Arsenal in the 1980 FA Cup final. We lost to West Ham. I went on my own but as I came out of the stadium and walked back down Wembley Way I met the one other person I knew was there. I lad that worked in the same newsagent’s as me (we both did paper round, it was the days when young people had to work for their pocket money). He supported the Irons and he had a grin as wide as my frown.
That’s football. At least I was there, none of my mates that I regularly went to game with were allowed to go.
My dad only went to one final as well. 1972 when we lost to Leeds. Synchronicity
Since then I’ve been to see The Arsenal in a semi-final, at Cardiff against Blackburn (we won 3-0) so let’s hope its a repeat of that game today.
Come on you Gunners!
The 1994 CWC certainly was the year of 1-0 to the Arsenal. PSG I recall well, I believe the scorer was one K. Campbell, in the previous round it was 0-0 at Torino (awful game, the Stadio delle Alpi was a concrete dump though the Torino fans were nice) then 1-0 (Adams in front of the North Bank) back at home. Finally another 1-0 in the final against a great Parma team with Smudger hitting a great strike early on. That said we did score ten against Liege, including a 7-0 away victory in the second round. I’d settle for two more 1-0’s in the Cup though!
I’ve seen us in 5 finals at Wembley. It’s a good job I wont be there today as I haven’t got a good record.
One win against Manchester United. The Alan Sunderland final. “Get that B******d back”
The others where, Ipswich the year before. West Ham the year after. Swindon Town and Luton Town.
Just seen that The ‘Ox’ ‘Gibbs’ and ‘Rosicky’ are all doubts for today. Jeeeeez !!!
Great read. Totally agree the disappoints make for the great days. My Wembley record is not good so here is hoping for today. She wore she wore…..
My first Wembley match featuring Arsenal, I’m in South London and have a relatively easy journey, two tubes so will be leaving about two thirty.
COYG
Keep cheering the team on you lucky lot . Let them know that UA is there !
I am holding you all responsible for the outcome, but seriously, shout your lungs out.
The Journey made Arsenal.com
> Untold Arsenal prepare for another Wembley trip… and remember previous visits
Enjoy the game people.
COYG!
The Team is announced at Arsenal.com as well:
> Fabianski, Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Monreal, Arteta, Ramsey, Cazorla, Podolski, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Sanogo
> Subs: Szczesny, Jenkinson, Gibbs, Kallstrom, Eisfeld, Akpom, Giroud
COYG!
We aren’t creating enough,
Was it a penalty?
—
COYG!
Why did podolski, proven goal scorer.
OMG what a joke
How to go Mertesacker!
COYG!
dan & Dwyane,
Eat your words.
Is Monreal okay? I gather he was down quite a while.
COYG!
@florian
U”ll notice I didn’t say anything negative.
Quick out of the woodwork I see.
On another note Michael oliver reminds me so much of the dean, not sure why.
phew… this is tense.
Come on Sanogo, bury that ball! 🙂
COYG!
According to the some buffoon in the ITV studio Arsenal look like they’re settling for penalties.
I wouldn’t want penalties, but it looks like that’s what it’ll be unfortunately.
Penalties it is then… can’t bear to watch…
Please, please, win
GooneressNo1, at least you can watch. All I get is text commentary.
Sports Mole was guessing that KK might have come on because of being good at penalties.
COYG!
Not watching either, can someone let us know how it’s going. Worried this suits wigan coz that’s what they were playing for.
Whatever happens Fortune is a disgrace, worse diver than Drogba
Super fab
What’s happening
To Wembley…….
AL, Arsenal 3-2 Wigan with two saves by Fab
AL, Arsenal 4-2 Wigan with two saves by Fab
Yeaaahhhh. To Wembley. Super fabianski
YEEESSSSS! 4-2, Arteta, Kallstrom, Giroud and Santi, and Super Fab with 2 saves!
How to go Fabianski (2 saves), Arteta, Kallstrom, Giroud and Cazorla! And the rest of the guys too. Second game back, Ramsey plays more than 90.
COYG!
Yaaay!!!!
FABIANSKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
4-2 via penalties, 5-2 overall to Arsenal
Come to think about it, the decider penalties are probably the only moment in the game when the referee has no way to exert his bias;)
not the most eye catching performance, but we did what was needed. in the form we are in, with the injuries we have, the pressure on the team….i thought we did very well to deal with going a goal down.
if only the ox’s shot hadnt hit the bar….that would have been magic!
well done arsene and the team!
we have five games that we really ought to win, while everton still face united, southampton and city. fourth is still a very achievable target. but we have a wonderful day to look forward to come what may….
COYG!
There were some criticising the team early on, just wondering where they’re now, not coming out to congratulate the team.
AL,
Not tonight. Had we lost on penalties, this place would have been flooded by them by now.
Couldn’t access this thread after the match – was there a fault?
Anyway, a very pleasing result and well done to the team, they showed great character, resilience and hard work against a very good park the bus team.
I have no gripe about the Wigan penalty, but could not understand why the foul on Monreal just before was not given.
But – well done the team!
The site is still very slow, every post or change of thread has a chance of timing out.
Later tonight I think a large dram is called for!! – not because of the site problems – just to celebrate our progress!!
@bjtgooner
I am having trouble too, I am getting web page unavailable internal server error when refreshing the page. Untold has been erratic for a few days now, what’s going on?
Well done the team they got their just reward in the end contrary to what some of the pundits are saying. According to Keane we shouldn’t be celebrating so I hear and Dixon apparently said we didn’t deserve the win. Oh well, f**k ’em I say. At times it looked like it was going to be one of those days especially when Ox hit the woodwork. Wasn’t it supposed to be 4-1 seeing as Walter was watching live? At least he can enjoy his journey home now, though I think the match may have aged him somewhat, it certainly did me. Don’t support Arsenal if you have a dodgy heart!
Today we saw an Arsenal team not behaving rashly by believing they are a free flowing attacking team. Wigan came at us hard, pressing us..but we played around it and found some space and nearly made then pay(note, same tactic as meant to be played at Chelsea)
But once they realised it wasn’t working, they soon reverted to playing deeper and hoping to catch us on the break, which the Arsenal then reacted to by not pushing ahead so much as to play into their hands. We kept the ball, kept patience, and still created a few chances.
We were caught out when the referee didn’t give a foul, and then Per gave away an uncharacteristic penalty. And from that point we showed fight and spirit. Gibbs and Giroud helped, and we went 4-4-2. Despite the boos from self appointed managers in the crowd, Podolski being pulled off proved the right thing to do. Would Poldi have lasted 120 mins? Sanogo and Giroud’s aerial threat had Wigan panicking (they wouldn’t have expected that would they?) and we kept going despite hitting the post. Finally the goal redemption for Per, but despite our best efforts, no goals before penalties. But we held our nerve, Fabianski provided the two saves, Kallstrom scored one, and we’re through to the final having beaten Tottenham, Liverpool, Everton, and the holders (who beat ManCity) along the way.
It was close, but we won. Suck it all the people waiting for us to fail. Suck it everyone who said these players don’t care (did you see them at the end?) Suck it everyone who really believes that Wenger doesn’t know tactics simply because you don’t agree with them. And suck it Roy Keane for being a front bottom.
Much thanks to the UA team at Wembley for getting us there. Though Walter, you should not be so greedy as to want a 2 hour game at Wembley. A victory in 90 mins would have done nicely. 🙂
On to the next 6 games. Win them all. COYG!
I just waded through the BBC stuff on this, no idea on Monreal’s injury. For Ramsey to play as long as he did, second game back, was phenomenal.
I did not see the game. I followed the text commentary at Sports Mole, and then I looked at the BBC commentary (both) to see if there was a chance they were fair. What follows below is notes on the commentary I seen today (mostly about the BBC coverage).
—-
Interesting, BBC Sport page shows dejected Wigan player as first picture after Arsenal win on penalties. I wonder what the commentary shows?
Mertesacker was clumsy in giving up penalty. BJT, thanks for your input on penalty (and no-foul).
I was following Sports Mole. I had no idea that Arsenal had 27 shots at net until seeing BBC statistics.
Okay, look at the BBC commentary for all games, including this one, just from end of previous games, not the entire thing. Pat Nevin, AW isn’t naive, he is not adaptable. Arsenal “fan” who can’t be positive. Kevin Kilbane, Arsenal need another striker/centre half. Three more Arsenal non-fans give advice, including Wenger out. Another three Arsenal non-fans. BBC cheering for Wigan. Mike Ingham says everybody is walking. Another three Arsenal non-fans. Wigan generates 2 half chances, and suddenly everything Arsenal has done has been nothing. One Arsenal non-fan, and finally one Arsenal fan quoted (neutral comment). Almost half time, before BBC can find a neutral comment from a fan. BBC displays “GREAT SAVE” and then says no Arsenal supporter thought Sanogo would score. Phil McNulty says Monreal has been weak all season. Another Arsenal non-fan.
Half time. Phil says Arsenal have had all the better chances in the first half, and then Kilbane comes along and says Arsenal have been very poor. 62% possession, and very poor. Only a single player on the bench, Giroud.
Second Half. Kilbane, the Arsenal “fans” will start to get on players backs (where the BBC has been all game). A minute in, we get a note that the Arsenal fans are singing. They only started 2 minutes into second half? Alan Green, Sanogo should have been subbed. Another Arsenal non-fan. Kilbane rags on Sanogo now. BBC says clear penalty. Quote from Kilbane:
> The ball was getting away from him but it was a poorly timed challenge from Mertesaker, a clear penalty.”
To me, that may not be such a “clear penalty” from that comment. McNulty, Arsenal need to get the shovel out (to dig a grave for McNulty). Arsenal haven’t come close to scoringin 65 minutes according to BBC. Never put GREAT SAVE up once. Let’s rag on Arsenal some more. Two more Arsenal non-fans. More ragging on Sanogo. McNulty interprets Jeering to mean Arsenal fans wanted Sanogo substituted. Mike Ingham, still no Arsenal players running. More ragging on Arsenal. Time to say Arsenal are incapable of scoring. Two more Arsenal non-fans. Mike Ingham, let’s step on Arsenal again. Nine years. One Arsenal fan (total of 2 now) and 2 Arsenal non-fans. One Arsenal fan (total now 3) and 2 more Arsenal non-fans.
Extra Time. Two more Arsenal non-fans (both with Wenger out) and someone who thinks the referee was spot on today. Danny Baker rags on Arsenal having no talent. More ragging on the game. Two more Arsenal non-fans. Another Arsenal non-fan calling Wenger out, and an Arsenal fan (total 4) supporting his team. Another Arsenal non-fan, and an Arsenal fan (total 5). Kilbane thinks three Arsenal players are in dire danger of dying on the field. Two Arsenal fans (total 7) and one Arsenal non-fan. Penalties. Mike Ingham (who has been bitching all game about no running), says Arsenal have never gotten out of 3rd gear. Kilbane, hinting at Wenger out. Kilbane, Arsenal fortunate. BBC comment, Arsenal will play the same way for the final (boring, unlikely to win). Arsenal non-fan, and a Arsenal neutral. Gary Lineker, Arsenal was always going to win the penalties. Roy Keane, Arsenal are shit. Kilbane, Arsenal were very poor for 60 minutes. Kilbane, all Arsenal fans want Wenger to go and he wants Wenger to go. Two more Arsenal non-fans (one Wenger out) and one Arsenal fan (total 8). Another Arsenal fan (9). 31 Arsenal non-fans and one Arsenal neutral.
Gee, the BBC sure went out of its way to present “unbiased” feelings about Arsenal support, eh?
Arsenal have won 7 or last 8 shootouts.
If someone reads about Monreal’s injury, post please. How to go guys, and let’s do it again on Tuesday!
COYG!
Well done lads.
We had to win today at any cost, and we did.
A crisis of confidence hardly begins to touch the surface.
Shooting ourselves in the foot. Bad refs. Injuries. Bad luck. Just plain bad performances.
All have contributed to where we are now.
Out of the title race and in a desperate scrap for 4th.
But our silver lining could be the FA Cup. And today, despite the nerves. Despite the injuries. Despite a bit of bad luck, we got through.(Might be just me, but I thought the Ref was okay).
Yes it was ‘only’ Wigan. but ‘only’ Wigan got this far somehow. ‘only’ Wigan beat £1 Billion pounds spent City, so why shouldn’t they give pathetic little Arsenal a game?
And they did, to a degree.
But to suggest we didn’t deserve to win this well before Penalties is to deny the ‘Bleeding Obvious’.
We was easily the better side.
So penalties, or whatever, I will hold my head high and say well done lads.
Now lets push on and win our remaining league games, starting with what will surely be a very tough game against a resurgent ‘Hammers’ and see what happens.
We now have a great day in May to look forward to.
What a nice feeling.
COYG
Wigan surprised me……..by not coming at us with speed. They played exactly the way they did under Martinez (3-5-2) and didn’t really give that many problems. Didn’t see the way they beat City, so don’t know if they do tactics. Decent enough team who deserve to be back in the Premier. The other semi doesn’t hold any danger to us really.
I could not get onto the site soon after the game, but all seems well now.
What a battling performance; feel so happy for the team and Arsene.. and what fabulous support by the Arsenal faithful.
GooneressNo1
Here here to that.
I too feel so happy for the team, but especially Wenger.
The shit that man gets from the Neanderthals that plague our Club is quite simply, SHAMEFUL.
How he has put up with it I’ll never no, I just thank the stars he has.
Sign the contract please and take us forward.
COYG.
jambug,
I guess you haven’t heard the latest but here it is:
Shame on the players for celebrating for reaching the final of the FA after beating the ‘lowly’ Wigan via penalties!
It was started by the asshat Roy Keane and is now being echoed by the rest of the moronic media.
Enjoy the victory, my friend. And for the umpteenth time, FUCK THE MEDIA!!!
error 500 for a while.
could be the lift we need.
Boo,
The anti arsenal world in which we live is for me a tougher place to live than it is for you.
I really wish I had your stoicism to just say FUCK THEM, but I don’t.
Alas I steel feel the urge to use my Red Hot Poker on those that mock !
And that prat Keane would be the first to feel it’s heat !!!!
@Jambug,
I dont think the ref was good at all, the foul before the penalty prove that. But he couldnt have a big influence on the game as fair play to Wigan that they didnt play by kicking us.
There was moments (about 3 times) that a a wigan player makes a foul, the ref gives nothing, then later the wigan players come to our player to apologize for hitting him. This Wigan team was awesome today, and they have all my respect, hope them back to the PL with their coach.
@Jax,
Exactly, they tried to play by going at us, but here if you dont play it with fouling the players when they counter, you will lose the game, as they didnt go to that bad tactics, we could have scored from 2 chances at least early on. So they. Went back to defend and attack us on the break. Now if the rules are applies in PL as they should be, this tactics we lose to wont work.
@Bootoome,
Yes ww should not celebrate, as you see, we watch football as an obligation not to enjoy the moment. This is what football is about, moaning and glooming.
And about our performance,
1- ww played good, they were lucky with the goal.
2-if its about performance, then let them stop nagging about x years no trophies as we played and performed the best football then.
3- please let the. Start with the trophies that chelsea and united won without performances
Yes, the site is pretty slow or unavailable at times, maybe its the AAA trying to DoS us? Because of the unpredictability of availability, i’ll make a long post.
Bootoomee, I doubt we will see some of these faces again this season, unless the unthinkable happens…
Wigan were employing some negative tactics, clearly playing for penalties, glad that didn’t reward them. That Fortune was going down at the slightest hint of a contact it was comical. At one point he went down as he anticipated an Arsenal player, who realised what he was up to and pulled out, was going to make contact with him. Also , the ref could easily have sent off a Wigan player whose studs up tackle caught Giroud square on the shin. Think he got a yellow only.
The ref also took an eternity to blow for their penalty(only did after mcmanaman got up and went to complain). I read somewhere that he was waiting to see if any advantage developed, but then called the ball back. If this indeed is the rules, how come when they do give us the advantage sometimes in open play they never bring the ball back if the attack fails? I know there was contact, but it appears the ref’s thinking was again influenced by appeals from the opposing players. This being the second such penalty (where the ref doesn’t immediately point to the spot) after the Marriner fiasco I think there’s sufficient grounds(as if there weren’t enough already:)) to allege that these refs seem to be reading from a script when doing our games.
Fabianski a hero yet again.
Media sic as parrots at result. Arsenal only “scraped through” — that’s more than Man City billionaires did.
PS No problem about the penalty award against Per, but what about the foul on Nacho immediately before the incident, which was not given.
Arteta must stop knocking opponents down by breathing too heavily on them.
The pressure the media have put on this Club, it’s manager and players with regards to not winning a trophy for 9 years, and therefore the relevant importance of a win today, was absolutely immense.
I heard today on more than one occasion that todays game was one of the biggest in the Clubs recent history.
Well I agree, maybe it was.
Perhaps Wenger and the players thought that too.
So given that, what the FUCK do they expect them to do when they win!!
The pressure those players must of felt, must of been enormous.
They deserve there relief.
They deserve there joy.
As do we.
But as usual those bastards in the media have to somehow come up with a way of pouring cold water all over it.
The sooner Arsenal FC tell the media to go fuck themselves and refuse to do anything but the absolute minimum requirement for them the better.
GOD I FUCKING HATE THE MEDIA!!!!!!!
Nice to get back into the thread again.
That p***k Keane always was a sour individual, he looked today as if he had put some money on Wigan & lost! Well Keane you ass***e I will be celebrating our win later tonight!
@Gord – no news yet on Monreal, we may have to wait for the next press conference. I was also a bit worried about Ramsey – just back & played approx 110 mins – a long time for someone returning from a hamstring injury. He looked very tired when he came off.
@jambug – we all reply to the AAA in our own way, the important thing is don’t let the antics of the AAA or their apologists get to you. So with that proviso, keep cool & sort them out as you see fit, your responses up to now have been excellent.
The Ref
Look, honestly, I thought he was alright……ish
The pen was a pen. There was a possible foul on the build up but it was 50/50.
He did at least book a fair few of there guys.
Ok, he did fall for some pretty soft fouls and as has been intimated, a breath of wind seemed to send a few of there lot over in a flash.
Maybe it’s just my expectation of a ‘Taylor’ like performances that tricks me into seeing a performance such as todays as acceptable.
Oh well, it matters not a jot now as we are through……..Yipeeeeeeeeeeee !!!!!
Did anyone also notice how, after the wigan goal, the camera was taking ages focused on Wenger patrolling his technical area or the Arsenal fans biting their nails/looking miserable? Each time play stopped either for a goal kick, or throw in or such, the cameras would be trained on our fans till the moment the ball got back in play. It was almost as if the coverage was no longer of the match itself but that of our manager and fans. This continued till Per’s equaliser, and I thought that was very low of itv to do that. Wenger is a strong person, some of the things he has had to put up with(it’s almost like a whole nation is against him) would’ve broken a lesser individual a long time ago.
AL
Agree, as I said earlier, how Wenger has stuck it out I’ll never know !!
My impression was that neither side was impressive but we were clearly the better of the two. Wigan really didn’t trouble us much at all. The penalty, IMO, was a penalty but it came out of nowhere. Our goal came on the back of some pressure. Credit to the boys for applying that pressure and to AW for the changes he made.
The commentators were always down on Arsenal saying that the pressure was all ours and that we weren’t playing well. Wigan, who was creating absolutely nothing, was apparently carefree and happy with any half result.
By the time penalties were to be taken, somehow, though we had scored the equaliser and created the only real chances in the last 30 minutes, Wigan had all the momentum. Needless to say, we weren’t the ones that lost on penalties but little in the way of positive words were aimed the way of our warriors.
Well done The Arsenal, the better team throughout there was every reason to celebrate at the end which both players and supporters did. It didn’t suit the media agenda in the slightest but who cares. Two fingers in the air to the lot of them. Wemberley Wemberley!
The ref did what he could without making it too obvious, he took every opportunity to award Wigan free kicks in potentially dangerous positions, there were non-offsides, pushes in the back not given, a good advantage to Arsenal brought back for the foul plus the non given foul leaving Monreal to be stretcher end off. Today though we were good enough to triumph over a determined Wigan , the referee and the whole of the media.
Now to regroup, find some players for Tuesday night to regain fourth spot.
Also for our U18s to fight back against Chelsea on Thursday night to reach the final of their cup competition.
COYG
Crap performance but job done. Let’s roll to we mobley
Roy Keane sour facial expression was the icing on the cake; thought Lee Dixon was his usual half baked spineless self; the other two aren’t worth mentioning… and as for the naysayers whoever they are… I don’t give the furry crack of a rats behind about anything uttered from that quarter.
COYG
I’ve just watched the highlights on ITV. A more one sided match you would be hard pressed to find.
Yet the final comment was how Arsenal ‘Scraped’ through.
If ever the a comment exposed the fact from the fiction then that was it.
Adrian Childs, Lee Dixon, Roy Keane, hang your heads in shame !!
Bob Wilson is to undergo cancer treatment (prostate).
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/bob-wilson-ex-arsenal-goalkeeper-tv-3406494
It was a result in spite of the blind mice. So many reasons to call for penalties but ignored in spite of clear visibility. Holding and shirt pulling.
The card that should have been showed at the end of extra time first half was ignored by the ref.
The only good thing is, we have a great excuse for losing to the Shammers on Tuesday night…….we were a leetle jaded after the semi e
Andrew Crawshaw have to agree with your assessment of the referee, I too thought he was trying hard not to make it obvious but it still was.
fair play to Fabianski and the penalty takers. All did well.Seriously embarrassing to have to go to pens against Wigan. We will struggle in the final whoever we play.
Some website called OK has a picture of Theo and Melanie’s baby boy. As there are two different spellings of first name in article, I don’t know what first name is (Finley or Findley), middle name is James.
http://www.ok.co.uk/celebrity-news/theo-walcott-son-james-findlay-melanie-slade-pics
Congratulations to the new parents!
i’m happy we got there but the manner we did it was shocking.on this evidence we will struggle against leicester and burnley next season.the spastic in charge has to go.
Anyone got the stats for today?
as much as i detest him Keane is spot on :Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane on ITV: “These Arsenal players need a reality check. Last season they celebrated finishing fourth at Newcastle, now they celebrate beating a Championship side on penalties. We are talking about Arsenal FC here
Up The Gunners!!!
Fantastic effort by the lads. Missed out on most of the game, but followed it on live text. Stepped into the living room and BOOOM, BFG scores!
Anyone saying, the team didn’t deserve the win is a sour puss, low life, sadist and down right twat *Piers Morgan*. I don’t blame some off them tho’, as I scanned thru’ several ‘Arsenal Fan Blogs’ and you will not believe the type bile so called fans were posting about the team and the manager. If support is only for the good times, I pity these people in the reality called ‘Life’.
Anywho, we’re in the FA Cup final….The Media can go FuCk themselves! Wenger deserves a trophy for the stupid grief he has had to face from clueless know it all who have never made the cut handling and building a team.
Congrats Untolders…On to securing a Champions League spot.
‘m not saying we played well or wanting to give our players credit, because they were diabolical, managed by a clueless fuckwit.
Dwayne..
You don’t sound happy !!
Tony..
Get this fuckwit Dwyane off our site !!!
That first 80 minutes I thought I had died and gone to hell, condemned to watching some of the most shite football on the planet, while putting up with 2 drunken gobshites who didn’t know who half the team were while whinging about the lack of support. That was immediately followed by 50 minutes of heart attack territory. Not good for a man of my age. Still we’re in the final, and it was very clear where I was and on the train on the way home that the mood has turned very much against Wenker.
Dwyane
A prime candidate for the Red hot poker !!!
Jambug. I don’t think Tony is home yet, Walter is still hours from home. I’m looking for the Brickfields approach, but nothing is clicking. Maybe try that as well?
Wrong, read above. I am happy that we got through but the absolute debacle of the performance has to be mentioned
The only thing Roy Keane is spot on about is his tongue firmly attached to his paymasters… the sad little bast*rd.
Q: Why don’t you not play football in the jungle?
A: There are too many cheetahs!
—
Supermarket
Rafael Benitez was wheeling his shopping trolley across the supermarket car park when he noticed an old lady struggling with her shopping.
He stopped and asked, “Can you manage dear?” to which the old lady replied, “no way you got yourself into this mess, don’t ask me to sort it out!”
—
Q. What do you get if you cross a football player and a mythical puppet?
A: A centaur forward.
—
A pound coin was thrown onto the pitch at Ibrox. Police are trying to determine whether it was a missile or a takeover bid.
Ceasefire in Syria as UN send in Fernando Torres – No shots reported so far.
—
It was a boring Sunday afternoon in the jungle, so the Elephants decided to challenge the Ants to a game of football. The game was going well with the Elephants beating the Ants ten goals to nil, when the Ants gained possession.
The Ants’ star player was dribbling the ball towards the Elephants’ goal when the Elephants’ left back came lumbering towards him. The elephant trod on the little ant, killing him instantly.
The referee stopped the game. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Do you call that sportsmanship, killing another player?”
The elephant replied, “Well, I didn’t mean to kill him – I was just trying to trip him up.”
Looks like another moaning weasel has crawled out of the underworld – typical AAA attack – pretending to be a concerned fan while spewing bile.
@Gord, I think our good friend Brickfields will be off the air for a few more hours.
Wigan are a CHAMPIONSHIP side with a tiny budget compared to”18 yrs in the CL” Arsenal.Yet Arsenal scraped through on penalties!! What do you want the media to do,give Arsenal a medal?Wigan were also without several of their best players and have played 10 games more this season with a smaller squad.Can’t give anyone else any credit can you? And it was definitely a penalty and no foul on Monreal.Hes crap anyway,Santos mark2.Please stay fit Kieron.Where does Wenger find these players? Cazorla was crap too;to think some Arsenal fans were saying he was better than Silva and Hazard!!!It was a relief to get through but make no mistake we were 10 mins away from the end of Wenger,having earlier lost 4th place to Everton.A few years in the Europa League beckon,but we will be top seeds!!!!
First of all can Wayne be taken of this site.To call anyone a spastic(a word not mentioned now ) is totally shameful.You are a low life.We have messed up the media,news reports,headline makers.How dare we.The BBC website during the match was a disgrace.I will be complaining about this to them.
Its Dwyane, how silly of me!
I hope the team and Manager are still in celebratory mood… Why? Because they deserve it!!!!
@bjtgooner
Dwyane is the same Muppet, cut-n-pasting in previous articles. I think Tony/Walter might be getting the ‘Red card’ for this YACAP YAAP AAA 😀
Well done you gunners! Keeping the faith!
@Gunz
Thanks for that – Dwyane the dumb certainly is wasted space.
@Linz
Just remember Wigan beat the Oilers to win the cup last season & also they beat them again in the last round – so maybe our performance was not so bad.
Woohooo…..
Is UA under attack or the server is gone berserk?
Linz,
Wigan are the FA Cup holders who beat Manchester City to get to the semi final. Arsenal are a team who are going through a poor patch with numerous injuries to their most important players. We were the better team, and we deserved to win. We weren’t lucky, as many seem to believe, we would have been massively unlucky to lose. Not being unlucky is not the same as being lucky.
(@Gord – that depiction of the BBC Live Text is devastating. They should be sorely embarrassed for today’s coverage. It’s liked everyone they hired that day had been given an agenda sheet.)
@Sukebe
I suspect WordPress sites may be under attack, and then there are the AAA trying to post their words of wisdom. I think it is the combination which is making things slow.
@Xaor
To listen to others talk about other text commentaries, some of the newspapers in the UK are worse than the BBC was today. But I can’t see why any Arsenal fan would ever want to visit their site.
We’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t. Do we celebrate a victory against a side that played hard, beat ManCity and are the cup holders and thus earn the scorn of the Roy Keane’s of the world or do we dismiss them as a Championship side that we should beat and thus be called Arrogant Arsenal?
We won the match and the boys are happy to be in their first ever FA Cup final…Good for them. Sunshine in May!
I’m getting this above the Untold banner – can anyone decipher this ? The aliens have landed haven’t they?
Or is that the sign of a very pissed off Anti Arsenal
Universe ?
12-Apr-2014 17:55:50 America/Denver] PHP Fatal error: Class ‘LeagueManager’ not found in /home/untoldar/public_html/wp-content/plugins/leaguemanager/sports/rugby.php on line 10 [12-Apr-2014 17:57:40 America/Denver] PHP Fatal error: Class ‘LeagueManager’ not found in /home/untoldar/public_html/wp-content/plugins/leaguemanager/sports/hockey.php on line 10 [12-Apr-2014 17:59:50 America/Denver] PHP Fatal error: Class ‘LeagueManager’ not found in /home/untoldar/public_html/wp-content/plugins/leaguemanager/sports/tennis.php on line 10 [12-Apr-2014 18:01:51 America/Denver] PHP Fatal error: Class ‘LeagueManager’ not found in /home/untoldar/public_html/wp-content/plugins/leaguemanager/sports/soccer.php on line 10 [12-Apr-2014 18:06:44 America/Denver] PHP Fatal error: Class ‘LeagueManager’ not found in /home/untoldar/public_html/wp-content/plugins/leaguemanager/sports/racing.php on line 10 [12-Apr-2014 18:24:58 America/Denver] PHP Fatal error: Class ‘LeagueManager’ not found in /home/untoldar/public_html/wp-content/plugins/leaguemanager/sports/baseball.php on line 10 [12-Apr-2014 18:31:58 America/Denver] PHP Fatal error: Class ‘LeagueManager’ not found in /home/untoldar/public_html/wp-content/plugins/leaguemanager/sports/handball.php on line 10 [12-Apr-2014 18:48:04 America/Denver] PHP Fatal error: Class ‘LeagueManager’ not found in /home/untoldar/public_html/wp-content/plugins/leaguemanager/sports/cornhole.php on line 10 [12-Apr-2014 18:54:54 America/Denver] PHP Fatal error: Class ‘LeagueManager’ not found in /home/untoldar/public_html/wp-content/plugins/leaguemanager/sports/electronic.php on line 10 [12-Apr-2014 19:06:16 America/Denver] PHP Fatal error: Class ‘LeagueManager’ not found in /home/untoldar/public_html/wp-content/plugins/leaguemanager/sports/gymnastics.php on line 10 [12-Apr-2014 19:11:07 America/Denver] PHP Fatal error: Class ‘LeagueManager’ not found in /home/untoldar/public_html/wp-content/plugins/leaguemanager/sports/volleyball.php on line 10 [12-Apr-2014 19:25:00 America/Denver] PHP Fatal error: Class ‘LeagueManager’ not found in /home/untoldar/public_html/wp-content/plugins/leaguemanager/sports/basketball.php on line 10 [12-Apr-2014 19:35:26 America/Denver] PHP Fatal error: Class ‘LeagueManager’ not found in /home/untoldar/public_html/wp-content/plugins/leaguemanager/sports/us-football.php on line 10 [12-Apr-2014 19:40:22 America/Denver] PHP Fatal error: Class ‘LeagueManager’ not found in /home/untoldar/public_html/wp-content/plugins/leaguemanager/sports/tabletennis.php on line 10 [12-Apr-2014 20:11:59 America/Denver] PHP Fatal error: Class ‘LeagueManager’ not found in /home/untoldar/public_html/wp-content/plugins/leaguemanager/sports/other-two-scores.php on line 10
I’m home after a trip of some 22 hours.
off to bed now, will deal with “spastic” Dwayne later if you don’t mind.
And will try to write about why we didn’t win 4-1 this time. And about how I’m to blame for that 😉
And to think that in less than 9 hours I have to do my own match…. Good night to you all!!!
Happy dreams
WOO HOO , HOO !
Am luv’ing this feeling of US having fucked over the haters ! We kept our heads while the the vermin tried to over run us with stupidity !
We did what we had to do ,and I really can’t fault any of our players .The tension was palpable – I can’t remember when I was last as nervous as this !
Was hoping that Sanogo score the winner – would have pissed off more of the know-it alls !He threw himself about and gave them all sorts of problems .He was brave in trying to shoot from difficult angles.
Those two penalty saves were awesome ! And how cool were our penalty takers .And their celebrations afterwards and also after the BFG’s goal showed how much it meant to them.
FUCK THE MEDIA ,KEEP THE FAITH !
UP THE GUNNERS !
The word today is Poopsabate .
To simultaneously poop and masturbate.
The idea is to get both shit and cum in your faceS .When I say ‘your’ ,you know I mean the AAAA !
And since I’m and wide awake and all ecstatic ( And the moderators are all asleep !)
Sapiosexual
One who finds intelligence the most sexually attractive feature.
“I want an incisive, inquisitive, insightful, irreverent mind. I want someone for whom philosophical discussion is foreplay. I want someone who sometimes makes me go ouch due to their wit and evil sense of humor. I want someone that I can reach out and touch randomly. I want someone I can cuddle with.
I decided all that means that I am sapiosexual.”
What a shame the media , the AAAA and the pundits were left redfaced and with unresponsive dicks in hand .It was to have been a wankfest to ‘beat’ all bukakke fests!
And just in case the term is not familiar ….. from
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bukakke
Bukakke
Bukkake is when a Mommy and a Daddy and a Daddy and a Daddy and a Daddy and a Daddy and a Daddy all decide that Mommy needs some special facial moisturiser
Fapping
To jack off or masturbate.
Man I was fapping last night and totally jizzed all over my hands.
The media and Arsenal haters was fapping last night and prematurely jizzed on each others’ faces !They were all left hot ,sticky and bothered with a bad aftertaste in their mouths .
Sex is like math:
You add the bed,
Subtract the clothes,
Divide the legs,
And pray you don’t multiply.
Guy 1 to guy 2: Sarah and I were remembering high school math in bed last night when we had sex. We went at it like wild monkeys!
Spermilate
V. To ejaculate semen into (or onto) a person, place or thing.
“On redtube, you can see people spermilate in a variety of ways.”
8===D
DUH
a penis!
I thought the ref did better than expected, simply because he gave yellows to wigan players for stopping our counter attacks with a cynical foul – atleast 2 I can remember in the 2nd half, which very rarely occurs in the PL. – not the foul, but the yellow to opponents. 🙂
For those saying we shouldn’t celebrate – you cant have it both ways,
when we don’t make it , you say we are useless and on recent history we wont ever win, and then when the players celebrate for getting tht little bit closer to a trophy , you cant say we shouldn’t because we are AFC and we have to win. – remember you were saying we cant , so when we get near, the players deserve their celebrations. Hope they put the bubblies on the ice till the victory in the finals.
Some idiot commentating on the match that was telecasted in my location was saying “Wigan were unlucky, arsenal hit the bar twice and wigan cleared of the line once” I don’t know how that made wigan unlucky, everyone sings from the same hym sheet I guess.
@Brickfields
I seen that same error output a couple of times. Parts of it I understand, but I don’t know eonugh about wordpress to put it into context. I especially know nothing about whatever tweaks Tony has here.
It does appear that if you get that error output, it means your comment was successfully entered. If you back up 1 page and refresh, your new posting should be (near) the end.
I can see the same weird errors, now that I can finally access the site. It’s been a few hours of blackout, despite being plain day in Seattle. Had a special Kona coffee for the victory earlier today – and the night is just beginning:)
I think we need to reinstate the oiks for the AAA representatives who shall not be named. Some people will not be pleased even when we win 91-0 at Old Trafford.
Anyway, I could only watch the match partially – namely after the penalty – as my Internet streams were unusable for some f***ing reason. The audio commentary on arsenal.com was the only one I could stand listening to – even the Romanian stream was unbearable. What kind of pandemy is spreading across the Media worldwide? Can’t wait to see Arsenal beating whoever turns up in the Final.
The part of the error message about headers sent already is ringing a bell. The very beginning of a PHP file is supposed to be a left angle bracket, the characters “php”, possibly other stuff, and then a right angle bracket. It might be that if a PHP file starts with something else, the HTML “headers” are supposed to pick up this “other stuff”, but those headers are already past the point where they can be adjusted. I think the BoM for Unicode is a common thing which causes this. But why that started happening since the Untold gang went to Wembley, I don’t know.
@ Gord – I think that some higher force is at work here. Probably the Martians , wanting to read this blog and probably wanting to sign Arsene Wenger to manage their team.
You know , having heard that his teams all play ‘out of this world’ football ! Yes, its true they like us too because we play in red and they like the cannon – very macho and phallic !
Apparently their team were ‘drained’ dry after falling into the Venus ‘fly’ trap .Those fetching damsels doing more than ‘catching’ them frequently offside. For obvious reasons the Martians went home tired but with smiles on their faces !
How do I know this ? Why I subscribe to Carl Sagan’s daily blog , ” The Cosmos & Other Shit “. He posts about the view from the other side and gossip and sports . Apparently is quite fun in Uranus !
Brickfields, the lunar eclipse isn’t until Monday. But I think it is only visible in Australia, New Zealand and the Americas.
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/27mar_tetrad/
@ Gord – As the sun has fried my brains a long time ago,
I think the moon’s pull doesn’t affect me in any way.
But strangely the wife seems to chirpier during the full moon and I get an extra helping at breakfast .She is also often fond of saying coyly ( and very lovingly of course !), ” Oh, you wild animal ,you!’
And the darnest thing is I have to shave 3 times a day during the full moon .I have strange dreams and often woken up howling and growling .I think I even threw up a hairball !
There’s a lot of coarse hair on my bed in the mornings. Am I going bald ? Is it due to the hair products I use ? AW did mentioned something about their side effects .
HMMMM ….I have to work this one out.
Wigan didn’t threaten us much and I thought they’d be more physical. I think we were a little nervous at times and the game was like so many semi-finals with both teams more concerned about not losing than winning. After the penalty, which definitely was a penalty, we showed much more desire to push forward as obviously some urgency was needed. All credit to Mertesacker who showed his determination to put his mistake right by committing himself to attack and score the equalizer.
Perhaps our players should be drilled before games to believe that they’re a goal behind as we then might be quicker to attack.
Podolski was poor so I don’t see why some fans didn’t think he should be substituted. It was far better to have Giroud and Sanogo on the field. Also I don’t know what’s happened to Cazorla lately, he seems to be getting poorer every game. Ox was the bright star, thank god he was fit to play.
We were the better side and deserved to go through. You have to give credit to Wigan’s defensive display but it would have been a travesty if they’d won on penalties.
I couldn’t watch the penalties, it was just too much.
For anyone to say we shouldn’t be celebrating reaching Wembley is just sour grapes. It doesn’t matter who the opponents were, but even then you’d see this is a Wigan side that beat 3 premiership sides (Crystal Palace, Cardiff and City) en route to the semis. Add to that this is a wigan side that’s beaten city two years in a row in the same competition. And it’s not like we had it easy to, having had to play Tottenham, Everton and Liverpool to get there.
There was nothing lucky about our win; we hit the woodwork twice, and remember Carson making two point blank saves from Gibbs and Sanogo. On the subject of Sanogo that kid has bags of potential, give him another two years and they’ll all be talking about him up and down the country. He was a nuisance all day long, and his ability to bring the ball under control with his chest or knee, with back to goal, then swivel and unleash a volley(which I think he did twice) just shows what he’s capable of. I think he also did that against Liverpool which led to our first goal after gerard had blocked his shot. A striker who tries to rifle in from an impossible angle is a good thing to have in any team’s arsenal.
That prick dwayne is depressed we didn’t lose. All the AAA vermin are depressed as they were looking forward to having a field day having a go at the manager, but they’ll just have to find something else to moan at now. What kind of support is that? Scumbags. And that includes that twitter troll piers morgan.
I also got these php errors. PHP errors can be useful to a developer who may be trying to debug scripts causing issues with the site, but these should be turned off as they give away valuable information to attackers.
A simple edit in the php.ini configuration file should do the trick, just change this line to something like;
error_reporting = off
End users like us should then see a blank page instead of those error codes.
Im a United fan and I’m glad Arsenal won today. It would of been such a shame for such a great manager too maybe be sacked or resign on such a sour note. Everyone must remember even though Arsene hasn’t won anything in a long time, He has pulled Arsenal through a period where they have built a new stadium and are now in a very healthy financial position (whilst selling a lot of world class players too do so) It makes me sad when I see Arsenal fans not realising and disrespecting the work he has done…. Well done Arsene you have made the Premiership a better place and deserve more from the Arsenal board and a lot of the Arsenal fans and from ignorant managers Mourinho cough cough. From someone who realizes and appreciates your work Arsene you are truly a legend… Respect
And people aren’t vermin because they don’t think Wenger is the way forward. Less of that unpleasant attitude would be appreciated. I don’t know any Arsenal fans that wanted us to lose this game and I frankly don’t understand any who would.
Back on Untold after a couple of busy days. Thanks for the articles about the refs and the Harlem Globetrotters. My throat’s sore and my hands hurt from clapping but what a match! The team did so well to come through and really deserved it because that was a hard match no doubt about that and we still had quite a few shots on goal, saves, hit the bar and so on. That penalty shoot out was magnificent! The booing of the substitutions was unbelievable but the manager was proved right anyway!
Rupert Cook
I think your match report was spot on.
As for your comment @ 9:14am I’m sorry but I don’t agree. I think some people are so entrenched in there hatred of Wenger that they would rather we lose, just so they can come on here screaming ‘I told you so’ as they attempt to hammer home the last nail in his coffin.
I thought you was one of those types. Maybe I’m wrong.
Doesn’t change the fact that you are ‘Anti Wenger’ and this is a ‘Pro Wenger’ site, which begs the question I have asked of you many times (and others of the same mind set) Why are you on this site when there are other sites far more suitable to your views? I never have, and never would go near one of those sites. Why would I want to? Other than to get into arguments. Notice I say arguments not debate, because like a communist at a Tory rally it is just inevitable there will be trouble.
Oh well, you’ve never answered as to ‘why’ before, I doubt you’ll start now, but as I said, and credit where credit is due, your report was spot on.
Has anyone got the match stats yet?
I don’t usually watch it, but this morning I managed to catch “The Sunday Supplement”, not all of the program but just part towards the end where they discussed our match yesterday.
The four journalists took the usual anti Arsenal line – speculating on AW leaving, very little discussion about the match, just their opinion about Arsenal playing badly – obviously the Wenger out story has been pre written as a “scoop”and they cannot wait to publish it. I didn’t catch anything positive being said about Arsenal – the comment was even made that there was something wrong with the way the club has been run for quite some time.
Then they discussed Hull – (we know about the problems there) – but the four knuckle draggers praised their manager, team set up and behind the scene improvements, a totally different slant and spin. Appalling reporting.
And who is the guest of honour on the “Goals on Sunday” – the smiling assassin Martinez. I wonder how significant that is. NB Sky has just been switched off!
It’s funny how none of the ‘AAA’ are talking about Wenger changing formation in the middle of the game, reacting to Wigan going 3 at the back.. Maybe Wenger DOES KNOW TACTICS?? Huh..How outlandish a notion. But let’s forget about it because it doesn’t fit in with our pre-conceived agenda.
Rupert
Cazorla hasn’t had a very good season, but think about it. He played every PL game last season (He was overworked, which is why I felt another creative player was needed just as badly as a striker), had to go to the stupid confederations cup in the summer, has been injured for a while this season, and has had to adjust to a change in his position, and adapt to other players being injured. He’ll need more help next season too because with the World Cup in Brazil, he won’t get much rest again. 2 summers in a row now.
Jambug
The site is really struggling today, but I did post the stats earlier. If I recall correctly they were something like the below ;
Possession 68 to 32
Shots 27 to 9
On target 9 to 2
Corners 8 to 2
Fouls 14 to 17
All in favour of Arsenal of course, apart from the fouls. We did scrape past wigan indeed, going by these dire stats.
bjtgooner
I gave up on “The Sunday Supplement” years ago. In fact around the same time I stopped buying papers, after all, aren’t they just the Red Tops ‘on air’ !
I don’t watch “Goals on Sunday” or “Soccer Saturday” before 3 O’clock.
I don’t listen to TalkShite, except occasionally H and J and when needs must a match commentary.
I don’t listen to anything football related on 5 live, again except the occasional commentary.
This is what it’s come to.
A media World in which it is impossible to avoid a constant stream of negativity towards Arsenal.
Win, lose, or draw, a barrage of anti Arsenal crap is unavoidable.
It is, without doubt a utter disgrace.
But what can be done? God knows.
What I do believe is that it should start with Arsenal FC themselves.
Wenger should give nothing but the absolute minimum in his pre match conferences.
He should do similar post match.
The players should NEVER give pieces to the papers.
They should NEVER appear on 5 live or especially TalkShite.
They should simply do there post must obligations saying the absolute minimum.
Surely Arsenal FC, The Manager and the players, realise what’s going on out there in media land.
Surely the Club knows that they are constantly accused of ‘cheating’ there own fans.
Surely Wenger and the players know that there ability, honesty and integrity are questioned and derided at every turn.
But what do they do? Nothing.
Surely the time has come for Arsenal FC to make a stand and say NO MORE.
Alas I doubt they will.
Bjt
I have not seen any positive article/report on our win yesterday. Just headlines along the lines of Arsenal in scrapy win over wigan, getting to the final will not paper over cracks, etc. Are they not embarrassed, they have no shame at all. I’ve been avoiding any pre match talk on these stations for a while now, because all you hear is the one-sided discussion with heavy anti Arsenal bias. I’ve also taken to watch the games with the volume off, much better for my sanity, and health of course.
I think Cazorla missed players like Ozil and Theo… but I’m not going to criticize any of the team, they were magnificent, kept going despite going 1 down and all that bought. I know how I was feeling after that Wigan penalty I can only imagine how the players and Arsene felt but they fought through it.
The penalty takers were magnificently composed, usually can’t bear to watch penalty shoot outs but managed this one… well after Wigan missed their first.
COYG
AL
Thanks for that. As you say they clearly show how lucky we where !!!!!
Any fair thinking neutral fan must wonder what these pundits are on.
We was all watching it Dixon ! It was in front of our eyes Keane !
We all saw Arsenal have 27 shots of which 9 where on target and 2 hit the woodwork.
We all saw our keeper have to save 2 shots.
Okay it was ‘only’ Wigan (No insult intended, it’s not us saying it). Okay we wasn’t ‘Brilliant’.
But we played pretty well and totally dominated the game, almost from start to finish.
Why is it so difficult for them to just say it as it was? They don’t have to go OTT but just be FAIR. That’s all we’re asking. Saying we was bad and lucky is just plain crass, rank, biased reporting.
No anti Arsenal agenda? Think again.
As for the site. Been like this since straight after the match. Hope it’s sorted soon as it drives you nuts.
Al @12.28 the media just reflect how fearful their bosses are that their campaign of terror against Arsene Wenger and the club has not had the effect they would have hoped despite the army of snivelling cowards they have at their disposal.
Jambug.You are spot on.I did listen to all that shit and I ended up getting so angry, it was not doing me any good.And I mean that.I will watch matches on Tv,with the commentary turned down.(Arsenal matches) and come on to only this website.No radio,no papers,very little TV.I am much better for it.Finally you are totally right about the club should do something about this.I read Fergusons book.I see why they never,never wrote anything bad about Utd.(ok,I know they were so successful).
@Jambug, I visit this site and post on it because it doesn’t promote venomous attacks on our manager! I may think Wenger’s time is up but I still want him treated with respect and though sometimes the view of him on here approaches idolatry at least he doesn’t draw unpleasant personal attacks.
The two issues I have with Wenger is blind persistence with a style of football that doesn’t work, he’s tried it for at least seven years, that style being this pass pass pass slowly sideways in that tedious Barca style which works fine for Barca, or it did until recently, mainly because they have Messi to alleviate the boredom. We just don’t have the personnel to replicate that sort of football and it rarely works against the best league teams. When it does work ,say against Norwich with that fabulous goal, it looks amazing but most defences aren’t as ineffective, least not the ones of the better teams.
The other issue is, apparently, his lack of regard for opponents. We’ve heard from ex players that he doesn’t study the opposition which I find unbelievable. Can this really be true? I thought that was the point of managers, to prepare the team by sizing up your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses. You wouldn’t go into a war with complete indifference to your enemies’ capabilities.
If Wenger returned to his early style of football, fast, athletic, strong yet still technical players I think he’d find a successful formula again. In fact, dare I say it, the way Liverpool play which at times looks like the way we used to be ten years ago. It baffles me why he abandoned the blueprint for success when the alternative hasn’t worked.
And yes I want Arsenal to win every game. Why wouldn’t I? I suppose you think it wouldn’t suit my agenda to rid the club of Wenger. I don’t care if Wenger’s manager or not as long as we win. This suits us both, you get more of Wenger and we both get a successful club.
Even on sites that are heavily anti Wenger most supporters want us to win games. Some say they don’t before the game and then during it they’re desperate for us to win. This is why this AAA/AKB polarization is complete nonsense. It’s much more complicated than that.