By Tony Attwood
There is a great tendency in the modern game to look only at individual players, rather than the combination of players. It happens when there is frantic talk about who might be bought – the notion of how that player will fit into the team that is already there is rarely considered.
Such a notion is difficult for the press to handle – thinking about two players at once has never been their style and the way they patronise their readership leads them to believe that such a notion is far to complex for the average reader.
Hence the way in which Ozil and Welbeck are merging together – not constantly but in flashes – is rarely recognised. Nor is the oddity of the supposedly awful defence that we have being unbeaten in the last 11 games.
For me, the new look Arsenal is still trying to get its combinations right, but we are getting there game by game. Tottenham on the other hand had a ploy which they seem to have working near to perfection.
What they seem to be exploiting is the apparent abandonment of the old rule that said that if over half a team picks up yellow cards in a match then the club is penalised further. That doesn’t happen any more, so Tottenham will not only escape punishment they even escaped comment by the press – although counting past five is something journalists do find difficult these days. So for their benefit if no one else’s let me remind them of the list of Tottenham yellows.
- Danny Rose
- Ryan Mason
- Erik Lamela
- Nacer Chadli
- Emmanuel Adebayor
- Aaron Lennon
The problem Tottenham had was that by deciding to bring rotational fouling (Tottenham were pulled up for 17 fouls in the game, and the ref missed quite a few more) and rotational time wasting into the match, they eventually ran out of players to rotate – hence the cards. But the time wasting went on and on – although it does seem that refs are yellow carding players who go off the pitch with an injury and then waste time by re-entering the field of play to be subbed. That at least is a step forward.
Mr Wenger picked up on our theme of time wasting too. “I would like, just once, to see the referee react against that,” he said. “The referee is there to make sure the flow of the game is respected. It’s only a respect of the people who pay money to watch football. Book the goalkeeper straightaway when he walks to the other side to take a goal-kick. The next time, he will take it from where the ball is.”
The management has been reading Untold again!
As with last week Arsenal totally dominated the possession – it was 71% this time – so all we have to do now is knock in the goals slightly more often – just as we did at Villa.
I suspect that the explosion of speed and pace that we will have when Alexis is ready to play the whole game in each game, and when Theo is on the other wing, is going to cause a lot of problems for a lot of teams. Indeed the fact that we are chugging along ok at the moment makes me think that when we have got that working well, this is going to be one hell of a team to watch.
Theo, Welbeck, Alexis with Ozil, Ramsey and Wilshere behind – and all used to playing as a team. It still holds out a lot of promise for me.
So what else did we see yesterday? From where I sat, opposite the Tottenham supporters, it looked a fairly peaceful occasion, so either Tottenham fans were calmer than this match last year, or the stewards got things sorted much better.
But of course the injuries just keep coming – which is a real worry. The latest return date for the injured that I have got is 18 October for Gnabry, Monreal, and Theo. Debuchy is some time in December, Giroud is January. On the new injuries Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey will miss the game against Galatasaray on Wednesday and Chelsea on Sunday, and maybe longer. Jack Wilshere rolled his right ankle and might miss Wednesday. Chambers I think will miss Chelsea because of his yellow cards totting up.
So what we else do we now know?
The Tinies have in fact only won once at Arsenal in 26 matches since May 1993. In total it has been Arsenal 16 wins 9 Draws Tottenham 1 win.
In cumulative total in terms of the league we have won 74 times, Tottenham has won 54 and there have been 46 draws. We also mostly score – the last time we didn’t was November 1998. After that match we have made up for it though, scoring 39 times in 16 games.
And here’s another thought – last season lots of writers got fixated on our results against teams at the top of the league last season (because it made us look bad). In the older days what people used to do was draw up a league table of London clubs. The argument was very seriously put forward that London clubs found it much harder to win the league than northern clubs, because London clubs had so many London derbies, what with their regularly being five London teams in the top league.
Last season we got 25 points from our 10 London derby games (winning 8, drawing 1 and losing 1). So far this season we have just had the one win and one draw.
As for Mr Wenger against the Tinies, this was game 45. He has 21 wins, 17 draws, 6 defeats. Not bad.
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There’s the usual index to past Arsenal events on this day and links to recent articles on the home page.
Not a word from the “experts” on MOTD about the time wasting. And laughably Neville Minor actually said that Tottnumb were the better team in the first half. Truly unreal. The media conspiracy continues apace.
The media and the referees are against us but what else is new.
I am pleased that on the previous thread it is revealed that the mertesackecker header was in fact a goal but the conspiracies against us continue unabated
I was really taken aback with the attitude of spurs, or as my 6 yrs old refers to them toddlehem. They were prepared to waste time right from the start. The pace was also shocking, especially for a derby. It could suite us in hindsight as we have a midweek CL game. But all the toddlehem followers must be real proud of their attacking football.
ClockEnd
I too laughed out when Phil neville said the totts were better in the first half. Wasn’t he embarrassed to come out with a line like that? Shocking.
Good article, Tony.
Please checkout the highlights or the full match, as JW10 was stamped on by Rose. i.e. it should’ve been a penalty, and would always have been given against us. I thought there were two other firm openalty shouts, inc. one where Mertesacker was balked.
Chadli stuck a couple of nasty ones in – following on from his stamp on Theo back in January. he and all of the spuds players know they carte blanche to injure as many Arsenal players as they please. Look how they’re so upset when the ref even calls a foul against them.
And I wondered about the 6 bookings. I didn’t know it no longer matters how many bookings a side gets. Spuds must really have pissed off beachball ref, given that they fouled relentlessly all match.
It goes on. Well done Arsenal.
I begin to feel that Ozil is growing into the leader figure. Soon, the transformation will lead his team into new heights. No opponents or the media will intimidate him. The rise of the new Bergkamp!
Let’s put ourselves in a position to time waste against Chelsea…..and see if we can get away with it….with either the ref or the media…..
So this time it was the time wasting which is why we didn’t wind and not anything to do with the team or the manager. I come onto this site occasionally for a laugh but this truly is insane.
We dropped two points at home against a very average tottenham team because once again our manager is trying to play central midfielders on the wings.
Why for so long has he refused to play wingers on the wings? Who will be next to join the list of Bendtner, Ozil, Wilshire, Ramsey who have been played out of position and where their skills are not suited just to massage the ego of our great leader?
troll alert
I am obviously happy with the draw but to come out with things like time wasting and fouls is a bit premature. We should have taken the 3 points simple as. Anyone who thinks that wasn’t 2 points dropped is way off the mark.
There are basically 2 ways to stop the fast counter attack.
1) By pressing the ‘outlet’ pass and allowing defenders time to get back.
2) By mid-field fouling, well away from where a direct shot on goal would be worthwhile.
As Arsenal are becoming much more dangerous in this method of attacking the opposition are continually using the MF foul to stop a goal threat.
Surely the officials are aware of this and MUST do something about it.
I wish!!!!!
good joke g for gangrene
Just watched the full match. Makes my blood boil!
A blurry pic I found somewhere:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BykQ9fkCQAAF2QP.jpg
This latest NLD has passed away, but we can keep the lesson we have learnt from this game for our future use when we meet Spurs in the return leg or in the FA Cup. For now, let us focus on our home CL game with Galatasaray on Wednesday night. Galatasaray must have known that we have lost Arteta and Ramsey and even Wilshere to injuries. The big thought now is, what will the boss do on these latest injury crisis? And we must beat Galatasaray to lift out from the bottom of the table. A point will not do us much good. So the boss has to get it right in this game. Even if it is a 1-0 victory for us, I am okay, that’s a massive 3 points in our kitty. Then we can start focusing on Chelsea. The Gunners must never allow themselves to be distracted from this very next game.
Is anyone who questions the point of view in the article a troll?
Surely you remember the days when the NLD at home was a great day for Arsenal fans and you can’t honestly believe that a 1-1 draw at home to a very average spurs side is a good result?
Surely you can’t honestly believe the only reason we didn’t win was due to time wasting?
Maybe I am a troll for pointing this out but maybe it was poor management to start our season with only 6 defenders (lets only count those who have played 5+ games for a similar standard club otherwise we could count the under 9s)
Also does it not strike anyone as poor planing to continue to use Arteta as a defensive midfielder when he clearly doesn’t have the attributes for the role (although when has that been an issue – bendtner on the wing)
You are welcome to highlight the time wasting tactics of spurs, it was clear to everyone but it doesn’t excuse another very average performance from one of the highest paid managers in world football and a squad with a higher wage budget than Chelsea.
If we hide away and don’t accept that out start to the season has been poor in a lot of ways we will never address the issues holding our club back.
Constructive criticism here. We are getting there but still a bit of a work in progress, one of the worst injury spells I cannot remember is not helping. The team are clearly having to get used to a new system…..and possibly a new fitness regime…..is Shad bulking them out a bit….if true to some of his ideals? Hopefully both will pay dividends, but could take a bit more time. but, Think they really need to work on cutting out the individual errors, they are proving very costly this season. Teams seem to be scoring against us….quite regularly in their first one or two shots on goal, forcing us to chase the game. This is regularly happening when we are dominating games possession wise.
We cannot afford to keep on with these lapses, think we could also work a bit on distribution from our keeper, and from the back, that was a hospital pass to Flamini, not the first time this season either. I also hope wenger does all he can to avoid a confidence sapping thrashing against Chelsea…..even if it means going against long held ideals, even long held principles. And he needs to get wise to these refs….it seems imperative that we start scoring first to negate the worst of them.
All very easy said….not so easily done…
Some very sensible comments Mandy.
There are a lot of good signs but we are not quite there yet. Part of the problem, apart from a reduced preseason, is that the team has not really had a chance to settle and gel, the accumulation of injuries has certainly not helped.
Having said that it looks as if we need to do a lot of work on the training ground e.g. we had approx 15 corners yesterday and did not convert one. By comparison a teams like Chelski – even although I totally despise the scumbags – score a considerable number of goals from set pieces – so that is an area we could improve – both in attack and defense.
A sublime message ?
http://www.dilbert.com/2014-09-24/
It’s complete rubbish and plain old stupidity to moan and whine about time wasting. Everybody does it and Arsenal is no exception. The Laws of the Game 2014/2015 are very clear and the referee teams handle the situations. The professional footballers and managers should focus on their own jobs in which they are undeservedly earning millions. I still haven’t found any football journalist demanding complete transparency of football finances a’la the NHL hockey. The financial transparency would open many people’s eyes and finally these footballer idiots would be demanded professional behaviour, honesty, dignity, respect and sportsmanship. The professional footballers and managers are lazy, disgusting, disrespectful overpaid idiots and the athletes in REAL sports wonder how these clowns earn millions and nobody even questions them to behave like real sportsmen both on and off the pitch.
Time wasting in football is easily removed. The pedal to the metal attitude from the first second, desire to score goals and determination to win matches. Nowadays these multi-millionaire footballers spend more time in tattoo shops and hair saloons than actually training, studying, preparing and focusing on winning the matches and working hard every day. Tempo is slow, the footballers are pretending to play, the fans are pretending to support the team, the managers are pretending to have prepared the teams to win… everybody in football world just wants to have an easy life without dedication, preparation, studying, learning… It’s the sign of our times and time wasting is the perfect example of it!
So, if Chambers will not play, that’s a real worry, because Coquelin will most likely play at RB, who will cover in midfield? Diaby is a good player, but can he handle the intensity of such a game this soon? Bellerin to me should be eased in, by playing the softer games, like against ManU, Stoke and other mid-table teams.
If we played the way we played when we were a goal down from the inception of the game, we would have won comfortably. I despise the way we’re playing – almost too careful for my liking!
Doesn’t buy what is needed. Doesn’t play players in the right position. Doesn’t play right formation. Doesn’t have any tactics. Doesn’t adapt or change. Doesn’t even inspire all the wrong people in the wrong positions playing the wrong way to WANT to win
Granted, we are re still unbeaten after six matches, few would predict that run will last past next Sunday. Two wins and four draws is good enough for fourth place, and in truth that does look to be the limit of what this side are going to be capable of. I think Van Gaal will turn United’s form around enough to gain third place, so it is a battle with Liverpool for fourth, based on the evidence of the season so far. Whether the World Cup is the reason the Gunners look less effective is one for debate, although Chelsea had enough of their men in Brazil and do not seem to have been aversely affected.
On Arsenal.com; watch the highlights video. Video length is 10,20mins, the header comes off BFG’s head at 7,55 mins, Lorys makes first save at 7,56 (This is the only replay…up to only that part of the complete scene that was used for goal-line technology), they complete mislead us by not showing the second bounce of the ball, and the additional try by Lorys to keep the ball out (he moves his complete body inside of the goal line). The ball seems to me from that angle to have gone over, for sure there are other angles that we weren’t shown (as should have) and more worrying is that the second part from a different (correct angle) may well prove that the ball had gone over when goal line technology is used on that part of the second attempt to save!
Has Arsenal FC got no right to ask for this??
Have we no way of getting to the bottom of this continual CHEATING against us?
Truly bizarre lack of further replays. It must be time for the club to use our own cameras as the bias is now well beyond reason.
Well it might be the same old pattern: against our big ‘rivals’ it’s generally a loss or hopefully draw at home and a decisive defeat on the road. I don’t think Wenger was unlucky- Ramsey hasn’t showed form yet this season, Wilshere was muted and Arteta was not tested. Flamini getting out-muscled for the goal said it all- can you imagine that happening to Fernandinho, Matic or Tiote? Realistically, we stand no chance of winning the Champions League, the league is not possible given Chelsea and City’s superior squads… So we’re only really in for the FA Cup, but I bet we’ll play reserves or just get knocked out by the first good team we play. City and Chelsea have plugged all the gaps in their squads now and United are doing the same; they’ll all need a year to gel but their in the ascendency for sure. Meanwhile Arsenal who are outspending Chelsea in terms of wages are battling for fourth with a mountain of cash sitting in the bank, with the players looking unmotivated and the football recklessly open. Another off-field matter worth discussing is how City, Spurs, Liverpool and now possibly Chelsea are expanding their stadiums close to ours. Although some won’t be as valuable given the club level, price rises will continue to transpire.
God save us from moaning minnies like Andrew. Anyone would think we were fighting at the bottom of the table.
Mick, If you are happy with the average performance then thats your preference. You have not tried to debate anything I have sai. PProving I am right. Displacing the abject performance on refs will not do anything
Andrew
Don’t be a pratt. I do not try to debate therefore that proves you are right. What an idiotic conclusion to draw, just shows your level of intelligence. I’ve tried debating with the likes of you before and it’s a waste of time, people like you who only come out of the woodwork when we have a result other than a win, you can’t wait for a loss or a draw so you can come on here and start moaning. Your agenda is plain for all to see, you want rid of the manager, so why you come on a pro Wenger site to spew your garbage can only be down to one reason and that is to aggravate and provoke the regular contributors. Why don’t you stick to Le Grove where your views will be appreciated.
@ Andrew (2:16 pm)
Where exactly was fernandinho when Wilshere and Ramsey waltzed into the box for our 1st goal vs city? Where was matic when lampard strolled into the box vs chelsea last week? Might be wrong, but I think we did a double over newcastle last season with your mighty tiote on the pitch.
I’ll wait…
@Andrew
September 28, 2014 at 2:16 pm
What are the LOTTO numbers this week mate?? Cheers 🙂
@ClockEndRider
September 28, 2014 at 2:07 pm
I agree with Arsenal getting in an independent camera crew…not for broadcasting obviously…but surely the official broadcaster will have second thoughts knowing the club will have a full and detailed take on any home game!
Wengerson
“Where exactly was fernandinho when Wilshere and Ramsey waltzed into the box for our 1st goal vs city? Where was matic when lampard strolled into the box vs chelsea last week? Might be wrong, but I think we did a double over newcastle last season with your mighty tiote on the pitch.
I’ll wait…”
Fernandinho was exactly were he neded to be with both Arsenal goals against City.
For the first goal , he tried to close Wilshere down as soon as Jack received the ball which was won from Aguero in the middle of the park. Wilshere one touched it to Sanchez , thusly taking Fernandinho out of the play. Sanchez controlled it and before being closed down by Kompany , passed it to Ramsey , who spotted the run of Wilshere and fed him the ball. The rest was all about Wilshere’s individual ability to go past Clichy like he wasn’t there and finish it off with style . That’s why they call those type of goals ‘special ‘ or ‘wonder’ goals . They are not a result of a defensive mistake but rather a credit to offense.
One could make a case that Fernandinho should’ve impeded Wilshere’s progress and make it more difficult for him to get at the end of Ramsey’s pass , but had he done that there would be cries of foul play and rotational fouling being brought up by you I’m sure.
On the second Arsenal goal Fernandinho was also exactly where he was suppose to be at the top of the box ,when Kompany cleared the ball which Wilshere headed back to Sanchez. Also a great goal with very little to blame on the defensive side.
Lampard goal was also a result of a well played passing sequence by City , with Lampard arriving late in the box and players like Ivanovic and Schurle ball watching , instead of picking him up. Matic was where he was suppose to be , at the top of the box.
As for Tiote, he is on a inferior New Castle team which shouldn’t even be in a conversation.
All three goals described above were not a fault of a defensive midfield and I would argue that neither was the goal Tottenham scored.
While it’s true it was Flamini who lost the ball, it was Szczesny who made the mistake of trying to quick start the play when there were too many Tottenham players in our half , thus putting his team under unnecessary pressure .
It’s not Arsenal’s strength to bring the ball up the pitch under high pressing.
I’m not the biggest fan of Flamini and let’s face it he was only brought back because he came on a free , but Szczesny should play to his team’s strength and not the weakness .
I hope this answers your question 🙂
@Tony, Great article, I also found it interesting that Wenger mentioned that during the post-match press conference.
@Andrew, funny all the teams you mentioned have less points than us except City and Chelsea. United had one of the easiest starts to the season not facing anyone from last season’s top 6 and getting 1 W, 1 D, and 1 L against the three promoted sides. And in your opinion, all these sides are going to improve, but Arsenal can not improve even though in 6 matches we have already faced 3 of the top 6 (Everton, tottenham, + City) in first 6 matches and will be 4 out of first 7 matches when we face Chelsea next week.
So the team that played badly against mid-table to relegation battling teams is going to improve and over take Arsenal, but Arsenal who played tougher competition can’t improve?
Maybe you should reconsider which team you really support.
One additional thing regarding Lampard goal.
It is sometimes difficult for a team to mark and close down a player who’s been a legend and earned respect of his teammates like Lampard did with Chelsea. Maybe that had something to do with the fact nobody picked him up but I’m sure Mourinho had some choice words about this for his defenders.
The problem with Wengers comments on time wasting is that we do it as well. We have all seen us defending a lead an taking our time – even running it into the corner flag. All Wenger has done is created a rod for his own back. Lets say we are 1 goal up against Chelsea next weekend with 5 minutes to go – are our players REALLY going to hurry up to make sure Chelsea have more time to equalise?
Utter nonsense from Wenger this time I’m afraid.
@jayram
I am not sure that your interpretation on time wasting is correct. There is a difference between retaining possession at the end of a match, even taking the play into the corner to do so – and time wasting with play stopped. It is the latter e.g. wasting time at goal kicks, throw ins, free kicks, feigned injuries etc – that Wenger objects to – as would most fans.
We have had at least two matches this season when the opposition has tried to waste time from the first whistle – and has been allowed to do so be pathetic refereeing. Wenger is well within his rights to complain when that happens.
@bjtgooner
Wenger’s position was very clear – he used the fans enjoyment and the fact they pay money to see football not time wasting. Whether its holding the ball at the corner flag, pretending to be injured, or taking time on free kicks, it’s still time wasting and in Wenger own words, spoiling the enjoyment of the fans who have paid.
I think he should just stop taking about these things – he will not change it and the effect of his words, I guarantee, will be to get his own players booked for time wasting in the VERY near future.
“Indeed the fact that we are chugging along ok at the moment makes me think that when we have got that working well, this is going to be one hell of a team to watch.”
Yes yes, me thinks so too.
Waiting patiently.
It is odd about the replay of Pers header, I would love to see the tech in exactly as Apo mentions today at 1.34pm its obvious that is the second sequence that needs looking at not the one thats replayed.Bizarre that it hasnt been.
I also think Wengers frustrated (as much as anyone else), quite right too, Spurs choked the game after the equaliser by wasting time, they had too and they were about to lose the game.
Everyone knows we should have won.Certainly we had plenty of really magical moments and looked really strong and theres much more to be taken from the way we played than the frustrations of focusing on not winning,especially against Them.Chambers was unlucky that was one smart shot.
I get the feeling if this team just gives a tiny bit more and it clicks then they can be devastating.
Who is the scapegoat of the week,it cant be Urzel as he was great.Must be Flamini…?Anyway, come on you Woolich Wanderers!
COYG! Aha and Amen!
@jayram
I think it is your position that is not clear. Retaining possession, even by taking the ball to the corner is legit. That sort of tactic is enjoyed by fans – their team first having first attained a lead, but equally when the other team employs such tactics it is not so enjoyable – but still legit.
Wenger was referring to the gamesmanship involved in delaying the restart of play from goal kicks, free kicks, throw ins and simulated injuries etc. He has every right to make such comments.
In one thing I will agree with you – should Arsenal players waste time even fractionally in that way they are far more likely to be punished than the players from other teams.
I wouldn’t bother trying to debate anything with the likes of Andrew, just another copy and paste merchant, his 1.20 post lifted straight from the lead article from Online Gooner.
If someone is incapable of original thoughts and words, not worthy of engaging in debate
Well spotted Mandy.
Thr fun part is:
*we had 4 calls of penalties, 1 that cant be denied by anyone.
*we saw a lot of time wasting
*there was a goal, which there is doubt the ball was in.
*there was a lot of fouling to break our play
*The media are trying to hide all of the above.
Not the fun part is that some people come out here every single time, and say we should not moan about it! Really? Everytime am sick of their “I am unbiased and it happens to everyone”, “You cant stop ot”.
I cant believe being named Arsenal fan and not get angry that your team gets cheated day in day out.
And we should have won it regardless is not an excuse to have ref do his work. How many times have chelsea won games through ref mistakes when they were the bad team , and deserved nothing, united, city,liverpool…. Thats how they get top of the league, 3pts and trophies. Wake up
@Michael Ram,
Agree with you and hope he keeps on it, since the departure of the dutch skunk, we had no leader in the attacking side, unlike the defensive side, thats why we had better defences in the last seasons, while our attacking is suffering. I noticed the Ozil leading the attack and I hope he do it regularly. Then we will get our beautiful Arsenal game back, I hope.
Yassin 9:47pm
So true. I have seen the statement that we should have won regardless thrown in in so many comments this weekend. And yet, like you rightly point out, these ‘mistakes’ that seem to always go against us are the same ‘mistakes’ that often give the likes of teams like Chelsea victory. And yet we are not asking the refs to make errors in our favour so we gain from it, we just want the ref not to make ‘mistakes’ that penalise us, stopping us from gaining from situations we would have created in the first place.
I thought I had seen it all, (penalties, red cards, letting teams kick lumps out of our players, etc) but yesterday’s business took things to a new level. If, as it appears, TV replays were manipulated to hide the ref’s error then I’m afraid what we’re up against is scary. I am sorry if I sound like I’m throwing the towel in but it does seem like we’re fighting a losing battle. It’s not yesterday’s goings on but a whole lot of things. The sheer negativety in the media is shocking. It’s rare to find anyone making a positive comment about Arsenal in the media these days, regardless what the subject is. Even when we put in a brilliant performance, they’ll still find something negative to focus on. Even where they’re forced to say something positive they’ll throw a “but” in there somewhere. Phil neville had the balls to say Tottenham were the better side in the first half. I mean seriously….
This season has started on a really sour note with officials. It’s like every game we’ve played so far this season there has been some kind of skulduggery afoot. We have literally lost a player(for long periods) to terrible tackling in each match, that at this rate we will be struggling to come up with 11 fit players to field in a match. What is going on is robbery under our very own eyes, it can no longer be classed conspiracy theories or some such bs. Are we supposed to ignore all these inconsistencies like the willy nilly hacking of our players, TV replays manipulation, punishing our players at the slightest transgression while the opposition gets away with murder all the time, etc etc…? Arsenal are hated, period. It’s disheartening, and putting me off football.
@AL
September 28, 2014 at 11:42 pm
I’ll take it a step further; when a club like ours has managed to be where it is through the ‘hard’ years and others around us have BOUGHT success (even though the dark clouds of FFP are slowly but surely building up into heavy storm for them should they continue in the same strategy for success), then surely the owners of those clubs have the power and ability to find the ‘gifts’ to be placed into the dirty hands of officials, broadcasters etc, so as to make sure we are HAMPERED in any other way!!!!!!
So if we have to field by january our youth squad…then even though we are stronger economically, in our new stadium, with a bunch of quality but injured players…FFP is then void coz they (oilers etc…) have directly or $$ – indirectly reduced their competition through dirty tactics!
Apo
Spot on. People have to stop accusing us of being paranoid etc, what we saw on Saturday was plain cheating. Not only do we have to contend with biased/bent refs, but TV companies as well. The only reason that replay took five minutes to show it was because someone was trying as much as they could to hide what had really happened. I’m not going to accept the people accusing us of being whingers or of some libellous nonsense, this league is fucking corrupt, and it needs to be investigated ASAP. Until then I’m afraid it’s going to lose many followers, starting with this one.
PMSFL, my god I have never seen so many excuses why you didn’t win. Are you guys trying to take the title ‘Always the victims’ from Liverpool. You drew because you didn’t score more goals than Tottenham, that simple. You had so much pocession but when it came to having the ball near the area you struggled to do something with it to hurt Tottenham.
As for the time wasting, it happens to all teams not just Arsenal, look at WBA last week against Spurs, even the keeper got booked for it, but instead of The B*****ds, that lost them the game, it was the poor performance from Spurs not the time wasting from WBA.
Arsenal were guilty of bad tackles (keep saying this one) and as for the media hatred, guess you guys don’t venture past this site, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man utd and so on get it just as bad.
Think of Saturday’s game in Tottenham’s eyes, your not playing well, your away at Arsenal, well your not going to play fast attacking football, your tactics suit the occassion which I know you guys have a go at Wenger about. Look, at the end of the day you thought it was going to be an easy three points (even though your not playing that well yourselves?) and it didn’t happen.
Move on, get rid of the conspiracy theories and accept it happened, starting to look pathetic, and one thing I will say, everyone is laughing at Wenger, he does look stupid when things didn’t go the way it was suppose to be and he blames everyone else except himself..