Of course the Lord Wenger might have asked for more respect at some time, but I can’t recall it happening. The nearest I can recall him getting to this was after the 0-0 with Fulham when in the usual media scrum he was asked if he was happy with the tactics he had used in the match. He said, “Oh, I don’t know, I think I’ll leave that to you to judge. After all, I’ve only been in this business for 30 years.”
I thought of this on seeing the headline today to the effect that Ben E Tez of Liverpool Insolvency had said that he doesn’t get enough respect for his work in getting to the Euro final and winning it once on penalties. Now of course I would be inconsistent if I did not recognise that what he probably said was that he had been woken last night by a giant hedgehog called Boris and that he was thinking of playing the creature at left back in tonight’s game. But still, it seemed a bit rich to demand more respect.
But still (again), it is interesting that although the Lord Wenger has a reputation for his complaints during a game, the rest of the time he is the model of courtesy and patience. Not for him the endless whinging and whining of the Alex F Word camp about someone shouting from the stands. Not for him the endless excuses. Not for him the demand that people should treat him in a different way.
What he does say is that he is surprised that people haven’t recognised the genius of Denilson yet. He praises his players, and notes their quality and consistency. If someone wants to go, he lets that man go, perhaps with just a hint of a smile that reveals he knows that the player is going to do far worse away from Arsenal than with the club (Hleb and Flamini are the perfect examples).
If I were a supporter of another club I would be embarrassed by the comments of managers like Sir Alex F Word and Ben E Tez, as I would be embarrassed by the playing style of clubs like Blackburn and Aston Villa.
Which brings me to a different point. The game against Blackburn Rotational has now sold out, but it took a while, and had to go to a general sale. (Not that I spend all night on the Arsenal ticket web site watching how it goes, you understand). Clearly this isn’t to do with Arsenal’s approach because there is every chance that those of us at this game will see Eduardo and Theo play.
No, the reason is the rotational fouling that Blackburn brought to the game. I don’t know if they are still doing it, but that style is a killer in terms of interesting football.
It was introduced by one of the most disgraceful people ever to haunt the game – Mark Hughes known as Ooze – and was witnessed in full at the Milly Stadium in Cardiff during a cup semi final between Arsenal and Blackburn. It was a disgrace then and is a disgrace now. It is only outweighed by the fact that the failure of the referees to deal with it is an even bigger disgrace. (Feeling self get hot under collar so calms down)
Last point tonight. Yesterday a total nutter sent a comment to this blog which was lifted completely from a piece by the Wrighty7 blog. I wrote to the twirp who sent it in and said that I did not condone plagiarism in any form, and would not put it up. Twenty minutes later the same idiot sent in another piece, lifted from another site!
What bemuses me is this. What is the motive? If this were a criminal case and it was up before Chief Inspector Barnaby then motive would be a prime issue – but what on earth is the motive here? Did he think I was such an utter twango that I would not notice?
If you know, please tell me, because I am utterly bemused.
(c) Utterly Bemused, Lost-Beside-the-Logic. 2009
Thanks for the interesting post, as usual, Tony.
On Benetez’s demand for more respect: he should know by now respect is something to be earned, not to be demanded. If he thinks he’s the right for more respect for his achievement for the success in the CL, then he is truly delusional. I can’t bear to watch L’pool – theirs is another form of anti-football, park-the-bus football with more exotic players than those at Blackburn and Bolton. But the sad thing is even the fans/supporters of the greatest club (Arsenal) would want the trophy won by this route than no trophy but beautiful and exciting football. Of course playing the beautiful football and winning some trophies, that will be perfect and I’m sure our time will come very very soon.
As for the motive – well he/she may be on a mission to spread the doom and gloom and all the negativity on earth about gunners? I sometimes lament that the cynicism is seen equal to intelligence and optimism is seen as the traits of losers.
Keep up the good work (spread the hope and positivity, as well as educating us), Tony. Always appreciate.
No mystery here – most people are idiots. This guy is just the tip of the iceberg.
Today I find myself wondering what will happen to the ‘Wenger out’ brigade if, as I feel confident, we continue our run of good form. Will these blogs and posters all –
a) collectively scuttle away, heads hung in shame never to bother us again with their childish tantrums and impatient rants
b) admit their mistakes and offer contrition for doubting Lord Wenger’s masterful vision and superior acumen
or
c) carry on as though actually, deep down, they had always believed…???
I thought Liverpool were good last night but deary, dear RM were/are just woeful. So sluggish. I think, if we score early, we could go on a similar rampage in Roma tonight – especially if Theo gets a good run out (he looked SO sharp on the weekend).
The future’s bright, the future is Red & White.
Believe!
This post appears to me to be taken from another web site so I have removed it.
Jonny
The Wenger’s Lost the Plot crew has lost some of their numbers already, but of course it wasn’t that they were wrong. What happened was that Song and Bendtner were rubbish, but they improved after reading the helpful criticisms on the blogs!
But don’t expect all the moaners to disappear. If we finish third, they will say we would have been second if we had replaced Flamini. If we win the Champions League Final 3-1, there will be some declaring that we would have kept a clean sheet if we had signed a decent hairy-arsed muscular centre-back.
As Tony has mentioned before on this blog, the first issue of One-Nil-Down, Two-One-Up fanzine after the 1989 Anfield title win was all about how it could all have gone wrong. Some people just like moaning.
This post appeared to me to be mostly from another web site, so I deleted it
Tony
“Feeling self get hot under collar so calms down”
LOL! I get the same way when talking about Mark Hughes. Not a fan of Allardyce either but I’ve never seen Allardyce’s teams do what I saw Hughes team do last season to us at Ewood Park throughout the entire game (in deliberate, calculated, organized fashion):
Repeatedly kick Arsenal players when they were already down, stricken. Hughes’ players did this repeatedly with malice, having brought down one of our players (usually with a vicious tackle) and stopping to kick him when he was already down. I was at the game. In over 40 years of watching football in different countries (incl. violent games in South America and Africa), I’ve seen individual players do this kind of thing and much worse.
However, I’ve NEVER seen a team do this in repeated, organized fashion by nearly the entire squad. (Nor have I seen Blackburn under Hughes do this against any other team).
Not to mention Pedersen deliberately stamping on Cesc’s neck. All this was done right in front of the referee who refused to punish Hughes’ thugs. Allardyce’s teams can be thuggish as well and he too is a purveyor of anti-football but he does not have the kind of deliberate, meanspirited viciousness that Hughes does against us.
Blackburn and Bolton are also purveyors of rotational timewasting, btw.
As for the plagiarism issue….recently I was reading a blog where one poster had simply copied and pasted Myles Palmer’s entire post from the day before and passed it off as his own. (ok, I have masochistic tendencies, I occasionally read Palmer just to see what nonsense he’s currently spouting). If you’re going to plagiarize, at least do it from someone who’s not so widely read.
Your comments on AW are absolutely spot-on. I LOVED AW’s wry comment in the post-Fulham press conference when asked about his tactics, “Oh, I don’t know, I think I’ll leave that to you to judge. After all, I’ve only been in this business for 30 years.” He said it so casually and quietly that it didn’t come off defensive or irritated at all, it just came off as good-humored. The reporters were disarmed by it, they laughed (not at him, but with him). AW is very good at that kind of thing in his press conferences. I loved how he expressed mock concern over reporters gloomy state of mind, saying that he sometimes worries about them, while in contrast he always remains positive and optimistic.
I often see on skysports reporters talking about how much they enjoy and respect AW’s press conferences because he’s very forthcoming and informative—yet they then turn around and treat him with such disrespect in their coverage and analysis. I’ve often thought AW gives the press far too much time and respect because they give so little of it to him. Yet as you say he never complains about this. Nor does he complain about his squad being decimated with injuries.
The man is treated so dismissively yet he keeps plugging away, acting with consummate class and dignity. He’s one of the finest gentlemen in the sport. I hope he goes on forever.
Anti-Wenger strikes again it seems. He escaped from the parallel universe and is trying to spread the bad word about the genius who trapped him in the vortex. To get rid of him it seems we must spread the good message to defeat him. The truth will overcome the false. Believe it.
Tony, that was my comment-from f365
Is this a wind up or is Tony really removing the postings? It’s very funny either way.
Tony is doing(/should do) a “le-gr@ve” but in a good way (by removing the anti Arsenal comments).
Good to see the luck went our way for a change. It was a clear penalty foul by Clichy. The Hleb and Babel penalties against Liverpool last year were wrong so I guess it all evens out in the end. As most people have noted the performance last night was poor and on that form no team would be worried about drawing us in the quarters. Hopefully with our injured players fit we will be a better unit. We shouldn’t have to rely on hope though. I am surprised that some people have said that Almunia’s performance was good last night. I for one was previously surprised that some sections of this board were slagging him off, but after his performance last night I must admit the jury is out on him in my mind. He lacked composure when it came down to penalties. He was still in shock during the interview and admitted that he was unsettled. His attempts at saves during the pens were woeful. His attempted save for the first goal reminded me of the 2nd goal in the CL final. It doesn’t look like he is a big game player. There is no way Crazy Jens would have bottled it. He would have been whispering sweet nothings about eating their children as they walked up to take their spot kick.
Re the removal of posts. I have only removed posts which appear to me to be direct copies of posts already posted elsewhere. If you look back through the archives you’ll see that we have had posts from Everton supporters blaming us for attacking them at the Ems game, for example.
Prior to the current problem of people copying posts from other sites, I have only removed posts that call me a racist – mostly because I criticised the Africa Nations Cup. I found those posts so outrageous and offensive I cut them.
There’s more on this in the post of 12 March.