by Sir Hardly Anyone Here’s a nice one to start with… “For 22 years, what this guy has done not just for Arsenal, but for English football, people should remember. I think they came to a moment where people just want to see someone else. It’s not a matter of if you win the Europa …
By Sir Hardly Anyone and R.E. Ports. The team of intrepid opinionators at Sky Sports have told us that Arsenal need to replace the entire team if the club want to escape relegation next season, which makes Craig Burley seem positively modest in believing that that Arsenal need to sign just six new players this …
By Tony Attwood It was a sad way to say a personal farewell to watching Arsenal coached by Arsène Wenger last night, but even so I’m glad I went to see just one more Wenger game and reflect back on 22 years of the Wenger teams I’ve watched. And indeed to try and remember what …
By Bulldog Drummond So we’re off to Leicester tomorrow for our own personal final farewell to Mr Wenger. And this means looking again at the rather gruesome away record we have. It really has been a truly horrible away season, and it must be a great relief all round that Arsenal don’t need to get …
By Tony Attwood In November 2016 we ran the story “Arsenal in November. Exactly how bad are we year after year?” It was a piece that examined one of the regular adages that had become beloved of lazy football journalists – a simple explanation as to why Arsenal are so awful as a football club. …
By Bulldog Drummond A few of us are lucky and we’re going to at least one of the away games – in our case Leicester City. But for most today is the end of the era, and it is pleasing to note that not every journalist has lost it, themselves, and everything else at this …
By Bulldog Drummond “Confusion reigns over future of £30m Arsenal target” Thus sayeth Football 365 which adds, “Arsenal are set to beat Bayern Munich to the signing of centre-half Caglar Soyuncu. Or maybe not.” Hence revealing that the confusion which reigns is actually primarily in the minds of those who invent fantasy transfers and indeed most …
By Bulldog Drummond (I know that headline is a bit odd, but just read on to see what nonsense the media is stating today). As we have seen in the last article on the basis of current form and home and away results in the season, this looks like an 3-1 win to Arsenal. The …
By Bulldog Drummond And so to the final game at home for Mr Wenger with his side in an unfamiliar position. Pos Team P W D L F A GD Pts 1 Manchester City 35 30 3 2 102 26 76 93 2 Manchester United 36 24 5 7 67 28 39 77 3 Liverpool …
by Tony Attwood There is a web site I rather like – The Sack Race – which provides details of managers and how often they are sacked. For example they show us that only 11 out of the 20 Premier League managers have been at their club for MORE THAN ONE YEAR. Only eight have …
By Bulldog Drummond And so the negativity and the put downs continue as the media seem to be going on an all out binge to tell anyone who will listen that Arsenal are in terminal decline: “A year long absence can happen to all the giants but a second season would begin to look like …
By Fishpie In essence, I am somebody who wanted Arsène Wenger to go a few years back. My head told me it was the right time for him to leave but now that time has arrived, I find my heart is reminding me just how much I owe him. Untold, more than any other …
By Sir Hardly Anyone I suspect, from a reading of the blogs and the runes, that if that axis of evil, the combination of Sky Sports commentators and anti-Wengerian bloggers, who appear to lead most commentary these days, were to be asked who should leave Arsenal this summer along with Mr Wenger, leaving aside the …
By Tony Attwood As we await the big game on Thursday and all serious transfer talk is on hold until we know who the new manager is going to be we are dealing with scraps from the table. Important scraps but nonetheless not the main news about a) who the manager will be and b) …
By Kirsten A couple of weeks ago, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger announced his decision to leave the club at the end of his 22nd season at the Emirates. The 68-year-old Frenchman is without question the most decorated manager in the history of the club. While he’s reportedly leaving on his own terms, one would imagine …
By Sir Hardly Anyone We have no manager for the summer, so logically we can’t do any transfer deals. But then, what has logic got to do with anything in football? Because, at least if you believe the media, Steve Mislintat is out there on his own setting up deals for the next manager. And …
By Tony Attwood I made a prediction a year back that Tottenham would struggle at Wembley this season, on the basis that all teams struggle when they move grounds. And I was completely wrong. They didn’t. So it is with burned fingers that I venture cautiously back into the issue of Tottenham’s new ground. I’ve …
By Bulldog Drummond There’s nothing unexpected on the injury front. Elneny is out for the rest of the season, Santi Cazorla is back running around the pitch at the Emirates, but what his future will be under the new management we don’t know, and it is suggested Mkhitaryan is reported as fit and ready to …
By Tony Attwood This is, I guess, what it must be like each year in Germany. And what France is getting used to. And what it’s like in Spain. Only Italy escapes completely among the major leagues. I mean of course knowing who is going to win the League, weeks, months, possibly even a whole …
By Tony Attwood But life goes on, there’s still hope (although less than there would have been had we won 4-0), and there’s a weekend to look forward to. Man U away. No problem. I’ve done so many hundreds journeys back to my home along the M1 after matches, through countless lane closures and at …
by Bulldog Drummond And so, as we get ready to go out to the stadium for the last time on a Thursday this season, we hear the news that Atlético Madrid are ready to play Diego Costa, just to annoy us. He has played 12 league games and scored three this season, and played three European …
By Bulldog Drummond If we look at the recent matches of Atlético Madrid we find that their three defeats in the last ten games have all been away from home. The other two away games have resulted in one win (against Lokomotiv Moscow) and a draw with Real Madrid. Overall this suggests that they are not …
By Tony Attwood The Guardian is still of course out on its own, insisting that Arsenal’s “demise” is totally Wenger’s fault.But elsewhere in the mainstream media there is movement. As with the headline “Arsene Wenger critics are ‘stupid’… he’s not the real reason they’re struggling – ex-star”. OK that’s the Mirror, not normally a newspaper …
Arsenal need not fear Atletico Madrid As the only remaining chance of silverware this season for Arsenal, it goes without saying that the Europa League semi-final tie against Atletico Madrid will be absolutely crucial. For Arsene Wenger and the team, these are two games that might completely change how the 2017-18 campaign is viewed. …
By Sir Hardly Anyone So now we see what we get when the wild and whacky world of journalists, bloggers, pundits the AST and ArsenalTVNews get their way, and the manager goes. Maybe it will all run smoothly. Maybe Arsenal already have a new manager in place. Maybe it is not Brendon Rodgers. Maybe it …