Apologies to Tinnion for having a pop at Arsenal but is there anything more annoying in football than the constant comparisons between Arsenal and Barcelona and how only Arsenal are brave enough to invest in youth and value footballing skills over physicality etc?
This is the same club that buy and select players based on pace and little else.
The same club that won’t offer contracts of more than 1 year to players over 30. What would they do with Xavi?
Now Wenger is in the media saying “It’s something that’s easy to correct. We need to improve the size of our squad. We need a bigger variety in the height of our players. We need to be more capable of fighting against some characteristics than we have been this season.”
Obviously they’re not the only club to take the easy side of the equation in the payoff between size and skill but it annoys the fuck out of me when I see them lauded for their commitment to playing the game the right way.
They’re decent enough up front, when Fabregas, Van Persie etc are actually fit, which isn’t very often, but the fact is they can’t defend to save their lives. Some of their results this season were embarrasing. The comparisons with Barca are silly alright. It surprises me that Wenger is still there after all these years, given they’ve won fuck all in the last few.
Match report from the Arsenal website for the 4-4 draw with Newcastle pretty much sums them up -
It was the best of games; it was the worst of games.
For 45 minutes on Saturday, Arsenal were unplayable. They led within seconds and looked out of sight after ten minutes thanks to a three-goal salvo from Theo Walcott, Johan Djourou and Robin van Persie. When the Dutchman added a fourth before the break, all bets were off.
Then it all went wrong.
Djourou hobbled off, Abou Diaby was sent off for shoving Joey Barton and Arsenal unravelled.
That sort of rubbish is written by the same sort of fools who forget that 15 years ago Arsenal were shit kickers in football terms. Wimbledon with better players is the only way to describe their footballing tradition tbh. Liam Brady being the only exception in their history.
Goodnight, warriors in DART green & Wexford Opera House white, one and all.
Rocko, I sense some envy in your post. Being a Celtic fan, you wouldn’t be accustomed to the flair and sexy football that the Arsenal so often produce at Ashburton Grove and far beyond; football from the heavens if you like.
Arsenal play football in the way it should be played, the way it was meant to be played. The club is run the way all football clubs should be run, hence UEFA urging everybody to follow the Arsenal Business Model. I cannot wait for the new financial restrictions to be implemented because clubs like Chelsea, City, Utd and Liverpool are going to get one hell of a land.
Arsenal are the only team to beat Barcelona in this season’s Champions League and they did it without abandoning their style of play and adopting Mourinhoism. For me, Arsenal ar the closest team in Europe to Barca in terms of quality. There are many comparisons betweens both clubs - similarities in the way they play and in the way they educate young players and rely on them.
Yes, there are frailties in this Arsenal team but Arsene Wenger is a visonary whose genius will only ever be fully appreciated when that dreaded day comes and he decides to hang up that bubble jacket. Wenger’s failures are heroic and they suffer for their art.
Keep out of matters that don’t concern you. Stick to squabbling with the likes of @dodgy_keeper and @anon23727452 over Manc matters. Leave the Londoners alone.
West Ham fan @Special_Olympiakos who has lived in London summed it up best in responding to occasional Woolwich fan @briantinnion.