Yesterday was awful and it appears that many of our most loyalist of supporters have had enough. There's no point in discussing the game because it was embarrassing but I'm going to comment everything else that goes with it.
There were many rumblings of discontent and I'm not sure on how much was picked up on TV but the fans want to point the finger towards someone but who? Well if our away is to be believed then there is an equal amount of blame to be shared around by Wenger, Gazidis, Hill-Wood and Kroenke. Halfway through the first half there were chants of "There's only one Arsene Wenger" but then no less than ten minutes later there were chants of "Wenger, sort it out, Wenger, Wenger, sort it out", talk about from one extreme to the other. Then there's Ivan Gazidis who was treated to a nice rendition of "Ivan Gazidis, what the fuck do you do" which was sung for good few minutes. Then we were treated to a good old "We want our Arsenal back", which if I'm honest I don't have a clue what fans want back. The first game I ever went to we had Martyn Hayes and Niall Quinn upfront, I'm not sure I want that back if I'm honest and I know there were timeswhen it was much worse than that. Then we get to the top of the tree with PHW and Kroenke, both of whom are under intense pressure now but no doubt they will remain silent and happily allow Gazidis and Wenger be the face of the club. If chanting is a barometer of unrest then all four are in the firing line but it certainly gets more heated the higher up the food chain you go.
I won't ever assume that every supporter has my view but I'm sick of hearing about how great Financial Fair Play is going to be for us and how a new kit deal will help us operate as a profitable club or should I say business. I don't think PHW did himself any favours at our most recent AGM and his attitude summed up how disconnected the club has become. As for Kroenke just take a look at his St. Louis Rams, they have changed their coach in the summer after gambling on an unproven head coach in Steve Spagnoulo. They've won some games for a change but just when their support looked like it was returning, they shipped their biggest game (in terms of opposition) to London. The fans are left disgusted and disillusioned by having a home game in another country and then being outnumbered approximately 15 to 1 in terms of support in their home game. Inevitably they got spanked as well, but this is the type of man we are dealing with. He's undoubtedly sound with his business strategy but when it comes to success, there's nothing to report. So you could say he's at the right club. I wonder what the late Danny Fiszman R.I.P would make of this. He wanted the best for our club and believed in Kroenke but would the man who stumped up the cash to sign Bergkamp be happy with where we are now and would he have changed his decision? We'll never know but the board that reaped the benefits of a star studded line up on the field have sold their shares and made a staggering profit but could it be construed that they knew what was coming and they were concerned about their investment. The fact is there are too many questions and virtually no answers. The only real insight we get is what we view on the pitch for ninety minutes and at the moment it doesn't make for easy viewing.
For the past few weeks you see line ups on twitter and I always think United's line up is poor but I always know that you can't write them off. Yesterday was the biggest 2-1 battering I have ever seen. We are a million miles away from a club that a decade ago saw us win the league in their own stadium, a club that two years later couldn't match us in an invincible campaign. I was of the belief that there was a still a rivalry between our sides but yesterday confirmed that we are just another fixture for them and we are no longer a threat to them on any level. We last won at Old Trafford six years ago and we haven't even come close to winning since. The current top three in The Premier League will remain unchanged for the rest of the season, whilst the rest of us fight for fourth and that is probably the biggest surprise this morning, despite this being the worst side under Wenger's leadership, we are sixth but enduring our worst start under Wenger (Thanks to @orbinho for that stat). Yes, even worse than last year. The upcoming North London Derby may be the poorest in terms of quality offered by both sides but defeat in that game is unthinkable, yet it's a huge possibility that we could lose.
I get many messages off non-Arsenal fans telling me this and that player isn't good enough for Arsenal. Usually I try to see the best in our players but it's about time I woke up to the fact the most aren't. Look at the Arsenal side, if you were given the option how many would you say you'd want to keep? Sagna, Gibbs, Wilshere, Arteta and Cazorla. There are other players that I like but in terms of being cut throat, I'd get over their loss pretty quickly. We've lost too many key players over the years and RVP just so happened to be the latest addition to that list, it just so happens that I think we felt he was different and he would show loyalty but you can't help but feel he made the right decision for him and to write that it bloody hurts I tell you. As we are on the subject of RVP, can I just say I found some of the chants towards him absolutely disgusting and at times it was embarrassing. I remember the reception he received after being cleared of an alleged charge and he came on to score against Newcastle in the last season at Highbury. Now just because he's changed allegiance our views change, could we be any more hypocritical? I'm all for calling a player a C#%t and making my feelings known, but there is a line. A line we ram down United throats for calling Wenger a paedophile and yesterday we stooped to their level. Yet despite the abuse he received he took the moral high ground straight in front of the away end. He refused to celebrate and post game he refused to comment on the "chants" and I can't help but respect him for that. After all he'd have had good reason to slam it down our throats, much like Adebayor did when he scored that goal for City against. The sad truth is he was right to leave and a more apt song would have been "Robin Van Persie, you may have been right". If you give it, you've got to be prepared to take it, that's how it works. The two or three RVP chants aside I found our support was magnificent yet again and for the third occasion at Old Trafford we treated the viewing millions to a continuous rendition of "We love you Arsenal we do", this came at point when we were 2-0 down and most of the side had thrown in the towel, it sounds crazy but I really don't think we'd have scored if it was for our supporters willing on the team we all love.
So where does this leave us? Well it seems like every week it comes down to Arsenal v Sp*rs. We've stooped to their level as we are more interested in their results because of the fact we are in competition for fourth place. Twitter was awash with "well at least Sp*rs lost" tweets and that is becoming our only positive on some weekends. That is what we have become, no more need to concentrate on the results of United, Chelsea or City, we've dropped down the pecking order and it doesn't look like we'll be returning to the top table anytime soon. Everyone at the club has a responsibility and if we don't achieve our number one priority - Champions League qualification, then who knows what will be next because I can't see the Emirates being packed for Europa Cup action. My support will always remain constant and I'll always get behind the side but sadly we have to face up to what we are presented with on an all to regular basis.
There were many rumblings of discontent and I'm not sure on how much was picked up on TV but the fans want to point the finger towards someone but who? Well if our away is to be believed then there is an equal amount of blame to be shared around by Wenger, Gazidis, Hill-Wood and Kroenke. Halfway through the first half there were chants of "There's only one Arsene Wenger" but then no less than ten minutes later there were chants of "Wenger, sort it out, Wenger, Wenger, sort it out", talk about from one extreme to the other. Then there's Ivan Gazidis who was treated to a nice rendition of "Ivan Gazidis, what the fuck do you do" which was sung for good few minutes. Then we were treated to a good old "We want our Arsenal back", which if I'm honest I don't have a clue what fans want back. The first game I ever went to we had Martyn Hayes and Niall Quinn upfront, I'm not sure I want that back if I'm honest and I know there were timeswhen it was much worse than that. Then we get to the top of the tree with PHW and Kroenke, both of whom are under intense pressure now but no doubt they will remain silent and happily allow Gazidis and Wenger be the face of the club. If chanting is a barometer of unrest then all four are in the firing line but it certainly gets more heated the higher up the food chain you go.
I won't ever assume that every supporter has my view but I'm sick of hearing about how great Financial Fair Play is going to be for us and how a new kit deal will help us operate as a profitable club or should I say business. I don't think PHW did himself any favours at our most recent AGM and his attitude summed up how disconnected the club has become. As for Kroenke just take a look at his St. Louis Rams, they have changed their coach in the summer after gambling on an unproven head coach in Steve Spagnoulo. They've won some games for a change but just when their support looked like it was returning, they shipped their biggest game (in terms of opposition) to London. The fans are left disgusted and disillusioned by having a home game in another country and then being outnumbered approximately 15 to 1 in terms of support in their home game. Inevitably they got spanked as well, but this is the type of man we are dealing with. He's undoubtedly sound with his business strategy but when it comes to success, there's nothing to report. So you could say he's at the right club. I wonder what the late Danny Fiszman R.I.P would make of this. He wanted the best for our club and believed in Kroenke but would the man who stumped up the cash to sign Bergkamp be happy with where we are now and would he have changed his decision? We'll never know but the board that reaped the benefits of a star studded line up on the field have sold their shares and made a staggering profit but could it be construed that they knew what was coming and they were concerned about their investment. The fact is there are too many questions and virtually no answers. The only real insight we get is what we view on the pitch for ninety minutes and at the moment it doesn't make for easy viewing.
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| Fierce Rivalry? |
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| A picture can speak a thousand words |
So where does this leave us? Well it seems like every week it comes down to Arsenal v Sp*rs. We've stooped to their level as we are more interested in their results because of the fact we are in competition for fourth place. Twitter was awash with "well at least Sp*rs lost" tweets and that is becoming our only positive on some weekends. That is what we have become, no more need to concentrate on the results of United, Chelsea or City, we've dropped down the pecking order and it doesn't look like we'll be returning to the top table anytime soon. Everyone at the club has a responsibility and if we don't achieve our number one priority - Champions League qualification, then who knows what will be next because I can't see the Emirates being packed for Europa Cup action. My support will always remain constant and I'll always get behind the side but sadly we have to face up to what we are presented with on an all to regular basis.
