ARSENAL CONTINUE TO RISE FROM THE GRAVE

HALLOWEEN ARSENAL

It’s been, shall we say, an action packed weekend for me, full of ‘good idea at the time’ moments, hangovers, kids parties and prior engagements; therefore I am only getting clear headed enough now to compose anything worth reading.

Saturday’s win at the home of the teenage Chelsea was a satisfying victory; satisfying in that it was based on character, craft and a hell of a lot of determination.

Fighting back in a game is the mark of team spirit and that’s what The Arsenal did.

The reportage of the game was full of comment on the defensive shortcomings of both teams rather than the ability we showed to dig ourselves out of holes.

Aside from man City’s result at Old Trafford there has been no better result this season. To win away from home against a team with virtually their first team in place is always good, but for that team to be Chelsea, who are, according to pundits contesting the League this year, is superb; especially given the fact that we scored five.

A side show to the game was the Chelsea captain; the loathsome John Terry. Given recent accusations on top of his already significant list of misdemeanours it was hugely satisfying to see him throw himself to the ground in truly Oscar nomination style once he realised he wouldn’t catch RVP; a pitiful act of weakness on his part.

The celebrations at the final whistle between our boys and the fans were a great bonding moment and presented a definite connection. I has mentioned this before, as I feel that this group of players have that bit of character and individuality that we have missed for some time. With such characters like Frimppong and Wilshire also part of the plan alongside the super consistent Sagna, one begins to feel an affinity with the men in red and white.

Yes, it’s just three points, but three points away at a difficult ground, and three points further along the road of recovery. With, arguably our three toughest away fixtures out of the way before November (OT,WHL, SB) there is reason for quiet optimism. Regardless of Man City’s current form we have generally done well at their place so our remaining league fixtures may depend on how much we can make the Emirates something of a fortress.

To use a Halloween style quote

“May you be cursed to live in interesting times”-Harry Kim

IF JT KNOCKS ON YOUR DOOR TONIGHT...

Comments

Reasons to be cheerful?

So November arrives with cold weather and grey skies. Arsenal sit in 2 nd place with a great chance to make progress in the Carling Cup with a home draw against wigan Athletic. Poised to win our Champions league group and with six months of the season left have 3 of our five tougher away fixtures out of the way, having taken a respectable 4 from 9. I say respectable as, the Man City away trip aside the draw at Anfield on the occasion of Hodgson’s first game was a good result and the Chelsea game I don’t think anyone can really speak of any injustice. That leaves away games at Old Trafford and Sp*rs (who as we know raise their game for this fixture). With injured players gradually returning and the Polish goalkeepers showing signs of optimism, we’re in relatively good shape. Or so you’d think. Yesterday at the Emirates West Ham were put to the sword late on after some stout defending, a good performance from Robert Green and a couple of missed opportunities. The level of indign...

There's something rotten in the state of Denmark

A number of blogs are pointing out what was evident to me yesterday; as a season ticket holder and Silver member i like thousands of others made plans to purchase an additional ticket for the Barcelona game using the frustrating and irritating online service, but guess what? no joy, just lots of waiting finger tapping and watching the dreaded 'loading' bar (to make matters worse I had asked my missus to do this as I was doing training). But no one got these additional tickets, that is no supporters judging by the general feedback! It seems to me that the additional seats will have probably gone to customers of a corporate nature. Ultimately for such a marquee (to use an American commercialism term) game I suspect that the club where never going to sell to supporters of the club, there is clearly a undercurrent at the Emirates that the club wants to have the stadium full of customers ie; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ognvWIwjKTQ The Emirates of the future? It will be interesti...

PERSONALITY TEST

Played 23, 10 defeats, 4 draws and 9 victories; that's the factual bit out of the way. What does that tell us? I guess it is a set of statistics that reasonably reflect a mid table team. How we got here is something that countless column inches and hours of debate have gone into. How we move forward is the bigger question. Naturally, learning from past mistakes is a key element to moving forward but have Arsenal Football Club done that? Have Arsenal Football Club realised that a clear vision and plan is needed? When you look at the current squad its relatively easy to see where the strenghts are, and the weaknesses. The manager too, has strengths and weaknesses but one thing that is intangible is the personality of the club. Not so much "where are we" as "what are we?" To know what the club is is to know what the upper echelons think, what their plan and philosophy is and how the manager processes that information. We can assume that the club decision makers wa...

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