THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT THE EMIRATES

The last competitive game at Highbury saw us clinch a Champions League place at the expense of Sp*rs with a thrilling encounter that saw a hat trick from Thierry Henry and left us buoyant for the Champions League Final in Paris. At Highbury we had enjoyed 13 league titles and numerous cups

7 May 2006 Arsenal 4 Wigan 2

http://youtu.be/RcnB9dpw7cI

Arsenal: Lehmann, Eboue, Toure, Campbell, Cole, Hleb (Van Persie 79), Fabregas, Silva, Pires (Ljungberg 74), Reyes (Bergkamp 79), Henry.
Subs Not Used: Almunia, Djourou

The First competitive game at The Emirates was a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa; Gilberto equalising Melberg’s opener for Villa. That season the following players; winners to a man, had left the club, Bergkamp, Campbell, Cole, Lauren, Pires and Reyes. Since the first Emirates game we have seen no silverware, save for the Emirates cup.

19 August 2006 Arsenal 1 Aston Villa 1

http://youtu.be/Zf64g72u-Jc

Arsenal: Lehmann, Eboue, Toure, Djourou, Hoyte (Flamini 80), Hleb, Fabregas, Silva, Ljungberg (Walcott 73), Adebayor (Van Persie 65), Henry.
Subs Not Used: Almunia, Cygan.

The move to the Emirates was more than just commerce,it was symbolic, and things have not been the same since. The character of the team changed, the personell that had been champions and winners gradually faded away and the heart of the team was replaced not with men, but with boys. How many clubs would thrive when losing Bergkamp, Campbell, Cole, Lauren, Pires and Reyes? particularly if their replacements were, by and large, nowhere near as good.

Of course being boys in itself is not an issue, if they have the right mentality; most of the new breed didn't. For me the stadium with it's attendent lack of character has been matched by an Arsenal lacking that character. This season, for the first time at the Emirates I feel that I am watching a proper Arsenal team; a team with heart and a team that are not just eleven players in red and white.

To cement Emirates' place in our hearts we need a team that we can feel empathy with, a team that we can believe in. Of course a trophy will help but in a way it's more important that we see this Arsenal team give their all each game and achieve something despite every Tom, Dick and Harry having it in for us. A bit of the seige mentality goes a long way. It's something we saw against WBA two weeks ago.

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...

ARSENALISM©

Search This Blog