ARSENALISM©

There’s been a lot of talk about Abou Diaby as he resurfaced to play a reserve game. This is a player who was going to be part of Arsene Wenger’s post Invincibles brave new world but has become something of a symbol of failure, however, it is probably more about him being symbolic of the Manager’s flawed vision and inflexibility. There have been those occasions when he has looked like the world beater of a captain that we lost in 2005, yet in other instances he has been pedestrian and wasteful. Such has been the desire for him to be a Vieira –a-like that all manner of expectation has been placed upon him. It is absolutely not his fault that his career has been blighted as a result of out and out thuggery, nor is it his fault that Wenger has not found Patrick Vieira’s replacement. Eduardo and Ramsey also suffered from assaults and a great deal of empathy has rightly gone their way but not so for Diaby, even though he knocked out John Terry. For many the names Denilsen and ...

   "I got no emotion for anybody else"   When it's clear that the premier League title has faded into the horizon some look at the alternative candidates. Chelsea with that insufferable popinjay at the helm and dirty post Soviet money propping them up, Man City who are the Vivien Nicholson's* of the football world and Liverpool the big club who have spent 23 years without a title. For some it is a case of lesser of evils or looking to find a point of empathy with another club. For me? I don't care. If it's not us I don't give a monkey's. I have no feelings for the others. Liverpool look favourites and given that they've played some great football and blown a number of teams away then fair enough. I won't have any of this "No one deserves it more than Stevie G " nonsense though. Gerard himself would be the first person to say it is a cliche not worth repeating. I suspect his take on it would be that one earns such ac...

Success is the best revenge Criticism is nothing new, we used to be criticised for getting too many red cards, criticised for being arrogant, criticised for being bad losers, criticised for being too French and our answer? Shut it! Here’s the Double! Naff Off! Here’s an unbeaten season! Button it! Here’s some scintillating football! Do one! Here’s some of the best players in the world! What’s frustrating about the here and now is that we have no answer to the critics circa 2014, in fact we have had no answer for a while. All the clichés about our perennial collapse, underperforming when it matters and not winning anything have no retort that carries any meaning: “yes but we’ve qualified for The Champions League X amount of times in a row” is an answer but it’s not THE answer. Success is the answer. Arsenal have always been put upon: George Graham countered accusations of dull football with Cups, Herbert Chapman silenced the Northern centric press by winning big. It is hyp...

  The Everton game for many represents a kind of Nadir for the club and explicitly the Manager. If it’s unfair to blame the Manager for a string of humiliations at the homes of the ‘big boys’ who is to blame? After all Arsene Wenger selects the players to bring to the club, he coaches them, oversees diet and exercise, picks the team and makes substitutions. This current squad was created by Wenger: no one else, and this squad has not been good enough to cope with our usual injuries. Our manager is too inflexible to adapt to the situation both tactically and in making additions during important games when things are not going our way. Don’t agree? Fine, but I'd simply ask this questions; what has he done in a big game in the last few years to positively affect the result from the bench either in terms of substitutions or advice and motivation? Losing the big games is a habit, a bad habit. If opinions can be debated, and thankfully in the most part they can without resorting...