ARSENALISM©

The FA Cup; that's gone. the Care Less Cup; kaput. The Premier League title; nope. So that leaves the Europa League. not only is it the sole chance for silverware but it's a ticket into the promised land (where we resided for two decades). If we fail to successfully negotiate the Benfica tie we will be left with just thirteen League games, a potential 39 points, to climb the table and gain European qualification, and who knows where we will be come 27th February. However, if we defeat Benfica we move forward to a mixed bag of remaining teams. Some good, some ok and some completely unknown quantities. What's clear is that is won't be a stroll it will be a long brisk walk. Olympiacos PSV Young Boys Krasnodar Dinamo Zagreb Braga Roma Slavia Prague Crvena zvezda Milan Real Sociedad Dynamo Kyiv Club Brugge Wolfsberg Tottenham LOSC Ajax M. Tel-Aviv Shakhtar Donetsk Granada Napoli Molde Hoffenheim Salzburg Villarreal Antwerp Rangers My concern is that two English clubs are pot...

As a long-suffering Arsenal supporter I’ve seen players that have been characterised as having a cult following. These are players that are heavy on personality and vary from the mercurial to the eccentric. The sort of players that are, a bit of us, on the pitch. Then there's Mesut Özil. I cannot recall an Arsenal player who has been deified by his followers to the same extent as he has. An idealised, heroic and worshipful image has been created by his followers; and by the term 'his followers' they are exactly that. He is perhaps the epitome of the modern phenomenon where global reach has resulted in fandom for individual players, with the club they play for being a secondary consideration.  Using the techniques of social media to create an idealised  persona he and his advisors have cultivated a cult based on social engineering. With this sort of cult of personality you end up with acolytes who base their worship on abstract ideas of their object of worship as a cross bet...

"In our stadium, against the enemy, we could not lose"-Bacary Sagna 26/2/12 A fair bit on social media about Thierry Henry's goal against Leeds at The Emirate in his comeback game when he returned on loan in 2012, and as someone who was there on the night it's a goal well worth remembering. The talk also turned to great goals scored at the Emirates; Arsenal's uplifting Arshavin goal v Barcelona, The exemplary team goal v Norwich and the roof raising Thierry Henry late winner v Manchester United, but my personal favourite is Bacary Sagna's goal v Tottenham Hotspur in the 5-2 victory of 2012. After two early goals from the visitors, including a penalty from pantomime villain Adebayor, a flat atmosphere pervaded the Emirates but the cut and thrust from the team in red raised expectation. We won a corner and Michael Arteta swung in a corner at the Clock end. As the ball sailed into the crowded penalty area Sagna took it upon himself to drive into the box. It was a...

  Saka, Tierney, ESR, AMN, Gabriel, RN, Martinelli, Willock, a plethora of young players at Arteta's disposal. They won't all be world beaters but they have bought a bit of zest to the stale bun that was Arsenal. Young players are often 'no fear' players and you need a bit of endeavour to win matches. We seem to have gone from a team that was passive and risk averse in possession to a team that has more incision, more cajones when we have the ball. It seems that at the end of last year there was a reliance on the experienced players to help the younger ones progress and that trust was misplaced. Now it is the young players that have given the older players a reality check about what is required to play for Arsenal Football Club I felt, when we got him, that Willian would be a handy player to have in and around the squad, not a regular starter and in his absence we have won three in a row. I felt that Pepe had potential but he is going through a protracted settling in pe...