ARSENALISM©

And lo, there was a great wailing and gnashing of teeth as Arsenal football club lost, deservedly, a game against Bournemouth. It is not just that Bournemouth were better and had just had a three-week rest while Arsenal played a number of games, its the fact that Arsenal were terrible. I am not one for hyperbole, but it has to be said that the performance from the home team was awful. Passes didn't reach their intended targets, balls were run out of play, players were indecisive on the ball and a general feeling if ennui prevailed. The accumulation of points of the last nine months that have put the club at the top of the Premier League table and the superb form in the Champions League cannot, rationally disappear over the course of a week without some scrutiny. Every team has an off day but the time for poor performances is not now, especially not now that Arsenal are in the thick of a title race. "Cometh the hour" they say, but then again 'they' say a lot of thi...

  Liverpool and Manchester CXV are the ones to beat in this season's chase for the Premier League title. One, a club grown organically, the other created in an Oil State laboratory. Having taken 4 points from Liverpool and 3 points from Manchester CXV so far, you would think that our status in the challenge would be reasonably good. But there is an underdog mentality among many and a defeatist attitude from some. A lot of this is directly influenced by those voices of wisdom, the media pundits. The likes of Chris (Heaven knows I'm miserable now) Sutton, Gary (Man of the people) Neville, Jamie (Sour grapes) Carragher and Robbie (I'm a character I am) Savage set the agenda for many a football fan. The reality that it's all about creating content often gets lost on people, but it shouldn't. It's important to view comments, analysis, think pieces and the like in that context. Can the Arsenal win the league? Yes. Will the Arsenal win the league? I don't know. It...

It looks as if every pundit is assuming that Manchester City* are guaranteed the Champions League before a ball is kicked, thus insuring that they achieve The Treble*. All well and good. In football terms they are pretty much the best team in Europe, and if, as foretold, they do in fact, prove the so called experts right, will anyone really care? The inevitability of Manchester City* winning stuff is like the inevitability of that meteorite that wiped out the dinosaurs. It was always coming and when it did, the Dinosaurs couldn't do anything about it; nor did they worry about it. Sport is all about jeopardy, expecting the unexpected, drama and, let's be honest, romance. It's all about meeting triumph and disaster and treating those imposters just the same, except when triumph is par for the course. A club whose currency is success at any cost, including fair play is hard to care about. Manchester City* are that club. Producing some of the best teams that most have us have s...

Reflecting on 2015 for the Arsenal it is always worth looking at context. The second half of the 14/15 season saw a procession to the title from Abramovitch's minions and smug condescension from the self anointed 'Special one'. Chelsea had deservedly won the title and the rest of us so called big clubs had our own issues to deal with: having said that the Arsenal put in a top drawer performance to retain the FA Cup, a highlight being that Alexis Sanchez goal: a true Wembley Cup Final classic. This proved that we have a group of players who can win things and that the FA Cup 2014 wasn't just a one off.  That winning habit continued with the return to Wembley and a 1-0 victory over the champions in the Community Shield. This was a sweet victory not only because we had their ex goalkeeper between the sticks but it was the first sign that things were awry at Stamford Bridge. Mourinho's attention seeking display at the end of the game was a sign of things...

The Champions League is a huge tournament and as it has grown the need for clubs to fill the empty seats has also grown. The elite clubs have, by and large, been a fixture of Europe's premier competition year on year. The also rans have also been a permanent fixture as EUFA endeavour to prolong and extend their money making opportunities. Serious talk of elite managers, elite players, systems and tactics is the lifeblood of the serious football fan and there are always fixtures to look forward to and world class players to watch. Alex Ferguson elevated Manchester United to that elite status so that they stand on equal footing with Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Juventus and those other clubs that have consistently vied for that trophy with the large ears. Some clubs with their names etched on as past winners can look back with fond recollections and imagine future efforts to add to their haul. In recent times English clubs have won the Champions league ...

 Arsenal's 20 defining matches – Guardian ebook http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/sep/13/arsenal-20-defining-matches-ebook Having just downloaded this excellent new eBook it got me to thinking about a match that, for me was a defining moment in our history: Arsenal 1 (1) v Chelsea 2 (1) Champions League QF 2nd leg 2004 Having come away from the first leg with Bobby's away goal in the bank in a 1-1 draw Reyes scored on the stroke of half time following a sensational 45 minutes from the Gunners. The first half was, in Phillipp Aucliar’s opinion, the best 45 minutes Arsenal had ever played in the Champions League, a "breathless, furious, intoxicating" passage of play which prompted one amazed Italian journalist to remark: "This is not football."   A second half of attrition would have seen us through into probably the weakest group of semi finalists ever; Porto, Deportivo and Monaco. The Champions League for the Arsenal ...

"Champions League?You're having a laugh" Funny isn’t it that no matter how bad things are for Arsenal T*ttenham always manage to be that bit worse? This season the status quo remains, with St Totteringham’s day been and gone this weekend, Sp*rs have also managed to not qualify for the Champions League. Once every 50 years is not bad really I suppose. Not only have they managed to finish below Arsenal yet again but they have not performed as well as Arsenal even having spent more on players this term. Of course the games between the clubs have resulted in a win for each and a draw, but Arsenal’s 4-1 victory at a rapidly emptying White Hart Lane knocked them out of the Carling Cup, much in the same way they were knocked out of the FA cup conceding four goals. Their exit from the Champions League was another humiliation unlike Arsenal’s; winning at home and losing away to arguably the best (and best acting, Referee favourite) team on the planet. All the Sp*rs rhetoric regard...

So that lot lost 4-0 and quite frankly I don’t really care. I wasn't watching the Champions League, as I have become accustomed to doing, i was doing something else and not thinking about supposed rivals losing a game in the ECL. To be overjoyed by their humiliation in the Spanish capital would give me no pleasure; that’s the sort of thing their fans do. After all, after 49 years away from Europe’s premier competition they’ve not done too badly. Maybe they have made more progress since the Artful dodger took over than we have during that same period but, as I say I don’t care. That’s how bad it is at the moment. I can't even enjoy a bit of Schadenfreude. That’s because having gone through Denial and Anger I am currently at Acceptance; I'm waiting for Schadenfreude. Mind you I am quite happy that they lost. “Take that you Sp*rs mugs!” " Let's see 'Arry wheel and deal his way out of this one" "Taxi for Crouch you clumsy oaf " I can feel again! M...

Gone, gone, gone the doubles gone for poor Chelsea. No Carling Cup final to look forward to they now can focus on The Champions League. Such outlay, from the man at the top, so little to show. It’s genuinely heart warming to see them flounder, much like the boastful bully who finally gets his comeuppance. So nice to see Hietinga do what most football fans would like to do and so pleasant to see Ashley sky his effort at the away end. MAYBE? Wouldn’t it be ironic if Chelsea’s European dream comes undone at the hands of an old nemesis or old friend? Let’s see how the chips fall, a barren season could befall all of us but for the Billionaires with bad attitudes it would be hilarious. COULD BE? Such is the feel good factor from Wednesday that I’m actually quite ‘up for the cup’ as the old saying goes. Given that Arsenal are unbeaten since 13 th December in a 1-0 away loss at Old Trafford, there should be no domestic team that hold any fear for us in this competition. I recall the Sheffiel...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vimZj8HW0Kg 'don't call it a comeback' And so we come to a game of football at the Emirates that makes going to watch the Arsenal the real deal; Arsenal v Barcelona in the EUFA Champions League. It's the top table of Club football. Those sides experiencing there first season in the champions league would be excited beyond belief, however for Arsenal it's 'that lot again'. In all honesty we have yet to make our mark in Europe's elite by winning this trophy, but I believe that knocking out Barcelona is both achievable and immensely important for the standing of Arsenal Football Club. Victory would also create some more positivity around the club. As we all know there are dark clouds (no need to focus on them today) but we are on a good run and have the game at Wembley to look forward to along with the potential of further Cup progress against Orient. The Premiership title race is a throwback to the Pre-Abramovitch era in that...

Here we go again; a touch of media over reaction at Arsenal's so called, outrageous claims that they are going to do the quadruple.Radio phone- ins with Sp*rs supporters rubbishing the quadruple claim, pundits making accusations of arrogance, Blah Blah Blah. Tabloids say: NASRI: GUNNERS CAN POT THE LOT SAMIR NASRI says Arsenal are Gunning for a clean sweep of all four trophies this season. Nasri reckons Gunners can pot the lot What was actually said by the Arsenal Captains after last nights win at Elland Road: "We want to win every competition and this cup (FA Cup) is really important to us."- Samir Nasri "As Samir said, we want to go all the way in every competition," –Cesc Fabregas The key words are CAN & WANT, easy isn't it??