Every year I think to myself 'surely meaningless pre season friendlies can't get over hyped more than this in the future?' and each year I am amazed to see that the excessive hype increases by another notch or two. An example of this was Real Madrid's completely inane and meaningless game against Shamrock Rovers being screened live on TV, not only this but the media were commenting on the performances and match as if it were an important Champions League game of real meaning.
Some people need to get a life. Pre season main purpose is getting players fit, obviously these days making some money and hyping the brand is also part of the plan. Performances are very much of secondary importance, obviously if someone is playing like a drain then it can be a bit of concern, but we have all seen in recent years the massive dangers in reading too much into pre season results. In fact there appears very little correlation between pre season results and early competitive results. Personally I find the most interesting aspect of pre season to be trying to see what Arsene is planning for the coming season, for example which young players are getting the games and is he experimenting with any new formations or tactics?
Last year's pre season did show us that our defense was unable to defend the aerial ball properly, I remember Ajax causing us immense problems with some rather hopeful hoofs. So I'm not saying we should ignore pre season completely, but we should see it in perspective and not get too carried away with the scorelines against various lower division outfits. Our fixtures show a few interesting games ahead, but really I will only start caring about the results when we travel to Goodison park in early August. Wilshere's presence in the games so far is hopefully a sign that he will get a few more first team games this year, while young Aaron Ramsey may also get a few more opportunities in the year ahead.
Elsewhere Ashley Cole has opened his rather big mouth again, he's keen that City finish above Arsenal next season. Players like Ashley Cole show rather well the pitfalls of being a stupid chav and being motivated purely by money and the cult of celebrity. He is obviously not the brightest, bless, and is part of a rather pathetic sham marriage, add to that the fact that he demonstrates all the loyalty of a slippery snake called Judas, he really is not the most popular player even amongst footballing neutrals. Personally I'd rather be a poor man than a rich man like Ashley, perhaps he should concentrate his efforts on keeping Chelsea in the top flight next year and persuading the Chelsea-through-and-through John 'king chav' Terry to stay at the club he loves so much for a new multi-million pound contract.
Arseblogger has a good round up of other news, a lot of it seems to consist of tabloid misinformation as usual. The Mail sums up this hypocrisy with one story stating that Arsene must throw money around for the sake of it and another debunking a stupid transfer rumour regarding Nic Bendtner, has anyone heard of the Mail making up transfer rumour and selling it as news?
17 comments:
Good article 1979.
Cole is a moron. Even his brain dead wife thinks he is juvenile. If anyone is likely to finish outside the top4, then I would say its just as likely to be Chelsea as us. They would have been in real trouble last season if Hiddink had not arrived and Abramovich has not spent money over the last few years. Here's to hoping!
Your options as to what Cashley (or, as Arseblogger sometimes calls him, "C*ntley C*nt") should be called are insufficient. You offer us "tw*t," "c*nt," "greedy little w*nker" and "gobsh*te."
This leaves off the traditional "f*ckin' *rsehole" (I understand there's even a song about it, not to be confused with the one about retired lousy referee Graham Poll), and, my personal favorite, "useless b*stard."
It was bad enough that Chelski won the FA Cup in May -- I would have been fine with it if Everton had won -- but "A. HOLE" as Man of the Match? Please, show me a single MAN on that entire bunch of Chavs.
I may be the only Arsenal fan who hates Chelsea more than he hates Tottenham, but there's some reason for it, and Cashley is a big reason for it.
And now that he's talking trash about the team that made him rich and famous -- not the other way around -- maybe it's time to, metaphorically speaking, shove it down his throat. I'd tell him to shove it somewhere, but... write your own punchline.
I'd really like to know what the hell Arsenal did to Cashley to make him hate this club so much. What did Arsene do to him to make him this bitter and resentful? Arsenal trained and educated him, made him famous playing alongside some of the world's best players under one of the world's best managers; he was loved by the fans and admired and respected all over the football world because of Arsenal and Arsene. And now all he does is trash us and publicly wish for our downfall. The man is a lowlife scumbag.
Cole, I think, is looking for a move to City. He's thinking, "fuck, i could probably get a good 150,000 a week there. come get me."
thats what i think is going on. not to say he doesn't hate the Arsenal.
fuck him.
-rahul-
i had a dream last night that cashly hole died in a car crash and chelski fans were crying and laying shirts and scarfs and stuff outside the bridge . belive it or not but i tend to have dreams that come true sometimes i feel like i can see into the future at times. so heres hoping that cunt gets mangeled up in his supercar soon. u can all thank me. .. stevo..
Please, we do not want Cashley -- or Greedybayor, for that matter -- to die young. We don't want to make a martyr out of a mouse, as it were.
Speaking of the ex-Number 25, now he's blaming the fans for his departure, saying they "were not very nice." Gee, could it have anything to do with him being a greedy bastard? You get what you give, particularly with the people who pay your salary.
Arsenal have lost great players -- better than Cashley or Greedybayor -- to big clubs before, from Liam Brady in 1980 to Henry, Pires and Vieira more recently. And they never found reason to blame the fans. Management, perhaps, but never the fans. And it worked the other way, too: When Sol Campbell came to Arsenal, he didn't trash Spurs fans -- not that we weren't happy to do it for him.
When Robbie Keane left Spurs for Liverpool, and then went back to Spurs, he didn't trash either team's fans. Michael Owen didn't trash the Scousers when he went to Newcastle, and he's not trashing the Geordies now that he's with The Devil's Own United. Roy Keane, as much as I loathe him, didn't trash the Seventy Thousand Muppets when he went to Celtic. If John Terry moves on, as is currently rumored, I'll bet you any money you like, he won't rip the Chelsea fans. If the players I listed above, some of them white and some of them black, some of them not frequently associated with class, can take a high road, why can't Cashley and Ade?
you see the photo of Manu with his hat and leather jacket and he looks happy as fuck to be making more money. He doesn't look like a guy that didn't want to go but for circumstances. he's full of shit.
it all went wrong when he got rid of his cornrows. check it out. its a fact.
-rahul-
Oh no, Sunderland have signed a player we were remotely linked with. Sack the board. If even Sunderland can sign shit players, why can't we? It's a joke. What's the point in being a fan if the club don't sign players? I have to watch highlights of actual football on sky for a whole 7 months just to get to the summer spending season, which we all know is where all trophies get decided, and we don't even bother turning up. Jokers. Why can't we jeopardise the long term stability of the club by spending money we can't even afford to borrow to buy players who newsnow inform me are "highly rated superstars" and I've seen on champ man and thereby know are better than the players we have?
I give up.
I've gotten the sense from a few blogs that I read that there are some Arsenal supporters out there that are starting to surface vocally in support for Denilson, Song and Diaby remaining as front runners to partner Cesc. They are content with only these three vying to partner Cesc in midfield and agree with what appears to be Mr. Wenger's decision not to purchase a DM.
I don't happen to agree with this perspective. So be it. We don't all have to agree with each other. But what we still have in common is Arsenal wrapped up tightly in our emotions. So let's lighten up on the criticism of those who question the quality of certain players, the strength of the squad, the manager, the board and transfer activity.
Let me make it clear that I support Denilson, Song and Diaby because they are Arsenal players. But I don't think any of them are the requisite quality we need for a first team midfielder.
I would like to ask a question and hear honest responses from everyone - if Denilson, Song and Diaby all played, let's say, for different mid-table French clubs, how many of us would be crying out for Mr. Wenger to bring them to Arsenal?
No one I think. Even though I'm sure someone out there could make a convincing YouTube video of a few of their best moments shown at every conceivable angle and in slow motion.
Because they are Arsenal players, they have some elevated status in our eyes. Fair enough. But if we set that aside and watch them as we would watch players on other clubs, I don't think any of us would see a player we think is Arsenal quality and one that we want brought in to fill the void next to Cesc.
I'm still holding out hope that Mr. Wenger is going to bring in a big, strong, aggressive, mean, intimidating, ball winning midfielder with leadership qualities and a never give up attitude. I'm feeling anxious right now. If he doesn't, I will be very nervous about our ability to compete this season. I'll leave it there.
Rhino, I actually rate Song very highly. Denilson I feel is a squad player, nothing more. Diaby has huge talent but looks very lazy - I think he has a bit of Adebayor in him.
I agree with you that we need another DM. Song can't play 60 games and he's got ANC next season.
I'm not expecting much from the transfer window. In fact we look more likely to sell a few rather than buy - Senderos and Eboue.
Rhino, I fundamentally disagree with your view on views of diaby/song/denilson if they were playing for a different team. If we were to sign any one of them for the circa £10m it would cost we would all be lapping it up.
Fact of the matter is most fans just want a signing for the sake of it. The tabloid logic is that if you sign someone they are the next big thing. It's balls, and I don't buy into it.
I like denilson, think song has promise and do not understand what diaby is as a player.
Obsinho:
well said. about the signing. you're totally right.
i think the boys will come through this year. they will be beasts. we will be amazed.
-rahul-
well said obs,
we do forget just how good song, denilson and diaby are
song was awesome for the last few months of last season, denilson had some great games and overall had a great year for someone so young,
diaby did flatter to decieve but can be great on his day, it's make or break for him this year,
remember we also have the talented Ramsey, as well as the likes of Frimpong, Coquelin, Lansbury waiting in the wings,
i do think there is not enough grit and steel in our midfield, however i don't think it's a question of one player being able to fix it
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off topic-
sick of the fat Usimaov and his friends blabbing away.
rahul
love the cornrows comment Rahul about Adebayor. I think you are correct!
I also think that if Denilson was playing for anyone else and was offered to Arsenal for £20m, we would be screaming from the rooftops.
I thank everyone for their replies to the questions I posed. Though none of you agree with my perspective, it's refreshing to have intelligent dialogue.
I considered a retort to some of the comments to either clarify what I meant in my questioning or to add substance to my perspective, but I think I will just refrain and take a wait and see approach.
Let me say that I hope you are all correct and that I am proven wrong. I want to see the Arsenal competing well with the top teams and winning trophies this season. I don't think the squad is improved from last season, though I do have high hopes that some of the younger lads will deliver more this season and perform better than players we could have signed. I would like to see one or two more signings of players that have a winning mentality and stomach for the battle. And not just out of some obsession with new signings!
But I like your optimism. It just seems unfounded to my brain so please pardon me for being somewhat of a miserable bugger ;-)
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