It was the better result for football in the end, the better footballing side convincingly dispatched their opponents, a justice of sorts on the football field. It was even strange to see Barca play with some integrity, there wasn't anything like the same level of gamesmanship that we have seen in recent games.
It seemed to me that Ferguson blundered with his team selection. Although United started well for the first ten minutes or so, the absence of Nani baffled, Carrick and Giggs were rather anonymous in the middle of the park. If it wasn't for some excellent last ditch defending and goalkeeping then it could have been far more than the three goals conceded, the goal Manu scored was also a clear yard offside. Valencia should also have been sent off, guilty of four particularly crude or cynical tackles, in the end he escaped with just the one yellow.
Still however United had approached the game they probably would have lost, they simply aren't that great a side, they are deeply average in many areas of their side, particularly in the centre of their midfield. Barca played some great stuff, Messi was electric, Xavi and Iniesta instrumental, but for me it was their phenomenal work rate and fitness that stood out. Their work ethic and pressing game takes some commitment. They also produce in game in game out, it is pretty damn rare that this Barca side fails to turn up.
Some of the current Arsenal squad need to take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror, they should look at the work rate and effort that Barca players put in week in week out and realise that no matter of one's name, reputation or ego, it is simply not good enough to only turn up to games sporadically and expect to win the easier fixtures without trying hard. Song has openly spoken of this issue and well done to him for having the courage to do this. Everyone in our squad needs to work harder, even certain big names who some seem to think are immune from all criticism.
Finally onto a lot of rather lazy and unconstructive stuff that has been put out there in the last few days. It is not often that I single out a site for criticism but in this case I make an exception, the OnlineGooner has covered itself in turd of late. It started with this 'Dear AKB' post, it summed up so much that is wrong in the way that some idiots reason and rationalise the 'debate'. The AKB tag is a useless and stupid term that serves no productive purpose, it is used lazily by morons to polarise the debate so that they don't have to listen to the opinion of others and therefore have a proper debate. The 'with us or against us' argument is nonsensical and dumb, seeing Arsene Wenger has a God or an idiot is just plain foolish, the truth is somewhere in the middle, so labelling people as one extreme or the other is unconstructive, stupid and patronising in the extreme.
The OnlineGooner has followed up its weak AKB piece with another limp effort, this time it's apparently a tongue in cheek effort to mock those silly AKBs (note sarcasm here). The fact that a lot of people didn't realise it was meant to be 'funny' says it all really, it isn't funny, it's just a sad attempt to polarise the debate and insult anyone who dares disagree with your opinion, rather than bothering to listen and engage in a reasonable debate. The author 'Raskolnikov Enahoro' seems to think he knows it all, he wants Arsene sacked, he has openly stated how useless he thinks Arsene is and he has made it clear that he is unwilling to listen to anyone who would dare disagree with his mighty opinion.
Anyways I'm rambling, the point I'm trying to make in a rather laboured fashion is that the 'AKB' tag is completely useless and invariably used by rather aggressive reactionaries who have nothing constructive or productive to say. It is amusing that these reactionaries are so often incapable of suggesting any realistic managerial replacements for Arsene, they are all too happy to list players we should sign, however when they sign for someone else and turn out to be utter turnips then this is completely forgotten. Arsene deserves criticism, I'm not saying otherwise, but it should be reasonable, proportional and fair, and certainly a lot of dross written slagging him off in a rather disrespectful and vitriolic manner deserves nothing more than a wastepaper bin. Generally if you have to use the 'AKB' tag to make a point then your argument is probably about as solid as Ryan Giggs' superinjunction.
25 comments:
Brilliant article mate. Well done for making a stand against the hideous posts in nthe Gooner. They have really gone down in my estimations, they couldnt do a better job if they were spuds.
A well written post, well done!
I fear you are wasting your time tho' because the people who come up with these lazy (well stupid) are unable to engage in polemics that requires any thought process.
An acutely worded aphorism simply is an invitation to them to quarrel, not engage in reasoned debate.
Still, I hope you keep up the good work! :-)
Fantstic aricle. Hope for more people with thinking like you. As aways critics are welcome and they are fuel for improving, but constructive criticism. What is going on the net in this period is far from criticism, is pure bias hyped from media and few gooner blogs that went rogue. I know few people like you trying to bring balance and hope more will wake up.
Cheers Dan and Red Arse
I couldn't agree more
This may be a bit of a red flag to the 'AKB' bull, but sod it, we have to make a stand against this kind of rubbish, otherwise who will?
Some people are not intelligent enough to realise that the mirage of the grass appearer greener is not always an indication to move to a different patch of grass!
Totally agree about the AKB tag, it is absolute crap peddled by fools. The online Gooner is pathetic. Sadly there are a lot of Arsenal 'supporters' who shame the club with their hateful comments about their own club.
If this summer is going to be busy for Wenger hopefully he will buy the finished and proven product. The problem with wc potential is they often turn into duds and three to four years are wasted and with it to strengthen the team.
So after winning the epl title the red faced cunt said it was his intention to dominate in Europe.let's examine his cl record. In 1999 his team were battered and bruised abut miraculously managed to conjure two oals in aet.
In 2008,Terry missed his footing and with it the cl trophy.So from these two finals they were not deserved winners.FF to 2011 he was comprehensively beaten by Barca.
The cl is a different competition.In the epl,the ref may overlook some robust challenges/tackles but not in the cl. Any tackle/foul deemed to be excessive is rewarded with a rc.
The red faced cunt maybe able to prevail in the epl but he has his work cut out in the cl.
Excellent, absolutely excellent and about time.
I and many others have been commenting on blogs that theres no such thing as an AKB brigade, nor or there fans who cannot appreciate anything of the work he has done.
We are being unfairly pigeon-holed, both sides of the debate are being made to look stupid. One side believing AW is the Lord God almighty, and can do no wrong. The other side is generally presented to believe that any other manager would have won us 5 CL titles in the last 5 years.
All Gooners are too intelligent to subscribe to either of those tags.
The truth is that instead of debate, insults are hurled between supporters of the same club!
Whats astounding though is the fact that the divide is much simpler - some people want Wenger to get his chance to finish the team, others want a new man in. Thats it. Thats all there is to it. Whats so hard to understand?
Personally, I felt the CL final last night gave me faith in the Wenger way of doing things. It was a victory for the same approach we try to use.
Our divided support now expects our team to win every game in style while offering the poorest home support in the league.
We need to unite and stop the moaning. Lets support our team instead.
Great reasoned well thought out article, well done Barca, they did'nt have to resort to the tactics they used against us to win I suppose the continued tapping up of cesc will continue through the summer, especially now they have the cup that he dreams of lifting, I am glad Van P has taken him off to the "good ole us of a" for a holiday.
Manure are an average team and fergie has a lot of work to do, he looked all of his 70 years at the end of the game, he needs to spend some major cash for next season as do we, but the media will prattle on about them rebuiding to account for any loses they have next year, the fact is he just did not have an answer to win a real game of football, and his 10 men behind the ball game has been exposed for what it is, call me an akb if you want, but taking all other things aside we have improved in games played against barca over the last two seasons, we gave then a much harder time than the current pl champs, and if we had shown a little bit more heart when we needed it, it could have been us at wembley yesterday, as for the online gooner I only really started reading all the blogs consistently this year and, have learned the hard way, I suppose it is better to know the enemy within than pretend they don't exist,but the dear AKB'S(still not sure what that actually means) RANT WAS THE LAST STRAW FOR ME, I have convinced myself that the writers are tiny totts in disquise winding up the lowest common denominator of so called arsenal fans, or sun reading, talkshite listening, fools, who I am sure would welcome GG's 1-0 style of football back with open arms, they are probably only young lads who have only known the wenger years and think that they are entitled to win everything, the lower teams have improved in the pl the managers have also improved excluding the horrible Pulis of course. We seem to be linked with everyone and his donkey in terms of transfers, I do not want Samba (to slow), or scott parker (don't like his hair) they are just not good enough, after Arsene has had his holidays he neeeds to look at the whole system, the youth policy is not dead and buried just yet, the future is bright the future is Arsenal. Goonerluv
We can look back and recall the mishaps over the past season, WHAT IF? But the facts remain, Arsenal did not have the strength and debth in the squad to finish the season as we begun. Do not ignore the facts! Four seasons and Arsenal burn out at the same stage, what does that tell you? Well it tells me that we do not have the players in the squad to go the distance. if Arsenal refuses to address this, we will get vertually the same next season.
Brilliant balanced article. No matter how successful Arsenal are next season there will always be that shallow minority. They are spoilt brats and cannot appreciate just how good the Arsenal set up is. Do they really want a Chelsea / Man City style set up ? Maybe they do, in which case, on your bikes,
Brilliant comments. Does the Online Gooner, and his mates, not realise that Arsenal were without the spine of the team for most of the season ? Yes, it is a squad game, but how can you have replacements for Vermaelen, Fabregas or Van Persie ? Even if you could sign replacements, what do you do withem when the big three are fit ? Arsenal are so close, yes two very good players, a DF and CB and a bit of luck and that is it.
Fine article and sound reasoning,
I am afraid that these 'empty vessels' who pamper to the vocal minority in search of greater visibility, will inevitably drown the voices of those among us who care for the club and wish to contribute with constructive argument and debate.
Sadly for every sane and rational comment, such as yours, there are a hundred screaming idiots who believe that might is right and noise equals logic; a little like ahouting louder to compensate for foreign language difficulty.
I have gone from contributing to these arrogant and obsessive sites, to sitting quietly and shaking my head in despair.
On the subject of aphorism, so nicely put my my old mate RA (as always) you don't have to be a FANatic to be a true Arsenal supporter; but sometimes it can seem like it.
I applaud your efforts, and wish you well in your quest.
Nice one man. I confess to losing faith with Wenger of late. That said, the spite and sheer hate emanating from some of these people towards him is sickening. Maybe his time's up, I'm not sure. One thing I am sure of though, is the man deserves a bit of respect. We are Arsenal after all. A lot of those responsible for the abuse towards the man clearly don't understand what that once entailed.
Thankyou for all your thoughtful and sensible comments.
I find it pretty sad that such a noisy angry bunch are drowning out so many more intelligent voices with their vitriolic venting.
The moderate view must be fought for, let's not give in to these idiots.
The term "A.K.B." was coined because of the rabidly hostile response to the more objective Arsenal supporters, who dare to question the manager's behaviour and decisions.And the direction he is taking the club.
They are the ones who constantly live in the past - trotting out the usual platitudes of "look what he's done for the club", "He's had no money to spend" ( when he has ),and vilify those who try to point out the flaws in their fanatical defence of him.And more often than not, end their rant along the lines of "If you don't think Wenger is a god, go support Spurs", (or another club.)
It is this blind faith and loyalty and refusal to use logic and reasoning, instead of abuse, that ( deservedly ) earn them this tag.
Are you saying that these sort of "fans" don't exist ? If so, then you are in obvious denial. If the cap fits, wear it !
"In Arsene we rust."
1979Gooner - You state that you think the "Dear A.K.B." article is "weak". But instead of refuting the (very pertinent) points the blogger raised, and taking up the the challenge he issued, you prefer to obfuscate and detract from the real arguments, by attempting to take the moral high ground.
It might make you and other sympathetic posters on here, feel good by doing this, but your efforts are transparent.
The sad fact is, WENGER has polarised this club's supporters, by his many managerial and character flaws.While there are still a ( dwindling ) number of sheep who are willing to give him unlimited time to indulge himself, at the expense of winning trophies,there will be always be A.K.B.'s.
"In Arsene we rust."
Reading some of the replies here, the A.K.B.S not only deny the reality of the current situation under Wenger. But even deny that what they're saying is the very DEFINITION of what makes them an A.K.B. ! (Well, at least they're consistent there.)
As for the neutrals; let's hope you eventually see things as they actually ARE, not as they WERE.It's o.k. to sit on the fence, but do it for too long, without taking a firm stance one way or the other, and you are settling for complacency and stagnation.If you want us to WIN things,instead of simply competing,then be courageous enough to make a stand.
"In Arsene we rust."
Spectrum,
three comments in a row; all making basically the same point?
Not that you, in any way, legitimise or confirm my point, of course.
Spectrum
your arguments and comments make my point better than I can, thankyou for that
simply repeating yourself over and over, then stating your opinion as fact, does not constitute a rational or reasonable argument
your repeated reliance on the term AKB also demonstrates the point perfectly, you have little else to offer by the looks of things
the way that you quite pathetically try to polarise this all is typical of those who polarise with the AKB tag, is it weak and amazingly transparent
you try to pidgeon hole everyone as either wanting wenger out or thinking wenger is god
it's like pretending that everyone can have their political views as being either fascists or communists, it's a ridiculously stupid and naive way to behave i'm afraid
if you bothered to read this blog or the views of our readers here on a regular basis before coming here with your divine opinion, then you would realise that we do not put TAGS on supporters,
Arsene has been criticised a hell of a lot on this blog this season and quite rightly so, so to pretend that many of us think he can do no wrong, is deluded and smacks of someone who can't be bothered to do his research and would rather stick people in stupid little boxes
in fact the term AKB was coined by people who couldn't engage in a debate with their fellow supporters, it was coined by those who couldn't face listening to anyone who didn't bend over and give in to their bullying opinions
it seems that you are rather out of touch with your history
regards
1979gooner
Spectrum says: "He's had no money to spend" (when he has)
- compared to what his rivals have it's peanuts, there's nobody better to steer Arsenal through these tight times
- we all want success, the manager, the fans, the board - but the club has had to tighten it's belt. Many just refuse to accept it. But then, that's the public for you...
I really would like to see some either refute the points in the original column or explain why Wenger shouldn't be up for criticism.
The same problems have been evident for several years now, we all see it. And yet the problems remain unaddressed. What else is one to think?
The expectation should be that we win, not that we do well or try hard, that we win. Clearly the effort of the last two months indicates that doing well is good enough and that simply MUST change. Wenger coming out with the 'finishing second is not a bad result' sends the message that winning is nice but not essential and thus mediocre efforts are acceptable. If you don't think that's true then do explain how Denilson, Eboue, Almunia, Arshavin, Djourou, Squilacci et al get on the field.
The larger concern at this point is that the way the team finished the season they are completely shattered mentally and that it now pervades the room. My concern is that bringing in one or two experienced players isn't going to change that mentality. It starts at the top and until that is made clear to everyone, including the fans, Wenger will be up for criticism.
see comment on other post anonymous 1400
if you bothered to read either post properly you would see how foolish your comments are
there is no call for immunity from criticism here, read what has been said and compute it before commenting further....
they couldnt do a better job if they were spuds.
The writer is totally fair, and there's no doubt.
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