Anybody here got access to a time machine? Then I guess the result is going to stand. So, what can we as supporters and the Arsenal players do?
As fans we have to stop pissing and moaning about the refereeing decisions. I’ve seen the highlights now and yeah, you could certainly make a case for ‘we got jobbed.’ But you know what, when you play 65 games a year, with human referees, that’s going to happen. I’m sure if you reviewed every Arsenal EPL game last year you could make a top 10 list of calls that went our way.
Personally I’m willing to live with the human element, in both the players and the referees. If you’re not, I suggest you play computer video games.
I don’t see where getting into pissing matches with Man United fans is productive either. Do you bark back at dogs as you walk past them?
The players must bounce back and more importantly than ever, win the EPL. Whether United come in 2nd by a point or end up in fifth, 15 points off the pace doesn’t matter. Arsenal must win. At that point I wholeheartedly endorse getting in the face of the nearest obnoxious Man U fan and telling him where he can stuff it. But until that point, let’s keep our mouths shut, support the Arsenal and live knowing that we are on the side of the righteous and the good and that we alone can hold off the forces of all that is evil.
24 Responses to “The Only Response - Win the League”
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October 26th, 2004 at 7:35 am
Thanks Rick.
I was about to post an article about how sick and tired most fans are of Wenger excuses after the game and some of the comments posted here but was not sure whether a pro Arsenal site will post it. The more you read into what happen on Sunday the more you feel sick for what some of the Arsenal players/Manager did in the name of Arsenal. Yes United did cheat but tell me one club that doesn?t have divers and cheats.
Instead of talking about going 18 months unbeaten playing some fantastic and wicked football, Arsenal is now at the middle of food war. What a joke.
The sad thing is, like him or hate him SAF declining to press charges and ordering his players not to comment about the ruckus had made Wenger look like a fool and the country and media having a go at us again. I was looking forward to MP?s talking about Arsenal achievements not a Pizza War.
And to those who say it was passion - well there is a huge difference between having Pride, heart and Passion and being emotional stupid and silliness and behaving like kids. Football is not about winning as I always say but there is a social side to it. If what happen after the game should have happen at any pub we know what next would have happen. 29 yrs as a Gunner but when these so-called overpaid prats behave like babies there is no way to defend them. Wenger should have known better.
October 26th, 2004 at 7:51 am
Roll on Saturday. I’m not counting Man City in the CC
Question: The soup that was thrown, was it Heinz or Campbell’s?
October 26th, 2004 at 8:07 am
Heinze Beans
Lehmann could not have carried out such a deliberate assault. He demonstrated last week in the Champions League, that he becomes hopelessly confused in a mass of players and loses all sense of position. He may spill the ball. He may spill soup. But he doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing. In any case why pizza? Surely it should have been sauerkraut (if not sour grapes).
Can’t wait for saturday for saint’s defensive crumble instant whipping. That will be my drink.
October 26th, 2004 at 8:28 am
Rick, the things u said are true. The only problem is - this was against Man Utd. For me personally, I would rather to have ten decisions go against us when we played other opponents, to trade for one decision, not to our favour, but simply to be FAIR when we are playing Man Utd. Sorry, I hate them with a passion.
October 26th, 2004 at 8:35 am
L-G,
As long as it isn’t written in poor taste, we don’t shy away from printing comments critical of the team here at Arsenal America.
You bring up a good point - you can play a game (a game!) with pride and passion and still have some class.
No, I was never a professional athlete, but I played organized sports my whole life. Probably lost Championship games six or seven times. After the match you shake hands with your opponent (even if they’re stinking cheaters) go home, maybe slam a door or two, then you figure out how to win next time.
At what point did sportsmanship cease to matter? Would any of us think less of the Arsenal players if they had simply walked off the pitch, gone to the dressing room and then gotten on the coach? Would that have meant they didn’t want it bad enough? Of course not. Nobody, in any sport, gets to the pro level without an almost inhuman amount of desire. But now Arsenal have not only lost a game, they’ve ceded the high moral ground as well.
October 26th, 2004 at 9:09 am
About time we have a professional debate about football and for those who can?t do that again I?ll say relax and have some Lehmann mineral water.
The whining of Arsenal is not a surprise - we have a track record under Wenger as the worse club moaning and whining about everything. Wenger becoming the new Keegan. I loved my Arsenal but after a while it becomes pathetic. What we had was a gorging banquet of self-pity. This is damaging our club and again at the center of this silly food fight.
Talking about referees anyone that really wants to have a go at referees should read Jeff Winter?s comments. Lack of sportsmanship and men behaving like woman in girls? mini skirts killing the beautiful game. Did anyone saw Kolo Toure going down? What will Sol do if Rooney was to do the same for England?
Wenger have double vision problems. He only sees what he wants to see at times. You can?t tell Harry not to call Pires a cheat then end up saying the same thing. Again read Jeff Winter?s comment.
October 26th, 2004 at 9:52 am
Rooney dived and cheated to win the penalty and Ferguson laughed about it. Van Nistleroy deliberatley tried to injure Cole with a challenge that could have ended his career. Arsenal moaned about it, were not gracious in defeat and someone threw a sandwich. Which is worse? How have we ceded the moral highground? Yes on reflection it would have been better to just walk away and say nothing but the fact that they didn’t just shows that the players are only human and just like the rest of us they make mistakes in the heat of the moment.
October 26th, 2004 at 10:03 am
Gina, you start by saying lets have a professional debate about football and then go on and take cheap shots at Wenger and Pires. Very professional. True Pires dived in that Portsmouth game and is nerverallowed to forget it. Since then there have been many similar incidents but no outcry. Will the the word diver and cheat now be associated with Rooney for the next few years? No, because he’s not a foreigner.
October 26th, 2004 at 10:13 am
There’s been a list of matches between Arsenal and Utd. in which the big decisions have gone Utd’s way. Passionate responses to the latest debacle(re: tackles a week late and swanning in the box) are probably in most cases also down to the recent history of this fixture. Call it moaning, whinging, whatever you want, but not all Arsenal fans will sit down and take it when injustice abides.
p.s. I have a feeling there will be a little less conversation and a little more action from Vieira et. al come the rematch at Highbury!
October 26th, 2004 at 10:26 am
Mtl,
I know how you feel but what I’m saying is Wenger can’t and shouldn’t even complain if he doesn’t want another manager to criticize his players. Where is the cheap shot at Wenger for saying this. Even the LMA own rule books have what managers can and can’t say about players.
Rooney is a diver and so is all the players cheating to win games. I don’t see why people will talk about Pires cause he is a foreigner.
October 26th, 2004 at 10:39 am
Of course, everyone knows what United’s game plan was but you missing the point. The referee for whatever reason was useless on sunday and can’t find one person who is denying that but what happened afterwards had now taken center stage in England. That doesn’t not look good on Arsenal. 49 games unbeaten but now on TV or Radio people talking about our players.
October 26th, 2004 at 11:05 am
Well said J and Rick,
There is no excuses for Arsenal players for what happen after the game. Like most people I blame Wenger for all this and draging Arsenal good name into another mess. A manager is suppose to manage not bit*h about.
United is a team of ass but we don’t have to behave like them. The whole world knew the referee ruined the game but have no excuses for happened next.
October 26th, 2004 at 11:14 am
We lost the match quite simply because in 90 minutes we didn’t score. In the main our final ball wasn’t good enough. That I accept.
But that’s not what I find upsetting it’s the following points that leave me concerned:
1) Why a referee that has a clear track record for ducking out of major decisions by favouring the home side was chosen for such a massive game and further why his tendency to duck out of major decisions has yet to be addressed when he has consistently shown inadequacies in this area. Who is responsible for this selection and are they be held to account ? Who is responsible for his development and improvement and what is being done to address his problems?
2) Why is a linesman that’s a few yards away from the RVN assault on Ashley Cole failed to either spot the incident or draw attention to it. What exactly was he doing at the time if he wasn’t closesly following the action? How did he become a top level linesman if he can demonstarte suchstartling inadequacies?
3) RVN is now facing an FA tribunal with the likely outcome being a a 3 match ban that he would have received had he been sent off. This outcome would still leave United in having got an advantage as he was not sent off at the time. It also works on the basis that this was a foul when the reality is that it was an assault on Cole and one that could have had consequences on his career.
October 26th, 2004 at 11:19 am
So what exactly happened in the tunnel? From what I have gathered there was a bit of an argument and someone threw a sandwich. Seems like no big deal. The tabloid press love a good story and a lack of facts means they just use their immagination. I don’t understand the anti-Wenger posts. He’s not perfect, he makes mistakes but he’s also built one of Arsenal’s best ever teams. Perhaps we should sack him and appoint a nice chap like Bobby Robson.
October 26th, 2004 at 11:30 am
Amen, Rick. A voice of sanity amidst all the chaos on our site.
If all our supporters actually paid close attention to the match, they would recognize that our Gunners just did not do enough to come away with a victory. Whether it was the “tactics” of our opposition, an off-form day compounded by the pitch and weather, or other factors, Arsenal was unable to finish most efforts, most untypical of them.
We can all shake our heads in amazement that the FA chose Riley as the match official. His choices during the match belied the statistics that point to him as the best officvial in the EPL. But fault is not his, or at least his alone.
We are still in the catbird seat, so let’s recognize that there is another match this week where Herny, Pires & company can regain form and return for another shot at 49 games unbeaten. Plus, we get them at home in the spring. Life is still good for an Arsenal fan as opposed to, say, Newcastle, no?
October 26th, 2004 at 11:44 am
The real question is: who caters Arsenal’s post game meal? Soup and Pizza? Yeah, I oftentimes left the field after a football game, headed into the locker room and said “You know what would be great? Soup and pizza.”
May I suggest in the future foods that have less heat retention.
October 26th, 2004 at 11:52 am
Please let be real here. Supporting a team does not mean you have to be blind if something goes wrong. And no one is calling for Wenger to be sacked or behave like Sir Bobby or Robson.
The facts are there for us all. This had nothing to do with the tabloid press. The Telegraph was the first to report this story before the clubs came up with their sides of the story. As a father with a son who sees some of the Arsenal players as his role model these overpaid guys have a responsibility as Sol said to the kids. Is not all about football? There is football in the community and people or parents are asking why these players can’t behave. That is the point and nothing else
October 26th, 2004 at 11:59 am
I agree with your comment regarding Wenger. With the effort and emotion that he puts into the team, it is understandable that he would be upset after the game. For all that he is done, I’m more than willing to allow him that and don’t care if he voiced his displeasure to SAF or if he was part of an incident where somebody threw food.
Did he make any managerial errors that resulted in the Manchester United loss? Not that I saw. I’ve watched the game twice now (not as bad the second time as I thought it would be) and feel confident that the way our team played should have and in most cases would have resulted in a win.
October 26th, 2004 at 12:17 pm
Fred,
To answer your question I remember posting a comment here after our game against Fulham about the standard of English referee. And I remember the phrass I used. “A referee is going to cost us a game when it really matters” and I have been proved right.
If you look at the league week in week out sometimes you have to asked damn what is wrong with these men in black but now that it had happen to a so-called big club now everyone is talking about it. I blame the big clubs. They can’t have it their way all the time but accept the changes the small clubs also want. Maybe then get referees from other EU countries.
October 26th, 2004 at 12:20 pm
The ass “van horse” pleads guilty and banned for 3 games. But hey I dont real care about him. The good news is Cole fit and doing well
October 26th, 2004 at 12:23 pm
You right Wenger did not see anything on sunday. How sweet.
October 26th, 2004 at 12:43 pm
So tell me Love_Gunner, what exactly happened in the tunnel? I assume you must have been there to be so confident to blame Wenger. Seems to me it’s all tabloid hype with very little facts.
October 26th, 2004 at 12:49 pm
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October 26th, 2004 at 1:45 pm
Well you can live in denial. Yes, let just say the media decided to come up with this story from nowhere. I hope and wish it wasn?t so but can?t run away from our responsibilities and truth. How many times have we heard clubs and people in general denying stuff till the whole truth comes out? I don?t think Andrin Cooper of the FA is not so stupid to even comment on it saying the Police and others will do what had to be done.