And They Say Being a Journalist is Hard Work…

Defeat against the baggies was surprisingly quite easy to take over the weekend as it’s one of the few occasions when we were outplayed footballistically by a team other than Chelsea or Manchester United and without the boring long ball, push and shove and hard so called “tackling” football deployed by Tony Pulis or Sam Allardyce

Having said that, I came across the article in the mirror by Mike Walter. It contains all sorts of name calling and abuse towards Arsene Wenger and will no doubt have all the Anti-Wenger fans screaming with joy.

While many gooners are getting worked up about the words used to describe Wenger, I frankly find it almost embarrassing that the British media has sunken to a new low of name calling. Isn’t that something that we all remember from primary school days? If the site was blog for writers, then you can understand to an extent. However, reading through the article it seems to get more abusive and one wonders how a so called journalist lacks so much knowledge that he’s called the defeat an “all time low”.

Is Mike Walters serious? Or is he actually a 9 year old child that doesn’t remember recent football seasons. The West Brom defeat ranks nowhere near an “all time low”. Then I began to wonder on why a similar article was not thrown out when Liverpool lost to Northampton at home. Ah wait, of course.... silly me! Roy Hodgson is an English manager. Surely he can do no wrong!

After 6 games into the league we have tasted a first defeat and it was almost as if the media guys at the mirror were just aching to unleash an article that attacks Wenger. Instead all they have managed to do is advertise to the rest of Britain the low level journalism they can produce by gathering together an uneducated bunch of retards calling themselves “journalists” and giving them a piece of paper to doodle on.

They are quite clear in their support of the twitchman Redknapp and seem to believe that he is clearly the manager who’s words hold the trend to be followed in the footballing world. Hence, Harry’s name calling towards Wenger after being humiliated in the Carling Cup has caught on by the Mirror’s retards.

Fact of the matter is that atleast 18 of the 20 premier league teams in the country would jump at the opportunity to have Wenger as their manager and I doubt many would want to go bankrupt by having the fraud Harry Redknapp as a manager. But Harry’s red passport means that he can always have the mirror journalists following him around as if he is the messiah to save football from the cruel hands of evil genius Arsene Wenger.

To more important issues; tonight’s game in Serbia against Partizan Belgrade will be a difficult one. We are short of players that are fit to play. Nasri played 120 minutes in the carling cup followed by a full 90 minutes on Saturday and the same goes for Eboue. Koscielny was spared playing the full 90 minutes on Saturday as we pushed for goals late in the game. Jack Wilshere should be fresh enough to start, as will Rosicky and Fabianski.

This brings me to our once again keeper problems. I am not Almunia’s biggest fan by any stretch of imagination. However, credit must be given where it’s due and he performed well for us this season…up until the West Brom game.

Two big errors ended in a goal and everyone turned against him. It was disgusting to see the so called “Arsenal fans” making sarcastic noises towards him. These lacking 2 brain cells good for nothing fans don’t stop to think what it achieves to intimidate your own player! It’s baffling to even wonder what they expect. THE TRANSFER WINDOW IS CLOSED!!! Look it up in the dictionary if you don’t understand any part of that phrase!

Jeering your keeper will knock his confidence even further and no we DON’T have another keeper to stand in. I don’t understand what part of it all do some fans not understand. You’re not going to get another keeper so atleast support the ones we have. Manuel has done well this season and there is no denying last game he was poor. Further, bare in mind that he WAS injured through the 2nd half of the game.

Personally, I would quite like to see Szczesny play. Many argue that he is young and inexperienced. However, he seems to have faith in his ability and confidence is a very important factor in goalkeeping.

Just to finish off, take note all gooners: we can come out winning or losing by any amount of goals tomorrow but there will be no winning with the media for Arsenal. They will forever hate the Arsenal but it’s no reason to stop enjoying the football or supporting the team whole heartedly.

COYG!!

Goalkeeper Wanted

Plenty of posts today and yesterday among Gooners calling for all sorts of rubbish – yes, you know what I’m talking about. OH booo hooooo, we didn’t sign a keeper...we won’t win anything. If that is your attitude then why don’t you just give up your season tickets? Why turn up if that is the attitude. The media pigs have been going on all day about how you can’t win a title if you do not have a solid keeper. Someone remind which was Manure’s “solid keeper” when they won the league in 2000 and 2001? Taibi? Van der Gouw? Bosnich? Barthez? Roy Carroll?

Do people actually believe that Arsene badly wanted a keeper and flopped? Does no one think for a second that if we wanted to pay £4m for a 37 year old with a year left on his contract we could’ve done so? Ofcourse we could if we wanted to. But the motive behind the bid may be different to that which meets the eye.

Let’s look at Almunia’s performance against Blackburn. There was determination, and hunger to do well. One which wasn’t seen before because there was no real competition for his position in the first team. Wenger’s repeated £2m bid for Schwarzer was more of a message to Almunia to get his act together rather than a serious bid to secure the player’s service. I’m not disregarding the fact that Wenger did want to secure the services of the player. But to Arsene, it’s about the right player at the right price. Admittedly, £4m for a short term solution is not a bad price. Wenger however does not believe that paying double original bid is any bigger an improvement to what we already have. Only time will tell whether it was the right decision or not.

The professor is not stupid. He deals with players in his own way. He knows what motivates a player to do well and what methods to use to get the most out of someone’s ability. Almunia knows he has between now and January to prove himself. Yes, I hear the shouting towards the screen saying he’s had plenty of opportunities. But cast your mind towards past goalkeepers and think footballistically. Goalkeepers peak after the age of 34/35. Manuel is now at the age where he will begin to peak. He is at the right age and at a club he knows well. The ingredients are there but we must be patient.

Yes admittedly that was during the days when the Premier League was more of a level playing field. But it’s not impossible and nor is Almunia the worst keeper in the world. Consistency is an issue but do the narrow minded supporters help the cause by constantly calling for his head?
I’m not Almunia’s biggest fan. Far from it if anything.

However, it is important to get behind OUR players every match day. Remember how Bendtner missed opportunities so easy that even my gran could’ve put them away against Burnley last season. The fans that day were fantastic and they continued to cheer his name. The next game – hattrick for Bendtner. A little bit of support can go a long way. We have a solid back line and some of the most talented midfielders in the country. We have started the season well and there is every reason to feel optimistic.

Keep the faith!