The Arsenal way

[flash gunner]

As the song goes

49 49 undefeated,
49 49 I say,
49 49 undefeated,
Playing football the Arsenal way...

What is the Arsenal way to you? Personally the Arsenal way is not the way we played during the unbeaten run, that was a rare time in our history where we were considered to be the best footballing team around. The Arsenal way to me is being a team that is hard to beat and a team other teams hated playing against. The old cries of boring boring Arsenal were not totally unfounded we have been boring at times but we have also won trophies and this is what other fans hate more that anything.

One of Wengers quotes is something about football being an art......... Utter Bollocks!!!! football is ALL about winning it is the ONLY thing that matters. The Newcastle team of the 90's will not be remembered in 100 years time, now Wenger is going i hope we can go back to boring 1-0 wins.

Allegri and Simeone know how to set up a defence i would gladly forgo scoring goals to stop conceding bring one of them in

[northbank123]

I’ve had a few people say to me that you wouldn’t want Simeone as his teams play rubbish football. People also have said to me recently that at least we still play great football. Both equally bollocks.

People get hung up on this ‘Arsenal way’ bollocks as part of the belief that the club was founded in 1996. Like you said, people think that the Invincibles typifies arsenal as a club but that’s not really true.

People said we can’t protest outside the ground because it’s not the sort of class which arsenal are about. People said we can’t protest or complain inside the ground because it’s “not arsenal”. As though the likes of Howe and Neill didn’t get dogs abuse from the terraces.

And I don’t like that fucking song. Invincibles were great. Don’t need to bleat on about it every game.

[Almunia is a clown]

I don't remember Gooners singing songs about the double team in 1985 or so!

Just an AKB vermin song for those that wished that Wonga kept his job for life, even if he had relegated the club!

Just like the David Beckham fans who suddenly appeared wearing Real Madrid shirts, I hope the AKB's change their club to the new Arsene FC wherever that may be, preferably China, so Wonga can try to justify his moans about "financial doping"

[augie]

The Arsenal was built on being defensively solid and hard to break down - we were viewed that way long before GG was our manager, but he perfected it in a way never seen before in england. Playing fast attacking football was indeed great to watch, but it wasnt traditional Arsenal and I really miss the traditional Arsenal.
People say that we play good football now and it might seem that way if you only watch us in the 10 minutes of highlights on motd, but for most of us Gooners, we recognise that there is at least 80 minutes of mundane, slow, sidewards shite in every single game People say that appointing simeone or allegri wont fit in with our ethos, but even if we concede to the suggestion that we have an ethos (clearly we dont), that ethos is fcuked up and clearly not working, so a change should be exactly what is needed.

I know that I am living in the past, but I would press the reset button on an awful lot of things connected with our club these days - obviously we are stuck with the souless bowl and cant return to highbury, but I would get rid of the cartoon crest, give the captain the power again to choose the sleeve length for each match, and I would insist that every foreign player must have english lessons and be able to do a media interview in english within 6 months (ozil still does his in german ffs ), and I would ban all players from having social media accounts where they continually post crap

That is The Arsenal Way

[Nos89]

I've always thought The Arsenal Way was more to do with how the club conducts itself, the way it treats fans, players, staff etc..., more than a particular style of play.
Chapman's Arsenal and Wengerball was about attack. Mee and Graham were about defence.

[sk-gtfo]

The Arsenal way (since 2007) is to milk the fans as much as possible whilst not bothering to invest the money in trying to win actual trophies.

[bunch]

"Football is art..." There is a banner in the ground with this Wenger quote on it. I hope its ripped down ocne he leaves. Football is a contest, its conflict, its strife. There are moments of beauty but football is about results. I fundamentally disagree with this quote and believe this mindset is at the heart of the Wenger failure years.

If you think football is art your role as manager is to equip your artistes with the skills to create art but then let them go out there and express themselves. If its a masterpiece or something a toddler would create with the contents of their nappy, well thats all just part of the creative process.

If you beleive football is conflict, then you prepare your team to win each and every game, you instruct them on their roles, you motivate them and you kick their ass when they fuck up.

This is why there is so little animation from Wenger during the game. At kick-off he believes he has done his job, its now up to the players to create the art with the paints and brushes he has given them. Its why we consistently see 70th minute like for like substitutions that are clealry pre-planned.

[DB10GOONER]

Let's not get too historically revisionist here ffs lads. From 1996 to 2006 we played the best and most attractive football ever seen in England. But we also were tough as fuck and hard to beat. And yes initially lot of that was down to GG's old back 5. But then Petit and Vieira and later Gilberto were not GG signings and those guys extended the life of that defence by at least 5 years. And that 04 defence that went unbeaten was Wenger's, and yes I'm sure they learned a lot from GG's men in the hand over period.

But the key thing for me in that period was we were tough and hard to beat. The fantastic attacking style of our play was the cream on the cake but the cake was our ability to scrap and be hard to beat.

So for me it's substance over style every time. I'd rather be boring and negative and win trophies.... certainly rather that than claiming some empty Pyrrhic victory or moral superiority by playing beautiful football (which btw we don't anymore) and winning fuck all.

[robbo10]

Let's not get too historically revisionist here ffs lads. From 1996 to 2006 we played the best and most attractive football ever seen in England. But we also were tough as fuck and hard to beat. And yes initially lot of that was down to GG's old back 5. But then Petit and Vieira and later Gilberto were not GG signings and those guys extended the life of that defence by at least 5 years. And that 04 defence that went unbeaten was Wenger's, and yes I'm sure they learned a lot from GG's men in the hand over period.

But the key thing for me in that period was we were tough and hard to beat. The fantastic attacking style of our play was the cream on the cake but the cake was our ability to scrap and be hard to beat.

So for me it's substance over style every time. I'd rather be boring and negative and win trophies.... certainly rather that than claiming some empty Pyrrhic victory or moral superiority by playing beautiful football (which btw we don't anymore) and winning fuck all.

And the crux of the matter for me over Wenger is where the fuck his football philosophy went to horribly wrong,power and pace to weak and slow in such a short space of time,and what the fuck does Pyrric mean you clever fucker?

[Jock Gooner]

Football is art........... what utter bollox. That's one for the modern football thread.

Football is a contest, it's about effort, a scrap, about wanting it more than your opponent, it's many things before I would care to call it an art! Give me a Keane or a Souness or a Vieira any fucking day over an Ozil. The sort of guy who will take the artists brush and break it in to little pieces - end of artist. Utter pretentious shite, give me strength

[clockender1]

The Arsenal Way :

"it's one nil to The Arsenal, and that's the way we like it". - George Allison.

we have always been know to care more about winning than style - that is reserved for West Ham, Chelsea and the peasants from Haringey, who care more about style than league titles.

to me, The Arsenal are known for fair play, sportsmanship, working hard to earn the right to play our football. Their defenders are tough and well organized, their midfielders stylish and their forward line workmanlike and honest.

as a player, George Graham once told someone privately that " there are no stars at The Arsenal" and he set about rebuilding The Arsenal in that mould - out went international stars Charlie, Paul Mariner, Tony Woodcock, Viv Anderson, Sansom etc and in came local kids who knew and understood what it meant to wear The Arsenal blazer on matchdays.

Georges team embodied The Arsenal Way and so did wongas up to 2002 - Seaman, Winterburn, Bould, Adams, Dixon, Keown and Parlour were the backbone of those teams - and I'm sure many remember the stories of the Team meeting ( 97/98) where Adams bawled out Paddy and Petit for not protecting the back four as their priority. THAT is The Arsenal Way.

[DB10GOONER]

Let's not get too historically revisionist here ffs lads. From 1996 to 2006 we played the best and most attractive football ever seen in England. But we also were tough as fuck and hard to beat. And yes initially lot of that was down to GG's old back 5. But then Petit and Vieira and later Gilberto were not GG signings and those guys extended the life of that defence by at least 5 years. And that 04 defence that went unbeaten was Wenger's, and yes I'm sure they learned a lot from GG's men in the hand over period.

But the key thing for me in that period was we were tough and hard to beat. The fantastic attacking style of our play was the cream on the cake but the cake was our ability to scrap and be hard to beat.

So for me it's substance over style every time. I'd rather be boring and negative and win trophies.... certainly rather that than claiming some empty Pyrrhic victory or moral superiority by playing beautiful football (which btw we don't anymore) and winning fuck all.

And the crux of the matter for me over Wenger is where the fuck his football philosophy went to horribly wrong,power and pace to weak and slow in such a short space of time,and what the fuck does Pyrric mean you clever fucker?

It means a questionable victory where you lose so much to win that you ask yourself was it even worth winning.

[robbo10]

Let's not get too historically revisionist here ffs lads. From 1996 to 2006 we played the best and most attractive football ever seen in England. But we also were tough as fuck and hard to beat. And yes initially lot of that was down to GG's old back 5. But then Petit and Vieira and later Gilberto were not GG signings and those guys extended the life of that defence by at least 5 years. And that 04 defence that went unbeaten was Wenger's, and yes I'm sure they learned a lot from GG's men in the hand over period.

But the key thing for me in that period was we were tough and hard to beat. The fantastic attacking style of our play was the cream on the cake but the cake was our ability to scrap and be hard to beat.

So for me it's substance over style every time. I'd rather be boring and negative and win trophies.... certainly rather that than claiming some empty Pyrrhic victory or moral superiority by playing beautiful football (which btw we don't anymore) and winning fuck all.

And the crux of the matter for me over Wenger is where the fuck his football philosophy went to horribly wrong,power and pace to weak and slow in such a short space of time,and what the fuck does Pyrric mean you clever fucker?

It means a questionable victory where you lose so much to win that you ask yourself was it even worth winning.

So like World War One then?
I am truly enlightened now,thanks DB10!

[OneBardGooner]

Let's not get too historically revisionist here ffs lads. From 1996 to 2006 we played the best and most attractive football ever seen in England. But we also were tough as fuck and hard to beat. And yes initially lot of that was down to GG's old back 5. But then Petit and Vieira and later Gilberto were not GG signings and those guys extended the life of that defence by at least 5 years. And that 04 defence that went unbeaten was Wenger's, and yes I'm sure they learned a lot from GG's men in the hand over period.

But the key thing for me in that period was we were tough and hard to beat. The fantastic attacking style of our play was the cream on the cake but the cake was our ability to scrap and be hard to beat.

So for me it's substance over style every time. I'd rather be boring and negative and win trophies.... certainly rather that than claiming some empty Pyrrhic victory or moral superiority by playing beautiful football (which btw we don't anymore) and winning fuck all.

And the crux of the matter for me over Wenger is where the fuck his football philosophy went to horribly wrong,power and pace to weak and slow in such a short space of time,and what the fuck does Pyrric mean you clever fucker?

It means a questionable victory where you lose so much to win that you ask yourself was it even worth winning.

Ohhh! You mean like when you buy some bird a boat load of drinks - and then when you do get to hump her brains out later - after the 'event' you think Meh.

[OneBardGooner]

Let's not get too historically revisionist here ffs lads. From 1996 to 2006 we played the best and most attractive football ever seen in England. But we also were tough as fuck and hard to beat. And yes initially lot of that was down to GG's old back 5. But then Petit and Vieira and later Gilberto were not GG signings and those guys extended the life of that defence by at least 5 years. And that 04 defence that went unbeaten was Wenger's, and yes I'm sure they learned a lot from GG's men in the hand over period.

But the key thing for me in that period was we were tough and hard to beat. The fantastic attacking style of our play was the cream on the cake but the cake was our ability to scrap and be hard to beat.

So for me it's substance over style every time. I'd rather be boring and negative and win trophies.... certainly rather that than claiming some empty Pyrrhic victory or moral superiority by playing beautiful football (which btw we don't anymore) and winning fuck all.

And the crux of the matter for me over Wenger is where the fuck his football philosophy went to horribly wrong,power and pace to weak and slow in such a short space of time,and what the fuck does Pyrric mean you clever fucker?

It means a questionable victory where you lose so much to win that you ask yourself was it even worth winning.

So like World War One then?
I am truly enlightened now,thanks DB10!

I prefer my analogy.