*Red bin dipping filth N Sat 29th Aug KO 430pm

[OneBardGooner]

So, That's TWO Trophies in the space of a month.

Before Arteta was appointed there was No Way I'd have given us a snowballs chance in hell of that happening.

As other's have said Arteta is still learning, but he has had some good teachers and has a focus and resilience that is a pleasure to witness and a 'plan'


No doubt there will those who will slag him off at every mistake he make's which is going to happen, but for me he is the man for the job for the foreseeable future.

He has also brought out many good qualities in most of the players, from what I can of those who have played they have all improved, even the one's who were accident's waiting to happen.

They seem to have a real belief in themselves and what they are being told to do.


It'll be interesting to see how the forthcoming seasons pans out.

I am more confident of us challenging for the top 6 - maybe even top 4 than I have been for ages.

I definitely think we will return to the good old days of celebrating Tottering's Day! and returning the scum to where they belong below us and in our shadow!

[DB10GOONER]

OFFICIAL: Ainsley Maitland Niles has been called up to the England squad.


DB will love this

Tbh I have nothing against him and would love to see him succeed with us. But he won't. There is way too much missing in his game.

People bigging him up on a couple of good touches and a half decent cup final reminds me of the Comedy Iwobi saga - he'd have a couple if good touches in a game and that became "he had a great game".

No offence to our Ingerlish viewers here but getting called up to that Ingerland squad means not much tbh.

He'll be at Palace in two years.

[wibble]

I am more confident of us challenging for the top 6 - maybe even top 4 than I have been for ages.

Come on now, last season was the first time we finished outside the top 6 in ages! (94/95 season to be exact)

[goonersid]

I am more confident of us challenging for the top 6 - maybe even top 4 than I have been for ages.

Come on now, last season was the first time we finished outside the top 6 in ages! (94/95 season to be exact)

That’s because Emery, left a squad in a worse state than he found it!! disheartened, demoralised and in disarray!
Arteta has achieved what would have been considered impossible, our challenge for a top 4 finish was never a realistic hope, we were still dropping points whilst Arteta was trying to rally a dishevelled mess and rid the squad of the likes of Ozil forever!
Any one who is still doubting that Arteta looks at the worst “worth a gamble” ? Well I won’t even go there!
FA cup, Community shield! Beating Mousers twice, Citeh and the Chavs, conceding 2 goals ! Add a tricky away tie in Sheffield!
I don’t know what you expect, but if it’s anymore ? Then you’re deluded

[wibble]

I am more confident of us challenging for the top 6 - maybe even top 4 than I have been for ages.

Come on now, last season was the first time we finished outside the top 6 in ages! (94/95 season to be exact)

That’s because Emery, left a squad in a worse state than he found it!! disheartened, demoralised and in disarray!
Arteta has achieved what would have been considered impossible, our challenge for a top 4 finish was never a realistic hope, we were still dropping points whilst Arteta was trying to rally a dishevelled mess and rid the squad of the likes of Ozil forever!
Any one who is still doubting that Arteta looks at the worst “worth a gamble” ? Well I won’t even go there!
FA cup, Community shield! Beating Mousers twice, Citeh and the Chavs, conceding 2 goals ! Add a tricky away tie in Sheffield!
I don’t know what you expect, but if it’s anymore ? Then you’re deluded

The point I was making was it can’t be that long since anyone thought we wouldn’t challenge for top 6 as until recently we’ve always comfortably finished there!(so really I was just being pedantic about one bards wording!)

As for Arteta, I was extremely underwhelmed when he was appointed. However winning a trophy already was a very pleasant surprise. He has also toughened up our defence and the new signings will hopefully be a further improvement.

I agree, realistically top 4 is best we can expect and I would think 5th to 7th more likely.

So rest assured I’m not deluded and won’t be sticking a carrot up my arse any time soon

[augie]

I am more confident of us challenging for the top 6 - maybe even top 4 than I have been for ages.

Come on now, last season was the first time we finished outside the top 6 in ages! (94/95 season to be exact)

That’s because Emery, left a squad in a worse state than he found it!! disheartened, demoralised and in disarray!
Arteta has achieved what would have been considered impossible, our challenge for a top 4 finish was never a realistic hope, we were still dropping points whilst Arteta was trying to rally a dishevelled mess and rid the squad of the likes of Ozil forever!
Any one who is still doubting that Arteta looks at the worst “worth a gamble” ? Well I won’t even go there!
FA cup, Community shield! Beating Mousers twice, Citeh and the Chavs, conceding 2 goals ! Add a tricky away tie in Sheffield!
I don’t know what you expect, but if it’s anymore ? Then you’re deluded

Can we forget about emery for a minute cos what I am saying is in no way meant as a defence for him, but I want to address your comments as you made them

1. In reference to your quote in red - are you having a fcuking laff ?? No AFC manager in the last 40 years inherited a worse squad than emery did - there is (maybe) 3 of wenger players still considered first choice today, and one of them (xhaka) shouldnt be anywhere near the club, so dunno how in gods name you can put up any sort of a defence for what wenger left behind It is however the "disheartened, demoralised and in disarray" comment that I found most amusing - what players were demoralised and disheartened ? The only players that I can think of that fall into that category are ozil, xhaka, mustafi and lacazette - one of them (xhaka) 99% of Gooners want rid of. another one of them (ozil) 100% of Gooners want rid of, whilst the majority want rid of mustafi and it appears that arteta wants rid of laca, so I'm not sure that emery wanted anything different than most Gooners wanted, and it is ironic that one of THE biggest things that arteta has done is brought xhaka back into the team and most fans would prefer that he wouldnt

2. in reference to your bit in blue - wenger was winning fa cups even when he was clearly a busted flush, and it still didnt stop you calling for his head, so why does winning it now qualify as a justification of arteta ? I am very happy with those big wins against the big clubs, and I am especially happy with how we won those games, but I can also point out several poor/shit performances and results that were mixed in with those games throughout arteta's time in charge, so surely he should be assessed based on all his reign and not just on the highlights ? Some fans have defended arteta in those shit performances and claimed that he shouldnt be judged until he gets a chance to build his own team in transfer windows and I understand that point, but a week after a shit performance they will follow it up with a good performance and those same fans will automatically declare arteta to be a success - kind of a contradiction there dont you think ?

Sid is an arteta supporter and I respect that - I am still undecided but I absolutely agree that the man has earned the right to be given a chance to do things his way. I am happy that he seems to have demanded and got more say in the transfer policy of the club. I am happy that he seems to be focusing on fixing the defence cos that had to be priority number one. Where I am still not confident is his assessment of players like xhaka and mustafi who he seems to value a lot more than any fan does, and I will be interested to see how long it will take the fans to turn on him if we go on a bad run and he persists with xhaka, but that is for another day I guess

[Nos89]

That felt pretty, pretty, pretty good. That first half was brilliant. I expected us to tire and lose in the second half but we showed a character that has been missing for a year. Yes its the community shield and about as important as the Super Cup and World club championship but it is not only who we beat, but its how we beat them considering the amount of times they've spanked and embarrassed us over the last 4-5 years.
When both teams are fully fit and up to speed then it will be a much livelier contest. I still think we have the beating of them.
I've said all season. We have a top 4 quality squad. Whatever happened in the last 5 games of Emery's first season was a mystery, we were 3rd with 4 games left and in the europa League final. We only needed 3 points to secure a top 4 finish yet somehow we blew it and didn't turn up in Baku. I still would love to know what happened for things to fall off a cliff so dramatically.
I'd make us dark horses for this coming season as we have beaten all the teams, except Spurds, that finished above whilst Arteta has been in charge. That should breed a confidence in the squad that has failed to do that consistently in the last 4 years, maybe longer. It almost seems bizarre that of the team that won yesterday, half of them could be gone by October 6th.

[goonersid]

I am more confident of us challenging for the top 6 - maybe even top 4 than I have been for ages.

Come on now, last season was the first time we finished outside the top 6 in ages! (94/95 season to be exact)

That’s because Emery, left a squad in a worse state than he found it!! disheartened, demoralised and in disarray!
Arteta has achieved what would have been considered impossible, our challenge for a top 4 finish was never a realistic hope, we were still dropping points whilst Arteta was trying to rally a dishevelled mess and rid the squad of the likes of Ozil forever!
Any one who is still doubting that Arteta looks at the worst “worth a gamble” ? Well I won’t even go there!
FA cup, Community shield! Beating Mousers twice, Citeh and the Chavs, conceding 2 goals ! Add a tricky away tie in Sheffield!
I don’t know what you expect, but if it’s anymore ? Then you’re deluded

Can we forget about emery for a minute cos what I am saying is in no way meant as a defence for him, but I want to address your comments as you made them

1. In reference to your quote in red - are you having a fcuking laff ?? No AFC manager in the last 40 years inherited a worse squad than emery did - there is (maybe) 3 of wenger players still considered first choice today, and one of them (xhaka) shouldnt be anywhere near the club, so dunno how in gods name you can put up any sort of a defence for what wenger left behind It is however the "disheartened, demoralised and in disarray" comment that I found most amusing - what players were demoralised and disheartened ? The only players that I can think of that fall into that category are ozil, xhaka, mustafi and lacazette - one of them (xhaka) 99% of Gooners want rid of. another one of them (ozil) 100% of Gooners want rid of, whilst the majority want rid of mustafi and it appears that arteta wants rid of laca, so I'm not sure that emery wanted anything different than most Gooners wanted, and it is ironic that one of THE biggest things that arteta has done is brought xhaka back into the team and most fans would prefer that he wouldnt

2. in reference to your bit in blue - wenger was winning fa cups even when he was clearly a busted flush, and it still didnt stop you calling for his head, so why does winning it now qualify as a justification of arteta ? I am very happy with those big wins against the big clubs, and I am especially happy with how we won those games, but I can also point out several poor/shit performances and results that were mixed in with those games throughout arteta's time in charge, so surely he should be assessed based on all his reign and not just on the highlights ? Some fans have defended arteta in those shit performances and claimed that he shouldnt be judged until he gets a chance to build his own team in transfer windows and I understand that point, but a week after a shit performance they will follow it up with a good performance and those same fans will automatically declare arteta to be a success - kind of a contradiction there dont you think ?

Sid is an arteta supporter and I respect that - I am still undecided but I absolutely agree that the man has earned the right to be given a chance to do things his way. I am happy that he seems to have demanded and got more say in the transfer policy of the club. I am happy that he seems to be focusing on fixing the defence cos that had to be priority number one. Where I am still not confident is his assessment of players like xhaka and mustafi who he seems to value a lot more than any fan does, and I will be interested to see how long it will take the fans to turn on him if we go on a bad run and he persists with xhaka, but that is for another day I guess

Augie, first off on the points in red, I was referring not in the content if the squad, but on the state of it.
We had a team, with no passion or pride, taking the piss out of a manager who hadn’t a clue how to turn things around.
To say it was just a few players who were demoralised??
Come on Augie, do you think Aubameyang would be on the verge of signing a new contract, had Emery been allowed to continue?
On FA cup justification, Wenger’s cup wins were papering over 10 years of incompetence, it also shouldn’t be forgotten, we had a half decent team for those cup wins.
Arteta’s cup success has come from what seemed an impossible position, given the fore mentioned mood in the squad!
On being an Arteta supporter, I was horrified at the thought of it, 2 years ago and merely resigned to it when he did take over.
He has however won me round, so if backing the manager because I believe we may have actually made an excellent appointment, makes me a “supporter” then I suppose I must be!
I do accept we will still have some dross in the squad next season, but let’s see what transpires in the transfer window and how the dross are utilised.

[OneBardGooner]

I am more confident of us challenging for the top 6 - maybe even top 4 than I have been for ages.

Come on now, last season was the first time we finished outside the top 6 in ages! (94/95 season to be exact)

That’s because Emery, left a squad in a worse state than he found it!! disheartened, demoralised and in disarray!
Arteta has achieved what would have been considered impossible, our challenge for a top 4 finish was never a realistic hope, we were still dropping points whilst Arteta was trying to rally a dishevelled mess and rid the squad of the likes of Ozil forever!
Any one who is still doubting that Arteta looks at the worst “worth a gamble” ? Well I won’t even go there!
FA cup, Community shield! Beating Mousers twice, Citeh and the Chavs, conceding 2 goals ! Add a tricky away tie in Sheffield!
I don’t know what you expect, but if it’s anymore ? Then you’re deluded

The point I was making was it can’t be that long since anyone thought we wouldn’t challenge for top 6 as until recently we’ve always comfortably finished there!(so really I was just being pedantic about one bards wording!)

As for Arteta, I was extremely underwhelmed when he was appointed. However winning a trophy already was a very pleasant surprise. He has also toughened up our defence and the new signings will hopefully be a further improvement.

I agree, realistically top 4 is best we can expect and I would think 5th to 7th more likely.

So rest assured I’m not deluded and won’t be sticking a carrot up my arse any time soon

"I was just being pedantic about one bards wording"

Dear Wibble of Pendanticism, (There used to be such a place, a quaint quiet village, but they all died from the dreaded carrot plague; carrots uparsus)

Whilst I appreciate your involvement and contribution, I feel you are being somewhat over pedantic.

As for the carrot try a Turnip, I'm sure you'll find that more to your liking!


Bottomline is that I have high hopes of us doing well and holding our own in the forthcoming season/s, providing Arteta is given sufficient financial backing to get his plan and ideas in place. To get what was indeed a dishevelled, motley crew into any kind of order AND win TWO trophies in 29 games is nothing short of miraculous....(wish).

[wibble]

I am more confident of us challenging for the top 6 - maybe even top 4 than I have been for ages.

Come on now, last season was the first time we finished outside the top 6 in ages! (94/95 season to be exact)

That’s because Emery, left a squad in a worse state than he found it!! disheartened, demoralised and in disarray!
Arteta has achieved what would have been considered impossible, our challenge for a top 4 finish was never a realistic hope, we were still dropping points whilst Arteta was trying to rally a dishevelled mess and rid the squad of the likes of Ozil forever!
Any one who is still doubting that Arteta looks at the worst “worth a gamble” ? Well I won’t even go there!
FA cup, Community shield! Beating Mousers twice, Citeh and the Chavs, conceding 2 goals ! Add a tricky away tie in Sheffield!
I don’t know what you expect, but if it’s anymore ? Then you’re deluded

The point I was making was it can’t be that long since anyone thought we wouldn’t challenge for top 6 as until recently we’ve always comfortably finished there!(so really I was just being pedantic about one bards wording!)

As for Arteta, I was extremely underwhelmed when he was appointed. However winning a trophy already was a very pleasant surprise. He has also toughened up our defence and the new signings will hopefully be a further improvement.

I agree, realistically top 4 is best we can expect and I would think 5th to 7th more likely.

So rest assured I’m not deluded and won’t be sticking a carrot up my arse any time soon

"I was just being pedantic about one bards wording"

Dear Wibble of Pendanticism, (There used to be such a place, a quaint quiet village, but they all died from the dreaded carrot plague; carrots uparsus)

Whilst I appreciate your involvement and contribution, I feel you are being somewhat over pedantic.

As for the carrot try a Turnip, I'm sure you'll find that more to your liking!


Bottomline is that I have high hopes of us doing well and holding our own in the forthcoming season/s, providing Arteta is given sufficient financial backing to get his plan and ideas in place. To get what was indeed a dishevelled, motley crew into any kind of order AND win TWO trophies in 29 games is nothing short of miraculous....(wish).

Quite tower alert!

‘Bottomline’ - pun intended?

As for the turnip tip, thanks for the advice, it worked a treat when I was at the shops this morning and certainly brightened up an otherwise dull morning.

[augie]

I am more confident of us challenging for the top 6 - maybe even top 4 than I have been for ages.

Come on now, last season was the first time we finished outside the top 6 in ages! (94/95 season to be exact)

That’s because Emery, left a squad in a worse state than he found it!! disheartened, demoralised and in disarray!
Arteta has achieved what would have been considered impossible, our challenge for a top 4 finish was never a realistic hope, we were still dropping points whilst Arteta was trying to rally a dishevelled mess and rid the squad of the likes of Ozil forever!
Any one who is still doubting that Arteta looks at the worst “worth a gamble” ? Well I won’t even go there!
FA cup, Community shield! Beating Mousers twice, Citeh and the Chavs, conceding 2 goals ! Add a tricky away tie in Sheffield!
I don’t know what you expect, but if it’s anymore ? Then you’re deluded

Can we forget about emery for a minute cos what I am saying is in no way meant as a defence for him, but I want to address your comments as you made them

1. In reference to your quote in red - are you having a fcuking laff ?? No AFC manager in the last 40 years inherited a worse squad than emery did - there is (maybe) 3 of wenger players still considered first choice today, and one of them (xhaka) shouldnt be anywhere near the club, so dunno how in gods name you can put up any sort of a defence for what wenger left behind It is however the "disheartened, demoralised and in disarray" comment that I found most amusing - what players were demoralised and disheartened ? The only players that I can think of that fall into that category are ozil, xhaka, mustafi and lacazette - one of them (xhaka) 99% of Gooners want rid of. another one of them (ozil) 100% of Gooners want rid of, whilst the majority want rid of mustafi and it appears that arteta wants rid of laca, so I'm not sure that emery wanted anything different than most Gooners wanted, and it is ironic that one of THE biggest things that arteta has done is brought xhaka back into the team and most fans would prefer that he wouldnt

2. in reference to your bit in blue - wenger was winning fa cups even when he was clearly a busted flush, and it still didnt stop you calling for his head, so why does winning it now qualify as a justification of arteta ? I am very happy with those big wins against the big clubs, and I am especially happy with how we won those games, but I can also point out several poor/shit performances and results that were mixed in with those games throughout arteta's time in charge, so surely he should be assessed based on all his reign and not just on the highlights ? Some fans have defended arteta in those shit performances and claimed that he shouldnt be judged until he gets a chance to build his own team in transfer windows and I understand that point, but a week after a shit performance they will follow it up with a good performance and those same fans will automatically declare arteta to be a success - kind of a contradiction there dont you think ?

Sid is an arteta supporter and I respect that - I am still undecided but I absolutely agree that the man has earned the right to be given a chance to do things his way. I am happy that he seems to have demanded and got more say in the transfer policy of the club. I am happy that he seems to be focusing on fixing the defence cos that had to be priority number one. Where I am still not confident is his assessment of players like xhaka and mustafi who he seems to value a lot more than any fan does, and I will be interested to see how long it will take the fans to turn on him if we go on a bad run and he persists with xhaka, but that is for another day I guess

Augie, first off on the points in red, I was referring not in the content if the squad, but on the state of it.
We had a team, with no passion or pride, taking the piss out of a manager who hadn’t a clue how to turn things around.
To say it was just a few players who were demoralised??
Come on Augie, do you think Aubameyang would be on the verge of signing a new contract, had Emery been allowed to continue?
On FA cup justification, Wenger’s cup wins were papering over 10 years of incompetence, it also shouldn’t be forgotten, we had a half decent team for those cup wins.
Arteta’s cup success has come from what seemed an impossible position, given the fore mentioned mood in the squad!
On being an Arteta supporter, I was horrified at the thought of it, 2 years ago and merely resigned to it when he did take over.
He has however won me round, so if backing the manager because I believe we may have actually made an excellent appointment, makes me a “supporter” then I suppose I must be!
I do accept we will still have some dross in the squad next season, but let’s see what transpires in the transfer window and how the dross are utilised.

Firstly sid (and be honest now), do you think that auba would be on the verge of signing a new contract if we hadnt won the fa cup and qualified for europe ? I would suggest to you that those two things are far more important to auba than who the actual manager is (and that is not meant as a knock on arteta btw).

Secondly regardless of your feelings or my feelings on emery, the fact is that he was undermined by a few senior players who turned the atmosphere toxic around the place. I would say that they latched on to the rep that he had from psg when it was suggested that he was unable to manage big stars (we had/have players who actually believe that they are big stars ), and they took advantage of that. It took emery longer than it should to recognise what was happening and by the time he did so and tried to get rid of them, the rot had set in and it was too late for him. I blame him 100% for not recognising what was going on around him and he then suffered as a result of it. These "bad eggs" within the squad had succeeded in running him out of town, but were smart enough to recognise that they would not get away with it again and as a result they have gone to bat for arteta (and rightly so) and in doing so they have helped feed the narrative where it wasnt the players fault and it was all on emery - personally I am still of the opinion that both were to blame.

The thing about the dross in our squad that concerns me, is the fact that I dont believe that arteta thinks that they are dross Take xhaka for example - 99.9% of Gooners want him gone based on his performances alone, but yet it seems that he is one of arteta's main men. Some fans were deluded enough to believe that arteta wants partey as a replacement for xhaka, but the reality is that he wants him to play alongside xhaka

[OneBardGooner]

Come on now, last season was the first time we finished outside the top 6 in ages! (94/95 season to be exact)

That’s because Emery, left a squad in a worse state than he found it!! disheartened, demoralised and in disarray!
Arteta has achieved what would have been considered impossible, our challenge for a top 4 finish was never a realistic hope, we were still dropping points whilst Arteta was trying to rally a dishevelled mess and rid the squad of the likes of Ozil forever!
Any one who is still doubting that Arteta looks at the worst “worth a gamble” ? Well I won’t even go there!
FA cup, Community shield! Beating Mousers twice, Citeh and the Chavs, conceding 2 goals ! Add a tricky away tie in Sheffield!
I don’t know what you expect, but if it’s anymore ? Then you’re deluded

The point I was making was it can’t be that long since anyone thought we wouldn’t challenge for top 6 as until recently we’ve always comfortably finished there!(so really I was just being pedantic about one bards wording!)

As for Arteta, I was extremely underwhelmed when he was appointed. However winning a trophy already was a very pleasant surprise. He has also toughened up our defence and the new signings will hopefully be a further improvement.

I agree, realistically top 4 is best we can expect and I would think 5th to 7th more likely.

So rest assured I’m not deluded and won’t be sticking a carrot up my arse any time soon

"I was just being pedantic about one bards wording"

Dear Wibble of Pendanticism, (There used to be such a place, a quaint quiet village, but they all died from the dreaded carrot plague; carrots uparsus)

Whilst I appreciate your involvement and contribution, I feel you are being somewhat over pedantic.

As for the carrot try a Turnip, I'm sure you'll find that more to your liking!


Bottomline is that I have high hopes of us doing well and holding our own in the forthcoming season/s, providing Arteta is given sufficient financial backing to get his plan and ideas in place. To get what was indeed a dishevelled, motley crew into any kind of order AND win TWO trophies in 29 games is nothing short of miraculous....(wish).

Quite tower alert!

‘Bottomline’ - pun intended?

As for the turnip tip, thanks for the advice, it worked a treat when I was at the shops this morning and certainly brightened up an otherwise dull morning.

Good Man! Nothing like brightening up another person's morning (cough! cough!)

[wibble]

Good Man! Nothing like brightening up another person's morning (cough! cough!)

Oh dear, sounds like a bad cough there, you best look out another turnip!

[StuartL]

Good Man! Nothing like brightening up another person's morning (cough! cough!)

Oh dear, sounds like a bad cough there, you best look out another turnip!

A turnip, exactly the same shape as a thingy !

[wibble]

Good Man! Nothing like brightening up another person's morning (cough! cough!)

Oh dear, sounds like a bad cough there, you best look out another turnip!

A turnip, exactly the same shape as a thingy !

I have a cunning plan...