Anyone Watch Football Focus on Sat

As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
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tomkingsbury
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Anyone Watch Football Focus on Sat

Post by tomkingsbury »

Apologies for cloggin up the forum with my threads but did anyone see FF on saturday??
Like many, i need a fix of football on my telly (be it good or bad) and was pretty annoyed to see the much talked about subject in english football highlighted on FF. Everytime there is an argument or discussion (mass debate if you will) in the papers or on tv, the media is quick to show a picture or video of arsenal playing (or print an article) about our foreign legion, usually followed with a comment from AW stating a quota of english players could be detrimental to top sides.
No wonder so many twats go on about arsenal being bad for the english game when the media seems to single out arsenal as the cluprits of this demise. Like Tony Saunders brought up in a post on here, chelsea were the first team to field an all foreign lineup in the premiership, and cant submit a full 25-man squad for the champions league. Now im not ignorant enough to not realise that we do have a great many 'foreigners' in our side, but i really couldnt give a shit: give me cesc over fat frank any day, toure over rio, RVP over bent or johnson, adebayor over crouch, song over gerrard (eventually!! :lol: ). In fact the lack of english players prob means it has helped me lose interest in the england national side: that and the amount of overpaid, overhyped egotistical pricks that wear the england shirt as if its their god given right.
Secondly, are the media seriously telling me that AW conveniently is the only manager against this quota - i doubt for one second that Slur Alex, Rafa, Avram, Big Sam (especially at bolton) would quite happily agree that a quota is needed and they would have no problem with it being introduced. What a load of bollocks - if it wasnt for that gurning twat jimmy hill we probably wouldnt be in the state we are today with players commanding huge fees.
Gone off the point there a little, but i just get frustrated seeing this story run on continually and arsenal becoming the token example :evil:
Dont get me wrong, i'd love to see more british (and irish) players in our side, but just ones who are committed and talented, but if we can get better players for cheaper elsewhere, so be it.

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delgooner
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Post by delgooner »

Couldnt agree more with you Tomo.

I like you have to have my fix so was watching Gillette Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports and the host Jeff whatshisname started on about this and of course its Arsenal's fault. He said that Arsenal were top of the premiership but not one english player in the team and that he agreed with Blat about limiting the foreign players in the premiership. The panel were Paul Merson, fat pie man ex wigan manager, Phil the nose and Charlie is me darling. Only the fat pie man agreed, Paul, the nose and Charlie said no, it would bring the level of football played down to crap. Nothing was mentioned about how many english ex Arsenal players are playing in the premiership i.e. Bentley, Sidwell, Upson. Perhaps Mr Jeff wants everybody to play to the level of the 3rd division so that three quarters of the grounds on a Saturday or Sunday would be empty cos fans dont want to pay forty quid to watch shit - chel$hite as an example.

Magic Hat
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Post by Magic Hat »

Yes, it is Arsenal's fault that the youth system in England is rubbish, we single handedly destroyed it! I mean it isn't like other countries like Brazil, Holland, France, Germany produce youth that gets exported all over the world by hard work, skill and right attitude (they care about youth football so much, the U21 Holland coach faced the sack with national intrest. They won the thing.), it was just the fact Arsenal don't play there.

How many players did Liverpool/Chelsea/Man U have playing for England U17's in the recent cups? We had the most, 3. Here is this crazy idea of mine, the England youth system is not working, they may be able to create defenders, team play but that is it, not due to Arsenal but lack of investment and lack of proper coaching. We are not produced good keepers anymore, our players are out classed in terms of passing, movement and anything attacking that is more complicated then a high ball into box and knock it home.

Now tell me what the great lord all mighty Sepp Blatter, may his name forever be praised, new proposal do? Make us like the 80's teams were average English players with a few skilled players played long ball and hacking football, England did so well back then didn't they? It doesn't fix the problem of England's failure to produce good attacking players, you will still see dire football till that is fixed. Might I suggest you watch the England young team's, we dominated the shield in the u16's but England U17's rely on Moses and Rose to do stuff as the rest can only defend and counter, we are utterly outclassed in term of play by any big team of youth, U21's relied on Pearce's tactical nous and strong defending to get to the semi's, too often we ended up defending desperately in our own third.

Oh and the EU will block such a rule.

As for the English players we let go who are so great: Sidwell is a reserve Chelsea player who is nowhere near the England team. Where would he fit over Cesc, Gilberto, Flamini, Denilson, Diaby, Diarra, Lansbury and that young Spanish lad whose name escapes me. Merdia?

Pennant is still erratic for Liverpool and needed to move as someone else pointed out, we gave him as many chances to stop being an idiot as we could. DB plays for the mighty Blackburn who are... not in the Uefa Cup and has showed such amazing maturity (he did that in another country, he would be nowhere near the international side. Ever.). Upson is talented but injury prone and Taylor has managed to uh not be trusted with Aston Villa number one spot but should for Arsenal?

<----->

Ok I wrote that thing above yesterday in response to a Liverpool fan who was thanking the world Sep Blatter was going to ruin those evil Arsenal lads and someone who suggested that our English players that had gone were brilliant players. He has yet to reply :cry:

England U16's dominate the shield because we face only N.Ireland, Scotland and Wales so we end up dominating and while there are a few decent looking players, none seem capable of carving up the defences. The u17's, hard to blame our Arsenal players for the style, two are defensive type players and one is alone up front. Roses and Moses are two real prospects going forward as they can create something special and are the only players who look like they can match up with the likes of N.Korea's forward play, we were lucky to get to the Euro final, we rode our luck quite a bit.

U21's, ok injuries, GA being out of contact and traitor boy meant we were robbed of our attacking talents but when we are so limited in good flair players... Meanwhile Holland are changing their youth system to allow big strong defenders as there current system relies too much on ball playing defenders. Oh the horror when we built a national stadium over an academy and our system is unable to produce players like the ones Holland have.

Look at the attitude to it though. U17's get to the world cup, we get half an hour clips for each match from Eurosport, only on getting to the final of the Euro's did they get press coverage from the Times. U21's, get a small part of a page each match, Sky neglected to show two recent matches and they only became big news when traitor boy pulled out and England went out in a heroic fashion, then praise was heaped on Pearce. Compare that to Holland where the U21's are a big thing, they had national debates over if the manager should be sacked. Imagine that? We had Howard Wilkison abuse his position to sack the successful Taylor without much of an uproar and take over himself.

Belfast Boy
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Re: Anyone Watch Football Focus on Sat

Post by Belfast Boy »

tomkingsbury wrote:if it wasnt for that gurning twat jimmy hill we probably wouldnt be in the state we are today with players commanding huge fees.
You may think The Chin is a twat and I agree the money involved does somewhat have it's disadvantages where the typically British underachieving "professional" arsehole who's more interested in how many starry eyed teenagers he can roast than giving his very best back to the fans who fund his extravagant lifestyle is concerned, but by abolishing the maximum wage JH helped raise the standard of the football overall in England by attracting foreigners from their sunny comfort zones and a higher class of athlete who might otherwise have sought a living outside the game altogether, as well of course as practically singlehandedly bringing about the 3 points for a win which I regard as one of the most significant events in the history of the game which helped shape the game we know today, and was specifically introduced to benefit and encourage teams like Arsene's Arsenal!

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stearmaster
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Post by stearmaster »

arsemal r bad for the england national line up so who made

*theo*
bentley
pennant
cole
campbell
hoyte
almunia can qualify for england number 1 spot under a certain rule


and thats only over the past 5 years so fuck off


we got song the other hoyte and landsbury also commin up thru the ranks!!!

who have chelsea made......
ok manu have the benifit of neville and becks
tottenham lennon, huddlestone, that big fat joker in goal.....they all come from leeds/derby didnt they!??!?!?!?

so we cant be to bad to the national team

we r more benifitioal then most of the oothers!!!!

Magic Hat
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Post by Magic Hat »

Didn't Sol get produced by Spurs? Chelsea did produce Terry and turn J.Cole into a decent player

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stearmaster
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Post by stearmaster »

Magic Hat wrote:Didn't Sol get produced by Spurs? Chelsea did produce Terry and turn J.Cole into a decent player
well yea spurs produced spurs but we got the best out of him, and organly j.cole was west ham and was only young thre, and that was a bit of biastness by me, and still is so im givin west spam the benifit of the doubt :lol:

20.01.96
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Post by 20.01.96 »

To be fair Arsene has got it spot on, he has got commitments to make arsenal great, not England. 8)

Everytime I get into an arguement with fans of other clubs they bring up the whole foreign thing :evil: .

Sure I would love to see more english players in our team, but not as a sacrifice to the quality of football I, and many others, pay to go and see at the Emirates.

At the moment I am glad we dont have many England players.......we cant take any responsibility for the team struggling to qualify for the Euros :)

20.01.96
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Post by 20.01.96 »

We would never have picked up Diarra for 2mill if he was English :wink:

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REB
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Post by REB »

20.01.96 wrote:We would never have picked up Diarra for 2mill if he was English :wink:
just hav to look at the prices that english players cost,, its gone beyond a joke,, guys who are not yet full internationals :roll:
tonysaunders had a great article in last months gooner about all this,, everyone should read it 8)
couldnt giv a fu*k about national teams and where players come from as long as they giv there all to the arsenal :wink:

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gunners-need-steel
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Post by gunners-need-steel »

bent for £16.5 .. TH14 for £16 says it all ...

a £10m defender, davis (or whatshisname) ends up gifting goals against aston villa in his first game ...

its an obscene joke that we should not bother responding to ...

Magic Hat
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Post by Magic Hat »

To be fair, Davies held his hands up and said he played like a pub player but can you imagine most English players even thinking that to themselves?

timao
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agreed

Post by timao »

Blatter's plans would push the price of mediocre English players through the roof and thereby favour the richer clubs even more. Totally counterproductive in my view and on a par with his idea about getting women to play tight shorts or whatever it was. The guy is a useless windbag.

In the early days as Arsenal's squad became more cosmopolitan I did wish for more English players (actually for more North London players). I applauded the signing of Franny Jeffers and Jermaine Pennant and the rise of David Bentley through the ranks. Ashley Cole was a source of particular pride, being a home grown talent who became the best in the world in his position.

As each of these players let us down one after the other, I realised the fact of their nationality had no meaning. If anything it left me feeling somewhat embarrassed to have believed in the idea that a player might be worth having because he is English. Now I know better.

The important thing is the club, and having players who believe in the principles and values of the club. As it happens I like those values. If Arsenal was a country I'd apply for citizenship. Conversely, the FA has rarely done anything to make me proud of my actual nationality.

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