Gunnerz4life wrote: ↑Fri Aug 19, 2022 3:12 pm
DB10GOONER wrote: ↑Fri Aug 19, 2022 1:51 pm
Gunnerz4life wrote: ↑Fri Aug 19, 2022 12:07 pm
The argument that the history of the Arsenal was not built on attractive free flowing football is flawed and is borne out of some old timers preference of the GG era. The titles under Chapman were won playing attractive football with the W-M formation popularized by Chapman. Also the Arsenal sides during the initial years of Wenger till the invincibles were not just great attacking sides but had players who were hard as nails and could match up to the nastiest of opponents.
And to compare the p*ssy Guendoozi"s antics against Brighton with our players of old is an insult. Hardman Doozi was bragging about how much he earns compared to the Brighton players
We played comparatively "attractive" football in the 30s given that the game was quite technically poor at the time. But in the 40s, 50s, 60s, and particularly the 70s and 80s we were generally boring and efficient but certainly not attractive. There were exceptions like ironically GG's 1991 title winning team that have never received the credit they were due for playing fast attractive technical football and a couple of our 1970s sides played attractive stuff at times.
But in general we were not an attractive footballing side until the first ten years of Wenger's reign. Of course Wenger fucked that up in the second ten years by insisting on getting rid of the powerful strong players and using too many weak lightweight technical players.
Also, hate to rain on your parade here, but many football historians now don't believe it was Chapman and Buchan that invented the WM formation and that it was in common use at that time and that Arsenal just had more success with the formation and thus it became associated with us.
Believing everything has always been rosey at Arsenal does not make you a better or more loyal fan. Take the blinkers off.
The league titles in 1947-48 and 1952-53 were won scoring a hatful of goals but my point is that even if we have played 'unattractive' football for a chunk of our history, it does not necessarily define us like the Wenger way does not solely define us.
There is nothing wrong with the club propagating 'attractive' football as our footballing identity when it has been part of our (successful) history and given how football is being played nowadays is the best recipe for success. It is absurd that people would take offense to that. Wenger is part of our identity as GG and Chapman are, whether anyone likes it or not.
Regarding your last 2 throwaway statements, I did not say Chapman and Buchan invented WM so you did not rain on anyone's parade. And no one believes that everything has always been rosey at Arsenal, a bit rich saying that given we haven't won a league title in almost two decades.
This is a rather odd argument being had. You're right Gunnerz, your past doesn't mean that your present and future necessarily remain the same....for instance, I was once young, incredibly handsome and highly intelligent and now I'm no longer young
....but Augie and DB are absolutely correct to say that we were always known as 'boring Arsenal' and frankly, with a degree of justification.
The 70/71 heroic double winning team was a product of Don Howe's highly defensive coaching methods and at the time typified what Arsenal were known for. I was old enough to watch quite a lot of those games and if we went 1-0 up after 10 minutes, you could all go home, because we closed the game down. It was no doubt GG's inspiration for the coaching of his famous back four. The reputation did indeed go back to the 30's and the W 'stopper' centre half set up. Whether created by Chapman or not, it made us very solid defensively and because we conceded few goals for that era, we were depicted as a negative team...even a 1-0 team, which is crass considering the bundles of goals we used to score.
As with most things in life, perception carries more weight that fact. That said, we were a fucking boring side for most of my younger life, only opening up between GG's 87-91 years, after which, he gradually lost the plot.
So, you're all right....sort of....