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.
augie wrote:Being an "oldie" I sometimes feel that the crowd is too young Seriously though, the younger people have grown up in an enviroment which is far from hostile so imo they know no different. Older fans grew up in a terrace culture where all those on the terraces joined in but nowadays young fans are not allowed stand up, not allowed to sing anything vaguely offensive and generally have nobody to take their lead from as used to be the case.
Many (most) disagree with me but I do like the strategy of having a leader at the front "orchestrating" the rest of the fans like bayern did last night or like what happens in italian games although they sometimes use megaphones (which I am not adverse to btw) - I believe that most fans want to sing in the grove (young and old) but just need somebody to instigate/get them going and for me whether it appears fake or not I dont care as long as it makes a positive contribution to our games
The term is often "tifosi" (singular: tifo) and they're definitely an instrumental part of getting the people both motivated and organized. Especially because a lot of fans don't know wtf to do because they haven't grown up going to every game, with the same people, with the same chants and songs.
Even in Canada (and North America), which often provide relatively anemic atmosphere, tifosi manage to get some serious support going at times amongst the fan groups in the MLS.
I think if you did that in the UK, they'd get carted away very quickly as "attempting to start a riot" or some silly thing.
This subject has been gone over many times on here and other forums, it always makes me laugh. This style of support gets written off by all and sundry as "gay", "orchestrated" or "not the English way" until these teams/fans rock up at the bowl & people can't stop banging on about how good it sounds and looks.
arseofacrow wrote:Would you boo at the end of the game, Steve?
Not sure to be honest. I haven't although I have been there at ends of games wwhen there has been booing and that doesn't affect me as much as during the game or at half time.
OneBardGooner wrote:I'm gonna have to avoid newspapers/radio/tv for the next how many days.........
Thank-you Wenker for making my life even worse than it was at the moment you clueless *word censored*
Oh1 Great we've scored.....
we only need to score another 5 to stand a chance in munich...
You're optimistic. Five will never be enough.
I'm still trying to gauge whether Wenger will gracefully step down in the summer. I think for the good our our beloved club he should, however with the salary he takes each year, however I'm still not positive he will.
Managed to get a ticket to the match last night luckily and been busy in London all day so I've been bottling up my thoughts for 24 hours (imagine it's largely a regurgitation of what has already been posted)...
Bayern are not THAT good. Don't get me wrong, they are a few classes above us and they are one of the best teams in the tournament - wouldn't be surprised if they went on to win it. But it was nothing like the great Barcelona massacre of 2010 (over 180 minutes when we were a far better side). We made them look better than they are. I'll never forget the way they pinged the ball round that first 30 minutes until my dying day, it was unlike anything I've ever seen before. Bayern have some extremely talented players and I thought Lahm and Kroos were absolutely outstanding but they just implemented a cautious but ruthless game plan to great effect - get men behind the ball and overload our right-hand side. They contrived to give us a way back into the match in the second half through some Arsenal-esque defending and semi-capitulation. Each of the goals was a travesty in its own right...
1st goal - As usual we have no plan regarding pressing. Let them have far too much time on the ball throughout the game generally but on this occasion both our left-sided players press the ball far too hard too high up the pitch and lose out. Arteta then gives him far too much time to get a cross in, we make a half-arsed effort to cut it out and nobody tracks their midfielders who are queueing up to stick it in (great finish mind).
2nd goal - They had a corner less than 5 minutes before where van Buyten made the same run untracked and after nearly getting on the end of it gave the taker a bollocking for not picking him out. We then let the biggest fucker in the team make the same run again without tracking him and Szczesny displays his trademark combination of palming the ball out back towards the danger zone AND cushioning it to put it on a plate for the attacker.
3rd goal - Could perhaps be forgiven for not tracking the run of the full-back at the stage. The real disgrace in this goal is our centre-half allowing their striker to control a ball on his chest unchallenged that was in the air for 40-50 yards. How anybody can think Koscielny will ever be a good centre-half after this latest debacle I do not know - their striker stood on his toes all game and was sure enough allowed to chest everything down with minimal fuss. Most centre-halves would kill for the chance to knock about a lone striker in that situation (as indeed theirs did against Walcott, who imo copped a ridiculous amount of flak from the fans around me for failings that had little/nothing to do with him), ours shits his pants whenever the striker turns his back to him. Must have been forced to bum his brother as a boy or something.
I genuinely can't ever remember us playing as badly as that. Even the first 30 minutes against Barca in 2010 they were unbelievable and we were at least trying to chase them and move the ball when we had it. Even the 8-2 up at Old Trafford we actually created more than I can remember in years there (although obviously that is a barely mitigating factor in the wider context). Last night we defended far worse than usual and were forced into aimlessly hacking the ball in any direction.
Anyway I'm fucking knackered so WENGER OUT (heard plenty of fans deriding him last night although our pathetic 'comeback' annoyingly staved off the majority of the boos). northbank out.
northbank123 wrote:it was nothing like the great Barcelona massacre of 2010
When we coulda been 5 down within 2 mins lol. Almunia pulling off heroics for 45 minutes, only to chuck all his good work down the drain within 60 seconds of the restart Classic.
northbank123 wrote:
2nd goal - They had a corner less than 5 minutes before where van Buyten made the same run untracked and after nearly getting on the end of it gave the taker a bollocking for not picking him out. We then let the biggest fucker in the team make the same run again without tracking him and Szczesny displays his trademark combination of palming the ball out back towards the danger zone AND cushioning it to put it on a plate for the attacker. northbank out.
But doesnt suggest that we are implimenting the zonal policy correctly ? By it's very being, zonal marking requires our players to mark a space and not an opposition player therefore our players are not allowed to track a runner Shit system but we have come to expect nothing else
Firstly, when the fuck did people become embarrassed by singing "by far the greatest team"? Do some of these fuckers know nothing about football? It's partly ironic, but mostly tribal backs to the wall bravado having a bit of a laugh but also creating a bit of atmosphere piss taking. It doesn't actually mean we really really think we are the greatest team the world has ever seen, for the love of stupid fuck. We fucking sang this during the pits of mid-80's mid table mediocrity.When you are doing shit, that is the best time to sing it.
What should we sing? Only songs that are factually relevent?
"Arsene Wenger's magic, but some of our fans have turned against him because of 8 trophyless years, whilst some others still blindly support him!"
Secondly will you all please fuck off with your stupid fucking cheer leader down the front wannabe American/European bullshit. If I need to watch some fat attention seeking arsehole yelping out of them I'll hang around outside James Corden's gaff.
DB10GOONER wrote:Firstly, when the fuck did people become embarrassed by singing "by far the greatest team"? Do some of these fuckers know nothing about football? It's partly ironic, but mostly tribal backs to the wall bravado having a bit of a laugh but also creating a bit of atmosphere piss taking. It doesn't actually mean we really really think we are the greatest team the world has ever seen, for the love of stupid fuck. We fucking sang this during the pits of mid-80's mid table mediocrity.When you are doing shit, that is the best time to sing it.
What should we sing? Only songs that are factually relevent?
"Arsene Wenger's magic, but some of our fans have turned against him because of 8 trophyless years, whilst some others still blindly support him!"
Secondly will you all please fuck off with your stupid fucking cheer leader down the front wannabe American/European bullshit. If I need to watch some fat attention seeking arsehole yelping out of them I'll hang around outside James Corden's gaff.
Arsene Wenger's lost it
He wears a dunce's cap
And when he saw the FA Cup
He said I'm going to rest players with a view to the Bayern game on Tuesday, but we have super quality throughout the squad and I have no doubt we have the character and mental strength to prevail....ooooooooooo....Arsene Wen
northbank123 wrote:
Bayern are not THAT good. Don't get me wrong, they are a few classes above us and they are one of the best teams in the tournament .
I was surprised that it seemed that Arsenal did not had a game plan at all! The squad selection was not bad, BUT Walcott must play on the right wing and Giroud must be in the starting squad as a forward, together with Podolski! It looked like Arsenal did not watch the Munic games. They are always going for a fast goal and the first! attack from them made it 1:0. After that is went all wrong for Arsenal, but they also had still the chance to come back into the game. After the 2:1 Giroud had the chance to tie the game, but then it was 3:1.
Not sure if you can get something out of the Munic away game, maybe a first early goal can change the game, but Bayern is very dangerous at home. BVB is taking them on at Wednesday the 27th of Febuary in the DFB (FA) Cup.
northbank123 wrote:
Bayern are not THAT good. Don't get me wrong, they are a few classes above us and they are one of the best teams in the tournament .
I was surprised that it seemed that Arsenal did not had a game plan at all! The squad selection was not bad, BUT Walcott must play on the right wing and Giroud must be in the starting squad as a forward, together with Podolski! It looked like Arsenal did not watch the Munic games. They are always going for a fast goal and the first! attack from them made it 1:0. After that is went all wrong for Arsenal, but they also had still the chance to come back into the game. After the 2:1 Giroud had the chance to tie the game, but then it was 3:1.
Not sure if you can get something out of the Munic away game, maybe a first early goal can change the game, but Bayern is very dangerous at home. BVB is taking them on at Wednesday the 27th of Febuary in the DFB (FA) Cup.
Cheers,
Thomas
Our manager doesn't believe in tactics, mate. Or in playing players to their strengths. That's why we have our most natural striker (Podolski) out wide instead of in the centre as part of a 2 in a 4-4-2 with Giroud.
Tomáš wrote:I was surprised that it seemed that Arsenal did not had a game plan at all!
Welcome to Arsenal, where we don't believe in tactics, game plans or studying the opposition! As confirmed by ex-players. "Just go out and play!" is the best you'll get from the coach of the decade, and all for just £7.5m a year.
northbank123 wrote:
2nd goal - They had a corner less than 5 minutes before where van Buyten made the same run untracked and after nearly getting on the end of it gave the taker a bollocking for not picking him out. We then let the biggest fucker in the team make the same run again without tracking him and Szczesny displays his trademark combination of palming the ball out back towards the danger zone AND cushioning it to put it on a plate for the attacker. northbank out.
But doesnt suggest that we are implimenting the zonal policy correctly ? By it's very being, zonal marking requires our players to mark a space and not an opposition player therefore our players are not allowed to track a runner Shit system but we have come to expect nothing else
I'm personally not a fan of zonal marking - either go man for man or mix zonal and man-marking. But basically every club, whatever system they use, will have a good header of the ball stood just in front of the post 5 or 6 yards out. It's where van Judas used to be and where Giroud normally is. Instead Ramsey was the closest man to the ball and he's fucking useless in the air. Not saying it would have stopped the goal because the marking itself was criminal but it would certainly made it a lot more difficult for van Buyten and probably stopped him making the run in the first place.
But fair play to Bayern, they picked on our weaknesses all game and got their rewards.
Seriously though, the younger people have grown up in an enviroment which is far from hostile so imo they know no different. Older fans grew up in a terrace culture where all those on the terraces joined in but nowadays young fans are not allowed stand up, not allowed to sing anything vaguely offensive and generally have nobody to take their lead from as used to be the case.
