Well that is what I would tell my players, if I was Arsene Wenger. Everywhere you look, there are disgruntled and glass-half-empty Gooners at the moment. It is like a red and white pest that is taking over the entire Goonersphere. Some are naturally wired like that: low expectations is the key to happiness, is their mantra. Others are guided by the poisonous deja-vu experiences they are having: they have seen it all before and believe Arsene is just not good enough anymore to win us the title. Others are just plain Wenger haters and want him out asap. And then there are those who need to project their personal negativity onto something other than themselves; and Arsenal and Wenger are perfect objects to aim all their disappointment and anger at. There are also many fans who secretly believe they know much better than Wenger; and by not doing what they want him to do – buy a ‘proper’ CF for example – they simply don’t believe we will win anything any more.
The players and managers will also sense this general negativity: in the street, on-line and in the grounds. There is no doubt that negativity breeds negativity, and a collective sense of doom will often lead to doom, even if there was a good chance of it not happening in the first place. In times like these, we need honey-sweet optimists. The most famous optimist I am aware of is of course Winston Churchill: aided by alcohol and an incredible gift of the gab, he steered a nation through a most frighting and demoralizing time. Modest as he was, he said he had nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat, but it was his ability to reach deep into the hearts of people, both in the UK and abroad, that really made the difference. Of course, he had other crucial qualities such as strategic planning and making allies, to name a few, but his ability to give continued hope to people was paramount.
“Never give in – never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy”: this is one of my favourite WC quotes, and one that I would have painted on the walls in the dressing room.
And I am hoping Arsene is saying something similar to his troops right now. We are entering the crucial stage of the season and now is the time to believe and not give in. The way the players have fought to win recent games, is very promising for the rest of the season; so there is a good basis to fight all the way to the PL title. We have a great squad both in terms of quality and experience. We won our CL group and are currently second in the league.
The Chavs are going to Pool, then play us and then go to Burnley: every chance they will drop points, possibly even eight or nine. If we win our next three games, we will get close to the Chavs, if not overtake them. That is what I would be telling the players.
Come On You Rip Roaring Gunners!
By TotalArsenal.
Bergkampesque 
Great writing T A. I was looking at Arsenal news now and I saw the headline. Arsenal will be top in three games by Bergkampesque. Bingo a light went on and I immediately know who the author was. I admire your optimism and applaud it and hopefully it will happen. I have always been glass half full, but I sense I am falling into the deja via catagory, falling but not there yet.
IMO the team isn’t firing on all cylinders at the moment and although we are putting a good run together, we still have a soft underbelly. Not sure what the magic answer is, but I do believe we need some form of tactical adjustment (as Chelsea did earlier this season) to get to the top.
Hi TA, A fine post even if I oftentimes would fall into the low expectations = happiness grouping. Another way of looking at that is that we should celebrate that which we love in good times and in less good times… (Sickness and health, etc., etc…)
i’m getting started on my match preview for the Cup game so I assume you’re looking past that one and talking about the three league matches we have upcoming, all in London, Watford, Chavs and Hull. I dunno, compared to our recent struggles in getting going (or losing leads when we’ve gotten them) Chavs look pretty well disciplined (at the back esp.) and decently oiled going forward. It can all change in a heartbeat, however, of course, so why not be optimistic about it. Let’s at least play the games, I say, before we slit our collective wrists… 😀
I’ll keep it for the preview but I’m really hopeful we can have a good outing at Southampton and maybe rotate just a bit and get some other more fringe-type players contributing and otherwise getting themselves onto the radar as possible game changers for the league matches, not to mention Bayern Munich, which comes just after. DW, Lucas, the Ox and Theo are who I’m thinking about but maybe there are some others who will need to step in (and up)…
Cheers again for just that sort (your upbeat…) contribution from amongst the support…
Retsub agreed the team are not firing on all cylinders and it is time to find those cylinders and release our bullets. The potential is there; we just have to go on a good run by fully playing to it. What I have noticed of the Chavs is that they give up quickly once they go two behind, as they did against us and the team we do not mention easily on this site. Let’s see how they deal with a rampant Pool, than us and then fortress Burnley away. This is a good time to go on a run and take the fight to the Chavskies. 🙂
Nothing really wrong with low expectations approach for a fan, Seventeenho. As a team or a manager is perhaps not the best approach. 🙂 Key is to keep supporting the team through thick and thin, even if you have naturally low expectations – and that is what you always will do.
Looking fwd to the preview, Seventeenho. I really like it that we will take the Saints serious and their success yesterday will make sure of it. Let’s go there and play a beastly cup game.
The video is satire btw
That clip was hilarious. Didn’t think the Dutch would have such great sense of humour.
Yes HT, before I go on to this post, I want to go back to your rant, your words, on the previous post.
‘Maybe it’s inherent to our capitalist ways… Supporters–the “consumer” of the product Arsenal are putting out–have every right to complain that the product isn’t to their liking. If they do so, however, I think they should acknowledge that this is how they want to. er, consume their product.. Of course, consumers don’t have to love every product they buy, but, especially if the product is the only one available (or so they think…in truth they could always move on to a different club…) perhaps trying to love it, for better and for worse, in the long term at least, will make them happier than always finding fault and demanding more.’
I would argue that this view is in the eye of the beholder?
Football is built on fan loyalty. Real tribal divisions. Despite the money and success, or lack of it, that is trying to turn it into a business model, and one that fits the description as a ‘product’ to which can be taken or left.
The latter is only a perception.
The only thing different now from the grumbling fan of yesteryear, moaning to his mates leaving the ground, is that it can now be ‘heard’ by thousands. What is lost in that transition, is that circle around him or her, know full well that come the next game, the same 100% support will be forthcoming. The difference now is the audience, which you seem to tune into regularly, HT? is that they are not all going to be there for the next game. Good grief, many of the blog writers will be writing about one team one week and another the next, depending which gains the biggest headline grabbing story..
You assume that these vocals are all one and the same. They are not.
The emotional attachment that fans have with their club has not changed, only the size of the audience. The land of trolls?
How on earth you could put Pony Eye in that same category, even with an apology, of those who you might advise to exercise their ‘right to choice’ and move on, that sparked this rant beats me.
The other illusion is that if fickle fans should move on, you think that will improve things? Because they just become fickle fans elsewhere, and that continues until we get fickle fans of other clubs taking their place. The reality is, in this larger audience, there are true fans who have a right to express their disappointment or whatever, but will be back for the next game with full support, if only in hope rather than expectation, against a backdrop vocal sheep who listen to the professional football moaners they see or read about.
A bit of fine tuning might help HT?
In the words of Bill Shankly – Football is not about life or death. It is far more important than that.
No product gets close to that!
Cheers,
Gerry
TA, great, great post. It gets us dreaming. Sweet dreams for that matter.
It is said that Billy the Kid was the very best of the gunslingers of the Wild Wild West. Why? Because, of all the gunslingers, he was the only one that accepted emotionally that his next gun fight might be his last. It gave him ice cold nerves, banished any fears, eliminated panic, leaving him at any moment at his efficient best. Billy the Kid was the best.
If I was Arsene Wenger, I would tell my team not to think about Chelsea, nor the Spuds, nor Liv nor any other team for that matter. I will tell them to face the work at hand with the singleness of purpose of a beast after its prey. I would tell them to be football’s Billy the Kid, ice cold, efficient, ruthless, unafraid of the cost, yet the very best. I would tell them, ” Keep your eyes on the ball, when the final ‘whistle’ is blown, we would look up and see where we are”.
Ha! I’ve just read your post, and comments above … and I see I have made most of my points in the above?
Differentiate!
The ‘Wenger Out!’ man of yesteryear (Mee Out!?) would still get drown out by the true fans at kick off.
I do not care who is glass half empty or whatever. A blog is a talking place of opinions. Opinions vary. But if the same people come back on site to defend, or even gloat about their comments, that’s fine with me. What the wider blogsphere is talking about is of no interest to me whatsoever. I cannot influence it in any way shape or form.
As far as categories, I am probably all of the above, at different times. Who on here thinks that what they write makes a blind bit of difference to how the game is played?
Get a grip people!
We, as a group with post match discussions are just the same as the mates leaving the ground in yesteryear. Some will think X was to blame for the defeat, others Y. In victory the same. It will be a great team performance, or X and Y made a difference. It is about opinions.
The point is, before the next game we are all down the same pub (or its equivalent), in the hope at least, things will go our way. Being there and wanting a good result is what matters?
Forget the noise outside.
If that noise was for real, they would boo the boys before they even kicked off.
That doesn’t happen.
I am certainly not going to pad Trump’s ego with a comment. Nobody admires Trump more than he does himself.
]Did you see that bit ‘… I can be a great President. [repeat] I can be a great President … like Lincoln’
Say no more.
New Post please
Cheers,
Gerry
Love it, PE, you understood the spirit of the post.
Gerry, you bore the pants of me at times.
Gerry, you have given me the impetus to revisit the last post. I possibly did not convey what I wanted to say in the post clearly enough. The major thrust of the post was to show the brilliance of the BoD and Wenger in pushing the Arsenal to the height it now occupies. That famous transcontinental train has space for only a few teams and we are one of them. What’s wrong in suggesting that there remains one little area that is psychological keeping us from moving into the 1st class cabin.
If we should only praise and praise and praise we are not only being hypocrites we are also not seeking for ways to greater heights. Self criticism should not always be viewed as negative. I’m a gunner who is not afraid to look at myself.
17HT, please don’t publish the preview till your evening/ our Sat morning, if that’s ok?
Four games ban for Arsene. This will test the team, especially against the Chavs. Come on you Bouldie 😍⚽️
Touchline ban.
4 games. And still, sections of the media and certain pundits are baying for (more) blood. You can’t help but feel that somehow, this reaction is down to the fact it is Arsene Wenger and Arsenal involved. Worse still, some of the Arsenal fan base join in on the act. Incredible!
For avoidance of doubt, the offense comes with a two game ban; the reason Arsene’s is four has to do with the double charge of insulting the ref and having physical contact with the 4th official.
Ah the Press/Media, we must remember that the current transfer window is almost static, so the P/M have bugger all to occupy their tiny minds…
If some of those commenting on Wengers 4 game ban, had a brain, they would be dangerous…
Just as with Xhaka, when these kind of things occur, I pretty much tune out of the P/M circus, it’ll be thus for Arsenes ban. Then it will be forgotten and those geniuses in the Media will move onto their next target…
Frankly the emergence and growth of the internet and blogs have made your average ‘sports journo’ pretty much an irrelevance, and not before time..
New Post…