I'm still pissed off about Wednesday night but I'm starting to calm down now... it was a bizarre day and night and the whole thing is going to take a while to settle in. I meant every word I said – that was the anger I felt immediately after the match. I live 3 minutes from my seat so I got the laptop out the second I got home and vented it.
This is, in a way, is the pain of supporting Arsenal... although this was a new type of pain to me.
I know that Wenger has done a lot for our club and I understand and have to accept the way he works... although part and parcel of that is that Wenger is in it entirely for himself – this is no bad thing as his motivations are for the good of the club – he wants to play the best football, he want's to keep the club economically viable and he wants the team and the club to win trophies... above all, it seems, he want's to change the face of football, not for us – for him and Arsenal is his symbiotic vehicle. This is diametrically opposed to the parasitic type of 'self motivation' that can be laid at the feet of Harry Redknapp and his style of football management.
For this reason Arsené is a living Arsenal legend up there with the likes of Chapman and he deserves his bronze bust and future pubs in and around the area to be named after him.
What I have heard from many supporters of the club over the last few days is the desperate need to rationalise and deny the events of Wednesday night... a popular and recurring theme is that foreign players do not recognise the importance of a derby match. This is not true... Henry, for instance, absolutely knew the importance of the games against Tottenham – one of my favourite pictures if of him sliding on his knees at the Tottenham crowd, his face exploding with adrenaline; giving each and every one of them the eyeball. Despite the fact that he was one man and they were the epitome of the 'angry mob' (and the Tottenham mob isn't shy do dish out a bit of violence) – he shone out with invincibility and they all knew that they were beaten. It was real and happening. You can see in the picture that some of them, grown men, are crying... this is the beauty of tragedy – his brilliance was undeniable and in the face of it the mob were left mute, atomised and powerless to touch him.
That's what the north London derby means to the fans – and this is the tribal nature of football. This is the soul of our game and this point of crossover from our animal instinct to our human reason is the essence of enlightened competition. This is something that anyone can understand regardless of their nationality or upbringing. I work with English, Nigerian, French and Chinese Arsenal fans and English, American, Israeli Tottenham fans and they all understand and subscribe to the importance of the derby. These are the people we work with, the people we see every day and when the season ends these are the people that we have to rationalise, compare and brag about the relative merits of our game. If we win nothing this season then at least we can say that we gave Tottenham hiding that they were due (and vice versa)... although sadly – these days I seem to work with as many Manchester United and Liverpool fans as I do Tottenham and Arsenal... strangely – not many Chelsea fans though as they all seem to drive white vans and taxi cabs for a living.
I had a dream Wednesday night, a strange dream; I dreamt that I took two new born babies out of my freezer to thaw – they were twins and one was stillborn and resigned to death while the other became animated and returned to life as I poured warm water over him – he had a strength that wouldn't die and wanted to live to be with me.
I don't know what that means... but I know it means something.
Before the game I met up with PieFace and various members of the Intelligentsia group in the Herbert Chapman for some beer and singing. The place was alive and heaving; the bouncers were checking everyone for colours (something that they don't normally do in the Chapman on match day as it's so deep in Arsenal territory), I was greeted with:
"Are you To… I, Err - Are you Arsenal? Show me your shirt!"
The Bouncer, and enormous skinhead form somewhere Eastern Europe, realised that he nearly accused me of being 'Tottenham' but, besides towering over me (and I'm 6 foot & 14 stone) and having 3 geezers as backup stood behind him; he looked appologetic, nervous and looked around to see if anyone else had noticed the potential incendiary of a faux pas, that was thankfully caught in his throat, in what was the 'tinderbox' atmosphere of the Chapman that night.
A firm was in and nobody was going to fuck with those boys... I've never seen them before but ColonelDecker told me that he saw them at the West Ham match they tried so start a fight with the Hammers lot and when that didn't work they went for the police, Decker saw one of them (the ringleader it seemed) nick a pair of hand cuffs off a policeman, maybe it's a trophy or something - the gooners, the herd; I don't know who they were, maybe a new lot? I think we'll be seeing a renascence in hooliganism and violence on 'what were' the terraces over the next few years... times have changed and people are getting angry.
Personally, unlike a proper riot, I think that hooliganism is all a bit homo-erotic... grown men struggling to come to terms with their sexuality and masculinity need an outlet that gives them that man-on-man contact that they so desperately crave... It wouldn't take much for a pre-arranged fight between two firms to turn into a gay orgy – just throw in some KY and poppers. Would that be so obscene? Would it be more obscene than them kicking the shit out of each other? And what would the riot police do to break them up – there wouldn't be anything in the training manual, that's for sure?! Afterwards they could compare fashion tips and the relative merits of Stone Island cardigans verses Aquascutum overcoats in a bundle. Hey – maybe that's what the handcuffs were for – a proper kinky cuffed up man love session post match!
Of course - I'm not going to tell them that, no sir – they are big, angry and proper scary geezers and I'd end up in the Wittington eating soup through a straw.
We left the Chapman at a bad time – it had pretty much cleared out as everyone was making their way to the stadium, we emerged to quite a bizarre scene. I was on the pavement on the Holloway road that I have trodden a thousand times before... except I was surrounded by the aforementioned firm singing some anti-Semitic Tottenham song. There were many police mulling around trying to shepherd them off towards the stadium for kick-off. Suddenly – it all did kick off. These boys knew the route that the Tottenham fans were taking on the way to the stadium and it was right past the Chapman, that's why they were here – and I swear that I have never seen the away fans come this way before as the away supporters pub is the other side of the stadium, Drayton Park way... I think this lot were marching down from Seven Sisters and they were led and followed by riot police vans and flanked by coppers.
On cue – the Arsenal lot went mental and attacked them with a stash of glass bottles that had been gathered from outside the off licence and bins. Bemused and fascinated I just stood there and watched – the energy was amazing... and it's always fun to see a riot copper take a half empty bottle of WKD blue to the face – after all, nobody becomes a riot policeman for a quiet night out and they seemed to love it as much as the two groups of opposing fans... the Tottenham lot looked a little concerned – but they had a plan and moved to flank the pub to cut us off. I turned around to see PieFace and the rest of the ASI doing what can only be described as 'getting the fuck out of there' – at that precise point all the cops who were mulling about organised themselves in a rear guard line behind the trouble and whipped out their extendable batons, holding them aloft in a 'I'm going to fucking twat you with this' gesture... they had a little metal bobble on the end and I was in no doubt that they would proper fucking caine if you were struck with one. Fascinating and addictive as it was from a socio/animal, and indeed, military perspective, reason kicked in and I decided that discretion was the better part of valour and stuck my back to the shop window of 'Franchi Locks and Tools' and snaked my way around the corner past the coppers and shuffled off towards the stadium... It is stupidity rather than courage to refuse to recognise danger when it is close upon you.
That's what the north London derby means to the fans.
So – what happened next on that Wednesday night was well... a bit of a let down to be honest. We gave it up and let them draw and it seemed that key members in the team were in on it. The jury is out on RvP and Walcott as they seemed to have been taken off for trying too hard. But as for Almunia, Gallas, Fabregas and Adebayor... well – I know what I saw and there had better be a good reason. Wenger must have given the orders... after all – this wasn't a case of a rouge agent, at the end of their career dropping the ball accidentally on purpose two matches in a row before being dropped for the rest of the season and sold on... Lehman.
At the end of the game Gallas and Almunia might as well have stood either side of Lennon and held his hands before swinging him '1, 2, 3 - wheeee' toddler style at the ball to give Tottenham the equaliser. It was clear that nobody cared, and nobody was trying – it was a bit of a jog around goal fest in which nobody gets hurt... fucking theatre – the trouble outside the Chapman was the only competition I saw that evening; I might as well have stayed home and watched East Enders... at least the acting would have been slightly more convincing.
Now – I can take an agreed draw under certain circumstances i.e. if we are in the group stages of a cup competition such as the Champions League and both teams only require a point to go through to the knockout stages. It makes sense to save your energy for the league; it's a dead game so if everyone is in agreement get the draw and keep something in the tank - like when we played Porto in the CL 2006 giving CSKA Moscow the Wafer cup spot... but in the league, well – one wonders what we were promised in return for making 'Arry an instant fucking hero with the deluded mug scum at our expense... one of the only up-sides to that game was that all but 3 of the Tottenham supporters in the away end had fucked off home in the 85th minute so they couldn't really rub it in. It is a busy schedule, yes, and we have Stoke away with Rob Styles officiating next which may be a physical and bent match... so I would guess a training session (with a spectacular goal count to give everyone a 'good show') for 1 guaranteed point here, in return for 3 in the return match at the Lane, might be the logical and long term route to the title?
We play Tottenham away at an interesting point in the season (see some previous post regarding Chinese New Year) so, I suppose, mathematically it would make sense with regards to a title challenge.
But that is not the point – the point is that the game on Wednesday night, regardless of winning trophies, is one of the matches that we all look forward to and it was reduced to the level of Pantomime...
...Wenger had better have a fucking plan up his sleeve to erase the memories of that game from my mind. This kind of corruption, however well intended is a slippery slope on which the idealism in the young players and fans disappears – it's seeds like this that can grow in a their minds throughout their adulthood and bloom into something ugly.
If this is the game that we are now playing then, quite frankly, the pretty football just isn't enough... the reason has overbalanced the instinct at the expense of the competition.
If this is the way we are going to play it, I want to see actual results or I'm leaving... and even if we do win something this way – the taste of victory will be a bitter/sweet moment.
Friday 31 October 2008
Wednesday 29 October 2008
It really shouldn't be this cold in summertime
Utter fucking shit.
If you needed any more fucking proof that my suspicions were fucking correct then look no further than tonight - we sold out and we sold out in style. The first half we didn't even try - the body language of the players was non-committal and the when Tottenham got the goal nobody gave a shit... not even the Tottenham players.
We scored whenever we wanted... but we didn't want to score that much.
I said to PieFace before half time:
"we are throwing this, we are scuppering the HT/FT and the AH buy on Arsenal"
That was fucking optimistic... I was still convinced that we were playing a 'bent' match with Redknapp having a word that nobody would try for 45 minutes then we would see some competition second half - I was wrong. It was an agreed draw - we could have shat on them 10-0 but we let them get 2 goals in the final minutes of the match. When do Tottenham score 4 against anyone? When do Arsenal ever concede 2 goals in the last minute?
I bet the bookies were wanking themselves silly over that.
It was a fix. We threw it... I thought the Liverpool/Pompey game would be the one of the big 4 multiple (that was so heavily pushed by the afformentioned bookies) to fail - but no... it was us and we were complicit in it. In fact - the game was structured to bring in maximum 'mug money' in play!
We are no better that fucking Man-U... at half time I was trying to reconcile that maybe Wenger was just making a deal for the busy schedule... maybe he agreed wit Redknapp that we would keep it level and only play one half - I would have still been ok with that. I could have seen some competition, some return for my support - some return for my fucking season ticket!?
When we were at 4-3 and Fabregas was taking the corner I stood up and shouted at him:
"Fabregas - come on play like you want to fucking win!"
He heard me and ignored me... I had a pang of guilt that I was reading it wrong - then we flushed the game down the toilet for Kroneke, for Redknapp and *whatever* we were promised in return... I don't care if we win the fucking league if this is the way we are going to do it - I really don't. Fuck you Wenger!
We are shit... and overall, instead of being 80 quid up I'm 30 pence down on my bets last night - why the fuck did I stay away from the Liverpool match? Jesus - disillusioned or what? I lost 30 pence and my fucking faith in this team... which is worth more Wenger, Fabregas, Gallas - take my 30 fucking pence - well done, I'm robbed!? If I can't bet my fucking bottom line on my team then who can I bet on? That's money out of my pocket, that's money I can't spend on my kids. And that's one generation that I will ensure will not grow up buying into this shit!
Sell your season tickets to the idiots in the suits who can buy into this shit... the soul has gone - wake me up when you want to fucking compete.
SHAME ON YOU ARSENAL - UTTER FUCKING SHAME!!!
If you needed any more fucking proof that my suspicions were fucking correct then look no further than tonight - we sold out and we sold out in style. The first half we didn't even try - the body language of the players was non-committal and the when Tottenham got the goal nobody gave a shit... not even the Tottenham players.
We scored whenever we wanted... but we didn't want to score that much.
I said to PieFace before half time:
"we are throwing this, we are scuppering the HT/FT and the AH buy on Arsenal"
That was fucking optimistic... I was still convinced that we were playing a 'bent' match with Redknapp having a word that nobody would try for 45 minutes then we would see some competition second half - I was wrong. It was an agreed draw - we could have shat on them 10-0 but we let them get 2 goals in the final minutes of the match. When do Tottenham score 4 against anyone? When do Arsenal ever concede 2 goals in the last minute?
I bet the bookies were wanking themselves silly over that.
It was a fix. We threw it... I thought the Liverpool/Pompey game would be the one of the big 4 multiple (that was so heavily pushed by the afformentioned bookies) to fail - but no... it was us and we were complicit in it. In fact - the game was structured to bring in maximum 'mug money' in play!
We are no better that fucking Man-U... at half time I was trying to reconcile that maybe Wenger was just making a deal for the busy schedule... maybe he agreed wit Redknapp that we would keep it level and only play one half - I would have still been ok with that. I could have seen some competition, some return for my support - some return for my fucking season ticket!?
When we were at 4-3 and Fabregas was taking the corner I stood up and shouted at him:
"Fabregas - come on play like you want to fucking win!"
He heard me and ignored me... I had a pang of guilt that I was reading it wrong - then we flushed the game down the toilet for Kroneke, for Redknapp and *whatever* we were promised in return... I don't care if we win the fucking league if this is the way we are going to do it - I really don't. Fuck you Wenger!
We are shit... and overall, instead of being 80 quid up I'm 30 pence down on my bets last night - why the fuck did I stay away from the Liverpool match? Jesus - disillusioned or what? I lost 30 pence and my fucking faith in this team... which is worth more Wenger, Fabregas, Gallas - take my 30 fucking pence - well done, I'm robbed!? If I can't bet my fucking bottom line on my team then who can I bet on? That's money out of my pocket, that's money I can't spend on my kids. And that's one generation that I will ensure will not grow up buying into this shit!
Sell your season tickets to the idiots in the suits who can buy into this shit... the soul has gone - wake me up when you want to fucking compete.
SHAME ON YOU ARSENAL - UTTER FUCKING SHAME!!!
Monday 27 October 2008
I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in
Well – I was almost right! I think I underestimated the Hammers defence a bit – and in particular, their keeper; Green. He was having a blinder... well – apart from when he, clearly for everyone but the linesman, to see, handballed it to stop Bentner's one-on-one attack – It always makes me wonder why he isn't in the England squad instead of that clown James? Almunia was also having a blinder... again – why isn't he in the England squad instead of that clown James?
:-D
I have no real complaints on the officiating – I saw the first half on a ropey internet stream where all the players were in an acid-flashback 'negative Yellow/Magenta/Cyan/Black' colour filter/error - so it was difficult to judge what the fuck was going on... nice purple pitch though. West Ham, fair play to them, had a reasonable plan – defend hard and counter attack... they even tried to play a bit of footie and it proved for a very frustrating match where, despite a few good chances, we just couldn't seem to score. West Ham were pretty good on the break and there were some very worrying moments where we had, in a bid to get the three points, almost overcommitted in the attack. West Ham, however, despite Zola's proclamations on wanting to emulate the Arsenal approach to his style of management, slowly reverted to shit-kicking form (even more so after the deadlock was broken with the own goal) and proceeded to give us a bit of a hoofing... bit of advice Zola - you can't unsettle a team like that deep in the second half when they are playing you off the park – you just look bit desperate, unfit and unsporting. Wenger's answer was classic – you want to kick us off the ball, ok – then we'll stick on Ade to run at you and play in a few long-balls... despite the fact it was an own goal – the first goal was all down to Adebayor and then, not long after that we saw the quite unfamiliar move of one blinding over the top pass from Bentner in his own half followed by an almost sexually arousing first touch from Ade to set himself up for the shot and defy the brave keeping from the stretching Green. Adebayor made no mistake in killing the game dead.
Where are all the Adebayor haters now? Whatsat you say? Lazy..? Greedy..? Or just fucking excellent!?
I love it when we change styles and try something new – we saw it experimentally last season as an answer to teams that try to rough us up and get a point... 'total football' is nice (and glorious to watch when it's clicking) but if it's not happening on the ground then we have got to have the skills in the air... it's that kind of flexibility in attack (and the ability to flip it) that will eventually win us trophies. Wenger isn't running short on ideas and there is a lot more to come from this team in terms of changing the way the English game is played and 'leading the way' in the quest for proper football...
The rest of the 'Big 4' showed their class in two of the most dodgy games I ever did see.
"if you had offered me a draw before the match I would have taken it" - David Moyes
Ahem... well, no comment – nice one Wiley; good shooting Ronaldo – you go get that 'player of the year' award with a straight face, you earned it! And as for Liverpool/Chelsea... all I can say that if I were a betting man then I would put money on there being a fat stack of oily roubles on the reds.
Luckily I am (or have now become) a betting man and that's where my cash was also... although I was a bit timid and only put six quid on it – still, a fair return! In fact – I couldn't give my money away this weekend and I was forced to withdraw another £100 from my account – that's the second time this week!
Maybe I'm learning, this w/e was a milestone for me as I am officially in the black (P&L) for my entire gambling history – in the last 3 months I have erased 2 years of 'leisure punter' activity and got into the profit zone. I've worked hard for it, and now the cash that I have spent has been withdrawn with interest - I'm going to try and build up a profit stack and take this more seriously... I've also noticed that I don't get excited about betting any more, to be honest it's a relief as I never liked that 'risk' feeling in the pit of my stomach anyway – now it's just business win or loose, a means to an end. I will understand the dark side of this game one day and this dark path is the only way to tread... and with every win will I take another step forwards.
The Joker, before he left this plane of existence, used to tell me that the perfect crime always left traces... and it does – in a way. Let's look at the media run up to this weekend's games. Chelsea were being painted as being undefeatable at the bridge and even emulating Arsenal's unbeaten run (Scolari you have no shame) – Liverpool were kept off the back pages and expectations played down – I was even noticing that the little Paddy-Power and Ladbrokes logos where being placed in-picture in certain newspapers – usually with a shot of a John Terry goal celebration with a 'I've just hit the vinegar-strokes' look on his face... Laying Chelsea was the obvious bet – but I backed Liverpool simply because with these games (that usually end in a draw) the bookies will want cash on both teams... I wouldn't have spotted it if it weren't for my oldest friend, Stinky who – to my concern, opened a BetFair account on Friday and put on the following:
Talk about 'beginners luck' - I told him he was mad... but it got me thinking and, after reading the back pages, I got on the Liverpool bet too. FYI - My bets for the w/e were:
So 4 for 4, result, I got on Arsenal as we too were absent from the back pages... the media spotlight seems to fall on the mug money while the smart money lurks in the shadows. This cannot be a coincidence. If you take your positions based on the fact that the game is bent, a gambling sport and the media are complicit then you can't go far wrong... but you have to spot the signs and detect the traces; the silken threads, quantum entanglements of reality that cannot be comletely removed from the slight of hand and fantasy. I was also tempted to get on Tottenham to win – but couldn't quite bring myself to do it.
Talking of Tottenham... Harry Redknapp? Are you sure? That's the funniest thing in the world ever – all the deluded fucking spuds will now start crowing about how they have a 'proper manager'... when will they learn – still, it gives me another good reason (as if I needed it) to hate Spurs; it's a match made in heaven if you ask me... in the dodgy stakes; Spurs are now our perfect 'yin' - what are the odds he brings in a keeper/clown 'he can trust' like James to replace that hapless free-agent liability Gomez? The main thing that pisses me off though is that through a sustained internet troll campaign of undercover gooners on Tottenham discussion boards and groups to whip the Spuds up into a protest on Sunday; it all came to nowt... damn – I was really looking forward to seeing them with all their home made, badly spelled banners, laughing my arse off to the chants demanding that the board and manager gets sacked and replaced with the likes of Terry Venables, Teddy Sheringham, Gazza and Glen Hoddle right before the 'make or break' game of their season... it was worth a try and we had fun doing it.
Ce-la-vie.
Bring on Wednesday!
[27/10/2008 09:16:41] DogFace says: geeezer
[27/10/2008 09:19:04] Stinky says: ello
[27/10/2008 09:19:45] DogFace says: so come on then - how did you make £45 on £2 minimum bets!?
[27/10/2008 09:20:58] Stinky says: no they were £3.50 bets but I figured it out wrong. I deposited £10 and they gave me £10 win or lose so that was £20 right of the bat.Then made the rest on the bets
[27/10/2008 09:21:18] DogFace says: cool!
[27/10/2008 09:21:49] DogFace says: so - it was £10 back if you bet £10... result - have you withdrawn your original tenner?
[27/10/2008 09:22:58] DogFace says: I withdrew £100 yesterday - and £100 the week before... I still have £23 left in my account :D I got all 4 bets correct yesterday, I couldn't give it away!
[27/10/2008 09:23:25] Stinky says: I have withdrawn my tenner and the tenner they gave me coz I still have £28 to bet with ;)
[27/10/2008 09:23:52] DogFace says: I was on Liverpool to win, Arsenal to win, Portsmouth (lay) after they went a goal up and Real Madrid win.
[27/10/2008 09:24:49] Stinky says: cool
[27/10/2008 09:25:28] DogFace says: I wish I had gone on Manu/Everton draw too! I don't know how you picked those results man but - good call!
[27/10/2008 09:25:59] Stinky says: Like I said I just had this feeling about the results
[27/10/2008 09:26:33] DogFace says: The Manure game was so obviously an agreed draw...
[27/10/2008 09:27:14] DogFace says: So - what about Wednesday then?
[27/10/2008 09:34:51] Stinky says: just a couple of minimum bets as nothing seems clear cut to me. I have gone for a Hull win although I think it may be a draw. I think that was about it
[27/10/2008 09:38:53] DogFace says: Hull are getting fucked. Here's the schedule: Tuesday, 28 October 2008
19:45 - Newcastle v West Brom
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
19:45 - Aston Villa v Blackburn
19:45 - Fulham v Wigan
19:45 - Hull v Chelsea
19:45 - Stoke v Sunderland
20:00 - Arsenal v Tottenham
20:00 - Bolton v Everton
20:00 - Liverpool v Portsmouth
20:00 - Man Utd v West Ham
20:00 - Middlesbrough v Man City
[27/10/2008 09:39:01] DogFace says: Hmmm....
[27/10/2008 09:39:12] DogFace says: Well - West ham are also getting fucked.
[27/10/2008 09:40:06] Stinky says: not so sure
[27/10/2008 09:40:06] DogFace says: Really?
[27/10/2008 09:40:14] DogFace says: I would say that's a nailed on win for Manure.
[27/10/2008 09:40:31] DogFace says: I would also say that Tottenham will loose.
[27/10/2008 09:40:38] Stinky says: yeah ... again just a feeling they might pull of a 0 - 0 draw
[27/10/2008 09:40:52] DogFace says: Well - they have a good keeper...
[27/10/2008 09:41:00] Stinky says: or is that a deep down hope that they do!
[27/10/2008 09:41:08] DogFace says: ...but - Manure will 'get a penalty' if needs be. [27/10/2008 09:42:55] DogFace says: I reckon that Villa should win.
[27/10/2008 09:43:18] Stinky says: yeah I think that I have bet them to win .. not much return but should be a win!
[27/10/2008 09:43:36] DogFace says: Liverpool... hmmm - that might be worth getting on the draw.
[27/10/2008 09:44:05] Stinky says: nah got Liverpool on the win!
[27/10/2008 09:44:14] DogFace says: It's goint to attract a lot of mug money I reckon...
[27/10/2008 09:45:46] Stinky says: yeah but I still think that Liverpool are just looking too strong at the moment even without Torres who should be back for the pompey match. Plus Pompey don't have a manager not that that mug rednapp has joined spurs for some obscure reason!
[27/10/2008 09:45:58] Stinky says: nah think Hull will do the business!
[27/10/2008 09:46:37] Stinky says: they are playing really well at the moment and Chelsea did not play at all well yesterday!
[27/10/2008 09:47:50] DogFace says: I reckon Chelsea lost on purporse! OK - off the top of my head: Tuesday, 28 October 2008
19:45 - Newcastle v West Brom - West Brom
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
19:45 - Aston Villa v Blackburn - Villa
19:45 - Fulham v Wigan - Fulham
19:45 - Hull v Chelsea - Chelsea
19:45 - Stoke v Sunderland - Stoke
20:00 - Arsenal v Tottenham - Arsenal
20:00 - Bolton v Everton - Draw
20:00 - Liverpool v Portsmouth -Draw
20:00 - Man Utd v West Ham - Man Utd
20:00 - Middlesbrough v Man City - Draw
[27/10/2008 09:48:06] DogFace says: I'm not sure what I'll get on though... there must be some bankers in there. Villa, Chelsea, Manu and Arsenal maybe?
[27/10/2008 09:49:19] DogFace says: It looked like ManUre threw it down the bog too... which makes me think that they'll be looking for a win on Wednesday.
[27/10/2008 09:50:29] DogFace says: And the only other one of the big 4 would be Liverpool/Pompey which could be iffy... or us - but us not beating Tottenham is too horrible to think about... besides - we are the earlier kickoff.
[27/10/2008 09:51:27] Stinky says: you going to the game?
[27/10/2008 09:52:09] DogFace says: Ha!
[27/10/2008 09:52:21] DogFace says: Did you seriously ask me that question?
[27/10/2008 09:52:30] Stinky says: is PieFace?
[27/10/2008 09:53:09] DogFace says: I would have said so... why - you in the market for a ticket?
[27/10/2008 09:53:27] Stinky says: it would be a great game to go to!
[27/10/2008 09:53:40] DogFace says: Oh yeah - as long as we smash them!
[27/10/2008 09:54:10] Stinky says: I am off on Thursday too so don't need an early start!
[27/10/2008 09:54:43] DogFace says: Nice 1 - get the beers in :D
[27/10/2008 09:54:56] Stinky says: only if I can get a ticket!
[27/10/2008 09:56:21] DogFace says: I'll email PieFace and see if he can make it... [27/10/2008 09:56:33] DogFace says: ...I can't see him missing it though.
[27/10/2008 09:56:49] Stinky says: let me know
[27/10/2008 09:57:17] DogFace says: (y)
[27/10/2008 11:20:27] DogFace says: PieFace is going Wednesday; 100,000,000,000 % going apparently....
[27/10/2008 11:25:25] Stinky says: doh ... oh well will just have to watch it on the TV
:-D
I have no real complaints on the officiating – I saw the first half on a ropey internet stream where all the players were in an acid-flashback 'negative Yellow/Magenta/Cyan/Black' colour filter/error - so it was difficult to judge what the fuck was going on... nice purple pitch though. West Ham, fair play to them, had a reasonable plan – defend hard and counter attack... they even tried to play a bit of footie and it proved for a very frustrating match where, despite a few good chances, we just couldn't seem to score. West Ham were pretty good on the break and there were some very worrying moments where we had, in a bid to get the three points, almost overcommitted in the attack. West Ham, however, despite Zola's proclamations on wanting to emulate the Arsenal approach to his style of management, slowly reverted to shit-kicking form (even more so after the deadlock was broken with the own goal) and proceeded to give us a bit of a hoofing... bit of advice Zola - you can't unsettle a team like that deep in the second half when they are playing you off the park – you just look bit desperate, unfit and unsporting. Wenger's answer was classic – you want to kick us off the ball, ok – then we'll stick on Ade to run at you and play in a few long-balls... despite the fact it was an own goal – the first goal was all down to Adebayor and then, not long after that we saw the quite unfamiliar move of one blinding over the top pass from Bentner in his own half followed by an almost sexually arousing first touch from Ade to set himself up for the shot and defy the brave keeping from the stretching Green. Adebayor made no mistake in killing the game dead.
Where are all the Adebayor haters now? Whatsat you say? Lazy..? Greedy..? Or just fucking excellent!?
I love it when we change styles and try something new – we saw it experimentally last season as an answer to teams that try to rough us up and get a point... 'total football' is nice (and glorious to watch when it's clicking) but if it's not happening on the ground then we have got to have the skills in the air... it's that kind of flexibility in attack (and the ability to flip it) that will eventually win us trophies. Wenger isn't running short on ideas and there is a lot more to come from this team in terms of changing the way the English game is played and 'leading the way' in the quest for proper football...
The rest of the 'Big 4' showed their class in two of the most dodgy games I ever did see.
"if you had offered me a draw before the match I would have taken it" - David Moyes
Ahem... well, no comment – nice one Wiley; good shooting Ronaldo – you go get that 'player of the year' award with a straight face, you earned it! And as for Liverpool/Chelsea... all I can say that if I were a betting man then I would put money on there being a fat stack of oily roubles on the reds.
Luckily I am (or have now become) a betting man and that's where my cash was also... although I was a bit timid and only put six quid on it – still, a fair return! In fact – I couldn't give my money away this weekend and I was forced to withdraw another £100 from my account – that's the second time this week!
Maybe I'm learning, this w/e was a milestone for me as I am officially in the black (P&L) for my entire gambling history – in the last 3 months I have erased 2 years of 'leisure punter' activity and got into the profit zone. I've worked hard for it, and now the cash that I have spent has been withdrawn with interest - I'm going to try and build up a profit stack and take this more seriously... I've also noticed that I don't get excited about betting any more, to be honest it's a relief as I never liked that 'risk' feeling in the pit of my stomach anyway – now it's just business win or loose, a means to an end. I will understand the dark side of this game one day and this dark path is the only way to tread... and with every win will I take another step forwards.
The Joker, before he left this plane of existence, used to tell me that the perfect crime always left traces... and it does – in a way. Let's look at the media run up to this weekend's games. Chelsea were being painted as being undefeatable at the bridge and even emulating Arsenal's unbeaten run (Scolari you have no shame) – Liverpool were kept off the back pages and expectations played down – I was even noticing that the little Paddy-Power and Ladbrokes logos where being placed in-picture in certain newspapers – usually with a shot of a John Terry goal celebration with a 'I've just hit the vinegar-strokes' look on his face... Laying Chelsea was the obvious bet – but I backed Liverpool simply because with these games (that usually end in a draw) the bookies will want cash on both teams... I wouldn't have spotted it if it weren't for my oldest friend, Stinky who – to my concern, opened a BetFair account on Friday and put on the following:
Everton V Man Utd – Draw
Chelsea V Liverpool – Liverpool
Arsenal V West Ham – Arsenal
Talk about 'beginners luck' - I told him he was mad... but it got me thinking and, after reading the back pages, I got on the Liverpool bet too. FYI - My bets for the w/e were:
Chelsea V Liverpool – Liverpool
Arsenal V West Ham – Arsenal (I went LARGE on this)
Portsmouth V Fulham – In game lay-bet on Pompey immediately after they scored.
Real Madrid V Some losers I hadn't heard of – Real Madrid
So 4 for 4, result, I got on Arsenal as we too were absent from the back pages... the media spotlight seems to fall on the mug money while the smart money lurks in the shadows. This cannot be a coincidence. If you take your positions based on the fact that the game is bent, a gambling sport and the media are complicit then you can't go far wrong... but you have to spot the signs and detect the traces; the silken threads, quantum entanglements of reality that cannot be comletely removed from the slight of hand and fantasy. I was also tempted to get on Tottenham to win – but couldn't quite bring myself to do it.
Talking of Tottenham... Harry Redknapp? Are you sure? That's the funniest thing in the world ever – all the deluded fucking spuds will now start crowing about how they have a 'proper manager'... when will they learn – still, it gives me another good reason (as if I needed it) to hate Spurs; it's a match made in heaven if you ask me... in the dodgy stakes; Spurs are now our perfect 'yin' - what are the odds he brings in a keeper/clown 'he can trust' like James to replace that hapless free-agent liability Gomez? The main thing that pisses me off though is that through a sustained internet troll campaign of undercover gooners on Tottenham discussion boards and groups to whip the Spuds up into a protest on Sunday; it all came to nowt... damn – I was really looking forward to seeing them with all their home made, badly spelled banners, laughing my arse off to the chants demanding that the board and manager gets sacked and replaced with the likes of Terry Venables, Teddy Sheringham, Gazza and Glen Hoddle right before the 'make or break' game of their season... it was worth a try and we had fun doing it.
Ce-la-vie.
Bring on Wednesday!
[27/10/2008 09:16:41] DogFace says: geeezer
[27/10/2008 09:19:04] Stinky says: ello
[27/10/2008 09:19:45] DogFace says: so come on then - how did you make £45 on £2 minimum bets!?
[27/10/2008 09:20:58] Stinky says: no they were £3.50 bets but I figured it out wrong. I deposited £10 and they gave me £10 win or lose so that was £20 right of the bat.Then made the rest on the bets
[27/10/2008 09:21:18] DogFace says: cool!
[27/10/2008 09:21:49] DogFace says: so - it was £10 back if you bet £10... result - have you withdrawn your original tenner?
[27/10/2008 09:22:58] DogFace says: I withdrew £100 yesterday - and £100 the week before... I still have £23 left in my account :D I got all 4 bets correct yesterday, I couldn't give it away!
[27/10/2008 09:23:25] Stinky says: I have withdrawn my tenner and the tenner they gave me coz I still have £28 to bet with ;)
[27/10/2008 09:23:52] DogFace says: I was on Liverpool to win, Arsenal to win, Portsmouth (lay) after they went a goal up and Real Madrid win.
[27/10/2008 09:24:49] Stinky says: cool
[27/10/2008 09:25:28] DogFace says: I wish I had gone on Manu/Everton draw too! I don't know how you picked those results man but - good call!
[27/10/2008 09:25:59] Stinky says: Like I said I just had this feeling about the results
[27/10/2008 09:26:33] DogFace says: The Manure game was so obviously an agreed draw...
[27/10/2008 09:27:14] DogFace says: So - what about Wednesday then?
[27/10/2008 09:34:51] Stinky says: just a couple of minimum bets as nothing seems clear cut to me. I have gone for a Hull win although I think it may be a draw. I think that was about it
[27/10/2008 09:38:53] DogFace says: Hull are getting fucked. Here's the schedule: Tuesday, 28 October 2008
19:45 - Newcastle v West Brom
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
19:45 - Aston Villa v Blackburn
19:45 - Fulham v Wigan
19:45 - Hull v Chelsea
19:45 - Stoke v Sunderland
20:00 - Arsenal v Tottenham
20:00 - Bolton v Everton
20:00 - Liverpool v Portsmouth
20:00 - Man Utd v West Ham
20:00 - Middlesbrough v Man City
[27/10/2008 09:39:01] DogFace says: Hmmm....
[27/10/2008 09:39:12] DogFace says: Well - West ham are also getting fucked.
[27/10/2008 09:40:06] Stinky says: not so sure
[27/10/2008 09:40:06] DogFace says: Really?
[27/10/2008 09:40:14] DogFace says: I would say that's a nailed on win for Manure.
[27/10/2008 09:40:31] DogFace says: I would also say that Tottenham will loose.
[27/10/2008 09:40:38] Stinky says: yeah ... again just a feeling they might pull of a 0 - 0 draw
[27/10/2008 09:40:52] DogFace says: Well - they have a good keeper...
[27/10/2008 09:41:00] Stinky says: or is that a deep down hope that they do!
[27/10/2008 09:41:08] DogFace says: ...but - Manure will 'get a penalty' if needs be. [27/10/2008 09:42:55] DogFace says: I reckon that Villa should win.
[27/10/2008 09:43:18] Stinky says: yeah I think that I have bet them to win .. not much return but should be a win!
[27/10/2008 09:43:36] DogFace says: Liverpool... hmmm - that might be worth getting on the draw.
[27/10/2008 09:44:05] Stinky says: nah got Liverpool on the win!
[27/10/2008 09:44:14] DogFace says: It's goint to attract a lot of mug money I reckon...
[27/10/2008 09:45:46] Stinky says: yeah but I still think that Liverpool are just looking too strong at the moment even without Torres who should be back for the pompey match. Plus Pompey don't have a manager not that that mug rednapp has joined spurs for some obscure reason!
[27/10/2008 09:45:58] Stinky says: nah think Hull will do the business!
[27/10/2008 09:46:37] Stinky says: they are playing really well at the moment and Chelsea did not play at all well yesterday!
[27/10/2008 09:47:50] DogFace says: I reckon Chelsea lost on purporse! OK - off the top of my head: Tuesday, 28 October 2008
19:45 - Newcastle v West Brom - West Brom
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
19:45 - Aston Villa v Blackburn - Villa
19:45 - Fulham v Wigan - Fulham
19:45 - Hull v Chelsea - Chelsea
19:45 - Stoke v Sunderland - Stoke
20:00 - Arsenal v Tottenham - Arsenal
20:00 - Bolton v Everton - Draw
20:00 - Liverpool v Portsmouth -Draw
20:00 - Man Utd v West Ham - Man Utd
20:00 - Middlesbrough v Man City - Draw
[27/10/2008 09:48:06] DogFace says: I'm not sure what I'll get on though... there must be some bankers in there. Villa, Chelsea, Manu and Arsenal maybe?
[27/10/2008 09:49:19] DogFace says: It looked like ManUre threw it down the bog too... which makes me think that they'll be looking for a win on Wednesday.
[27/10/2008 09:50:29] DogFace says: And the only other one of the big 4 would be Liverpool/Pompey which could be iffy... or us - but us not beating Tottenham is too horrible to think about... besides - we are the earlier kickoff.
[27/10/2008 09:51:27] Stinky says: you going to the game?
[27/10/2008 09:52:09] DogFace says: Ha!
[27/10/2008 09:52:21] DogFace says: Did you seriously ask me that question?
[27/10/2008 09:52:30] Stinky says: is PieFace?
[27/10/2008 09:53:09] DogFace says: I would have said so... why - you in the market for a ticket?
[27/10/2008 09:53:27] Stinky says: it would be a great game to go to!
[27/10/2008 09:53:40] DogFace says: Oh yeah - as long as we smash them!
[27/10/2008 09:54:10] Stinky says: I am off on Thursday too so don't need an early start!
[27/10/2008 09:54:43] DogFace says: Nice 1 - get the beers in :D
[27/10/2008 09:54:56] Stinky says: only if I can get a ticket!
[27/10/2008 09:56:21] DogFace says: I'll email PieFace and see if he can make it... [27/10/2008 09:56:33] DogFace says: ...I can't see him missing it though.
[27/10/2008 09:56:49] Stinky says: let me know
[27/10/2008 09:57:17] DogFace says: (y)
[27/10/2008 11:20:27] DogFace says: PieFace is going Wednesday; 100,000,000,000 % going apparently....
[27/10/2008 11:25:25] Stinky says: doh ... oh well will just have to watch it on the TV
Friday 24 October 2008
B&H remind me of not giving up but giving in
Sorry – I just had to comment on this article on the BBC:
Apparently "Wenger has urged supporters to share his belief in the young Gunners
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has told the club's supporters they have failed to show his side sufficient support."
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has told the club's supporters they have failed to show his side sufficient support."
In order to scrape a story from fuck all (and let's face it criticising Arsenal sells); David Ornstein then goes on:
"Trailing at half-time to Everton on Saturday, Arsenal were booed off at the break at the Emirates Stadium before they eventually won the game 3-1."
Utter fucking lies!
To set the record straight - we were booing the ref and the linesmen. Wenger knew that, the team knew that and the officials certainly fucking knew it... still he's right about one thing – we should get off Eboue and Gallas' back... it really pisses me off the shit they get from some of the crowd - which is basically the result of a targeted, media led destabilising hate campaign in the first place.
So - maybe this article should be directed at them (the media) and not us (the fans)?
Wednesday 22 October 2008
I fell in love with the dreams of children
I hate matches like that... well – I love them too, you know the ones I mean, the matches that are good games for the neutral to watch. Fenerbahce were obviously far from great but going into the game there were a lot of negative noises floating about... i.e. how the home crowed would get to us, how Fenerbahce never lose at home, how our makeshift defence was too frail to cope – etc.
On the Facebook intelligentsia discussion group (where I periodically lurk) all of these dark clouds seemed to have gathered and there were predictive mumbles of 0-1, 1-1 and 2-2 being the end result – the overwhelming consensus was that: "it would be a tough game". I alone predicted: "We are going to smash them 1-4" – so I was almost right. I even put my money where my mouth was and went large on HT/FT Arsenal/Arsenal and got fantastic odds :-D. I'm yet to figure out where all this doom and gloom came from – the talking heads in the commentary box were doing their bit pre-match to pour water on our chances... but think, ignore that cunt, his ilk and what the papers tell you – remember we are the team who fucked AC Milan in their own back yard – so who the fuck are Fenerbahce anyway?
That's what right minded Arsenal fans should have been thinking... there's no way we were going to lose that game – even with Song and Silvestre as centre backs.
Fenerbahce, give them their due, were right battlers and never gave up on attacking – they had belief right up until half time that they could score themselves right back into the match. Full respect to them – I was a very nervous gooner and was praying for the half time whistle to preserve out 2 goal advantage... in the dressing room when the adrenaline starts to wane and you are 1-3 down – it's much harder to get motivated than if you were 2-3.
The whistle came and I breathed a sigh of relief.
The half time period was spent online discussing who was more of a liability at CB; Silvestre or Song – I thought Silvestre looked out of place and Song was getting exposed in the air... Silvestre also tends to hump it up field rather than play it out, which I felt upset our flow a bit... the Fenerbahce goal went in off Silvestre but it came off a foul on Song (who may or may not have had enough height to clear it) so I couldn't really hold either of them responsible for it. Right after the break though our nit-picking was silenced when Song scored with a Silvestre assist... hey ho!
But let's rewind to the first half for a second. The first two goals were absolute magic – and all of it went through Fabregas... it looked all too easy for first Adebayor then Walcott to get in behind the defence but both movements were timed to perfection. Fabregas was awesome. His vision and skill made them look like schoolboys twice within 70 seconds – Ade and Theo just had to keep their nerve... which, of course, they did and they finished like they were on the training ground... I like to think that Fabregas caught Aragones' eye on the way off the field with a knowing smirk, "not bad for a Catalan eh? Just you wait for the home leg – then I'll really going to punish you old man for leaving me on the bench in the Euros!"
The other midfielder who showed some ambition to get a regular start was Diaby. Diaby had a blinder; he chased balls like a spaniel on crack and attacked/finished like a seasoned striker! We've seen Diaby do this before... the Carling Cup final against Chelsea is an occasion which springs to mind – if he can stay injury free and focused then I expect to see much more of him as a versatile regular adding the depth in options we need in the midfield.
Much was made of the Fenerbahce fans reputation of being thuggish and uncompromising – but not so, they struck me intelligent and devoted. They wanted to unsettle us – but it didn't work. They wanted to unsettle the officials – again, it didn't work... and at the end they had no complaints... they even applauded Arsenal off the field – so hardly the bunch of stabby Turkish hooligans that they were painted as... maybe they only get a bit stabby and angry when they feel hard done by I wonder?
Talking head #1 (the one spewing a torrent of inane shit under the guise of commentary) tripped over his lying tongue with this 'off the cuff' (i.e. pre written card with a list of things to drop in if he could) remark:
"Oh the Fenerbahce fans are getting at the officials but it's all too easy to blame the referee when your heroes are having an off day."
It was in a tone of voice that was so irritatingly condescending and obviously directed that, in a bid to purge to poison from my ear, I involuntarily shouted: "FUCK OFF" before he finished his sentence... that'll be the Tourette's again! This illustrates to me that this year we are going to be robbed again... although I concede that I actively look for it so my perception may be bias. The template is set and the criminals all briefed with their alibis and cover stories... you tell me - who else was that comment meant for?
The mornings papers reaffirmed my opinion... it was all about Manchester United and Berbatov's 'exhilarating' display against the mighty Celtic... Arsenal – 3 pages in, buried. Sky sports news this morning even went as far as to show the goals/scores from every other game last night and miss the Arsenal match out completely!
Fuckers.
Firstly the mighty Berbatov's goals were both fucking offside right and secondly they beat Celtic at home. Lets look at the facts:
a) United were unbeaten in the last 16 European home games.
b) Celtic have lost 17 of their last 18 European games.
So, considering this; is the fact that Manchester United cheated their way to a 3-0 victory over Celtic really news?
Conversely let's look at the basic facts of the Arsenal game:
a) Fenerbahce were undefeated at home in 15 European games.
b) The Arsenal team's average age was 22 and cost less to assemble than the 'offside goal-hanger' Berbatov's transfer fee.
c) Arsenal played some proper football and beat Fenerbahce fair and square in a glorious open game that was 'great for the neutral' 2 goals to 5.
So answer me this – in retrospect, which game/result is more newsworthy/praiseworthy and why do I see nothing but pictures of Berbatov's smiling fucking face this morning?
I think I preferred him at Tottenham.
Let's now look forward to the game against West Ham at the weekend. It does not bode well, in my book, that last night's result was so crudely brushed under the media carpet. It does not bode well that the talking heads are apologising in advance for the referee and officials... it does not bode well at all.
Personally I think we are going to smash them... although lets look at a worst case scenario:
Howard Webb gets to ref the match.
Webb, as we know, is right up the Hammers arse – I guess this is because a significant percentage of West Ham fans are racist thugs and he's an ex copper... so he feels right at home in his workplace.
But even with Webb giving the Hammers 'Carte Blanche' taciticy to kick the shit out of us and his itchy twitchy whistle finger in and around the Arsenal penalty area; I still rate our chances. West Ham are in chaos due to the bankruptcy of Iceland (see previous post somewhere); they need to raise around 50 million quid in the next transfer window to avoid administration... so all the players will have one eye on the door and hopefully be looking to show some individual talent i.e. play a game of football rather than shut up shop and stick the boot in. Also Zola isn't Curbishly, he's new, naive and idealistic; and I can't see him pre match telling his team to "kick us out of the game, play for a draw and trip over your own feet anywhere in a scoring position" as he'll be looking to attract cheap young talent and loan deals in January to play his style of football... we also have nice, squeaky clean English Theo 'I'm-not-a-granny-fucker' Walcott – and if worst comes to worst – players looking at pay cuts and transfers wouldn't dare kick him off the field and risk the public backlash if they broke him.
No fear Theo!
Let's see what happens...
On the Facebook intelligentsia discussion group (where I periodically lurk) all of these dark clouds seemed to have gathered and there were predictive mumbles of 0-1, 1-1 and 2-2 being the end result – the overwhelming consensus was that: "it would be a tough game". I alone predicted: "We are going to smash them 1-4" – so I was almost right. I even put my money where my mouth was and went large on HT/FT Arsenal/Arsenal and got fantastic odds :-D. I'm yet to figure out where all this doom and gloom came from – the talking heads in the commentary box were doing their bit pre-match to pour water on our chances... but think, ignore that cunt, his ilk and what the papers tell you – remember we are the team who fucked AC Milan in their own back yard – so who the fuck are Fenerbahce anyway?
That's what right minded Arsenal fans should have been thinking... there's no way we were going to lose that game – even with Song and Silvestre as centre backs.
Fenerbahce, give them their due, were right battlers and never gave up on attacking – they had belief right up until half time that they could score themselves right back into the match. Full respect to them – I was a very nervous gooner and was praying for the half time whistle to preserve out 2 goal advantage... in the dressing room when the adrenaline starts to wane and you are 1-3 down – it's much harder to get motivated than if you were 2-3.
The whistle came and I breathed a sigh of relief.
The half time period was spent online discussing who was more of a liability at CB; Silvestre or Song – I thought Silvestre looked out of place and Song was getting exposed in the air... Silvestre also tends to hump it up field rather than play it out, which I felt upset our flow a bit... the Fenerbahce goal went in off Silvestre but it came off a foul on Song (who may or may not have had enough height to clear it) so I couldn't really hold either of them responsible for it. Right after the break though our nit-picking was silenced when Song scored with a Silvestre assist... hey ho!
But let's rewind to the first half for a second. The first two goals were absolute magic – and all of it went through Fabregas... it looked all too easy for first Adebayor then Walcott to get in behind the defence but both movements were timed to perfection. Fabregas was awesome. His vision and skill made them look like schoolboys twice within 70 seconds – Ade and Theo just had to keep their nerve... which, of course, they did and they finished like they were on the training ground... I like to think that Fabregas caught Aragones' eye on the way off the field with a knowing smirk, "not bad for a Catalan eh? Just you wait for the home leg – then I'll really going to punish you old man for leaving me on the bench in the Euros!"
The other midfielder who showed some ambition to get a regular start was Diaby. Diaby had a blinder; he chased balls like a spaniel on crack and attacked/finished like a seasoned striker! We've seen Diaby do this before... the Carling Cup final against Chelsea is an occasion which springs to mind – if he can stay injury free and focused then I expect to see much more of him as a versatile regular adding the depth in options we need in the midfield.
Much was made of the Fenerbahce fans reputation of being thuggish and uncompromising – but not so, they struck me intelligent and devoted. They wanted to unsettle us – but it didn't work. They wanted to unsettle the officials – again, it didn't work... and at the end they had no complaints... they even applauded Arsenal off the field – so hardly the bunch of stabby Turkish hooligans that they were painted as... maybe they only get a bit stabby and angry when they feel hard done by I wonder?
Talking head #1 (the one spewing a torrent of inane shit under the guise of commentary) tripped over his lying tongue with this 'off the cuff' (i.e. pre written card with a list of things to drop in if he could) remark:
"Oh the Fenerbahce fans are getting at the officials but it's all too easy to blame the referee when your heroes are having an off day."
It was in a tone of voice that was so irritatingly condescending and obviously directed that, in a bid to purge to poison from my ear, I involuntarily shouted: "FUCK OFF" before he finished his sentence... that'll be the Tourette's again! This illustrates to me that this year we are going to be robbed again... although I concede that I actively look for it so my perception may be bias. The template is set and the criminals all briefed with their alibis and cover stories... you tell me - who else was that comment meant for?
The mornings papers reaffirmed my opinion... it was all about Manchester United and Berbatov's 'exhilarating' display against the mighty Celtic... Arsenal – 3 pages in, buried. Sky sports news this morning even went as far as to show the goals/scores from every other game last night and miss the Arsenal match out completely!
Fuckers.
Firstly the mighty Berbatov's goals were both fucking offside right and secondly they beat Celtic at home. Lets look at the facts:
a) United were unbeaten in the last 16 European home games.
b) Celtic have lost 17 of their last 18 European games.
So, considering this; is the fact that Manchester United cheated their way to a 3-0 victory over Celtic really news?
Conversely let's look at the basic facts of the Arsenal game:
a) Fenerbahce were undefeated at home in 15 European games.
b) The Arsenal team's average age was 22 and cost less to assemble than the 'offside goal-hanger' Berbatov's transfer fee.
c) Arsenal played some proper football and beat Fenerbahce fair and square in a glorious open game that was 'great for the neutral' 2 goals to 5.
So answer me this – in retrospect, which game/result is more newsworthy/praiseworthy and why do I see nothing but pictures of Berbatov's smiling fucking face this morning?
I think I preferred him at Tottenham.
Let's now look forward to the game against West Ham at the weekend. It does not bode well, in my book, that last night's result was so crudely brushed under the media carpet. It does not bode well that the talking heads are apologising in advance for the referee and officials... it does not bode well at all.
Personally I think we are going to smash them... although lets look at a worst case scenario:
Howard Webb gets to ref the match.
Webb, as we know, is right up the Hammers arse – I guess this is because a significant percentage of West Ham fans are racist thugs and he's an ex copper... so he feels right at home in his workplace.
But even with Webb giving the Hammers 'Carte Blanche' taciticy to kick the shit out of us and his itchy twitchy whistle finger in and around the Arsenal penalty area; I still rate our chances. West Ham are in chaos due to the bankruptcy of Iceland (see previous post somewhere); they need to raise around 50 million quid in the next transfer window to avoid administration... so all the players will have one eye on the door and hopefully be looking to show some individual talent i.e. play a game of football rather than shut up shop and stick the boot in. Also Zola isn't Curbishly, he's new, naive and idealistic; and I can't see him pre match telling his team to "kick us out of the game, play for a draw and trip over your own feet anywhere in a scoring position" as he'll be looking to attract cheap young talent and loan deals in January to play his style of football... we also have nice, squeaky clean English Theo 'I'm-not-a-granny-fucker' Walcott – and if worst comes to worst – players looking at pay cuts and transfers wouldn't dare kick him off the field and risk the public backlash if they broke him.
No fear Theo!
Let's see what happens...
Monday 20 October 2008
This town is going like a ghost town..
Change is the only certainty in life... things mutate, grow, blossom and prolapse. I remember a time when lemonade never used to contain aspartame – sometime before that; it even used to have lemons in it. These days... nup – you can't get lemonade anywhere, I've looked – even Waitrose don't sell it.
Coca Cola used to be the real thing... but what is it now? New, improved and even better than the real thing?
...I dunno...
And as for football... well – don't get me started on that one!
The game on Saturday was something of a revelation to me – there was something in the air and, it seemed, that this was not a local phenomenon... let me explain – for the first time at Arsenal I felt real anger in the crowd – it came second half, it came as a surprise and it must have came as a bit of a shock to all concerned... the elephant stirred.
The frustration will be linked no doubt to the collapse of the global economy – although this was merely a catalyst and an example of why the working classes (i.e. the bottom rung taxpayers) should not have any faith or trust in a system that actively sets out to fail them at every turn.
Arrogance must now explain itself in triplicate.
So, some miles away from N5 at Villa park a 'piece of silver' flies from the family section and smacks its way into the side of a linesman's head. This was a direct and ironic statement of the obvious fucking facts of this grubby game by a football fan, taking the only course of action left open to him to express his utter disgust of what his sport has become... why did this happen? Tell y'what – instead of looking into the frustration that led to the incident - we'll breeze over it with a 'straight faced' Redknapp sound bite:
"They are a disgrace to the game, It was probably thrown at me in all honesty but whoever does such things is a coward and a moron. Hopefully the culprit will be banned from football for life. There is no place in our marvellous game for that." – Harry Redknapp
Context is everything... and in the right context Redknapp has nailed it – I mean, these are the words we want to hear – but they resonate so very hollow in a mirror world where left is right and right is wrong...
"You want to rob me? Well here's my fuckin' cash you cunt!" – A fan.
We are informed that thankfully the linesman was "not injured badly and no stitches were needed"... I would have said that this was obvious – it was a 50p coin that was thrown with a hand not fired from a gun – were we to be concerned for the lino's long term health? Should we send him for a scan?
Maybe he should get his eyes tested though... just in case.
As an aside - If the cash had been aimed at Redknapp then I imagine that he would have caught it in his teeth and spat it in his pocket – after all, it is the 'credit crunch' and every little helps!
Getting back to the Arsenal match – the first half was a disgrace, again – and the ref with the linesmen were again making some shocking decisions. The pitch was tilted. MOTD missed out everything of any importance other than the Everton goal... and decided to base the post match blah about 'Theo Walcott' being England's new hope - but strangely missed showing the moment where he got smacked in the face and was helped off the floor to the crystal clear chants of: "You're not fit to referee" from 50,000 fans. Neither was the two footed challenge by Hibbert on Denilson covered... nor the subsequent violent reaction from Hibbert which earned Clichy a yellow. Neither was the repeated and cynical shit-kickery from Fellaini examined in detail, nor were any questions asked as to the standard of the linesmen and their clear bias in decision making with regards to what is and isn't considered offside.
The Specials once said that people were getting angry – but that was a response to Thatcher's Britain and mass unemployment – but listening to the song again it's hitting me hard as to just how right they were – we are still dealing with Thatcher's Britain, it's imploding under its own bloated obscenity and it's shittier now than it ever was... I used to wish that the old witch would hurry up and die – but now I am happy she is seeing the world that she and Regan created fall around her ears – the finger of blame will hopefully find its way back to her while she's still mentally 'with it' enough to discern Tuesday form a fried egg.
At N5, right before half time, people were indeed getting angry... the atmosphere changed and the lower tiers were giving the officials every ounce of their bile – the Everton fans politely and sarcasticly clapped every bad decision... shocking – considering the shit they get from the self same bunch of officials every other weekend. I think that this wound us up even more. I shouted myself horse at my lino – and it seemed from the bristling wave of obscene gestures and waving fists, that followed him up and down the touchline, that everyone else was doing their bit too.
When Nasri scored it only fuelled the fire... you could feel it; not today – today we were going to win. The atmosphere was electric and vicious and the fans it seemed had finally had enough of all the shit we get week in week out from this league. The team responded and RvP got the goal that put the game to bed. The crowed responded again – bloodthirsty and cruel; things were thrown at the Everton fans at the away end – nothing as bad as coins, just paper cups, flob and match programs... which was surprising as up until then we had largely ignored them and responded very little to the usual baiting and banter that you get between the home and away end. A number of the Everton fans swung their handbags a bit but didn't get through the line of stewards and police... good thing too – for them.
It had struck me at the half time (and a few of my fellow conspiracy theorists - I know because a got several identical txt's from them) that Wigan going up 1-2 against Liverpool just before the break would have helped our case and given us a more level field of play in the second half (in terms of scuppering the Big 4 multiple bet)... this may or may not have had an effect – but if it did then they fucked up royally by undeservedly sending off Valencia thus allowing Liverpool get 2 back in the last 15 minutes... we all suspected Liverpool might not win before the match as they were fairly conspicuous in the bookmakers windows and offered as part of featured multiples on various gambling websites... like I said – the EPL is a complex beast and unless you have very reliable inside info – you'll never beat the bookie!
Theo got the last goal – right in front of me, he coolly nut-megged the keeper and had the good grace not to celebrate like a cunt but take it as the richly deserved result from a spell of engrossing and determined play... give the crowd what they want - proper football.
And as for Walcott being the future of England... they may have a point after all.
Coca Cola used to be the real thing... but what is it now? New, improved and even better than the real thing?
...I dunno...
And as for football... well – don't get me started on that one!
The game on Saturday was something of a revelation to me – there was something in the air and, it seemed, that this was not a local phenomenon... let me explain – for the first time at Arsenal I felt real anger in the crowd – it came second half, it came as a surprise and it must have came as a bit of a shock to all concerned... the elephant stirred.
The frustration will be linked no doubt to the collapse of the global economy – although this was merely a catalyst and an example of why the working classes (i.e. the bottom rung taxpayers) should not have any faith or trust in a system that actively sets out to fail them at every turn.
Arrogance must now explain itself in triplicate.
So, some miles away from N5 at Villa park a 'piece of silver' flies from the family section and smacks its way into the side of a linesman's head. This was a direct and ironic statement of the obvious fucking facts of this grubby game by a football fan, taking the only course of action left open to him to express his utter disgust of what his sport has become... why did this happen? Tell y'what – instead of looking into the frustration that led to the incident - we'll breeze over it with a 'straight faced' Redknapp sound bite:
"They are a disgrace to the game, It was probably thrown at me in all honesty but whoever does such things is a coward and a moron. Hopefully the culprit will be banned from football for life. There is no place in our marvellous game for that." – Harry Redknapp
Context is everything... and in the right context Redknapp has nailed it – I mean, these are the words we want to hear – but they resonate so very hollow in a mirror world where left is right and right is wrong...
"You want to rob me? Well here's my fuckin' cash you cunt!" – A fan.
We are informed that thankfully the linesman was "not injured badly and no stitches were needed"... I would have said that this was obvious – it was a 50p coin that was thrown with a hand not fired from a gun – were we to be concerned for the lino's long term health? Should we send him for a scan?
Maybe he should get his eyes tested though... just in case.
As an aside - If the cash had been aimed at Redknapp then I imagine that he would have caught it in his teeth and spat it in his pocket – after all, it is the 'credit crunch' and every little helps!
Getting back to the Arsenal match – the first half was a disgrace, again – and the ref with the linesmen were again making some shocking decisions. The pitch was tilted. MOTD missed out everything of any importance other than the Everton goal... and decided to base the post match blah about 'Theo Walcott' being England's new hope - but strangely missed showing the moment where he got smacked in the face and was helped off the floor to the crystal clear chants of: "You're not fit to referee" from 50,000 fans. Neither was the two footed challenge by Hibbert on Denilson covered... nor the subsequent violent reaction from Hibbert which earned Clichy a yellow. Neither was the repeated and cynical shit-kickery from Fellaini examined in detail, nor were any questions asked as to the standard of the linesmen and their clear bias in decision making with regards to what is and isn't considered offside.
The Specials once said that people were getting angry – but that was a response to Thatcher's Britain and mass unemployment – but listening to the song again it's hitting me hard as to just how right they were – we are still dealing with Thatcher's Britain, it's imploding under its own bloated obscenity and it's shittier now than it ever was... I used to wish that the old witch would hurry up and die – but now I am happy she is seeing the world that she and Regan created fall around her ears – the finger of blame will hopefully find its way back to her while she's still mentally 'with it' enough to discern Tuesday form a fried egg.
At N5, right before half time, people were indeed getting angry... the atmosphere changed and the lower tiers were giving the officials every ounce of their bile – the Everton fans politely and sarcasticly clapped every bad decision... shocking – considering the shit they get from the self same bunch of officials every other weekend. I think that this wound us up even more. I shouted myself horse at my lino – and it seemed from the bristling wave of obscene gestures and waving fists, that followed him up and down the touchline, that everyone else was doing their bit too.
When Nasri scored it only fuelled the fire... you could feel it; not today – today we were going to win. The atmosphere was electric and vicious and the fans it seemed had finally had enough of all the shit we get week in week out from this league. The team responded and RvP got the goal that put the game to bed. The crowed responded again – bloodthirsty and cruel; things were thrown at the Everton fans at the away end – nothing as bad as coins, just paper cups, flob and match programs... which was surprising as up until then we had largely ignored them and responded very little to the usual baiting and banter that you get between the home and away end. A number of the Everton fans swung their handbags a bit but didn't get through the line of stewards and police... good thing too – for them.
It had struck me at the half time (and a few of my fellow conspiracy theorists - I know because a got several identical txt's from them) that Wigan going up 1-2 against Liverpool just before the break would have helped our case and given us a more level field of play in the second half (in terms of scuppering the Big 4 multiple bet)... this may or may not have had an effect – but if it did then they fucked up royally by undeservedly sending off Valencia thus allowing Liverpool get 2 back in the last 15 minutes... we all suspected Liverpool might not win before the match as they were fairly conspicuous in the bookmakers windows and offered as part of featured multiples on various gambling websites... like I said – the EPL is a complex beast and unless you have very reliable inside info – you'll never beat the bookie!
Theo got the last goal – right in front of me, he coolly nut-megged the keeper and had the good grace not to celebrate like a cunt but take it as the richly deserved result from a spell of engrossing and determined play... give the crowd what they want - proper football.
And as for Walcott being the future of England... they may have a point after all.
Friday 17 October 2008
Shorty wanna be a thug...
________________________________________
From: DogFace
Sent: 17 October 2008 14:32
To: Daydream Believer
Subject: RE: A rare bit of decent analysis in the press
From: DogFace
Sent: 17 October 2008 14:32
To: Daydream Believer
Subject: RE: A rare bit of decent analysis in the press
As I said – I don't know what the deal is with Kroneke... and I don't know the template for this season - but I'll be watching very closely and try to second guess it. Arsenal have never ventured into the murkier depths of the game (which is a constant thorn in the bookies side) and I would hate for this season to be the one in which we do.
One thing is for sure though (with regards to intensity and an effort to generate it), to maximise revenue the title race will have to go 'right to the wire'… again. And once again it'll be the 'power teams' that will be in the mix...
...It's up for grabs now!
Hey, on that note wouldn't it be great if it were Liverpool and Arsenal neck and neck for the title... shades of 89? And us with out new away kit - how spectacular!
If that happens I will have to accept that we have, without a doubt, become 100% dodgy.
:-\
________________________________________
From: Daydream Believer
Sent: 17 October 2008 14:11
To: DogFace
Subject: RE: A rare bit of decent analysis in the press
________________________________________
From: Daydream Believer
Sent: 17 October 2008 14:11
To: DogFace
Subject: RE: A rare bit of decent analysis in the press
Does Kroenke have history?
But surely Wenger would spot it a mile away and never allow it.
If all of this is true which I can easily believe it is it takes a lot of the intensity out of the competition for me.
But surely Wenger would spot it a mile away and never allow it.
If all of this is true which I can easily believe it is it takes a lot of the intensity out of the competition for me.
________________________________________
From: DogFace
Sent: 17 October 2008 12:57
To: Daydream Believer
Subject: RE: A rare bit of decent analysis in the press
From: DogFace
Sent: 17 October 2008 12:57
To: Daydream Believer
Subject: RE: A rare bit of decent analysis in the press
Remember, Man-u have a game in hand... so it's not out of the question – I think Everton have a GD of -4… and as we are an attacking team it stands up that we should get a few (baring creative use of the whistle and the offside flag). Good point about Chelsea – as I said, it's worth a lay bet on them. The corruptions in the Chelsea and Man-u games are also magnified by the fact that they are on SKY and there will be much more liquidity on the match – so an 'out of character' result would suit even more.
If you want to understand the corruption in football you have to understand gambling as the two have become intrinsically linked – I'm not really a gambler but I have got into it by trying to second guess the corruption. I originally got interested in the corruption when it became very obvious that Arsenal were being targeted by the Refs for not 'playing the game' as it were… although now Kroenke is on board I don't know where we stand on this?
Unfortunately football is fast becoming like horseracing i.e. purely a gambling sport that everyone will gradually come to accept as being fundamentally corrupt.
________________________________________
From: Daydream Believer
Sent: 17 October 2008 12:28
To: DogFace
Subject: RE: A rare bit of decent analysis in the press
I find it hard to conceive ManU not winning at home to West Brom especially as they are playing catch up at the moment.
Chels I can see drawing as they have 3/4 of their defence out and it would appear legit.
We might draw at home to Everton but only cos we are a bit crap at the moment but really we should win that despite any ref interference.
Liverpool minus Torres should still be a home win.
I am not a betting man as I don't really understand it and it pains me too much win or lose but am very interested in your analysis and the very real possibility that there is a lot of tampering going on behind the scenes.
From: Daydream Believer
Sent: 17 October 2008 12:28
To: DogFace
Subject: RE: A rare bit of decent analysis in the press
I find it hard to conceive ManU not winning at home to West Brom especially as they are playing catch up at the moment.
Chels I can see drawing as they have 3/4 of their defence out and it would appear legit.
We might draw at home to Everton but only cos we are a bit crap at the moment but really we should win that despite any ref interference.
Liverpool minus Torres should still be a home win.
I am not a betting man as I don't really understand it and it pains me too much win or lose but am very interested in your analysis and the very real possibility that there is a lot of tampering going on behind the scenes.
________________________________________
From: DogFace
Sent: 17 Oct 2008 12:12
To: Daydream Believer
Subject: RE: A rare bit of decent analysis in the press
Well it would have to literally be a 'whistle blower' for anyone to take notice i.e. a referee.
I don't know much about the attacks on the world trade centre and the pentagon – there's far too much noise... but I admit it was suspicious that there was more effort put into spinning the political fallout than there was in any actual investigation into the facts... the event somehow mutated into demonising Muslims, blaming Iraq and attacking the 'axis of evil' (which was clearly about supporting the oil economy of which the Bush/Bin Laden families are heavily involved in) – the various conspiracy theories out there are almost a distraction from this.
Anyway – back to football... Saturday represents an interesting opportunity as the big 4 are playing:
Middlesbrough v Chelsea, 12:45Arsenal v Everton, 15:00
Aston Villa v Portsmouth, 15:00
Bolton v Blackburn, 15:00
Fulham v Sunderland, 15:00
Liverpool v Wigan, 15:00Man Utd v West Brom, 17:30
Which one of the 'Big 4' do you reckon will 'not win' and scupper the 4-way multiple? If, like last season and the season before it, the knives are out for Arsenal then watch the ref closely as he'll be out to rob us – otherwise Chelsea or Man-U could throw it and play for the draw... this would be easier for Chelsea as they are playing away. Unless the ref gets involved, I can't see Liverpool giving up points for anyone as they seem to be focusing on the EPL this season... and especially at home to Wigan.
So, my advice is – a small lay on Chelsea and if Chelsea don't win then let it ride on the 3-way multiple – otherwise wait until 17:30 and if Liverpool and Arsenal win then lay Man-u with a small side bet on correct score (1-1 or 0-0)!
The EPL is much harder to predict as there are so many more influences than the international matches... unless you have inside info (which I don't) it's a very complex equation... so I could be wrong – I often am!
________________________________________
From: Daydream Believer
Sent: 17 October 2008 11:12
To: DogFace
Subject: RE: A rare bit of decent analysis in the press
From: Daydream Believer
Sent: 17 October 2008 11:12
To: DogFace
Subject: RE: A rare bit of decent analysis in the press
I'm surprised that there isn't a body of people with no axe to grind who aren't making a big noise about this.
I am a fully signed up conspiracy theorist, don't get me started on 911 but as a case in point there is a huge amount of info on the web about how it was an inside job whether you agree or not.
Maybe it's just a question of time.
They are taking a huge risk. It would only take one whistle blower to expose the whole deal.
I am a fully signed up conspiracy theorist, don't get me started on 911 but as a case in point there is a huge amount of info on the web about how it was an inside job whether you agree or not.
Maybe it's just a question of time.
They are taking a huge risk. It would only take one whistle blower to expose the whole deal.
________________________________________
From: DogFace
Sent: 17 October 2008 10:54
To: Daydream Believer
Subject: RE: A rare bit of decent analysis in the press
From: DogFace
Sent: 17 October 2008 10:54
To: Daydream Believer
Subject: RE: A rare bit of decent analysis in the press
You wouldn't believe me if I told you how deep the denial/misinformation in the media goes... it's bordering on 'conspiracy theory'.
Certain sports journalists and pundits know what is plain for everyone to see – although nobody can say as it is equally obvious that it would be a 'career suicide' route of enquiry – so they tow the line and try to slip in relevant info under the radar in the hope that people will put 2 and 2 together. Other journalists/pundits/tipsters/talking heads are heavily linked with the bookmaking industry and absolutely know which side their bread is buttered – they play the role of apologist write what they are supposed to write and make a nice little earner on the side. Other journalists are just in denial and write misleading myopic rubbish which is then picked up on by the editors/producers and printed as 'what the public wants to hear'... bear in mind that the popular sports media in general has very close ties with the bookmaking industry – read any paper or watch any match and you will be bombarded with invitations to gamble – which is usually mixed in with misleading advice.
You are correct though - it's getting so bad that it's like the story of the 'Emperor's new clothes' – it's just going to take one respected person to point out the bleedin' obvious for everyone else to take notice!
Until then... gamble wisely.
________________________________________
From: Daydream Believer
Sent: 17 October 2008 10:34
To: DogFace
Subject: RE: A rare bit of decent analysis in the press
From: Daydream Believer
Sent: 17 October 2008 10:34
To: DogFace
Subject: RE: A rare bit of decent analysis in the press
Well played Sir!
There was piece in one of the papers this morn called "A tale of two halves" which showed the stats first half / second half.
They will get found out if they carry on like this.
There was piece in one of the papers this morn called "A tale of two halves" which showed the stats first half / second half.
They will get found out if they carry on like this.
________________________________________
From: DogFace
Sent: 17 Oct 2008 10:25
To: Daydream Believer
Subject: RE: A rare bit of decent analysis in the press
So... I hope you made as much money as I did on the game on Wednesday!
As Hleb was not playing; my bets were (assuming that certain players are 'creative' in their earning potential):
HT/FT Draw/England £5 @ 4.3 = return £21.50
Correct score = 1-2 £2 @ 10 = loss £2
Correct score = 1-3 £5 @ 15 = return £75
Correct score = 1-2 £2 @ 10 = loss £2
Correct score = 1-3 £5 @ 15 = return £75
:-D
In-ger-land In-ger-land In-ger-land!
________________________________________
________________________________________
Monday 13 October 2008
I want my MTV
What a week that was..! I didn't see that one coming – well, yeah I did a bit but still. If the world economy was a duck it would be floating upside-down in a pond with its wee flappy flippers twitching in the air. Gordon Brown seems to be loving it though... I mean – even though he was the one who proclaimed the end to 'boom and bust Britain' who in their right mind is going to vote for the smug, self serving, slimy, spakka that is David Cameron – yeah, like "he'll save us", "he looks good in a crisis" – Jesus wept!
I've worked in many shady industries – but at present I work in the 'financial sector' and I program computers. I would like to make it clear that I have never understood what the fuck the traders make their decisions on. It makes absolutely no sense to me... if you want to earn money then, like me, you go out and work for it don't you? How can you make money out of thin air and out of speculation – where does it come from and where does it go?
It seemed obvious to me that the whole economy was overvalued (I think I mentioned it in a May post 'the sound of ideologies clashing'). The value of my property has been steadily rocketing for years – although inflation has not... so – do the sums!? I recall that when the boom in the housing market started there were plenty of dark warnings from the maverick street preacher economists... they were right and nobody listened. They remembered the 80's.
To everyone else it was all as 'safe as houses'… I think not.
I remember, a few years back, talking to one on my friends, a fellow gooner who is in the same industry as me – although he is more involved in the analytics of speculation rather that the compliance and risk aversion side of the business (that I work in)... he told me that his job was to work with huge databases and program pattern matching algorithms to pick out tradable 'causalities' or markers to give 'an edge' to their traders. He told me, over a pint, that they had identified a small company in Cornwall that made egg-cups (or some shit) and its stock performance had exactly mirrored, with one week's prescience, one of the major blue chips for the entire history of the data they possessed – to him this was like finding the Holy Grail.
The exact causality could never be identified simply because it didn't exist – i.e. if you get 10,000 people all flipping coins there is a probability that 2 of them will flip the same sequence... for a time – it can be viewed as synchronicity or apophenia... depending on your level of sceptisism. The problem is that there are many 'edge finding' software developers and databases out there; and I would be pretty sure that they are all involved in the same fantasy and are finding very similar edges of 'prescience'.
This edge then becomes a self fulfilling prophecy and the 'accuracy' of the edge is amplified by the associated movement on the stock in question... so much so that it is feasible, through over analysis, the blind trust in the software and the complete lack of common sense that an egg-cup manufacturer in the craggy end of Cornwall can virtually dictate the stock price of a completely unrelated and much larger entity– synchronicity mutates to economic causality... madness; and has literally nothing to do with the price of fish... or puffins!
You may as well use a crystal ball, astrology and/or tarot cards!
Still – what in fucks name does this have to do with football and Arsenal?!
Well... it seems that since the collapse of the Icelandic economy one of our neighbours: West Ham, are utterly fucked... West Ham took our cherry at the Grove – but they also smashed a toxic lasagne'd up Tottenham into 5th place in the final game of the season... good times bad times... although now it's only sad times:
Whammy 1: West Ham lost their sponsor XL and had to play with stickers on their kit to cover up the logo... it would seem that this was a marker on how tight the purse strings were – I mean, how much would it cost to get a new strip made without 'XL' on the front? They now, due to the lack of a suitable matching fabric and/or a suitable solvent to remove the XL sticker have got the local dry clearers to iron on numbers instead.
Whammy 2: West Ham's is owned by Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson of Landsbanki (now in receivership) - XL were also invested in by Landsbanki and Straumur (owned by Bjorgolfur's son). XL has gone bust, Landsbanki has gone bust – anyone for a game of dominos?
Whammy 3: Sheffield United are going to sue the arse off West Ham over the Carlos Tevez transfer debacle. Sheffield United's players will then sue for whatever is left of the tattered remains of West Hams arse.
It's pretty much accepted fact now that West Ham will go into receivership and have to sell everyone and everything... nice! Hmm…what are the relegation odds?
There are other teams out there whose rectums are also getting a little bit twitchy... Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool strike me as obvious examples:–
Chelsea as they are reliant on one oligarchs 'good will' to keep them from going immediately bankrupt... A Chelsea fan told me that technically they were in the black as the stadium was 'prime real estate' – FFS... ok when Abramovic fucks off you can stick some luxury flats there then and all your problems are solved! Christ!
Manchester United as deep in the hole of debt and are currently relying on winning competitions to service their interest charges – Leveraged buyouts are great in boom times but a bit of a disaster in bust times... I would think that a few jewels are going to have to be sold in order to balance the books this season i.e. Ronaldo to Real Madrid – despite SAF's Canutesque declarations of "we're not a selling club" I think he knows the score. Schuster certainly knows the score with this telling quote:
I've worked in many shady industries – but at present I work in the 'financial sector' and I program computers. I would like to make it clear that I have never understood what the fuck the traders make their decisions on. It makes absolutely no sense to me... if you want to earn money then, like me, you go out and work for it don't you? How can you make money out of thin air and out of speculation – where does it come from and where does it go?
It seemed obvious to me that the whole economy was overvalued (I think I mentioned it in a May post 'the sound of ideologies clashing'). The value of my property has been steadily rocketing for years – although inflation has not... so – do the sums!? I recall that when the boom in the housing market started there were plenty of dark warnings from the maverick street preacher economists... they were right and nobody listened. They remembered the 80's.
To everyone else it was all as 'safe as houses'… I think not.
I remember, a few years back, talking to one on my friends, a fellow gooner who is in the same industry as me – although he is more involved in the analytics of speculation rather that the compliance and risk aversion side of the business (that I work in)... he told me that his job was to work with huge databases and program pattern matching algorithms to pick out tradable 'causalities' or markers to give 'an edge' to their traders. He told me, over a pint, that they had identified a small company in Cornwall that made egg-cups (or some shit) and its stock performance had exactly mirrored, with one week's prescience, one of the major blue chips for the entire history of the data they possessed – to him this was like finding the Holy Grail.
The exact causality could never be identified simply because it didn't exist – i.e. if you get 10,000 people all flipping coins there is a probability that 2 of them will flip the same sequence... for a time – it can be viewed as synchronicity or apophenia... depending on your level of sceptisism. The problem is that there are many 'edge finding' software developers and databases out there; and I would be pretty sure that they are all involved in the same fantasy and are finding very similar edges of 'prescience'.
This edge then becomes a self fulfilling prophecy and the 'accuracy' of the edge is amplified by the associated movement on the stock in question... so much so that it is feasible, through over analysis, the blind trust in the software and the complete lack of common sense that an egg-cup manufacturer in the craggy end of Cornwall can virtually dictate the stock price of a completely unrelated and much larger entity– synchronicity mutates to economic causality... madness; and has literally nothing to do with the price of fish... or puffins!
You may as well use a crystal ball, astrology and/or tarot cards!
Still – what in fucks name does this have to do with football and Arsenal?!
Well... it seems that since the collapse of the Icelandic economy one of our neighbours: West Ham, are utterly fucked... West Ham took our cherry at the Grove – but they also smashed a toxic lasagne'd up Tottenham into 5th place in the final game of the season... good times bad times... although now it's only sad times:
Whammy 1: West Ham lost their sponsor XL and had to play with stickers on their kit to cover up the logo... it would seem that this was a marker on how tight the purse strings were – I mean, how much would it cost to get a new strip made without 'XL' on the front? They now, due to the lack of a suitable matching fabric and/or a suitable solvent to remove the XL sticker have got the local dry clearers to iron on numbers instead.
Whammy 2: West Ham's is owned by Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson of Landsbanki (now in receivership) - XL were also invested in by Landsbanki and Straumur (owned by Bjorgolfur's son). XL has gone bust, Landsbanki has gone bust – anyone for a game of dominos?
Whammy 3: Sheffield United are going to sue the arse off West Ham over the Carlos Tevez transfer debacle. Sheffield United's players will then sue for whatever is left of the tattered remains of West Hams arse.
It's pretty much accepted fact now that West Ham will go into receivership and have to sell everyone and everything... nice! Hmm…what are the relegation odds?
There are other teams out there whose rectums are also getting a little bit twitchy... Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool strike me as obvious examples:–
Chelsea as they are reliant on one oligarchs 'good will' to keep them from going immediately bankrupt... A Chelsea fan told me that technically they were in the black as the stadium was 'prime real estate' – FFS... ok when Abramovic fucks off you can stick some luxury flats there then and all your problems are solved! Christ!
Manchester United as deep in the hole of debt and are currently relying on winning competitions to service their interest charges – Leveraged buyouts are great in boom times but a bit of a disaster in bust times... I would think that a few jewels are going to have to be sold in order to balance the books this season i.e. Ronaldo to Real Madrid – despite SAF's Canutesque declarations of "we're not a selling club" I think he knows the score. Schuster certainly knows the score with this telling quote:
"I think this year it will be a little complicated for his club to hang on to him."
I think that the price will come down considerably too... it's a buyers market and cash is the only king with any say on which way the tide will flow.
Liverpool... I am not sure about Liverpool – they have no money and have quite sensibly kept a tight leash on transfer dealings. They have shelved their stadium plans but I do worry about the solvency of an entity that's secured against a loan with the RBS (they took a proper pounding on Friday due to some creative accountancy issues) – so it would seem to me that if RBS were to foreclose to raise funds (which is their right) then Liverpool would have to find another investor... not easy in these times – unless it's middle eastern oil money that you are after... Liverpool fans will always pack the stadium though – so they are not in as bad shape as Chelsea and Manu.
The other knock on effect of the 'credit crisis' is that the massive amounts of extra revenue in the game are going to decline as the plastic fan tightens his faux leather belt... i.e. Setanta/Sky subscriptions... how much a month? Season tickets... again – how much (and the Nuevo Manu fans also have to add this with the travel costs of travelling from anywhere but Manchester). So will TV revenues drop and who will that hit?
Of course I have to mention Arsenal here as we have been slung into this argument of the 'big 4' debt. The difference is that our debt is for the new stadium – it's an asset that generates revenue and the debt itself is well serviced by the club in a very conservative way – for instance we only have to get into the Champions League once every 4 years to keep our heads above water – and most of the Highbury square development have been sold/signed already... I'm not saying it's not going to be tough – and Wenger (the one in which we trust) saw the hard times coming and invested in a youth policy that is bearing fruit just when we need it... we don't need a transfer budget as we have ready made home grown talent just waiting to break through and we are well placed to ride the storm.
Last laugh anyone?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Daydream Believer
Sent: 13 October 2008 09:59
To: DogFace
Subject: RE: A rare bit of decent analysis in the press
They so deserve to be booed!
-----Original Message-----
From: DogFace
Sent: 13 Oct 2008 09:48
To: Daydream Believer
Subject: RE: A rare bit of decent analysis in the press
Ha – I'm glad you noticed... hate to say I told you so!
Yeah – the proper fans are remarkably astute when it comes to the game they love... they know what they are seeing.
Here's a rundown on the obvious big bets in order of stake:
England/England HT/FT = lost
Theo Walcott (To Score First) = lost
Theo Walcott (To Score) = lost
England Clean Sheet = lost
Wayne Rooney (To Score) = won
England (To Win) = won
Wayne Rooney (To Score First) = lost
Hat Trick scored = lost
So... I reckon it was quids-in for the bookies on that one! Walcott was pretty much cut out of the game after showing his intention to score as many as possible... I even think that the commentator mentioned it (i.e. the lack of service to him) which is rare as most of them have sidelines with Ladbrokes and therefore are the worst sources of disinformation out there.
It will be a slightly different story, I think, with Belarus on Wednesday as, although they are still rubbish, they aren't the bunch of jokers that Kazakhstan are; and qualifying for the World Cup is the main priority i.e. it's a massive pay-day for all concerned… the bookies in association the more creative players, the breweries, the replica shirt manufactures, the face paint makers and the little plastic flag sellers... still – you never know though, if Hleb isn't playing it might be more of the same!
I can't wait!
:-D
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Daydream Believer
Sent: 13 October 2008 09:25
To: DogFace
Subject: RE: A rare bit of decent analysis in the press
OMG!
England 0-0 at half time, zero shots on goal against a keepr who couldn't save a pass back!
5 miniutes after re-start, score.
Ahley Cole lovely ball for them to get a goal and upset all the punters who placed 1,2, 3 nil.
You do have to wonder!
Do the boo boys suspect also?
-----Original Message-----
From: DogFace
Sent: 09 Oct 2008 16:50
To: Daydream Believer
Subject: A rare bit of decent analysis in the press
As you seemed interested - This is quite a good article and quite revealing in terms of what I was talking about earlier:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/7656414.stm
Most of lampards passes are sideways – where as gerrard plays like he wants to win every game by as many goals as he can both first and second half... if you look at the Andorra game England threw the first half down the toilet in order to scupper the HT/FT money - I would expect more of the same agaisnt Kazakhstan.
There are other players like this too i.e. Owen, James, Terry, Crouch, Ferdinand – who don't seem to try very hard in certain games… this is the real reason why England will never get past the semi final in any competition – the bookies would stand to loose an absolute fortune if we actually won anything, and this is a great shame for the players who want to go out and play football for their country.
Saying that I have high hopes that Capello is no mug, do his homework and will not bring back Owen despite cries from the papers who are owned by the same company as SkyBet… if he's really smart he'll drop a few others too!
:-)
It will be a slightly different story, I think, with Belarus on Wednesday as, although they are still rubbish, they aren't the bunch of jokers that Kazakhstan are; and qualifying for the World Cup is the main priority i.e. it's a massive pay-day for all concerned… the bookies in association the more creative players, the breweries, the replica shirt manufactures, the face paint makers and the little plastic flag sellers... still – you never know though, if Hleb isn't playing it might be more of the same!
I can't wait!
:-D
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Daydream Believer
Sent: 13 October 2008 09:25
To: DogFace
Subject: RE: A rare bit of decent analysis in the press
OMG!
England 0-0 at half time, zero shots on goal against a keepr who couldn't save a pass back!
5 miniutes after re-start, score.
Ahley Cole lovely ball for them to get a goal and upset all the punters who placed 1,2, 3 nil.
You do have to wonder!
Do the boo boys suspect also?
-----Original Message-----
From: DogFace
Sent: 09 Oct 2008 16:50
To: Daydream Believer
Subject: A rare bit of decent analysis in the press
As you seemed interested - This is quite a good article and quite revealing in terms of what I was talking about earlier:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/7656414.stm
Most of lampards passes are sideways – where as gerrard plays like he wants to win every game by as many goals as he can both first and second half... if you look at the Andorra game England threw the first half down the toilet in order to scupper the HT/FT money - I would expect more of the same agaisnt Kazakhstan.
There are other players like this too i.e. Owen, James, Terry, Crouch, Ferdinand – who don't seem to try very hard in certain games… this is the real reason why England will never get past the semi final in any competition – the bookies would stand to loose an absolute fortune if we actually won anything, and this is a great shame for the players who want to go out and play football for their country.
Saying that I have high hopes that Capello is no mug, do his homework and will not bring back Owen despite cries from the papers who are owned by the same company as SkyBet… if he's really smart he'll drop a few others too!
:-)
Monday 6 October 2008
You only see what people want you to see
Well – it finally happened, after weeks of brushing over bad decisions and glossing over refereeing inconsistencies we finally got one!!!
MOTD gave us a 3D virtual replay!
*joy*
And once more it 'proved' beyond a shadow of a doubt that we lost points due to a ropey bit of reffing... I would assume that we only got virtualised as it was a stunning bit of skill that Theo Walcott pulled off to keep the ball in play (and then pick out RvP) and it's an international w/e coming up. Another reason why it's good to have the golden child in your team... if that had been Eboue or some other tricky Arsenal foreigner then I doubt that it would have even made the highlights.
First of all we did drop points that we shouldn't have but the game well and truly stank from the off – it was a 'game of two halves' in so much as we clearly didn't seem that bothered about scoring in the first half as we just nudged up against the Sunderland defence for 45 minutes – in the second half we went for it a bit more and then got punished for it by yet another midfield screamer... was that their only shot on target? Any lessons learned on that one then?
No – obviously not... great goal though from Leadbitter – seeing goals like that makes me wish that Rosický would hurry up and get fit so he can bang in a few in reply.
It's all looking a bit bleak for us at the moment with regards to our title aspirations... it is clear that we are being held back at this stage but unlike last season we seem to be just going along with it – this could be the plan... I mean – why play your hearts out if you are just going to get stopped again? Right?
So while another perfectly legitimate Arsenal goal it judged invalid by the linesman who clearly couldn't see what he was ruling on; Man U are helped along to 3 points after Vidic mugs Brown in the area allowing Brown (the other one) to score their opener – there seems to be a secret Ref manual out there with the following advice:
"An an official in the Premiership it is important that you make the 'right' decisions, if at any time you are unsure as to which way to a decision should go you should consider the following:
If one of the teams in question is either: Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Newcastle or Manchester City – then you should always rule your decision in favour of their best interests.
If one of the teams in question is either: Arsenal, Everton, Fulham, Aston Villa, Tottenham or Blackburn – then you should always rule your decision against their best interests.
If none of the above applies then you should just go with your gut instinct... or whomever you have your money on at the time. If conflicting, i.e. 'favoured' or 'unfavoured' teams are playing each other then you should seek advice from your supervisor as to the direction of the decision bias to be implemented... or just go with whomever you have your money on at the time."
I hate to say it but Tottenham do get a rough time from the refs too... and yes - Newcastle really are that shit and they are going to require plenty of help (again) to stay up this season... this is one of the many ways that handicaps can be imposed on teams who over perform and vice versa... a bit like Horse Racing really – last season Arsenal were like 'Phar Lap' – we kept winning and the weights kept piling on and on until eventually the metaphorical arsenic came out and stopped us in our tracks... utterly disgraceful – but nobody really noticed, not even most of the Arsenal fans.
This season Wenger seems to be playing it differently – are we holding ourselves back for the final furlong so we can position ourselves to edge it by a nose… or are we just concentrating on winning the Champions League?
Or, alternatively, we may have succumbed to some kind of external influence and we are now mucking in with all the other shady bastards in this league... time will tell.
Wednesday 1 October 2008
So where are the strong, and who are the trusted?
...Arsenal 1, Hull 2 – Arsenal 4, Porto 0...
What's the difference? Three days? Emanuel Eboue? Samir Nasri? No – something else.
As an aside; I see The Sun didn't let us down yesterday with this well timed story for Nasri's return from injury:
I think you'll find "Angry" Phil McCaw, "15 stone" or not, that if you actually intend to commit a serious criminal offence, with aforethought, they you don't call the fucking Current Bun and try and get your face in the papers beforehand… and as for: "He's nothing to look at." – well... why not take at look in the mirror you cauliflower-eared twat and ask yourself just what daddies little rich bint ever saw in you other than a bit of 'rugger rough' to see her through her gap year. Now fuck off back to 'Doncaster Academy' you shit-kicking cunt.
Ahem... of course I blame myself for reading this barrel-of-shite of a red top – but I can't help myself, it holds a grotesque fascination - like watching Celebrity Big Brother, or 'Police Camera Action'. Am I meta-masochistic? Do I require professional help?
Anyhoo - a disgusted Wenger, 'physically sick', threatens to 'wield the axe' and 'ring in the changes'...
...Nasri came back from injury and got a start – Eboue came on later to replace him, other than that, no changes...
What's the difference? What's going on?
Porto are a better team than Hull – no question. Like Hull, Porto came into the game to destabilise our rhythm with a physical approach – it did not work. Porto got smashed, Hull get 3 points – what's the difference?
There is something amiss here – something more than just a blatant refereeing bias responsible for the gulf of quality and fortitude between Arsenal playing football and Arsenal giving up.
Kolo Toure (boo boo dah doo) states post Hull:
"I was scared to play the game, sometimes people, not the players, play the game before it's started and that's a problem because there are no small teams in the Premiership."
"Against Man United everybody thinks it's going to be a tight game but when you play against Hull it's harder because you are expected to win and score in the first minute."
"But it doesn't happen like that. I was scared against Hull because there are no easy games."
"We are professional players and when we go out we want to play well and win."
Can we, as Arsenal fans, read between the lines of what Kolo is trying to say? And why does Fabregas (now in a holding role and quoted as being entirely deliriously happy with absolutely everything) seem a little distracted of late? What's with the new haircut?
I would like to speculate but all my speculations are gloomy and 'embryonic'... I will let them grow and hopefully they will die on stony ground before they reach maturity.
That said, now that Jabba has been firmly 'kicked to the curb' (although still a major shareholder) and Kroenke is in the hot seat; what 'game' are we now playing? Anyone got a copy of the Fulham match; I think I need to study it?
The game started very nervy, and as I said – Porto took the Hull template and ran with it... they could have gone a goal up too with an absolutely sublime break that was let down by the final ball hitting the crossbar. Almunia made a good save from a midfield screamer and Clichy did enough to clear off the line from a set piece. Sublime football aside, physicality, set pieces and midfield screamers were what took us apart at the weekend; so, have lessons been learned?
In particular, Walcott impressed me last night – as did Vela when he came on... that lad makes my jaw drop every time he gets the ball. The new, slightly dirge, Walcott chant seems to be catching on (to the tune of 'Englishman in New York'):
"Whooohooo Theo Walcott; Theo, Theo Walcott - he's an Englishman at Arsenal!"
And RvP can take confidence from the 2 goals he scored and thankfully he didn't go over the top, celebration wise, and get injured... I don't know what goes through his head when he scores – probably something like this:
"Shit – I've scored a really important goal... I reckon I might slide on my knees at all them cheering fans over there; Hmmm… not enough; oh hang on – maybe I'll just impale myself on that railing spike or fling myself under the hooves of that police horse I saw outside... yeah – legend, I'll do both! RAAAGAHHAGGAHHHA!!!"
*snap*
I'd also like to know what the Porto fans said to Adebayor to warrant his 'in-your-fucking-face-boys' knee slide at them after his goal... not an entirely wise move seeing as we still have a return leg – I know it's the credit crunch and all that and Christmas will be coming up on the return leg but catching Escudos 'to the head' for 90 minutes is a hard way to supplement your income.
And Eboue... cut it out with the 'Ronaldo' stepovers, I nearly pissed myself laughing... you funny bastard.
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