Author Archives: norbyafc

Easy Against Hull With Real Tests Coming Up

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Well do we finally have a back up striker again in the mould of Nick Bendtner?

I am far from this mans biggest fan, and when I say far just think of how huge the gap between us and Spurs is right now, that’s the kind of chasm of my dislike for this man, but all things considered he did put a shift in last night.
He won headers, and laid balls off and scored his goal. I still don’t want him to stay past January but I’m happy he came into the side and did a semi decent job.

 Overall the game was another good performance from us, we did enough without ever moving out of 2nd gear really. We made some changes to give a few players some rest, Jenkinson came in and didn’t make a mistake, Monreal is a trusted replacement at left back and of course Bendtner in for Giroud.

I’m glad Ozil scored as every time he does it will push him on a bit more, give him a bit more confidence to try some new things for us. There is still a lot to come from him. Pundits always say it’s the sign of champions when you tick along winning these games without really having to push yourselves, this game optimised that saying.

 On the way back from the game last night me and my step-dad were talking about the games now in front of us. Barring the Liverpool, Dortmund and United games this is the hardest period of our season so far. Everton at home, City away and then Chelsea at home. A minimum of 5 points from these games is the very least we should be expecting really. To win at home against Everton and draw against Chelsea and City would mean they don’t gain anything on us. Two wins would be nice but is then there a chance we could lose the 3rd game? If given the choice you had to take 2 wins and a loss who would you choose to have the loss against? I would choose City as its vital to win all your homes games.

My opinion is we will slip up at City, but I would expect us to do well and win at home against Everton and Chelsea. Its an exciting period and I cant wait for it. The end of the month brings West Ham and Newcastle, again I would expect us to beat West Ham but Newcastle have the ability to upset us, they have done before and could do again. If by the end of December we are still top with some points in the gap to second then we must start to believe, still not sure I want to hear that fatal song though, “We’re gonna win the league and now your gonna believe us”

 Show your support Sunday, I’ve offered my services to red action to help with the flag to drag it around the North Bank and onto the East Stand. If it moves over you help us by grabbing the ends tight.

 Up The Arsenal

Premier League Grounds and Me

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This Saturday my visit to the Cardiff City Stadium means that I will only be missing 1 ground that I haven’t ever been to of teams currently in the Premier League, I thought I could just revisit some of the memories I’ve had at some of these grounds in different competitions as  was quite surprised when I realised I was only missing one.

I’m sure there are fans out there that have been to all of them twice over, but I don’t earn a huge amount of money and don’t have an away scheme membership so to build your away games up is difficult and means starting at the bottom. I’m pretty proud of the many different grounds I’ve been to over the seasons.

I remember me and my brother doing the games which didn’t require a lot of credits when we just starting out, Wigan, Newcastle, Sunderland, West Brom etc. We did these until we had enough credits to get to some decent games, the London ones and teams like Villa and Everton. Eventually we got to the level where we could always be sure to get a ticket for whichever game we wanted to go, United, Chelsea, Spurs and Liverpool.

White Hart Lane

My record at those big clubs is not good, I don’t think I have ever seen us win against United at Old Trafford, or against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. My mate was having a stag in Brighton on the weekend of the 5-3! My record at Shite Hart Lane isn’t to bad, see us win 3-1 with the AADDDEEEBBAYYYOORR goal and a lovely strike from Cesc. Seen us win 4-1 in the Carling Cup but also the 5-1 loss, but around my time of going regular to see us at WHL they have been coming back and starting to beat us and get points from us more and more so its been difficult there in recent seasons with 2 losses on my last two visits.
Had some nice times up north, was at the 4-4 Newcastle game, Ozil’s first game this season at Sunderland was a good win, remember some good wins against Liverpool one of them with Podolski’s first goal I believe, a lovely goal from a counter attacking move, also when we managed to get a point up there with a lovely own goal from Reina. Stayed up there that weekend I think and had a great night out! Had a good night out in Newcastle as well after the 4-4 game, its hard not to have a good time out in Newcastle to be fair.


www.footballgroundguide.com

Villa Park is always nice because its usually around Xmas time we go there, last time I went we won with a goal from Jack Wilshere, a header would you believe! Remember him sprinting over to the away fan section kissing the badge! Lovely moment. Also Everton is one of those ground I love going to, has a proper old stadium feel and I love being in the away section there. I was there for the game we won 6-1. It was a 5.30pm KO and we had got the train up there early that morning, been on the lemonades all day and so by the time came around we were all quite worse for wear, I managed to see one goal before being turfed out by the stewards! Walked up to an Everton pub and watched the rest of it in there. Was approached by this guy at the bar who turned up to be a Liverpool fan and enjoyed the result as much as me. Think a few of the Everton fans ever recognised me from being just thrown out of the ground! Remember going up there with my brother as well, one of my first away games and I drove on a Monday night. Got there with minutes to spare and Eduardo scored and used a hand in the build up which was hilarious as all game Everton fans had been shouting for hand ball. Needless to say its all we did for the rest of the game! “HANDBALL”

Some of the early games we did when building up the credits was on the travel club coaches, Derby away, Sunderland away. Managed to see us lose at Wigan after being 2-0 up, another one we went to when we were starting out, my step dad drove us up. Been to Wolves which was another early train job, was absolutely smashed because of the amount of beer we had drunk, my mate sate in his seat with his head in his hands for the first half! Been to Southampton for possibly one of our worst performances I’ve ever seen, was last season I think, so so poor.
Reading I nearly missed, was getting my car MOT’d the same day and was going to drive round and meet my mates there as they had the tickets, the MOT overran and I was late, managed to get in for kick off and saw us win with a goal from Hleb amongst others I think. The London ones are my favourite, its nice to be able to get the tube to an away game, Fulham, West Ham and QPR when they were up are always decent away games. Was lucky enough to catch Sagna’s shirt against West Ham one year at the end of the game when he came over to the crowd, sent it into the club and they got it signed for me and sent it back! West Brom when we made 4th place on the last day was good, went for a curry in this pub just up the road after the game in their beer garden. Its now pretty legendary for me and my step dad and we cant wait to go back! It was lovely.

I’ll just add at the bottom to these memories, that my memory is shit! And so I wouldn’t surprised if some of you read this and find some errors here and there, please let me know if you do!

I haven’t even started on the cup games, the European games and finals we have been to over the years, might leave that for another time!

Until then, Up the Arsenal and enjoy the game tomorrow!

Matt

Premier League the most competitive in Europe

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On Whatsapp I have a group chat which includes me, my step dad and my brother. We talk a lot of Arsenal before and after games and general football. Different European subjects that come up and also domestic issues in the press at that time. We all have different opinions and I enjoy it.

The other day my step dad posted a BBC link about the new gigantic BT European football deal and the basis of it was saying that the richest clubs in the game are only going to get richer. Obviously this is true but the article reads like the English Premier League is over for the foreseeable future, the top 5 or 6 will be separated from the rest and we will never again see a team challenge for the top 4, a team like Everton or Villa for example. I’m not sure I agree with this sentiment and my reasoning for thinking this way is the results we have in the Premier League every single week.

So far this season off the top of my head we have seen City beaten by Sunderland and Cardiff and Villa, United have been beaten by West Brom, Everton beat Chelsea, Southampton beat Liverpool at Anfield and of course one of the funniest results so far, West Ham beating Spurs 3-0 at Shite Hart Lane. We were even beaten by Villa on the first day of the season but we all know the ref was to blame……that’s my story and im sticking to it.

Our league is so incredibly competitive that I cannot believe someone would write off a team challenging to fight their way into the top. Football is so much more than money, I know it is a big part of the game and in most cases you could decide the final league table on their total wage bills and probably end up being not fair off correct, but its wrong just to write off all competition because the top clubs are going to be earning more money from this deal. Football is about coaching, tactics, surprise subs made by good managers and fans roaring on their teams in home stadiums. There are some teams in our league who have fantastic managers who put great teams together on shoe string budgets. They play wonderful football and create problems for all the big sides. I cant see our league suffering as a result of this money, and in fact it could even filter through our league to make the so called smaller clubs more financially better off.

It shows BT are big players and will challenge Sky for the Premier League rights, this could mean a bigger deal and more cash for the clubs the next time renewal date comes around. Our league does things correct when it comes to domestic TV deals as we spread the money throughout the league in as fair way as we possible can. The below graphic shows that every clubs has an equal share of domestic TV income and also an equal amount from overseas TV income, this is what clubs in the league earned last season.

This graphic proves that our league is the fairest in Europe when it comes to the earnings each club receives, the ratio from the top teams United earnings and the bottom teams QPR is 1.53/1. In La Liga the ratio is 14/1 and Serie A it is 10/1, Germanys Bundesliga is our closest rival at 2/1.
The clubs at the bottom are still getting parachute payments from the Premier League.
Credit to SportingIntelligence.com for the graphic and info.

The worst team in the league this season will bank £60m in TV money, with the best claiming £95m. That is just the domestic deal. The Premier League will earn £2.5bn from foreign broadcasters over the next three years, and that is without really breaking China and India. Our league will only get stronger and be more competitive, You have teams like Cardiff spending £27 million and Norwich spending £30 million.

I know a lot of fans from England have become obsessed with the German league because of how they do things, they treat the fan with respect, they stand in stadiums and have cheap tickets, but they lack competition. Bayern Munich won the league last year by 25 points and lead the way this. They are the only side in Germany who have money, and are simply buying up the best players in Germany.

You cannot find the level of commitment and competition anywhere else in Europe that we find on our pitches every week. I wouldn’t swap our league for any other in the world because of the excitement and shocks we see. Im not saying we have a lot to learn from around the other European leagues, we clearly do, but we are the powerhouse and at the moment our football is second to none.

Norby