Tag Archives: She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

Why never Arsenal?

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During the Huddersfield v Manchester City game, the conversation turned to how brilliant the Manchester City side was.

That with 12 games gone, they have won 11, drawn 1, scoring 42 and conceding just 8. Their goal difference is already +34 and they are 8 points clear at the top. Only an idiot would not say they are not an awesome team.

The conversation soon moved on to Arsenal this season.

Now we all want to compete for league titles. To compete should be a minimum requirement – although I would also argue that to win is a minimum requirement. But with City in such great form, and looking to break all sorts of records (they are on a 21 game unbeaten run in the league, losing just 2 league games this calendar year), would it really be a failure to finish below them?

To a man, we all agreed no. That if City get 90+ points, it would have taken a herculean effort to finish above them. An impossible effort infact.

Since we last won the Premier League – back in 2004 – no side has ever gained more than 90 points and not won the league. 4 times in 13 seasons, sides have breached the 90 point mark and secured the title. You can easily argue that 90+ points guarantees you the title.

Lowering the barrier by a single win – so 87 points, only once  has a team got above 87 points and failed to win the league – Manchester United in 2011/12 when they finished level on points with Manchester City.

Again, you could argue that 87 points will almost guarantee you the title.

In the last 13 seasons, the league has been won by 87+ points 9 times. In each of these seasons, it would have been near impossible, based on recent history, for Arsenal to have gained more points and gone on to win the title.

In those 9 seasons, it would not have been a poor season to finish second. The best team one and, in the majority of the cases, won by a distance. Finishing second would be nothing to be ashamed of in those season, we all agreed.

But then I asked the question; Why never Arsenal? Why do we always sit there and say Well done Manchester City / Chelsea / Manchester United. Great teams, would have been impossible to catch you anyone.

Why can we not expect Arsenal to ever get 87+ points?

It is easy to praise others, to say well done, to agree that finishing above Manchester City if they get 87+ points this season would be impossible.

Just like no-one was ever going to finish above Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea in the 2004/05 (91 points) and 2005/06 seasons (95 points), or Manchester United in 2012/13 (89 points – won the league by 11) and 2008/09 (90 points).

There have been 4 seasons since we won the league unbeaten in 2004 when the league was won by less than 87 points. So why then could Arsenal not have got 87+ in those seasons?

Why are we sitting around praising other teams mammoth points totals, instead of saying why can we not accrue a massive points total.

In Arsene Wenger’s time at Arsenal, we have breached the magical 87 point mark just twice. In 2001/02 and 2003/04.

Only twice since 2003/04 have we breached the 80 point mark – 2004/05 and 2007/08. No team has won the Premier League with less than 80 points since Manchester United in 1998/99.

Whilst other teams in the last 13 years have gone on to get mammoth points totals which would guarantee them the league, Arsenal have failed to get close.

On 4 occasions in that period, a team has won the league with less than 87 points. Twice sides have won the league with 80/81 points.

Why could Arsenal have not gone on in those seasons to be the side that gets 87 points?

Whilst you should give praise where it is due, and it is not a failure to finish second to a team getting 90+ points, it is a clear failure that Arsenal have not got anywhere near the points total required to be champions in the majority of the seasons since we last won a trophy.

Finishing 2nd to Manchester City this season will not be a failure. Finishing 2nd to Leicester City when they only won 81 points is a failure.

Only twice in those 13 years have we won more points than Leicester did in 2015/16.

So rather than praise a side for breaking records, as the question Why can it not be Arsenal that is breaking the records?

Why never Arsenal?

And we all know the answer…

Keenos

Burnley caps off brilliant week for Arsenal

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If Carlsberg did great weeks and all that…

It started the Saturday before last. An early kick off against that lot up the road. It was supposed to be a game where Spurs cement themselves as the premiere club in North London. Show that the power shift is real. That despite the lack of trophies, they are top dogs.

Arsenal played them off the park. Destroyed Spurs. And showed that North London is red. And the drink up in the afternoon and evening was incredible.

Roll on to Sunday, and whilst we were all nursing hangovers and what-not, the world of Arsenal Twitter was exploding with #TeaGate as journalists up and down the country who make a living by winding up fans for hits got wound up themselves. How did this happen? Arsenal posted a GIF of Mesut Ozil drinking a cup of tea.

The fall out was hilarious as journalists who make a career winding up Arsenal fans then denied that they had ever written an article intended to wind up.

It ended with a lot of journalists realising that they were not as popular as they thought.

On Wednesday morning, we all set off to cologne for what ended up an epic trip.

Despite Arsenal’s defeat, a great time was had by all. 3 days on the beer in cold, wet Germany. It was one of those where you only understand how great it was if you were there.

To prove that the result was secondary, despite Arsenal losing, we still managed to secure top spot in the group with a game to go.

In the Europa League, it is all about qualifying using as little energy as possible. Arsenal got through with two games to go and secured top place with a game to go, all whilst barely using a single first team player.

Over the years, the Europa League has proved a thorn in the side of many teams as they historically struggle at the weekend fixtures. Arsenal have won 3 of the 5 weekend fixtures, and drawn away to Chelsea. The sole defeat being against Manchester City.

I am still recovering now…

And then we move on to Saturday. Spurs drop points. Liverpool drop points. Chelsea drop points. Arsenal set to play Sunday with a chance to get above Liverpool and Spurs and a single point behind Chelsea.

A dull, turgid game up North. Cold and wet. We struggled. The game petering out to a draw, Aaron Ramsey gets pushed over in the penalty area. Penalty. Goal. 92nd minute.

Is there anything better in football than an injury time winner? What a great way to beat the horrible lot from up North.

It was the 3rd time in a row that we had beaten thuggish Burnley with a last minute winner.

October 2016, it was a 92nd minute Laurent Koscielny winner to break the hearts of Burnley fans. 3 months on, Alexis Sanchez hit a 98th minute penalty, having seen Burnley score their own debatable penalty to equalise in the 93rd minute.

And then we come to yesterday, another penalty from Sanchez, this time in the 92nd minute. How Burnley must hat injury time against The Arsenal.

Maybe if their players, big tough guys like Ashley Barnes, did not spend the game throwing themselves to the floor at every opportunity, feigning injury, then there would not be as much injury time?

To top it off, #twitterclarets on Twitter made it an entertaining end to a great week.

Seeing those Burnley fans cry their salty tears over losing to Arsenal once more in injury time was the cherry on the cake.

And to top it all off, we end the weekend above Spurs.

Keenos

Cologne – You’ve been great…

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Sometimes the football does not really matter. And for the mid-week jaunt to Cologne, the football was always going to take second fiddle.

A competition than none of us massively cared about, a team already guaranteed to qualify for the next round, and knowledge that we would see a team of second string and youth players, very few of the 4,000 travelling Arsenal fans went for the football.

It might have been Arsenal that bought us to the city of Cologne on a cold November late week, but Arsenal was certainly at the back of the minds for the majority of the trip.

Jager bombs on the 8:54am train from Kings Cross, a couple of hours stop off in Brussels, before reaching Cologne at about 4pm. It was only Wednesday…

Check in then straight to a bar and the carnage continued. Beer after beer. Stein after stein. as the afternoon turned to evening, more and more Arsenal turned up, more and more bars filled up. People spilling onto the street. Trying to steal Laurie and Hardy.

Wednesday night turned into Thursday morning as we found a nice little bar that was £25 entry, all you can drink inside. Nice little spot. Plenty of Arsenal in there.

Game day. The drinking continued. After about 5 hours sleep, we were back out. Bit of food and a few beers on the river, before heading to a few more bars. A few more beers. At no point did the discussion turn to football.

The great thing about the Euro away is that you go with your group, but every bar you go into you meet old friends. Some who you saw just a few days ago at Spurs, others who you might not have seen for a few years. It is like a massive reunion, a Euro away day.

Old acquaintances resumed, new mates made.

Eventually we realised we had to leave for the football. Almost begrudgingly a few hundred of us left the bar to get the tram to go to the stadium.

I imagine to a man, we all regretted that decision to leave the bar.

Half an hour stood outside the ground to get in – 2,000 in the upper tier, 4 turnstiles…standing in bitter cold rain, to then get in and watch a match none of us were interested in.

Some left at half time to find a warmer climate to grab a beer. Others on 75 minutes to get the tram back to the town.

Few more beers. Visit to a rat-infested beer hall. Then back to that 24 hours, £25-all-you-can-drink bar I mentioned earlier.

500 Gooners in there, all singing Sweet Caroline and Gold. The place was going off. I imagine the bar regretted doing £25 all you can drink. Although I imagine they made their money back elsewhere.

It was only Friday, but we felt we had already been in the city for a week. Elsewhere the money we had spent in two nights could have covered a 2 week all inclusive holiday in a warmer climate.

Few more beers before the train home, getting back into Kings Cross at 11pm-ish.

A lot of money spent, Arsenal lost, it was cold, wet and miserable, and one of the best “city breaks” of my life.

The football really did not matter. No one out in Cologne cared for it. It was merely a distraction.

When we made the Europa League, many moaned about the lack of Champions League football. No Madrid, Dortmund, Munich or Barcelona. No PSG or Milan. But those of us that do travel abroad did not care.

Sometimes these smaller games, in smaller cities like Cologne, or backward towns like Belgrade, Sofia or Borislav, you end up with the best away trip.

A great trip, and one that will take a few days to recover from.

Cologne, you were a great host.

Up the Arsenal.

Keenos