The New Arsenal

The end of an era; an era fraught with longing hope, and crushed dreams. What a downbeat way for the man who built this club to leave. In this is lesson to all readers never to overstay our welcome. The signs were clear a decade ago. The senior players  continually complained of a lack of ambition.
    Already we are reaping the fruits of letting Wenger go. Average players have been handed their inevitable death note. Surely if Arsenal were looking to win the league they would have offloaded these players years ago? Wenger stood by them. He took them as a personal project. He refused to replace them. He let sentimentality get in the way of success. He was not supported and refused support. He let top players run down their contracts. He failed to reinforce where reinforcement was needed. He did not buy the players that ManU and Barca would. Simply, he was content with mediocrity. And that is why he had to go.
    He did what he did, accomplishing what he accomplished in a manner unrivalled in history, but he refused to adapt to the changing game. He was content with the ways of a bygone era. Whilst others paid for the world's top stars, our manager was happy competing with players who would not even make Barca's bench. Whilst the whole world was screaming in despair, yearning for change, begging for a new approach, our manager closed his eyes, put his fingers in his ears and stubbornly stood by his inadequate squad. For that reason alone, few are now weeping over this fallen legend. It is known that every person's time will one day come. Wenger's time had indeed come years ago, but he wrestled and clinged to burning embers of hope. But these embers were not nurtured with the fuel they needed to compete with the devouring flames of rival clubs.
    So we say: farewell. Thank-you for the memories and thank-you for the cruel life lessons we have inadvertently learnt.

The Return

6 years I last posted. 6 years of sorrow, happiness, thrill, grief, pain, suffering, success, ease, fun, fear, fright, foolishness, regret, despair, panic, and pressure. I revisit this blog, almost accidentally. Sometimes I like to read my old writing. I like to observe the fluidity of words. I like to analyse the nature of the ink that flows from my pen. Is there improvement. Is there stagnancy? I do not know, yet I wish to know. I yearn to know. I need to know. I need to know how my writing stands compared to the Umar of the past. Of course, writing is but a collection of words, but behind those words rests a developing human mind. The words are a reflection of that mind. Is my mind working in a more sophisticated way. But what even is sophistication. That is a question for another day. For now, my brother beckons me to the gym. I wish not to go. But I must. My mind is in conflict with the desires of my soul. No. I am being dramatic. But what is creative writing other than an ostentatious display of words. Goodbye.

Trophies are over rated..a bit like Avengers

Are trophies really the gold standard?

Years have passed. Teams have changed. Haters have hated. Yet Arsenal still have not won a trophy.

In our defence, I have thought up 10 top ten reasons why it doesn't matter:

1. People claim trophies gain the respect of others. I contest. Few have a new respect for Chelsea after they "bought" the title. Few respect ManCity either (though I'm happy that they're probably going to win the PL this year - as I'm tired of seeing ManU win.) I don't respect ManU - I'm jealous of them - yes, I admit it. But it proves my point - trophies don't buy respect.

2. People claim trophies are a representation of success. This statement can not be proven. The success of a football club is subjective. One may argue that Arsenal are the most successful football club in the PL for their excellent use of resources. (Don't quote me on these stats) I think Chelsea made a loss in the first few seasons of Abromavich's reign. We could say Chelsea financially flopped.

3. People say trophies make fans happy. Perhaps this is a deficiency in the fans. Why are we so shallow?

4. Trophies are not always won by the best team.

5. Blame the referee.

6. In our defence, we have made 3 finals, many semi finals, and were about to win the PL a few years ago.

7. Whatever happened to mantra "it's the effort that counts?!"

8. Would you rather watch captivating football for 90 mins twice a week (entertainment), or watch sleep inducing clowns for a year, who justify this by placing shiny metal in THEIR cabinet. (THEIR in capitals to emphasise that the average fan does not share the success of the team - they receive no perks, no dividends.. nothing but banter with their mates.) I'd take 180 of entertainment per week over that any day.

9. Arsenal ladies have won the quadruple! Yes, the unprecedented quadruple! The men have won the emirates cup, and a few runner up medals... we have won medals...!!!

10. They joke "Fabregas is writing a book about his time at Arsenal. It has no title." Yet it has HEART, COURAGE, FLAIR, TECHNIQUE & PASSION.

Arsenal v Borussia Dortmund

There's an Arsenal match today. I can't watch it. Not that I would've even if I could've. May have considered it though.

If I don't have the choice, how can I truly gage whether I care for Arsenal?!

INTERACTIVITY

For 4 years I've had this blog. Admittedly, I've occasionally gone months without touching it, though I have provided valuable insight into AFC.

Seeing as it takes true effort and devotion to update this so regularly - something I don't really have, why don't you comment and provide other fans with the latest info... best comment will be published as a post.

Be warned, it could be a while before I check the comments :P

Uni & Arsenal

It's hard to watch Arsenal matches here. My younger bros used to find the links.. little can I be bothered nowadays.

Football

I'd like to keep this blog post short and sweet so here it is:

CUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNN

ARSEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(what insight!)

Arsenals Future

Szczesny

______ _______ _______ Gibbs

Wellington Silva - Wilshere - Ramsey - Ryo Miyachi

JET - Nicklas Bendtner

Not much happening so I was just thinking about a team for the future. Obviously it's a bit pointless but still interesting.

Miyachi and Silva both look like very exciting players and then we've got formidable partnership of Wilshere and Ramsey. JET plays right wing, but he could do well as a striker.

I know it would be unfair to put Miyachi ahead of Afobe and Aneke, but hey- it's meant to be fun. I'm not really up to speed with the reserves. I know Afobe was approached by Barcelona, so he must be quite good.

We've also got Walcott, Vela and Denilson....

Except for Gibbs, I don't know much about the defence.

Any ideas?

Arsenal match postponed

That was annoying.

I came in from building a snowman of epic proportions to watch the match, but i found out it was cancelled. Its a shame, but Chelsea vs Man Utd is also off, so we're not the only* suffering fans.

Its going to be a long week.

*I am aware there are many sports fans suffering because of this cold snap, but the word 'only' in this situation helps the sentence flow.

Arsenal draw Barcelona!

The draw for the last 16 was made this afternoon, and I think all of the Arsenal nation suspected this was coming, from the manager, players and the fans.

Was the draw rigged?...I think so.

Although I was at school at the time, I can just imagine what it looked like - bright lights, loads of suits, a stage, some bowls and balls - the perfect ingredients for a master crime!

Arsenal have got Barcelona at the Emirates for the first leg and you get the feeling we would need to give ourselves a cushion going into the second.

Anyway, this article is premature. The match takes place in Feburary (its December right now by the way), so we've got things much higher on the priority list for a while.

Which brings us to the premierleague, Arsenal play Stoke tomorrow and theres been the standard media rubbish about Shawcross being a victim. It makes me sick, so I'm not going to talk about.

If Arsenal win we'd go straight back to the top of the table, with Chelsea playing Man Utd on Sunday. It's a crazy league! You just get the feeling though, that we're dropping to may careless points and if we'd played our matches on another day, we could be out of sight by now. But I suppose every team feels that way, so let's forget that and look forward to the next half of the season.