The official Wenger Out thread

[Kid A]

The official Wenger Out thread

Flamini has been badly missed, definitely. Silly sod for going off to Milan to sit on the bench, like Hleb at Barcelona.

[wingco]

The official Wenger Out thread

Panic over - we're going to win the Premier League again.

[Guest]

The official Wenger Out thread

Johnathan Pierce toadying to Wenger,'It seems to be have a pop at Arsene week, but you're right back in the title race' Aeeee! I only saw it briefly, but that Fabregas handball looked a scandalous decision (Howard Web, how out of character) but nobody seems to be making much of it. If it had been for the other team there'd have been red-eyed conspiracy theories from yer man.

[caja-dglh]

The official Wenger Out thread

Kid A wrote:

Flamini has been badly missed, definitely. Silly sod for going off to Milan to sit on the bench, like Hleb at Barcelona.

But Hleb going was a good deal, wasn't it? He seemed rather a disappointment.

[wingco]

The official Wenger Out thread

A handball maybe, outside the area, and much made of it on MOTD. However, it shouldn't have been a free kick in the first place. Honest Stevie's initial dive was so blatant he might as well have been wearing a hooped bathing costume and holding his nose as he went down.

[Ray de Galles]

The official Wenger Out thread

The free kick was given for the foul on Kuyt not for Gerrard's loathsome dive though.

Talking of MotD, surely Hansen's defence, nay praise, of Nani for his mad two-footed studs up lunge on Petrov will make even the BBC realise he should be pensioned off? What has happened to his neck as well?

[Anton Gramscescu]

The official Wenger Out thread

There was a season - 04-05, maybe - when Arsenal won the Big Four mini-league but not the title and somebody on the team whined that despite coming second (or third, or whatever it was), they were really the best because of it. This season could be the exact opposite.

Arsenal are clearly terrible - just fucking awful - against Chelsea and ManU. I mean, Wigan and Everton can handle Chelsea, FFS, but at Stamford Bridge Arsenal folded faster than Superman on laundry day. And yet, they seem unbothered by most trips oop north, unlike most years when the faintest hint of a Lancashire or South Yorkshire accent or the sight of a bit of mud on the field was enough to give the whole team yelping conniptions.

I'm kind of digging the Premiership this year. Any time Arsenal can sustain this level of mediocrity over 26 matches and still only be 6 points back with the easiest run-in in history is all right by me.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

The official Wenger Out thread

Talking of MotD, surely Hansen's defence, nay praise, of Nani for his mad two-footed studs up lunge on Petrov will make even the BBC realise he should be pensioned off? What has happened to his neck as well?

I heard gabriel marcotti on the radio talking about the nani red card saying that maybe it was a bit harsh etc, he didn't make much contact etc and I was wondering what it going to be like. When I saw it, It was one of the most cut and dried red cards you'll see. I see from looking at newsnow, that even ferie said that he gave the ref absolutely no option. I refuse to believe point blank that a professional footballer can accidentally launch himself two footed into a tackle. what was he doing? If you're insistent on being so blatant about it, you may as well maim an opposition player. you're going to get the same ban anyway. You may as well be a useful moron.

I caught a bit of louis saha's performance against Chelsea and it filled me with nothing but regret. well, regret and giggles. He could have been one of the best centre forwards ever to grace old trafford, if he wasn't either usually injured, or recovering from an injury. A bullet header from a corner, a chest kill and a vicious strike and a missed penalty. it was vintage saha. Even the penalty award gave me the horn (to steal from a particularly leaden derek and clive sketch) Ricardo carvalho committing one of his trademark sly fouls, coming up against a player counting on him doing exactly that, and prepared to make the most of it. The biter bit.

I'm afraid that I didn't catch any of the liverpool arsenal game, but I think that it would be unfair, having consistently made reference to mick McCarthy and his possession of the two longest losing streaks in the premiership, and being pretty much the most losingest manager ever, if I didn't congratulate him on doing the home/away double over tottenham. Congratulations to Manager Mick on reaching this major achievement for any premiership manager, and even though it was only tottenham, not that he's got his eye in, may he have many more premiership doubles in the future.

[pebblethefish]

The official Wenger Out thread

Antonio Gramsci wrote:

Cantaglo, is this true? Sczczeny had a game for Arsenal early on this season, and I thought he looked excellent. But is he really, say, Lehmann quality?

Don't listen to him. Cantaglo's lying. He's rubbish, and Arsene should offload him to Brentford on a free. Just to be on the safe side, insist on a clause that he's not allowed to leave Brentford. Ever.

[Spearmint Rhino]

The official Wenger Out thread

cantagalo wrote:

The answer to Wenger's goalkeeping problem is playing at Griffin Park for the rest of the season. His name is Wojciech Szczesny.

The answer to Wenger's goalkeeping problem, it seems, is to employ the likes of Vermaelen and Fabregas as surrogate goalkeepers, shamelessly handling the ball whenever Almunia's goal is threatened.

Cheating cunts, as I'm sure the board's anti-Gerrard fraternity will leap to agree, once they have awoken from their slumbers.

[Anton Gramscescu]

The official Wenger Out thread

[meregreen]

The official Wenger Out thread

The Mighty Kubelgog!!! wrote:

I caught a bit of louis saha's performance against Chelsea and it filled me with nothing but regret. well, regret and giggles. He could have been one of the best centre forwards ever to grace old trafford, if he wasn't either usually injured, or recovering from an injury. A bullet header from a corner, a chest kill and a vicious strike and a missed penalty. it was vintage saha.

He's brilliant isn't he. Thank god he's made of balsa wood, because otherwise he'd be playing for a far better side than Everton.

[Spearmint Rhino]

The official Wenger Out thread

I mean, at least we only had one Stephane Henchoz...

[Anton Gramscescu]

The official Wenger Out thread

It's those bastard Yank owners of yours. If they only opened their wallets, you could have had a second one. Will Rafa's pain never end?

[meregreen]

The official Wenger Out thread

Spearmint Rhino wrote:

cantagalo wrote:

The answer to Wenger's goalkeeping problem is playing at Griffin Park for the rest of the season. His name is Wojciech Szczesny.

The answer to Wenger's goalkeeping problem, it seems, is to employ the likes of Vermaelen and Fabregas as surrogate goalkeepers, shamelessly handling the ball whenever Almunia's goal is threatened.

Cheating cunts, as I'm sure the board's anti-Gerrard fraternity will leap to agree, once they have awoken from their slumbers.

On behalf of the anti-Gerrard fraternity, I agree. Also, as Fabregas' foot was touching the 18-yard line, a penalty should definitely have been awarded. That made it even funnier. Almost as funny as the Gerrard dive that preceded it.

[Ray de Galles]

The official Wenger Out thread

I love the new format the EPL is using this season. Having lost last night's third place play-off with Arsenal, Liverpool go straight in to the fourth place deciding tie with Man City on the next round of league games. Innovative.

[hobbes]

The official Wenger Out thread

It's worth repeating that the free kick was given for the foul on Kuyt, not $tevie's lack of balance.

Also, as Fabregas' foot was touching the 18-yard line, a penalty should definitely have been awarded.

Is it where the player is or where the ball is? Because it didn't look to me like the ball was over the line when he tried to catch it.

Fabregas' quote was priceless. "It may have touched my hand a little bit, but it would have hit my head anyway."

Only if you were Peter Crouch and standing on a stepladder you objectionable little wank-hammer.

To be honest though, judging by last night's performance we'd have only hit the corner flag with the penalty anyway. Arsenal won the game by dint of being marginally less fucking useless on the night than Liverpool. It was a shocking game and for the first half I genuinely thought that they were showing it at half-speed, such was the leaden-footedness of all 22 players.

[Outside Agent]

The official Wenger Out thread

meregreen wrote:

Spearmint Rhino wrote:

cantagalo wrote:

The answer to Wenger's goalkeeping problem is playing at Griffin Park for the rest of the season. His name is Wojciech Szczesny.

The answer to Wenger's goalkeeping problem, it seems, is to employ the likes of Vermaelen and Fabregas as surrogate goalkeepers, shamelessly handling the ball whenever Almunia's goal is threatened.

Cheating cunts, as I'm sure the board's anti-Gerrard fraternity will leap to agree, once they have awoken from their slumbers.

On behalf of the anti-Gerrard fraternity, I agree. Also, as Fabregas' foot was touching the 18-yard line, a penalty should definitely have been awarded. That made it even funnier. Almost as funny as the Gerrard dive that preceded it.

Hang on, we're making up rules now. With handball, what matters is where contact has taken place. Fabregas arm, along with the rest of his body, was outside the box at the time of contact. It doesn't matter that his heel just happened to be straddling the line at the time. It's not rugby. By that logic, if a player is lying on the ground with his feet inside the box and the rest of his body outside it, and a handball occurs, then a penalty should be awarded despite the contact taking place a probable full metre outside.

[meregreen]

The official Wenger Out thread

hobbes wrote:

It's worth repeating that the free kick was given for the foul on Kuyt, not $tevie's lack of balance.

Yeah, I thought that was a dive too, but I don't mind Kuyt, so didn't fancy starting up a separate anti-Kuyt fraternity.

hobbes wrote:

Is it where the player is or where the ball is? Because it didn't look to me like the ball was over the line when he tried to catch it.

I assumed that his foot being on the line meant it was a penalty, but now you mention it I'm not sure.

A quick google doesn't really help.

"Law 12 says a free-kick or penalty will be awarded if a player "handles the ball deliberately (except for the goalkeeper within his own penalty area)".

[Spearmint Rhino]

The official Wenger Out thread

It's a measure of M. Wenger's title ambitions that he's now playing Mark Owen out of Take That up front.

[wingco]

The official Wenger Out thread

I realise the foul was awarded for Kuyt tripping over an invisible object not Gerrard - but Gerrard's initial dive was so objectionable he should have been booked for simulating. Kuyt's was more subtle but no less valid, to my mind. As for all those handballs, Vermaelen was looking the other way at the time the ball was blasted at him, so to penalise him would effectively have been to penalise him for having arms, while Fabregas - well, I don't know what the little fellow was thinking but he was certainly thinking outside the box at the time. I think the ref chose to overlook it out of belated remorse for having awarded such a dodgy free kick in the first place.

[Toby Gymshorts]

The official Wenger Out thread

So. Bendtner? I mean, if we're going to conduct a post-mortem on all the objectionable happenings in the game we should at least acknowledge that he's a cheat as well. Shouldn't we?

[Spearmint Rhino]

The official Wenger Out thread

Yeah, I forgot about him. Gave it the full Greg Louganis there.

[Kid A]

The official Wenger Out thread

A nice touch that he did it against Agger, presumably someone he knows well from intl duty.

[hobbes]

The official Wenger Out thread

The pair of them were laughing about it after it happened. Which was a bit weird.