Arsenal F C (Pride Of London)

[Magpie]

Hear hear Pally. I think Wenger should move heaven and earth to keep him.

[SE13]

I hope that The entire Arsenal Board are going to move Heaven and Earth to keep Thierry Henry at the club.

He always seems a little shy when it comes to discussing his future, and has stated on a number of occasions that he is not prepared to discuss with the media anything, until such time and the player himself, the management and board sit around the table and talk about the offer in hand...And Thierry Henry has stated that this will not happen until the summer.

He still has eighteen months left on his contract, so the summer is a good time...Should he refuse, Arsenal will cash in, and should he accept, he will almost certainly become the highest paid player in The English Premiership. Time will tell!!!
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[Raccers]

I think the club will move heaven and eartht o keep him, but i fear its really going to come down to what the club do this season and if we come out of it trophyless, i think that Thierry will realy look at leaving even though i hate to say it.

It will be a massive blow if he does go as he brings so much to the club in terms of goal, assists and the morale of the team when he is on the pitch.

But if he does life must go on and i feel were in a bit of a transitional period with all these younger players and cant really see challanging Chelsea for trophies until these youngsters gel together but when they do its going to be a pretty damn good unit.

[SE13]

Reports on the radio today, suggest that Thierry Henry and Robert Pires have both come out to speak to the media about the lack of replacement for Patrick Vieira, and both are quoted as saying that the club are heading in a nowhere direction unless The Champions League is ultimately conquered.

Read into it what you will, and at this time, I feel it could be no more than media speculation, but they have a point. Vieira was not replaced, although there are others to fill the role, and people seem to have overlooked Edu, who played crucial parts in several dozen games.

Thierry Henry is unlikely to put pen to paper unless there is a huge chance of ultimate personal glory both on a personal level and a club level. Perchance this is why he has chosen the summer to make up his mind. He states his commitment to the cause, and I do not doubt it for a second, but in my eyes, the ultimate commitment to the cause is a signature on the dotted line, regardless of the price to the club..... Thoughts on that one at a later time!!
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[jonmoody61]

Another crap Premiership performance today, is my thoughts. Just didn't look awake and with it today in general. Pires was crap, as he has been all season, and capped off a terrible performance with a total joke of a penalty. But, we have to look at it from both angles. Pires messed his touch of the ball up and thats why he had to tap it again to stop the Man City defenders getting it. If we flip it around, and the touch was good and Henry slammed it past James and secured a 2-0 win and more vitally 3 points for us, I am sure the plaudits would be in total abundance, and rightly so. It just so happens that the one time they tried it, it went a bit tits up and now we're unlikely to try it again, simply because defenders are more likely to be wary to it. I can also confirm that what we planned to do - and tried to execute - is perfectly within the rule books. So much so, Croyff did it for Ajax back in 1983 - its totally acceptable, on the basis of two rules:

• The ball must roll its entire circumference
  
• The penalty taker must touch the ball only once

So if Pires had got his touch right, as opposed to nudging the top of the ball with his studs and tapping it again, Henry would have been well within his rights to give us a 2-0 lead.

On that account, we were just unlucky.

[img:ac523f8677]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v162/jonmoody61/Arsenal-HenryandPirespenalty.jpg[/img:ac523f8677]

I thought the Man City performance was assured, and credit is due for that. And credit too to their fans, who were loud and made a good atmosphere. Kicked off a little at the end of the game, pocket of Clock Enders winding them up and a few City fans tried to climb over the segregator and the stewards and police had to get involved to stop them. Cue "OOH TO BE A GOONER.... ARSENAL ARSENAL ARSENAL" from the Arsenal fans winding them up. Nothing really happened though, it has to be said. In general I felt it was a performance from City of what exactly Stuart Pearce has brought to the club. Their performance was organised, we were closed down everywhere and the passing was slick and efficient. Saying that, though, I have to add my thoughts on Joey Barton and Danny Mills. If your an Arsenal fan in the slightest, you'll know exactly why there is a strong chorus of "Danny Mills - what a w*nker, what a w*nker" whenever he comes to town and today he just added weight to that. Moany, cheaty, whingey, dirty little pr*ck. But we all knew that. And Barton isn't too clever either, dirty cheaty w*nker. Enough of them though.

Onto Mike Riley now, and what a f*cking c**t he is. He is terrible. Yes, he gave us two penalties but we should have got those penalties and any ref would have given them to us.

[img:ac523f8677]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v162/jonmoody61/Arsenal-MikeRiley.jpg[/img:ac523f8677]

He was card happy today and just so terribly inconsistent. And before people say, my opinions on his performance today are totally unrelated to my thoughts of him being a beaky, big nosed c**t from Manchester this time last year. His decision making was terrible, inconsistent - just woeful, seriously woeful. Am embarrasement for officials, just disgracefully poor.

And how can I not talk about the prematch presentation for a certain Mr. Thierry Henry? It started off with 53 Junior Gunners equally spread around the four corners of the ground all holding flags. Each flag had the club badge of every club Henry has scored against on his quest to the record. As the announcer called each club, in alphabetical order, he too said how many the lead goalscorer had scored against that particular club. Naturally, the cheers came with hearing the figures for goals against Chelsea, Man Utd and the Yidows and the like. All the flag holders then curved round the side of the centre circle in anticipation. In anticipation with the introduction for the previous record holder and Arsenal legend, Ian Wright on the way. And boy, did he lap up his atmosphere - and very much deservedly so.

[img:ac523f8677]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v162/jonmoody61/Arsenal-IanWright1.jpg[/img:ac523f8677]
[img:ac523f8677]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v162/jonmoody61/Arsenal-IanWright2.jpg[/img:ac523f8677]

Cue then the defeaning chant of: "IAN WRIGHT WRIGHT WRIGHT! IAN WRIGHT WRIGHT WRIGHT! IAN WRIGHT WRIGHT WRIGHT!" all around the ground. Brilliant stuff.

Then as the players came out, Henry was called to the centre circle. As the flags were vigorously waved in acceptance and appreciation at our Arsenal Messiah, Ian Wright graciously and ceremoniously handed over a silver cannon to commerate the event. Before Henry got to Wright, as he walked over, he walked the last 10yrds before Wright with the smile of all smiles
and his arms wide open. These two are clearly the very best of mates.

[img:ac523f8677]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v162/jonmoody61/Arsenal-HenryandWright1.jpg[/img:ac523f8677]
[img:ac523f8677]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v162/jonmoody61/Arsenal-HenryandWright2.jpg[/img:ac523f8677]
[img:ac523f8677]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v162/jonmoody61/Arsenal-HenryandWright3.jpg[/img:ac523f8677]

Ian Wright then watched the game in the centre-most, front-most VIP seat in the privileged East Stand box. I just wonder what he made of that penalty......

[SE13]

Fine report there, Jon!!

It was a pleasure to see Ian Wright Wright Wright once again gracing the Highbury turf!! A hero of mine, as well as an Arsenal legend. I can never speak highly enough of this man, who not only was born where I was, he went to the same schools, and lived in the same area, albeit a couple of years before I did it!!

I am not too sure what to say about the penalty, other than that if it was to have been scored, we would be marvelling about it for years to come!!

Not the greatest performance of all time, and things really need to pick up before our visit to S S Lane next weekend, however, Sol and Jose coming back from injury should be a good enough boost!! Fingers crossed at least!!

RED ARMY!!!
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[Magpie]

[SE13]

I am still at a loss as to what went wrong with the penalty, especially as Thierry Henry mentioned that they have practised this in training!!

Comments about Mike Riley.... I do not think there is a lot else to say.. He always seems to have an absolute shocker of a game when he referees an Arsenal game, and his red card count beggars belief!!

There was a lot of talk this weekend, and indeed today, especially on the radio, with regard to using video technology for instant decisions, such as "did the ball cross the line" and "was the player offside" and so on. Well I am a firm believer in this....Every other major sport uses video referees, and with the money and pressure involved in The Premiership especially these days, I can see no reason why this should not be introduced at the earliest available opportunity. Anyone else with any other thoughts on this??
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[Magpie]

Mike Riley's breathtaking ineptitude aside, I've posted at length about how I think the introduction of video tecnology should be used to decide big decisions. A goal allowed or disallowed can be worth millions of pounds in lost revenue to a club and can be the difference between survival and relegation. Middlesbrough were desperately unlucky to have a perfectly good save ruled as an own goal when it was clear from video replays that the ball didn't cross the line. Similarly, Newcastle had a goal disallowed last week when the ball quite clearly crossed the line. OK, Shearer fouled the keeper prior to conecting with the ball but the fact of the matter stands that the referee's assistant didn't spot either the infringement OR the ball crossing the line.

At the end of the day, the ball is usually dead and 99% of the time a video referee can come to an informed decision in less time than it takes for players to argue with the ref. There is absolutely no logical reason why a video referee cannot be introduced at all games. I can sit at home, rewind an incident and replay it in slow motion. If I can do that with my own equipment, why can't the FA introduce their own system?
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[mod4week]

[Magpie]

I said before that the penalty was a brilliant idea but I forgot to mention it earlier that on the basis of the first rule posted by jonmoody, the penalty should have been - and was - ruled as a foul (the ball hardly moved at all) and a free kick awarded. Quite possibly the only thing Mike "I Make Useless Look Good" Riley got right all day.

Not that I'm defending him in any way shape or form but it just goes to show that even someone as totally and utterly incompetent as that idiot can sometimes get things right - probably by chance on this occasion though.
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[SE13]

I suspect the only reason Mike Riley got that particular decision correct is because he had no idea of the rules (Some things never change) and just guessed what to do next!!

How he is still in charge of Premiership fixtures after some of his howlers is beyond me!!
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[Wooder]

I saw you managed a draw at Spurs yesturday, was a shame. When they went one up I thought they would go onto to win. When they never got a goal back quick enough I could just never see them holding out for that length of time. Oh well maybe next year for Spurs they will finally beat you on their own turf.

[SE13]

To be honest, it was the first time in years that Arsenal have gone into this fixture, regarded as underdogs by the bookmakers!!

A thoroughly deserved point for me, especially after our inept first half showing, though that may have been to do with Wengers tactical genius.

The goal given away was shocking marking. The goal scored was down to Robinson flapping, which of course was in front of Sven....Might not do his England prospects much good!

I have to ask questions about Jens Lehmann being injured by a missile thrown from the Tattenham contingent of supporters behind that goal, and also the incident with ex-Spud, Sol Campbell near to the tunnel at the end of the game. I trust The FA will be taking a long hard look at video evidence on these matters.....
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[SE13]

Today sees the visit to Highbury, of Sunderland. Ahead of the clash, Arsenal have Freddie Ljungberg, Ashley Cole and Alexander Hleb still out injured, although Manager Arsene Wenger will be boosted by the fact that Thierry Henry came through the midweek Champions League victory unscathed, and looks certain to start.

Once again, Highbury has become something of a fortress for Arsenal, with so far this season, only two goals conceded, and with Sunderlands poor goal tally, it would be difficult to see how they could break down The Arsenal's resiliant defence.

I really fail to see in advance how Arsenal could lose this game, but ninety minutes of football can throw up many conundrums and surprises.

Keep The Faith. Red Army!!
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