Champions League tonight

Athers · Post by **Athers** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 8:57 pm

Watched the first half of Barca-Schalke and Barca should've been 0-2 down at half time. If they give that much space to Ronaldo and co it'll be a massacre.

blurred · Post by **blurred** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:09 am

I have to laugh at this kind of shit - from the Times, this time

It is a tragedy of apocalyptic dimensions, a human catastrophe comparable to the melting of the ice-caps and the devastation of the rainforests rolled into one. Arsenal have been knocked out of the Champions League and have all but run out of steam in the race for the Barclays Premier League title. Anyone not inclined to lament, mourn and bewail this fact is not in possession of a soul.

You may say that I am exaggerating, but this is about more than mere football. It is about music and poetry, aesthetics and artistry, hope and audacity. Arsène Wenger could have instructed his team to play with the dispiriting pragmatism so beloved of his rival managers, but the mercurial Frenchman was not prepared to betray his nobler ideals, even when it might have improved his club’s chances of success.

Arsenal’s relentless and unadulterated pursuit of beauty has itself been a thing of beauty: a daring, epic and ultimately doomed journey that has taken the English game, against all expectation, into the territory of the artistic. Wenger has done more for neutral supporters in one season — talking spiritually now, talking of our moral fabric — than an eternity of watching the spirit-sapping utilitarianism of men such as José Mourinho and Rafael Benítez.

Wenger’s posse of swashbuckling and tragic youngsters embraced the vision of their leader with the naive enthusiasm of foot soldiers and now they look around themselves at the ruins. But they should not despair. Liverpool, their conquerors on Tuesday night, may go on to lift the European Cup next month, yet what are trophies except meaningless baubles that moth and rust destroy? What Arsenal have achieved this season will endure far longer, if only in the hearts of those of us who have watched them.

Who has been inspired by Benítez’s Liverpool or Avram Grant’s Chelsea beyond the core constituencies of Merseyside and West London, who cheer out of filial loyalty and never from aesthetic appreciation? Who in their right mind could watch a Liverpool or Chelsea performance and find a wide and happy smile arriving on their surprised lips?

This is not an argument that is pro-Arsenal any more than it is anti-Liverpool: Arsenal under George Graham were as dull and draining as Liverpool under Bob Paisley were thrilling. No, it is about celebrating something in Wenger’s team that goes far beyond success and failure; it is about saluting a philosophy that owes as much to Sartre as it does to Rinus Michels. Wenger understands that, in this curious journey called life, there are things that matter beyond the merely functional.

The Frenchman and his players will be feeling something close to desolation. They woke yesterday with their hopes and dreams, which were within grasping distance a few weeks ago, in tatters. But rather than despair, they should celebrate that they have imbued football with an aesthetic meaning that it has not enjoyed since the retirement of Pelé, Carlos Alberto and Co. They are glorious, even though they have been vanquished. They are glorious, perhaps, because they have been vanquished.

There was a time when it looked as if the English game was doomed to be strangled by route-one football. It is visionaries such as Wenger and the evergreen Sir Alex Ferguson who have resisted this calamity. Manchester United’s attacking luminosity and Arsenal’s intricate creativity have offered an alternative vision of the sport that, it must be hoped, will be embraced by a new generation of managers and coaches.

Football is becoming the beautiful game again. And, for that, we must thank, above all, the incomparable Wenger.

2 wins in their last 12 games? It's alright, they play 'lavvly football'. It's a results business, I'm afraid, chaps.

Athers · Post by **Athers** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:21 am

We'll all remember this Wenger period for their unbeaten season, where they won the league playing like that...

warthog · Post by **warthog** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:25 am

I'll admit to an admiration of the way Arsenal play, but they didn't lose against Liverpool because of a 'relentless and unadulterated pursuit of beauty.'

It was because of crap defending.

blurred · Post by **blurred** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:28 am

There's so many holes in that piece I don't even know where to start - it's one of the most laughable pieces of 'journalism' I've read for many a year...

Lord Kangana · Post by **Lord Kangana** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:31 am

Wenger could have instructed his team to play with the dispiriting pragmatism so beloved of his rival managers, but the mercurial Frenchman was not prepared to betray his nobler ideals, even when it might have improved his club’s chances of success.

Utter w*nk. (apologies to the more sensitive amongst you)

In a results orientated sport(business?), I would say that Wenger perservering with a style that doesn't yield results is reason enough for dismissal on the grounds of gross negligence...

Perhaps this journalist might want to write about why the premier league is so uncompetitive, and suggest a salary cap, a draft system, all monies to be shared equally amongst its members and a level playing field without the punitive financial constraints of relegation.

Then we can all watch 'laverly football'. But he won't, because dirty little norvern tahns might be in with a sniff of a trophy. Tossbag.

boltonboris · Post by **boltonboris** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:37 am

I forgot that Wenger and Ferguson were the only managers in World Football, who like to attack..

Let's not mention that Man Utd won the treble by not passing theball in the midfield - It was get it wide and get it in - as soon as you can!!

TANGODANCER · Post by **TANGODANCER** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:45 am

At least he was good enough to mention Bolton (under our nickname of "Route One" of course).

blurred · Post by **blurred** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:47 am

boltonboris wrote:I forgot that Wenger and Ferguson were the only managers in World Football, who like to attack...

Wonder if he knows which side has scored the most goals in all competitions this year?

boltonboris · Post by **boltonboris** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 12:08 pm

blurred wrote:
boltonboris wrote:I forgot that Wenger and Ferguson were the only managers in World Football, who like to attack...
Wonder if he knows which side has scored the most goals in all competitions this year?

Inter?

Zulus Thousand of em · Post by **Zulus Thousand of em** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:02 pm

I think I'll be inclined to remember Wenger as a manager who can put out a totally overseas side on a regular basis. fecking chokers.

blurred · Post by **blurred** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:34 pm

Zulus Thousand of em wrote:I think I'll be inclined to remember Wenger as a manager who can put out a totally overseas side on a regular basis. fecking chokers.

We put out overseas sides on a regular basis, too - Leverkusen, Juventus, Inter, PSV...

James B · Post by **James B** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:04 pm

blurred wrote:There's so many holes in that piece I don't even know where to start - it's one of the most laughable pieces of 'journalism' I've read for many a year...

as bad as that article about utd and ronaldo you posted the other week before they smashed you to pieces?

TANGODANCER · Post by **TANGODANCER** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:59 pm

blurred wrote:There's so many holes in that piece I don't even know where to start - it's one of the most laughable pieces of 'journalism' I've read for many a year...

Of course, change the character names and locations and you have a totally aceptable piece from the Liverpool Echo. "The names and descriptions have been changed by the author to protect the identities of innocent persons" Yeah.

blurred · Post by **blurred** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:40 pm

TANGODANCER wrote:Of course, change the character names and locations and you have a totally aceptable piece from the Liverpool Echo. "The names and descriptions have been changed by the author to protect the identities of innocent persons" Yeah.

I don't think even a clueless nice person like David Prentice would try to argue that 'trophies don't matter' (although being an Evertonian they might as well not).

H. Pedersen · Post by **H. Pedersen** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 9:37 am

blurred wrote:It's a results business, I'm afraid, chaps.

Easy to say when the referees do the hard work for you. Two spectacularly soft sendings off for Inter, two awful penalty decisions against Arsenal, no offense but you have nothing to be proud of.

blurred · Post by **blurred** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 1:11 pm

Following on from my comments on Wenger, he's on the march again...

Arsenal needed to win at Old Trafford to start clawing back the Premier League leader's six-point advantage but a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty cancelled out Adebayor's opener before Owen Hargreaves grabbed the winner to effectively end Arsenal's hopes.

Hargreaves' free-kick came after Gilberto had been punished for a challenge on Patrice Evra while Ronaldo's penalty was awarded following a handball by William Gallas.

Wenger said: "Those two decisions made it difficult for us but overall we have to take it.

"With the penalty you can give it or not give it. As for the free-kick I do not think Gilberto touched Evra."

How about your goal that was a fecking handball? Of course, it was because of the refs that you lost (again) having taken the lead and blown it (again). Of course, it's all about the 'lavvly football' that you play.

Whinging nice person.

blurred · Post by **blurred** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 3:37 pm

Brian Reade attempts some perspective in the Mirror:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/columnist ... -20380458/

Editor should be sacked for not picking up the Sevilla error, though!

Athers · Post by **Athers** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 3:57 pm

Despite some decent points it looks like he wrote that from the Kop concourse though..

His worst line is this:

whose only failing in top-flight management has been an inability thus far to deliver the Premier League title to Anfield.

or even look like doing so thus far, and that's what he was employed to do.

and the reserve league isn't worth a mention as it's not controlled by the boss - last year's winners were Bolton and Reading and I've not noticed the next Pele make the grade yet either.

blurred · Post by **blurred** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 4:04 pm

Athers wrote:Despite some decent points it looks like he wrote that from the Kop concourse though..

His worst line is this:

whose only failing in top-flight management has been an inability thus far to deliver the Premier League title to Anfield.

or even look like doing so thus far, and that's what he was employed to do.

and the reserve league isn't worth a mention as it's not controlled by the boss - last year's winners were Bolton and Reading and I've not noticed the next Pele make the grade yet either.

A lot of the youth team (which is what the reserves are) have been brought in by Benitez, though, so he is to take some credit for it (unless you believe it's a tactical masterclass from Gary Ablett...), and to be honest so long as he keeps finishing in the top 4 he's doing exactly what the board want him to do, especially seeing as he has this knack of goign deep into the season in the Champions League which generates much more additional income.

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