Categorized | Premier League

Santos rubs salt in to self-inflicted wounds as Arsenal fall with a whimper

Posted on 04 November 2012. Tags: , ,

Written by: LadyArse on November 4, 2012.

I’ve said many times on this blog that, in the grand scheme of things, I can swallow losing. It happens, teams are outplayed, other teams are better and results don’t go your way. I have also, frequently, qualified that with ‘as long as we’ve given everything.’

In my preview of Arsenal’s trip to Manchester United I spoke about how we didn’t have to worry about the team turning up and thinking the game was won because, well, you’d have to be certifiable to turn up to Old Trafford with that sort of mindset. In my head, that of an Arsenal supporter who flew to Liverpool on Friday night and stayed with Manchester United fans just to be able to support my team as they returned to the scene of their mauling last year, the team would want to make a statement at the scene of their heaviest defeat. They would want to show their ex-captain that he had been wrong to question them and that they would want to try, as much as they could, to show the world that we aren’t afraid of Manchester United.

What we got, however, was a team who lacked passion and fight. A team which was described to me by Manchester United fans afterwards (the reasonable kind, not the arsey ones) as the worst Arsene Wenger side they’ve ever seen at Old Trafford. Even, they told me, the side which got humiliated 8-2 put up more fight than what we witnessed yesterday.

On the flight home I had to endure 30 minutes with a plane which was around 70 per cent United fans. They were singing about van Persie and discussing how awful we were.  Even the ones who came out with asinine comments such as describing Mertesacker as one of Wenger’s worst ever signings, hit the proverbial nail on the head with a statement of ‘There’s something very wrong at that club.’ I shrunk away in the corner of the plane, resisting the urge to defend my club, the club I have followed for decades, the club that means more to me than most things in this world because, well, really, what was I going to say? What defence could I offer for the performance we had put in at Old Trafford? Ahh yes United fans, but if we had Kieran Gibbs available then we would have thrashed you! The weekend had been painful enough without humiliating myself on an Easyjet flight just to top off the weekend.

If you ever needed an example of just how much some of the players at Arsenal today just don’t get *it* then after the half-time whistle Andre Santos provided it. From before the match started and right through the first half, the Arsenal fans sung very loudly of their hate for Robin van Persie. Santos must have heard it as he was playing right in front of us for that half. For him to ask van Persie for his shirt at the break defies belief. That it would not occur to him that this would infuriate Arsenal fans, that he would not think to himself ‘maybe the Arsenal fans don’t want to see me acting as a giddy little schoolgirl meeting Justin Bieber’ shows how out of touch and ignorant they are to the current feelings of the fans. It was an insult hurled straight after our own, self-inflicted injuries.

Other people with more technical nous than me will no doubt go in to the game in more detail.  Unlike some I’ve seen, I don’t blame Mike Dean for, well, being Mike Dean. Should van Persie have seen red for his challenge on Sagna? Probably, even the United fans who were kind enough to drive me to the airport agreed with that, but it was a home decision to just give him a yellow. Would it have made the slightest bit of difference? Not on your life. It would have given the Arsenal fans something to cheer about but to the rest of the Arsenal side? It would have meant nothing.

Regular readers of this blog will know that I am an Arsene-supporter. This doesn’t, however, automatically make me a supporter of the board, even though many people seem the two are inseparable. Yesterday a chant of ‘What do you, what do you, Ivan Gazidis, what do you do’ went up from the away fans and it is a fair enough question.  A number of years ago I was told that Arsenal would face ten years of restrictions on transfers due to the Emirates move, that they would be forced to rely on bargain buys and youth players coming through. I didn’t believe it at the time but it’s hard to ignore it now. They tell us there is money to spend but I don’t believe them anymore and if they’d just tell us the truth, we’d probably all feel better for it.

But, as I asked when we lost after Norwich, or perhaps it was after the performance against Schalke, are the problems at Arsenal really ones which can be solved by splashing cash on new players? Yes, a striker would be absolutely lovely, but what of the mindset of the other ten who play with him? What do we do about that?

Answers on a postcard to Ivan Gazidis please.

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A blog about the Arsenal, some tshirts too
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  • Ugandan Gunner

    Well written blog ladyarse. the millions of gunners in Uganda feel the same pain. this was one the worst performances that Arsenal has ever put up.

    • ladyarse

      Cheers for that. We really were poor, no heart, no fight and that’s worse than no talent in my opinion

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Leon-Kingsford/100002432390450 Leon Kingsford

    Why don’t Arsenal fans start voting with their feet ? When attendances start falling and Kroenke is not making money from us then perhaps they will leave the club to someone who wants to win things. This self sustainability model is just crap to me and as for the financial fair play ha – no one else seems to be worrying too much about it do they. The truth is that this board, supported by the useless Arsene Wenger (the board cannot be blamed for his poor tactics or inability to motivate his players are in it to line their greedy pockets and when discontented fans start to voice their concerns they role out their spin doctor Ivan Gazidis to tell us we have money – you ever notice that expenditure on new players is always the same or less than on player sales. Arsenal are lying on life support dying from a condition that drains the life and money out of it – the board and Wenger are that condition and the fans are the cure…

    • ladyarse

      Because fans support their club regardless of what else is going on.

    • John

      Self sustainable model is crap to you? Do you understand what a stupid comment that is?
      ‘Fans’ like you are crap to me; spineless whingeing weaklings who start slagging off the club or the manager when they don’t win. Losing a game comes with football, tough times come with football, live with it. If you’re to weak to deal with this take up an other hobby like trainspotting. Wenger useless? No, the shit for brains type fans like you are useless.

      • Doby

        “Leon Kingsford
        I have supported Arsenal since 1979 through far worse than this – so jog on yourself..”

        Well. That’s awkward.

  • Jed

    It’s hard to argue that things don’t need to change. I do agree that there are problems at board level but ultimately, if AW puts out a team that lacks passion and fight, is that really Gazidis’s fault? We see the same problems resurfacing again and again and again. At what point do we start to admit that they are not fundamentally about money or transfers (the summer signings are all decent players) but about the way the team is prepared, motivated, organised? All the signs are pointing to AW.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Leon-Kingsford/100002432390450 Leon Kingsford

      Arsenal need a change from Wenger up LA – he is a poor manager tactically and if you cannot motivate your players for a game like that then he should be the first out. I wish he would just do the honourable thing and go….

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Leon-Kingsford/100002432390450 Leon Kingsford

    Then don’t bloody complain about it – it cannot be that bad can it. You really think that the board will give a fucking toss about what you write on a blog ? Will they hell – you, just like every loyal fan that makes the effort to pay and travel to watch games are absolutely nothing to them, your opinion is nothing to them. The only thing they care about is your money. Charge you the earth and give you a second rate product. The ONLY way you will influence and change things is by voting with your feet and seeing attendances drop then they will act or preferably go…

    • Nellypop

      Think you’ll find you just end up cutting your nose off to spite your face though. There’s a waiting list for season tickets of well over 30,000, and it’s a bit shallow to only follow your team through the good times anyway. I waited 22 years to get my hands on a season ticket and I’m not about to let go now.

      As a side note, just because there are some new representatives on the board, it is wrong to look past some of the older figures who are just as much fans of the club as us, if not more, since they have been dutifully managing it for up to 30 years (or 3 generations, in PHW’s case). You don’t do that without a love for the club, and only caring about money.

      Opinions are worth tuppence, but loyalty like they have shown to our club is what has taken our club to the top table of European football and built the foundations to sustain us there in the long term. It’s easy to look at things from a short term point of view if you are only wanting to watch the good stuff in the here and now, but for us long term fans to see continued success, you need responsibility and commitment towards the club from the top to the very bottom.

      If you only support through the good times, jog on to Manchester and leave the rest of us in peace.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Leon-Kingsford/100002432390450 Leon Kingsford

        I have supported Arsenal since 1979 through far worse than this – so jog on yourself..

  • http://twitter.com/thestockdales mark stockdale

    Is it time for wenger to though? Yesterday was the final straw correct me, after years of accepting fiscal responsibility and the byproduct of also rans its time to accept that Wenger does not build passion and without funds you need passion. He has had the funds since the summer. David Moyes?

  • Irish_gooner

    This club will be another Liverpool unless something changes drastically. There is no excuse (no matter what Gazidis says) for mediocre players like Santos, Ramsey, TV5 and Walcott being anywhere near an Arsenal team. Wenger can only keep dragging us into the top 4 for so long and this year will finish it. I’m convinced we will not qualify for CL knockout stage and will not even finish top 6 in PL. I hope I’m wrong but I just can’t see Wenger being able to save us this year

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Leon-Kingsford/100002432390450 Leon Kingsford

    A real political activist you are – maoning about issues on a blog, getting hot under the collar at an AGM meeting. Tell me – if your kitchen was on fire would you just stand there and agree that it was on fire or would you do something about it? And the jog on to Manchester jibe – I expect a bit better than that. You put a blog on to garner people’s opinions then insult them when someone says something you disagree with. The Santos thing by the way – no one cares about that, what concerns people who love Arsenal is the way they are managed and currently playing…

    • ladyarse

      Not quite sure who you are replying to, me, the person who wrote the blog or the person who left a comment saying jog on to Manchester. Come back when you know how to differentiate between people with different names.

      Also, pretty sure you’ll find plenty of people were bothered by what Santos did given that I read messages and spoke to people who said very clearly they were bothered by what he did. I suppose you did the same eh?

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Leon-Kingsford/100002432390450 Leon Kingsford

        Actually LadyArse I didn’t because in the great scheme of things Santos asking Van Persie for his shirt is so trivial its not worth even thinking about. I can see it now “Santos asks for Van Persie’s shirt – also in the news Arsenal endure their worst start in 16 years of Wenger’s reign” I was more disappointed by the performance of Santos but thats just me…

  • Verminator5

    As an Arsenal-supporter since 1986 this was the first game vs. Manure at OT that i had no nerves before the game and I actually had no belief to get a win here.
    There was some hope for a good performance and atleast get 1 point, but I felt it even before the game there were no way we would win this game. I saw it in the Arsenal players faces before kickoff…they looked sad, lacking confidence and did actually look tired and uncomfortable. I’ve would also be uncomfortable coming to a dump place like that..hehe…but this is a game with passion..for the fans…and not turning up mentally is a disgrace.
    Wenger always talks about this mental strenght and great spirit, but how offen have we seen this on the pitch? Yes, there have been some great comebacks in matches the last couple of years, but that’s just because we were horrible in the first half. What about all the other matches were we lacking everything we need to win a PL match (or CL for that matter).
    They might have spirit and mental strength, but barely show it and gets easially broken down once we get a bad start to the games. Nerves, no leadership and the players look jaded. Unbelieveable and totally unacceptable when they earn SO much money each week.
    What is shocking is that some of the players don’t seem to care we’re playing poor…since they do exactly the same thing every game. How about running some more, fight for every ball, play more direct and faster and really show why they play for Arsenal Football Club? The lack of passion, confidence and lack of rythm shows really good right now.
    We have already 3 losses and almost a mid-table team right now.
    I think the focus is wrong. We don’t have the team and quality to fight for the PL trophy right now. It’s about getting the team in shape and get back to the winning style, heart and passion and try getting some points the next games. Sp*rs in a couple of weeks should be motivation enough.

    Now, the Santos thing…A guy (gay) who came to Arsenal as a positive guys and spreads good humour in the squad, BUT…his performances of late and the disgraceful “fan shirt collecting” from RVP means the fans will turn against him. At least don’t show it to everyone they did that. He shows no respect and “thanks” towards the fans and seems to be at Arsenal just to collect his pay check. Didn’t look like he cared we were loosing 1-0. Awful! He’ll never be a fan favorite at Arsenal anymore.
    Wenger deserves some critisism as well. Playing Ramsey on the wing…not using two strikers up front (I feel Poldi should play there). And his lack of coaching the players throughout the game. He just sits there or complains to the 4th official.
    You have to shows som passion too, Arsene! If we play bad, let the players know!

    For once the ref did have a fair and good game (in my opinion) and Wenger desides to blame him for the Wilshere red card. Well…he could have got the red minutes before…as could Cleverley. Red Nose took Cleverley off…Wenger did not take off Wilshere. Should have seen it really. Jack had a good game, but he’s been out for 14 months and we can’t expect him to be at his best yet and the tackles may be off sometimes. Maybe RVP should been sent off too, but he actually (barely) touched the ball first. It’s an orange card imo.

    Throughout the game I never felt we were in it except 5-10 minutes before Jackie got sent off. There were a little more direct play, but I think Manure just was waiting for the counter attacks and had complete control.

    We were this bad (in points) last year also, but the way we are playing this fall it looks even worse. It seems are playing style is stuck and there’s no fluency and good idea. Hate to say it, but Manure, Chelsea and Shitty looks much more “drilled” and has a clear style how to play. The can also play in different ways if the have too.
    I can’t remember us being this unstructured and bad in many years. Sad really because we have alot of good players in the squad. Step up and make it better, Arsene!
    A short word of our captain too. What happened to our best defender? He losing the ball, misses tackles, can’t stay on his feet and seems to be out of position alot more than couple of years back. Can’t he handle the captains role? Maybe Arteta should have it. I’m suprised the Verminator plays alot worse now than before. He was captain at Ajax and should be up for it. He should be more vocal, show the captains passion and start playing better.

    I could go on alot more, but I guess it’s enough for now. :-)

  • sam

    Im an arsenal fan,but i really dislike Santos.while players like wilshere were giving van persie the briefest handshakes ever seen,he went for a hug?! and he took his shirt at HALFTIME!!!! who does that??!! does he sympathise with van persie and roles reversed he would have done d same thing? but he forgets,Van persie was actually a good footballer….yesterdays performance made me question what sport santos plays exactly cos it surely cant b football. and to all those questioning wenger,after every defeat its d same old story,and all will b forgotten after a major victory,a new manager doesnt guarrantee success and all d wining managers out there have transfer kitties of over 80 million..ARSENAL TILL I DIE/////regardless of position on the table or defeats

  • http://twitter.com/san_kappa lmks

    I think its tough to expect passion from a side who know they’re up against 12 men and a penalty is given. That makes me sounds like a bitter Arsenal fan but you know what I am. I feel like Man U should just be rewarded our 3 point prior to the game because frankly how can we compete with a red, a pen and an offside change which led to a corner? I stand by Arsenal no matter what and I’m frustrated to read criticism of players like Podolski and Giroud in particular who I think are particularly not at fault (without Gibbs Podolski cannot go in centre and Giroud got no service, particularly from the right wing both due to Walcott’s selfishness -insistence he won’t play there temporarily even despite us having no replacement, and Ramsey being Ramsey. I am also disappointed at the Vermaelan hate and claims he shouldn’t be captain, as well as this insistence Koscielny is now crap despite being our best defender last season. I distinctly remember Arsenal fans declaring BFG one of AW’s worst buys which I’m glad he’s gone on to prove wrong (I think he’s exceptional and enjoyed him last season too, he just took a while to adapt). I wish some fans would either stand up to this board bollocks or shut the fuck up and support their team. This sitting on the fence stuff is what really frustrate me, perhaps even more than Arsenal’s poor performances since the International Break. Our away support is always amazing, if only our ‘online fans’ could say the same.

    • http://twitter.com/san_kappa lmks

      By the way, this isn’t all in response to what you’ve said in this article, it’s things I’ve read and heard over the last month and my response and frustration with them.

  • Mr. Segura

    Great read, as I’m used to here.

    I’m going to express what seems to be an unpopular opinion. Santos is receiving an unfair amount of abuse over the “kit trading” mole hill that has been turned into a mountain. The accusation is that he asked for RvP’s kit, but there’s no evidence of that. The video of the moment shows a rather uninterested Santos accepting a kit from an RvP desperately looking for acceptance from his former club.

    The media and in turn, the supporters are guilty of selectively bashing a player for behaving in a manner no less different than many of the other Arsenal players. Have we seen the video of RvP meeting his former teammates in the tunnel, pre-walk out? Arteta smiled widely and hugged him. Vermaelen the same. Those are our vice-captain and captain, respectively: our paragons.

    Why are they not being bashed in the media and on Twitter?

    Santos is now being abused, much in the way Ramsey receives abuse, on Twitter and frankly it is disgraceful. The message is, “You are a poor player, you betrayed us, leave Arsenal.” I’d rather some of these “supporters” leave instead.

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