A Little Less Conversation, A Little More Football Please

from the factory floor

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE

Brittania Stadium

Referee:  Chris Foy

Stoke City 1-1 Arsenal             28 April 2012

Crouch [9]               Van Persie [15]

Knowing that none of the other "big" sides have come away from the Brittania with anything more than a single point, and that the Arsenal have only ever got full value there at the very high cost of Aaron Ramsey's leg, you could say this trip to the Factory came with some anxiety mixed in with the usual excited anticipation.  A change to the subway schedule lost me an extra 15 minutes and served to rumble my nerves that much more, despite the attempt at soothing it with delicious, football-gods-appeasing bacon.

The angst of my late arrival was calmed somewhat by the discovery that our spanking new NY Gooner flag was making its debut on the main level. I sidled up to the bar underneath it to find Tin Lid, TJ, Kaiser and a one-nil scoreline to the towel boys courtesy of a Peter Crouch header. Ed and the Captain would join moments later. Apparently Chris Foy had already booked Dean Whitehead for a studs first tackle in the first five minutes, but it still looked to me that Stoke were going to put in another shift of overstepping the margins of fair play.

Close The Deal

Recently I wrote bemoaning the typical canned comments about lessons learned with respect to winning against lower-table opposition. For the past handful of seasons we have witnessed Arsenal sides of varying permutations raise their performance levels when facing sides competing for European places, only to shit the bed when facing the promoted sides and/or relegation fodder. 

To wit, I was referring to the loss to QPR and the subsequent win versus Man City. While we followed that win with another against Wolves, somewhat addressing this tendency, we went into the Wigan match at home perhaps feeling that just showing up would secure the points. It only took ten minutes for the visitors to exploit our lethargic start and secure their first ever victory on our ground. Our performance that day was especially galling because there was every indication that Wigan would give us a game, having just beaten United for the first time full stop, after only losing to Chelsea on the back of some offside howlers and taken three points at Anfield before that.

Bollocks to Cake

from the factory floor

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE

Ashburton Grove

Referee:  Mike Dean

Arsenal 0-0 Chelsea    21 April 2012

For the past two seasons, my birthday and the Arsenal tend to mean one thing. Or more specifically, one point. A few seasons back it was a drab nil-nil versus a Man City side clearly uninterested in getting off the bus, so they just parked it in our ground. Last year it was a shambolic display against Spurs, where we dropped a two goal lead and I ended up sharing a slice of the cake the Kaiser brought with some of the spudlings there after spending a good chunk of that match screaming obscenities at them. Not a lot was different this time around, except there was no cake.

I arrived at the Factory for the early kick-off and made my way downstairs, a Dogfish from Liam in hand, to discover about a dozen chavskis huddled around and not an NY Gooner in sight. In trickled Barry, Ed, the Captain, Rashida and Chandler one by one, the last two opting to take in the match upstairs to avoid the chavs. Probably a good idea and had I remembered properly at the time, it was upstairs with Liam when we tonked them 5-3.  We must have used up all the goals in that game.

Lessons Learned?

One topic that we discussed at the Football Factory on Sunday, with regards to the quality of the respective performances by the Arsenal and Manchester City, was the question of which team looked more like title contenders. We were having difficulty getting the ball in the net, hitting the post 3 times, missing open goals, and even clearing our own goal bound shots from the line. But our commitment and superiority were obvious and without bias there appeared to be only one deserved winner on the pitch. City, on the other hand put in the same kind of performance that ended with scoreless draws on their last two visits to the Grove, showing a complacency that belied their position in the title race.

The display from Wenger's charges matched the requirements of the occasion. There is no question City have quality in abundance but in contrast to recent April's the team found wanting wasn't wearing red and white. I was disappointed to see Chamberlain on the bench at the start but understood the need for a late spark and given Gervinho's absence it seemed just about the right decision.  And even if Benayoun wasn't great on the day, with him on the pitch we had all of the required threat and the chances necessary to beat them. That we eventually did so speaks about our character and our desire to put the QPR result right and to return to winning ways. Some may even say that we did just that.

Them Little Feets Was Going Like This

from the factory floor

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE

Ashburton Grove

Referee:  Martin Atkinson

Arsenal 1-0 Manchester City    8 April 2012

Arteta [87]

For this crucial fixture, before heading to the Factory I tried to soothe the PMT* with some eggs, biscuits and delicious bacon, and took in some of the United-QPR match. Not to be outdone by the poor officiating in the Chelsea-Wigan match, Lee Mason and his crew offered up an encore with another crucially incorrect offside, compounded by the shameful dive [that still today no one will call a dive ‘cos he’s English, innit?] of Ashley Young.

I’m not saying United couldn’t handle QPR at home without the advantage, but that doesn’t make it any more tolerable that they were once again benefactors of generous officiating at Old Trafford. That makes 8 penalties for them at home this season in the league, 8 more than the Arsenal have enjoyed. I tweeted before our match that I hoped the home cooking would continue at the Grove. If you’re thinking that’s foreshadowing, you’re right. Sort of.

It would only take 15 minutes to realize that hope of home-cooking was wasted. Kompany barreled through the back of Van Persie for as clear a penalty as you could get, and we only got a corner kick out of it.** If the hand on Young’s back was a sending off then Kompany should receive a season-long ban for the amount of contact he made in comparison. From the ensuing corner, RVP pinged a header off the crossbar via an unwitting Vermaelen.

Little Mozart

Rosicky sticks it to the Scum

Tomas Rosicky signed early in the summer of 2006, and took the number seven shirt previously worn by Robert Pires. Then he celebrated joining the Gunners with a 30 yard rocket  and a deft second against the United States in first round of the World Cup in Germany. After a subdued debut season he became an integral part of the best midfield quartet in the 2007-08 Premier League, alongside Cesc Fabregas, Mathieu Flamini, and Alexander Hleb.  That season the Arsenal led the league until February with a game based on quick passing and swarming pressure in the middle third, and Rosicky was a key component until late January, when he suffered a hamstring injury that would keep him out of the Arsenal side for the better part of two years.

Four years later, only Rosicky remains from that midfield and it’s no surprise that his return to form has coincided with the longest winning streak Arsenal have enjoyed in the league since that season. Perhaps due to his injury absence, he doesn’t have the best numbers in terms of goals or assists. In fact he endured a seemingly endless drought in front of goal in the League for Arsenal. Endless that is, until Spurs arrived at the Grove heavily favored to pull of a league double against the Arsenal.  His inclusion in the first XI at that time was surely down to his return to fitness and form, aided in no small part by Aaron Ramsey’s reverse trajectory in both departments.

All Good Things Must Come To An End

from the factory floor

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE

Loftus Road

Referee:  Mike Dean

Queens Park Rangers 2-1 Arsenal         31 March 2012

Taarabt [22]            Walcott [37]

Diakite [66]

Upon arrival at the Factory I discovered that despite the awesome gigantitude of our new flag [let’s be honest, because of it] we were shunted upstairs once again to the main floor, where tourists to New York probably don’t want to see a big fucking cannon. In the end it was probably better that way. In our last four encounters with Herr Barton in the League we have dropped seven points and received three suspensions.

Instead, we were spared the ignominy that defeat to Joey Barton was sure to bring from other supporters clubs, particularly the Chelsea mob downstairs. There are also delicious IPAs on draft behind Liam’s bar, even if he has to walk a country mile to get to them [of course we ordered them separately to force multiple journeys]. So, if you’re going to lose to a pseudo-intellectual twit bossed by a pseudo-managerial twat, at least you can drown your sorrows in a nice ale. Or eight.

Easy Does It

from the factory floor

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE

Ashburton Grove

Referee:  Phil Dowd

Arsenal 3-0 Aston Villa  24 March 2012

Gibbs [16]

Walcott [25]

Arteta [90]

Saturday morning arrived and I packed up for my first trip to the pub in a while. Huge flag. Check. Bottle of Woodford. Check. [There is a certain symmetry that on the day I honor this bet, we play Aston Villa]. Regina joined me this time for a rare foray into the sweary, smelly nether regions of the Factory. I introduced her to Liam before heading downstairs to hang the new NY Gooners flag. He apologized to her. It’s what most people do when they find out she’s my girlfriend.

The game barely got going enough to realize Djourou was in for Koscielny before Heskey clocked the former in the face with a deliberate elbow. Predictably TJ and I disagreed. Also predictably, as with most Phil Dowd officiated affairs, I’m right [Then again, he’s got all that podcasting nous and I just make meticulous drawings of joyous Arsenal moments to dull the pain of the recent barren spell].