A Tale of Two Free Kicks

from the Factory Floor

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE

Ground: Ashburton Grove

Referee:  Martin Atkinson

Arsenal             1-2              Chelsea                 29 September 2012

Gervinho [42]                      Torres[20]

                                                  Mata [53]

For the first time in very long time I woke up for this one not knowing it was a match day immediately when I opened my eyes. Maybe that’s down to the crap sleep I've been getting lately, but I thought it had something to do with the supreme confidence with which I approached the visit of Chelsea to our emerald shores, erm, pitch. I really thought we’d tonk them.

I arrived earliest at the Factory, got a Guinness from Jack Keane and was shortly thereafter joined by the Kaiser, sporting a new Vermaelen home kit.  We were soon met by tEd, Tin Lid, the Captain, and Barry.  There was a fair smattering of chavs around the place, but not nearly as many as for a normal kick-off. One of the things I noted right away was the absence of the NY Blues flag in front of the bar. Ours hung in all its glory though. It didn't turn out to be any kind of portent of good fortune to come, but I enjoyed that we got that privileged position on the day.

Point Taken

from the Factory Floor

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE

Ground: Middle Eastlands

Referee:  Mike Dean

Manchester City 1-1 Arsenal                            23 September 2012

Lescott [40]                Koscielny [82] 

I'm a fan of the kind of odd symmetry football can produce at times. When the Arsenal last met Manchester City, it was a magnificent strike from Mikel Arteta that settled the contest, capping off a commanding all action display. On this instance, given Vermaelen's flu induced absence, the Spaniard stepped forward to marshal the side and did so with the same level of performance. He was as immovable as his follicles in the heart of our midfield.

Also due to the Verminator-shaped hole in our defense, up popped Laurent Koscielny from Steve Bould's Center-Back Pez Dispenser and into the core of our burgeoning rearguard. He would enjoy his own brand of symmetry, but we'll get to that in a moment. Whisper it quietly but such is the depth growing in our squad that the last minute absence of our captain before visiting the champions had zero impact on my expectation that we would get something from this game. So it was with great anticipation that I greeted tEd and Aubrey at the Factory to take this one in.

What A Difference A Year Makes

from the road

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE

Ground: Anfield            2 September 2012

Referee:  Howard Webb

Liverpool 0-2          Arsenal           

                                          Podolski [31]

                                          Cazorla [67]

Owing to a pretty grueling work travel schedule, prior to Sunday’s match I had not seen a full ninety minutes of Arsenal football in this nascent 2012-13 league campaign, nor have I made it to the Factory as a consequence.  But if I can’t get my drinks off of Liam or Jack Keane, I’ll more than happily take them off of Jack Bradley from his own lower level bar. Not only did the racket of his blender suggest some delicious frozen rum drinks, it nicely obliterated the grating noises that permanently flow from Stewart Robson’s gobby mouth.

With that fuckwit providing the ‘color’ commentary and Howard Webb governing proceedings, Ted, Jack, and I set about taking in this season’s visit to Anfield with some trepidation. The customary atmosphere was lacking. There was the usual air of injustice from the home support at any perceived slight by the opponent [perhaps why they staunchly defend a guy like Luis Suarez?] but outside of that the Scousers had little to shout about. We were looking dead solid and it was nice to see the emergence of synchronized movements on defense in this Arsenal side.  In other words we had some seriously decent team shape. Over the past years I have grown accustomed to the team weaving patterns on attack, but it was beautiful to see the team move in unison when they didn’t have the ball to thwart the opponent.

We All Took The Red Pill, Now We're Dodging Bullets

from the factory floor

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE

Ashburton Grove

Referee:  Anthony Taylor

Arsenal 3-3 Norwich City         5 May 2012
Benayoun [2]           Hoolahan [12]
Van Persie [72,80]   Holt [27]

                                     Morison [85]

Now I know that in the twittersphere and other places of cyber-angst the build-up to this last home match revealed some proper jangling nerves, and on evidence of the ground atmosphere at the Grove and the flat performance on the pitch, that anxiety was very much alive in the physical Gooner plane,  if not just a little worse. When I arrived at the Factory after another lovely unannounced subway diversion it was 2-1 Norwich, prompting me to quote Rashida from earlier in the week as my greeting to Steven, Ed, and the Captain, already seated at the lower level bar: What in the actual fuck?

Apparently Benayoun scored a pearl of a goal from the dressing room and we felt the job was done. That early score belied our recent trend of coming out in the last handful of games flatter than an old white man’s ass. As if to make up for that, in the following fifteen minutes we conspired to gift the visitors two goals and with it the deficit that we apparently need to stir us from our perennial late season torpor. The Captain explained that while we deserved to be behind, the goals still had that special jammy quality that only the Arsenal concede. As to make up for that unique talent, we seem to do it with alarming regularity. This whole improvement of the hospitality at the stadium on match days is going just a bit too far.

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.

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.

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]. 

It's Good To Have You Back

For a variety of reasons I have only been able to take in the last several matches via Twitter feeds, match reports and the like. It's quite a feeling to be losing a match 1-0 getting into a car to go to the airport and then discovering we won in the last minute just as I emerge from security and head toward my departure gate. Nothing takes the edge off a 15 hour flight like victory stolen from the jaws of defeat [It sounds awfully weird writing that phrase 'correctly' with respect to the Gunners].

By now we're all well aware of the Premier League record the Arsenal just set for consecutive comeback wins. But this team had to make comebacks already this season, so why does it seem so surprising? We shipped two marquee players without the expected big-name replacements. We pocketed the cash and brought in a few journeyman players, missing out on the likes of Juan Mata. Then we dropped two clangers.

The mauling at Old Trafford wasn’t exactly unexpected, even if the margin was more than anticipated. The capitulation at Blackburn compounded that result. A hand-ball assisted goal by Van der Vaart was the decider in the loss to Spurs.  Afterwards we went on a run that saw us climb from the relegation zone right back up to the top five with a series of gritty performances. If the football wasn’t exactly flowing, the points were steadily accumulating. We thrashed Chelsea at the Bridge and won a Champions League group that appeared to be the toughest draw, whereas the wealthy Manchester clubs crashed out against far inferior competition.

Well That Was A Bit Special

from the road

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE

Ashburton Grove

Referee: Mike Dean

Arsenal 5-2 Tottenham Hotspur   26 February 2012
Sagna [40]                                    Saha [4]
Van Persie [43]                              Adebayor [31 pen]
Rosicky [51]
Walcott [65, 68]

For various reasons I have missed the last 3 matches down at the pub. Before Sunday, the title of my latest entry has been kind of mocking me. Ok, not kind of. Remorselessly fucking mocking me. Never give up. Right.  After each cup defeat I was sorely tempted to post something to address the irony of my conclusion in that previous report to the subsequent performances [or lack thereof].

Knowing that I would in all likelihood be unable to view this North London Derby didn’t help the pre-match tension, I have to say. With Mike Dean in charge and Phil Dowd between the two managers, there was even less optimism. 7amkickoff noted beforehand that we have never won a NLD with Dean in charge.

Never Give Up

from the factory floor

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE

Stadium of Light

Referee: Neil Swarbrick

Sunderland 1-2 Arsenal    11 February 2012

McClean [70]                Ramsey [75]
                                          Henry [90]

There are times when football is pure entertainment, at others a necessary distraction. After the work week leading up to this match, and the last performance versus Blackburn, I was hoping for both.  It seems every available preview made a significant point about the 120 minutes Sunderland played in midweek while we were rested. Nevertheless, I found myself continuing the Star Wars theme from the roll call for this trip to the Stadium of Light. My first thought upon arrival at the Factory was "I have a bad feeling about this." 

First of all, not having a midweek game for a set of about 15 players who have featured almost every match up to this point is not the same as being rested. Second, if any manager knows how to conserve resources, get behind the ball, and counter attack it's Martin O'Neill. Third, our team doesn't need the kind of complacency that we showed based on the assumption that the opponent will be tired. And fourth, there is a much more glamorous tie on the midweek horizon where a trip to the San Siro awaits. This does not a cocktail for a winning Arsenal performance make.

That Was Unexpected. And Fantastic.

from the factory floor

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE

Ashburton Grove

Referee: Andre Marriner

Arsenal 7-1 Blackburn Rovers     4 February 2012

Van Persie [2, 38, 62]                  Pederson [31] 

Oxlade-Chamberlain [40, 54]

Arteta [51]

Henry [90]   

                                

I must apologize for the tardiness of this post. A polar bear fell on me.

Speaking of tardy, I got to the Factory in the third minute and joined Carissa on the main level with Liam behind the bar. Unlike my last late arrival, the Arsenal were not so gracious and scored about 90 seconds before.  That lack of hospitality from the home side would become a trend on the day. No need to ask who scored though. Our captain does like his goals versus Blackburn. Ever since his first season in 2004-05 when Van Persie emerged in the FA Cup semi-final, he’s had a thing for scoring against the Blackeyes.

The question that also just about didn’t need asking was who set it up. It seems the thing you have to do with Theo is speak authoritatively about how he doesn’t get THAT many assists and he fucks around and busts a triple. Walcott, gotta say it was a good day. My opening volley was that at kickoff Song had more assists than Theo on the season, with Van Persie and Gervinho level.  If I have to make ridiculous bets and wear egg on my face with this kind of trivia to drag this Arsenal side over the line then so be it.

Lack Of Depth Means Lack Of Width

from the factory floor

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE

Ashburton Grove

Referee: Mike Dean

Arsenal 1-2 Manchester United     22 January 2012
Van Persie [71]                  Valencia [45] 
                                       Welbeck[81]

Arrival at the Factory was early for this one, necessitated by the overwhelming majority of United supporters that frequent the place, and I was greeted by a pair of them at the door. The banter started there, but in generally good spirits from Mark. Billy however seemed a bit ‘ready.’ More on that later.

Went downstairs to a half full bar, found Clint there and got some beers. Soon enough we were joined by Barry, Steven, Carissa and Chandler, then eventually Jack. A solid core of NY Gooners to fight the massive United turn-out. Other Gooners were dispersed in small pockets around the place but we braved it in our grumpy clump from just about center stage. The side effect of this is that we're right amongst the enemy, but that is unavoidable for these matches. So, having just chided me about not engaging Jason too much, Steven proceeded to chat with Oro for the entire match. The fucker who Keowned me the last time I was there for Arsenal-United. We are a popular lot for being a bunch of grouchy old men [apologies to Chandler and Carissa].

Well That Was A Bit Shit

from the factory floor

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE

Liberty Stadium

Referee: Michael Oliver

Swansea 3-2 Arsenal

Sinclair [pen 16]                  Van Persie [5]

Dyer [57]                               Walcott [69]

Graham [70]

I was a few minutes late for the start of the match. Jack pointed out that Arsenal had the good grace to wait until I got to the Factory so I wouldn’t have to ask who scored, only for me to get there, not see the goal, and have to ask who scored.  I ordered an official beer of Euro 2012 forgetting what happened on its debut 2 weeks ago against Fulham. Things didn’t go so well that day.  It only took about half of the first pint for it to have the same effect today, Crap penalty given, and it was level.  It occurred to me that the Carlsberg was quite possibly the reason we were suddenly so shaky in defense.  Next round was a Bass.

The next ten minutes were nervy, Swansea continued to expose our lack of defensive width and we seemed to be in a bit of shock still over the penalty. A habit, we all agreed, we thought had been broken. The same nervousness from the final minutes against Fulham was back again. But we began pressing high up the pitch, got the spacing between our lines closed down, and it felt like another goal for us was coming. It didn’t and we went in 1-1.

Happy Charmonica

from the factory floor

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Villa Park
Referee: Jon Moss
Aston Villa 1-2 Arsenal     21 December 2011
Albrighton [54]       Van Persie [17 pen]  Benayoun [87]

He likes bourbon. He is an awesome host. He's got mega dart skills. And turns out he busts out a pretty sweet pub report when I'm out of town. Cheers for that jbrad.
---

Kick-ass NYG showing today! I showed up 8 minutes late - missed the 6 train by seconds @ GCT.  I sidled up to TJ who was looking fine and perhaps 15lbs light in his blue & orange GKE shirt. He was talking some shit that I was ignoring as I concentrated on securing a Stone ipa from Liam. I got a hug from Nil. My pint arrived. 

Good Old Arsenal

from the factory floor

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE

DW Stadium

Referee:  Mark Clattenburg

Wigan Athletic 0-4 Arsenal     03 December 2011

Arteta [28] Vermaelen [29] Gervinho [61] Van Persie [78]

Vast numbers of NY Gooners continue to appear at every match down at the Factory, so much so that we were once again shunted upstairs. With a gooner behind the bar on the main level, this suits us just fine. I fear for Liam’s health though. I still can’t figure how he kept pace with all four of us.

Speaking of pace, early going it was fairly pedestrian. Given the rotation for the CC match it was interesting to see how slowly we got out of the gate. I arrived a few minutes late and missed the early Wigan chances, so perhaps there was a little mini-shock there to overcome. Most forward moves for the first 20 odd minutes involved Arsenal players running in straight lines toward the Wigan goal, without too much threat.

True Grit

from the factory floor

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE

Ashburton Grove

Referee:  Mike Dean

Arsenal 1-1 Fulham 26 November 2011

Vermaelen [OG-65, 82]

For a few matches now there has been a common theme, that we were able to dig out a result when a month or so ago that possibility would have been very much called into question.  After quite the exertion in midweek to land the top spot in our Champions League group, a drop-off in energy and performance did not pose much of a surprise.

That drop-off wasn’t matched at the Football Factory. Our minion of NY Gooners turned back the clock with some true grouchy old man style ranting, a necessary evil due both to the scrappy affair unfolding and the need to establish a good view of the match on the odd array of screens on the main level. In a way it seems fitting that so many tourists are subject to the coarse vulgarities on offer. This is New York City after all.

Zzzzshoooop, Zzzzshoooop, Zzzzshoooop, Zzzzshoooop

from the bunker

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE

Carrow Road

Referee:  Phil Dowd

Norwich City v Arsenal 19 November 2011

Morison [16] Van Persie [27, 59]

Over the past few seasons the promoted sides have proven somewhat of a challenge to the Arsenal particularly in the early part of the season. With the disruption of international friendlies these matches can be even trickier, as the opponents often have few call-ups to national sides and can spend a good 10 days getting the bus parked just right in front of the goal.

The expected rearguard action from the hosts produced a series of goal-line clearances, and the usual lack of cutting edge from the boys in red made for a frustrating afternoon.  For once such a display wasn’t down to that bloody handbrake. We cut them open time and again but a combination of poor finishing and resilient defending meant a score line that very much flattered the team in yellow.