Other Games - 2010/11 Season

[Chipsticks]

Arsenal go from the sublime (Barcelona) to the ridiculous (small Heath today)
That aside, SHA were very good today and they did the 2nd city good. Well done

I'd say Leyton Orient are "the ridiculous", Blues is the "absolute fucking farce"

[LeeB]

I would rate Arsenal as, historically, the third biggest club. I would put Villa fourth.

I'd agree, with Everton a gnats bollock behind us.

I would rate Arsenal as, historically, the third biggest club. I would put Villa fourth.

No offense but bollocks, they shouldn't even be in the division.

[pauliewalnuts]

I would rate Arsenal as, historically, the third biggest club. I would put Villa fourth.

I'd agree, with Everton a gnats bollock behind us.

I would rate Arsenal as, historically, the third biggest club. I would put Villa fourth.

No offense but bollocks, they shouldn't even be in the division.

I'd rate Villa as the biggest club historically.

I don't even bother rating anyone else, what's the point? They're not Aston Villa.

[cdbearsfan]

I would rate Arsenal as, historically, the third biggest club. I would put Villa fourth.

I'd agree, with Everton a gnats bollock behind us.

I would rate Arsenal as, historically, the third biggest club. I would put Villa fourth.

No offense but bollocks, they shouldn't even be in the division.

They would have got promoted anyway, a season or two later. The way they were throwing money around in the 1920s it was inevitable.

[JJ-AV]

That match showed up Wenger's bizarre bllindness in refusing to understand that he needs both a bit of steel and determination in amongst all the fantastic passing, and a decent goalkeeper. Until he sorts that out, Arsenal won't win anything.

I've recently wondered if he would have still been Arsenal manager now if he didn't have Seaman, Adams, Keown, Winterburn and Dixon for his first 5 years or so. He did well getting Campbell to replace Adams early 2000's and Cole came through the ranks at about that time as well but his record since for defensive players has been comparatively atrocious in most cases.

Edit: Bloody dodgy internet connection meant Karlos beat me to the point.

Lehmann, Lauren, Toure and Van Bronckhurst were all quality. Sagna is a fine right back. Vermaelen is quality. But the rest just aren't good enough.

[pauliewalnuts]

Lehmann was a decent keeper, but he was far from top class.

[Toronto Villa]

From what I saw of it, Blues fully deserved to win. They had more spirit than Arsenal, and more importantly, they have a decent goalkeeper and know how to defend.

That match showed up Wenger's bizarre bllindness in refusing to understand that he needs both a bit of steel and determination in amongst all the fantastic passing, and a decent goalkeeper. Until he sorts that out, Arsenal won't win anything.

I really wanted Blues to lose, but there's no point being bitter about them winning, that'd be small time. It's a bit disappointing, but they played very well, and they deserved it, so fair play.

Agree 100% - if anything, it made me even more pissed off that we didn't take our opportunity last year.

We didn't face as naive a manager or team last year. Whereas Fergie's mentality has ensured Man U are built to win things, Wenger has become someone who's obstinance just let's opportunities pass him by.

[LeeB]

I would rate Arsenal as, historically, the third biggest club. I would put Villa fourth.

I'd agree, with Everton a gnats bollock behind us.

I would rate Arsenal as, historically, the third biggest club. I would put Villa fourth.

No offense but bollocks, they shouldn't even be in the division.

They would have got promoted anyway, a season or two later. The way they were throwing money around in the 1920s it was inevitable.

Well they obviously didn't want to take that risk and slipped in through the back door.

Johnny-come-latelys with friends in high places. They probably instigated the first world war to achieve their aims.

[Monty]

Yep, it's media-misled Wenger-hate time.

Which really winds me up more - a guy who objects to his players getting a near leg-amputation every now and again, or a type of football that, because it wouldn't be allowed anywhere else, allows fucking Blues to win a trophy (and be applauded, God help us) and prevents England from progressing any further than 'laughing stock'? Wenger doesn't object to teams going long-ball, he just a) doesn't think it works, b) wouldn't do it himself because he doesn't think it's entertaining and c) actually does have a problem with the underlying threat of violence that teams such as Stoke carry (see Andy Wilkinson's challenge on Moussa Dembele as an example).

I'm sick of this lazy, Daily Mail-based Wenger-bashing. Yes he's a sore loser - well, so are pretty much all of us, only we give our comments from the brave security of internet pseudonyms. It's astonishing that he deserves so much praise for his work at Arsenal, keeping them in the top four and challenging for honours based on children and a budget affected by a gigantic stadium debt, playing such fantastic football which entertains the neutral as much as his own club's fans, doing what he said he'd be able to do in five years five years ago, which is bringing through genuine English talent. But instead all he gets is spiteful bile from people basing their opinions on media's twin joys of misinformation and xenophobic bias.

Rant over.

[Chris Jameson]

I switched off at full time so didn't see the trophy presentation. Was Fabregas allowed to go and collect the trophy as the Arsenal players wished?

[VillaAlways]

I switched off at full time so didn't see the trophy presentation. Was Fabregas allowed to go and collect the trophy as the Arsenal players wished?

Sums up Arsenals attitude for me.Only thought they had to turn up to win the trophy.Didn't give Blues nearly enough respect ( I know that's easier said than done )

[Billy Walker]

I would rate Arsenal as, historically, the third biggest club. I would put Villa fourth.

I'd agree, with Everton a gnats bollock behind us.

I would rate Arsenal as, historically, the third biggest club. I would put Villa fourth.

No offense but bollocks, they shouldn't even be in the division.

I'd rate Villa as the biggest club historically.

I don't even bother rating anyone else, what's the point? They're not Aston Villa.

In the grand scheme of things the likes of Arsenal, Man Utd and Liverpool have only "recently" overhauled Villa's trophy count.  I think Villa had more trophies than anyone for an unbroken spell of about seventy years (early 1900's to 1970's).  For that reason I say we are England's original big club and, historically, bigger than everyone.  That, and the fact that we created the world's most popular competition, means no club will ever come close to us.

Now we just need to start winning trophies again to put all the pretenders back in their rightful place.

[Percy McCarthy]

As regards the development of the game, we are the most important club. That makes us the biggest in my book.

[Chris Smith]

Wenger is a pretentious manager. He seems to think worrying the basics of defending are beneath him. Arsenal can be a joy to watch but if they couldn't beat a bottom 6 team in a Cup Final then they are never going to win anything.

[pauliewalnuts]

I like Wenger, I like watching Arsenal and the way they play, but at the end of the day, I don't really care if Wenger doesn't seem to realise they won't win anything without a bit more spine in the middle, and a decent goalkeeper at the very least, as I'm not an Arsenal fan.

I do find it deeply irritating when he moans on about teams teams playing "negatively" against them. It is due to the gigantic financial divide in football which Arsenal have profited so massively from that the bigger teams have infinitely more resources than the smaller clubs, and that the playing field is so uneven.

To then moan at smaller clubs for going to the Emirates and - as a result of that disparity - finding that the only way they can hope to get anything out of the game is to park the bus and stop Arsenal playing first and foremost, rather than allowing his team to play their passing game (and thereby murder them) is hypocritical.