Stoke Bankruptcy - Does it matter? Sequence Theory and Mao
Towel sir?
By Boris Mellor
January 24 2010
Stoke could be the first Premiership club to go bankrupt, their towel laundry bill must be excessive. It was wonderful listening to their fans sing "same old Arsenal always cheating" as their players wasted about 7 minutes of the first half on ball drying.
And before some Stoke moron comes on to cry sour grapes I have no complaint about the 3-1 result. Stoke outplayed us for most of the match and wanted it far more. They completely controlled the second half, Arsenal were hardly in it, looking like eleven strangers who had never played together before, maybe that's because only a few had played together at this level. Very few, if any presented a threat to first choice players.
Although Campbell had a good game his skill and confidence did not transmit to the rest of the back four. Fabianski did enough to ensure Almunia will keep his place for a while to come.
Does it matter?
So we were well and truly dispatched from the fourth round, I had been far too optimistic having predicted a 1-1 draw on the prediction league. The team lacked balance, no one got a grip of the midfield, and no one threatened up front. I had to check if Walcott was still on the field. Fabregas had too much midfield work to do to get into many, if any, goal scoring positions.
Even the three subs were unable to change things, in fact things got worse. There was no tempo or work ethic about most of the team, unlike Stoke who broke at speed and closed us down all the time.
The team sheet clearly underestimated how strong Stoke are at home, but does it matter? What if Wenger played his best 11 and undermined the prospects at Villa on Wednesday. You might say that he could win the cup but not the league, you might even be right, but I would not like to see Wenger sell the league at this early stage. There is a chance he has to go for it.
Whether it matters or not will not be decided in the fans' moments of post match anguish, but at the end of the next four games. If Wenger gets 10 out of the next 12 points he will be a genius, get a lot less and it will be Hero to Zero, oh well that's showbiz.
The main reason for this defeat is the weakness of the squad, of course Wenger had to rotate, but that meant depending on youth who have hardly played a first team game, some old timers, and some lightweights. Without all the injuries and the demands of the Africa Cup he could have played a stronger team.
Sequence Theory
The result will bring out the sequence theorists; they will argue this defeat brings to an end a winning run that will spill over into the league. They could be right because there is an element of chance in football, it's not a science.
However Man U have beat Burnley 3-0 and Hull 4-0 since they went out of the cup. True they drew at Birmingham but that's a good result for anyone these days. It's also true that losing to Man U in the cup put Arsenal on a losing run in the league, a year or so ago. It's also true that losing to Man U in the cup in 2004 did not stop the Gunners completing an invincible season. So sequences are not an immutable law.
So what are the consequences?
It is claimed that when Mao Tse Tung was asked what had been the consequences of the French Revolution, he replied that it was too early to tell. It may be too early to tell the consequences of this result, indeed Wenger will want his team to forget about it as soon as possible.
They will have to for the next 14 days, or Judgment Fortnight (Villa away, Man U home, Chelsea away, Liverpool home) as Sky will call it, will weigh and measure his team. I do hope Song is home soon because with Diaby injured I did not see his replacement today.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:01:26:20:24:24 by Padre Pio.
That ball drying thing is a bit pathetic though, it's effective granted. But it's like you have to alter the balls state to gain an advantage, which is cheating a bit imo.
Oh well we will just have to deal with that when we go back there at the end of February.
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
It shows up Fabianski, Silvestre, Vela, Walcott and Denilson today as a squad lacking in depth.
It si unbelievable that Denilson played 2 bad games in a row.
How do you explain that Tom?
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
"When the Enemy is strong, I retreat.
When the Enemy si tired and weak, I attack"
And this is Wenger's tactic.
ABsorbed all the ounsihments with opponent attacking with verve during initial 80-minutes, runing them off their feet.
And when they are tired, attack and put 'em to the sword after 80th minute.
But sheeeeesh after a soft goal within 68 seconds, it is like "The 300".
Any people interested to read up on Mao Zedong, Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, Marx, et al..go to www.marxists.org run by our good old "Red" Ted Grant & Co.
It is all free.
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
I will admit he has said some cringe worthy things,the "I did not see it" being the most pathetic,but mostly he is answering the questions put to him in a honest way,nothing whinging about that.
Quote:Padre Pio
Re Ted Grant is long dead Merlion
Oops.may he RIP.
But his legacy lives on at that web site.
Its not his job to be a stateman, its his job to do best for Arsenal
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
Or Hughes's.
Or Brown's.
Or Jewell's.
Or Allardyce's.
Or O'Neill's.
Or Benitez's.
Virtually every manager has jumped up and down or thrown a right strop or blamed this and that. It's a pressure job.
However, it's how the media choose to portray it according to bias. So when they all say virtually the same thing, Ferguson plays mind games, Mourinho is funny and entertaining and does it to take the pressure off his players, Wenger is a whinger.
However, Ferguson and Mourinho are often sulky, vindictive, spiteful, personal and nasty. Wenger has never been that. And he is well respected amongst the more intelligent of the press as being interesting and often funny and always available.
If Wenger's a whinger what is Brown? What is Coyle for labelling Gallas on a mistimed tackle. I suspect a troll
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
It just wasn't in Sky's interests was it and besides it would have made them look (even more) foolish to have the foundation on which their witchhunt on Gallas was built, to be removed.
I am not so sure he should have retracted that much, the Taylor tackle and gallas tackle dont bare comparison
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
Yet to this day no-one will come out and say Taylor's assault was despicable.
We lost a game. it @#$%&' happens. We have another game tomorrow. Enjoy it folks. Yet another Arsenal game will be a @#$%& cracker. You know it.
Cry down Arsenal all you want but they are the team you want to watch. Hmmm. If we had 10 Stokes in the EPL , do you think there would be so much TV money in the EPL? Doubt it. Appreciate what you are watching cause the football Arsenal play is a big draw. Hopefully, it will once again be dominant. It;s always been at the top or near the top in the last 12 years and the club has a history behind only MANU & Liverpool in the English game.
I appreciate the difference a Stoke bring to the league and they play to their strengths. Give some credit to the way Arsenal play because you know that's how most of the teams aspire to play football. Ask the non-whingers, ask them what they really think of Arsenal? Generally, they are always full of praise.