{"id":11993,"date":"2025-09-28T21:52:22","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T20:52:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=11993"},"modified":"2025-09-30T22:18:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T21:18:13","slug":"we-are-the-arsenal-and-we-are-the-best-we-are-the-arsenal-and-well-you-know-the-rest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=11993","title":{"rendered":"We Are The Arsenal, And We Are The Best, We Are The Arsenal, And, Well, You Know The Rest\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color:#fff;display:inline-block;font-family:Roboto,sans-serif;color:#a7a7a7;font-size:11px;width:100%;max-width:594px;\"><div style=\"padding:0;margin:0;text-align:left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2237902690\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div><div style=\"overflow:hidden;position:relative;height:0;padding:66.66667% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/2237902690?et=Lh2N63Y9SUFlA3onUxqv5w&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=ZXwAjufjWuJeW50-plHLvMhjzffBgXYwtAw-yilRN44=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to win the Premier League, then you know it will be tough. This is true for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it is especially true for Arsenal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Liverpool came to St James\u2019 Park a few weeks ago, Anthony Gordon got himself sent off for a ridiculous first half challenge, and even though the ten-man Toons still battered Pool for the second half and scored two goals to level the match, a last-minute winner gave our main rivals the points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Against us, however, the barcodes allowed themselves no silly slips. They made it tough. And that is just what we have to get used to. If we wanna win this league then nobody is giving us anything; not the opposition, not the officials (or their VAR henchmen), not the pundits, and certainly not the average fan in the street. Hell, there are plenty of people who claim to be Gooners who can\u2019t wait to stick the boot in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The only way to respond is with guts, balls, and by taking the bloody points. We did that today, and the entire non-Arsenal football community can put that in their pipes and smoke it &#8211; to use a less sweary phrase than many might consider in order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m not in the mood for a blow-by-blow account. Let\u2019s just hit the highlights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joelinton took less than sixty seconds to foul Saka in a way that could well have earned a yellow card. I\u2019ve no problem with the ref keeping his cards in his pocket that early, but it doesn&#8217;t mean there isn\u2019t a point to take control of the game. Unfortunately, Jared Gillett, the Liverpool fan judged an appropriate person to referee a game between Newcastle and Arsenal, never did. Not that anyone was surprised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Newcastle fans have a reputation. They are hardcore. They are the salt of the earth. They know their football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Except, these days, they are trading on old credit. Right now, their club is owned by Saudi Arabia, and instead of showing all that proud Newcastle grit and protesting with the vehemence many might consider this development to deserve, they have rolled over to have their tummies tickled. They have a team who are incredibly physical, and they get a lot of generous home decisions, but when another physical team turns up to challenge them, do they relish the battle? Or do they assume as a matter of course that their own fouls should go unpunished and then cry blue murder whenever a nothing incident results in one of their own supposedly <em>hard as nails<\/em> players rolling around on the floor?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, they do the latter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All fans are partisan. We all try to make the most of home advantage. And there is nothing wrong with that. But Newcastle are the team in this league that most pushes the physical edges of the game, and it is also fair that everyone else is well aware of what they are trying to pull when, despite their own robust approach, we see their fans whinge and cry for fouls when their players dive on the floor after innocuous challenges, and conclude that this lot aren\u2019t the hard nuts they claim to be. They are oh so precious. They love to give it out, but they can\u2019t take it take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Barcodes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Magpies?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I call them the Pearl-Clutchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s a moniker they earn every time I see them play. \u201cHurt opponents; pretend to be hurt\u201d \u2013 theirs is the worst creed in football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They may not like us. But we sure as all hell don\u2019t like them either. Utter shower. And we are both tougher and more skilled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We were much the better side in this game. We played well and the best player on the pitch was \u2018Steal the bishop of Rome, 4,4\u2019. (One for the Morse fans).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve got two issues with the non-penalty. But first\u2026 if Pope touches the ball, then, under the current interpretation of the rules, it should be overturned. Fair enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, if the touch on the ball is so slight that it makes no difference to the viability of a goalscoring opportunity, then the current interpretation is blatantly wrong. Pope\u2019s touch does not remotely interfere with Gyokeres\u2019 ability to run onto the ball &#8211; it is the contact with Pope\u2019s knee that does that, and thus denies a goalscoring opportunity. It should be a penalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Furthermore, yesterday I watched Salah make a handball just before a Pool equaliser. The ball hit his hand. The ball changed its trajectory, and Salah\u2019s hand was knocked forwards by the contact with the ball. But the VAR decided that they could see no \u2018conclusive proof\u2019 that the ball had hit his hand. I genuinely don\u2019t know how to respond to that beyond asking \u201cdon\u2019t you have eyes?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, today, after watching a lot of replays, I think I am minded to accept that Pope did touch the ball (although, unlike in Salah\u2019s case, not in a way that materially affected the subsequent action) but I am really struggling to understand how one of these incidents was allowed to pass on the basis it was \u2018inconclusive\u2019 while the other was considered obvious enough to pass the (illusory) \u2018clear and obvious\u2019 threshold, and even to justify a change of decision?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the best will in the world, the decisions are not equitable. I\u2019d have no problem with the decision today, if it fitted in with a recognised standard. But as fans of every club will tell you, they change the way they enforce the rules every week. You just have to hope you support a team that regularly benefits, not one that regularly gets shafted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In such circumstances, it is a special thing to come away from this ground with 3 points. Despite dominance in every metric, and being much the better side, we were 1-0 down until fifteen minutes from time. And everyone and their dog had their knives out and were circling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, given I\u2019ve said nothing about the events of the match, how had we got here?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nick Woltemade scored when we got caught cold from a short corner routine. Gabriel realised he was not gonna get to the header and so pretended a touch in the back from the big German was worthy of a foul. It wasn\u2019t. That was a good header and a perfectly good goal. We let ourselves down giving that away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After a lot of effort, we equalised late in the second half when substitute Merino nodded a whipped Rice cross past the PC\u2019s goalie, who didn\u2019t even make a move to save it. In off the post. Not bad for a player who many of our own fans don\u2019t seem to judge as a player capable of hurting the opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In injury time, after a lot of corners through the game, we finally got one right, and Gabriel headed the winner to send our fans in the gods delirious. I must admit, I rather enjoyed that one myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From what I\u2019ve seen so far, I think we are the best side in this league. But it comes down to points. We\u2019ve got to put the points on the board. Today was a day when we could have dropped points but had legitimate grievances (not that anyone would have cared).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you wanna be champions, then legitimate grievances are worthless. Points on the board are all that counts. We got them today. Let\u2019s hope this is a template for all of our players to recognise what counts, and what doesn\u2019t. As a club, we\u2019ve got to keep our energy for those things that help us win trophies. If today could be a reminder for our fans that any energy spent on anything that doesn\u2019t further our bid for trophies is energy wasted, then all the struggles this afternoon would have been worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They are all out to get us. We have to win anyway. We have to win together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Victoria Concordia Crescit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images If you want to win the Premier League, then you know it will be tough. This is true for everyone. But it is especially true for Arsenal. When Liverpool came to St James\u2019 Park a few weeks ago, Anthony Gordon got himself sent off for a ridiculous first half challenge, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11993"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11993"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12012,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11993\/revisions\/12012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}