Official Gooners Thread - A New Hope

[ONeill]

I don't rate Hughes as a top class manager capable of winning the title.

City 4 Arsenal 0.

[Archie Mitchell]

Robinho and Tevez out of todays game. Big blow for City. Not sure if Hughes will stick with 4-3-3 or switch to 4-4-2 for todays game. Northern Irelands midweek tormentor, Vladimier Wiess could get a start today.

Fancy a draw today.

[stew]

I  have a sneaking suspicion City will win 4-2. 

The Arse might well finish in eight if this run of form keeps up, they cannot seem to beat quality sides.

[ONeill]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr2O9a-kJ-o

Could've been mayhem.

[Carmen Stateside]

Should lead to a ban, could have been very ugly that, what a tube!

[Norf Tyrone]

Should lead to a ban, could have been very ugly that, what a tube!

I know if that was someone against Chelsea I'd be whining, but to me that's fair game. I am sure he got dog's abuse the whole game, so he has to give some back. Football fans are easilly offended.

Oh aye..... and I told you City were easilly wrote off.

[ONeill]

No Norf, it's not. It's completely irresponsible for a professional footballer to do that. You're not dealing with The Windsors in the crowd here. You're antagonising a hardcore away support, probably rightly inebriated, in an already pressure-cooker situation. Looking at the footage, it could've been extremely nasty and I wouldn't like to be him at the Emirates. Sad it's like that but that's the reality of it.

[slow corner back]

Running the length of the pitch to do it was stupid and that is why he saw yellow, if the arse fans had been at the end he scored at and he did it he would not even have been booked. He will not get banned for this as the referee dealt with it at the time. He may however be in trouble for stamping on RVP ( acording to the radio ) which the referee missed. By the way Arsenal have a long tough season ahead to hold onto fourth.

[ONeill]

Van Persie reaction to Adebayor incident

Robin van Persie has issued the following statement following an incident with Emmanuel Adebayor at Saturday's game:

"I am sad and disappointed by my former team-mate Emmanuel Adebayor's mindless and malicious stamp on me during today's match.

"We are both professional footballers and I know that the game is physical, I too have made hard and sometimes mis-timed challenges but never with the intention of hurting an opponent. He set out to hurt me today.

"I knew he was aiming for a collision because he changed the angle of his body to allow contact to be made.  He moved backwards when his natural momentum would have taken him forward. I find that deeply disrespectful. He has shown a real lack of class today, to me and the fans.

"I do feel lucky that I have not suffered a greater injury. The contact was only centimetres from my eye. I have not received an apology from him, there were no words exchanged afterwards. He had his own agenda today and that is bad for football. It's bad for the game we all love.

"I want to make it clear that this has nothing to do with the result of today's match.  We do not hide from that disappointment but I need to speak out about his behaviour."

[stew]

No Norf, it's not. It's completely irresponsible for a professional footballer to do that. You're not dealing with The Windsors in the crowd here. You're antagonising a hardcore away support, probably rightly inebriated, in an already pressure-cooker situation. Looking at the footage, it could've been extremely nasty and I wouldn't like to be him at the Emirates. Sad it's like that but that's the reality of it.

I agree with O'Neill on this one, the man is paid vast sums of money to be a professional sportsman and for him to incuite a bunch of drunken fans by taking the time to run over a hundred yards at them and then to taunt them put peoples health at risk, not just his own.

To be a professional you have to rise above the taunting that you are going to get and focus on the game, he made it about him and in the process endangered the health of fans and security men. I would have sent him for that no questions asked.

Arsenal fans are very passionate, they booed him before the start of the game, big deal, it happens on every ground in the country and he needs to grow up and learn to deal with it.

[slow corner back]

Do you think Mr Van Persie wants to make sure Mr Adebayor get banned While he may have a point it kinda goes against the unwritten rules in football, ie when someone does something like this to you react like Roy Keane, say nothing play dumb then do them in the next match. Keano was not the only player to ever do this ( he was the only one stupid enough to write about it in a book)
As someone who likes to put it about himself RVP is lining himself up for trouble/ ridicule at a later date. All he needed to do was get Lee Dixon to highlight it on MOTD and Adebayor was looking at a ban anyway.

[stew]

Van Persie reaction to Adebayor incident

Robin van Persie has issued the following statement following an incident with Emmanuel Adebayor at Saturday's game:

"I am sad and disappointed by my former team-mate Emmanuel Adebayor's mindless and malicious stamp on me during today's match.

"We are both professional footballers and I know that the game is physical, I too have made hard and sometimes mis-timed challenges but never with the intention of hurting an opponent. He set out to hurt me today.

"I knew he was aiming for a collision because he changed the angle of his body to allow contact to be made.  He moved backwards when his natural momentum would have taken him forward. I find that deeply disrespectful. He has shown a real lack of class today, to me and the fans.

"I do feel lucky that I have not suffered a greater injury. The contact was only centimetres from my eye. I have not received an apology from him, there were no words exchanged afterwards. He had his own agenda today and that is bad for football. It's bad for the game we all love.

"I want to make it clear that this has nothing to do with the result of today's match.  We do not hide from that disappointment but I need to speak out about his behaviour."

RVP is a class act and is the consummate professional footballer, he is obviously disappointed in his former team mate and he is correct in being so given the way yer man acted to both himself and the crowd. I hope that Hughes has the balls to put manners on him however i wouldnt bet the farm on it given the fact that united are on the horizon, I hope the FA ban this tube for a month and I also believe that RVP means it when he says it was not because of the result.

[stew]

Do you think Mr Van Persie wants to make sure Mr Adebayor get banned While he may have a point it kinda goes against the unwritten rules in football, ie when someone does something like this to you react like Roy Keane, say nothing play dumb then do them in the next match. Keano was not the only player to ever do this ( he was the only one stupid enough to write about it in a book)
As someone who likes to put it about himself RVP is lining himself up for trouble/ ridicule at a later date. All he needed to do was get Lee Dixon to highlight it on MOTD and Adebayor was looking at a ban anyway.

The rules go out the window if you feel like the hoor is trying to take your livelyhood away from you.

I agree with you, Keane is stupid.

[Archie Mitchell]

Great win for City today. Haven't seen the Adebayor incidents yet so can't really comment. May have a bit over the top but he was out to make a point today and he did it. He has received countless criticism before and after his move from players, managers and fans. If you got the chance to ram it down their throats would you not do it.

Arsenal fans seem to have short memories, after scoring against Spurs @ Highbury, Henry ran to the other end of the pitch to celebrate in front of the Spurs fans. Also remember incidents involving Rooney, Neville, Gerrard etc. The usual excuse was rolled out that he was showing some passion, and as he's English, they get away with it, not so if it's a foreigner or a controversial character.

[slow corner back]

Cobblers I remember Van Persie seeing red in a league cup game at OT years ago for an attempt to elbow Kieran richardson, if he had connected he would have broke his jaw. Then he comes out with I have never attempted to injure another player, bollocks. Trevor Brooking was a consumate professional, how many times did he get kicked/elbowed/intiomidated in the seventies? Did he feel the need to run crying to the media in an attempt to get another professional banned? If it was not about the result why did Van P not wait until after the weekend to see if the FA did anything about the incident on Monday? He is pissed off because he can see a former teamate who he did not get on with basically waving two fingers at him and the arsenal club and since he cannot get revenge on Adebayor on the pitch he wants to do it via the media.