Well here I am again, shall we crack on?
November 2011( Silent Stan and a manc warning)
Well it was Champions League time again to begin the month and off the back of the Chelsea away win it was going to be a good night at The Emirates. Except it was not. As the GFS live blog showed this was a drab affair and finish 0-0.
Actually reading the blog it seemed the guys were having more fun than the team and some good Twitter stuff too. Anyway lets move on!
So, it happened, what all Gooners had been waiting for, Silent Stan finally opened his mouth. Although what came out of it even made me wonder if he was on the same planet! He spoke thus of Man Utd and the Glazer Family. "If I was a fan of that club, I would go there and go wow, because how could you do it any better!"
(Me:What did he say?) "Since they took over they have won and they have increased the revenues by a huge amount." (Me:WT......?) Yup he came out in praise of a business model which saddled the club with high unwanted debt. This was the highlight of his ramblings which basically included, erm well nothing, no intent, no passion or vision. It also prompted a word of warning from the Chairman of the Man Utd Supporters, saying "We(Arsenal Fans) should be worried he has that kind of idea of running a club!" Indeed we Gooners were worried. No wonder there were protests of Green and Gold at Old Trafford, is that what Kronke wanted at Arsenal? With Kronke and Usmanov, still trying to buy shares this could still lead to a bloody mess. An American and a Russian up against each other think "Bay of Pigs"!
Back to the football and the month saw another unbeaten run of games starting on the 5th. West Brom at home and a 3-0 win. Then Norwich away, another comeback kings game and a 2-1 win. A Champions League win against Borussia Dortmund 2-1 saw us top the group with 8 points followed by a Premier League draw at Home to Fulham 0-0. At this point we were 7th in the league with 23 points. We were slipping behind Spurs who were 3rd and Jack Wilshere came out with a bet that Arsenal would finish above them. £3000 from him to a charity if not. A brave and lovely thing to do!
Arsenal also went out of the first trophy competition this month with a home loss to Man City 1-0 in The Carling Cup. Although the team of youngsters did the team and badge proud it was not to be. But hey, Man Utd lost to Crystal Palace and Spurs lost too so not a bad ending of the month!
As for GFS well, 21 posts for the month, The South African Ghost was at his busiest, Mrs F had to run the blog for a bit while The Dog swanned off to NYC and for me, two pieces caught my eye. Not for the insights or anything like that, just the way a feeling comes out of the writing It was also a hard month with the GFS family suffering a loss, nicely written Mrs F but less said about that the better so have a smile at these.
December 2011 (Deck the halls and City again?)
This is either a month you love or hate in equal measure. Waiting for Christmas, loving the decorations and hoping it snows or fed up with Christmas adverts, the expense, relatives you hate visiting and and panic buying. (see review one for bad shopping hints!) Yet as all Gooners know this was a month for celebrating. Yes 125 years old! No not The Dog but the boys from the Armoury. More of that later!
The month got off to a great start for Arsenal on 3rd. An away game against Wigan and a 4-0 result. Without any recognised full backs Arsenal were keeping clean sheets, Arteta was becoming a real force in the team and RVP, well what can you say. The Dog even had his blog used by Ladyarse, "Road to Wigan Pier" What was not really expected next was this!
Olympiacos CL 1-3
The biggest comedy game of the Champions League in my opinion. The big hitters left out by Wenger so they could rest with a chance for others to stake a claim. Well Fabianski was in shocking form and then sliced up by Vermaelen an off he goes. Vitto Mannone came on but forgets he is a goal keeper( "oh can I use my hands?") poor indeed! Still, we finished top of our group and it was a case of Manchester out London in.
Everton 1-0
Then came the day all Gooners had been looking forward too. The day of celebrating 125 years and a home game against Everton. It was also the GFS family Christmas away day so I am told. Everton may have come for a draw but another wonder goal from RVP and it was "1-0 to the Arsenal" I was in the North Bank that day thanks to a friend and watching that goal so close was a joy! So was the celebrating. I still have know idea who was kissing the top of my head and remembered very little of that night by the following day. If I met you at The Tollington I hope I made sense. I will leave it to GFS to sum up the day!
As December moved on Arsenal faced Man City again but this time in the league. Sadly, despite another spirited performance the score was again 1-0 and it was annoying to hear City fans singing "you are our feeder club" and "Robin Van Persie, we'll buy when we want". Arsenal then went on with a 2-1 win at Aston Villa, a boxing day game with Wolves, cancelled then played on the 27th and a 1-1 draw and finishing December with a 1-0 home win against Queens Park Rangers. Arsenal finished 2011 in 4th with 36 points having played 19, won 11, drawn 3 and lost 5. Who would have thought that back in early September?
As for GFS well another member joined, 17 posts but on the downside was hacked. Again some good reads in this month but here is one that really caught my eye.
January 2012 ( A legend returns)
The above title in brackets was about the highlight of Arsenals' month in a new year. It started poor and just got worse as the month went on. I was out of the country thankfully, but watching Spurs stretch out their point lead was very hard to take. Their was little in the way over the transfer market which made it all the more painful to see Arsenal in the mire.
The league in January went like this. Fulham away and a 1-0 defeat. A poor display by the team and a red card for Djourou sums up the efforts, added to the pain an ex Arsenal player scored (Sidwell). Next Swansea out Arsenal Arsenal with a 3-2 win and Man Utd come to us and no revenge gained for the 8-2 as we go down 2-1, the boos of Gooners ringing the stadium at the Ox's exit for Arsharvin and RVP looking at the bench in disgust! Was this the beginning on the end for RVP and Arsenal? Time will tell. So at the end of the month Arsenals' league position was this. Sixth place, won 11 drawn 3 and lost 8. With 36 points to Spurs 42 it looked like mission impossible!
On the bright side Thierry Henry made a comeback, some exulted, some doubted but no one could have known the script for the game against Leeds in the FA cup. I will leave it to someone who was there who wrote for GFS, Gooner Dan.
The month ended with another cup game against Aston Villa and Arsenal winning 3-2, so still two lots of silverware to go for!
Sums it up nicely! As for GFS? Well another new writer in the form of Statto but over all not the greatest month for the blog. Some issues and stuff seem to hit the site but the final blog saw a report from Scotland on Ayr Utd. My pick of this month are as follows;
Well that is it for part two. Part three will be the final part and far more upbeat, maybe, heh! Once again thanks for reading and see you soon.
@Arsenadale
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