Change Is Good, Whingeing Is Not

When someone reaches out to you repeatedly you should respond. It is common courtesy. Recently I’ve been invited to watch matches with a small group of fellow Gooners. I have turned them down each time for one reason or another (all legitimate and true). The main reason I have always declined is because they are so negative. When I was asked this week, I said no again. When a second and then a third request came, I felt compelled to say yes. Mistake!

While I accept that different people deal with given situations differently, I cannot accept repeated rants and whingeing about the same issues. I cannot deny that if the same issues persist they must be addressed, but the repeated ranting and whingeing is more than I can ask myself to deal with. Besides, complaining does not befit grown men and nor has either individual provided answers.

I don’t want to be distracted with the same old ‘Wenger doesn’t get it’ nonsense. I don’t want to hear complaints every time an errant pass is made or a first touch is not as soft as it should have been. And I certainly don’t want to hear how much Diaby, Song, Denilson, Bendtner, Togo, Eboue, the tea lady, the car park attendant, and just about everyone who aren’t performing out of their skin are shit and must never wear our shirt again. To deal with that makes for a very bad experience. As if the result wasn’t bad enough, I endured an extra four minutes of men whingeing like flat-chested teenage girls with aspirations of porn careers.

The problem with expending all your energy on complaining – and I stress that the complaints from that lot haven’t changed – is that you miss the progress and the good things that have happened right in front of you. In no way am I endorsing Eboue’s inclusion as anything but a back-up, a squad player and nothing more. But in recent matches against West Ham and Spurs, he was our most lively and positive player for much of the time he was on the pitch. He even scored a legitimate but disallowed goal.

Certainly looking to a few good minutes from Eboue as a positive speaks volumes about our current state but when the cameras panned to Togo, Cesc, Eduardo, and that Czech bloke watching from the stands, most of the answers were there plainly for all to see. Before the injury, Diaby had shown me signs of the efficiency and tactical awareness that he lacked. Bendtner’s goals and overall contribution have been obvious – Sunderland aside. Denilson and Song are under-rated in my opinion. Are they outstanding? No but they are very useful players trying to run a midfield short of a play maker. Togo needs to respond. I have posted previously on the urgency with him. If I were busy complaining all match I wouldn’t have noticed any of the positives or improvements. Are they enough? Obviously they are not, but complaining never increased cup sizes – girls’ or boys’.

In case you're wondering, I do not want to finish out of the top four. I want to win the league. I do not want to settle for anything less than excellence. I want every player who wears the fabled red and white to give his all every minute of every game. But I will not complain about every lost ball or mistake. What good does it do? I get frustrated like any other Arsenal fan but complaining is for aspirant porn divas with mosquito bite sized breasts. I don’t want to deal with that. It ruins the experience.

There were two positives however from the day’s experience. It dawned on me that the reporters who revel in writing all things negative about Arsenal are the same negative types who complain about every little thing, every chance they get. The other positive is that I have established a baseline for those with whom I watch Arsenal matches. Common courtesy not withstanding, they can invite me all they want. My conscience is clean.

On the game itself; I wish I had more game specifics to report on but with so many distractions my match analysis was fragmented. However I can say the following:
• Arshavin can help break down the walls of eight or more bodies
• We had enough chances to bury Sunderland - we were very inefficient
• Sunderland were effective briefly mid first half with counter attacks and raids down Clichy’s side and then they stopped doing anything positive
• The referee was typically inconsistent – Nasri’s yellow was farcical compared to the Sunderland player’s foul on Eboue which went unpunished
• Almunia looked more commanding in his box but he still doesn’t fill me with confidence though

In fairness to Sbragia, the post match quotes that I’ve read were fairly accurate – they are yet another team who are happy to leave with a point and are not embarrassed to reflect that attitude in their approach. They've accepted that their cup sizes will never be of porn standard and have budgeted their lives for limited glory from less spectacular fare.

We need to find answers to those teams’ tactics. I am confident that the answers were sitting out injured or are not yet fit (AA23). We must make changes to punish teams that use anti football tactics. I will change who I watch matches with. I will avoid whingeing men who sound like broken records. I'm partial to large melons anyway. That much will not change.