Mails: Arsenal fans say ‘calm the f**k down’

Mails: Arsenal fans say ‘calm the f**k down’

Keep that hatred coming in to theeditor@football365.com. It’s fun to have people calling Storey a dick…

That defeat has been coming, but…
Why does everyone overreact  when Arsenal lose? (I am looking at you Daniel Storey) The moment they lose everyone in the media starts “Arsenal are mentally weak”. Has Arsene’s past failures reached a stage where one loss is no longer acceptable. Arsenal have been playing badly for quite some time now and soon or later such a collapse like that at Goodison was going to happen.  
Diggo (for whatever it’s worth- MUFC )

Too harsh on Arsenal
Sorry, first away defeat in nine months and first league defeat since the opening day of the season and that’s two steps backwards ?

Okay, Chelsea are on a superb run but that’s the only thing that makes Arsenal’s result look like a backwards step. Remember, they have no European responsibility and they are capitalising on that.

Arsenal have shown true resilience this season and a bad day at the office (which could have easily been a draw or victory) will occur with every team as the season goes on.
Chris, Croydon

…“Two steps forward, two more back”. Or alternatively, fourteen steps forward, one step back. No need to be so reactionary after a first PL defeat in months in a difficult away game. You can’t go the whole season unb… oh.
Simon Cochrane (no foul by Koscielny IMO and no corner either)

Is it me, or…
….or does Arsene Wenger’s vision dramatically improve during games Arsenal lose.
Josh, London

Impressed by Everton fans
As an Arsenal supporter residing in Australia, some 11 hours ahead of GMT, I was delighted when I realised the Arsenal Everton match would be on at the relatively reasonable hour of 6:45AM.

Over muesli I watched the script unfold of a routine Arsenal win – starring in the lead role a calamitous Everton defence. But as I nipped away to stick on some toast I heard something not heard in a long time: A Goodison Park roar. A 12th man had risen from his hibernation and it simultaneously awoke a pleasing feeling of nostalgia and a familiar feeling of dread.

I personally cannot recall a match where man number 12 has played a bigger part in turning around the fixture. On hearing the roar, Everton harried, pressed, nibbled and outright fought their way into disturbing an undeniably superior Arsenal team.

We can talk about the corner that shouldn’t have been, the fouls that changed the game and the shortcomings of Arsenal mentality all we like, but it doesn’t change the result and what was ultimately a hard fought match that could have gone either way.

Bravo Everton and bravo Everton fans
Drew in Oz

Blame the ref
Everton’s first goal was a clear foul on Koscielny, their second goal was not a corner and the free kick which led to that was not a free kick. And the foul on Sanchez in the box in the 94th minute must surely rank alongside Shawcross on Wilson for most blatant penalty not given in the last 20 years.

Sometimes it’s just not your night, a shame though that it’s decided by the incompetence of star ref Clattenburg. Funny how the one moment he chooses not to be the centre of attention is the exact moment he should have been.
Brad S

Examining Ronaldo’s arrogance
I enjoyed the portrait of an icon on Ronaldo and particularly the way you discussed the “arrogance” of Ronaldo. I’m not in the hating Ronaldo camp, I personally find it baffling to hate someone who I’ve never met. Perhaps if he mugged me in a dark alley or beat up one of my relatives I’d feel strong emotions about the man. But  being good at football and knowing it seems not to reach my hate threshold. Many are critical Ronaldo for being a bit of a diva, but there is a cognitive dissonance in hating Ronaldo for that. Because having such minor actual problems in your life that you can find time to hate a footballer seems a good definition of first world problems.

I also find Ronaldo makes me question the idea of arrogance. Is it arrogant to think you are very good at something if that belief is true?

Say you start a new job, it fits you like a glove, you work hard and you find yourself outperforming all your peers. Some people notice and resent it because of the unflattering comparison, but management notice and compliment you on it. The boss starts to bring you to the big meet and greets because he wants you to be the company representative. You start to get the perks and better salary, which is only just as it is you slice of the extra income you’ve brought in. You are bringing more success to your company and colleagues – some of whom still resent you as they (without having any notable achievements and unable to match your performance) don’t like the fact you are getting more than them.

Would it be arrogant to acknowledge to yourself that you are in fact the best? And would the fact some of your less well performing peers hate you, say more about you or them? The answers to these questions make me see Ronaldo in  a different light.

Also, Ronaldo’s talent is easier to admire because he so clearly “worked for it”. He wasn’t born a great player or athlete – he became one by putting in the hours. That’s easy to admire.
Hugo (NUFC) Adelaide

Where are the goalkeeping pundits?
Aside from Herr Schmeichel who occasionally pops up on the EPL World Feed, there is a notable dearth of GKs in the punditry world. As a GK myself it physically pains me to hear some the sh*te other pundits spew out when it comes to GK analysis.

I guess being part of the union I keep (pun unintended) a close watch on the GK all game, not just when an error leads to a goal or if he makes a worldie of a save. Let’s take last night’s games as an example. In the helterskeltered brilliance of the finale do you remember Stekelenburg come out fists flying to deal with crosses? Were these decisions wise? Did his intervention take the ball off Giroud’s imminent header despite only clearing the ball to edge of the box? No, we won’t get analysis on that, we’ll just get Any Townsend musing about “could the goalie have caught that?”.

In the B’mouth-Leicester game Zieler made a decent save to initially deny Afobe but the ball fell to Pugh who volleyed it in via a slight deflection. Zieler had regained his feet by then and managed to get a slight hand to the ball but could not prevent the goal (probably slightly put off by the deflection). Over to Mr. Don Hutchinson: “the keeper’s done well to get back up so fast so no blame there”. Fair enough, I’m not saying Zieler should have saved it but I guarantee you if that was Karius it would have been “He’ll be disappointed that he couldn’t save it despite getting a hand to it”. The two aren’t mutually exclusive. Every keeper who gets a hand on the ball will be disappointed if they don’t save it but it doesn’t necessarily make it an error.

I could go on (and on and on) about how what makes the best keepers the best are things the average punter wouldn’t appreciate but instead I’ll open this up to the floor: Are there other keepers in the mailbox who feel the same? Non-keepers who feel I’m talking nonsense?
Osric the Brave (decision making is key!), Cape Town

Bournemouth vs Leicester thoughts
*Early last season, when Tommy Elphick was injured, Steve Cook played several games as a right-sided central defender, instead of his usual left. He was poor, and by his own admission had underestimated the difficulties in switching position. One of those games was against Leicester City, in which he gave away a late penalty to allow the Foxes to draw.

Fast forward more than a year, and with Nathan Aké staking a place on the left side, Cook has moved to the right again. But now he’s playing as well as he does on the left, and last night made several crucial interventions to deny Leicester. Hope D. Storey saw the match.

*Bournemouth’s defence has improved; at the moment they’re on pace to allow eight fewer goals than last year. One reason is Artur Boruc, who struggled badly last season but has been mostly solid this. Let’s pass over the Liverpool debacle, and note he made a crucial save last night to deny Leicester at the death.

Another reason is Charlie Daniels. Last year he was all attack, and a serious liability in defence. This year he’s picking his spots to get forward, and has improved his positioning dramatically. It won’t be easy for the newly returned Tyrone Mings to displace him.

*Last weekend Claudio Ranieri chose Islam Slimani to partner Jamie Vardy against Manchester City. It was an odd choice, since Shinji Okazaki’s quickness and harrying fit much better against a possession side vulnerable to counterattacks. Even though Slimani was peripheral for most of the match, the choice sort of worked, because he got two assists in the first five minutes, and Leicester won at a canter.

Presumably reluctant to change a winning formula, Ranieri again chose Slimani against Bournemouth, another possession side vulnerable to counterattacks. Slimani was ineffective, without assists this time, and was yanked at halftime for Okazaki. The little guy did what he does so well, and Bournemouth barely held on.
Peter G, Pennsylvania, USA

An FA Cup idea
Haven’t written to the mailbox for ages, but after seeing that 7th tier Stourbridge are into the third round of the FA cup I thought I might chip in with an idea I had to bring the magic back to the FA Cup.

Surely all neutrals, and fans of Stourbridge themselves, would be hoping that they get drawn away against one of the giants like Man United or Liverpool? This would not only make for a really interesting match but also would create huge revenue (in relation to what Stourbridge are used to) that could help keep the club afloat for years.

So my point is, if everyone wants this type of draw as I’ve assumed, then why not fix the third round draw so that the 20 lowest ranked teams left in the competition all get drawn away against the 20 Premier League teams? This would mean a big payday for the 20 lowest teams left in the comp which would be massively beneficial for the long term futures of those clubs.

Obviously you’d expect all of the lowest teams to get knocked out, but imagine the potential upsets there could be if they didn’t! You might say that this would mean the PL teams would just field their reserve players but a lot of teams do that anyway in the cup these days and prioritise the league or European competition.

Any fellow mailboxers out there agree? Any reasons why this isn’t a brilliant idea and won’t work?
Stuart Thompson (I hope this makes sense, I’m hungover), Melbourne

Why does English football look so, well… English?
I have a question that has been bugging me for a while and which the mailbox may be able to shed some light on.

Pep Guardiola has been talking during the week about how football in England is different to football in other countries. It’s not a new observation – you often hear about new imports needing time to settle into the Premier League. But why is this? In most games, fewer than a third of those on the pitch will be English. And only four managers are English (seven if you extend this to British managers).

So, what keeps the English game English and different from the slower, less physical football you see elsewhere? Is it to do with what the fans cheer for? Or what the media puts value on? Or is it self-perpetuating – you only make it in the Premier League if you can play in a more English style so teams keep on buying players they think can handle it?  
Alex ‘The Power’ Forbes

What impact does missing the captain have?
Ive just seen a crazy stat that Arsenals club captain hasn’t started for the team since Dec 2014 – Arteta (please correct me if I’m wrong). Now assuming this is true, could this lack of on the field leadership be the reason for a lack of success.

Seems to be a similar situation at City, where due to being consistently without their captain Kompany, they have defensive problems and lack of ‘success’.

So my question is, Did your club perform better with or without your captain in recent years or is the role of a captain in this day and age overrated? What is everyone’s views on this?
Don Dada