Sandperson

I am beginning to think that you are genuinely certifiable. Do you read the posts that come up on the screen or do you just look at the user name of the person and type a reaction to what you think they would say? ;-)

Good one...if I knew what you about? (?)

How depressing. :(

And winning trophies. I'm not sure how alienated he is. He seems to be top of the list of invitees to the major award ceremonies. He's asked to speak at memorial services etc. I think you are confusing 'the press' with the footballing community.

It's certainly worked for the last few seasons. :))

Yes everyone. Stop picking on Arsenal or they'll take their ball home. :))

Let's not confuse the issue here. The pothole that Tim hit was due to roadworks not the bad weather potholes which are appearing, getting filled then appearing again all over London. Can I urge anyone who has encountered a dangerous pothole to report it here! It takes about 5 minutes and pretty much all the ones I have reported have been filled in one way or another within a few days.

ruffers Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Seems to me Arsenal need to beware the self > fulfilling prophesy as well, going into a game > thinking "They're gonna kick me", "they're bigger > and stronger than me" can't be a good thing. This is what I have been trying to say over the past two pages! :))

Sorry Sean, I'm sure it's the way I'm expressing myself. I don't think that Arseanl are imagining things i.e. it's in their heads. What I am trying to say is that the idea that teams like to play hard against Arsenal, which I've acknowleged I think is true, has led to a certain level of mental weakness in the side which is detrimental to them and sometimes leaves them with problems on the field when it comes to dealing with this type of play. I would have thought that a better idea for Arsenal and Wenger would be to discuss this behind closed doors and work on methods to deal with it rather than talking about it in the press and interviews which I think only makes the issue bigger from a psychological point of view and makes teams think that the tactics work. It's a slightly seperate issue to the Ramsey injury but that has highlighted the problem again. I am very sympathetic about Ramsey. It must be a horrible thing to go through and I hope he comes back to be the player he looked like he was going to be. Am I making sense?

Are you saying I'm not being symapathetic enough? I don't get it?

Why can't it be bad luck? You only have to look at the challenge on Ramsey to see that those sorts of tackles go in every weekend. They don't all end in horrible leg breaks but one in every few hundred will. Anyway, my point wasn't about the injuries it was about the mentality of the Arsenal team. As I said, I think they are a good footballing side, otherwise they wouldn't be as high up the table as they are but I think the manager and certain of the players do the team no good by going on about being targeted. If you say something enough, people start to believe it and I think all this talk has got under Arsenals skin. I am not dissing your team. I am not dissing you manager. I am merely expressing an opinion.

If you re-read my post I didn't say anything about disliking your team. I made a point about Wenger going on about teams being physical with Arsenal and how I thought that, to paraphrase, it was a load of guff and many people agreed with me. No comment on liking or disliking your team. That's where you are confused, you just hate Man utd and anything to do with them, fair enough, I was talking about people, including me disliking Arsenal's 'we're being picked on' attitude. You are confusing the discussion that is happeneing on the thread with the discussion that's happening in your head. The one where you hate Man Utd above all else.

I know your opinon of my team and funnily enough I know you aren't the only person to hate them. What has that got to do with anything? I actually like to watch Arsenal play and I think they are a good side. I think that Wenger struggles to hang on to key players and that's one of the reasons that they haven't been as successful as people would have expected in the last few years. I also happen to think that they are mentally fragile because of this idea that they are being persecuted. Ferguson plays a similar game at United and the 'siege mentality' worked for him. It obviously doesn't work at Arsenal so Wenger, as a professional, shoudl dtop playing it up and start rethinking the psychological side of his team management.

No spittle Atila. Just an opinion. Not all of us sit at our computers red faced, banging the keyboard with our fists because someone doesn't like the same team as us. I'm afraid it's the opinon of a lot of people, not just me. Since when did you win the league with guile? Football games are won in two ways by playing to your strengths and by luck. The teams you complain about play to their strengths against other teams weaknesses. The Arseanl team weakness is that they don't like to be challenged physically ergo teams play on that. I see you couldn't resist calling me names again.

No answer to the argument I see just the typical childish name calling.

That would spoil the mood of the tabloid editor Atila has shouting inside his head. One of the main reasons Arsenal haven't won anything for four or five seasons is because they've got it into their heads that teams like to beat them up. They got this idea from their manager. The longer Wenger perpetuates this idea that Arsenal are persecuted on the pitch the longer the team will be phased by teams who play in a style they can't handle. In every sport I applaud the players and teams who interpret the rules, play within them, and use them to their advantage. Teams outside the top four have to take everything they can get and if that means they use their phsyical strength against other teams or they park the bus or they have a long throw-in specialist who sends other teams into a tizzy every time he gets a throw-in in their half then good luck to them. Maybe if Wenger, Gallas etc. etc. spent a bit less time moaning about the way the opposition play against them and worked on how to combat it they'd be a bit more successful.

Talking of pathetic excuses, back to ignore mode for me. :))

Yes, I was talking to Matt, that's why i quoted him. Shawcross is an ex-United player so I would have thought that would have had something to do with Fergie getting in touch with him. I expect it'll have Wenger crying foul again though. Same old Arsenal.

Sorry Ruffers. Didn't read you post after the boring name calling. :))

LM! No excuses. Fulham, 14th March. ?10 a ticket. Get on it! Here.

Ha, ha. I like the idea of Fergie's 'mates in the media'. One post you slag him for not talking to them and being childish the next you slag him for having them in his pocket. Next you'll be claiming the refs are all his mates too...oh hang on, that was what you kept whinging about last season wasn't it.

MM, don't let the truth get in the way of a good bit of abuse! :))

Blimey Matt, back to your old self?

That makes even less sense then. You are punished (or not) for the act, not the outcome of the act, surely?

I'm biased but I would have a thought a yellow at most. Certainly not a sending off. Edited to say: I've just had a look a couple of youtube clips of the Ramsey tackle and I can't see that's a sending off either but there you go.