Let’s start this week with the absolute fucking madhouse that is Arsenal. A word I really don’t like but everyone seems to be using these days is ‘gaslighting’. I don’t even know why I don’t like it, I think it’s because it’s just being used constantly whereas a few years ago I’d never heard of it. I rarely use it - if ever - but when I see the carry on out of Arsenal fans week in week out it’s hard to think of a more suitable word for what’s going on.
This week they’ve taken their gaslighting to a whole new level. I’ve mentioned before how my ‘for you’ on twitter is just rammed with mental Arsenal fans spouting their conspiracy theories. It’s my own fault for watching AFTV clips, as the algorithms now think I want to see Arsenal content. They’re not completely wrong if I’m being honest. As much as they piss me off, there’s a morbid curiosity about some of this shit.
It was funny for a while, but this week it took a much more alarming turn. I saw loads of Arsenal fans posting the video of the disallowed goal and they were completely refusing to accept what was right there for everyone to see. Crying about conspiracies, calling the handball “inconclusive” or just flat out insisting it came off the chest of Havertz. Do they not know we can all fucking see this??? It’s an illness. These people need help.
Or maybe they just need to just stop watching football as their brains simply can’t cope with it. The entire world is saying one thing and they're arguing the opposite. When you’re looking at the ball hitting the arm of a player and deflecting in an upward trajectory and you’re trying to argue that it hit his chest (which would have maintained the same trajectory or sent it downwards), it’s time to admit you have a problem.
Even the normally sane ones, like Robbie from AFTV, used the “inconclusive” line. It’s inconclusive the first time you see it maybe, but with each replay from each different angle it’s obvious what happened. The reaction of Havertz himself is a dead give away too.
So what’s their problem? Various things. Apparently the VAR check was too quick and that’s more evidence of an anti-Arsenal conspiracy. If it wasn’t so clear what had happened, I could understand where they are coming from to some extent. As football fans we all occasionally have thoughts like that when we’re on the wrong end of contentious decisions. THIS IS NOT CONTENTIOUS THOUGH!!!
I also saw some of these fucking weirdos pointing to Anthony Gordon’s goal last week when the ball hit Joelinton’s hand before he made the assist for Gordon. Learn the rules before you sound off about conspiracies. This isn’t an apples to apples comparison. It isn’t even an apples to oranges comparison. It’s an apples to... I don't know, fucking submarines or spaceships comparison. In other words, there is no comparison. Not remotely similar.
Joelinton didn’t score the goal so it’s irrelevant that he handled. It’s only relevant if he did it deliberately or if his arm was in an unnatural position. If neither of those apply, then the goal can stand, which it did.
Attacking handball is a black and white issue these days when it’s the goalscorer. Intent doesn’t come into it. Unnatural position doesn’t come into it. If it hits the hand or the arm and ends up in the net, it’s no goal. No discussion, no grey areas, simply a matter of fact. That's the law.
I’ve seen Arsenal fans saying the goal should have stood because it was unintentional. I’ve seen some where they were looking at the wrong fucking hand! I’ve also seen Arsenal fans saying the goal would have stood if it was a Liverpool player. Most worrying of all, I’ve seen Arsenal fans saying it didn’t hit his arm. Gaslighting that politicians would be proud of.
Initially I thought it was just a few knobheads trolling, but then you see it’s not just a few. It’s loads. I saw a Red on twitter suggest that there must be one massive Arsenal fan WhatsApp group where they decided they were going to troll us all by saying it wasn’t handball. These aren’t just faceless names on twitter though, some of them are out there saying this shit on video. Honestly, it's kind of terrifying.
I know we all talk shit at times when it comes to our teams and it’s not always easy being impartial and seeing the bigger picture, but come on. This is fucking nuts.
This isn’t that photo of the dress where some see it as blue and others see black and gold. You’d think it was based on the amount of people refusing to see the ball hit the arm of Havertz. But that’s not what this is. It’s literally there for the entire world to see. Yet there are Arsenal fans denying it.
If this was a contentious decision I’d think this was funny and I’d be lapping it up. As it is, it’s just making me angry. Most Arsenal fans must be fucking cringing at the shit the ‘online gooners’ are putting out there, giving the rest of them a bad name. They never used to be THIS bad.
Man City have broken them as a fanbase. They went up against City twice and came up short, because it’s not a level playing field of course, and their desperation to be Champions has sent them fucking doo lally now. Last season the signs were there, but this year it’s been crazy more or less from the beginning of the season, and the longer the season has gone with them trailing us, the worse they’ve got.
Can they get even more mental than we’ve seen this week? Let’s hope they continue to drop points so we can find out.
In fairness, while they’re taking a lot of stick for dropping points against Villa I honestly thought they were very unlucky. Ok, at 2-0 up you’ve got to win the game, but after they blew that lead they reacted well and were very unlucky not to win in the end.
We’ve had some frustrating draws of late ourselves and in isolation we can look at most of them and say it’s a good point or we were a bit unlucky as we should have won. That’s kind of what this is for Arsenal. They absolutely should have won, but they didn’t. And in the context of them being behind and with very little margin for error, it’s a terrible result for them.
It was all going so well too. Despite the hammer blow inflicted on them by my Darwin prior to kick off, they came out strongly and went 2-0 up through Martinelli and the much maligned Havertz. Look at the fucking state of ‘best in the world’ Martinez on both of those goals by the way though. Fraud. Doing his bit to remind Arsenal of exactly why they sold him.
Arsenal were cruising but they conceded out of nowhere when Tielemans stole into the box and threw himself at a cross. He’s been given the goal but I don’t think he even touches it. It comes off Merino’s boot, but Tielemans did a hell of a job of selling that to make it look like he scored. Maybe if Havertz could sell like that it wouldn't just be lunatic Arsenal fans saying it hit his chest.
Arsenal shit themselves after conceding and Tielemans was denied by the post before Watkins equalised with a back post volley from a terrific cross by Cash. Watkins did well there to escape the unwanted attentions of Parteh, as that's a lot easier said than done.
Then came the disallowed goal, but despite everything going against them Arsenal still kept hammering at the door and went so close to winning it. Merino hit the post, Martinez made a good save to deny Trossard and then right at the death Trossard shot inches wide. He was probably offside, so I wish that one had gone in as it would have been the funniest thing of all time seeing them meltdown over another disallowed goal.
I do think a lot of the criticism Arsenal have been getting (mostly from their own fans!) is over the top as they are having to deal with injuries which is something they aren’t used to as they’ve been so lucky in that regard over recent years. Now they have no right back after losing White and Tomayasu, Saliba has been in and out and they’ve lost Saka and Jesus too. Of course we’ve had injuries as well (Konate, Alisson, Jota), but we’re used to that and have a better squad so we can deal with it and still keep on rolling.
Arsenal haven’t coped as well, but they’re hardly losing any games and haven’t been that bad all things considered. We’ve just been better, and their fans can’t come to terms with that so the “Arteta Out” shouts are becoming more prevalent. Music to my ears. Let’s hope it gets cranked right up over the next few weeks.
There was an Arsenal fan who went viral afterwards because he stayed in his seat for 15 minutes afterwards, having a little tantrum and crying and giving the TV companies some solid gold content. Soft cunt, why’s he giving that away for free? Does he not know how to monetise that shit? Get yourself on YouTube or TikTok you daft bastard. DT would be turning in his grave. If he were dead, which sadly he isn’t.
Recommended Comments