Thoughts on grief from the terraces
I DIDN’T particularly want to touch on the following in the glory of Sunday’s victory, but I do think it worth considering:
I read in The Times suggestions that Theo’s second half goals had rammed his critics’ words down their throats and also that the Emirates crowd contains some of the angriest folk you’re ever likely to find. On the latter point, I do agree there are those in the crowd who almost revel in abusing their own (the Bendtner baiters I termed them a year or two back).
But there are also a larger number of fans who, for too long, have felt that they have watched various players frankly not always getting as stuck in as they should. It is something I have written about at length previously and what was noticeable about the beginning of the season was how despite our travails, general bonhomie was retained at the Emirates, to my mind to a considerable extent because the vast majority of the “lightening conductor” players (Denilson, Eboue, Bendtner) had been got rid of. We weren’t playing particularly well, but we were at least trying.
Three minutes after an equaliser at home to Man United may have seemed a strange time for the first outbreak of significant discontent this season but when you consider it was the subbing of Oxlade-Chamberlain (a player the crowd perceived as ballsy and giving his all) for Arshavin, who following a series of less than full throttle performances was sadly entering into the realms of lightning conductor, perhaps it was not surprising at all.
Well spoken Theo Walcott may seem an unlikely lightning conductor. But my honest view for a while has been that his closing down and harrying has been more Bendtner than Messi, who is both the greatest player in the world and hardest working striker too.
Against Spurs it was a poor end to a rare first half run that brought the most audible frustration directed towards Walcott. I don’t agree with criticising a failure of execution, but for me the lead up to that was a more general passivity, the jockeying when he should have been chasing, and it was that that was upsetting many.
Of course, it is incumbent on the crowd to get as much as they can from their own players. And it is for that reason that I do believe that voicing frustration at a failure of execution is largely counter productive. But when it comes to failure of effort (or whatever you want to term it), I’m not sure a bit of constructive grief from the terraces is such a bad thing.
Theo Walcott’s performance in fact began to turn with the impressive lay off to RVP in the run up to our first goal. But as well as the goals, his second half contribution was noticeable for a far greater willingness to close down the opposition.
What winds me up is the huge number of supporters who will sit (well, stand in our area) quietly from the beginning of a game, and at the first sign of a mis-placed pass let out groans and shouts at the perpetrator of the failed execution. It’s not that you should never express disappointment, but I always felt if your cheers/singing don;t significantly outweight the groans and gripes, your ‘support’ of the team is pretty poor. Worse than that, if you’re limiting the team’s ambition to make the difficult play, or the more challenging pass through excessively audible disappointment then you’re helping no-one.
Your point about getting on the backs of players who aren’t giving their all is taken, but half time of an important game isn’t the point where all is lost.
Having said that, I thought the support on Sunday was excellent even in the face of the adversity of the first two goals. At 5-2 up, party time was enjoyed by everyone!
Good point Nick re the people who criticise more than they support…
Can I just say that the media in typical style employed the technique of misdirection in order not to have to deviate too far from the pre ordained narrative that The N17 Knackers are England’s equivalent of Barcelona by simpy making up the story that Walcott was booed during the first half. Let’s get this straight; there were the usual groans and a few choice expletives, but as far as I could hear from my vantage point in the ground, there was no booing.
Still, the boys of the Fourth Estate have nev been ones to let inconvenient facts get in the way of a good story.
with arshavin gone, its anyones guess who’ll be the new ”villian”….maybe Le Boss…
I’ve rarely heard booing of our players from the fans around me, often the odd groan of disappointment and negative comments for lack of effort or poor execution.
Clearly collective groaning is audible to the players concerned. Who knows what the impact of this is, but what is a reasonable reaction; maybe silence certainly not cheering?
What really pisses the fans off (and me) is lack of effort. That’s why we are well rid of Arshavin.
Abuse from the terraces has been common as long as I can remember from the late 70′s onwards. I think the big concerns I have is that the atmosphere at the Emirates is unquestionably quieter than days gone by at Highbury and perhaps the discontent is magnified for that reason.
There’s no question also, that for certain games such as the recent Spurs game or Barcalona last season that the atmosphere has been fantastic and the point raised from this is, do the fans have a part to play in success on the pitch? I have no doubts that we do.
One of my other big bugbears is fans leaving early. I went to the Blackburn game and still find it hard to believe that the icing on the cake goal scored by Thierry Henry was done so to a half full stadium. That goal made my day. That goal put Arsenal above Chelsea into 4th place. I just don’t get it, you pay a packet for a ticket, yet fans are leaving in their droves 10 minutes before the final whistle just to get home an hour early. Surely the last minutes are as important or even more important than the first – Anfield 89 is testament to that.
Anyway, my overall point is that fans have a huge part to play in the success of their club. Psychology is massive in my book, some players thrive from criticism others don’t. Some moans and groans are just a simple reaction and part of the game others are over the top and there is a time and a place. In a world where blogs, Twitter and news media are so easy to access, players don’t have to go far to know what people think of them. We as fans need to give our full support for the duration of a game from beginning to end and this is where Arsenal fans fall short on a lot of occasions, especially since moving to the Emirates.
I think everyone agrees that our crowd could do more but you know what ? This isn’t an Arsenal problem, it’s a football problem. Football crowds are in general just not as noisy as they used to be.
We could do better but what annoys me is that some people (let’s face it – AKBs) go on & on as if it’s been a bigger problem the last few years than Arsene not addressing the issues with our squad. As if someone the crowds at Anfield,Stamford Bridge etc give their teams a distinct advantage. (teams that have seen significantly more booing than we have over the last few years) That for me is madness.
And on the booing….let’s not forget Eboue..people had just had enough of his antics by the day he was turned on. And you know what ? It changed him from a lazy, arrogant twat into a decent, hard-working (if still very limited) squad member. I’ve never booed one of our players, I don’t see the point. But in Eboue’s case there’s no doubt it had a hugely positive effect…
Somehow not someone…