Good day to you.
It's funny how things progress after you sign a player, especially if it's a world-class one. For you (and I mean all Arsenal fans) the joy is there alright. If a signing comes on the back of a long saga, which was splattered all over the newspapers, not only are you happy at the signing itself, you are relieved this soap opera is finally brought to a close. Knowing how deals have gone south for Arsenal at the last possible moment, your relief is doubled, while your happiness borders on disbelief for quite some time. There's only one better feeling than when Arsenal signs a player after a drawn-out saga: it's when the Club does so completely unexpectedly, in such a quiet manner, that you get to know the details only after the official confirmation. Nobody (including the newspapers) knows that Arsenal is after this player until the player is signed, and then your joy is unprecedented.
That's what happened last year with Mesut Ozil. Everyone was so happy for so long simply because it was a move no one expected and anticipated. Besides the fact that's Mesut is the best playmaker in the world from one of the biggest clubs. Fans and newspapers were sent into overdrive upon the announcement and it took at least two or three weeks for a simple fact to bed in: Mesut Ozil is a Gunner. I remember I grew real tired of all the fuss in a week or so, but I was still no less happy than on August 31st.
However, even then Internet trolls show their ugly faces. It happened then and it happened now, upon the acquisition of Sanchez, that's why I decided to write about it.
I have a groupmate (former groupmate, fortunately. He was chucked out and we'll now study not only in different groups, but even in different years. There really must be a God), who is, simply put, an Arsenal-hater. You know, there's a "fan" category and then there is an "un-fan" category. I don't think he supports any club the way I support Arsenal, but he's always ready to take a stab at the Gunners. Even if things go well (which they didn't up until this season), he'll always find something to try and spoil the mood. I've already banned him from commenting on my posts in VK (Russian analog of Facebook) and I'm seriously considering to ban him from sending me personal messages. I've already stopped reacting to them. Let him write whatever he wants. Because he has a psychology of five-year-old, he'll stop doing something as soon as I stop reacting to it.
You know what were his first words when we signed Mesut Ozil? "A decent footballer, but he won't help you much, cause he disappears in big games". When we won the FA Cup? "Oh, I laughed my ass off when Gibbs missed from 3 metres out".
And now we have signed Alexis Sanchez. His reaction? "Sometimes he has a good game, but a couple of years back the whole Spain was laughing at him, because he missed from a metre".
You know, there are just people who can't be happy when others are. He's from that category. I'm sure he'll find something nasty to say even if land ourselves a treble this season. He'll probably point out the hilarious way we lost to City in the final of Carling Cup.
Another troll of this kind popped up yesterday. He said, we owe it to Wenger's stupidity that Suarez hasn't joined Arsenal a year ago. A quote from him (as it is):
Why I'm writing all this? My blood is boiling. I also want to warn you, my fellow readers, against such kind of people. Don't fall into this trap like I did. Don't respond. Ignore them. These people thrive on attention, when they don't get any, they begin to starve. Don't get in a fight with them, it's what makes them happy. You'll only ruin your nervous system, but you won't be able to prove them wrong. You can only prove a person wrong if he has some logic to his actions and/or arguments, but Internet trolls do what they do for no logical reason and they don't base their arguments on logic., hence you can't beat them in a fair fight. Their logic (or, rather, lack of thereof) is summed up brilliantly in a quote from "The Dark Knight", one of my favourite movies (the quote is slightly paraphrased):
On more Arsenal-ish news, and Mikel Arteta has given an interview to one of the guys over on Arseblog. Among the usual guff about the excitement of signing someone of Sanchez stature, the Spaniard also touched on the matter of his contract:
But, from what it seems, we seem right on course to purchase a replacement, Sami Khedira. I wouldn't have been so confident, if it wasn't for the comments from Stan Collymore on Twitter:
Right, that's it for today. A little rest, then on to Brazzil vs Netherlands. I'll be back tomorrow to report on it.
Until then, beware of trolls
It's funny how things progress after you sign a player, especially if it's a world-class one. For you (and I mean all Arsenal fans) the joy is there alright. If a signing comes on the back of a long saga, which was splattered all over the newspapers, not only are you happy at the signing itself, you are relieved this soap opera is finally brought to a close. Knowing how deals have gone south for Arsenal at the last possible moment, your relief is doubled, while your happiness borders on disbelief for quite some time. There's only one better feeling than when Arsenal signs a player after a drawn-out saga: it's when the Club does so completely unexpectedly, in such a quiet manner, that you get to know the details only after the official confirmation. Nobody (including the newspapers) knows that Arsenal is after this player until the player is signed, and then your joy is unprecedented.
That's what happened last year with Mesut Ozil. Everyone was so happy for so long simply because it was a move no one expected and anticipated. Besides the fact that's Mesut is the best playmaker in the world from one of the biggest clubs. Fans and newspapers were sent into overdrive upon the announcement and it took at least two or three weeks for a simple fact to bed in: Mesut Ozil is a Gunner. I remember I grew real tired of all the fuss in a week or so, but I was still no less happy than on August 31st.
However, even then Internet trolls show their ugly faces. It happened then and it happened now, upon the acquisition of Sanchez, that's why I decided to write about it.
I have a groupmate (former groupmate, fortunately. He was chucked out and we'll now study not only in different groups, but even in different years. There really must be a God), who is, simply put, an Arsenal-hater. You know, there's a "fan" category and then there is an "un-fan" category. I don't think he supports any club the way I support Arsenal, but he's always ready to take a stab at the Gunners. Even if things go well (which they didn't up until this season), he'll always find something to try and spoil the mood. I've already banned him from commenting on my posts in VK (Russian analog of Facebook) and I'm seriously considering to ban him from sending me personal messages. I've already stopped reacting to them. Let him write whatever he wants. Because he has a psychology of five-year-old, he'll stop doing something as soon as I stop reacting to it.
You know what were his first words when we signed Mesut Ozil? "A decent footballer, but he won't help you much, cause he disappears in big games". When we won the FA Cup? "Oh, I laughed my ass off when Gibbs missed from 3 metres out".
And now we have signed Alexis Sanchez. His reaction? "Sometimes he has a good game, but a couple of years back the whole Spain was laughing at him, because he missed from a metre".
You know, there are just people who can't be happy when others are. He's from that category. I'm sure he'll find something nasty to say even if land ourselves a treble this season. He'll probably point out the hilarious way we lost to City in the final of Carling Cup.
Another troll of this kind popped up yesterday. He said, we owe it to Wenger's stupidity that Suarez hasn't joined Arsenal a year ago. A quote from him (as it is):
"No, Arsene wenger made stupid bids like £40 million and £1, his stupidity saved us.
Everytime a player has a buyout clause, the buying club tries to pay an amiunt over and above the buyout value, so wenger should have paid something like £44-£45 million to try to persuade liverpool".I'm disgusted. Not only is this guy not familiar with simple grammar rules, he decided to get in a fight over a matter he knows nothing about. In case with Suarez, there was a buy-out clause which, if triggered, allowed the club interested in buying the player to do just that. Buy him, should the player express his desire to join that other club. It wasn't a starting point, meaning we had to pay more, it wasn't a clause that allowed us to start negotiating with the player and/or the club. It stated that if we pay MORE than £40 million, the player is ours. Simple as that. Hence the £1 bid.
Why I'm writing all this? My blood is boiling. I also want to warn you, my fellow readers, against such kind of people. Don't fall into this trap like I did. Don't respond. Ignore them. These people thrive on attention, when they don't get any, they begin to starve. Don't get in a fight with them, it's what makes them happy. You'll only ruin your nervous system, but you won't be able to prove them wrong. You can only prove a person wrong if he has some logic to his actions and/or arguments, but Internet trolls do what they do for no logical reason and they don't base their arguments on logic., hence you can't beat them in a fair fight. Their logic (or, rather, lack of thereof) is summed up brilliantly in a quote from "The Dark Knight", one of my favourite movies (the quote is slightly paraphrased):
"So why troll them?
Well, because they think it is good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn".Spot-on, precise and elegant. So keep your nervous system intact (especially as we all are going to need it when the season starts) and don't give these trolls something to smile about.
On more Arsenal-ish news, and Mikel Arteta has given an interview to one of the guys over on Arseblog. Among the usual guff about the excitement of signing someone of Sanchez stature, the Spaniard also touched on the matter of his contract:
"I had my conversation with the manager, he knows my opinion and I know his opinion and we’re all good. That’s all I can say. I can’t stop the rumours, but you can be sure that I’m really happy here. I feel valued, I’ve been given a lot of responsibility and I like it. Until the club thinks something different about me, I’m happy here".Sounds like our vice-captain will stick around a bit longer and that's good to hear. He's obviously an influence on and off the pitch, has joined Arsenal at a hard time and did what he was asked to do without any fuss. I was especially impressed by the way he handled his new defensive responsibilities. Arteta wasn't young when he was asked to play deeper in-field, but he still slotted in perfectly and his presence is soothing both to the players and the fans. You feel the team just isn't as balanced without the Spaniard, so Mikel staying is good news. If we don't buy another (quality) DM to replace him, Arteta becomes integral to our plans.
But, from what it seems, we seem right on course to purchase a replacement, Sami Khedira. I wouldn't have been so confident, if it wasn't for the comments from Stan Collymore on Twitter:
"Spoke to agent. Arsenal in advanced talks with Sami Khedira. Fuck me, they're getting serious".
"If Arsenal get Khedira, they win it. A great, great all round midfielder. The FA Cup parade has lit that Arsene fire again. Good to see".So, apparently we ARE in for Khedira. He seems to have declined a new contract from Real Madrid and Ozil and Mertesacker did the "luring away" thing. If this deal goes through' it'll be a great addition and will considerably boost our chances. Hope it will happen. Fingers crossed.
Right, that's it for today. A little rest, then on to Brazzil vs Netherlands. I'll be back tomorrow to report on it.
Until then, beware of trolls