Moving Ship

All posts can now be found at The Morning Pint

Stand up and be counted

Arsenal fans worst fear was confirmed earlier today.

Wilshere has officially been Vermaelen’ed. Who was in turn Rosicky’d last season. The cycle goes on and it could be endless if we tried to remember all of the residents of the Arsenal med room.

Jack will have surgery on Monday effectively ruling him out until at least January if we are realistic. Let’s not kid ourselves; this injury leaves a gaping hole in about the L1 to L3 area of the spine of this team. Not something that this team can cope with while Vermaelen is out.

It is abundantly clear that The Verminator is the rock at the back and the stabilizing force. The defense has only looked stable when he has been in, saving the day and performing admirably.

Arsenal can’t succeed without Vermaelen, not with the current squad. Life without Jack? That’s tough, but before Jack there was another promising British midfielder making his mark at the club. Front and center Aaron, your time has come.
On deadline day we had plenty of action, but only one of those late signings was of the caliber to merit an unquestionable starting place, and that signing was Mikel Arteta. Everyone was previewing their new strongest XI and nearly none included Aaron Ramsey. It was his spot in the midfield that had been usurped. In his absence, Aaron had been leapfrogged by Jack as the bright new hope. Wilshere’s great season made people forget the hype as Aaron sat on the sidelines.

Here is your chance Aaron, grab it. I see Ramsey as a box to box midfielder with a great engine. The only player I could compare him to is Stevie G, all the skill yet he can speak English too! But the surging runs forward finding that incisive pass impress me more than his linguistic skills.

The boy has something about him. He is a leader.

The youngest ever captain of Wales at the age of 20, a lot of pressure for such a young man. Aaron appears to have some of those intangibles, leadership qualities one doesn’t usually see at such a young age and Arsene and Gary Speed seem to agree. His progress was stunted by the horrible injury sustained at Stoke, but he has come back and shown some of what he is capable of.

Scoring the winner against United was huge for him last season. It was the icing on the cake, the announcement of his return.

Aaron is still a young player, and young players lack consistency. No one likes to criticize the golden boy, Jack, but he had subpar games last season and that is normal for young players. Developing consistency takes time, but the time is now for Aaron and he needs to seize this chance; establishing himself as a permanent member of the first XI should be his priority.

We have all seen what Aaron is capable of, and he looks like he can be a world beater. It is time to grab your chance, prove turning down United was the right decision. Stand up Aaron and show the Premier League who they are dealing with.
This means no good halves, we need talismanic displays. No going anonymous when the going gets tough, I believe Aaron has it in him. His place was taken; this is his chance to reclaim it. Remind the fans why we were so devastated when Shawcross scythed him down, and realize the potential we know he has. He has had his niggles, as is typical coming back from injury, but we don’t want him to be a Diaby (Who?) and miss a month after every match played.

The opportunity is there, go seize it.

The fate of the Arsenal season depends on it.

The Best? Act Like it.

Floyd.

I am sorry.

You will never be the greatest.

Not a chance.

I watched the fight Saturday night and I was shocked.

Shame on me.

I should have known better. You are Floyd Motherfuckin' Money Mayweather. Burnin' hundos and making it rain with fake bills in the club.

You call out eighty year old announcers because they ask you tough questions. Questions like why did you cheap shot Ortiz when you were clearly winning?

Classy bub.

These actions cement your place in the Hall of Fame of Most Talented Douchebags in sport.

You should be proud, would make your daddy proud that's for sure. Not that you care, berating him on national television.

Would Muhammed Ali ever pull that shit? Hell no. Would Magic kick Larry to get an edge? Don't think so. Would Julio Cesar Chavez ever pull that move in the ring? Not a fucking chance.

There are some athletes that go down in history revered for their skill, talent, and class as the greatest of all time. Never will those words be spoken about Floyd Mayweather. He embraces the villain role, I know. Nothing wrong with that. but there is something vile about a peak athlete trying to get an advantage through bullshit means.

Floyd if you are so good why must you sucker punch opponents you are clearly better than? The best ever would have fought Pacquiao long ago because their hunger to be the best would be evident to all. The best don't duck opponents and come up with excuses for everything.

For the same reason I still hold disdain for Cristiano Ronaldo. If you are the best, why should you have to cheat to succeed? Everyone knows Cristiano is the (2nd)best player in the world, why must he continue to dive and act petulant. I don't see Messi pulling those cards, why should you? I know he has become better with that but it is unacceptable to me for these players to resort to cheap tactics when it is evident that the player's skill exceeds that of his peers.

No Ronnie they don't hate you because you are rich and beautiful. They hate you because you flop and dive like you belong in London next summer, and cry like a petulant bitch when you don't get calls.

You shouldn't need to cheat to win. I am looking at you Barca. The Clasicos last season were the worst advertisement for football because the most talented teams were diving and cheating all over the pitch. Never can I remember an uglier sequence of matches where the beautiful standard of football was sullied as so.

Those who go down in history as the greatest are those who are noble in battle, in and out of ring, on and off the pitch. There are lessons to be learned, unfortunately in some cases falling on deaf ears.

Floyd go on and keep ducking the Pac Man because you don't deserve the hundred million you would make off that fight. I am sure you have plenty of excuses.

Real champions show their mettle.

Pretenders talk about theirs.

I would like to make a toast to the true champions of the world, you are few and far between, and don't deserve your names sullied by such company.

To the true legends of sport!

Not like Cris...

Forward Arsenal: A New Beginning

It has been a little over a week since the transfer window closed and the weekend marks a return to club football and a fresh start for Arsenal Football Club. The beginning of the season was tumultuous, just like the rest of the summer, and I found it impossible to set realistic expectations for the season until all transfers had been made.

On deadline day, once the dust had settled, I felt that Arsenal had done a decent bit of business. We did not get the splash signing all had hoped for, but we addressed the biggest problem in the squad, which was depth. Many had said our starting XI was up to par, but not strong enough through the squad, a valid concern. There were question marks all over the squad with a couple yet to depart and the picture still fuzzy as to what we would be left with. In the end, Arsenal signed 8 first team players: Carl Jenkinson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gervinho, Chu (Ju) Young Park, Yossi Benayoun, Per Mertesacker, Mikel Arteta, and Andre Santos. Not to mention the 2 from Barcelona, Bellerin and Toral that joined our youth ranks. To bring depth in, turn a profit on transfers, and trim a sizeable chunk of wages being spent on fringe players, it looks a pretty good summer.

But wait, we lost one of the best midfield talents in the game, and a greedy bastard who was pretty good himself. I really believe the signing of Gervinho offsets Nasri’s departure, but losing Cesc would hurt any team, there is no like for like replacement, and we probably couldn’t afford him if there was. So people will say that it was a disappointment that we didn’t sign a world class replacement, but we really only get one shot at this. There is no oil money. Our club is run responsibly and if the plan is to blow our wad on one superstar then it had better be the right man to lead us to glory. Had we signed Kaka for £35m I would have considered that poorly spent money while others rejoiced. People have said we bid £35m for Mario Götze, and France Football reported that we bid over €30m for Lille's Eden Hazard. I would like to think of these bids as statements of intent. Both of those players fit the profile of the type of signing I would like to see. I’d rather come back to those targets in January than settle for a lower tier recruit, and that’s what makes the signings of Benayoun and Arteta smart deals. Neither one stifles the youth, as Wenger always states is his fear, adds the creativity we’ve been lacking, and leaves room for a big money signing in the next two windows.

If it weren’t for the injuries to Wilshere and Vermaelen, I’d feel great going in to the match against Swansea. Injury ravaged is how this squad lives, and they have to learn to cope. The one thing we can say is that the team has added strength and leadership, and we can now boast six players who captain their national sides. What more do you want? We now have a squad full of players who want to be at Arsenal and are willing to give it their all. That’s all I ask. To a new beginning, our season starts now.

EXCLUSIVE: This just in from Barcelona

We at the Pint have a breaking exclusive coming to you from Spain. Our sources have gotten their hands on Xavi's top secret journal, and let me tell you, its disturbing.

The content is a bit explicit, so this may not be for the meek. What we have found seem to be love poems written about his Spain teammate, Cesc Fabregas. They appear to be limericks. Take a look for yourself.






Whether he is trying to publish this compilation of poetry we are unsure. Clearly this man has an infatuation, it doesn't seem healthy. Stay tuned for more updates should our people get their hands on more material.

Social Media: A Double-Edged Sword

Ahhhhh, the dichotomy of Twitter.

This beautiful beast brings out the best and the balmiest banter between bloggers and blokes alike.

A captivating captain cultivates classy comments and commands cunts to cling to cowardice.

Whereas dismal displays demonstrate diabolical deviance from "devoted" detractors determined to deal out draining diatribes detrimental to the decency of discourse.

Every entity is entitled to express emotions, entertaining and eloquent. Eagerly enticing eyes and ears to eat up everything expelled to effect.

Far too many flounder in the fuckfest of foulmouthed football fans flagrantly defiling the foundations for which we fight.

Good guys grapple with greed, gazing at Glazers and Guardiolas longingly, a gleam of hope heaping expectations high, asking for hazardous amounts of hard cash for an influx of influential and inspiring signings, although infantile expectations out of jealousy for oil-flush jokers jeopardizes the financial well-being of a club.

Kicking each other, keyboard warriors keen to linger on lessons lost that should have been learned, many forget the luster this lovely, luminous game manifests in every match. We must muster more than mediocrity and maintain meaningful morals with the masses and our fellow man.

No more nonsense. Open minds offer opinions others only dream of owning. People owe it to each other to prevail over these pervasive presumptions of proper protocol and quit queuing up with rhetoric lacking rhyme or reason.

Rational thinking realizes every story has another side, so should something shift sans logic, trust that the truth shall be told in due time. Undermining each other ultimately vexes even the most vociferous vegan and wilts the will of proven winners who will want away from dealing with the Xenophobes about. Exits of the younger generations of fans and players alike will lead to the remaining yearning for their team of yesteryear.

The circus may be in town with silly season about, yet it need not be a zoo. With the right attitude one may be able to find their place of Zen.

Argentine Sputtering

So that's what £150 million's worth of striking talent gets you. Not one measly goal out of the lot. Simply amazing that I can only think of one moment where Argentina should have scored.

The same can not be said about Colombia who were dangerous for much more of the match and squandered opportunities in a Bendtner-esque fashion. The best striker on the pitch was Falcao. On the night, Radamel was more dangerous and threatening than any of his Argentinean counterparts, as every run or shot seemed to put someone to the test. It will be very interesting to watch if he actually makes a move to the Premier League,I believe he could be quite the asset to any top club. That said, could I have been more wrong? That result cost me one bland tasting hat and made nearly everything I wrote prior to the match irrelevant.

The funny thing is that I was still entertained. It's been a long time since I could say that about a match, and yes I am including the Gold Cup. Other than the final between USA and Mexico the tournament lacked nearly any excitement. One could not say that the ARG-COL match was horrible to watch, it was no Chelsea v Liverpool. The profligacy in front of goal demonstrated by several of the Colombians leads me to believe they probably wont win the tournament but damn do they have a decent squad. It has been quite a while since I've been able to say that about the Colombians, good to see them rebounding. It was good to see a match of this magnitude, things being about football for once instead of transfer rumors.

Argentina was a team of individuals on the pitch, no one seeming to have any ideas. They did not cover themselves with glory in that performance and if I were Batista I'd be thinking really hard about how to turn the ship around because I'm sure the axe will be dropped immediately if they don't qualify as the host nation.

The Copa America looks a wide open competition at the moment, with no team asserting themselves as legitimate favorites. Friday should be a good evening of matches, Chile - Uruguay being the highlight, and no I will not stake any claim as to how it will go as I have learned my lesson. We can only hope for entertaining football and i believe we will get a hotly contested affair.