The Sound of Madness by Texmex
There is a US based band from Florida (Shinedown), and one of their hit songs is “The Sound of Madness”. The lyrics go “I created the sound of madness, wrote the book on pain, but somehow I’m still here to explain”.
I keep seeing posts about “toe to toe with the champs”, “so proud of the lads“, “I couldn’t be prouder”, “I’m proud of the boys”. Those remind me of the Sound of Madness. Let’s revisit the 8 minutes of madness that cost Arsenal the game….
50:30 – Tierney heads to Ramsdale and clears the threat
51:01 – Saka wins a nice 1:1 and has the ball
51:10 – Laca foul
51:31 – Gabi heads the ball out of bounds
51:52 – Laca loose pass, gives the ball away
52:19 – Cancello delivers a pass around Tierney
52:24 – Xhaka gave the ref a reason to check the monitor
52:27 – Ref says get up, no foul
52.58 – Ref review
53:28 – Referee Stuart Atwell gives the VAR sign that he’s going to the monitor
54:01 – Referee Stuart Atwell decides a penalty
55:02 – Not sure what Defender Gabriel says to the ref, but probably wasn’t nice
55:29 – The referee Stuart Atwell decides he needs to talk to both captains. Why?
56:17 – MC scores a PK
57:19 – Defender Gabriel heads to Ramsdale
57:44 – Striker (winger) Gabriel Martinelli misses a sitter
Now for the Sound of Madness
58:12 – Arsenal should have scored…but….
58:20 – Defender Gabrielle sent off for a foul (down to 10 men against the champs)
58:24 – the second yellow was shown. Just a formality.
58:37 – Laca literally tells defender Gabriel to get off the field
No need to revisit the last minutes of the game. Just saying. Proud? Sorry, I love the team, but sometimes they just p*** me off. Maybe I’m not seeing it for anything other than it is.
TexMex
Hi, yep, absolutely, pure madness.
your absolute right its just lack of maturity we could ve won the match,this will serve as a lesson
Very frustrating.
Gabriel did the exact same thing last season, picking 2 yellows inside 5 minutes. Lets hope it wont become a thing..
DaJuhi The man needs to be sold he is too emotional and it will happen AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN
Magalhaes also had that moment of madness last season. He’s still young though, so he has enough time to learn
Martinelli missed an absolute sitter, but he is still a kid. Imagine if Aubameyang or Lacazette did that, the fans’ backlash would’ve been ugly
The last culprit is Xhaka. He’s made too many mistakes as a senior player, so I bet Arsenal are looking for a better midfield leader this month
Everyone is young and has time to learn except for Granit of course! Excuses galore and lack of accountability for everyone except Granit of course!
Martinelli a 20 years old kid? Gabriel a 24 years old young person with enough time to learn?
I thought these professional players have been playing since they were LITERALLY kids! If he hasn’t learned at 24 years of age when should we expect him to learn?
Plain double standards and bias here. At least make an effort to hide it.
HH I was in the army and emotional and I fought the army for years and to this day I am still emotional you got to sell him or he will do it again and cost you more points
I am not against that Sir Michael but I think fans only looks at Xhaka mistakes and completely ignore other players mistakes.
As an example we have conceded 25 goals so far this season. How many of those goals are Xhaka mistake? One ,two, three? What about the rest clearly someone was responsible for them then why does no one raise that issue?
We have lost 7 games so far this season. How many of those games were sorely Xhaka mistakes? Has Granit cost us 7 games this season?
Regarding the Man City game I would have been fine with GAI saying Martinelli missed an absolute sitter, Gabriel got unnecessary red and Granit conceded unnecessary penalty. There is no need to excuse the others if there is no bias involved.
I’m one of the very few people here who consider Xhaka to be important for the team, yet we can’t ignore the fact that he’s made too many fatal mistakes at Arsenal. He is 29, Switzerland captain, supposed to be Arteta’s key player and has played for four managers at Arsenal, but he still can’t minimize his errors
Remember when Xhaka just joined us when he was younger. Many fans brushed aside his mistakes, because he was just playing for two seasons in England
If Magalhaes is still here in 2024 and makes two fatal mistakes each season, I bet many people will call for his head. Similarly, if Martinelli keeps missing sitters in the next three seasons, he’ll also be heavily criticized
I have two issues here GAI:
1. There is no such thing as a young player who is still learning at 24 years of age. I don’t also consider a 20 years old player a kid still learning. 16, 17, 18 okay but 20 no.
2. Fans tend to notice any little mistake from Xhaka because that is what they are looking for. If they were to do that for every player I believe the narrative would completely change.
Defenders really don’t learn their business until they get a bit older. That said Gabriel worries me a bit cause he is hot headed. Xhaka is not fixable. I remember when Wenger instructed him not to make tackles because he was so poor at it. He stopped and must have learned somewhat but now he has regressed.
There is definitely confirmation bias going on with Xhaka but I gotta side with GAI on this one – and like him I’ve been largely in the Xhaka camp and still believe he has lots to offer.
I’ve said it before, I dont think Xhaka gets a fair shake on the board or from officials. There’s a reason why so many folks trot out the line “if that was Xhaka it would be a straight red”
But it’s hard to overlook his mistakes. Despite his effort, his commitment and his leadership skills, he continues to make mistakes from the neck up. Which is odd because I think he’s a very smart player 95% of the time. But thay last 5% has cost us too many times.
On your other point HH, I think a 20 year old still has a lot of maturing to do, both physically and mentally and both on and off the football pitch. That’s why most peak in their mid to late 20s.
HH, one question I have never seen you even try to answer TRUTHFULLY is this : Why do you think so many Gooners want Xhaka out of our team and club?
Are we ALL unfairly biased against XHAKA FOR NO PROPER REASON? . Is it just possible we could all be thoroughly FED UP with all his many errors over his 6 years stay ?
TRUTHFULLY PLEASE HH. NO PERSONAL BIAS. JUST THE WHOLE DISPASSIONATE TRUTH!
As a truthseeker myself and admitting that amounts to three questions , you may have noticed all three amount to basically the same question which is WHY ON EARTH do you defend Xhaka!
“Why do you think so many Gooners want Xhaka out of our team and club?”
Maybe they see him as a bad player doing more harm than good (does the data support that view?) Or they might just be following a trend.
“Are we ALL unfairly biased against XHAKA FOR NO PROPER REASON?”
7 games lost after half a season and Granit is the only one blamed how is that not bias? How many of those games did Granit cost us and most importantly how is the rest of the squad blameless for 7 defeats?
still not quite sure why you’ve expending so much energy trying to defend this rather pedestrian player who’s clearly underperformed since arriving in North London…no one that I know of has tried to place ALL the blame for our more recent struggles, historically-speaking, squarely on his specific shoulders, but to even suggest that someone like myself, who has spoken at length about the logical reasons why Xhaka should have been shipped long ago, did so simply because it might have been perceived as “trendy”, is incredibly disrespectful…it would be prudent on your part to pick your battles more wisely, as this highly illogical endeavour simply isn’t worth the invariable grief
expended not expending
I’ll bet most of the players will learn more about themselves from those eight minutes than in all the December games. Most of them will be the better for it.
Most but, probably and unfortunately, not all.
I think Odegaard was too honest, if he made a proper meal of that Ederson tackle, just maybe it would have forced the officials to take a proper look at the incident… I just wished it were Laca in that position…. We’re getting that penalty for sure…
Our players needs to be smarter in some situations, look at Jesus giving his team the advantage by getting Gabriel sent off… it’s all part of the sports. Football is a dirty game.
I agree.
Both Xhaka and Gabriel should have known better, but I cannot understand those who are staying shtum about the worst/most biased referee I have seen for a long time. Football will stay ‘dirty’ until we rid the game of such blatant incompetence. Stuart Attwell is not fit to referee at premier League level.
Arsenal and some of the fans never learn. ARSENAL ARE THEIR OWN WORST ENEMY FAR TOO OFTEN. Dont try and look for scapegoats outside of our own fallibility!!!!!!!