Still working my way through it but yeah that's how I'm feeling. Was expecting a bit more bite. But then Smudger was never the most confrontational of personalities was he. He touches on that himself in the book, says it probably held his career back a bit, being so laid back.

That's a fair point.

Great site - thanks.

I played in central midfield for Arsenal for a few seasons in the late 70s/ early 80s. Scored the winner in several cup finals. Conveniently, all of the games were played in my back garden.

I didn't get quite the same buzz playing right back in school and college.

Opened Pandora's box with that one Greeny ... jinky winger in the other code , then moved in to fly half .

I've played two games of soccer ...first for a pub team in a friendly against a local low life club , just out of high school I was still pretty fit .
I ran around like a demented blue arsed fly , not really knowing what I was doing .

" You're pretty handy " says the opposition captain "Want to play for us "

Wasn't especially thrilled but said " I haven't got any boots " " We'll soon sort that .

Next weekend we travel about 70 kms to play another town . They shove me in at right back .

I scored ; we were losing 5 - 0 ; getting hammered ... their striker homes in on our goal , rounds our keeper , puts in an underhit shot which trickled towards our goal .

I streak across , smash the ball in an off the line clearance attempt ....... KAZAM ... the net bulges 6 - 0 .

No one seemed that keen to talk to me at the after match beers and sausage rolls ........... so that nipped in the bud a very promising career .

Forward but I could miss the easiest chances at times. There is still a miss that I relive 45 years later. It was because it could have put us 2-1 up to reach the final. We were a player short after a send off. I missed it when we broke upfield. Then 15 minutes later our keeper made a howler and we went out. Jeez I’m getting annoyed just writing about it now.

The tight shorts and coiffured Liberace hairstyle might have had a lot to do with that

Been thinking about under rated but personal favourite Arsenal players over the time I’ve supported them. For this I go for Lauren.

Overshadowed in the team by Henry, bergkamp, Vieira, sol etc
A silent tough guy - didn’t need to go round thumping his chest, just a glare of those eyes
He was a converted midfielder to right back
Those nerveless penalties
Brilliant gamesmanship - the classic ‘oh you meant throw in not free kick ref’ time wasting routine
Having Man U players running for cover after that infamous draw at OT....the still image of him grabbing Phil Neville by the throat is one of my all time favourite football images
He looked like Dwayne Dibley when he first arrived - and scored on his debut I think

Most auto biographies are pretty lame affairs ; they see themselves differently for starters , and rarely tell all the nitty gritty .

Obviously saying you had it off with three groupies on an away trip to Newcastle is out of the question if you are still married .

Plus footballers always seem to start with pure boredom in chronological order ... Namby Pamby stuff

" I played for Upper Lichington under 5's , at primary school I tripped over a scooter so couldn't play for ....
I always loved Thomas the Tank Engine " .... tra la la ...... makes you want to throw up

Think I 've said this before ; start with some bloody action , get the reader involved .

Andre Agassi does this ...... he's got cramp , crowd chanting , cold night , opponent looking mean and focused , down 15 - 30 , quarter finals at Wimbledon

You are living it from the outset .

Pete, I told you about what happened when the players stayed at mine in confidence. For goodness sake don't tell them all about the fireplace incident.

Oh. Oops. Erm, anyone fancy chatting about mesh? Hmmm, pretty mesh. Look into the mesh...not at the mesh but into the mesh. Deeper, look deeper...and...sleep....

Yeah positive first signs. My minor concern at the moment is what might happen if the team don't start seeing the results to match the effort. At the moment they're buying into it but the real test will be Arteta maintaining this bright start, especially with the annual injury crisis.

When all and sundry were falling over themselves with praise of Solskjaer's start at Man U, I remember thinking, "All good when he's winning but what will he be like after they lose a few". We've all seen what happened next.

I remember breaking the back window with a beautiful curling effort then blaming my brother for not saving it. That ended my prospects.

Great player. On of my favourite moments was in the 2002 Community shield. Lauren 'accidentally' sending Riise to get a mouthful of grass in an off the ball tangle around the 41st minute. The look on Riise's face when he got up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8DDiSSAoHw

Commentary from the BBC "41mins: Riise and Lauren clash off the ball and the Norwegian makes his feelings clear to the referee."
Also worth watching 27mins: John Arne Riise is floored by an Edu free-kick..."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/2183671.stm

As long as the missus never got wind of it, I'd be shouting that from the roof tops.

Another Edu find?

https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/14/bruno-gu ... -12057867/

We're being linked to a lot of players, most of them center mids or CBs, which is great news. I think we were linked to Milan's Frank Kessie before, not sure, but I recall it. Center mid, maybe it will happen this time.

https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/14/arsenal- ... wsnow-feed

Morning, agreed it’s only been 5 games, Solskjaer went 15 or so before it all went pear shaped.
One of the good stats from those first 15 games Man U had, and it’s similar to Emery’s start is that the xG did not reflect the results at all.
I know some people sneer at xG stat but for me if you’re only looking at stats to see how a game went it’s far more true of the game that possession or shots.
A good example was when Man U beat us 3-1 at the emirates in the league about 2 seasons ago, de gea had a stormer and we missed some sitters but Man U destroyed us on the counter with 3 goals from 3 shots....the xG was 4.6 for us and 1.9 for Man U. Man U were better on the day and deserved to win but the xG shows that if both teams continued to play as they did that day the results would likely change. I told all my Man U fans lauding Solksjaer’s start that the stats showed that the bubble could burst at any moment.

I see his name a lot on the forum with a cult following, very slightly before my time, my earliest Arsenal memories are from the 88/89 season culminating in Anfield when I was allowed to stay up and watch it.

Saw a discussion about Wan-Bissaka at Man U. He is a brilliant 1v1 defender, his tackling stats are off the chart.....BUT he gives teams virtually nothing going forward. When you look at what TAA and Robertson are doing at Liverpool (13 odd assists a season!) the discussion was whether Man U had given themselves a £50m problem buying Wan-Bissaka. He's clearly an excellent full-back, but is that enough for Man U want to be? Unless Man U can find a way to have a flying left full-back and play in a lop sided but balanced way then I'm minded to agree that the modern full-back for successful teams needs to contribute hugely going forwards.

Dead right you’re not the only one. Everyone here knows (or should know) that Steve Williams is my favourite player ever. What first made me appreciate him was an interview I heard with him when a promising youngster. Couldn’t tell you when it was or how old he was. But he’d just broken into the Southampton first team and been brilliant in his first game or two. As a result he was interviewed. From memory on the radio.

One of the questions was something along the lines of what his ambitions were or what he hoped to achieve in the game. I was expecting him to say stuff like becoming a first team regular at Southampton, winning something with them, playing for England and so on. That sort of thing. But he didn’t. His answer was to play for Arsenal, who he said were his and his family’s team.

The Arsenal today in 1995.

this is fun topic. Yes Steve Williams is rightly mentioned as a cracking player and obviously under rated. I think he left because he lived in the new forest and got fed up with the commute or something if I recall? Not sure you’d get that these days.

Paul Davis was the under rated and a victim of the boo boys.

Perry Groves, don’t laugh we all know what he was and what he wasn’t but he actually provided some decisive goals and moments not least goals against united and assist in cup final.

Pascal Cygan or Grimandi ? Were they that bad ? Compare them to our defenders at the moment

Interesting topic, an over rated list is somewhat easier

Not one I remember tbh.

Being linked with Bruno Guimarães

A defensive midfielder, interesting choice as we already have torreira. I’d have assumed we would want to get a slightly more offensive midfielder with better passing

Steve Williams was class. Him and Paul Davis together in centre mid in George's first season. Not quite Vieira/Petit but pretty darn good. Williams is another one who fell out with George. Unlike Davis he did get sold as a result. Whereas Smudger avoided conflict Williams was Mr Confrontational. Ask Ossie Ardiles.

I’m hearing Torriera wants out, which if true would explain things.

I get that impression but he’s been our best player for our last few games and Arteta said we miss him when he’s not there.

Are we really going to sell him in January. I suppose we could sign his replacement then let him go. Just seems odd when we need to sign more of a Ramsey Wilshere type than a holding midfielder

Paul Davis definitely. Lovely footballer.

Viv Anderson. Certainly wasn't under-rated at the time but he is a forgotten man. Outstanding player.

Stefan Schwarz - if only Xhaka was as good as him

Maybe the Torreira out a defensive midfielder in would pay for itself. Looking at his overall stay, he hasn’t been that great. Sure we can all blame Emery. But Emery or not, Torreira hasn’t been that good and the last few games arguably doesn’t change that.

Anderson is the right back in my best ever Arsenal team. As you correctly say, truly outstanding.

I scratched my head initially on Edu's job with the club. I thought it was nothing more than taking care of one of our own but he's got an eye for talent.

Hmmmm .... given the way everyone and their dog these days [ except me ] has a cell phone on hand to take pictures of every event
and given that everyone and their dog [ except me ] spends their every waking moment sending messages , checking Facebook , Twitter , Instagram .

I'd say young Rog ; your wife would be able to see her lunatic husband standing on a roof shouting the odds about eight seconds after you'd started .

Supermac , Charlie Nicholas

Ray Kennedy.

Kidd was a major reason we stayed in the top division so, whilst not the kudos of a cup winning goal, maybe more important? And for the same reasons *if* he's included then Jimmy Rimmer has to be.

Using the staying up formula ...... Terry Mancini as well .

Arteta has decided Nketiah is staying with us for the rest of the season, Arsenal were going to send him to Bristol City but Arteta liked what he saw in training so he stays. All according to Ornstein.

He scored a winning goal against Wolves but I see him as otherwise contributing greatly to us being in a precarious position for that game.

How you train is how you are likely to play.

I think it is a good decision to let him stay.

I knew the "Ipcress File " would be switched off as soon as that name got a mention .

We were in this , as you put it " precarious position " before Mancini arrived and results improved after .

Now for the younger viewers ; you and I had this very same debate about eight years ago ,

You got smashed .........

Old Hoy described it as the most one sided contest since John Newcombe beat Wilhelm Bungert in the '67 Wimbledon final 6-2 6-1 6 -1