Come on, you Gunners! A T&T Arsenal fan urges ‘couch coaches’ to try positivity

I love football, I love English football and, more specifically, I love EPL football team Arsenal. I consider myself a huge fan and anytime I get the opportunity to watch one of their games in person I will take it.

I changed my Cable TV plan to ensure that I can see all their games live. If I was into the ‘football jersey wearing thing’ I would have all their kit. So, yes, I am a fan!!!

Photo: Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger (right) shouts instructions to star attacker Alexis Sanchez.

But year after year I have to wonder what sort of fans Arsenal really have. We are in pre-season and the ‘fans’ are already complaining about everything from: “Why pink on their black kit?” to the usual “Sell W X Y Z and buy A B C D!”

It is so annoying that people have to be so negative and complain about every single thing. I hope our players don’t go on the Arsenal Fan page and read some of the comments because they are likely to get depressed.


How many of us have jobs or do things in which we have just a few seconds—or a fraction of a second—to make a decision?! Not many, eh. Yet we complain whenever Olivier Giroud, for example, tries to shoot instead of passing or vice-versa.

The majority of us have an opportunity to use the ‘cancel button’ and start over, or get a supervisor to look over what we do. If we put a nail in a wrong spot, we can take it out and redo it. Basically the majority of us have the benefit of ‘do over’.

Unfortunately, football players don’t; and I’m almost certain they come down on themselves hard enough if their split-second decision turned out to be the wrong one and they don’t need us to compound their feelings.

Photo: An Arsenal football fan shares his frustration during an England Premier League contest.
(Copyright 101 Greatgoals)

I’ve always believed that negativity travels and, that said, I have to give Arsenal and coach Arsene Wenger props—because the type of negativity they get from their own fans, it is wonder that they were not relegated by now.

And, yes, I know they are paid lots of money to get it right all the time. But hell, even presidents, prime ministers and CEOs get it wrong sometimes!!!

We live in a world of instant gratification and if we don’t get what we want now, then we want to change the boss, change the team, change everything…

In fact, from the comments I read, we should be selling 50% of our current squad. Then what happens when we have say 15 new signings who never played with each other trying to mesh in a month’s time to compete at a high level week in week out? That making any sense?!

A good friend of mine who supports the other London team said he would like Arsene to go. Why? Because if we get a new coach, it would take time for the team to get used to the new manager—that is, Arsenal would/could lose games before eventually they find the formula to start winning.


Photo: Arsenal football fans call for coach Arsene Wenger to step down.

And I don’t have to give examples of teams that suffered the same fate, eh.

Of course I know there are many who would disagree with me and try to dissect every single word, sentence, or paragraph and I really don’t care. This season the focus for me is positivity!!!!

More from Wired868
Dear Editor: CSport is betraying its subscribers and EPL fans; they must come clean!

“[…] We feel betrayed, disappointed, and hurt having to go weeks without being able to view our favourite teams compete… Read more

‘More than half of T&T’s cable customers can’t access EPL’; Pantin on the Verticast impasse

“[…] The reality is Amplia has a lot to gain from this in the short-term, as they could double or Read more

First the EPL, then the World (Cup): Verticast’s regional dreams and how football fans can keep up

“[…] We have successfully, over the last two months, negotiated carry agreements with cable companies for the channels that will Read more

Pull up a chair, Wired868’s Premier League Fantasy Football challenge is here!

Yuh ent fed up bad talk the coach? Are you ready to show what YOU know about football? Wired868 now Read more

Why the projected European Super League affects everyone—even T&T

Uefa banked €3.25 billion (TT$26.7 billion) in commercial revenue for its showcase tournaments last year.  The lion’s share of Uefa’s Read more

Flashback: The Dwight stuff, why Yorke’s latter day revival was simply genius

The following article, written by Lasana Liburd, was first published in the Trinidad Express Sport Magazine on Thursday 15 December Read more

About Lisa Hernandez

Lisa Hernandez works with a local diplomatic mission and has been involved in field hockey for over 30 years.  She is a former national player and international hockey umpire who is devoted to contribute to sport in whatever capacity.

Check Also

Dear Editor: CSport is betraying its subscribers and EPL fans; they must come clean!

“[…] We feel betrayed, disappointed, and hurt having to go weeks without being able to …

17 comments

  1. I love Arsenal fans like this ❤️ give Wenger a lifetime contract I say!

  2. I agree Brian Springer. Yes , clubs are to hasty and they make stupid decisions sometimes when It come to changing coaches. But Wenger has been a failure for to long. Now they are not even in the top 4 . This is proof that others are improving and you are stagnant. He should be fired.

  3. LH,
    I hate to get sexist on you, lady, but spoken like a true lady.

    I was half-expecting a throwaway line that ran something like “Be still, my heart.”

    But truth be told, I have a difficulty getting excited about the EPL.

    Or the TTPL. It have so much more serious ting to get excited about.

  4. I applaud her POSITIVITY but such BLIND LOYALTY doesn’t leave room for fans’ CONSTRUCTIVE criticism without which their would never be any improvement. Some of those criticising Wenger et al are not simply couch-coaches but long-term fans who spend their hard-earned money on very expensive tickets sometimes SEASON tickets why shouldn’t they demand MORE than a top 4 (5) and an annual FA Cup? Using myself as an example I bought a Season ticket for T&T’s 2018 World Cup campaign and support the team wholeheartedly but if I don’t like what I see from Players, Coach or Administration don’t I have a right to say so? When the TTFA hired Sainfeit I went to the T&T game vs Suriname and nearly went BESERK…for my own sanity I opted not to go to the Haiti game even tho my season pass covered those friendly games too why? Because I knew the team would continue play badly under that Belgian xxxx… thankfully as Fate would have it that match was his Swansong! I preferred to see Terry Fenwick replace him but I wholeheartedly support Dennis Lawrence and while I don’t agree with done of his decisions I am generally impressed by what I’ve seen under his stewardship so far.

  5. We keeping Sanchez.. when his contract is up he will renew.. we just need to get a solid defense and we good to go..

    Maybe we can challenge now for Goldware (not that bronzeware alya have Lasana Liburd)..

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.