17th of Aug, 2019. A month prior, I had bought the Arsenal Red Membership with no hope of ever getting a chance to watch a match. It didn’t arrive for 2 weeks. I reached out to Arsenal support and they sent a copy of the membership card; it came with an Arsenal book, a red and white Arsenal muffler, and a woven winter cap. I was delighted after receiving the package and next thing was to try and get a ticket somehow.
Searched through reddit about how to get one, realised it’s almost impossible to get a ticket on Red Membership but I can buy one from the ticket exchange. So, I did exactly that. I didn’t realise how big the stadium is, at that time… and booked the cheapest one which was at the top.
And, the biggest mistake was, reaching 2 hours before the game. It was sort of empty outside, with mostly families lining up for pictures for their kids. No queues, and not much people once I went IN. An hour later, stadium was packed with 60k+ fans, players warming up. It was ecstatic.
It was the game against Burnley, under Unai Emery. Dani Ceballos started his first game for us on loan, we had David Luiz too starting his first game in Red and White after a move from Chelsea. We went ahead in 13th minute from a Lacazette’s goal, assisted by Dani boy. Happiness didn’t last long when Burnley scored one just before the half time. It was in the 64th minute when Auba scored the winning goal for us, stadium was buzzing, people were singing and I was on my arse for the rest of the game.
Wonderful experience. Brilliant atmosphere. Dream to watch Arsenal at Emirates was done. I managed to watch few more games before returning from UK, but the first game was special, even though I couldn’t see the players’ faces from up top.
The featured image on this post was the first pic I took of Emirates.
In this 4 years, my love and passion towards AFC has increased – so yeah, it affects my mood even more now. This love made me start a blog, which has 168 articles, 7,599 approved and genuine comments, and 91,500 unique readers. Things have gotten better, both at the club level where we are competing with Man City for the title, having one of the youngest and best group of players playing for us; and for LiR where the traffic is increasing as day passes.
Thank you, for all your support. LiR wouldn’t be anything without the readers.
Cheers.
Thank you, everyone for encouragement and support here at LiR.
KP, Upstate,
Loved to hear your experiences. It’s refreshing to hear what other fans feel all over the world. Different people, different expectations and way of handling football and Arsenal.. but we are all Red and White army.
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Football is back, spuds v manure and city v Newcastle will be the two games to look out for today. I will pray for a city loss.
I have a dodgy stick at home (I know,I know). I watch almost every type of sport and football everywhere but for some reason I’ve never watched the French League and as a result I haven’t a clue whether Balagon is the next coming of Henry or Chamak. So I can’t really comment on the players quality with any authority. What I will say is that I don’t think he can be a step down from Nketiah and I do think we really need a top class striker. If Chelsea are after him then do not sell to them under any circumstances. If he fails there it will matter nothing to them whereas if he succeeds it will break our hearts. My instinct is to keep him and give him games however it seems that Arteta does not want to. Why this is God only knows. One might suspect that Balagon does not have the submissive nature that Arteta requires. At the risk of sounding like a broken record if Saka gets injured we are in big trouble offensively.
Upstate,
Enjoyed your story,I thought you were about to write a little piece of fiction when you started with the ‘dimly lit bar’! Bergkamp was a hero to us all I think,imagine what the modern ‘systems’ would have tried to do to him……
Liverpool one down,could easily have been 2 and Allison a lucky boy not to have seen red. Regardless of the end result Liverpool have shown all the vulnerability of last season again. Combine this with utd’s abysmal performance last Monday and it seems,albeit very early days,that the premiership badly needs a competitive Arsenal again if there is to be a genuine race.
Did any of you see Mitoma’s goal v wolves? Holy shit he is some player. Another Brighton superstar. And they still have Ferguson.
Tremendous equalizer by Diaz in fairness. I don’t understand why Klopp didn’t go all out for Gvardiol,they are desperately short of quality cb’s and he would have sorted them for a decade,especially learning alongside VVD. There’s obviously issues financially there.
Almunia
I can’t say I’ve watched any of the French League but Balo got 21 goals Lacazette got 27.
Now I know there’s all sorts of other variables but its not a great sign for how many goals he’d get for us.
KP good to see you pulled a goal back. Fingers crossed for the 2nd half. Pool and Bournemouth is a good game. Spuds v Manure a comedy of errors one hopes.
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Hope the mood is good with all.
Marc,
True for you and if we had a striker in form no-one would blink an eye at balo’s departure. But given Jesus’ injury record and Eddie’s performances (decent but he’s not top drawer and never will be imo) I don’t see why he hasn’t been given a run. If he belonged to another club he’d be exactly the profile we’d be looking at. I have to conclude it’s a personality thing. I don’t buy the ‘wanting to start’ argument. Every pro,virtually, wants to start but knows at the top level there are no guarantees. Just look at liverpool’s bench today.
All good here Tony,enjoying the afternoon. Hope all good your end. Estupian just put Brighton 2 up,he’s another good one. I noted Aaron Ramsey scoring for Cardiff also,keep KP happy for his ht cuppa.
Liverpool are so poor defensively it’s ridiculous, beginning to remind me of Arsenal’06-’11, fantastic attack crying out for defensive support.
3 nil to Brighton. Solly March. Even Welbeck looks good!
Good to hear Almunia was going to write a post after the pool game to you.
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My views on Dezerbi and Bloom are always admiring of all they do. No way that dynamic duo are parting company company for some time to come, such is their perfect combination. I wish we had Bloom as an owner because he understands.
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Sadly no one on our board or owners have his foresight or drive. Hats off to him!!!
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Hope all well with you and your family.🙏😊🙏
Szoboszlai is showing his class today. Pool look more dangerous with 10 men.
Anyone writing Pool’s chances of challenging would be very foolish. It looks like Klopp had found his mojo again. Pool are purring I hate to say.
late last evening I was having a quick looksee into what was being bandied about in the rumour mill and I ran across several articles involving one Walker-Peters…hardly surprising on the heels of the Timber injury…not wanting to wade through a seeming ocean of speculative shit, I quickly decided that I would only read a couple articles from whom I deemed to be the most credible sources…just so happens the first in the queue declared that KWP could be open to a move if certain assurances were provided and it got me to thinking
now there’s nothing too revelatory about the notion of a player wanted assurances, although they tend to be more commonplace whenever the player in question has considerable status and/or when the team in question aren’t a highly desirable landing spot…so it made me wonder why this recently relegated stop-gap option would even think of making such demands to a European bound, PL runner-ups outfit…it’s pretty simple really, players don’t view us like that and they know full-well by now that MA hands out assurances like fucking candy on Halloween
just think about it, there’s a the reason why Rice was oft-times in more advanced spaces last week, why Havertz was never removed from the pitch even though he was clearly the weak link, why Timber was shoehorned in on the left, why we didn’t properly redress our Striker position, why Tierney and ESR can’t find significant minutes, why Saliba was sent back to France following White’s signing, why Partey saw the bench far more often after the winter window and likely why Raya will cause some undue havoc in our Keeper room before too long…of course, these are but a few examples of our assurance King’s short-sighted negotiational tactics, which can be traced all the way back to the ill-fated signing of the supposed contractual samaritan, Willian
now this doesn’t mean all his assurances have or will fail miserably, but it does explain away a few myths about our manager…player’s aren’t heading here in droves because they like the cut of his jibe or buy hook, line and sinker into his tactical ingenuity, it’s because he will gladly provide the two things players desire most, outside of winning trophies, exorbitant wages and playing time assurances…now you’ll undoubtedly get more than a decent wage from Pep, but you’ll never get the latter, as that would be incredibly short-sighted from a footballing perspective
now in the case of KWP, such assurances will likely not be forthcoming and thusly the player will probably not wear the kit, but not because MA doesn’t want to offer up all manner of things, unlike when he was willing to supposedly die on that hill when it came to Emi, it’s simply because to do so would be in direct conflict with all the other assurances he’s already handed out to players being deployed in similar positions…Cheers
Tony-agreed…BHA are in full Bloom and I’m likewise a big fan of Szoboszlai, who has hieght, great feet and pace to boot; sort of like a rich man’s Havertz…just think we could have had Mac and Szo for the same price as Rice….btw Mac’s red likely should have been a yellow
92nd winner, KP, that’s brutal mate. Junior is real moby dick, but should look less green around the gills tomorrow.
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Safe drive home, KP. 🙂
TRVL
My thoughts were always buy Caicedo, Mitoma and when touted I was all for Timber. Had we done that I would have felt we could have an outside chance for the title. Sadly, we have Kai instead of Mitoma who works so well with Trossard.
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Timber being cut down in his prime, sorry couldn’t resist but seriously we have lost a seriously good and versatile player to extremely poor judgement by the medical team and ultimately Arteta having the final say probably in machine gun guns ho patter.
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All I remember is Arteta saying “we have to get this TW right!” Now Rice is the only righteous player we bought and we should have had Caicedo first.
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Sleep well if you’re not watching the Spud’s game with Manure.
Will I be shot for hoping spuds win? They haven’t got the quality or depth for a title challenge so I don’t see them as a serious competitor whereas I don’t want utd getting any momentum behind them.
All is good with me Tony, just busy with d kids. Have an afternoon off now so making d most of it!
Almunia
No when the Spuddies are a way behind us then its a tactical thing.
ManU’s keeper looking a good buy.
Manure look in control at Spuds who can only muster the odd weak counter and toothless up top without Kane early on.
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Onana’s distribution is very good far superior to his Spanish predecessor.
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On this display Manure are title contenders.
Tony
Strange I’m watching thinking ManU look light going forward.
From what we’re seeing today plus the Wolves performance I have a feeling the internal review on Greenwood will see him back in a ManU shirt very quickly.
Marc
Good call on Greenwood. Spuds hit a purple patch at the end so will be interesting to see who really wants it in the 2nd half.
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I’d be happy with a score draw.
Manure with 57% and 3 shots each on target. Is a fair reflection of the first half. Manure had 5 shots blocked and overall just shaded the 1st half in the end.
Got to say I’m amazed ManU weren’t in for Kane.
Marc,
Especially when you look at the money they spent on Mount who must be one of the most overrated players in the league. Totally anonymous, he reminds me of strikers in the 80’s like Rush,Lineker,Stapleton. If he’s not involved in a goal he’s anonymous. Except of course he’s meant to be a cm!
Almunia
I quite like Mount but he’s not the player ManU needed.
Got to say from what I’ve seen today and what I heard about the Wolves game (didn’t see any of it) I really expected ManU to be a lot better this season.
We might be about to have another strange season.
Marc,
It certainly seems that utd have more problems to fix than they might like. And Liverpool’s defence will cost them for all their attacking riches.
You may be right about Mount not suiting utd,they were horrible last week and Mount had the least touches of all utd players which is very surprising given his position. I’m actually amazed he wasn’t just taken off in that triple substitution, I haven’t heard his name mentioned all game. They’re making spurs look good.
Oh dear
That’s just piss poor.
Almunia
Yeah – we’re (football fans not Arsenal or even Arsenal fans!) in a strange place. Chelsea and Liverpool were so poor last season you think they just have to be better but that doesn’t mean they will be. ManU haven’t done what I’d thought they would. We’ve spent a lot of money and have huge expectations on us, something we deal with brilliantly and we certainly didn’t look great against Forest.
I think the midfield of Mount, Bruno and Casemiro don’t totally fit the preferred tactics, as the latter doesn’t have the pace to be the sole DM, which means that the other two can’t be as adventurous as they would like…to make matters worse they don’t have a bona fide target man, at least not until Hojland has been properly embedded
the Spurs might have some considerable work left to do, but they do appear to be enjoying having the shackles removed under the new manager…much like their opponents today, they likewise lack a clinical finisher at the top of the park…right now the PL is bereft of true out-and-out Strikers, which could once again give City a decided edge
Alvarez for £14 mil is beginning to rival our £3 mil purchase of Martinelli in terms of value. I really like him as a player. Is Pep bringing the 2 strikers up front back into the game?
Marc
Looks like you were right and Utd were poor in the 2nd half. Wishful thinking both sides were having big problems, but Spuds are a quick counter attacking side, which could cause us problems if Arteta doesn’t form a settled 3/4 back line.
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I couldn’t be bothered to stay up for the 2nd half, as I don’t like watching either team, I just watched the first half to see what we’d be facing.
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Killroy
Vinipola sent off against Ireland and Farrell sent off last week shows Bothwick for the coach he is: very poor by the look of it. Never really a stand out player through his career but made the England side on merit. I just think he’s been banged on the head too many times. England needs a Kiwi manager.
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Of the teams playing yesterday Pool look like they will challenge far better than last season. Utd and Spuds look lucky if they get any Europe place at the end of the season. Brentford have an indomitable spirit as they grow into the PL; Franc doing a good job there.
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Then we have my favourite 2nd team; Brighton. People keep saying the strategy cannot last and that it will run out of legs as all the top players are sold each season after replacements are on the rough diamonds’. conveyor belt. Yet, Bloom and De Zerbi are a match made in football heaven.
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De Zerbi’s honest tactics for each game are well honed throughout the squad, which if I’m honest tempo or the team’s cohesion isn’t marred with substitutions; it’s a well oiled machine playing hard for each other with or without the ball.
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My team of the day yesterday.
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As for England’s World cup hopes? There are none. France followed by Ireland/NZ for the top 3 final outcome for me.
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City scraping 1:0 home over Newcastle shows how far Eddie has come with the Bar Codes who will be challenging again. City’s stats are a little more dominant with 60% possession that Newcastles, but without seeing the game I can’t comment further.
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Nothing but at win at Palace will be acceptable. We are superior pretty much all over the park when players are in their best positions.
Wily Woy will want to wain down shots at Wamsdale or Waya’s goal.
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Joking aside with dependable with a highly respectable football resume, Roy will make it very difficult for Arteta where I only see us winning by a single goal margin. No idea who will is going to play and no point putting up a wishful thinking set up. However, I’d go with 433 but leave Kai on the bench and play Trossard or ESR as our 8.
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KP
Recovery day for you I’d imagine after 500-mile round trip.
2 different moods for your Sunday morning coffee if you’re in the mood for music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Whfuz-hvJc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJwX0gdfJU8
Different ways to energize your day; have a good one 🙂