Something occurred to me as I watched the Arsenal v. Charlton match this week and it was something that had been staring me in the face all season. I noticed it after about half an hour into the first half, right about the time when Arsenal had gone two nil up. The crowd pleading for the Gunners to shoot is a common vibe at the Grove this season and it occurs for two reasons.
Firstly, it is often heard when Arsenal have gone one nil down to a team that plays ugly football, has ten men behind the ball and tries to eek out a point from the kick-off. It's these kind of games that Arsenal have struggled with this season and it's during these games that the Arsenal faithful get a little frustrated. When Arsenal are chasing a lead the fans loathe the thought of them trying to walk the ball into the back of the net and they are desperate for as many shots on goal as possible.
Secondly, the urge to SHOOT! is heard when Arsenal have a lead, are playing good football and the fans want to run the score up. That's what the fans pay their money for... to be entertained and there's nothing more they like than watching their beloved Arsenal scoring goals. So the calls to shoot shouldn't be seen as a criticism more as an encouragement and a show of support.
Anyway, I realised that in many of the situations where SHOOT! was heard echoing amongst the home fans, it was in a wholly inappropriate position on the pitch. In fact some of the time there was absolutely no opportunity for the player to shoot and so the call was ludicrous. It's no wonder some of the players were getting frustrated by it.
It seems to me that some fans may have one of two problems. One, poor depth perception caused by the view from their seat or two, little understanding of the fundamentals of the game of football. Now I for one believe that the average Arsenal fan is a student of the beautiful game and so it must be that they can't see what's going on on the edge of the penalty area.
It would be interesting to see which sections were more vocal and if it was the fans from the near or far end of the stadium that were making the calls. When I sat in the front row of the Clock End Stand I had absolutely no depth perception as soon as the ball was beyond the penalty area and maybe this problem exists at the Grove.
You could argue that the players should appreciate any encouragement that the fans give them in the oft quiet new stadium as the singing has been a pale imitation of that heard at Highbury. The reason for this is that so many of the players with classic songs have left, such as Bergkamp, Pires, Campbell, Vieira, Parlour and the've been replaced with Rosicky, Hleb, Flamini, Djourou, Senderos and Clichy who don't have the catchy songs. What is Clichy's song by the way? Please tell me it's not Gael Cli-chy, Gael Cli-chy, Gael Cli-chy.
