A damp squib of an ending, but I expected nothing else.

[Burney]

The sad truth is that everything one needs to know about sport - or life, for that matter - can be learned by watching The Hustler. It’s the difference between talent and character. Wenger always put too much store by the former and not enough by the latter.

Basically, most Wenger teams were Paul Newman before he got his thumbs broken and George C Scott raped his girlfriend and precipitated her suicide. Truly great sides are Paul Newman after all that.

I appreciate, of course, that if you’ve never seen The Hustler this will make no sense whatsoever.

[IUFG]

The sad truth is that everything one needs to know about sport - or life, for that matter - can be learned by watching The Hustler. It’s the difference between talent and character. Wenger always put too much store by the former and not enough by the latter.

Basically, most Wenger teams were Paul Newman before he got his thumbs broken and George C Scott raped his girlfriend and precipitated her suicide. Truly great sides are Paul Newman after all that.

I appreciate, of course, that if you’ve never seen The Hustler this will make no sense whatsoever.

All I got from that was - most of the Arsenal players need beating with a pool cue, and Bellerin should have the entire rack of balls shoved up his nipsy.

Am I wrong?

[redgunamo]

I can't imagine there's anyone that isn't familiar with that movie.

I think both talent and character are givens, in professional sport. In professional life too. But results, on the other hand, are essentially acts of God so naturally the focus will be on the things you can actually control.

It's Parkinson's Law, innit. Or even natural selection; anybody lacking the aptitude for the activity will not long continue with the enterprise. For example, on any foxhunt, half-a-dozen decently-bred hounds will remove themselves from the gene pool by simply wandering off to chase rabbits, or something else, instead. The animals will still fetch good money, as hunting dogs or even pets, though, so what are you gonna do

The sad truth is that everything one needs to know about sport - or life, for that matter - can be learned by watching The Hustler. It’s the difference between talent and character. Wenger always put too much store by the former and not enough by the latter.

Basically, most Wenger teams were Paul Newman before he got his thumbs broken and George C Scott raped his girlfriend and precipitated her suicide. Truly great sides are Paul Newman after all that.

I appreciate, of course, that if you’ve never seen The Hustler this will make no sense whatsoever.