Andre Santos may travel by rainbow, but all too often his final destination has been the naughty step.
Given a smacked bottom and a lengthy ban for his maniacal driving exploits at the beginning of the season, the Brazilian has been handed a second dressing-down by Arsene Wenger after Saturday’s Old Trafford half-time-shirt-swapping incident-extraordinaire with the Dutch scrotum.
Santos’ reaction, a wise one given the hubbub, has been to apologise not just to the boss but also to the fans.
“Robin’s departure to United did not turn him into an enemy for me,” he told The Sun.
“We remain friends and he talked about exchanging shirts, which is something players do all the time.
“Did I think it would cause such a commotion? Of course I didn’t, otherwise I would have told Robin to exchange shirts away from public view. That’s why I’d like to apologise to supporters who felt aggrieved by it.
“I just want people to understand he is my friend and I wouldn’t treat him differently because of the move to United.
“He approached me at half-time and at the time I did not think it would create such an uproar. I would never refrain from saying ‘hi’ to a good friend.
“It surprised me that people latched on to a gesture that promotes friendship and fair play.
“Arsene Wenger had asked the supporters to show respect towards Robin, after all.”
Arseblog News was as unimpressed as anyone when our hungry hungry hippo decided to indulge the sweaty ballbag in half-time idle discourse and we were left aghast that he compounded the decision by accepting the cunny’s clammy rag. Alas, we think it’s about time a line was drawn under this.
A misguided friendship and cultural differences (not the Suarez type) may well have had a role to play in the confusion, but let’s be honest, if the Brazilian had bagged a hattrick in the first ten minutes, or just defended properly, we’d probably not care too as much; after all, there haven’t been too many outraged United fans complaining about Van Persie’s behaviour…
The problem lies with Santos’ performances on the pitch. Exposed repeatedly by Schalke and then double-teamed by Valencia and Rafael on Saturday, it’s obvious that in Kieran Gibbs’ absence, opposition managers have marked out our left-flank as a defensive weak spot.
Santos’ qualities extend to stabby tackles, ball-skills in the final third, smiling, never-ending optimism and a childlike naivity most popularly expounded by fluffy kittens…not defending. We know this.
It’s therefore unsurprising that Arsene Wenger is looking to shuffle the pack this evening with Thomas Vermaelen potentially shifting out to the left and Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker pairing up in the middle.
On the plus side for Andre he can now spend his evening with kit man Vic Akers learning how to rid Van Persie’s shirt of that repulsive eau de judas-skunk he insists on wearing.
Andre ‘bad timing’ Santos.
he’s claiming they ‘exchanged’ shirts…i didnt see that…the cunt took off his and gave him then sped past him…that was naive whatever the intention….
Well well well.
Here we ware 10 games down the line. League ambitions down the shitter.
When will Santos apologise for being shit I wonder?
Wenger what on earth are you doing, sign some quality players or fuck off.
Simples.
Why are you even here? You clearly hate our team.
in fairness, the blame lies with our scouting system for signing him in the first place. Quite how they can spend 7 million pounds on someone who struggles with the awareness needed for the offside rule baffles me.
NewsNow latest headline:
Andre Santos apologizes for being shit
Right. In other news:
Suarez admits he is a diving racist
On the other hand if we ran out 5-0 winners with Santos scoring a hat-trick, no one would give a damn…
More worryingly when opposing teams shut down Arteta we become screwed.
But we didn’t and he didn’t. When you have just played a half as poorly as he did I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect him to be focussed on how to improve his game not getting the shirt off an opposition player who his own fans feel let down by. He can be RVP’s gay lover for all I care, but for the 90 minutes his only thought should be for the cannon on his chest. His attitude is typical of the mentality many of our squad have, achieving glory for the club appears to come second to their… Read more »
And if my auntie had Bolox she would be my uncle. But she hasn’t so its all irrelevant.
I remember a story about Phil Neville and Ryan Giggs. Neville, playing against Utd for the first time since his move to Everton, went to say hello to his very good friend who he had grown up with and played with his whole career, but Giggs completely blanked him and would not even look at him or acknowledge him.
Now I am sure that after the game they were probably friends and talked very amicabally, but for those 90 minutes he was the enemy, the opposition.
Now THAT is the attitude we want.
He was probably doing Neville’s missus and thought he was there to confront him.
I understand what he means by RVP and him remaining friends but once they step on the field, professionalism comes first. Especially after having such a horrible performance the first half (and the second half as well), it just comes across as lackluster and portrays him as a passion-less player. Have all the fun you want when you’re off the field, but once that whistle is blown, the only friends you have are wearing an Arsenal jersey.
I have to say both he and Wenger completely miss the point, as does the blog. Wenger said the incident “is not an explanation of our bad performance on Saturday” but I think it goes some way to explaining it, through the attitude of the players. No Arsenal player should be swapping shirts with CUNT or any other player at half time in any competitive match. As soon as they leave the dressing room it should be to do battle against the enemy. But no, half of them, there they are hugging and loved up with stars in their eyes… Read more »
I’d like to borrow that shirt and see if that red on it goes well with shit!.
It would seem that maybe RVP knew what would happen if he were the one to instigate/suggest the swap…
That’s kinda what I was thinking as I watched it happen.
He truly is becoming the new Eboue, what with being crucified by the fans. Hopefully he’ll step up his game defensively and serve well in Gibb’s absence.
We’ve only come to see Eboue!
I remember the Wigan game where he came on and was booed so horribly by the fans. An Arsenal player deserves our backing even if he’s playing shite, it’s our job as fans to get him out of a rut and get his confidence up so he can start scoring goals. There’s a stat flying around somewhere that he scored 1 in every 4 games for Fenerbache ~(or somehting like that). Let’s support our players, not belittle them. Rant over.
Up the Arse
He was not booed. I’m tired of people saying he was booed. He came on and gave the ball away every time he got it, tackled his own players, handed the impetus to Wigan when we were only a goal up, and generally had a shit attitude. The fans got on his back, as they should have. He got lots of groans. They cheered when Wenger yanked him off after five minutes. But they didn’t boo him. Not from what I heard. Eboue worked hard to put himself back in good stead with the fans, but he was worse in… Read more »
give the guy a chance, he might not be the smartest but we might still have to rely on him while gibbs is out. what the team needs now is less negativity.
What the team needs now is a swift kick in the keister.
I think the word is Kiester but whatever, loved that you used and brought it back into my vocabulary. Now I am off to use it when the time is right…and when it is so wrong that the taxi has been called.
so it was van persie who decided to do it in public view.
van cunt strikes again!
What the fuck! He makes it sound like van cuntie was chasing him all over the pitch to wrestle the shirt of his back. Fuck off, your done Santos.
“there haven’t been too many outraged United fans complaining about Van Persie’s behaviour…” They are laughing at us!!! By the way it was Santos who took the dutch bastards shirt not the other way around so why would they be outraged about a, 29 year old, Arsenal player acting like school kid, wetting his pants with excitement? Another pathetic evidence of how low this club have fallen.
He didnt make it sound like that at all! Jesus, talk about crucifixion.
If the mancs are making fun of us, it would be for making a fuss about this in the first place!
I agree with you Arsecraft I couldnt believe the way he trotted after CUNT and the way he put his head down to be patted when he took the shirt. This prick shouldnt be let anywhere near the squad. Move Bac over to the left and put Carl at right back, a true gooner
We are short at the back on quality and confidence. We are short of warriors and we are short of leadership. It seems santos has got away with it and shown he is just another blagger.
Give the guy a break. He has apologised. He’s one of ours. Enough already.
He misses the point though, if all he is thinking about on the pitch is that the opposition is his friend…. Just remember back to the times when we had Cesc, our most passionate player of the last few years… He even got into a fight with his friend Arteta on the pitch.
I personally think the twi agreed on the jersey when they hugged as the players shook hands just before kick off. At half time santos ran over to vanpissmeoff and said “dude, now?”.
Van persie being the complete tool, mr diplomat wannabe saw all the cameras were there and proceeded to hand santos his shirt.
its not really an apology, hes really just smiled, explained his point of view and held his hands up. Like others have said. Arsenal pay your wages son, so whilst your on the pitch, how about u have a look at your own game and forget about a mates shirt who plays for your clubs 2nd worst enemy….(spuds 1st of course)
I would have loved to take it one game at a time, but i need my gibbs back for the spu*s game. Diaby, szcz and the ox as well
That photo made me cringe.
*Gets bucket*
Btw if one of my good friends left my team and joined a rivals team.
I would at least feel some sort anger or emotion.
Maybe he is just too happy.
Since Theo seems to be out maybe get Santos to the wing and bring Le Coq for that LB position? Can’t go worse than the United game.
I think the only defence of Santos’ behaviour is cultural naiveté – indeed, Mrs Santos weighed in with this one and Wenger, whilst condemning the action, has explained it in this way. But I don’t really buy it: yes, maybe it makes sense in terms of him being a mediocre journeyman who wants to grab a memento whilst he has the (brief, I hope) opportunity to play in the best league in the world; but it makes no sense in terms of him simply being Brazilian (Mrs Santos’s excuse!) – have you seen Brazilian club rivalries!! My god, if a… Read more »
That van persie pic without Photoshop doesn’t look good. Where are those eyes n ears of last time?? Lol
If we were winning the game nobody would of bat an eyelid about the shirt swapping. It wasn’t very professional and I can see why people are angry but I can also see that its a bit of a convenient scapegoat for the result. We lost to a better team, its hard to take and if we can reflect that on to something else for a bit then we won’t have to think of it. Do you think it would of had the same reaction if Wilshere or Cazorla swapped shirts with RvP?
Thats just bollocks from start to finish, Wilshere or Cazorla would not have done that, those two have more professional pride. And nobody here is making him a scapegoat for his shit performance on the pitch that day, we are sick with him because after what he has done, and now he can never be Arsenal, not in my eyes anyway
I didn’t say anything about his shit performance. Have you noticed that there has been more talk amongst the fans about the Santos shirt swap than about the actual result? It’s basic psychology. I, like all gooners, hate losing to Man Utd and rather than face the fact that we looked way off the mark and a shadow of the team that we can be it would probably make me feel better than to surpress that emotion and kick off about something as small as two friends swapping shirts. If they had done it at the end of the game… Read more »
Joe, yes true, if they had done it at the end it would have been ok, but you are just wrong to say if we were going in at 2-0 up at half time nobody would of given a flying fuck. There are many of us here that believe if we were 5-0 up and after winning our last 5 on the bounce it wouldnt have been ok. I didnt expect us to take any points at OT and I am not angry for the defeat or the lifeless performance, but I am worried about the reasons for it. And… Read more »
That’s where we would have to agree to disagree. I didn’t see Santos ask for the shirt, Robin took it off and gave it to him. Santos had probably asked earlier and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Santos asking for Robin’s shirt. I agree that it wasn’t the time and place to do it but once Robin had taken it off and handed it to him Santos didn’t really have a choice whether to take it or not, especially if he had asked for it. I don’t believe for a second the gesture between two friends had an… Read more »
Well you have obviously not played sport competitively at any level
Actually I used to play in the Kent county tennis tournaments and played football for my school team and for a local team. I’m just not that close minded.
maybe so but with that attitude you were not a winner
What a ridiculous retort. I have played against my friends and also people I don’t like and I would always shake hands after. Its called sportsmanship. I let my desire to win drive me, not ill feelings. Clearly something you don’t know much about. Don’t you find hating your opponent just because they’re your opponent a little irrational?
well done Joe, you figured it out. In your own words the normal thing is to, and I quote you, “shake hands after”. I wont underline the after for you.
And Joe if you had any idea about sports psychology Its not about hating your opponent, in fact letting personal feelings get in the way is the way to lose. But it is about concentration, focus and desire to win…Its why Man U usually beat us even when we have better players, Fergie sends them out to war and they perform like warriors
That was my point, it is about desire to win and not to let personal feelings get in the way. You said’ with that attitude I had clearly never played sport at a competitive level.’ Contradict yourself much? I was hoping to have a civil exchange of ideas about this subject with you but with your pathetic attempt to patronise me in the last comment it has confirmed that you’re a bit of a cunt so keep on hating the ‘enemy’ irrationally and only seeing whats in front of your face instead of the bigger picture.
You know Joe, I get your point. Really do. Nonetheless I agree with TomJ, that Arsene’s HR philosophy promotes the nice guys and excludes the fighters not afraid to give in to the dark side.
Both Red nosed cunt and Jose Arroganthio have penchant for brutes for a reason.
And had we been 10 points clear in the league no would give a fuck about rvp leaving, or or or or it’s all Bolox. We wasn’t winning he game it’s as simple as that. And we wasn’t winning because arsene says we lack something. Maybe that something is a killer instinct. Or the will to fight for the shirt, to put everything on the line for the club. On paper would you take man u’s midfield or defence over ours? Probably not, but they have a manager that will not except second best, they have a lot of average… Read more »
I don´t care about his bad performance in the man utd game, you don´t ask for van persies shirt as an arsenal player. He shows lack of respect for the club, and he doesn´t understand what it means to play for arsenal. You don´t ask for a man utd shirt as an arsenal player, especially not from the cunt van persie. He could have asked for his shirt in the game tunnel, but ffs don´t do it where everyone can see it, he is a disgrace for arsenal fc.
Wilshere is the only one I saw blank RVP in the line up, just as he did with the whole Barca team at the Emirates. That’s what I want to see. His attitude is ‘I don’t give a fuck who you are, I’m playing for the Arsenal and I mean business’.
Hugging the opposition in the tunnel, what the fuck? It wound me up when Cesc, as captain, pretty much got off with the whole Barca team before the match.
It’s all about attitude. Jack gets it, it’s about time the others did.
Bringing up Cesc is ridiculous, the guy scored a penalty against Barcelona with his broken leg! Santos wouldn’t even watch the game injured… Maybe only to ser his friend Robin play.
Erm so don’t di it at halftime you moron. After the game its forgivable to exchange shirts with a cunt. The games over. Everyones human again. But during halftime? WTF.
Something to think about: Why do opposition managers (ferguson especially) ALWAYS target our left backs? A couple of years back, Nani skinned Clichy at the OT. It was embarrassing, mostly because Nani is fucking shite. Last year, Utd skinned Traore during the 8-2 debacle and now this year it was Santos. It’s always our LB.
It’s alarming that the manager has let this happen for 3 years straight now. Out LB has always been our weak link.
Except with A-hole and now Gibbs….
The problem here is that the fans are suffering as a result of the obvious decline of our team. Unfortunately it seems only a few players know what it really means to play for this team. The pride of the players in our team seems to be a thing of the past. In the statement he tries to justify his actions and he also apologizes , as he should, but clearly Santos has not understood what it means to be a gunner.
Shirt swapping with any Scum player,let alone the skunk, is one of the Arsenal Cardinal sins….Santos is due forty lashes…so that other players can learn from him
Time to draw a line under this sideshow. If there´s no one at the club making the non-british players aware of the footballing culture of the club and the way the fanbase think, I feel we´ve been too hard on André. You can´t expect him to realise the PR gaffe he was committing if nobody has bothered to point out to him the ill-feeling surrounding RVP (as obvious as this is to us, the fans). Footballers tend to live in bubbles at the best of times, and in Santos´ case, it´s a bubble on top of a happy cloud on… Read more »
LOL, remember, this is the same guy who didn’t know Yossi had been sent back to Chelsea. Clearly has no idea what goes on in the world.
Am I the only person who actually doesn’t care about the shirt swap? Apparently, in South American football it is very common to do this at half-time. And maybe Santos just wanted the shirt to give to a friend. The real problem that I have with Santos is that he is probably the worst left-back that has ever played for our club. His positional play is hopeless, he can’t tackle and he is clearly overweight and unfit. He sums up the arrogance and madness of Wenger over these last five years. Wenger appears to be the only person who can’t… Read more »
This reasoning is seriously getting tiresome. We are talking about an EPL-match, I don’t give a flying ratpacksmash about South-American culture here.
As I wouldn’t care about British traditions if we talk about South-Am. superderbies.
It’s an international league you knob. If you want to be racist I suggest Chelsea is a good place for you.
@Dodgeza: you can fuck off. You don’t know anything about racism if you really think my comment was racist.
(As a Turkish-African, I lived 10 years in Serbia, so don’t tell me what racism is, fucking twat.)
And all this go and support Chelsea is tiresome as well.
I could care less about the shirt as well. We forget these guys are humans. They practically lives together last year and Rvp was a big influence on the guy bedding in to a new club in a new city in a new country. For sake, give it a rest. As far as footballing reasons, I don’t see vermaelin being a step up at lb. he’s been as bad if not worse than santos this year. Especially at positional awareness. For me, the only way to go would be to bench both of them and play sagna at lb and… Read more »
This was a ‘YouTube’ signing. £6m?….unbelievable. You get the club spouting on about being careful with the money they spend then blow it on this burger boy.
Yeah I can expect him to realise his fucking pr gaffe.
The bloke played in one of the most partisan leagues in the world, and he’s old enough to realise that in any football you just dont do that. It epitomises what’s wrong with this club. It’s players, manager and directors living in a comfort zone and the expense of the fans.
So no fuck santos, he should no better, if he wants to make amends then let him put in a few decent performances. But I doubt he’s capable.
And I’m sure you’re more capable. Arm chair football coach eh?
that is the thickest comment ever
Have to say us arsenal are a bunch of moaners. When the slightest opportunity presents itself we will moan to the fullest. Like wenger said. The shirt swap was no excuse for our poor performance that day.
I dont think any other club in the universe moan like us. Let’s still do this though, it’s what we’re accustomed to now.
You dont think our piss poor performances and the attitude of players like him are not related youre naive too
Maybe Andre needed a new tablecloth? Granted, a chavvy red gingham one wouldn’t be my first choice.
I think we can go with a 4-4-2. Vito, sagna mert kos verm, santi jack arteta santos,
podolski giroud.
Aside from your inclusion of Santos, I would like to see Podolski and Giroud together up top.
He is right though, people go a bit overboard with the whole “he’s my enemy” crap. He’s actually not. This is not a war its a sport. It’s entertainment not politics.
It’s also not Santos’ fault he is being picked and the team manager hasn’t actually bought a decent player in years to match the quality of what he’s sold. Ye he may not be the first choice for anyone, but he’s out there. Could you do any better? Probably not.
you just outdid yourself there mate
@Dodgeza…why dont you just cop on. If they cant be competitive then they shouldnt be at Arsenal. Why do you think Fergie gets the best out of the Nevilles and Carricks of the world? Because they go out and play like warriors for him.
Dodgeza. No I couldn’t do any better but then I’m not payed to. All i do is pay my £1200+ a year season ticket. And half a dozen away games.
If santos wants to come drive my cab round London for what I earn he’s more than welcome. As as a fan paying one of the highest prices in world football I expect more.
Santos is a typical Brazilian FB who attacks and supports their forwards for most of the duration of the game ala Dani Alves. He can alleviate our attacking woes if the two CBs and RB or two CBs play more effectively and look after his vacant zone. His apologies should be accepted in the Goonerverse and this issue should be buried ASAP. In the words of Ned Stark,”Winter is coming.” The guys are low on confidence and we must unite and embrace a positive outlook. Enough with the negativities and lynching.
~~The name is Law, Dick Law~~
He is not like Alves. He always drift inside either with the ball or after passing while Alves hugs the touchline and aims at the byeline when he has the ball Santos clogs up the midfield area and then doesn’t get back into position till its too late and the opposition is already exploiting the space.
Agreed. But due to Luka’s inability to offer any cover(he can take a leaf out of Oscar’s book) and our too obvious strategies Santos looks like a trespasser who’s shot down by the opposition’s FB or/and winger. As long as he plays for the team someone has to put in the extra shift. It has been done before in a team game. The guy can attack and score and we are somehow failing to use his talent to the fullest.
Dodgeza. Think you was way offline with the racism card. There was nothing in what the guy said that was remotely racist.
Doesn’t really sound like an apology to me. To me it reads more like “Sorry, but, you know, fuck you if you don’t like it.”
It’s good he acknowledges it should have been done behind the scenes, but then to go and justify it, it’s not what the fans want to hear.
The cuddly maverick is slipping fast in my opinion. He could be the new Eboue.
At this point, I kind of prefer Eboue. (But maybe that’s just because of his fake Twitter account.)
Yep, apart from the bit where he says ‘I apologise’ it’s not an apology at all. Leaving aside the apology, of course.
He apologises, and says he should have “asked Robin” to do it out of view! Am I missing the point or are yopu?
I just don’t like people apologising and then making excuses afterwards. That’s not properly apologising is it?
Accept you’ve been a dick and why people think so, don’t do it again, and try to use your brain more to stop you doing something stupid. I don’t see this attitude from Santos here.
That´s it, time for a rant! Santos is done at AFC! To piss on your own club in that manner without realising what he is doing is beyond forgivable. It was like watching a bloody tourist running after the Dutch Cunt begging for a shirt. I would have loved to see Tony Adams or Keown sort him out right there on the pitch, telling him to “want to play for the Arsenal”! This whole episode has made me both angry and very sad. This great football club of ours has rocketed to the bottom when it comes to pride. I… Read more »
Clichy was error prone but generally solid, kinda miss him now and in hindsight maybe not great biz offloading to City. Just gotta hope Gibbsy stays healthy or Santos turns it around…
Haah… I’m a Goooner for Life.
With or without The Dutchman.
Eish… We will Klap the Germans tonight!
I don’t give two shits about any of this shirt nonsense. I don’t care if they were dry humping each other on the penalty spot.
What I do care about is… Why Santos? As much as I like him, I just don’t understand the signing. I think he’s already scored more goals than Clichey did for his whole career with us but defensively he’s a horrowshow. So much so that teams set themselves up with him as the focal point of their attack.
Like I said. I just don’t understand why.
http://arsenaltruth.squarespace.com/arsenal-truth/2012/11/4/arsenals-1434m-wage-bill-exposed.html
🙁
don’t be so harsh on santos! he had his reasons:
http://twitter.com/Lagvilava7/status/265151374298329088/photo/1
he should have his cacs around his ankles hovering over it
photo makes me want to vomit
If the OGL Wenger was a character, and we all know he is not, he should have grabbed RvP’s shirt from Santos’ hands and have thrown it into RvP’s face, all in front TV cameras. Next, he should kick the f**king ass of Santos on his way out of the pitch. And by the way, what kind of a Club we became? How on earth an Arsenal player can behave like this? Simple answer = they are not briefed, not trained, not motivated, not … nothing. Just remember Giroud and Coq throwing their shirts into public after 90min at Reading!… Read more »
Am I the only person to notice that when Santos got R*P’s shirt the first thing he did was wipe his nose with it.
I liked that.
Please forgive him, for he knew not what he did. And then said. Poor sod. But he has made Podolski look really bad the past few games. Gibbs, where are you?!!!
How the fuck has he made Podolski look bad, he may well be shit at defending but you can’t blame him for everything…Podolski looks shit cause he’s wasted out wide..
He really must be wasted, so much ao that he just assisted girouds goal and many previous others.