After The Spy took issue with the response to thison the forum, goonersteward has responded. We like a good ding dong here at Gooner Towers, so felt it only right 'goonersteward' should be given equal prominence on the website, so have re-produced said posting here. Had to edit a little out as we can only get 40 paras on these pages. Even more available on the original forum posting. Goonersteward is quoting the Spy from the previous exclusive and then responding…

Spy: Agree, Wenger did a fantastic job getting us to the CL final but what's the point of committing suicide when you get there? It's a once in a lifetime experience for most clubs and teams and that could've been our once in a lifetime chance to win it. Barcelona were on the ropes and it was Arsene Wenger's decisions with his substitutions that changed the game. Of course it was wonderful to be there, but would you not rather have won?

Goonersteward: Of course I would rather have won. But instead of blaming it on Wenger, three other things come to mind: 1 - The ref could have booked Lehmann and given the goal, keeping it as a proper match. But still that goes down as a Crazy Jens blooper than an AW one. 2 - Henry not taking his 1 on 1 chance. You know the one. Shall we blame Wenger for that? 3 - Henrik Larsson. He won it for Barca. Oh, and what did you think of Wenger’s tactics at the Bernabeu or against Juventus?

Spy: I am talking about Wenger's decisions in CRUCIAL games such as the CL final, the recent the FA Cup quarter final and at Everton last week. Arsene Wenger is a genius at most things no-one would deny that, but he's not perfect and in my experience of talking to Arsenal fans, substitutions and tactics are NOT his strong points. Not even the most purist football fan would ever admit that tactics were Wenger's greatest strength.

For every "critical game" blooper he's made in your eyes, you can probably pull out a decent change too. This season alone, RVP coming on against Man U? His reshuffle against Spurs at the Lane in the Carling Cup? Freddie coming on against Bolton? Hardly examples of him taking off our best player with 10 minutes to go. All of them critical games at the time, no?

Spy: How can you say he doesn't favour Henry? Whenever we are losing 0-1 in some awful hole up north, such as Blackburn last season, and Henry is stinking the place out, by hiding and not getting involved and glaring at all the other players instead of being a proper captain, he's the last player to be taken off. Do you think that is good for team spirit? Does it inspire you to think we can pull the goal back?

Woah, woah, woah, I never said that. Just pointed out you had already contradicted yourself in your article. And to be fair to Wenger, It's been an abysmal season for Henry by the standards he's set for himself. Leaving him on in the past tended to do the trick. But I can't pretend to understand why he was brought on in the 2nd leg against PSV.

Spy: We lost by a one goal margin more than ten times away from home last year and we have already done it seven times this season in the Premiership alone. Add CSK Moscow (0-1), PSV (0-1) and Blackburn (0-1) in the FA Cup that's ten already and it's not even April yet. Do you not want to improve on that? Do you just want to suffer a 0-1 defeat every other week without ever even having the slightest bit of criticism of the manager or the team?

Well thank you Statto. All those games you've pointed out feature US NOT SCORING. That's the big difference. We're no longer tearing up teams in the first 20 minutes. Last game of the Invincible season we went in at half time losing to Leicester. But we knew we'd dish out a kicking in the next 45. That's what we're lacking. And how you blame injuries, suspensions and a star player having a season long misfire for the first time this millennium on AW I don't know. Oh and look, they're all away games which I've already mentioned we seem to have a problem psyching ourselves up for unless it's the big three in the Premiership. And criticising the manager is fine. At least now you're elaborating rather than just calling everyone a f**king c**t. Why you're asking if I'm happy with things is bizarre as I had already said: “Don't get me wrong, it's really strange to have our season all but over in early March, but it's one thing to be disappointed and another entirely to start baying for blood!” Since we're in stat mode, here's a quick one for you - scored in the first half at home against Porto, Watford, Liverpool, Spurs, Blackburn and Charlton. More than 3 games as stated in your article.

Spy: As I said nobody's perfect, and we have the internet and the fanzine to air our thoughts. If we all just put up with everything that came our way, it would be a waste and a terribly boring and frustrating way to live. You are naive if you think injuries have anything to do with this. We have struggled to score goals away from home for three years now and this year we have struggled at home as well. Beating Blackburn 6-2 and Watford and Sheffield United 3-0 is fine but you are kidding yourself if you think all in the garden is rosy. When it came to the crunch we couldn't score in Eindhoven with nine of our best eleven players on the pitch. It was groundhog day yet again and it will be again next year unless we question what's going on.

Righto. So injuries have NOTHING to do with this. Us not scoring and our top goalscorers suffering injuries - not connected. Well I'm naive then. Glad we cleared that one up. Also, I highlighted those the Blackburn, Watford and Sheffield Utd games in response to a post stating we don't score more then one - hardly kidding myself. considering you're fed up losing to sh*t teams, those games should be in your season highlights.

Spy: In my piece I wasn't talking about Diaby's performance in the Villa game. I like Diaby and I thought he played very well at Villa. He was awful in the second half against Everton that's all I was saying. Judging by your comment, a player is immune from being substituted because he played well in the last match is he? Diaby was probably tired after the Villa game, so why not take him off? Your response is facile.

Wow, a different f-word for a change. You're right though - my response was effortless. Impressed by your ability to extrapolate entirely different meanings from twelve words. And I thought you didn't hold any stock with the notion of players being tired or jaded?

Spy: Half of Gilberto's goals this year have been penalties.

So? If no-one’s gonna shoot from outside the box and we're going to try walking it in every time unless we get hacked down, kinda makes sense to have someone who can stick them away.

Spy: The rest he has invariably scored with his head (Bolton and Villa excepted).

The rest with exceptions? is this where I say you've already disproved your point and get déja vu? Not so long ago people were moaning we didn't score enough headers....

Spy: My complaint about Gilberto is his casual passing and giving the ball away to the opposition in dangerous areas. Even the most blinkered Arsenal fan would not disagree that is the worst part of his game. maybe I was over the top in calling him a c**t, because believe it or not, I do see his strengths, but I was frustrated after the Everton game when he was the captain and should've made damn sure we didn't concede in injury time yet again.

I'm blinkered then. For me the worst part of his game is when he's centre back. And what did you think of his efforts to avoid conceding in injury time against Villa?

Spy: There is a growing groundswell amongst Arsenal fans that we need a coach such as Martin Keown or Steve Bould to counteract Arsene's cavalier approach. When we kept ten clean sheets in the Champions League last year the defence were being coached by Martin Keown. He did a magnificent job. The players loved him and he was very well respected. Much more so than Tony Adams in fact, despite what Cashley Hole said in his book. Was Martin asked to stay on? No. Did Wenger see the advantage of keeping Martin on the staff? Sadly, he didn't and it is more evident than ever this year that the defence is not being coached properly. My guess is Arsene got away with it until 2005 because he still had one or all of Martin Keown, Tony Adams or Sol Campbell at the back during the 1998, 2002 and 2004 seasons and they didn't need much coaching. This current lot do.