Morning all,
Well we turned up and lost yet again….. Hardly a surprise to many who had us down for a defeat long before we the game had even started.
We did for the first time in years show signs of getting stuck in and keeping shape but at the end of the day it was the same old problems that were there for all to see which the chavs exploited.
We still lack that spine that can impose themselves on a team and for all the waffle about cesc what we have been crying out for for years is a mobile physical central midfielder. They have a couple, they win tackles they win headers they cover the back four yet we employed three apparently to do just that kind of job yet isn’t that a waste of players that should be used in their best positions?
Ozil has taken a lot of stick again but bottom line is why are we not using him in his best position why are we not using several of our players in their best positions..? make use of what we have but instead we are getting found out because of deficiencies that have been evident for years.
We have creative players, we now have pace up front yet things are just not clicking into place. We huffed and puffed yesterday but we didn’t really do enough did we…? we got stuck in and we put them under pressure but we didn’t have a shot on target, we tried to walk the ball in as usual and then the central defenders were exposed yet again with a lob over the top and into space.
We can all see that we should of had a penalty and a red card for Cahill for the hack on Alexis but so to could Chambers have been sent off for a second yellow after Hazard had already very cleverly got him carded for running across him and falling on the floor. The chavs are clever, they have the nous to get players booked and to put the ref under pressure we don’t do that. We still lack that mentality to get a result and we also lack a manager that plays his best players in their best position to get a result for the team. If a player is a passenger then the last thing you do is play him out wide, play players who will graft and put in a shift. We all have our views yet for me nothing much will change until we have the players to do the jobs we need within the unit of the team so our technical players can impose themselves.
Another year of fighting for fourth when we have the funds to be so much better than that.
Why do we freeze like ice when we meet the like of Chelsea City and United away from home?No shots on target shocking
Morning All,
A better performance many will say but in the cold light of day just not good enough are we…!
Lack of confidence Tony..? lack of knowing we good enough…?
Morning all.
Good performance until we got 20 yards from goal….happened before, and will happen again.
Let’s not get caught up with Chelski though…..they struggled to beat us with everything going their way.
We have a decent run of games for a while now, and must make hay while the sun shines, then strengthen in January.
Top 4 at best unless Wenger changes his attitude towards the January window, and we have some luck.
Agreed a better performance BUT still way not good enough and one shot on target on the 90th minute is totally embarrassing…….
The chavs new we had fuck all up front to threaten them….
new = knew.
Morning All.
Morning Wath.
Have a great holiday Rico…
When all is said and done we didn’t get the rub of the green at a time when it could have had a major effect on the game.
Yes, Chambers and Koscielny and Welbeck could have seen red.
But if Cahill is sent off, as he should have been done, but for a coward with the whistle, then it’s a different game and those later incidents don’t occur.
Once more a referee has a major effect on an Arsenal result to our detriment…
Phil Neville admitting on MotD how teams routinely foul our players and the cowards with the whistle do nothing.,,
We can strengthen as much as possible in Jan, the problem is Wenger imho.
Kev, I said it earlier…..chats committed maybe the first 6-7 fouls, yet our first draws a card to my recollection.
Why?
What makes it easy for officials to smash us when we have the crap kicked out of us almost weekly?
Fair enough Lee, but that isn’t changing so I’m hoping for the best on everything else.
No Lee not good enough but that sums up our squad…. Not good enough but it’s made worse when players are put into areas where they are ineffective as well. Highlights our shortcomings. As predictable as we are so are the chavs so why not make sure you play to stifle them..? we did to a point but expected flair players to do a rough and ready job. Once Chambers was booked we had problems down our right as he was one tackle away from an early bath and to be honest I was just waiting for dickhead ref to send him off.
Lee, we have plenty up fron in my view but if they don’t get decent service then what can they do, when you use creative players to try and defend the whole balance is wrong
Who at Arsenal is accountable for this shit show?
We do have plenty up front, but yesterday they were toothless and the chavs knew that…… I thought the chavs were in control for most of the game, it pains me to say!
You would think the owner…. Then again Lee does he really care who he employs to run the show..?
Nobody, Lee, and that’s the problem.
Stan isn’t and as he lets Wenger to run his own race, he will hardly blame the guy.
It’s a shit fight that starts at the top.
Like the owner gives a flying fuck….
We need a Matic type player offering Arteta an extension is madness in my book.
Not until he starts losing money, Lee.
We’ve needed a Matic/Vieira/Gilberto/Petit type player for years Lee and it’s not been done…. Hence we can’t ever win the midfield battle to then play our own game.
Lee.
No issue extending with Arteta as he goes well v certain sides, but only if we get someone else in for the big guns.
Matic was a wall.
Wath, it would be lovely to see our beast in the middle kicking the shit out of opponents for a change 🙂
Better performance that away from home. I have no problems with Wenger tactics in the game. Man for man they are stronger (the truth hurts). But there was some promise there. Agree with Lee obviously we need Matic type player in DM, and even though some disagree with me, their size helped them outmuscle us at certain times. Their defence was a blue wall.
It does hurt though that the key difference for Chelsea was Fabregas and Costa – both of whom we couldve bought ourselves (and who I was in favour of buying back then…).
Scott, then it’s done to Wenger to highlight these things in his post match interviews.
Nevermind being accused of being a whinger, the more he talks it up, the more it is noticed, highlighted and commented on.
The referees are never gonna help us, so put them under pressure in prematch interviews.
We have to use every weapon we can…
Not to do so is naive and stupidly idealistic…
Wenger’s comments carry a lot of weight, especially abroad.
He needs to harness that by embarrising the authorities that happily sit back and enjoy seeing us get the shit kicked out of us.
Well said, Kev, and great advice that Wenger should hear.
He supports our boys constantly, but maybe not always in the right way, and i reckon your comment is perfect.
morning all
Chelsea have: the two best central defenders for the League (note: not in quality but for the League); have the two best players playing in the middle- DM and a player for control the game – Matic and Fabregas.They play very well together and complete each other.Again, probably they aren’t individual the best ones in that positions but together, are the best.
So, with this, they control the center of the pitch. Then, they have the other ones to make the difference.
Alsenal, lost again. Always with the same tactics with porr variants. Again this team, you must play in a different way. Not have the ball but wait for them. Chelsea is perfect in playing in counter-attack;we not. Chelsea break any counter-attack from the other team. They are always very close in the back. They have killer players in the front.
We must play in a different way: two fasters forwards: walcoot, wellbeck or Apkon.
at the midfield players, physical players and players able to shot long balls.
Kev, what’s this weeks lottery numbers?
Morning all….
Ozil gets a lot of stick and will continue to do until he plays behind the striker and he should have been subbed rather than carzola or shouldn’t have started.
Chamberlain should have started either on the right or in midfield,
What I have learnt about ozil is, he needs in a big game all quality players around him, not saying we dont have them, but until we have a Def midfield in , he will play well against smaller teams. not in the big games
This thing about fabregas and ozil is made up media bull sh#t. Fabregas can do much more than ozil why because at youth level for barca he played up front, for arsenal he played in midfield but wasnt shy to put a challenge in. Ozil has always been a playmaker
I would really like to see coquelin given a chance – i think he could do it,
As for the refeering its becoming a farce, pundits say stop arsenal playing you have to foul them , fair enough but is that what is going the ref’s mind also ? cahill should have been sent off, any chance arsenal had at counterattack , chelsea fouled, yet it was us who got the first yellow card.
Rather proud of the team
we have the international break, how many will come back injured?
Theo is back after the break, this could be a good period for us now,
Nice post, a
BT, I I’ll let you know when I get to my hotel on the Maldives
Ah… the old “referee was against us” excuse.
Add that to; the kick-off was delayed, the grass was too long, they were bigger than us or the press room don’t like us.
As someone pointed out on another blog, Arsenal supporters didn’t complain when we had Adams,Keown,Vieira and Petit intimidating teams into submission in the tunnel, before kick-off, and when we had the worst disciplinary record in football.
This is the toughest and most competitive league in Europe and if Wenger no longer has the courage, ambition or competence to compete in it he should do us all a favour and resign.
Steve, so you missed the handball, I take it??????????
Fancy comparing the game now to then anyway.
Totally different ballgame.
Anyway, I dont recall anyone blaming the ref for the result, but it’s still a discussion point, as always.
The kick off was delayed because Arsenal fans were letting flares off outside cnutford bridge!
Steve your last paragraph is very apt!
Lee, any DM’s a possibility in January?
Will he sign Khedira and turn him into one, I wonder.
Kev, if you send me the hotel address now, i’ll have the champers on ice for your arrival..
Scott, do think that’s a good idea?
“do you”
what we had width Adams/Keown – Vieira/Petit has Chelsea now (and last years with Mourinho…) with cahill/terry Matic/Ramirez/mikel/Fabregas. They control the central zone of the pitch in any sense. The rest, is for the playmakers, for a good goalkeeper, for the faster and stronger full backs and for the strong central forward
I hope Jenks is getting a good few lessons at West Ham. Chambers really does not look like a full back to me.
Kos needs to wake up and watch the runner and not the ball.
I thought our passing was crisp and intricate in small spaces. I haven’t seen that kind of movement since the 90’s.
Why are we linked with Khedira, has the bloke kicked a ball since August….?
Is he a defensive midfielder or just another crock to take over from Diaby..?
Brad, the passing was intricate for sure just a shame it was in their penalty box and no one wanted to have a bloody shot on goal.
Good afternoon all
on a positive note, we are closer to chelsea than i thought. Infact exchange Matic for Flamini and the scoreline may likely reverse. He does not get enough credit for his work. Chelsea’s best player so far.
We have seven winnable games before the christmas period. If we win them all we will be in exalted company at the top of the table
Joy, I think if we had a Matic type and Wenger played two sitting deep with Ozil in front of them in a free role we’d be a far better unit and way better balanced but hey ho we don’t have a proper quality defensive midfielder and for all the hot air about cesc he isn’t what we lack a Matic type is…! Chavs have a few players like Matic they don’t have a ball player so they addressed that problem by buying cesc, the insult to injury is we need a physically strong central midfielder and yet again failed to buy one…!
Jwj, do you mean we’ll be fourth by Christmas? I’m sure Wenger, the master tactician, will push and shove us up the table! Happy days are nearly here again!!
Who were the fools that brought SK to Arsenal? And what about those fools who sold their shares to him? These are such of questions we need to be asking.
Good Afternoon to you All
Nash, those that sold are merely laughing all the way to the bank, so much for custodians of the club…. sold their soles for cash and dropped us well and truly in the shit.
Or those that didn’t address the squad’s deficiencies properly?
Or those that keep faith with players that shouldn’t be anywhere Arsenal.
Or those that keep getting out thought by other mangers.
The list is fucking endless…it’s so boring!
Steve, it isn’t/wasn’t an excuse…
The Cahill decision (bottle out) by the referee was pivotal.
The rotational fouling is a fact.
You have a good point about how Arsenal used to dish it out…
And did we not pay a high price in red cards?!
Funny how we are now on the receiving end that the same doesn’t apply to our opponents…
Afternoon all. I would have taken a 2-09 defeat before anyhow. They absolutely annihilated us last season.
After watching the game , I have to agree with Wenger that there were positives and we could have got something there. Ok, the penalty was blatant and yellow justified. The 2nd goal caught Koz sleeping by ball watching. But there were some good performances, that of Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla. I was pleased with Gibbs and Sanchez. Flamini and Ozil weren’t great but they weren’t poor. Welbeck was not a threat at all, but worked hard against a very organised chav defence. Chez could do nothing about either goal. The boss got his tactics spot on, only quite rightly , i hate to admit it, the Chavs have a much better team at the moment.
We will be there or there abouts for sure. You could tell they were scared of Sanchez, he got lumps kicked out of him 2nd week running.
Here’s hoping we give them some back at the Emirates.
Wath. Arsenal needs to do what Liverpool did a few years ago. If people believed SK was not in because of profit on his Retuns, they need to get their heads examine. It just a matter of time before he starts taking huge choke from the club.
Whatever we give them back at our place it won’t be physical and they know it. They will just make sure our lightweights pass the ball inside and try to run through the midfield and back 4 barrier that they will build. It’s the way Mourinho plays Wenger and it has worked for him every time before. We know it , the press know it , the media knows it , Mourinho knows it and so does the man in the moon . Effectively everyone knows it except the man that sets up our play.
Nash, the cash will soon start to vanish he’s at it already with the 3million that he has now taken 2 years running….! People would rather moan than doing something about it and thats also the problem.
Potter, spot on mate, the one that should be doing something about it is the one oblivious to whats in front of his nose…!
Too busy picking on little geezers! 😆
That why he keeps buying them…?
Afternoon all. Take the positives from the game. The truth is that it was closer than the scoreline suggested and it could have gone any way …. Really. The truth is however – that we didn’t have 1 shot on target. Losing 2-0 away against our closest rivals isn’t total doom and gloom …. It’s pissy-offish- but hardly suicide tackle …
1970-71 season
1-2 Chelsea (2-0)
0-5 Stoke City (1-0)
0-1 Leeds (0-0)
1-2 Huddersfield (1-0)
0-2 Derby (2-0)
0-2 Liverpool (2-0)
All away defeats
We did the double. We should have won the quadruple that season, but Mee and Howe never rotated when they should have and there was only 1 sub back then.
Helo HH’rs. I am looking foward to a day Wenger will be lucky enough to play this team. Szczesny, Debuchy, Mert, Kos, Gibbs, Flamini, Rambo, Cazorla, Sanchez, Welbeck, Walcott. Yesterday was deja vu all over
That or he wants to be Snow White at the Christmas party?
We got Gerwankstain instead of Hazard….. hmmm!
http://metro.co.uk/2014/10/06/cesc-fabregas-assist-stats-show-hes-more-creative-than-the-entire-arsenal-team-4894748/
Got to love the metro……………. NOT!
Good day All…
I’ll say it again – Wenger played his best game against Mourinho yesterday. The difference in that game was just Matic. If we had a Khedira yesterday … we wouldn’t have lost.
Even at City, Costa wasn’t kept that quiet. Yes, he scored but that was the only moment he had in that game.
One shot on target? Minus the penalty, how many did Chelsea really get? And Fabregas deflected a shot destined for the back of the net with is hand…at least stats should have registered that as a shot on target…lol.
I was mad after Dortmund loss…but knowing football for what it is…I look at my team’s performance before the result. When the ref was making things extremely difficult for us, how else could our boys get something out of the game? Why on earth wasn’t Fabregas’ penalty given and the appropriate yellow card shown?
I usually look for the weaknesses of my team in victory, then its strength in defeat. With what I saw yesterday, we have a team that will challenge and will truly give this same Chelsea a run till end if Wenger grabs that DM in January. I’m gradually getting disinterested in Khedira because of his poor injury record!
Take away Costa’s goal, Welbeck had far more better performance than the famed Spaniard…whose facial appearance elicits huge doubt over his 25 years!
I never celebrate defeat but this was one game where the only blame I have for Wenger is his refusal to balance the team with a proper DM and real CB cover. He bluntly refused and that is why he shifts Ozil to the wings…so that he could accommodate Carzola, Wilshere in the middle to cover up that blunder. With Chambers, Sanchez and Welbeck…our team has significantly improved.
Fingers crossed, let’s see if just two players…DM and CB join by January…, and let him trust Bellerin and start featuring him in home matches…Chambers is playing too many games for his injury good!
May I add that Fabregas in Arsenal today still leaves the present team unbalanced. Even if he makes 20 assists in one game, we do not need Fabregas to win whatever we desire…all we need is a beast of a DM and a CB…a CB that will even play for Per whenever we’re facing fast-paced attacking teams.
Fabregas playing for us yesterday in place of Ozil wouldn’t have changed anything in our favour. Fabregas is good, in fact great, but not one we should waste funds for what we truly need on.
Tai I can’t agree , Cesc was sitting deep yesterday and would have been a better option at least in the first half . In the second he moved further forward and dictated play from there. I think his non return was a crass decision and the fact that Ozil is not played in the middle makes the comparison even worse.
Potter,
That game was lost yesterday when Flamini allowed Hazzard to easily get past him. I don’t think Hazzard would have done that to Matic…. or that Fabregas in place of Ozil would have prevented that.
The decision not to re-sign Fabregas was absolutely a correct one by Wenger imo. However, by not buying the appropriate DM, Wenger has brought it on himself for people to now question that decision.
If Wenger had bought the DM…then he would have allowed Ozil to play freely as a no 10…but because we lack that spine, Wenger shifts Ozil to wings to accommodate more midfielders in the middle. Ozil is the best passer of the ball in the final third in world football. Fabregas is only better in deep lying thrusts like the one leading to second goal. Chelsea have players to have stopped Fabregas if he was playing for us yesterday.
Why would you play Fabregas instead of Ozil , he’s not a left winger either. Sure I agree that Flamini and Arteta are not good enough and Diaby as an alternative is never there so is discounted. But squad wise name the midfielders that we do have that Cesc is not better than. Remenber Cesc against Vieira ? He can get his foot in and that is what we don’t a player doing at present. Gilberto wasn’t a physical player but knew how to foul , disrupt and do it in a way that rarely got pulled up. Cesc would have been an asset to us and a DM like Matic would have been the icing on our cake.
To some extent I agree with you, Potter…still Fabregas is not that steel we need in the middle. Ozil, Ramsey, Wilshere are not too far behind what Fabregas can offer. Ozil can even be better once Wenger gets that DM and start playing to Ozil’s strengths.
My point is that even with Fabregas, we still need that defensive midfielder spine but getting just that DM will automatically correct our glaring weakness without involving Fabregas…and I will ever stick with that opinion. Fabregas would have been luxury, not our necessity.
Fabregas is way ahead of both Ramsey and Wilshere who especially is winning plaudits for a few surging runs into blind alleys and usually ending with little or no end product. Ramsey is a box to box player dependent on his ability to time runs. Fabregas is like a spider in a web playing with Ozil would have been a sight to behold one dictating and the other providing the finishing touches for speedy forwards. You would still need a DM that much we can agree on.
Unfortunately dear old Arsene decided to pass up the chance of forming a truly mouth watering midfield, Cesc and a top draw DM would of really been the icing on the cake. Ho hum it wasn’t to be, but please don’t do an Arshavin on Ozil.
You can start to redeem yourself by getting a quality DM in January!
Morning Brudder. I believe that Ozil will leave at the end of the season.
Adam, Bayern?
Morning BT. Very possibly. 🙂
Morning Adam, a distinct possibility i think, saw a picture of him being embraced by the dwarf after the match, he had a big smile on his face.
Just play the bloke in his favoured position….. just a thought!
I give up….
Brudder. That is far, far too logical I’m afraid. But I know what you mean about giving up. 🙂
Morning Lee, i see Zlatan says he was not close to signing for us, a bit of a slap for AW.
Michael Graham | On 07, Oct 2014
Forget his failure to deliver regular trophies, it’s Arsene Wenger’s failure to adapt that truly holds Arsenal back.
For neutrals, like myself, Arsene Wenger can be a tough figure to dislike. Yes, he can be a little obnoxious and petulant at times, as demonstrated by our famous five football shoves feature, but nobody is perfect.
His ability to endure is one of his more admirable qualities, as is his devotion in the face of it to his philosophies. However, I have to admit, that if I was an Arsenal fan I think he’d drive me mad.
I almost hate myself for saying that. I feel like I’ve let down and disgraced every other fan in the country who loyally stick with a local team despite never even daring to dream they could one day reach the true upper echelons of the game. The last thing I want to become is one of those idiots who claim that fans who enjoy annual Champions League football could possibly be ‘long suffering’, so please forgive me.
There is just something maddeningly frustrating about Arsenal under Wenger, though. They are almost like that friend we all had in our youth who kept on failing their driving test over and over again on the exact same fault.
I am a believer that a team’s spine typifies it, and that is certainly the case with Arsenal. You look at Wojciech Szczęsny, for example – he’s a good goalkeeper, but not a dominant one. You look at the centre of their defence and you see good players, but no dominant ones. Aaron Ramsey is an explosive attacking presence in the centre of midfield, but he isn’t a dominant one. Up front they have good strikers, but not great ones.
And that’s Arsenal to a tee – good, but not good enough; strong, but not strong enough.
That’s not the frustrating part of it, though, this is: If you looked at Arsenal two years ago, you’d have said the same thing. If you’d looked at them four years ago, you’d have said the same thing. If you’d looked at them six years ago, you’d have the same thing.
Down the sides I’d say there were very few teams who could match the Gunners for quality. Their full backs are generally quality and fit for purpose, and their wide players are truly exceptional.
Yet what was Wenger’s solution this summer when tasked with bridging the gap his side and the real title contenders? He signed Alexis Sanchez, an explosive winger, and Mattieu Debuchy, a marauding full back.
The latter was possibly required in fairness given Bacary Sagna’s departure, but this is just another example of Wenger repeatedly failing on the exact same fault, and that’s always tough to defend.
Chelsea swatted Arsenal aside with ease, and until Wenger beefs up his team’s backbone, they will continuously fall short in the really crunch games that separate winners from also-rans.
I think Wenger is a very easy character to like and it’s impossible to not appreciate all that he has achieved. But, at the end of the day, you’d probably have to suggest the assessment of his Arsenal side here also applies to him too: He’s good, but just not quite as good as he probably should be.
Hola BT….
…or as good as he thinks he is..
None of us are as good as we probably should be.
Morning BT, Lee, Adam et al…
I dunno Kev has his moments…..
I obviously meant, with the exception of Kev, Brudder.
Just gotta hope that none of our players get injured during the International Break…
Theo should be ready or almost, by the time the EPL kicks off again…
Why, thank you chaps…
I do try… 😉
Why am I in moderation?
Wath, are you still in bed?
Morning Kev, is it warm where you are?
Typical, Rico goes on holiday and standards start to slip… 🙄
Not gone out yet BT, but it’s a beautiful sunny day..,
I’ve got comments in moderation…
Off to the Osteo…
Kev, same here, good luck with the Osteo…..
Still in bed ya cheeky shithead…. I wish… some of us have to work….! Being on here is a bonus unfortunately not always possible…!
Moan moan moan never happy less your moaning… I hope they stick your big toe from your right foot in your left ear…….. 😀
Wath, i’d pay to see Aw do that….
I’d pay to see the Osteo/physio do that to Kev…. lol 😀
Morning Wath 😀
New Post up….
Morning Kev, Enjoy getting touched up at the Osteo…. 😉
Wath, your so cruel….lol