Morning Gooners,
Last nights game lived up to my expectations!
Visitors Manchester City turned up with what can only be called a depleted team, many of their star players were either injured, suspended or away on International duty.
Apart from Rosicky and Koscielny, we were at full strength.
Many thought that Arsenal being at home and playing a side who have struggled here in the past, was an ideal opportunity to pick up a few valuable points. I on the other hand did not, not for one minute.
I have watched every game we have played this season and I am not convinced that we have the quality to challenge the better teams in the league. I was going to write a post depicting the game from start to finish, but why write about what you have just witnessed.
The truth is we are just not good enough.
I am not going to point the finger at anybody as I’m fully aware we all have our own opinions as to who or why we are where we are but ultimately it surely comes down to the players on the pitch. We may have one or two talented players, we also have one or two hard grafters but it’s quite evident that we don’t have ‘teamwork’.
When I say teamwork, I mean from owner down to the last player. Everybody is involved but where some are doing their bit others are just going with the flow. The game last night epitomised what I am saying, eleven players walked out at the start, and straight away playing at home you would naturally fancy us for a win or at worst a draw but last night I didn’t.
Then that eleven became ten.
Arsenal football team is not what is used to be, far from it in fact.
Only a couple of seasons ago we had players who would fit into any team in this league and make them better and that has proved to be the case we have sold off most of them. Those who we have replaced them with are not of the same quality. Maybe some will surprise me in the future but until then we will be on the end of results such as like last night.
I cannot see this team ever picking up a trophy in fact I don’t even believe they are capable of seriously challenging for one either.
Arsene Wenger must see more in this team than I can, he being the expert so I just hope I’m wrong but all I see is calamities all over the field.
A goalkeeper that has trouble catching, kicking and with his positioning, I thought he would learn as he goes along but so far he hasn’t.
We have defenders who persist with zonal marking which so often is our downfall.
In Midfield I see a group of players who like to work in the centre of the park and are not ambitious enough to go forward and prefer to pass backwards.
Our forwards prefer to do most of their work outside the box and they very rarely shoot. When they do it’s rarely on target or just dribbles to their keeper.
We have a manager and his staff who just seem to sit on the bench looking at their watches, waiting for 70 minutes to have been played so we can make a couple of changes and usually that results in taking off the only couple of players who are having a good day and then a limp handshake at the end with the opposing manager before heading off to the make-up to prepare for his post-match interview.
The two talking points of this game were the sending offs.
Koscielny’s rugby style tackle on Dzeko on ten minutes and Kompany’s alleged two footed tackle on Wilshere.
Dean had little choice but to award a penalty for the first one as Koscielny had his arms all over Dzeko, and the red card was inevitable.
Dzeko missed the resulting spot kick, a bit of good fortune and woodwork saw the ball land safely in Szczesny’s hands.
The second tough was debatable, Wilshere had let the ball get away from him and although Kompany’s foot was off the ground before they collided, it was down before contact and the trailing leg came after first contact.
I felt that was a harsh decision but by that time we were 2 -0 down and had played with ten men most of the game.
I would say that the referee was trying to balance up the game but by then our tired players were well beaten.
And beaten we were……
Written by Steve Palmer
So, Mike Dean won’t review the Kompany challenge on Jack so he will be out for three games now.
Talk about giving the PL title to Fergie…
Morning all, good read Sp, thanks.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2262027/Manchester-United-Liverpool-Arsenal-Spurs-join-forces-shackle-spending-Man-City-Chelsea.html
Good on you SirSP.
Was that the final epitaph on this team?? I doubt it.
Sad to see the team becoming the joke that it is.
We improved in the second half? Not that much. Let’s face it the crap we served in the first half would have made any effort seen as an improvement in the second half.
BDW………..Good Morning my Esteemed Fellow Gunners.
Great article Steve….a very fair representation of what happened.
Morning all.
Good morning Rico.
Today is the day after yesterday.
Am I angry? Not any more. So sad that we should be feeling this way.
Devil, what improved dramatically in the 2nd half was the fight.
It could have gone sour and turned into 5 or 6 quite easily, but they guys rolled their sleeves up, though admittedly it was too late.
Another top post from Sir Steve… I always like the tone of your articles. 😉
I know I love my conspiracies but I wanted to know if it is permitted for a lineman/person to tell the city players to go over to the fans after a game as the lines man did?
1975 the last time – another Wenger milestone reached – no excuses just another poor showing when we needed everyone to stand up
Arsenal game this time is what I would rather call NEGATIVE playing the ball backward most often. You can never win a match with that kind of pattern.
At 7 mil a year,it is a great job if you can get it.No pressure,no need for success,no ambition rule the club like you are a dictator.
No pressure on Wenger….look in his eyes and tell us that again!!
Morning All
Good read steve
Every wenger interview now we hear a new one:
”We were too Up Tight”
Give me strength
Sorry Rico I got sidetracked..
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/9799524/Arsenal-are-a-nervous-deeply-flawed-shadow-of-great-teams-of-old.html
Morning devil…
Sad is it, what has happened to our club, how can we have gone from what we were to who we are now….
SOJI….
As, it seems, the only mug who was actually there I don’t know what it looked like on TV as I obviously didn’t watch MOTD last night. I have to say that the atmosphere within the ground these days swings between being poisonous to one of circumspect acceptance with a dash of humour thrown in. The pre-game and half time chats with the other sheep are interesting. Post game analysis is difficult these days as the stadium starts to empty with about 20 minutes to go. Look around during the game and you will see many “customers” talking or texting as the tragedy playing out before us is one that we have seen all the previous acts of. Like a giant boil, growing more uncomfortable by the week, everyone at the ground knows it will either burst or need to be lanced. The resultant explosion may engulf quite a few. Then, on the other hand…….with modern day PR, it may continue to fester almost indefinitely.
Am i alone in thinking Diaby did reasonably well under difficult circumstances?
With decent squad depth, he would not have been sent out there, but i thought he did ok.
7 million a year is not that much DG10…….not when it is compared to the 100K, yes 100K, per DAY for the next 5 years that Berlusconi’s wife has been awarded by the court after their divorce.
That makes it a whopping 36million per year.
tsGH………I do not think it should be permitted. The players are there to play and the game assistant is there to help the ref. Not to tell the shitty players what to do.
Hi All,
I felt Man City eased up the pressure more than we upped our game. They sat back in 2 rows of four and defended and waited for a chance on the break. I mean even Silva was back.
So still no one new coming in, I see M’vila and Remy are done deals…elsewhere.
Things to look forward to this month:
1) Squid is next in at the back if either cb is injured
2) Wilshere and Cazorla will play every game in Jan and the CL too
3) Walcott having a blinder again against Chelsea (hopefully)
4) DM position from the pool of Diaby, Wilshere, Ramsey and Wenger’s no confidence Coquelin. Unless he square pegs the Ox there because he’s a strongly set guy
5) Lies, contradictions and no purchases
So did I Lee, the doorbell rang and now I have a strange man in my roof 😉
Thanks re the link…
No you are not alone Scott. He did reasonably well considering the circumstances. However all that decision did was that of telling Coquelin that AW does not trust him.
Sorry, but if Arteta was injured I would have put on Coquelin and not fast track Diaby. The latter I would have given him the last 15 minutes at most. Then start him against Swansea. Then use him as sub against the chavs. As it is, Coquelin could do well for his own career to bugger off somewhere else.
Bradster, is that right on M’Villa?
QPR is it?
It was bad enough watching on the television Adam, what it was like in person must have been awful.
Wenger blames the fans then, what poppycock!
Devil, unless of course Diaby really has been fit for a while, as someone suggested, with a view to ensuring he was healthy in January, meaning no new signing of a DM.
Doesn’t seem so far fetched, unfortunately.
Just read that about M’Vila too, we better be in for someone better!!
A friend of mine who is a Dr at kings College hospital was privileged to have some time off work to be at the game yesterday and he reckons the anger amongst some of the fans is really scary.
I just think we the fans are the club, especially the one’s who do actual support the club and will continue to do until our last breathe.
It is fairly obvious that the club is ‘threading water’ for reasons that seems obvious but on the contrary are unknown.
Before the game I said on this site that I have heard rumours that the players do not enjoy playing at home. We have 2 options imho, we either back this team so at least we stay in the CL qualification spot or we moan so that we get rid of AW and end up turning into another Liverpool or Portsmouth.
We are all adults so we would make our own decisions but if the love of the club is bigger than the dislike (or hate in some cases) for AW we would do everything within our powers to ensure we remain Arsenal until at least Stan leaves if he ever leaves.
No matter what scenario we may find ourselves in in future, we the fans or supporters will be left to care for the carcass that will be left if we do not band together and do something positive to resurrect our season. As I said yesterday if the dipper fans can sign no matter what then we can too…
I was not born then when city last won @ highbury, but yesterday i witness another milestone from wenger. This is just the begining
I read it on another blog Scott
Dev we all know Le Coq is not a DM…
Frimps is back at least he may not be Arteta but he would play with heart.
Wikipedia………….On 13 January 2013, Sky Sports reported that the president of Olympique Marseille confirmed that the club had accepted a bid in the region of €10 million for Remy from English club Newcastle United.
ok tsGH………….why not play Frimpong then?
Morning all, my thanks to the lady of the house as usual 🙂
After watching this game i could feel the frustrations the anger the contempt of some Gooners. This was a massive game for us, as we know we have to fight as hard as possible to get anything out of this season. Wenger it has to be said has not done anything to improve this team, the transfer window is open and we have plenty of money, we have players for sale, but Wenger is still playing with his zip. We are desperate for reinforcements as we have been beaten by teams we shouldnt be loseing to. Our biggest news is whether we keep Walcott or not, will we pay a lightweight make shift center forward or not. Personally i have given up on him. Has Theo the qualities we need i would say he is a winger and thats about it, Kompany had Theo in his pocket and Theo went down so often he looked like a schoolboy. Van Persie he is not. We are probably playing worse than i have seen for some time, we did look better in the second half of this game but by this time City took their foot off the gas knowing the game was all but done. Diaby was a welcome sight i would also have liked to have seen Rosiski on as well but that wasn’t to be. Credit to the lads as they did muster themselves in the second half but we were well and truly stiffled by City. I went on to Untold Arsenal this morning Walter Broex or whatever his name is was complaining about the ref, i think my comment rattled him a bit, but in all honesty i felt the ref had the game under control and reffed it fairly fair. We are not a side that can expect many decisions for as we do not create anything and if we did we cannot finish off. Walcott had a loose ball fall to him and he panicked with a swipe that nearly hit the corner flag he is not what we need. Not Theos fault he just hasn’t got that certain skill that we need and he is not on his own. The team is struggling and Wenger also is struggling. The window is open now, now is the time to buy we are desperate for quality the summer will be too late for this season, and in all honesty we do need a new man at the helm, new ideas that are made from the start of the window not left to the next. Wenger has been good but he has now worn his welcome out.
DG. Actually mate Diaby was awful yesterday. He was passing the ball to Man City players and getting caught in possession until Wenger mercifully ended his involvement. After he had screwed up 5 or 6 times, he drifted wide or too deep and I could see he was avoiding offering himself for the ball which was one of the reasons that, in the first half especially, we couldn’t get any meaningful ball. Starting him yesterday in such a big game and after so little playing time was probably designed to convince that we don’t need another midfielder. It failed abjectly.
We saw the failure of Diaby as DM Adam. However considering everything he did well enough to last around 60 minutes. I was afraid of the 60 second mark you see!!!!!
But will AW see the failure of Diaby as a DM???
Frimps was suspended after his red card against WBA in the u-21 match…
DG. Agree to disagree there then. The fact that a player lasts 60 minutes is not a benchmark to his quality for me. I feel sorry for him in terms of his profession but did someone not say that his contributions to Arsenal have cost the club over £20 million? That is true madness.
Steve, in all fairness to Walter, his point or rather his question was are our players forewarned about certain referees propensity to give penalties or red cards, not blaming the referee for the result.
That is the way i took it anyway.
Dean refereed fairly though Steve…i reckon Jack would be pretty sore this morning, and the least damaging tackle he copped was the one that resulted in Kompany being sent off lol.
Still, we were outplayed.
Great article mate!!
Is Frimps not banned after being sent off for the reserves? Or does that not count…
Hi Sp, no, my thanks to you.
Annoyingly, this will be seen by some to be a loss which came about after Kos was sent off.
Wenger will no doubt believe that 11 v 11 would have seen a very different game and outcome.
And what have we done to Santi, 6 months and he is already a very different player to the one we signed….
Rico, Santi needs a spell.
The more physical nature of the PL will eventually take its toll n players new to the league….he lasted longer than plenty.
No rest though…nobody to replace him!
The family section you would think would be more tolerent than most parts of the ground as regards to our poor players/Team.
Well if you are considering taking you loved ones think again.
Rico – that is why i pointed out the possession stats before he was sent off
Fred. Is the family section not an Oasis of bliss these days then?
you can almost feel the sways in the supporters from ‘maybe we can deliver’ to the nearly always end result.. “here we go again”
Oz, but year after year they end up finishing top 4 despite fans giving up before Xmas.
It is far from ideal, but it is what it is atm.
The way Arsenal played was unbelievable,except Jack,everyone played like they were forced to play. They irritated me. Whatever Wenger is waiting for to buy quality players only he knows,not even his assistant knows l believe.
Just realised Swansea are still in the League and FA cups…..Laudrup is doing well Rico 🙂
I am the biggest slagger of Santi but if I had to be honest he has been better than other Spanish imports such as Mata and Silva in their first season.
This league is something else because tactically it is not there at all. The same way Arsenal fans moan after 70 min subs, the same way Rafa, redNose also does subs.
Even Pep was a 78 min subs expect making the same substitutions most games. Maybe he picked that up from AW during his time training at Colney. 😉
Scott.. Laudrup does very well in his first season where ever he goes. He then struggles towards the end of his second season that is why he always gets sacked…
Ginge, when you have a squad full of quality, you do not need a plan B.
Too many give too much credit to some managers at top clubs.
Morning Scotty, Many thanks, we often share the same views, but i don’t like to think we lost by the refs decisions, we need to impose ourselves and we rarely do i know the refs often get things wrong and usually against us but we need to make chances and we have not got the quality to face the better teams or some of the not so good, Investment in the right places is the order of the day, and i am afraid Wenger is doing his impression of the Ostrich by burying his head in the sand enoughs enough.
Did anyone see Villas goal over the weekend.
And people say he wouldn’t be good for us??
Amazing.
It seemed to me that Man City soon realized Jack was the only one who gave a shit and in consequence spent the second half trying to get him sent off or carried off.
Perhaps Dean sent off Kompany under some sort off eleven man totting-up system.
Steve, i agree the ref had no bearing on the result, and i don’t believe Walter said that.
The main issue i had with Dean was the fact he allowed Jack to be fair game.
Investment……Stan knows all about that.
His investment is paying massive dividends.
We should be aiming higher than finishing in the top four…
Lee, we still need to be realistic though.
Nobody is saying top 4 is a great result, but with the squad as it is, we can’t really expect much more.
Santi needs a break, but because of our weak squad or a manager who insists on not playing Rosicky, he won’t get one.
Oz, i know, just hope AW takes note….
Dean is doing Fergie a big favour period.
Some may say if that was the case, he would ensure that we won but I beg to differ.
Dean has on numerous occasions failed to report redNose for bad behaviour because he fears for his career.
Naill Quinn made a comment during last nights game which his other commentator cleverly diverted. His comment was that whilst he was in charge of Sunderland an incident happen where they tried to rescind a red card. The FA declined it but later on he received a call from the FA apologising for not rescinding the card. And gues what it involved a manure match…
I do not believe in coincidence and I enjoy conspiracies that stick… why do you think most of our politician study history in Oxbridge? 😉
Here is an interesting stat: Walcott touched the ball just 18 times – Just five more than Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (13) who was subbed off in the 12th minute.
rico – Nothing has happened to santi. He has being found out and now he needs to adapt. He will come good in his second season. Same happened to mata and silva in their first
B/w Goodmorning all
Season isn’t over yet Scott and he maybe out of the FA Cup soon 😉
Mind you, I’m not so sure about that match….
Lee, he always struggles against top sides, and proved it again.
Ginge, you keep coming up with them….well done champ!
Adam,
Even the mum’s were having a go
Give you another update after the west ham game
No Rico it does not count…….otherwise the club would try and arrange the fixtures so that a player sent off with the senior team would miss a reserve fixture and therefore his suspension would be gone.
So a red card in the reserves has no bearing in the senior team, and vice versa.
This is where I guess, some of our opinions may vary.
With we are to be honest with ourselves, we have been very lucky to be finishing 3rd/4th since 2005 imho.
Those who believe we deserve to be finishing 1st are not being honest to themselves And I mean that in a very respectful way.
I have read on this site numerous times where a few have asked why Tottenham spend more than we do? The fact is Joe Lewis is 2 times richer than Stan on paper according to Forbes. So if every chairman was to spend all they have we will still be the 5th team in the league.
The fact that we pay the highest ticket prices is a choice the fans choose to pay because most can afford it. And again I mean not to be offensive. I like to call a spade a spade.
Lol Rico.
Fred, i saw one grandmother in the crowd giving it to Dzeko when he pulled his shirt up after scoring.
I reckon she told him to f**k off 4 times in five seconds!
Lee, 18 times
That amounts to £500 a touch.(90,000 a week)
We’ve had the players to win the PL over the last 8 yrs BUT when we’ve needed to strengthen we sold players and replaced them with inferior ones…it’s a shit show! No wonder all these players want out!
Scott
bet she was the only one who could read german?
I think we should be challenging for first not aiming for top four there is a difference, imho.
tsGH – Don’t quite agree there, the 2007/2008 squad(hleb, flamini, cesc) could have won the league if the leg break suffered by Eduardo had not psychologically affected the team.
We all agree Lee.
Fred, maybe that was Merts mother 🙂
Lee, worth £90K a week eh!!
emma – I’m not convinced it’s a simple as he’s been found out.
Our midfielders are struggling because they dwell on the ball, other players expect the player with the ball to find them with a pass, instead of running into spaces, look at all the top teams they have options where we do not. Santi is a good player but with teams closing us down so fast he has no option than to hold the ball. When we are at our best is when we all move about all the time, we do not do that now. Whether its down to fitness or us just being lazy i don’t know but that has to change quality players make space maybe thats our problem.
rico – probably he should be played as a winger instead of a CAM
Scott, your 11:24 says it all mate….. Seeing as we pay the most money to watch our team and we have tens of millions in the bank is that what we should draw our ambition at though..? Should we accept our manager telling us he knew selling RVP to the mancs meant they would win the league and in essence that means he’s saying we cannot win the league and we have no ambition to win the league otherwise he would of sold rvp and brought in a world class striker to replace him.
There are so many wrongs and things that should not be the way they are the list is far to long to print or write yet it merely shows how far we have fallen that we accept the fact we can’t compete and we have a club happy and lacking ambition to want to compete… We used to have players that being down to ten men didn’t mean a thing, who knew the minute Koz got sent off we didn’t have the players with the mentality to get a result. Only one worth his salt is Jack and he’ll be gone soon enough when he realises no one else around him is either good enough or gives a shit.
As my mate said to me all we here from wenger is walcott this walcott that… If he doesnt want to sign them piss him off but replace him with quality and who gives a shit problem is the club don’t operate like that so we stuffed. Held to ransom by a decent player who is hardly going to be a world beater. The club stinks from top to bottom.
11.36 – spot on Lee…
Oh and morning one and all…………….
yesterday I watched Barca, like I usually do every week. I try to watch all their games if possible. And the football they played was awesome. Sir SP said that our midfielders struggle because they dwell on the ball a lot…….and he is bloody right. During yesterday’s game we were constantly allowing the shitty players to get back in shape instead of attacking open spaces before they could recover. However, in the Barca game the players never dwelt on the ball for longer then two touches. The ball was zipping around the pitch and at times it seemed like a blur……reminiscent of the TH days when in just four touches the ball would go from our penalty area and transfer itself into the oppositions back of the net.
The funny thing is though emma, Wenger will ruin Ramsey by playing him left or right instead of in the centre yet a older, experienced player who oozes talent and could easily be switched to try and get more from his game, is left in the middle to battle away when it’s not working.
Jack + one in the middle and move Santi. Any manager on top of their game would have tried that by now…
They do dwell on the ball Sp, but players around them don’t move enough either to open up a quick passing game….
Morning Wath… SOJI!
It took 2 years for Wenger to build that team from (2005-2007). What did we do, allowed the key components to leave(flamini, Hleb). That is where I our problem started. Like Lee said we were not making adequate replacement ‘Like for Like’ and it kept on going until this present day. We are now paying the price for it.
Dev, SP your comments are spot on but also highlight the total lack of running off the ball from those without the ball, when a player has the ball where does he go without options…? we don’t have players that run in or behind the defense, other midfielders don’t hit the spaces in front of the ball carrier they drop off to receive so the passes go backwards or sideways, we do not try to penetrate any more… why is this…? why do players not run into the spaces to receive a pass…? we don’t look to hurt the opposition we play in front of them and not behind them, makes it so predictable and easy to defend and makes us look clueless which 90% of the time these days we are.
On a brighter note all
Lets thank god we never signed Jon Waters
Hiya WATTY mate.
did you drown your sorrows yesterday??? OR you do that every day whatever the result??? 😉
Devil and Steve, i agree they dewll on the ball, but i think it is because we have nowhere near enough players off the ball making runs into space.
At one stage i was about to blow up at Ramsey, but saw 4 guys within about 20-25 yards standing next to a Citeh player making no attempt to find space.
A guy we do miss from last season, and i may cop a few chuckles, is Yossi.
He was forever on the move offering options to the man on the all.
Whenever he and Rosicky played, we looked good.
We always look great when our guys have plenty of movement.
If we have no one running into spaces then what the hell do the players do in training?????
Emma, you can not make players stay if they want out.
Nothing worth drinking for anymore Dev, they give my arse a headache…! To see what that yank and board have systematically done to our club since 2004 is nothing short of disgraceful.
I think our players don’t have the comfidence in their touches and passing. Most players in our team have poor first touches. So they don’t want to risk receiving a ball at pace, easier for them to stand still, wait for the ball and then move. All becomes very slow playing like that.
😆 fred…
Dev, they play two touch in little triangles with one or two men chasing the ball…..! Fact…!
Spot on Emma- 10:40
Dev, your taught as a 5 yr old.. pass and move pass and move… when was the last time we played like that..? we lack speed throughout the pitch. Bottom line is if your not good enough your not good enough it’s not as if we’re surprised is it… You can’t keep selling your top players and then try and make do…! The thing is it hurts like fuck watching this shit happen.
Should a bunch of professional men not be able to deal with things like a leg break to Dudu?
That would/should give most more determination and drive to win the PL, ‘do it for their buddy’….
Morning Wath, Players who do not want the ball stay in their positions, knowing the ball will come backwards while our back four are working their socks off our playmakers are taking it easy this has been happening since Mertsacker came into the team. Don’t get me wrong i don’t blame Mertsacker it may just be coincidental our zonal marking also started about that time as well. In all fairness our defending has stiffened up but it has still left us in the lurch to many times. Mertsacker goes forward for every corner or free kick how many has he ever conected too. He is by far our slowest defender he should be the last one to go forward. Yesterdays game we were down to ten men amnd he goes up can anybody explain that to me. I personally wouldn’t let him go past the halfway line but what do i know.
Maybe players wouldn’t want out if the club showed some ambition?
Years ago they probably would Rico, and they would of had a whip round as well. Today they are millionares with first class treatment they are pampered they are not rushed back, some look at injury as a holiday break Diaby for one should have been sent packing years ago, if they had a whip round every time he gets injured he’d be richer than Usmanov
Exactly Lee.
This clarifies it all……………..
The players who have left excluding hleb and Flamini have all said that the truth will come out one day…
I will also add that a rumour going around is implying that VP was wanting to stay but the offer on the table was redrawn just before the Cologne game. The reason why TV looked shocked to hear VP was going.Who ever did that is up for debate. All I know is that both Dick Law and Stan flew down to Germany to meet up with AW. My suspicion is that he was told to sell VP! AW though is too weak to object or fight his corner.
Additionally, we don’t quite know since Nina voiced her distaste about Stan, if she had received all her payments for her shares yet. Adding to the fact that Stan also owes some of his shareholders in the US…
Maybe DD was right in the first place saying that we would not be competitive if we built our own stadium. Maybe he was not satisfied with how the rest of the board were planning to ‘shafting’ the club in the short to medium term. This was reiterated by AU in his letter documenting how AW was responsible for balancing the accounts.
And that was in the 5-2 win last February. He could do little about it.
But yesterday Arsenal players played in his own hands. He did not need to do anything untoward. They just played in his own hands.
In other words…..HE DID NOT NEED TO BREAK SWEAT.
Devil I thought I was the looney conspirator on this site? 😀
Talking of Usmanov, I wonder if he is watching and waiting Sp…..
Wow tsGH. your 12.34 is impressive. I am gobsmacked. and I am not taking the mickey.
no mate you are not the only conspirators. I usually send Rico and Kev and sometimes WATTY regarding corruption in football. I have said it many times that one day the truth might even come out in ~English Football. I feel that there are many corrupt practices going on. Some of which we will never be aware.
Until a little bit surfaces. Like it did in Italy, in Malta, and in other countries.
Ts, all that maybe going on behind the scenes, but what AW is doing on the pitch is clearly not working.
What goes on behind the scenes at Boardroom level reflects on the pitch Rico. If the administration is a strong one then the team, even with the players we have now, will be challenging for 3rd position and be in with a good shout in the cups.
However there is a cancer gnawing at the top and as WATTY said…it is spiralling down to the lower levels (tea lady included) beyond control.
We need a chairman who is there 24/7 demanding commitment and accepts no nonsense from any one.
I know who that one can be………pity he does not have any money. 🙁
It isn’t working rico because sometimes it is all in the head of the players. The extra 5 to 10 % needed to make us champions. Would you believe that even though AW and AFC have not won anything in 8 years, Fergies win advantage over AW in all competitions is 7.3%? That is the difference.
When I was in the army some of the young lads use to say that they could take up to 30 seconds of their bi-annual BFT if they pleased themselves just before they took the test. On the other hand they would struggle on the push-ups and sit-ups. why that is the case it is not medically proven but it is something most have observed…
dev being in spots may be able to confirm or dispel this but it is the extra 2-5% extra that makes a team champions.
For instance yesterday if the team had not switched off for less than 3 secs the first goal would not have gone in and the results may have been different… just a humble opinion.
tsGH……you are right. That extra 2-5% helps the team.
Technically the players we have are good.
But if the owner and the board dont give a shit…..do you honestly expect AW and the players to do that extra 2-5%??
I know devil and that’s why we all want the board out……
But football alone, we are getting the basics wrong…
But Wenger and players get paid a fucking fortune, do they not have any self-esteem or pride? If not sell the lot of them and start again…
SOJI.
what the hell is all this SOJI-ing about???? can anyone explain?
I am off now my dear friends. Nice expressing our views. But I have to go and pick the little prince…..the mighty Thorin himself.
See you later this evening perhaps.
Got to skeedaddle now!!!!
Take it easy buddy…
I do love a conspiracy theory myself. It deflects attention from the bleeding obvious.
Afternoon everyone.
I was in the Indian restaurant the other week and they were talking about the fantastic players Arsenal have had over the past 5 years… Cesc, VPersie, Nasri and how we never won anything.
I told them, it was because of Wenger playing mediocre players along the side of them – Almunia, Eboue, Song, Denilson, Diaby, Bendtner etc.
One of the biggest mistakes the club made in Wenger’s tenure was selling Ashley Cole. One of the others was not replacing Lehmann.
Glichy and Almunia between them cost us valuable momentum in chasing for league titles. It’s not just their fault, but those players epitomised who we had become.
All we appear to do is trade on our big players.
The guts of the current team is okay, however we need big players who are winners and a manager who can manage.
As I said the other day – Diaby epitomizes everything that is wrong with the club. 60mins reserve football since Sept. 28th and he’s back in the team……???????????
What is Wenger’s agenda?
To make Arsenal challenge for honours, or to look after his boys?
Stan Out Jabba In devil….
Afternoon SYG. As to Wenger’s agenda, we can but speculate.
Diaby was passing to Song’s imaginary friend yesterday…
Mike Dean is Jasper Carrott..
Get paid loads and win fuck all with no retribution!
Lee. That is certainly one way of describing him. 🙂
Afternoon Adam, you been making snowmen?
Hi Syg – the latter I suspect…
Hiya Adam. I think he has lost the plot.
———————
What he could have had by managing his team properly
Sagna-Verm-Gallas-Cole (cpt)
Arteta-Wilshire
Nasri-Cesc-Carzorla
Van Persie
What he had last season by not managing his team properly
Almunia
Eboue-Squillaci-Silvestre-Santos
Diaby-Song-Denilson-
Bendtner-Park-Chamakh
A while ago SYG.
Hiya Lee. How’s it hanging?
Mediocre at best SYG. It’s tough watching the demise of a once great team and to think this football club went unbeaten for a whole season. This current mob struggle to last a month….
afternoon all
Everybody is boring. The season is over.
Hi JM, I’ll be glad when the season is over, maybe then we will see changes….
Especially when we finish outside the top four…
SYG I think we are splitting hair but in the case of Cashley Cole the architect of that deal was DD who on the 1st of February 2006 told the ‘gullible’ Arsenal fans that it was the best deal for the club. Note that we still had DD who Le Grove think is a sort of Messiah and there was no IG or Stan for that matter.
We sold to our competitor then without a fight but again will over look these necessary facts to thick the issues lie with AW. When infact he is the one who has slowed down this crash since he arrived in 1996.
And why should Stan contribute when the so called ‘old Arsenal’ board members ( of the good old days) never ever dipped into their own pockets to help the club?
That is why I would always say that if as fans/supporters we were being honest the decline had been systematic from when Wiltord left. A £13M signing who with the help of DD was allowed to leave for free.
And to coin Adam ‘ we are deflecting attention from the bleeding obvious.’
Apologies if what I say seems offensive…
Hi Rico, SP, Wath, Lee, Adam, TSGH and all you other Gooners,
Not pleasant having to sit through yesterdays performance, but I agree with Steve Palmer’s assessment of things overall.
I said that I wouldn’t go to another game this season, as I couldn’t justify paying the jacked up prices to watch mediocrity. But guess what, I bought 2 tickets for the Swansea game this Wednesday, i must be barking mad…. I do not have a good feeling for this game either.
Hi Marinello, you must be off your rocker 😉
Marinello when have you had a good feeling about any games of late? Hi btw..
Hi Marinello, a very brave man…
SS’s report that Wenger is back in for Zaha and talks are expected with the club. CP say that the player will choose where he wants to go…
Does that suggest Walcott is not going to sign a new contract??
Possibly Rico…
Hi Marinello, i have the same views as you and i bought two for the West Ham game. Its mugs like us that keep this shit turning up im afraid.
Why would Zaha join us….? Apart from a load of dough and not to be expected to win anything!
Marinello, love is blind, when you’ve been going down Arsenal for over half your life it’s very hard to give up, think we’ll be ok wednesday but I can see us going into a nose-dive in the league unless things drastically change.
This side will struggle to get into the Inter-two-bob cup this season.
Hiya folks.
Just a quick jump.
tsGH……you talk a lot of sense. especially when seeing the whole picture. REgarding the DD situation it never crossed my mind.
Are we cut from the same piece of cloth? You can bet we are mate.
If I was employing people to work with me in the CID you would make it to the top alongside me mate.
Or he’s going to play Walcott central and Zaha the new winger…
He’s meant to be a Gooner Lee, that should be a good enough reason, however…..
I am gleefully awaiting the 70th minute of next game vs the swans…..when Diaby leaves the field on a stretcher and is out for the next two seasons.
maybe that will make AW see sense….if he ever will.
Hi Micko, me too, especially with our fixtures over the next few weeks…
Not so sure about Wednesday either, only hope is that Laudrup rests a few for their second leg against Chelsea…
Marinello, Whats wrong with you… Are you barking mad 😉
Hope your well mate… Been a long time and yet talking all things Arsenal at the moment isn’t good.
SYG hope your good fella…!
off for training now.
I doubt that would make any difference devil. Don’t forget we are talking about the man who just a few weeks ago said that he could no longer rely on Diaby.
Well what has he done about that?
Nothing, he seldom does!
Zaha to Arsenal, possibly.
Why he would choose us? simple, he will get game time, whereas at manure he won’t, well not much. He would just become another squad player, whilst at the Arse he would be a star player, in that the rest are so much crap at present!
Did you guys see LG’s post today, they report that Steve Rowley was at the Man Utd game…
Wonder who he was watching, RvP?
😉
I didn’t think outside the box Wavy…thought he might like to join a team of winners not perennial losers.
Silvestre?
Scholes?
Giggs?
He was there to see Nani but got it all wrong as he was playing in the reserves….!
Hi Rico, Lee, Wath, SYG. and everyone else. What a terrible day both weather and Arsenal-wise. I see Jessops went bust, just as I applied for a salesman’s job as well.
Would you give Wenger £50 million to spend in January, or what’s left of it?
Taking notes on how to win a game?
Adam you really have the shidas touch of late!
I had just bought a load of camera’s online Adam… hope that wasn’t your comm gone up the wall…!
I wouldn’t give wenger a lift home let alone 50bar Adam… Can’t see the point at the moment to be honest a rudderless Club with no leadership… why waste what we have..?
You never know he could unearth another Gervinho….
Lee. Shidas touch. 🙂
Might as well save it for the new manager.
Hiya WATH. Yeah, sound mate. Had flu for the last 3 weeks but just getting over it.
Zaha? The answer to solve all our problems. What a stupid signing – Gooner or no Gooner. A similar signing to that of Alex Chamberlian and Theo Walcott…
Excellent post, Steve. Because we love our club. we keep hoping for a proper performance to somehow kick start the season. Deep down we realise that it just isn’t there.
Maybe Wenger’s trying to get a 4x100m relay team?
Good Afternoon Rico and All.
@WATH, if AW sees your 3:24 his heart will bleed. 🙂
Wenger: ‘We have an opportunity to bounce back’
Dear Arsenal supporter,
Of course we are very disappointed by Sunday’s result and I know that you will be too.
We were prepared for a very difficult game against Manchester City, but going down to 10 men so early made the challenge even greater.
As I said in my media interviews after the game, I think we started the game too timidly. We didn’t show enough confidence or authority in the opening minutes and we allowed them to dictate from the start. We paid for that very early when Laurent Koscielny was sent off and we conceded twice.
There was a lot of debate around the penalty, but we just have to live with the decision. But when you play at home in a game like that you have to dictate your personality, which we did not do, especially defensively.
After that, we played 80 minutes with 10 against 11 against a good team, and it’s difficult. But then again, on both goals I think we could have done better.
It’s frustrating because the team showed great heart, gave everything and showed great desire after going behind, especially in the second half when we showed a lot of character.
I’m not angry with my players because they give everything and have a great desire to succeed. But perhaps we are uptight on the pitch because we are so determined to do well. As a result we don’t see what we are capable of.
The positives from Sunday’s game were our team spirit, our second-half response, Abou Diaby’s return and Jack Wilshere’s performance. Abou will get better and better while Jack was outstanding and is getting stronger with each match.
Jack had a lot of fouls committed against him but I think that’s because he has a game that provokes tackles. He’s incisive and he goes forward. You can see he has found a burst when he’s on the ball and that is very encouraging.
We are all disappointed, but we have an opportunity to bounce back, starting with Swansea City in the FA Cup on Wednesday night.
We are fighting for a Champions League place and I believe we can do it. We need to find more defensive stability in these big games and show a bit more concentration and awareness.
From an injury perspective, we have lost Mikel Arteta for around three weeks with a calf strain he sustained in training on Saturday. He will obviously be a loss to us, as he gives us stability, experience and tactical knowledge. Other than Mikel and Lukasz Fabianski, we have no other major injuries at the moment.
Thanks for your support,
Oh well, that explains it then.
That’ll clinch it….
The story that I heard on the Cashley situation was that D.D negotiated a £60k a week deal but when the contract was drawn up by Fiszman the sum had reduced by £ 5 k . At this point Cashley nearly crashed his car into a hotel in the King’s road surprisingly frequented by Mourinho.
More stability, Squilly
Dear Arsene Wenger
Firstly I refer to your quote:
….”I’m not angry with my players because they give everything and have a great desire to succeed.”
…Maybe if you showed a bit of passion and screamed and shouted at them maybe they wouldn’t fuck up as often….
Secondly, Jose Mourinho could come in tomorrow and cull half the squad and buy no-one and still get a champions league placing and win a cup… maybe even get us to the Champions League final.. He did it with Inter Milan.
The problem is you. You piss around with placating and playing your PET players, even moving them out of position to accomodate them, when the answer is staring you in the face.
“We need to find more defensive stability”
Should read:
We needa defence of quality players not those of defensive inability.
Enjoy!
Rico you are a man……you see things in the same angle I do! Am so sud and agonic to my lazy team, a team with strikers with no goal attempt untill the end of the game, a team with players without plan B! A technical bech with no eye for better subtitution! A team with no provement, a team with full of testing come backs….all hail to you arsenal we are too far for happiness if this is all that we have” rico I realy like your article.
Cheers dev…You never know I could have been working in a field similar to a CID in a previous life… 😉
potter about your 3:44 is that not similar to the Nastry and VP issue? But as always it is AW’s fault for letting players go. Just maybe if he was like ‘arry we would know the true…
A man’s who excuse for not cheating on his wife is based on the fact that he reckons he has an ugly face….
Even Jesus chose a Judas amongst his disciples…
if the board were any decent they would not expect a manager to build 5 different teams in 7 years!
Ps fergie has only built 2 teams since 1999.
howdy folks, any news? have we signed anyone at all? right now i ll take just anybody, lol.SOJI!
You see, I think we are being hush on AW who has truly lost the plot. The blame should lie squarely at the feet of the Head of communication/ publicist who released the said letter to the fans….
A corporate entity that has no functional PR machine is doomed… maybe DG can offer his expertise on this…
It is all AW’s fault for not giving Theo what he wants. Stan even called in to get on his knees to beg AW to increase Theo’s offer and offer the ‘lil darling’ whatever he wants but AW being the dictator he is has refused. He protested by saying that if Theo is offered more than £75k p/w he will walk out of his job. IG even suggested that he would forsake his £1.2 million bonus so that the club could up Theo’s salary but the idiotic french man does not want that .He would rather buy a cheaper alternative. You see AW enjoys losing games and has no ambition. All he cares about is his £7m a year basic salary. He does not train the players but just spends the day counting his band balance.
It is following the same trend as the other big and better players who have left since 2005. The board sanction the salary but AW is a socialist/communist so he does not want that at all.
SOCA are also refusing to investigate the alleged percentage AW gets when ever a player is sold on at a profit. Isn’t that unfair when ‘arry was prosecuted for something along those lines. That is poor criminal. He is ruining our great club. A club who before 1996, had their transfer record at just over £10M.
Stan’s family are contemplating sending ‘syrup’ to counseling because AW has over £70M in the coffers and is refusing to spend. But he is scared of sacking AW. That is a dilemna and a half in any walks of life imo…
Ginge crawl out of wenger’s arse you git! lol. come on man, its obvious to all even my mama knows arsenal is shit! hahahahahahah when she wants to refer to a crappy situation she says its “arsenal”.
i see arteta has finally broken down……good, next stop santi. somebody get rid of arsene before he plunges us deeper into the abyss! wenger out!
Rico is “The Man” jlubegas…. 🙂
The father figure nice man act isn’t working with over paid prima donnas.. a change of tact is needed and urgently but I like Adam feel the time has past things have passed their sell by date and the players won’t play nor fight for Wenger..!
21 points ahead of us=£23 million(Rvp)
Jan 14th 2013….mind boggles
Don’t forget it wasn’t for footballing reasons Fred………..
hey WATH…….how’s it going?
Alive and kicking Stanley, I see you went to church… did you pray or steal the bowl..????? Or did you go to pray for Adamant and the loss of his new job..?
Had to ask you dark adonis you…………. lol 😀
hahahahahahah steal WATH? no way i was busy looking at the busty blonde chick next to me. she had her legs wide open and i couldn’t resist a peek.
adamant lost his job? what in the world??? where the heck is he?
Hello again all, gremlins 🙁
hey rico, what happened to arteta?
Re Wengers email.
Would he be talking about the same ‘very good’ Man City side who a few days ago he said had not improved on last season?
The same one which had Yaya Toure, Nasri, Aguero, etc missing?
Poppycock!!
Hi goonster, muscle strain in training on Friday….
Not the last time I checked jlubegas 😆
so who’s going to replace him in the team now? wenger has lost the plot( crud am begining to sound like some mugs in legrove).
We were linked to ‘Sunzu’ a few weeks ago, looks like we have missed out on him as Reading look close to snapping him up
😆 😆
See RVP scoring week in week out is becoming unbearable.
Might give up football totally.
We are just not ambitious enough.
We must give the guys credit because if we have scored more goals than this time last year then they pulled their weight.
They are giving their best which might not be good enough for our club.
Then the blame goes to management who are not ambitious by selling their best player to a direct rival.
If we dont qualify for Champions’ league then we loose £30Mil then what was the point in selling RVP. Stupid sets of pretencious business man
sunzu huh? i think that dude was just looking for a pay day. he got it alright!
Steve rowley attending Prem games who’s he looking at
Stuart Downing ????????????
Diaby goonster, well, until he suffers another injury. And then will no doubt be relying on either Coquelin, Frimpong or Ramsey…
Now that must fill you with great faith and hope for the rest of our season!!
SD, i ve already taken up canoeing. its very therapeutic. lol.
Bloody heck fred, I forgot that story….. 🙁
SD – I hate it too, it’s just not right. The others who have left have seldom bothered me in a different shirt, apart from Cole, but RvP 🙁
Hey goonie… the Philippines secret police would be waiting for you the moment you land in Manila…
Stan thats top notch mate, only you would go to church to look for sexy ladies….! Hollywood will need to make a film on your no doubt..!
Goonster, I think I will take up Archery, no main river close to me.
Laters, off to cook dinner….
I’ve taken up crown bowls… Grandad AK been playing for decades and has been on at me to join him as he is always moaning about Arsenal and the other OAP’s are sick of his rantings…!
Goonster.
Hello….
I’m going to take up Boules, quite fitting I thought. Very French and mostly what we hear from the club…
hahahahahahah rico that was the best ever” very french and mostly what we hear from the club”……that was was classic maam. keep ’em coming.
adamant……
Glad it amused you goonster… 🙂
hey ginge the secret police huh? well let them come says i. as long as they all look like AGAG, am down!
How’s it going then Goonie?
its the best ever maam………i swear a little pee trickled out.
Stan! You old smoothie you….
Goonie, the one’s that look like AGAG are never sent to meet the blonde Adonis… They offer him a different spec… shipped straight from Thailand i.e thai lady boys… lol
“Rico, your a man”…. :-O
Really?
Thing’s are a-changing on HH…
Great post by Sir Stevo. As per usual…
Wenger ain’t gonna sign jack-shit.
Forget M’Vila, forget Mbwia, forget Villa, forget Nani.
Maybe Giggs, yeah, there’s a chance we’ll take him.
Its official. At least I am not a looney quite yet on this matter
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2262230/Arsenal-win-seven-cent-games-Mike-Dean-referees.html
Dodgy penalty for Birmingham when Eduardo’s leg was broken. Farcically sending Wenger into the stands at Old Trafford. Jeez I thought Dowd was the man but…
am great adam, how about you?
ginge am not overly worried, LLCOOLGOONSTER, them thai ladies ll be purring like a contented cat after am done with them.
Stan. If I really told you how bad I feel about Arsenal’s situation I doubt you would believe me. So many things about it surprise me and yet when I sit back and look at the overal picture, perhaps they shouldn’t. As you know, I have been mentioning the decline of our club and the way that Wenger is managing that slow, but certain journey. I am afraid that very little about football at the top end makes sense these days but it is what it is and it seems quite clear that Arsenal do not have the money to remain competitive or is it that they don’t have the manager to do so? Whatever the case I can absolutely assure you that the hardcore fans, that go to the home and the away games and those that buy the merchandise are slowly haemorrhaging away and these people are the lifeblood of the club. Kroenke, Wenger and Gazidis are taking a big risk now if they are relying on those that step up to take their place becoming long term fans with the shit sandwich the club are feeding the, week in, week out.
Adonis to LL Cool Goonster… I had heard it all buddy… lmfao
You will need to get rid of your blonde locks and then get a NYC baseball cap…
Ginge, i have put the stat up a few times…maybe people do think it is just “coincidence” lol.
Morning all.
Wenger has morphed into The Riddler from Batman. Talks bollocks 95% of the time now, it’s sad really!
Hi Ak, hope it’s not changing for the worse 🙁
Rico 6:46…. very subtle and very apt…!
morning buddy … evening
nah, i ll look like a turd…….much like phil nevile!
Adam, feel your pain mate and it hurts a lot… words fail me actually and just talking about it gives me the hump hence I say nothing much anymore saves my sanity a little.. whats left of it that is…! No comment required Lee 😀
I just don’t get why so many are to blame but Wenger etc…….
Did Stan just “pee” himself? He used to “cream” himself….
I’m weighing up an offer of a ticket on Weds…..
He’s to blame Rico just as much as the board are but all for different reasons I would say.
Wath. You and I are probably on the same page with this I think. 🙂
Lee. Come on down. It’s a barrel of laughs. 🙂
its easy guys…….SOJI! simples!
“Don’t get mad get even”…. line by John Belushi in Animal House.
I know Wath…. None of them should sleep well at night, but I bet they all do…..
SOJI. A simple thing to write, but difficult to achieve.
i just say the highlights of both goals guys……..poor defending. woeful. do these guys really earn that much to look stupid! i do that all week long and don’t get a dime! Christ help me!
Anyway, I’m done for the day…
Night all…..
So, Rico, Wath, Lee and Stan. Seriously – what happens next?
Nothing?
we take up arms and paint for war……that’s what’s next. FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDOM!
We’ll trundle along, probably won’t buy anyone and finish 5th/6th. Last season RvP got us third, who’s going to do it this season? Walcott? Gervinho? Giroud?
On that rather dour note I shall retire. Good night all.
I still can’t believe Walcott touched the ball five times (18 total) more than the ox yet he was on for the whole game.
gerwanko lee, gerwanko!
The Newcastle players are trying their hardest to leave like rats on a sinking ship…
We could do with 2/3 of them but then again we don’t need any more defeatist..
Because theo has always been a nice shite player. It is hard to miss how nice he is but he is a cunning bastard.
He has scored a brace for his national team!!
Great post. It really is a mess of a squad when you look at it. Overrated players, (and overrated by Wenger, nobody else), no heart, no vision, no depth, and worst of all no class at all..I’ve always loved how Wenger had the old view of, if you score 3 we’ll score 4, but now we can’t even score 1!!! I’ve noticed, as I’m sure many others have, that Arsenal have been very lucky in a huge amount of games this season. Take the Newcastle game, 7-3 was an absolute fluke. Newcastle were walking around the park, no energy at all and they still managed 3 goals. I honestly don’t think we would have won had it not been for them running out of gas. I think we were lucky in the Spurs game too. Until the sending off Arsenal were on the back foot. Wenger seems a little lost in what to do. Rumours of Zaha in talks with us, but in fairness, we need more then a Championship player coming in. Does Wenger think Zaha will save this sinking ship?? 4-3-3 is clearly not the way to play with this team. TV5 has been playing awful for us. Arteta has been poor and it is because he is playing in a position that doesn’t suit him. Ramsey is poor. I felt like crying when I saw him coming on yesterday. Giroud & Podolski……every so often they look good, and that is not good enough for our magnificent club. A friend of mine said yesterday that the ref ruined the game as a contest with the early sending off. I could only reply with, Wenger and the board ruined it by selling RVP!!! Enough is enough!! To tell us the money is there for signings if the right ones are found, and then to turn around and watch the headless chickens he puts on the field (excluding Santi, Wilshere & Theo when on his game)….Any signings are better than having to watch Ramsey, I think I’ve aged 10yrs this season from watching Arsenal. Anyway, onwards and upwards, or backwards as the case may be….This has been a good therapy session!!
Wath, i reckon your 7.34 is simple, but spot on.
Wenger is at fault for the on field tactics and possibly even the players lack of motivation….
The grubs up stairs have the power over our financial affairs, even if they do, as plenty suggest, allow Wenger to handle transfers….it is still their responsibility, a word plenty of our board members avoid like the plague.
Peter B, yet Aaron created our best opportunity with a stunning pass.
He also shored up our defense on that side, but yeah, follow the crowd.
I’m not following any crowd Scott, I really don’t think he is near good enough to play for us is all. One good pass every few games isn’t good enough. I know Wenger played him on the wing this season and that didn’t suit him, which maybe made him look worse than he actually is, but he still isn’t great. He is part of a poor squad. I hate having to say it, I love this club but we have declined at an alarming rate and it is sickening. I’m sick of looking at half decent players coming in and brilliant players going out!!
Peter, I know many can’t stand Ramsey but I think he has very much become a scapegoat for others failings as well. He is still recovering from having his leg smashed to bits by some muppet parading as a footballer up at Stoke and before that most were wetting themselves at how good he was and wait til him and Jack are together. The lad had his first full season only last year and was played far to much and also out of position.This season he’s wengers “bendtner” as is a left a right winger totally unfair of the manager in my book but the fella don’t hide even when he is having a mare. When he came on yesterday he was one of our best players and guess what it was playing through the middle…! Every picture tells a story…! I was talking to a mate of mine the other week who’s an ex pro and he reminded me he watched Ramsey in an U21’s game V’s England a few years back and Ramsey was so good England had put Cattermole on him to man mark him out the game… 30mins into the game Cattermole was substituted as Ramsey has destroyed him…! He hasn’t become crap overnight and for me needs to be played through the middle with Jack and a big defensive midfielder. We all have our opinions though and none of us are right otherwise we’d all be doing wengers job although I wouldn’t as I’d of been sacked by now calling the board a bunch of unambitious pricks..! fuck the 7million a year my love of the club would come first.
Cheers Adam… chat 2moro mate…!
Lee, is it free wednesday…? -8 they reckon wednesday night… take ya hip flask..!
WATH, I agree that he is being used as a scapegoat. He may well have been our best player yesterday, but it doesn’t happen enough, and that is down to Wenger playing him out of position. I like the guy, and only for Stoke maybe he would be a lot better. If he had the right players around him maybe he would be better. Maybe a loan move might give him a good run in the right position, maybe not. That’s alot of maybes for a player in a club who are dropping in confidence every time they take to the field. I think he is a good player just not to the standard of Arsenal, or the standard we use to have. I’m not one for putting down our players, I’m really not, I’m just sick of the same shite week in week out!! Someone needs to pull them players together before we’re fighting with Liverpool for Europa League places!! And don’t turn down Wenger’s job just yet, 7mil is a nice pay day!!
I hear what your saying Peter but I think Ramsey is up to standard and you’ve said his problem is being played out of position not that he ain’t good enough so who’s fault is that. I’d say when he gets the ball he looks to go forward yet has very few options… whenever he looks up there is no movement so he goes sideways or backwards and gets jeered hardly his fault. As you say he was our best player when he came on and due to playing in his best position so drop other players who are not good enough and play players in their proper positions pretty simple really i’d say. To pick Diaby was a joke, Wenger tells us not a month ago he cannot take the pace of the games and cannot last yet risks him after nearly four months out..? What does that say about Coq, Ramsey and others who were at least fully fit to last 90mins..? It’s a vicious circle of unanswered questions.
Oh and they can stick the pay day… If I get the job before the end of the month expect signings and then expect me to resign early Feb with huge pay off as I tell teh world the board been sitting on 100milion and Wenger refused to use it as it affected his bonus 😉
Sorry Scott had to say that just for you mate….. plus Ts if he still about.
Peter, that was my point.
It is easy to blame the player, as the crowd does, yet then we acknowledge he is playing out of position.
So many fall into that same trap it is strange, to say the least.
Wenger says it is sall part of his education and whether or not we agree with that, it is totally unfair to blame the player.
Lol Wath.
Ps…when i say the crowd, i am not talking aout the crowd at the game, just mean the mob, majority etc,etc,etc.
And Wath, you are 100% right on a lack of options.
Even last week, Theo passes the ball to Ramsey and wanders back to the middle leaving the guy against two defenders with absolutely no help.
Ramsey had to beat two players and gets a pin point cross on to Girouds head.
Imagive if he scores and we win, then Theo pots his goal yesterday…Everyone would be talking about how good Ramsey was.
The two main differences between us and Barca are obviously the quality of players, but also the fact they work their arses off whether with or without the ball.
Maybe if i guys worked as hard, we would not be talking of a difference in quality.
It is amazing how good a player can look with a slight improve in work rate.
I think in all honesty Scott is utter bollox from wenger to say it’s part of his education… Play players in their right positions simple… When we struggling all your doing is ruining players confidence and also we need to win games by playing our best players where they best suited, for him to say that about Ramsey shows we don’t have proper wingers, he should never be played out wide its farcical.
Scott look at the times yesterday a player played a pass and stood still…. No pass and move no getting behind players or into space in front of our man with the ball, I said it earlier but it’s so obvious watching it what does wenger see…? he’s a smarter man than me so if I can see am sure as hell he can so what the fuck is he doing about it… Nothing is the problem as its the same problem we have had all season and most of last.
Barca players have three or four options when they have the ball our options are normally sideways or backwards as they players are not running into space nor are they going in front of the ball its the safer option all the time hence we pass 600 times per game 550 of which are not forward.
Who needs a bonus when their getting paid £7m a year..Football managers thats who!!
Scott I don’t blame him for results, I just don’t think he is great. I don’t follow the mob or majority, it is my honest opinion. I think he has had a poor season is all and I hate to see him in the starting 11 because he will be out of postion and have no affect. That is why he has been poor, I agree. But I can’t say I think hes having a great season when hes not. Confusing point to try and make.
Thing is though Peter you’ve answered your own argument in a sense… I also agree he hasn’t been great this season at all he’ has for the most part been poor but he’s been played out of position, funny when he has played centrally he’s been good. So play him centrally he’s good play him wide where he should not be played he’s poor so that tells you when he is played in his right position he isn’t a problem. The problem is why is he being played wide and why do we not have proper wingers.
I can’t stand Bendtner Peter but hand on heart could we really slaughter the bloke for being chucked out on the left wing game in game out and contributing sweet FA… a dickhead he maybe but horses for courses play him as a striker before we all call him dogshit. He missed scoring Barca away in the last minute so yes he is dogshit but you get my point…!
WATH, I’m in total agreement with you. That was the point I was trying to make. Thank you for the help in getting it out. Is Zaha then suppose to put Ramsey back in the middle? Does Santi not play on the wing aswell? Thought he played there in Spain aswell as central. Would it not be smarter to use Santi there and put Ramsey in the middle where he is made for?
Wath, you know i defend Wenger a lot, but i also am the first to admit his tactics are a definite weak point.
I think he plays Ramsey wide to assist our back, and he often plays on the side where the opposition has a top class wide man.
i have not done the stats, but i have absolutely no doubt that goals conceded are much, much lower from the side where Ramsey plays.
It is a patch up, and our higher profile wide men should be putting in a shift….Podolski, who is not toooo bad, but not great, Gervinho, Ox and Theo all have a lot to answer for.
Ramsey tries to hard at times to be creative in my opinion, when often the simple pass is best, but then we go back to no player offeringup the simple option.
Peter, i am not pretending Ramsey is a world class player, but i reckon he is one hell of a lot more effective than most think, and i do think he will continue to improve.
Jack…..well, from a side losing 2-0, he was an absolute stand out as MOTM.
Incredible performance.
Theo…..sorry, but that was a game we needed him to stand up and show his worth, but it did not happen.
Peter…yes, Santi should go wide and Aaron, central.
It must at least be worth a try.
I always said that about Bendtner too. Turns out he was a poor striker with a big mouth, but when he was out of postion he took some amount of abuse for something that was clearly not his fault. Same with Ramsey, Podolski, Gerviniho and I’m sure there are alot more. TV5 is having a horror show compared to his usual standard and we are missing a DM. Am I the only one who would give him a go at playing the DM role?
Scott, I never even thought that he might be on the wing to aid Sagna. It’s a bit of a catch 22 then. If he helps out Sagna in defence but doesn’t offer a whole lot from that position going forward what do you do?? Buy a proper winger maybe and stop making Ramsey look poor…
I think 433 or rather 451 as I see us play it just doesnt work, wenger sees a weak midfield so tries his best to shore it up with players who don’t fit… we plays to many out of position and then we wonder why we are crap. Agreed Scott the fullbacks get very little cover and yet we are often laying 5 in midfield not three, go back to 442 and the team works as a unit and bring in a proper bloody defensive midfielder who can win the ball win headers get stuck in and boss the midfield, that allows the ball players to do their stuff and yes Peter Zaha is maybe a winger to give us speed and width so we don’t need Ramsey or Rosicky out wide and I’d also play Santi on the left where he plays for Spain. Plenty options yet wenger sticks with the same shit. He is scared of change scared of being wrong..! The ego always wins out. I’d take Ben Arfa any day off the Geordies…. proper player.
We carried Overmars in 98 and he didnt defend to save his life but the other three grafted and made up for him a little but the fullbacks still never got exposed even with Overmars…! The unit worked together..! This lot dont. We dont hunt in packs we don’t cover each other… we get isolated far to often, basics basics basics yet we lacking in that. Baffles me…!
WATH, DM is an empty postion for us. Has been filled with another out of postion player, Arteta. I don’t mind us conceding as long as we are scoring more. Exactly what United are doing unfortunately. That is straight out of the Wenger management manual. Ben Arfa seems to pick up injurys alot, great player when fit though. Love to see him with us. TV plays DM for Belgium doesn’t he? Why not try him there, put Santi on the wing, Ramsey and Wilshere in the middle. See we can figure it out without £7m a year. Feck it, I’ll take the job if it comes available, nothing to it….haha..
Peter, i agree on Vermaelen, or even Kozzer.
I reckon either would make terrific DMers.
Both are strong, quick and can deliver a pass.
Ben Arfa is a ripper.
Yep Arteta has done a decent job purely because the bloke is top footballer and has a brain unlike Song… A proper defensive midfielder or box to box midfielder who is good in the air and in the tackle can supplement our other midfielders, At least one out and out winger and then we can rotate Jack, Aaron and Mikel in the middle, Diaby gets to play once a week and no expectations as we have a lpayers who is first choice above him. Santi can play left side and I’d play Poldi up front with Giroud and Theo rotates there as well or on the wing if we play with two wingers for some games..! Options is what it’s about and we are so predictable is like watching paint dry…! We have no penetration lack width and speed and we are nowhere near direct enough anymore primarily due to lack of thought and speed.
Oh and yes thats the one problem Pete Ben Arfa is a bit of a Diaby on the injury front….!
Some say Wenger has “lost it”, tactically speaking.
My question is this….did he ever really have it?
When you have star players, you can just keep them fit and healthy, and roll them out to play….class takes care of the rest, and in Henry, Bergkamp and others, class was never short in supply.
This is not a criticism as such, because he obviously has his strengths which are an eye for a player and his man management skills, and every manager has a weakness.
Nope I’d say it’s always been his downfall Scott, from day one I always said he lacked bottle when we were 1 up or 2-1 up with 10/15mins to go… He always took off Henry or Pires or Freddie and for me that allows the opposition to get at you easier.. you never take off your biggest threats… you can nick another goal your always gonna worry the opposition with those players on so they cant just go gung ho but you take that scoring pacey threat off and you leave yourself open to be put under extra pressure… has and always did drive me nuts when he did that and he still does it.
Right i’m off…. bit of tv cuppa and relax a bit before trying to stay warm in the igloo…
Chat soon you two and take it easy, Have a good day Scott.
what are you still doing awake this late WATH? the missus is visiting her folks huh?
Goonie you whipper snapper…. I have to stay awake this late have to go get AK from the old peoples home…. 😉
I’m off… you leave the totty alone you neanderthal…!
hahhahahaaah poor old AK, gets lost easily don’t he? night WATH, always a pleasure chatting with ya.
That’s a good point Scott. With all that class though it doesn’t always work as a unit. Take Real Madrid this year, top players who aren’t clicking like they should. I don’t think Wenger is very tactical. He has a way of playing and that’s it. Arsenal have become very predicatable as WATH stated, it is like watching paint dry. Possession use to be the name of the game, they can’t score if they can’t get the ball but we can’t even keep the ball lately. I don’t know what’s going on with Wenger. For all the work he has done for Arsenal it would be a shame if it ended with a side who finished mid table. Exactly how he began ironically. Is it time for a new manager?? I hate asking that question as it usually kicks off a hurricane of confliction. I don’t mean to do that. I’ll stand behind Wenger, but it is very obvious things are far from alright.
Peter, we can’t keep the ball because, imo, we lack that movement off the ball.
It is the single biggest killer of our game over the last few seasons.
Rosicky always offers an option, and when fit, should be playing in reckon.
See ya Wath.
Fair point on Real Peter, but that also highlights the fact that Mourinho has no “plan B”, or at least an effective one, when his stars aren’t dominating play.
Strange that, as plenty say how good Mourinho is tactically.
Where’s that Wath???
Late again Grandson…
We ain’t buying jack-shit….
Forget it…
I reckon it’s gonna snow like a blizzard on Wednesday night.
Mangal’s before the game then Lee???
Best part of the evening…
Tbh Scott, you can debate Wenger’s tatic’s, or lack of.
Or you can discuss systems until the cows come home.
We simply don’t have the quality of player, both in terms of technique and character, anymore.
That quality often dug us out of a hole, as RVP did last season, but not anymore.
I wasn’t against selling RVP as long as Wenger replaced like for like…
But he hasn’t and we are now sweating on an average to good winger, who thinks he’s a striker, to sign a contract that he really doesn’t warrant…
As far as the defence is concerned, it is being left exposed because our midfield is not doing (or able) if’s job.
Any back-four, anywhere in the world, would look suspect if it was left as bereft of cover, as ours is…
The zonal system in itself isn’t the problem, it’s just the way of our defence’s interpretation that’s the problem…
And with that, I shall wish you all adieu…
Night Kev.
Yes, the lack of quality was a point i tried to make…with top quality, tactics are nearly irrelevant.
When you lack quality and tactical nous, you are in trouble.
Poldi is getting a bit of a hard time for saying “shit happens” in his assessment of the City match.
This was on his facebook.
Im having a bit of a laugh.
Will, you are right.
Too many take things to heart.
And before anyone gets carried away with Pods comment, read the full post and accept it in its right context.
QPR are showing intent by trying to hijack the Remy deal from the barcodes plus they’ve allegedly got M’Vila…..come on Arsenal FFS!
Moaning all.
Morning all,
Wenger needs to risk it and play 3-5-2. We already know the full backs struggle to get back, one CB needs to cover and leaves the middle open. So have an extra CB in there or at least as a pure DM that slots in as CB. We know we have no real wingers so let the full backs overlap as wing backs.
We have plenty CM but leave huge gaps. So put 3 in the middle, no number 10 but one that makes late runs into the box and threads balls, even if they alternate.
We have quick finishing strikers (Walcott and Podolski) but poor positioners and can’t hold the ball up. Then we have a target man who has a poor touch, slow and poor finishing. So I reckon combine them as strikers.
QPR at least showing some ambition to try and stay up… where is our ambition to try and get into the top 3…?
Remy is going for a medical at QPR today.
Bradster, yes, lets attack.
What have we got to lose?
The stubborn fuck won’t change the formation….
Morning all…
Some excellent points as always on the HHers..
Is it not strange that a player who has played in CL will choose a relegation candidate over NUFC. It is all about money. Loic Remy has really surprised me with that choice.
A minor correction on Peter B… TV has never played DM for Belgium. Belgians have many options that have included Alderweireld, JV, Chadli, or mostly Witsel.
Lee I do not see QPR as showing intent. QPR has spent nearly £100M in 1 year on players and compensation and are still in relegation fight. I think QPR is a good front for Tony fernadez’s airline…
How many players did ‘arry buy at the scums and how many actually contributed to their semi success. remember this is the man who tried to sell Bale and Modric and publicly slated Levy for not doing what he wanted, but refused to admit that Levy was right to keep modric for 1 season…
QPR are desperate.
We are not.
Maybe we should be though 🙂
Mornng guys.
Of course they are showing intent, they are signing two players with the intention that they don’t get relegated.Or is it ‘Arry showing intent, as he didn’t spend any of the £100m?
Morning Scott… I see you were doing the graveyard shift again.
Hope you Mrs does not mind you blogging all the time.. 😉
I think you’ll find the board will be desperate for a top four finish!
On the two red cards, if the tackle from Kompany went a little wrong, Jack cops a broken leg.
If Kozzers goes wrong, Dzeko gets a broken finger nail.
Wtf are people thinking by suggesting Kompanys should be overturned??
I think we need two players “desperately!”
Make that three players.
You seen that the linesman has been suspended for urging the citeh players to applaud their fans.
Ginge, as long as she hets a good night sleep, she is a happy girl.
She is extra happy today.
I got the green light to visit in March, but decided to wait a year or so.
Going now means i can have a great time.
A year from now, we can all go and have a great famly holiday.
Bugger…another year!!!
Oh well, she loves me lol
My point is QPR are in shit and have been proactive in the transfer market. Imho we are in shit and have done fuck all, so far! 😉
Lee, i do not get the uproar over the linesman at all.
Morning all…
Remy and M’Vila then, that’s what a manger goes and does when he wants to turn things around…..
Meanwhile…..
Rico, it helps when you have a sugar daddy though.
Morning.
All depends on whether Wenger has the funds available to spend or telling pork pies.
Morning Scott, but don’t we have a multi millionaire owner?
Bradster, The Emirates deal suggests he has…
Rico, he is hardly a sugar daddy though, is he?
There is money available…. FACT!
Diame is today’s flavour!
But we have money Scott….
So the board tell us.
They are an honest lot lol.
Fingers crossed money is not only there, but actually available, and will be utilised.
It’s definitely there, BUT available, now that’s another thing….
So arselona say Villa isn’t for sale, if I were arsenal I would do loads to unsettle the player.Pay back for all the shit they’ve thrown our way…but then again we’re not a classless football club!
Darn you Lee 😉
If its not available, Wenger shouldn’t suggest it is like he has been…
Stir the Barca pot, i say.
12 hits away from 4m…congratulations in advance Rico!
🙂 Thanks Lee…
New post is now up…..
But he is just toeing the company line, or maybe he isn’t.
He may be lying or telling the truth.
Do we know anything anymore??
Diame is he “super quality?”