Daily Bits and Bobs

Arsene Wenger Needs Some Help…..

Posted on by rico

Morning all.

Another cock-up at the weekend, another player vows it will not happen again. This time it’s Mathieu Flamini’s turn to rally the troops and tell the world, well anyone who can be bothered to read his words, that the players cannot afford to make the “stupid” mistakes which have plagued their season. This is course has being going on since what feels like years, many of them.

Why? Because it has and all the time our players think like the Frenchman, nothing will change:

We had a bit of frustration because we felt we were unlucky. We conceded a stupid goal from a corner. But that’s football and we have to get on with it.

No, it’s not bad luck, it’s bad planning, bad organisation, bad coaching and lazy football and can you believe that he thinks that us fans would have enjoyed the game? Yep, that’s what he said! He also believes injuries have cost us:

We definitely need them because in the championship and the last stages of the Champions League, you cannot do it with eleven players. You need 25 so it is important for us to have them back.

The season is going to be long. We are only arriving at Christmas now. There are still a lot of games to go so we take one game after another and focus on the next matches.

I am very confident in the team, very confident in the quality we have because we have a few top players.

Ok, he’s right, we have missed a few key players, the biggest losses being Mathieu Debuchy, Laurent Koscielny and latterly, Mikel Arteta but even with those three in the side, I’m not sure the ‘stupid mistakes’ would have been prevented. Certainly not from set-pieces, they are our nemesis. How or even why we continue to make the same errors time and time again baffles me as this kind of sloppy defending should have been knocked out of our game years ago. But no, instead of that, it’s a topic raised nearly every other week as yet again an opposition player is left free to roam and make it count.

We’ve talked before about how Fergie used to regularly change his assistant manager and I’m not suggesting Arsene Wenger ditches Steve Bould but maybe it’s time for him to ditch one or two others and bring in fresh faces. Arsene has talked recently about how he expects Thierry Henry to one day return to the club and how he deserves more than just a statue outside The Emirates for what he gave to Arsenal, but what about other ex players?

Ok, they may not have scored the amount of goals Henry did and they may not have been as gifted but they played their part, a big part. Martin Keown is one who straight away springs to mind, Sol Campbell is another who instead of being employed by Arsenal, has reportedly taken up an offer to begin his coaching career with Ajax. Why not us?

Both of those players would put their head where others would fear to do so, especially Per Mertesacker. Both of those can probably see quite clearly what is wrong and would do their best to rectify it.Why aren’t they, or any others you can think of, at the club instilling what they had in bundles, into our players?

We never used to concede sloppy goals during their day I’m sure….

Grow A Pair Big Guy!!
Grow A Pair Big Guy!!

I think most of us believe that Arsene Wenger won’t change, no matter how much we hope he will as to do so would be admitting he’s got so many things wrong and that’s not his way. But to change his back room staff, well, one or two would see him to be versatile, open to new ideas and all without him having to portion any blame.

He’d like that surely?

Then, he can carry on doing whatever it is he does and let the defensive coaches sort out this bloody mess and maybe then, we’d finally cut out the schoolboy errors at the back. Then have can drift off gracefully in a couple of years time.

Yes, we need to sign players, big strong athletic ones in both midfield and defence but if the coaching remains the same, everything else will remain the same…

If Arsene Wenger really is planning on seeing out his contract in it’s entirety and that useless American is prepared to let him, then he needs some help.

But is he bould enough (yes I know) to recognise that and accept it?

Our next three fixtures are Qpr on Boxing Day and then West Ham who are in fine form and then Southampton. If Wenger wants top four this season, we seriously need to be winning all three of those fixtures and then go on a really good run and Flamini thinks we will, in fact he say’s it would be crazy to think otherwise…

I not so sure, in fact I’m pretty sure we won’t.

So, on a day when sad news has broken with the passing of Joe Cocker, Arsene Wenger needs to go and get a little help from a friend or two as he might just get by with them…

Have a good day all, only two more sleeps…..

rico

59 thoughts on “Arsene Wenger Needs Some Help…..”

  5. allezkev says:

    It’s quite windy today, there’s a stiff breeze blowing across Hyde Park and towards the Park Lane, Hilton Hotel, where I sense a nice job to Terminal 5 is waiting for me, fingers crossed…

    Why stop at one def/mid signing this January?
    Be radical Arsene, if you can get two in, then do it….

  6. allezkev says:

    Coquelin is not the answer, nor is Flamini.

    Arteta can’t do it over an entire season and needs to be managed properly, so why not go for two def/mids

    With a proper shield in front of our back-four, they’d not look so vulnerable…

    As good as Keown and Adams were, if they’d had a combination of Arteta, Coquelin, Flamini etc, in front of them in 1997/98 I doubt that wd’d have won the Double that season.,.

  7. potter says:

    ,

    Aristotle
    “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

    We can argue the toss until the proverbial cows make it back. Until the squad is built and properly run , we go round and round in circles.i

  9. Wavy says:

    Morning all.

    Rico, were you the original Delta Lady?
    RIP Joe Coker. Saw him once in Leicester, he arrived half an hour late, half cut, and then did an hours shift with the Grease Band, non stop and was utterly mesmerising. Even got a couple of vinyl LP’s, have to get them out and give them a nostalgic listen.

    We need an amazing ‘set’ from the Arsenal over theChristmas period, a, to raise our faith and b, to languish in top 4 anticipation!

  12. scottfromoz says:

    Wavy, we will get top 4, as usual, but it will be another opportunity wasted, imo.
    Chelski aren’t that good, but the best of an ordinary lot, imo.
    Wenger must do business in January, but I’d he doesn’t, his name should never be mention on here again 🙂

  15. scottfromoz says:

    Lee, you’re only as good as your opponents let you be, and every other club make them look good, I reckon.
    Cited are atruggling and are nowhere near what they were a year or two back.
    I can’t even tell you who are third at present, so that says a lot.

  16. scottfromoz says:

    Lee, I reckon they are good, don’t get me wrong.
    They’re just dominating a poor pack at present, I reckon.

  18. Judge me in May says:

    Morning rico and all,
    Never been a fan of Mertasacker, he always looked awkward and soft to me. I know some people here rate him highly but I just can’t see why..
    He was a panic buy with few others including the hopeless Santos.
    His first season was shocking, and I remember at Newcastle when he embarrassingly caught his ankle and tripped over without any challenge or even player near him.. He was then out for a while.

    Yes his international record is something, but so was Hesky and few others. and I would like to see what competitive games Germany won when he played as those Stats can be misleading.

    And yes he had a decent last season, but that imo because of koscielny and sagna were beside him and all he had to do was just position himself..
    The guy can’t jump for his life and despite his height has little or no physical presence.

    Don’t start me with corners, both defending and attacking..
    Imo he should only be 3rd or 4th choice centre back, but so as few regulars in this arsenal team.

    I just don’t know how these scouts see in a player like him or worse sanogo!!

    Bah humbug!!

  19. AndrewH says:

    Very good post rico, sad to hear about Joe, great vocalist.

    How bad was our corner taking? Sanchez worst culprit, time and again not passing first defender. Can’t understand it. Gifted players and alful corners. Even with Henry we often had poor corners. And he should ideally have been in the penalty area.

  26. allezkev says:

    Adams on the green tea…
    Lee’s on the blow…
    BT is on the Guiness
    And I’m on my way home….

    Thank God…. 🙂

  36. Rick says:

    Afternoon Rico and the House.
    Going to my Daughters tonight untill sunday.
    So just a short visit to wish The Lady of the House and all the other
    loyal Gooners a very happy festive season.

  40. scottfromoz says:

    Morning all.
    Rick, have a great Xmas mate.
    Lee, fully fit squad…..I don’t know what that means 🙂
    Rico, you’d be asleep by now if that sherry is any good lol

  42. Lee says:

    On the train to work with my 6 yr old daughter! Happy Christmas you lot!
    Potter I saw something on the Abellio website about Norwich to London fo £5 I didn’t read it thoroughly though!

  47. Adam says:

    I know Rico. There is always the factor of unexpected bad luck with injuries I suppose but, if you look at recent seasons, there was no reason to suppose this one would be any better. Seems to me that, if you don’t equip the squad adequately and gamble then the Chambers situation is exactly what you should expect. It was certainly unwise to heap games and responsibility in different positions on such a young player I would have thought.
    Thus it came to pass. 🙂

  49. ozgunner says:

    haven’t been around for a while but dropped in to wish you all a safe and happy festive period – i am not talking football anymore ha! Take care gang

  50. rico says:

    Sure was Adam, how many of us said at the start of the season that Chambers shouldn’t be starting every game at such a young age. Play him of course because he’s good enough but the poor kid probably doesn’t know what’s hit him. CB one week, Rb the next, it’s crazy!

    Even Vermaelen couldn’t cope with switching centre to left a couple of seasons ago…

  51. scottfromoz says:

    Wenger failed to supply an adequate defensive unit, so Chambers is suffering.
    Actually, the entire club is.

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