Morning all.
It’s nearly Christmas and I like everyone else, have a lot to do before Santa come a calling, talking of which I need to get the chimney swept and go visiting….
Going to Anfield after what happened last season was bound to be a tricky affair and it’s one which perhaps many Arsenal fans feared. But this was a Liverpool side far from the one who totally outplayed us back in February. No Suarez, no Sturridge and their season has so far been pretty awful.
But still they outplayed us for most of the game….
First half we were all over the place and to be honest, if the Dippers knew how to score during that 45 minutes, we’d have been dead a buried.
Our midfield was shocking! The way they breezed through the middle of the park was embarrassing.
They scored after more school boy stuff from us which gifted their attack, then we nabbed an equaliser just before half-time. Flamini did well in the build up, just a shame that that was his best contribution.In fact how he stayed on the pitch I don’t know.
After the break we marginally better and we took the lead after some good stuff. Santi played an important part in the build up, Ollie finished well….
Borini, or whatever his name is had a strop after a throw-in was awarded to us and got a booking for his petulant behaviour and soon after, a studs in the chest tackle on Santi led to his sending off…..
Just then you’d have thought we’d make the eleven men advantage count, that ‘orrid lot, with their fans behind them, pushed us all the way and our naive defending gifted them an equaliser with just a couple of minutes left on the clock.
Shocking!
What can be drawn from that game..
Well for me it’s the need for at least one central midfielder as we had nothing yesterday, absolutely nothing and every time the Dippers pressed forward, that was clear to see.
Defending – well we still make the same old mistakes and yesterday that cost us two points. A big, strong athletic leader in there would go a long way to stopping all of that.
In my opinion, we have have the makings of a very very good side but it’s one which just lacks a central defensive player and a defender, both have to be miles better than who we already have and one has to have a leadership quality because yesterday it was clear to see that no-one took on that responsibility.
Get those two in January and the second half of the season could be so much better, if of course the coaching staff can sort this bloody mess out and that’s a big if.
That’s it from me, I’m gutted we let them get a goal so late on but sadly, it’s something we are used to.
Rico, we need at least 3 players. All central and 6ft plus men, not 6ft wimps
What year is it?
Sorry, morning all..
This was the same old story – we are not ‘up for it’ when we play the top clubs. It’s not the players we’ve got – the team we put out should have been all over them – it been happening for years and it MUST be the managers fault, he simply cannot get the team to play against the top teams. The only reason we were ahead was that LP were so bad.
The usual subs farce happened again – he brought on two defenders when it was crying out for Theo to rip them apart when they were down.
The last goal was a case of too many cooks – we would have dealt with that corner in the first half.
Brian
Brian Totally agree re:Subs
Monreal coming on to shore up left with Gibbs? Err really?Henderson was a no threat it was on the right we were getting done. Taking off Giroud who could win a defensive header made no sense, and Theo, could have really run into a corner to waste time.
Alexis was guilty imo of too many tricks near his own Penalty area.
Thankfully I missed the game but did Chambers really play right-back with Debuchy at centre-half? That is complete missmanagement
Morning Rico and all. I was released from HMP Wakefield early yesterday morning so caught the game on Sky. The feeling of déjà-vu that was once so overwhelming has, for me, now given way to a depressing sense of tedium. As an interested bystander it is amusing, though simultaneously tragic, that we have all been reduced to detached goggleboxers. We are able to predict the mistakes with unerring accuracy yet harbour mixed feelings when we win a couple of games. “Oh, if Arsene were to buy several men of giant-like stature in the coming transfer window we would be ok” and all that stuff. We live in a constant state of nervousness that precedes every game and sit, nails bitten dangerously low, as one debacle follows another, torn between a feeling of desperation and resignation. Our 20/20 hindsight gives us the key as to ‘what went wrong’ every time. Yesterday it was Giroud going off, the hapless Flamini and the fact that it was the shortest day of the year. If we wore red hats we might suppose it was the referee and the overwhelming brightness of Brendan Rodgers’ polished teeth.
I have no answers but I am sad about the situation.
You and me both, brudder Adam……..
Will it really matter who AW signs, if any?
On license for xmas?
Are you tagged?…..lol
Again I ask why people change their tune depending on what’s happened.
We lead, we attack, we concede and it’s Wengers fault.
We lead, we shut up shop, we concede and its Wengers fault.
Sorry, but can anyone explain this to me?
The criticism comes as soon as the subs are made and no matter which way we go, the manager cops it.
Why are people so bloody single minded and ridiculously biased to blame Wenger no matter what he dies?
Why make up the insults as we go along?
We played like shit and got a result away.
Our American owners have been very slow n very reluctant to coach Wenger on the simple art of a rock hard defense. Each week de Boss expects our little Davids to do battle against giants. In this one area the Wenger’s football philology is very flawed.
And another thing!
Everyone feels sorry for Bould as he’s unable to have any impact on our defence…..well, according to those who want Wenger gone.
Tell me why he doesn’t stand up for himself, man the hell up and earn his wage.
I mean, people are more than happy to criticise Wenger for doing exactly that!!!!
Hey BT. How’s things?
Adam, I’m on the rank in Langham Place and I’m wearing my red hat… 🙂
Afternoon All…
Kev. I just saw you driving down Euston Road. 🙂
FFS….
It’s not like it happened once or twice.. It’s happening every time every year again and again. as the title of this post says YET AGAIN.. and as Adam put it de ja vu..
If this is not the managers and his coaching staff fault then I must be father Xmas….
Afternoon all.. Windy wet grey day out there..
What a poxy feeling..
we have a better team than 2008-2014 yet we’re playing progressively worse year after year. The game was a borefest for an Arsenal fan. We need to start getting points on the board soon or we are bang in mid table mediocrity.
It’s all or nothing with Wenger either all out attack or swamping the pitch with defenders. He needs to find a happy medium ( there used to be one on Southend Pier ).. Taking Giroud off allowed Gerrard to push forward and we seemed to lose the ability to hold the ball and it really became one way traffic. It’s the perennial balancing act he in all his time has never mastered.By defending so deeply he handed them the initiative even though they were a man short and I think he misjudged the additional time . With the changes he made after the 80th minute we might well have hung on for 10 minutes but not 20 as it turned out.
I blame Wenger for the “it’s ok” attitude he implores on the team. It’s not ok, they need an effing cracker up their jacks and heads need to roll if they can’t motivate themselves and do their jobs.
Merts has been shite the whole season and Flamini too bar the last 2 games before this one. Chambers is very slow and been found wanting on the right.
We have digressed when the only world class player we have in our ranks is Sanchez.
If every week the players don’t do as they’re coached/told Scott, has Wenger lost the players respect or is it a case of it’s ok, Wenger won’t mind, he’ll understand I was tired or I made a mistake.
Afternoon folks…
Think I have covered more ground today than our players did between them yesterday…..
Scott, I think you have a point re Arsene Wenger. Maybe it’s time he accepts that some of the players he stands by, really aren’t good enough….
He is very loyal to all his players, until they upset him, then he is vile! He has lost the ability to discern the great from the good, so when he sees his players he sees only ability because he adjudged them as being ‘special’ players and not as they are, little better than ordinary. Sad but true I think.
Afternoon my fellow bargain hunters
He’s far too protective of them isn’t he…
Rico, that would basically be admitting he got it wrong, big time….
Afternoon Rico. I see what you mean but asking Wenger to change now is rather like asking Cheryl Cole to sing in tune without a vocoder. Impossible.
Bt, well a bigger and better person would do just that, admitting he is getting things wrong should be a strength, his weakness is head in the and carrying on regardless.
Sometimes I wonder if it’s a different manager or different players we need….
Rico do you really believe its the players,
Dressing room opinion on whats the best team to field,
can make or break a performance,
a lot of players know the best eleven to play,
if wenger cocks up player wise,some players,
will drop they heads and sulk.
Years ago I read somethink about this national team manager,
who before he picked the team,
he made every player pick the first eleven.
on a piece of paper.
He got so much stick when the team lost,
he put to the players.
Could you see Mr Wenger doing that?
On the back four:
We have a Giraffe chaseing Stirling into liverpools half,
we have the smallest centreback,I think I have every seen,
we have a young lad,who been booked 8 times and sent off.
Why didn’t wenger make just one change,
all he needed to do was make 1 change and play,
Chambers on the left.
To keep mucking around with your backfour,
is a recipe for why no one knows what to do.
Afternoon Adam, you and Mrs Adam well?
It’s never too late to change though surely, not where improvement is concerned.
I felt sorry for Chambers actually. I reckon that the game is about ability for sure but a lot of it is in the head too and that boy’s is all over the place. But, according to some people, Wenger gets a pass as it’s the players that do the playing. But if nobody is responsible then, quite frankly, how does the club and the fans move forward? Not to try to advance because you are somehow worried that things will get worse is a sure fire recipe for disaster. But there is always a get-out. The injuries, the refs, the cheating, the CL You name it.
Old Arsene has got it spectacularly wrong for the past few seasons. I watched a Sky program about the Invincibles the other day and it made me quite sad really. We had players who were strong in their mind and body and they could play too. Wenger looked calm and assured. A man on top of the game. That period is hanging round his neck like a bloody Albatross now. It just looks to me as if he really isn’t up to it any more. But, hey, a decent win against QPR and we’ll hear that everything will be alright again. Until the next time.
Sorry Rico. Yes, almost back to full fitness now thank you. 🙂
This Arsenal thing hasn’t helped my recuperation though. Surely we should all be enjoying the football in our lives!
Rico. But to change you have to concede that things aren’t right.
Fred, to a degree yes, I think Chambers has been played too much and isn’t as good as AW thinks he is but he’s young and will learn and it’s not his fault he’s playing each game when available.
Merts is too slow, too static and I’m not sure he’s got what the PL needs any more…
Flamini should be nowhere near the first team, neither should Coq although he was marginally better than Flamini when he came on.
That’s three players already and if we replace them with quality, we’d already be better imo.
I know AW signs them and plays them etc etc but he needs to accept they aren’t good enough and sign better…
If he’s staying for two and a half more seasons, I really hope he does what’s needed next month…
Glad to hear that Adam…
Re AW, that’s my point really, if he could accept that things are going wrong somewhere and put those same things right, surely we’d all be much happier.
He’s not stupid, he must know what is wrong as like us, he watches it each week but until he does something about it, nothing will change.
I just hope one morning he wakes up and finally does something to get this club back on the right track…. And for me a major part of that is signing proper players for the right place on the pitch.
I doubt you can be the problem and the solution anymore. But, hey, perhaps he isn’t the problem at all.
Moussa Sissoko is linked to us again today….
I really struggle to understand how a guy who once signed the likes of Henry, Paddy, Petit, Overmars, Campbell, Bobby, Freddie etc etc is going about things as he is today.
Strength, height and physicality was successful, now we have a bunch of whimps who can’t tackle and yesterday, could buy an accurate pass…..
Rico. Looking in from the outside is always fraught with peril but the truth is in the points column. We have better players than Swansea and Stoke even without going into the market yet still contrived to get beaten. We have better players than a number of teams including Liverpool but we are not beating them either. Quite honestly, hoping against hope that Wenger will wake up one day and say to himself, “Hold on, I’ve been doing this all wrong” ain’t gonna happen now as far as I can see.
Yann M’Vila linked too, now that’s a blast from the past…. lol
Rico. It’s called getting older. It even happened to Margaret Thatcher, who I know you admire.
Adam, what else can one do? With 2.5 years left on his contract, hope is all I have…..
🙂 Adam…
The trouble is, those around and above Arsene Wenger think he’s getting it right, just ask the majority shareholder… 😉
Off out for a Christmas drinks and nibbles evening, only annoying thing is i’m driving!!
Should be about as exciting as watching paint dry!!
Catch up in a couple of hours or tomorrow..
Take care on the roads Rico.
I reckon we will speak of this again. 🙂
Rico, be safe and have fun…..
Adam, glad to hear you and Mrs.A are fighting fit for the coming festivities..
Hooray hooray we are third in the league of Twitter followers for a football club! We now have 5 million followers…..wonder how many wear red hats?
I seriously think that a new manager could get this team performing miles better than we currently are!
So we’ve played all the “top” teams once so far this season and not beaten one of them….. Sorry but that is a shit statistic!!!
I better hurry and sign up to Twatter, before it becomes popular…..
And wenger blaming our 5-0 hammering at Anfield as one of the causes we played so badly yesterday…..please mate do one!!!!!
5-1 I mean…
Careful….
The red hats are coming. They have identified a rise in solar flares as the reason we gave away a late goal at Anfield.
Lee, stop ya whinging, we beat West Brom didn’t we !!!
rico is probably giving it large on the karaoke right now, go girl !
Rico, you are guilty of reading my second last comment in its entirety.
A few had cracks suggesting I was defending Wenger but you saw it for what it was, so thank you 🙂
I just read Giroud had been ill all week and had done well to last as long as he had, so that’s the reason he was replaced.
Still, even being crook, should have thrown him in at CB.
Wtf is wrong with Mertesacker?
I know he’s slower than treacle, but this season he’s not even reading the play well, and that has often got him out of trouble previously.
He’s either got the worst World Cup hangover of all time or he’s simply lost it completely.
Adam, your comment on the Invincibles is exactly what I was talking about earlier.
It’s on the players, not the tactics.
Again, and I said it earlier, it’s down to the players Wenger buys so it’s still on him.
A DM and CB would suffice in January, but he, or his replacement, needs to get rid of 6-8 players at seasons end and start again.
It’s a risk but it’s also the only way forward.
Scott, I love coming on here every Saturday morning reading how we’re gonna roll teams over, it’s your boy I feel for, can’t bear the the thought of him growing up watching a team called Enigma FC !
Hahahaha.
He’s right mate.
Loves the game.
By the time he’s grown up i’d suggest we will be a different club, and certainly with a different manager lol
Hopefully, we also have a new owner though.
It’s so frustrating to see players make such basic errors each and every week.
Scott even if Wenger signs a centre-half and a def/mid this January, the difference will be marginal, because of the way we play…
You should read Pedros post of Le Grove, it really gets to the hub of the matter.
Arsenal are stagnant, they’ve been stagnant since 2008…
Different players
Different assistants
Same game plan
Same results
Nothing had changed…
Can anybody really tell me where we are better now than we were 6 years ago?
Is that progress?!!!
Not from where I’m looking…
Maybe we, as Arsenal fans, have just got to accept where we are in the food chain, some way behind ManUre, City and Chavs.
Light years behind Real, Barca, Bayern etc.
But better than the Scum, Scousers and a few others…
You’ve just gotta ask yourselves whether you think where we are is value for your money on not?
I decided 18 months ago and although I still follow the club, i don’t invest a lot of my money in the club anymore. And refuse to do so until Kroenke is gone…
I mean, look what it did to Mick….
A good ol’ Holloway boy, he had to emigrate to save his sanity…
Hahahahaha Kev.
It’s a fair point and no, we aren’t any better than 6 years ago.
We’ve lost some very good footballers in that time, and brought got some in and that’s the problem…..we are always playing catch up.
If we’d kept some of those guys and added more quality, we’d be better off for it but we haven’t.
We are either replacing them or in some cases, NOT replacing them.
We are big enough to never justify having a thin squad, but that’s what we have.
It defies logic that Wenger had us heading into a new season even thinner at the back than we already were last season, and even more so as defence has been our biggest weakness.
There is no defending that situation.
Fcuk em all Scott, we’ll just have to put West London’s top club to the sword on Friday ! Nite mate.
And you kev, didn’t see you there, just waiting to get certified and I’ll be on the next plane to the Emirates !
Railway Tavern for a pint then Mick?
The thing is Scott, we have two massively wealthy shareholders who could have pumped a few bob into the club to ensure that our top players didn’t leave…
But Kroenke will never do that and Ursmanov isn’t able too…
Kroenke selling Arsenal will be as seminal as the departure of Dein…
Arsenal will become a competitor again, once that Colorado leech has departed…
I see that Chelsea did ‘a job’ on Stoke…
No fuss.
No piss taking of Mourinho by the Stoke fans.
Job done…
Arsenal are a million miles away from doing likewise…
But Kev, your not looking at the bigger picture, what would become of our American fanbase and Team Arsenal…….be careful for what you wish for !
Weren’t we top this time last year, not really sure what my point is, really is time for my bunk, nite all.
Watched it on lap top , Stoke tried all the physical stuff and Chelsea just gave it back in spades. Easy win for them . They tried to wind up Costa but as we all know He’s so shit that Hazard and Fabregas just ran the match.
‘Careful what you wish for’ indeed Mick…
Night mate
That’s me done, early start again tomorrow, night all…
Morning all…
RIP Joe Cocker……
Morning Rico.
Morning Adam. Sorry, I was scribbling….
Morning Rico, Brudder and all….
Morning Lee, what’s it like out there, I haven’t peeped yet…
The Mirror headline:
Schneiderlin to snub Spurs in favour of Arsenal move? Transfer news and gossip from Thursday’s papers…
Errrr, isn’t it Tuesday?
I like this Schneiderlein…. he was pissed off at how Levy (rodent faced fucktard) tried to get Southampton to sell him on the cheap, and also that he wants to play for a big club! Well at least someone sees us as a big club! 😉
🙂 – I’d love us to sign him….
it’s cold(ish) Rico….
I see the chavs with that shite Costa and the Arsenal reject beat stoke rfc 2-0…….I only saw a bit of it but the chavs certainly matched them in the physicality! Why don’t the chavs have as many injuries as us? We seem to attract perma-crocks…. oh I forgot it’s the referee’s fault!
The Romford Pele said, “Winston Reid has been mentioned, but I’m not sure he’s the quality we need.
“Mats Hummels would be great, a world cup winner and a good player.
“For midfield, I would go for [Morgan] Schneiderlin if you can get him. He’s at a good age.
“Lots of players are linked. [Sami] Khedira would have been great. Players that have played in big games won’t be phased by anything. Schneiderlin hasn’t, but I can see him improving.”
So there you go Arsene, Ray has done your scouting work for you. Now all you have to do is go and get them…
Oh good, no rain I hope today Lee..
I didn’t watch the Chavs, I was drinking water, yes water at a Christmas evening..! Not the house to be going to when driving… Mind you, at least I don’t have a bad head this morning….
We have a bunch of fragile players, players who are overplayed, overrated and over paid..
Well, a lot of them….
Isn’t Hummels a bit slow and injury prone?
What about this Howedes guy?
Don’t drink water Rico, fish wee in it! That’s my Christmas tip!
Hummels is slow and injury prone sounds like the perfect fit!
Morning all.
I watched the Stoke game this morning, and yes, Chelski stood their ground, but, and I know plenty hate this being raised, wasn’t it incredible how much they got away with, compared the brutal fouls about boys get pulled up for.
You just can not ignore it!
Chelski have as good as they got and our boys are soft, but why is it we “give away” so many fouls???
Thy should read “our boys get pulled up for”.
Guck iPads.
I mean fuck IPads lol
Morning brudder. I am in a cafe with Mrs Adam having a cooked brekkie.
Adam, I miss the brekkies over there almost as much as the Arsenal, the beer and the curries 🙂
Send Mrs A seasonal greetings from me.
I didn’t see the whole match but I did see Hazard get taken out which looked like a straight red to me……I really struggle a) watching the chavs b) watching Fabregas in blue c) looking at the poison dwarf for any length of time without throwing a heavy object at the t.v!
Ha ha Lee, re both….
Morning Scott..
Perhaps it’s because players like Flamini get their timing all wrong, Arteta gives away silly niggling fouls and Chambers shoves the opposition in the back all too often.
Merts doesn’t give away many fouls because he’s a wuss and doesn’t very often tackle… 😉
You’re up and out early Adam…
Rico, good points, but when you see Ivanovic near killing opponents and not giving away a foul, it looks a little off 🙂
Merts is woeful this season.
He couldn’t tackle a good feed!!!
And Cahill Scott….
Merts isn’t good enough for the bench this season, although he’d make a good one…. 😉
I thought Merts would of been benched and a decent mobile CB bought…and then use merts for the physical games (stoke etc) he was basically at fault for all the stoke goals!
He looks like a pub player at the moment and should be nowhere near Arsenal.
What’s happened to him?
He’s terrible.
His timing is way off and that was always his strength.
Trouble is, we can’t bench him.
Rico, I know we can’t use the officials as an excuse for playing bad, but is still pisses me off that we are possible the least physical side in the league, yet get penalised relentlessly.
Rico. These days I am up very early. 🙂
Adam, that’s only because you don’t want to miss my comments 🙂 🙂 🙂
Charing Cross Station looks wonderful in the gloom…
Morning All
Another dull day in London Town, chilly but not too cold…
Morning Kev.
Scott. I’d sit up all night for those mate. 🙂
Scott – agree, the refs for us are shocking, but all too often, not as bad as we play…
Lee, I wouldn’t want him in my pub team. Perhaps a better CH alongside him and Debuchy on the right would help but maybe i’m clutching at straws….
Morning Adam, I trust that Mrs Adam and yourself are in tip-top shape…
Morning Rico, Lee and Scott..,
Adam, if you every need help putting together a post….ask Rico lol
Rico, that’s true…. 9 times out of 10 we lose due to our performance, but 9 times out of 10 the officials don’t help 🙂
Hiya Kev.
🙂 Adam..
Morning Kev..
Apparently Christmas Day is gonna be sunshine with a max of 7*C…
And off we go…
Lata
I’ll think about that one Scott…. 😉
New post up now….