Morning all.
Thirty odd thousand fans at The Emirates, a sign of how things will be for the foreseeable, a stay away protest against the manager or just Easter Sunday with family and friends busy doing other things like eating big chocolate eggs. Arsene Wenger might choose to convince himself that it was the latter but I think it’s safe to say, by doing so, he’d be burying his head in the sand. Football fans don’t stop going to support their team just because of a Bank Holiday and I’m quietly confident that The Emirates would have been packed to rafters had Arsenal had a very different season to the one they’ve had, and are still having.
As I start typing this post, Alexandre Lacazette has just returned after injury which of course is positive news ahead of our Europa League fixture against CSKA Moscow. Danny Welbeck, who the Frenchman replaced had had an awful game, just like most of the other players on the pitch.
For nearly seventy minutes, the option of switching off the television was tempting, especially when a loving four legged one is sat staring at me in anticipation of a walk, but I decided she’d have to wait for another twenty odd minutes.
Shaqiri had just hit the post with a wicked inswinging corner which left Ospina high and dry before we went on the attack. The attack came to nothing as it so often does but eventually the ball was with Mesut Ozil. He took the ball into the box, was deemed by Pawson to have been fouled and Aubameyang coolly fired the ball into the back of the net having sent Butland the wrong way. A soft decision given our way? I thought so…
Substitutes were made by both sides with Jack Wilshere and Mohamed Elneny being replaced by Granit Xhaka and henrikh Mkhitaryan no doubt with Thursday in mind.
1-0 looked to be enough to secure the game but any doubts were soon put to bed when Aubameyang grabbed his second of the match with another fine strike, this time from open play. After Lacazette was deliberately shoved over in the area and Pawson again pointed to the spot, Aubameyang had a chance to grab his first hattrick for the club. Unselfishly though, he left the spot kick to Lacazette and the Frenchman didn’t disappoint.
The game was awful, the performance equally as bad and the result perhaps flattering.
Three points are three points, regardless of in what fashion they come but for most of us, I suspect the bigger picture was again about the performance. Until the first penalty, Stoke were more than matching us in all departments. We lacked urgency, there seemed to be no plan, the passing was poor, certainly in the first half and we barely troubled Jack Butland. We’ve said it all before though and no doubt we’ll be saying it again before too long.
In isolation, we’d take the three points and move on, knowing that something much better was just around the corner but it’s not. Now it’s the norm with the occasional good performance thrown in.
Arsene Wenger might get lucky in Europe, perhaps that’s when we’ll see the better performances surface but that’s a big perhaps. CSKA Moscow could very well put us out of the competition in the next round, certainly if we are as lacklustre as we were yesterday but then I thought that when we drew AC Milan.
One things for sure though, we’re a long long way away from ever winning the Premier League and that isn’t going to change under Arsene Wenger.
Good morning Rico and a very happy Easter Monday to you and all the other sad contributors to the blog. Sad because of the dross that is now regularly served up by our idols when they take to the field of play!
Really glad we had folk round for lunch yesterday. I recorded the game and fast forwarded my way through it in less than an hour. What a woeful display. And, how we were outplayed! We were shocking in all areas of the pitch. Passing abysmal, tackling ineffectual, creativity nil!
Lucky, lucky Arsenal the final score was really flattering. 0-0 would have been more accurate. Whose fault was that display of ineptitude? Players aside, we’re looking at our ancient coach again. He should set the tone. He should fire up the players, he should give them the tactical tools to deal with the opposition. Imo, he should quit.
Empty stadium…..says it all really, doesn’t it?
What a load of crap,
Raining here after a covering of early morning snow.
Happy Easter everybody.
Chocolate is a wonderful comfort when you’re feeling down….I find!
Morning rico, wavy, all. Good accurate report rico, it really was hard to watch for 80 minutes. But my dislike of Stoke got me through it!
Morning Wavy, happy Easter to you too.
I’ve run out of things to say about our performances. A sad state of affairs especially when you consider the quality we have in our team..
Raining here too….
Morning Andrew, not even my dislike of Stoke made that any easier..
Thought Lacazette looked good after coming on, he seemed to up the tempo a bit.
Ramsey Motm? Not imo…
Morning Rico.
I guess the advantage of listening to the game on the radio, is that you can still do other stuff while the game is on in the background.
And then watching the highlights just about satisfies your curiosity and you move on…
With CSKA on the horizon I’ll focus on the positives; no injuries, another clean sheet, first successive EPL wins since November, our two record signings getting the three goals, Ramsey playing well, Chambers putting in another useful 90 minutes, 3 points, helping Stoke towards the Championship and financial oblivion, Craig Pawson – my favourite referee and the fact that I could have gone but sensibly stayed at home ( the ticket didn’t go to waste btw).
All the demonstrations and black scarf marches had absolutely no effect.
25,000+ staying away again will have had a huge effect.
Wenger can waffle about Mothers Day, the weather and now Easter, but he knows.
He is sweating on the UEFA Cup, he needs that trophy even if I still doubt that Kroenke has the gumption to remove him from his position.
If Wenger is going, we should know immediately the season ends.
If it drags on until the end of May, he’s staying and the ST holders are being conned – again…
I don’t trust Kroenke, even sending his son over here smacks of a PR exercise.
Maybe the new manager they want isn’t available yet?
And Kroenke isn’t going to want to pay Wenger’s last 12 months of salary to sit in the garden.
So I’m beginning to lean towards Wenger staying now I’m afraid….
Morning Rico and all. Hard what to make of yesterday’s game, if anything. I was slightly surprised at how bad we were in fact. Perhaps it’s because I am an optimist.
Also hard to fathom what Stoke bring to the PL except to give an army of knuckle-scraping morons the opportunity to chant vile abuse. They have had a succession of clogger managers for years and I very much hope they go down and don’t return for some time. If ever.
Mind you, having watched Man City the day before, it’s hard to believe we are in the same division as them. I guess we just have to hope that our players are not as bad as they appear and that’s getting harder and harder as we stumble through games, looking cumbersome and uncomfortable in and out of possession.
The attendance says it all really.
Morning all. Good, if sad, opener Rico. Just about summed it up.
What made it worse later was watching spuds and Chelsea. They both were quicker, sharper, and technically superior to our earlier display. It’s like they are in a different league.
Ours was such a boring game. My hubby said ‘I can’t watch any more of this, I’m going to take the dog out’. Of course he didn’t because with the substitutions the game improved a bit. Even Xhaka, who I don’t rate, changed the game.
I just don’t know how we can stumble on like this. Surely the players themselves must be pissed too, yet unable it seems to change things.
Choosing MOTM was difficult, none deserved it.
And the lack of numbers in the stadium made it so much worse. No atmosphere at all. The trouble is, once people start staying away, they often don’t go back.
The three points were valuable, but not really deserved. Poor, poor, game.
Will Kroenke care? Not really about the game, but possibly about the drop in gate takings if it were to continue.
Morning Kev, Adam, Meerkat.
I honestly don’t believe fans will be fooled by any talk from the club. As you say, it has to be Wenger out early and then the club will no doubt see the return of many. Wenger reckons the Ems will be full on Thursday, well I hope it isn’t. I hope even more stay away and then he has nowhere to hide, no excuses to fall back on…
An empty stadium is the only thing to wake Kroenke up.
The drop in ticket sales doesn’t kick in until June so the club won’t know until July.
The problem for long term season ticket holders is magnifying year on year.Many are fed up with the way things are but have known that once they give up their ticket getting it back would not be easy. Plus they would have to go elsewhere in the stadium and might not neccessarily get like for like. . People like me with lower tier low cost ( relatively speaking ) know that their seat will be snapped up , but those in the upper spending much more are the ones that will stick and be available. They are the ones that will affect the club’s finances.
However do I give up and then Wenger leaves and things get exciting again or do I stay on the treadmill and give Kroenke no need to change things ?
I imagine the decision has already been taken where next season is concerned. What would be concerning the management is another season of dwindling attendances and a large drop in merchandising revenues. Plus of course, if Arsene does stay, every press conference will be riddled with questions about who is taking over when he does leave. If he stays and blows out again, it’s gonna be a bloody long season for sure.
There’s quite a bit of rebuilding to be done and a new manager will have to be given some leeway to improve the squad depth. Having said that, I would still envisage a completely fresh attitude on the pitch. You can see the influence that Pep has had by getting into player’s heads and letting them know that they either do things his way or there’s the door.
I look at a bloke like Bellerin and wonder. Has he just stopped improving or has he hit a mental brick-wall? Chambers too. Is he really an Arsenal player? The list goes on and Wenger has become the joker in the pack.
Looking at it from this morning’s perspective I just can’t see how he can remain manager, although a Europa Cup win might just do it. Personally, I hope they move on with someone new and hopefully exciting.
Is there still a ST waiting list, is it still as difficult to get a ST as it once was or as it was in Highbury?
The Emirates novelty has long worn off, so I suspect that the club like to peddle this waiting list nonsense to worry fans into renewing a ticket that they probably don’t want to…
Apparently the Etihad isn’t sold out every game!
Now that is a surprise.
The problem being, are there many more Peps or Klopp’s out there?
Those two have that certain something, enthusiasm, exciting, motivating, knowledgeable, Va Va Voom. Pep especially has a brilliant track record of success, but who can rival that? We should have snapped him up when/if we had the chance. His preference was London initially. Still, it’s no good pining for the ‘what ifs’. It is what it is.
I can’t see Wenger leaving this year.
We are doomed to be a mediocre shadow of our former selves. Next season will be another struggle to stay above mid table.
Wenger clearly still believes in himself, so does Bould. If those two can’t see anything is very wrong, they deserve the sack.
Good points Potter but surely with all the empty seats, the board would have to be blind or stupid not to realise what’s going on..
I suppose that, in one sense, there was no Pep as manager before Barcelona showed enough belief to appoint him. He picked it up from there and has gone on and on, playing the same brand of football. The crucial point for me is that, the more money Wenger has spent, the worse the team has become. What he is offering Arsenal is a whole load of historical sentimentality and memories of greatness, but little in the way of future promise. Letting him complete his contract is merely delaying the inevitable decision they are going to have to make anyway.
I reckon there are several managers out there who could utilise Arsenal’s potential far better. It is clear that the ST holders have lost faith even though they are staying away from games that they have already paid for.
And that speaks volumes. People this day and age can’t afford to throw money down the drain unless they are mega rich of course but our fans, well, many of them are doing just that.
I guess they, like us live in hope but certainly for people like me, it’s not costing much other than a Sky and Bt subscription and time. Saying that, the two television packages aren’t cheap either.
Three little words rico………flat earth football ! we’re a team stuck between second gear and reverse, it’s just one big snooze fest under Wegner.
And don’t think your fooling anyone on here, we all know the woofa left the room at half-time, it’s nothing to be ashamed of !
Ha ha Micko. She plays better football than our lot under Wenger.
It certainly is a snooze fest, 90 minutes of life wasted I’d say…
What should the club do about Jack? He isn’t playing at all well, yet thinks he should have a bumper contract.
From what I can gather, he has been offered a fair one, but less than his ridiculously overpaid current one, and related to appearances. After his long absences on full pay, I think it’s his turn to repay the club, show some loyalty.
There is talk of him going to Everton. That’s a laugh, Jack wouldn’t like it up north, he can’t speak the language and wouldn’t like the food. Of course he could always have a chat with Wayne about where to get a hair transplant.
Morning All
Continuing yesterday’s theme, there is absolutely no mileage in allowing the managers situation to drag on over the entire summer.
Gazides and Co, if they have been given the green light by KSE, should be in the process of discussing the job with the agents of prospective new managers now, so that an announcement can be made as soon as the season ends, so there is no excuse for the club dragging its feet in May.
So if the club doesn’t come to decision on the manages position immediately the season is concluded I can only assume that Wenger is staying.
But I’ve yet to be convinced that the club will act, I think they’ll wait until they know if we’re into the CL or not and then start to panic, KSE has shown me no indication that they are anything other than ditherers, just like Wenger.
Yes Kev. It has been a marriage made from inertia!?
On a similar theme, I notice Pardew is available on a short term 6 month contract! Payment by results, perhaps. So, he’ll not be costing a lot!
Of Wenger and his stickability. I still believe he will, most reluctantly, give another year of what should have been, his well earned retirement, in order for Ivan and his terrible S, to organise themselves sufficient well to attract and sign up, Allegri from Juve. A thing they should have done last summer. Patience is a virtue, isn’t it?
Dull but no longer raining here. We had minor floods yesterday. The neck broke its banks! Pandemonium!
Morning all.
For neck, read…beck. Fis
I hope you have sandbags and Wellington boots Wavy…
Cast your mind back to when Guardiola was available, did Arsenal act decisively or did they dither. The result as we know, sees Man City disappearing over the horizon towards Champions League glory while Arsenal sink in a sea of mediocrity.
Max Allegri will in all probability join Chelsea, because Chelsea are proactive and because, as Petr Cech so succinctly stated last week, they are a trophy winning machine.
Allegri would probably prefer Arsenal, but KSE will dither and Wenger will see out the last year of his contract.
Guardiola , Klopp and now Allegri . Another slips through our fingers whilst the dithering goes on.
Waterloo has to be one of the most miserable places on Earth….
Napoleon wasn’t impressed.
CNot tonight Josephine
I bet ABBA disagree…
?
Flood warnings here today. Get the rowing boat out.
It’s grim here too, getting fed up with it now..
Morning Potter and all..
New post up now…