That is our points total since our last home league win, February 23rd (1-0 over FA Cup finalists Stoke City).
Five matches. One win. Four draws. An average of 1.2 points gained per fixture. Subtract our two away league matches, and the reading is even more gruesome: three matches. Three points. One goal – and that from the penalty spot today.
“Fortress Emirates”, indeed…
In our first match since Stan Kroenke became our club’s majority shareholder and director Danny Fiszman passed away, we welcomed a few key players back to the side after enforced injury layoffs:
Szczesny returned in goal and JD in the defence. Both started, while another returnee – Alexandre Dimitri Song Billong – settled for a spot on the bench.
We lined up Szczesny, Clichy, JD, Kos, Eboue, Jack, Cesc, Diaby, Theo, Robin and Samir. Our bench was Jens, Squil, Gibbs, Song, Arsh, Chamakh and Nik.
Both teams took to the pitch wearing black armbands mourning both Mr. Fizman’s passing and the 22nd anniversary (actual date was Friday, April 15th) of the Hillsborough disaster, where 96 Liverpool fans died when crushed by overcrowding of standing pens, during the first few minutes of their team’s FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest.
Today was Kenny Dalglish’s first match against Arsenal in his second spell as Liverpool manager. Dalglish was also Liverpool manager on April 15, 1989, and was the team’s most visible face in the aftermath of the tragedy. This American Gooner wishes to simply say “Justice for the 96.”
Today’s match itself was a bit of an anti-climax. Recent matches have seen us often beset by slow starts, and this was no exception. Perhaps the players – on both sides – were a bit subdued, considering the events observed (via a minute’s silence) just before kickoff.
Nevertheless, this is one situation where a quick start and a couple of early goals could have settled nerves and perhaps given the players a platform to build on. Didn’t happen.
The first incident occurred in the fifth minute, when Spearing went down in our box. I would have been furious if Marriner had awarded a spot kick, but he said nothing doing and waved play on. Liverpool had a chance on ten, as Carroll headed a free kick over the bar, and then we gradually settled into a rhythm.
ive minutes later, Kos headed a Robin cross against Reina’s crossbar, but we were unable to do anything with the rebound.
Shortly after the twenty-minute mark, Kenny was forced to make an early change, with Aurelio limping off. Seventeen year-old John Flanagan replaced him. With another teenager (Robinson) on the other flank, we could really have exposed their inexperienced fullbacks, but we didn’t make the most of it…
By this point, we dominated possession and applied steadily increasing pressure. But our current Achilles heel – over-elaboration and an unwillingness to consistently get further forward than the edge of the opposition penalty box – meant that we again looked toothless, and again failed to really test the opposition goalkeeper. The half finished with a decided Arsenal advantage in time of possession, but nothing to show as a result.
There were as usual, no changes at the break. Just a few minutes later, Suarez tried a bit of “simulation”, collapsing under a Kos challenge in the box. Marriner didn’t buy this one either, and we quickly settled into our comfort zone probe-pass-pass-probe-pass, Liverpool clear the ball routine…
Five minutes into the half, Carroll appeared to turn his ankle but was able to carry on. Just short of the hour mark, the moment which set the stage for the stoppage time drama arrived, as Carrahger and Flanagan crashed heads and they went up to clear a ball. The former came off much the worst, as he was motionless for a few minutes, before being stretchered off with a concussion – not the first one for the Liverpool captain (in Gerrard’s absence) as I understand.
Thankfully, he was reported to be doing well a few hours after the final whistle.
So Kenny had to make his second injury-enforced change, with Kyrgiakos coming on. In all, play was stopped for approximately seven minutes.
At the restart, we took the game right to Liverpool and forced a couple of corners, which we couldn’t do much with. In between, Suarez worked his way into the area and got a shot off, which Szczesny saved with no fuss or difficulty.
It was evident that Carroll was struggling, and Kenny ended his afternoon on 70 minutes, bringing Shelvey on. That meant we no longer had to worry about Carroll’s height and strength. Arsene made his first change with about 15 minutes to go, bringing Arsh and Nik on for Theo and Jack.
While the Arsh worked hard and looked dangerous, Nik – not for the first time – looked isolated and wasted on the flank. We pushed Liverpool deeper and deeper into their half, but never really created any great chances and certainly didn’t make Reina work as hard as he should have…
With ten minutes to go, Arsene made his final sub, bringing Song – not our best remaining attacking player – on for Diaby in a situation where we absolutely had to get a goal.
With under five minutes remaining, Cesc put Robin through one-on-one with Reina, but our number ten shot too close to the Liverpool keeper allowing him to claw the ball away. As we entered the final minute of regulation, the officials signaled A MINIMUM of eight minutes stoppage time.
It was all Arsenal in the first six minutes of stoppage time, as we attacked again and again. We continue to over-pass, take too many touches, or cross poorly, with all attacks eventually breaking down.
In the seventh minute, however, we earned a penalty as Cesc and Nasri combined, and Spearing brought our captain down in the box. Robin stepped up and fired low into the left hand corner as Reina dived to his right.
An absolutely priceless goal and the gap on United was now just four points – surely the pressure on the league leaders suddenly increased tenfold?
Sadly not!
Having finally made the breakthrough, we proceeded to defend nervously and sloppily. Robin was booked for removing his shirt in the post-goal celebrations, and Kuyt fired a free kick directly at Szczesny. Fortunately our keeper was alert and dealt with it.
Yet we kept giving Liverpool the ball, and in the 10th minute of stoppage time, Song clumsily brought Shelvey down on the edge of our box to concede a free kick. Our wall did its job by blocking it, but as Lucas collected the loose ball, all the way out on the left, Eboue – who had a solid game for 100 minutes – foolishly pushed him to concede a soft-but-brainless penalty!
Kuyt stepped up and drilled the ball past Szczesny, who guessed right but could not stop the ball. Marriner blew for full-time almost immediately, and that was that…
After the whistle, Arsene and Kenny took a couple of seconds to exchange “pleasantries”, and then our manager set about remonstrating with Marriner and his crew.
Arsene’s gripe was that Marriner should have blown his whistle right at eight minutes.
Sorry, no…We go through this at least once every season with the Red-Nosed inhabitant at Old Trafford. Man United either benefit from an extended period of stoppage time, scoring a goal. Or Fergie complains that not enough time was allowed when his side fail to score.
The salient point here is that the eight minutes signaled are a MINIMUM of stoppage time. They are signaled before the match enters time added on. Once we are in time added on, the referee retains the authority and discretion to decide if any time in addition to what was signaled is necessary.
Remember that we were awarded a penalty. Remember that Marriner had to deal with players on both sides in setting the spot kick up. Remember that Robin and our team celebrated – long enough for him to remove his shirt and get booked.
Could it not have also been awarded for “time wasting”, considering that the restart would be delayed – perhaps only a few seconds, but delayed nevertheless – as Robin got dressed once again? What about Reina during time added on? Was he not casual and slow about taking goal kicks? Perhaps the referee chose to deal with this by adding the time he wasted.
If Arsene feels he needs to count seconds, there may be an argument that Marriner should have decreed a minimum of closer to ten minutes stoppage time, considering normal stops and starts, and the delay when Carroll started hobbling.
The argument over how much stoppage time should have been played detracts from another toothless, ineffective attacking performance during the 90 minutes of regulation time. Perhaps part of the reason Arsene made a big deal about extra time is to take the focus off the overall insipid performance.
Other than Kos’ header, we did not look close to scoring in regulation, and up until Cesc was fouled in the box, we looked no closer in the extra time either. For me, this inability to consistently fashion quality chances from our overwhelming edge in possession is one of two main reasons we are yet to make Man United really sweat in the title “race”…
The other is our nervous, panicked defending at critical points. I know the statistics show that we have the second best goal-conceded rate in the league (at least as for Friday night). We have allowed fewer league goals than United, so our defence must be better, right? If only it were so simple.
It’s not, the number of goals conceded is one way of looking at it…Another way of looking at it is factoring in the goals conceded when we are leading 6-0 versus the goals conceded when we are clinging to a single goal advantage (or goal-less). Another way of looking at it is how many goals have we conceded late in a match, when victory is near?
I don’t have the numbers on any of those, so I cannot say what they are. What I can go on however, is the defending we did when Blackpool had a real go at us early in the second half last week. Or the defending when we finally scored today. Or the defending on both the goals at the Hawthorns. These (very recent) instances suggest that we still get rattled too easily and are unable to consistently see games out, or put ourselves in self-inflicted early deficits.
Others may see it differently and the numbers may support the premise our defence is better – I have no problem with that. For me, if I had a choice of using Man United’s first-choice defence or our first-choice defence to protect a one-goal lead for an entire second half, I know which one I would choose…
So from a game that we hoped to get so much more from, we could only manage a single point; we are now six behind United with 32 games played. Only 18 points remaining on offer for both sides.
Overtaking them is still mathematically possible, but it is a pretty tall ask. United were convincingly beaten in the FA Cup Semi Final yesterday and today was a real chance to put pressure on them. Not for the first time, we could not arise to the occasion.
As long as there is still mathematically a chance I shall continue to live in hope that we can turn this around, brush Man United aside on May Day, run the rest of the table and get enough help from other quarters to overhaul them.
The following quote, however, suggests that I may now be in the distinct minority: “If we do not beat Liverpool and Tottenham the season won’t be over but the title will be over for sure.” Those words were spoken verbatim by a certain Arsene Wenger on Saturday, April 16th, 2011.
Regardless of what he says now – or in the buildup to Wednesday at the Lane – the manager is on record saying, in essence, here and now or not at all…
A quick glance at the table suggests we have other concerns. As stated, we are in second, six behind United, having played 32 games each. We are a full ten points ahead of the fifth place Spuddies. However, City’s FA Cup Semi-final win means that the Spuddies have a game in hand. If they do the unthinkable on Wednesday, they are only seven points behind. If they win their 32nd fixture – at Eastlands – it becomes only four. They have some tough matches, for sure – but they had a brutal run-in late last season: home versus both us and Chelsea and away at both Manchester sides – and did enough to qualify for the CL. Even if we forget about the Spuds, Chelsea are only three behind, and City (with a game in hand) seven.
At the end of the day, the best advice I can give the players is don’t worry about who is in front and who is behind us. Just play every game to win.
If they can – finally – just do this, and win the remaining games, who knows – it might be enough to be crowned champions.
Even if it isn’t, it will represent a strong finish and an improvement on last year’s finish. How about it, guys?
Written by Oliver
Morning all…..
I dont know why we expected more from our side yesterday, we have said time and time again that we lack the cutting edge, we lack a goal scorer, a beat in midfield and width.
That won’t suddenly change.
We created very little yesterday yet were handed a life-line right at the end ot the game and we took it – Robin did what he needed to and we were 1-0 with minutes to go.
We would have got three points but for one mans stupidity, it wasn’t an error, nor was it unlucky, it was a blatent push on the liverpool player, no matter what wenger says!
One man was to blame for yesterday’s results and that in my book was Eboue…
Forget all the crap before, real champions grind out a result even when playing badly, the troubl is we do not have that mentatily and until we change a few faces is our side, we never will have….
Congrats to Jack Wilsere for winning PFA Young Player of the Year. The only bit of silverware this club will see until the emirates cup…..
A couple of things.
As I said on yesterday’s entry. No heart, no idea, no chance.
And, I am done with this season, I really don’t care any more.
If we can only win one game of those left this season, please let it be wednesday…..
Am so narked with Eboue!!
enger has lost the plot. His insistence on pretty soccer ie pass here/there/everywhere/backward/forard
aint going to in matches. The aim is to score and win not endless passing.You look at other teams. They don’t waste time passing all over the pitch.They have less passea nd can still score an win games.
Why on earth have a marathon passing in front of packed defences?Has it occurred to you the pass maybe intercepted or misplaced and cue for the other team to launch lightning hit and run?
No wonder ARSENAL FIND IT HARD TO SCORE .And they keep on losing /drawing crunch matches.
I think the gunners aint going to get the title although mathematically enger has not given up. We,fans,can only look forward to next season. If it’s more of the same,that’s it Wenger has lost the plot.
Sorry you’re wide of the mark. If the referee had religiously added time during the second forty five for time wasting, we’d have played a minimum of 15 minutes. The fact that the fool Marriner on;ly started counting the time wasting from the end of the 90 is just not consistent. You cant have it both ways. Also, he said a minimum of 8 minutes. That is no longer than 9 minutes. So where exactly did the extra extra time come from? There’s no excuse for the collapse but these people need to explain their decisions and lack of consistency.
AT – if its more of the same next season, wenger should go….
I agree, how many times have we been on a fast break only to stop, turn around and start passing, letting the opposition pack their defence.
Hi clock end, isn’t down to the 4th official to calculate all extra time prior to the 45 min mark and 90 min mark..?
its only down to the ref once the added time begins..
Also, why is it such a big deal to sub our captain??
He was well off his game yesterday, is he really beyond being taken off??
Same old same old. What excuse is it this week ? Bad luck ? “Teams always come here and defend” ? ( how naughty of them ), Liverpool’s black shirts made it hard for my players to see them ?
Well A.K.B.’s – here’s the news I’m sure you’re all glad to hear – from the mouth of the Great Leader himself : “We will continue to live within our means” ( read : our transfer policy won’t be changing, so don’t expect any big name quality signings ), and “we will continue with our policy of developing youth” ( we can see what a success that has been ). And to top it off, the board have said they will be backing Wenger 100%. So there you have it. More of the same.
Relax. We’re in no danger of winning anything till at least 2014, when Wenger’s ( recently extended ) contract expires. Knew that would please you.
“In Arsene we rust.”
No one is making excuses on here Spectrum, we should play to the final whistle, not give away stupid penalties and Wenger needs to stop blaming evryone else but himself..
He bought the players, some of them are clearly not good enough…
Erm.. I think you have missed out a major point mate. The referee added on 3 extra minutes on top of the minimum 8 because of our penalty, goal and celebration.
Can you please explain to me why the referee decided to blow the whistle as soon as their penalty hit the back of the net? Where was our added on time?
Surely if he was being consistent he would of added the time it took for the penalty and celebration?
That’s what makes it even worse Cris, had Eboue not given the push on their player the whistle would have gone a split second after – their celebrations don’t come into it, the game was over….
I think we need to stop blaming pitches and ref’s. The players are not good enough and those who are, just can’t be bothered.
Adams would have battered most of these players.
We are in a mess Will, it’s been on the cards for a while and as oliver points out, seven points from fifteen games at home, simply shocking…..
Thank goodness Stan was there to witness it, he’s already getting us to the US on a pre season, I hope he saw yesterday what we all saw and isn’t blinkered or fooled by any words from Wenger…
It’s time for a few changes….
Off for a bit… Laters..
I never got the Wenger “foreign tours don’t work”. Man Utd and Chelsea go all over the world and win leagues and cups.
I have no problems with the penalty. It was stupid to have to make the referee make a decision especially when he is looking to even things up. Lucas played it well and knew the contact was coming.
But you cannot add extra extra time for one team and not for the other for exactly the same thing.
I agree that changes are needed and I believe this summer we will see a clear out of players and a few big money signings. I don’t mean 30m rated players but players I’m the range of 15-20m.
I want Wenger to say but he has to accept that we need stronger players.
Cris 808 – What, in your estimation, would it take for the manager’s time to be up ? Just curious.
“In Arsene we rust.”
I think we have to see what goes on in the summer before we start rattle throwing.
i’m with you Will, one more transfer window, if he is same old then let’s find someone else…
had we not have moved to the emirates, i’d have wanted him long gone by now….
Exactly Rico, I am of the school that thinks Wenger’s hands have been tied by this move and the shenanigans at boardroom level.
Let’s see what happens now.
morning all…congratulations to our jack on winning the pfa young player of the year. thanks for taking the comments rico…however any of us feel about the add-time issue – or anything else which transpired yesterday – i think it is quite reasonable to say that very few are pleased with how things are at the moment. yes, we are still second, but it could be so much better…
Hi Oliver,
Just dropped in for a quick ‘hello’.
A comprehensive and detailed report and I agree with almost all of it.
Yankees are doing well at the mo’, but your Mets are still struggling. You must be disappointed.
See you later.
ra! good to talk to you again – hope all is well…
over in queens, it is as bad as i have ever seen it. we won in atlanta yesterday afternoon after dropping seven straight, including back-to-back doubleheaders. that home series against colorado is as low as it gets – terrible pitching, even worse fielding, no hitting, atrocious decision-making…a win yesterday – one which frankie tried to give away by walking “larry” to start the ninth – does not gloss over the problems…losing is ingrained in to the current culture at citi, and i think sandy will blow this one up pretty soon. reyes will certainly be moved before the trade deadline – the team will not be able to afford signing him to a new deal – and its probably time to start taking calls on wright as well.
yanks doing ok – i think they will be fine.
Hi Oliver, thanks for the write up, a good one too, blow the time given at the end, we should have been more sensible at the back and more disciplined – the idiot Eboue threw away the lifeline we were given….
Hi RA
morning rico…an air of despondency and resignation around the blogs, i see…i wonder how the players themselves feel – really feel, not “brave face”…i should think that eboue – in particular – is devastated. he should have been smarter, certainly, but i won’t slaughter him…
song, who put us in trouble in the first place with his ponderous foul on shelvey in a dangerous position, should have been much smarter too…
we can debate the added-time until blue in the face, but remember that arsene is the one that started that line of debate…whatever transpired in the 12 added on minutes, does not account for such a poor performance over the 90 regulation minutes in a must-win game…
There is oliver and i’m not surprised – i’m not even thinking about the time if i’m honest, we should have been far more focussed – the liverpool player was going nowehere, there was no need to shove him in the back…
yep, song shouldn’t have given the free kick away but putting that to one side, eboue’s blatent shove was crazy, i hold him fully responsible for our loss…
i know we were poor, not many shots, not much created but, once given 1-0 lead, Eboue should not have gifted them their penalty…
hi afternoon all, any shoulders to cry on here?
well done said Oliver:
“if I had a choice of using Man United’s first-choice defense or our first-choice defense to protect a one-goal lead for an entire second half, I know which one I would choose…”
I couldn’t disagree with that. They have definitely a better defensive unit; one that works to together and in which teammates work together for a long time. Individually they’re good as well especially the goalkeeper and Vidic, but then they have that ref. bias when it comes to dealing with established defenders like Evra, Vidic and Ferdiand who all got away with fouls greater than the silly penalty Eboue conceded. That would never be penalty against ManU team; against Vidic, Ferdinand, and Evra. You saw last 2 weeks ago Evra getting away with a clear foul that deserved a penalty and straight against Chelsea.
Hi Oliver Mathematically we’re in it, but you know we’re not dealing with mathematics here, we’re dealing human behaviours. the problem with this team is mental, psychological one not a quality one. Our team is a quality skill wise but we’re missing other ingredients such belief, fight and never gave up. I don’t know how the ball got that fast into our penalty area after we scored.
he certainly shouldn’t have rico…he should have known better…the whole team should have been able to calmly see this out. song made the eboue – lucas incident possible by fouling shelvey…the entire team made this possible by playing – yet again – ninety minutes with the handbrake on…repetitive sideways passing and an unwillingness to take responsibility and make chances. liverpool were there for the taking, but we just couldn’t up our game…the whole extra time histrionics would be irrelevant if we were not so passive in the whole of regulation time.
hi osi…the morning after, i feel dirty about the united defence comment…neverthless, i think the record will show they are more reliable than we are in critical situations…
we should have won this one well within the 90 minutes, but once again, we have been found wanting when the pressure is on.
we have a huge game on wednesday, have to pick ourselves up for it.
Hi Osi – have to agree with olivers comment about the mancs defence, same could be said of the chavs too…
oliver – that’s it, they were there for a good battering, our performance was dire, apart from a small few…
Got to pop off again, back in a little while….
the problem with our defense isn’t technical in my opinion, it’s mental and lack of consistent partnership. With the same individuals we can be better next season with that young goalkeeper Chezzer or even Fabianski. I said mental because most of the time we concede goals in result of the panic. having said that I believe Clichy is the weakest link – he lacks concentration, a Chief Panic and always rely on anticipation, and don’t see him improving. The others, DJ,Koz, goalie and Sagna are class act and they’ll improve by working together and with more experience. We know also that we have TV who could be back hungrier next season.
For those who blame Song I say: don’t be blind and judge players on form only. Song is world class DM and the most consistent Arsenal player since Viera.
I woke up this morning and pondered on who could be composed and calm enough to submit an article today and only one came to my mind : OLIVER!
Because if it were to be me i would just simply submit this to Rico wit all humility:
Arsenal players are Shit ! Shit !,Rubbish ,Kaka , Crap , and Useless.
In that order really!
hiya sd…i see szczesny is talking now – “we owe the fans a result”…should have gotten one yesterday…once again, they are reduced to next time it will be different. have heard this too many times before…how about going out and getting the result instead of talking about how we need to do it?
Another great match report, oliver. Playing to win is an alien concept to our players, it seems. 😉 Playing to pass pass pass… Now, they have that down to a science.
I’m trying my level best to pick out positives from yesterday… To no avail. These days, it’s hard to be an Arsenal fan.
hi agag…we are still stuck in a rut, no doubt about that. at the moment, we are generally incapable of winning the matches we need to. i had hoped the win at blackpool would have restored confidence and prompted a good run, but yesterday’s performance was depressingly similar to the insipd efforts against sunderland and blackburn.
Boo……
I’m still angry with Eboue 🙁
We need some dynamic players.
3, thats all Will….
5 would be better if we sell a few though 😉
Hi Rico,
Oliver thanks for the MLB update. I have been lucky enough to see 4 of the Yankee games on ESPN over here.
Thanks for asking how I am. 🙂
Not been too well, of and on, for some months, but thought I was getting better. Now I have had my six week work and holiday return to the US cancelled because travelling would be a medical problem for me just now.
How’s things with you?
Rico,
I cannot believe Stan will sanction too much transfer activity in the summer.
Although, you are right, if we ship out 2 or 3 we can use the sale money to buy a new player.
Again, in my opinion, that is unlikely because AW is definitely an evolution and not a revolution man …. and he is stubborn!
Hi RA, I am hanging on to a few snippets – i’ve a feeling we could see a bit of change, we don’t need loads, just a few tweaks in crucial positions…
Like a core spine 😉
Rico,
I agree. But could we have a coarse core spine? Nasty, cheating bastards like everyone seems to have! 🙂
bollox
the wheels have well and truly fallen off…
we need a miracle now…we need a motivator, we need a captian…
we really need a winger…
someone who can dribble with pace and take defenders out of their comfort zone..
all this passy pass pass tippy tap tippity tappity is so fucking easy to defend and its so funking boring watching it…
we need width we need fast players who can counter and run at speed and pull defenders this way and that..
the passes used to pull defenders this way and that but defenders have learned to stand still and just let us pass cos we go nowhere..
i know its a long shot but judging by the way ryo is playing we need him back at arsenal next season and we need to sign hazzard and get them both on the wings..
revert back to 442 cos this 433 is really a 451 and its shit..
Did anyone notice Carroll’s trick yesterday?
RA,
Yes – not the cheating, but the nasty bastards, bring them on i say…
Hi jj,
We need TV back – he could, even should be both….
With his ponytail Will??
Been saying 442 for a while jj, why have chamakh and nik if he’s not going play them? When he does play Nik its out wide….
Same as Theo, he is not a winger, why oh why does he play there, oh, i know, because he’s quick!
Give him a chance in the middle, he may just score us a few goals…..
No Rico. He is very clever at backing it, making contact and then dropping, thus “winning” a free kick.
I agree 4-4-2 and on yesterday’s showing, Theo is not a winger, the fool could not dribble if his life depended on it. He was against a rookie and not once did he take the kid on.
ra, doing ok, thanx…would be doing a lot better if we were able to put some real pressure on man united. it’s looking more and more unlikely as we move…i expect them to win at st james, opening a 9 point gap.
if we follow our pattern, we will draw at the lane on weds…west brom, spuddies and newcastle have all won at the ems this season – we could only draw away to the two promoted sides, both matches we should have won handily…so at the moment i can see 2-2 on wednesday…hopefully the players can prove me wrong and win.
Will,
so what happens if he does all that in the penlty area?
this maybe harsh and maybe kneejerk but clichy nasri and cesc can all be sold for me this summer
go back to 442
ches
sagna koz jd tv
ryo jack sissoko hazard
rvp benzema
i’d keep nasri jj…
and play him where in a 442??
Thats your first eleven jj, who comes in when an injury hits, and ryo won’t get a visa let alone a first team chance..
even if he gets his visa, he’ll go on loan here first….
We have a very good firts eleven right now, its when the cover comes in we are poor…
well, apart from LB…
jj, sorry but i would characterize that as knee-jerk. we are all frustrated – well, perhaps not those happy with the status quo – and there are definitely some areas of the squad which we can upgrade…but i’ll never get to make these decisions, so i doubt what i hope for will ever come to pass…
i would look at our reserve/youth squad and see who looks ready to make the step up to the first team squad – i think that will give us a clue regarding potential departures…which i think will be very, very minimal…i expect that many decisions regarding squad positions will be made based on how pre-season goes. for example, if lansbury has a great pre-season – or if eastmond shows he can do the job – it may…may mean that denilson is allowed to move on…if jet is deemed ready and performs well, perhaps one of vela or nik will be allowed to find a new club…but those are “ifs”, so i don’t expect these decisions to be made early…
if there are any early departures, they will probably be those with no future at that club – i would (right now) place almunia into that category…other early departures may be predicated upon what already exists in the squad. say we decide to cash in on cesc – or there is already an unspoken agreement that he will be allowed to leave this summer (as i suspect there was with henry) – move nasri into his slot, alongside song and jack, with diaby, ramsey and either denilson or a potential youth squad replacement as depth. i cannot see where both cesc and nasri will leave. if – hypothetically – arshavin is sold, then perhaps rosicky gets his starts and sub appearances, with vela re-integrated to provide the squad depth…
who knows how it will shake out…i – for the second time today – feel a bit dirty speculating like this, as there are still six big games to go, and we are not mathematically eliminated from the title and still have final league positioning to play for.
nevertheless, i do not think we will see extensive changes in the summer. regardless of what happens, i expect purchases to be minimal, and primary squad rotation/augmentation to come through our youth system.
so going by my first eleven nasri, who will be on 100k per week if he stays, will be a bench warmer..
the problem wenger has created is that all his midfielders want to play through the middle..
we have no widemen
not one..
if we go back to 442 and use wideman that will mean nasri, cesc, jack cant play in the same team..only one of them can play at one time..
id like to keep nasri but theres no point paying a player 100k a week not to play..
jacks my choice..so id sell nasri and make the midfield more physical with players like song, sissoko, mvila..
jj,
thank goodness you are not our manager 😉 😉
oliver – i think you are right about wenger has to look at the youth, otherwise what is the point??
Lansbury and JEt have to be the next two to step up, maybe even Bartley is ready too, he has certainly had great reviews at Rangers.
Then we have Frimpong, he was already in wengers plans for this season, until injury struck.
If Cesc really wants out then i would let him go and then we can stop relying on one man so much….
after building this squad around the 4-3-3, trumpeting its virtues and recruiting specifically to fit this model, can you see arsene blowing it up and starting all over again with another system? neither can i…
and the rumours this morning was that if ryo plays for japan in the up coming tournament hes gets his visa
rico, i would not look exclusively to youth. i agree with jj that some things need to be changed, but the point of my post is that i cannot see a scenario where it will be changed…
we have robin, chamakh, vela, and nik as our forwards – we can add theo as well…what we are doing there plays to robin’s strengths but almost completely nullifies the best attributes of the other three (four)…at the moment, it is not so surprising that we struggle to score goals…
forgot arsh too, sorry…
why not
wenger abandoned the 442 after 12 years for the 451..
and its not as fruitful
whats to say he wont change it back??
With the right players 433 works, we just don’t have the right players to play it……..
its not a 433..
never has been..
we are overloaded with midfeilders wenger changed it to fit them in..
its a 451..or a 4231..
i cannot say for certain he won’t change it back. and if he does, i think we will be better set up. but…my suspicion is that he won’t change because he has yet to win with it…and that he won’t seriously consider changing it until he does – or until we plummet out of the top four. as long as the status quo remains, my suspicion is that he will persist with it.
make you right oliver
wengers stubborn ..wont back down until he proves hes right..
nothing will change..
oliver – nor would i, i just believe that lansbury and bartley offer much more than denilson and squlli…
as much as i would love us to buy the right players to make us champions, i cannot see it – i honestly believe that we will sell a few including youth and maybe buying three players.
But, i’m only guessing….
Right now, what matters most to me is beating the swampies down the road on wednesday….
I’m off for the day guys, catch up tomorrow….
be good…
later rico, later jj
One mongrel with its tail up and fighting to get into “TOp-4” as it smelled blood against a wounded opponent.
THe other a whingeing French Poodle refused to acknowledge the flaws in itself as there is no fight in them being mollycoddled by a hypocritical snake-oil salesman and not realising the ahrsh reality fo English Football that you need grits and courage to dig deep in to lug it out in a trenchiwar, where bravery and grits will win anytiem over finesse and fancy footwork.
Remember that 1st “Indiana Jones” movie where a skilled and burly Arab Swordsman started to twirl his sowrd with dazzling speed and finesse and challenged Indian Jones to a 1-on-1 combat?
A cynical Indiana Jones just shot him deep with a revolver.
This is exactly what is happening to Arsenal nowaday.
Arsenal is just that “wimpish Swordsman”, twirling, prancing and pouncing on the pitch with 70% possession, fanciful footwork, twinkle-toes, shoulder-drops, dribbling, indulging in 30+ passes outside the box…with a devastating final pass or thru’ ball…RIGHT AT THE FEET OF DEFENDERS!!…@#$%$#@
And what did our opponents CONSISTENTLY did all the TIME?
In a 98-minutes match, all they need is “one shot from their revolver” to kill off a “dazzling and devastating Beautiful Football” Arsenal.
And that is exactly what S*CUMS is going to do to us with their “revolver” against “Swordsman” Arsenal.
Watching Arsenal plays nowaday is extremely painful as if watching a dazzling and “devastating” Shaolin Kungfu Monks “preformancing Arts” on stage, knowing very well that a raw and brutish Professional Mixed Martial Art Fighter will make mincemeat of any of those prancing SHaolin Monk in a Cage Fight.
English Mongrel vs Frenh Poodle tomorrow at WHL.
You sure those pretty boys and french poodles can scored after a 30+ passes Crab Football sequence?
I am devastated after watching a repeat of that shameful collapse of 16-Feb-2008……and we can’t blame Captain Gallas and Brian CLough for that isn’t it?
RYo Myaichi?
People, let’s not get overboard with him as he is not “the next big thing”.
Rememebr our recent painful experience with “Next Vieira” Diaby? Vela? Theo?
Ryo is just another Theo on the left flank with dazzling footwork and pace…but no end products like Theo.
Watch his video again and check how many passes find its men. Didn’t it remind you of Theo?
I will rather comapre Ryo to “Ryan Giggs”..or better still our “next Pires”.
WHy our pass few seasons are suffering a paucity of goal scorers after December every season is simply that we have yet to find consistent goal-scoring mdifielders like Freddy and Pires.
And the main attributes missing from thsi pale shadow of prvious great 1st & 2nd Wenger’s Arsenal Team is simply this:
1 – With Fabregas, we lost the art of “one-touch one pass breathing football” with blidnside running from Freddy and Pires lathcing onto thsoe thru’ balls and rebounces to score.
2 – Fabregas is simply too slow and deliberate in picking up his passes, and has not develop any telepathic understanding like the “French Spine” of Bergy, Henry, Pires, Freddy, Wiltord and Vieira with their instant and isntinctive thru’ balls or passes into space knowing that one of ’em will be there at all times.
3 – The Lost Art of quick “One-Two” to bypass Santini Bus – Watch that Liverpool agian and how many tiems that Cesc broke into the box expectign a quick one-two and return pass to burst clear to goal? And how tiems he raised hsi hands in frustration as none of his team-mates read his movement or can’t pass accurately into space to him?
4 – And of course, that predictable and desperate tactics of Theo, Nasri and Clichy crossing from the flanks hoping against hope that one fot ehri 100+ crosses will find an attacking Arsenal player (only Kos came closed with a header). Recalled again – how many tiems have you ever seen French SPine crossing so mnay tiems from the flanks.
And French SPine Technique is always Cashley and Lauren moving from flanks and cutting into the centre to play quick one-two with French Spine to breakdown any defence.
SInce Lauren and Cashley left, ahve we got any of our FB that can play like ’em linking up with attack?
And if thsi trend continues with no major revamping comes summer, then lower yoru expectation to “fightig for “TOp-4″ spot is liek winning a trophy” as said by that hypocritical snake-oil salesman after another trophyless 2009/10 season 3rd spot finishes.
get rid of them
Morning, busy one 🙁
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