Morning Gooners,
If there are still any out there!
I was shocked by the result at Old Trafford but what did we really expect fielding a team without suspended Gervinho and Song and Frimpong and injured Vermaelen, Sagna and Gibbs?
Now we have lost Jenkinson!
We have played 3 Premier league games, conceded 10 goals and scored 2.
We also played 2 qualifying games in The Champions league with a sending off there as well. We had two holding a suspension from last season and it has to be said that Arsenal football club are the world’s dirtiest team by far and should in all honesty not be included in professional football at all.
Arsenal football club is a disgrace to world football, there has never been a club as far as I know who have a disciplinary record as bad as ours. I have never known a football club to have had two players and their Manager suspended in the first game of a new competition and I have also not heard of a team after 3 premier league games to have 4 player suspended.
I believe I have just highlighted the fact that Arsenal now has the dirtiest team in the world and it can only get worse!
Our manager may still get a 3 match ban for not complying with UEFA rules in our Champions League match whilst banned, Wenger had discarded those rules and will now be assessed by Panel in the UEFA, which will undoubtedly rule against Arsenal.
After all let’s face it if Wenger flaunts the rules, he must off course be punished which really needs to be highlighted, as Arsenal get away with blue murder.
Now in my view and by looking at Arsenals record, Arsenal are in the wrong and should be hit with a very hefty fine and be warned severely that this kind of behaviour cannot be tolerated.
It may take exclusion from the competitions for it to completely sink in, maybe a ban for 3 seasons would be fair, seeing how UEFA usually do everything in three’s to make their decisions perfectly clear.
We must now analyze the game against United and find out what went wrong. To start with Chesney was at fault with most of the goals and is not as safe as many have said in support of him, how can a keeper be lobbed whist standing on his line, the answer to this question is that the goalkeeper is not up for the job and Arsenal must look elsewhere.
I said in a previous post, that Chesney is not the finished article. He may still cost us lots of points and must only be used just as a stand in. Many will say that Wenger is at fault for not buying experienced players, that’s a fair point but they will have to be assessed as our new signings are obviously not disciplined enough and could quite easily be the next suspended player.
The 3 teams we have played have had none of their players suspended, so our disciplinary record will have to be rectified immediately as we are running out of players fast.
8.2 is a humiliating defeat, it’s so bad that managers have been sacked in the past for lesser scores!
Wenger will also need to look for a penalty taker we don’t get to many but when we do they need to be converted and Robin’s effort was woeful, an embarrassment to the travelling fans! Van Persie must feel ashamed at that effort, low and slow was just what the United keeper needed and the prolific Van Persie duly obliged.
I am still in shock and still cannot take in the result, Cesc was worth 40 million how much must Rooney be worth?
We must hold our hands up and surrender, ask the FA to put us in an easier league!
Our fans are silent we cannot fill out stadium and we can’t afford new players so why continue?
Let’s pack it all in and play golf or a nice peaceful cricket match whilst having a beer in the outfield!
Why waste our time when it’s clear that our team are just not up to the task!
Now that has all been said, let’s look at this sensibly!
Three players suspended and many injured mising through injury yetserday and we have had to field reserves in many of the positions.
United couldn’t have played us at a better time and that always amazes me, so much so that it seems that this is not a coincident.
We are a footballing side, we are not known as a tough guy team and we are also known as not a dirty side but our record would show different.
Top players would look at that game and not want to join us but would jump at the chance to join United.
I suggest foul play; I don’t know why and don’t know who benefits!
I only know that the five games we have played since the start of the season and the sendings off we have suffered have been shocking.
At Newcastle, we managed to draw with a man sent off. Against Liverpool we were never going to lose that game until the sending off but a build up of suspensions in 3 games made it virtually impossible to hold out against the best team in the league.
It has become the norm for Arsenal supporters to see our players sent off.
Look at the second leg against Barcelona and the Robin sending off which again handed the match to Barcelona.
You understand what I’m saying?
Somebody has it in for us and this is the way it’s done, suspensions!
Enough suspensions will defeat even the best teams in the world but do they get them?
Maybe 1 or 2 in a season but us, we pick them up in every game and we are no more physical than anybody else.
In every game we have ever had with United they get 3 to our 1of free kicks against us, usually just outside our box in a central position.
I expect them in every game and the referee never disappoints me, is this a coincidence?
I don’t think so, It will come out later on I’m sure but there is something wrong and it stinks.
Is it because of Wenger? I believe so but why? I don’t know.
I’m convinced this spell won’t change all the time Wenger is in charge but hey what do I know.
United used to get a penalty every time we played them but when we showed the stats they stopped and our suspensions started but you tell me are we a dirty side.
Our boys got hammered out there yesterday but still tried to go forward.
Young guys that showed heart – yes it was a bad defeat but also commendable.
Written by Steve Palmer
Morning all…… I still feel sick!!
Steve, good read but I’m not 100% convinced by your theory….
I know FIFA and the FA etc are’t keen on us, but I’m not convinced they would ‘cheat’ along the way…. The only sending off that really narked me was RvP’s in the CL…
This season, imho all have been correct decisions and AA got very lucky yesterday…..
And watching Rooney’s free kick, and Rosicky not even taking any note of where it was going was a disgrace – what if that had rebounded off the post???
He’d have had no idea…..
Ermmm just to mention we have scored 2 goals!
Somebody has it in for us and this is the way it’s done, suspensions!
Total and utter denial.
I have ammended the post to reflect the goals, that was my error not the authors…
Sorry Steve, typo 🙁
we will always be here!!!!
rico.. i noticed Rosicky also, after the free-kick, he looked away and you could see his expression said: “Of course he’s gonna score”
BnT – I don’t believe the theory either – our sendings off have been justified imho….
Wenger has three days to make a few changes but listening to his comments arfer the game…
His head is in the sand….
a condition of humiliating disgrace or disrepute, that is the Merriam Webster dictionary definition of ‘Shame’ today Wenger truly brought it down on a team with a proud and noble history, he has spat in the face of Frank McLintock, Charlie George, Ted Drake and Tony Adams, men who knew they were putting on more than a red and white shirt, they were putting on pride and honour, they were not the faceless money grubbing journeymen vermin of our current ilk, Bertie Mee must be turning in his grave right now that Wenger’s arrogance disguised as ‘philosophical musing’ has heaped so much shame on our proud history, he must be fired, I don’t care If the Arsenal board give the job to Kerry Katona, anything will be better than this miscreant Wenger.
Hi ADK – shocking attitude from one of our most experienced players….
gunner cy – yes, we will as we support afc, not the board or any manager at the top….
The same board that neds to wake up and tell wenger to spend….
Hi Mark – if he is sacked now, there is not enough time to sort things out – no sacking, just tell him to change his stingy ways…. and FAST!
No arsenal team should ever conceed 8. I dont care who we put out.
Morning all.it must be painful to write that post steve.if it were up to me i would’ve written ‘we were shit’ and ended my post.
Dont know why Arsene is soo hated..i really struggle to understand why we are always faced with the worst case scenario! to be honest , the only thing that did not surprise me was the penalty….u knew Howard Webb couldn’t help himself even tho the score was about 6-2 then, seriously someone has it in really bad for Arsene and Arsenal football club, both domestically and in Europe(remember the penalty against Udinese on wednesday?). I dont know , i really dont know
“i really struggle to understand why we are always faced with the worst case scenario”
Really? REALLY??????? 8 – 2 thats why!!!
I’m sorry but the only answer for me is to get rid of Wenger and the board and start from scratch. This hasn’t happened over night it’s been coming for a while as the papering over the cracks hasn’t worked. Unfortunately no-one at the club has the balls to make the right decisions and so instead it will be a long painful season for us I am afraid…
we’ve conceded 10 and scored 2… not that it matters but at least get it right. quit moaning and move on we all knew we’d lose and even in this disastrous defeat we actually could have turned the tide a couple of times.
if we were really ambitious fans who wanted to restore the arsenal of old we’d call for a new board and the return of david dein. we’ve got no time to make the proper transfers but i think we can scrape things together and get out the door with another 4th place finish, which at this point we’d all take. let’d hope we can nab cahill for 12, elia, park i guess (since apparently it’s just about done) and maybe malouda or a defensive midfielder.
not sure what these next few days have in store but it will be an ugly uproar if wenger doesn’t make a few double digit transfers and it’s already looking like he won’t.
up gunners.
Hi Kt
I had written a post for today:
Heading ‘Why Bother’!
Picture – Black Scarf
One paragragh – ‘In all my Arsenal Days, yesterday was the Worst’!!
That was it……
Let us all stop the infighting and accept that our great club is in decline just like Nottingham Forest, it is not because of the manager or the players, the buck stops with the board who have failed to challenge wenger in the last six years failed to instigate change. the board have a bizarre view of football and they sadly think that the stadium will always be full, They are mistaken so they shooting themselves in the foot. i am not over reacting when i say this all, but we are the precipice of something awful, even if wenger did leave do you trust the board to even find a worthy replacement? we have Kronke who is so up his on gas pipe that he can not even say some comforting words to the fan base, isnt that shocking? football is business but it also relies on the passion of the fans which despite the commendable show by the away fans yesterday is on the wane.
we as fans need to do something what that is i do not know but sitting idly by whilst the board destroy our club is not the way. for one game maybe we boycott the game to show a sign of strength and unhappiness that they will have to do something even if it is just a statement of intent, look at Tony Fernandes of QPR he has given the fans some hope they can mix it up, where the hell is Kronke? muppet. Arsenal FC RIP always a gooner. BRING BACK DEIN NOW!
I think the answer to all our sendings off is simple.
Frimpong – too young and inexperienced
Song – Plain Stupid
Gervinho – Stupid
Jenkinson – Too Young
Experienced players do not react so much and they are more disciplined with their tackles..
Buy Experience Wenger and FAST!
GS – If Wenger doesn’t make the signings we need I think results will determine the future of our manager but i’d rather the board left and a new one came in, one that wants arsenal back where they should be….
Our away fans were brilliant and did not deserve that humiliation 🙁
I suppose someone from the FA spiked Sagnas Chinese takeaway before the game aswell!!!??
Face it, we got hammered by a much better and more confident side. Yes, we had players out, but so did Man U. The average age difference between the sides was very similar. We have no leadership within the group. Man U have winners in there team, people like Jones, Rooney, Young, people with a bit of bite in their game. We have Coquelin, Djourou, Walcott, who look scared to even get the ball.
The calls for Wengers head are wrong due to the fact we have 3 days left of the window and any incoming manager would have the same squad with the same injuries n suspensions. But Arsene needs to realise that this pretty football has to be earned on the pitch. It doesn’t matter how good the football Is if you are as poor as we are without the ball. Time to get some steel in the team, people like Fallaini, Cahill, Jagielka. We need people who can lead and who are not afraid to get into a battle.
HG – and QPR are ready to splash what cash they have… Scott Dann is on their radar, and Cahill is now on Harrys, Wenger needs to sort this out….
No Fan deserved that yesterday Kt..
Fgg – spot on…..
For some over at LG today will feel like christmas.Arsene is going to get a pounding today from everywhere.if he can manage to salvage the sitiuation he will be remembered as one of the greats.
You guys remember when Old Red Nose was reported as being ‘one game away from the sack’?
Well, maybe it’s Wenger’s time for those comments, right now though he is the only one who can turn things around as Fergie did back then…..
maybe we should start asking the right questions ?
have Kroenke’s arrival helped us ?
would we allow gazidis to keep telling lies ?
WHERE are the money to invest ?
and the final question…do we think Wenger still is the man ?
trying to find excuses ,well that doesnt help…thinking we’re being hunted down by referees and UEFA ..c’mon im sure you dont believe that,we’re all truly shocked,but it wont help trying to blame others mate..
me i blame the Board,Kroenke should never have been approved,Gazidis is a lying son of a b**ch,Wenger is NOT the manager to get us forward(be honest we have been on a slide for quite a long time)
finally ALL Our players should put their heads down in shame…disgraceful…
We really are at rock bottom….we can’t sink lower than this. Hopefully we ll build from the bottom. First thing first, we need to get keown back…sorry but I don’t think cleverly jones and smalling are better defenders than what we put out yesterday..the difference was in coaching…secondly the high line must disappear from our game..it leaves us expose far too often and we don’t have a mobile DM any more like paddy V and the flamster….thirdly we must learn to shoot from within the box and outside it…..its frustrating watching our players passing to each other in the six yard box…it drives me mad…finally we need to go back to 442 where theo can play off RVP…he’s useless on the wings….we have a player capable of getting 20 to 25 goals per season for us yet we waste him out wide….see welbeck how welbeck tore us to shreds..theo could do that and better not to mention the number of penalties we ll be getting. Do these and we ll be back to winning trophies again..
Mark Sampson – absolutely spot on. He has brought us to such a low now that none of his achievements matter any more. I suppose it could be worse. It could have been spuds dishing that whipping out. Oh and to all those who think its madness to sack him I say Martin O’Neil, Gus Hiddink, Steve Bould, Christ even Steve Claridge would be better than who we have now.
And hey…..morning good people
tomstoned – that is a bit like the vicar of dibley…
no
no
no….
yes
😉
hi goonster – i fear it will get a lot worse before it gets better….
Hi Ima – it’s the timing, we’d have the same players, the same players out etc…..
Yesterday’s game showed how much we miss midfielders that control the pace of our game limiting the chances of the opposition.cesc/nasri/jack were brilliant at this and neither played yesterday.watching silva/nasri do that for city was painful to watch.city look unstoppable going forward.they are scoring for fun and if we don’t sort ourselves out city will give us another pounding.
Swansea will give us a battering if we don’t sort this out Kt, never mind Citeh…..
The damage is simply done.. Wenger’s all constant lies result the club’s worst defeat, still he is refuse to admit his failure.. Typical egomaniac – blind dictator – hypocrit, someone should put the score beneath his statue for our children to remember this humiliation, so they won’t repeat this same mistake, “Once you choosed a wrong leaders, doom is the consequence for you to face..” All Arsenal fan in England should march the protest and boycott next games until this dictatorship brought down, we need a revolution now!
Rico. It is clear to me that, if Arsenal are to move forward, there are a number of people who need to have their heads removed from where the Sun don’t shine. It really is about time we stopped making excuses for the club and Arsene Wenger and the board. The cold hard facts are these. Wenger has failed to rebuild the side and he has, at the same time, sold all the best players. This hasn’t happened since last season, this has been happening for years and years. Yes, he has bought in some good players but he has also bought in players who are nowhere near Arsenal quality. I won’t list them as I cannot be bothered, but we all know who they are. I don’t blame them in the slightest. Wenger has played fast and loose with the team, relying on the fact that he was good enough to keep us up there. At this he has been superb. Every year the squad has been eroded. The board have been worse than useless. Gazidis has been shown up as a smooth talker with no substance. Kroenke has lived up to his nickname magnificently and Wenger has been almost criminal in the way that he has let this transfer window drift. I said on this site months ago that if he used the protracted sales on Cesc and Nasri as an excuse it would be tragic. He already has done this, just last week. With three days to go before the window slams shut he is sitting there, talking rubbish about players being injured with probably near enough £80-100 million in his kitty. I refuse to believe it is any less or that the board won’t release money. That is crap. He said yesterday that he didn’t expect Gibbs to be injured. What? Everyone who had a brain in their head knew that Gibbs would get injured. We just thought he would make it through more than 45 minutes. How do we know this? History, that’s all it is. We have seen it so many times before. If I look through the first team squad from last season I think we needed to shift out about 8 and bring in at least 6 top players. Not blokes like Jenkinson, who must be wondering what has hit him. I feel sorry for him. Not blokes like AOC. He might be great one day but is he really what we need? No. Of course not. And now we are going to sign a Korean striker and we still have Chamakh at the club because he was on a free. Yes, we waited a whole season to get Chamakh on a free. To me that borders on sheer lunacy. Whichever way you look at it and there are many ways, we are in the shit. There is only one person to blame I am afraid.
I feel sick to my stomach. I stood on the Highbury terraces as a teenager in the 60s and cheered an Arsenal side that finished mid table every year and won nothing. Migration to Australia brought George Graham and teams that won matches and silverware. It couldn’t get much better could it? Yes it did. The whole thing fitted like a glove. Arsene was going to coach Arsenal. He was heaven sent and could do no wrong. Viera, Pires, Ljunberg etc with established stars such as Tony Adams and Dennis Bergkamp. It was all too much. I was in ‘gunner heaven’ and the bad old days were gone forever. Wrong, wrong, wrong. In a display of suicidal ineptitude Le Professor has stood by and let our two best player’s depart. Furthermore he has steadfastly refused to sign the players we need to fill the gaping holes in the team. Juan Mata was ours. We had first refusal and haggled over wages. Did anyone see his 14 minute cameo for Chelski the other night. It was an amazing showcase of talent. Pin point crosses, Deceptive dribbling and a fantastic opportunist goal. In a year’s time he’ll be worth $40,000,000 or more and le boss let him escape. We desperately need A good old fashioned English centre half. Gary Cahill fits the bill perfectly. What does Arsene do? He makes an offer that is lower than insulting. We need a midfield general. ‘Wes Snideley’ is a fantastic player who could dominate and make Arsenal formidable. What do we do? We whinge and grumble about the wages involved. Sorry guys, it’s a whole new world of football where the rich prosper and the others can please themselves. Anyone fancy relegation? That’s probably a little harsh but I can most certainly see my beloved gunner’s sinking into anonymity in mid table unless drastic measures are taken. Is Arsene still the man to guide us to the promised land? I really don’t know but every night I say a prayer to the football god’s to keep us on the straight and narrow. I hope I don’t die before the glory days come back once more.
hi ken, i think fans have started to show their concerns and anger – will this current board care???
rico mate ;..im glad to see you have survived ..
im sorry to have to tell you that The Arsenal are in shambles..both on the pitch and off..should we just allow it to keep going on ?..
two things would help…lets get Usmanov in (at least he is going to Our games and watch,then bring back Dein)
get rid of the dross…arshavin,theo,squill,almunia,rosicky,senderos..oooopss sorry djourou,traore,is chamakh still playing?,jenkinson,and lets bring in some footballers….
and bring in ping pong whu,cjak man shek,kok up tong,and the rest of them..
and let Wenger go out and find a great CB he has done that in the past…lets see..Djourou,Senderos,Silvestre,Squllaci;and a few more to poor to mention…
ima gooner
steve claridge is a complete cxxt not a clue mate
Sorry ken that’s not gonna happen the arsenal fans in the UK are lilly livered…..we need fans like manure and liverfools fans. They won’t take this lying down. Enough of the mediocrity. Its time for action.
Hi adam
Good comment – agree, we all knew Gibbs was always a game away form an injury….
To be honest, i don’t know who is to blame anymore, if the board are telling him he has money and he refuses to spend it, then they should sack him.
If the board are lying and they won’t give him the money then they won’t sack him as it will cost them too much to shut him up…
Something is seriously wrong at the top of the club and as i have always said, i would much rather have seen AU buy us out, we’d not be sitting here feeling the way we do now, that’s for sure…
Three days, our club have had three months and all they have done is made money, just like they have since 2005….
It stinks….
tomstoned, i know its in a mess… been saying all summer we are in a mess……
If two months ago, we had known this would have happened, i’d have shouted form the rooftops to sack wenegr, just don’t feel we are at the right time…
Dec – if things are the same, then get a new manager in just before the window opens again and preferably with a new board…
When you see rednose saying he wanted it to stop it hurts even more than the defeat.would rednose have stood up for Arsene in 2003?…its sickening that he feels pity for us.i also read an article saying ‘The Bambi has been shot’…is that what we have become?
Good comment DV…
goonster – don’t you believe all that about the fans, you’ll see in the next few weeks how they are far from liily…..
Kt, yes – fergie knows our days of threatening them are over, that is why the old git is being so ‘nice’…..
Point taken rico….am waiting.
seriously, our next game is at home, if wenger doesn’t get players in the next three days, our stadium will be half empty…..
Where is kev? Am hyperventilating again…I can still see that twat rooney laughing at our misery…I wanna punch him in the face so bad….but I know he ll probably whupp me just like he did my club yesterday…God I hate losing to the mancs!
Shit,do you mob support the club,or just the grandiose vision of what you want the club to be?
You are either a supporter or you aren’t,and most of you think you are…..thats not enough.
If we had beaten the mancs by a similar scoreline rednose wouldn’t take that result lying down.im sure there are several players who would never wear the manc shirt again.he would even beat up the players if thats what he needed to do.Arsene on the other hand is rolling out excuses shielding the players from feeling the heat.that pampering is destroying our club and no wonder most of our players refer to arsene as a 2nd dad.not even a league 2 side will go to OT and lose 8-2.its disgusting…
Yeah rico like that’s ever gonna happen. Some pea brained wenger loving twat will still find his way to the EMs and brandish his stupid”KEEP THE FAITH and IN ARSENE WE TRUST” banners.
Hey Rico !! I have always had my doubts abt this so called “transfer chest”. You know when people say AW would have been sacked at any other top club for his failures, I would ask them this question . IF Wenger had the funds that a Mourinho/Mancini gets , do you honestly think he would not have gone for the preferred 1st choices he may like instead of the 2nd /3rd choices he has to settle for?
Anyways our defence was shambolic and so is our negotiating team.I don’t think AW is responsible for deciding the wage structure . How can he when he would not be in a position to dictate his own?Its not his daddy’s club or anything.
But I do think that our youngsters are needed to be to be sent to either the Championship or a fellow PL club on loan. Not anything lower than that.
Tell me about it KT….I think we fans should have a one on one no holds bar confrontation with that mug….I shudder to think what pricks like jaguar and gambon will do to him. Now that’s comedy.
Fifty-Year Gooner.
I thought I had seen it all but yesterday was a blessing in disguise as the true fans will acknowledge that you have to get behind Mr Wenger for the job he is doing on his own ? every successful club has a good right hand man to make the Managers duties and responsibilities lighter [ Mr David Dean ] was that man for Arsene, he helped take the strain of everything from press reports- negotiateing for the new players that Arsene wanted and controling the Board Members on how a football club should be run, not just for £ / $ and € but for the Supporters and Image. Sadly yesterday I looked at a man struggerling with all the bad feelings from every-one, the press the fans the so called pundits the board of directors and some of our own stars of the past commenting on T.V.
Arsene Wenger stood there and took all those remarks like the Gentleman he is and has the Guts to say I am staying and will get it right, he truely is Mr INVINCIBLE and will be again.
Arsene should also see why we need experienced players now.he is expecting too much from our youngsters and throwing them in the deep end isn’t helping.unless the likes of jenkinson have the mental strength of szczesny they’ll be permanently scarred by yesterday’s game and they’ll never be the same again.the mancs had a young team too but they have been folded with experienced players.arsene should no longer use youth as an excuse.
Adam, many of u have been saying that things are not right at the club. Something stinks right at the top … my guess is that Gazidis is the main culprit but the rest of the Board and Wenger are equally to blame. If we fans do not have the guts to sock it to them where it hurts most – obviously in the pocket – then The Araenal is doomed. Will someone please tell this wanker to go out and buy the likes of Tevez and Kaka!!!!! Spend the damn money you fools. And yes – bring in Usmanov – it can’t get any worse surely!!
“GET RID OF THE FRENCHMAN,BEFORE IT’S TO LATE”.
Adam, many of us have been saying that things are not right at the club. Something stinks right at the top … my guess is that Gazidis is the main culprit but the rest of the Board and Wenger are equally to blame. If we fans do not have the guts to sock it to them where it hurts most – obviously in the pocket – then The Arsenal is doomed. Will someone please tell this wanker to go out and buy the likes of Tevez and Kaka!!!!! Spend the damn money you fools. And yes – bring in Usmanov – it can’t get any worse surely!!
Gambon will have a field day and quite rightly so.the term embarassing is merely an understatement to describe yesterday’s drubbing.erely an understatement to describe yesterday’s drubbing.
you wait and see goonster 😉
Hey shrek – i know, i think we have all wondered how much we have had available from the off, but now there can be no denying, we all know who we have sold and pretty much how much for….
Now we seem to be looking at chelsea’s direction for alex….what’s going on? Are these guys for real? How hard could it be….identify your target, make a bid and negotiate and buy the damned player. Lord God in heaven, who made these guys board members? Its beyond me.
Traore having a medical at QPR…good.now sign an experienced LB.
Rico, We know how much we’ve got after selling players but we don’t know whether Wenger is really allowed to use it on his preferred first choice players or pay less & settle for his 2nd/3rd choice players. Even Welbeck’s movement and dribbling abilities seem to be better than Theo’s.
I agree with whoever mentioned the changing of coaches, we need defensive coaches, its so obvious that our players don’t have a clue.
Really want to see Usmanov send silent stan packing with a few bob in his pocket. Let Usmanov shower us with his billions.
I think Pat Rice needs to go, Wenger has enough yes men, without that guy inflating his ego more.
I think its too late for this season already, its a write off. Wenger should have gotten the picture at the end of the season, when the end of every game was met with boos, but he didn’t. Yet again, him or the board thought they could stiff us, sell our best to line the pockets of the club and not replace them, and where has that got us? And that defeat had been coming for a while, believe me, sooner or later that was going to happen. But will it make a difference? No it won’t.
I feel the board dread the day that the club is debt free, so the excuse of stadium debt can no longer be held over our heads.
Real question to anyone who can answer this for me, Where does all our money go? I know we have a huge wage bill, but we sell and sell without replacement. What ever happened to the money we made on Ade and Toure?
You know if coquelin has to play and if he is not in 1st team plans , he should be going to a PL side for a loan.No point sending him to Ligue one if his destiny is in rough & fast England.
If things couldn’t get any worse city have bid €28mil for De Rossi.he may have stagnated of late but that change may do him a world of good.
were shit dont care what anyone says its wenger fault if the board wont let him buy quit if i was in work by the way i am a gas fitter working with tools that aint up to the job and my bosses say ah sure you will get bye i would walk plain and simple we all knew moving to a new ground we would be broke for 2 or 3 years buy wenger said than we would be able to buy the best players were are they oh they left and then them c***s put up the prices to watch that shit
rico mate..
if it makes you feel any better…We should put the blame where it belongs…KROENKE(and his hitman lyingidis)since that plastic faced hollywood wh*re appeared on the scene late 2007early08..look at the money made and reinvestments done …
we have to start with the main enemy KROENKE !!
K-TR7 , Citeh is completely screwing the market and in our materialistic world ,everyone wants a share of their pie.
Dream on KT….wenger won’t buy a left back.. He already sees vermaelin as a back up for gibbs. We won’t be getting any left back…he hasn’t bought any for almost ten years now….what’s to stop him continuing the trend. We ll get a CB and a creative mid fielder and he’s done…..mark my words.
goonster we be lucky to get anyone if i was a top class player and that mug wenger asked me to sign i would laugh at him
Moaning,
Some really good comments this morning, I just feel numb.
People have to stop using the referee’s as excuses, its the same for every team, its swings and roundabouts, take yesterdays game,we were awarded a penalty and Arshavin should have been sent out in the first half, luckily for Arsh he just happened to have a get out of jail free card tucked into his shorts which saved his bacon.
I don’t think anyone can complain about any of our 3 sending off’s this season, we’ve got to be bigger than that.
Wenger has thrown some of our younger players straight into the team this season,they are simply outta there depth.
Just take Jenks for example i’m sure when he joined us this summer he would have just been happy playing in the CC games but finds himself playing champions league and EPL, this guy was being loaned out to non-league Eastbourne only 18 months ago,I bet he will be feeling as sick as a parrot this morning, all his family are gooners through and through.
I know that goonster and thats why am not holding my breath.
Hi keith, just edited one little word, we don’t like that on here 😉
Traore is having a medical at QPR – according to reports…..
micko ur right tell u what tell the players from now on if ur send off for stupid things of ur own doing 2 weeks wages fine it would stop than wenger need to put his foot down firgie threw a boot at beckham
ESP – to pay off debt, thats all it appears this board want to do, then sel up and make even more money…
I’m all for AU buying him out, i know he’s not perfect but suggestion is he watches us each week, does the silent one??
Its a sorry state when you have to play a guy that is having a medical at another club the day after, you really think his heart was in it?
I hate to say it but city and the mancs are playing some breathtaking stuff at the moment.their new signings are bedding in well and we don’t look remotely close to challenging them.
I feel for him micko. Not a good experience for him. But he looks like a strong willed lad. He ll get over it. Like I said previously I don’t think the manure defenders are better than ours…..its just a coaching thing. Sort that out and maybe just maybe we ll qualify for europe cause at this rate we may be starring at relegation in the face.
-Rico
But there are fees (Big ones) for paying off debts early, why would we do that?!
sorry rico so upset man my heart is broken prob more than if the wife left me could get a new 1 of them them cant get a new club
Micko – blaming refs is wrong, ok some decisons don’t go our way, BUT, can anyone honestly say that those this season have not been deserved…
I can’t…..
The club are to blame, they are the ones who buy the players and put the younger ones in such a position – we cannot expect them to suddely gain experience, just because they have to play….
And yes, I bet the whole Jenkison family are as gutted as we are….
WWMG. The truth is mate that Arsenal is run like a secret society and none of us really know what is going on within the club. If we really have no money and all the transfer profits have been eaten up by the stadium then, as one of the top sporting clubs in the world with £millions coming in each week, I guess that really means that the whole Emirates move has been an unmitigated disaster and we can’t actually afford to compete at the top table. Personally, judging by what I see, I cannot believe this is the case. My own personal theory is that the problems lie with Wenger. I think that he is a victim of his own success and that he now believes his own hype. He said, not too long ago, that if he was handed £100 million to spend on players he would give it back. I thought at the time this showed a degree of meglomania that was unhealthy and I think that has been borne out by subsequent events. He says we make stars, we don’t buy them. Yes, but that was before Chelsea and Man City came in and distorted the whole game. We all know that him failing to reinforce the squad at critical points in the last several years has cost us at least one title. He who doesn’t learn from his mistakes is doomed to repeat them and that is what we are seeing now with 3 days left to buy what we need. The bitter truth I think is that Wenger can do no more at Arsenal and I am not sure that our current management structure is ambitious enough to carry the club forward, even if a new manager came in and wanted to spend the £100 million that is probably required. What seems clear is that Wenger is a busted flush with a fantastic history. Perhaps Usmanov and a new board might be the way forward?
Rico i beat you to the traore news 😉
Taking so much stick this morning from fans of other clubs even the scummers…..God am so angry. See you in an hour guys got a meeting by 12…..see ya
Myles Palmer is having a field day.he predicted this a long time ago.
😳 sorry Kt, i’m on and off and hard to keep up 😉
Baking on a sunny bank holiday 😛
Mick McCarthy is defending Wenger,even Guardiola is.I mean WTF?It won’t be long before Mourinho speaks.
Everyone is backing Wenger Kt, GG said this morning, if he walks, a top club will snap him up within hours…..
Apart from fans that is….
SS’s report that Young has passed his medical over the weekend and the deal should be announced shortly….
Hello fellow Gooners. At least we’re in it together.
I’m disappointed the commentators and match pundits never mentioned we had 9 players out.
For me several things all came together at once:
– 9 players out, including 6 first-teamers
– an accumulation of brilliant shots all on one day
– the gap between our selling and buying
I’m not excusing the manager – he took a transfer risk and it caught him. Somewhere in all that we had 18 shots at goal! On another day…
see ya later goonster..
just ignore them 😉
Kroenke should just sell his shares to Usmanov.at least Usmanov actually attends games.he also won’t tolerate failure.ames.he also won’t tolerate failure.
Hi Savage
Did we really have 18 shots on goal???
Just what I said Kt 😉
Yep:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/14606020.stm
United 25 (15 on target)
Arsenal 19 (13 on target)
Amazing huh?
I don’t think i’ll get instant satisfaction even if we sign park.unless we sign a top 10 ballon d’Or player i’ll still feel like crap.i’ll never forgive Arsene for this no matter what he has done for us.
Not to worry too much we’ve got a super quality South Korean coming in.
I’d have never of know that Savage and i’m not being sarky either…..
Cahill, M’Vila and Young would be a good start then 2/3 bargins on wednesday, like Arry got VdV…..
Even poor old Mo Farrah, Gooner – lost out on Gold yesterday……
One reports suggests Traore has failed his medical…..
Did we send Diaby by accident 😉
Rico. I am not even sure that would make much difference. Sending a team of kids out might be unavoidable but sending them out to play an open game with no discernible defensive plan is the work of a madman. When you think that we have access to Bould, Keown, Dixon and Winterburn yet don’t use any of them because the great Arsene doesn’t believe in defensive coaching then you get yesterday. In football if you don’t concede too many you have a chance. But the naivety in believing that Jenkinson is ready for the PL is staggering really.
I don’t get why Arsene is so sceptical when it comes to buying.sometimes you get your money’s worth.City spent £27mil for Dzeko who is banging ’em in for fun.Madrid spent £80mil for Ronaldo who has now scored 90 goals in 92 games for them.the higher the risk the higher the reward.
K-TR7 , I know fans are the ones the players should work hard for due to their using hard earned money on expensive tickets and singing their hearts out for a bunch of 11 men and their unrelenting support. But “forgiveness” is a big word, my friend . You ,neither me or anyone else in this world can truly comprehend the meaning of such a word. Probably our parents can forgive us for the grief that we might’ve given them but no one else can really understand it.
I am no AKB nor am I anti Arsene. Regarding your comments about a top ballon d’or player coming to us ,even before AW came never did we have any such quality player nor did we have a lot of them during Wenger’s reign barring Henry & possibly Vieira.
you are dilluded!!!. can someone tell me why we should spend £100m on new players yet we know we are not going to win much.it’s like a waste of money.
If the shot conversion had been similar, the score would have been something more like 5-3. Scoring 8 was a bit of a freak result and I don’t think it will happen again soon, but it was still a defensive disaster.
Watching Rooney with his freekicks, this is an area we’re really short on. With having tricky players who get fouled, it’s critical to be able to convert freekicks. I used to think RVP was the man for this, but perhaps TV is the better option?
I would like to see Dzeko do it against really top teams in Europe or even Man Utd or chelsea.Then we can say he is worth the money tat has been paid.Regarding Ronaldo ,his quality is undoubted and off the field he is a boon for RM.
I still remember when we broke the premiership record for shots at goal in one half – 23 I think – against Charlton. We lost 4-2. Sometimes you have days like that…
adam, imho, our tactics were totally wrong yesterday… we were depleted, against the best side in the league and we went gung ho, jeepers, wenger doesn’t do that with a full squad at OT….
Shrek, i don’t want that kind of player either, waste of money, money that could be spent on two quality players…. rather than one…
Shrek i get your point but am so angry right now and its difficult to be rational.i may have gone OTT but its understandable.signing the parks’ of this world right now after the mauling we received yesterday will not generate excitement a ballon d’Or contender would.this is not to say he isn’t top notch but that is a fact.
Shrek, Dzeko has never played against City, but has scored against United twice in to matches against them.
First, for Wolfsburg, a very average team, and if you watched the Community Shield, he scored citys second goal… I would love to have him at Arsenal…
against Chelsea*
if we had to spend money depending on what we have based on rumors… 60m pounds … Yann M’vila , Cahill/Mertesacker/Sol Campbell’ s son , Jadson/Willian/Marvin Martin/Lucho/Eden Hazard/Arteta etc.
By the way am not saying we should spend 80mil on a single player.im just showing that if we have cash we should spend it wisely.
80 mil means 4-5 quality players.. it would lift the whole team…
I wouldn’t mind him at Arsenal either ADK 😉
shrek, we can all see it – what on earth is going on in the clubs mind, that’s what baffles and angers fans….
the problem is, wenger has already bought players for 25 mil, and the only real strengthening , is Gervinho..
Dzeko scored when city played the mancs in the community shield.Spurs are one of the top teams in the country but he annilhated them yesterday.in Germany he regularly scored against the top teams.he is quality and cash well spent.
Hi all, any new signings?
But he still has a lot ADK and he had a kitty to start with, that’s what funded those we have bought, now we have money from the sales of
Clichy
Nasri
Fabregas
and prob
Bendtner
Traore
That’s a lot of money…..
Hi Osi, no – but Young deal is pretty much done, medical passed….
ArsenalDk just my opinion Dzeko is a bit overrated. K-TR7, if Park Young is even as 70-80% good as Utd’s Park, it would be good for us. What I admire about Fergie is he knows in Europe , Utd always have it very tough against extremely skilled teams like Madrid or Barca thats why in England he makes sure he never loses and buys players good enough to win the English title and thus giving them the confidence to do well and fight regardless of any opposition. I think Wenger has had his sights on the CL for a long time now as its one particular trophy that he is missing and he wants to take Arsenal there as that would make them a truly renowned team. Thats why I think he buys players with technique as he feels technique and his added motivation can conquer the league automatically .
The thing to remember with Dzeko is that he took a while to settle in. I’m not against new signings, but let’s temper our expectations on how much instant impact they’re going to have.
Where are you seeing this Young information?
Dzeko the he took his goals was world class. He’ll score against any time in the world if given good chances. This ManCity is a great team as well and they can win the title.
Savage,
Wenger has confirmed he is close to signing Young
I thought Ramsey had a good game yesterday.
Oh sorry, I was thinking Luke Young. You meant Park.
Oh my god? how stupid, ignorant and disgraceful are some of English football commentators and pundits. We heard one compare a strong Essien tackle on a player to a ‘rape’, now we that moron called Cascarino comparing the skinning of Jenkinson to ‘holocaust’. How outrageous can one get. Moronic proportion!
Rico glad we signed striker. We need two more signing a defender and a DM.
I’ll be spitting feathers if the rumours that our ‘super super quality’ midfield signing is Benayoun turn out to be true.per super quality’ midfield signing is Benayoun turn out to be true.
Osi i think an AM has to be at the top of our agenda.we don’t control games anymore.we have lost 2 in 1 summer,we need to replace them.
Park Chu-Young…
Clear everyone???
😛
KT, totally agreed. For me, the AM is more important than the extra CB. We are really missing Jack right now, but he’s going to need to help in that area, and Ramsey isn’t quite ready for it.
Kt,
I’m Osi, we need defensive signings before anything – JD was shocking again yesterday – we have Gibbs injured, Jenkinson now out for three games, Frimpong and Song also out ….
Def need a LB and CH…..
Baines and Cahill would do me…..
I’m basically in agreement with the Post. Unlike in previous years, the start was awful. There is one big difference: in other years were considered candidates for the title. And this year? Are we?
Well I would, but we are not. This is the reality. We are not adequately prepared to be. To me I do not care if we should have bought Falcao, Young, Cahill, Hazard,Mata … we arrived at the start of the season without a team, not squad, disunited, lacking confidence, deep down, unprepared for the new season.
The deficiencies are evident. Not be solved with one or two players. With luck, confidence, professional pride and with the support of all, we can at least one place in the Europa League and go as far as possible in the CL, FA Cup and Carling Cup to win the championship you need another team and another organization. As I said in previous post, in recent seasons have always failed in recent games. But we had a team, squad, ambition, mental health and class. Bad luck and the correct options in January may not have removed the titles. This year, we started to straighten crooked and difficult later. I hope I am wrong …
k-tr7 it hurts me that we don’t control games anymore and we don’t tackle properly in the midfield as well. Hopefully, the return of Wilshere and Song will improve our midfield but we need creativity. The players we at the moment lack that quality. Ramsey who rated so high , still do, seems to be very slow and out of sorts.
rico Jenk won’t be out for 3 matchs, only one match i guess. I was second yellow wasn’t it?
Ramsey shouldn’t be starting games.buy a top notch AM and let Ramsey be the understudy.he isn’t looking dangerous at the moment.
Hi JM
I think a 3/4 signings and better defensive training would go a long way to improving things..
With Kos, TV, Sagna we are ok, but as showed yesterday, when they don’t all play, we are poor
We have more redcards than goals and points 😮
Osi, i forgot, so the same for Frimpong?
Kt, don’t think we’ll be winning the PL on goal difference 😉
the player trading market is crazy! Look at this pricing according to media valuation :
Baines = £15 at least
Fellani = £20 at least
Cahill = £15 at least
Arteta = £18 at least
Rodwell = £20 at least
that’s £88 millions.
If that’s the their value then why haven’t improve Everton’s standing especially when we know that Everton had other outstanding players such Saha, Distin and others.
someone in the meanwhile reported that Song is being chased by club maybe Turkish for about £4 millions. funny, init?
K-TR7
Agree with you on Ramsey, not good enough for the first team.
morning all…back up and online. irene is past up and things are getting back to normal again…
whatever one thinks about where our club is, 8-2 cannot simply be dismissed as “one of those days”. on the back of such as result, something has to change…
many of us thought we lacked experience and quality coming and yesterday only provided further evidence that our squad is very inexperienced and inadequate to achieve our goals…whether the responsibility rests with arsene or the board, we don’t know for sure…so once again – on the heels of the worst results many of us have seen in our respective lifetimes – please come clean and tell us what is really happening at the club. are there real constraints that prevent us from investing in experience and quality? if so, tell us…is there money which arsene refuses to spend on experience and quality? again, tell us…look at the away supporters who sang their hearts as one united goal after another found our net – surely they deserve better than what the club is giving us at the moment…
on the pitch, inexperience, lack of quality and an over-reliance on youth have gotten us to this point; on the evidence of our pre-season and the start of this season, things will not get better until we adjust tack…
while i fundamentally disagree with your premise that someone is out to get us, steve, i admire your arguing your point…in my opinion, so many of our problems are self-inflicted: the aforementioned over-reliance on youth, continued defensive chaos, players still played out of position, and – perhaps most worryingly – signs that some of our experienced players may already be going through the motions (it’s not even september yet!!)…
if there are real, mitigating circumstances which dictate some/all of the above problems – once again, tell us…let us know the true state. we will never be able to move forward in this atmosphere…
Last week we it was reported that Arsenal offered a low bid of £6ml for Cahill, but the media reports since then talk about Arsenal offer of £10ml being turned down by Bolton, how’s that? Was the £10ml our original offer and Bolton lied or did we make another bid which was again rejected?
Hi oliver – glad all is now calm in your state….
SS’s reort that Wenger has said he is close to two deals?????
Got to pop off for a bit, won’t be long though……
Ramsey i hate to say it is looking like Denilson’s European brother.am sorry but he is also part of the reason why we aren’t scoring enough.if there was a player i would’ve loved to see at our club it would’ve been David Silva.he is the best midfielder in the PL in my opinion.
Oliver how bad that Irene was? worse than Catherina?
hi ricco…one of the deals he is referring to is undoubtedly park…perhaps the other is traore’s move to qpr?
how many players have we played on one day, only to transfer within a few days? nas versus liverpool, and now traore…
arsene may be close to two deals, but what is the quality likely to be, considering how late it is in the window, how obvious our need is?
and remember, arsene saying we are “close to (deals)” does not always mean deals will happen…
Lol K-TR7. At one point yesterday I thought how Denilson could have stopped some of the attacking moves.
hi osi…it was not nearly as bad as katerina…i think isabel (from several years) was worse also…
the worst for us was saturday night/sunday morning…it rained all day saturday, getting progressively harder and windier…by 10pm, we had pretty fierce winds howling outside, that lasted through around 4 am…by 11 am yesterday, the rain had stopped and the sun started breaking through…there is still plenty of cleanup to do…
our worst fear was a tree falling on the house…we have a woods right behind our house…a few trees went down, but none on any of the houses, thankfully…
yesterday was also my daughter’s birthday…she’s is indifferent towards football/arsenal, so the result had no bearing on her day…probably just as well…
I have been calling Ramsey the Welsh Denilson for sometime now.
Not agreed on Ramsey – he was good yesterday. One of our only decent performances. His close control was sharp, but he didn’t have good options close to the box – our 433 means that RVP gets marked out of the game.
We have zero penetration.looking around top clubs in Europe they have özil/kàkà for madrid,iniesta/fab/xavi/thiago/messi for barça,shrek for mancs,nasri/silva for city,ribery/robben/müller for Bayern…and what do we have?:(
Oliver, That looks very bad. I’ve been very depressed lately as well about my country’s famine outbreak. I’m from Somalia and hear news that children are dying coz of hunger. We had the worst ever drought lacking rain while rain is the problem back in US. I hope things get better.
In a 433, you have three midfield roles: defensive mid, linking mid and attacking mid. Song is our defender, Fab was our attacker and then you have Jack linking the two, making the probing runs.
Ramsey is that linking player – close control, clean passes.
The trouble is that we don’t have the attacking mid. Yesterday Rosicky was playing the linking mid too, which was why we had nobody getting close enough to RVP to make the critical goal charge.
Hi oliver.good to see you are ok.regarding the 2 deals that are close i wouldn’t put it past wenger if he meant traore and bendtner sales.
So let’s spell that out again.
Song is the defensive mid.
Frimpong is either defensive mid or linking mid.
Ramsey is a linking mid.
Rosicky is a linking mid and sometimes attacking mid.
Jack is a linking mid, and maybe attacking too.
Diaby is a linking mid, and maybe attacking.
Clearly we have nobody nailed down to sit there in the forward attacking midfield position and work closely with the striker, deliver the final assist, and also get some shots away.
That right now is Arsenal’s no.1 problem.
Savage you rate Ramsey and so do I, but the problem is the guy is not the same player he was 2 years ago. He has all the skills you mentioned but at the moment he’s slowing the game down and he’s not helping defenders.
Perhaps an attacking midfielder is actually a second striker – a busy striker who scuttles around. Park?
Savage Frimpong is a pure defensive midfielder and can do exactly what Song do for us at the moment.
Exactly Osi, the linking midfielder is not a defender. The trouble is that if there’s no obvious attacking midfielder to link to, he ends up holding onto the ball. Cesc was so good at dropping into open space and attracting the ball. Who is giving Ramsey that option to pass to? RVP is marked out of the game, the two wingers are too far away, Song is behind – who is in front? Jack starts from too deep right now, unless we convert him to operate further up the pitch.
Exactly savage.we are in dire need of an AM and thats why i think arsene will buy one instead of a CM/DM.at the club diaby is the closest we have to an AM but aw prefers him at CM.Ramsey in my eyes is a CM.jack will soon be our AM but not right now.Rosicky’s legs are gone to play AM.
Savage you’re implying Ramsey needs the team to be built around him. If that’s the case then I don’t think Ramsey is doing enough at the moment to suggest that he may carry the responsibility of Arsenal playmaking. I rather Jack to be given opportunity to operate in Cesc role and Rosicky helping him out.
robin commented that the defeat was deserved and we cannot “hide” behind injuries and suspensions…yet that is effectively what arsene is doing, when he talks about the result not having “special meaning” and “under special circumstances”…
we were an absolute mess…no hiding from it. the side was woefully under-strength and simply not ready to play…we were so under-strength not only because of injuries and suspensions, but because our depth is virtually non-existent…
i am sure the calls for miyaichi to start will come..but by turning to him we are doing the same old thins, over-hyping a promising kid who is most likely not even close to ready for the situation he may be thrown into…we just don’t have the experience and quality necessary to compete at the top level…
Diaby is a great player and while he hasn’t got the vision and the quick mind of Cesc he can dribble his way forward with ease and can score goals as well. He’s gonna be a different proposition for Cesc role. Whoever comes to play in that advanced role need someone else to help him in the playmaking department. the formation is not static, it should change depending on players ability and compatibility. When we had the ‘invincibles’ we had in my opinion multiple player makers with a 4-4-2 formation, and can still have that in the current formation as well.
True Osi – Jack is a better linking midfielder than Ramsey. If they’re going to play together, then one of them has to get forward more than they’re doing now. This is why we see RVP dropping into midfield so often, because we have a hole in the forward midfield position.
From what I hear M’Vila is more defensive, so I can’t see how he’s going to help, unless Wenger pulls off a trick like he did with Henry and convert the player.
For me, the obvious player for the attacking job is Hazard – a scuttling player who can get in and out of position very quickly. Kaka would be fine too.
We need to get back our dynamicity of the old. The Cesc role was at his best when we had hlep and Rosicky playing with remember 2008. I don’t it worked well after that.
Jack and Diaby do the same thing – start in midfield and go charging forward. That’s the linking mid’s job. We need someone who stays forward more often than they do.
I do think Ramsey can be converted forward though. I loved his goal against Portsmouth – that’s a job he should be looking at, and leave Jack in the centre.
Does anyone think we’ll concede less than 43 goals this season, we’ve already let in ten.
ESP, that’s a bit harsh on ramsey, he needs some help in midfield, he’s a box to box player who will get us goals and he’s not afraid to shoot, he needs an experienced EPL player next to him, parker would have been great for him, been there, seen it, bought the t-shirt, but like you say the games seem to be passing him by, he can’t do it on his own, we desparately need a playmaker in there but how do you replace someone like cesc ?
Savage anyway there’s no doubt that Ramsey will improve when he plays alongside one of Diaby or Wilshere with Song doing his defensive work. however, he’s not capable of dragging a team of his own. We need another much better player maker. Hazard would be a great signing and can easily become a better player. He’s very creative and visionary plus his super dribbling and passing abilities.
True Osi, Ramsey could become that player, but not yet. And we’re a little bit too desperate now to wait.
I bet we sign Hazard + plus another DM and Def. just before the deadline date.
The thing that made cesc special is how good his positioning was for us.he was like a hybrid of a CM/AM.his positioning depended on players around him.when rvp dropped deep as a false 9 cesc knew when to advance in front of rvp or drop even deeper depending on theo/nasri’s movements from out wide.this made it very difficult to mark him and thats why between dec and feb we were virtually unstoppable.when nasri was asked to play cesc’s role we were not as effective since nasri’s positioning is mainly dependent on the ball and the goal.nasri is attracted to the ball too much and did not do enough without the ball to open up space for others.thats why he was better suited outwide.diaby would have the same problem and thats why the AM we need has to be in the mould of cesc/silva/özil not classic trequartistas like nasri/diaby.
now we are being linked with leighton baines again…someone putting two and two equals five together in light of traore’s impending sale to qpr…
if tv recovers during the break, he will be our cover at lb.
Afternoon all,
Many thanks rico,
Well gooners,
Had a quick look at all your comments, and haven’t seen one that picked up on my suggestion that Czezsney was at fault for most of the goals, Most of the goals came from outside of the box, whats your views on a six foot four keeper being beaten so many times from outside of the box is that acceptable Keeping, we have made many comments in the past at bad defending but shots from outside of the box, surely we can not blame the defence.
oliver – the suggestion was signings rather tahn departures…
Arsenal are to refund the travelling fans who went to OT…..
mme, they are getting worried……
Hi SP
I think i would reather blame those who gave away the fee kicks and praise the mancs for being so accurate…
towards the end, it was just sloppy from everyone….
Oliver i think it would be reckless for arsene to not buy a LB.gibbs is very injury prone and to have one of our better CBs to act as cover is very poor management.it looks like arsene is more concerned about gibb’s development rather than our ability to challenge trophies.gibbs should be 2nd choice at best until he sorts out his injury issues.
I would also like to ask supporters for their views on our diciplinary record, do you think we are that bad, after all i saw a charge into the back of one of our players from Evra wiped our man out completly and the ref never said a word, was that not a booking, maybe i am seeing things.Is a free kick all that that charge was worth.
So in your view rico czezsney did alright then.
Steve, I think our sending off yesterday was deserved. I also think we generally get the wrong end of the stick when it comes to major decisions. Plus, I honestly think Szcz was absolutely awful yesterday. Had Fabianski been as dire, people would be ripping him to shreds now.
Hello, all.
steve, i think szczesny had a poor game…no way will i give him a pass…but he was only part of the problem…we had so many other issues – particularly defensively, where nobody seemed to have any idea of what they were supposed to be doing – that i am not going to harp on him over others…i didn’t single any individual out for specific criticism, because nobody emerged with any credit in my opinion…and that is unfortunate because several of our players were in over their heads…
our disciplnary record is not good…no other way for me to look at it…frankly, arshavin should have been sent off yesterday…i attribute reds for frim and jenks (and even gerv to an extent) to mostly inexperience…this is what happens whey you over-rely on youth…songs red was rank stupidity and now we are seeing the cost of that one.
Hello, oliver. Glad to hear you are okay.
Afternoon Agag, thank you, i was beginning to think i was the only one that thought he was dreadful, I was hoping he would be the one, but i wasn’t keen on him from the start and he has not impressed me since.
“Had Fabianski been as dire, people would be ripping him to shreds now.”
totally agree. double standards? I think he’d been at fault on 3 occasions; two freeks, and the first goal. could have done better. But anyway he’s a class goalkeeper and will bounce back. Fabiansky also improved a lot last season and we should not forget that.
Or Sagna again oliver but we really need to buy a LB now, we can’t trust Gibbs…
I think Arsene needs to stop shifting players around, stop papering over the cracks…
Otherwise, we are not going to get over this lull…..
thanks agag…as we locked down saturday evening, my wife was pretty unconcerned – she’s survived some bad typhoons hitting northern luzon…
I hope that bastard got accidentally electricity shocked while shaving his arse, so he finally wake up and realize he ego-project is completely failed and he is no longer capable to bring any goodness for this club. His time is over and someone please get rid of those bastard boaRd members
agree ricco…we should have dealt with clichy’s defection by bringing someone in pronto…be it baines, enrique or whomever…but because – for whatever reason – we didn’t, we now find ourselves with (effectively) on senior left back at the club. and that player is still not fit…
and with jenks suspended for swansea, we have no cover for bac…how have we allowed ourselves to get so, so thin?
ken, a lot of us are unhappy with arsene and the board, but wishing injury on the guy?
Steve and Osi. Szcz is sort of like Bendtner to me. A bit mouthy. But he’s young and I hope he learns. He certainly seems like he has the mentality to bounce back. Over time, he will panic less. I don’t think any of us saw any of our GKs (Almunia included) conceding as many in 90 mins. Sigh.
Oliver glad you and yours are all fine, Oliver as i have said in the past i have no objection to sendings off when deserved, as long as we all play to the same set of rules, Evra charged our man down in the back and got away with it, we very seldom do why is that, video evidence will show it clearly i have watched it several times and cannot believe it has not been brought up.
Oliver, when do we play Swansea?
I agree szczesny was poor but he wasn’t helped by the shambles unfolding in front of him.if fabianski had conceded like that he would’ve been ripped to shreds by now.szczesny will hopefully learn from yesterday especially in terms of positioning during FKs.
Hi Osi, i agree Fabianski was good till he got injured last year, your right he should not be overlooked
oliver, haha re: wife. My sister lives in NY and was pretty breezy about it as well. We have endured some terrible ones in Manila, and have a fair idea about how to keep safe.
perhaps steve…but i would counter that saying arsh should have gone, yet webb let him off the hook…webb even gave us a penalty – which our captain contrived to make an absolute mess of…
we can talk about non-calls, ref bias, institution bias all day long…my opinion is that supporters of any club can find grievances and injustices from officials, the league, or whomever…i just think we have too many internal, self-inflicted problems that we need to focus on…
ken – not sure thats the wisest of ‘hopes’…. no-one deserves taht…
Enrique would have been a good one oliver, look how he snuffed Theo out, mind you, not difficult these days 😉
Steve – i just can’t single out one player from yesterday, i think it was a day when every player and wenger had a really bad day…
Steve, I think if we would have had two keepers in goal yesterday we still would have lost.
Chezzer was like a duck in a shooting gallery, he pulled off a couple of saves to keep the score down to 8 but overall he did have a stinker, no-one played well or stood out yesterday.
I wouldn’t drop him for the Swansea game, goalies are a sensitive souls, do you remember would wenger dropped alex manniger from the side, the guy fell to pieces after that.
osi, sept 10th i think…i think that is one week saturday…
that is time for many of our players to recover, but then becomes an opportunity for more players to get injured/suspended…it just feels like we are stuck in a vicious cycle where we are always short in our squad…two players come back from injury, one limps off, another is either sent off or accumlates enough bookings for a suspension…
K-TR7, everyone one of our players can claim that they weren’t helped by the shambles, but in reality they were all at fault. I think we lacked organisation and harmony so in that sense individual players can claim they were hurt by the lack of harmony. Arsene Wenger also is of that opinion; he doesn’t think the problem is only about the individual players quality but lack of organisation and lack of confidence. In a way when he claims that he blames himself partly as he failed to organise them better.
Hi agag 🙂
Fabianski is actually more talented than Szczesny but szczesny is stronger mentally.if fabby had played yesterday and conceded 8 he would be damaged goods and a nerve wreck for months.
Hello, rico and KT. After yesterday’s game, I think we are in need of strengthening pretty much in all positions now. easy, ken.
Compensation for fans who witnessed the massacre at OT. Those guys deserved it. I appreciate the fact they stayed until the final whistle. I hate quitters.
In my eyes any keeper that lets in that many should have a break and get his focus right, he’s positioning has got to be a lot better, and when setting up his defensive wall should make sure he can see whats happening. to get a glimpse of the ball as it goes past you is schoolboy stuff
Ken, I take it your not a happy bunny !
rico, i watched it again; and it’s worse the second time around. 🙁
agag, strengthening in all positions? I think 3 or 4 ‘superquality’ would be enough. by the end of the last season I identified 3 positions to add to: Defender; DM; and a Striker and maybe 2 good subs. That was before Cesc/Nas/Cliche departure. Now after they’ve gone I think we need about 4 quality players in those positions as we already add Gerv.
Steve, I think your disappointment is clouding your judgement on the keeper. You’re giving United zero credit for some amazing finishing.
Hi agag.it was torture yesterday.am just glad it didn’t happen on matchday 35.
All positions, Osi. Except RB. I am greedy. 😉
No, we must have 2 players for position and more 3 gk and more Gibbs, Diaby and another (because those are in shape once in ten games in averege). Those 2 players for position must be ready and in the squad not kids, commimng in when the sign is red. So, arround 25 players for attack all the competitions. A few others on loan and a few can comming in on January if necessary. yesterday, we had 11-12 players out (or more…). Besides, we had played 5 match this year and how many players have been in the squad? The team change every game and it’s not only because the sent off and the injuries: it’s because we haven’t be prepare for have the mean team and the replace players for their right places. So, I say: this season will be unprepare and we must know what are the goals for this season? The title? Prepara (again) a team for next season? play for fun ?
The reason we give away so many free kicks around the box is because our players get caught ball watching and don’t close down quick enough meaning they are forced to make risky last ditch tackles which inevitably results in a foul, this is a fact.
If you disagreed with me check video clips of the free kicks we give away, not just this season but for the last 4-5 years. This is basic defending that our players seem to lack in the same way our CB’s get caught ball watching and out of position for the ball over the top.
It’s no coincidence that we have had defensive problems ever since we have not had a designated defensive coach. In my opinion we need a proper defensive coach more than we need new signings, and not just to sort out the back 4 but the midfield as well as they are equality culpable by failing to boss the midfield and constantly leave our back line exposed.
You might not agree with that but how many times has a new coaching team come in to an under performing team and turned it around with the same group of players. We have some very talented players but they are not performing because of the lack of coaching and poor tactics. The first signing I would be making is Martin Keown, look what he did with a back 4 for Eboue/Campbell/Senderos/Flamini in 2006, and Sol aside none of them are anywhere near the quality of our current starting back 4.
It continues to be torture, KT. I’m ignoring all my non-AFC friends. 🙁 They do like to rub it in.
Credit to utd.their shots were like laser beams such was the precision with which they were hit.im sad that we have few players that can put the foot through the ball like the manc forwards.ashley young’s shooting in particular was phenomenal.
Wait, since I want vdW 😳 , RB needs strengthening, too.
I’m agree with Osi. Last season I said: the deadline to almunia, Squil, Rosicky and maybe Arshavin. We can win money with those players? Maybe a few must we must improve the defense,a goalkeeper and anoter striker. I’m happy with Gervinho, because he can give us more quality in both sides in attack and it’s a good player.Now, let’s go improve the defence and the gk.But this was before the departure of Clichy/Fabregas/Nasri/Eboue/Denilson… now, everything is changing.
Freebie @ ewood park !!
Is it too late for those transferes???
agag – once was bad enough for me … 🙁
And a pawn moved off to QPR lately
agag, seems he is off to the chavs – was in london over the weekend according to reports….
Hey, STV. 🙂 The chavs???? Eeeeeeeeeek. Why do the players I want all go to the chavs? (shudders)
Who van der Weil?
One vdv went to spuds though AGAG 😉
How many here think we’ll actually get 3 ‘super super quality’ players before the end of the window?
Now i am not trying to say we didn’t deserve this hammering, but at three one we had missed a penalty and had quite a few efforts which narrowly missed or were saved or parried away, we could so easily have been in the lead, i know that sounds optimistic but we could. We ended with a hiding, but that really was later in the game, we went forward every occasion we could, and played reasonable, Robin cannot find space no matter how hard he tries which is not that much, Theo will not take a man on so is really inefectual. We still get to their area and have no idea what to do with it, until we lose it, our forward players lose the ball and stop, they are lazy and don’t chase back, leaving the defence to clear up their mistakes. Theo, i wanted so much for him to shine but instead of taking on his man he passes straight back to where it came from and turns and runs into a packed defence, i know he scored but that is about all he did, soft goals against killed us off, but the keeping was dreadful and he missed so many by so far, give our reserves a bit of credit they tried hard to go forward and never gave up the chase futile as was they still kept going forward. some say Ramsey was bad in all honesty he was on his own a lot not a great deal of help and he was trying for all his worth i see that as gumption and the lad has bundles
Yes, STV. 😉 He looks no-nonsense and not one to be bullied. I think, we’ll get two super quality ones, KT. But the clock is ticking…
I think we’ll get 3 players, not super quality – actually, i think we will get more….
ykw AGAG. For last 2-3 weeks. I’ve been spending best part of my time checking about arsenal transfers.How disapponiting we only managed to get one che chu young. (ofcourse he is asian but..)
Steve, but we lost, 8-2 and no matter how we tried or the what could have beens on another day, we got slaughtered… 🙁
I think we were too offensive….
Elia could be one such breed , but again ..
Hey Rico
Hi rico I wont even ask how are you doing I can only imagine. I would like to say congrats to you and your team to have the energy to write a post this morning.
I have nothing good to say about the arsenal so i try not to post these days. I made a decision not to continue to support a club who does not support its fans. No merchandise, no watching them, no support until I feel they have respected the fans. That’s my choice and my way, not saying anyone should do the same or even agree.
I am empty just empty
Like i said before its too late to make signings now. the club must have excess players for that to happen. and if so when ah-sen speaks of super quality its according to him the judge jury and exicutioner despite what the rest of the world thinks.
Hi STV, how you doing 🙂
Rico, there is always a positive, granted the team got hammered but with eight missing what did you expect. take eight out of Uniteds team and us at full strength, and we would have hammered them.
steve, there are a few scraps of encouragment we can draw from what was on display yesterday, but overall we were simply dreadful…the team-wide defending was just abysmal…we had too many players in over their heads, too many that did not understand (or had not been properly instructed?) about what they were supposed to do, and – most worryingly for me – i saw disappointing signs from some of our senior players…heads dropping or going through the motions…eight goals won’t happen every day, but we were beaten thoroughly…we were just a mess out there, and it raises even more questions about just where our club is headed.
STV, I’m happy enough with whom we’ve brought in/promoted to first team. But… we haven’t quite addressed our defensive frailties, and with Cesc gone (don’t care about Na$ti), we need some superquality ones at midfield as well.
Hi Coadsi, thank you….
Steve saved you all from my attempt which contained about ten words…. 😉
I will always support the team but those above, i’m sick of them….
Well, if we win all the games missing by 1-0 will be a great season! 😉
Fine Rico.. Be happy @least for next 48 hrs 🙂
agirlgunner: in my opinion, Nasri was more important then Fabregas
AGAG For me we have failed to adress it since 2008 But seeing, some one like fing pong, I cant speek against wenger much !
Super super quality:benayoun,alex and chung-young…happy days.
oh dear
JM 😛 – i’d take 1-0 wins for the rest of the season….
Rico trait of invincibles are back on us. Red cards and physique. we are no longer bullied that much.but unfotunately there are many better ones.
STV, not quite so sure about that 😉
Got to pop off for a bit now, back later….
Steve, re your 4.17 post, I don’t think us scoring the penalty would have made a blind bit of difference to the game.
Man u put us to the sword, I think you have to look at the bigger picture, we have only won 3 league games since last febuary, the squad isn’t good enough,we need to strengthen.
It was like watching the romans feeding the christians to the lions out there yesterday !
Sometimes you need a slap, a kick, perhaps accidentally shocked with electricity to bring your conscio usness back, I am naot hoping injury for wenger, but it seems he need this shock thherapy as soon as possible
Rico I meant to say one of the traits ;)with every thing else missing 😉
No Hazard this season.The board can now keep that 70M on ……….
Hazard have played yesterday for Lille… they won Marseille
Dear Arsene, nothing fancy:
Cahill
Samba
Baines
Arteta
Job done…..
Hello everyone. I have a question.. I know this sounds a bit drastic.. but, are we in danger of becoming another Leeds? 🙁
-DK
No, not a chance, the sort of thing wouldn’t happen in todays game, We are in very good financial nick, why would you think that?
No DK I thing we are in danger of becoming liverpool of last 2 seasons.
It was just something I was thinking about..
is it realistic that we finish in the top 6 ?
DK
I can’t see us finishing any higher than that if the squad stays the same. All depends how many are brought into the club in the next few days.
The players are very expensve and doubt quality. Why did we not go to brazil and buy 3 players for 5-10 millions?
Yossi Benayoun?????
Evening peoples …
Can’t believe we are enquiring about Benayoun, he’s 31 years old!!!
Surely a smokescreen for Alex….
Whats this about Benayoun?
Breaking news on SS’s ESP, we have made an enquiry for him as Chavs are looking to offload him….
Just had a thought, we play Citeh away in December, does that mean the Arsenal away supporters get another free game !
WTF?? Really? Why would we want players that other clubs don’t want? Are we a graveyard for players that couldn’t make it at other clubs?!
Micko, if that comment was so close to reality, it would be funny 😉
ESP – would WEnger really sign a 31 year old when his policy is not to give players over 30 more than a one year contract – i sure hope this is bulls**t….
Looks like it’s going to be another day gone without a signing, two more to go…..
benayoun…not saying there is anything to it…but if there is, does that not smack of a panic buy?
not a peep from our absentee owner, i note…
Tomorrows going to be “radio rental” if we don’t sign anybody.
I think its safe to say a couple of new signings will be announced.
– It would smack of a man, who has no intention of correcting his mistakes, the guy is no where near the quality to play for us.
Did I hear somewhere that Wenger isn’t interested in Arteta?
I just don’t know anymore!!
micko, i wouldn’t take it for granted that anyone will come in…perhaps park, but at this point, i would not be surprised if nobody else comes in.
in fact, i think there may be more outgoing activity once again…traore certainly looks to be on his way to qpr…and nik, once again, didn’t make the bench – what kind of future can he have with us?
ESP, didn’t see Gourcuff on your wish list, have you given up the ghost ?
Ha yeah I am afraid I have given up on the wish list! Its now just the bare essentials list!
certainly does oliver, he played one game for the chavs last season, he’s passed it….
micko, i’d rather lansbury gets a chance than some old has been like the chavs man….
I don’t take nothing for granted, NB52 will definately go, he’s made that perfectly clear, we have replaced him with Campbell………..oh wait we’re loaning him out to PSV aren’t we !
well, this is what it looks like when you go into the transfer window thinking of reasons not to buy, rather than looking at who can add the most to the present squad…we addressed one need, and then brought some kids for the future in…once again, however, we were caught short in the here and now, and saw some of our kids thrown in over their heads yesterday…it didn’t have to be that way, and never should have been that way…
so now we find ourselves in the situation where we are scrambling to strengthen our squad at the last minute…yesterday’s result weakens our hand even further – now everyone can see our squad’s deficiencies for themselves. once we get all our players back, we will still lack depth in defense and up forward…
i think we are now facing the choices of either paying over the odds for players we probably wouldn’t have even considered six years ago; or we stand pat yet again, count on kids to provide depth, players to stay fit, and players to fill in at more than one position…what course do you think our club will take?
correction, that should read six weeks (mid-july) not six years…
oliver – i think we could end up seeing nik involved with our defender deal….
IF Arry doesn’t snap him up by then….
perhaps benayoun’s people are manufacturing arsenal interest to force another club’s hand…
One thing for sure, we’re not in a position to haggle.
exactly why we all cried out for the club to get the proper business done early, now it’s a 48 hour scramble in hope that clubs will sell…
how silly is that though as any selling club will also need to bring in replacements, unless they are just looking to get a player wage off their books…. in which case they can’t be valued that highly and i don’t mean in money terms either……..
i hope so oliver – he really is not what we need…
Have a good evening folks, I’m outta here.
not anymore…haggling does not seem to do us that much good, anyways…we haggled with barca over our former number four’s price and wound up with the worse end of the deal…most of us suspect we have missed out on certain targets in the past due to small differences in valuation…
in this case, i expect further haggling – and i don’t mean negotiating over what is a reasonable, acceptable fee to all parties, but obstinately sticking to a certain valuation despite having resources to pay a bit more within reason – will get us absolutely nowhere…
see you micko…. have a good one yourself..
later micko…
two more days and the window will close, and will know what we have for the next several months…
doesn’t sound too exciting oliver…..
Benayoun the super super quality eh
image aw and IG ploting all summer:
why shud we buy Mata for so much, here is the plan bid low for him alert Chelsea to his availability then we swoop in for our super super quality benayoun after the get Mata…………fans will be pleased afterall he is an experienced player and all with a short back lift……………they have not got a clue the lot of them
Coadsi, shocking isn’t it….
shocking does not even begin to describe it rico. i was thinking of a post rico but just could not be bothered in the end. i was going entitle it “Ah-sen the puzzle”. it would just be links to a series of quotes from him and what he actually done.
for example the last window he mentioned he will bring in quality better than what we have then he brought in Sivestre,
about not selling both nasri and cesc in the same window…..we know the rest
about cesc going nowhere…….we know the rest
about super super quality……….we know the rest
but the reality is i only get more angry everytime i reflect on the lies and more lies told to us by the lot of the (especially around season ticket renewal time) i decided against it.infact i am drained by the arsenal rico drained.
I knwo Coadsi but i’m too polite to write how i feel…. 😉
I have just written tomorrows post and now i’m depressed again 😉
lol rico thanks for that. TV5 out again…..dejavue…….will he even buy a defender
He will Coadsi, i’m sure he will, or am i just hoping…..
I’m off for the day guys and gals…
Be good – and here’s to a busy news day tomorrow 😉
Night Night….
Fabregas score again…
Thiago is a fantastic player..
Messi is fabolous
Barcelona4 Vila Real 0
since end of February we won Orient,Blacpool,MU and Udinese twice. Just 2 from the League. We this performance we will be relegate !
Just about to log off when i saw this guys…
Reports are coming out of Turkey that we have agreed a deal for
André Santos….
Brazillian Left Back…. 28 years old from Fenebache….
Who knows, I’m off to my bed 😉
JM, are you trying to depress me even more 😉
Nighty night….
rico, Fenerbahce is the real champion…
from http://www.eurosport.com – Paul Parker
Who would want to join Arsenal now?
Arsenal need to take swift, decisive action in the transfer market after their 8-2 defeat to Manchester United but it will be very difficult for Arsene Wenger to sign the players he needs to drag his side out of this slump.
What player of any note is going to want to go to Arsenal? Yes, they are in the Champions League group stage but can we really believe that they are going to get through to the latter stages?
As a top-class player you do not want to join a side that is focused on producing kids, you want to join a club to win medals, to go down in history. Trophies come first, and at present Arsenal do not look like a club capable of challenging for them.
Wenger has to pull something out of the bag in the wake of what was a humiliating afternoon at Old Trafford. Arsenal must sign players who can guarantee they will be in the Champions League next season as at present they don’t look capable of getting fourth place.
The Gunners need players who can come straight into the side. It is no good bringing in more youngsters and exposing them to the kind of treatment that Wenger’s players suffered at the weekend. You cannot expect people like Carl Jenkinson and Francis Coquelin just to be able to compete at that level; they need experienced players around them.
Arsenal’s problem is that the selling clubs in the final couple of days of the transfer window know they can hold them to ransom given the club’s predicament. Bolton will stick another £2 million on Gary Cahill’s price tag as they know how desperate Arsenal are. And if you are Cahill, you would have to ask yourself if you want to put yourself under that kind of pressure by joining Arsenal in the state they are in, going into a situation where the expectation is on you to solve the defensive problems afflicting the side.
And make no mistake about it, those defensive problems are crippling, even when you consider that Wenger had Bacary Sagna, Thomas Vermaelen and Kieran Gibbs missing on Sunday.
Wenger always defends his young players but they looked absolutely clueless. Jenkinson was sent off and you could see he was a red card waiting to happen as he had no positional sense at all. He had an awful afternoon. He was leaving so much space on the inside, leaving big gaps between himself and the right-sided centre-half, and got caught out twice. I feel sorry for him because he hasn’t played enough football and he shouldn’t be playing in a game at that level.
Armand Traore was all over the place at left-back as well and didn’t cover himself in glory with the headed clearance for Ashley Young’s first goal. Johan Djourou was at fault for Danny Welbeck’s goal as he didn’t attack the ball and really the only Arsenal player who emerged with some credit was the goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczesny, and how often have we been able to say that about Arsenal in recent seasons? Hardly ever since David Seaman retired.
For the Welbeck goal, Djourou and Laurent Koscielny were guilty of naivety and it showed that they aren’t a settled partnership. They failed with basic defending. When Nani was played onside for his goal, Arsenal had two players who were four yards behind the players on the near side. There was no communication, but you shouldn’t even have to speak to each other to know not to drop in behind. You get closer to them and stay with them. It was schoolboy stuff, men against boys, whatever you want to call it. And these are not new criticisms of Arsenal.
It has been said for some time that Wenger needs to reassess the structure of his defensive coaching. He has Pat Rice by his side, a man who was a fantastic defender, but they need to bring someone else in with fresh ideas and a fresh approach. First of all they need to learn how to defend as they haven’t done that for many a year now. I think they need to start again at the back, and go back to the days of boring, boring Arsenal and win a few games 1-0.
I read Arsene Wenger said that he still feels the club is going in the right direction, which is a real concern. I don’t think many fans or indeed members of the board would agree with that assessment. All they know is that they have been beaten 8-2. You can forget about the rest. United are a team Arsenal used to compete against and now they have been demolished at Old Trafford. Manchester United won’t score eight goals again this season against a Premier League side and the manner of the defeat tells you there is something very wrong with Arsenal at the moment.
These kinds of defeats hang over you as a player for years. You are reminded of them by opposition fans and occasionally the result will just pop into your mind or into conversations with former team-mates. You never forget. It is the worst feeling in the world.
http://www.eurosport.com – Early Doors
Wenger’s darkest day
After the maelstrom of emotion thrown up by one of the most remarkable results in the history of the Premier League began to dissipate, a bitter irony emerged. The final, brutal judgement on the failure of Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal came against a club where an absolute faith in youth was thrillingly vindicated by a quite astounding 90 minutes.
On a day in which Arsenal’s defence crumbled and their team self-destructed, it was a starting XI even younger than their own that inflicted the most troubling defeat of Wenger’s career. Where Ashley Young and Wayne Rooney were rampant, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling assured, Andrei Arshavin and Johan Djourou were terrible, Carl Jenkinson and Francis Coquelin horribly exposed.
Arsenal were, of course, deprived of their two best midfielders having lost Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri to Barcelona and Manchester City, while a plethora of further players missed out due to injury or self-inflicted suspension.
But to ED’s mind nothing can excuse the abject nature of the performance – and the disintegration of a defence that has about as much structural integrity as the Three Little Pigs’ first abode – that resulted in an 8-2 defeat.
The simple truth is that while Manchester United’s young team appear destined for a brilliantly bright future, and possibly the title, Arsenal’s are digesting one of the darkest days in the club’s modern history, and who knows what else to come in a season that is set to test the club’s manager like no other before it.
Wenger, without question, is the club’s greatest figure since Herbert Chapman, but this brutal defeat took Arsenal back beyond the Yorkshireman’s transformative impact on the Gunners after arriving in 1925, back beyond the move to Highbury in 1913, back to the dark recesses of history, two centuries ago, before humans had achieved powered flight, back all the way to 1896 when they last conceded eight goals in a league game. Back all the way to a time when the club was still called Woolwich Arsenal.
In the years since an 8-0 loss to Loughborough, Arsenal have had horrible spells, have been mired in mediocrity. They have been in worse situations than the one they find themselves in now; between the years of 1953 to 1971 they did not win a solitary trophy. But this, without question, is Wenger’s personal nadir.
The legend on Arsenal’s new shirt, issued to commemorate the founding of the club that came ten years before that Loughborough defeat, reads ‘Forwards’. But this is a team heading backwards, alarmingly quickly.
Of course, if you choose to assess the Wenger era on the basis of progress over time, ED would be quick to point out that he is the man who brought Arsenal into the 21st century: by eradicating a damaging drinking culture and transforming dietary attitudes and fitness regimes; by exploiting foreign markets to construct one of the most thrilling sides English football has seen; and by forging ahead with the construction of a new state-of-the-art training ground and the wonderful Emirates Stadium.
The club and its supporters can be indebted to the Frenchman for the fact that he has ensured Arsenal will be one of Europe’s most stable and attractive clubs for years and years to come. But sound infrastructure and positive economic forecasts are not enough at the moment. Not when, in the here and now, Arsenal have contrived to put themselves in a situation where against their great rivals they are subjected to an abject humiliation of the kind that would have been unthinkable at the turn of the year.
Unthinkable then, but not now. Wenger’s legacy is being scorched, and this is no blip. Since that defensive calamity handed Birmingham City the Carling Cup in February, Arsenal have won just five games in 19 all competitions. Two of those came against Udinese in the recent Champions League qualifier. It is clear to ED that the Gunners are in a state of alarming decline.
Such a feeling was reflected in the foreboding that surrounded the club prior to the match at Old Trafford. Some bookies were offering odds of 8/1 for an Arsenal win, while ED’s thoughts immediately flicked to 2001 and a 6-1 defeat at the same ground when the line-ups were announced and it transpired that Bacary Sagna and Thomas Vermaelen had been added to the massed ranks of the missing. For Jenkinson, Djourou and Traore read Grimandi, Luzhny and Stepanovs.
Never have Arsenal started a game under Wenger with such trepidation, such fear, and it is the direct consequence of a failed transfer strategy over the summer that has seen Arsenal relieved of their best players, and rely on fringe members due to the inability and reluctance of the board and Wenger to strengthen where required.
How have Arsenal found themselves in a situation when a player as raw as Jenkinson is asked to start a crucial Champions League qualifier away in Italy and then at Old Trafford in the space of a week? The teenager is an Arsenal fan, and ED could only sympathise as he was mercifully given an early bath after a traumatic afternoon on Sunday. It is not his fault, after all, that he has been promoted so horribly above his station. Emmanuel Eboue is a much maligned figure, but he would have been an asset had he not been sold.
The situation is replicated in other areas of the pitch. Wenger sold Gael Clichy to Manchester City and opted to place his faith in Kieran Gibbs, a player who spends as much time with the physio as he does with his team-mates. The result is Armand Traore starting at left-back. Denilson was sent away on loan, and one suspension and an injury means Emmanuel Frimpong is thrown into a game against Liverpool. His inexperience results in a red card, and then Francis Coquelin is asked to anchor the midfield against the reigning champions on his league debut. Nasri and Fabregas leave, and Arsenal’s options are so bare that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain makes his debut from the bench, with Oguzhan Ozyakup sitting alongside him.
No one is arguing that some of the players who left should not have been sold – they are every bit of a part of Arsenal’s recent failings as the current squad. But to not reinforce in time for the start of the season was ridiculous. Look at United, where deals for Ashley Young and Phil Jones were concluded weeks and weeks ago. Perhaps Gary Cahill, Yann M’Vila and others will arrive before Wednesday, but with one point from three games and this latest humiliation heaped upon a side already chronically lacking in composure and belief, the damage may already have been done.
Arsenal’s disgrace on Sunday was a direct result of their lamentable work in the transfer market this summer, and the oppressively frugal and cautious approach the club and Wenger have taken to squad building in recent years. Now things must change.
“You know me well,” Wenger said on Sunday night. “I think you should give me some time before you say I have got it completely wrong.”
He is right. Such are the achievements of the man and the wonderful impact he has had on Arsenal as a club and English football as a whole, he deserves the chance to put things right. But put things right he must
Nice read, thanks JM
steve palmer what the hell are you chatting about it
Dont blame the referee for sending players off!!! christ how about studying the players that were given an opportunity and the tactics
1st – Szczenzy had no cover and possibly should have done better with rooney 2nd free kick and parks goal
2nd Jenkinson again only his 2nd premiership game, up against the premierships and englands best left winger and had no protection from walcott or from coquelin
3rd Djourou – poor defending for 1st goal – he was too soft and will not take responsibility when needed
4th Koscienley – again not aggressive enough, should have reacted better to djourou not making a decision and should have gone through welbeck and djourou
5th – Traore – purely shi.te, are QPR mad!!!! looked like he knew he was off to qpr before the united game, was actually walking during some of the goals
6th – Coquelin – way out of his depth – if he was that good last season, why have lorient or another french club tried to sign him!!!
7th – Rosicky – ducks out of 50/50 to avoid injuries
8th – Ramsey – Far too much pressure on him already and is feeling the strain
9th – Theo – Was in evra back pocket all game
10th – RVP – No support, and missed penalty summed it up
11th – Arshavin – Might as well have started with 10 men
Tactics
1st why play players that will not run through a brick wall for the club?? Arshavin and Rosicky wont so why not play players that will run their socks off and give it 100% Where was Ryo Miyachi???? Lansbury should have started instead of coquelin
We knew full well it would be backs against the wall, so where was the tactics, where was the 11 men behind the ball, where was the defensive work rate???
SHAMBLES – WENGER IS SO STUBBORN he doesnt even prepare by scouting the opponents!!!!
FAIL TO PREPARE, PREPARE TO FAIL!!!!!!
rumour is we are in for Benayoun, Alex, Malouda – brilliant all past their best and will join us for a decent wage packet – will have no pride playing for arsenal
we need established players entering their peak and itching to make a name for themselves in world football!!!
Now is the despair!
Any player dismissed or has had any role in serving times.
This will be disastrous! For me, our main objective will be no relegation
New Post Up….
stu,
i think you summed up our players on sunday spot on…. and as for those we are linked to, why, why are we after old has beens, benayoun is older than some class players he has left go as they got to 30…..
Dreadful…..
Morning JM, it’s not ‘that’ bad… 😉