Honestly, it was not that long ago.
We just recently went a decade unbeaten in league play against them, a record that lasted until early 2010, when they beat us here by an identical score as today. Since then, they have won two of the three league fixtures – including the infamous first win at the Emirates just over a year ago.
As they say, nothing lasts forever, and after dominating these fixtures for such a sustained period of time, there was always the possibility that our neighbors from down the road would “get their own” back eventually…
Not that it has to be this way, but they are clearly a far better side than many of those feeble outfits we brushed aside for much of the time.
Like it or not, we are not what we once were at this moment in time…
This is the first derby match I can remember since perhaps Klinsmann’s first spell there where we were not favorites. I didn’t mind much – I felt everyone selling us short and talking about how they would do us this time was going to galvanize our players and perhaps create a siege mentality within our dressing room. At least, that was my hope.
So, coming in on a mini-revival featuring three consecutive wins we lined up:
Szczesny, Bac, Mert, Song, Gibbs, Ramsey, Coquelin, Arteta, Theo, Robin, and Gerv.
Fab, Jenks, Santos, Frim, Benny, Arsh and Ju were on the bench.
Kos’ continued absence meant Song stayed at CB for the second consecutive match. Arsene’s selecting Coquelin over Frim was a surprise, although in hindsight, this is a match where Frim’s temperament could be used against him; Coq performed quite well and I thought he fully justified Arsene’s confidence in him.
Gibbs returned to the starting eleven at the expense of midweek goalscorer Santos, and Benny returned to the bench after his week’s absence. Perhaps the biggest surprise – for me – was Chamakh’s omission at the expense of Ju. To my knowledge, the Moroccan is not injured; perhaps Arsene is no longer prepared to wait infinitely for the former to get his act together. If so, it’s another selection decision I agree with; other than his goal at Ewood, Chamakh has given us little for nearly a year now, and I think it’s time we find out just what Ju has…
OC’s omission was perhaps another surprise, but in his Friday presser, Arsene specifically said that OC was only a “possibility to be in the squad”, so his omission should not have been much of a shock.
I would be remiss not to mention our former striker starting his first derby wearing white. Adebayor scored tons of goals against Spurs while he was with us, and now the hope was that he would not score against us.
Spurs kicked the match off and immediately took the game to us. We could not keep hold of the ball, and all the play was deep in our half. It was a misplaced pass that started the move with which Spurs should have opened the scoring; Song was the culprit, with van der Vaart picking Parker out inside our area, only for Szczesny to make a fine point-blank save…
After that early scare, we started to get our game going. With a quarter of an hour gone, we forced three consecutive corners but failed to bring a save out of Friedel – although Spurs had to clear one header off the line. Robin then won a free kick which Arteta drove into the stands, and Theo followed that by firing straight at Friedel after getting free through the middle…
By this point, we were on top but still creating very little. Just prior to half hour, van der Vaart earned the game’s first booking for chopping Gibbs down late, a minute later, Szczesny had to save the latter’s close-range shot.
Just seconds after that, however, Robin laid the opening goal on a plate for Gerv. The latter somehow contrived to scuff his shot wide when it was perhaps easier to score. This brought back memories of Gerv’s failure to pass to an unmarked Robin with the Blackburn goal gaping – that moment was hugely costly, and we could only hope this sequence would not prove similar…
Mert was next into the book for bringing Defoe down, but van der Vaart wasted the free kick. Theo then shot over the bar from a good position, but the momentum had started to swing the other way and when Spurs next opportunity came, they didn’t waste it…
Conceding a goal shortly before halftime is never a good thing. On this occasion, there were only five minutes remaining in the half when Adebayor sent a ball into our box where van der Vaart – completely unmarked and free in the centre – took the ball down and fired past our exposed goalkeeper to open the scoring. A bad goal to concede, made worse by all the space afforded the goalscorer…
Adding insult to injury, replays showed that van der Vaart controlled the ball with his arm before scoring, the goal should not have stood. Adding injury to injury and insult, van der Vaart went into the crowd to celebrate, which, according to my understanding of the laws of the game, should have been a booking – and a second yellow card.
Mr. Dean seems to have used his discretion in withholding his yellow card. If the laws of the game do give him room for that, fair enough – I think our players have previously celebrated goals in similar fashion during this fixture but if the laws do not allow him room to use his discretion, then shame on him.
We were stunned by the goal and Bale had a quick chance to double the lead, but shot wide. The whistle went a few minutes later, and we have a lot of work to do. Despite controlling much of the half, we had only one real chance, and much of our play through Ramsey and Arteta looked slow and labored.
There were no changes at the interval and Spurs started the second half better, forcing a couple of quick corners which we were able to deal with. But once we got ourselves going, we quickly leveled – only six minutes into the half. Song made the goal, bringing the ball down the left and putting a peach of a cross into the box for Ramsey to convert from just a couple of yards out…
Spurs were stunned by the goal, and we were clearly lifted. We controlled the match for the next ten minutes, moving the ball crisply and right at the Spurs defence. Yet we didn’t really create much – Ramsey shot wide, but that was about it.
Right at the hour mark, Adebayor should have restored Spurs’ lead when put through but Szczesny made a great save to keep us level. With 25 minutes remaining, Harry brought Sandro on for van der Vaart, to shore up his midfield. A few minutes after that, we lost Bac when he crashed down hard after being caught by Assou-Ekotto. It looked like his ankle, but Arsene later said it was his fibula.
Regardless, he was stretchered off and eventually down the tunnel, as Jenks came on in his stead.
Arsene then brought Benny on for the anonymous Theo, and within seconds we were a goal down once again. Song cleared the ball as far as Walker, 30 yards out, and he rifled a shot right through Szczesny to restore their lead – Danny Rose, take II. Although the ball was well-struck, Szczesny should have been able to save it, but didn’t react quickly enough. He had an excellent game up to this point, but this moment proved so, so costly.
Arsene made a final change with Arsh replacing Gerv, but it didn’t have much effect.
For me, the most disappointing aspect of this match was how we responded after going down a second time. That goal seemed to suck the life out of our players, as we reverted to our safety net of slow-paced backwards and sideways passing. Spurs were the ones who did the attacking, and Defoe had two very good chances to put the game to bed, but Szczesny tipped one out for a corner, and the other went wide.
Finally, in stoppage time, we forced a pair of corners. We have not been proficient at these for a while now, and we did nothing with them, despite having both Mert and Szczesny forward. The whistle went shortly later, Spurs claimed bragging rights until at least May, and our mini-revival came to a shuddering halt…
So now we find ourselves with seven points from seven matches, in fifteenth place in the table, here on the second of October.
It is clearly not good enough but it is what it is…
There were some good moments and good performances today, certainly things to build upon. But there were also some poor performances today as well: our captain made little impact on the afternoon, and when the team needed lifting after the second goal, he was unable to provide it, either in word or deed. Theo and Gerv both didn’t make great impacts – perhaps neither of them were fully fit…
In the midfield, only Coquelin – supposedly the weak link when the teams ran out for the kickoff – impressed. We’re a long way from where we need to be at the moment.
It may get worse before it gets better. Several hours after the final whistle, the club confirmed that Bac sustained a fractured right fibula; we are looking at a minimum of three months out and if surgery is necessary – that is yet to be decided upon – then he may possibly be absent for much longer so Jenks will takeover. He has had his good moments and his bad moments – like most of his team-mates – so far this season but I don’t think he is quite ready for the minutes he will now get.
The end result is that we will get younger and less experienced at another key defensive position; Bac may not be the greatest crosser, but he is experienced, steady and reliable. Losing him will be a huge blow and will make establishing the much-needed defensive stability we require to climb the table that much more difficult.
So while we supporters have two weeks to stew over this, Arsene and the staff are hopefully looking at the upcoming international break as two weeks to get players fully fit and do some remedial work on crossing, corners, free-kicks, tracking, defensive positioning, finishing, and a whole host of other things we don’t do particularly well at the moment.
Some players will be away with their national squads – and fingers crossed that we have no more additions to our injury list – but others will stay behind, so hopefully we can make something productive of this break. Before we know it, the Mackems will be upon us and the thought of Nik Bendtner scoring the winner for them is, well….
It wouldn’t be an NLD without the ugly and the farcial. The ugly were the comments directed at Adebayor, from some of the Arsenal support, regarding the recent attack on the Togo African Cup of Nations team bus in Angola. I won’t dignify them here, except to say regardless of what any of us think of the player, they collectively shame us as supporters, and our club’s good name.
While some Spurs fans serenaded Arsene with the usual sick ditty he hears at every away ground, we dragged ourselves down to that level with the disgusting chants about Adebayor…
The comical was a pitiful little man named Clive Allen, who got the hump because Arsene brushed by him instead of shaking his hand after the match. So he – allegedly – called our manager an expletive then called him “two-bob” in every microphone he could find. I don’t always like Arsene’s post match manners either but come on – he just lost the derby match, probably lost his best currently available defender, and had already shaken Harry and Bond’s hands…
Is this really such a big deal? Or are you trying to make yourself the story? If you’re offended, just laugh at Arsene and point to the scoreboard. But don’t make a national crisis out of it. Arsene is under no obligation to shake hands with anyone…Neither are you, by the way…
Anyways, that was a fitting end to an unsatisfactory day.
Last season’s best (Premier League) away team has now gained one point from a possible 12 away from home – yet another thing for Arsene to ponder. The other side of that is we have collected six of a possible nine at home.
At some point – preferably very, very soon -we’ll need to balance this and start picking corresponding away points up. Our disciplinary record is also improving: we completed four consecutive league matches with eleven men, and received only one booking today.
These may be crumbs of comfort, but at the moment, there isn’t too much else…
Written by Oliver
Moaning – good write up oliver, thank you…
Pig sick I am…..
Morning all. Great read, cheers. Could have easily been titled “Remember when we used to be good?”!
Still bitter over a lot of poor performances yesterday, sorry!
Morning all, I hate to ask, but what was the general gist of the chant? I didn’t hear it at all.
Can’t believe sagna is out until at least after xmas…
coquelin can deputise in right back if jenkinson doesnt perform…he has played there during his time at lorient and looks alot more spirited than the rest of arsenal team….can defend and attack well….nothing is lost at the moment…down yes but not out yet….
It’s not the first time I say this, oliver but I continue to marvel at your ability to write match reports I imagine are no fun writing. 😉
rico, having now seen the game in full, I don’t know what our midfield was doing. Ramsey’s goal cannot atone for his frankly horrible performance, and you know he is one of my favorites. And Szcz ought to have done better for the second. Coquelin was surprisingly good though, and that’s the only silver lining I saw from yesterday’s performance.
At any rate, it is Sagna’s loss that is most concerning. How much worse do we have to get for things to get better?
rocky, when the best player is a young Coq, it’s shameful on the others, shocking performances yesterday… and a very average spud side….
Esp, it was relating to the incident with the Togo bus, the fans chanted that it should have been him killed – that is gutter if you ask me, why do fans have to stoop so low….
Hi Hidalgo – imho, it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better, if it ever gets better under this management…
Hi agag, Ches should have positioned himself a little better but the ball took one heck of a swerve on it’s way, more worrying for me is why was Walker allowed so so much space to get his shot in, someone should have been on him and stopped any shooting chance…
Our midfield were dreadful yesterday, passing was all over the place, too often found a spud, the only outfield player who can hold his head up is Coq
Off out with the woofa, catch up later….
Just read the chant… nasty stuff.
Clive Allen is a nobody, would he has shuck Arene’s hand if Arsenal had won?
When did Arteta become so indecisive? Too many times yesterday there was a pss on which he either didn’t see, or decided to keep doing little turns, doubling back on himself, than passing sideways, a la Denilson. I hope he’s still bedding in, and will turn it on soon, because I really like him as a player. But yesterday was pitiful. How the hell did Ramsey get a rating of 7 in the Sun this morning, and Coq only get a 6?! In fact, he was our highest rated player according to them!! Really goes to show that they are seriously inept and haven’t a clue.
ESP – exactly. No-one cares about Clive Allen anymore. Even my mates who are Spuds fans think he is a joke, with no business being in the dugout. Total bell-end.
According to me AW has lost it…the previous string of wins were just due to the fact that the other teams are shittier than we are now.
An average spurs team made us look like minnows…ive never seen such a horrendous display.losing 8-2 to manu is acceptable to this shit.manu atleast played well.spurs are a hopeless team and we lost to them with no effort or discipline on ur part.
a)wtf was ramsey doing on the pitch giving away balls like they were free?
b)theo doesnt really have a brain and neither does gervinho have one below his mop.these two guys were anonymous the whole match.they cant find a teammate to pass to,cant seem to hold the ball(esp walcott),cant shoot,cant contribute in any way.
c)arteta though was decent is way off what cesc was.he is not even good enough to be a replacement midfielder.
d)AA and benayoun-why bring on the same set of lazy,lackadaisical players?why not try park or ox?no tactics…no real desire to win….
ultimately AW is responsible for this…mark these words RVP will not sign an extension……probably the likes of szcz,verma et al. wont too.
ESP, Clive Allen? Who he?? Another non-entity eager for his 15 seconds of fame. 😀
Shame on those fans!! That chant is beneath contempt. Surely, we are better than that.
Not a happy bunny today, There isn’t much to find cheer in watching our team. 🙁
I’m still shocked that Wenger decided to Stick Merts up front, instead of subbing him and sticking a striker on? Park was on the bench… what’s the point of signing him if we aren’t going to play him? Does Wenger think Merts is more of an attacking threat than a proven striker? He should have made a Merts – Park swap if his intention was to get a more attacking threat, and not bothered with the pointless, ineffective Gerv – Arsh substitution.
Very good write up mate….only a couple of points I disagree on (A) Sagna will not be missed much as he has been responsible for many of our goals against this season already. If you actually study the recent goals against you will see in 7 out of 10 he has been either missing of has left a massive hole on the right.This has led to CB after CB rushing out to fill the space (because the lazy and quite useless Walcott is trotting around upfield too! (B) Arsene’s team selection was almost…yes almost right for the job, but he still refuses to go for the ugly win….after AFC had dominated most of the game for 65 minutes…..he sent more and more players upfield in search of a winner….but with our right back never there and our wingers doing sod all and Ramsey dog tired after trying to cover for all….he should have had Frimpong on along with Santos,,,this would have allowed Gibbs (our best crosser by a mile) to play up front left and he would have also allowed Santos to go for goal too.
Naive and old fashioned tactics by AW led to our loss…not super spurs..or our team being overun….but out of date…tried and failed tactics. Half way through the first half I wondered how many times we were going to get to Spurs box and not shoot? The after we scored, I wondered again when are we going to shoot because Spuds like every other team in UK know we will pass ourselves to death…….guess what….?
The only really bright points from our point of view were, Coquelin, Gibbs, Song, Per, Chezney (until he gave them the winner)…the rest were very average. On this showing I beg AW to have a rethink for our next match and play Coquelin & Frimpong in front of our defence to allow Jenkinson ( much better crosser than Sagna) and Gibbs to produce some width with good crosses. I cannot understand buying a known goal scoring Korean and not playing him….or leaving our player of the match midweek OAC out of the squad????????
The team needs a shake up, big time. I would like to see both Myiachi and Oxo getting games over Walcott and Gervinho. If we’re to play 3 in Centre mid how about Coquelin, Arteta and Arshavin, I know he is being a lazy prick, but I do feel he is sulking and might play better in his actual role supporting RVP (he has got to be better than Ramsey, a pile of rakes placed in the middle of the pitch would be better than Ramsey though… more effective),
Or how about just Coquelin and Arteta in Centre Mid and RVP and Park up front?
442 wenger i beg u SOB…..
jenkinson pet song gibbs
aox coquellen arteta santos
RVP arsahvin
for once try this and see the difference
ESP, that sounds good to me. Since Fab’s departure, loads of people are saying that as he is irreplacable, we really need to abandon the 3 in midfield system, and I have to agree. We just need someone solid in the middle, 2 decent wingers that can tuck in and help in the middle if needed, and 2 decent CF’s. We have 1 in the shape of RVP (Although after this year, we may not even have him) and Park is obviously no mug, so why not give him a chance? and what’s happened with Ryo? why were we so desperate to keep him, and then do nothing with him? I really don’t understand Wengers thinking sometimes (Well, most of the time if I’m being honest)
I dont want to adjust this life as an arsenal fan..
Hi again all….
Clive Allen, ddin’t he join us and leave again the following season… Anything to steal the limelight eh….
We really need to abandon the 5 in midfield and go back to 4-4-2.
Rocky I have no idea what happened to Ryo, I haven’t even seen his name on the bench. Any player compared with Christy R can’t be bad!
When is TV back? Did he suffer a set back?
4-4-2 (For me!)
Scez
Jenk Mertz TV Santos
Oxo Coq Arteta Ryo
RVP
Park/Arshavin
Jeez…. that is not the team I would have asked for the beginning of the transfer window…
Still can’t feel my toes…morning guys. It didn’t hurt this much until I got to work and my chavs mates started taunting me…we ve lost to the spuds twice in as many games. I wonder how Henry pires ljunberg and all the other invisibles will be feeling now cause believe me guys losing to the tiny tots is foreign even to me…
Sickening Sickening.. (even that team ESP 😉 )
i dont understrand what wenger has inmind when he says project youth… we have very talanted players but if they are not introduces in the right way to the game then they will be a total waste … he is ruining thier carrers… i feel denielson if at manu or chelsea would have been a star … he was just thorwn into the mix when we had no def mids
7 pts in 7 games is what we’ll get if we replace fabr/ nasri with Artrta/ Benaouyounaen
Of course TV suffered a set back!! That was always, 100% going to happen, and canme as no shock to anyone. Not sure how long he’s out for, but sure someone on here can let us know?
Ox has to play the next game, surely? Walcott has had more than enough chances, but simply hasn’t got the brain to match his pace. Such a shame, but that’s the way it’s turned out. As for the team you just posted…. You’re spot on when you say that’s not the team you would have asked for! No-one in their right mind would have. Unfortunately, for the forseeable future, that team won’t even include TV5!
terry, totally agree re wenger, he has ruined Nik & Theo too, i bet if another club signed him and i think they will this summer, they will play him through the middle each week and he’d improve – and i truly believe his injury problems would cease.
Dread to think what Wenger will do to Chamberlain
Sorry guys, but I hope it all gets too much and wenger quits….
rocky, TV has denied the setback, he says he is recovering well and should be back after the international break as planned…
hi stv, pete & goonster – and anyone else i have missed 😉
Wenger says we have little chance of winning the title!!
Get Real Arsene, the only title we might win is the Championship next season the way things are going….
Fair enough Rico, but how many times have we heard that he is recovering well, only for it to come out the he is still injured? I hope he’s telling the truth, because we miss him badly.
Moaning all.
Don’t know if anyone has noticed it but not only are we 15th in the league but we are now the bottom club in london as well, how much further can we sink.
Arsenal is a sad case of chronic under investment which has thrown away years of progress, both wenger and the board have been incompetent to have let this happen, all us supporters can see it but they don’t want to listen, they are only interested in profits.
the interlull couldn’t have come at a better time for me….at least for the time being I get to stay off every thing arsenal…it hurts you guys. How people like oliver rico stave p kev and kt get themselves up and write a match report is beyond me..
And playing merkesacker up front at the end of the game just smacked of desperately.
I know Micko. Woeful.
rocky, we all hope but we all know deep down it will be 2012 before he’s back, but, even his return won’t put right all that is wrong, the midfield are shot to peices, they were all over the place yesterday and their passing, movement was dire – TV is good, but he aint that good 😉
Hi Micko, it will get worse, Sunderland and Stoke up next….
goonster – you know what, sometimes i really think why do i or any of us bother, the board don’t care, the manager doesn’t seem to care, the players play like they don’t – i think wtf should we all….
It was woeful, 6’6″ and he couldn’t even get on the end of a cross, actually, did we even get in a cross to him…
Don’t think so Rico. A couple of long punts, one of which he decided not to bother going for, and left!
Exactly rocky, woeful… can’t say i am overly impressed with Merts…
NOt yet, no. Again, like Arteta, I hope he just clicks one day and becomes the player we all hoped he would be. He’s clearly not garbage…. You don’t play that many times for Germany if you’re not good…. but for some reason he looks like Bambi on ice most of the time. And his distribution is nothing short of dreadful. I think he’ll come good though. He just needs a constant, solid partner next to him.
Rocky, we had a similar situation with TV5 a couple of seasons back when he didn’t have a regular partner, it looked like he was trying to hard, wanting to make challenges/tackles he didn’t need to which he could have left to others and as a result finding himself out of position leaving us open,there was too much responsibility on his shoulders, the same now applies to mertesacker, he needs a regular partner next to him so that they can get to know each other and concentrate on their own roles and do what they do best.
Nothing keown couldn’t sort out for the big german rocky, i’m sure of that, like you say, you don’t play for germany if you are cack…
Totally agree with you both. Him and TV5 (If eve fit) could be immense together. I still stand by what I said yesterday about TV5 though…. If he can’t quickly get back playing regularly, I seriously believe we should cut our losses with him. We need quality players we can rely on week in, week out. I hope he does come back and play regularly, because I love the guy.
what are these blogs going to do about it?????? where is the organisation for protesting and demonstrations??????? writing and reading these are an ABSOLUTE waste of time, opinions mean nothing we need substance now!!!! IM 100% RIGHT FACT!
Hi Guys, great post. I just have to add, I am pretty sure us fans were jonesing for the international break a few weeks back due to our poor form? It that what our season will now consist of; waiting for international break? My how the mighty have fallen??
All week I was concerned about the Spuds game; they were up for it, and many of their players know all about the derby. Whereas we have a group of players who haven’t got a clue what the derby is all about, and the ones that did are injured. So, throughout the game it just felt like Spurs wanted it more. We can blame SZCZ for the goal, but the way I saw it we defended very poorly, theres a difference between the opposing team passing the ball well and our teams inability to clear its lines, the latter was definitely the case at the lane yesterday.
imho, Arsene needs to ditch the notion that bringing on Arshavin for Gervinho as the clock ticks down actually works. AA has shown over the past few months that he is devoid of any confidence, I realise that players need game time to find that confidence but when your 2-1 in a derby with 20mins left is not the best time.
As Ive read on various websites, part of it seems to stem from our activity in the transfer window. Its not even about buying world class players or spending big, its timing. Nobody has had time to gel, we’ve just waited until the last minute and nobody has had time to get to know each other. Are we saying that we couldn’t have nabbed Yossi Benayoun on loan quicker than we did? Please!!!
Yes Arsene has described this as a transitional Arsenal side; but buying slightly early could only have helped the team to gel quicker. If I am cooking dinner for a woman, I don’t leave it until the night of the big date to ask if she has any allergies. Ps. I see Bendtner isn’t playing too badly UP FRONT for Sunderland.
Why wouldn’t wenger want to tap into keown’s knowledge of defending ?
Answers on a postcard, its just crazy, when you watch him on the box he speaks so much sense.
Afternoon Gooners.
Oh woe is me…
Top post Oliver. But then i wouldn’t expect any less. 🙂
Hi Rico. Thought GPete made some good points teamwise.
This season really has to be the end of the line for some of our squad who flatter to decieve.
Micko – I vaguely remember rumours of Wenger and Keown falling out a while back…. were these found to be true at all? That’s the only reason I can think of why Keown isn’t at London Colney right now, sorting the whole mess out. Well, that and the fact Wenger is so stubborn it’s ridiculous… Probably couldn’t handle if if someone else took the praise if they came in and sorted it all out!
I’m with Mick & Rocky on Merts.
Our last decent defender out 🙁
morning all…not much else to say, really…we are not in a good place right now, and we just cannot seem to generate any momentum to lift ourselves out of this.
Good post Oliver, we are in the brown stuff at the moment…..
thanks lee…you look at the response after their second goal, where we showed no urgency, didn’t even get a shot on goal – even though more than 15 minutes remained to possibly retrieve the situation – and you cannot help but be worried…something is really, really wrong here…
Sad fact is Oliver momentum is one thing bottom line is we’re a very average team and merely not good enough anymore… Anyone who sticks their head in the sand with weekly excuses about injuries and bad decisions is deluded… when we had a good team we also had injuries and shit decisions but 99% of teh time it didnt matter because we were good enough to win despite all of that…! Now we’re simply not good enough end of….!
I posted yesterday that it’s not like we’ve not known that Fab & the french ponce were going to leave…so be proactive in the transfer mkt show some intent early doors also giving the new players time to bed in. It’s not like the team has been crying out for a “backbone” for ages, is it? God forbid atg happen to RVP….it’s a shit show!!
morning wath…hard to argue with that…injuries are part and parcel of the game – we have more than our share, but they seem to bite so much because we have little depth behind them other than kids – kids who are not always ready for the minutes they are thrust into…we are going to see that with jenks – i hope he can do the job, but i have serious reservations about whether he is ready for this or not…
when we were winning titles and cups, i remember plenty of bad decisions we were on the end of…with a few notable exceptions (rooney dive at ot, specifically), we always seemed to say ‘whatever’ and go about our business of winning matches, in spite of these bad calls…now we just cannot seem to respond…
Exactly Lee, hardly rocket science is it….. Problem is an owner who isn’t bothered to invest a board who are to busy patting themselves on the back for a perceived job well done and a manager who’s in the most comfortable job in footie….!
We had players who were quality Oliver, got stuck in and had the mentality to in most cases overcome injuries and crap decisions. We now have kids carrying the team no leaders no spine and now injuries yet again with the more experienced players and we’re in shit streak cos the board and wenger have no foresight to invest in making the club great again but actually we were great in 04 they’ve let us crumble what investment to of kept us great from 04 I wonder…??? blinkered idiots..!
well…this is clearly far more than a blip – it is a prolonged wretched run of form and results dating back to february 28th…the manager and players have – so far – been unable to get us back on track, and with it lasting this long, you wonder if they ever will…arsene loves to laud our culture and values – perhaps these are part of the things currently holding us back…
As you say Oliver this isn’t just about 7 games this goes back to Feb and if we look closely its about our failing the last 3/4 years where we fall apart when it really matters and we make the same mistakes year after year and they have not been addressed by the manager or the club…!
after anyalyzing a lot i think we could expreiment with this formation:
schezny
jenkinson pet song santos
aox frimpong arteta gibbs
walcott gerviniho
no one would think of a team without robin but i think this team could actually do a lot .
i think playres in their natural position can actually make the diffference the pace of gibbs, ox walcott and gerviniho could threathen any defence in the league… arteta can actuall supply like crazy in a 442. he is finding it dificult to play this crappy tippy tappy football. i dono i jus want arsene to sort this out i cannot keep getting embaressed to the fuckin spuds at work … sort it out wenger or leave the club…
yeah Terry, I’m fucking glad this work day is coming to a close, the amount of shit I’ve been given….and to compound it, sky sports have repeated the game which is on several screens in the office!! Oh joy!!
Changing the subject slightly…ol twitchy getting on his high horse about the adebarndoor singing (which i do not agree with) wasn’t his own fans that started it when he played for us??
Arsenal legend Martin Keown has admitted that Arsene Wenger should have prepared better for Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri’s exits, with the former defender arguing that apt replacements are desperately needed to turn the club around.
While Wenger insisted all summer that both Nasri and Fabregas were staying at North London, at the end of August they moved to Manchester City and Barcelona respectively.
And after Arsenal suffered a terrible start to the season, with the club having to come back from their worst start in over 58 years, Keown believes the reasoning for this is that Wenger wasn’t ready to lose two of his best players.
“This is a period of recovery, he’s having to start things all over again,” Keown said. “It appears he’s been caught short with Fabregas and Nasri leaving.
“We all seemed to know that was going to happen but he appeared reluctant to let them go and the building process seemed to start very late on transfer deadline day.
“Behind the scenes they are building younger players for the future, but there’s a naivety there with some of their defending.”
Give him a call Arsene, I reckon he’d help out!!
What I like about Keown, Lee, is that his comments at least are constructive. Our defense needs strengthening and sorting out, there is no denying, but our midfield needs to be helping out more!
Stubbornarse won’t call anyone Lee……. He don’t need help, he been in the game 37yrs he know’s what he’s doing he said the other week…! Really…… Could of fooled me but what do i know, I’ve only been going over the Arsenal 38yrs so I know nothing obviously…!
Hi Agag, yeah a true gooner.Why is AW so reluctant to get his help?
And, Lee, Keown does seem eager to help. Come on, AW, go get him! I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s because our miserly board doesn’t want to pay his wages. 🙂
WATH, 38 years! You’re old. 😉
You can almost see the sadness in Keowns eyes when he talks of Arsenal’s demise this season (and the back end of last). You can tell he’s itching to get hold of douchebags like Squid and Djourou and show them what proper defending is.
Rocky not only his eyes mate….
Agag, WATH started supporting them very young!! 🙂
Our poor run of form is frustrating for all. I’m trying to find the positives, but it’s a struggle to be honest. 🙁
Positives….. hmmm…. Wenger will probably be gone in about 3 years? That’s something to look forward to surely!!
Yeh AGAG I’m 39 😉
I don’t really want him gone, Rocastle. I just want him to buy superquality. 😉 Rediscover his old touch. These days, he looks like a defeated man. That does nothing for our players’ already fragile confidence.
Broadband, bloomin Broadband had crashed…. !
But one thing we have learned from him over the years, Agag, is that he HATES to buy super quality. He LOVES the praise he gets from unearthing the latest gem of a player. The problem we have with that now, is before, when Fabregas etc were being “unearthed”, we had a team of proven quality players. Now, we have too many ineffective players in the team, so chucking in unproven talent means thay find it hard, get found out, and no doubt shatters their confidence
I thought, 38 years and one day old, WATH. 😉 I’m way off the mark, it seems. You sound like you enjoyed the match. 😀
Add to that rocky, gone are the days of wenger being the only one looking out for ‘unknowns’ or young gems – every other club has caught on and are scouting further afield to find the players that only wenger once did….
Just like on the pitch, wenger needs a plan b in his buying….
totally Rico. Now when Wenger does find them, he delays putting a bit in, then starts haggling over ridiculous amounts, and we end up losing them.
bid*
afternoon…i see that szczesny has pulled out of poland’s squad, claiming a back injury. we can only hope it is nothing too bad and he will be fit and available for the mackems…a serious injury to him is the last thing we need now…
agag, you’re not alone…arsene is scraping the bottom of the barrel looking for positives…his latest is “defensively we are becoming stronger” that may be numerically accurate, as we only conceded two goals yesterday and were not burned by set-pieces for a change, but i would still beg to differ…the time and space afforded both goalscorers yesterday suggests that team-wide, we still are not sure of what we are doing…regardless, we have a long, long way to go…
A fair observation, Rocastle. He does seem to revel in his reputation as one to pull rabbits out of hats. 🙂 It’s pretty bleak looking at our lineup these days. I feel for Jenkinson; too much is asked of him. That boy’s confidence will be shot in no time at all, if it isn’t already.
rico, I was wondering where you’ve been. Go call your provider, and give customer service an earful; it might provide some catharsis from yesterday’s results. 😉
good one, oliver. I know we hate interlull, but this one may have come at the right time; our players need to take stock of our season so far; more to the point, what a mess they have made of it. We are too slow to close down players; and there is a general air of nerve and unease about our defense that opposition is quick to spot and take advantage of.
Positives, it looks like we have given up on zonal marking, albeit 7 games too late…i’m struggling.
Thats another think that really narks rocky – why when a player is valued at one amount, wenger offers so much less?
If we are to believe what went on with Cahill, well how much does our offer make Cahill feel wanted….
It’s beyond a joke, we lost Mata, Ricky Alvez (spelling) Stefan Saphic, he’d had agreed to sign but then who came in…. and they are just three i can think of,
Hi Cpt. BlackBeard and SAID THIS IN 07!
Really sorry it took so long getting one here, my internet crashed and you were stuck in moderation… i’ll repost them so they don’t get missed….
SAID THIS IN 07! says:
October 3, 2011 at 12:18 pm (Edit)
what are these blogs going to do about it?????? where is the organisation for protesting and demonstrations??????? writing and reading these are an ABSOLUTE waste of time, opinions mean nothing we need substance now!!!! IM 100% RIGHT FACT!
&
Cpt. BlackBeard says:
October 3, 2011 at 12:19 pm (Edit)
Hi Guys, great post. I just have to add, I am pretty sure us fans were jonesing for the international break a few weeks back due to our poor form? It that what our season will now consist of; waiting for international break? My how the mighty have fallen??
All week I was concerned about the Spuds game; they were up for it, and many of their players know all about the derby. Whereas we have a group of players who haven’t got a clue what the derby is all about, and the ones that did are injured. So, throughout the game it just felt like Spurs wanted it more. We can blame SZCZ for the goal, but the way I saw it we defended very poorly, theres a difference between the opposing team passing the ball well and our teams inability to clear its lines, the latter was definitely the case at the lane yesterday.
imho, Arsene needs to ditch the notion that bringing on Arshavin for Gervinho as the clock ticks down actually works. AA has shown over the past few months that he is devoid of any confidence, I realise that players need game time to find that confidence but when your 2-1 in a derby with 20mins left is not the best time.
As Ive read on various websites, part of it seems to stem from our activity in the transfer window. Its not even about buying world class players or spending big, its timing. Nobody has had time to gel, we’ve just waited until the last minute and nobody has had time to get to know each other. Are we saying that we couldn’t have nabbed Yossi Benayoun on loan quicker than we did? Please!!!
Yes Arsene has described this as a transitional Arsenal side; but buying slightly early could only have helped the team to gel quicker. If I am cooking dinner for a woman, I don’t leave it until the night of the big date to ask if she has any allergies. Ps. I see Bendtner isn’t playing too badly UP FRONT for Sunderland.
That was a disastrous little experiment, Micko; thank God it’s stopped.
rico, and Lucho Gonzalea, too, if it is to be believed.
agreed agag…organization is certainly an identifiable – and persistent – problem with our side. i would also add that our players do not seem to be able to anticipate danger very well, particularly those in forward/midfield positions. as you said, we don’t close down well, and we don’t work nearly as hard as we should when we are not in possession…
more than that, our players – at least yesterday – showed little stomach for the fight once we conceded the second goal. considering the opposition, our relative league position and how the past seven months have gone, that is inexcusable at any level.
here we go…dot com has an interview with song, where he trots out all the tired, worn-out cliches that we hear following a loss: “we need to learn from this one for the future…”, “we now need to show something very good…”, “we need to keep our heads up…”
they’re all there, every last phrase we have grown so fond of…
we’re still waiting for the response that has been discussed again, and again, and…
Zonal marking sucked arse in a massive way. Is that right that Pat Rice suggested that to Wenger? If so, then that’s another reason that has-been should have hung up his awful “Transitions” glasses at the end of last year.
That’s just a few Rico. It’s been said so many times, but it’s true. When Wenger wants a player, he tries as hard as he can to get them for next to nothing, and then tries to demand absolute top dollar for his crappy cast-offs! I know some people will say it’s great business sense. But it’s not. We lose out on players we really want and, more importantly, need, and end up keeping the dross (Almunia, Denilson et al)
Oliver – Was “Mental Strength” addressed at all?!
Good comment, Cpt. BlackBeard. 🙂
oliver, the last twenty mins. were disheartening. While other teams would have been buoyed by an equalizing goal, and would have been trying to capitalisz on the shift in momentum; AFC went tippy tappy, then conceded, then collapsed. Very frustrating.
rocky, it wasn’t in the excerpt i read…possibly in the full transcript but i doubt it…i think arsene owns exclusive copyright to that particular phrase…
agag, it almost feels like the team collective said we came back once, but twice is too difficult…and so they retreated into their backwards, sideways, don’t-threaten-the-opposition-goal shell…
that hurt me perhaps more than anything – the lack of fight, the apparent refusal of anyone in red to take responsibility, drive the team forward and take at least one goal back, regardless of the cost…
i hope arsene was sick to his stomach watching that – if he wasn’t, things may be far, far worse than they seem here on the morning after…
On that note, I’m off. Need to get the hell out of London back to leafy Hertfordshire. See you all tomorrow (If I can get away with doing very little for another day!)
Just seven games Micko 😉
agag, i am sure there are many many more too..
Hi oliver – hope you are feeling a lot better now? It’s time our players shut up, you have said it for ages now and you are spot on….
We lost, we were beaten by a very average spurs side imho and that just about says everything about us….
See you rocky, safe journey home, hopefully tomorrow the pain will be a degree less….
hi rico…better – not perfect, but much better than early last week…while you have warmer than normal weather over there, we have been suddenly hit by cold temps and everyone is feeling it…
Be safe, rocastle.See ya!
oliver, I read Szcz’s and Song’s interviews, too; and they both spoke of doing something for the fans; now if only, they would actually do something for the fans. Sigh.
Hazard and Gourcuff, too rico. 😉 And vdV’s been smug, I see. Pfft. Whatever. He handballed.
Glad to hear you are a tad better oliver, our weather is about to change, from tomorrow ‘they’ say…. but it has been a lovely few days of warmth but no doubt we’ll all get the bugs soon too ….
And what about VDW agag 😉
We still should have beaten that side yesterday and to be fair, doesn’t RvP control the ball just the same sometimes? I’m more narked that he wasn’t given a second yellow for his celebrations….
Now’s the time to get vdW, rico. 🙂 I have been saying it for a while now, we need someone at RB. 😀 Ahaha.
I think that is what’s galling, rico. That the Spuds were average and still we lost.. (well, they’ve been average for only like forever…)
Good write up Oliver,
I felt we moved the ball about better, and held it a bit longer, I also thought the defence gelled better, not good just better, I agree with you about Czezsney, i felt he should have saved that shot as well, but it has started to be his weakness anything outside the box and he has trouble, maybe contact lenses may help. Theo was a pathetic waste of time, him being played, i am asking myself why we haven’t seen Ryo yet or are we waiting till were so far behind before we try him, Oxo would have been a definte improvement over Theo, but we have to suffer the elusive Russian instead. Not sure if he had a touch or not, certainly not memorable.
Agag your not 38 are ya?
How did i know you would say that about the dutch RB agag 😉
I wish i could call Ade and ask him if he missed his big chance to score on purpose, i think he did…..
Hello, steve, I’m not sure Theo has it in him to play consistently well. Another disappointment. To be fair, even Szcz thinks he could have done better for the second goal.
AK, Not for many years, yet. 😀 How are ya?
Hi Steve and AK…
You home AK?
Steve – i thought we were awful for most of the game, lacklustre, disinterested, the midfield were shocking, all bar coq…
I don’t entirely blame Ches for their winner, Walker should have been closed down and never been given so much time and space….
rico, I had a foreshadowing of Sagna’s long lay-off; we have to get him in the Jan trf wndow. 🙂
afternoon steve, and thanks…
i also think there were a few positives – as arsene mentioned – in the defence, but i don’t think it was necessarily better overall. the yawning areas of space around vdv in our box on the first goal was not good to see…we didn’t close down well enough either on their second goal…
theo had a poor game, certainly no argument from me…but i was more disappointed with our captain – who i felt passively allowed the game to pass him by – and gerv, who i am starting to see as a poor decision-maker with no end-product…kinda like theo before he started scoring goals…when coquelin is generally acknowledged as your best player on the day, certainly something is wrong…
and that is not meant as a pop at a promising young player, rather an indictment of many of his far more experienced team-mates who stunk it out yesterday…the ones who should have guided him, showed him what to do, made his transition easier…as it was, he didn’t need any of that help, it was players i expected more of who did…
i am not enamored with the idea of throwing oc and miyaichi on, but the incumbents are not doing that much to justify their continued selection…i have a suspcion that arsene has finally had enough of chamakh – if that is the case, surely it cannot be too much longer for others – specifically arsh, and perhaps theo to a lesser extent…
i don’t think our precarious position allows us the luxury of starting two talented kids from here on out – i think we need experience and determination to get us out of this rut…but those options are not generally available, so i think it won’t be too much longer before we start seeing oc/miyaichi in league matches…what we are doing right now simply is not consistently working, and at some point we have to try something else…
😆 agag, are you sure that is footballing reasons only that make you say that 😳
Off to get dinner, back in a little while….
Hi Agag, Theo has worn my patience a bit i must admit, for a player that wants to be a first choice up front, i believe he should show a bit more than he does. Evening Rico, looks like we dissagree i felt we were the better side personally with no end result, but a loss is a loss whatever way you look at it, also i felt it was a good shot, but at 25 yards i expect better from our No1 keeper.
I agree Oliver i believe there were positives out there and i felt we closed down better than we have in a lot of previous games, Sagnas Broken ankle or leg whatever is just what we don’t need, we have had a pretty bag start but i honestly do not believe that Wenger was aware of Vermaelen and Wilshere as far as how bad they were, i still believe that had we had them available from the off, we would have had a pretty good team, sometimes it never rains but it pours and all in Arsenes garden
steve, we did have a few positives – and i think these are things we can build on – but considering the opposition and the modesting winning run we had built, i cannot look at yesterday as an overall positive…
impossible to know how our team would be with jack, tv, and even diaby fit and available…i don’t think for a minute that we would be languishing in 15th place, but neither do i think that we would be in the top four…the lack of fight we showed when we should have been going all out to equalize yesterday was truly disturbing…i’ve been banging on about that all morning, but to effectively give up against the spuds, of all teams, is difficult to take…
barring any setbacks, squil should be available for selection against the mackems…while many may not necessarily consider that good news, we are now so thin back there that starting him alongside mert may be a consideration…particularly if arsene decides to move coquelin to rb…
Yes Rico, home today for a few days.
So agag, we’re of a similar age… 🙂
I think we will see a lot of Jenkinson for a while Oliver, i believe song will stay where he is, the changes will be up front, and i think its time to let the youngsters loose, maybe Arsene would prefer to ease them in slower but Gerve and Theo are not having a good time at the moment, the ox showed he wants to be there he showed no fear and put it about a bit, he’s ready, Ryo who knows, cant be much worse than the other two can he. The Spuds have got a fairly good team at the moment but they were lucky to beat us at home, in my eyes they are still not better than us, just luckier
That’s good Steve, we can’t all agree 😉 But, I guess i am just really peed off we lost and therefore, i see no good in anything about yesterday….
Glad to hear that AK, always good to be home eh…. 🙂
Our problem lies in the box we never have bodies in the box and so the ball very seldom goes in there, they pass the ball about backwards sideways out wide or miles back, not where it should be and thats in the box, no one can get a shot on target from outside the box and any that do is like a pass back. Mertsacker should stay back at corners as he has no idea how to head towards goal, apart from that, at six feet six he never gets it anyway. Our corners hardly get off the ground i don’t think they can kick it that far, so stick with short corners and get closer first.
Goalscoring has been a problem for a long time. It’s a shame Afobe is injured. Ok he might not be the solve-all solution, but i’d rather see a hungry youngster coming on than some shambling sulking Russian.
Keown said what I’m been saying on the fist match of the season.
However, i’m not disappoint with our performance yesterday, Until the second goal, we were the best team on the pitch. for me was a surprise because when I saw the line-ups I think for myself our midfiels was very poor and nort strong enought.
I’m going to watch the second goal agaian. I’m quite sure was an off-sdie
Don’t worry rico i’m peed off as well i can tell ya. But we were better, i was expecting worse, and realised that we were playing better, in fact if we had strikers we could have won.
Glad your home Ak, i expect the wifes not, but you will be gone again soon. your a bit like Gulliver
Ok, was a regular goal.
Barça is very interesting in our goalkeeper
now, we must only fight for the 4th possition or worse.
Goal scoring…
We miss Ade 😉 😉
Do i understand you right JM Barca interested in our keeper, they only wanted to pay peanuts for one of the best Midfielders in the world , does that mean we have to pay them to take him.
That’s what makes it all so worse steve, spurs were crap, very very average and we should have battered them, if only 3/4 players more had really known what yesterday meant and had been up for it, we would have done…..
JM, Barca won’t get Ches, he has said that his aim is to become the best and longest serving since Seaman….
That came from his better half who is ready to move from Poland to continue her study in London, he’s staying put….
I’m done guys and gals, til tomorrow…..
Off for horlicks and a choccie digestive 🙂
Night all…..
I was thinking Fabianski rico, aint seen him for ages or has he gone.
Nte rico,
I just broke a spuds fan wind shield and am happy…lil prick called me an arshole and called wenger a paedo! I didn’t smash his screen for calling wenger a paedo. I smashed it cause he kept laughing and pointing at the cannon inscription on my truck. I just wish i smashed his face in and not his bloody screen. What a turd….hi guys. Am still sore as hell. I dare any spuds chav or manc fan to pick a fight with me right now….come on bring it on!
And I ll do it again if I run into the lil prick again….fucking scummy idiots. The lot of them.
new post up