Morning all.
Despite the transfer window being closed, there’s still lots of stuff being thrown around in the newspapers and other outlets. Sports Witness apparently have a source close to Daniele Rugani and reports claiming Arsenal wanted to sign him have some truth to them. We weren’t the only club interested in him as Napoli reportedly made a €25m offer to Juventus, which was rejected as the Serie A champions see Rugani as one for the future considering their current ageing back-line.
Speaking exclusively to Sport Witness, the source said:
Of course, if Arsenal or other important English clubs want to buy him with the right offer, the player will be more than happy to move.
I wonder if Arsene Wenger will make a move for him in January….
Ok, back to the real world and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has his heart set on being Alexis Sanchez Mk2:
It’s hard not to learn from him. How he trains, how he scores goals, how he plays, how he defends from the front. I learn from him every day.
Apparently Arsene Wenger has told AOC that he needs to show more belief and stop being so hard on himself.
I did see the comments and I chuckled because my dad says that to me a lot. It’s a valid point and Alexis is someone who has massive self-belief and he shows that every week.
Quite often, that results in positive performance with good end-products and good results. It’s definitely something for me to take on board and look to improve on. I’m critical of myself and I try to demand high standards of myself. Sometimes maybe that can work in a negative fashion. That’s something that I need to work on.
Self-belief is obviously a massive part of the game. I might need to start showing that I believe in myself a bit more around [the boss].
Match-day again and it’s a big one as far as our progression from the group goes. Having lost our opener, this is considered to be a must win, all the home games are.
As admitted yesterday, I know nothing about tonight’s opposition other than what I’ve been told and that was other than a couple of players, they don’t have a lot to fear.
That means very little though as we saw against Zagreb, to be successful in any sport, skill makes up only a portion of success, perhaps a small one because without the correct work ethic, the passion, desire and will to win, skill alone won’t make one, or a team winners.
Ray Parlour wasn’t the greatest footballer seen at Arsenal but what he had in passion and commitment is hard to find these days. I actually think that’s what’s our squad lacks these days. 2/3 Romford’s in the side would make us much harder to beat..
I expect that’s what we’ll see tonight from Olympiacos. Managed by a Portuguese coach, we shouldn’t expect any different. Maybe they’ll set up in a similar way to Chelsea on the road, pack the defence and then try to hit us on the break. I don’t know, I’m guessing but I doubt they’ll play an open game as that would give us the advantage..
Our boys just need to be focussed, we are at home but we don’t want a repeat of Anderlecht last year when 3-0 up turned 3-3 because we switched off and gifted them goals. Ok, one was a referee muck up which gave them a life-line, the other two were down to tactics and the players being naive and far too gung-ho!
We’ll see later if we’ve learned how to play at home in this competition…
Looks like we’ll be without all three of our central ‘defensive’ midfielders through injury. Francis Coquelin is back in training but with Utd on Sunday, playing him might be a risk. Didn’t see this scenario coming eh….
Anyway, Glen Kamara was spotted training with the first team yesterday and it could be he’s about to be thrown in at the deep end, could be he’s on the bench ‘just in case’. He’s actually a proper defensive midfielder and has played for the under 21’s in their CL campaign so he’s no stranger to European football but it’s a big leap from that level to nights like tonight. The Englishman is 20 years old next month, so if Arsene Wenger thinks he’s ready, he’s certainly no baby is he…
Arsene Wenger has hinted at a bit of rotation tonight as many players have played a lot of games.
Well, whoever wears the shirt, I hope they are ready to roll up their sleeves and get maximum points because if they don’t, the result won’t go in our favour and reaching the group stages will be an uphill, if not near on impossible task…
Have a good day guys and gals, got a few things to do so sorry if anyone gets stuck in moderation…
Good afternoon Rico and all…
Good article once again. I just hope the guys will do job indeed….
Morning rico and house. Cant exactly rest Walcott with BigG banned? Sanchez needs to continue I reckon, no point dropping a hat-trick man. Bring in Ox on the right, Ramsey Centre Midfield? Fortunately we do have 8 defenders so can rotate there without too much weakening.
From videos who ever plays in the CDM role has to be weary of Kostas” Fortounis tonight. I think Kosser and Gabriel/per will easily handle Ideye and Finnbogason (spelling) easily.
I have no fear for Kamara sitting next to Ramsey or Sc19…
Afternoon All…
Afternoon Rico…
That Rugani rumour is a load of bollox imo.
Arsenal aren’t gonna spend £20m on some young Italian defender, it’s just his Agent trying to get a new deal from Juve…
Morning all.
3-4 nil win…easy 🙂
Afternoon Rico and the House.
Nice sunny day down south.Thers 2 games today . The u19 are also playing Olympiocos
The game is live on Arsenal .com now with a 2pm k.o.
Very good read Rico except for one thing Glen isn’t English
See you later
Scott I think we smash them. 3-4 nil is an underwhelming scoreline. Alexis and theo to rip them a new one and rambo to finally score his first goal of the season. 6.0 to the good guys. Morning good people. Rainy day here hope you its better where you all are?
Glen Kamara’s parents are from Sierra Leone and he is currently an U21 international with Finland, Rico…
Not only is he of Sierra Leone heritage, I have also read that some people from the Gold Coast trying to claim him as one of theirs!
Outrageous… 🙂
Hi Stan.
Summer has hit early here.
The weather is just brilliant, and I’ll take a 3-0 win but 6 would be better 🙂
Decision not to buy another DM is starting to bite us in the Arse after only 1 month of football… Did we all forget how intense a season of football is and how fixtures quickly pile up! 2-0 for Arsenal tonight
Stan/Scott, a win, by any amount is the minimum, otherwise Arsenal will be playing on a Thursday night in the Europa Lge… 🙁
Hey Kev- I think the folks from gold coast have a fair shout re. Kamara. 😛
Hello everyone! Good read as usual and I hope AOC does learn and push on I think he has great potential.
I’ll be at the game tonight so will be good to see how we play live and I hope the fans brig an intense home atmosphere to really spur the players on!
Good afternoon Rico and All.
Good read as always.
Kev. Glen parents must have come from Sierra Leone. It’s the only West African country that spell Kamara with ‘K’. Guinea, Gambia and Senegal spell theirs with ‘C’. But it might be Glen himself wasn’t born in Sierra Leone.
Hi rico, put yourself in Ox’s boots, 42 starts for us in the league over 5 seasons and substituted 41 times, that would knock anyone’s self belief !
Hi Nasher, thanks for the info…
What about Togo and its German influence?
No matter what team AW pick today, as long as he doesn’t use AR as our defensive midfielder. AR gives the ball away so much he makes Song look as armature. The best thing about AR giving the ball away he does it in the other teams half. So putting him in the defensive role close to the back four is a recipe for disaster. If you don’t believe me just watch who is the first one to give the ball to the opposition.
Kev. I don’t know that much about the Togolese but I’ll try to find out.
Just wondering Nash, because pre 1918/19
Cameroon used to be Kameroon or Kamerun…
Again a very good post Rico…
I have a feeling that Campbell will be playing left-side instead of Alexis, to give him some rest for the ManU match…
For years, fixtures don’t do any good to Arsenal… But, there is one good thing with today’s fixture…
We will have one more day rest than ManU players… They play Wolfsburg tomorrow and I think, at least 5 first team players will play…
I don’t worry about today’s match… We’ll play a good game and win… With the confidence Alexis, Walcott, Ozil, Santo and Coq have… It’s time to put the old toileters where they belong… Last year it was ManC to give us a great turn around… And this year, it should be ManU…
COYG…
Good post Rico
Should be 3-0 to the Arsenal.
Afternoon all.
Ghana had an in flux of Ivorian, Togolese, Burkinabes, Nigerien, Chadian, Lebanese, Liberians, Sierra Leoneans in the 80’s and 90’s due to civil way and famine…
Even Ade-ba whore grew up in Ghana.
I thought Kamara’s mother was Ghnaian… I might be wrong though.
U19’s won 3-2. Goals by Pleguezuelo (2) and Sheaf (pen)
Not a very good performance hope the big boys do better tonight.
Kev in 1960 it was British Cameroons and French Cameroune
Evening all..
Rick/Kev – I must have had sleepy dust in my eyes this morning and read Finland as England… Oops… 😉
Micko, I never knew that, bet the poor chap starts panicking around 65 minutes into each game…
Evening Rico and the house
We need a convincing performance tonight
I’m going for a 5 nil thumping
Good Afternoon Lovelies and Hunkies.
I agree about the Parlour issue Rico. We need more.
Infact I would go about playing this formation……..
Lehman
Dixon,Adams, Keown,Winterburn
Gilberto, Coquelin
Parlour, Vieira, Petit
Wright
All of them solid and tough players.
😉
AW thinks otherwise…………….this is the line up………..
Arsenal: Ospina, Bellerin, Gabriel, Koscielny, Gibbs, Cazorla, Coquelin, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ozil, Sanchez, Walcott
Subs: Cech, Mertesacker, Debuchy, Monreal, Chambers, Campbell
Wasn’t it Lehmann who said that the rest of Europe was taking the piss out of EPL clubs and asking silly prices safe in the knowledge that English clubs will pay those inflated fees…
Evening Mg, more like 1-0 lol
Except Arsene Wenger Kev……
Or Grimandis devil…
Ramsey on bench
Wenger is gonna have a spend up in January Rico… 🙂
Why do we need to rest cech?? He’s a goal keeper. I don’t get it. Don’t think cech ll like this. He didn’t come to arsenal to sit out the cl games. Just can’t wrap my head around that. Afternoon HH.
🙂 Kev..
Goonster, I don’t think it’s about resting Cech, more like keeping Ospina happy so he doesn’t leave…
Come you gunners
Still rico our number one keeper should be in goal on a cl night. Just saying.
I agree Goonster, Ospina for the domestic cups…
Great break…
Alexis should have had a free kick before then…
Sanchez should have passed the ball maam ozil was wide open.
Do we look good or what 😀 theo sanchez and my man ox. Oh boy are they going to get it 😀
Come on lads.
Too many players around him goonie…
Bayern beating Zagreb 3-0 already!
Lewandowski is on fire rico.
Now folks ll see what rambo brings to the team. Playing 2 wingers don’t cut it for us. It has never worked. Rambo Nasri tr7 and hleb have all played on the wings for ream balance. One of sanchez or oxlade needs to come off. We look toothless.
Bloody heck! Why didn’t Ospina shout for the original ball which led to the corner…
Great just great. We re a gift that keeps on giving.
You just said we looked great goonster… Lol
Feoooooooooo
Theo is back show them how it’s done son 😀
Rico 😀 get off my case 😀
Nothing wrong with that from Le Coq…
🙂 Goonie, I’m not on it… Lol
What a mess!
That’s why cech should be goal.
ThIs is so embarrassing.
Just what I thought….
So sad
Needs a big talk from Wenger and the fans need to raise their voices, it’s dead in the stands….
Ospina misjudge the flight of the ball, it happens. But whats the excuse for Ozil and Ox. Why is JC not playing and he is clearly a more intelligent player than Ox. Ox seems like a very intelligent player when giving interviews but on the field its the very opposite..
Rixo you get what you give. What do you expect??? Those guys at the emirates too all suffer from apathy. Am not gonna bash wenger this time. I place the blame squarely on the team. I mean get off your asses and put a shift in. You said something earlier rico. What this team needs is a few Romford peles. We have too many softies. It’s sickening.
Good Evening Rico and All.
We’re on a tight rope here. The Transfer Window once again comes into play.
Hey dna
Yet again wenger fucks up the team selection
The ox is not a good player, hes just a headless chicken
Ozil shit himself for the 1st goal
Why the fuck is cech on the bench
Time for a new manager
Imo….this team want the EPL. Not the CL. But will be concentrating on the EPL and domestic cups.
I know that Arsenal need to compete at least at Semi final level minimum, but both AW and the players will be concentrating on the EPl and domestic cup. So it would be better if we finish bottom of the group and avoid Europa cup altogether
the come back…
But after Theo scored Goonster, you’d think they’d come alive a bit…
A lot of Arsenal fans rate Ox… I thought?
If we remain bottom of our group we will, at least, be spared from Thursday night football! Go Arsenal!
We need a manager thats going to give the team a kick up the ass when they need it
Fuck this mental strength shit
Not sure I get the OC bashing, a horrid deflection, it happens. Not sure what JC has done so far to prove he’s better tha OC either…..
Evening Ng. It does, not much on the bench to get us a goal…
Right now we are playing but the ManU game is what’s on Arsenal’s mind.
Gdna 8.38, sure it happens, usually in an under 9’s match !
I’m with Stan, why go out in the summer and sign a world class goalie and drop him to the bench for a must win game !
rico, looks like a lot of supporters have decided to stay at home tonite, confident we’ll turn it around 2nd half, Bayern back to back next, we have to !
Well they didn’t…we need an overhaul. Serious overhaul maam. Ozil has been pants all game and his biggest fan. Our players are too laid back. They know they ll always be picked it’s sickening. Drop these fuckers and play the reserves ffs. I ve had jt. Pay me 20000 pounds and watch me bleed on that pitch.
Apart from Cech Mg, where is the so called big f up with selection?
I reckon so Micko, wonder if many made it out of the shop in time for ko….
chavs losing too…
EPL is shite!
It’s not funny ts. Am getting really pissed.
I don’t think we need a serious overhaul Goonster but each to their own… Lol
Morning all.
All I’ll say is we used to complain about a lack of squad depth not giving the option of rotation, and now we complain about rotation………
3 or 4-2, Rico??
🙂 🙂 🙂
We re shit. It’s OFFICIAL.
That’s all we need, an injury to Kos…
4 Scott lol
Rotation is the way to go but if you don’t have the qualities to rotate with?
How did one of those not get buried…
NG, none of us were complaining about Ospina last season.
Fickle……it such a fitting word when discussing Arsenal fans.
Rico, fingers are crossed.
Mine too Scott, I do think Cech should have started but not just because of the goal…
Scott. Ospina is quality, no one can take that away from him. Mistakes happens.
Sanchez easily the best player in the EPL. Ozil i’m looking at you.
Get in there – great stuff Walcott and Alexis..
Ramsey on and we’ve stepped up a bit. Just hope we don’t concede as both he and Santi are pushing up…
lol. Its a comedy club
Hahahahahahahah
What a disaster….
I can’t cry can only laug
Look at Kerry-ann Gibbs. lol
I’m truly lost for words with this Arsenal team… embarrassing is all I can think off… we’re a laughing stock.
Goon, looollll.
Haven’t got BT, Chelsea on R5 AND Talksport, what on earth is happening to us?
Everything you’d expect on a really bad night Andrew… Lol
We are so good at getting and breaking shit records.
Really sad DNA….am heart broken
Can’t even blame a sending off this time. Difficult journey?
Kel. The qualities depth in the team. When certain players are missing or out of form disaster happened.
Goon, i has been happening for last 10yrs, nothing new.
Authors of our own downfall Andrew..
Goon, you have to remember there was no player in the last TW to improve the squad. Shut up and support team. lol
Last ten, Coyrrgs!!
I’m refreshing page here hoping for a Feeeo or Sanchezzz. But nothing happening.
Hope the ref is watching the time wasting and adds on five mins at least..
why keep JC if he can’t add anything to a tired attack.
Should have bought Chambers on and sent Gabriel up front, didn’t he used to be a striker? Lol
We’re a fucking joke
In Wenger we RUST
Dreadful night for Arsenal….
And to top it off, Kos will miss the Utd game…
Night all…
Our eyes were set on ManU game.
In UCL football you need intelligent players.
without the pensionersTR07, Per and MA08 we have no thinkers in the squad.
MG, the empire is crumbling very fast. I hope the EPL lost the 4 spot in the CL. Too much obsession about a competition Arsenal have no chance in.
The boos really rang out tonight. Who can blame them?? These lads are not fit to wear the glorious red and white. Alan smith keown Adams wrighty ll all be embarrassed. What happened to my arsenal??? This is unbelievable.
Time for Arsene to fall on his sword or the board to grow a pair. Absolute disgrace to not play your best team in the first two games knowing Munich is coming up. No doubt he will tell us again that there was nobody available that could improve the squad. If that’s the case then it must be down to him and his lack of tactics.
Ginge we’re just shit, forget about intelligence
FFS!
At this point I ll rather see the reserves play. We re shit. We re so painful to watch. We can’t shoot to save our lives. Our passing which used to be out strong points has been dire for a while now and don’t get me started on how we defend. It’s unacceptable. These guys shouldn’t be paid for a week. Send them all to Pyongyang and let Kim deal with them. It’s all a sham.
Gdna when wenger goes i will stand up and cheer
Any team still rely on MA, TR and Per to achieve any major honors in Europe is well and truly fuck. TR and MA should be playing in the MLS and Per should have been 4th choice CB. The appraisal some of these players get is laughable.
This is all down to wenger
Not 1 forward on the bench
Great, we just keep breaking records for the wrong reasons
MG and dna tonight I blame the lads. Fuck them all. I have championed aoc for a year now. He finally gets his chance and what did he do?? What about ospina?? Or Gibbsy?? Ozil needs to be told to spend less time on instagram and twitter and more time on the pitch. Santi bellerin and Gabriel all look like they ve regressed. Fuck them all. I ve had it. Wenger out yes but boy the players don’t make it easy themselves.
If the only changes for Saturday is Ramsey and Cech. I don’t see much difference against United.
Wayne bridge eliminated PV04, TH14 in the UCL in 2003 btw…
Shite happens. maybe time for AW to go so that we can see who is making a team finishing 3rd or 4th in the EPL yearly whilst Losserpool, Sperds and co. outspend us but still fail to finish above us…
Night goonie, gdna and all
Off to smoke some Jamaican tobacco
Last year they gave us Monaco we messed it up. Now we are in a group where we are suppose to come second, we mess it up too.
Bayern to put us out of our misery, the only thing I’m pissed at tonight is I’ve already paid to go to and watch these losers next month.
Another Tactically inept, self destructive performance from Arsenal again so sad to watch.
Goon, i did told you on Saturday Ozil needs to do more, this team is not good enough to accommodate the way he plays.
So, i’m only one who posted before: be carefully with Olympiakos!
I know mostly of the players , they have a Portuguese coach, they play better then Zagreb.
Many yellow cards, out of the Champions League now.
Arsenal suffered two deep evils, unfortunately: a) is a very irregular team b) Does not have a European (International) dimension.
Without a deeper quad, it’s impossible to do better.
Should be an interesting atmosphere this Sunday vs ManUre…
Complacent, predictable, disorganised, unprepared; that’s the team on the pitch. Now the manager sits on his bench saying nothing and then struggles to his feet on 80 minutes and complains to the 4th official. ?
Kev, it will be if we lose lol.
Has Wenger tried in the CL, or has he conceded we aren’t good enough, so just let it slide?
If he’s tried, he’s failed due to not bringing players in.
If he’s conceded we aren’t good enough, the same applies.
The essential difference lies in the physical freshness. Arsenal, everything was done in effort, the legs do not respond to the brain.
In sub-conscious is the game with the MU because they know that will be to be the same that will play.
There can be no rotation of players when the squad, with quality and not unbalanced, is very short.
I have just read a stat – take note Ginge…
During the Champions League era, 110 teams have lost their opening two games!
Of that 110, only 9 have gone on to qualify!
Europa League – here we come…
Thursday night football…
Scott, I think that Arsenal will be lucky to take one point from Bayern…
I know that this team, as crazy as it seems, are quite capable of beating the Germans, and just as capable of losing again to Zagreb and Olympiakos, so I suppose if we’re put out of our misery early, it gives Wenger the option of fielding weakened teams in the last two qualifiers…
Thursday night football ? Or maybe not. If we get nothing from Bayern which seems likely we very easily could be 4th.
Has any English club, ever finished bottom of its group before???
Night All
Scott 9.06, a bit harsh, hardly fickle expecting our best goalie to start in the Champions league, did you see Cech’s face on the bench, don’t think he was expecting it either !
Was at The Lane last week and was delighted to see Ospina in the line up, he’ll probably start in all our FA cup games as well, there’s a reason why we splashed out 10 mill for Cech this summer.
Two games in, have now lost to a Dinamo side who hadn’t won a CL game since 1999 and now an Olympiacos side who up until tonite had never won a game on English soil.
I can only take solace in Arsene’s words and I hope you will to, they only had 4 shots on target all nite and scored 3, luck was not on our side, I’d love to kick that numpty in the nuts !
Time for my bunk, nite all.
Micko, I don’t think I was being harsh.
We have always gone on about rotating players, but when it happens, we complain.
Ospina is a very good keeper, and one we were happy to have between the sticks 6 months ago, so why is he suddenly not good enough?
I have not seen the game, but losing 3-2 to the Greeks tells me there’s more to it than Ospina.
4 shots on goal and we concede 3?
Bloody hell…..that’s pathetic.
maybe one of the best keepers in the world who was sitting on the bench could have prevented that… i suppose we’ll never know.
I pity adam and lee who had to sit through that show of shame. Adam do yourself a favor and stop going. Poor fella.
Kel, it’s the old saying….it has to get past 10 others first lol
What’s the point in even qualifying for the poxy tournament.
Agreed Scott, Ospina has not become a poor keeper overnight.
I think we have to face facts, our team is just not very good, lots of overrated players.
And the EPL should be stripped of the fourth qualifying spot.
Maybe then we’d see a change of tack from our manager/board.
Morning Rico and the house
Have we a new manager yet.?
Morning Mg and all…
Of course we don’t have a new manager this morning and expecting Kroenke to sack Arsene Wenger seems odd to me. I doubt anything would happen at this stage of the season and certainly not because of of two defeats in the CL. In fact I strongly suspect nothing will happen at the end of the season either….
Oh to be a Gooner….
Or Gonners….
Morning Rico and all,
it was a shocker but life goes on…
If sections of Arsenal fans were Sunderland fans or Brentford fans I wonder what would have happened by now…? 🙂
Agree Lewis re. the fourth spot.
Scott- hindsight is a beautiful thing isn’t it.
Those slating Ospina… well how can Ospina who kept 14 clean sheets out of 19 last season be considered shite all of a sudden?
Funny thing is I recall seeing the likes of Adams’ , PV04, petite, overmars struggling against Panathanaicos (spelling) in Wembley. But I guess we can look back and think those players would never have lost to Olympiacos.
Did Sparta not beat us 4-1 in 2001 season either? Plus Donestk thrashing us 3-0.
In the end it comes down to noting the club charges us fans tonnes of money to see the team but we have always been average in Europe… maybe I am being harsh but…
Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but we still haven’t heard why or an apology for individuals wishing ill on AW for not signing Falcao when the said player can’t even make the chavs bench. lol
We can act like we know so much repeating all the cack we read and hear from the clueless pundits but the EPL teams are shite… we have been for 4 years now. Same as our national team.
That is why I have never been excited by the likes of Ox or JW who are very good players but are also extremely over rated.
Watch any other league and we may notice how shocking EPL is tactically…
If City lose to inexperienced Mong’bach tonight then we know where we are.
The thing is we have so many ex-pros happy with the free biscuit given to them in the BT and Sky studios…; whilst the likes of CoCu, and pep who were team mates at Barca and lined up in CM against us when we played them in 1999 and 2002 coaching and managing teams in the UCL. In UK we have the likes of Danny Kelly and Danny Mills of this world happy talking shite on radio stations daily…; if they are capable of why don’t they do it.
In some peoples eyes certain players are too old, but when BM have Alonso and lahm all over 30’s playing CM for them and beating oppositions with their brains, it makes one wonder…
This team and manager are such a bunch of bottlers!
Morning Ts.
Is anyone saying Ospina is s**t or just that on such a big night, the number 1 keeper should start…?
Reading the papers and listening to call- ins, the general consensus is that Ospina is the reason why we lost.
ginge,wenger is the reason we lost
i would love to know what he said to the players at half time
its time he gave them a rocket up their ass
Ginge, so many say things and lay blame where they know they’ll receive support….sheep.
Morning all.
Mg, what about professional, experienced international players not being at fault?
Do you think AW tells them to switch off and not defend? Does he tell Gibbs to leave the left side open as he did? Did he tell Ospina to drop the ball?
AW get’s some things, a lot of things wrong in most peoples eyes but at some stage these players need a long hard look at themselves…
The ones who still believe in wenger are deluded sheep.
Selecting Ospina contributed to our loss imo, and I base that on Cech appears to keep the defence more organised, he’s more vocal and more commanding…
Mg-
I agree to an extent that AW has an average track record in Europe but when are we going to start asking/demanding more from our players.
There is no plausible excuse for that result last night.
Buy when sections of fans call in to a certain radio station before games to say Ospina will make us lose the game but then complain AW does not rotate or manage the squad well, it makes one wonder…
At the end of the day if we win the Yanited game then it we redeem the season…
Truth be told, we can’t sustain playing 3 games in 7 days. Even the likes of Chelsea and City are struggling
The atmosphere in the stadium is very senile; our record at home both in UCL and EPL is not something we should be proud of…
At home there are too many tourist in the stands, who use match attendance as a day out…
The original fans are being side lined.
Scott- I guess its the sign of the times we live in. All the fluoride in our tap water and the psyops we are under…
Morning all.
With the clarity of hindsight we can all see and say Wenger got it wrong with the keeper! However, whilst Ospina takes the credit for a truly horrendous gaff the real fault lies with the Almighty One! He has acknowledged that he picks the team, and that he doesn’t have to give reasons why he made the selections he has. His prerogative! But look no further, we have the culprit! It’s hubris with a dash of rotation and a splash of keeping the squad content and cohesive!!! Picking the team he did, shows us his overall thinking and answers the question, why we did not buy any significant players during the TW, bar one and he was sitting on the bench! He really, really thinks the squad he has assembled was every bit good enough to win the EPL and go a long way in the CL. Sadly it would seem he was wrong on both counts!
The team he put out last night should have been good enough to demolish the Greeks, going forward, especially, he was wrong though, wasn’t he? Same old, same old, loads of possession, loads of running sideways, quite a few shots, mostly off target. Defensively I think the players were naive and careless and it wasn’t just the back four! We play such predictable football and lack so much penetration we have become easy to defend against. Just stick ten players behind the ball and close down every avenue of attack and the Arsenal will not pass!
And so we reach the next two games, in the CL. Given the way we have played so far our chances of even nicking a point would seem very slim! But we are the Arsenal and so totally unpredictable no result would surprise me. Two win against BM, as absurd as it seems it could just happen! However, if the old goat persists in playing half a side of bench dwellers the only chance we will have is, NO CHANCE!
What Wenger needs more than anything else is a modicum of common sense and a large dose of reality!
We better turn our attention to finishing fourth because I can’t see us winning any other trophies! And we better start by beating manure on Sunday! (At the moment I can’t see that happening either. Another home defeat on the cards? Well, we’ll see!
Kel, harsh calling Arsenal fans deluded, everyone is entitled to an opinion….
Glass full then Wavy… 😉
Rico- You are probably right but if cech was indeed unwell as AW has alluded to then I think it was better management to leave him out and get him ready for Yanited game…
I don’t think it’s harsh Rico, wenger is finished imo at some point the club has to realise this and move on.
Kel, It’s the common argument we have on here.
Nobody on here defends Wenger to the hilt, no matter what happens….nobody.
Some do, however, blame him no matter what happens, and no matter who is at fault.
Who exactly is deluded?
Wavy, nobody can nor will defend Wenger for his TW failings.
Not even we deluded folk 🙂 🙂
Football in England needs a complete shake up , it’s not just at Arsenal that things are wrong it’s throughout the whole set up from the F.A down. I will probably sent my thoughts to Rico for a post . It’s far too complicated to write without thinking long and hard.
Scott the buck stops with wenger, his team his tactics his lack of strengthening in the transfer window, lack of proper depth which results in the same end result every year. so imo those who still think he’s good enough when it’s quite clear he aint are deluded.
Ts, I think that Cech unwell theory has been ruled out and in any case, if that was true why was he on the bench?
Kel, AW might be finished in many fans opinion, but calling fellow gooners deluded is not how HH works
You know what Potter, I really look forward to that post from you. And I mean that…
Today’s new post is now up…
Nice point Wavy…
You are also probably right about us being capable of beating the bavarians; You see how can Pep line up with Gotze in CM with Thiago and Kimmich last night and still win comfortably…;
With Pep having one eye on his weekend game against BVB, he had to rest Alonso (MA08) and Martinez (he now plays in CD not CDM). Alaba (Gibbs/Monreal) is now a centre back. Martinez is not getting games now because of Vidal’s arrival.
Is it just a simple case of Pep being a better tactician?
Pep will obvious not play Thiago and Kimmich as his double pivot against us.He will revert to Alonso, Thiago/Martinez and Vidal against us.
The question is, is Coquelin intelligent enough to handle those 3 midfield maestro? Or should AW match pep with Ramsey (vidal), SC19 (Thaigo) and Ramsey (vidal)…
Oh and I doubt signing Morgan Schneiderlein would have helped us.. he is struggling to get games at Yanited due to form, although he has played the last 2 games whilst LVG has rested either Carrick or Schweinsteiger.
Also Wolfsburg lost to FC Hollywood last weekend; by that accont Yanited should thrash them easily…
Kel, we could around in circles all day.
You still ignore my points.
You can blame him for EVERYTHING wrong at Arsenal, while some of us will blame him fr what he causes.
Explain to me how he is responsible for a top class keeper dropping a simple ball!!
Don’t give that crap that Cech should’ve played, as last season we were all happy with Ospina.
We all asked for rotation, so there’s another argument gone.
Blame Wemger for tactics.
Blame him for a lack of spending but don’t blame him for a dropped ball.
I look forward to your post potter.
Good morning all, i’m very sorry for Ospina, he got to deal with the criticism because he made a bad mistake. But on the other hand, Gibbs, Ox, BFG and Ozil could have done better on the other goals. We can sit and blame all the but the blame lies at AW feet, AW is finished and is finding it hard to step aside. Why loan Gnabry and keep Ox? What’s Ramsey best position? Why is SC playing CM? Why is Gibbs, JC, MA, MF and TR still playing for Arsenal? How longer is he going to wait on JW and AR to perform consistently? What was his expectations for this lot? Their is too much unanswered questions and it has been like this for years. Having faith in players who will never be good enough. Whats happening now might be a blessing in disguise, changes are needed for the club to move forward. I’m tired of hearing about invincibles and stadium, AW needs to leave.
I simply answered Scott’s question Rico and it’s how I see it. But fair enough it’s your blog.
Let’s just hope wenger resting cech pays of on Sunday.
Cech makes no mistakes.. 😛
Ginge, everyone was rapt to sign Cech, but plenty stated we should’ve played Ospina in our first game this season……90 minutes changes so many minds it’s not funny.