Firstly, good luck to Steve Palmer, one of our regular bloggers has started his own site. To take a peep, follow the link.
http://palmerstactics1.blogspot.com/
Yesterday we all felt dreadful after the 1-0 thrashing by the Mancs, our resident blogger Rennie posted a very poignant question….
We all know what ails us, but how do we cure it? Whats the solution?
Oliver’s reply has made todays post…
That is the million dollar question rennie. We can see some things, but I do not think we can see everything…
The easy solution would be to sack Arsene Wenger!
I would have laughed at that a year ago, and while I am not advocating a managerial change at this moment, I am no longer dismissing that suggestion.
But even if we did change the manager, what then?
Will he be able to organize, game plan, and train our players better than Arsene? If the hypothetical new coach is credible, then most likely he would. But are our players suited to another style or formation?
What of his relations with our board? Will a new manager be allowed to invest and strengthen the squad? How much input and control will he be allowed with regard to player acquisition?
How would the players respond – so many of who regard Arsene as a “father” – would many of them switch off if Arsene were to leave the club and a new guy come in his place? How many would actually choose to follow him out the door?
There are many, many other things we have to consider as well, things that impact more than just match-day tactics and player utilization.
I will say that I think Arsene has built this squad in a manner that only he can coach it, so I see shunting him out the door while keeping the squad is not the solution. If it were my decision, I would introduce the strong number two – and I do not have a specific name in mind at this moment – try and have he and Arsene work together to get this squad playing winning football.
The risk with the above is that Arsene will bridle at having his deputy chosen for him. So I would also be prepared to call his bluff – if he threatens to walk, let him. This goes against what I suggested earlier, but if he is going to obstruct things I want to do to improve the club, he cannot stay.
In that event, I would be prepared to write the season off and start deconstructing Arsene’s squad over the remainder of the season and summer – by deconstructing, I mean moving core players (starting with Cesc), and retaining the best and brightest of the others.
The above may be fanciful, and does not account for many problems that will doubtless crop up, but we have to start somewhere. If our club is not at least considering who will be the next manager, they are neglecting the long-term interests of the club. At this point, Arsene is arguably bigger than Arsenal and this is a root of many of our problems.
If I were at the club, I would also make every effort to be open and transparent about our financial situation. If money is available for transfers, say there is – don’t mention specific amounts, but I can certainly say that money exists to strengthen at least ‘x’ first-team positions and some squad places. If money is not available, be up front, explain why it is not available, and forecast when it might be available. Chances are, many supporters will understand and look at our current situation in a different light if the club would be more open and honest about our real situation.
At the end of the day, there are no easy answers but is anyone really happy with where we are now?
Hanging around the top four, Champions League football every year, losing at home to teams we should roll, and getting undressed every time we face the big two? I hear supporters of other clubs (not Chelsea or Man United) talk about how crazy we would be to want change and how they would envy our position. The problem is our reality is different from most of theirs. If this was our first or second season challenging for the title and playing in the Champions League, fine…there would be no reason to feel unhappy.
But these things are supposedly the norm for us – should we be happy effectively standing still for the past four-five years?
With this season starting to look no different from those recent seasons, should we not want to go the next step and win significant trophies again? Then when we fall short again, should we just shrug and say at least we’re not Birmingham City? (no disrespect to them intended)?
Every year, our bright new tomorrow is supposed to arrive. every year we finish saying “wait until next year”. As we continue to move laterally, Man United continue to challenge for and win silverware – despite predictions their financial house of cards will collapse tomorrow. Chelsea continue to challenge for and win silverware – despite predictions that Abramovich will someday wake up, decide he is bored and simply walk away. Every year, we stand in place while those two sides compete for and win every single domestic trophy.
Five years is not a long time in the grand scheme of things and Arsenal have had far longer trophy droughts in the past but when you consider we started this transition period in a position close to the top, maintaining Champions League qualification every season, is it so unreasonable to expect that we should have won a major trophy by now?
I don’t think it is at all, hence my frustration at our continued inability to deliver…
I think Oliver makes very valid points, ‘Sack Arsene Wenger’ is on the lips of many a fan but is it really the solution long-term?
Someone said to me, Wenger is only papering over the cracks, so will it all come tumbling down, bricks, mortar and all?
Is sacking him the real answer, or could it be a case of ‘out of the frying pan into the fire’?
Tough call, isn’t it?
Morning all
Kelsey made his reply yesterday to olivers comment:
I think for the moment you are in the minority but that figure is increasing.
When the chairman openly states that a season without Champions League football wouldn’t be a disaster, one can see that Arsene Wenger has full control. How long can we live on history?
Regardless of how much money we have to spend we certainly can’t compete with the obscene amounts City have spent and will continue to spend.
Remember we have near enough the same wage bill as United and Chelsea.
Arsene Wenger needs to be more ruthless. Senderos should have been sold long before he went and if you
look at the playing time of RVP and Rosicky against earnings, have we had a good deal?
Cesc will go sooner rather than later and in my opinion this reluctance to not buy from within the Premier League is a nonsense.Why should we always hear that a new player needs at least 6 months to settle in, though Sagna and Vermaelen were exceptions.
If Cesc was fit, Jack wouldn’t be playing so much and
I fear it may lead to burn out in the young man.
Vela is obviously not in the manager’s plans, so sell him.
I would argue that we have gone backwards this season and only by strange results in the Premier League we find ourselves in the lofty position that we have.
Morning all.been busy but that was a fantastic post rico.oliver and kelsey have many valid points.what is worrying is that i wasn’t even hurt after we lost to the mancs.its a sad state of affairs i tell you.
morning KT, i guessed you had been a busy fella…
i think both oliver and kelsey make valid points and when you read,it makes you think
I’d rather a new set of questions then the tired ones we’ve been regurgitating the last couple of seasons.
Arsene’s “father figure” might be the problem, there needs to be instilled some fear and discipline at the club. Several players need to be moved on, made an example of. Underperform over time and you are finished here.
Hi okay, all the time the issues remain the same, the same questions will be asked by the fans..
Your view on players being moved on is shared by many but sadly one of them is not AW, he persits in playing them and they know they are under no threat..
Easy wages every week, but for me its about time they were all accountable for their displays, starting with wenger. however, all the time the squad is fragile as it is, things will stay the same…
to answer ur question….get a new manager and move one…6 years of stagnation needs some stirring up for things to happen..didnt we take a huge risk with Wenger..why should it be any different now
Look one thing is for sure, we’re not going to win another title again while he’s in charge and that’s enough to let him go. So we rebuild again… It’s worth it.
if he goes we may get a manager with tactical awareness, sporting ambition, a will to win and a transfer policy that involves buying experienced players instead of kids.
if any of the players want to leave with him, then fine, dont want players who arent bothered about playing for us and really after monday nights game how many do you want to keep, Chesny, sagna, jack, nasri? any others?
Shame on AW and the board for leaving the fans- the true owners of the club, in such a state of confusion. we deserve better, nope the best
If Wenger was sacked , we would have a line of people busting the door down to manage the club, with the players we have and some decent investment and some tacticle nous we would be challenging again.
Wengers team selection recently has been a joke,
How Vela gets any game time in front of JET is wrong,
How Rvp gets on the pitch when he is clearly not fit is wrong
and why do we pander so much to cesc when he wants to go
The best defender this year is JD so why on earth does Wenger persist with the two muppets at centre back?
Home to stoke home to Chelsea if that is zero or 1 point from those games he will be out
I’m on the fence about sacking wenger, part of me thinks its time to go then i think about the repercussions if he were to go – what if the next manager gets it wrong, we sack him, and the next and the next etc…
do we want to become a club that sacks its manager everytime things go a little wrong?
would we get another manager as loyal as who we have?
Then, on the other hand, would a new manager bring the fresh blood, the winning menatility and trohies, if so then crack on Arsenal….
I agree with needing a good no2 but it has to be someone who Wenger respects and would be prepared to listen to but who that would be i have no clue,as for transfers we need Dein back this is the man who got us Bergkamp even when we had Rioch as our boss and he also brought us Arsene and how well did he do when he first came.
Wenger seems to be sticking to project youth but it is not working how he wanted and therefore he should try and change a few personal and try different tactics cause all teams know how to play us and there getting results against us which is starting to pee me off i think we will win the carling cup and hopefully that will get this team wanting more.
rob, good point, there aren’t too many…. the first one i would sell though is Cesc…
Hi didee….
Getting rid of Arsene sends shivers down my spine as i’m not convinced the board are strong enough to cope. If David Dein was still on board things would be different.
I’m not convinced the problem lies with the players although i agree some fall short. For me Wenger suffers in the same way as an addict and there lies the problem. If you take the mindset of a losing gambler they are convinced their systems work and the low of the loss is slowly countered by repeated self affirmation that it is just a dip and the winning streak will come back because the system says so. Arsene appears unable to accept that on certain days the system won’t work. Horse trainers pick and choose the tracks and the going to favour the horse. Successful gamblers study the form and if it fits within the system take the odds. Arsene, i’m sorry to say, has the habit and psychology of a losing gambler.
Quite simply the most intelligent article Ive seen written about Arsenal in quite some time.
It is not knee jerk to say we need sone change. 5 years is not a long time without a trophy, when viewed in isolation, but a lot of the AKB lemmings cannot think beyond single line soundbites. The real issue is that. for all of those 5 years, it would have taken very very little augmentation to improve the team, and, time and again, Arsene has just not been able to manage it. It seems that the arrival of the real megamoney at Chavski and City set a new ceiling and standard. Old red nose at man u was able to raise his team to meet the new standard, sadly Arsene has repeatedly failed to do so.
I would boil it down to this simple equation:-
Either Wenger uses some of the vast funds now available to Arsenal to buy real quality – Id rather spend 25 million on say Chilleini than waste another 8.5 on the rediculous Koscielny – then see if he can manage these newly purchased top players, or he should be replaced.
Every year of comparitive failure under Arsne will make it more difficult for his successor (I say comparitive, as a top 4 finish is ok, if we werent so close for 5 years to being much better than that). He should be asked to proactively improve the team (not hypnotise a million compliant AKBS into thinking that Almunia, Fabianski, Koscielny, Denislon, Vela, Clichy and Co could be anything other than very peripheral squad players at best).
We are Arsenal FC, not Arsene FC. It was a great match when it lasted, and may still have a chance. But if he does not do someting very dramatic in January, it would be best for all if we parted company here.
Welcome to all those just come on..
am not a big fan of sacking him but if dt needs to be done, release him and every player dt wants to ffw. if his replacemt is world class den som will stay and other will come. arsenal had history and prestige b4 AW so rebuilding would take less than a season in fact if he is gone today we would be done rebuilding b4 d end of d season. am sure some playas also want a change but dey r too scared of d father figure
Robbie – JD is a mystery to me too, he’s defiantely the better of the three available right now…
WEnger cannot train his players to beat MANU or Chelsea and thats reason enought to fire him. He is leaving on past glories. If performance was the only yardstick used to measure him, he would have been fired a long time ago.
1979, we’ve been crying out for ages for a strong no2, bould would be my choice, or even Keown, but wenger won’t change…
In any case he is too pig headed to listen….
Morning Rico,
I am like you, a bit undecided about Arsene’s future.
I have always really rated him as a great manager, but recently he seems to have become eccentric with his predictable post match excuses, which frankly do make him sound like a whinger!
It is also incredible that he says, weeks before the transfer window, the squad is the best he has ever had and he does not need to buy any new players.
Others have already said how ridiculous that statement is, where are the Bergkamp, Campbell, Henry, Pires, Viera replacements? Seriously, Arsene?
It is those sort of comments that are swaying me to the view, enough is enough, time might be up Arsene!
Hi Rico, morning all, sorry i lost my manners, still dismayed at the trend in our club. i hate losing esp to chelsea, spurs and manure. this need to stop and a vocal no.2 wont solve it cos he is no.2, d final decision still lies with AW
Another rant
Five simple things we can do to win
1. Stop hyping Arsenal when they win 4-0, 5-0, so much rubbish is written, blah, blah its all naïve and stupid, when we lose 1-0 it’s the end of the world just learn and learn quickly collectively and individually.
2. Arsenal team learns to play a Plan B, when sides play on the counter attack and then change formation to have 2 holding mid fielders and one attacker (we will face this in Europe and at Chelsea on the 30th). We don’t seem to have an answer, get one.
3. I would love Arsenal to be as cynical as other teams, professional fouls, rotation fouling, mind games before matches. Remember Evra, Fletcher, Park, and then Ferguson mind games we don’t seem to have answers.
4. No more excuses
5. Start to compare and benchmark ourselves against the world class teams Barcelona, Inter Milan last year, the differences and solutions are obvious, and we are short of that standard.
PS
If I was in a team and someone like Evra said what he said about my team. I would make sure he felt the full impact of the match and had to be taken off. Just think what Adams, McLintock, Story, Veira would have done. I wouldn’t be having diplomatic and nice conversations about it.
sleepinggiant, thanks re the article, i agree that its a fine piece by one of our regulars, oliver…
you make goood points, if we added up how much money wenger has spent on ‘potential’ that has never been filled, he could have bought ‘real’ players, players who were ready to play in the PL and make a difference..
I could understand the reserved spending when we first moved to the emirates but for the last couple of transfer windows we have had money, sadly wenger has not spent very wisely…
when talking about spending
how much has Walcott cost/
12mill transfer
6 years wages including new contract signing on fee
if you take 50,000 a week average for 6 years that is 14mill ,so conservatively we have spent upwards of 27 mill on walcot
surely we could have had a Tores or a villa for the past 5 or 6 years
Hi jena, he pampers them too much, its about time they all became men, grew some and started to believe in themselves, they are not youth players anymore, they haven’t been for a few seasons now…
they are too protected and it has to end
john, the board would have too, it might just make them shape up a bit…
sack Wenger, and we would end up like Liverpool. Period. Be careful what you are wishing for.
Hi RA,
the grass comments are just stupid…
Surrey Gunner,
Good points. Very valid.
Morning Rico.
And thanks heaven our board are not made up by those so called “supporters”, or we would end up worse than Leeds.
Surrey, you rant on, we have plenty to rant about right now…
We can keep Wenger and get used to this mediocrity and delude ourselves we are a big club, this is the easier option! And as much as it’s annoying Evra spoke the truth, Wenger supporters need to take off the blinkers and see Wenger will not revert to what won him trophies pre 2005 but stick with this excuses filled tippy tappy that’s financially stable with zero chance of winning a significant trophy!
wing, we are discussing the pros and cons of having a new manager – its not wishing for anything other than OUR club to become better…
ok fellas, everyone has a right to an opinion, we drive our cars differently and take different route to d emirate stadium (for example) so we understand that we cant all things the same way. one thing is sure we want arsenal to win that why we support arsenal not the board, not cesc and definitely not wenger
Morning all.
I think the bginning of disquiet behind closed doors started with flamini, then Adebayor and at the same time Gallas.A lot has been written but no one knows for sure the real truth,but it undermines the manager whichever way you look at it or that the respect he had has been slightly diminished and player power to a certain extent had taken over.
many players don’t get on with each other but providing it doesn’t effect their performance on the pitch,that’s fine.
I then go back to wenger having to much on his plate, no real right hand man of signifigence and the loss of david dein and the board giving wenger carte blanche is beginning to tell,yet he has no pressure on him to actually win a trophy.
how long can this be sustained.
As rico said,I would rather we dropped a few places in the league and then really bought players who are giving their all for the club,wear the shirt with pride and fight for their place,instead of giving daily interviews to all and sundry.
Wenger has had a plan for 5 years and IMO the “estate agency” bit was not a good idea though no one knew the recession would take hold.
5 years on and have we actually progressed.There will be divided opinion on this, but regretfully i see another “nearly season” in the offing.
Robbie, we could say that about Diaby, Denilson and Nik too…. I know they didn’t cost as much but what do we get in return. Diaby is forever injured….
Afrix, Evra wound us up, we bit and fell right into the trap. We should be above all the games, Fergie and his boys do it every season…
If Arsenal is a Fullham or a Bolton (respect to both clubs), it’s OK being where we are for the last 5 years and most certainly the next 5. But Arsenal is not just any club. This is a one of the richest clubs in the world, with one of the largest fan bases in the world, having one the most beautiful stadiums in the work, and at the time charging its fans the priciest tickets in the world. This is the club of the Invincibles with a long tradition of being one of the best in Europe.
The Arsenal club is facing a crisis and that is stagnancy. Being so so average year after year, with no prospect of improvement. When stagnancy becomes a long term problem, the only solution is to change at the top. And that starts with the manager. However, Arsenal is being such a sleeping giant that I can’t see how changes can ever happen.
Morning kelsey, i have to attribute the dropping down the league to oliver, have to say though if i thought that would start the road to us winning again, i could maybe accept it… maybe.. 😉
Maybe go back before then Kelsey, Edu should never have been in a situation where he could leave for free…
Liverpool declined because the manager lost the dressing room. Wenger leaving could also prove to be the catalyst to us winning again.
Some fans want to take that chance, others don’t. But for each passing year without success the former group grows and the latter diminishes.
Hi Jim, spot on, we a a massive club and should be winning at least one piece of silverware each and every season…
Yet another insipid lily livered powder puff display in a big game by the most gutless bunch of players to have represented Arsenal FC in living memory.
The only bright spot being Szczesny in goal who actually looks like a PROPER goalkeeper !! …………. Big physical presence, agile & confident. Does NOT look like an accident waiting to happen like the other 2 clowns.
Of course we know what happens next as the ‘ head & shoulders ‘ best Keeper will be relegated to the bench once Flappianski is 100% fit……… CRASS STUPIDITY !!
Szczesny’s assured performance was remarkable considering the jittery shambles of a defence in front of him. United’s chances were creations of feeble headers & clearances by our back four.
2 hapless Centre Backs, Clichy who years ago looked like he would advance way past Ashley Cole as a left back but who instead has alarmingly deteriorated with his regular repetitive mistake of getting caught in possession in dangerous positions rather than clearing immediate danger. Many goals have been conceded as a result yet he persists playing in the same manner.
Sagna was excellent in his 1st season but since has deteriorated into a very average player.
The defence & goalkeeping positions at the club are what have & will continue to cost Arsenal major silverware. It has now gone way past the stage where Mr Wenger can be accused of being blinkered or stubborn. It is now simply NEGLIGENCE on his part that the same failings continue to dog the team.
Stupid again was Fabregas’s appearance on the pitch.
Arsenal should do what United did with Rooney & send Fabregas away to a sunny warm location to recover 100% from the injury with an appropriate training program however long it takes. It is one area of the team where such a desperate player selection is unnecessary. We want & need a 100% fit & firing Fabregas & NOT a shadow player who will tweak the injury again & be outr again & on & on goes the repetitive saga.
Mr Wenger has always had the image of man of high intelligence but his actions here are ridiculous as was his decision to field a weakened team in Donetsk. A strong team sent that would very likely have won the game would have ensured 1st place qualification & he could have played as weak teams as he pleased in the final 2 matches. Short sightedness will make further progress very difficult but then again as I no longer believe ‘ Winning Silverware ‘ is Mr Wenger’s motivation then I guess it doesn’t matter.
Simply qualification for the latter stages & a Top 4 Premier League finish by evidence of attitude are the aims each season.
Mr Wenger’s desired legacy is not one he wants measured by the amount of major silverware won but a financial one whereby when he walks away it will be the legacy of a state of the art training ground & a virtually paid off new stadium.
It leaves smiling hugely the shareholders at the club whose share values rise & rise as the genuine paying fan continues to assist funding this state of affairs paying far & away the highest prices whilst both the Club & the Manager take umbrage if such a fan dares to complain about the strategy.
‘ Pay Up & Shut Up ‘ is the motto of Arsenal Football Club since the move to the Emirates.
It is laughable that the ‘ AKB ‘ bash in the ‘ blogosphere ‘ Arsenal fans who criticise the club &/or the manager.
The vast majority of the ‘ AKB ‘ are ‘ fans ‘ who rarely if ever pay a penny to go & watch the team but forever are remote whilst condemning those who do.
Fear of the unknown in the future is NOT a good enough reason to put up with a manager who continues to fail to see the glaring weaknesses that prevent us from winning the major silverware that has been & this season more than ever is there for the taking.
okay, i think rafa spent too much money on second rate players and then he didn’t play them, the one player he bought i would loved to see with us and thats Babel, rafa ruined a really good player there…
Rico we should win such matches so that we can laugh when the likes of Evra make such statements. But sadly those silly statements bite because we can’t disprove them on the pitch.
Hi Kip,
I have edited your comment – have only taken out the bit referring to another blog, I understand what you are saying though, just prefer it not to be here, hope you understand, thanks…
Im interested to know if Wing is an Arsenal fan, or just an Arsene Wenger fan. Arsenal is the best run club in the world – even before Wenger if you are old enough to remember. It is now less of a risk for us to buy top players than it is for any club on the planet, bar Man City. Your logic is one of fearful paralysis – if you folow it through, no club anywhere should ever sign anyone, or make any changes. Wake up – we have immeasureably less to fear than anyone else in this respect.
You say we might end up like Leeds or Liverpool. Havent you considered we might also end up like Chjavski when they sacked Ranieri, or Barcelona when the got rid of Rikjaard, or Manure when they got rid of Ron Atkinson?.
You need to read your Arsenal history. Arsene Wenger has been a very good manager, but hes one individual in the history of a mighty club. He was brilliant at first, but the team he has managed for the past 5 years are not even an afterthought in the history of a club like ours, and does not deserve the unthinking defence of you, me, or any of our fans. I repeat, this is Arsenal, not Arsene. Never was and never will be.
Face facts. It may not be his time to go now, but someday it will come. And if hes done any kind of a job at all, he will make it easy for his successor to move the club forward. My fear, and I think, at the back of it, yours as well, is that he has spent 5 years ruining the wonderful foundations he set down earlier.
So my favoured choice is now for Arsenal to rip up this ludicrous blueprint of ‘almost competing’ and move on to the real thing. If not, he should stand aside before he does more damage to what he has put in place.
If Chesney is on the bench for the Stoke game, we have little chance, they will target Fabianski just as Newcastle did and he with give under the pressure.
Chesney is far stronger on the crosses and as long as his kciks improve which i bet they do, he will be an outstanding keeper…
He has to play this weekend, surely…
Afrix, i know, we should be strong enough to say, up yours Evra, we’ll show you, but we can’t and we don’t, until we do we will never grow….
sleepinggiant, i think its clear he’s an Arsene fan…
I’m a massive fan of Arsene but that Arsene was the one who arrived in the 90’s, not the one we have had for the last 5 or 6 seasons….
So am I Rico, in for far as he did a great job for the club we all love. And I will be just as big a fan of any manager who does such a great job for our club. Like George Graham for example.
But that changes nothing. The club is the only important consideration when we look at Wengers future. And, for the reasons I have listed earlier, he is doing a very poor job indeed of moving the club forward at present.
This club is built on greatness, not on allowing a minnow from west london to become the capitals best team without even the pretence of resistence.
Not good enough. Not nearly good enough.
Morning all, and a special thank you to Rico much appreciated
I read your piece and i must admit its strange to think that we are even talking about Wengers future at the club, for years since he came he has been the epiphany of what Arsenal stand for bringing youth through new training and dietary methods helping our neighbours by raising money for all the many needy Charity’s, and here we are discussing his future, and that is down to the expectations of supporters wanting to be the top dogs, i guarantee if we had won the carling cup last year and perhaps the fa cup we would still be debating whether he stays or goes supporters are never happy they will only be happy when they have swept aside all the other teams and have filled up the empty cabinet, and then they would be bored, yes we have problems and yes it should be better but what is needed is a big meeting of all the top knobs at Arsenal and work out between them what is stopping us, is it a lack of funds is it bad management team spirit, and when they decide do something about it ,and if it means Wenger being sacked so be it.
But as we know Arsenals profits are high and the club is running nicely, the business is healthy so no meeting and no sacking,carry on as usual
Boo! Sorry about last night, I dozed off while blogging. 🙂 Haha.
A searching question, rico, and one I’m ambivalent on. On the one hand, I cannot think of a viable option, AW is unquestionably devoted to the club, and he has kept the club afloat in financial terms; on the other hand, he seems to have been found out, has no Plan B, and has a mind-boggling aversion to star signings, when really, those could have been the solution. ;(
Lets ask another question:
Sack Wenger – who would want to work with this lot, and that includes the board? It is obvious the board do not encourage spending, so any new manager who comes along, will have to do something with these players that Wenger couldnt – and thats give them a winning mentality. Can you imagine that – a new manager comes along and with the same team makes them winners – where would Wenger’s legacy be then?
There are quite a few players at the club, who are there for the wrong reasons, and some of Wenger’s tactical decisions are completely baffling, its like he sets up the team to lose. For these reasons I think it is clear to me, he no longer has a clue.
Playing Nasri on the right against Evra – bad move, Nasri has been performing brilliantly in the middle, but Wenger shoves him out wide – why?
Why does he continue to play Clichy who time and time again – shows he doesnt have the concentration to perform at the big games – again mistakes by him cost us points. If that was Almunia in goal we would be screaming for him to be dropped – Clichy is no different.
Arshavin – i genuinely hate this guy – he is our worst player and I hate watching him play. He gets ahead of Walcott – why?
Rosicky – useless – no more to be said
Song – one swallow does not make a spring – and this guy certainly isn’t intelligent or good enough to play centre midfield.
RVP – if he cannot play 90 mins, sell him
There are too many bad things at the club to feel anything positive towards
Rant over
sleepingiant,
I think he breezed in, got our club back on track and did a great job, he got us winning things again and every fan was happy. We saw players like Paddy, Petit, Overmars, Anelka, Henry, Bobby etc, now we have stagnated….
Just like every good food, it always has a ‘best before’ date, maybe Wenger has reached his….
Hi Steve and no probs 🙂
We have been listening to weneger and his youth ideas for a long while, well, why not start throwing them into the mix. Its worked with Jack, why not play Lansbury, JET, Chuks, Afobe etc – they are at our club beacuse they want to be there, I bet they would give more for 90 mins than some over the over rated, over paid so called stars do….
Hi agag, its a tough one isn’t it….
Can’t believe we bored you to sleep yesterday 😉
Rico – you have also got to remember he inherited a lot of players who were natural leaders and brought players along. I recall Adams threatening to give Vieira and Petit a pasting if they didnt stop players in midfield, because they weren’t doing their job.
What baffles me also – our entire backline is french, but yet they dont seem to communicate with each other.
I also agree with you – drop the likes of Arshavin, Song, Rosicky, Clichy, and let the likes of Lansbury, JET etc have a go, they certainly cant do any worst
Wao i guess i was late today, but anyways i will like to respond to Oliver’s post.
Sacking Wenger will be disaster has you have rightly pointed.
A good number 2 is a nice option and i tell you it will have to be Wenger’s appointment and will be his successor.
AFC is a unique club where the manager is allowed to call all the shots as long as he allows the club to be financially buoyant enough to build a stadium and be self sufficient financially.
Wenger and the board have a good relationship and on his retirement he is going to be on the board (they have reserved his sit already.)
We are going to win at least a trophy this season therefore his record will not be as bad as Fergusson’s who had to wait for 9years before his first trophy.
Sacking Wenger will be stupid , hasty and unreasonable , his sack will lead to many managers being sacked from their clubs hoping to get Wenger’s signature, he will be the most expensive coach ever with the shortest contract. 🙂
Just pray Oliver that Wenger actually knows the way the fans fell and he actually just spend a little bit to strengthen the team and we will be the PL top team again , SIMPLES 🙂
Hi Goonerboy…
I think oliver’s suggestion in the post is a good one, let the board tell us if there is money or now, they say there is and wenger can spend what he wants.
That suggests that that the board are not against spending but Wenger is. Then, he spends a lot of money on Kos and Squilli, why? Why not put the funds together and buy one very good CH rather than two average players?
Cahill was available for £12/13M last summer, we should have got him, PL ready and is doing well. Now the Chavs will probably buy him in January and we miss out yet again.
Goonerboy, I was just coming on to the defence, they were indeed already awesome and credit to wenger he did help them to extend their careers, however, wenger knew they couldn’t go on forever. Lauren was good when Dixon left and of course he already had Cole to replace Winterburn.
Toure and Sol together were great, Kolo the pacey one and Sol the hard nut defender who would let nothing by him…
Sol left, and with him went our defence….
TV was a great signing but those bought in around him are not strong enough. Now that TV is injured we are so very frail and Song should not ever have been given the licence to roam
I’d keep Song in but tell him to stay in defensive mode….
Hi SD, how can you be so sure that we will win at least one trophy? Ipswich won’t role over for us, neither will who ever we play in the final, IF we get there…
Wenger says he won’t be buying in January so if we take him on his word, the CC maybe the only realistic Cup we are in with a shout for….
We will win the Carling cup the players are enough to decide the outcome but they still have to work for it.
Wenger will buy in January if TV’s injury continues , he denied buying to keep any asking price down.
Relax guys, Man Utd were lucky and i know our players will be regretting not increasing the gear when MAn uTd clearly became scared and resulted to packing the bus in front of goal.
Man Utd had more goals on target but they are far from being invincible, Chelsea will show that on Monday.
Never, rico. 🙂 For all our soft underbelly though, I don’t think the prem is beyond reach. The chavs and the mancs have also been rubbish. And the mancs’ luck shall soon run out. 🙂
Our back four is collectively lamentable, Goonerboy. And yes, my dear Clichy has been poor more than he’s been good. 🙁
SD, I can’t accept that ‘lucky’ line anymore, you build your won luck – yes the mancs should have had fletcher and maybe even rio sent off but they weren’t. we should be good enough by now to beat the mancs, they were very poor. the problem is, we were worse….
😆 agag
Sadly, history shows that the mancs get better in the second half of the season. ferghie has been promised 100M for january and roman has said he will make funds available aswell…
we can’t beat them now, so if they make their squads stronger, we will fall behind, sadly, i think we may just scrape 4th, if we are lucky….
Unless of course, Wenger suprises us all in the transfer window….
Rico, I want to see Wenger get it right and enjoy the success he deserves after treating us to some sublime football over recent seasons. But unless he modifies his approach and starts adjusting his tactics to suit the opposition I can’t see anything changing. This arrogant approach that the way we play is the only tactic we need only leads to us being beaten when we have an off day going forward or we play a team that has a strong defensive game.
Why can’t he get Keown or Bould to teach the whole team what to do when we don’t have the ball? God knows they’d give Arshavin a good kick up the backside. Clichy is not a good defender as it is but with zero support from his winger he looks even worse than he is. Not to mention our often comical centre halves. I know Vermaelen is quality and a regularly fit Djourou would make a good pairing but they’re not reliable so the rest need coaching.
Sadly Wenger seems completely entrenched in his flawed philosophy so I don’t see any of that happening. If he were to be replaced I would go straight for Owen Coyle. Anyone that can make Bolton play football deserves a shot. He would add that bit of steel that’s missing too. And don’t forget that when Wenger first came to us Bergkamp and co weren’t impressed and thought about leaving but they gave him a chance and never regretted it. One or two might leave but I think most would give a new manager a chance.
I agree rico we were not good enough on that day , especially after the players boasted about beating Mancs but still i will say it wasn’t that bad.
About creating our own luck you are right because United players just shoot at any opportunity and that is how you create luck really, deflections, own goals , spilled shots and so on results from continues shooting at the nearest sight of goal.
We simply did not recognize we were not playing Aston Villa but Man utd and did not become rutless enough at the nearest sight of goal.
In my opinion i think Chamarkh needs a rest now and let Bendtner and RVP hold the fort for a little while.
Hi Bendtnersdad,
would you ship out your boy??
It seems that wenger falls out with those who challenge his ideas, didn’t keown coach our defence before but then something went wrong?
I wish we had Keown, Adams, Bergkamp and Bouldy in the management team, train the reserevs and first team together and teach them together too…
DB can sort out the stylish play and the others can drill the defence 🙂
Chamakh does need a rest SD, but i would like to see Theo have a few games with either RvP or Nik, play a good old 4-4-2 and get back to basics.
Stop the pussy foot fancy stuff for a few games to, play hard fast footie, shoot on sight and even hoof a few balls over the top of the defence for Theo…
Get a few wins under our belt, go on a good run and let the belief come back….
The Mancs would be stupid to spend that much, when they are so heavily-leveraged. The chavs, on the other hand, well, Roman, for now, seems to remain interested… Unfortunately.
AW would do well to buy some proven players though. Sort our back four out. I’m absolutely tired of the Next This, the New That… blah blah blah. I. Want. Torres. 🙂 (on current form, not really… but imagine a fit Torres, rico. Swoon. )
And really, Arshavin has done little to deserve his starting berth. 🙂
If anyone says Theo isn’t good enough to do that then go watch the first few games of the season.
🙂
agag, i think fergie is accepting that Giggs, Scoles, Carrick and Hargreaves are at the end… He has said he’s ready to invest, he needs another striker too…
abramovich has done a u-turn and is ready to invest, a new manger and a couple of players will be in their door in jan, you wait 😉
I’m also sick of the ‘next so and so’ i wan’t the here and now, and in Jan… 😉
Torres, now you know we won;t get him agag 😉
If anyone says Clichy isn’t good enough…. go watch our 07-08 games… 😥 That was an eternity ago…
What has happened to Clichy…. oh to have that 07/08 player back, he seems to have the Wenger ‘French Connection’….
Time for the dogs to stretch their legs, back in a hour or so…..
I think Wenger should just go for the Germans, simply strong they are. Either a CB or Defensive Midfielder, we saw what they can do in the world cup.
We’ve been crying out for a DM and a CH forever, I do not know why AW persists with what we have.
Wenger has gone stale on ambition and desire it is no longer required for him to deliver a trophy,tactically he has never been the greatest manager but he used to buy the very best players,nowadays he cant even do that Vela,Bendntner,clichy,denilson etc are players that shouldnt wear an Arsenal jersey compare them to Romford Pele,Vieira,Pires,Bergkamp,Freddie,petit,Grimandi,etc and you soon realise why we are sinking like a stone.The reason why we keep losing against the top 2 is his refusal to do anything new,he is so stubborn that he keeps playing the same system that fails over and over again.Granted Manure are hard as nails to play against and when they get the help of a completely incompetent ref it is even harder,but watching high paid players struggle to pass the ball five feet is devastating and any Aerial threat like an Alan Smith type would probably have brought us something from the game.And why is only one Arsenal player in the box when Bacary crosses in to Uniteds Area and why dont he tell bacary to practise his crossing ?? Giving Arsenal a Corner is just a waste of time,once in a blue moon we come close to score but one of the great chances of scoring a goal is wasted upon Arsenal.
Basicly there are so many areas where we could improve our play but i think it might take a bunch of new players and a new manager to lift this rabble out of the misery it currently finds itself in.
And a new attitude, Danish Gooner. There is no fight in this crop of players. No sense of responsibility either. When senior players like Arshavin and Rosicky and Clichy play like they just can’t be bothered, how do you inspire the really young ones?
Sack pat rice and appoint either TONY ADAMS or MARTIN KEOWN as our assistant manager……..they will fix the defensive problem…..Arsene can make them work efficiently going forward………I believe this will do
I believe money is not the problem but see a very sinister plot is being hatched here, I hope I am wrong.
The present board is clearing the debt in a rocket speed and not investing in the team, possibly they want to hand over the club to someone with zero debt who can thereafter suck out Arsenal in the manner MANU and pool is done.
If that is the design then board and AW are party to this sinister destruction of Arsenal.
Hi jay and gork, sorry for the delay, you were in moderation, all comments will go straight on now…
Jay, i don’t think it will be long before we are taken over, just hope its an AFC man and not Stan or the russian fella…
Afternoon all.
Aw leaving may prove to be a masterstroke or a disaster.Rijkaard was superb for barça but towards the end of his reign the team became stale culminating them in finishing third behind madrid and villareal.they were still playing terrific stuff but like us they were poor defensively.he was duly sacked and dinho,deco and eto’o were touted to leave.the former two left which led to iniesta and messi flourishing.Guardiola ensured there are no journeymen in his team and thats why their pressing works.when AA fails at this the whole system becomes flawed and isn’t as effective.
Afternoon KT, that’s exactly what most of us are saying, on one hand it seems him leaving would be the only way we can move on, on the other…..
We no longer play wengerball.our passes are slow and sloppy nowadays.the 07 team and the current barça team have magnetic passing at a very quick tempo and thats why they made madrid look like a pub team.in 07-08 we tore the chavs to shreds in a similar fashion although the scoresheet didn’t reflect that.thats the only way to break the bus.wengerball also requires a team to have magical players who can produce moments of brilliance in tight games,how many of those do we have?…are they even up to it?
Off again, but not for long…
I undertand PR is retiring at the end of the season.
With regards to new owners,there is a stale mate and both paries would want a return on their investment.
what does gazidis acyually do ?
Why did we sell the naming rights of the stadium and shirt sponsorship at an under valued price and personally if it had to be called the Emirates they could have incorporated thsomething associated with the club name in the title.
If we don’t sort out our tactical issues we are screwed in europe.bayern/madrid/barça are excellent counter attacking teams and they are very good at wingplay which is where we struggle.
when you consider we payed near on 17 million for arshavin,questions have to be asked.yes, he has a number of assists,but his stamina is lacking and he is still living on his 4 goals at anfield 2 seasons ago.he is to blame as much as clichy,as he doesn’t do,tracking back.
i mentioned yesterday about our wage bil, the third highest in the league on published figures,then take into account the time rosicky,diaby and rvp have been injured and the wages they get.
it’s time to cut losses and i agree with the above comment that we should be buying from within the Pl.players like parker,bellamy and the everton lad from south africa,sorry forgotten his name.they are all as good as what we have,
5 years back we had heroes, we bought the shirts,we loked upto them and marvelled at their consistency,where are they now.if a player signs today,we might keep him for 2 or 3 seasons until his AGENT gets him a better deal.one can’t blame wenger for all of that but his judgement in character has been affected with buys like diarra,adebayor,gallas and most probably arshavin.
cesc is obviously unhappy and imo doesn’t want to be here,not because he wants to go to barca so much,but that he hasn’t got enough quality players in the side to play alongside.I believe promises were made that we would get some real quality,not freebies and a player from the lower echelons of the french league.
then the keeper situation is laughable.if fab was injured why was he on the bench on monday.chesney is the future and most probably the best we have,but to have 4 different keepers in goal in one year shows a weakness by the manager and the coaching staff.
Brilliant post today followed by a good debate.
A couple of points occur to me. If the club were to sack Wenger it would constitute a leap into the unknown, but hanging on to him surely is the complete opposite. I have not seen one shred of evidence that the next five years under Wenger would be in any way different to the last five years. Is that really what we want ? Newcastle and Blackburn have taken a lot of flak this week, but you have to face facts. They glimpsed the future and didn’t like what they saw.
I have to question the responsibilities of the board in the current situation. Everything at Arsenal even down to the colour of the doorhandles is Arsene Wengerised. But the important thing is Wenger is not the club, he is merely an employee of the club. I have supported the club for over fifty years and in that time the board have had to address the issue of managerial appointments a number of times. Sometimes they have done it well, sometimes badly. The current board though seem to want no part in the running of the club. Are any of them Arsenal supporters ? Do any of them share our ambition for the team ? What I’m trying to say is I don’t know if Wenger needs a new number two but I do think he needs a new number one.
Exactly Rico, I’ve stated on many gooner blogs that Keown coached our defence to a champions league record of 7 straight clean sheets. How can that arrangement not be permanent? Because Le Arrogant Boss won’t entertain a strong voice in his camp.
He seems to have erased from memory the epic meeting called by Tony Adams, as a player the strongest voice of all, that cleared the air in Wenger’s earliest squad which went on to win top pots. This pussyfooting nonsense of not wanting to hurt his precious players feelings is starting to get on my tits. Keown would put the cat amongst the pigeons and those that don’t like it can P*** off for all I care. We have enough talent to fill most gaps and the bank balance to take care of the rest. If only the manager would see it. I say “would” not “could” because I believe he refuses to rather than can’t see it.
Wao , emotions running high today ;
I have read the call for Wenger’s sack , Pat Rice’s sack , Keon to be brought in ,AA is crap, Clichy rubbish just to mention a few.
I will like to throw caution into the air right now because sacking people will not necessarily solve any problem.
I repeat; we have a descent team but only need 2 strong additions , CB and DMF but pray Wenger sees this lapses.
Wenger doesn’t have money to throw around but i am sure he can get at least £30mil to buy descent strong players.
Please, whether we like it or not , Clichy is one of the best left backs in the PL, Wenger will just laugh at the idea of selling him.Gibbs is injury prone.
AA needs to really take control and wake up , or maybe Wenger should make him captain 🙂
Keon cannot work with Wenger again because they have tried it and it didn’t work. So Forget that.
Wenger will soon retire so just wait for who he recommends in few years, i suspect Guardiola of Barca.
Rvp10 has been fit for a while.why hasn’t he started a PL game yet?chamakh has done well but in a big game he is hopeless.against the mancs he was slow to react and vidic put in a superb challenge.if it were rvp10/nasri they would have most probably feinted to shoot shifting the ball to their left pegs with a whole goal to aim for.against the chavs we really need rvp10 fit as his intelligence could be vital to bury such chances.
SD this backlash was expected.if we beat the chavs the tone will change.
Boo….
I don’t think the majority want wenger sacked,he just needs others around him,who he will actually listen to, as it fairly obvious that we have plan a and err plan a.
on the other hand he has total control,complete backing by the board,and in fact has a unique position in the league.
every one and their mother know our frailities but he doesn’t address them,or often he says we tried to get someone else after they sign elsewhere.
i agree we don’t have unlimited funds but we certainly do have funds and i would rather buy a player for half the price of another who actually is committed 100% to the club,and not using it as a stepping stone to go elsewhere.
personally,i don’t rate bendtner,well not for a team who aspires to winning the league,but he is coming out with all the wrong vibes.it’s alright being arrogant but you have to have the skill to show that arrogance.if a good offer came in i would sell him.
Kelsey, i heard Rice was retiring at the end of the season too…
Guess what, I just bumped into Stuart Pearce….
I think Wenger is thinking of the feature and really man managing the team, i think he is being careful with rvp and he will use Bendtner more in the new year.
This is to avoid injuries and burn outs, which i think is wise, we are still within the competing 3 for the title.
There was no point risking rvp and fabregas if it was a game we can still afford to loose.
SD,
what dis rvp and fabregas do other than go through the motions when they came on,on monday.neither is fully fit and did you see an urgency in the team as a whole in the last 30 minutes.
SD, i think nik could go in january…
guess nobody was interested in my bumping into Psycho then 😉
If Nik leaves , Rico? Wenger will have to replace him
SD, good 😉
Rico,
Stuart Pearce the dentist was it? he’s a bit of a psycho with me! 🙂
RA, in you boom again 😆
He looked really fit, he could do wonders for our defence 😉
Kelsey,
I thought the team were totally unable to work out what to do, let alone do it urgently.
During injury time at the end, Sagna strolled over to take a throw in, then stood like a statue trying to work out who to throw the ball to, and then threw it to Park Ji Sung!! Unbelievably casual!
Steve, just been catching up, thanks re the post and the debate, it has been good today, not everyone wants wenger out but its fair to say we all want change – thats more about our style and commitment though….
Rico,
That’s not very nice. I always try to boom discretely! 🙂
See yah guys
Rico,
I think Oliver wrote a great post, but I don’t think any of us would want wholesale sackings or disruption.
We would tho’ like to see a change of tactics and one or two quality players coming in during Jan, so we don’t run out of steam in the final furlong like last year!
K-TR7, the general tone may change but only amongst the fickle. I’ve seen a fair few Arsenal teams in my 30 years as a gooner and I agree that if the right 2 players were brought in we could really go places. I’ve maintained the same tone for quite some time now and that is that it’s as much an attitude problem as it is missing a couple of key players. Beating the chavs won’t change that nor will I behave like most Spud fans and think we’ve made it if we do have one good win. This team is very very capable of such wins. The problem lies in maintaining momentum. It’s a little insulting that you assume that everyone has knee-jerk reactions that change like the wind once we have a good result.
See you SD, have a good evening…
RA, i think we just want to be back to winning ways, or at least looking like a top side again, right now we look pretty lacklustre…
hi all…sorry i am popping up so late. i feel like i was a participant in cleese’s meetings bloody meetings…
no easy answers to the situation with our club…
Hi oliver, your comment/post has gone down really well today, thank you…. 🙂
How you feeling today oliver?
B.dad i concur with what you’re saying but i tend to think our team organisation is our weakness more often than not.eboue/big phil/flamini/kolo were able to break CL cleansheet records due to how they were drilled in training.we have superb individual players but we need to make the sum of the collective greater than the parts.
hi rico…physically, not good at all. i’ll tough it out today and take tomorrow as a sick day. for a number of work-related reasons, i could not stay home today.
i see that red nose has fired back over arsene’s grass comments. i have no problem with that – i cringed when arsene originally brought it up. if the playing surface nullified us as much as arsene suggested, our problems are far, far more serious than they appear. red nose is absolutely right to bat that nonsense back arsene’s way.
Good article, but i cant even see why you want to even think to replace the manager. Your high in hte table, and whenever you lose a game you just cry about it.
🙁 oliver, thats not so good…. rest day tomorrow for you then….
i’m not surprised fergie has responded, the comment was silly and clutching at straws about the defeat…
yep…if the positions were reversed, we would be the first to sneer at red nose if he, say, blamed the loss on a grey strip (the dell, 1996). so fair is fair, and arsene deserves to be called out for this nonsense.
the more he drums up these excuses, trots out his favorite catch-phrases (“we gave everything”,, “we lacked sharpness”, etc), the more he fuels the perception – rightly or wrongly – there is not accountability within the club. that the players have no pressure or incentive to perform better…
if arsene does not like that perception, he could do plenty to change it…no more garbage excuses…no more mechanical phrases which say absolutely nothing. if actually wants men in his squad, he should start treating these players like men.
sometimes it feels like insult upon injury…
ra, if you return…lb sintum on ir…wr steve smith done for the season – torn meniscus. the latter injury is bad, bad news…not only for smith (who i met in person in 2008), but also eli. hagan will most likely become the slot receiver. now we have to hope manningham will be able to play on sunday – he is reportedly making progress, but still questionable.
receiver corps is badly depleted. in addition to smith, hixon, cruz, and barden are all out for the season, and manningham and nicks are both banged up. we have literally had to sign guys off the street (michael clayton) to cover…now jacobs and bradshaw really become important.
that’s just it oliver, remember my post about wenger being gracious in defeat….
he never is, his excuses have worn thin on all of us, maybe if he started telling the truth, others around him would respect him more…
Oliver am sorry to hear you’re not well.hope you get well.
DIABY is back!!!!!!!
ra, giants wr mario manningham just told ny media elements that he will play sunday against philadelpha – “i’m good, i’ll be out there sunday.” i am glad that he is feeling confident – we absolutely need him on the field – but we will see what coughlin has to say later today.
i expect that unless manningham is really fully fit, no decision will be made until satuday or sunday morning. nyg are usually pretty cautious with injuries.
or maybe, just maybe, if he held himself publicly accountable, his players would follow suit through their efforts in certain matches…
thanks k – there is a bug going around the metro dc area. i caught this from my wife – bless her – but it has not yet hit me as hard as it did her.
temps were down in the 20’s yesterday afternoon – not night, during daytime.
k, i also heard that diaby is back in training. arsene wouldn’t start him directly after this long layoff – considering how robin and theo cannot build any form because they are not getting any meaningful minutes – would he??
K-TR7, if you scroll through my previous comments today you’ll see that’s where I’m coming from. Wenger has seemingly decided his voice is the only one he wants to hear which doesn’t only affect coaching, we have no big voices on the pitch either. Well aside from Chesney the other night which was refreshing to see and only serves to reinforce my belief that he should be No.1 henceforth. Beating the chavs or not beating the chavs won’t make this problem go away nor will I stupidly decide all is suddenly tickety boo if we do finally win one. I would be happy though.
ketch, nobody is crying about anything. and nobody said “replace the manager, no ifs, ands or buts.” at this point, however, it is a relevant question…
out of curiosity, may i ask whom you support? the phrasing “your high in the table” implies you support someone other than arsenal…
Oliver i hope he isn’t as rusty as cesc/rvp10.diaby may come in handy against the chavs.
but he should be eased back in. robin, theo and now cesc need serious minutes. i am sure – unless he has broken down again – cesc will start versus stoke. i would argue that robin should start as well, and even theo, who’s speed would be useful against that giant stoke defence…
KT, i’m sorry, but that does not excite me one bit…
B.dad i have read all comments and i saw that.if keown was doing so well why did we let him go?…he is at BBC just sitting there.Aw may feel that if we do well in defense people will attribute it to keown but he needs to set his ego aside for the good of all of us.keown would do wonders with the defenders we have since they are excellent individually and aren’t half as bad as they are portrayed.
oliver, ketch has a blog about sport, he’s commenting as a non gooner….
ok, i did not recognize the name. i knew he wasn’t a gooner, and if he thinks this is crying…
enjoyable day,good debate,goodnight one and all.
Rico i rate diaby and you know that.i believe he’ll dislodge jack as soon as he is fit to start.i want us to start theo/rvp10/nasri uptop against stoke in preparation for chavs.the season they beat us 4-1 at home theo ran them ragged in the first 20 minutes and till today i’ve never understood why we lost that game.
k, i remember that game. we were all over them and wasted chance after chance – we lost because we could not take advantage of our opportunities…just like the 0-2 at the bridge a couple months back…chelsea scored 2 in quick succession, shortly before the break, and our players mentally collapsed. that is why i think we lost – could not finish, and not strong enough to keep going in the face of adversity.
K-T, a splendid question. Why is Keown just sitting there? Darned if I know. You and I seem to be in agreement so I’ll leave it there.
Night kelsey, enjoy your evening…
KT, i know you rate diaby and i respect your view but if he replaces Jack, i will be amazed…
KT, the reason we lost is we didn’t take our chances, they did…. sorry if that sounds obvious, but that is as simple as it gets…
Oliver i remember AA missing an absolute sitter when we were 1 nil down and then we conceded a few minutes later.that 4-1 game we put on one of our best attacking displays in the first 20 minutes with theo/nasri/cesc in devastating form.i hope this time we rout them because to be honest they are due one.in 07-08 at home we only beat the 1 nil but we could have scored 4 or 5 that day.
Rico jack is showing signs of burn out and thats why diaby’s return is vital.diaby is also crucial against teams that park the bus since he can dribble past players opening up space for the likes of cesc.
we had several missing chances that first half hour. our play – except for the finishing – looked everything arsene wants this squad to do. but with each chance that came and went, you could feel the crowd start to get edgy. sure enough, chelsea scored seriously against the run of play and quickly got a second. you could see how it deflated out players – they never recovered on the day. i don’t think it is too much of a reach to say they have yet to recover period – considering the recent record against the big two, and our three home capitulations…
Oliver that first 20 minute period was what we call ‘Wengerball’.i have today posted about how we don’t see it often.when theo/cesc/rvp is in electric form we get to see it as cesc and robin slide those through balls to theo at all angles.i seriously hope we batter the chavs just to get rid of the mental barrier that is hanging over our heads.
KT, i will remain quiet on diaby but yes jack does need a break. cesc is back so i guess he will get it…
agree, we have a serious mental block against those two sides now. our play against united was too slow, too laboured. we never really put them under the pressure we should have.
i do not know when our next win against either of them will come – for the record, i thought we would draw at ot – but i suggest when we finally beat one, victory over the other will follow at the next opportunity. and hopefully both wins will be in convincing, dominant fashion…
Oliver the mental block is there for all to see.against the mancs our players were very nervous and clearly afraid of being beaten in an all familiar fashion.we did not try to impose our game as we do to other teams.when we won the ball we did not have 3/4 passing options as we clearly did not want to lose.one comprehensive victory against one of them will change that.Barça are the benchmark now and after dismantling madrid they’ll be very confident into doing the same to any other club side in the world.
Guys, i am going to leave you to it, catch you tommorrow, be good and enjoy the rest of your day…
nighty night
Morning all.
blog world is still discussing wenger’s weak excuse about the pitch at O.T.For once why doesn’t he come out and say that as a team no one wanted it against a pretty average United team, who played with a defensive formation at HOME which showed they were just interested in nullyfing our game.
The last thirty minutes there was no drive by any of the team to at least force an ,apart from theo in glimpses.
The rumours about eboue going to roma are laughable,as is he himself,but deep don i think he loves Arsenal and would be a good replacement for gunnersaurus ;).
clichy is yet again featured in a move away,to all places Real Madrid,and we value him at 20/25 million.i say take the money but buy another left back.gibbs will come good,provided he gets over being injury prone,but i see him more as a winger than a wing back.
one day to go the see our fate in the CL and no game is easy but i have a hunch it will be Real Madrid and another chance for mourinho to put one over our ageing boss.
Wenger was a genius but like many they eventually get so obsessed they go mad and dictorial.think about that.
*force a draw
Morning Kelsey, the new post is up, seems we have been reading the same news 😉