Morning all.
That had to be one of the worst, if not the worst Manchester United sides we have ever faced under Arsene Wenger yet the best we could manage was a 0-0 draw.
If we turn out like we did last night for many more fixtures, we’ll be right back scrabbling for a top for finish when May arrives, that’s for sure.
Very early on, Mikel Arteta got caught on the ball and RvP was through on goal. It all looked as if the game was going to start just as the one did at the weekend but thankfully, Szczesny was off his line quick to make the save.
Soon after, Giroud really should have put us 1-0 up when he had all the space in the world to head home from a corner but his header went wide. Rosicky nearly broke the deadlock when his shot took a huge deflection towards goal but De Gea saved with relative ease.
Van Persie had another chance to open the scoring but his shot/cross was pretty dire then as the first half fizzled out, Giroud headed another chance wide and Gibbs headed effort was saved…
Into the second half and Koscielny nearly broke the deadlock. Cazorla fired in a corner and the Frenchman’s header was goal-bound, well, until Valencia got his head in the way…..
Giroud headed another chance wide and up the other end Szczesny had to spring into action and head the ball clear as the old badger looked to get through on goal.
Finally, as the last fifteen minutes approached, Arsene Wenger made a change, although why he left it so late I don’t know. Anyway, off went Tomas Rosicky and on came Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. What Lukas Podolski has done wrong I just don’t know…
Giroud saw another chance come and go. He’d done all the hard work by losing his marker but his control let him down big time…
Next up was United’s chance to take all three points when Rooney played a stunning cross into the path of RvP but as good as the cross was, Szczesny’s save was better…….
De Gea’s save from Cazorla’s shot towards the end wasn’t bad either……
So the game ended 0-0…
Was that really the best Arsene Wenger could do?
A side with no width, no pace, no directness, no willingness to shoot and with Giroud up front on his own but having to come deep to win the ball, we have absolutely no players running off of, or ahead of him…
Is that really the best we can set up with the players we have?
If it is then as I said earlier, prepare yourselves for a top four scrabble yet again….
Was Arsene Wenger disappointed?
No, we lost two points and we missed an opportunity to go top of the league again but a point keeps us in the race. We had difficult games just now, Liverpool and Man United, and from now on it is important we come back and win our games again.
Well there you go, doesn’t that just about sum it up..
Manchester United were there to be spanked tonight, yet we made it so so easy for them to get something from the game..
Meanwhile, those sides behind us keep on winning….
That’s it for another day….
We were really bad last night. staying up late to watch the game was in vain…
i just understand why he left it so long to make any changes, we were crying out for some width and pace! has Podolski upset wenger to the point where he isnt considered? I feel for Giroud the service he is getting is terrible at the moment. There seems to be a fear of playing Utd seems boths teams played not to lose! 2 points dropped in my opinion but we never really went for the jugular against a team there to be beaten.
Awful wasn’t it Adk…
Awful is the right word rico 🙁
Sorry but I am glad Flamini is back, Arteta is not the quality we need. Jack needs to be dropped (Ramsey get well soon) to get his mind focused. Carzorla and Ozil need to rotate as no.10’s. We need pace and serious pace out wide. I really like Giroud but if we had a world class striker then last night would have been a win. In fact with a world class striker we would probably have a least 10 extra points.
How a club can justify a 24m contract to Wenger is a joke. I think we would need 85 points to win the league,. Its not happening and we will probably be out of the FA cup and Champions League by this time next week.
I was shocked to see Rosicky be taken out.. Why didn’t Wenger take on “the best finisher ever”?
Even Sanogo could have brought some pace and strenght.. Giroud is jaded..
Lawrence, I agree to a certain point. But to say that we are out of the FA cup, is a bit negative. We have the perfect chance to make amends…
Lawrence, agree re Flamini and a striker..
I like Giroud but I sat there wondering if Nik would have buried that early chance…
And thinking in such a way is a worry in itself….
Morning all,
Many supporters this morning saying the game was crap last night, I felt it was a vast improvement than against Liverpool the weekend. We are talking about a team that have been champions for years and who are still the reigning champions, I feel a draw against them was a good result. I expected a loss but am happy with the draw. We seem to have a hangup with Wenger and the transfer windows. Were in second place and the hatred for our manager seems odd to me. Why he hasn’t brought players mystifies me but i dont believe that we are rolling in cash as has been portraid. Buying a centre forward in the TW i feel wouldn’t have won our game last night, we would need more than that as our flanks are empty. Midfielders coming out of our arses but no wingers in sight. When you look at our players on paper they look very good but off paper none of them like breaking forward. i counted nine United players in their box last night and one of ours, its all about players going forwards, Wenger can tell them to go forward but its a bit like taking a horse to water you can’t make it drink.
The performance and results have not been great but I believe we as fans need to edge the players on until the fat lady signs at least…
We all agree we needed players brought in during the recent past transfer window but it never happened for a reason we as fans can’t ‘phantom’ so in my view no point is crying over spilt milk..
I still strongly believe that the likes of Higuain who fans wanted would not have improved us one bit based on how Ozil is struggling to fit into this team according to section of fans…
When you look at where we are and the games we have lost, it is only the AV game that we under performed imo…
My only grief is that AW is still insisting on playing certain players who in my humble opinion are very over rated in certain games and when they are not doing well he keeps them on the pitch…
Playing 5 attacking minded players last night without creating much going forward is one proof that we needed to buy a no.10 too…
Contrary to most believes we do not creat clear cut chances at all in most games…
we had just got thumped 5-1 by liverpool so the most important thing was not to lose last night.same as the chelseas game after the city defeat.yes, this is a poor united team but they still have quality players,lets not forget that.yes, liverpool and sp*rs won and closed the gap but we are still 2nd!!!!we are still in the hunt for the title,unlike last season,the season before,the season before that etc. we need to be getting behind the team and being overly critical.there are important games to come,so get behind the team.
Maurice. Nobody is not behind the team. But it is getting more and more frustrating to watch, as everyone can see that Wenger has had this coming for a long time. No Ramsey, no Walcott, no quality strikers. And he doesnt seem to trust Podolski.. Why is he in the team if he isnt good enough?
Sp,how could we not have been better than at the weekend. lol
We lack pace, width and a ruthless striker.. But then everyone knows that..
Still think we could have done a lot better, especially with Podolski sat on the bench, why when we needed a goal he didn’t come on I just don’t know…
I check the data from last night and it is shocking how little some of our so called better players do …
It still cheeses me off big time when our pensioners still cover more ground in games than the players 7 years younger…
Most may slate MA08 for the chance gifted to PV in the 2nd minute but all the pundits bar Owen agreed Scez should never have passed the ball to Mikel…
Yes he was not great but he worked hard and won loads of tackles…
Hwe is deemed slow but JW who is 7 or 8 years younger is even slower and gave the ball away more times and run less as well..
We need to buy a DM next summer in the mold of Schnerderlein because to me MF20 is never the answer…
I know absence makes the heart grow fonder…
MF20 was so shocking in the first tie against Yanited when The BFG and MA08 were unwell that MF20 was subbed…
He was also subbed against $hitty so in my view he is worse than MA08..
Ms, we are behind the team but the manager isn’t getting the best out of who we have imho..
Same old players starting, same old tactics deployed and it’s frustrating.
Roll on the day Aaron Ramsey is fit, sadly Theo won’t be this season and we miss them both enormously….
Ts, I don’t think that either Arteta or Flamini are the solution, agree we need to sign a DM/HM/Box to box player, one who will finally replace Abou Diaby…
Off out this morning so catch up a bit later….
rico, I am looking forward to seeing Ramsey come back, but who is not to say that it will take him at least a month to get back to his usual level?
And will Wenger rush him back?
Diaby? I seem to rememeber somebody with that name.. But who…
Yes we miss Theo big time as I have always stated that he is the only ‘BIGGEST’ game player in our squad…
But I think we have to remember that Theo was just getting into form after a long absence and a poor year…
He had made 10 appearances all season with 5 as a sub…
Before his first 2 goals against $hitty he had only scored 4 goals in over 20 games with 1 coming against OM…
He has also always struggled against Evra and with Yanited defending very deep I doubt he would have made much of an impact…
Saying that he had scored 5 goals in 10 appearances and so it was criminal for AW not to replace him imho…
I believe we have the players who can contribute but as Rico has said.. Aw has certain players out of his plans which in my view is not doing our prospects any good…
Sorry Rico, Nice post. 🙂
We know we are not the finished artical, Ozil was a blinding aquisition but on his own he is not game changing. Arsenal FC seem to put out about how well the club is run and that we have bundles in the kitty, I’m sorry i don’t believe we have bundles, i feel we had to scrape Ozil’s money together as Wenger left it late in the summer window before he actually commited, and every other player he looked at was mostly paper talk. This window was much the same and we missed out again. When money is available i feel Wenger would spend, i cannot believe that he felt we were strong enough to see the second half of the season out with what we had. He patched things up as good as he could but got conned in the last minute with our cover. Arsenal can brag all they like about the wealth of the club but Wenger i feel is more experienced than to not buy what’s needed. Were getting there but we may need another transfer window to paper over the cracks.
I said last night that the club is at a crossroads , maybe Wenger has decided on his contract extension , perhaps that’s why he didn’t buy in January ,maybe he has a deal lined up in a less demanding league. It’s the only reason I can think of for his inertia.
Very True Sp1…
I agree most links apart from Cabaye, Bender, Suarez were paper talk…
Strangely enough our bid for Negredo never made the news until the player himself talked recently before our game against City…
Higuain has said like us fans he was expecting a bid from us because of newspaper talk but AW never came for him or even made a bid…
At that time I said I would be surprised if AW went for him because to me he is a bottler and a lazy player…
Almost all his gaols came for lower tier teams too…
He is not exactly doing well in Serie A when you consider that YAo Gerv who was deemed useless here is doing much better in the same league in a far poorer team..
i dont undestand why u guys are being paranoid. it was a fair result against a side that had the likes of rvp and wayne rooney on the field. chelsea wouldnt have beaten utd in january if these 2 were there. we’re only a point from top spot and still in the race; that is what matters.
Morning all.
Kind of glad I didn’t watch.
If it was as bad aa most make out, I’d have wasted 90 minutes.
If I thought people were being over critical because we only drew, is probably end up arguing the point 🙂
Morning Potter Ginge,
You guys know your football and you both probably know more about the Arsenal than i do, but having said that i believe we all know what we have in Wenger. Maybe not the best in the world but he will give us European football he has given us top 4 in a climate that have super spenders, our 4th position for many years is about as good as we could have expected, i know we want to see our club at the top of the tree but wealthy owners who are almost desperate for success will overcome the clubs like ours. I still don’t believe we are in their spending league we try and show a good front but we are not yet in that league of spending.
Morning Scott, you should watch it, granted not the result that we all wanted but a game well worth watching. Yes it may not make the classics but a hell of a lot better than we have seen of late. Two teams that couldn’t afford to lose and i wouls say that deep down a result that would have pleased both managers and players. We had our chances and if i’m honest with better finishing either club could have won. Frustrated yes i was but our boys did their best
Sir Sp1, its all about opinions mate… I too believe AW has made this team punch above its weight…
I can’t see a lot of managers walking into his office and taking us further than he has…
Saying that maybe a Maureen-ho could have been a bit more pragmatic and won us 2 CoC in 2007 and 2011 plus the CL in 2006.
AW has done extremely well but as I say I have too issues with his squad… lack of rotation before October and his obvious preference to ceratin players…
Thank you Rico.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, fourth was always our ambition. Trouble is, looking at the form of Spurs and Pool, fourth is going to be a struggle.
Hi Steve, I will watch it mate, the replay is on late tonight but I will catch in the next day or two.
Hi Scottie,
Watch it if you can and form you own opinion mate…
And that Steve is where i fall out with Wenger. I fully appreciate the work that he has done to maintain our position during this transformation. He has developed a system that works against a high enough percentage of teams to keep us in the position to which we have become accustomed. It’s when he is asked to go the extra mile and mix things up against the top top teams as he calls them and give them problems to overcome that he fails. Last nights game has been played so many times , it could have been Chelsea ,they all know how to negate his method , he needs to rethink it. Liverpool will do exactly the same to us not necessarily get five in 10 minutes but they know that sitting back closing us down and using pace to get at our back 4 with long diagonals will probably be good enough to win because they have strikers that will convert at a higher rate than ours.
Chance Giroud, wide! Chance Giroud, wide! Chance Giroud, over! Chance Giroud, wide! It is even surprising that he got that many chances as the speed of our attacks was so slow. Agree with others we were desperately missing speed and width (walcott/ox) for most of the came until ox came on. Missed Ramsey/Flamini too to give some steal in front of the back4.
On the plus, I watched Ozil pretty closely after some average performances recently. I thought he was really working it last night, looking for space, running a lot more… in fact I felt sorry for him that he had no one, ever, to put a ball through to behind defenders. Often the only option was a slow Giroud vs 2 or 3 defenders. We were disappointingly toothless in attack for most of the game.
I hope that this summer, in the 5th transfer window since RVP departed, that we stump up and buy a real quality striker with some pace to get in behind and who can hit a target. (not advocating selling Giroud btw, we need options).
Morning Steve, you bring up something many have not said a lot about, and yes your right as well. Spuds have spent a lot of money, i kind of feel sorry for AVB he buys and sells, brings in talent that needs to settle, gets the push and another comes in as the players begin to gel. That has happened to all of the big spending clubs as well, I feel that When Townsend get’s back in his stride he could end up being the player to sell to give spuds another windfall for the next influx
AVB never played that prick from Togo though, and he was settled….
You are spot on Potter…
Very true Potter, that’s why i said maybe not the best in the world, as tactically he is not the best. 🙂
You know as well as me Scott, that Ade has spells, he wont last long he never does and that salute bugs me more than Monkeyboys Heart. 🙂
We were awful last night, really awful against the worse MU team for many, many years who came for a draw. The only players that come out with any credit are the defence who coped well with a limp Man U attack. We have plenty of money. Plenty of it.
At the moment, because that is where we live, Jack is a liability. He is continually putting us in peril with either loose passes or ill-judged dribbling attempts and he weakens the core of the team which, without Flamini seems flaccid and flakey to me. Ozil did ok last night but if he was looking for anything from Giroud, who he should be finding with balls that hurt the opposition, he was disappointed. At the level Arsenal aspire to be and especially in Europe where the games become very tactical, you might get a single chance to take the points. Giroud had the opportunities to bury Man Utd last night and he was absolutely awful – poking his tongue out, waving his hands and smoothing his gravity defying quiff. If you think he needs a rest then that is your opinion. I think it’s a cop out. For Wenger to leave the team with essentially Giroud as the main striking option is…..well, words fail me. Cazorla as a winger? No, not really. With 10 minutes to go Wenger could have bought Podolski on and gone for it. But he didn’t. We were camped on the edge of the Man U area and that is where Poldi can produce but I think we were more scared of losing than confident enough to go for a win. A very depressing night rounded off by the crowd showing their frustration by booing. Very unpleasant all round really.
Morning Adam,
People like you and Potter are the eyes inside the ground for a lot of us, you know the feelings of the croud you hear the talk while people like me only knows what they read, I often feel that with the price of the tickets and the many sponsorship deals that the money they have got coming in would make us really wealthy. But when i see transfer windows as i have other the years i can see how penny pinching seems to put off a lot of clubs. It is not as if its Wengers money, and with his wages it lookes like we have money to burn, but i can only see bids like Suarez’s as demeaning and penny pinching which tells me we are scratching. I don’t see us buying as Chelsea has by letting a player continuing with his present club until
l next year, our transfers seem to be in desperation, spent to make a difference straight away. but what do i know.
Steve P, fair call and yeah, he is a scumbag.
Adam you summed it up perfectly imho…
Good Afternoon Rico and All.
I really feel your pain in writing this Match-Report. Only the defense is worth praise imp.
Sp1, do you remember what I told you after the Southampton game? That the boys did well? Well, they did well as compared to the ManU game. You disagreed with me then, but watch that game again and watch ManU game and you will agree with me that I was right.
T’s said, “When you look at where we are and the games we have lost, it is only the AV game that we under performed imo…” What about L’pool game?
Adam, you nailed it to the Tee. JW was suppose to be replaced yesterday instead AW replaced Rosicky. He is really become liability these days. And why OG12 is always poking his tongue out when he missed a sitter is anyone’s guess.
I consider IG a Salesman but I believe him this time when he says the money is there for AW to spend. I just exhausted defending AW when his mistakes are so clear to miss like the blue sky.
Hiya Ng… I expect the top 6 team to be winning their games at home tbh.. but you have a point about the manner of the lose…
I expected to see Oxlade, Poldi and NB52 in yday. So pissed at d moment wit d team for not producing more last nyt but what can I do…stil my first love xx
To me JW has always been a liability…
When he does 2 things in a game and he scores he gets motm…
I like the boy but if a player has made 100 appearances at the high level then he needs to be learning…
Unfortunately he doesn’t learn…
I hope I don’t sound too harsh 😉
Those same chances that are provided to OG12 give them to Sergio Aquaro, Costa, Suarez and even Bony it could be different outcome.
Afternoon Nash, Yes your right of course, I get upset when i watch the Arsenal as i’m sure you do as well, Whatever mood i am in after the game or how i think the game has gone is what i comment on. I am no different to you where i have an opinion of the game i have just watched, but after i have calmed down like you i start to see reason. I see these blogs as a way of venting my frustrations, one day i will agree with whoever and another i am downright angry If i upset you then i appologise 🙂
Ox came on and imho did nothing..
I know Scottie is a big advocate of Ox playing as a striker but at this stage in his career he is not ready imho..
She he came back anytime he has received the ball with his back to goal he has lost it…
Yesterday his poor turn led to Sagna receiving his 4th yellow of the season which may end up biting us in the backside soon…
she = since*
Hi T’s. That’s not harsh. That’s reality. TV and JW have always been the two best players for me in Arsenal. When they’re not in form,they should be on the bench.
It no one fault but AW. Two TW to make a difference and he bottle them.
Sp1, no need for apologies, you speak your mind the way you see things. The Southampton game we’re poor but no brakes on and determined to get a win but ManU we’re scared to take our chances even though as poor in form as ManU has portrait most of late.
We just had to attack the Mancs from the start, and they’d have folded.
The talk in the ground these days is of two things. The football obviously including Wenger’s baffling decisions and the increasing financial burden of supporting the club we love. This morning I took the decision to opt out of paying about £80 for each of our ST’s to watch the BM game. We have 3 ST’s and the club intend to add that and any subsequent home ties to next season’s prices. Add to this the 3% rise they have already announced and it’s all getting a bit much now. Last season we were due a single game credit as the 7 games included were not used and the club decided to include that credit as the lowest grade value they possibly could.
Talking to one of the grizzly old regulars who sits behind me last night, he told me that he had missed only a small handfull of home games since 1953 and used to go to all the away games for years. He reckons he is jacking it in at the end of the season so I asked him if it was the cost. Being an old Islington ‘geezer’ he shook his head and said “No mate, it’s because these fcukers ain’t got no effing ambition”. I understood what he meant. “This effing club needs an effing big shake up mate” he said. He then gave me a run-down of the players that would make Brudder Lee blush.
It was both funny and tragic. A snapshot of a bygone era really. Of course, Arsenal could not give a toss whether he comes or not. His ticket will go to another ‘supporter’ who will give it a go for a season or two. Thus the World turns and the Arsenal franchise moves on, comfortable in the knowledge that you must never give a sucker an even break.
Good Afternoon Wath, do you remember a few years ago what I told you about OG12 becoming another Marouane Chamakh?
I have a bit of a theory about how Maureen set up his side, Against City he had his team watch hours of video’s he got them on the training pitch and masterminded a system that would or could stop City and i believe it worked. But in their next game which was quite close, he felt that his team was good enough to beat them and the players were still in the city mode. Of course the team was different but his team carried on in the same vane. This i think happens a lot in football, and i wonder if Wenger may see it in the same way. His way is to let the other teams worry about your game as opposed to worrying about them and i see this as dangerous as Maureen’s way.
Very interesting insight Adam, and of course your right, Where we care about our club all they care about is our money. My mate and his boy have held their tickets for close on 30 years and they almost gave it up last year, for the same reasons, i don’t like to ask them about this year, i would imagine that will have to wait till the last minute.
awful awful show last night…cant believe arsene ll be paid 8 mil for that shit. he should not get a month’s wage after the last two performance. i winced each time manure got the ball off us. appalling. now the scums are just 6 points off.
morning HH still pissed about last night.
Sp1, you are right…
Most top managers including Satchi have never bother with the opposition much..
The likes of Saatchi, Cruyff, AW etc have always had a strategy which would be perfect if they had 10 outfield players who could all see the game like DB10 and Thuram but we know that can never be the case…
Tactically Cruyff, Pep and the are often out manoevre by the likes of Trapotoni, Cappello, Huddink etc..
Mauren-ho falls into the Fergie/Huddink camp… their strategy is clumsy but tactically they are able to look at the fine details…
dude wenger is shit…..about time he went upstairs. right now i ll take diego simone or frank de boer over him. he is past his sell date, move him upstairs please. let him dance naked in his millions of pounds.
in not awful since last night.
We hadn’t played since the Decembrer stop.
We have many players out but the team is not well and specialy not fresh and not well organize
AW must have courage (?) for replace players
Steve. You know, I am not surprised at the way the club has changed over the years and I see the inevitability of it all. I have changed as a person too as the seasons have come and gone. It’s all about money now and nostalgia won’t let us put the Genie back in the bottle. I absolutely get that. But when things stop making sense I wonder if it’s me. When I hear some of the shite that Wenger spouts these days it irritates me. He also talks some sense but I just can’t be bothered to try and decode it any more. Kroenke is about money, that’s all. Him and his family are steeped in business and their bottom line is profit. I see Wenger as a multi-millionaire who wears his idealism like a crown of thorns and a man who wants to be proved right. He seems unmovable in his ideas and I very much doubt whether we would have signed Ozil if it had been his decision alone. He has become a parody of himself but, this season he has to deliver. No more excuses, no more bullshit and no more gobbing off about financial doping. Do it. Push this club across the finishing line and actually win something for the fans who I think have shown incredible loyalty and patience and spent a lot of money while doing so.
The last two transfer windows have astonished me. After all Gazidis’ spouting off I think that Wenger has played fast and loose with the team and left them short. If we win the PL or the CL I will be proved wrong. Great. I want to be wrong. I want to believe that my mate is wrong and that we do have ambition. But I fear that may lie broken on the back of Wenger’s stubbornness.
Interesting view from a die-hard supporter(not fan).
I know we have sometimes disagreed on a few points in the past as you normally see the game as a true long term supporter whilst with me I think I and believe that the club hierachy do not see any point in going overboard to get limit returns…
My argument is that football clubs especially the one’s owned by the Yanks do not value supporters but see each and every fan as a customer…
Like McDonalds or any junk food once you are an addict it is nearly impossible to wean yourself off it…
Its a shame really if the club will allow the likes of you to give up your ST when on the other hand the club go on about traditions…
jm that’s just an excuse. give martinez of everton this same thing and watch them die for the cause. a team is a reflection of its manager. wenger is a wimp hence all his teams since the invincibles are shit!
limited* returns..
adamant
As I said, I use to feel for the man (AW) and buy into his excuses but not anymore. IG just cant be deceiving us with false statement that the money is there to spend. Unless IG has no morals but otherwise I believe him. Why are we trying to ‘make do’ when we can compete and bring in world class players? Players who can come in and be games changers?
Goonster.
how have you been buddy? dang cassie is so heavy right now. i ll probably be a father by spring. crikey! the thought scares the crap out of me. help me adam.
Stanley…I agree. One funny thing from last night, during half time I switched over to watch a bit of the Roma/Napoli game and Gervwankho have a shot on goal that nearly hit the corner flag…I nearly pissed myself!
Ng, as you said IG is a sales man.. and that is all he is!
To me he is a rat for saying we have money to spend knowing damn well that we have a BUDGET even if it is £150M in the bank account…
If we have money he should go out and buy…
When NUFC/Mike Ashley played a tape to CAbaye over the summer which said ‘Cabaye was a reserve…’ AW was not on it…
It is the snobbery the hierachy show to their counterparts who are mostly likely not Cambridge or Havard educated that makes us go without…
For me, the evidences are so clear.
we have a short team but it is not improve.
Moreover, we can win no one of the the 6 big teams
Boring Boring Chelsea
hahahaahh lee are you serious? the corner flag???
Afternoon All
Afternoon Rico, average post… 😉
Good piece in the Mirror by John Cross (for a change)
Hi Kev, right now I would take Boring Arsenal that is winning.
morning grand pa kev……..
Hiya Kev
Gotta be careful here, or I could end up with a thump on my hooter…
Only saw highlights on MotD, but as wasteful as Giroud was, and he should have earned a penalty, I don’t blame just him, where are the others???
Koscielny with a header and an effort from Rosicky plus one from Cazorla, that, is, just not good enough…
Where are the shots from the rest of the team???
OK, not losing was a priority, to rebuild confidence, but if they fanny about against the Pickpockets this weekend, then we can bid Au Revoir to the FACup…
for once am nodding along with everything being said on legrove. i totally agree wit that twat gambon today. have anyone noticed among the top teams in europe no other team have been thrashed repeatedly over the past 5 years than us. barca whupped us 4.1 milan trounced us 4.0, manure thumped us 8 frigging 2, the chavs under hiddink came to the home of football and whalloped us 4.1 now even little loserpoop hit us for 5 and y’all keep complaining about players??? nah i ve seen these guys play before they all arrived at arsenal. they are not shit as we think. wenger is! end of.
Hiya Nasher, yep, i’d sign for 1-0 to the Arsenal, for the rest of the season…
Ah young Stanley, you cheeky scamp, how the devil are ya mate?
Afternoon Ginge…
am fine kev, how re ya big guy? how is the missus? is london cold?? please say yes.
Anyway, that’s my contribution for the day…
See all you Gooners a bit lata
Stanley, you behave, ok? 🙂
alright kev i will but i cant promise not to flirt with AGAG when she comes on….hey whatever happened to that hot tamale??
Just read the comments, outstanding again Adam, from the heart mate. Cannot disagree…
Gone now
I am no longer prepared to worry about bringing in World class , my concerns relate to what are doing with the players we have. Very few of them are incapable and even Giroud, Bendtner, Podolski have good records playing in differing systems. We have young players that appear to be stifled by the tactics being forced on them. It’s natural for young players to attack , why do ours limit themselves to 5 yard passes . We have top quality players in Rosicky , Ozil and Cazorla seemingly incapable of actually going past a player and will choose to pass before trying it. Does Wilshere look before he tries his little flick passes and why does he keep playing in a restricted area and taking the ball too far and running into trouble. I don’t believe it’s the players, I believe it’s the training , the method and the way the manager sets things up. I can see no alternative to either his removal or his falling on the proverbial sword should things go tits up toward the end of this season.
spot on potter….you said it buddy. time for him to go. enough as they say is enough. he sets up his teams to play the same way year in year out, i mean who does that? we needed a striker during the summer he got ozil( am not against that though) then it was imperative we get a striker since our top scorer and most dangerous player is out for 8 months. instead we got an injured washed out swede! he is really deluded. it bordres on insanity. time for him to go guys. WENGER OUT!
It’s been hard for me to say it , but I can’t see any other alternative. He has 12 games to win me back , I really can’t see it though.
sorry buddy but he’s done. he cant build a title winning team anymore. maybe a top 4 team but a title winning team??? i dont think so. i mean we lost the carling cup final to birmingham of all teams!
and dont nobody start about the the constraint he had with funds. a skint team like bvb won the double twice!
It seems like this latest development has surprised most of you…
AW has always struggled to beat the very best when it mattered… history from 1988 shows it…
Oppong Weah left him because of that that…
Aw is a strategist not a tactician…
Even a ‘fat Sam’ can devise a tactic to beat the best club team on a day as it is 11 vs 11 but the best managers have a long term approach or strategy…
That is why when most fans and pundits were raving about Laudrup after the CoC win I said that he will be gone in his 2nd season…
We will win the league btw…
City will be 9 points behind us if it was not due to referee decisions in my view…
Lennon’s Celtic beat Messi and Barca but that does not make him a top manager imho…
Chris Houghton can beat the very best managers but his team is still shite…
How the heck did the dippers get a a penalty in the 90th minute?
Next 3 league games are winable..
then we have the Spuds.Chelsea.away
ManCity..home..
Everton away
is Ramsey goner make the difference,assuming we get no more injuries.
Beggers belief wenger waited to the last day of the window to offer the Take it or Leave it Crap.
The man has some serious faults but at the end of the day if he is ouit of a job he will get even Chelsea’s job the next day…
Jose is deemed an elite manager but most players and ‘chairpersons’ can’t stand him after he has won something…
How long will he last at Chelsea on his 2nd tour…
Apart from English pundits who worship Jose most other top managers do not rate him…
All his teams have gone bankrupt after winning them titles…
Like Fergie running away like a rat on a sinking ship this season when he knew he could no longer compete…
I think FC fans overate this team… most of our players are etremely overated imo…
Like SC19 as good as he is is still behind MAta, Silva and Pedro for Brazil but we consider him a world class player… he is not imho..
I blame AW for making our team spineless though without character!
For Spain* not Brazil
dont make me laugh ginge…..we wont win squat with wenger in charge. he is bereft of ideas. he is not a winner. we re doomed for another 3 years the way it is.
Mind the Gap
Effing hell I can feel em coming over the hill.
I don’t disagree we need to make a change… goonie
Whether he has money and he does not spend it… we are still punching above our weight…
Will anyone say CFC or Mancity are over acheiving?
Even the sperds outspent us but where are they…
People like Gambon go on about our squad salary etc but at teh end of the day we have the 4th highest salary and we finish 3rd or 4th… so it is where we deserve to finish imho…
My problem is why AW is choosing to do it the hard way just to prove a point..?
Hi Stan, TS, Lee, Kev, Potter and all.
Sorry I vanished but I had to mop the kitchen floor.
I admit to feeling a little ‘broken’ after the last few results but, without bigging my prophetical powers up too much, I had seen it coming. TS. I think you understand exactly where I am coming from with Arsenal. I am an emotional man who loves his brothers Lee and Kev and shares a common bond with them and others on this site, especially Rico. I watch as Wenger goes about his work and I don’t get it anymore. That’s all.
Stan. Best wishes to you and Cassie.
dude what irks the hell out of me is his tactics and lack of it. not his stingy tight fisted approach. i mean anybody in world football can figure out how we are going to play once the teram sheet is announced. we are so easy like my cousin annie van drost. grrrrrrrrr
That is exactly the issue Adam…
Even his deluded fan like myself can’t ‘get it anymore’ the way he is going about it…
Even Nero and Comical Ali had to admit they were wrong at least to themselves eventually…
thanks adam….means a lot.
T’s. said, “How the heck did the dippers get a a penalty in the 90th minute?” It was a penalty, no question about it. The guy was an idiot. Just what Ebou did with the dippers.
Afternoon all, have we signed anyone?? 😉 😉
We jolly well need to…..
Til Hell freezes over
I agree goonie..
But as someone who even watches Vitesse etc… I can say that most manager have a playing style…
Conte of Juve plays the same 3-5-2; difference is that he may drop Pirlo for Pogba when the opposition is fast…
Even boxers have a style..
As a top boxer the question the likes of Sugar Ray and Hagler etc asked themselves before a major title defence was whether to adapt to an opponent or just improve on what they are good at…
( just quoting what I have seen on the vhs…lol)
What is Mauren-ho’s style it is set in stone too…
I think it is a big illusion when people believe Mauren-ho changes tactics much…
What he however does is use different personnel to execute his aim…
Like He plays 2 DM in midfield…
It use to be Essien, Makelele and Lampard as a box to box…
Now it is Matic, Ruiz and Hazard or Oscar the same principle in my view…
With AW he is stupid in my view to get Ozil to defend for 75% when that is not his game etc…
Away from football. Nice to see that justice prevailed in the court case for DLT, just as it did with William Roache.
Still, don’t worry about us taxpayers who are paying for these hideous court cases…….
Hi Rico..
As a corrie fan like yourself I am certain you are pleased for him…
ha ha ha
To ease the mood…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26162408
Hi Ts, just pleased that justice has been done, regardless of who these people are….
I read that too Ts, funny….
I often think that football fans are spoilt. Many supporters over the years have seen their team win cups they have seen doules some have been lucky and seen trebles. I can remember as a kid in my local sweetshop i saw a waggon wheel that looked enormous but today that waggon wheel looks the size of a half a crown i realised that Burtons who used to make them had to deal with big companies like roundtree and cadbury’s so had to make their product smaller. I still love them but seldomly do i buy them. Arsenal has been my club for all these years i understand how things have changed and money rules the roost but Arsenal is my team and Wenger is their Manager he runs the show and i believe he is still the man to lead us, i Listen to all supporters and can understand their frustrations but if you can name a manager that can do better for us i am all ears. I believe you can change a manager but will you better yourselves with the same owners.
That is always the question and I suppose the answer is that until you try you won’t find out. We didn’t know much about Bertie Mee but he achieved some would say overly and George Graham wasn’t a top manager when he came. Truth is that managers are out there it’s having the guts to replace an icon and take a gamble. Everybody has their time and i believe this particular dog has had his.
How not to celebrate a goal
http://foxs.pt/m6za60
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152012972887946&set=a.420929832945.195351.81286652945&type=1
Sp, Josh Kroenke will love you, he told the fans of his American club that they were spoilt…
My own view is that a club can’t keep taking vast amounts of money from the fans without giving something back!
And right now, the fans are getting very little…..
Sorry Rico about these two links. They don’t seem to be working…
No probs Ng, no probs at all…
Rico, Of course i wouldn’t disagree with you 🙂 but we are still second and only a point behind the leaders who are not that great themselves, I am a bit surprised that so many want a change now, what do they expect a new Manager to do get another 2 points and he’s a hero. I will wait to see how this season turns out before i throw the toys out and i will be reading these blogs come the end of the season and if we are top i wont say a word.
Sp1, we should take advantage of the opportunities right because we know not what t’morrow bring.
right =right now
Steve. I doubt many criticising Wenger on here want to see him go now. I certainly don’t.
Sp, I don’t want AW to go right now, I want him to change and try something different with the players he has….
Then if he isn’t ready to sign top class players in the summer, don’t sign his contract extension either…
I have seen us 12 points behind spuds and could understand Gooners with the hump but fcuk me wer’e within touching distance of winning the league still in the FA cup Champions league and the Manager is shit. Change our Manager and you will see shit i can tell ya.
Sp, no-one on here is saying change the manager right now…
ManU vs Arsenal=4 pts missed Home and Away
Southampton vs Arsenal =3 pts missed Away
Arsenal vs L’pool =1 pt missed Away
Diaby and Kallstrom will save the day… 😉
I am not even convinced that he needs to go. But I do think he has been irresponsible and inert.
Our mate Darren Bent doing well now Kev. 🙂
Will fans believe we have a strike force of OG12, B-something and Sanogo but have scored the same number of goals 48 goals in the 26 Premier League games we have played as teh chavs have… who on paper have 5 top strikers plus Hazard, Willian etc…
It is not as bad as we make it out to be but it is only right we as fans ensure the players no we won’t accept any lacklustre perormance from hence….
Adam, I will be very interested to see the attendance vs Bayern?
Lets see the club spin their way outta thay
Lata
Look we know where we are lacking.
I don’t know why he hasn’t bought, i understand that the winter window is not a good time to buy for one reason or another and i give him the benefit of the doubt. We have had setbacks Ramsey who has been out for a while who if he continues with the form he has shown will lift this team and give us a bit of a punch up front.
Theo getting injured hasn’t helped and flamester getting a ban couldn’t have come at a worse time. I have still yet to see if the elusive Sanogo can be of service but i sure think he couldn’t be any worse than giroud of late.
We have Gnabry who seems like a new signing every time he comes on and our reserve Keeper who has done nothing wrong so far could be used in emergency Vermins busting a gut to play so is Jenks we have plenty of players even our loanee could be a rock yet he can’t be that far off in fact we have a good team.
The Ox is just getting acclimatised and Monreal is not that bad Jack needs a rest but i feel Wenger is trying to get him playing for England but he may have to rest him. In my mind after this week we have a good chance and if Diaby should ever get off his arse he may just make the last couple of games lets get behind them after all whens the last time we were in this position.
But which year Kev 😉
Steve many of us saw the wall writing sometime ago , Leave it to see where we are at the end of the season by all means , it’s the logical thing to do, but we have heard all of this before and bear in mind the supposed £ 100 million + that United are reportedly going to spend and the City / Chelsea millions all will be in for all the same players we are , the time to strike was this season and for whatever reason we look to have blown it.
Adam, I honestly don’t want him to go, I just want him to get Arsenal football club into 2014 and spend some money to sign players we serious need..
Pace, winger, DM, a striker and a right back….
And a keeper who is getting on a bit but has been there and got the t-shirt….
I think Arsene has been given the benefit of the doubt for far too long…
And now it’s time for the owner and board to step in and make things happen in the summer…
I’m of the same opinion as you there Potter, keep telling the punter that there is fortunes and repeatedly comes up short. Like a stab in the back. But i am of the opinion that a hundred million is more like 20 and i would have thought that had he had the money he would have brought, after all what club with a hundred million in the kitty loans a dud.
The summer TW there must have been someone they’re negotiating for but the deal didn’t materialized. So he went to Morinhno for Demba BA. Knowing Morinhno what he did when he was with RM doesn’t surprise me.
Ok, shit happen, that’s the world we live in. Come winter still no CF and no pacey DM. Why? Where were the backup plans, Why didn’t we go back and try to make one of those prospects we’re looking at during the summer and see if they can materialize?
Would Chelsea, ManU, ManCity or even Everston take OG12 and AR16 as their first eleven in their various roles compare to what they have right now? To me the answer is no.
Not many owners who have a manager with Wengers record would force him out, maybe City or the Chavs but they are a law to themselves
Nash why would a manager buy another CF when he has 3 and a guy in the reserves who is reasonable. Summertime we lose Bendtner and wouldn’t surprise me that our reserve man will also go thats the time a CF will come in allways look to the deadwood before you take on another Wage,
Simple, because the ones he has not good enough. Bendtner was on his way out and Sanogo was free. What the use having someone you can’t call to play. Him going to Chelsea for BA tells you he knows we need another CF.
AR16=MA8
But he was only prepared to pay his wage
Sp1, we all have our differences with AW but we still love him as our manager. But we have to call it as it is. I wish I have half the football brain he has. He sees these players in practice every blessed day. we only see them in the pitch once every week and what we do see sometimes not good enough.
Ng, I’d say that most clubs would love to sign Ramsey…
Sp, law unto themselves, or ambitious?
Rico meant MA08 instead of AR16
We have 3 strikers listed on the first team squad, but not one is a true out and out goal scorer.
One isn’t fit and PL ready.
Another is simply running down his contract so he can get a bumper deal in the summer.
The other is Olivier Giroud, a player who gives his all, but has little or no support ahead of him and all too often, he fluffs his lines in front of goal…
I like him, but he’s a squad player for me and not the lethal, potent goal scorer we need….
Phew Ng 😉
Off to get dinner… Catch up in a bit…
I dont really see how an out and out centre forward could work in this team as they need support and wingers we give niether.
Reckon
Arry’s miss’is would have have put one of those chances away
last night.
Who needs Bent.
I think Mesut Ozil would disagree Sp…
fred, right now, we do 😉
Hi all,
True we are second but the rest are alot closer and we don’t have easy games ahead even though we feel it’s winnable.
I don’t see Wenger making any changes other than Flamini. I’d prefer Ox in place of Wilshere and Gnabry offering pace and when told, width too.
On Wenger, his ideas are stale and predictable. Changing coaches now is silly but definitely shouldn’t renew his contract.
As I’ve always said, I support Arsenal and the guys in the shirt not the manager.
Spot on Bradster…
I love Jack but right now, he needs to be sat on the bench….
I’m off for the day now..
Night all…
I will keep saying it until the cows come home, I am not bothered about the riches of other clubs , the players we have are quite capable our problem lies in how they are utilised
Hey, I totally agree to all of your comments except for those who still AW is good and Arsenal still is good. All of your comments are same as mine and they have been frustratingly inside me for a long time. In particularly on Podolski. Why AW has never make him a 1st choice, beat me. Playing favourites…always suspecting. On JW, he is just awful and has been a while now.
A change in manager and we see the different in standard of Man U now. I believe a manager’s tactics and game plans is so crucial in how the team perform in the field. All the players in most of the teams are professional (paid big bucks) and good to a certain extend. So that speaks a lot of AW. I think he has past his selloff date. Time to go.
Gervinho….
Morning Lee.
Morning Potter, Lee, Scott and all…
Our chickens need armbands 🙁
Morning Rico, Lee and Scott.
Nice description in the paper about supporting Arsenal these days with their money-grabbing attitude.
“Like having a girlfriend who doesn’t love you back”.
Morning Adam..
On Valentines Day too…..
Joe, you have confused me, you say it’s time for AW to, then praise Moyes but at a time when Man Utd are awful…
I’m sure AW could get a lot more from who we have in the squad, if only he’d try….
Boring Boring Chelsea…
You know it…
2yrs ago today lost my mum….FFS that’s flown by!
Morning All
Morning Rico, Adam, Lee et al
Great news, Adam I hope you’re seated, Kallstrom could be back sooner, according to his Swedish doctor…
Cue uncontrolled celebrations down Blackstock Road…
Morning all,
if true…,
http://gianlucadimarzio.com/inter/arsenal-sagna-verso-il-rinnovo-e-linter-osserva/
Crikey Lee, that time has flown by so fast….
Morning Kev…
Kroos/Ozil swap being reported in the papers….
Morning fans,
We should send Ramsey and Diaby to that Swedish doctor.
Sorry to hear that Lee…
There’s no one like your Mum, as we all know.
Btw, just in case you missed it….
Boring Boring Chelsea
I hope that’s true Ts..
Morning Brad, I think Diaby is beyond help any Dr can give for his fitness… Sadly..
🙄
Rico, delete the first one… 😉
You missed boring boring relegation style football Man United
All done Kev…
🙂 Morning Kev,
Jose is a tactician I keep reading… lol
Interesting re swap deal…
I have been saying for a while that Kroos, Ramsey and Vidal are the best midfielders in Europe imo…
Kroos is not fancied much by Pep even though he covered and carried the team before Decemeber when Lahm was being converted to DM during the period when BM did not have Martinez, Thiago and Schweinsteiger…
Morning Rico. Did you get my Valentines card then? 🙂
I like Kroos but would take him to play alongside Ozil. But with Kallstrom coming back from injury and it being WC year when it’s always difficult to sign players of “Super” quality, I doubt it will happen.
We need to be adding more “super” quality not swapping them………
🙂 Adam…
No swap deal indeed… it will be an unfair exchange in the first place… considering Kroos will be £25M max
AW wont sign Kroos as it will kill Ox and JW’s careers… 😉
Just going through mine Adam, haven’t got to yours yet… 😉
Totally agree, they can have Diaby though….
http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11676/9165327?
Finally a B League??
Well done Potter for calling for a B league… lol
Diaby is priceless Rico… 😉
Ludwig Maximilian University want Diaby donated for research though…
Morning all.
Ozil swap deal?
Where do they come up with these rumours?
He’s something Ts….
New post up now…
Hi Rico,
Don’t be misunderstood. I don’t praise Moyes, am praising Alex Ferguson. Basically stating the influence of a manager to a football team. Cheers.