We didn’t need a midfielder did we Arsene? Pfff!!

Morning all.

Mark Clattenburg had a shocker yesterday. Not only did he wrongfully book Ollie but awarding a free kick to WBA which led to their equaliser, was absolutely wrong. Mikel Arteta was first to the ball and that was that. Despite that, the defending of the free kick was dreadful. Mind you, so was the defending by West Brom which allowed Ollie to nod home our only goal with ease.

Before all that though, our biggest fear became a reality as Francis Coquelin hobbled off with what appears to be a very serious injury. Mikel Arteta came on in his place, scored West Brom’s winner and then he too left the pitch injured. On came Flamini who at least managed to stay on the pitch until the final whistle blew…

As the game played out, we had chances to grab a point at least but it wasn’t meant to be. Santi Cazorla slipping as he took our penalty, just about summed up a miserable day for Arsenal.

The loss is hard to stomach because West Brom have been awful at home this season, yet we couldn’t perform well enough to beat them. Heck, we couldn’t even nick a point and yet we had so many chances. Other than the penalty, perhaps the easiest chance fell to Joel Campbell but instead of slotting home, he seriously fluffed his lines. Where’s Yaya Sanogo when you need him….

But as all too often lately, the picture is much bigger than simply dropping three points isn’t it as squad depth has seriously been exposed. With Francis Coquelin looking likely to be out for a few months and captain Mikel Arteta yet again suffering injury, we are left with Flamini as our only experienced defensive midfielder who imo is a player who should have been shown the exit route long before now.

Why on earth did the manager not sign a midfielder in the summer?

A question which Arsene Wenger is perhaps asking himself this morning……

Next up is Zagreb on Tuesday. That should be fun….

175 thoughts on “We didn’t need a midfielder did we Arsene? Pfff!!

  1. rico says:

    Scott, from the last post:

    🙂 Scott, Ruthless… You have to be if you want to win… No emotions in sport… lol

    Ah, Merts…. I’ve thought the same for a while…

  2. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Good Morning Lovelies and Hunkies.

    I did not see game yesterday, but if Coquelin has a knee injury that means minimum of 12 weeks.

    It seems we have to soldier on with Flamini, unless Cazorla drops deeper which would make it worse.

    We need a DM big time……pity we have another 5 weeks to get one.

  3. Francois says:

    We are too lightweight, that Argentinian international that WBA have, yacob? Was immense yesterday and we had no one who could stand up to him. We need steel to go with our abundance of flair

  4. Kel says:

    Morning rico, that post sums up how I feel, not signing one outfield player in the summer when you needed at least 2, could you imagine that happening at other big clubs.

    And now look at the state of the squad 3 months in to the season just goes to show how ridiculous that decision was imo.

    But we have to soldier on as we do every year make that top 4 and that’ll be that.

    We were a bit unlucky yesterday no doubt but yet again we had the chance to go top and failed. Hopefully we can get Ramsey, Walcott and the Ox back for next week I personally couldn’t care about Tuesday’s game.

  5. Micko says:

    rico, I know you may find it very apt but each time I refresh, the whole page and comments appear in a christmas tree formation ! All merged and centred, very weird !

  6. Adam says:

    Rico. I know. It’s all rather curious isn’t it? Wenger has the ball and we’re seeing if he can run with it, to quote an American vulgarism. 🙂

  7. Marc B says:

    Don’t you all get it yet? Coquelin cannot be injured for months, knowing the way we operate, he’ll be back sometime before or in January. Why? Because they always come back at a time Wenger can say they’re back and we don’t need to buy. Ignore what the medics says, he’ll back by January…………..and gone again February 1st

  8. rico says:

    Morning Kel, Devil and Micko… Welcome Francois.

    Kel, I was hoping for 3/4 players back in the summer, we got one! But like most of us have said before, it wouldn’t be long before the lack of signings would bite AW on his butt…

  9. rico says:

    Mine does the same Micko, and I lose my comments box. It’s the adverts causing the problem as when they are removed all is fine.

    I’ve been asked to keep them up for a day or two so the problem can be rectified but if no better by tomorrow, they are coming off again….

    Darn nuisance really….

  10. rico says:

    I don’t think he’s going to be running very far Adam…

    Derek – not an expert in hindsight as if you read here back in the summer, many of us wanted a DM, knowing full well that neither Flamini or Arteta are good enough to be in this side. Not if AW wants to win the league.

    We may have a glut of midfielders, but how many out and out DM’s do we have that are good enough??

  11. potter says:

    Whether Olson holding Mertesacker for their first goal caused our defensive lapse I don’t know. But it was just a bad day at the office and it exposed the weakness that we have all seen coming. We can’t do anything about it until January so either the remaining players step up or the season collapses into another what might have been.

  12. Adam says:

    Derek. I don’t know what all the Zs are about but I think the point is that most people could predict the injuries we have had in midfield for the simple reason that we have had so many over the years.

  13. rico says:

    History suggests a bit of a collapse but let’s hope this season is different. At least we don’t play City for a while so time to try and get back to winning ways and get a bit of confidence..

    Perhaps Flamini will take the bull by the horns and do really well. The good thing about him having to play is he’ll be after a big bumper contract in the summer so he’ll be out to impress his potential suitors… lol

  14. Lee says:

    But we always have injuriezzzzzzzzzz Derek you surely know that? Wenger held on to too many players that are not of Arsenal standard and too injury prone!

    It’s fuck all to do with hindsight, it was always going to happen

    If you’d read what we were all saying on here in the summer…..absolutely no hindsight!

  15. Micko says:

    rico, cop yourself on, you know how hard it is to sign players in the summer when there’s a tournament on, Flam will probably end up with a 12 month extension !

  16. Lee says:

    Football teams need a flow of players of they want to compete not a load of extras from Casuality! Man up with the squad Wenger or you can piss off with the perma-crocks!

  17. rico says:

    🙂 Miko. He’s probably gone now. That’s what people do these days, leave a argumentative/insulting comment and then bugger off. Brave eh….

  18. Kel says:

    It’s all very boring lee lol..

    Maybe we will have to recall hayden we can’t keep sustaining these injuries. Wilshere I don’t even count anymore he’ll be back then injured again just like Arteta they’re about as much use as a chocolate fireguard.

    Ramsey could sit in the DM but is he disciplined enough he likes to get forward which will leave us open.

  19. rico says:

    Kel, I don’t get the call for Ramsey as DM either, he’s far too attack minded to sit back and protect the back four. But I bet that’s what happens….

  20. Kel says:

    That’s my worry rico who knows maybe Gibbs could do it.

    Ya know if chambers is ever gonna make with Arsenal now would be a great time to slot in there and do a coquelin.

  21. Micko says:

    True Adam, what better test for Guardiola than Arsenal, you can only get through life on the back of free hand outs for so long, the man needs testing lol.

  22. rico says:

    So do I Ibrahim, but I doubt he will as he’ll want to progress for the money.

    Saying that, we are not far off from being a ‘b team’ with all our injuries…. lol

  23. rico says:

    Chambers has to be the one Kel, at least he has a defensive brain, even though it’s been a long time since he played there…

    Could work and save Wenger even more money…. lol

  24. Wavy says:

    Yes! I can comment again!
    Afternoon all.

    Sniederlin was available last summer but he didn’t buy him, two reasons why, a, because he was very expensive, too much for Wenger at least and, b, because he had Le Coq as first choice and a n other,cor any quality would not have signed to play second fiddle to a Coq! Any lesser quality player than the Frenchman would have gone against Wenger’s principles, I’ve he would be buy a player of power ability who would not improve the team! Catch 22 really. So, now we find ourselves short of a serviceable DM. Ironically the players he had earmarked as understudies aren’t available despite not being good enough!
    Ah me. November has struck us down, yet again. Sadly I think we’ll struggle now and for several month more!
    Oh I say! The sun has just come out! Hurrah!

  25. rico says:

    Both Coquelin and Morgan could play in the same side though Wavy and then our midfield would be really strong..

    That would leave Santi to do what he does best, create and score goals. He’s been doing a great job but we are missing his other attributes imo…

  26. Micko says:

    I don’t get the Rosicky talk either, a 35 year old crock who stopped getting selected for us half way through the season last year, never made it on the bench for the cup final either but still signed an extension, speaks volumes in my book.

  27. Kel says:

    Well from what I’ve seen of chambers he ain’t no right back imo. I personally don’t think he’d be great centre half either he lacks a bit of height and pace imo. DM is where I think he could be useful…

  28. Kel says:

    I think I read he wanted to leave as well but Arsenal/wenger had a clause to extend for 1 more yr if they wanted.

    Why they done that I don’t know as the guy never plays a game.

  29. Lee says:

    Think of the wasted wages on these players…..it could used to buy players that would make us real contenders, not just make the numbers up every season!

    Another ground hog season is starting to unfold and it’s only Nofuckingvember!! Boring boring Arsenal!!!

  30. Wavy says:

    Tiffin? A chocolate covered biscuit? What became of them?
    Or, do you mean it’s nearly 4 o’clock and time for a cup of Darjeeling or perhaps Earl Grey?

  31. Joaquim Moreira says:

    The squad is very short – everybody knows this since the beginning, I underline this before the season starts.
    Moreover, in that time, I didn’t know the extension of the injuries of Rosicky, Wellbeck and Wilshere.
    We are in the November, in a good position on the table (the normal 4th place) .
    More injuries and suspensions are (were) expected.
    December is close. Between our fit players we need a team for those fixtures.

    We need a DM? sure, but only?
    We need players, goals and points.

    Next tuesday, it’s a game for win with the best team

  32. Kel says:

    Just a guess but Arteta, Rosicky, Campbell, Sanogoals, debuchy, flamini….probably cost Arsenal in and around the 200-250k a week mark…

  33. rico says:

    I’d rather Gabriel alongside Koscielny….

    Yes Jm, we all said the same back then, well, most of us. It was always when, not if, injuries hit us…

  34. Joaquim Moreira says:

    and we must be concern with Liverpool: we had played away in Everton,Arsenal,chelsea,M.city. Mu…Totts (?) in theory, the most difficult games and they are only 6 point behind us (and the others)

  35. Kel says:

    Jm I was thinking that last night about Liverpool in the 2nd half of the season they will be at home in all the big games.

    They might even sign a player in January to.

  36. dublingunner says:

    Afternoon, True re your post Rico, At first I thought it was just carelessness by Arteta on the challenge that led to the free, but in fairness to Mickael, he got the bloody ball first, and a free was still rewarded against him, Crazy.

    I still do believe If we had a full squad we could win the league, but that’s never going to happen, because the rigours of the modern game won,t allow it, you need to have nearly two full starting 11,s to win it, which we just don,t have.
    Teams with money and the willingness to have top players sitting on the bench will only win leagues. Cause eventually squad depletion through injury kicks in, and that’s where Wengers lack of spending will always catch us out, just my thoughts.

  37. dublingunner says:

    Looking like 3 months for Coquelin, gutted for im, just beginning to make a good career for himself. “The Arsenal curse”, is right
    Expect more square pegs. Rico your 12.34 Spot on.

  38. crispen says:

    Kel that list of players is costing us the same as one player at Chelsea who has played about 10 minutes all season…. this site is full of whinging “experts”
    ..and if it is the cash you worry about, there exists such a thing as insurance.. Genius you are.

  39. allezkev says:

    You know what, when you take to a football field, and you’re wearing jazzy pink boots, you really really have to back it up….

    And so, with one swipe of his 50p shaped left foot, Joel Campbell saw his long term Arsenal career, disappear into the mists of the Black Country….

  40. rico says:

    Crispen, no-one is professing to be an expert but some of us can see the bleedin obvious!!

    Paddywack – do you want your email comment deleted?

  41. rico says:

    Dublin, agree there. With a full squad we could win the league but sadly, we never have one… 🙁

    Then we don’t have enough depth to cover….

    Hi Kev, spot on re old pink boots.

  42. Lee says:

    Arteta £80k
    Campbell £30k
    Debuchy £70k
    Flamini £65k
    Rosicky £85k

    £330k no one at Chelsea is on that per week!

    Also who really gives a fuck about Chelsea?

    What people get so wound up by is Wenger putting faith in these players that are either injured or not up to the required level to be playing for Arsenal…

    So Crispen you’re talking out of your arse about whinging experts, you also have a choice to read elsewhere!

    http://www.newsjit.com/arsenal-players-weekly-salary-20152016-full-squad/

    http://www.newsjit.com/chelsea-fc-players-weekly-salary-20152016/

  43. Joaquim Moreira says:

    Coquelin 3 months out? It’s the end of the season for him.
    Are there any Coquelin loan on Chalton or in other Charton team?

  44. Kel says:

    Crispen… i did say it was just a guess on what they earn were was the expert claims? the fact is those players I named are dead weight on Arsenals wage bill imo.. take note (imo)…

    If you know the inner workings of the insurance industry regarding the players etc please enlightened us all on here being such a genius that you are.

  45. Kel says:

    3 months for coquelin… Ffs… get the cheque book out in January Mr wenger… I just hope we are still in contention at that point and not 8pts behind etc.

  46. rico says:

    Did you guys see that Clattenburg story about the penalty retake?

    And the stuff about the Wba players scuffing up the turf around the penalty spot?

  47. Lee says:

    Kel yet another season when we are fucked by injuries and Wenger’s lack of transfer activity…..

    This squad with a few additions and departures would be bloody close to winning the PL… not a massive outlay either.

  48. rico says:

    The more I think about his lack of spending last summer, the more I think he’s off at the end of this season…

    Then I think about Kroenke and how useless he is and I’m not sure he’d know which manager should come in…

  49. Kel says:

    That’s it lee most of us can see how close we are to being a real threat domestically and in Europe we are always just a few players short.

    I try to remain positive I really do, but just sometimes the frustration boils over lol.

    Hahaha rico… I’m sure I can find it lol 😛

  50. rico says:

    There are just some sites I won’t promote Kel 😉

    Like you, I try and stay positive and I was tbh, but then days like yesterday take place, the injuries just keep in coming and my glass is suddenly empty….

    Best I pop to the fridge….. Lol

  51. Kel says:

    I didn’t know that happened rico. I wonder has he been asked wtf he was doing.

    Yesterday really wasn’t are day was it.

  52. rico says:

    I didn’t either Kel, to be honest, I always thought Clattenburg was one of the better refs but he was pretty crack yesterday…

    Shame Arteta went off, he’s quite good at penalties…. Lol

  53. Lee says:

    I get it that teams have off days (citeh losing at home etc) but I really nought we’d turned a corner and starting to grind out results!

    WBA are shit we should be stuffing teams like this….

    Rico, you could be right re Wenger doing the Frank Bough at the end of the season. A nice healthy transfer kitty waiting to be spent by the next manager!?!?! Come on down Pep.

  54. Kel says:

    I didn’t watch the last 15 mins I just give up I was getting so wound up lol but if santi did slip well that’s just bad luck not much anyone can do about that.

    Arteta to hit the pen, he’d injured his back placing the ball lol 😀

  55. rico says:

    You know what Lee, you are spot on. And I doubt many of us would be so pissed off about yesterday if we knew it was a one off. We wouldnt be wound up by the injury to Coquelin if we knew backup was there…

    But it’s the same old story season after season……

    Pep? It’ll be interesting to see if he signs a new contract at Bayern. If he doesn’t, him replacing Wenger is a real possibility….

  56. Kel says:

    Well we have the money to pay any manager that’s for sure.. pep would be interesting I’m not fully convinced on him tbh but 200m in the bank and about 5 players leaving this summer so a few spaces for him to fill with his own players.

  57. Micko says:

    Heard a little rumour tsgh will be fostering Arteta until he’s fully recovered or at least until the end of the season, whatever comes first !

  58. potter says:

    Whatever happens and whoever takes over there is unlikely to be much of a policy change. Remember Stan is a serial money making entity whose interests are purely financial.Any win is a bonus albeit his American record does not suggest that he will push the boat out to get one.

  59. andrewh1313 says:

    Evening all. I reckon Ramsey will slot back into centre midfield, his best position. Defensive midfielder? No, we never used to bother having a shielding player pre Man City away, let’s forget about one now! Case of having to or playing a sub standard player or someone out of position. Doing that for months is not going to get a top two place is it?

  60. Kel says:

    I agree potter his empire of sports clubs are all pretty average on the field of play they just make money.

    I don’t know much about who he owns but I’d say Arsenal is his most successful.

    Not sure about financially though who his most profitable is.

  61. Joaquim Moreira says:

    4-0….
    Panathinaikos – Olympiakos postphoned… problems
    if we must decide the champions League there will be at least, dangerous…

  62. rico says:

    Ramsey played central in that game Andrew and as hard as he tried to stay back, he still had natural instinct to press forward….

    Paddywhack mentioned Bielik, ad did I yesterday but as many pointed out, he’s very inexperienced….

  63. Joaquim Moreira says:

    AW will search someone ….
    Look arround someone with his confident…
    Song was not playing with regularity…
    So he can be on loan until Coquelin be fit…
    he is training normally, he is living in London, he knows Arsenal…
    without Coquelin and Arteta, problably a solution without spend (?) much money and not adapt any other player…

  64. Kel says:

    I wouldn’t bother with song myself jm.. 6 or 7 games until the Window opens fingers crossed…

    haven’t said that before 😉

  65. Kel says:

    I’d say he would rico… A good player with good physical power something I think we lack centrally..

    Later 🙂

  66. scottfromoz says:

    Pep.
    Usmanov.
    Aaaahhhhh, the good old days are back lol.
    I hope a Pep does take over.
    Let’s see if he can truly manage.
    I’d say he can, but I also say until he takes on a squad that has shortcomings, and in a truly competitive league, he does have a question mark over him.
    Tell me two managerial positions in world football that offer a better chance of success than the two he’s has.
    They don’t exist.
    His players suggest he’s very, very methodical and his attention to detail is second to none, but again, he has to do it without a half a billion worth of playing talent in a league that has more than two competitive sides in it.
    Maybe Wenger did leave the cash there for him to come in and spend up.
    If that does happen, how many will look back and state what a noble gesture on Arsenes behalf?
    Hindsight…..we are all experts with it, but it’s one luxury a manager doesn’t have.

  67. Nashua Gunner says:

    When some managers go to some of these so-called big clubs with bottomless pockets and win things, people called genius.

    SK, you better get ready because the 200M in the bank wouldn’t even be eough for Pep. This would be the right time to sell your shares.

  68. Marshall says:

    Arteta’s Flamini and Rosicky wages are more than enough to pay a WC powerful midfielder (Vidal) yet we kept that dead wood and carried it with us. Vidal would have had 3 good- great seasons playing at top level and mentoring Coq..again what do I know.

    anyone imagining a scenario where Giroud picked a bloody knock? Am just fed up with this poor management, it has to be changed.

    *Scott that for the SB insight. Ha poor fella got the stick too?*

  69. potter says:

    KEL 5.41 bit of info for you.

    Kroenke owns NFL franchise St. Louis Rams. – Denver Nuggets , Colorado Avalanche & Colorado Rapids.

    Colorado Rapids finished eighth in the West and seventeenth overall having 8 wins, 18 losses, and 8 ties having the Rapids fail to qualify for the MLS Cup Playoffs,
    St Louis Rams :- NFC West 4th out of 4 did not make plaqy offs.
    St. Louis Rams played 16 won 6 lost 10
    Denver Nuggets finished 12th out 15 in the western conference.
    Colorado Avalanche finished 7th out of 7 in the Central division,
    However Stanley Kroenke owns three teams (St. Louis Rams, Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets) and ranks No. 63 overall with a net worth $7.6 billion, up 33% in large part to the soaring value of his sports assets.

    All taken from Wiki and Denver Post.

  70. Micko says:

    Thanks for that reality check Potter, life without Arsene and Stan would be truely unimaginable, perish the day !!!

    To think all that’s standing between Arsene and the Noble Peace Prize is Arsenal, he is indeed a very noble man.

  71. Allan Michaud says:

    Just so bloody predictable. If we continue to keep all these injury prone players we will not compete. Arteta looks done, Rosicky likewise and Flamini is just not good enough. It’s worth gambling on younger players like Ramsey, Wilshire, Ox and even Theo but we can’t afford to have 7-8-10 players out for months at a time.
    The reality is we have quite a bit of dead wood. Along with the permanently injured Arteta and Rosicky, Debuchy must go and Campbell is in Sanogo’s league, they are championship material at best. I’d like to see Gnabry given a shot, he seems a better prospect than Campbell, Jenks is the obvious replacement for Debuchy (not in January though) but DM is essential.
    I really don’t understand Arsene’s thinking when it comes to transfers. The last 2 summers have seen us fail to cover essential positions and the current DM situation is just like the CB problem of last season. We all knew that we had no chance with just 2 experienced CB’s (and no DM), Le Coq only came back due to injuries so Arsene could hardly take the plaudits for his resurgence but our season was already over at that point. Arsene’s excuses don’t ring true either, there were several options including the impressive Schneiderlin, who wanted to join us and was certainly well within our budget.

  72. Adam says:

    Morning Rico and all.
    Allan. Hard to disagree with much of that.
    But things always seem worse after a defeat (he said with the resigned look of a man who seen it all before). 🙂

  73. Lee says:

    Brudder it’s the repetitiveness that’s so fucking boring….and for such an intelligent man why couldn’t he see this season unfolding like so many before???

  74. Kel says:

    Thx Potter for the info.

    Reading that tells it’s own story about Stan midtable mediocrity or worse relegation. Tbh I’d actually be embarrassed if I owed all these sports teams and they were all shit.

    He’s lucky to have Arsenal and wenger.

    When the time comes to replace wenger I just hope Stan asks someone else’s advice because from where I’m standing he doesn’t have a clue he seems to lack the passion to be successful on the field of play it’s all about profits.

  75. Adam says:

    Brudder. Sometimes very, very clever men can be a bit too clever. Do they believe their own hype? Who knows? Whatever the reason, he has to drag the club through the next several weeks and hope that we are still in the mix when he makes the January signings. Erh…well, you know what I mean. 🙂

  76. BT62 Gooner says:

    Rico, i was wondering how good it was,i must get more details from you, i had a look at it but wasn’t sure if i was at the right site….lol Though i have no complaints with Kodi, excellent HD quality.

    Glad to hear it worked for you.

  77. rico says:

    Morning Ts…

    Ha ha Adam, I await with interest……..

    Bt, It’s in the app store – Glad Kodi works for you too, at least we can both watch the 3pm matches now…

  78. Adam says:

    Brudder. I watched the entire first series last week. It was pretty good but a bit too much “Hey Greeengo” perhaps. Escobar was indeed a charming man though. Series 2 next.

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