That’s what Wenger said after yesterday, ‘We have no big problems’!! However…..
To paraphrase French commentator Alphonse Karr, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” So what changed today? Arsenal sported a supposedly improved central defense, and an actual target man. What stayed the same? The result, of course. But also depressingly familiar was Arsenal’s inability to convert possession into goals, and the inevitable lapses in concentration gave Chelsea openings…
I shall not go into much detail regarding the match itself. Indeed, I was otherwise engaged while events unfolded, so I must base this commentary on seeing the match afterwards – already knowing the result.
Inside the first two minutes, we had two gilt-edged chances to score: Chamakh’s close range header deflected off Alex for a corner, and from that corner, Koscielny missed the target from two yards out!! Who knows what would have happened if even one of those chances went in? As it was, Arsenal were lively and direct – chances came and chances went; Arshavin forced Cech into two excellent saves – our other players did not work the Chelsea goalkeeper as much.
We Arsenal fans have seen this scenario before – notably on May 10th, 2009 in a home fixture against Chelsea. Back then, our season had already pretty much collapsed after we were embarrassed by Man United in both legs of the CL Semi-Final. Does anyone remember that league fixture, where we started like a house afire against Chelsea? We were all over them, creating one chance after another, and wasting each and every one of them, before Alex (who seems to score only against us, be it with PSV or Chelsea) made us pay the (seemingly) first time Chelsea touched the ball.
We collapsed dramatically, finishing 1-4 losers that day. At least, however, we got a goal (Bendtner) in that match – we have failed to find the net in our subsequent three meetings, conceding seven and losing all three. I mention that old history as a means to put things in context here: as usual, Drogba punished us. It was his 13th goal against us – like it or not, he well and truly owns us. Another that owns us is Alex – he made the points safe for Chelsea in the 85th minute, with a free kick. So…Another fixture against Chelsea, another 2-0 defeat.
Certainly, there were positives to take from this match – we had the better possession and our passing and movement were better than Chelsea’s. The Arsenal players were clearly up for this and several stood out; our much-maligned goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, made a couple of excellent saves to keep the Chelsea tally down to only two, and I thought he had an overall solid game. But familiar deficiencies continue to stand out – loss of (defensive) concentration at key moments in the match; generally terrible crossing and corner kicks; over-elaboration in and around the box, giving defenders extra seconds to mop up. And, as hard as the Arsenal players tried, I thought heads dropped when Drogba scored, a sort of self-fulfilling prophesy of “Here we go again”. That is not to say that Arsenal gave up, I thought we tried our best and certainly made a match of it until the end. But it has developed to the point where I wonder if our players even believe we can beat Chelsea now.
So where does that leave us now? Last Saturday morning, we were second in the table with a chance to move into first place. Eight days later, we are in fourth place and slipping down the table. I am not as concerned about that as something else – it is early October, we have several players to return from injury, and can make up these points as quickly as we dropped them. What concerns me is that – regardless of the team’s performance – we were found wanting against one of the two teams that finished above us last season – again.
Roughly a decade ago, right up to the invincibles season, we usually beat Chelsea every time we played them, bar the odd Coca Cola Cup tie (such as Vialli’s managerial debut for Chelsea and a 5-0 reverse our kids suffered).
Ranieri was the manager that finally broke through against us, winning 2-1 at Highbury (late Wayne Bridge goal) CL quarterfinal second leg to knock us out of an eminently winnable competition that season. Things were never the same after that, as Mourinho arrived at Chelsea and matches between these teams have since been one-sided in Chelsea’s favor, be it the Prem or domestic cups. Our only win was at the Bridge in November 2008, where a RVP double brought us back from a goal down. But that was a Drogba-less Chelsea team that was probably trying to get “Big Phil” Scolari sacked. Hiddink coached them for the FA Cup SF and return league fixture and Chelsea won them both. And so it has gone.
We seem to have a similar problem against Man United, although I would argue that we have been closer to beating them more often than Chelsea, in the past couple of seasons.
A quick word about Chelsea: Arsene may lack the dignity and grace to praise them, but I will, as painful as it is. Sometimes I think the Chelsea players know our Arsenal players better than they themselves do. We started quickly, carved out chances, pressed and forced Chelsea on the back foot – they dealt with it calmly and waited us out, knowing that if we could not make the breakthrough, it would play on our players minds, and the inevitable mistake/lapse in concentration would come. And once it did, they ruthlessly punished us. They have adjusted to us to the point that they seem to be able to anticipate what we are going to do and counter it almost effortlessly. Their experience and confidence that they would get opportunities and make the most of them made all the difference. They are the reigning Premiership Champions and FA Cup holders – and showed just why, despite Arsenal’s improved performance and effort.
A quick word about Arsene: I get that you are frustrated – we all are. None of us enjoy getting undressed by Chelsea time-and-time again. None of us supporters enjoy the fact that their supporters consistently enjoy “scoreboard” over us. None of us enjoy knowing that with each successive loss, it will probably get increasingly difficult for this Arsenal team to beat Chelsea. But petulant, bitter, and frankly absurd comments about “how easy” the match was for us will not do anything to change that. In case you have not noticed, we have had some similarly “easy” matches against Chelsea recently – and have lost those too!! I thought you made great strides last weekend with your forthright assessment of the West Brom debacle. But, sadly, you reverted to form today.
We were beaten because we could not take our chances and Chelsea knew exactly what to do with us. The possession was marginally in Arsenal’s favor, and Chelsea actually had more total shots and shots on goal than us – if you combine those two factors with the 2-0 scoreline, by what criteria can you suggest that we were the better team? Prettier, yes; improved from last season’s performances against Chelsea, yes. So what?? In the only area that matters in the standings, we were second best yet again. If you can recognize and accept that – not like it, but see it for our current reality – you will probably have more success finally beating them. If you are too angry after matches such as this, perhaps you would be better served by not saying anything. Grasping at straws in this manner accomplishes nothing other than to invite the contempt that you are often unfairly (in my opinion) subjected to. For this particular supporter, it leaves the impression that you are blind to our side’s shortcomings. If you leave us such an impression, you give us nothing to suggest that things will be different next time we face Chelsea.
Back to Arsenal and Chelsea: Despite the all-too-familiar depressing feeling, there is hope. These results come in cycles, so perhaps our turn is around the corner. One wonders what an impressive, dominant, rack-the-score up (7-0, anyone) win over a Chelsea-side with a fit Drogba present would do for our team’s confidence. Will such a result give our side the seemingly absent belief that we can beat the best of the best – and by playing our style football? Chelsea is built to win here and now, Arsenal is built to win tomorrow, suggesting Chelsea’s yesterdays are also impending.
Our question is when will our tomorrow finally arrive? Chelsea is only part of the question – beating them does not automatically guarantee trophies or success, as so many other variables inevitably come into play. The longer it takes for the first trophy/victory over Chelsea to arrive, the more some of us will wonder whether we can keep this very promising, but not-yet-finished-article together to realize the success we are building towards. For speculation that Abramovich will eventually become bored (I do not subscribe to this in any way) and leave Chelsea in a mess, there is the counter-speculation that Arsenal’s lack of adaptability and winning culture will condemn them to perpetual transition, through having to replace key players each season.
Our future may be bright, but it is no way guaranteed….
Written by oliver
Morning all, new one up
Thanks oliver 🙂
sorry about that – i had scamper away for a meeting, i return a couple of hours later and everyone has gone.
good points made by all. and agag is absolutely right when she highlights chelsea’s aging squad – i’ll go further and speculate they probably do not have much of a youth development, as their model has been buy ready-made players to win here-and-now. we owe them and logic says if we can just be patient, we can overtake their ageing squad and beat them – not just thoroughly, but regularly…we owe them, just as they owed us when they couldn’t beat us between the mid-90’s and mid-2000’s.
i am just concerned that we may not be the ones to capitalize when their fall arrives. we have talented young players, but our core is horribly injury prone, and i feel the longer we wait for success, the more chance our really best players will not be inclined to see the process through. i would hate for this group of players to perpetual “nearly” men…
enjoy the vacation rico.
ra, if you return, the wilpon’s had an interesting press conference with the ny and baseball media. they promise the new gm will have autonomy and will make the decisions on manager, staff and players. not sure if i believe them on the autonomy part, but we will wait and see…yanks open the american league division series in minneapolis on wednesday.
Thanks K-TR7…. Nighty Night
Night rico.have a nice holiday.
Now that must be a record KT…… or is that just saying Eastmond has no chance 😉
On that note, I best get on with my packing….
Nighty night KT, have a good eveing, catch up tomorrow….
The cc match may see us field a very strong side with all the players coming back.szczesny,eboue,kos,djourou,gibbs;denilson,jack,landsbury;bendy,rosicky,nasri
Rico i hope Eastmond proves me wrong…in other news a man in Kenya died having 85 wives.he also had 106 sons and 104 daughters…
agree about Fabianski KT, but i’ll hang fire on eastmond 😉
night agag
Night agag.
Eastmond has never filled me with confidence rico.the dm role at our club is very difficult to play in and i don’t think he has the attributes.i also think fabianski has surpassed Almunia in the pecking order.
Oh you should. 🙂 I was over the allowed baggage limit for the nth time… Frivolity is good sometimes. 😉
Nighty!
Thats why im here rico.am the calm factor.i’ll do an analysis of the game for you in form of a post.it will keep us busy over the boring international break.
😆 agag, no chance…
catch up tomorrow, you enjoy the rest of your day agag…
That’s interesting KT, is that because he is not good enough or because Frimpong will push him out??
KT, I agree. It won’t be long now before our golden age arrives. Last night has gone some way into restoring the faith I lost last week seeing that horrific performance v. West Brom. 🙂
rico, have fun. Bring your frivolous clothes! 🙂
Bonne nuit, mes amis! 🙂
i wish i had your calmness KT… 😉
Rico i don’t think eastmond will make it with us.
Rico i heard that MOTD said we were the better team but chavs were more effecient.chavs were just ruthless in both penalty boxes which is developed by playing the same team for an extended period of time.rico thats football for you and thats why we love it.we were poor against sunderland but walked away with a point so in the course of a season it all evens up.
agag, but do we have enough to take advantage?
i hope for lansbury to be given a chance now, in the first team… and eastmond..
KT, but we still lost…… 🙁
:P: agag, i wont need sun tan cream here, trust me but i don’t mind, just going to enjoy the break, the sea and the sand…
its about 20o here in the uk today, thats good enough for me 🙂
The Chavs are entering their dotage, rico, while our boys are barely out of their prams. Haha. That can only be good for us.
Agag the margins are so fine in big games.Alex’s free kick may have just slammed the wall and we’d launch a counter to score.all this discontent with Aw wouldn’t be there this morning if that had happened.vela also had the chance to be through but he miscontrolled the ball into cech’s arms.we aren’t far behind and even wilkins said he was surprised of how well we played as they couldn’t get the ball off us.if we get more effecient we will be near impossible to beat.
Wind tan sounds ouch, rico… But then again suntans ARE ouch. And I haaaaate getting sunblock sticky…
KT, i see the view, honest. to be fair thats possibly the best we have played against them at SB in a while BUT we still lost.
oliver is right about nothing changes, we should learn and try and play in a different way..
agag is also right in the fact they the chavs are ageing, when they need to buy, hopefully the new rules will prevent them from spending millions on players….
welcome to our world chavs!!
I think chavs will struggle when they play sides like Blackburn away who will defend for their lives.the league is still young and im sure there will be a few shocks along the way.
Thank you, KT for giving my statement a more technical spin. I love it. 😉
agag, wind tan more like 🙂
Rico if we have a full 11 at eastlands i’ll be quietly confident.we have a very big squad it just happens that injuries occur to players in the same position.
rico, as it is, Lamps been out a while— old age ails. Next up, Drogba, Anelka, Terry… That team is peaking. Now if only Malouda were also old. 😉
Rico i think agag’s general view is that the margin between us winning or losing yesterday was so fine that led to us losing after conceding two excellent goals that wouldn’t go in if they were attempted 9 times out of 10.
And you’ll get a nice tan, rico. 🙂 I’m glad your laptop’s found space in the mini zoo you’re lugging along 😉
I am reaaly excited to have Ramsey back… 🙂
That’s some side KT, i’m not going to give up on our team… not just yet, i’d take second in the EPL with the CC this season…. Mind you, throw the FA Cup in there and i’d be really happy…
i think the chavs will come up against a few sides to cause them problems. the ones who are more solid as a defensive unit…
we should have bought Jones from sunderland….
Arsenal side that didn’t start:szczesny,eboue,djourou,verminator,gibbs;denilson,rosicky,cesc;rvp,walcott,bendtner.even ramsey isn’t on the team.agag that team would steamroll most teams in the league.
agag, i am not so sure on your view of the chavs 🙁 i think they can step up a gear at any time… however, if they lose Drog and Anelka to injury things could change very quickly…
i reckon November KT, he’s running now….
When is ramsey back?
oliver, both goals were amazing, so amazing in fact, it could only have been lucky. 😉 Their luck will run out. And theirs are old legs which will yield to niggles that will graduate into long-term layoffs. I will bet my last bottom peso on it.
Just think oliver, of the boys in the treatment room, and the talent we would have at our disposal when they return. 🙂
Thanks agag, will do our best 🙂 We are able to take all our animals 🙂 don’t have the chickens anymore, they are at a friends locally on their farm with lots of boys so they are happy, miss them though 🙁
We are staying with friends, looking after their woofa while they are off to warmer climates…
Last season when rvp,AA and cesc played in consecutive games we were quite impressive.November has never been a kind month for us in terms of injuries hope this curse can let us be for a while.i hope after the international break when most of our players are supposed to be back we get to see our best 11 for an extended run of games.we need to see how good we can be.it may help us get the proper motivation which may build an air of invincibility in the side.
Two weeks, rico?? Wow. I would kill for two weeks of hols. Enjoy!!! I’m sure you’ll have a lovely time. Is it housewarming time for you, too?
Oliver right now Aw knows he needs a win against the big boys.we’ll now play a cautious game while springing lightning quick counters at will.AA,rvp,theo,cesc and diaby are very good players in transitions.we need to utilize them.
Oliver we need to change our gameplan when we play them as they won’t see it coming.last season they were thumped by city both home and away in quite similar fashions;when city were ahead the chavs committed forward which led to terry and Alex being exposed on the high line.inter did the same.scored first,chelsea chased the equalizer only for them to be scored against again.if we score first at the Emirates i’m sure we’ll not lose.
k, i am not so sure we would not have tried all-out for a second. we held our lead at blackburn, and also at sunderland for 94 minutes, but i am not yet confident this team can hold their nerve against the best of the best. hopefully we will find out sooner rather than later. either of the manchester teams will be a good test.
agag, i admire your optimism…as frustrated as i am, there is no way i can say chelsea got lucky – cynical? absolutely..lucky? absolutely not. they knew exactly what they wanted to do, and not for the first time, our arsenal team played right into their hands. as i said earlier, i think the chelsea players know our arsenal players better than our players know each other.
Oliver if we had taken the lead this time am sure we wouldn’t have gone all attack on them.we are now excellent at ball retention,we’d tiki taka them to death.if you remember the first half at Anfield thats how i believe we would’ve played when ahead.but you’re right we owe the chavs a tonking.looking back at highlights of kanu,winterburn,silvinho against them makes me want us to do it again.
oliver, sadly I don’t think we know any other way, we can be 1-0 up, 10 seconds to go and we still go on the hunt for another goal…
What happened to row z 🙁
I think I have forgotten to tell you all that tomorrow I am off on my holibobs for two weeks …
Highbury House won’t shut down though as i will have access to a PC, mind you, feel free to email me a post or too so I can have more time on the beach…
Yes, I know it will be cold, but I don’t care 🙂 🙂
oliver, well, our boys need to work on their crosing (yes, Clichy) and their distance shooting. No one was even remotely a threat in that regard. I want those three points too, but ours seems to be the looooongest, serpentine-st learning curve.
I agree, Chelsea were efficient. But Song should have gotten a freekick, like rico said. And the number of times the Chavs were offside made them look so amateur. They only got lucky. It will be different at home on the reverse fixture.
The invincibles used to be very aggressive from the start which led to early goals.teams had to play and we would tease them with our ball retention while breaking on them in deadly counter attacks.we used to lead 4 nil at HT.nowadays…
if we scored first, in theory, chelsea would have had to open up more and chase us, trying the pull the goal back. but, what if we scored and then still went all out in search of more goals? would that not still play into chelsea’s hands? in both cup matches (lc final, fac semi) we went 1-0 up through theo, and both times lost 1-2. i know there are other variables, such as gk (fabianski) performance in the fa cup tie, and captain kolo getting sent off in the lc tie…still, i would be interested to see if and how this side would try and defend a lead against chelsea.
KT, what he should have done is turn his back on it, right at the last minute to protect his face…
That kick would have gone over the top of AA 🙂
agag, Nasri does look lighter and a whole lot sharper 🙂
oliver, you will get your wish, when we play them at the Emirates….
Agag i mentioned that issue.shots will result in deflections,own goals or even maybe a spectacular goal.a shot is the best way to break a stubborn defense as panic tends to result.with the space the chavs were giving us,who knows?maybe if denilson played he’d have ended up performing his robot dance infront of our away fans.
I thought Kozzer and Squilli did well, too KT. After all, Drogba with his heft and height and theatrics is a nightmare to defend against… Shame, we did not score first. That would have changed the dynamics of the game. 🙁
Song should have put his head on the line as that freekick flew straight at him.maybe it would have knocked him out,maybe it would have taken the blonde dye with it.AA would have been blown to Moscow by that kick.
agag, the effort and attitude were a huge improvement over last weekend, to be certain. and chelsea were not great – when are they ever great against us? they are efficient – they do what they need to do and get the three points. we insist on doing what we want to do (as opposed to need to do) and come away with zilch. our consolation is that we play the better football and sometimes look better losing than they look winning. right now, i just want three points off them. the longer this goes, the more difficult it will be to beat them.
Hahaha, rico. But Nasri looks like he’s dropped some lbs… I wondered last night, as I watched our team struggle to carve out chances what Denilson’s long-range shooting skill could have contributed…
Rico RVP10 no longer plays on the wings for the dutch.he plays as a false nine role.
Hola agag.i also noted that song and jack sometimes were so high up the pitch that when kozzer intercepted balls the midfield wasn’t there to pick it up.this made our defence to be overrun.overall i felt that kozzer and squilli did well compared to other cb partnerships in the past.
agag, i blame is bonce too, he looks stupid with in as well 🙁
Maybe Nasri or AA should have got in the way of the free kick, their bums would have stopped it….
rico, LOL. You tell Song that! I think his blonde ‘do is a jinx. Since he got it… he’s been blown hot and cold.
oliver, we lacked cutting edge to be sure; but at least our team was trying, as opposed to the indifferent performance last week.
I maintain that Chelsea were not great. Their goals, to me, had an element of luck about them.
hi agag. i will respectfully disagree that the result flattered chelsea – with anelka’s open net miss and fabianski’s great save from essien, the score may slightly have flattered us. we should have scored at least one, maybe two, but our lack of an end product undid us yet again. pretty, geometric passing and movement are very pleasing on the eye – but if goals do not result, what is the point?
oliver, spot on – Arsenal remind me of the Harlem Globe Trotters on tour……. maybe not, they used to win 😉
Howdy agag, still think Song should have had a free kick and not Dogs, and Song should have got his backside in the way of the free kick, well, not backside, any part of him would have done, it may have stung a bit, but hes got two weeks to get better 🙂
all i can think of right now it that arsene no longer likes to play that way. if so – and i want to make clear that this is only a suspicion of mine – it will be a while before we beat chelsea. we have been passing them to death for a couple of years now – it has gotten our team nothing more than patronizing sympathy…
ra, it’s official. mets have fired omar minaya as gm, and declined to exercise the option year on manager jerry manuel. so omar and jerry are out…jeff wilpon is on in 90 minutes to discuss further.
Hola, everyone.
Dire conclusion but the result flattered Chelsea, I think. 🙁 It’s exhausting supporting our team, sometimes.
What we should try is shooting instead of all the passing, as soon as we get near the edge of the penalty area, take a shot….
right now every other team knows that we won’t do that, thats why defending against us is so easy…
We have the players who can unlease a great shot, Walcott, Arshavin, Denilson, Rosicky and Cesc…. why don’t they take a chance…
Look at waht Gerrard does for the dippers, lampard for the chavs, rooney for the mancs… they are not afraid to shoot, why are we???
KT, doesnt RvP play on the left up top for Holland?
Directness oliver, that is what we don’t have anymore, unless AA is on the left and Theo in on the right – we still need a lump of a striker to be on the end of their crosses…. we get the ball, bomb forward and then stop….
why??
We should try out chamakh,bendy and rvp as a front three in one game to see how it turns out.
Oliver rosicky and cesc are very good at finding AA.he makes very intelligent runs but very few of our players are on the same wavelength with him.we really need to score first to stretch the game.hopefully we’ll have theo,vermy,rvp and cesc then.the issue of directness is why the mancs have been so successful over the years.they shoot and cross endlessly till the opposition make a mistake,a deflection or even an own goal.when we are ahead we can play tiki taka since it is very effective as a defensive tactic and we can pick them off on the counter.
Hi oliver, it does indeed – interesting day of comments…
hi KT, i still think things would have been different if we had got an early couple of goals and to be fair we had our chances.
yes, chamakh is a great addition to our squad but i think we need a lump up front, we had that with Lardybayor and we need another now. RvP can no longer be relied on, he is now a luxury player, bit like DB in his final few years.
We weren’t out played at all, we were just not ruthless enother in the last third, maybe when Nik comes back its time to play two tall strkers up front, but then again we cant cross for toffee..
all this pass pass pass is becoming a bit boring….
k, not only have our shooting boots, but intent. be direct, run right at the defense, don’t try to move the ball here, there and everywhere. as critical as we are of arshavin, at least he was willing to take the responsibility of shooting on goal. very, very difficult to score goals if we do not fire the ball towards the next – that message seems to be lost on our players. or maybe it is just that we have too many midfielders in the side, some who may instinctively look to pass rather than shoot.
We need to get our shooting boots back on.when we go to the northern chavs they play with 3dms but an excellent counter attack.we will have to score first to have a chance.mancini like ancelotti is italian who employ the catennacio style of football against decent teams.
hi rico. 24 hours later, and it still s*cks!!
good luck, ra…i will try and catch up with you later. if you revisit to read this, bradshaw and jacobs both blotted their copybooks with fumbles – coughlin is absolutely right when he says penalties and turnovers lose games. we have to take care of the ball better. everyone on defense played well – boley, osi, tuck, rolle, all of them. i think they finally took things personally. i am sure the performance was special to our defensive coordinator, perry fewell, as bears coach lovie smith is his mentor (they were together in chicago and st louis).
out of 30 ex-giants at the ceremony, only one got booed – no surprise there! he left the team in 2006, but his personal dislike of coughlin means he cannot keep his mouth shut. tiki has enough of his own problems that require attention.
watch to see what happens with the mets today. the locker room at citi field has been open four about 75 minutes now, as reporters mingle with the players who are collecting their stuff and heading into the offseason. reports indicate jeff is meeting with both jerry and omar sometime today. hopefully the mets version of the “saturday night massacre” will be quick and painless. i do not expect jeff will have as much difficulty terminating jerry and omar as president nixon did in firing archibald cox!
Boo, I’m here for a bit now, just going to go catch up….
Hi Oliver,
Just a fleeting visit as I am up against a tight deadline again.
The Giants were not shown over here, except in highlights.
In the opening half the defense were on top with neither offense making much headway. poor old Jay Cutler at quarter back seemed to get sacked over and over in the first half, before getting concussed in the 2nd half.
Michael Boley was immense. Ahmad Bradshaw had agret game and his touchdown wa the result of tremendous play, but Jacobs sealing victory was the icing on the cake.
Wonderful result after the earlier events at Stamford bridge. 🙂
KT, my 10:30 was brief but it sums up how I felt in that we just seem to go thru the same old, same old tactics.
Got to go guys.
Later.
As if to emphasise the point, this is Drogba’s 7th season at Chelsea, and in all that time Wenger hasn’t learnt a thing. Even Stevie Wonder would see something was wrong! Wenger should go whilst people still think positively of him, he has nothing more to offer our great club.
Cheers RA. What annoys me is that we seem to be in a loop! We all identified this pre-season. We tried to be optimistic & forget our end-of-season run-in (Fulham aside), but we are rotting inside. We seem to pick up far more injuries than any other Premier Lge,club & their replacements simply aren’t good enough. Apart from Vermaelen, when was Wenger’s last good buy? Arshavin at £15m? Hardly in the same class as Pires. There is something fundamentally wrong with the whole project, Arsenal are in a dark place, as far away from winning major silver-ware as we’ve ever been, & it is deeply worrying that no-one seems to want to do anything about it.
k, good points…i think finishing is definitely a problem. i do not want to believe that arsene coaches the players to pass until the “aesthetically perfect goal” appears on the plate, but i am starting to wonder. of perhaps it is a collective shirking from responsibility to shoot? for all our possession, we created few quality chances – and i attribute this to passing too much, and trying to unlock the defense, when being direct and taking pops at the goal may have worked much better. by the 60th minute, it was pretty apparent that we were not going to pass our way to clearcut chances.
ra, if you are still here, did you catch big blue last night? after the dismal events at the bridge yesterday, the meadowlands game was a welcome tonic. ten sacks, two qb’s knocked out – that is what i want from the defense. the ring of fame was pretty neat, too.
Franchise, its gone beyond a joke now.I use to be AW biggest advocator and last night, i happened to see the light.I just finished a meeting with some project managers from one of uk’s biggest quangos and they all asked me about our performance yesterday before the meeting started and it feels shite having teams from bottom 7 teasing about our resources but lack of direction by arsenals board.No other team will take what is happening now.do any of you remember Lord sugars issues at the spuds.Arsenal supporters need to start showing their frustration one way or another.
Hi RA.what did you think of yesterday?
Oliver this finishing issue really needs to be addressed.i remember last season at the Emirates when we were playing the mancs.AA had two clear cut chances one where only had to cutback to cesc for a tap in.in the game where we lost 4-1 at home we played some awe inspiring stuff but we couldn’t score.the first time chelsea threatened they scored.our style of play gives managers the mentality that they can sit deep with hope of scoring on the counter.this necessiates us to score first forcing the opposition to commit players forward.the invincibles were very good at this and after we lead we would launch 3-4 touch counter attacks leading to goals.i feel with AA,RVP and theo upfront we can launch very good counters but we may always have to score first.
GG,
If you are not familiar with HH, go to the top of the page a nd click on Home.
You will then see todays Post, if you scroll down you will see KT’s.
If you are already there, I will get my coat! 🙂
Oliver i was angered by chamakh’s backheel attempt in the box which typified why we don’t beat them.why didn’t he smash the ball?denilson would’ve had a couple of shots from range with the space we had.nasri tried to thread the ball to chamakh in a crowded penalty area instead of trying to score.thats why i’m mentioning rvp oliver because he would’ve said enough is enough and he would have let them fly.rosicky used to be very good at this but i have no idea what happened to him.a shot may not go in but it breaks the defensive structure of teams like chelsea since own goals and deflections can result due to panic.i get your point though;its not about personnel anymore its about mentality.
then we are in agreement on yesterday’s match. my issue is that the same deficiencies continue to let us down against chelsea, each time we play them. we have not scored against them since bendtner’s goal in may 2009. we try to unlock their defense instead of going right at them and forcing a keeper who i think is suspect (cech) to save the match for them. chamakh added a dimension they are not used to seeing from us, but we certainly did not make the most of having him out there.
perhaps this will be one of those situations where when we do score a goal against them, the proverbial floodgates will open. we play them again at home later this season, but for the past couple of seasons, we have generally played better at the bridge than at home.
GG Its right here at highbury house.check out yesterday’s post.
Oliver am not blaming injuries on yesterday’s defeat.am just saying that i would love for once that we see our full 11 for consecutive games.if you’ve read my earlier posts i’ve clearly stated that the difference between us and chavs was in the finishing department.to chelsea’s credit they were effecient where it matters most-the two penalty boxes.those saying that they let us keep the ball should listen to wilkins who said that we worry him since they couldn’t get the ball off us.if we have the ball we reduce our chances of conceding but we also need to finish off the chances we create.
K-TR7 Where is your post from yesterday?
k, rvp may well be a vital cog, but we cannot rely on him to be fit and available any more. and i starting to think that cesc – with his recent hamstring problems – is going down the same route.
the players we had on the pitch yesterday could have gotten a result – if they took their chances. but they didn’t, and to make matters worse, they did not even force cech to make a save after we went 1-0 down. that is an all-too-familiar pattern – no shots on target, no directness or ruthlessness.
could rvp have converted one of the chances in the first minute? probably. and then he could just as easily have did his ankle in the fifth minute, and we could have lost 1-2 instead of 0-2.
my bottom line is that i am not going to blame injuries for the loss – they are a way of life with our football club, we have too many key members of our first team that simply cannot be counted upon for sustained runs in the side. if we focus on injuries, we are overlooking what the players on show could have done better – and that is where i want to put my focus.
Oliver it may be a cliche but when was the last time we had a full Arsenal 11 in big games or in 5 consecutive games for that matter?its frustrating since the longer they can play together the better we can become.chelsea’s team has been the same for almost 5 years and you can see how effecient they are.the invincibles 11 rarely got injured and thats why they were so good as they had chemistry resulting to telepathic understanding.we have sublime players who if had a run together am sure would develop an air of invincibility.of all injuries rvp is the most frustrating of all.he has only played only an hour of pl footy but has 2 assists-he is that good.Drogba is their rvp and he rarely gets injured.when rvp came on at the lane you could see how massive a player he is as he plays the killer ball and will always shoot when an opportunity is present.i don’t think fans realise how vital a cog he is to our machine.
GG read my post yesterday to see how much i agree with you and it unfolded exactly as i predicted.
‘morning all. rico, thanks for using my somewhat incoherent offering. what is done is done – i agree with tim when he says it is important to keep perspective…yes, the overall performance may have been improved and our players certainly battled to the end. but what i find frustrating is despite the progress in those areas, what continues to undo us against chelsea (and united) is an inability to turn posession into goals. we started great, but did we even force cech into a save in the second half? we continue to not be direct enough. chelsea have long since figured us out, but we do not seem to vary anythying to try and counter them.
k, i get your point about injuries, but by this point it is a way of life with arsenal. i did not even mention who was missing – having rvp available for selection is now an exception. if he is here great – just don’t expect him to figure. ditto theo.
nothing to do but move on. we have birmingham at home in 13 days, and need to get back on track.
K-TR7 We’ve been that bad for a long time! Brian Clough knew the value of a good goalkeeper. Forest would never have won two European Cups without Shilton in goal. And if ever a defence needed organising & co-ordinating…I seriously believe Wenger to be tactically out of his depth and should have the grace to step down.
GG I understand the frustration but do you think we were that bad yesterday?
Rico barca would have lost yesterday’s game similar to us.i said in my post against chavs you need to score first to force them to commit forward.those blaming our cbs should think for a moment;put Alex and Terry in a highline defense.do you think they’ll do any better?even pique and puyol concede goals but it is a gamble we as an attacking club must make.watch tevez goal against them to see how difficult it is to defend in such sitiuations.
Staying away would show the board that we no longer believe in the formula they are serving up. The board need to realise that we want the title & European Cup, & we should not be a club constantly dismissed and ridiculed by Mourinho. We are being crippled from within, there is a poison running through us that needs addressing as a matter of urgency. Every time we get 60,000 at the Emirates we are saying it’s ok to serve us drivel & compete for 4th spot whilst not winning anything. It only has to happen for as long as it takes the board to act on our concerns. At this moment in time, we may not even get that last CL spot.
off again… 🙁
KTR7, i certainly think the chavs are there or there abouts, not sure how they would fair against Barca or Madrid though, the latter would be a battle of defences…
thing is they have bought strong players in every position because they could afford too, while they were doing that we had no money.
Now we have money, i would like to see wenger go and buy a whole new spine full of real strength.
GK, CH, DM – 56M should be able to sort that out 🙂
I can’t see how staying away from the ground would help,
Season Ticket’s are sold so the money is already in the bank.
I know its frustrating, but should we not be supporting our club through thick and thin??
My mate, a Rangers fan, says when things aren’t going right at Ibrox the fans stay away, & the board aren’t long in rectifying the situation. Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. Arsenal are at a big crossroads, & Wenger is out of his depth.
Graeme Green i second your post.I use to travel to watch arsenal from germany as i was in the forces and based there but I have decided not to take my lil boys even to watch the carling cup even though i live in london now.Naively i use to believe it was the boards not AW’s fault but now i believe like some other fans that the club has no respect for their fans.If you look at the bigger clubs like barca,man u and real, the boards try to please the fans eithin reason because they know if you do not have emerging fans there is no future. Our board are thinking, someone is going to buy the team soon so they are trying to make as much money as possible before that. my family have supported arsenal for over 60 years but i am loosing my pride in supporting this team.Pundits will rather talk about us than talk about liverpool and everton in the bottom 5.The painful thing is we have the means to rectify the problems but are refusing to solve it.
There were npo postives whatsover from the game. If at all it showed all that is wrong with our team. Possession and winning games are two different things. We were horrendus………the defence and DMs were in panic mode throughout the game. Squailaci, Koscielny were dross. Song was even worse……his perfromances have deteriorates rapindly. Always gets caught in possession and cant pass.
WEnger’s arrogannce is costing us. and I doubt we will anything under his reign again. especially with his kind of thinking that we played very well yesterday.He was tactically trumped by Carlo and he still thinks he did well. typical
Tim, given the opposition & the context of the bigger picture it is an on-going disaster. One calamity after another. We are a stale brand who don’t know how to intimidate or beat the big teams. Our tactics have been worked out & Wenger doesn’t have the nous or ability to change it.
Chavs are the best club in Europe at the moment.
It could get worse;ask pool fans!
It’s important to keep a sense of perspective. We got beaten yesterday by the best team in the league – one which has scored 36 straight goals at home without reply. We weren’t bullied in the way we were in both games last season. Yes, there are some issues with ruthlessness and self-belief, but how many teams are going to come away from Stamford Bridge with any kind of a result? Yesterday was disappointing, but not disastrous.
http://thearmchairsportsfan.com/2010/10/03/arsenal-beaten-by-chelsea-but-not-bullied/
For the sake of our good name, please stay away until the board match our ambition & share our dreams. We are a laughing-stock. Two questions: What was going on in Wenger’s head when he turned down the chance to sign Drogba? Yes we had TH, but Drogba has out-lasted him. Does Wenger wear blinkers every time we play against Drogba? When Mourinho named eight clubs who might win the European Cup, Arsenal weren’t in the list. Arrogance from Mourinho? Maybe, but a dose of reality too. Europe’s elite have no reason to fear us. A few months ago Gazidis was boasting how we could compete with Chelsea in the transfer-market, now Wenger says don’t expect any big signings for 20 years. The same Wenger who was talking of titles & a new breed of ‘invincibles’ before poor performances at Liverpool & Sunderland & yet another embarrassing home defeat against newly-promoted opposition. The stat on MOTD was Arsenal have won only 6 games of the last 33 against Chelsea & Man Utd. I guarantee, vote with your feet, stay away from the Emirates, then watch as the board miraculously come up with a battle-plan. The longer you support all those in their comfort-zone, the more they’ll serve up this non-competitive mediocre drivel, and we’ll never wipe that smirk off Mourinho.
In my post yesterday i said we shouldn’t allow chavs to score first since you could predict how they would play.its infuriating that we have never seen our best 11 for an extended period of time but when we play them again id love us to score first to force them out of their shells.
K-TR7 you are right to an extend but la liga is a two horse race but not a 4-6 horse race like the epl.we are becoming predictable and smaller teams are loosing their fear factor against us.managers i believe are sending out their teams telling them that be compact against arsenal and we will nick it.The worrying thing is that Man u are having their worst start for ages and are still points ahead of us and until our last 3 league matches we were said to be having our best start.We are becoming a laughing stock not because of our performance but because of our maverick board and manager who are expecting other teams to go bankrupt so that maybe we can win the league. AW is going on about some teams having an unfair advantage because of money being spent, hello why is the cleaner at emirates earning basic wages whilst he is earning millions a year. it an unfair world and I am tired of his pathetic excuses
K-TR7 you are right to an extend but la liga is a two horse race but a 4-6 horse race like the epl.we are becoming predictable and smaller teams are loosing their fear factor against us.managers i believe are sending out their teams telling them that be compact against arsenal and we will nick it.The worrying thing is that Man u are having their worst start for ages and are still points ahead of us and until our last 3 league matches we were said to be having our best start.We are becoming a laughing stock not because of our performance but because of our maverick board and manager who are expecting other teams to go bankrupt so that maybe we can win the league. AW is going on about some teams having an unfair advantage because of money being spent, hello why is the cleaner at emirates earning basic wages whilst he is earning millions a year. it an unfair world and I am tired of his pathetic excuses
There were three things that struck me.
I thought I was watching a recording of last year. Tactically it seems like a choreographed dance.
We keep possession and attack. We lose possession with our full backs playing like Wing backs and they score.
same old, same old.
We have loads of possession around their penalty area, pas, pass, pass, but it seems no one is allowed to shoot. Same old, same old.
When we break out from defence where is the pace? Thierry often turned games from our penalty area to the opposition’s in the blink of an eye. We just have not had that for some years now. Same old, same old.
Busy day again for me so will be in on and off, right now though i have to go off, catch up in a bit…
Hi KT and RA..
If only kos and chamakh’s chances had gone in…
i know, they didn’t 🙁
Hi those just joining..
i was stunned by wengers comments!
Excellent article Oliver, and also fair in the assessment of our opponents.
Morning all.
That’s only a small part of a very big problem. RVP is always ‘missing’!
Sh*t happens ask barça.they had 90% possession vs mallorca during phases of the game but the game ended 1-1.mou’s mob won 6-1 against deportivo with özil impressing again.
Morning all.i will repeat it again;the difference between us and chelsea yesterday was in finishing only.RVP was sorely missed;if you can remember our game vs tiny totts when rvp came on we were slicing them to bits since rvp turns on a six pence and shoots on sight.chamakh may help our passing game but he needs to be more selfish at times.i was really infuriated by his backheel attempt in the box.
I must say until AW comments after the game i always believed he was on top of the situation at arsenal but, his press conference makes me believe it is time to for him to go.AW has always been AW, that is what happened at monaco in the early 90s and he was dismissed.I never expect a manager of his credentials to say we were the better team when he knows that the final score is what matters.When france won the WC in 1998, they were outplayed by Brazil but the history books does not show that.It shows france as the winner.I admit i was part of the AKB but i believe enough is enough.For a team with the 4th highest wage bill we have too many under acheiving bunch of players. He failed to sign a striker knowing very well that VP10 has never played a few season, and chamakh was unproven. He always says it takes 6mths for new players to settle into a new league but luckily he MC29 has been decent so far.My comments are not about the score line yesterday but his comments which seems to say its us the players and board against you the fans who will never know more than us. What he fails to remember is that some fans have supported this team longer than hes arrogant a**.Why are we paying a bunch of unproven 19 y.o so much many when playing for arsenal to them is like turning up to play on a beach. The players are loosing faith in AW and he is blind to it.Alex song typifies arsenal.In the first 10mins he was playing deep protecting the back 4. When we started creating chances he started drifting forward, but we have Pat Rice and AW with their so called experience just sitting there (thinking about the number of zeros on their payslips )instead of instructing him to stick to his role of being a dm.Mikel never got to the halfway line unless it was a free kick or corner.I may be wrong or feeling frustrated but maybe the players are good enough but our coaching staff have lost track of the basics of sports which is to defend first.It hurts to spend almost £100 on a match day to watch a team whose managers interest is to accumulate many for the board and ignore the fans.
We must start looking at our squad and ask whether these players can finish ahead of chelsea & the mancs, possibly city as well. How many of our players are truly world class ? I mean world class as in a players being consistently above great not occasional flashes of brilliance. How many r just above average? And of course the crappy ones. I reckon if we look at our squad with those questions at the back of our minds then we’ll realise only luck will get us 2 finish ahead of the top 2. Maybe it’s time to b realistic abt our chances & there will be less anger when we get a result like yesterday’s.
What’s even more depressing is that it has all become so predictable. Did anyone really doubt that Drogba would do us again? Professor Wenger displays an awful lot of stubborn stupidity! We have lost any credibility as genuine challengers. We are stuck going nowhere fast. To get out of this, fans need to vote with their feet. Instead of paying inflated prices for disappointment, the only effective way to bring change is to stay away. A couple of 10,000-20,000 gates at the Emirates would definitely wake the board up to our suffering!
Morning all, spot on post oliver, thank you…
the way i feel, even the future doesn’t look quite so bright!
how wenger can say that game was easy and we have no problems is beyond me. jj said last night that the chavs weren’t even out of first gear, i think he may be right…
yesterday we had a real chance and should have scored early. that would have changed the way the chavs played. we didn’t and they didn’t need to change.