Morning all.
OUCH! That was painful and embarrassing!
Let’s not try and find an excuse for yesterday – face facts, we were awful and that performance cannot just be written off as a bad day at the office. Nor can it be compared to the dreadful result we suffered at Old Trafford just a season or two ago because back then we had fringe players playing against a very good Manchester United side.
On the concentration level, on pace, on defensive stability, it was very poor and we always looked vulnerable. If you concede two early goals from set-pieces then you are in a position where you always have to come out.
I just think the whole team have failed to turn up with the right performance. We know that you need to be better focused at this kind of level.
Overall our performance was just not good enough and I include myself in that performance.
For me it is maybe better I don’t talk too much, go home and respond better on Wednesday night.
Congratulations to Liverpool. They were the best team today and we were very poor – only our fans were good for 90 minutes.
A very honest Arsene Wenger there.
Yesterday we fielded a strong side, one which was full of seasoned internationals yet they were out fought, out played and well beaten and all within the opening twenty minutes.
Where to start though with our performance.
Did Arsene Wenger start with the wrong eleven?
Did Arsene Wenger send the players out with the wrong tactics in their minds?
Did the players simply have an off day?
How seriously do we lack a true pacey winger?
How much do we lack a proper holding/defensive midfielder?
When it was clear things weren’t right, did Arsene Wenger just sit back and hope things would change?
My own opinion is that it’s all of the above.
Why Jack Wilshere started when only just back from an injury baffled me, especially when Tomas Rosicky was fit and healthy. Tomas makes our midfield tick, he adds something which we seriously lack without him in the side and that’s pace and determination to get the ball and get it forward.
His experience for matches like yesterday is paramount. Maybe Arsene Wenger was keeping him for Wednesday night but if that was the case, why? What was important yesterday was to play well and at least get a point, worry about Manchester United when Wednesday arrives and not before.
Lukas Podolski, finally fit and healthy yet he didn’t start either, another decision which baffled me to a degree but not everyone can start can they.
Regardless, we had enough on the pitch surely?
Nope, well we did on paper but my goodness they were all over the place. In fact it was like watching a Sunday League Pub side play at times. We were so disorganised and not one player looked as if he was up for the challenge ahead. Not even our usual reliable defence was out there yesterday.
As the shambles unfolded, what did Arsene Wenger do to change things?
Nothing, absolutely nothing and that’s not the sign of a pro-active, imaginative manager is it?
At 2-0, he cold have made changes, ones which may just have steadied the ship, allowed us to re-organise and who knows, maybe even get a draw but no….
We all laugh and joke about about the timing of the managers substitutions but yesterday it was beyond any kind of joke, it was serious and it may just have cost us more than three points.
What is important now though and this for me is the biggest question.
Will Arsene Wenger watch that game over and over again and learn from it?
My heart says, ‘I hope so’, my head though sadly says ‘no he won’t’…
But until he does change his ways and move this football club into the footballing world of 2014, we are highly unlikely to win anything because there are too many younger or wiser managers who are proactive and forward thinking and they know just how easy it is to beat/nullify Arsene Wenger’s current tactics. Ok, not all have the players to make it count but when it comes to playing sides around us in the league, they do.
I’m not all for slating Arsene Wenger as a person as I am sure he’s a decent man who believes in Arsenal FC and loves the club and wants us to win something each season, but as a football manager, he has to change his ideas and his ways if he wants this club to be successful again..
Starting on Wednesday night.
We may be down right now, but we are not out, not just yet and last season, an away loss to the neighbours kicked us into action, maybe this season it’s a loss at Anfield…..
That’s it from me for another day…..
Morning all.
An honest assessment from Wenger, and from you, Rico.
I can honestly say that i was embarrassed by an Arsenal performance last night for the first time ever.
8-2 loss at OT…our guys busted their arse.
Last night, we had several players not raising a sweat.
It was awful Scott, I’m not sure any were raising a sweat. The only passion I saw was Jack but he looked a bit fired up for a fight….
Adam, i just saw your response….save yourself the agony and don’t watch it, mate 🙂
I don’t like repeating it, but AW showed all the players Arsenals ambition in January. Remember the player tweets and excitement when Ozil joined, and even Higuan was supposedly close? The players are not stupid, they know like everyone else we have lost pace and a second striker, and we always needed a holding player. But what did we do? January Said it all and the players must have same disappointment as us. They needed a boost because they had over performed getting top with squad we have. Everyone knows that except our brilliant manager.
Giroud worked hard, though not very effectively.
Ox was good, as was Kozzer…..surprisingly, after 5 goals were conceded, but how many times did he have two or three players running at him?
Our midfielders did not do anywhere near work enough in defence.
It’s very easy to be reactionary after a defeat like that Rico but I reckon you nailed it.
Stability at a football club can be good. It has been the mantra at Arsenal for years now but we haven’t won anything. Change can be good too but it must be wielded like a scalpel and not a bludgeon. Ok, so Wenger doesn’t do tactics and seldom attempts to nullify dangerous opposition players and we haven’t won anything for ages.
Change can be good but it’s easy to be scared of it.
Apparently the model who Giroud is supposed to have sneaked into his room was in Vegas at the time so no truth in that one…
She was in my room Rico. 🙂
Ah, and not for the first time either. This transfer window much up has been going on for a while now…
It has to change in the summer, but I feel like I have been saying that for a few too many years now..
But I still think with the players we have we could try something different, neither Gnabry or Ox are slow but they all want to play centrally…
Get the big stick out and tell them to play wide and stay wide until the game allows them to cut in and drive through the defence..
Like you said yesterday Adam, Kroenke is too afraid of change it would seem.
Arsene Wenger is clearly being rewarded for money earned and saved rather than what fills the trophy cabinet.
Something has to give.
If I were him, I’d sneak in a coach with new ideas and darn well listen…
Maybe the new Academy manager has something up his sleeve…
What were you doing in Vegas Adam? You know what happened to Chamakh after he went there… 😉
morning Rico,Scott,adam,Andrew and all………..we all were disappointed with the way the boys played but we just have to get our heads together and focus on the next game……I can’t say I was surprised really…….Liverpool had suarez countinho sterling and co. running and working for the team whereas our boys left mertsacker and kosciely to hand…….its simple u can’t have 3or4 passive players in the big games….I’m really hoping for a big performance on wed as we can’t change wat happened yesterday … ……very good read between
Morning rico!!
For me, Mertesacker was certainly off his game yesterday. More than once was he seen plodding back in the wake of the Liverpool forwards screaming through us. They certainly nailed us for speed at the back.
Monreal and Ozil showed that they’re not (yet?) tough enough for the game in this country. On a couple of occasons now, Ozil has looked like he’s a rabbit caught in the headlights (and I know he has those eyes ayway) but sometimes you can see the look of “OMFG, what the hell is happening here??” on his face.
Wengers substitutions, early for him at 60-odd minutes, showed that he’d seen the same.
Jack’s not yet mature enough, he proved that again yesterday.
Elsewhere, it’s not so much that we were poor, we were outplayed. Brendan Rogers’ tactics capitalised on and exploited our weaknesses, we were dead in the water before the game really got under way.
Our only tactic now, apart from the occasional strike from distance, is the tippy-tappy stuff and just as I predicted, it didn’t work at all against another top 4 (potentially) team. We scraped through against softer opposition in recent games and now we’re being found out.
We’re at that point in the season where our whole season will fall apart. Check the history books, we fall out of every competition at this time of the season.
United will take points on Wednesday, Liverpool will dump us out of the cup next weekend and Bayern will end our CL hopes.
Thankfully then we’ve got a run of 3 supposedly easier games in the league where we can get our tails back up a bit before meeting Bayern and Spurs again, then Chelski and City!!
Every season it ends about now. We won’t see top of the table again but at least we were in the fight this time so we are moving forward. I still think we’ll end third though.
But I wouldn’t bet against us scrabbling in the dust for fourth, again!!
why don’t players ever stand up and take responsibility for their actions or lack of. They have been moving the ball around far too slowly to mount a decent attack for months and there will be no improvement until they realize this.
We have always known for years that Arsene only knows how to play one way, but to still believe in his passing game no matter the kind of game or the opposition in this modern era of younger and probably wiser managers as you rightly said Rico is beyond me ! Instead of buying a ,’proper’ midfielder and a cover for Ollie12 in the last transfer window, he goes out and buys a crocked ‘has-been’ We shall in the course of time know whether the 42m spent on Ozil was a good investment or just an expensive buy because that money spent on one player could have bought 2 decent players !. I hope by wednesday this very bad day at the office on saturday would have been totally forgotten by the total annihilation of Manure to make us genuine contenders again as anything short will only confirm what the opposition have been saying all season long that we will implode come Feb/March !
Morning snaparse, thanks.
I just hope that yesterday hasn’t battered the players mentally but we’ll see just what they and the manager are made of on Wednesday – I’m holding too much hope though…
Welcome Ausgooner, you are right. Very slowly and we just lack any bite to or game.
Yesterday we had a hug hole in the middle of the pitch and it’s quite clear that we need a proper defensive midfielder in the summer. A fit and healthy Diaby would be most welcome right now.
Kallstrom, well even a fit him right now might give us something but that’s unlikely. Ramsey is a great player but he’s not a DM either…
Morning Bill.
I disagree slightly, yes we always go out of the CL at this stage but there is every chance we will beat Liverpool at The Emirates next weekend, just as we did a couple of months ago.
That was horrid yesterday but everyone got their game very very wrong from the manager downwards. Something which they cannot afford to repeat again in the league or FA Cup.
I personally don’t give a hoot about the CL, not until we have a squad which is strong enough to truly compete in it…
I know Rico. I am waiting for the blackmail pics as I write. 🙂
Having Wenger at the helm must surely have increased Arsenal’s attractiveness to Kroenke as the club came as a kind of package of the two. A club with a great history and a frugal manager often hailed as a genius. So far Stan has had an easy ride but when the big decisions need to be made it will be interesting to see what happens. I am not sure he really ‘gets’ the fans at all and I know the fans don’t get him.
When I discuss this with friends they say “Be careful what you wish for” and try to have a knowing look in their eyes.
I wish for trophies playing great but sometimes pragmatic football.
Welcome bobby.
The transfer windows have been awful but we can’t do anything about that now so for me it’s all about how AW and the players react.
One of two things will now happen, they either all grow a pair or they fade away like a piece of old limp lettuce….
I see Kallstrom as the latest Scandinavian crime series. In it Kallstrom is a detective tragically injured with a micro fracture in the back while playing Volleyball on a beach in Dubai. He is condemned to a wheelchair yet arrives to solve crimes rather like a latter day Swedish Ironside. His first case is The Arsenal Transfer Window Mystery.
Right now Adam, the last thing I want to hear is that AW is staying but sadly I know that announcement is just a matter of when and not if.
I remember writing a post about how change should not be feared, it should be welcomed, especially when you, in our case, Arsenal, is at a crossroads.
And I think the club are truly at that crossroads now after taking a slow walk for a few seasons to get there..
I don’t say that just because we lost, I say that because of the way we lost….
Just typing the letters as we speak 😉
Rico. You are probably right. It is what it is. But, if we win nothing again, the home fans, including myself will have the same old questions come June 1st, which is ST payment day. Lots of things to consider this year for me and about 40,000 others.
As for the other thing. I will pay what you ask. 🙂
Excellent read Rico, I can’t even imagine how hard it must be to write a match report after a no-show like yesterday…
Totally agree with your point Bill…
and Adam you are right earlier, we had this coming and as you said how we respond against United at home will be key imo…
Kev- I agree with your comment about how AW should change how we prepare for the 12:45pm games…
When 3 or 4 players have gone on record saying that they hate playing at 12:45 on saturdays’ I am surprised those players even started the game yesterday…. but then again where is the squad to replace those players…
Its becoming a problem AW needs some help with imho…
I know I make a big deal about 12:45 k.o but a lot of financial and military top brasses have advisers with doctorates in numerology so there must be something behind such believes…
Certain countries will only go to way on certain dates and evenn the ww was ended on particular numbers…
Scott, keep fighting mate… its perspective is always refreshing…
I knew Sp1 will be back when we needed him the most… back to the true Sir Sp1… lol
Ginge, you know any negativity from me is short lived.
Gotta go….Sean is crook, massive temprature ao off to hospital.
Don’t panic, just precautionary.
Later guys.
I just want the man to change Adam, I really do and especially right now. We haven’t got a squad full of rubbish players, they are nearly all internationals.
What AW needs to be doing, is looking at how to get the best out of them all and not try and get them to play in a way which we don’t have the players to do.
Playing an 18 year old alongside a slow Arteta will work against Palace etc, but not Liverpool so why does he do it?
Yet on other days, against weaker opposition he has started with Flamini and Arteta, just doesn’t make sense.
When you are away playing a side which has so much pace in it and away from home, we needed two players in the middle to sit back and protect the back four and steady the ship but no, AW’s way is to attack regardless, and even that’s not effective these days…
Thanks Ts. It hurts.
Hope Sean is ok Scott, catch up later…
Wish Sean well for us..
TS. I tend to agree re the KO times. I find the way that athletes prepare themselves or are prepared, for events at different times, fascinating and I had an interesting discussion on the importance of numerology the last time I was in Italy.
Scott. Hope all is fine.
I can understand the fans unrest as we have been here before……I’m not really upset about the lack of signings in January ……I just think aw should select the team according to the opposition and not preference……. I watch a lot of Spanish football and I can tell u DAT Madrid passed on carzola because he doesn’t perform in the big games…….. u see guardiola starting Pedro over Alexis in the big games all the time……until he changed his style to suit the team Robben was on the verge of been sold…….Fergie will always play Fletcher in the big games even if he wasn’t the most technical etc……..
have you heard from Agag, Rico?
As Emma and I discussed yesterday, it seems odd that Wenger, a man who showed the English game how destructive pace and fast transition can be now seems immune to its charms.
I certainly didn’t understand why Rosicky didn’t start, he’s a big game player that’s for sure…
I haven’t Ts, she’s probably on vacation again 😉
Anyone who has played the game knows the days when the other team are 2 yards faster and no matter what you do as a team it all seems a blur…game over.
So who do we blame..Manager or coach or both.
2 down…..dead balls….what should we have done.
Our two fullbacks bombing up the flanks like wingers,leaving space behind for SAS to explose Merts lack of pace.
Well we carried on..3nil..4nil..5nil till liverpool had……had enough
At 2nil we should have told our fullbacks to come in closer to our centre halfs,and our midfield to drop a bit deeper…Simple.
Wenger/Bould blame who you like….
Exactly Adam. Just doesn’t make sense does it..
Summer needs imho
DM
Winger
Striker
Right back if Sagna goes
CB if Vermaelen goes
£100 million 😛
I knew you will be an expert on numerology Adam… -)
Just don’t fall for Mr Kev’s ww stories… 😛
————————
A few days ago I was talking about how we lose games in the first half against the better teams in the first half… yesterday we lost the match in the first 18 minutes…
AW should be keeping an eye on that…
If i was Aw I will start the next game with 6 defensive minded players and then after the 60th minute bring on attackers if we are drawing…
True snap re Pedro… like you I believe we have too many passengers…
Snaparse. Personally I am upset at the lack of signings because this team is one paced, has no width at all and lacks a midfield ball winner of real class who can also play box to box and is obviously scandalously light in the striking department. The transfer window was, for me, an opportunity missed. I would go farther and roll both the last two windows together and say that Wenger was completely irresponsible in both of them.
fred – which goes back to AW’s theory that the best way to defend is to attack…
It clearly isn’t….
”At 2nil we should have told our fullbacks to come in closer to our centre halfs,and our midfield to drop a bit deeper…Simple.”
Very true Fred…
yesterday during the game I asked why AW/Bould sitting 10 yards from Ox were not telling him to hug the touch line or help Sagna out…
It was the same with Forfan vs Santos verse Schalke last season; no instruction from the touch line at all..
how we respond on wed would b crucial …….hope we put this defeat behind us and focus on the task ahead
TS. Hardly an expert. More an interested observer. 🙂 As an enthusiast of Italian motor racing I am astounded how freaky numerology can be.
I understand Adam re transfers but u hardly get qualities at the ryt price in Jan so I was prepared to wait……the harm was done in the summer imo
To be honest ts I don’t no how santos got in our side as a defender,
what was wenger thinking at the time.
Snaparse. You are right but, if you don’t do the business in the Summer you must know full well you are going to pay more in the winter. Value for money? Forget that concept. Top clubs buy what they need. It’s the way things are. Wenger screwed up both of them and I have a feeling that, being World Cup year, he will do the same this summer. David Dein always said that Arsene was so indecisive he had to push him over the line to get the deals done.
Now I read the name of Gareth Barry mentioned. Well, why didn’t he loan him this year? He’s only getting older and even slower.
There is just too much that doesn’t make sense and I have a feeling that Wenger’s legacy will be one of two halves with this sentiment dominating the latter years.
I am a bit surprised at some comments, Yes we lost, but we lost to a side that knows how to attack, 3 players ripped us apart with pace and skill. While we have been singing our 2 central defenders heroics of never losing a game that they both started and finished together, has never been overlooked by many supporters of the lack of pace that Mertsacker has. Mertsacker has a good positional play game but when faced with a forward line with the kind of pace as Liverpool’s, it was an impossible task for Kosielney to cover every eventuallity. Even if we had been able to stem Liverpools Attack we still wouldn’t have scored the goals to take a victory. Arsenal have one of the worst attacks i have seen for a long time, we bang our heads against a brick wall every week without ever finding the key, Negativity in our passing sideways and backwards is now set in Arsenals play. No pace up front or on the flanks results in usually scrappy goals. Where many teams that have a direct way of going forwards, also finds our lack of pace and a goalkeeper who hardly got a touch to any of the goals. Yesterdays game should be an eye opener in pace, we have no answers for the future either as we have no players that can stop that kind of tirrage. Our defence will recover from this game and hopefully apply tactics to stop the onslaught of future teams now they know how to pass us. but the question of our attack i can see no possible way that we can penetrate defences with such a slow negative aproach up front, our only hope is that we yet to see if Sanogo can get a game and see if he can be the key to the lock.
wonder if they ever feel guilty charging like they do and offering that crap and what the hell have we done to Ozil? Shocking again yesterday
i feel if wilshire were to stop his childish antics wenn he does not get a free kick wenn he thinks he is fouled get up and get on with the game he would be a far better player . what i mean by antics is wenn he wenn he sits on his backside and crys to the ref iwas fouled ref
if the stories on Giroud are true sp1 you might find out about Sanogo whether you want to or not ha! Course, there’s always king dick.. I mean Nic sorry
good post Adam, agree
Arsenals past strategy of scoring more goals than your opponents is probably the way to go. But i doubt that will work this season, so i would go the Maureen route of sitting your players down in front of the video of all your next teams game’s and find how to spot their dangers and also their weaknesses then work this out on the training ground, as your opponents will all have watched yours and they will be ready.
Sometimes I really think we should change our play style. To be honest, and against lesser teams we struggle a lot and hardly score and in the end we score no more than 2 goals.
I think we should play more direct football instead of our passing style in some matches, because sometimes we play “mollycoddled”. We should be ruthless and score more goals. When our winger wants to cross he can’t because only Giroud is inside the box, if no one.
Podolski plays only when he want. I admit sometimes I want him to start on the left because he can make the difference. However, he is very lazy and sometimes looks scatter-brained and just walks around on the pitch which leave me disappointed.
Hope the team recovers fast and consentrate in the upcoming game against ManU, although am not optimistic that much when it comes to United as it seems our team has psychological problem where many wrong passes and gifts go to their players (especially a certain player).
With all best wishes to all of you.
Italian road racing and numerology?? Interesting I may have to do some research on that… 🙂
Morning all,
I wonder who is faster over a 100m sprint Arteta, Mert or Giroud 😉
What is important is the next match. Failure to win on wednesday we should kiss the league goodbye
sp1 Arsene has said many times he doesn’t bother with that, we simply play our game – not sure that is the case anymore or not. Hopefully it was/is another lesson learned?
I’m off out for lunch so catch up later guys…
Morning Emma, I don’t think any one of them could sprint that far to be honest but Merts would take up the best position
Share little story,
On holiday last year in the gym got me arsenal shorts on,
geezer kept looking over at me,
when I came out I said to my son…..see that effing nob,
did’nt stop looking over at me,
my son said…must be a yid.
Anyway couple days later me and the wife were sitting having our dinner when this geezer asked if he could share our table,
so we nodded and carried on eating.
Everytime I looked up this geezer was looking at me,
so I give him the big grin,
he turned to me and said…..Your the bloke who had the arsenal shorts on in the gym the other day..ain’t you….yer
He said..Do you know who I am..My names Trevor Ross.
Soon as he said it……….the penny dropped
I was there when you made your highbury debut..4 shirt
As you can imagine we talked for hours about The Arsenal
he told me how Liverpool wanted to sign him and how Tommy Smith
waited for him down the tunnel to get even for a couple of over the top tackles on him during the game.
Watching us yesterday..I thought of Trevor and I know he was watching..and thinking
Get Stuck In your effing wimps.
🙂 fred…
Emma, I will chuck Pirlo into the 100m race too… lol
He would be a little nieve’ after that result Oz 🙂
ts – Never knew Pirlo plays for The Arsenal 😉
we had a variety of reasons for yesterday’s farce: some of them are
1.shell shocked by 2-0 inside 10 minutes BEFORE WE COULD GATHER OUR BEARINGS WE WERE 4-0 inside the first 20 minutes.Game over by then
2.No proper DM
3.No proper pace in the wings
4.Poor team set up,Ox should have been in CM
5.starting Jack wilshere- always over rated IMHO
6.No quality striker
Your story reminded me of a saturday night in a pup in Southgate, I was in there with an ex Girlfriend who was Black she had the body to die for . Across the bar was Malcom Mc and quite a few other Arsenal players all drinking cocktails, My bird went to the loo where she had to pass Super Mac and she came back upset, apparently Mac had said somthing to upset her, so i had to go round there and have it out with him, as i went round he saw me and her and when i got there before i had a chance to say anything he appologised and said he thought she was on her own he held his hand out but i turned around and walked away. I could have shaken hands with Super mac but i didn’t but i watched him after and every time i watched him play i applauded him a great player and a gentelman as well.
ha ha Emma
Maybe when Kim is fit we can add him to the 100m race…
Personally, I do not think there is an issue with having a slow DM…
AW had Petite, Edu who were also slow and even Gilberto was not the fastest… to me the BIG issue is Aw not having a mobile Box to box midfielder like PV and Ramsey next to them…
Wenger should have replaced Walcotts speed but then he had to use some Money,God forbid.
All good with Sean…..temperature is down a bit and all else is fine.
Not sure what your medical system is like, but over here, we can take a kid in the middle of the night and they are sorted very, very quickly……lucky country, indeed.
Thanks for the thoughts, and the little fella is sleeping already.
Ok…Arsenal.
My opinion is this.
I hope every fan gets right behind the boys, and gives them every ounce of support they can manage until the end of the season.
Then, go to town.
Marches, protests….whatever they think is required, but not until then.
I am off for the night guys, and remember this…….today could be worse….,it could be yesterday!!
Nice read Rico.. I was at the game yesterday and couldn’t believe my eyes we had no urgency or energy, whereas the Liverpool players were buzzing, chasing, rushing us, they’re tactics were spot on and Wenger had no answer. It was damage limitations after 10 mins ffs, imo we need 2 high energy players in the pivot like Schneiderlin/bender and a of course a pacey striker. That’s where I hope Wenger spends are money come the summer. But as we all know he is pathetic in the transfer Windows so god only knows what he has planned. Utd up next that could make or break us imo, we very rarely beat them and after the mauling we just took I’d settle for a draw Tbh.
hi ts…..bvb were impressive yesterday …….I know he didn’t score but reus is a good player…..always plays for the team….how do u see jese in Madrid ????
I had a very interesting discussion about numerology down the pub last weekend…
It was after I had had eight pints of Peroni, so I haven’t the foggiest idea what I was talking about (a common theme there I guess) but it sure was interesting…
Er, I think?!!!
Good to hear Scott… night buddy.
Hi Snap, I prefer Jesse to Morata from the little I have seen of him… but as I have said before I do not watch much of RM, due to the fascist fans I have observed at the Bernabeu in the past…
To me Reus is a perfect foil for the attacking side of TR07… I know kev rates him too…
Hi all,
As I said in the previous post, we have too many players with the idea that i’m the creator, tackling is not my role.
Watching Everton, all their players work for the team. same as Liverpool, smallest guys sterling and Coutinho pressed and put tackles in.
I like Juan Arango too but a bit too old..
I think the most underrated bvb player is BLAS’Ykowski(spelling) a proper big game player…
I will pay the rumoured Draxler fee for Kroos instead since we have Ozil…
Reus is a very good player Ginge, but I was disappointed with his antics when lost at home to Dortmund last season. His behaviour was unecessary…
I also have a passing interest in the Punic Wars Ginge, if your up for a chat on the contrasting qualities of Hannibal and Scipio Africanus… 😉
Google them if you like….
” As I said in the previous post, we have too many players with the idea that i’m the creator, tackling is not my role.”- excellent point…
That has always been my compliant on here even when we are winning…
I said in the summer that we can win the EPL but lose against the top teams and not win any cup because of the clear divide between workers and luxury players in our squad…
That is why I am always disappointed with players like SC19 and Poldi…
SC19 is a bottler and Poldi who is a big game player is too lazy; if any manager can put the best sides of those 2 players together then we will have Matthias Sammer or Zidane imho…
Sometimes I know lady Rico thinks I pick on Santi but because I first knew about Santi watching one of my favourite no.10’s of all time Riquelme play with Villareal under Pellegrini… he had the skills even at 22 y.o but could never turn up against Deportivo, Valencia, Ath, RM and Barca etc…
Boring Boring Chelsea btw…
The thought of that cynical Portugese prick winning the EPL is thoroughly sickening…
I think that I shall genuinely begin to lose interest in football if that happens…
ha ha Mr Kev… I dsidn’t know yuou liked the idea of elephants in war… 😉
I will check up on Hannibal and Scipio Africanus…
I still feel we didn’t need Ozil. We needed a proper goal scoring number 10. A Bergkamp or RVP. If not, then a Ronaldo or Bale type of skilled winger.
At this stage Wenger should sign Lukaku, Januzaj or Townsend in the summer with of cause Arteta’s replacement
I still feel we didn’t need Ozil. We needed a proper goal scoring number 10. A Bergkamp or RVP. If not, then a Ronaldo or Bale type of skilled winger.
At this stage Wenger should sign Lukaku, Januzaj or Townsend in the summer with of cause Arteta’s replacement
Kev, you know Sky and TS will give Maureen-ho the keys to UK punditry if/when he wins the league this year…
I said in the summer too that we shall see Pellegrini making questionable decisions/selection when the pressure mounts…
Any manager who pays top dollar for Cygan for him to get injured in trainimg before kicking the ball in anger is a skeptical character to me… lol
Still can’t believe yesterday’s performance, total disgrace from everyone involved. All away fans should have their tickets and travel costs reimbursed.
Anything other than three points on Wednesday isn’t good enough!
That Flamini challenge came back to bite us yesterday. We could have done with his energy.
I think balotelli will b off soon
Ginge, I like Pellegrini, his teams play decent football…
Arteta is a liability these days. I fears what Rooney and mata could do to him.
I like Manuel too Kev… I just hope history repeats itself so that we finish in the top 2 at least…
Jose looks too composed for my liking…
Yao gerv’s goal ruled offside… he is on form…
because of his weeping on the bench? Snap
Can’t work out why Gibbs was not starting. our best back 4 is with him in. No coincidence that the 2 thrashings ands Soton where we could have let in a hatful were with Monreal at left back
I can’t believe Totti is 37 y.o.. what a player… still.
AW has to buy Pjanic next summer imo…
can’t really say ts…….pjanic ..tidy little player but a very big bottler imo
we will beat the dippers next sunday though in the FA cup… If I had to choose which of those 2 games to win I will take the FA cup…
ha ha ha snap…
totti is the best Italian player ever for me…… such a shame Roma weren’t dominant,….. how him and Henry didn’t win a ballon d’or is beyond crazy. . …….esp if u see dat Owen won it
True the bench warmer Owen won it… I had forgotten about it…
totti is my third favourite no10.. behind zidane(my best ever player) and God himself dat is d.bergkamp
ts who do u think arsenal should get as our DM….apart from kross
Scherderlein of southhampton
2nd option Jorginho and Darder…
I have gone of the Benders’ to be honest…
jorginho just went to Napoli so I can’t see DAT one……I really rate schneidalin but I would like Fernando of porto
i think shitty will go back for him so…
WATH rates Calvanho(spelling)…
Where’s Scott….?
http://t.co/CM8ClkM3mE
I hope Moses will not be sent off this weekend…
hiya WATH…
Yanited losing again…
Hello all…
Totts catching us up then…..
Kollstrom was a big miss yesterday, it must suck being Wenger.
Remember us losing to Manure 6-1, Stepanov’s had a blinder that day, a real shocker, very rarely got a beating that bad, it hurt, yet this season we’ve been spanked twice already and it’s like water off a duck’s back, can someone explain this to me, I give up.
Don’t go there rico !!!
What few clubs have the most, Arsenal have the least. And vice versa. Ex: M. United.
Chelsea is now in 1st and I doubt there skirt. All it took was a certain purchase in the winter market to balance the team and the dismissal of two players in the team no room for the cost of the player (and likely getting the championship win at least …) be diluted.
In the Arsenal squad actualment available, is very complicated to arrange a cohesive team. If TW could play DM, but I think that would be a solution of last De Michelis M.city-Chelsea which was a complete disaster.
Fripong could be a solution but had no head or evolved in all aspects as a player.
Also do not understand why we have players in the squad who never play, with Arsenal in various competitions, and various games, more injuries and suspensions.
T. Vermaelen not TW….
Micko, it’s a bad sign getting used to a spanking…
Mick, you embrace it mate…
A good spanking never hurt anyone, so I am told…
🙂 Micko, have to face facts…
Kev-Bent 2-2…
Big game player… 😛
Micko… no point in thinking about an answer… Wenger Out… Dench in.
JM, spot on re January….
🙂 Kev.
Finally a reason to be cheerful. Could have a bearing on Wednesday night because the press will go to town on Moyes and less on us.
Did they lose again Ah??
Good, not that it lessens the pain…
Just seen it was a draw after Bent equalised in ‘Fergie time’ 😉
After two quick goals, they would have ended on a high. Good old Fulham. I’m now very concerned with Spuds, Manu and Everton results 😉
Adebayor wasn’t off-side against Everton today?
Nobody claims for yesterday first goal in a clear off-side?
How do tsgh, still all to play for especially against the Bavarian minnows next week, that should be a laugh a minute.
Fred 11.19, Trevor Ross, never heard of him, still a nice jackanory.
What will be will be Ah, for us it all depends on how we respond to yesterday… Hmmmmm….
I thought their first was offside yesterday too JM, the other 4 weren’t though 🙁
ha ha micko..
not bad Sir..
I think with 10 games to go if we go on a similar run as we did last season we lift it…
we needed this awakening…
Ginge, don’t rub it in about Super Darren…
Wenger should have spent less time chasing shit players like Costa and Benzema.
Instead he had the answer of his doorstep…
Step forward Adam’s No.1striker, Sir Darren Bent…
🙂 kev…
Tell you what Kev, we could do with Darren Bent right now… 😉
I really feel for Mesut Ozil, so many fans, media and pundits are knocking him..
A great player slowly being ruined by our tactics/lack of proper players around him…….
you want Darren, Rico? lol
Ozil will come back…
I’m off guys, got an airport run to make in the morning and it’s so early, I’ll be up before Lee… 😉
Night all….
Just kidding Ts, only because he got 2 against man Utd….
Gone now….
Mornng all.
Sean wakes up feeling 100%, i wake up 100% sick.
Gotta love kids 🙂
Morning Scottie,…
Its all the negativity you spill mate. 😛
Fabiański says he will be leaving Arsenal this summer on a free transfer after rejecting a new contract:
Arteta on half-time of Liverpool game: “It was the angriest I’ve ever seen the boss. He was really upset
Hi Ginge.
Wenger had every right to be pissed.
I can understand Fabianski going, but i don’t like it.
Still, he is too good to be on the bench.
Finally AW admits there is a problem:”We’ve been well beaten twice now, and twice with an early kick-off away from home [having lost 6-3 at Manchester City in December]. But we have to ask questions of ourselves about this.
True Scott re Flappy…
Martinez is not ready, I believe…
There is obviously an issue with early starts, but that is no excuse.
Professional players should be ready to go, especially with what was up for grabs on the weekend.
Morning all.
What a horrid trip to the airport, took me nearly 3 hours when it normally takes under half that time….
Glad Sean is well Scott, shame about you 😉
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