So That Is What Defeat Is Like.
Dec 10th, 2007 by 'holic
‘Don’t write the game up now. Sleep on it.’ The advice is sound enough. At the final whistle I am a sea of contradictions. I feel rage at those who fill forums with their negativity, but I am thinking things that would enrage others. We have forgotten how to lose, so long has it been.
Roast chicken with all the trimmings, a drop of Ernest & Julio, and I settle down in front of the box. Dawn French has a programme where she is interviewing comedians old and new. Some of the new young comedians are not that funny. The ones that are usually witty are not there. Older heads who could keep the show on the road are labouring. ‘Christ almighty, I think to myself, I’ve already seen this once today!’
So have I awoken this morning feeling any different? Old ‘holic, with the rosiest of rose-tinteds? Sadly not. Prime target for internal ire is Emmanuel Eboue. How much longer before he gets the sending-off he deserves? How much longer before his blatant stupidity costs us a crucial game. The occasional probing run and cross for a goal is not sufficient reward for the liability that comes with this fella.
It has also been a fortnight to forget for Kolo Toure. If we are honest, had Eboue or Senderos made the ill-judged challenge on Aliadiere for the early penalty there would have been much wailing and gnashing of teeth. The difference between the two Ivorians is marked however. We know Kolo is just enduring the same bad fortune that has befallen a number of his colleagues and will return to his best. Eboue shows no sign of emerging from the immaturity that dogs his every performance.
What rankles most of all is that so-called experts gleefully pronounce this as proof that Arsenal don’t like it up ’em. What we all saw yesterday was nothing to do with travelling north in December to face a bunch of kickers (Rochemback apart). It was about the midfield once again failing to function in the absence of Fabregas, Flamini, and Hleb. Gilberto and Diarra were overrun by a ‘Boro side that, let’s be honest, played better on the day.
So there, it was a blip, indicative of a temporary loss of form that afflicts everybody at some stage of the season. Let’s not read any more than that into it at this stage. Have you looked at the league table this morning? We are still top, and nearly through our bad patch. There is a worrying thought for our rivals, isn’t it?
22 Responses to “So That Is What Defeat Is Like.”
Hey unfortunately what we are seeing is that we do not have the all conquering squad that everyone was led to believe…. remember we only have Cesc Flamini and Hleb missing from our REGULAR midfield, surely we are not a club that alone relies on just three players? From watching the recent games when Gilberto has played, all of the problems that were there last season have suddenly returned (coincidence…I don;t think so!) It also has shown that Eduado is not yet up to the job of the EPL, Diarra is pretty ordinary, Rosicky is a constant disappointment, Eboue is a liabililty with his ott reactions and he was bl**dy lucky to not be sent off. Clichy had no support on the left…Sagna had little or not support on the right, the cover in front of defence was woeful, the support and creativity to Adbeyor was non existant……. making Ade look bad. Our othe options Denilson, Walcott & Bendtner are not the quality needed to improve on this situation and we must obtain quality midfielders to improve our options…..if not there is only one way we will go from here on in and as we are at the top you know that there is only one other way to go!!!!!!
It was only 2 weeks since u last lost to sevilla, u must have a really short memory gooner.
Why does wenger allways make this excuse that when u lose it is because the other side were using “illeagal tactics”?
He said it yesterday, he then said it about newcastle, and blackburn a few weeks earlier. Oh, and it was the refs fault u lost to sevilla?
Wenger needs to stop this boring, pathetic excuse, and learn to be gracious in defeat.
It has nothing to do with getting new people in, you just wonder what the hell is wrong with Adebayour, one week he is amazing, next week he doesnt turn up. His touch is so heavy, he manages to miss hit every header and doesnt do his job of bringing others into the game. Gilberto slows our team down, and gave away so many free kicks it was frightening.
Eboue is an aggrevation. He should just settle back into 2nd choice RB.
Diarra was alright i thought he got some good passes to Ade’s feet, but you would think the tall lanky one could control it???
Time to be Bold!!!
Lets never play 451 again please. Also – when Fab is we need Rosicky or Denilson to be playmaker. Gilberto – if he keeps playing like this we’ll get all of a fiver for him in January. My suggestions:
1. Forget the Steaua game except to give some exercise to returning players – Diaby and RvP. I would give Bendtner and Eduardo a game too – to prove themselves. Netiher have impressed so far! In the main I would play the kids v Steua. They ARE good enough – remember they beat that N’castle team that the seniors almost lost to.
2. Chelsea – I would assume Fab will not be back, Hleb/Diaby might make it. We need to play 4-4-2 and while I like Ade – he needs a day off after some woeful performances. Same for Gilberto except make “day” – “the rest of the year”.
GK and back 4 are solid (if we can eliminate mistakes)
Almunia
———-
Sagna
Toure
Gallas
Clichy
———-
Hleb (If not fit Diaby)
Rosicky
Flamini
Denilson
———-
RvP (we gotta hope he can make it otherwise we are doomed to play Ade who is low in confidence after a series of 4-5-1 formations have left him an impossible task)
Walcott (time for a start – he’s keen, fast and works hard and has scored v Chelsea
I’m so annoyed that I wasn’t going to post today, but Guncold, you’ve forced me into it.
We are missing three quarters of our midfiled and our first replacement (Diaby) If you can find three players of that quality who are willing to spend their time on the bench until someone is injured, then you should be managing England or pulling rabbits from hats.
You said – ‘MAKING ADE LOOK BAD’ – I can’t believe you said that – did you even watch the game. Ade was shite. His first touch was so bad it was like a ball boucing off a wall. At least when Bendtner came on we saw some nice touches and lay-offs and we managed to keep the ball a bit longer; until Ade got it again anyway. Also, Ade’s decision making is so poor and he invariably loses the ball while he takes half an hour to think about what he’s going to do with it.
I really hope Ade’s just having a bad spell, (as he’s been the same for a few games now) but while he works through it, Nik should be given a prolonged term in the team. We would also see if Nik and Eddie can play together because if anyone is making anyone look bad, it’s Ade making Eddie look very poor.
Our fullbacks had poor games, but they didn’t have much support and Kolo really needs to cut out the Beckham long balls – he can’t do it and we don’t have anyone up-top to benefit from that sort of ball anyway.
In the end, it was going to happen sooner or later and now it’s done, hopefully we can return to winning ways.
It was not only Hleb and Fabregas. Are you forgetting Flamini and Diaby are also out? Five away games on the trot without your most creative players. Come on!
I blame Wenger though for not seeing that Diarra and Gilberto as midfield pairing is a disaster. They’ve played 3 games and we’ve lost 2 and drawn 1.
Diarra is the problem! How long will it take you guys to see it? He can’t play Wengerball. He can’t pass to feet at speed. Simple as that.
Come off it people we are missing almost our entire first choice midfield and #1 striker. Not ONE club in the premiership can compete at the same level with that lot gone.
Gilberto is a good screening midfielder when he’s got a fighter in front of him, but with only Diarra doing any defensive work he was totally exposed. Rosicky is ineffective on the left, and Eboue is a train wreck waiting to happen in midfield. He should be reserve RB, end of.
I say go with Denilson and Diarra until we get our first choice centre midfielders back. If the Flam comes back then pair him with Denilson.
Good blog there ‘holic. I agree its a temporary blip in form, but a truly awful blip nevertheless. The loss of players to injury is no excuse for that performance, coz the bench strength is surely better than that. Wenger got the line up wrong IMO with Diarra and Gilberto in mid field, and Denilson would have been a far better option.
Hopefully, all the players had their bad day out against Boro. The next game against Chelsea will be interesting. I, for one, feel that the same team (with 2 changes – Denilson & Theo on for Diarra & Dudu) can do a much better job.
Firstly, Guncold – at what point were we led to believe that this was an all conquering team? Not by Wenger, not the players – but purely by the media who take great pleasure in now calling it the end of an era! Secondly, take three first choice midfielders out of any of the other top four and see what you have underneath – for evidence see Man U v Coventry!
The fact remains that any team would struggle and we have – badly. What we have now is a week to re-group pre-Chelsea and try and get back on course. I’m all for blasting the players for an awful performance and that was one but keep a sense of perspective on a team that was tipped by the same media that whines on now that we would be lucky to be top four!
And Mike – Wenger didn’t use that excuse. He was actually quite complimentary about Boro – only Rochemback was accused of fouling and his were called intelligent fouls!
Goonerholic,
I am going to try to be less negative, but first, I wanted to make a couple negative comments about the Arsenal performance yesterday. Disappointing. Not good enough. There, I’ve said my piece.
It’s amazing. In all this anti-Adebayor hysteria nobody even gives him credit for cre
Did the fella above die mid-sentence?
Caught in mid post at work I’ll wager.
…and still hit that ‘Submit’ button?
I prefer my version.
Heh!
🙂
Great writeup holic. Really Eboue does not deserve to wear the red and white again.
Two players running in the same direction, one falls down. Has he been fouled? I dont think it was a penalty. I think the referee was looking for an excuse to penalise Arsenal. There are so many instances where the referee should have booked a player yet he didn’t unless it was an Arsenal player. Ebouye was out of order and was fortunate not to go. But the twat pulling him in the middle of the park should have seen red. If that was being done on a Manchester United player, there would have been an uproar. The use of Ebouye’s hand was nothing compared to John Terry’s yet there is never anything said. John Terry was holding an opponent by the collar whilst talking to the referee (citizens arrest by a moron).
Racism is not the use of words to describe or denegrate another person. Racism is the invisible favouritism of one against another because of race. It is there in the refereeing of the game. Every game and always an English referee. I have shown examples of it to several people.
Recently Graham Poll has been writing in the Daily Mail. He covered the nasty tackles that should have seen a red card. 3 of them were tackles made against Arsenal players – I cant recall any of the culprits being booked. Were the referees cautioned by their governing body?
I am absolutely sure that all these missed fouls were racist and racially motivated. It is an institutional part of their psyche. Not the players, not the fans, not the press (they are so stupid they only sell papers) but the officials that decide the match.
In the Hatton fight there was some visibility of a similar poor standard of refereeing. In boxing the referee must never touch the boxers unless he is calling an end to the fight. His instruction should be verbal and clear. Stop boxing, step back – box. What I saw was an example of how to take the energy out of a participant. By the 3rd round Hatton had actually gone 6. I was hoping to see him punch the referee because it was so blatant. I dont think Hatton would have won anyway but he would have had a better chance in the early rounds against a bigger, stronger and more technical opponent who is amongst the great exponents of the art.
Whoa, menace. I agree that Arsenal players should be better protected by the refs, but to blame racism without more substantiation IMO is uncalled for. Show me some real concrete evidence instead of just vehemently asserting your claims. I’m not saying that racism is not a reality in the world (macrocosm) and in sports (microcosm), but I find your statements to be nonsense.
Steve duK, I’m with you 100%. First of all, with our current spate of injuries, we are sorely lacking creativity and possession ability in our midfield. When Cesc and Hleb are in the side, they are (1) great at getting into position to receive the ball; (2) so good on the ball that they attract defenders and free up a lot of space for others such as Flam, Rosicky, and Eboue to operate; and (3) brilliant in terms of upfield passing vision (like a quarterback in the US). That is why when Cesc and Hleb are in the side, Flam, Rosicky, and Eboue seem to be playing at their best. When not, these players do not have space to play. Rosicky is the closest to being able to pull it off, but he cannot do it alone. It takes at least 2 of Rosicky, Cesc, and Hleb for Arsenal’s offence to click (eg, 1st half of Villa game) because possession is such a huge part of their game. Otherwise, we will continue to have performances the likes of Sevilla, 2nd half of Villa, Newcastle, and Middlesbro’. It is NOT mostly down to our opponents’ ‘inspired’ performances. We must realize that it is not reasonable to expect Diarra and/or Gilberto to fill the void. They are defensive mids, and I would argue that they both play that role well.
To further the point, if Flamini is the only one back against Chelsea, we will continue to have the same problems. As great a player as he is, he is still a defensive mid like Diarra/Gilberto (albeit more creative and better going forward) and not the creative spark we sorely lack at the moment.
Even Ade plays better with Cesc and Hleb in the side, as he has more space to operate. Although Ade with his physicality does present problems for defenses and gives Arsenal a dimension it has not had in the recent past, his first touch is very poor, so given limited space he will continue to disappoint. Bendtner actually is a better option with his touch when our creative midfield is depleted. However, he alone is not the answer to our problems.
I personally would like to see Walcott in for Eboue. Although Walcott is still raw and can be very frustrating in terms of his passing, decision-making ability, and defense (lack thereof), he does have the ability able to create something out of nothing, which is what our offense desperately needs right now.
chengis! u’ve said it all. It amazes me sometimes when arsenal fans talk like the press onetime the team is glorious and all the next they are this and that all sorts but “good” no team i repeat no team can do without three of their top class players let alone 5! we are stretched and besides that it was bound to happen sometime note reading v livpool, this is football and if u cant stand a few losses then go watch something else it is hard i agree but we must count our losses and forge ahead we’ve got a long way to go yet. o come on GUNNERS! lets get back to winning ways!
Excuses… Excuses.. Get used to it .. we will beat yer in 2 weeks!!
firstly..cusop….piss off & get a life, secondly, the point about racism i find slightly outlandish, but what i will remark on is the fact there is a certain disliking to arsenal due to the fact we dont have any english players! remember when we got to the final & i think pardew said we werent representing england at all! fair enough not through tounge but arsenal is still an english institution with english fans & english OWNERS…shhhhhhh the rest of the league! nnnnneway onto this so called bip/slide in form/rubbish/whatever u wana call it! i c ppl are blaming a few of the players, fair enough but dont forget the midd match wat our umpteenth away game in a row in a silly number of days, yes ppl have it the same & yes we shouldve not lost as our backups should be upto it! but a) was it me or were the media totally bloody blind in praising the referee for newcastle for ‘letting the game flow’ i.e. letting them batter us to knock us off our stride..which doesnt piss me off as much anymore otherwise id get a heart problem every week! when towards the end of the game there were 2 BLATANT fouls on ade when thru on goal & were red card worthy…& the ref bottled them! even the biased sky andy bloody gray was saying they were fouls!! WTF!! the praise to the ref post match & nx day in the papers was astounding considering those incidents! but its foreign f***in arsenal so stuff them! neway credit to newcastle were fighting for dear life! while in teeside i think it was one game too far! i def think this wont affect us as ive been shocked with gilberto really i expect much more from a player of his calibre! the criticism of eboue however really baffles me! reserve right back!! are u muppets! yes he needs some mental finetuning but the guy’s a fucking good player…& much more importantly we dont have ANYONE at the club who can do what he does! wenger’s not blind he sees his sillyness yet has ALWAYS PLAYED HIM! Y?? cos none of our alternatives play like him! think of it like this….hleb rosicky diaby walcott are probably the other wide options right now right? walcott is no where near ready for sul first team duty…even the other day in europe he done great build up but has has the uncanny ability of nearly ALWAYS making the wrong final decision, he’s 18 after all & some ppl have that naturally! but i think we’ll see his real best when he’s 22-23 & properly mentally mature!(football wise of course)! the other three obviously prefer central play! but wenger is trying to make them as wide players who link up centrally he the forward motion of the team to be like flowing water & not players playing in rided positions thats y if u noticed hardly anyone in the squad only plays in one position!! what makes eboue different from them is his ability to play as a traditional wide winger! he’s got the best cross in the team & the pace & (amazing) trickery to beat the man….u say then we should buy a winger who’s better?? who can u get who’s better than him individually…has the defensive nous that he has from being a prior right back! & can integrate like him fluidly with whoever is on that side!! NO ONE & if u take out the defensive part then no one less than 15 million…not the wenger style! i can understand ppl knock him! but for god’s sake all other teams have cunt’s(neville’s, (well one’s shit) all the chelsea team) so let him just be our cunt it wont kill us! if u guys only saw past the negatives & can see what he actually brings to the team(i.e. ask henry last year for all those assists) which the boss obviously think vastly outweighs his negatives! i think its only fair we support rather than loath him! i fuckin think he’s a great player & when sol scored on may 17(my damn bday) near 2 yrs ago i flew out of my chair & would do so all day knowing that eboue blatantly conned the ref! man down to barca european final! if we held out that game we’d all be glorifying that great dive rather than hating his for his antics! neway enough babbling my fingers hurt! laters arsers COME ON U GOONERS