No Defence
Aug 23rd, 2008 by 'holic
“Wait a couple of hours before you write that one up. Have another drink, and everything will be better.”
Well I took Mrs ‘holic’s advice. I have, I did, and it isn’t.
For the second time in three seasons we have departed Craven Cottage a beaten and dishevelled side. In all honesty Fulham thoroughly deserved the three points, and what hurts more than anything is that they didn’t have to play all that well to get them.
Now I could offer extenuating circumstances, but missing two midfielders should not stretch us to the point that we lose in West London. I could offer the performance of the referee, Mr Blind Pew from Yorkshire, but his inadequacy didn’t cost us the points.
There were so many poor performances in the Arsenal side I am inclined to write this off as just a collective bad day at the office. There is however a nagging doubt gnawing away at my insides.
When we talk about needing a dominant central defender we have to assume that the position of the captain is not in peril, otherwise why make him captain? William Gallas has though started the season as very much the weak link. Once again today he was caught napping at a set-piece, Arsenal’s achilles heel.
Last week he switched off and presented West Brom with their one opportunity to snatch a point but was saved by Johan Djourou. This week he was caught dozing twice. It is no laughing matter when you are not quick or strong enough to deal with the likes of Hangeland and Zamora, and thank goodness the latter is not a sharper finisher or our discomfort would have been doubled.
Everyone is entitled to a bad run of form, and I’m sure Gallas is going through no more than that at the moment, but the fact that he is captain should not afford him immunity from being ‘rested’. Djourou was extremely unlucky I think to lose his place in order to accommodate the return of Kolo Toure today. In all honesty I would like to see the Swiss and the Ivorian paired against Twente.
The central midfield combination will also vex the manager’s mind in the coming days. Denilson had one of those days where nothing came off for him. Alongside him Eboue will be grateful to have avoided serious injury when Pantsil clearly went ‘over the top’ on him, an assault that somehow earned the offender a free-kick rather than a red card.
The best chances fell to Adebayor, who once again got a mixed reception, and van Persie. The former was denied by a post in the first-half while the latter had a snap shot wide of the post. Three free-kicks also yielded nothing as the Dutchman struggled to find his range. It was good to see him complete ninety minutes though.
So that’s it. A defeat at this stage isn’t fatal, but the performance is a concern. Hopefully the coming week will see some strengthening of the squad. Today’s performance will have done nothing to dissuade most from that view.
74 Responses to “No Defence”
I want to weep…
Our defence is useless, midfield is bare and strikers can’t score.
We have no chance 🙁
Denilson is not good enough. Never has, never will be.
The midfield pairing today was a disgrace. These players are simply not up to par for th ebig time.
Wenger is kidding himself if he thinks we will win the league with these pimple poppers.
You can win with kids, just not the ones we have
Geez Louise!!
abject performance!
NO leadership, no creativity, no tempo!
What the hell was that…………..
A good result needed mid-week and 3 pts vs the barcodes next weekend and lets build some momentum
Come on you mighty Reds!
Yes Denilson and Eboue were bad today but i would like to ask,
since Walcot has been allowed to own to start games on the right and Eboue moved away what has been his contribution to the team.
Apart from green grass ahead of Walcot to race down and swing a cross wht else can he do and if so why isnt he doing it?
Gaya, it would help if someone would give him the ball now and again.
We have people who cannot pass water playing alongside him.
This performance really hurt, it was dire. The problems all stemmed from the lack of a dominant central midfield. If this does not convince AW to go out and buy a strong Vieira type player, this is going to be a long poor season. Having watch a few snipets of video I sit squarely and fairly in the ‘ sign Inler’ camp. Big and strong and would be a perfect foil for Cesc
What a shocker. Gallas is a poor defender and a poor captain. Not saying he can’t do better in both departments but there is no debate about it, he is poor.
Van Persie is poor. He is not the same player that he was 2 seasons ago, hopefully that will change but it can’t be counted on.
With Adebayor on a bigger contract he doesn’t appear to be working as hard, what a shocker!
Theo needs to pull his thumb out of his arse, stop giving his opinion on other people’s performances and give a good one himself. On the whole, his average game’s performance is school boy at best.
I’m usually a fan of Denilson but he was awful the whole game. How Wenger let him out of the dressing room for the second half is beyond me…not quite as astonishing as starting Eboue in central mid when Song was fit and on the bench. Wenger know’s Eboue’s shit, he’s said it to other people. I wish he’d explain why he keeps playing him except for muscle because he doesn’t even give that now.
You replace Eboue or Denilson in this game with a decent midfielder and you get a win. If we don’t bring one in next week my vote will be in, Wenger out!
we cant blame denilson,he has been thrown in at the deep end and asked to partner a dodgy left back in central mid,when were 3 nil up in games we should be throwing denilson on to get experience but we dont,instead we do this to him ,gallas and toure aint even proper center backs ,toure has gone backwards ,it just shows how good keown and sol campball were! rvp is a problem ,i dont think many enjoy playing with him ,the man could start an argument in an empty room and i just dont think he compliments the team with his perfect volley football and his hit and hope free kicks! big problems at arsenal, i feel for wenger how must he feel knowin he puts faith in these lot after watching them do amazing things on the training ground and talkin about their targets for the season (theo walcott) for them to play with all the heart of a dead corpse ,theo needs to wake up and stop picking his bumhole on the touchline! robin could have put theo through but after theo answered him back during the west brom game he didnt bother! problems people ,i dunno if cesc is good enough to sort out the shyt i saw today ! and dont blame wenger coz out tight board will only employ big sam or another cheap shyt to replace him lol!
dark things are going on in the arsenal board room!! deep dark forces at work ,maybe the russians are actually the jedi’s ! i hope not but i have a sneaky feeling ,wenger might be seeking a midfielder but them lot are holding out for the cheapest midfield choice rather than the correct midfield choice! a man who has done as much as wenger shouldnt be haggling over a couple million quid to get the right player ,them lot should be telling wenger if thats your man we will secure the deal ! CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD STOP F**KING ABOUT ITS 2008 NOT THE &)@S WHEN PLAYERS COST £2
1940s
Gallas needs to be on the bench for a while so he can get a reality check. Just because he is the captain doesn’t mean he can keep playing football like he was a 15 tear old. He wont mark players properly, he tries the offside trap when he clearly should follow the runner, he wont mark the strikers in the penalty area and he cant win a header to save his life….
we shouldnt even need a midfielder if that fuck face edelman sorted out the flamini contract ,we’d either have him signed or we would have diarra but no they was penny pinching thinkin we could save money by keepin matt on his lesser pay contract right up until the final weeks not knowing he was still saying fuck you for bringing back cashley hole in my place for the cl final !anyway i hope arsene will walk rather than stay and take the shyt people keep throwing at him on these blogs ,im a loyal gooner but id like to see what you lot would write about a manager like big sam lol crying he aint got 70mill to spend each year!
We were a mile away from our best and this game is one to forget, quickly. It’s the oldest cliche of all time, but the team “just didn’t click”. The main reason for that was a midfield that was simply unable to stamp any kind of authority on the game. Consequently the front men were starved of any quality balls through the middle. Yes, it was a poor goal to lose. What was poorer though, was our inability to turn a one nil deficit to our advantage at Craven Cottage with 70 minutes to do so.
To my mind, it was Denilson’s first poor game of the season (friendlies included). Eboue’s contribution though, could scarcely have been less had he been sitting on the bench. I think the sands of time are running out on experiment for him in mid-field. On the world stage, he is at best, a substitute for Sagna.
Song looked good when he came on. For me, he should have come on earlier for either Denilson or Eboue. Having watched him in the Cameroon Olympic squad, he’s beginning to impress. I hope he starts on Wednesday night. Arsene looks to be giving Theo the opportunity of an extended run. His patience with this will be tried unless young Walcott shows a few more glimmers of the excellence we all believe he has inside him. They have been few to nil in competitive games so far.
Cesc’s return will provide the missing spark. It always does on the few occasions that he’s not available. That we are so reliant on him to lift the team to a higher level is very, very sobering, but it is a fact. One man does make this team tick. An import is needed to support him. Now.
You keep making excuses for Wenger and the team but it wont hold anymore.Wenger had the entire summer to solve our midfield,attack and defense and look at the shambles today.He started the summer by stating real intention in the transfer market and look at what we have got.A crocked Washed up Manure player,a Kid another Kid and that is it,is that intention when you wanna achieve something………..no it blatantly isnt.Have Wenger worked on the illusive plan B…………no.We keep playing these wonderful patterns but every decent side now knows how to defend against it.we are abysmal at set pieces conceding or taking,our corner taking is laughable at best and our general showing is atrocious.Wenger keeps believing that you can thread the ball through the eye of the needle.Yes,if the opponent is a pub team like spurs but even small teams defend deep against us making it impossible to create goals like that we need craft and someone who can give it large in defence and midfield not Mr and Mrs spineless.And how can Wenger spend an entire summer not realising these things that any halfwit fan realised aeons ago…..it really baffles me.
The only problem with inler is that he has got as much technical ability as John Jensen.
I’m a bit disappointed that no one has mentioned Clichy is this post. In spite of the rest of the side largely playing shite, Clich was absolutely superb. Deserves an apology from pretty much all his team-mates.
“these things that any halfwit fan realised aeons ago…..it really baffles me.”
At least you realise you are a halfwit.
gWenger chose to ignore the problems we had, in pre-season! FC Twente was a pathetic performance! We were just lucky they didn’t have any decent strickers! West Brow was better, but again, nothing to write home about! Now against a decent team, we got found out, BIG TIME! If this had been a quality side, we would have been humiliated!
I am Wenger’s biggest fan! I will always back the man, after everything the man has done for our club… But this mess lays squarely with u Arsene’! You’re the one who let Flamini go! You’re the one who didn’t strengthern last Jan.! You’re the one who won’t spend any money, when the club say they have some! You’re the one who thinks Denilson & Eboue are good enough for our 1st team! IF YOU DON’T SORT IT OUT, GOONERS WILL SOON TURN ON YOU! Please, bite the bullet! Spend some fucking dough!
Got to agree with you danish, wengers been very blarsay in the transfer market, laughing and joking about who I may or may not sign. Although we have lost 2/3 first team players, flamini in particular, wenger talks like ok if a players available we may get him. Plus this shit talk about I can spend 30mil on a player, but don’t need to.
Not sure whats happening at my beloved club, and it’s not about fair weather supporters, it’s about wanting your team to show some ambition. Sadly we seem lacking!
HOW CAN ARSENE WENGER HONESTLY PUT THAT TEAM OUT TODAY AND THINK THAT WE HAD ANY CHANCE OF WINNING, WERE IN TROUBLE MY FELLOW GOONERS BECAUSE ARSENE ONLY THINKS WE NEED 1 SIGNING WHEN IN REALITY IF WE WANNA COMPETE WE NEED 3 OR 4, EVERY TV PUNDIT AND EX PREM LEAGUE PLAYER KNOWS THAT HALF OF OUR SQUAD ISENT GOOD ENOUGH AND MOST OF THE ARSENAL FANS KNOW HALF OF OUR CURRENT SQUAD AINT GOOD ENOUGH BUT WHY O WHY DOESNT WENGER KNOW IT!!!!!! its quite simple why arsenal lost today and thats because 5 of our team that played are useless and they are eboue, walcott,denilson and gallas and adebayor, im makes me laugh when any fellow gooner trys to defend walcott, i mean 99% of the time when hes in the final third he gives it away or runs into defenders hes simply not good enough for arsenal at the moment, eboue is one of the worst players ever to wear an arsenal shirt but while wenger persists in playing him it makes me think wenger is losing his magical touch and should think hard about whether hes up to being the arsenal manager,denilson again looked out of postion most of the game and gave the ball away every time he got it,gallas just doesnt play like hes botherd atall, and adebayor has looked like a differnt player since the second half of last season and to be honest his finishing has been really awful since,
No i was actually refeering to you need more foreigners.Someone like you who is so far up Wengers ass that you can taste his tonsils.
Thank god my cable was out so I didn’t waste 2 hours watching this crap. I believe Wenger is using these early matches to see if Denilson, Eboue, Diaby, and whomever else was 2nd team last year can make a step up like Flamini did last year to fill the vacancies. The answer from today is a decisive ‘NO’ for Eboue and Denilson, and ‘NO’ to Diaby who cannot stay off the injured list. Time to go to plan B, buy someone experienced. The opportunity cost of NOT spending 10-15m is missing the Champions League or going out early in the Group stage, a far bigger loss. Wenger, who I hope paid attention in his economics courses, must have this figured out by now.
A fit playmaker to hold posession and drive forward really would have helped. Rosicky, who would be a great candidate to spell Fabregas for smaller matches like today’s, I’m looking in your direction.
hmm was obvious that a couple of journey men midfielders outworked and outfought us today and we didn’t really compete.
The current Arsenal side lacks the authority to compete now ,we used to win ugly on a bad day but had the tenacity to survive.AFC fans know instinctively whats good are bad about the team only sagna and cliche made me proud and fulham deserved to win,fullham a mid table team at best outworked and played better football.
Am worried that wenger has lost objective judgement ,I support wenger but see gaping holes in the direction and spirit of the side.
All 3 games we have been average struglging to beat tewnte west brom and now we were humbled.
A team doesn’t play 3 dud games in a row unless it is a struggling team ..no rose tinted specs needed.
On a positive note, Spurs cannot beat anyone, and are about to lose their best player. Great site btw, I always enjoy reading it!
Theo -> no use right now; can’t team up with either Sagna oder v.Persie
Eboue -> move him to RM; he actually is a strong dribbler and can cross the ball fairly well plus he links up decently with Sagna
Adebayor -> Average game, did what he could, tried to keep the game fluent, just couldn’t pull it off all the time
Denilson -> non existant, needs a better partner in MF, isn’t ready yet to lead the team from cm
Nasri -> has enormous potential but I feel he is being held back by his teammates; also he should try a one on one more often, imo he opted for the overlapping move with clichy too often, making it obvious most of the time
Gallas -> abysmal at the 0-1, never looked like the leader he should be
Toure -> clearly not in form nor is his fitness where it should be, still weak at long balls (as is gallas)
sagna -> average performance, tried a lot but wasn’t really helped by walcott, with eboue on the right wing it worked a lot better
clichy -> i really was expecting more of the clichy/nasri partnership but they were let down by the cm
v.Persie -> i mean WHAT THE FUCK? 3 free kicks and not once on target, maybe he should try passing the bloody ball for once!! Should have scored on one occasion. Doesn’t seem to be too eager to link up with anyone.
almunia -> nothing wrong with him, looked solid, can take no blame at all for the goal
subs:
song -> nothing special, no mistakes one shot wide where he shouldn’t have tried shooting
bendtner -> tried a lot, linked up better then RVP
next game:
out: walcott, gallas
in: fabregas, djourou
put cesc into central mf, eboue on RW maybe change the striker pairing to bendtner/vela to see how they fare
who should we buy? xabi alonso period
who should we start in cm? try cesc + song if this doesn’t work try moving nasri into the middle with cesc and buy another winger (gamst pedersen, krancjar, zhirkov)
conclusion: shit
rvp is bad for the team,he is the devil,when he is injured we have much more harmony! wenger must be so dissapointed in these players,we know they have quality and that team should have killed fulham ,but they just were not up for it,they thought they had to turn up to win!
how the fuck you gonna put nasri in with cesc ? who the fuck is gonna guard the two buffoons playin centre half ? i say play senderos and djourou for the next few games ,toure and gallas play like cunts!
Dont ever keep saying arsenal play beautiful football, they were not for long time being. Ever since bergkamp left us, where is our one-touch passing? all the current lads tend to carry around the ball more often than used to… some other teams playing much better passing game than us!
They couldnt even pass the ball evidence of last night match …what a shame to a team branded themselve playing beautiful game and a joy to watch!
a very appropiate sentence from the new book on arsenal by alex flynn
“THEARE CONCEPT OF AIMING FOR SUCCESS ON THE CHEAP RESOUNDS AT THE CLUB TO THIS DAY .” even though we have got richer the thinking of the board and manager has not kept up with the times.. where all the akb’s who said we didn’t need new players
Denilson and Eboue up against two experienced central midfielders in the shape of Bullard and Murphy was a mismatch. A pairing such as that has no place in the Premier League, let alone Arsenal and my fears on hearing the announcer were proved well founded. Absolutely dire.
Djourou was very unlucky to be dropped after last Saturday, Gallas and Kolo can’t play together – end of! Gallas had a mare yesterday, captain or not he needs taking out.
Gael was again our best player by a mile, his performance should inspire the rest but seemingly not. I noticed Almunia and Clichy both looking extremely animated at the end and it doesn’t take a genius to understand why. Pace, power, passion, Clichy has it in spades and for me should be given the armband.
Shit performance, the pain of which was dulled by a shit load of beers followed by a shit journey home (can’t remember that bit to be honest).
A very good analysis of the game holic…if I might say 🙂
Unfortunately I don’t have much time to post but will say that whilst we might single out Gallas’s poor marking that led to the only goal…..it wqas a poor performance right across the team. Gael and Nasri struck me as the only ones barely willing to try anything inventive.
Like you, I sincerely hope it was a one-off bad day at the office but surely thedre are some lessons Le Prof has to take from such a woefully poor team performance?!
SACK WENGER ,SIGN RIJKAARD OR HINDDIK SPEND THE MONEY AND THE GLORIOUS DAYS WILL RETURN.
I’ve waited to see whay other gooners have to say in case anyone could take any positives out of yesterday’s game.
Over the last weeks, there have been respondants attacked for daring to suggest that all is not right and the need for a few quality signings is paramount – I hope none of those are in an ‘I told you so mood’, because we’re suffering enough!
I wish our summer transfer negotiations hadn’t been so focused on the ‘Ade saga’. He showed again yesterday that he is not a world class striker. on two occassions he saw a through ball coming his way, started a run and let the ball hit him on the heels. A certain TH would have opened his body, taken a touch to lose the defender and been through on goal. Ade can be an important squad member but he never will be a world class striker.
We should have addressed the shortages in midfield from the outset. Hleb was never going to stay. We now appear to be playing some ridiculous waiting game to trim a couple of million off a player we really need. Come on Arsenal, take pity on us, sign someone decent (and there are players out there) and give us back the beautiful football because it seems like a myth at the moment.
We all know Wenger will not make wholesale changes to the team. But WHAT should he do? I personally do not believe much change is required…..but most importantly it requires strong leadership!!!!
1. Partner Djourou with Gallas or Toure (Toure IMO)
2. Partner a fit Cesc with a world class proven midfielder – spend the loot.
3. Use Eboue at Right Midfield (I think he’s form suffers through having to play in too many different positions)
4. Be patient with Ade and RVP. They will both soon start scoring again!!!
The CORE of our problems are through having no midfield strength and/or command of the game. Once that is addressed I firmly believe the good form will quickly return.
Played 3, won 2, lost 1 is no disaster.
I admire your optimism Don. I don’t think Wenger will drop Gallas for Djourou afetr having invested the bcaptaincy in him, but I agree that Toure and Djourou is probably our strogest pairing once the former is match fit again.
I don’t like gallas as captain but there aren’t many alternatives. A lot of people would opt for Cesc and who knows he might be great, but these last few games without him have shown how important he is for the team and do we really want to burden someone so young. Having said that, his statements to the press over the summer have been excellent.
Gallas is a sulker (witness Birmingham). I think if he loses the captaincy, we lose the player. Could we bring in an experienced player and make him captain? Someone the like of GB or XA certainly have the gravitas. There are precious few other candidates in the squad. We are lacking leaders on the pitch. None of this is new. We’ve all known it since the disappointing end to last season. Considering the intellectual powers available at our club, I am mystified that we are even having this debate.
!`ve got a hangover of biblical proportions.Which is okay as i`m an atheist.So I dont actually believe it`s happening.
`holic I would not recommend getting drunk on cachaca .
Shocking performance yesterday.You dont win fooball matches by just turning up.
When things are going against you,you need warriors.(I my youth we called them scrappers) .Technique by itself will never be enough.
I watched the first half on a poor stream, but I was not surprised to find out later that the scoreline had not changed.
We were totally overrun in midfield, the coordination between our midfield and defence was non-existent, our distribution was poor and our strikers did very little to help out when the team was under pressure. We also gave Fulham far too much room to play, we didn’t close them down half as quickly as they were on to us when we had the ball. Where was the work rate? Where was the desire? Where was Song?!
Anyway, I more than made up for it by sharing four bottles of wine between 3 last night. My head this morning was a little tender?
A large hair of the dog please, ‘holic, and have one for yourself.
Anyone who wants reminding what a combative defensive midfielder looks like should have a look at Loric Cana – just type his name in on youtube and enjoy 2 minutes of brutality!
He’d probably get a red every game in the Prem, but he would certainly add some steel to our midfield. He’s not coming so its only a fantasy.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes… he made us what are.. he has given us titles, cups and glory. But by the same vision, by the same hand, he has destroyed what could have been one of the greatest squads in football.
They say’ The lord giveth and taketh away’ and that is excatly how I feel about Wenger.
Although Arsenal can attract players of class and talent, Wengers has failed to secure the signings we need to move forward.
More importantly, he has failed to even create a decent starting 11. He played Eboue and Denilson in the center yesterday… probably the weakest Centre-Mid partnerships I have ever witnessed at AFC.
He choose to keep Ade, when he could have easily sold him to Barca and snap up D.Villa at no extra cost. He was unable to keep Flamini, who was our star last season.
We need to be revolutionised… which is why i think the time has come for Wenger to depart.
SHAREHOLDERS at Arsenal will NOT SACK WENGER. They are only concerned with selling tickets and making a profit on the transfer market. They want to ensure their share prices rise when they eventually sell up in a couple of years.
AFC is no longer about creating brillaint free-flowing football. We have been lost to WENGER AND THE ARSENAL BOARD… whose inability to spend money will cost us yet again.
From being the top team in London a few seasons ago…. we are now BEHIND CHELSEA, ON PAR WITH TOTENHAM and as yesterdays performance showed SHOULD BE BEHIND FULHAM!
its disgusting to witness such an atrocious performance on the second week of the new league.
WENGER IS ACCOUNTABLE… AS ARE THE FAT CATS ON THE BOARD!
TIME FOR CHANGE HAS COME… POSSIBLY ADAMS OR BERGKAMP IN THE DRIVING SEAT.
I think you’re over reacting, Kayo. If we can see a problem then don’t think for a minute that the Manager cannot. I’m sure he will make changes for the better in the forthcoming weeks.
You think Bergkamp or Adams are up to the job do you? Based on what? Being able to play good football does not equate to being a great manager. Look at Ferguson. A mediocre player at best. Look at Keane at Sunderland. A great player (and a great result yesterday as well!) but fighting relegation all last season.
Oh, I cannot be arsed trying to use logic against you.
SNAIL….
YOU MUPPET. football is not logical. if it was… mathematicians would be managers… so save you loogic for someobe who gives a turd.
Arsenal need a revolution. they need change. Eboue should not be in the 1st team…. Only a new manager would take him off..
Its time for the pack to be re-shuffled. Why is it that only out-siders can see all of Wengers problems and he fails yet again to alck insight.
His time has come to an end. He has had enough chances… its time to leave.
And… I don’t see why your soo optimistic. You probably have been hopeful for the last 3/4 yrs before you got kicked in the nuts when you finally saw our results at the end of each season.
Grow up kid. Change happends – it can be good – it can be bad. But going on yesterday’s performance it will not be step backwards.
job for life my ass.The reason he havnt been tossed out long ago is his contract………they would have to pay him a kings ransom to get rid off him.In 2011 it will happen not a second before.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSTOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP………………………………..
We’re all ligitmate fans/supporters whatever you want to call us. We’re ranging from ‘the end is nigh’ to mildly concerned after yesterday’s game…..how’s it going to help slagging one another off?
We have one common aim – to see Arsenal back at the top.
How can we achieve that aim.
1. Support the players and the club
2. Use our collective voice to present level-headed arguments and exert ‘positive pressure’ on those prepared to listen.
I can’t deny that I am totally confused as to what the real reasons are for allowing our squad to get so thin. Arguments ranging from”we can’t afford new players” to “there aren’t any players available out there of sufficient quality”. I would like some clarity from the club on these points.
Have a search in yesterdays Guardian. There is an interesting article about Wengers’ philosophy (and another about Cesc) in there that would go a long way to ansering the ‘why so thin’ question Rasputin.
I’ll get bashed for this but I really don’t think Wenger is far from getting it right. For me, the problem hinges around lack of midfield command and strength.
I guess we’ll all see over the next few weeks and months.
That aside, I really can’t see what can be gained from slagging each other of. It’s pointless!!!!
Thanks Don,
I’ll try and track down the article.
I agree about the midfield, but I also think the ‘team spirit’ that AW often quotes was missing yesterday and for this I have to look at Gallas. As ARSEBLOG points out, the boys looked less than inspired by his pre-match team talk and I wonder if they really hold him in that great esteem?
Despite the fact that Fulham have become something of a bogey team for us, there can be no excuse for such an abject performance. What was even more dispiriting was the lack of experience on the bench. I have heard that Wenger is considering putting Djourou out on loan now that he has signed the unfit and injury prone Silvestre. I hope I misheard that one. I think I also read that Wenger said he was unlikely to be bringing any one else in before the window closes, but I may have been in a slight drunken stupor at the time. The point is, is Wenger so totally wrapped up in his long term plans that he has lost sight of the fact that we need an experienced high quality midfielder now. A commanding centre back would be nice too but we can`t hope for too much can we? Can`t Wenger see that if results (and performances) don`t improve quickly, he will lose the support of the fans, and perhaps even the support of the board.
where to start: watching this game i saw no presence in midfield what so ever, we barely got any tackles from our midfielders. gallas shows that he is not worthy of being a captain. our team had no flow what so ever. we did not have any plays being made. all we saw were long balls to adebayor, which got us no where.
adebayor: didnt get the ball in good enough positions to do anything:
van persie: looks match fir, but is not sharp at all.
walcott: useless. seems like he learns from eboue with his diving, and attempts at cutting in field. he should stick with running in straight lines down the flanks, which he didnt do at all.
denilson: worst performance ever. couldnt put one pass on our boots. gave it to fulham player almost everytime. didnt make any tackles in the field.
eboue: had potential to be a def. mid but proved wrong. tried to be offensive, didnt show any signs of his defensive skills what so ever, and did shit.
nasri: he didnt play to well as he had no support, and no one to feed it to. held on to the ball as he could, but had no vision.
defence: was ok in general, aside from the shite taht gallas pulled. no dedication or will to want that ball, as he let the defender walk right through him.
wenger: where was vela in the squad? terrible subs selection. shoul’ve had vela on the bench. put him on the left, moved nasri to the right when he pulled out walcott. so first mistake was not having vela there. secondly why out on song for toure????? song shoulda replaced denilson. ultimatley, after his first sub and changes with bentdner, and shifting vanp in the middle, song shoulda played behind van p instead on denilson.
this was a terrible performance. we saw that we have no depth, grit, creativity in midfield without cesc and with the lose of flammster. we need a couple of midfield additions NOW. as for the defence, well maybe silvestre will play better along gallas, but gallas is surely not worthy of the captains band, and toure should be in the starting XI for sure.
what a dissapointment..another cupless year as we see first hand what we are with the lack of just 1 vital player…
Started the day feeling much too sad to add much except that the weak mid-field pairing of Denilson and Eboue was obviously not sustainable – last week against west brom denilson worked his socks off and eboue got into good positions but . . . . .
Is it worth risking cesc for wednesday? Give him a run-out by all means but we should be able to finish off twente with a two goal lead without too much trouble.
Play Toure with either Djourou or Senderos at the back. Gallas is not good enough at the moment.
Denilson will be crushed by yesterday so I hope we won’t see him, so who’s gonna play in mid-field? Wilshire is in the squad, play him alongside Song at some point either to start or to replace cesc.
And look forward to Alonso playing alongside Cesc on saturday – I am.
I hate to say it but im right. Wenger is useless and his ego wont allow him to be wrong and sighn a player this week. Ive given up listening to his constant bullshit lies and excuses a long time ago. The man is deluded if he thinks this team is good enough and hes only foolng himself now as everyone, even you “Arsene knows” clowns have finally woken up to his crap. Im amazed to hear you agree he needs one more player because in fact he needs 4 or 5. Apart from Fabregas and Sagna the rest of this team is ordinary and totally outrageously overrated and dont give me bullshit about Clichy or Van Persie as theyre ordinary at best. Why the fuck did we have to sit through the euros watching Wenger grab every photo oppertunity going when he should have been doing what hes hansomely paid to do which is manage Arsenal and get in players. Im sick to fuck of hearing him harp on about watching players at these games when the dog in the street knows hes no intention of buying any of them. Its time to face facts and the fact is that Wenger is past it. I can gaurantee that this current crop of overrated primadonnas and their egothistical manager will fail miserably this season. Its sad the way Wenger is destroying his legacy by sticking to his crazy experiment which has become a disaster now. Arsene as ive said before, you’re only kidding yourself now, time up, go, go now.
Paulie
Surely even you can see that the current shortcomings of the team as we all percieve them would not have been aired in such a vitriolic way if we had secured 3 points yesterday. We all have the right to moan as we know that we could do the job better.
The team were out of sorts yesterday, for whatever reason, they have the utmost respect for Arsene, so we have to assume it wasn’t deliberate and it was just a bad day at the office. It happens! A couple of goals and the cracks would have been papered over until cesc’s return.
Managers can fall on their own sword its true but Arsenes position is safe if a little uncomfortable at the moment.
one game does not a season make!
Wengerg is finished
all i have to say is that we need gallas out and get a good central defenders and a good raplacement for flamini and a good striker.i have to ask this if almunia got injured who’s gunner replace him…..fabianski?
How to wind up an Arsenal fan in 10 easy lessons:
1 Admit you need experience in the squad and then buy some kids
2 Complain about injuries last season and then buy 2 injury prone players
3 Have a crap captain last season and reinstate him for this season
4 Make statements of intent to buy players and then back down
5 Praise a player who already has an over-inflated opinion of himself and give him a pay rise for being a pain in the arse
6 Play players out of position and don’t make a change when it clearly isn’t working
7 Make a panic buy of a cheap manure reject and give him a 2 year contract which apparently DB didn’t merit
8 Spend time working for foreign TV instead of worrying about strengthening our squad
9 Play mind games with other managers/the fans in an attempt to lower the price of prospective new players
10 Let our glorious club slip from being the paragon of footballing excellence just a few seasons ago to a shambles of mediocrity scraping around for other clubs rejects.
And after all this, Arsene we still love you. We want you to prove us wrong and pull off a master stroke, but somehow I can’t see it happening this time.
I comfortably think we will be in the championship next season! Ok just kidding. But playing the way we did against Fulham we would not even win the championship.
We lost the game in midfield. The defence was shit and seriously Gallas needs to rethink his defensive (li)abilities
After watching the Game again, I want to make an observation.
1. Fulham had three in midfield against our two.
2. Denilson did better than people give him credit for. As he took more defensive responsibility. Most of his work was not eye catching but he got no help from Nasri, Walcott and Van Persie in the first half.
3. Gallas’ performance was worse on second viewing. He effectively forced Eboue and Denilson to spend too much time assisting him deal with Zamora.
Everty time we lost the ball in the final third with our midfield upfront. Fulham just launched the ball forward. Gallas too many times allowed Zamora to bring the ball down, content to hold him off till our midfield caught up. With the formation Fulham played (three in midfield) it put the boys under too much pressure.
I seem to remember Gallas doing the same thing against Liverpool. And we got thrashed. When he allowed Crouch to dominate him.
4. What was Cliche and Almunia talking about at the end of the Game? I am willing to bet it is Gallas. Watching the replay of the goal is one of the sickening. He even was more worried about the ball rebounding and hitting his face.
Gallas’ team mates have no confidence in him. Even during pre-season, many a times, he Gallas has been culperable for some school boy defending.
I personal believe this is his last season at the club. Arsene wants Cesc as captain but believe he is not ready yet. I think if Cesc had a proper pre-season he would have been made captain.
Funny how people are clamouring for Senderos to be sold while over the season Gallas makes more mistakes.
An excellent analysis of Gallas there, William.
I think a majority of our problems stem from this guy. He has a strong personality in the dressing roo, but it is a negative one in my opinion. If he gets out of bed the wrong side then it seems to affect the whole team.
‘holic,
I’d like to remind you that you told me off for the posting I’ve resubmitted below from about 10 days ago – you’re point was that the ‘proper right minded’ part was presumptuous and I agree, but I take it you are no longer disagreeing with the rest?
hallelujah!!!
It seems every proper, right-minded gooner except those infected with the ‘Arsene knows best’ virus, concedes that we need a top class, combative, defensive midfielder.
The fans, the pundits, the check-out girls in Tesco – all know this.
We shouldn’t have let Diarra go
We should have got Flamini to sign a new contract earlier last season, We should have realised by now that Diaby is injury prone and may never be good enough
We should have realised that Fabregas was not going to be match fit for the Twente game
We shouldn’t have sold Gilberto until we had secured a replacement for Flamini
We shouldn’t have given priority to signing little known players
WE SHOULD HAVE PULLED OUT ALL THE STOPS AND BOUGHT THE BEST PLAYER AVAILABLE THAT WE CAN AFFORD – AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH1!!!!!!!!!!
Let’s get this right, we’re leaking goals from set pieces because we don’t have a cohesive defence and there’s a lack of height, so we’ve just let Senderos go to Milan on a season’s loan. Haavard is out on a season’s loan too.
COMPLETE INSANITY
I can’t get my head round this……………………..
Are we sure that the scum haven’t kidnapped Wenger and had plastic surgery done on David Pleat, then planted him with instructions to destroy our chances this season.
Let’s get this straight, with everything else going on at the moment, we have just let go one half of our most effective defensive partnership from last season.
It’s a huge gamble to let Senderos go. Sylvestre is going to have to stay fit and perform to his maximum when called upon.
Haha Rasputin. Have you been watching ‘face off’
You’ve got to laugh haven’t you Jackster – I’m having to adopt a ‘bunker mentality’ to preserve my sanity.
Mr ‘holic,
I find that after every bad defeat is a ragingly good piss up.
Good blog ‘holic. You cunt.
Shot of Bush?
Some fair questions Rasputin, but all of this nonsense about we shouldn’t have let players x,y,and z go is just plain daft, and you know it.
Players now hold all the aces in negotiations, and if Flamini wants to leave when his contract is expiring (a year after nobody in their right mind would have offered him big money) there is nothing we can do to stop him.
If Diarra is such a plum that he is desperate to get out after five months because Flamini is better than him, and is prepared to disrupt the dressing room, is it wrong that we ship him out at a profit? No, of course not.
Could you deny Bert one last big payday when he has been cast aside like an out-of-fashion toy in the last twelve months?
I haven’t changed sides in the greater debate. I’ve seen us lose a lot of games when we had a lot worse squad than this. I accept that doesn’t apply to a lot of younger Arsenal fans now, but some of them need to get a grip.
I want us to sign better players than what we have, and I know there are a few out there, but are they available? That’s the hard bit. That is the difference between the Football Manager 2009 bunch and I.
I take all your points on board ‘holic and wouldn’t disagree with them -I somehow find myself wanting to play devil’s advocate on this site!
The really galling thing for me is that we have had weeks if not months knowing that it would be a good idea to shore up the defence and acquire a quality DM and we don’t appear to have made much effort to address these problems. The only justification I can accept would be as you say that perhaps the players just aren’t available. But to a mere supporter like myself, it looks like we are just not prepared to pay the money. O.K. if we really can’t afford to buy good players we’ll have to accept that. But the club have not come out and said this is the case, they are just allowing the footballing world to conclude that we are strapped for cash.
We may have spend 3 or 4 years in the financial doldrums. It won’t stop me supporting Arsenal, it will just change my perspective and aspirations.
Again, I find myself sitting somewhere between ‘holic and Rasputin.
Rasputin – the key part of your message 58 I agree with is the last sentence, i.e. “WE SHOULD HAVE PULLED OUT ALL THE STOPS AND BOUGHT THE BEST PLAYER AVAILABLE THAT WE CAN AFFORD – AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH1!!!!!!!!!!”
All the other stuff wouldn’t have mattered a jot had AW had a little more urgency in signing those replacements.
On the other hand ‘holic, I believe it is a little unfair for you to infer that the speculation over new potential signings is purely the musings of the Football Manager 2009 bunch. Even AW has said that every week he has the details of 60-70 new players in his ‘in-tray’ seeking a career with Arsenal Football Club. So I sincerely believe he would struggle with the defence that the right kind of player/s are not available (e.g. Vincent Kompany has just signed for Manchester City – so far looks tidy to me).
Personally, I think 2 games into the season is a little too early to (pre)judge Wenger but I will restate once again……his next signing, along with Silvestre, IMO will be the most crucially important of his tenure with AFC.
Dooooooomed I say! Doooooomed.
Don,
I agree, the next signing will be crucial – that’s if we make a signing
The noises coming from the club are not encouraging.
If the new signing is as important as some think, where would we be if he gets injured? ARSEBLOG reports this mornuing that Sylvestre is out injured until mid September, but apparently on the strength of his arrival we have allowed Senderos to go to Milan.
It’s just not logical.
Forget I used the word ‘logical’ – substitute IMHO sensible. I don’t want to get into the logic and football debate again.
That Rasputin is extremely prolific
Hello Rasputin
Well despite the suggestions of the very opposite, I’m firmly of the opinion that Wenger WILL sign a player. And I really don’t think this is hope over reality reigning supreme. Wenger has made all manner of contradictory statements over the last few weeks but what he has done is clearly allude to the fact that we have an under strength midfield…….which is also affecting the capabilities of our defence. Surely logic states that he cannot hope to combat this ‘problem’ by singularly bringing in Mikael Silvestre at the same time as loaning out Phillip Senderos to Milan???
Hope you’re right Don – apologies for being prolific, I’ll shut up now.
COME ON YOU REDS……………………………………………………………..
No apologies necessary Rasputin. As we’ve said before, it’s all about opinions. We can differ without resorting to mindlessly trading insults. Personally I can’t see the point of all that nonsense.
All the best buddy. And in the spirit of all the references on this mb to alcoholic beverages…..I’ll raise a cool pint of San Miguel to a character building win against FC Twente on Wednesday.