Hull Are Beneficiaries Of The Will
Sep 28th, 2008 by 'holic
‘You’re not going to write it up at midnight, surely?’ Mrs ‘holic thinks I should wait. She knows me too well. If I wait until the morning the result will be an apologetic piece and we will have done no wrong. That would not tell the true story of this painful defeat.
I would really like to concentrate on the positives. I met some really interesting people today. If it wasn’t for the football this would have been one of the great days. Thanks to the birthday boys (you know who you are) a splendid few hours passed by at the rate of knots in the Tollie.
Sadly though, in between drinks we had to adjourn to the Grove for the game. It would be remiss of me at the outset not to state that Hull City were worth the three points. For once we were second best on, and off, the pitch. Chant of the day was definitely the Hull fans ‘We’re just too good for you’.
They were not wrong. From early on Hull were clearly willing to advance as much as we would allow them, and that turned out to be a lot. In the opening half it probably tells you much about our performance that Denilson was probably the only player to catch the eye.
Most, if not all of you will now be familiar with the nuts and bolts of the contest, so I don’t need to tell you we were a goal up through Cesc just after half-time, or that one of the goals of the season, from Geovanni, put the visitors on level terms.
The reason I don’t want to wait to write this is that tomorrow morning I will find a way of describing the Hull winner without mentioning the fact that, once again, the clown that is William Gallas cost us dear. Before today we had shipped three goals, one a penalty, and the other two as the man Gallas was supposed to be marking escaped his attention at a set piece. Care to hazard a guess how Hull got their winner?
When I have been critical of him in the past I have been hounded by people who point out the number of times he has come up with face-saving strikes at the other end. They have a point, but he has become a liability at the back. Sorry, but he deserves a spell getting splinters on the bench. Don’t tell me that Djourou or Song would be worse options than him at the moment. You know full well that isn’t the case.
Anyway, that’s it. I’ve got it off my chest, and he will still be captain when Porto turn up on Tuesday. To be fair the rest of the side will have to show a marked improvement if we are to get the three points that are so vital from that clash, and I have no doubt that they will.
This truly was one of those days. Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and say ‘we were beaten by the better side’. It would be appreciated though if we didn’t have to hold them up again for a considerable length of time. A third league defeat in the coming weeks could be terminal.
51 Responses to “Hull Are Beneficiaries Of The Will”
Cheers for the write – up.
It would have been easier for you to blame the ref for letting us get away with kicking you.
Feel Arsene lost the pre-match mind-games, simply because we did, unexpectedly have the “qualitéé’ to tackle with intent.
It’s true though, you don’t like it up you – proper job done on Eboué.
Obviously a far better bunch of individuals than us, but what we have we used – and rode our luck at times.
Think we matched you for shots (on target) just about, and 88% tackles won tells a story.
Honest to god, hope you beat ManUre and Chelski to the title – and you are truly world-class on your day. Hope to see more scintilating stuff from you, especially in europe – but not at the K.C. obviously.
Take care of Theo for us all.
Mauled by the Tigers……….
(P.S. anyone notice the camp-ironic clawing action whilst singing that song? Quality!!!)
Fair play to Hull, I said after Fulham that that game would not be a one off. The sad news is, this will happen again and soon. This is what happens when a) you plunge yourself back into another transition and b) you have no competition for places. A terrible result followed by a short response of four or so games, followed by another poor result, followed by another short response. Basically, it’s 2005-06 all over again. Who from today will lose their place? You rightly mention Gallas but what about van Persie? That man does not play for Arsenal, he plays for Robin van Persie. But both are secure in their places so have zero incentive to sort themselves out.
Couldn’t agree more on Gallas. A spell on the bench would do him good just like it did lehmann.
Djorou needs to be played in games like these. If we don’t give him games now, we’ll all be shitting bricks when we have a big game and Gallas/Toure is injured.
Gallas’ goals are no justification. In most cases he scores in games in which he’s already been responsible for conceding a goal.
He’s not a striker. He’s a defender. If you want him for his goals then play him as a striker and put someone decent in at the back.
Oh and pray that Porto don’t get too many corner against us.
You don’t do magnanimous, do you Rich?
I was shaking Hull fans by the hand at the final whistle. They had a great day out, and you deserved the points. Our turn will come at the KC, and you know it 😉
RVP had an off day if you ask me. As for being selfish, that’s your opinion. And he has plenty of competition form Nicky, Vela and Theo.
Fair point about Gallas ,although let me say again, he and Toure are both old style sweepers. Neither is a Terry, Vidic ,Campbell or Adams.So the issue is more about Wengers failure to deal with this. Just as worrying is the midfield. I dont know what game you were watching but to me and all the people i’ve talked to ,Denilson is a lightweight liability who is actually diminishing the infiuence of Fabragas. I dont know if Song is really up to seeing off the likes of Essien,.Hargreaves and Barry,but he looks the best bet given Wengers trotal failure to deal with this issue and the centre half problem over the summer.
Interestingly, Dutch is one of two people whose opinions I value who is citical of RvP. I’m still a fan, and would play him when he is on song, but we do have options. I’d be fascinated to hear what you all think about him.
Agree with the comment on Gallas. DJ should play. RVP is really below par and Ade was just palin awful. To be honest, we watched a team of over paid multi millon prima donnas get mauled by a bunch of tigers who probably earn a combined salary of Ade and Cesc. What a joke. It seems as though it is a case of entitlement because they play for Arsenal, they except teams to roll over. I am disgusted and dissappointed and quite honestly, by what I have seen at Fulham and today, we will win FA this season.
Alright cally. I think Denilson is getting a rough ride at the moment, although my point was I thought he was our most effective player in the first half, which shouldn’t be the case when he is supposed to be performing the holding role, at home. I think he was dragged down again in the second half, but that was not necessarily his fault. We should be better offensively against sides like Hull (no offence intended!)
We had a great result tonight and are truly proud of our team for what they have achieved, however congratulations to the sporting Arsenal fans who clapped us off the pitch and respected the enthusiasm for our team. You are a great football club Arsenal, it has been a pleasure to be amongst you.
RvP has plenty of natural talent, doubtless. But I’m struggling to think of contributions from him this season that weren’t punts at goal. Most of which were off target with team mates in better positions. Somehow he’s earned golden child status with the supporters and it’s sacrilege to criticise him, so we focus it all on the regular whipping boys instead. The team plays much better without van Persie, he’s a luxury player who should be on the bench and played only when we’re desperate for a goal or we’re 4-0 up and fancy watching some virtuoso flicks and tricks. The guy is 25 years oldand still plays like a ten year old, right down to his petulant temperament.
Glad you had a good day fella…
Well, perhaps glad is not the right word 😉
No, magnanimous not my strong point.
Give me a break though – If you’ve seen your club outclassed by the likes of Liincoln and Hartlepool in the not too distant past – you’d have to be there to understand.
Just read “the miracle of Castel di Sangro”(Mcginnisss, ISBN0-7515-2753-x), and couldn’t help thinking ‘this is nothing on city’ throughout.
Stuff of legend for a fan who’s slummed it in the worst sh!tholes the football leauge can throw up.
Forgive me.
Mean it about winning the league though. One of the best footballing sides in europe, great to watch, and as a lover of football I hope you continue to achieve success doing things the right way.
Just not at our expense that is…..
Gallas is struggling to defend set pieces.
no more gallas always his fecking fault every fecking time
I absolutely agree with LD. RvP was anonymous. And dont get me wrong, despite providing the assist, Walcott was way below par.
We are going to definitely suffer this season – not because of the occasional standout games we will always have them., but games like these.
I rather have four 1-0 wins than a 0-1, 3-0,4-0 and a 1-2.
And how many goals are we going to concede from corners before Wenger rectifies it?
What happened to the statistician?
Gallas = too lazy and arrogant to defend properly.
1 goal from a corner, perhaps unlucky
2 goals from a corner, excusable
3 goals from a corner in the opening 6 games, inexcusable.
Its Djourou’s time.
LD-
Keep in mind it’s only the 6th game of the season, Robin has been out for quite a while before this and he’s a striker, if he doesn’t shoot, he can’t score! Would you rather he pass all the time and end up like Hleb?
We Arsenal supporters seem a strange lot don’t we? We lamented a few seasons ago that everyone was passing and passing and refusing to shoot. Now we’re complaining about someone who has no qualms about shooting for not passing enough.
RvP is a striker, he’s being paid to score. Give him time. I’ll judge him in December on his contribution to the season so far.
If you really look at the game, i think cesc was having an offday. His completed passes and corners were really below par. He is the one who ticks our engine and hence i think the pace of the game was slow. this allowed hull city to get into their stride and they are a good team. Out to prove a point.
That said, i am not worried. This is a setback but we can bounce. Wenger we all know, will lift this team.
Hey, ne one think that nasri is ‘injured’ because it is ramzan and he is fasting. I think he will play against porto or definitely agaisnt Sunderland.
And you are right about gallas. He has a spell in every game where he thinks himself as a striker and i see him more in the opponents box then in our box.
Frankly, I rather give those so called “Crucial Goals” that Gallas scores and get back the goals we’ve conceded because of him not defending properly.
When you have a defender, you expect him to defend. If he scores, well, that’s a bonus. You don’t need a defender that scores once in a while and makes stupid mistakes almost every game. That’s unacceptable.
as for RvP, I think he’s a great striker but this game he had one of those off days. He should’ve been substituted early in the second half.
I guess it’s no more than we can expect given the brilliant strategy employed by Wenger for this season. After all, we all know that it’s impossible for us to either win the league and/or the Champions’ League given we haven’t made any proper experienced signings and so the young ones lack the leadership that they need to know when to stop looking to score the perfect goal etc and so we have decided to concentrate on the trophies that we have a small chance of winning like the Carling Cup and perhaps the F.A. Cup if we stick to the strategy of playing our de facto first team for these tournaments and resting them for the first two mentioned in which we have little hope.
Hopefully, the other teams will continue to play weakened sides in the domestic cups so that we have a chance to win something this season. Let’s face it, the UCL and the BPL are really only for teams with ambition to win and not for tightwads who insist on becoming feeder clubs to the really big teams of Europe. Man, I can’t wait for the Carling Cup 4th Round!
Oh, one other thing: just so that I don’t get massacred by the Liverpool, Manure, Spuds and Chelski fans that I meet around me everyday, I selfishly hope that the team would do me the favour of trying not to lose by more than 3 goals to these teams while we pursue our master strategy of reaching the domestic cup finals just to lose to the full strength side of the other finalist. After all, if we can’t beat Hull at home, what prayer do we have against anyone from the current top half of the table let alone the “big four?”
This a reality check for AW and Arsenal. Bf the game,the hull manager said the gunners must not be given time and space and true to his words his players followed the gunners all over the pitch.Goodness know how many blades of grass they covered.In contrast the first hull goal resulted from the defenders backing off. Criminal offence.
I’m afraid Aw still likes to play bewitching soccer and trying to pass the ball in the penalty area when confronted by the great wall of hull defenders.
If the gunners aint ruthless in front of goal,this season could come to grief though its early days.By the same token the defenders are to blame for the complacency and teams have cottoned on that scoring goals against the gunners at set pieces will pay dividends.
You have been warned AW/arsenal.
For starters there must be a shakeup of the players.Ade has been forever running into offside and god know s how many chances he must take to score.Hull were good value for the win.
Yes Arsenal had one hundred shots at goal and only one goal to show. Hull had maybe five chances and scored twice.that show the gunners aint clinical enuf. This has been going on for many years.
The defence has been conceding goals from corners and set pieces.I worry because the top teams have better players than Hull and allied with a never say die spirit could see off the gunners.
I tell you what. a draw agaginst Porto aint good enuf . In fact it could add on to fears that this could be another transition period.
Oh by the way nobody cares whether you have the best young players in the world,sorry,epl.Its results that count .
Yes Arsenal may play the best or bewitching soccer but if you get mugged,nobody will bother.
Unless and until AW knows you can’t win in style, Arsenal will be stuck in a winless rut. The table doesn’t lie.
‘Holic I was hoping for some words of solace from you but I read this the morning after when the loss still stings. What hurts the worst is to hear Wenger say that the team was not up for it. Wow. That’s two games where we’ve just not been up for the challenge in six league games.
Regarding Gallas, I find it hard to believe that the same manager who could drop Lehmann can’t drop Gallas. Give Djourou and Toure a run in the league and let Gallas play in the CL where we’ll face less “English” opponents. You’re right. Djourou/Song won’t be as bad as Gallas.
This season’s captaincy and last seasons’ to an extent reminds me of the Henry captaincy. Henry, I’m as big a fan as anyone else, didn’t play well that season and Gallas isn’t playing well this season. Sure, he’s turned up with goals but he’s also given away goals. Two bad choices by Wenger. We missed Gilberto yesterday, for his defensive qualities and for his leadership, quiet though it was.
Regarding RVP, I’m beginning to feel that (a) he’s overrated or (b) he’s going through a really bad patch. I lean towards (a) because he’s never had a full season with consistent scoring. Sure, he scores fantastic goals and can produce some killer passes but mostly he’s inconsistent, like a Reyes. People get on Ade’s case but RVP has been far more wasteful this season. I would’ve thought that Bendtner would’ve played given his Carling cup form and the league match before, when he had some neat link-up play.
I also felt that if Walcott and Eboue play, it should be with Walcott on the left and Eboue on the right. I have a feeling that Theo would’ve skinned McShane, who wouldn’t have been able to cope with his pace.
The Porto game can’t come soon enough but this quote from Wenger is enough to make any Arsenal fan go mental.
“I believe as a unit, as a team we were not at the level where we wanted to be. I believe that’s more collectively and its more down to mental aspects rather than technical aspects.”
Morning ‘holic, very nice to see you again yesterday.
I think we got exactly what we deserved from a complacent and arrogant approach to the game.
Hull fully deserved the win.
Robin was so far off the pace yesterday that I felt a little bit sorry for him, and as for Eboue, I’m still not calm enough to talk about *his* contribution.
Look, Arsenal play lovely football, it feels great to have beaten you at The Emirates but you’re the Premier League team I enjoyed watching the most when Hull City weren’t in this league. You’ll bounce back from this defeat with such a vengeance I’m glad it’s not us in the firing line. I think I’ll have a punt on your next match for you to win whoever you’re playing, wherever you’re playing them. Make sure you have fish and chips in Hull in January …. and have a look around The Deep, stay overnight …. the Marina Holiday Inn’s alright and have a drink of proper beer in Ye Olde White Harte where the elders of Hull decided to lock the king of England out of Kingston upon Hull pretty much starting the civil war. We’ve always been a bit bolshy up here but were alright!
By the way, I saw (was it Jon Sammels?) score an unbelievable goal for Arsenal in the 70s (I think) … picks the ball up on the right inside the Arsenal half, runs with the ball and smacks it into the goal from MILES out …. can anyone tell me where it is on YouTube?
Never forgotten this goal!
I really wanted to mention Eboue’s contribution, but that just seems to evoke a ‘same old scapegoats’ reproach. His diving and play acting returned to the fore yesterday, and he contributed little else. It’s such a shame because he was starting to turn it round.
Jon, I can tell you it was against Manchester United because I was there. Jon Sammels had a wonderful shot on him.
Apparently ManU have been in contact with Arsenal periodically over the last few seasons, to enquire whether RvP might be for sale, similarly to what they used to do about Tony Adams some years back.
Thankfully Adams was never sold and,since ManU have now got a full line up of strikers to integrate I dont imagine they will be chasing RvP so much any more.
But there’s no doubt about it, RvP is not contributing as expected in the Premier League. Hopefully he will be motivated for the UEFA audience, feature in the Porto game and score a brace.
We keep on being told ad nauseum that we don’t need to buy any more players. Whereas it is true that we are well served in a number of areas, our team has been crying out for the last five years for an imposing centre half.
Manure have Vidic, Chelski Terry, Liverpool Carragher. Brown the Hull manager was stated as saying yesterday that he targeted Arsenal from set plays and corners as they have looked very vulnerable in previous games. Even in the Blackburn game we could have conceeded three in the first half to amateurish defending to long diagonal balls.
Compounding our defensive problems is that there is no cover from the centre of midfield. At our best we had Tony Adams being covered by Vieira.
It’s not just the goal we conceded from the corner but look at the other goal from Geovanni. Nobody from midfield or centre back tried to close the shot down.
In any successful team you need the right balance. We are crying out for a bit of steel in the engine room. At the moment we are just too weak physically at centre half and at midfield and every other team knows it.
Would love to hear your thoughts on this.
k, I’ve never bought the criticism we don’t shoot enough. The ‘shooooot’ brigade piss me off somewhat, statistics show we regularly shoot more than any other team in the league. RvP is supposed to be a link player, but he doesn’t pass the ball. RvP couldn’t play with Henry, or Bergkamp and now Adebayor. Surely there’s a pattern? He’s our answer to Steven Gerrard constantly trying to be the hero and punting the ball at goal every time he gets it. Arsenal’s strength is our interplay and movement, RvP does neither and yet whinges whenever people don’t give him the ball. He is not a team player.
The Hull game was the perfect opportunity for Villa, Appiah, Alonso to demonstrate the leadership needed to pull games through. As it stands we don’t have leadership, Arsene cannot be the leader from the sidelines it has to be on the pitch. The scary thought is how do expect our promising youngsters to stay when we are no longer winning anything?
There was a nice touch yesterday when a family of Hull supporters walked sheepishly past the Tollington and received a round of applause and congratulations for which they seemed pleasantly surprised and relieved.
This was swiftly followed by a chorus of “you’ve only come to see Eboue”
No drink for me today thanks.
Very nice to meet you yesterday ‘holic. Glad you made it back OK.
First, congratulations to Hull City for a game well-played and a victory well-deserved. I think Phil Brown won the mind-games too – giving the impression that they were going to give us a good kicking and then playing very solid basic football. Two yellow cards and neither of the tackles worthy of one.
This was the accident waiting to happen. Many bloggers have voiced their disquiet over the CB partnership (this is the third season) but AW carries on as if nothing is wrong. Mind-boggling. Problem is, for all his wondrous points, he’s a stubborn old coot and now he’s painted himself into a corner because it’s his captain that needs to be “rested”. I fully expect the same pairing against Porto.
In addition to which he started the game without any Defensive Midfielder whatsoever. The result being that when Hull won the ball in midfield they could run at our defence with impunity. There was a point in the second half when Eboue, God bless’im, kept the ball in on the touchline and fell over, leaving Hull’s full back to run right through to the edge of the Arsenal area unchallenged. The arrogance started, methinks, with the manager in believing that we would not need cover there, or expecting Denilson to do the job when it’s not his inclination.
I’d agree too with assessment of RvP. He and Ade have shown no sign whatsoever of building any understanding and it makes no sense to me to leave the man in form, Bendtner, on the bench. It also makes no sense to bring him on and gum up the Hull penalty area with an extra body – smacks of desperation. He should have replaced either RvP or Ade, not Eboue, who shouldn’t have been out there in the first place. Afraid I don’t subscribe to all this stuff about him looking better this season. He’s done a reasonable job in a couple of games at DM, but on the wing ?????? Give me a break. He’s a fine utility player as back up for Sagna or to bring on for Walcott or an extra body in the middle when we’re a couple of goals up and we want to defend the lead but that’s about it. But again, AW likes him and will continue to play him. And if he’s in the start line-up against Porto, I’ll not be watching – can’t take any more. This is not scapegoating. I think he was the worst of a very bad bunch yesterday, but even when we play well, he’s carried by the others.
Talking of scapegoating, it’s nice to see Jon Sammels get a mention after all these years. I was a great fan of his and thought him very under-rated by the Highbury crowd who always seemed to be on his back. And yes, he had a fabulous shot on him.
Just a ricard for me, thanks.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=RMnrxFQebAg
Hope you like chaps!!
Re the game, the difference was in the hunger. Hull seemed more determined than were we. They fought harder, ran harder, worked harder – whereas Arsenal, by contrast, felt just by turning up we were going to walk of the pitch with all 3 points.
Wenger has always been strong enough to make tough decisions. The Gallas situation will turn out to be his biggest challenge whether he chooses to do nothing or puts him on the subs bench (where he belongs at the minute). Either way, it will surely have huge ramifications.
IMO singling out anyone else is purposeless. Everyone played well below par and I have a feeling were still wallowing in the backslapping and platitudes as a result of the win against Sheffield United earlier in the week. They all need a bloody good kicking and need to be told to focus on the job!!!!
Thanks Don,
That brought back some terrific memories. I was talking to David Court a few weeks back and apparently Jon is not enjoying the best of health at the moment. If anybody out there in the Leicester area knows Jon please pass on our best wishes.
Well, what do you say about that. Its tempting to put it down as `one of those games`, but that would mask the clear deficiencies. Defensively we were again poor. We were told that Silvestre was finally available for selection, but he made no appearance, even for a game which was expected to be fairly straightforward. Gallas has to be told to improve or no longer be an automatic pick. I would personally prefer Djoirou to partner Toure. In attack, our first choice paring need a rocket up their arses. Competition for places should be just that, and I can`t see why we shouldn`t pair Vela, a natural goalscorer if there ever was one, and Bendtner up front for a few games, and see how Robin and Ade react. I`ve lost count of the number of times robin has fired just wide, and who is to blame for Arsenal riding high in the offsides against league. I read one report that said our title challenge was already over, and its hard to disagree, when the points the mancs have dropped were against Liverpool and Chelsea and ours against Fulham and Hull. Come on Arsene, get angry, get really really angry and do something!
we always do this dont we? we win 6 – 0 and we prasing Arsene and his greatness, lose to the better team on the day and Arsene all of a sudden becomes incompetent?!?!?!
Yes there are some issues – Gallas… i shake my head in shame. shuda kept Phillipe! ANd I think Song would be a much better option than Denilson, but thats just me!
but guys, Arsene knows! In Arsene I trust and so should we all. lets get behind our team and stay behind them!!!
Tuesday will lift all our sprits!! come on you GUNNERS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Spot on about Gallas. He will never cut it for me as captian and the sooner Arsene relieves him of his position the better. He is far from being our best option in that position and to be honest, I wish he had stayed at Chelski. RVP looks out of sorts too but we all know what we can expect from him when he hits top form. Hull were a credit to smaller clubs the way they came at us and fully deserved their win. Hopefully we can regain our form for Porto which I am sure we will.
‘Holic you are a gentleman. That is important to me.
I wish that you wouldn’t knock Gallas though. He had fuck all to do with our result.
IMO, Theo should start as a striker. Ade should be given time off to find a planet friendly pension plan and RvP should be given kicking the ball lessons.
London Overground should weigh 60,000 fans against a few kilos of plutonium …
We may not concur on Gallas, xyzzy, but I sense a convergence on transportation issues. Between them the club and TfL have managed to get away with worse than murder. The stadium is a fabulous facility served by a second-rate and cheapskate transport infrastructure for those who are pumping vast sums into Arsenal Football Club and the surrounding businesses.
Morning ‘holic. Cheers for that (you know what!) and great to meet you on Saturday.
Agreed with everything you said – Hull were better, simple as. Can’t understand why, but they were.
Rich if you’re there – fair play, and the Hull fans – who seemed to sell-out their allocation, which is more than can be said for other teams who come to the Emirates – were noisy throughout.
Hopefully it’ll give us the kick up the arse we need, and spark a similar reaction to after the Fulham game.
After listening to Brown’s comments last season defending Davies’ atrocious tackle on Clichy, it was great to see that Hull beat us by PLAYING FOOTBALL, not by kicking us all over the park.
CORRECTION: “After listening to Brown’s comments last WEEK defending…”
Arsene’s confusion of Hull with West Bromwich in the game’s immediate aftermath, and his description of feeling ‘physically sick’ about the result, indicate that he was as shocked about the performance as we were. I suspect he was shocked about being out thought by a man with a deplorable beard, fake tan, and some kind of sex aid in his ear.
Let’s hope the veils drop from Arsene’s eyes – specifically, as many have said here, let’s hope Gallas and Eboue see some reserve team action pronto
Let’s be honest about it though – and I am speaking as a 100% supporter of AW – we ain’t going to win the league this season
Watching those You Tube clips of Sammels (and then I went on to Radford etc), at the simple, classic, iconic red and white kit and the terraces where I stood for years, I experienced a physical sense of loss. I had some of the best years of my life on the North Bank and Clock End and now I’m really fucking miserable
So cheers for that, I’ll have a cold Heineken ‘holic, and one for yourself
LSPG — when it was clear that AW wasn’t going to strengthen the team in the obvious problem areas (areas he himself identified), that was the moment I knew we would not win the league this season. However I didn’t expect it to be confirmed so early. Make no mistake, this season will be all about chasing a finish in the top 4.
He’s gambling for sure – could have bought players but either wasn’t convinced about them or wouldn’t pay the money or both. He’s got my support, always, but the longer the problems at the back go unaddressed the more systemic the problem looks and the more Wenger gets himself in a hole
I suspect he will try and solve the problem short term by dropping Kolo for Djourou and picking Song for Denilson (who’s done nothing wrong), maybe not for tomorrow but against Sunderland. If he’s brave he’ll pick Vela for RVP tomorrow, but in the long term we still need a quality CB and DM
Because I still trust the man I’m hoping AW is working on this, but for sure it’s worrying
Nasri’s energy will make a difference when he comes back – maybe tomorrow
I agree Lee scratch Perry …. Nasri Is a big loss
ha ha … holic… i wonder how many of us that come on here are drinking in the tollie every other saturday (or sunday) 😉
great reading once again