Confidence Evaporates As Possession Is Wasted
Nov 22nd, 2008 by 'holic
Ok any City fans. This bit is for you. You thoroughly deserved the victory. You made the most of your chances and showed a touch of ruthlessness in front of goal. Now, forgive us, but this is an Arsenal blog, and the rest will be about us.
No excuses here, we were well beaten, and the side that we put out would win matches under different circumstances. Indeed one could argue that the side that eventually crumbled at Eastlands had made a much better fist of this contest than those who had represented the club at Fulham and Stoke.
For forty-five minutes we gave our all, and probably shaded the contest, but key players were clearly lacking a bit of belief. The lions share of possession would be retained throughout. 66% said the stats at the game’s end, but that counts for nothing if you do nothing with that possession, and we did nothing with it.
Early on City felt they may be able to isolate Premiership debutant Gavin Hoyte at right-back, but he stuck to his guns well, and received solid support from Johan Djourou, recalled to replace the absent Gallas. Ironically the breakthrough came on the other side of the defence when Mikael Silvestre and Gael Clichy got in each others way and presented a gift to Ireland as the half drew to a close.
Clearly stung by conceding, the Gunners opened the second-half brightly with Abou Diaby and Robin van Persie going close, but just as it looked as though the equaliser was coming they were again caught on the break. Robinho’s wonderful finish knocked the stuffing out of a side lacking confidence, and all of a sudden the visitors fragility was exposed.
A dubious offside flag denied Robinho a second as Arsenal deteriorated rapidly. The problems in the final half-hour stemmed largely from an inability to retain the ball in the attacking third as Nicklas Bendtner had one of those days where everything bounced off him to an opponent. It seems harsh to single him out given the lack of a creative spark behind or alongside him when the game could still have been salvaged.
The final nail in the coffin came when Sturridge cleverly earned the hosts a last minute penalty which he himself converted. It gave the scoreline an emphasis that will have made the return journey a miserable one for the magnificent travelling Gooners.
Whilst we were certainly competitive for the best part of an hour the manager will be wondering how to repair the damage that was done thereafter. What promise had existed evaporated as the side once again failed to respond to a setback. Getting chins off the floor will be the primary task of management and coaching staff.
It will be an uncomfortable few days to follow the Arsenal. The post-match interviews, all to do with the missing Gallas, provoked irritated responses from Arsene Wenger. “The captain today was Manuel Almunia. If you were there today you must have seen that.” Those who seem to draw some kind of warped pleasure from seeing the side struggle will be to the fore. So be it.
What is important is that those who will fill the Grove for the visit of Dynamo Kyiv on Tuesday must get behind this side. The return of confidence will only be delayed by a negative reaction which would not do anybody a great service. I can be sure that the travelling support will get behind the side at Stamford Bridge next week, but we need to be as vocal and supportive at home as well.
I think it was Arseblogger * who this week suggested that the measure of a captain was how he performed when things were not going well, or words to that effect. Dare I suggest that the measure of a good support can be viewed similarly. Do we have good support? We may be about to find out.
* edit. Gunnerblog too!
46 Responses to “Confidence Evaporates As Possession Is Wasted”
Great article. I agree, we need to get behind the team and motivate them when things aren’t going well (like they’re not at the moment). Let’s focus on the future, not on the past and move on from these back to back defeats and comments from Gallas this week. I think we should stop critising Wenger and start motivating the team instead. Come on Arsenal!
Our main problem is confidence, pure and simple. All true gooners can do is stand up and support those young lads, what they need is encouragement, not sniping and blame. Those people out there calling themselves gooners who cant take defeat on the chin should fuck off you’re not helping
COME ON YOU GUNNERS
Good article and I do agree we must support the team. The whole situation right now is a sad one with so many players out and the Gallas disruptions. To be completely honest I think we may end up in the UEFA Cup next season, but that may prove to be the kick in the pants we need.
It’s going to be a long season….
I’ll have an islay, neat please, water on the side. Better make it a double in fact.
well thankfully that’s out the way. Arsene has three days now to get the boys focused on 3 points at home against kiev and then chelsea, not bothered if we lose to chelsea tbh because fourth is ours with a strong run later on in the season without a shadow of a doubt. But just for laughs and just to send a few of the less confident gooners in to a panic we are equal points away from the top as we are to the relegation zone…in fourth : O
oh and a treble ouzo with some nuts please barkeep, the same for the arsenal squad.
If Chelsea,Liverpool and ManU drew,dont think the league is far from over….we can still get in and win,it will take alot,but we can still do it!
‘Holic – Thought we were poor today. Hate to say it, but we’ve taken a hiding at 3-0.
No alcohol for me. I’m abstaining until we win again.
Well, you can waste a year following the fortunes of this ragbag lot. I think “sod it”. I can switch off, it’s better for your health. Now I know what it’s like to be a West Ham fan. Ambitions to be the best of the rest with no chance of ever winning a cup and crippled by lack of funds. David Dein maybe had a point…
Great article. We have to stand firmly behind our team. I am sure Arsene will think of a long term solution. If we do not stand behind our team on Tuesday, we could find ourselves out of the Champions league.
great article, such a shame all that possesion and no end product. I do unfortunatly disagree with not placing a large amount of blame at the clumsy un-cordinated feet of bendtner, he’s not and never will be arsenal quality, he has huge amounts of confidence for a striker so blatantly lacking in ability, he can’t hold up the play, he doesn’t know where the goal is and is useless upfront on his own. I really hope he goes, that’s harsh I know, and no doubt I’ll get stick, but if eddie was fit I doubt he’d even make the bench, we need to pick ourselves up quickly for tues as the CL is our best bet at a trophy, hopefully we can muddle through to jan, when wenger MUST spend to revive any hope of a successful season, cesc for captain
i don’t know how anyone can support your team who has absolutely no possibilities of winning anything simply because of very weak and inexperienced squad u tend to support your team more during difficult circumstances because u believe that your team are capable of winning.apart from fabregas,clichy,adebayor,van persie,sagna who are the talented experienced footballers at arsenal absolutely no one how does arsene wenger gets the confidence that we can be the best team in europe i have absolutely no idea
I can’t believe you all. Dino you think fourth place is ours for sure? You twat, in real life nothing is for sure, you have to work hard for it. At the moment Villa is working twice as hard as us….FACT! I will support The Arsenal, that is my duty for life, but I will not support Wengers ideoligy anymore.
Nice posting, ‘holic. See you Tuesday perhaps !
Cut the personal abuse please stonroy. You are welcome to disagree and argue your case, but make it sensible. Thanks.
*See you next Tuesday *
Holic you think a fourth place for sure is sensible?
Actually I see no reason why we shouldn’t finish fourth. That’s obviously not guaranteed but there is certainly enough quality in the squad to secure the points. I would be very surprised and disappointed if we didn’t achieve that, despite the current dip in form.
AW better know his policy with kids aint working.Don’t get me wrong,if nothing is done Arsenal could be even fighting against relegation in the worst scenario.Now going for the fourth spot could be a problem.
The manager has himself to blame for the present situation call what you may.His indulgence in kids has backfired dramatically and if he were to continue in the present vein ie, adding more kids to the stable it wont solve the problem. The kids can’t be men overnight.
Let’s wait and see what he does in the Jan window.He is being associated with players 19 to 21 everywhere.If these kids can deliver well and good but it doesn’t look likely.
I dont want o bring the past suffice to say Arsenal could have won the the title in 2003 and2008 if he had got some players the team were crying out for.
Btw he better know all teams know how to counter the gunners. So Arsenal must adapt.In the MC game the gunners stiil want to pass their way thru the centre which is a common feature of their play.Teams aint going to give the gunners time and space to play bewitching soccer.The epl is differet from cl. AW better know that or he thinks differently.
next stop the cl game. Qualification is not a foregone conclusion. Failure to qualify for the group stages will have repercussions which wont be felt immediately if the team goes spinning downwards. The waiting list at the ES could shrink dramatically and with it funds to buy players.
However football is an unpredictable business and who is to say the gunners can’t beat Chelsea though it will take a brave man to wager on that.
Good night my fellow gunners. Hope you have a good sleep and here’s to good news on the cl.
Understandably there is a lot of negativity floating about at the moment. We all know that the press will have a field day. But let’s have a bit of a reality check here. Today we were poor. Not for the first time this season I hasten to add. Confidence is a massive factor and it was clearly lacking in bucket loads today. The Gallas rants have affected the squad. It was plain to see. Coming so close to a tricky away game would have meant that AW had little time to brief the team. My opinion is that he has dealt with an awful situation in the best way he can. Gallas has been stripped of the captaincy, dropped and made to report for training this morning. Only time will tell if he plays again for The Arsenal.
Before we go overboard about today’s performance let’s just have a look at who was, for whatever reason, unavailable today. Missing were, Sagna, Fabregas, Toure, Rosicky, Eduardo, Gallas, Walcott, Adebayor and Eboue. Add to that list Traore and Senderos who are both out on loan. We do not have the world’s biggest squad but those abstractions would be difficult to manage for any side. Hopefully a few will be available for Tuesday night. Perhaps, just perhaps now that Gallas has been removed from post some others may feel that it is time r them to take the next step in their leadership course?
Tuesday is a big night and I agree totally with you Holic about the crowd. We get behind the side and see a good victory, and then we are through. The doom and glooms lifts and we march on.
Keep the faith. I for one can not see too many tubby females warming up their vocal chords just yet.
You’re in dreamland if you think some modifications here or there are going to change our general downward direction. It’s time to rebuild. None of the players Steve T mentions gives much confidence. If we scrap through on Tues then we are lucky, and while that is good it doesn’t solve our obvious deficiences.
Yet another typically “oh well it’s a matter of confidence and we must get behind the team” article!!!!
We have been behind Arsene’s team for 4 years now, where he has pursued the course of cheap young purchases and 2nd rate squad players…… Bendtner, Song, Denilson, Gallas, Diaby, Almunia, Eboue are at the heart of this side ….all of whom are players who at best are of a standard to play in the Middleboro’s, Evertons, Blackburns etc. They are not the standard that is needed to provide the quality to win trophies ….or dare I say it….maintain a top 4 position.
I said before the start of the season that we will win nothing with this squad as it is inherantly flawed…too many mid table standard players, not enough mid twenties star quality players. Last season we over achieved mainly because Flamini provided a drive and tireless work ethic that pushed our midfield that little bit further (and his initial inclusion was not a masterstroke by Wenger, it was a forced move due to injuries). We can now see that his loss and that of Hleb have ripped a huge whole in our squad, one that our manager has failed to fix along with the other faults that have been so obvious for years….namely that we have no strong centre backs, we have only average keepers, not match winners and most of all we do not have a single player with the determination or drive to really be and “ARSENAL” captain!!! Wenger has reduced that position to a farce ever since he made TH captain, and then giving it to Gallas, a man so full of his own self importance that I am sure that the Chelsea squad were exstatic when he left!!
It is now too late for this season (10 points behind 1 club may be theoretically possible to pull back…but I dont see 2 teams plus Man U collapsing do you?) So what are the options…..
1. Wenger stays and he changes his failed program of playing pretty possession football and staying with the current crop. This would mean at least another year or 2 of rebuilding. But I don;t see him changing as he is so into his own self belief (almost to the point of arrogance) and that will only lead to further defeats and disappointments for us fans.
2. The Arsenal Board have the guts to thank Wenger and move him upstairs and bring in an inspirational manager……. and here I would offer Martin O’Neil the contract of a lifetime……this man could do wonders with the basis of our squad, given the right support….look at his record, it speaks for itself…and he produces teams who play football, but who also have bite!!
Guys we are all lovers and supporters of our club …I have been through thick and thin for 30 years since I was 5! But you don;t just live in the past and keep saying well Arsene won us all those trophies before…… George Graham did that but he had to go….. Bruce Rioch did a great job in 1 season and made the inspirational signing of Dennis Bergkamp, but he was removed for AW to come in. So lets just look and listen to all the meaningless platitudes that AW has spouted for a long time and take note that he really is not living in the real world. And hey is this possession stuff really that great??? sure we pass the ball sideways and backwards brilliantly (sarcasm!) but gone are the dagger thrusts of the Henry, Pires, Ljungberg, Vieira Bergkamp) era (my what we would give for just one of those players to be playing for us at their best now??). Now we look just like one of your average French league sides!!!!!
Lets hope and pray that something inspires our board sooner rather than later or our current 5th position may be the best we can hope to end the season with….either that or it could be that we fall even further!!!!!!!
The last time we lost 4 times so soon in a season we finished 12th and I have not seen anything that convinces me that this will not happen this season. We now have to take our cup competitions very, very seriously as they may be our only chance for European games next season.
We need to reach the F.A. Cup Final and hopefully play a top-4 team there so that if we don’t win it, we have a Euro place.
or
Win the Carling Cup
or
Least probable but we should give it our best shot, win the Champions’ League.
Because cup competitions depend a great deal on luck which we had very little of last season, with some prayer and hopefully the confidence of the youth team we may just be able to do it.
It starts with the midweek Champions’ League game.
Come on you under-20s!
I think the epl is getting more competitive compared to five years ago.The injection of money has enabled the other clubs beside the big four to splurge on players.Aw also spends but he has a different approach preferring to buy players in their late teens and early twenties.Most other teams buy the finished product.Yes we know AW is building for the future,etc,etc but the present matters more.
For the last four years he has been trying to play soccer the continental way.however he must know the epl is a different game entirely.Tackles which are tolerated would have been yellow /red carded in Europe.
I’m afraid things will get worse bf they can get better.Btw don”t think Dynamo kieve are easy meat.As we all now in AW we trust could soon be replaced by AW get out soon if he continues his present system of playetc.
Please don’t be like the harlem globetrotters. They have no league title to win. Their job is entertainment which I’m afraid to say has no place in the epl. Managers priority is to win matches. If they can do that with style fine otherwise the main issue is winning.
Can I have a Beamish please ‘holic?
I think you can just keep them coming today.
Oh, and yes we can get 4th place, luckily the teams around us will drop points also.
i am sad today. we must bring in at least one quality replacement for gallas and get stuck in to some hard work to pull in some well needed points.
holid you got it spot on mate, we must stick with the team and let them know we are there. it is so sad when they show arsenal gold on arsenal tv. viera, berkamp, bobby p, henry, wrighty, bold, adams, keown, the list gose on, out of this bunch cesc, clichy any more? in years to come we wont look back at this bunch in the same light as some of our past teams. maybe we peaked a bit to early last term and we all thought we would piss the leauge this time around but we re not there yet. how sweat was it a few weeks back when we were flying and spuds were going down. how diffrent things are now. reality is, we are still near the top and only lost a piont on all our rivels yesterday. we have no more room for any fuck ups. COME ON ARSENAL ,WE LOVE YOU, DONT LET US DOWN.
stonroy – your choice if you choose to take the hard work ethic, that’s fine. I believe that the cream always rises to the top, maybe not the very top but we have simply got too much quality to fail to get fourth.
in 06 it took 61 points, with the help of a good run aided by the return of our older squad members and fingers crossed a signing or three in the january sales we’ll take fourth. It’s not blind optimism, it’s not blind faith in arsene (who i agree has made mistakes) but it is just following on from the pattern of the past 4 seasons.
there’s quite a few times in my life where you calling me a twat would apply, this isn’t one of them though mate.
Classy dino. I wish I was in the mood to humour those that are making wild and irrational statements this morning. I’m not, so I’m off. 🙁
me classy? where’s my drink you slaaaaag!!
A note from Arsene Wenger.
Holic, I am an avid reader of your site. I take on board every week the wisdom that you, Snail, Biscuitbum and co are dispensing and build your collective wisdom into my team talks. Frankly, i’m as gutted by ManC defeat as all of you. But, I still have belief. You need to share it with me. I’m delighted to hear you encourage everyone to get right behind the team.
As we say en France, it’s now time to put a foot on the ball and decide what we want to get out of this season. What is the strategy? The facts are:
– We won’t win the EPL
– We’re in with a shout in the Carling and FA Cups
– Semi final in CL would be a “result”
We’ll play to this script and field cup teams where the primary goal will be to win. In the EPL, the strategy will be different. We” try to win of-course. But, the main aim will be to develop next year’s EPL team.
Here is where I have a few issues. I only have two true world class players, Cesc and Robin. I only have players who’s names flow straight off my pencil onto the team sheet. So, so far my line up for the 2009-10 season is:
Sagna, Clichy,
Fabregas
Van Persie, Adebayor
I have two good goalkeepers but neither is close to world class. Fabianski shows most promise. Almunia is flapping worse than Jens in a bad year. It’s a fact.
In defence, neither Gallas nor Silvestre will play next year. I will add Djourou to my team ahead of both. My dilema then is, should I recall Senderos at Christmas? Will Kolo recapture the form of previous years? Or, do I listen to the majority opinion and buy?
I have great hope for Denilson and Nasri. They will feature in my team in mid-field. Ramsey is a star. I’ll start to play him now. He has more drive and steel than anyone else we have. But I still have a problem. I need Inler. I will offer more than the peanuts plus $8M for this guy in January with a sweet deal for him.
Up front, Nick Bendner isn’t going to make it. He’s anothe Peter Crouch. Vela shows promise. You’ll see him start soon.
So, for the rest of the season, from January, the EPL team will look a bit like this
Fabianski,
Sagna, Djourou, NewPlayer, Clichy,
Ramsey, Fabregas, Inler, Denilson,
Van Persie, Adebayor
Frequent subs, Vela, Theo, Neuton Jack, Nasri
Thanks for listening, all, Holic, mine is a fine Chateau Margeau.
Your bon ami, Arsene Wenger.
Heh,
Thanks BtM, I mean, Arsene. 😉
I believe Senderos is on one-year loan though.
I still hope that we can strengthen in January so as to help our consistency issue.
The attitude and confidence is something to work on from now until Jan at least and when their best form comes back which we’ve seen patches of this season, we won’t be in major trouble come the new year. But I believe we still must buy 1-2 more players in strong positions.
Gallas back in the squad for Tuesday but not as captain. Could be interesting.
Now is not the time to vilify either the players or Wenger: that is best left until after January. The match stats indicate that we had enough possesion to have won the game had we known how to use it. If this really is a confidence thing it is remarkable how quickly it can evaporate. The truth is though, that even AW must now realise that unless he buys to stregthen at centre-back and holding midfield at least, he will deserve any criticizm he receives. AW has to go against all his principles and go for the best, even if it means paying over the odds for players, or actually outbidding someone for a change. If he doesn`t, his youth experiment may wither on the vine.
Thank you Gallas for speaking the truth. Only when the depth of the problem is known can it be properly addressed.
The best article yet on Saturdays game, well balance, objective and written by a true supporter. Our team is going through a very bad patch and our manager is now caught out by his policy of refusing to sign established, mature and experienced players relying only on young players brought through. The next few weeks will show us a lot about the players and the manager and also about the supporters. It is easy to ‘support’ a team when it is playing good football and winning or in contention to win things it is takes intestinal fortitude and loyalty to support a team that is struggling for form and not winning games. Those supporters who are castigating the team and booing and jeering them at home for their current form are showing exactly the characteristics they say they so despise in some of the players!
Those supporters who are castigating the team and booing and jeering them at home for their current form are showing exactly the characteristics they say they so despise in some of the players!
Very true.
CESC THE NEW CAPTAIN
I have to say that all the alarm bells are ringing .. for what.. This the tightest prem in years. Teams form the top to the bottom do not wan to lose. There is belief in every side that they can get something out of the traditional top 4.
Words of advice from a Spud..
Get rid of Wenger at your peril..
Get rid of Gallas january
Dotn take the piss out of spurs because if the games go as expected they could well be 2 to 3 points behind you..
Goonerholic.. I might be at the Wigan game.. If your going let me know and you can have a beer.. I will come bearing a lily white flag of a truce
I have to say I agree with Biscuitbum. Our current ‘troubles’ are a result of having placed a little too much not trust, but dependency on the shoulders of our youngsters and not spending, whatever cash reserves we had in place, on (a) the best central defender money can buy and (b) a credible central defensive midfielder to partner Cesc and the role left my Flamini. Which only goes to show football fans can more often than not call it absolutely spot on. It really was that obvious!
NB. I believe we will finish in the top 4. We may even win the Carling Cup.
NBB. I think Wenger is 100% right in appointing Cesc as the new captain!
NBBB. Cusop….although I happen to agree…..one has to look a bit closer on the opposition (with respect to them) we have been beaten by. That I find worrying!
Sound advice from a spud!
This NOT a bad team, and as everyone seems to agree it only needs a couple of signings to make it very much better. It was a mistake for the manager to pin so much faith in so many very immature but talented players but that is history and we can’t do anything about it at the moment. When Ade, Cesc, Sagna, Kolo and Gallas(!!!) (yes we do need him) return things will look a lot better – not perfect but a lot better. The team now needs all the support and encouragement it can get. Good luck to Cesc with his Captaincy.
we’ve got cesc fabregas, we ‘ve got cesc fabregas, we’ve got cesc fabregas!!!!
Wenger you beauty… our problems are not automatically solved, that can only be done in January (come on january!!!!!), but undoubtly a step in the right direction!!!
I am not gallas’ biggest fan, infact i mite just be his biggest critic, but i really do hope that this can be a fresh start for him as arsene seems to believe. that will be really great for the arsenal and at the end of the day thats all that counts. that the arsenal can move forward stronger and better no matter who has the armband or who is in starting 11 or who we are playing.
I still believe that we can win the league (but thats the undying opimist in me) who’s to say the rest cannot drop 15 points for the rest of the season….? lol, ok, im getting close to dreamland now…
Realisticly speaking, top 4 finish in the league, carling cup trophy, F.A cup trophy and CL trophy, not a bad end to the season, huh?
Crisis! what Crisis?
Cus, common sense indeed. I’ll drop you a line next week about Wigan.