Gunners Lack Klaas On The Night
Oct 24th, 2012 by 'holic
Ouch.
There is some hurting out there in the immediate aftermath of Arsenal’s defeat tonight. Let’s get it straight from the start. Schalke are a very good side and deserved their victory as a result of their own performance. That doesn’t alter the fact they allied their technical ability to an admirable work ethic that we seem to have shed in the last week.
People have a right to be angry about two consecutive gutless performances. As football supporters we revel in experiencing every emotion. Once again we are reminded that every emotion includes frustration when things go horribly wrong. In the cold light of day most will be able to appreciate that better could be just around the corner, but for once it would be good to let condemnation of a collective lack of effort come out.
That failure by some to work up a proper sweat tonight meant that the usual suspects were cruelly exposed to the condemnation that flowed their way from pundits and supporters alike. We know who stunk the place out tonight, but what sort of cover did our worst defender get when he was frequently exposed to one on two situations throughout the match. When our most frustrating forward got clear on two or three occasions where were the runners busting a gut to get up and support him?
Frustratingly Arsene Wenger, serving the last of his three match Champions League ban, was unable to make the early changes that might have changed the nature of the performance, if not the result. He cut a forlorn figure in the stands with Ivan Gazidis and Dick Law for company. Even before tonight they faced a difficult AGM tomorrow. There will now be an extra edge to the event as supporters of the club, for that is what shareholders are lest we forget, seek answers to questions about the correct use of our resources.
For me that is something of a sideshow. Would I give a monkeys about what will happen in the AGM if we were putting consistent results together on the pitch? Possibly not. More important to all of us will be the work we don’t see between now and Saturday. Arsene, Steve Bould, and Neil Banfield have to find a way of making it clear to the squad that they need to stand up and be counted in order for this poor run to be halted immediately. They need to rediscover the support for each other when things are getting tough.
Players have to be well and truly bollocked, then lifted in time for the visit of Queens Park Rangers on Saturday. That is not easy. It is however why the manager and his staff are so well rewarded. Having said that it is not just down to them. In days past the likes of Frank Mclintock or Tony Adams would have summoned their side to the bootroom for a no holds barred assessment of each other. There is a perception that the players of today would not react well to criticism from their peers. How about you try it Thomas?
A frank exchange of views might mean that our left sided midfielder or attacker gives his full-back some support when he is being exposed. I’d like to think someone might explain to our most erratic attacker that when you get past your defender in the box it might be better to try a shot or cross rather than collapse pathetically to earth. I would be surprised if the professionals of today didn’t come out with the same hardened resolve that their predecessors acquired at such events.
A little togetherness would go a long way right now. On and off the pitch.
244 Responses to “Gunners Lack Klaas On The Night”
Joke!
first downunder?
I still love Arsenal!
i said in previous post i was worried about tonight
the germans were organised and effective in every department.
they did beat dortmund at the weekned
They looked as though they wanted to win.
You are right holic they need a good bollocking and then stand up as a teaam for the match on saturday.
I very rarely say anything negative about my beloved gunners…but that was spineless
So holic you expect us to respond in a very strong way do you ? if that’s you and wengers strong way you both haven’t a clue you deserve each other. Don’t give up the day job.
That’s it pal. It’s my fault. The irony is you calling me clueless.
How lucky for me…I don’t even have to retype what I said after the Norwich match…
——————————————
OK, so I have been thinking hard about something I ALMOST posted just after my last scribblings here in the bar. If I am straight up honest, my knee jerked directly at Wenger and, although I have now had time to calm down, I wanted some feedback from you guys to check the temperature a little on the subject of the boss/boardroom.
So, here goes…
This time last year:
– The faithful were calling for some serious changes from the very top down.
– We were a club in serious crisis.
– A one man team.
– A selling club.
– A manager out of ideas at the end of a career that should have ended 7 years before.
– Having witnessed 7 long years without a trophy and hearing the cries from the normally 100% faithful and believing, Wenger himself said, if he cannot win us trophies, he should go.
– A team with no idea how to break down stubborn defences and with no Plan B.
– A team that would be lucky if it escaped relegation, let alone qualify for the Champions League.
– We had just 2 points less than we do now.
– We had no chance of winning the league after only 8 games.
So, considering all of that, has anything or even enough changed in the past 12 months in reality?
I said that Gervinho was surely in the middle of a purple patch and I think we can almost all safely agree that WAS the case.
Giroud genuinely looked Sunday league quality at times today although I am still desperately trying to cling onto the belief that “the goals will flow” once he finds his feet (or, more realistically, his shooting boots).
Ramsey could not possibly play any more into the hands of those who claim he is simply not good enough since his injury.
Mannone is the liability that Wenger knew he was when he was happy to let him go on a free. Why did we not secure the services of a proper back-up goalkeeper in the close season? Signing “super, super quality players is all well and good, but not having a second string player any better than Flapianksi or Mannone is surely a dereliction of duty amounting to almost criminal negligence on the part of the boss?
Santos is EXACTLY as hopeless defensively as we all thought he was, but it appears now that he is equally hopeless going forwards too!
I recently heard from a fairly good source that Podolski has been carrying an ankle injury since the Citeh game, almost a month ago, and that is why he has only been playing in stints for both club and country since then. Why is the Ox not getting a run out so that he may be treated properly before a knock turns into a real problem? How about Walcott until his injury? Even Arshavin would make more sense if Podolski is simply not fit enough to see out 90 minutes, no?! Is this what we do to too many of our players causing the ridiculously long term injury problems we so often see?
I realise that I am asking for the opinions of others here whilst spouting many, many of my own thus colouring the waters a little, but I will end with one last little thought…
I STILL believe that Wenger CAN fix this before it is too late (again) but I want to know why it is the ever so obvious always appears to be the last thing in the minds of those that run our glorious club.
When all is said and done, I am, of course, a Gooner forever and no amount of disappointment or disillusionment is going to change that.
I just want the best that we can be to be what we really are and not what we keep talking about being or showing flashes of in purple patches when everything “just falls right”.
——————————————
Ok, so Giroud didn’t really get any time on the pitch, but seriously folks, what was the difference between today and Saturday.
Too many people are starting to use the old adage of “continuing to try the same thing over and over in the hopes of getting a different result”…
…can we actually argue with that right now?
Away from the balance sheet the club is NOT in good shape right now. I don’t know what we need to do about it – That is why Wenger and Co. get paid the big bucks – but surely SOMETHING has to change and FAST.
Again, not calling for heads on platters, but a serious change in the structure of the club in almost every aspect is surely necessary?
Knee-jerking? Maybe.
Heart-breaking? Definitely.
A Gooner for life? Without question.
Hopeful that this season will turn out better than the last one (surely the only benchmark of whether a club is improving or not)? Not a chance.
No, this season will be a bigger struggle than the last and the bulk of it will be caused by the same old problems.
– No money spent in areas where we OBVIOUSLY need to do so.
– No Plan B
– The same shoddy players (Santos, Manonne, Gervinho and even Ramsey if I am honest) being kept on whilst we search for “Super, super duper, pooper, scooper players to replace them.
– More attention to the balance on the sheets rather than the balances on the team sheet.
Yeah, ok, RANT OFF!
Holic didn’t say he expects them to respond, he said they need to. No need to have a go, that’s a pretty forthright view in the blog. “for once it would be good to let condemnation of a collective lack of effort come out” is pretty strong stuff from someone who is not usually interested in being overly critical.
Good stuff, ‘h.
I posted this in the last drinks only to see we had a new post so i will just re-post it here.
Abb @219,we can’t/didn’t score because we don’t/didn’t shoot.
FunG @223,looked like poldi was asked to help Gerv in attack while Santi covered Santos.@227,Coquelin has to learn to show for the ball more.
Eandy knows @297.
I don’t know why everybody is getting on Ramsey’s back,the lad played his part weel in my opinion,he didn’t take any risks in attack to avoid giving the ball away needlessly,he kept runnign for the full 90 minutes and always made himself available. Our biggest problem is that we DON’T shoot! Santi needs to be more direct and thread those defence splitting passes.
If anyone is interested in my view of our players’ performance tonight in details,please check in the last set of drinks.
Now to read the new post.
Not much to disagree with there, Holic. Well, nothing at all really.
And by the way…
Great article ‘Holic!
The first read-through left me feeling like you were being to kind, but on the second run through I realise that you are just kinder in the words that you choose to use. The message is basically the same…
PULL YOUR EFFING FINGERS OUT REDS BEFORE WE FINISH ANOTHER EFFING SEASON IN NOVEMBER!
Something like that 😉
Vic Akers ? Or Neil Banfield? That confused me. Unless you mean his experience with the Ladies has to speak.
Nonny, IOllie, Thierry,
Thank you for bothering to read it before commenting.
Superb write-up all the same. Amazingly measured too. I love you ‘holic, for your overall view of games rather than picking up on easy scapegoats. I still hope Gibbs comes back soon and Jack starts. How we miss Diaby though !
We were sh!t tonight,jus like any other random team…qpr,soton…the likes…to imagine there was a time we were INVINCIBLE!!! How far we have fallen…rings tears to ma eyes! The guns been silent far too long.
Strong words Holic, can only agree. No idea what the hard of thinking is rabbiting about, best to ignore him I suppose, but thanks for blogging sense, it is appreciated.
Worryingly our players already look tired and jaded. Devoid of any ideas – and RVP is obviously a big miss with no one able to step up to the plate and produce those magic moments to inspire the average Jose’s and what have you that we have in our team.
Wenger on the bench would have made no more difference then it did against Norwich – he would still have stuck to his 70th pre-arranged boring silly 70th minute – too little too late substitutions. A clockwork mouse has more idea than him – anyway it was obvious to anyone who doesn’t need a visit to SpecSavers – that changes were needed at halftime – and he could have told Bould to make them.
…and thank you Lars and Mamie…
Thank you Thierry, but the no abuse thing cuts both ways…
What can you say.?
Nothing will be gained by us turning on the players ,club or manager. Support now is the key.
Agreed ‘Holic 🙂
The sad thing is that I don’t expect Wenger to make too many changes and the players who should stay in the side, Mertesacker and Jenkinson, will most likely be the ones to be discarded.
I wish we had enough quality to give Cazorla a weekend off. I don’t think he is tired but maybe he needs a mental break. He’s settling into a new country but has been in and out thanks to interlulls, has played every game and looks a bit stale.
As far as the AGM goes, it is totally irrelevant. There’s only one shareholder who counts and he is delighted with the cash reserves, money currently coming in and the prospect of a whacking great rise in commercial income in the next year or two. And I know he’s not taking dividends but he doesn’t have to, in order to make money from Arsenal. If he completes his buyout, the cash in the bank (with more to come) is his. If he doesn’t complete it and sells, he’ll make a nice bunce on his shares because we are asset rich.
Agreed George, but a little understanding of the frustrations that are delivering conflicts of opinion might help to improve the atmosphere that develops when things go temporarily pear-shaped.
Holic, that was an excellently put criticism! Angst and frustration shine through rather than being simply derogatory and reactive.
Stepping back, the way I see it is a truly great team has the ability to react individually and collectively to situations and today the team failed to do so. There were some horrific individual performances — and I have been as guilty as anyone else in the previous post for letting myself go — but the absence of a self-tuning mechanism in the team is worrying. Worrying, yes, but may not be inexplicable given that this is, for all practical purposes, an unit playing together only for a few months. And then some of them are being asked to outcome their limitations by growing through unfamiliar roles.
I think the fundamental footballing principle, rationale, system and judgments remain sound. But the essential problem of a continuously changing side and the need to rebuild one every year doesn’t do justice to any of those qualities, neither does it favor the players.
I really hope Theo is not leaving this winter, and Ox is thrust upon the role of the senior right winger. Continuing stability and competition on that side would be needed.
Hear, hear Nonny…
I think that Silent Stan has been getting it far too easy thus far. I hope he gets a proper roasting tomorrow night and maybe even starts to see that Arsenal is NOT A SPORTS FRANCHISE. It is a football club that comes with all the things that his other sports franchises don’t have…
Heart.
Soul.
Spirit.
Currently those qualities are what really seem to be lacking both off the pitch and on it. Is that more than just a freaky coincidence?
I think not.
Hard hitting post Holic, brutal when required, that’s how I hope Wenger & Bould were after the game & how they + Banfield will be on the training pitches. Anything but a win on Saturday will be a resounding failure, in terms of not being able to pick ourselves up.
Wenger is a spent force you can argue that he was not on the bench today, but he was there against Norwich and we looked just as bad…
I know holic ,but it seems when the lines are drawn you have to take a more extreme position that you would like to ,simply to redress the balance.
Blah, blah, must do better, blah, blah, but we can turn our form around, blah, blah. No disrespect intended but it’s at times like these that I’m glad I don’t have to write a blog. It must be really hard to come up with something reasoned and positive to say when the team consistently fail to learn from their mistakes season after season after season. I love and respect Arsene and will always do so but I’m heartily sick of the same old self-sustaining same old. Blah, blah, blah but nothing changes…
Doctor Faustus@25
“I really hope Theo is not leaving this winter, and Ox is thrust upon the role of the senior right winger. Continuing stability and competition on that side would be needed.”
But doesn’t that just some up a much bigger problem?
Let’s all hope that:
– A player being played as a right-winger who should either be a cracking centre-forward or not at the club at all because he is not good enough on the right wing doesn’t leave…
So that:
– There is competition for another player being played as a right-winger when he should be focusing on the centre of midfield as Wenger has stated that is his best position!
Seriously, I am struggling here! HEEEELLLPPPP!
Matty T@30
And even easier for us to criticise when somebody is simply trying to maintain a balance when he is obviously, if you really read between the lines, as furious as the most hot cross of bunnies!
That said, I STILL don’t know how you keep so cool after a performance like that ‘Holic!
Bravo, I say!
Very disappointing….the performance more than result. It was as flat as a stale pint of beer. Quite simply Schalke out played us…for the second game in a row we were simply not at the races. The players seem tired….for me that’s too early in the season to be valid. They appear to suffering from a motivation issue for which the management must take their responsibility. For too many seasons now we get into a rut of poor performances and it take an eternity to recover. Lets put this behind us right now this Saturday and show everyone that this a good football team waiting to get out.
there are just too many issues that keep on coming back year in year out, forget regularly selling our best players, the problem is that we just don’t learn from mistakes like coming out full of ourselves against the lesser teams and getting spanked, we don’t press hard enough, we don’t close down the opposition…
the latter was even immediately noticed by my mate’s girlfriend when we went to the game and she knows next to nothing about football!
Matty T@30
And, by the way, I agree with you 100% regards the same old mistakes.
Nice review,’holic,you seem to have seen the game the same way i did,agreed we lost 2-0 but we actually played way more better than we did at Norwich,Gervinho was absolutely frustrating but the few times he managed to get a cross in was any of his teammates there for him? Everybody seems to know that Santos can’t defend but what help did he get from his teammates who should be well aware of his incapabilities too? Before we blame Ramsey for not creating anything lets ask our self if Santi-our supposed creator in chief- created anything all night,these are the kind of questions we should ask our selfs before slinging mud at our scapegoats,yes scapegoats,thats what most of our players are to some of us now,they can do no right in our eyes,when they do right we overlook it but pounce on them at their slightest mistakes. I’m all for criticizing players but it irritates me when it turns into outright witch-hunting. Football is a team game and the best teams don’t always have the best players,the best teams are the ones who play for each other,cover for each other and play to each other’s strengths. Madrid had the best players but Dortmund won because they played for each other and covered for each other,the same goes for Ajax against City. Let’s win as a team,lose as a team and stop scapegoating players,”Victoria Concordia Cresit” that’s our motto,we aim to achieve VICTORY THROUGH team HARMONY. Up the Arse.
Suga 3,you must have gotten on well with her.
We were completely out fought and played off the park tonight and flattered by the score line.
At half time the consensus around me was that 0-0 would be a good result – if only.
There were some honourable exceptions who put a good shift in – the BFG, the 2 Spaniards and Coquelin all worked their socks off.
We offered minimal threat going forward – down the right Ramsey and Jenkinson were absolutely pathetic as an attacking force. We didn’t have a striker on the pitch and every time we cleared the ball up field we surrendered possession.
The substitutions were too little far too late but probably wouldn’t have made a difference if done earlier.
When the 2nd goal went in everyone just stood up in silence and left – I’ve never seen anything like it.
I don’t have a good feeling about the QPR game I watched them play Everton at the weekend and they played well – we are ripe for the taking.
I hope the shit hits the fan at the AGM – under performance and complacency is running right through the club everywhere and changes are needed starting at the top.
Arsenal should be at the very peak of the English game – we are way off it and losing ground every year.
george, I am not going to entertain your silly remarks here, leave it for ACLF, OK?
still, it is funny that you consider yourself to be more knowledgeable in the subject, even though you are wrong and I am right year in, year out…
Uplympian@33
Yet again, it appears that all our hopes are dashed and the “All new” “Mental Strengff” we were showing at the beginning of the season has the same old glass jaw.
Frightenly enough, IF we beat what is currently the worst team in the EPL this weekend, there will actually be quotes from one or two of the players and probably even Le Boss himself in the tabloids on Sunday claiming we can still win the title.
Maybe the confidence gets shattered so very easily because they simply refuse to see the team in any kind of reality.
I hate to say it, but I can only look at the way that Wenger panders to the players all the time (Mannone could be number 1?!??! WTF?!??!) and think that it all starts from there.
Solutions…Can’t type the words. Seriously.
Victoria Concordia Crescit
holic i might have been a bit over the top calling you clueless your not no hard feelings but there comes a time when the biggest wengerites cant defend him and like i said after the norwich game the same will happen again it has already. And it will happen again unforgiveable.
Back from the game.
We were so shit.
Why did they not change things around at half time?
Were we really hanging on for a draw?
Disgraceful. They should be ashamed.
And Santos should be spit roasted.
Steve Bould quoting from the Arsene Wenger book of excuses. Lacked confidence, not been the same since the interlull etc
I hope he has the authority from the manager to hand out bollockings because Tony Adams would have some of this lot outside after back to back displays like this. Not that bollockings are going to make any difference to some of them.
What West Upper said @37
Blimey so many posts. Thierry @31: indeed. Remarkable thing to be able to post that blog on the evening !
Baff: a dram of your finest before I can find peace in sleep, thanks!
Go for the Benromach , Ollie. Finish the bottle.
Nytol
Got the stadium tour tomorrow with Lee Dixon. It’ll be interesting to hear his take on our recent form.
Holic, You speak for the people tonite. Grateful that you acknowledge there are real problems with this team’s tactics, as evidenced by your questions. Since I haven’t seen the match, I can’t comment on particulars. But I trust your judgement implicitly.
It’s nice to get a common sense reaction after two demoralising defeats. I share the concern about commitment and work rate but tactically this side Re all over the place. Spain have the personnel to deploy a false number 9. We manifestly do not and our inability to fashion attacks is largely based on a dearth of options going forward. While he who cannot be named has gone North the section to replace him with variously a French version of Lee Chapman,a grade 3 Sylvain Wiltord and a German international who seems to need to be in the right mood to play and support his rather erratic full back defensively. There are other weaknesses.Mannone is not god enough to be in goal for Arsenal, Vermaelen is defensively less adept than Koscielny and Arteta is wasted playing too deep. We lack creativity because we have attackers with limited attacking threat and movement and in Gervinho’s case,football commonsense.
It can now be seen that as in most lose seasons Wenger did about two thirds of what he neede to do and we are an unbalanced and incomplete attacking side. Flat track bullies against Southampton but not good enough against organised and committed sides.
Hopefully tomorrow will be an extraordinarily uncomfortable day for Kroenke,Wenger and Gazidis and hopefully the unintentional pantomime horse that is ZpHW will not deflect criticism from a serious lack of investment.
And do we now believe that Bouldy is the man to restore defensive discipline?
A night for bitter reflection but hopefully not gross overreaction by our fan base.
cent@36
You raise an interesting point regards Santos not getting any help. You also raise an intersting point regards Santi not creating.
I would like to exapnd on those points a bit if I may as I believe that they are linked…
– Santos is crap. Full stop.
– Wenger did not choose to replace him even though Gibbs spends more time with Diaby and Rosicky than with Vermaelan.
– We basically put Podolski in the centre of the park today and that pushed Gervinho out wide where he made lots of runs into Walcott only knows
– Gervinho spends his entire time running around like a headless chicken, as he almost always does
Gervinho is hopeless at protecting the full-back
– Santi could not get any space in the middle and so found himself pushed more and more out wide (yet again – Plan A for Norwich, Chelsea and Schalke)
– Santi is basically being played out of the game and yet he and Gervinho are still no good at defending our full-backs and are now spending most of their time fighting between themselves for the same space
– Podolski is dropping further and further back in the search for space as, with four players now glued to both wings, there is nothing for two DMs and two CBs to actually do except for mark him
– Gervinho gets a cross in – Santi is behind him, Giroud is on the bench, Podolski is busy getting out of midfield where he was looking for space and winning tackles and Gervinho is crossing he ball
In summary, Santi isn’t creating because he isn’t in the thick of the action, Gervinho is no use to Santos and not much more use up front, Podolski (or Giroud, whichever is given the thankless task of being left alone and stranded in a central position flanked by players that hardly make ANY creative runs inside at all) is isolated up front and Santos is STILL crap!
So, my question is this…
Is this not just tactics 101 or I am seeing the simple where there is only complex?
dave, dave@whoreallycarestheyarealldrivel
You are mistaking “Wengerite” for “Gunnerite”.
“It was not clear whether Francis Coquelin, deployed alongside Arteta at the base of midfield, or Lukas Podolski, on the left flank of the advanced midfield trio, should have been giving Santos more attentive support. Arsenal’s tactical vagueness in the face of Schalke’s energetic and often perceptive running was being regularly exposed.”
Did Richard Williams read me first?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/oct/24/arsenal-familiar-failings-schalke
Shocking Stat no 1……arsenal have had fewer shots at goal than any other team in Champion league games so far this year (22)!!
No other course of action and have a drop or 2 of Somerset Alchemy 15 yrs to cheer myself up.
Tiny @48 – good post…
It’s all going to plan. At 18.10hrs I stride with purpose towards the exits at Finsbury Park. I stop to purchase a programme before making a quick trip to the World Of Sport. There is still a sale on and I manage to pick up a hoody for the little man at less than half price. It’s going to be a good evening, I can feel it.
I head down towards the Tolly and enter at 18.30hrs. After excellent service as always I head to see who may have already made it out of the fellow holics. I am not disappointed. There’s Trev. I watch in awe as he uses his professional knowledge to allow him to place is well trained hands all over a rather attractive young lady’s knee. He then convinces us all that it is purely medical, with talk of strengthening exercises for both the Medial and Anterior Cruciate ligaments. Snowy enthrals us all with tales of fencing. I had no idea that such a well respected member of the holic bar sort income from the moving on of stolen goods? TS is already enjoying the evening. “Everyone who said they were coming is here apart from BtM,” he proclaims That does not seem like BtM? Perhaps the jet lag was just too much. The talk is all about the upcoming spectacle and the debate around the impending team news
45 minutes later BtM stands from his seated position no more than 10 feet from where we are gathered with a look of aghast. “How long have you all been here?” he asks. We then explain that TS had declared him AWOL sometime ago. BtM clearly frustrated by the lack of recognition proclaims, “I have been sat here for 2 hours waiting for someone to arrive to buy me a pint.” You can take the boy out of Scotland………..
19.25 hours and time to head off. I arrive at The Grove full of anticipation and excitement.
At 22.10 hours I arrive back at Finsbury Park. The normal jostle for the entrance ensues with those on a route march to enable them to make their all too infrequent connections to complete their home journey. I make it back to Spud Hale with 5 minutes to spare.
See you all on Saturday.
Shocking, Ups, but on the relative side, we have 6 points while City are lucky to have one. Not that it really makes me feel better tonight.
Cheers for the Benromach, baff and goodnight all.
Oh, one other thing. My congratulation to Vito. The agility displayed to get his body out of the way of their first goal was just lightening fast.
😉
Evening gents, the comments here about the frustration tonight after yet another disappointing performance could have been lifted from many postings of the last 5 seasons.
Same problems over and over again. The only surprise is that anyone gets angry anymore, truthfully and sadly I can’t get angry or upset because I’ve now been conditioned to expect exactly what we’re being served.
What amazes me is how anyone can defend the blindingly obvious
Absolute disgrace. Total waste of my time and money. No belief, no passion, no fight, no quality on show whatsoever from the schoolboys in red and white. I feel as though I’ve been mugged by my own beloved club.
Roll on 2013/14
after selling the dutch traitor, it was more than obvious that we needed to buy 30 goals at least in the transfer market. is it really likely that we’re going to get that many goals from the trio of giroud, podolski, and cazorla? and that number is probably low because we needed to replace a few goals from song along with increasing our overall goal tally, all while bringing down our goals conceded. it was frustrating watching the first two games of the season because it seemed as though our primary problem wasn’t going to be preventing goals but scoring them. now that we’re seven games in, not counting the champion’s league, we might be conceding too easily while not scoring at all.
after the display at norwich, i’ll probably try to remain aloof for the rest of the season and hope that somehow we can pull out the same finish as last. right now, i see us scrapping for fourth because even if we can get it together enough to play the top teams toe to toe, we will surely fold to the lesser lights as we’ve already done by failing to score against sunderland, stoke, and norwich.
right now the only consolation is that we are not liverpool, and some consolation that is.
Have a giggle, people. NSFW
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFE4fOc9_VE&feature=player_embedded
Nonny,
Was he referring to ABB’s toothache remedy?
Great post ‘holic…I don’t know if I’ve seen/read you quite as frustrated with a performance although I think it’s on the back of the game at Norwich that adds some toxins.
We do need to stand up as a club on the field and off it and QPR should be on the end of a drubbing, anything less could see things get really nasty I fear.
As for tonight. Schalke were a different class, their use of the ball and the runs they made were exceptional once they got past the first 15 minutes and saw what we had to offer. Not for the first time I think the Bundesliga is completely underrated – the premier league isn’t this magical kingdom any longer and I don’t know if any of the 4 english teams will see it to the semis.
Speaking of underrated — we miss Gibbs more than you can conceive, width, pace, tracking, passing, outlets, energy and almost ALWAYS being to the left of Podolski. The last two games Podolski has had no outlet to partner with and Cazorla has been shackled a crucial 10 yards closer to our goal, killing his effectiveness. Santi often played on the wing in Spain, right now I think we should do that and make our midfield a ball winning/short and wide distribution unit until this shit passes. Or — 5 at the back…surely worth thinking about as centre back is the only position we have 3 solutions to 2 positions. Tonight would have been a great time to try that – Bould knows it inside out.
Gnabry is going to be special…my silver lining I guess.
Come on you reds!
Rough week. Very disappointing considering the fact that I have purchased tickets for my first games and we hit a slump. It’s my fault, I’m sure.
Last January we had a real shit month. I hope this is a shit week only with the tide turning on Saturday. I am not using it as an excuse because we should have a better overall squad, but the last few weeks we have had all our speed and pace pull up lame. Gibbs, Walcott, and AOC give us a different dimension when they are healthy. Gibbs gives us width as well. In midfield we have been short of ideas once Diaby got crocked. Ramsey and Coquelin do not have that drive or burst forward that worries defenders. I like Coquelin and think he will do well but he is more on the defensive side. Arteta is a classy player but he has been played in a deeper role this year and as such has not played up or around the final third enough. We will improve with the addition of Jack, Diaby or Rosicky. We need their forward vision to help Santi.
I would also like to see giroud play up top every game. He will improve and his teammates will make better runs off his movement if he is always there. Gerv had his purple patch but he will never be our finisher. Poldi played better with Gibbs just like Theo needed Sagna. There is a symmetry to those pairing that complimented our style of play.
Step up boys. All is not lost but we have not done anything yet. Steady the ship and play with conviction. We will improve when we get some players back. Deep breath.
Ahhh that was you then Steve T, I think my big black jacket was hiding BTM from your view!
Nice to see True Storey and Snowy this evening.
Obviously good catching up with BTM.
See you guys on Saturday. Hopefully with better optimism (from god knows where).
A stiletto in silk of a post, ‘Holic, but nothing to disagree with in it for all that. Remember when Sagna scored that header against the LWCs last season, and his whole body language said, that is enough of this nonsense, and the match and the season turned round from there? We need some of that from the senior players, and we need it urgently.
Tim@62: with you on what you say about the Premiership. It is believing its own hype and living on its legend. Just because the game is being played faster and more furiously in England than on the Continent, it doesn’t mean it is being played better. Tactics and technique seem to be advancing in the rest of Europe while English clubs rely on outspending their rivals to get ahead.
Sideways pass-backwards pass-leftback exposed….sideways pass-backwards pass-leftback exposed….etc. Just brutal.
Once again ‘holic you prove your worth with an excellent piece of perspective at a moment when perspective is exactly what is needed.
NorCalArsenal @ 63 — fully agree with you about Rosicky and Giroud. Also in matches and situations where we are appearing as toothless as today Coq can be played deeper and Arteta moving up to accompany Cazorla. I get all that analysis about the ‘modern day Pirlo role’ but we do not have enough creative quality to sacrifice Arteta’s true strengths for his organizational abilities in all matches. In both of these last two matches Arteta in an advanced position could have helped us to create more.
We are not that good a passing-pressing team to be successful always playing down the middle. The wide positions deserve a bit more respect in Arsenal’s set-up. This continuous talk — irrespective of the origin — about Theo as a central striker and Ox as a central midfielder I think indicate a lack of respect for the wider roles. After Cesc left we were re-learning our way through adding direct wing-play back in the repertoire but one fears that with Cazorla’s early scintillating form the temptation is there to go primarily central. Other than Cazorla and to some extent Arteta we do not have players who can operate effectively in very small spaces — Gervinho can dribble, but has no sense of space and too ill-balanced — and in a collective like that under-utilizing wing-play leads to exactly this type of creative failure.
So we lost. Not a good feeling, but the sun will rise today and my life will go on.
A nice ,restrained post ‘holic. I stand in awe of your self control. Two words sum up this quite abject performance for me – “utter” and “shite”.
Baffling team selection — centre forward on the bench,winger at centre forward – Santos entrusted with actual defensive duties- very ordinary midfield,etc. Very few came out of this one with any credit -for me Arteta, Jenks and perhaps Le Coq. The rest were conspicuous by thier absence.
Living here in NZ my only connection with The Old Country is my unquenchable love of AFC. Bit strained today, but I’ll come right. Just the same, would it be too much of a climb down for Mr Wenger to invest in a pro goalkeeper and perhaps a footballer or two that dont break? Not that Don Vito was to blame for the two goals conceded tonight, of course — he clearly was not. Pretty painful viewing for 90 minutes in my view. lets hope we can bring down the mighty QPR at the weekend. the first word of your post summed it up rather succintly I felt. Ouch — indeed
Essssso!
Sunny day forecast today. Gonna be freezing from tomorrow on though.
IF, as Steve T said, while Vito may not be to blame for the first goal, I still think a good keeper would at least have had a touch on that.
And while the score made it anecdotical, I fully blame him for what could easily have been a penalty in the first half.
The back 4, even when they try to trust him, simply realise they can’t.
What’s the rule for emergency loan for ‘keepers though? I’m surprised that with our first two ‘keepers out long-term we don’t have/take that option.
Good spot also re: Rosicky above.
Who said we’d have better luck with injuries this season?
Still hurting from yesterday, but giving up is not for me. Time for some breakfast, take the dog for a walk, get some work done and then start worrying about Saturday…
Ned and Tim: it is quite clear to me that the dominance of the Premier League in Europe is over, at least for the time being. We lost, Chelsea lost and Man City lost. The German league has improved a hell of a lot in later years and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Dortmund win the CL this season.
Ollie@72: but who should we loan in? Iirc, you can only get an emergency loan from a lower league (and what club with a decent goalie would be willing to loan him to us?) or find a keeper who is out of contract. And I don’t think Lehmann is a viable option anymore 🙂
I am having an internet shut down today… but before I go, I thought I´d share this gem with you all.
I was saving it for a rainy day, and I believe right now we need a little umbrella of laughter…!
http://www.amazon.com/Veet-Hair-Removal-Creme-200ml/product-reviews/B000KKNQBK
Personally, I think it may have been penned by Wolfie in her early days….
A pint for you all. We could be Man City…
Last night I went to the Ritz for a £60 buffet. Unfortunately the party in the corner secured the table and all I could get was a serving of humility. I had to wait until I left for sauce to disguise the taste. Next time I must get something for my money. Sauce for everyone!
we love you Freddie!
Arsenal through and through.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19719628
Don’t think it has to be from a lower league, Lars.
Friedel or Lloris? 😉
Well, Lloris can’t catch crosses any better than Mannone so it’d have to be Friedel 🙂
Our trouble was two fold last night
Jenkinson – he is one of my favourite Arsenal players right now, but his overlaps have been crucial for us this season. He should have done more.
Santos- his insistence to play Hunterlaar on side cost us the first goal.
Ok when I have got more time I will return with more analysis.
Have a good day folks.
🙂
Greetings Holics
Another lethargic effort, an encore performance of Saturday night and one that cannot be repeated.
I fear that until we have the pace back on the flanks, Gibbs, Theo/ the Ox and the drive in the CMF, Diaby/LJW, we are unlikely to make much progress. If the LFG is carrying an injury it may explain why he has shown a lack of energy of late and has failed to track back in the manner in which he started the season!
We had one shot on target last night and that was by a 17yr old who was thrown on for the final 10 mins. What does that say about our attacking options?
I’m glad I’m not in Arsene’s shoes tonight at the AGM.
See you all on Saturday.
As always COYRs
Good morning friends.
Ollie,thanks for the Freddie link,he talks with so much maturity and understanding of issues.
Norcal,i agree with on Rosicky and Giroud.
66 and 62,i agreed.
Thierry Wrightkamp @49,mate,whilst i might not fully understand/agree with your analysis of the game,i acknowledge the points you raise and respect your opinion.
@theirry wrightkamp(post 21)
Incredibly arrogant to assume that his other teams dont have heart soul etc. Therein lies the crux of our problems. We gooners think that our club is cut from a different cloth. It is not. This is the 21st century.
All sports teams are not just athletic clubs , they are business interests. The sooner we reconcile to those facts the better.
Linking the personal graces of owners to performances on the pitch is a bad attempt at correlation. (Example: Try linking another notorious sports franchise owner Malcom Glazer to his clubs stirring performances on the pitch)
I rather correlate the ‘mental strength’ of our team to the ‘mental strength’ of our fans.For me the players deserve better fans than the ones booing yesterday. It works both ways.
Two league losses and a CL loss. No big deal. Man up and COYG..
Are we “missing” Diaby yet?
Gooneraside, see above. We’ve been missing him, big time since….he got injured again 🙁
Presumably he’s out for the season, would have been nice if that injury could have waited for Jack to be fully match-fit.
Booing players – ex-ones- or current is pathetic – however it’s a two edged sword this because the club doesn’t do anything to try and discourage supporters from booing Cashley and Nasri – because the booing of them helps to distract attention away from the board at Arsenal selling players – by making the players the villains in it all . The booing , for one reason or another, has been going on for awhile now at the Emirates .This is a sure sign that things ain’t what they used to be with the supporters – and the manager will eventually get some aimed at him if results get any worse .
He needs a result against old sparky on Saturday to keep the crowd in the Colosseum happy – next up in the league after that game is SAF – RVP – Rooney and co – Arsene won’t get any favors off them – that’s for sure.
He won’t get any from QPR either – that’s football – but who said you have to be happy all the time about everything anyway. What ever your views on booing are – and personally I don’t like i t – the fact is however that these people pay to watch the football and if they are unhappy then that’s their way of showing it.
Blind loyalty is not a strong point either – in fact it’s rather stupid and counter-productive.
I didn’t hear ANY booing last night despite the shite performance – I did get swept away in the stampede just before the end when their 2nd goal went in but even then there was no booing just absolute silence (except for the Krauts in the away area).
I’ve no doubt those that were left after the whistle made their feelings clear and bloody good luck to them.
sagar@84
Incredibly arrogant of you to assume that I claimed that all American sports team were run like Sports Franchises and not clubs or teams as many if not most are.
But thanks anyway.
I saw someone, somewhere, said that this year, November has come early.
By the same token, last year, November waited until January to arrive. The perennial clusterfuck where losing, shifts from careless to downright irresponsible. We are not quite there yet as the month started with 2 wins and these last two painful results can still be book-ended with two victories against teams, we, by rights, should be giving a serious horsing to.
On paper.
But as the cliche goes, football is not played on paper, but on grass.
And it’s something that Arsene Wenger’s teams have over the years been pretty good at. However, these last two matches, the team that stood toe to toe with the Champions has been unrecognisable, and I cannot understand how our players are suddenly “jaded”.
It has been difficult for me to tell from watching the smaller, limited perspective and view afforded by television, but we appear to be doing nothing but passing the ball either backwards or sideways which suggests that there is a significant lack of movement up front. Or lack of guile. Or both.
And ultimately, we have a lack of unbreakable players.
Certain far-too-superstitious people in this bar have blamed yours truly for the inevitable catalogue of injuries that have visited the Arsenal squad this season. My crime was to mention some time back that we had an almost empty treatment room. But when Diaby hirpled off to the well-known spot that is his at London Colney, I knew it wasn’t me, it was just the same shit, different season.
Fans expectation is that Jack the Lad will, at worst, be on the bench on Saturday and hopefully on the pitch at some point. (Personally, I am glad to see him back at all. There were virulent stories all around the internet over the course of his absence which speculated that his injury was career-threatening and that Arsenal were keeping the news quiet to manage the black-bin men in the stands – more fool me for taking notice of the internet, I guess). It’s a pity he will be immediately tasked to find his mojo from his first kick of the ball. For that, he can thank his comrades whose confidence has spectacularly imploded since we arrived at “the defining moment” in our season, or whatever it was that was said pre-Norwich.
It wasn’t meant to be like this. My mood was supposed to be placed on an upward trajectory such that by the time I arrive at the Tollington for QPR on Saturday it would simply be a case of how many? And I just don’t mean beers. Saturday has now taken on massive importance. If Arsenal continue the trend of inviting the opposition to score first, it could get very ugly.
We play against men in hoops on Saturday and again on Tuesday. To make sure that October is not the new November we need to jump through some.
@81 – I don’t think we should really be criticising Jenkinson for not attacking enough, when we’re also criticising Santos for not being in position most of the night defensively. I thought Jenkinson was fine. He didn’t get forward the way he usually does, but you can blame the manager for that because he played the slowest player in the Premier League on the right (Ramsey) and he gave us no width either. Jenkinson couldn’t spend the whole game covering the entire right flank duties on his own, so he was mainly doing his proper job, and I thought he did that side of his job very well.
Our main problem was the supposedly fluid front three looked even less balanced than the crap we had out on Saturday. The man who can’t run nominally wide right, the man who can’t shoot nominally in the middle and someone who should really be in the middle playing on the left. Never going to work, and them running about all over the place (or walking in Ramsey’s case) and leaving thir positions gave us no shape, no options, no runners for the midfield.
The cluelessness of the attack was illustrated perfectly in the first half when Gervinho and Podolski found themselves about 40 yards from goal, wide on the left, almost tripping over each other. Where’s the lone forward in that situation? Who gives the man on the ball an outlet when both your supposed strikers are trying not to hold hands in such an unthreatening position.
Pick players to play their correct roles and the game is so much easier. I hope to hell both AOC and Walcott are fit on Saturday, because if they are they HAVE to play. And if he doesn’t pick them both, he is off his nut*
*Technical footballing term.
What a fine evening. Arsenal from 5.30 pm till 2.00 am. Is there anything better than good friends, The Emirates on a balmy evening, and my favourite addiction?
I wasn’t quite first to The Tollie. My mate Brian beat me by a couple of minutes – just enough of a lead for him to get in the first Guinness of the evening, the tributary to a long, fast flowing river of the stuff. It was warm. My jacket was too heavy so I sat sleeveless with JW 10 proudly serving as a signpost for all later arriving holics. Minutes later Steve-O jetted in from Singapore – then no other bugger showed.
7.30 ish and time to meet number one son by the cannon. “Ah, there you are, BtM! We’ve been hiding behind this umbrella pole hoping you wouldn’t spot us” quipped our wide man from the far eastern outpost on the central line. Steve will do anything to avoid fronting up for a round 🙂
There were Germans a-plenty right under my seat in the Clock End. They’d imported a drum, a man with a microphone (like the tinny voice on “Video Killed the Radio Star” and some monosyllabic German mood-music, which sounded a bit like a Yellow Submarine sinking fast. (Made mental note to write to my MP requesting ban on German drum and mood-music importation). I have German drum ear ache this morning.
Good first half with a couple of very good chances for Gervinho. Had Podolski simply cut back to the on-rushing Santi rather than firing a hard cross to no one around 30 minutes, we’d have gone in one nil up at half time, deservedly on the balance of play – but only because of a brilliant Mertesacker block on the one chance that the excellent Schalke produced.
It is no surprise that Schalke thumped Dortmund at the weekend. They are a good team. Not a match for Arsenal at our best – but we weren’t at our best. As the match wore on it became increasingly apparent that the first to score would win. We presented Huntelaar with a chance my granny would have scored from and was all over on the night from there on in.
Gibbs was missed. He produces width and speed on the left and is consistently available for Poldi and Santi to build off. Podolski is a lesser contributor when Gibbs doesn’t play. Coquelin, Arteta and Santi worked their socks off, The return of Wilshere and Diaby will provide more box to box running and an additional platform for creativity.
On nights like this in the past against good European teams, Henry, presented with a couple of the runs on goal afforded to Gervinho would have slotted home at least one and everyone would have gone home happy. But right now, we don’t have a Thierry.
So, back to the Tolly for a few more with TS, Snowy, Steve-O and a man who insisted that Demba Ba is available for 7M and the answer to our problems. Then on to Steatham Hill and the only chip shop in London still open at 1 am for a long natter about the Mighty Arsenal and the state of the global economy and world health with its Turkish owner.
Bath. What? Lee Dixon doing the legend tour at the stadium? 90 minutes from now? I’m in! See you there. But, no hiding behind the brolly pole when we go for the post-tour prandial at The Tolly. OK? Look out for the quite little fellow with the slightes of Scots twangs. I’ll have to hurry. Shower. Brixton Station. Holloway Road. Stadium. Tolly. Gone in sixty seconds.
Everyone else. See you on Saturday.
Oh dear.
http://twitter.com/bbcsport_david/status/261395051903598592/photo/1
But this one hits the mark about Gazidis
http://twitter.com/bbcsport_david/status/261398595994021888/photo/1
Same old same old at the AGM. Shareholders unhappy, same bollocks about money to spend and ambition from the board.
I wonder for how long Gazidis will be happy at being the whipping boy for the board though, with the manager being given all the slack?
Wabbling on about FFP now *yawns*
Gazidis claims club is not about one individual. What a joke that is.
Anyway – follow it here http://twitter.com/bbcsport_david
Gazidis said: ‘We believe in FFP but doesn’t mean we’re reliant on it.”
lols
Wenger flapping his lips now. Finishing third is great, Diaby is a big loss, same old bollocks as always rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb
Hill-Wood & Gazidis say “money is available for #afc to strengthen as he sees fit.” RvP sale for “football reasons, not FFP
Hahahahahaha Yep thats right sell your best player to a Rival and not replace him and his 30 goals, If thats for Football reasons they all need fu####ng shooting – insanity,
Shareholder tells Gazidis: “I don’t agree with a word you say. This is a great club but you’re ruining it with your financial policies.”
Good Man but thats you banned lol
All I can say to the AGM stuff is this
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mb0n4aMxLs1r06chq.gif
Blaming the media for the split in the fanbase now. FFS, talk about closing your eyes to the cause…
His list of trophies includes CL qualification by the way, which he places third in the list. Everyone knows it is number one though.
PHW apparently being sneery to the fans after Wenger spoke. Not surprising.
Shareholder complains to Gazidis about “£13.90 for fish & chips”.
That’s it mate, hit them right where it hurts.
Great stuff at 91 zico
98 nonny, I shall never follow that account.
Now that I remember it, it is at the AGM than that BBC cunt said RvP had agreed to extend 😉
AGM is over. Sounds like fans dismissed as cunts by PHW, had their tummies tickled by AW and Gazidis poked his tongue out a few times and spat in their tea when they weren’t looking.
RvP was sold because he was being an absolute cunt, neither football reasons (surely that’s neither here nor there in this case? :s) nor FFP I’d say.
Ollie, my comments on the AGM were a mixture of reading that account and John Cross, who is another bellend but you takes it where you can find it and the alternative was Tim Payton 😉
holic about the clueless jibe last night like i have said over the top and your not. I will buy you a drink if the chance arises there were individuals being called a hell of a lot worse coming out of the ground last night.
Appreciated d,d
Takes a big man to step back like that these days. We were all a bit raw last night.
Cheers.
Just like my attitude to the disorganised joke of a place I work in, my feelings towards everything Wenger, Gazidis etc do (or don’t bother to do) and say for or about our club are at the end of the grieving process.
Denial came first. “We’re the Invincibles, a top club! If we don’t win this year we will next.”
Then there was anger (a lot). “Bunch of blithering idiots! Can’t shoot, can’t defend, we never buy enough players, everyone’s always injured etc…”
After that, depression. “It’s not fair…”
And now? Acceptance. The governing cadre will keep saying the same thing and we can’t change it. This squad is about good enough to make top 3 or 4…so I say, let’s stop moaning and get behind the team!
Fair enough, Nonny,. Very fair in fact. Timmmmeh! heh.
I’m not sure if F365 realised that Wenger couldn’t give instructions during the game….. :s
‘holic 112 : a ‘holic tartare ?
0 attempts on goal :S sums it all up …. disappointed .. really dont know what to expect this season but still hoping its better than the last one in terms of silverware.. kinna reluctant to blame players but Gervinho as a central striker and santos as LB seemed like fish ridin a bicycle .. some1 help us sort ourselves out before the man united game , remainder of october i thought wd bring back our form considering home advantage , oh well … Gunner4life as i cant really see myself supporting any other football club.
Wegner would rather qualify for ECL than win it
@117 Well I would like to point out you need to do first to even have a chance to do the latter 🙂
To qualify you don’t have to put on costly street parade
Quick question: Does anyone really believe that once FFP kicks in we’ll be back up there competing with the top clubs again?
I think it’s pie in the sky, personally. The idea that when these rules are enforced by UEFA there will suddenly be a power shift and the super-rich clubs will find themselves at a disadvantage is fanciful. I think City and Chelsea will find loopholes in it and even if they break the rules, does anyone think UEFA have the nuts to put them in their place? FFP will almost certainly be a damp squib, and if I’m wrong, the drinks are on me.
Those are very cheap and low shots, although probably meant in sarcastic jest and I am not going to get myself involved in to any kind of keyboard war.
I will just say that even though Arsenes descisions are not always perfect, I still think that we are blessed to have him as a manager given the conditions he has to work in, simply cannot imagine anyone else being capable of steering us through that stuff and still keep us on competitive level.
Lets face it, we cannot afford to pay inflated prices and wages of the supposedly “world-class” players. I dont buy the fact that there are money kept away from being spent just for the sake of not spending, but rather being kept away and not splashed unreasonably on “big names” – Andy Carrol is great example, would you want us to spend 30mil on that guy? But I am not going to go on on this subject anymore as it was thoroughly discussed here many times.
So only thing I am going to do now is to get behind the team and believe that lads are going to find their mojo again, since quality is there as matches earlier this season (heck even west ham not logn ago) showed, its about putting in performances like that again and thats work for Arsene and co to instill that spirit and urgency back to squad.
After making myself a nice burger and a coffee, I recounted last night’s experience, like most of you have in the drinks before this.
It was always a battle of nerves when I walk up to the Tollie before a match, a combination of “will Steve-o’s luck prevail?”, typical match nervousness, excitement at the rare opportunity to be at the home of football surrounded by my people and the appreciation to be catching a CL game at quarter to 8 instead of the usual 0245 in the far east.
A couple of cigarettes and a nice chat with BTM and soon enough the couple on their honeymoon from my hometown joined us for a quick pint.
We had big smiles on because this was their first ever home game and I truly wanted them to christen that experience with a win.
Well, I don’t have to go through the details of the match, so moving on…
Joining them at the 2 cannons, it was heartbreaking to see their faces, one (the guy) of quiet disappointment and one (the wife) of “are we really the jinx?” disbelief.
I bid my goodbyes and walked back to the Tollie to lose myself in post match discussions and hopefully some cider.
The following from BTM (paraphrased, unfortunately) struck and stuck;
“We aren’t only here for the games, we are so involved with Arsenal in our lives anyway…”
Well, we chose this club to love a long time ago, good moments and bad…what else can we do but to appreciate that there are a lot of us, feeling the same way, to empathize and to share our joy and misery…
…and perhaps to debate (used callously) on the finer points of minimal fee release clauses.
I think FFP will have no impact on the actions of the spendy clubs whatsoever.
Too many rich men stay rich by employing clever people to do what it takes to avoid paying tax. I don’t see how FFP will be any different.
Wonder what line the Board will pursue then?
Nonny
Good points made. I haven’t had time to read it all but Jenkinson was efficient in doing his job in the absence of a true wide man.
Our best games this season ( from what I have seen) have been where our full backs have been overlapping and putting in crosses.
It may be because G was our front man why we decided to try to thread balls rather than litter the penalty box and pepper the keeper.
Who knows?
Gotta go, will be back later!
Steve-O+Silva+Ollie will bring back luck on Saturday.
Believe!
Of course I realise that ‘luck’, good or bad, wasn’t involved, either Saturday or Wednesday.
In fact I can’t remember the last time there were 2 games in a row when we were so flat, beaten fair and square, without any unlucky turning point or a single dodgy refereeing decision in our defavour.
The mind boggles.
I agree with your points regarding FFP Zicon . I doubt that Ivan and Stan, or even Wenger himself, ever believed that these rules would work.
The fact that they only apply to clubs who take part in Euro tournaments makes a mockery of the idea anyway.
Wenger’s moaned about Chelsea and City spending money while at the same time selling them players at big profits. A touch of the hypocriticals involved there.
My guess is that Wenger will blame the failure of FFP for not being implemented in the future – and continue to claim that we can’t compete on wages, Wenger never has a pop at PSG though – and they are as bad as the English clubs regarding spending big money.
If last season was a miraculous escape, then this season is pure reality I’m afraid.
‘Zicon’, heh, I like it.
Camberwell @120
FFP will have a limited impact – there’s a very good article about this on the Swiss Ramble that I read a few weeks ago.
The thing that desperately needs changing is the way the club is run and managed.
Failure to qualify for the Champions League will be the catalyst – its very likely to happen this season based on what we are seeing – we fluked it last year entirely due to RVP’s golden season – if he had picked up an injury we would have been nowhere near.
The season isn’t over though. It could get better (as it did last season), or it could be worse.
Every season is reality.
/Confucius or someone like that.
its very likely to happen this season based on what we are seeing
It was very likely to happen last season to.
And please please please don’t tell me you’re one of this ‘I hope we fail to make things better’ person.
+ missing ‘o’
Ollie – maybe things have to get worse before they get better.
7 years without wining anything and counting – when do you lose patience?
I have and I’m not alone.
Newcastle fans are clearly the most patient in the land. Maybe we should ask for their secret. Meditation?
And just to say, you can’t fluke a final league table position. If you hadn’t noticed, we made top four in seasons where we didn’t have Van Persie for great chunks of the season.
zicon – stereotyping 🙂
Maybe they do. But I’d rather they don’t, if it is possible.
I am losing patience about the same problems repeating themselves, and players looking sorry for themselves rather than it being 7 years without a trophy.
That’s what I find very frustrating.
It’s like in one week, the good signs of the early season have been erased.
There is little doubt that when you take into account the injuries (and that’s what you have to take into account), the squad isn’t quite strong enough. Weirdly enough, there doesn’t seem to be enough mental strength, heh.
As arseblog emphasised yesterday, the ‘keeper situation is particularly infuriating and could surely easily have been averted.
@Ollie 125
Oui, i believe!
Indeed, Charlie, indeed. Wise words.
Looking forward to seeing you again, Steve-o, even if, sadly, I am only daytripping.
I mean don’t get me wrong, you’re not happy with the way things are, that’s understandable and I’m sure you can debate the points endlessly (I just haven’t the energy to look at things anymore). But things like ‘we were lucky last year’ are just meaningless statements.
Did I see the name Silva mentioned?
Yes you did, ‘holic.
Press Conf digest.
Wenger: We cannot complain about Schalke result
**TEAM NEWS: Wilshere, Sagna could return. Gibbs out.
** Wenger happy to have Sagna back
** Wenger: QPR are improving from game to game
** Wenger on QPR: It’s important for us to bounce back
** Wenger on AGM: There were concerns. That’s the best moment to express them
I wonder if Santos will start at left-back.
There could be a lot of bad influences on the barman on Saturday.
Pretty fair assessment Holic.
Just making my way through the drinks –
Thierry W @25 – good post.
Zico – the long post, good stuff. QPR now has a certain foreboding about it. A bit ridiculous really.
What’s more ridiculous is that they will have Julio Cesar in goal ……
Nonny – agreed on Jenkinson.
He was beaten two or three times in the first half out on the right touchline by defenders who were doubling up on him. Sensibly he decided not to risk exposing his wing when Ramsey repeatedly fed him the ball on the touchline in the second half.
Rather than do that he took the only other option which was to keep pinging the ball back to Ramsey.
My question would be, why play Ramsey as a right winger, at home, when he has no pace and an unextinguishable desire to pass sideways and backwards.
Arshavin is an admittedly uncommitted member of the squad, but what is the point of sitting an attacking midfielder / winger like him on the bench, in a home tie, while Ramsey flounders.
But enough of individuals. There should be enough experience in the team to recognise that Santos was being left with two or three to deal with, and the spare man was continually breaking free down our left hand side.
If anyone thinks that simply booting out the left back will solve all of those problems, then take another look. He wasn’t great, but it wasn’t all his fault.
There were enough internationals on that pitch for someobe to demand more urgency and directness in our play.
Some of our pointless sideways to and froing was no more than players absolving themselves of the responsibility to do something positive.
After the first few games of the season I thought we had a more mature, more hardworking team, with more varied creativity and more defensive nous, that could even have a genuine tilt at the title.
Where the hell has that gone?
Every assault on our defence now threatens to add to our goals against column.
Every match, viewed a month ago with excitement and eager anticipation, now seems like another threat to wreck our season in November, again.
No, this is not over reacting.
This is, as David Coleman once said, deja vu all over again.
Positives from last night. Arteta, Santi, the ever improving and reliable Jenkinson.
Oh, and that big, slow f*cking German at the back, who was magnificent all night long.
How can we argue that we weren’t lucky to finish 3rd last season?
LUCKY that Spurs capitulated, LUCKY to beat West Brom on the last day, LUCKY that Chelsea had a shocker in the league, LUCKY that RVP actually stayed fit and had a blinding season, LUCKY that our only other serious rivals were Newcastle. Even at the end when push came to shove we couldn’t beat neither Norwich nor Wigan at home!
Wow, I went into media lock down for that?
It wasn’t easy I can tell ya, especially when returning home to the bar, a few hours after the final whistle, to find a bunch of Ajax fans in celebratory mood after their famous victory over the Vulgarians. Somehow I managed to get through to the back room without hearing how our game went. Hindsight being 20/20 I wish I´d stayed and joined them in a drink or five.
The next ninety minutes, as you all well know, did not make for pleasant viewing, after the final whistle I immeadiatly turned the TV off and haven’t looked at anything since, so apologies if anything in my rant has been ranted by others.
I thought we started brightly enough, but the first ten minutes or so was just a false dawn, as once again, as the game went on we offered the penetrational threat of a particularly poorly endowed flea that also suffered from penile erection disorder coupled with a nasty case of impotance. Toothless just doesn´t cover it, how can a team with the stature and resources of Arsenal justify not having a shot on target untill the 93rd minute? That’s just ridiculous, it’s not as if Schalke played us off the field, it’s just that we lacked any real ambition and that my friends is why it hurts so much.
I’ll freely admit to letting out a groan upon reading the team sheet pre kick off. Gerviniho in the lone striker role seemed just wrong to me. My feelings about this player are well documented on these very pages, I just don’t think he’s good enough as a winger let alone a CF and once again last night he realised my fears with a running into nowhere, tripping over the ball and thin air performance. What the fuck was he thinking with that dive in the penalty area? It’s easy to slate Luis Shithead and Galen Bale when do it, so let’s not be hypocritical when one of our own do it. I can’t abide cheats and I don’t want that behaviour in my team.
But, he can’t take all the blame, he had no support whatsoever, Poldi is obviously struggling, has been for a few weeks now, which once again begs the question why aren’t we resting him to help him get back to 100% rather then putting him in game after game with the risk of damaging him even futher? Bring one of the kids in, surely they can’t do any worse. Look at Gnarby, he was the only one who managed to get an effort in inbetween the sticks. Why was Giroud, a 12mill purchase on the bench? Has he reached Chamakh status already? Speaking of whom, was also on the bench, why? just to make up the numbers?
Now, I may not be the sharpist pencil in the box, but even to me it seemed pretty obvious that our front formation wasn’t clicking, so why in the name of Dennis wasn’t it changed when we had the option/luxury of being able to bring on two strikers from the bench to alter said formation, it just defies logic and while I’m on my soapbox bemoaning the (mis)use of subs, why o why o why can’t we ever make a tactical substitution before the 70 minute mark? Is it in our DNA.? Did the ghost of Herbert Chapman canter down a mountain past a burning bush to deliver a stone tablet which had the words; Thou shall not maketh a change untill the last 20 minutes etched upon it? Or is it an amendment in some Arsenal Constitution that us mere fans are unaware of? Whatever the reason is, we need to do something about it, because it’s just not working.
As unsupported in attack as Gerv was, was as unsupported in defence Santos was, he too was visably struggling but got no back up from anyone. We obviously miss Gibbs, but his great performances were helped by the great support he got from Poldi, but as I’ve mentioned above, the German is not firing on all cylinders and this is effecting our whole left flank.
I’m not sure what happened during the interlul, but we are not the same team since we’ve returned, but with games coming thick and fast, we’ve got no time to cry about it, we’ve just got to stop the rot and stop it fast. Rest those that need to be rested and replace those who are not up to scratch. Next up QPR and nothing but a resounding victory will be good enough. I don’t want us to give Mark Hughes any reason whatsoever to take even the slightest bit of pleasure out of that game, in fact I’ll only be truy happy if he leaves the Grove blubbing like a little girl. Aaaaah, just the thought of that makes me feel a lot better.
Have a drink on my tab ladies and gents while a I attempt to wade through all the previous drinks.
David Coleman doesn’t sound very French to me.
Uncle Charlie: and LUCKY that Arsène Wenger was still the manager? 😉
And I shudder to think what would have happened if we hadn’t cunningly relieved ourselves of our European and domestic cup commitments before the spring daffodils even showed up!
@148 h2h
Lol at the blubbering Mark Hughes.
And yes, Ollie. will be good to see you again. Where you been hiding on twitterm?
I hope it doesn’t worry you that i was asking about you at the tollie yesterday
I’m not really a ‘regular’ on twitter, Steve-o.
And no: I’m used to stalkers now 😉
#150 Ollie
Yes, you’re right about Le Boss. We’re lucky to have him in charge. For all his excuses and stubbornness, he doesn’t give up as easily as I probably would when I manage Arsenal one day.
Uncle Charlie – I’m with you 100% on the merits of the 3rd place finish last year.
It was in spite of the way the club is being managed not because of it.
Good post Holic, cheers. Ouch indeed. Very grim viewing.
I didn’t understand the team selection from the off. Whilst one can empathise with the selection of Coquelin for greater stability and cohesiveness in midfield against what was a very good side, (a selection which on balance Coq justified with his subsequent performance) why was Giroud the one to make way? Whilst he hadn’t shone against Norwich (who did?), he had at least put himself about and made the best of what was a very limited service, whilst both Gervinho and Podolski had been invisible to the point of wondering whether they were still on the pitch.To play Gervinho centrally after such a woeful display on the Saturday looked brave to the point of stupidity at the outset.
Unlike others, I didn’t generally see a lack of effort (although Gervinho’s stat flashed up on his substitution that he had run over a Km less than the team average tells it’s own story), what I saw was (1) a woeful team shape that was utterly unsuited to the players out there and an inability, as ever, to change it when even to the most untrained eye it was apparent that it wasn’t working either going forward or defensively, and (2) several individual performances that, put simply, were not worthy of the shirt.
The first 15 minutes were encouraging inasmuch as the tempo was improved. Creativity, movement or anything resembling a forward thrust were however still sadly lacking. Enter the fray one Mr Mannone. The incident where he gave away a clear penalty summed up all that is wrong with his selection, a lack of authoritative communication with Vermaelen, a sprint from his line that was so slow it was almost a stumble, and a dive so laboured he got nowhere near the ball. So the guy went down easy, they all do, but there was contact and in the modern vernacular that means he was entitled to do so.
Thereafter the ripples of nervousness emanating from having a goalkeeper clearly out of his depth rippled throughout the team, stymying defensive cohesiveness and hindering any risk-taking further forward. BtM, I enjoy your posts but how you can say it was a “good” first half is beyond me. I was watching a different game. Second to every ball, we were constantly exposed down our left side and only a towering performance from the Bfg kept us together. On another night we would have gone in at HT two or three down.
Ah our left hand side. Yes Santos was not helped by those in front of him, yes he was left exposed, but the man is a fucking liability. The very first thing we should be able to demand of our footballers when they earn a kings ransom every week is to be fit, super fit, fitter than the fittest butchers dog. The man is not fit. And I don’t mean injured. Huffing and puffing after 10 minutes, the strain was showing very early on. Matching his clearly overweight physique was a football brain that never threatened to get out of second gear. Always out of position, never in line, and with no energy to get forward with any regularity beyond the fiftieth minute, he should not play again until he decides he wants to meet the first requirement of his job. If that upsets a few people who prefer to be seduced by a fucking cheeky smile and a joker’s personality than anything he brings to the side then so be it.
Second half then and more huffing and puffing. I couldn’t fault the two Spaniards and Coq for their workrate, but stripped up front of either any meaningful movement or any ability to retain possession ( Poldolski, Gervinho and Ramsey were all woeful), we never looked like having a shot let alone score. The midfield, hard though they worked, simply do not possess the forward thrust that any of the injured quartet – Wilshere, Diaby, Rosicky Ox – bring to the table.
On 60 minutes I would have settled for the draw. Settling for a draw, at home. It doesn’t get more damning than that. Substitutions were delayed beyond measure. Why?
On 76 mins the inevitable goal, threatened for so long, arrived. Again, it was Santos, stopping to rip open his second pack of Marlboros, who was behind the defensive line and playing Huntelaar on. Mannone then hardly covered himself in glory, his dive more closely resembling a tennis player at the net trying to avoid getting hit.
Gnabry came on and provided the few sparks of hope on an otherwise entirely depressing evening. It was unfortunate, given his otherwise encouraging cameo, that it was he who gave the ball away that led to their second goal to give the scoreline a more realistic assessment of the gulf between the two sides. Three or four nil would not have flattered the Germans.
Where to go from here? All is not lost, we have been here before, and have recovered of a sort. We do have players returning who are capable of making big differences to the stultified paralysis which gripped the side last night. The ridiculous injury list means that changes on Saturday can only be few, but changes need to be made after such a gutless display. Martinez in for Mannone (he can’t be any worse), Kos in for the joke-a-minute Brazilian with TV5 moved to left back, Gnabry in for Ramsey and Giroud given an extended run instead of the loafing Gervinho, would be my side.
A nice call for unity at the end there Holic. A forlorn hope I think. Those that wish to follow an anti-Wenger agenda will continue to see all that is bad whilst ignoring anything that is good. The other end of the spectrum, equally imbecilic and equally agenderist, will continue to interpret any criticism of Arsene as a call for his head, and shut down any legitimate debate as to why things are not going to plan with fatuous catcalls of disloyalty. The truth always lies somewhere in the middle, but until those at the two extremes recognise such then their equally pigheaded stances will continue to send more and more people scurrying off to the two extremes.
Anyone read Arsene’s speach on the dotcom?
Pffft stalking
Second to every ball, we were constantly exposed down our left side and only a towering performance from the Bfg kept us together. Indeed, tabs, indeed.
Alright then!
Back early from the wilds of So. Virginia. Abingdon, if you must know – and pray to the gods that you do NOT know Abingdon, VA. (nice people … is about all). My trial postponed indefinitely due to the tactical nous of my associates and litigation team.
So, what I’d miss?
Seriously now. Yet another inciteful post ‘holic. Saw these latest results and it boggles the mind. But chins up all. Its only October. Chels, Citeh and ManIOU will stumble in the prem as they always do.
Stevie Bould is a fine, fine man. He is no AW though (and really, who is?). Agree with all of the above, that OG needs a run of games, Gervs needs to be sat, and the squad needs consistency. Regretting our lack of quality keepers. Don Vito, much as I love the lad, needs to get it together.
And I’ve thought a lot recently, what happens to our slick football when the other side isolates Cazorla? JACK bloody WILSHIRE, that is what happens.
Alright, here it is, calling once more for a 3-1 dickstopping of QPR and the twit of a manager Mark Hughes, with D. Cisse sent off (again). Yes, yes … my crystal ball is particularly clear this morning!
Cheers all.
I feel like there isn’t enough of a spotlight on the strategy. How long have we been playing 4-3-3? It hasn’t delivered anything of note and without a SUPER striker, it leaves holes in midfield, isolates the center forward and relies on certain squad attributes we simply don’t have.
I know it is flavor of the month, works for Barca etc. but we don’t own the midfield enough, don’t have genius forwards, and move the ball too slowly to make it work consistently. Santi is an awesome player but he can’t be expected to regularly find a man being doubled in the forward 3rd. If we rushed the wings hard, using Walcott and Alex with our current system, things might work better (and occasionally do) but we tend to dick around long enough for the corners to be well covered, CF to be isolated and then expect either an error from the opposition or a miracle pass to get us through. We never take the outside shot because we allow the opposition to get so many men behind the ball before we get in that position, the opportunity is missed.
I am/have been a Wenger fan, but it seems clear to me that our lack of versatility is killing us. Never a long ball, never a defensive counter (we used to do this all the time didn’t we?) never a change of shape. So predictable that any team with discipline can be sure to execute the counter. 1. Hold us up a bit. 2. wait until we have 8 or 9 guys forward passing around the fringes looking for inspiration. 3. be patient, wait for an error make a good tackle 4. counter or at least break down the wings. 5. score on an outnumbered, poorly organized defense trying to regain shape after said ‘attack’.
Clearly I am no Arsene Wenger, and as a regular reader, rare poster, I don’t assume I know better. At some point though, having asked myself a hundred times in the past 5 years why Man U perform so much better than us with (at times) an inferior or comparable squad, I think it becomes time to think out loud about whether the manager is so intrenched that as a unit we have become stale and predictable to the point where it hurts our players, our performances and empowers our opposition – to the point that change, in some manner needs to be considered.
I am not suggesting wholesale change, that never works. Arsene’s record and experience with recruitment and development is outstanding. I would love to see the addition of some tactical strength however, and if that means moving Arsene to Director of Football and finding a new, younger manager, I would love to see it considered.
Jaysus, still reading on your post tabs, and your words could be mine. Word for word.
With one exception, when we hit the Gnabry bit. Although it’s all down to inexperience, he’d already lost the ball about 3 times (i2 if you discount the lost after the little wonderful shimmy).
So I don’t think it was unfortunate, it was a continuation. Naive. As you expect at his age in his situation though, not particularly being harsh on him.
But for the rest, every single word of your post could be mine.
Except I am not as eloquent, of course!
“To play Gervinho centrally after such a woeful display on the Saturday looked brave to the point of stupidity at the outset.”
I don’t want to continually pick on the guy but with Gervinho, the feeling I get is that we’ve been getting away with it when we’ve played him, rather than him playing well. Up to the last two or three games anyway.
He’d be the first name on the team sheet for me. I’d fill out the subs bench places first though 😉
To clarify – we’ve been getting away with him up to now and now he (and we) have not been so lucky.
Good stuff above from the regs, Dr Z, Trev, Tim H2H etc.
Ollie, cheers for your kind words, and point taken re Gnabry.
Nonny @164 heh 🙂 I will freely admit that I have been a cheerleader for Gervinho in the past. Reasons being, he has the ability to create confusion by beating a man, and I felt he had a reasonable first half a season until the African Cup sucked all spirit from him. His last performances however, in differing positions, have been woeful, and it is very difficult not to agree with you when you say that we have been “getting away with it”.
I’m pretty sure it’s been said before, but I think Gervinho has the ability to create confusion….in himself too.
Yesterday he was back to 100% frustrating. Including the ‘how the fuck is he unable to simply push a ball forward with his foot’?
It is weird. I still don’t think he’s 100% shit like others.
Perhaps a Gervincott or a Walcinho would be a fantastic player.
Actually, need some other clonelement too, as they both have the tendency to at times run into blind alleys without looking up.
Agreed Ollie, I still think there’s a player in there somewhere, but recent performances make it almost impossible to defend him. Bottom line is even when he does beat his man and his control doesn’t let him down, he only very rarely gets his head up to see what’s going on, and rarer still, delivers a ball to a colleague. Gervorla would be a better player than Gervincott methinks 😉
I have tried a few times to sum up my thoughts and feelings about yesterday but failed every time. It turns into an incoherent mess of thoughts that goes of on tangents and would make not very interesting reading for anyone. Let’s see how this attempt goes…
I guess I am mostly just very puzzled as to how everything we did right in the early part of the season has disappeared completely. No helping each other out, too little movement and pretty much just handing over responsibility to others. We absolutely have to win on Saturday, and preferrably with a clean sheet (I know, I know…) but any win will do at the moment.
Hutstar: the tactical setup is one that I think Arsene is seriously considering changing. Towards the end of the West Ham game, we played a formation where we played 3-5-2 in attack and morphed into something approaching 5-4-1 in defence. I particularly like the idea of 3-5-2 against bus parkers, that gives us more stability at the back while having two proper attackers and still three central midfielders. Maybe that is an indication of what is to come, at least I hope so.
Nice post tabs! Agree with every word
We need Gibbs, SzCz and Diaby/Jack/Rosicky back for this team to tick. Otherwise we just look woeful
I can’t understand why Giroud is being benched time and again! So frustrating
I decided not to name and shame in my earlier post, saving it so that someone more qualified to do so could have a go.
Step forward takeabowson @ 157. 😉
Now that it’s out though, what the hell :
Gervinho is hopeless, Santos is a caricature of a professional, and Mannone is the living embodiment of Arsene’s weakest spot, (which is closely followed by his insistence on expecting players to perform in roles that they are clearly not suited to).
When we went through our ropey spell last season, I expressed the view that we didn’t need to change Arsene, but Arsene needed to change. Why does Arsene not see what we can see?
Just back from a tour of the Grove with Lee Dixon. Proper bloke. Made me nostalgic for former days and former teams. Cannot imagine any of our recent players connecting with fans so effectively.
This lot need to learn what it means to wear THE ARSENAL shirt. Pampered bunch of prima donnas.
Great review TaBS @157. That’s the game I saw. We could easily have been 0-2 down at HT and I too was praying we could hang on to 0-0 by 60mins and wondering why nothing had been done to change things around. I agree with blogs that Bouldy’s words raise very worrying issues.
I was well pissed off having struggled up the M4 and round the north circular to watch that crock of shit.
I agree fully that Arteta, BFG, Coquelin and Santi are exonerated for effort as, to an extent is Corporal Jenks though he didn’t manage to get forward as effectively as usual. I never want to see Santos in an Arsenal shirt again.
https://twitter.com/@arsenallive
Jaysus, U21 concede a late goal against Marseille.
Doomed 🙁
Lars 169, yeah I’d take a good honest hard-working Norwich-against-Arsenal-style win too, heh :s
zico 171, the answer is simple:
because on the other hand he sees things we can’t see 😉
baff, I’m guessing blogs won’t be wearing his Santos shirt too willingly at the moment 😉
You around on Saturday?
Yep, staying up with Miss B, so looking forward to having time to linger at the Tollie without the prospect of a drive back to Bath later. 🙂
It sounds like what we all need is for everyone to play in their prefered positions on Sat and bring back the glory at the grove, because last night was more a “look back in anger” than an “evening glory”.
Returnees to the squad in training photos tomorrow please dot-com?
Ollie @ 177 – I think he’ll burn it.
LD2 this morning: “Jenkinson has talent but needs constant advice about positioning and support from the player in front. Don’t get me started on Santos!”
Ollie – if only he could discard his Santos body as easily as the shirt.
Harsh, Nonny, harsh.
Ollie,i’ve been a Gervinho cheerleader but he absolutely frustrated the shit out of yesterday, am with you @176 too.
Harsha,if we had four out of the five players you mentioned at 170 available and still played like we’ve done for the past two weeks,i’d be terrified.
Lars,3-5-2 is quite a good option,i think Napoli used/uses it,knowing Arsene though,i don’t think we will use it anytime soon.
Cheers Harsha.
Lars, totally agree with mooted changes of formation, (certainly until we have a midfield thrust available again from the sickroom). I think I’d go with a more conventional 4-4-2, coq and Arteta to win the ball and get it out wide to Santi and Gnabry with Giroud and Poldolski up front in a conventional two. Anything to break the current creative stasis which is afflicting the side.
The current shape has not worked on anything like a consistent basis since February 2011 and arguably longer. With injuries always at epidemic levels, I take on board that we have not always had the personnel to make the chosen shape work. All the more reason to change it in my opinion, or at least vary it. In that respect I agree with much of what Hutstar says above @162.
Well that was all very formal zicoinexile @171 😉 Agree with all you say though. To a degree some players, to a greater or lesser degree, should be hung out to dry. You are right, Santos is a caricature.
Bath, cheers Sir, we saw the same game.
As regards the fanbase, it has been dispiriting listening to the radio today. Cunt Payton, as is his wont, professing to speak for all of us, and sowing his usual seeds of poison, in which he presents interpretation as fact. Even bigger cunt Robson coming out with a diatribe that was so anti-Arsene it was beyond parody. At the other end, we have idiots so blinkered that they refuse to hold Arsene accountable for wrong selectorial decisions in the light of the Chelsea game, or countenance any reasonable debate of huge deficiencies that were glaring during the Norwich game, and which were recognised by Arsene himself in his post match interview.
Sitting atop all of that was one Bob Wilson, who mixed constructive support with measured criticism, which surely is the way forward. Criticism does not have to be febrile or abusive. Descriptions of such a talented visionary as Arsene as “senile” or worse should obviously receive short shrift, but there are legitimate questions to be asked and which deserve more than either the corporate doublespeak of Gazidis or the dismissive patronisation of Hill-Wood.
– why is the system of play persevered with to the exclusion of anything else even when it is not working.
– why have all appointments to the coaching side been internal when it seems to many that the Club has been crying out for fresh voices that would at least challenge Arsene with some new ideas.
– why is there so much money put away for a rainy day when it has been raining for some time now
– What is the relationship between Arsene and the current board, and is there anything behind Arsene’s continuing relationship with David Dein other than a long-standing friendship.
As to the last, we all have our own view, and it has been done to death on these pages many times. Is Arsene reluctant to spend, or is the Board far more parsimonious with the cash than has been let on? Its all guesswork, but what I think can’t be denied is that one can’t remain uncritical of both Arsene AND the Board. To do so is just to bury your head in the sand to a degree.
tabs, Payton and Robson have always been cunts.
Bob Wilson, on the other hand, is one of these rare persons that, in my humble opinion, is worthy of the term ‘legend’.
I’ve tuned into the telly just in time to see Belgians score in the 88th minute, heh.
Genk 2, Sporting 1.
Hopefully Bordeaux can cheer me up after that too.
Epic Tabs @various above.
Actually, after my longish post – but not compared to yours ! – I did wonder whether I would be so generous to a non-cuddly Brazilian maverick as I was to Santos.
The conclusion I have come to is “no”.
If you strip the personality away you are left with very little else.
Like you, I was annoyed and befuddled by the team selection, or more to the point, by the Ramsey – Giroud issue. Due to the inevitable host of injuries, the rest of the side, as ever, picks itsself.
I did hear that the club doctor was sacked last night. Any verification on that one ?
I do appreciate that it can be difficult to predict how long injuries will take to heal, but our record of diagnosis and prognosis is pathetic.
Why Gervinho was then taken off to be replaced by the very man who needed his service into the box – not that he provided any – is another mystery. If you’re going to put a big man in the middle, at least have someone who can get the ball to him.
Gervinho did though rather assault the olfactory system last night – as usual, for me.
I fear It is no coincidence that he wears Eboue’s old shirt.
Cent: I think you’re right about Napoli, I seem to recall seeing them play like that last season. Huge reservations for dodgy memory though 🙂 Like tabs suggests I would also like to see us do a conventional 4-4-2 at times, that is a formation that most players can play in their sleep. Not as unpredictable and fluid as 4-3-3 but in my mind less prone to the staleness that we’ve seen in the last few games.
tabs@185: your bullet items pretty much sum up what I am thinking too. Still believing firmly that Arsene is the right man for the job doesn’t mean we can’t ask questions.
Here, here Ollie @186.
It is indeed incredible, Lars, that in those days when we are trying to fight racism, people still expect everything to be either black or white 😉
Trev, now that you say I it must admit I have probably also been a bit taken by Santos’ endearing personality. He is quite frankly not very good most games.
Ollie@186, I sincerly hope that you are not implying that tabs is included in that first group? 😉
Heh@191 🙂
Judging by the number of tickets on Tx for Saturday, the stadium could be made to look quite empty….
The only problem with 4-4-2 is that we haven’t got enough decent centre forwards to play out on the wings.
Sorry for the facetiousness but last night’s slow and utterly predictable efforts to get the ball wide to players who haven’t got a clue what to do with it has left me tired.
This is Arsenal for god’s sake.
There was so much incompetence on that pitch last night that you do have to question everything. Absolutely everything.
In his program notes, Arsene Wenger said that we went into the Norwich game “not fully focussed”.
Really ?
He went on to explain that it had been a lesson, that if you go into a Premier League game not fully focussed, that you will not win.
Captain Vermaelen explained in his notes that he knew all about the capabilities and dangers of Huntelaar.
So why did he then wander away from the very same player, that he was supposed to be marking, to allow him to score with such ease.
Same old, same old, same old for me.
Too many players with too many wise words but never any lessons learnt.
heh Lars @ 193. Confusing formulation but no 🙂
Last night remains too shocking for many words but TBS summed up my feelings. You can cuddle the fat Brazilian. I never want to see him in our shirt again.
Ollie @186 – Absolutely, spot on.
Trev @188 – Cheers mate. I hadn’t read your earlier post before posting so I hope you you didn’t think my post was an ill-tempered response to yours! 🙂
I take on board completely the point you and others made about the lack of cover or help that Santos got. However, like you have just said, I do think Santos gets away with murder simply because he does have an endearing way about him. Such is the nature of Sport that anyone can have a nightmare at any time. I would forgive him that. But to be unfit is to break the cardinal rule. Close ups of him barely 10 minutes into the game revealed a man that looked like he had scoffed a curry and drunk 6 pints 10 minutes before he took to the field. Questions do need to be asked as to why he is seemingly so out of shape.
No idea on the Doctor thing.
Lars @189 – I couldn’t agree more.
Can I cuddle a slim Brazilian?
Need comforting. 😉
get in 🙂
missed….must be last night’s jinx still working
well in zico
heh
Tabs,i love the questions you ask,i’d like to add this one-if truly the board give Arsene all the money they claim to lay at his feet and he refuses to spend while winning nothing,why have they not brought in another manager who would spend the “available” money and win things?
Trev,about the goal last night,it wasn’t Vermaelen that messed up for Huntelar’s goal,it was Santos who played him onside.
Well in,Zico.
On the lack of cover from Podolski, another indictment – the Polish German was clearly not 100% fit.
Still 85% more fit than Santos mind. 😐
Cent @203
Lee Dixon made the point that a leader in defence like TA6 would have made sure that Santos was out before he himself left Huntelaar behind him – especially as he is known to be in the wrong position with dreadful regularity.
zico @205 Poldi can be disappointingly anonymous but at least he looks like an athlete.
Ollie 186 agree with your synopsis of people apart from tabs who is not a cunt. 😉
Tabs 185 puts over my feelings 100 %. ….. Arsene is not perfect and is not above questioning or criticism. He seems reluctant to either change systems to suit the players – sometimes he tries to put square pegs into round holes and often it simply does not work – or change tactics during a game when the team is not functioning properly. At times he is just too rigid. (Wolfie will have a field day with some of the preceding comments ;-))
The lack of spending issue remains one of life’s mysteries…is it Arsene or the board? Guess we will have to await Arsene’s memoirs in the distant future to get to the truth of this one. Probably it is a bit of both.
Heh Up I missed that first time round! 🙂
Cent – yes, that is another very good question.
Bath @206, Agreed, Santos was culpable but Vermaelen, who I thought looked dodgy again for most of the game, can also be asked questions of the part he played in the first goal.
Well in Dr Z and heh 🙂
Thanks bath @206, saved me writing the same thing.
TV5 is proving the words of an Ajax fan prophetic – he was glad to see him go due to regular erratic behaviour leading to goals against. Needs to be drilled heavily by Bouldy – if Keown could be brought into line, so can TV5.
Tremoulinas-Gouffran goal!
Actually why didn’t we buy Tremoulinas? 🙁
Or pick Kos ahead of him Bath.
Remember that I objected to ‘holic’s point in the preview about the centre-halves, saying TV5 could easily have deserved to be dropped if Kos was fit. 😉
Anyway, where did all these posts come from?
Well in Dr Z!
Down in the dumps too…still can’t shake the gloom the day after. I felt last season that no matter what happened with RvP and other matters we had to cease the trends of goals conceded, at least by 10% or something to start to show signs of real improvement. A few games into the season (Bould?) it seemed that we were turning that corner and then it has slowly seemed like last year is back upon us. Before the Schalke game I was amazed at how many consecutive games we had been scored against.
Then I read that: Wednesday night’s Champions League defeat marked the longest run without a clean sheet since 2004-05
Obvious perhaps, but I’d love to say Mannone is only as good as how well the other ten defend. In this case I can’t say that is true. A liability beyond Almunia, who would have good games mixed in, often for weeks on end.
If Scz isn’t back soon (and I still maintain he’s 2-4 years away from being top calibre) can we even get a loan player in at this time of year?
Depressed…until the next match?
Heh, I love it, some random Girondins fan has retweeted my post wanting us to buy TRemoulinas.
Ah fuck 1-1.
TaBS @214 I would certainly do that. I have rated Kos since he arrived and despite the hysterical reaction to the act of DB10 in the League Cup Final and the occ OG.
A first step would be to tell TV5 to play LB until Gibbs is fit. I do think Kos and Per read the game better than TV5.
@ 214
Swings and roundabouts mate. Koscielney had a horror show against the Chavs.
Vermaelen needs to be brought into line and reminded of his main priority, which is defending. Wenger made a mistake making him captain, no question.
The real captain plays in midfield and we would be in (even more) serious doo doo if he were to get injured.
Just finished recording the Arsecast on six bottles of Innis & Gunn (6.6%)
‘Blogs production skills are legendary. I’m sure he’ll get my best ten minutes out of that 😉
Bath, great comparison, young Keown v Vermaelen….
Missing Carrasso somehow (another one I wouldn’t mind signing).
I did wonder indeed, Tim, (see above) what the exact rules for emergency loan goalies are.
Tim @216,
Can’t we get Almunia back? He’s only the other side of the fence at the training ground with Watford.
Did I really just say that ?
Things must be worse than I thought. 🙁
heh, ‘holic, I did wonder if you’d manage to still sound completely sober 😉
As you can see, it looks like I did a lot of wondering lately.
Anyway, now you can watch Bordeaux and be the lucky charm again 😉
Of course…a loan keeper kills Mannone’s confidence (hmmmm)…but do we really have anything to lose?
Djourou to start at the weekend? This could be like old times..
6 bottles of I&G and still coherent – you have the fortitude of an ox, sir.
On Brains SA Gold tonight, myself.
tabs@199: I guess we’ll just have to agree to agree 🙂
Tim,
Szczezzer 2 to 4 years from being top class ?
He’s probably 2 to 4 years from being fit at the present rate of progress.
Jaysus, Trev…. Are you visiting the CMC for medicine on Saturday? (not sure the ‘HT’ is running at the moment….)
Bath @206,i guess it boils down to poor communication on the part of both players,i watched a replay of the goal from behind the defence and saw Santo STROLLING to join in the offside trap,Jenko made the same mistake 2 to 3 times yesterday ,he was lucky not to have been punished too.
Tim 225, surely you can’t kill what’s already dead.
@ ‘holic…. did you let loose or still find reasoned optimism? I’m struggling to the point where I’m trying to convince myself that a decent looking team doesn’t just lose it’s character this rapidly. We really did see more fight/will/organisation up to the Chelsea match didn’t we?
We could have Coquelin, Miquel or even Sagna at left-back. Neither are left-back by trades, but they’d still probably do better than Santos 😉
@Ollie…I thought about typing those same words…but thought he might be reading.
@Trev….I’m trying to be optimistic…I don’t think Scz will ever be Seaman/Jennings class but I don’t think we’ll see it at his age. Being keeper at a title challenging/winning side takes a lot of experience/consistency usually and I don’t think he’s close yet.
Ollie, the Coq did rather well at left-back last season so why not?
How long is Gibbs out for?
Mannone is our third choice keeper. You get what you get. You can’t expect a match winner unless that turns out to be a precocious young keeper on a lucky run of form.
I am not sure that he can be blamed for either goal last night, though I only saw them from the other end of the ground and have eschewed a TV reprise. Huntelaar’s shot was close to his feet where it’s hard to get down and the second goal was a slick carve up of a stretched defence leaving the keeper stranded. I agree he has cost us goals in the last few weeks but I cannot blame him for last night.
I do think we should sign an experienced keeper in Jan. What’s Jens doing?
When are Szcz and Gibbs back?
The happy train as of this morning: http://static.stuff.co.nz/1256632140/366/3004366.jpg
Ollie @215 I certainly do remember, and it was an observation I agreed with.
Dr Z @219 That’s a fair point, Kos did have a nightmare against Chelsea, but my view is that Kos and TV5 do not make a good pairing. Kos had looked much better alongside the Bfg up at Eastlands and i still think that’s our best pairing.
For how long have we been saying that TV5 should “get back to basics” ? Far too long in my view.
I agree with Bath. Ease Kos back in and shuffle the Captain over to left back for as long as Gibbs is absent.
@237 –
Jens is probably having a piss on someone’s advertising. 🙂
I miss Jens, but he was completely mad by the time he left us as well.
It’s Guest Post time >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Miquel put in several good shifts at LB last season.
Cent@230, I agree. LD2 said that Jenks needs to be mentored due to his youth but that he has lots of potential. LD made a lot of points about the hours of drilling that are required to reach and MAINTAIN the legendary back four’s skillset. It’s not part of the current Arsenal training agenda and has not been for 16 years.
Cheers all. A very painful last 24 hours. Just finished back drinking. Agree with most. I predicted the starting line up pre match with 100% accuracy. That just shows what little options we have at the moment. If I can pick each man, then it is sad. The bench was telling as well. It was full of players that were there just to warm the seat.
I don’t know why we are trying to ease Giroud into the roll. He is our only center forward. Play him. He has done nothing to merit the shuffling in and out of the lineup. Teammates will not learn how to play to his strengths if he is on the bench.
If poldi is hurt then why is he playing. He has offered little coverage the last few weeks. Put in someone that will. I also think he misses what Gibbs provided. He and Gibbs were working well with each other. Gibbs gave him width so that he could cut inside. Just like theo playing best with Sagna, I think it is true with poldi and Gibbs.
The midfield is not balanced without one more creative option. Teams will now sit on Santi and push him backwards. With no other option it is easy to do. If we don’t have diary, wilshire or rosicky then I would ask Arteta to move forward more. He actually has a decent shot from outside the box and would at least give us more forward creativity. Maybe try vermaelen as a DM. Or keep the Coq. But it needs some change.
We are once again playing with a depleted squad that can’t cope with the inevitable injuries.
‘ keeper- third choice
Fullbacks – at least one is second choice if not both
Center backs- still first choice but I would argue the capitain hinders selection there too.
Midfield- Arteta and Cazorla first choice but the last spot is not in my top 3. ( Wilshire, Diaby, rosicky,AOC).
Forwards- poldi ( is he playing injured?)
Giroud ( why is he not starting) Ramsey ( really, he’s a forward?)
Gerv ( not a finisher and teams know it. )
Theo would be my choice on the right.
Or if we have the walking wounded back then move Santi out right with a rosicky wilshire Arteta midfield.
Change is needed but once again those changes can only happen when we get people out of the hospital beds. It bogles my little mind.
@theirry wrightkamp(89)
Never mentioned ‘american franchises’. Took exception to:
“It is a football club that comes with all the things that his other sports franchises don’t have…”
St. Louis Rams and Denver Nuggets ..proper teams…
Thank You