Marriner, And Arsenal, All At Sea
Mar 22nd, 2014 by 'holic
Where to start? Having taken time out to let the immediate reaction subside I guess the first thing is to hold our hands up and accept we got well and truly humbled on a very big day. We spoke beforehand about the possible recall of Mathieu Flamini to ‘fight for every scrap of possession in midfield’. However Tomas Rosicky passed his fitness test and Arsene chose to start with the eleven players who secured three points at Tottenham last weekend.
There is a logic to that decision, but the performance those eleven players produced made the selection, with a huge portion of hindsight I agree, a questionable one. Arsenal appeared to start with an attacking intent that could even have yielded the opening goal, so often crucial in the big matches. Olivier Giroud had a fourth minute opportunity saved by Cech but three minutes later we were two down, having surrendered possession twice and getting hit on the counter. That became a recurring theme of the afternoon.
The third goal ten minutes later provided the ‘noise’ that would enable some deflection of the painfully obvious. That Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain handled in the box is beyond doubt, however Andre Marriner did not see it, and his linesman did not flag for it. Cue shots of the referee engaging in conversation on his headset, awarding the penalty, and sending off Kieran Gibbs in a case of mistaken identity. The whole incident viewed in close up suggested a critical contribution from the fourth official, Anthony Taylor. There is also a question mark about the validity of the sending off given the effort was not on target and therefore a goalscoring opportunity had not been denied.
All of which doesn’t excuse that we would have been beaten with eleven on the pitch, but with ten we were ripped apart with even more ease than Liverpool and Manchester City had already achieved earlier in the season. Never before has a Mourinho Chelsea side won a Premier League fixture by more than four goals. Never before has any Chelsea side beaten Arsenal by the six that eventually arrived.
First and foremost it has to be said the players who have brought Arsenal to this stage of the season let their manager down on the big day. The midfield has lifted Arsenal to the dizzy heights of a title challenge that surely passed into history today. Ninety minutes of underperforming temporarily erased much of the pleasure they have given for the last seven months, lest we forget. An exposed defence, shorn of their starting left back through no fault of his own for most of the game, struggled in a way seen only in matches away to their three principal rivals this season.
Then there is Olivier Giroud. Harshly singled out for criticism in some quarters, but clearly now feeling the effects of being effectively our only trusted striker for an entire season. Tired and out of touch, he looks a different player to the one who started the season so confidently. That will inevitably lead to yet more debates about whether or not we should have invested in some support or competition for him last summer, or indeed in January. That debate is for another day. It remains a stick with which to beat the man who did not enjoy his one thousandth game in charge of a great club, and who shouldered responsibility afterwards.
“This is my fault, we got a good hiding. You don’t prepare all week to experience that.”
For now Arsene has until Tuesday to find a squad fit enough to face Swansea. Three points are important if we are to continue to contest a top three berth, for who wants a Champions League play-off that fourth place provides in a World Cup summer? The boss has to find a side that will show considerably more spine than the one today. The buck does stop with the manager, but we have enough experienced internationals to produce a mature response to a dire display at the bus stop in Fulham, and justify at least some of the faith he has placed in them.
The FA Cup remains a potential distraction, but one that should not be allowed to intrude on the league fixtures coming up. Nine points are at stake against Swansea, Manchester City, and Everton before we can start concentrating on Wembley. Confidence needs rebuilding, starting on Tuesday. A big couple of weeks approaches for the club. Have we the resources to cope at the pointed end of the season?
663 Responses to “Marriner, And Arsenal, All At Sea”
Good stuff, Holic.
Gibbs is off his game. His presence wouldn’t have changed a thing. Santi, Ox, Poldi and Mozart, collectively, are a defensive nightmare waiting to happen. It happened.
Win the next eight. We can!
See you Saturday. Your round as I recall it.
Last sentence. “Yes!” (Net off Poldi – sorry, Zico, but he’ll never make it at Arsenal).
Can’t be my round again 🙂
Great post Holic thanks. Bigger effort considering the day
Number 4….we have a good 4
That kind of day.
Thanks for that Holic.
“By chanting Krishna’s names, one will be transferred to the supreme planet, Krishnaloka, without a doubt.”
Andre Mariner was not the problem at Stamford Bridge. In fact, it was entirely beside the point. The minor issue was the team performance which was bloody dreadful but for me the over riding issue was with the manager who, according to Gibbs allows his players just to “get on and learn for themselves” – not a good philosophy in my mind as footballers are one rung up the ladder from being mentally retarded. No, in my book a manager and his coaching team should be drumming tactics into the skulls of footballer and not waiting for yet another humiliating thrashing at the hands of our rivals. This showed two things today – firstly just how are we are away from being a contender and secondly that Arsenal are desperately in need of a new direction – Jurgen Kloop is the man for sure…
this seems far, far too kind. giroud is so badly out of form and clearly just not really an arsenal-quality striker. we DID have a chance in that fourth minute to go ahead, which wouldn’t have prevented the absolute horror show that eventually followed, but it might have made it a little better. giround just scuffed a shot…again, it must be said, when we needed a striker of clinical efficiency to put away the few chances that we’d surely get. but the warning signs were there before chelsea’s striker and winger showed ours how to actually finish a chance. mourinho was pushing two right up against our two center backs as we bombed our fullbacks forward madly. it’s somewhat ironic that the really “dumb american” analysts who were “punditing” before the game began by saying that they recommended that arsenal not bomb their backs forward to get involved in the attack. and yet that destroyed us in two minutes time and eight minutes from kickoff as two chelsea players and their support went up against our back two, only with players like arteta trying to track back at full speed and mertesacker defending against players running right at him. it’s instructive to remember that mourinho probably has two strikers that he’d rather not really be stuck with, and yet eto’o was deadly accurate on that first move. and yes, the midfield trio was woeful today when we needed to start with flamini and ox on the wing. so everything went wrong today, and yes, the players let the fans and their manager down, but the manager did not cover himself in glory, and that must very well be the understatement of the year. this was the most awful performance i have ever seen from this club, including some of the defeats to lower opposition. the records, several of them, fell today in that tragedy. i was hoping for a tie in this game, prepared for a loss and absolutely convinced that it was going to be the drabbest affair that ever has been. none of that happened. we were so outclassed and outmanaged that there really must be changes made.
Thanks for the write-up Holic, you’ve illuminated plenty for me in a game I’m glad not to have seen.
I must disagree with this remark in the strongest possible terms: “whether or not we should have invested”; as I see it, the failure to get another striker is repeatedly proving to be an oversight of quite epic proportions.
Nice report but the circumstances were so dire that the pain hasn’t eased yet. It’s hard to have faith in a team that crumbles so fundamentally under pressure from the better teams. We also are way behind in the goal scoring stakes and while I have been expressing doubts about Giroud for eighteen months we provide him with so little support in games like this.
I utterly detest Mourinho and am far from convinced he can build a club up from scratch in the way Wenger has but tactically he eats Wenger for breakfast in the games where they go head to head. We have failed to register a goal in three games against them this season. It’s the same record Spurs have against us and look how superior we feel to them! As Holic says hindsight is a wonderful thing but we set this side up very poorly. Flamini was a huge miss and Arteta and Cazorla gave us very little. In fact Santi is in poor form at present and is emerging as something of a luxury player despite his enormous skill. Gibbs was overwhelmed on the right today. A Chelsea fan I watched the game with said he had never seen them attack on the right flank like they did today. They usually favour the left. This suggests they worked out how vulnerable we are down this flank. I wonder what insights Wenger gave to his team before the game? If there were any it wasn’t obvious what he told them from the way we played.
The sending- off was a red herring in that we were out of the game by then anyway. While I admire Btm’s loyalty and optimism if this side did win the league it would receive no credit whatsoever from the neutrals. Of course we won’t win it and the FA Cup semi and we hope Final will be played in huge tension because it will represent the only way to expunge the nine years without a trophy mantra.
An awful way to commemorate a great record
OY, you pinched my headline, holic 😉
Jurgen Kloop 🙂 Klopp, Klopp.
Matt, glad the boys exceeded your expectations by playing their part in a non-drab affair! Boy, am I glad i no longer have to listen to those nitwits on Fox Soccer. You brought all that agony back there, just for a drab moment.
Had Giroud scored, which he absolutely should have done, the complexion of the match would have been 100% different. He didn’t. Three points dropped.
On to Swansea. Win the next eight.
Of course we need a striker but I’m not sure how a striker prevents giving up 17 goals in 3 matches. It takes 11 to pull off that ” feat ” With the Cup final as potentially our final match of the season, I’m beginning to wonder if a Cup win will be Arsene’s final act. Leave on a good note and all that. 3 performances like this in a season is too much for the proud man to take.
At least when Arsenal lose, we lose in style!! Chelsea got gifted about 4 of the goals today and obviously have the refs on the payroll! Chelsea rely on luck rather than skill, more than any other team on the planet! I don’t mind losing to the better team on the day (like liverpool/citeh) but those chav scumbags are overrated and undeserving, spoilt, dirty, cheating c**ts! With hero’s like JT, moanrinho and drogba!
Says alot about moanrinho if 6 nil is his biggest win, when he has spent a half a billion pounds on players at some of the biggest clubs in the world, plus chelski! How boring he really is!
The main problem is our goalkeeper in the big games, as soon as the opposition score, he gives up and doesn’t even dive for later shots!! I like him but Fabianski would not have conceded 6 today!! Also why the hell was our defenders playing near the halfway line!!! that was suicidal!!
We gooners need to look at the bigger picture tho…its not nice getting spanked by every one of our direct rivals for the league! BUT there are only 3 of them! Plus all were early kick offs AWAY FROM HOME!! there are 16 non title fighters! Who we can easily beat and have been beating! so we only lost our goal difference and 9 points? its not that bad! We have one hard game left then its small teams for the run in!! I still think we can win the league!! Just get past the citeh and everton games intact and we can win all the rest of our games and we win the league!!! and fa cup! EASY!
The ref’s mistake should not be receiving as much focus as it has and will do do. Arsenal today were an utter shambles again against a quality side this season! I stopped watching after the third goal as I wasn’t going to waste anoothet Saturday afternoon like we did after the Liverpool match. Wenger has this idealist vision for football that leads to defensive disintegration against the very best. For all his wonderful past achievements, and there are plentiful of them, his inability to fix the side’s various shortcomings, which are obvious to all loyal fans, is going to ensure yet more disappointment when it comes to lasting the title-challenging distance.
Title challenge over by match 30, lose against Everton and finishing forth could become problematic in the extreme. What are different feeling compared to last Sunday’s win
Frankly, I expected us to lose today, but hoped for a draw.
I would not have believed such wholesale humiliation was possible.
And yet, having roused myself at 2am, I witnessed it with my own eyes.
Abject.
The concession of 17 goals in the three away games to our nearest rivals really tells its own story, no matter how we spin it.
Absolutely at a loss to explain our total capitulation.
I am sure we will all have a theory or two to account for these thrashings, but personally I dont know where to start.
Heres hoping that those on six figure saleries do.
Have you already used it somewhere kelsey? Sorry, Marriner and all at sea was too obvious a distraction.
“Would win no credit from the neutrals” Ha!
Then what do the neutrals know? Not a lot. Do I care? Do they even know that the title can be bought for 700M? (A la Man City; A la Chel$ki). Are they remotely aware of the combined-near-miracle of the lowest net spend in the league AND the best new stadium on the planet AND unmatched qualification record through the last sixteen in the ECL. No, they haven’t a clue really. Could anyone other than Wenger have made it happen?
Amazingly, without our FOUR best players, we’re still in it. Win against Swansea on Tuesday and we’re in the semi-final of the Cup and four points off the leaders in the League.
Meanwhile, the neutrals are sitting in their armchairs, drinking beer, eating pork pies and finking…….”I could do better than that decking Wenger”. Ha!
“Wenger has always been a chequebook manager”
Are you the guy who used to write for the two Ronnies when one of them had died and they were no longer funny? Keep working at it. You’re getting funnier! I like the complete absence of any sensible reference point for your ever-sharpening wit.
“All loyal fans”
Particularly those who didn’t actually watch the game.
As for Klopp – in addition to having recently extended his deal to 2018, his own title race ended in week 15, and he will end the season with less silverware than Wenger.
Somewhere in Germany an angry Dortmund fan is probably telling a blog full of incredulous fellow supporters that Klopp should be sacked immediately and replaced with that French bloke at Arsenal.
Today was a travesty, and the tactics were all wrong. The season can still end in triumph, however.
People who told you in August we had no hope of winning the league will smugly tell you tonight that it’s a disgrace that our title aspirations appear to be (just about) out of steam in late March.
Me? I say win the FA Cup and I won’t give a fuck about today. How about that, moaners? Let’s put it all on the cup. We blow that and you can have at it all you want. We win it and you can STFU over the summer and give us a bit of peace from the incessant whining and agitating for the manager’s head. You’re always telling us it’s about trophies, so let’s make it about trophies.
Shit result and performance today. We move on to Tuesday, and hope for a happy end to the season.
COYG
Will the Wengerites defense their beleaguered emperor after the latest shambles? Don’t put it past him to summon a way for us not to win the cup this season.
Cheers holic.
I’m sitting in an Indonesian restaurant, very yummy, I’ve knocked back more then a few eers and I’ve got two birthday parties for friends who are turning 50 to attend tonight, both with open bars. With a bit of luck I may be able to drown out the memory of that trainwreck this afternoon.
On to next Tuesday and hopefully better days.
Truly embarrassing, felt sorry for the fans who had to witness that debacle, the club should give them their money back.
A win against Swansea won’t hide the fact we are simply not good enough, there is definitely something fundamentally wrong with this team, a club which was supposedly going for the title and to put in a performance like that (not for the first time) was painfully shocking.
I agree with you Holic this could well be Arsene’s final season, he has to be questioning himself as the performances against the top teams have been woeful to say the least.
I am a long standing season ticket holder who is also one of his biggest fans and think a cup final win could be just the sendoff to end his tenure.
Who knows ? but something has to change as we are chasing fourth place yet again.
Sorry for being such a doomer but i’m pissed off !
There were 11 fellas in red shirts on that field. They should have been capable of keeping a respectable score. Last time I looked, the fella in a suit on the bench, wasn’t allowed on the pitch.
@David
Does it matter if we win the cup? Surely “neutrals” (yourself, presumably) won’t give us credit anyway?
If we do win it – happy thought – then it’s a fair bet you won’t be showing your face on here, isn’t it?
All I can think of is Wenger leaving….
Same mistakes just keep happening such as:
lack of positional discipline across the pitch,
being caught in possession in defensive third too often,
lack of tracking back,
full-back areas exposed resulting in no back-four togetherness
lack of proper marking at set-pieces,
lack of pressing the ball,
lack of playing with fast tempo for long periods resulting in slow passing
lack of pace going forward,
lack of adequate squad rotation,
too many reoccurring injuries,
no attacking width
useless at crossing thus no effective attacking plan-b
N7 Gooner I have had a face like thunder since 1.05pm after turning off my TV, of course I’m a f******* fan, hence why I’m going to the match on tuesday
Today was a disgrace shambles which has occurred 3 times in 15 weeks. Once is unfortunate, twice is rather worrying, a third time suggests there are huge failings that are no it being solved
*not being solved
When we lose its either like today, a shambles, or like at Stoke 3 weeks back, where there was a lack of application and urgency. Rarely do Arsenal lose an away match when they have bombarded the opposition and being very unlucky.
The same failings will continue I’m sure, still, home wins plus winning the last two away matches should ensure 4th spot
@David
I’m not the one questioning whether anyone is a fan.
I find it curious that you seem to think that the manager’s inability to fix the side’s problems is obvious to “all loyal fans”. Makes it sound like you have a theory on who is and is not a “loyal fan”.
Perhaps it’s a theory you developed while not watching the game. Maybe it’s a glitch in the Matrix but there appears to be a post from you in the previous drinks announcing that you’d stopped watching 20 minutes in.
Then again, when you have strong opinions (as you do) and such a clear sense of the manager’s failings, you probably didn’t need to actually watch to know exactly what’s what. That sixth sense is a gift all loyal fans have.
By the way – I agree that we were utter shit today. It’s the “abandon all hope” stuff I take issue with. The season is far from over and the manager may yet end it having delivered (a) a top four finish; (b) a big money signing; and (c) a trophy, which I believe was the hit list back in August.
I’m assuming that point (b) stands even though Mesut Ozil isn’t good enough for you.
Bdvh@37
Finally, someone talking some sense.
Holic, you are always the voice of reason but this time to reasonable.
the fact he went with the same team that beat the spuds, means he is either deluded or a moron. We scored in the first minute and then hanged on for 89. our midfield was overun as no defensive midfielder, then a week later he picks the same team and tactics against far better players.
Surely away from home, you set up not to concede a goal and keep it tight as long as possible. same story at stoke as well.
lunacy repeated year on year.
Anyone suggesting that Klopp should suit Arsenal better then Arsene, think about it for a moment and answer me.
When was the last time Klopp bought an extra expensive player? He doesn’t spend money, he goes for bargains or developes youth players into stars.
What is his defensive record? His team ships much more goals then Arsenal, as he tends to play attacking and creative football.
So, if I am right, you are suggesting to change Arsene with someone, who will not spend and his team will play the same brand of attacking football as Arsenal.
Basically, you want another Arsene.
What really frustrates me is the lack of fight in this team. We just surrender in these big games. Flamini the only one with a bit of spirit at times like these. Sadly, Arteta was too slow today, Alex showed his inexperience and Giroud looks knackered. I love Wenger but his interviews today suggest a broken man perhaps? So badly need a FA Cup win now. Can’t bear a repeat of Birmingham in the Carling Cup. Overwhelming feeling is deep sadness for a man who should have been celebrating an amazing 1000 games in charge of our beloved club. Can’t imagine how he is feeling tonight.
N7gooner I stopped watching as it hurt too much what was occurring. By loyal fans I meant those, the majority, who follow match in, match out. I even joked with the people I was watching the match with that after Chelsea’s first two near misses that unlike Liverpool, at least we were 0-0 after 5 mins. Yes I gave up at 3-0, for the first time in 27 supporting years. I can’t band wont comment about 18mins onwards as I was AWOL.
@42
with his 7 million a year and not having to face chelski scum at work on monday, probably much better then the rest of us.
@42
with his 7 million a year and not having to face chelski scum at work on monday, probably much better then the rest of us.
Let’s leave the Ozil comment…I can’t even point fingers in his direction today. By the way, he is a great player, just may not be suited to the team or to the EPL
@46
to the team, he was great at the start when he had flam and arterta as a midfield base and walcott running to leave more space in the middle.
I second N7 at 23.
By the way N7 gooner, yes of course we can still finish 3rd and win the cup, and I still expect the team to. We just have a horrible knack of doing the unthinkable, like today.
I honestly thought we could win the double this year after how the results last week went, then reality bites and spoils the dream
“This showed two things today – firstly just how are we are away from being a contender and secondly that Arsenal are desperately in need of a new direction – Jurgen Kloop is the man for sure… ”
Bloody hell. First of all, if you think any old manager can do just as well or better, look up a man named David Moyes. Second of all, if Jurgen Klopp is the man, at least spell his name right. It’s not like his name is Piszczek, as one of his players is!
We had our 4 best midfielders hurt. If Ozil, Ramsey, Wilshere and Walcott were all available, and Arteta and Cazorla (now useless on defense) were on the bench, this game would have been a completely different story.
Getting rid of Wenger is the answer of a damn fool.
“giroud is so badly out of form and clearly just not really an arsenal-quality striker.”
Giroud is outscoring Rooney. And he’s not far behind Higuain and Benzema, who play in far easier leagues. If Giroud is not “an Arsenal-quality striker,” then neither are they. Grow the hell up.
@David
I cannot reconcile your belief, as little as a week ago, that this team would win the double, with your assertion above Wenger is unable to fix the team’s problems.
Yes the double was still possible as for me, there is no outstanding side vying for the title. This Arsenal side is not as good as the side that should have won the league in 2008, but with regimented positional discipline and a sound game plan when tackling the best sides (the strategy of charge of the light brigade stuff of trying to out-football teams can and does lead to footballing carnage as Arsenal have proven) might have delivered the title to days emirates stadion this seaaon
“Grow the hell up.”
brilliant retort. i guess it doesn’t matter that rooney plays pretty deep for a “striker”, and that the italian league is far more defensive. if we’re making ridiculous comparisons…but then i guess you’re suggesting rooney couldn’t have put that chance away? delusional.
giroud has thrived on chances driven from the midfield thrust of ramsey, ozil, cazorla et. al. we have the best midfield in england, and one of the best in europe; hence, goals, easy ones for the target man. our strikers have let us down when the chances were there, and did again today. we know we’re going to get a couple of decent chances against mourinho, and you can’t be playing a striker who can’t convert the chance that presented itself.
Even though I come across as anti-Wenger, I hope the club mark his 1000 matches in charge achievement with an on-pitch presentation on Tuesday as for what he has accomplished across the 18years deserves nothing less. I just feel his inability to correct certain faults of the past few years prevents the team from achieving greater things than just top four finishes
The Italian league is far more defensive? This isn’t the late ’80s or early ’90s, when giants like Maldini and Cafu and Bergomi and Scirea walked that part of the Earth. The Italian league is garbage now. There’s Juventus and the 19 dwarfs.
And Rooney is not and has never been as good as Giroud — or have you not watched him play for England, where the refs aren’t catering to Man U and letting him get away with everything?
Knee jerk time. Really folks, get a grip.
Arsene and Arsenal got taught a painful lesson today. And that is that playing shit football is not good.
Fight for 3d is the best this lot can possibly hope for. FA cup?
Ha. Good one. Hull will do us. This squad has zero spine.
And ive been an Ox fan for a whole. But he was dreadful today.
Hand ball aside. WTF was AW doing keeping him on the pitch?
Hard questions must be asked. And answered.
Ive never seen a group of professionals inexplicably screw up this badly. Never. The old trafford debacle was understandable. This season – shopping all these goals is just off the charts.
Defensive stability? Ha. Good one. What a pack of jokers.
Really disgusted with the squad. Plenty of blame to go around. Lets not only heap it in AW.
Given the number of Midfielders Arsenal got, it sounds strange to say but Arsenal needs a midfielder…a proper defensive midfielder. It seems the boss has preference for Arteta but he’s too slow and found wanting any single time Arsenal face a top side
the italian league is garbage now.
yeah, and all we needed was a point so as to avoid one of the favorites in the CL and we couldn’t manage it away to one of the many minnows in the “garbage” italian league. and i can’t remember who scored in that one…
have you not watched him play for England…
no, i don’t watch england for plenty of reasons, mostly because i’d rather stab knitting needles in my eyes but also because i’m not english.
and oh god, you must be kidding. your comparing the outcomes of arsenal its strikers and england along with its has got to be the silliest thing i’ve ever heard. the strikers don’t play in a damn vacuum, and it’s ridiculous to start implying that they do. i mean messi has been fairly pedestrian more than a few times in the argentine lineup. ergo, worse than giroud.
Jhlf @39..show the man some fucking respect.How can you think a man that has won us 11 trophies & guided us through a season unbeaten is a moron?Granted,times change & the team isn’t where we want it to be but have a word with yourself.Do you think he sends the team out to deliberately lose & make him/them look like mugs?We can all see what the club means to him & how it hurts when we lose so don’t question his integrity or intelligence.
I would really welcome some insight into how this has happened 3 times in one season. It must point to some kind of mental snapping, whereby the players become psychologically unhinged and start performing far below their capabilities.
One thing’s for sure, this kind of performance undermines the mental strength argument pretty thoroughly. The same might be said for the 1-0 against manure, of course they seem to take on superhuman powers whenever they play us (Rooney channels his obvious hatred for us into playing just about evrry position on the pitch) but they still should have been done.
There seems to be a deep-rooted fear, a mental block in this team when coming up against the bigger sides. As someone who has dealt with anxiety and fear issues, you break the cycle by consciously changing your inner behaviour, and it looks today like this team are repeating the old learned behaviours and not installing more resourceful modes of acting.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/manchester-united-william-carvalho-deal-3273687
William Carvalho is the player we should sign no matter what. Best player in Portugal league by far this season. United are in for him, but if we get CL football and they do not, it is our advantage. 37m or not, he is that good.
Add to that and Remy and Bony for Podolski and Bendtner, Shakiri for Poldi, Coleman for Sagna and we might have a chance next year.
No use of transfer talk in March I know, but working on reinforcements front must come alongside with our pitch campaign and we should get some players before the WC.
Did not watch the game. Have already deleted it from the Sky plus box. Can’t/won’t/daren’t watch MOTD. Spent the day at Wembley checking out my seat for the semi, watching Saracens giving Quins a shoeing and my 10 year old parade around the wembley pitch, all be it on crutches and in an air boot. I have to wonder if a 10 year old with a fractured ankle might have been more use today than some of those in red and white???
Things to do list
1. Secure top 4 finish.
2. Win the FA cup.
3. Ensure that we do not fuck up in the transfer market again and that we bring in the players we need.
See you on Tuesday people.
Park and Bendner, of course.
Porco
I think you make an interesting point. We have had three psychological meltdowns in our three biggest away games yet we can draw away at the best team in Europe. A far better team than any of the teams above us as the next few weeks is likely to show. In fact I take issue with the journalists who said we were tossed aside by Bayern . If Szczesny hadn’t been sent off that game would have been very interesting . So how can we deal with that quality but collapse against the top English sides? Last week in a frantic atmosphere we defended quite superbly albeit it against an inferior side. Interesting also to look at how panicked we were in that first half as exemplified by the handball. Ox lost his head under pressure as young players are won’t to do and he was symptomatic of our mood in the whole game really.I think his head had gone hence his substitution at half time .
I think we were naive tactically in them and some of our team aren’t suited to this sort of game where they need to protect the full backs much better. Cazorla doesn’t do this and I don’t think he’s suited to playing wide and he doesn’t have a regular end product. Arteta is struggling physically to play the holding role on his own – Chelsea had two much stronger DMs today and this is where we might look to strengthen as well as buy a quicker striker.
But we must remember that most of the time this is a very good side and deserves to be in the top four even if when we play them it doesn’t look like it!
Would it be completely wrong to suggest that Giroud’s problem isn’t tiredness, but perhaps things that are going on off the pitch? He has always had a tendency to miss chances that a top player would put away, but he doesn’t usually completely disappear afterwards like he did today. Worrying.
What is equally worrying is the habit of getting smashed against the top teams.
Should still get fourth though.
I hope.
Porco Rosso@61: You start by asking for some insight into the regular collapses that this team produce and then continue by providing that insight and possible remedies in the rest of your post. I came on here planning to write something along the lines of your post – don’t think I could have done it so well.
I also stopped watching after the penalty and going down to 10 men, as I did against Liverpool at Anfield after 4-0. Don’t see the point of watching humiliations – ruins my day even more than the final result.
But as Porco Rosso says, something seems to happen collectively in this team when they give a goal away early, as if the energy drains out of them, when what is required is the opposite.
When I saw the line-up, I feared the worst. Not having Flamini on beside Arteta to block the middle was a major error of judgement, made worse by the attacking midfielders continuing to give the ball away. It was clear from the start that Luiz was going for Ox and Matic for Cazorla as soon as they got the ball. I’m afraid Mourinho outwits Arsene every time we meet. Sad to admit it but the evidence is undeniable. And once more we met an opposition who were much more up for it from the start than our lot was.
I’ll be happy with 4th – that reflects the real relative strengths of the teams. An FA Cup win would be nice. And Arsene to sign a new contract too – haven’t seen any realistic suggestions for his replacement yet from those calling for his head.
Could be Cynic. Both explanations have something on which to base them.
Let’s keep it respectful please all, as indeed by and large we are.
Not a good day for any Arsenal fan, regardless of viewpoint on the issues that excite us…
@TTG
I would distinguish the City game from Anfield and the Bridge.
We were actually in the game at the Etihad as late as the hour mark. We were playing on tired legs and we scored three, had two goals disallowed and a blatant pen not given.
Anfield and yesterday, on the other hand, were a total surrender.
I think there are multiple points of failure. For my money, we should have been going to Stamford Bridge looking for a draw. I said it before, during and after the game. A draw would have kept us in the title race and would have been a fine result given our injuries and their home form. It would also have suited as tactically, as Mourinho always sets up against us to sit deep, mop up pressure and hit on the break. Reverse things for a change. Make them try to play through us.
That we weren’t interested in a point was evident from the line up. Flamini should have started this game; partly because the midfield we extremely choppy last week and Arteta struggles against the better teams, but mainly because the Ox, great player though he will one day be, is a kid who has played less than a dozen games at CM and who currently gives the ball away for fun.
So, the team was wrong: that’s on the manager.
What I find even more mental is that we play the first five minutes and it’s open as hell. They score, and it’s been coming. All of us watching think “steady the ship”. We continue to pour forward like we’ve ten minutes to win the game. They score again.
At this point, basic common sense has to kick in. The players remember Anfield, after all. Moreover, anyone who has played football at any level knows that when you ship two goals like that in the opening ten you spend the next ten locking shit down and shoring up, creating a platform to build on.
In our case; the centre backs point out to the CMs that they’re being exposed to runners across their front, and Arteta (who is a wide old head) grabs the Ox and tells him that the pair of them need to sit in for ten minutes, protect the back line and make nothing but safe passes.
That they didn’t do so boggles the mind and has nothing to do with the manager – these are decisions that need to be made on the pitch.
So we’re three nil down and down to ten men. It’s not a red card, but if doesn’t matter because the game is over.
At this stage, you’re thinking “take the 3-0 and get out of there”. But we’re STILL trying to win. Still committing men forward, still playing a high line and still allowing runners in behind. The midfield is still giving the ball away and Flamini (who is at least an organiser) is still on the bench.
Bear in mind that this is not a team that cannot defend or show mental toughness. Anyone who saw the second half of the Bayern home leg will attest to that.
We end up getting stuffed, and it could have been worse.
That was my read of the game. I thought Arsene had a howler on the day, and that there wasn’t a single player in red and white who could hold their head up and say they played well. Like Anfield it was a collective failure so total that it’s futile to point the finger at individuals.
Does it mean we’re shit? No. But we were certainly shit today, and it was disappointing to see a collection of generally experienced players so unable to organise amongst themselves where required.
Despite all of the above, we are four points off Chelsea if we win our game in hand, and well placed in the cup. It has not, by any means, been a disastrous season – in fact it’s been our best in some time and there have been clear signs of improvement.
Personally, I view the Liverpool and Chelsea games as anomalous. If you take those two games and add City you account for fully 50% of our league goals conceded this season, which suggests we are generally defending well, three games aside. We have also beaten Liverpool twice and drawn with Chelsea at ours.
What I would say is that in the big games we need to know when to chase and when to sit. I get the sense we feel if we’re going to lose we may as well get spanked, but I don’t agree. I would also love to see us just occasionally turn up for a point.
Anyway, that’s all my moaning. I like Lurky’s list of players above – we should have loaned Remy in the summer and Shakira would look great in the shirt.
We lost this battle but the war goes on. Chin up, chest out and tell them all to fuck off. A lot now rides on the FA Cup.
COYG
N7@68: Good summary – most of which I agree with. Don’t know about Remy – he hasn’t impressed me and he doesn’t seem to impress the French manager either.
It’s hard to know what’s going on inside players heads in these situations, but the fact that it’s happened against Liverpool and Chelsea means that someone should be trying to find out.
And yes, it will be essential to get a couple of classy, mentally and physically tough DMs in the summer to give us that launch pad for the skill of Özil, Cazorla and others. I’m not suggesting any names – I’ll trust the management to sort that out.
I’m sure Dr. F. will recognise the symptoms then perhaps suggest a suitable diagnosis and treatment plan for the turbulence in the fan base that follows this type of shellacking.
These are the big big games where you match yourself against the top teams and players. Add some spice – noxious manager, odious players, divey wankers, winning but soporific tactics, tasteless fans, unlimited budget and the stakes start to play large.
I hate to lose those games at the best of times but can accept it if the players put in the shift and we get beaten by the better side. I want us to win so I can feel vindicated that we’re turning the corner and starting to consistently beat the best. Because we’re getting closer to that point. I want to stick it to the pundits, fans and managers of those teams (because I’m petty like that).
It really does hurt though to be hammered by a side that you know you can compete against. The expectations magnify the result and make it far worse. When the team fails to turn up for three major games and ships 17 goals it makes for a tedious narrative in the press, from the pundits and the fans all whom can largely lazily continue to roll out the familiar line of our being poor and to continue to pore scorn on us. But who can deny them that with those performances?
That frustration and anger is further heightened by the disappointing nature of the capitulation and the realisation that I’m going to have to wait to feel all warm and smug at having beaten Chel$ki and making Jose pissed off for another season. So I’m the one left pissed-off, deflated and miserable after that much like every other true gooner.
However as Arsene and TABS have pointed out – it’s three points lost whether you lose by one or six goals. Chelsea at the Emirates played for and scrapped a 0-0 draw. We beat Liverpool twice, and we beat Man City pre-season in some style. We’re pretty close to the real deal. Numerous postings have said much the same and most are in agreement with the areas that need work and recruitment.
I like Arsene’s approach – 2 draws equals 2 points, a win and a loss is 3 points. I generally like his risk taking and his gambles (not so much when we get smashed I must confess) – but he’ll give it a flutter and when it works then it’s memorable to watch. He marches to a different beat and I respect that, not for him the conservative herd. He gambled today and got toasted, he said he’s responsible for the shambles and I reckon he’s not sitting at home having a giggle at that result, he’ll be working out why it happened and what to try and fix.
So look forward, point the guns outwards, hope for some positive injury news.
Sorry long post and have now back-drunk to find some far more informative and instructional posts than my ramblings – props to those posts above from N7, Lurky, TTG, DKG, Steve T, Porco, Cynic. Cheers and drinks on the bar. Shit result but stellar ‘holics so starting to feel the gloom lifting.
First 20-30 beers have been downed, off to
the ne.t party, yesterday is almost a blur. I advic.e you all to do the same.
Barman a round from me. (But not for the soggy boxes)
“Let’s keep it respectful please all, as indeed by and large we are.
Not a good day for any Arsenal fan, regardless of viewpoint on the issues that excite us…”
My God, what is this – a convent?!
No rage, no fury, no anger, no sickness in stomach, not a foul word, not a fuckin’ living word in what you wrote, Mr.
“The FA Cup remains a potential distraction, but one that should not be allowed to intrude on the league fixtures coming up. Nine points are at stake against Swansea, Manchester City, and Everton before we can start concentrating on Wembley. Confidence needs rebuilding, starting on Tuesday. A big couple of weeks approaches for the club. Have we the resources to cope at the pointed end of the season?”
Does this really sound like a devastating supporter after being humiliated for 3rd time this season or like a man who wish that his “thinking” will end up on Arsenal official?
Disgusting.
Second party better then the first.
Sorrows well and truly on the way to being drowned.
Come on gooners, point the cannons outwards.
Arsenal till I die.
*I reserve the right to be well and truly bolloxed tomorrow.
Yella, you are completely out of line. Just because many of the drinkers at the bar choose other ways to express themselves instead of stomping their feet, throwing the toys out the pram, or cursing to the sky, doesn’t mean we are not angry, disgusted, disappointed, or embarrassed at the performance of the team today. But having a go at out ‘Holic is simply not acceptable. If you find the patrons at this bar or the barkeep do not meet your standards of outrage, emotions, etc., I’m sure there are sites out there where you can find the camaraderie that you seek.
SSY: That was a very distasteful and disrespectful comment. It was a disastrous day for Gooners worldwide, however, it doesn’t mean we should start a civil war and act like cavemen.
SSY@74.
Never a good plan to turn on the landlord mate.
He’s the guy serving the drinks.
Take his advice and tone it down,eh?
why dont these guys seem to learn from the last hidings they got, thats what get me.. can they not get themselves up for an early kick off?.. what about someone during the game saying something eg the captain?
when thing are obviously going wrong
Disappointing to say the least, but nothing that couldn’t be cured with some decent signings: a wingback who can centre the ball, a CD with pace, a DMF with pace, two attacking midfielders with pace and at least one genuine striker. Providing also that they can pass the ball accurately, retain it when necessary, score regularly and don’t give up when the going gets tough.
As I said several drinks ago, we need to stop thinking title and look to protect 4th, and that includes watching the goal difference. I thought we’d solved that by beating the spuds, but we’re now only 8 points ahead of Everton who have a game in hand (call it 5 points). They play Newcastle and Fulham next, both easily winnable, while we play Swansea and City. If we cock up either Everton will be closing in fast and could be in a position to overtake us when we meet three games hence, or at least have a game in hand to pass us. The GD is currently plus 6 in our favour, but that it could rapidly disappear if they keep winning and we don’t.
And don’t let’s think what Manure winning the CL would do to us.
In the admittedly unlikely event we fail to win the FA Cup AND lose CL football next year (both failures easily achievable with performances like today’s) that really could be a cue for AW to call it a day.
Öskar
One common theme with arsene is his responses when asked about any loss, no matter how big or small.
Simple Refusal to acknowledge the issues that may have caused the loss and just talk bullshit about the next game.
Perhaps arsene should spend some time on reviewing the issues to actually work on our areas needed for improvemet rather then looking blindly forward with the blinkers on.
SSY look at what ecg@76 and IF @78 have said and I’d heed the advice of both mate, everyone’s hurting but the reality is whatever you want to do and what you expect us all to behave like, nothing but nothing makes any difference to what’s happened and what will happen behind closed doors. You can either sulk or move on. I know what most of us are doing.
Aussie – Arsene very rarely castigates his players in public nor does he discuss the failings of the team within a game to the public. That is well accepted and known. It is extremely rarer still for him to not conduct a post-match interview. Your last paragraph is based on what? Your perceptions I suspect rather than any actual knowledge. Those that have met him all say much the same – hates losing, incredibly knowledgable, workaholic, loyal, intellectual and committed to improving the club and players. His record bears this out.
Your comments of late have been seriously off-mark. You’ve done some great posts, made some valid points and highlighted many failings but really we all agree the team needs work but I’d think long and hard before calling Arsene blinkered and not able to acknowledge the issues behind a loss. As Cent has said without being privy to what has occurred I’d be cautious with such cavalier broad-brush statements. It’s a big,complex, multi-factorial business and it’s rarely straight-forward even when you have millions to piss against the wall. As many have asked if you’ve a point to make justify it and provide alternative and realistic options to back you up.
Well said, LHTG.
SSY – you are out of order and owe Holic an apology, simple as that.
No worries,holic I have changed the headline and it’s not been published yet.
Lhtg – i do not expect a public execution of a player or give any team secrets away, just some honest feedback on areas he saw as needing improvement.
Ferguson, mourinho and guardiola i feel are very honest in the disappointments post match and make very clear their e pectations.
My last paragraph is based on comments from his players such as cesc who acknowledged how much time the Barca ream spend on strategy and review and the opposition.
I believed he mentioned that arsenal and Arsene very rarely if ever did that.
Have a go at the manager, at the players, at the club by all means; but have a go at a bloke who puts himself out to provide a great blog and a platform for excellent debate about the institution we all claim to love?
Bang out of order. Stick it up your cunt.
You earn respect, its not just granted.
N7 – SUPERB @ 68
“Ferguson…….. i feel are very honest in the disappointments post match and make very clear their expectations.”
What a hoot!
Ferguson absolutely refused to even give post-match interviews for years – apparently because someone asked him a pointed question on one occasion.
Thanks all. I’m sure SSY will think differently when the hangover wears off.
As you were…
Holic, a very measured and honest report. We shot ourselves in the foot entirely. Awful awful awful awful performance from everyone involved, plain and simple.
I haven’t got the strength to back-drink, and I shall spend the coming hours attempting to not think about the game. I know I will fail miserably, but still…
The team is average at best . All out best players are out : Ozil , Ramsey , Walcott , Wilshere .
17 goals in 3 matches and 17 in the other 27!!!
This was a total collective mess up. A bit of the problem is that none of the good teams see any danger in Giroud, so they can press as high as they like. I also belive Szcenzy had a horror game – at least 3 and perhaps 4 of the goals could have been avoided on another day. We saw the danger signs at Tottenham. We couldn’t string together three passen at WHL at at SB it was even worse. This midfield combination is just too lightweight, even though they each have a lot of individual quality.
*BOILK.
As always a well reasoned post Holic, above the call of duty after that horror show. The management and players should be totally embarrassed by that performance. They managed to play entirely to the opposition’s strengths and thereby compounding our own weaknesses in the squad. What is disappointing is the inability to batten down the hatches when the shit storm happened (same as at Anfield) and wait for it to blow itself out. We just carried on regardless with the obvious breaching of our defences. This is from the manager with by far the longest experience of managing in the premiership and a team of seasoned professionals. I sincerely hope they can take a good look at themselves and find a solution when under such stresses in the future – whatever happened to a good old “back to the wall” approach?
Notwithstanding my rant above, we are still in a better position than I feared at the beginning of August and we have a FA cup beckoning to end our trophy drought, so overall it’s a positive place we are at. The squad is full of excellent players and the funds are there for improvements in the areas that are needed.
On an interesting aside, the penalty and sending off seem a bit strange. From what I can gather it appears the referee didn’t see it and the linesman didn’t give it either. Perhaps there was interference from the 4th official? If so surely he should have got the correct player. Either way neither decision should be given unless clearly seen. By co-incidence, the 4th official was none other than a Mr A Taylor! Of course the match was gone by the time of the penalty.
Right some Swans to drown next and the fight for top 3 finish.
COYRRR
SSY,
we are all angry about yesterday’s result, but no matter how much I understand your fury and rage, you’ve chosen the wrong attitude and disrespect to express your feelings. It was all wrong yesterday and we know it, and no matter how furious we are and how hard we try we can’t change it.
So, I’ll live this one to the our manager to sort it out, and the most important thing he really needs today is the support of all the fans for the next game. And for the next one, right there until the end of the season.
After this season ends I will form my opinion and decide if I want him to stay or leave. As a long time supporter and admirer of Arsene, I must admit that right now I am not sure what exactly I want. There were signs of a good season this year, and if we win that Cup and finish 4th or above it may still end like that. But if we fail in one or the other, I am not sure that I’ll trust him any longer. It would brake my heart if he leaves us without the title, but there should be no sentiments in sport as many in this bar love to point out usually re. Fabianski or Gervinho previously.
Still Fuming but most of all worried that it didn’t come as any sort of surprise it never does anymore and that’s the most worrying aspect of it all, The league wasn’t lost yesterday any chance of that went west in January – We’ve still got a good chance of it being a positive season but things really do need a proper shake up in the summer, Whether that’s a new man at the top or those above giving him and ordering him to spend the funds required to fill the gaping holes in our squad, I don’t know but things have got to change.
Up The Arse,
All I will say at this point is that I will never stop supporting Arsenal, Arsene Wenger and I hate Mourinho even more.
But 3 points are 3 points at this stage of the season!!
🙁
It was such a poor performance against Chelsea. There haven’t been too many worse in my four decades of supporting the club. It was a huge game and we just didn’t produce on this big occasion. That is so disappointing because I’m a believer even when things turn bad. I can rationalise the debacle with the lack of depth with four players out, sticking with the team which got a result against Tottenham and not playing Flamini, etc. I love all the players, lesser and better, who pull on an Arsenal shirt and always will so am loathe to criticise. However, I look at the defensive aspects of our performance – it was amateurish. Most worrying is that some of the mistakes were repeats of Liverpool such as needlessly losing the ball, letting attackers come back inside, the lack of cover for each other, defenders bombing forward, etc. I also wonder whether anyone has looked at our results/statistics when Arteta is playing and when he isn’t this season. I think in his first year with us he was very good. I worry now, as some have mentioned, he is slowing in the legs and also actually slows our play down with the extra touch and side to side play. Mourinho’s praise of Arteta makes me concerned he may see something of a weakness there. For all my disgust of this Chelsea prick he does have some smarts about the game. He’s also so disingenuous that one worries when he says positive things about an opposition player. I am probably being unfair if it seems I’m singling out Arteta because it was a collective disaster. Disappointed, reflective but looking forward to our next game. Sometimes, that’s the best one can do.
To be fair it wasn’t only last summer when we failed to get people we clearly need, and ended up with a classic ‘Wenger signing’, which I’m afraid these days means “not ready to cut it in the Prem and/or crocked” or “signed in sheer desperation at the end of deadline day, a player that the selling club it’s relieved to see the back of”.
We can talk about regrouping and buying who we need this summer but I think we all know how that turns out!
N7,
agree with almost every thing you’ve said. My thoughts exactly on the high defensive line, not starting Flamini, Ox in the middle, game tactics that was all wrong as we should have been looking for a draw.
I disagree however, with the view that Liverpool and Chelsea games should be seen as anomalous. I’ll add City game there, because as much as I agree with you that we were competitive in that game much longer than in the others, we still managed to concede 6 goals.
Conceding 5+ goals in three away matches against quality opponents, and in all of them opponent scored the first goal. That is not an anomaly, that is standard.
Lets take a look at Tots game last week. We were outplayed, but we were defending well. Because we had something to defend. One goal. If the Tots somehow managed to score first, I am afraid that it could have been the 4+, 5+ game again.
Someone can say that first game vs Bayern is the exception. We were outplayed, and they’ve scored the first goal, but have scored only two. But, there was return match in couple of weeks and we were defending like mad, hoping to score first in Munich. If we somehow decided to go forward for a goal, there you have it, 5+ game.
There is where the problem is this year.
We just can’t recover if the opposition score the first goal. And that is not anomaly this season.
It is a rule.
Arsene’s arrogance has a huge impact in those results. He simply refuses to admit to himself that he doesn’t have the same attacking machinery that he was used to.
The problem is that it doesn’t stop him to try and win the big games against some managers he don’t likes- HIS WAY. The game yesterday was like he was saying to Maureen- I’will attack you lot, show you how to play football and beat you, and I’ll do it- my way.
Well, that backfired against him. What strikes me the most is that for all his intelligence he is quite arrogant and defy and some clever opposition managers rely on his weakness and use it to hurt him.
Ping
Bloody hell, what a(nother) nightmare day. This was, however, a million times removed from the City game, (as N7 has already commented in his excellent post, we were in that game until the last quarter), and even the humbling at Liverpool where we could at least point to a terrific performance from the home side. Yesterday there were none of those mitigating factors. All that Chelsea had to do to humiliate us yesterday was to turn up. Nothing more.
Arsene got away with a bold team selection last week, but it was never likely to pay dividends at the Bridge. My heart sank as soon as I saw the team. I know that I have been banging the same drum for a while now but why isn’t Flamini playing? I just don’t understand it (unless he is struggling with an unpublicised injury). Arteta has not enjoyed the best of seasons, and has really struggled since the turn of the year. To me, it looks as if his legs have gone, and he was never the quickest to start with. For the fourth goal yesterday, he knows exactly where the Chelsea runner is but allows him to run past him and score. He simply didn’t have the legs to keep up. Very sad, but time waits for no man. Time to bite the bullet on this one Arsene. Any continued prevarication will begin to look like a similar blind spot that led to a preference for Vermaelen over Kos for 3/4 of last season.
Selection issues aside, and let’s face it Arsene’s options have been significantly tied in recent weeks with the number of injuries we have suffered – a factor that his most vociferous detractors would do well to remember – neither Arsene nor Arteta can be blamed for the suicidal surrendering of possession by both the Ox and Santi. All preparation and planning goes out the window when such basic errors are made.
3-0 after 17 mins. Game over. 73 minutes later I was fairly relieved it was only six. A truly horrible experience.
Poor selection, tactical naivety, disastrous execution and a monumental cunt in the oppo’s dugout – the perfect storm for a chastening experience.
Horrible though it was however, it shouldn’t be used by the agenda-driven to discard the very real strides that have been made this season. And they have been made, whatever happens hereon in. We have made an unexpected yet wholly legitimate challenge for the title which has only ended deep into March, we got out of a Champions league group that the serially miserable stated with their usual wrong-headed certainty would prove too much, and we await an FA Cup semi final after knocking out three of the top six.
Yesterday I felt desperately sorry for AW. It was no way to mark 1000 games of integrity, decency and often thrilling football. No-one will hurt more than him, and he now faces a huge task in lifting the group. Lift them he must though. 3rd place and an FA Cup? I’d have bitten your hand off for that in May. Win that first trophy, take advantage of the belief that that engenders in the younger members of the group and add a couple of world class players at CF and DM in the summer and we’re good to go.
And I for one hope that Arsene Wenger is still here to oversee it all.
Now pass me the morphine Trev!
N7 @ 68 – top thinking.
and top writing, tabs @101.
hope all is comfortable below the neck Trev.
@Lurky
Just look at the defensive record in our other 27 games. How can the three results not be anomalous? They are certainly statistically anomalous – from memory I’m honestly not sure we conceded more than two goals in any other game this season, bar the opening day.
This same defence was the second tightest in the country last season.
I’m not saying the three games don’t matter or aren’t concerning – they do and are – but I do think we need to acknowledge that they don’t typify the season.
As for the manager being arrogant: (a) we don’t know him personally; and (b) he was well beaten yesterday by a manager who pretty much defines the word, so I’d guess that arrogance is only a problem when you lose.
I agree about the doing it his way stuff. But then he changed after WHL last season (a performance not wildly dissimilar to yesterday) so perhaps we’ll see him change again.
Great post, tabs.
Just had a quick check to confirm – apart from the three games discussed above, the team hasn’t let in more than two goals in any competition since the opening day.
Afternoon all.
Some top work above from N7, absolutly sterling stuff.
Gotta bit of a bastard behind my eyes, but that’s the price you pay when you stagger in at around 5:30 in the morning knowing that you have to rise a short time afterwards, you’d think with my experience I’d know better, but hey ho, sometimes things go wrong, if I wasn’t so bolloxed I may even find some kind of parallel in that situation, eeer nah, I’d have to think to hard. 😉
Yesterday, dear o dear, what a shambles. Some think the game was over when Ox, sorry the one that looks like him, in an all persons of colour look the same way, was shown red. I wouldn’t be surprised if the society for Black Lawyers came out and run with that one, but they may just be waiting for the F.A to charge Theo Walcott for the offence before they get involved, shameful shit, but I digress. If you thought that that was when the game was done, then I’m afraid you’re wrong.
I’ve heard others state that the game was over within 7 minutes, again I will have to beg to difffer. Unfortunatly, and this is a bitter pill to swallow, that game was lost before a ball was kicked, before the players even took the field. I heard that hindsigt is the foresight of a gobshite, but even when I saw that it was the same team that lined up against the Totts, with Arteta partnering the Ox as the basis of midfield alarm bells started ringing.
It was obvious from the off that this was a misjudgement of Titanic proportions, yes OG might of scored early on, but I don’t think that would of changed anything. The Chavs were always going to sit back, press the midfield, wait for a mistake and hit us on the break, heck they’d already done it before their first went in. Our inability to make in game changes was on show again and Chelsea punished us time and time again, full boxers down, whip lash over the batty crease, it hurt and it was embarrasing.
The game plan was wrong and Arsene rightly took the blame at the end, because make no bones about it, no matter how abject the performance was, this was his plan, his tactics and he has to shoulder the blame, what a sorry way to “celebrate” your 1000th game, a massive achievement that will sadly now go down in history as one of the, if not the, worst performances he’s ever overseen, this for me is the real travesty, because believe me, no matter how bad any of us are feeling today, and I feel reel rough, it will be nothing compared to how he is feeling this Sunday morning.
Ofcourse there is a lot to be said about the fact that we are missing too many first teamers, Take the equivelent of Ozil, Wilshere, Ramsey and Walcott out of any of our rivals line ups and they would no doubt struggle too. Our frontline is also looking pretty weak at the moment, as other’s have attested to OG looks a spent force and Poldi is….. well I can’t really work that one out. It could of all been remedied by dipping into the transfer window at the correct time, but that’s a subject that will be without doubt rehashed and discussed in great lengths in the near future. I’ve had my say on more then one occasion and there’s nothing we can do about until the summer anyway.
So where do we go from here?
We’ll that’s easy, we get ready for the visit of Swansea on Tuesday, we dust ourselves off and get plot to restore a bit of pride by tonking the sheepdippers.. This is what being a supporter is all about, take this pain and remember it when good things happen, it will make the victories all the sweeter,
Barman, give me a large hairy glass of that dog please.
Cheers Bath, N7.
Remiss of me not to mention Holic’s fine analysis above and the many level-headed drinks after such a dreadful result and performance, Ttg, Lurky, LTHG and N7 amongst others.
Just listening to Peter Schmeichel on 5Live. Apparently we need a new centre half. Heard it all now. Problems clearly lay further forward with full backs that were too advanced, an ineffective DM, and two central midfielders who gave the ball away in cavalier fashion. He gets paid for this shit. Does he even bother to watch the games?
This morning’s read has been illuminating, we all feel let down and worried about the implications of yesterday’s debacle.
I have always been in the AKB camp and have supported Arsene against all comers, whether in my Local, with my Gooner friends with home I travel or indeed with my fellow Holics but the aftermath of a truly horrendous display against a side I despise has shocked me into reappraising where I stand.
What effect has this defeat had on Arsene himself, is he emotionally able to raise his game against a mauling from all sides of the media and I suspect a huge number of fans who will make their feelings known on Tuesday?
If he is lacking confidence in his own ability and he must be having doubts, what chance have the team, on yesterday’s showing, being able to lift their spirits and putting in the kind of performances needed to give us a chance of CL football next campaign and success in the FA Cup or am I being too pessimistic?
More than just worried . See you all on Tuesday.
COYRs
Great stuff H2H, agree with every word mate.
Your ability to make me laugh out loud with a single phrase remains undiminished – ‘batty crease’ just being the latest!
Hope the hangover isn’t too much of a bastard. Large bloody mary sans green on the bar to ease the pain.
Great posts by everyone. Well almost everyone.
tabs @ 101 — When does the YC count for the season gets voided towards suspensions? Could that be a possible reason for keeping Flamini away from starting line-up for a while anticipating his need in the final few games? Just a guess as otherwise like you I am worried about Arteta’s lack of fitness now to play the DM role effectively. He has done extremely well in a pivot role using his technical and tactical abilities overcoming his physical shortcomings but as you pointed out he has become too slow. Even at his best Everton years at his no.10 role he was never a ‘play full season’ man, always missing chunk of the season due to injuries.
I actually think Flamini-Arteta — with Arteta in the more advanced role — can work well when we want to and should play a more tactical game (like we should have done against Chelsea) as it gives a strong enough defensive foundation and organization for the no.10 to have to not care about tracking back too much and at least one of the full backs can stay up more. That suits us better as the Santi-Poldi-Gibbo side can press up and create openings.
We all agreed yesterday’s team selection and tactics appeared problematic to begin with and disastrous now in hindsight, but as someone already pointed out it may simply have been Arsene taking a gamble in favor of a likelier potential three points (vis-a-vis if playing more defensively as in that case a draw would have been much more likely) against a potential loss (the thrashing he would not have accounted for). All throughout his career he has done that, so not entirely surprising, but the fact that we didn’t have a plan b to revert to the moment the first goal (or even the first two goals) went in recognizing that Santi-Ox are not going to be able to play through directly in the midfield is worrying.
An interesting question is what should be the preferred psychological make-up of a manager like Arsene? He is often accused of ‘idealism’ and ‘unfounded optimism’ but I think even in terms of actual results they are strengths more than weaknesses…it is his confidence and insistence on a certain insouciance in playing that inspire the team and give them the confidence even after the anomalous mauling. You can’t play a relatively attractive football and win majority of your matches — 66% this season — without continuously transmitting a sense of confidence and optimism to your team, especially when you are not blessed with already established and naturally confident world class players in every position.
Just watched the last 20 mins of the game…jeepers creepers! where did that come from? is it football?? what I don’t understand is…I know that it is easy to blame Arsene for the defeat…but, are professional footballers that dumb that they can’t collectively, as a team, change tactics mid game, if the original tactics are not going well? Where does this group melt down come from? Can they not make their own decisions?
Wonderful and passionately supportive drinks above…
I have to agree with one of Aussie’s drinks from the last post…I get the feeling that Wenger is not signing a new contract at end of season…I have thought that for a while…it would have been announced officially by now…I think maybe he feels it is time to go upstairs to the boardroom…again, just a hunch on my part…some gossip mentioned Roberto Martinez for Arsenal…I think he might be a good fit actually…personally, I would love it if Wenger stayed and spent the cash and got some terrific players in…made it a team that other teams are scared of which they are not at the moment…he really deserves it…let’s get some players in who score from the 30 yard mark!! not just walk it into the net lol
Seeing few differences in all of the posts, just the degree of reaction. Human nature. Thanks for the quality of the posts after that performance.
howdy
lotta readin
lotta good readin
.
one foolish dollop of dung
– i know it wasn’t necessary to
– but
– nice to see the wagons bein circled
.
have a good sunday all
.
goin face down in me dinner
me
Faustus – Don’t know the answer to your question re the yellow card, but if Flamini was rested because of the likelihood of yellow cards then I think Arsene’s thinking on that one was seriously flawed. You play your best team in a game as big as yesterday’s, and if he gets a yellow card, he gets a yellow card. Actually I think the truth is a lot simpler. Arsene prefers Arteta to Flamini. On this one I disagree with him.
As regards the double pivot, I have been very critical of it but beset as we are by injuries, I would have been happy to see it at both the Lane and especially yesterday. Needs must.They had a good game together against Everton, and we haven’t seen it starting since. All a bit baffling to me.
Agree completely with your last para. Arsene often talks his own players up purely to try and bolster any self doubts that might be present in the squad. A common theme running through the many tributes from former players this last week was the amount of belief AW shows in his players, even when they are struggling, and how much that has helped them.
We are out of out best players , Ramsey , Theo and Ozil and Wilshere, what should happen has happened .
Arsene has his own way and his way is testing on and on our patience . Put it this way , if last year he didn’t play Ramsey consistently game after game , we don’t have Ramsey as the Ramsey we know today . The same for Walcott , the Ox . And that is why , Lawro expect Arsenal will be very strong next year .
Put the all thing in perspective and trust our manager .
Cheers tabs me ol’ mate, glad to be of service. 😉
I just read your great post and I agree, there’s not many that at the start of the season wouldn’t have been chewing on fingers if offered the position we now find ourselves in.
No one gave us a Jose’s chance in an etiquete competiton, that’s probably why they’ve been prophetising and hoping for our demise at every turn, if only just to cover their own sorry arses. Almost all of the so called “experts” (snidy cough of derision) had us plugged for a 5th-6th place finish at best, the Tiny Totts and their “smart summer transfer investments” (there’s that cough again) were to upsurp us…. finally….. again. We were supposed to be out of it all before Christmas, yet here we still are.
Results like yesterday hurt like buggery (or so I’m told), that it came against the most hanus helmet tickler and his, with ill gotten gains esembled, gang of Clitorus Allsorts just makes it even more unbearable. It’s a dark dark day, by all means have a rant, bitch a bit, shout obcenities, kick a meth hobo (don’t worry he won’t feel it). It’s good to vent, but let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater here people. We’ve been drubbed a few times this season, even though I don’t count the City game as such due to the reasons already stated by tabs and N7, but these results doesn’t define Wenger or the team, it just gives an easy narrative, for those pushing a certain agenda. There’s still a hell of a lot to play for and as bleak as things may seem today we are in no means out of it yet.
It is indeed worrying that it happens, but it’s just something that needs to be worked on. We really need to change something about how we set out in these early kick offs, because that’s when all these drubbings have taken place, that statistic just adds to the mystery. Our next game against a top club has a 17:30 kick off, it will be interesting to see if it makes a difference.
But first ofcourse there’s some flock fiddling, close harmony singers that need to be sent packing back to the Valleys. It’s do or Dai time. 🙂
Cheers for the Mary’s, allow me to recipitate with a few pints of premium dutch lager, that’s definetly what I’ll be downing as a fool proof way of ending the “bastard” 😎
I must say I’m pretty disappointed to read BtM saying ‘3 points dropped, on to Swansea…’
I seem to remember similar being said after the 8 – 2.
Don’t you feel hurt? Ashamed? Embarrassed?
I find it tough to take. It effects my whole life, don’t want to go out, or go to work, nothing.
Losing whilst putting up a good show is one thing, capitulation isn’t on in my book.
I’m afraid I went over to ‘wenger out’ a couple of years ago, nothing has changed for me, it’s still groundhog day, no-one in their right mind seriously *thought* we would win the title this year. Hoping we would is a different thing.
I don’t vehemently oppose AW, after all, he’s our greatest ever manager, but i just think our time with him is up. He can’t install the right mindset into certain players for big matches. Like nothing ever gets learnt.
For *thought*, please read *believed*.
I felt like shit yesterday.
I feel worse today.
It’s all a bit too magnanimous above, for me, I’m afraid.
The performance was scandalous – from the man at the top to the 11 imposters on the park.
I’m off for a long walk before I do some serious self-harming.
Tiny Totts one down.
That’s nice of them.
Two nil down now.
The gift that just keeps on giving.
I feel more deflated than anything, zico. I agree that everyone involved must take the shared blame. In hindsight, maybe the previous week simply took more energy out of everyone than we realised. The Everton, Bayern and Spurs games were all high-pressure games in their own ways and perhaps beating Spurs also made everyone take the foot off the pedal a bit – and I don’t think all the fuss about the 1000th game for Arsene helped either. And just to be clear, by the way, these are explanations and not excuses.
And I don’t believe for a second that Flamini would be rested for fear of him being suspended. That would be rather daft, what would be the point in not using a player because we’re scared of not being allowed to use him???
The Flamini omission is indeed hard to fathom, I concur with Lars and tabs that to leave him out for fear of suspension would be extreamly counter productive and more then just a bit daft. I’m not completly savvy to the rules, but I believe it’s something like a one game ban for five yellow cards and a two game ban if you accumalate another five, but don’t quote me on that.
There has been times that the Arteta Flam axis has been utilised that made us a little too defencive, (Man U home I think) it made us lack creativity so I can understand that against the so called lesser teams, especially at home, the Boss would want to employ a more attacking option.
But last week against Spurs, away at Stoke and yesterday at the Bus Stop were games that you would expect us to set up with a little more caution, in other words games that would suit the Flamteta in the middle.
Strange.
N7 and H2H
Just want to clarify myself , because it seems that I’ve been misunderstood.
I don’t think that conceding goals in those three matches is worth making a standard or a rule. The number of goals doesn’t really matter.
What matters is as I said previously in the post…
“There is where the problem is this year.
We just can’t recover if the opposition score the first goal. And that is not anomaly this season.
It is a rule.”
That is the most important, and that is where I see a pattern. How many times this year we have recovered and won the game after opposition scored the first goal?
Correct me if I am wrong but it was only once, against West Ham.
Once!
In 46 matches this year we’ve recovered only once after opposition scored.
Now, that is what I call a standard.
So, in my opinion all our loses this season (Liverpool 5-1, Chelsea 6-0, City 6-3, Dortmund 1-2, Stoke 1-0, Chelsea in the LC 0-2, United 1-0, Bayern 0-2 etc) no matter the score line, have that one thing in common.
I don’t know the reasons for that. They might be a result of a psychological blockade, maybe the lack of the famous plan B (insisting to play the same way no matter what) or lack of pre-game preparations.
I don’t know.
What I know is that this principle is characteristic only for this competitive year, as I remember seeing Arsenal side able to overturn even a 4-0 lead in the previous seasons.
Good stuff, ‘Holic. Measured words in the cold light of morning, though yesterday’s performance doesn’t seem any less dismal in the light of a new day. I said in the previous drinks that Chelsea were stronger, faster and hungrier than us from the get-go. I still hold that was the primary cause of the defeat more than team selection or tactics. Mourinho didn’t seem to set up his team differently: the narrow triangle of three attacking midfielders ahead of two DMs and behind a sole striker who pushes up on the deepest of the two central defenders, all of which leaves room on the flanks for the full backs; and a reliance on pace on the counter-attack. It is not so dissimilar to how we set up. To negate the attacking threat of our midfielders Chelsea pressed ferociously as soon as the first pass was played into Rosicky, Cazorla and Podolski. Both their first two goals were as a result of their wining back the ball by doing that. We were just outcompeted, not outthought. The title isn’t irredeemably lost but it is receding into the distant horizon. Just a the Bayern win last season set us up for a storming run-in, the fear must be that the Chelsea defeat will trigger the reverse. We are going to need those eight wins in a row to secure even third, let alone tea leaf the title. Here’s hoping our glass is as half-full as BtM sees it.
A point on the much-maligned Giroud. He is best played as an attacking front pivot to feed midfield players running in behind him. When we had Walcott and Ramsey in the team, he and they were scoring goals. Without runners with the willingness or pace to get behind defenses, or, when we play with 10 men so aren’t able to attack so much, his effectiveness is inevitably much diminished. His role becomes holding up the ball with little or no outlet. He has to turn and beat his marker, and doesn’t really have the pace to win those one-on-ones. So he appears to disappear from games. Or to look “tired”. The question for the tacticians is whether or not, when we go down to 10 and have to bring on a replacement defender, he is the one who should be substituted. Would, say, Poldi’s directness have served us better?
H2H, Lars: A tactical reason for not playing a defensive double pivot against Chelsea would be that, given the reasonable assumption Chelsea would press hard, you would be at risk of being outnumbered 4-3 in midfield if both your DM’s are sitting back. Playing a diamond (which translates into Ox for Flamini in our case) evens up the numbers. No idea if that was AW’s thinking, but that is the textbook counter to avoid being swamped by a fast pressing side. You still have to win the fights in midfield, of course…
Chelsea has an unusually flexible pair of DMs In Matic and David Luiz, who can morph between different midfield formations even during the course of a game. Arteta and Flamini give us one thing, and Arteta and Wilshere or the Ox give us something else. But Matic and David Luiz give Chelsea both, plus David Luiz can operate as a third centre back when the full-backs drive forward. I have often wondered if Vermaelen shouldn’t have been turned into a DM as David Luiz has.
Some good drinking in here; not surprising some good people in here, some really good people.
Still fucking hurts today and will for a bit, especially having to tell a 10 year old if any of those Chelsea cunts in your school (and there are many) get a bit too much tomorrow, just smack one of them and see what happens, when he’s really not that type. Still life goes on.
Heard from me best Arsenal mate, Big Steve – who paid £57 yesterday for a completely restricted view. How do those cunts get away with it? Really think Arsenal should refuse any allocation from those twats next season, ‘…..unless the view on offer matches that extended to all away supporters at the Arsenal Stadium’.
It’ll hurt for a while. But then I’ll remember I actually support The Arsenal. A club with some proper history and tradition, not a club whose recent success is founded on the blood, sweat and tears of innocent Russian folk, when their efforts were subsumed by some Oligarch cunt with no real right to the fruits of their labours. At all.
But that’s life. And heh Zico! Could be worse, you might be a Hibee and gonna get relegated.
Oh,
There’s been a lot written since yesterday, but I think Ned has been absolutely correct in his assessment when he says Chelsea were “faster and hungrier than us from the get-go”.
Thats essentially why we lost.
We played a high line deliberately to put pressure on Chelsea when they had the ball. The reality was their workrate, application and execution completed outstripped ours and they took the rewards mercilessly.
Of course, I concur with Tabs, N7, H2H and Lars in that Flamini should have started. I feel sorry for Arteta because he never has been a DCM. He does a good job for us against lessor teams and gets exposed against good ones. Jose deliberately targeted Arteta and made sure they turned and got behind him. When that happens, it doesn’t matter how well Per and Kos have played all season. Every CH in the world is exposed if players run at them with pace. After we failed to sign Bender during the summer, we signed Flamini, who might not be a world class DCM in the same mould as Bender, but he is nevertheless the only natural DCM we have. And then we leave him on the bench against a team like Chelsea when we’ve 5/6 first team players missing…!
Now, it’s official. The worst weekend in an age…LWCs in stoppage…
What I find disturbing as well as the poor team selection and lack of tactics is seemingly Le Boss inability to learn from his mistakes or indeed correct them in time during a game to then at least give us a chance of turning things around.
Whilst we can point to progress in terms of league position and a top quality player being added we have not progressed in our ability to adapt to beat teams of our level or better (Liverpool aside).
Whilst I understand the clamour for Klopp it is true that he has a similar ethos regarding developing players as Wenger. If a change is to be made, and I think no FA cup could well be the catalyst, then my thoughts would immediately turn to Van Gaal.
He’s already let it be known he sees England as his next managerial destination and having won the league in 3 different countries would make him a strong candidate in my eyes.
I suppose one of the question marks with Van Gaal is he doesn’t often stay at clubs for long. Whilst there though he puts good foundations in place.
Mueller and Kroos were brought through under Van Gaal at Bayern and he also bought Neuer and Robben.
It’s depressing that I don’t believe Arsene anymore when he talks before the game about how the team is ready to show how good we are.
Van Gaal? Serious?
Would prefer Van Damme. If Arsene decides to leave I would give a chance to Bould. At least for a season or two.
On a more serious note, the club has decided to cnasell tomorrow’s press conference and the players are forbidden to talk to media about yesterday’s game.
I expect drastic changes in the team selection for the Swans game too. I am sure that Giroid feels the same.
holic- I think it was telling we had both Flamini and Kalstrom on the bench…both players we didn’t have at the beginning of the season…
all of our turnovers this year have occurred when we unsafely turn the ball over in midfield …’on the counter’… not so much as giving possession over in bad positions.
Having a second striker is a luxury when our service is not close enough to setting the table and assuring at least one point….surely we have learned as much from the special one
H2H @117 – More hehs and cheers for the kind ones and the beer.
Ned – Good stuff, and it’s a fair point you make on Giroud and how his effectiveness has been curtailed since injury has deprived the side of those who consistently ran past him. That said, he does look knacked imo and is another who has really struggled since mid Jan. Whether that is as a result of marital discord (as referenced by Cynic above), or simply the amount of Football he has played catching up with him, your guess is as good as mine. Bit of both i should think.Looks a bit mentally shot to me whatever the reason.
Joe – Baffling indeed.
Esso nails it. Whatever the embarrassment and hurt caused by such an inept display yesterday, we still support The Arsenal, a marvellous institution that is revered throughout the World for all the right reasons. Chelsea fans, on the other hand will wake up tomorrow still supporting Chelsea, a classless and utterly shameful bastion of cuntheadery that espouses as a virtue everything that is wrong with Football. Tomorrow they will still have to turn a blind eye to how their gangster cunt chairman is financing them, tomorrow they will still have to defend their oleaginous and solipsistic cunt manager’s words and actions which regularly shame Football itself, their Club, and if they weren’t so shameless, their own fans, and tomorrow they will still continue to laud their dead-eyed racist captain as a Club ‘legend’.
We win.
Apkom recalled from his loan spell.
Something is definitely happening behind the scenes and I suspect it has something to do with certain players.
I know Arsene can be ruthless sometimes and to be honest can’t wait to see him being ruthless again.
Oh fiddlesticks. So many great drinks above. AW asked too much of these players by not signing anybody in January. Also, it seems fair to say that his stubbornness about not parking the bus has stubbed our foot. I was one of the ones calling for a win yesterday so I am not faultless on that score but one point would have been a wonderful result in retrospect.
Good to see some new drinkers at the bar engaging with old friends.
Welcome.
Not sure the cancellation of the presser tomorrow is anything other than a huge fuck-off clear the air meeting is now being scheduled to get this squad putting it in for the boss, for each other, and for the paying punters.
It’s much needed and hopefully the answer to that performance. Those players are so much better than they played yesterday.
Lurky, no need to clarify, I don’t remember questioning your logic, which seems pretty sound.
Nice one Esso. My old man told me that violence never solved anything….. but twatting a cunny was good for the soul. 😉
Van Gaal? Hmmmmmmm. His record is more then decent. He’s won titles everywhere he’s been, here in te Lowlands, not only with Ajax (the last Dutch team to win the CL) but also with the less fashionable, and for me local, team AZ.
He’s painted as a bit of an arogant so and so, but I think he’s just misunderstood, he comes from the region my bar is situated so he is a typical Westfriesse. I must admit that when I first moved here it took me a while to get used to their ways. They are not the most jovial of folk, they’re a pretty no nonsense kind of people, simple farm stock, a bit old fashioned and stuck in their ways. Van Gaal doesn’t suffer fools glady and would seem blunt, but that’s just how people are from around here. It would be interesting to see how his relationship with the British meedja would be, I’d guess that he wouldn’t be a favourite, any daft questions would be treated with utter contempt.
Would he fit at Arsenal? I’m not so sure. Do I want him as a replacement for Wenger now? NO.
Nice one Ned and Joe. I’ll post a retort post haste. 😉
Bay’
Yep, the Saints just stopped playing at two up and threw that game away. 🙁
just
had some
pound shop
choc fingers
no maker
on pack
just the DHL logo
yup
the very same
now
theres diversification
.
lookin forward
to my
sunday leftovers
eddie stobarts
roast chicken sandwiches
shortly
.
bizarre weekend altogether
all told
+
hope
yer up
tap dancin’ soom trev
This season the regularity of repeated mid field turnovers as a result of sloppy play by Wilshere, Rosicky, Cazorla and Chamberlain has caused me much frustration and irritation. Even Ozil was guilty at the Etihad and Anfield. The three teams that have the ability to move the ball quickly once we have been turned over have destroyed us. We are fortunate that there have only been three such teams to date, otherwise we would have dropped many more points. In my opinion, the issues of Arteta’s legs, Flamini or tactics are all secondary to resolving the frequency of turnovers.
oops
i’ll behave ‘hol
another
homer simpson
fuck – did i type that out loud moment
i’ll blame the e-numbers
🙂
Still really pissed off here. Really pissed off. I did not watch the game and as I said earlier, I have no intention of putting myself through that.
Having had a significant amount of time to reflect on the clusterfuck of yesterday what really gets to me is that when I heard the score, as hurt as I was I was not really surprised. That worries me greatly.
Tuesday is yet another must win game. Get a good win and 3 points in the bag because I’m far from confident about the visit of Citeh.
As I said some months ago. Top 4 is not anywhere near as being in the bag yet. Let’s regroup and kick the shit out of Swansea.
Gents
Anyone calling for AW head should stop and sit down and give it a lot more thought. My opinion stands the same as it did yesterday, the players let him down badly.
The talk of naive tactics doesn’t really hit the spot either as I can bet my life on it that the boss didn’t say go out there and not string 2 passes together and wonder back into position only if you feel like it.
The anger should be vented more towards the team itself than the manager. I’m sure he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. a deer in the headlights springs to mind, not one of them could hold his head up and say I had a good game today, not one of them.
So in conclusion: Players you owe AW big time !
Top stuff tabs.
Chelsea exude Chaviness at every level. They are the epitomy of eveything ugly in the beautiful game, a nasty queef from a clap infected snake lake.
I read an article a few days ago about some russian chap calling on the governments of the U.K and the U.S.A to freeze the assets of the Oliegarchs exiled in their nations as their money and standing is the lifeblood of Poetin and insure that he stays in power. The US imposed sanctions, but the Brits are yet to follow suit.
There’s is a Nuclear Summit being held here in The Hague this week, with the crisis in the Crimea top of the agenda, Poetin and Russia (surprise surprise) has opted out, which means the rest of the world will be deciding what to do. I’ve read that great pressure will be put on Blighty due to the number of ex Soviet Billionaires in London, with particular attention being paid to Mr Fat and Orange, Usmanov and comrade Abromovich.
As for their utter oik of a manager, England is the only major league that will still have him and that’s only because of the gutter meedja’s insationable lust for lapping up his verbal diarrhea. Italy puked him out and Real Madrid had to pay him a small fortune to get rid of him because he was dragging down their reputation, that’s like being accused of being too antisemetic by the SS.
I knew a lot of Chelsea fans way back when and I had a lot of time for them, but nouveux money brings with it a new batch of plastics and a new breed of fan. They have been raised to believe that winning must come at any cost, really, any cost. Nothing is taboo in their quest for silver pots, you can’t blame them for being Chavs, it’s like blaming the sea for being wet. They’re just toeing the company line and to be fair they’ve had a long proud history since the turn of the century. That’s more then a decade, don’t ya know.
Very good posts from a number of people which underlines the knowledge and good sense on this site . I had low expectations before the match.expecting a result like last year where Giroud missed a sitter and we were then two down within ten minutes. but I didn’t expect a carbon copy! The sending -off just typified an awful day.
Its clear that Wenger was hurt and angry by the performance and in a perverse sort of way that is encouraging. We defended brilliantly the week before and frankly poor though the LWCs are they showed today they have got some idea of where the goal is (though their first two goals were fouls that the utterly useless Anthony Taylor missed/ignored). We showed the bottle in midfield you need but we were pitifully bad in turning the ball over. I think we went into the game expecting to lose whereas last week we expected to win.
Tabs’ account of the clueless Schmeichel’s views is typical of the idiot ex-pros that the media employ (Savage, Owen, Scmeichel, Shearer). We don’t need central defenders we need a much stronger central defensive midfield(while I agree re Arteta and Flamini, we need to aim higher than both).We might see Kjallstrom on Tuesday night. If Bac goes we need a very good replacement (or two if the Corporal goes on loan) and we need at least one top striker. I think Sanogo may start on Tuesday but we really need top quality.
I agree with Holic’s view that what’s happening(or not happening )tomorrow is not too sinister but bollockings (to use Wrighty’s term) need to be administered and we need to start with pace and power on Tuesday -and on Saturday.
After the Everton game we have a very decent programme. If we can take seven points from the next three then we could come up on the rails at the very end-and win the Cup! Wouldn’t that upset people!
So Holic you put no blame at all on Arsene? He put us a hole by picking that lineup and playing a high line against a speedy team! As for Gibbs I don’t know how many times I seen him in the box and not back in his proper position, he simply does not need to be in the box especially when Podolski doesn’t track back, it was a recipe for disaster! If you want to be serious Chelski took their foot off the peddle cause it surely could’ve been 8 or more, Arsene has lost the plot simple as that!
For me this defeat was 90% on the manager. That was woeful tactics, to go with a high line at the bridge. I don’t understand why we dont’ sit deep against the big teams in the league. I mean we have seen us do it against Bayern, Dortmund and it has paid huge dividends
It was absolutely naive to go all out attacking against Cuntski of all teams. The risk is too high of conceding goals if we lose the ball in midfield, but on the other hand if we had sat deep, the cheap giveaways by Santi and Ox wouldn’t have lead to quickfire goals
Anyway fuck it, rant over
Rum and coke please barman
Arrogant or Errorgant?
a defeat can never be 90% of the manager when the game is played 100% by the players
if you pay the lifeguards well you would expect them to be able to rescue the drowning fan or two
I certainly think tactics were a large part of it, however one can’t discount the woeful performance of the large majority of the players for the longest time, no passion and no fight!
Whilst it is good to rant and point out the obvious, it is all in hindsight.
We should be preparing for the next game and hope there is no hangover ( 😉 really?) for the next match which is coming up real soon!
Sober up guys and salvage this season while we can! Everton and even the spuds are closing on 4th!!
Up the Arse!
It doesn’t matter what percentage of blame we apportion to whom.
The manager had a shocker and the players put in poor performances to a man. Attempting to work out the precise dimensions of each individual’s failure is a meaningless enterprise.
It’s very much “on to the next game”. The notion that we should spend the next few days navel gazing is plain daft when the Swans arrive in 48 hours time.
I don’t understand why “we were fucking shit” isn’t enough for some people. It’s like they want to tease out the negativity, really savour every moment of it.
COYG – up and at ’em.
F4, how about reading the blog before spouting your preconceived stuff.
“The boss has to find a side that will show considerably more spine than the one today. The buck does stop with the manager,”
I love AW to death N7 and I don’t savour the negativity at all. But I’ve come to realize that tactically AW is not as good as that arrogant cunt/Ancelotti/Pep or any other top manager in the world. Was just trying to make that point
Once the two goals went in, it was all downhill from there. It is natural for players’ heads to go down after that, and the shit performance was because of the bad start we had
And the bad start was due to bad strategy of play
I just hope Arsene changes the way we set up against the big teams is all
Anyway as tabs said, I believe we have made decent strides this season. But we are currently very close to fucking it up. So on to Swans
Let’s respond. Come on Arsenal!
Sorry Harsha, that came out like it was aimed at you. I meant the endless trawl that’s going on at the minute to pin point who precisely is to blame, when the truth is that the answer is “all of them”. You don’t lose 6-0 in a big game without a few shit performances, on the dug out and on the pitch.
153
i blame
Championship Manager
everyones got
a virtual sheepskin coat
just a keyboard away
nowadays
mind you
i come here
to read it
some very clever tactitians here
so
though
i never put on
said
1970s car coat
i am continually edified
by
the drinks here
so
heres to more
stand-up rows
for
the forseeable
“Hurt? Ashamed? Embarrassed?”
About a football match?
You obviously don’t know me, son. Get a life.
Will I be roaring my lungs out and supporting to the best of my ability the football club that I love dearly on Tuesday night, next Saturday and on and on and on? Yes I will.
Is there more to life than pissing my pants when we drop three points? You bet there is.
😉
TaBS @ 135 – excellent penultimate paragraph. Almost as good as your hand gestures for the benefit of the Mickeys 🙂
H2H @146 – Cheers, and you won’t be surprised to learn that I agree with all of your post 🙂
Btm – Hahaha 🙂
Ned and Joe.
I’ve thought long and hard about this, I have the highest regard for your opinions and always enjoy your posts, I must however respectfully disagree with your “Chelsea wanted it more” stance as the reason for our humiliation.
Imho our tactics and set up were wrong from the off, we were playing way too high a line, in fact we were almost caught before the first goal went in. We were suicidualy careless in possession, but once the ball was lost it was just a matter of one or two easy passes for them and we were stranded, it was criminally easy and what really grates was this was not the first time this season, nor was it first time that Maureen has done us with the very same tactic of sit back, wait and bamm. AW not only played into his hand by giving him the keys to unlock the defence, but put out the welcome mat, put a nice cushion on the sofa and laid out his pipe and a pair of slippers. When Chelsea lost possesion they always had enough bodies behind the ball and played deep enough that we weren’t getting behind them, that’s how we should of been set up. I like the Ox, but I don’t think he’s ready for that deep lying midfield position, it may work against a lesser team, but lose the ball or make mistakes to a team like Chelsea will and they will punish you and they did.
Ned asks an interesting question with regards to our substitution due to the red card. I believe that it was a mistake leaving the HFB on, he’s a good spring board from which to start attacks, but he’s about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike if there’s no one to run off him, so in that regard then maybe Poldi would have been the better option. Not that it really would of mattered yesterday anyway.
I’ve also seen others asking why the players can’t change their approach, if this season has taught us anything, it is that players aren’t that smart, they just do what they are instructed to do. It’s not that surprising really, the modern footballer pretty much lives in a bubble. He is told what to eat, what to drink, when to eat and drink it, what time to go to bed even what to say and how to say it, many facets of their lives are controlled. If footballers just ran on insticts then Man U wouldn’t be where they are today, think about it, this is basically the same team that walked to the league title last year, the only thing that has changed is who is telling them what to do.
Spot on H2H @ 163 and Ned and Joe earlier.
Not here to intrude upon your grief after a nightmare result but if I may just give my view on Mr Wenger. You have been truly fortunate to have him at the helm all these years, the man is regarded by supporters of every club in the land, including Spurs, as a complete legend. A man who literally transformed Arsenal and, indeed, the way things were done previously at every club. I wish we’d got him instead of Gerry Francis ! He’s kept you at the top all these years and that has, I think, been taken for granted by some of you. I admire a dignified(mostly!) and decent man who sends his teams out to play football in the right way. He deserves your support right till the moment he calls it a day.
Dave – *stands and applauds*
Nice one Dave.
I agree 100% with you on Le Boss, hes the greatest manager weve ever had.
I think you’ll find most on here support him, it’s just that results like yesterday bring out the worst in some people, and in this finger pointing day and age everybody needs a scapegoat.
I’ll freely admit that I believe that AW got the tactics wrong yesterday and I’ll stand by that opinion, but Im not gonna call for his head nor do I respect him any less due to one or two results. The dawning of multimedia has brought many advantages, but like everything it also has it’s downsides, knee jerking and keyboard warrioring being one of them.
====
Cheers Bath.
Cheers, Dave! Thanks for the perspective.
H2H,
I actually agree with a lot of what you say.
We did get our tactics wrong.
But wrong tactics by themselves do not explain the extend of such a capitulation.
I disagree with you that somehow, because of a lack of intelligence, that somehow the players are not culpable. The players are accountable. So too is the manager. Something is dreadfully wrong with the psyche of the team to allow such a capitulation to happen 3 times in a season.
It was harrowing to hear the Mourinho slur being chanted around the ground for a man who has done so much for football and for this club.
Rather than go into the detail and accentuate the negative, I think its time for consolidation and support.
Since yesterday, there has been a media lock down. A retraction in-doors. Akpom has been recalled. I think there is a major shit storm going on behind the scenes and some very serious questions are being asked, and need to be asked.
I expect to see changes on Tuesday. We need to get back on track.
Dave
Thankyou for a really important and accurate insight.
Far too many Gooners take Wenger for granted-they will realise what we had when he is no longer there.
Don’t know if anyone saw El Clasico. It lived up to its name.
Breathtaking entertainment but with the diving in that league (which suits Bale well, as the king of the divers)it is so hard to referee.
Cheers Joe.
I also agree that the players are indeed culpable and they very much need to stand up and be counted.
The media shut out maybe the right thing to do, but it will probably lead to major speculation in tomorrows rags, we’ll be deep in “crisis” again tomorrow.
Thanks, Dave.
I have received several emails this evening from sensible Gooners suggesting that Wenger told the players he is leaving at the end of the season after the game
Arsenal Action @arsenalaction
Follow
Wenger told the players in the dressing room after the CFC game he is finished at the end of the season. Media blackout since then.
Who knows if it is true but it does appear to being considered by a number of sensible people who know the club well
Nuff Respect, Dave.
And so it begins……….
I would never ever believe that Ttg.
Wenger is a man who takes time, thought and a distance in all of his decisions. It would be very unlike him to make such a pronouncement in the heat of such an emotive and chastening experience, especially when there’s so much to play for yet and the consequences that it would have in the dressing-room.
Ttg, there is lot of talk on twitter about Arsene’s decision to leave us at the end of the season, like you said, from respectable people.
God help us, if it is true.
If arsenal is in lockdown as reported and arsene is going to tear he room up and put on a show, then good on him and he will have my full support.
One of the areas for my persistent critique of arsene, is he seems to treat the players with too much respect, he is too nice maybe, makes their life too comfortable and they shit on him such as Rvp.
A clean out is defnatley needed, just a shame it has to start at such a critical time of the season.
I think this is what is so confusing about this arsenal group, they have the makings and capability of a top side on their best day.
But the inconsistency is what is killing arsene and arsenal and all the previous years of hardwork.
Kick some heads arsene with the full support of the board.
I hope he Throws some boots and hair gel and body lotion and some sponsors logos at these princesses of luxury.
Ttg: For some strange reason, I don’t think that would make sense. The team is already fragile mentally, so why would their leader tell them he’s quitting at the business end of the season when there is still so much to play for?
If Arsene is leaving I don’t think he would do it like that. It just doesn’t seem like his way of doing things. If you told me the Special Cunt did something like that then I would have no qualms as he’s a self serving bastard.
The good thing is that Geoff dismissed the rumors as fake, and if I believe someone it is him.
This is the trouble with no information.
It all becomes speculation. People then speculate on the speculation, extrapulate parts of the speculation and add their own views to the speculation.
It then becomes a mass orgy of guesswork, a circle jerk of conjecture, a masterbation of speculation if you will.
MEH.
@173
Highly doubt it.
If we assume that Wenger would leave only if he:
a) Feels a need for a break and/or a new challenge
b) Feels there are fundamental problems with the team that can’t be rectified within a short timeframe
then, for case a), he could have declared this presumed intention at any, and more appropriate, point in the season; while for case b), he would hardy have deemed this team (as a whole) worthy of being in the receiving end of such a pronouncement in the first place, especially when there are still achievable targets left to be met come end season.
I don’t believe that Arsene would make a knee jerk reaction with such profound consequences for the club, the players and this season, even though his Zen approach is less profound recently than in his early years.
Total bullshit, imho.
He’s reading the riot act after an incomprehensible collapse in the most important game of the season.
Heads will roll as a consequence, but in the summer. And the maestro’s head will not be amongst them.
Yes, the selection was in retrospect (and for some wise heads here also in prospect) a mistake but the collapse was almost entirely the fault of those on the pitch.
Time to point the pitchforks outwards gentlemen (and Snowy).
Is this real guys ????
Wenger told the players in the dressing room after the CFC game he is finished at the end of the season. Media blackout since then.
— Arsenal Action (@arsenalaction) March 23, 2014
AFC doing everything to get Arsene to change his mind. AW told the players to give everything for him from now until the end of the season
— Arsenal Action (@arsenalaction) March 23, 201
Sorry, but blaming injuries to Rambo, Theo, Jack and Özilla for the loss the Chelsea doesn’t wash. We had two of the three for the Pool game where we were thrashed, and three of them played against City. Fact is their replacements aren’t up to the job and that is clearly the fault of AW’s cautionary signing policy. If the need for adequate cover hasn’t been obvious for years I’m a blind and wingless flying Dutchman.
In all three of those shockers against 1,2 and 3 the opposition pressed harder, were faster both physically and in decision-making, more accurate passing the ball, sharper at tackling and way more determined to win. In all three we were slow to begin, slow to recover, and unable to adapt to circumstances even, with the possible exception of the City game, to minimise the damage.
Öskar
Oskar , I think there is a chemistry between Rambo , Walcott and Ozil and Rambo is the very essential .
“Get a life”
I’ve no wish for any sort of exchange of words on a one to one, but I just can’t take supporting Arsenal as lightly as just shrugging bad results off, hey ho, off to the next one.
Might as well just check in at the end of May and see how the season went.
I’ve actually enjoyed the ride so far this year, but *that* on Saturday, whatever *that* was, has bought me back down to earth with a large bump.
People are saying that we/AW got the tactics wrong.
Really?
I don’t think there’s ever any tactics. Certainly never any tactical changes during a match to match the oppositions set up. Same old plan of play patient football ‘the Arsenal way’ and hope it comes good.
Mostly, it does. Our players aren’t all shit. They just play shit sometimes. And IMO thats because they don’t get motivated to by the style of management.
Rambo may be key this season, Montreal, but most of his early career was spent on the sidelines injured during which time his ‘essential’ qualities were theoretical. Even if how really good he can be has always been known, which I doubt, that doesn’t excuse not having quality cover for his position.
Öskar
I don’t think Özil has chemistry with anyone, Montreal. He’s a prima donna with no taste for a fight. Excellent at what he does, but not what Arsenal needed. If he scored as often as Rambo he would be worth twice what we paid for him, but what he actually provides could have been bought for half the price.
Öskar
“AW told the players to give everything for him from now until the end of the season” (several above)
Absolute rot. AW would never ask any player to do it for him (Wenger), that’s the kind of egotism you’d expect from Morewhineio.
Apropos Morewhineio did anyone else notice how the rat scuttled off down the tunnel 2 minutes before the final whistle, presumably so as to avoid shaking AW’s hand? Wotanahole.
Öskar
Oskar , you are right , Ozil seems too soft and not a fighter , but then why pay such a fight price ? AW is always very thrifty and almost never make a mistake on this point of view , is there is a thing in Ozil AW see and we don’t see ?
Oskar, I also Maureen scamper down the tunnel. Seems a bit disrespectful not only to Wenger, but also to his team, their fans, and the game in general. My hope is that painful diarrhea made him do it.
I believe the Özil purchase was a direct result of AW’s failure to land Suarez or Higuain, Montreal. A touch desperate with nothing to show he wanted a marquee signing to compensate and found (I don’t know how) that Özil might be available for a price. I’m looking forward to his autobiography where I hope he will detail his transfer negotiations of last summer.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Özil is a very fine player and worth his weight when he has quality strikers to feed. He’s just a bit of a flat-track bully and lacking in fight when things get tough, imo. Also, not the kind of player we really needed insofar as we have never had a problem creating chances (Özil’s speciality), just a lack of quality up front to convert a higher percentage of them.
Clearly finding a Suarez type has been a much greater priority since Henry left. We had one in RvP for a brief moment of fitness in his career, but he has not been adequately replaced since his treachery.
Öskar
H2H: H2H: my 2-cents on playing a high line is that there isn’t anything intrinsically wrong it. It lets a team compress the play to avoid leaving space between the lines for a No 10 to exploit (and Chelsea play with three of them). We played a high line initially against Spurs the week before and it worked just fine. But you do have to have a disciplined back four that executes it well: you have to make sure that the line is truly a line; and the two central defenders must stay close to each other. Otherwise you have a back two pushing up behind full-backs that have pushed even higher. That leaves the line looking more like a a flat-bottomed V with acres of space behind the full-backs for attackers to run into. Your back two are never going to be able to cover that without being pulled out of shape. As often as not you end up with a one-on-one, with the forward running directly at your center defender, which you never want. Chelsea played a lot of long balls into just those spaces, often diagonally to find runners coming inside from the opposite wing.
But I think you also put your finger on another problem. We gave the ball away far too often, and it is something we have been doing in many recent games, not just the one against Chelsea.
One other thing with a high line is that your pressing has to be good. The more time the opposition has to make a calculated and accurate pass, the more vulnerable a high line will be. Our pressing against Chelsea was not good.
Holic, you have mail.
Punts the ball forward with no real target…
Arsenal Action?????? Really ?????? Even if Arsene does intend to leave at the end of the season do you really think he would announce it in the dressing room after a game like that?????? Why anyone that has any liking for this great club of ours would start rumours like that is beyond me. Complete and utter bollocks in my opinion.
@ Steve T
Complete and utter bollocks in my opinion also. Total speculation and gossip
This isn’t speculation. This is top corner.
If only the mighty gunners had someone with as clinical a left foot as Stevie T ????
I think we can get the 3 points off of Citeh and I have been aiming for that ever since the media unnerved the club about these retched March fixtures. There are 3 points and a message in there to be had, even if we are ‘out of the race’ at present.
But let’s start with the swans first. We need to knock the fukcing feathers out of em!
Oh and I’m not losing that bleeding FA cup, even if I have to pull my shirt on and run out in wembley with my dodgy knee myself!
Not avin mate!
Some fine work above from the usual scribes.
Too late, and no worth in me joining that discussion now.
Dodgy knee Goonertown ? Keep it, mate – as long as you can !!!
I’ve now had an old bone graft chiselled out – patella tendon detached and wired really tightly back in – new joint installed – back surface of the kneecap refurbished – muscles cut away and reattached – and then they removed the drains that had suctioned 5 bottles of blood and fluid out of my right leg.
Those drains are two plastic tubes inserted between four and five inches under the skin next to your shin bones. When they are pulled out it is like someone setting your legs on fire.
I was going to spare you the details but, in all honesty, I’m feeling a bit sorry for myself this morning. Just had co-codamol, ibuprofen, another 20 mls of liquid morphine and two more lots of laxatives as the old bowels are clammed tight from all the painkillers.
Fun this is not.
I’ve slept on the Wenger news and after some consideration I can’t believe Wenger would behave like that. I do believe he may seriously be considering his future but he is a much more measured man than that and I don’t think he does the melodramatic. Several friends of mine don’t agree.
But we could/ should see a shake- up tomorrow although unless Koscielny is injured the defence won’t change but the CDMs should . Whatever let’s raise the roof at the Grove tomorrow not wait for for the team to lift us.
COYG
Well in Steve, classy double ton.
Trev,
Hope the pain eases! And the knee! The worst is over and I hope you’re fighting fit soon
Jesus wept Trev, that sounds hellish. Chin up and stay away from the Arsenal physios and you’ll be right as rain before you can say “Mourinhoisacunt”
I’m tryin Trev 🙂
Two top men consulting on this too as it’s a “bit of an odd one”. One is consultant to the British Olympic Association and the other is consultant to the Football Association. Just as bloomin’ well, methinks.
Can I see Arsene going at the end of the season? Oh, yes. He may feel his work is done, he may have health problems (he is, after all, getting on a bit) or maybe he just feels he hasn’t got the energy anymore.
But do I see him throwing a hissy fit and announcing it to the players straight after a game and then a known shit-stirrer on Twitter being the only one outside the club to find out? Hell no. If what that chap writes turns out to be true then I’d wager it was just pure coincidence and the result of “a circle jerk of conjecture”, as H2H so brilliantly put it.
We’ll see what happens and any which way we’ll know soon enough, but I think it would be very unlike Arsene to announce his retirement in such a way. It would make a whole lot more sense to inform the players and then more or less immediately after announcing it to the world at a press conference or a press statement through Arsenal.com.
Anyway, three points is a must v Swansea no matter what. I am already bricking it for that game. Fourth place is still not 100% safe, Spurs have a rather easy fixture list after they play Liverpool away (which is on Wednesday if memory serves me) so we must put some more points on the board. If my quick calculations are correct we still need to win five and draw one of our remaining eight to make whatever they do redundant so let’s start tomorrow night by adding three points to what we’ve already got. For me, with the injury situation I look at everything above finishing fourth as a bonus as far as the league goes and I don’t think I have to mention the importance of handling the pressure in the cup.
Finally though, and most importantly, get well soon Trev!
Christ, can we please not start the Ozil stuff again? He didn’t even play on Saturday, and since he’s been out we’ve been giving the ball away for fun.
Trev – get well soon, mate. Sounds rough.
Re: the Arsene rumours, they are quite clearly bollocks for the reasons stated above, but (a) it still wouldn’t surprise me if he went in May – this contract thing just doesn’t sit right; and (b) look at the reaction from fans of other clubs at the news Wenger might go; a mix of “legendary manager, you lot have been taking him for granted” and “fuck yeah – life’s about to get hard for you lot”. Speaks volumes.
Thinking of you, Trev!
Fucking hell Trev! Get well soon mate. What you’re going through puts the ‘pain’ others profess to be feeling into right perspective.
Arsenal Action – Sounds like some sort of Gay Porn Site to me ! Are they the classless Cunts that have had them stickers printed ? Surely grown Men have better things to do with their time.
Ps Sorry Trev, All the Best Mate, Hope its not the dreaded 3 weeks 😉
Arsene Wenger is no quitter. He has transformed this club and is never ever going to walk away from it when it has just had a pummelling. Before Saturday, he clearly had plans to correct deficiencies in the summer. He probably has to adjust some of these in the light of some further individual deficiencies that he had perhaps underestimated. He is not going to walk away.
Trev, sounds rough….thinking of you. What Esso said.
Trev, I’ve seen enough TKR’s to sympathise with what you’ve gone through. Didn’t have the heart to give you the it will be pretty bad for the first 48 hours spiel given what you’d been going through with the old knee. But it’s a tough couple of days without any complications. Hoping there are no major drama’s. In lieu of a drink (although it will help the bowels) get some lactulose. Cheers
Oskar, I think Ozil is not as soft as you say he is, and what he does for us is bring out the best in our runners, the two of whom are Theo and Aaron. Theo was our highest scorer last season, and was looking to be on track this year too before his freak injury. Aaron was quickly emerging as a very important cog in our machine from January onwards last year, then quickly became one of our most important players once this season got on. Both of their goal scoring benefitted hugely from Ozil’s vision and ability to pick out the right pass – Theo through his pace on the wings and Ramsey through is ability to see and run into space, which clicked really well with Ozil’s. I believe there’s a stat that those two combined the most when on the pitch together with tremendous effect.
Now the lack of quality or at least serviceable back up point…well, I agree with you whole heartedly on that one. I think a bit more was expected of Jack this season than he has delivered (especially at CM where to my mind he’s been questionable), and no one expected Ox to miss half the season. But to have to resort to experimenting with your 20 year old winger at CM as some sort of baptism of fire against one of the best teams in the league in what was billed as our most important game of the season…well, that’s madness and the outcome was as such. And bolstering the striker position…I can’t even talk about that anymore…still don’t understand how Giroud is our primary striker and Yaya is our backup. Can’t think of a club of Arsenal’s level in a similar situation in that area.
Thanks, fellas – not a great few days.
On Arsene – agree entirely with bath and Lars.
I do think Saturday’s performance hit him extremely hard – he looked shocked and saddened afterwards, but the last thing I could see him doing would be anything that would damage the club.
Selection and tactics are down to him – performance is up to the players. If he feels that they are not doing it for him, after the incredible loyalty he has shown them, then maybe in the summer he would think about walking away.
He has taken responsibility – if he feels the problems are fixable, I’m sure he would stay and fix them.
But the club HAS to find a way of reducing these injuries, or invest in a larger squad. You would really have thought that EIGHT midfielders ought to be enough to get you through a season. The real problem has been the inability to convert chances to goals.
Now, they have just offered me something stronger than oral morphine – blimey! I may be some time …… 😉
Nice one, Max.
LTHG – cheers. I’ve been on lactulose for 2 days! I’m getting quite frightened of how this is all going to end ! 🙁
Agree with much of what’s said above.
I think Saturday will prove the death knell for a couple of Arsenal careers, but not the manager’s, and I think it was an accident waiting to happen to be attempting to convert the Ox to central midfield in games such as this.
I will be extremely interested to see the starting line up tomorrow night. I hope to god it includes some pace in the front line.
Hang in there Trev. The arsegonian Dad turned 70 yesterday and he golfs seven days a week on his new knee ( done 8 years ago ) He loves the thing … It will get better.
N7: given the injuries I don’t think we have many options for tomorrow. If the red card is upheld (and then also transferred which it will be in that case) then the Ox is out so the only pacey players we have left to put on would be Gnabry and Sanogo.
Thinking of you Trev. Mind you, the drug regime sounds interesting 😉
@ Lars
I’ve a feeling that both might start.
He’s surely got to rotate given 75 mins played with ten men and the state of the performance.
Wishing you all the best Trev. Get well soon mate.
Clearly this twitter chap knows the square root of fuck all. Agree with all those that have said a public changing room announcement like that simply isn’t AW’s way.
That said, I agree with N7 and Lars that that new contract is, at this stage, and in contrast to the certainty expressed by IG, far from a done deal. Clearly Arsenal will give AW what he wants in terms of autonomy, money etc so why the delay? There have been plenty of opportunities this Season where results have been such that the feelgood factor would have allowed for an announcement of an extension.
I thought that there was more than a hint of the valedictory to some of the phrases AW used in his interviews last week, with talk of him leaving the Club in a much better state than he found it. Might be reading too much into it, but my view is that much depends on what might transpire over the next 9, hopefully 10, games.
Not sure why Gnabry has been frozen out anyway. I’ve been clamoring for him for 2 months. Plus he scored against Swansea. Give him a shot.
I guess Gnabry has fallen back to the bench for much the same reason as Januzaj at Utd – at the age they’re at it’s hard to find proper consistency, so they get used sparingly.
That said, given the absence of pace currently available to us I think it may be time to give the lad another shot.
Trev get well soon, you have just reaffirmed why I don’t watch TV hospital dramas.
Nothing would surprise me when it comes to Arsene and his future plans. He was a broken man on Saturday and emotionally scarred. I’m worried what we might see tomorrow night, we could be witnessing another post Gallas scenario.
Lets hope the crowd give, whatever side takes the pitch, their full support but I fear there will be a huge number of dissenters and the atmosphere could get very ugly. I sincerely hope not but Saturday was the last straw for the Arsene Out brigade and I am sure they won’t miss this opportunity to air their views.
Hoping for the best.
COYRs
If you haven’t already, read:
http://arseblog.com/2014/03/media-lockdown-online-reaction-and-more/
Of course, shipping a result like that will force some serious inner reflection. The big question I think he’ll be asking himself, is whether the time has arrived for a change in direction for both himself and the club? If he thinks the answer is yes to that question (for whatever logic he uses), then winning the Cup presents an opportunity to go out on a high. Hopefully we’ll also have qualified for CL and the club is in great health.
But I really can’t see Wenger leaving. There are a number of reasons I would point to:
Firstly, it has taken him years to bring the club to this level and now he has the ability to compete again the transfer market. Why give that opportunity to someone else? No one deserves it more than he.
Secondly, I think he’ll have spoken with his backroom team and put agreements in place with them. Their futures are inextricably linked to his. So if he pulls the plug now, he’s also pre-determining the fate of some other people who have been with him a long time. I imagine they would want some notice to make plans for that eventuality.
Thirdly, his daughter is 17. Probably on the cusp of going to college with a definitive career path. Do you uproot her now? Or do you at 64 say, I will start another adventure in what would probably have to be another country? He could of course “move upstairs”, but there’s far too much fire and ambition in the old dog yet for him to slink into retirement.
Fourthly, leaving now will smack of some unfinished business, irrespective of whether he wins the FA Cup or not. Wenger will want another crack or two at landing old big ears.
Whoever comes in will have a hell of a job to do and I also think he’ll want to be around to ease that transition. Wenger really loves this club. Its been his lifetime work. He will want to make sure the next custodian is supported.
It will most likely be his last contract with the club.
And no doubt he’ll take his time in signing it, especially in light of Saturdays result.
But ultimately I can’t see any other outcome other than AW staying for another two years.
Hang in, Trev. We all feel your pain. Well, not really. But you do have all our best wishes that you get through this phase as quickly as possible.
Great post Joe. Hope you’re right.
Just seen the pictures posted on .com from the training session today. They have made sure to pick only pictures where the players look dead serious, no smiles and giggles here. There’s also one where Rosicky and Arteta can be seen to shake Arsene’s hand while looking decidedly sheepish.
What was shocking is the fact that its always in a big game we come up a cropper. I mean once is ok, twice is understandable but then so many times is shocking. I mean it just follows the script, today Per comes out and says early kick off means this is happening, i mean come on, come up with something better please.
The game was over after 10 min, you dont concede 2 at the bridge in 10 min and then hope for a miracle, it aint happening now for sure.
Arsenal approached the game in a gung ho style and it came a cropper, the 2 goals conceded were abysmal, where were our midfielders and full backs? you cant leave 2 centre backs and go bombing forward in the first 10 minutes of the game, thats suicidal.
There was never a come back and a fairy tale to this game, chelshit dont lose games least of all when they are ahead.
I dont know what goes behind closed doors but fact is something is wrong, we cant keep on losing such games and that to so poorly, no title contender team losses by 6 goals and 5 goals, thats plain ridiculous. We need answers and no the answer is not winning against swansea, we need a reaction, an answer and an accountability on this, do players understand who they represent? does the manager know its not acceptable, i adore this team and Wenger is like a role model for me but this kind of shocking performances make me wonder what has truly happened.
A few comments after this lost weekend:
Re Mourinho exiting the premises early: having the benefit of watching the entire EPL schedule live here on the left of the pond, he does this a lot, particularly when he’s winning. The only one he interacts with is the fourth official, giving a pat on the back and a smile with a “job well done” word. Pure scum…..
Re the Arsenal and Spurs fixtures: at the bridge referee and lino don’t see the handball, but get the word from the fourth official. At SHL, referee fails to penalize Spuds for clear fouls that lead to LWCs’ first two goals. Common denominator: Anthony Taylor.
Cannot see AW leaving, for a variety of reasons, but there is this caveat. It’s a World Cup year, and if the French fall on their faces, what better way to have a new challenge and wind down your career at age 64 than national team manager? Euros are in France, so no qualification worries. You get free passes to watch many games all over Europe (Hodgson is a fixture at almost every match you watch), have to manage a lot fewer matches spread out over time, have a whole lot less pressure than managing a club, and you also know going into it that you have maybe four to six years shelf life before the national federation figures it’s time for a change no matter how well you do, so why the hell not? Although having to look at the human gargoyle Ribery for any length of time…..
And don’t rule out AW disciple Dragan Stojkovic as successor. Maybe best of both worlds — identical footballing philosophy as AW, but as an Eastern European with some more “pragmatism” thrown in, and would have a decidedly different manner of getting his points across to the players compared to AW.
Best wishes Trev and I’m hoping normal service (6 puns a minute) will be resumed in no time. 🙂
Afternoon all.
Firstly…. OUCH, bloody hell Trev, while reading that I got a twinge in my belly, kinda like the wince you get when you see someone else taking a blow to the ol meat n two veg. Here’s wishing you a speedy recovery.
Some nice posts above on Wenger’s future. I’m not gonna bother on this one though as I know nothing concrete, Yes, I have my suspisions, doubts and hopes, but it’s only based on personal conceptions, I made the mistake of sticking my neck out during the RvP situation with what I thought he was going to do, I was wrong, in fact way off. But it taught me a valuable lesson in that you can often transfer your own personal feelings on to situations that you have absolutly no control over.
What is sad about this situation is how it divides an already pretty split fanbase. Once again lines are being drawn and divisions are being made, you’re either pro Wenger or you want him out, unfortunatly the middle ground has become a barren no mans land. But that is where they have bullt the fence that I’ll be sitting on untill the club release a tangible statement on Le Boss’ future.
Bellerin gets rewarded for his promising performance in the youth set up and out at loans. Comes into the squad for Kos. He also gives a potential variation in attack as a tricky fast right sided player.
Hopefully nothing too serious with Kos’s calf problems.
About Arsenal leaving or not leaving: we all know he will take a decision that in the best interest of the club, and will ensure that his life’s work is not wasted. I think we can rest assure whatever that decision is and whenever that is made it will only move the club forward, despite any short-term adjustment hiccups.
He has overseen establishments of systems and processes in training, recruiting, preparation, diet that are as close to methodical and personality-agnostic as possible in football. They can all be improved, just like everything can, but they would not be idiosyncratic secrets that he will take away when he leaves. We have a core well-knit team, despite its three alarming collapses this season, with most key players signed on a long-term agreement. We have a deputy who is through and through Arsenal, an accomplished professional who has done it as a player, a no-nonsense coach and a ballast of stability.
A rock solid platform has been built. Better players in a few key positions can be signed, the injury records must have to be improved, maybe a few changes in tactical approaches to be brought in by a fresh pair of eyes…so when Arsene leaves, end of this season or three seasons from now, we should see the maintenance of the upward curve that we have started this season after the nadir that was reached .
Not worried.
Apkom hat trick for the u-21’s.
Hi All
Wenger doesnt strike me as a man who would walk away because the going got tuff, while he was handcuffed by finances and was under pressure he carried on when he could have walked out to Real or PSG at anytime and had futunes to spend with a team of superstars already in the team.
Wenger is Arsenal through and through ! I`m sure he was very upset and felt very let down by the players but I still think this total bollocks of the highest degree. I feel for the man, cut him in half and it would say Arsenal, he must be so frustrated at the moment as we all are. This result doesnt make me want to stop supporting Arsenal as this result doesnt make AW want to walk away from us either.
As for Ozil isnt good enough ! Please ! Name one foreginer who lit up the Pl in there 1st year. Football is about stats as stats cant lie and Ozil`s assits ect are right up there with chances created with any player. To my mind he has a good 1st season and will be better next year. Form is tempary and class is permanent and Ozil is class and im sure we will see his class in the years to come.
I want to see a reaction from the team tomorrow as they are the ones who didnt put the shift in, they are the ones who rolled over and gave up. The manager didnt give up on them ! They let him down and that was a dissgrace.
Cheers
I managed to bring myself to watch, the recorded, MoTD earlier today, where Maureen told the cameras that he always leaves early to phone his wife to tell her the result. Never heard of texting?
One thing I will say about AW is that he looked extreamy melancholie during his post match interview.
Lurky @ 242: I know it is the third division and all that, but two years in a row Aneke is having a stellar season at Crewe. Sixteen goals for a box-to-box/DM playing in a relegation fighting side, based on reports some impressively powerful performance all over the pitch, maybe someone to get a loan in the PL next season with first team chance in mind the season after? Has the build and the strength lacking in our defensive MF positions now, and I guess the attitude must be right as well to sustain season long good performances.
Arsenal1971 @ 273: All the way with you about Ozil. His stats are quite revealing not only for the quality but also for his work rate (yes, work rate!) that goes unnoticed. Unless we contrive to chase him away going to be a great player for us.
If you’d just subbed off John Terry you’d leave early to check on your missus as well.
Some good stuff above people.
I must say that I am very much in agreement with those who think a new contract for AW is far from a done deal. Tabs is spot on for me. There have been amply opportunities over the season. Why keep hanging on??
People are starting to get impatient. Unfortunately we do not help ourselves some times. Results like Saturdays just add to the pressure. The old 9 years without a trophy will always be trumpeted around for those that care to listen.
The minimum requirement from here on in is top 4 and the FA Cup. If we fail at either then I’m not convinced in the slightest that he will stay. I’m also not convinced that if it does go wrong that he will definitely be given the option.
We have some very interesting times ahead and a series of “must wins” to look forward to, starting with tomorrow night.
Heh @ 246.
Get well soon Trev.
😆 N7
Cheers 1971!
Wenger earned our respect and must leave with respect.
Ofcourse we have been spoilt by the very man.
Watching other teams, you do see Arsenals style of play a miss and the legacy the man will leave behind is amazing. History will not capture all this but fans will!
including how we have been robbed year on year by questionable refereeing and £50 notes being fired.
Having said all that I believe it is now time. There are fans here that agree and fans who never will!
We were the king of transfers and It has been difficult enough to see us struggle with the lack of transfers and the recent record broken was not for the right person.
Its only with hige pressure from fans that his assistant has been changed!
As great as Ozil is we needed an out and out striker more. We dilly dallied and are now paying the price.
We had a chance in January but didnt improve and now title is less and less likely.
We blame players and rightly so but players are chosen by the manager himself.
They are overplayed year on year by the manager himself.
We have the second highest wage bill in premier league and there are no excuses any more.
We have one of the highest injury rate of alikes
He has been outhought by better tactcians, and better organisers.
His teams are mentally weak and only the recent defensive improvement via SB show improvement.
We leave him to choose when to go but we will always remember him for what he didn’t get credit for!
“We have the second highest wage bill in premier league”
No, we don’t.
Some rumours doing the rounds that Shezza will be dropped tomorrow for Flappy?????? The plot thickens peeps.
Bloody hell, Steve.
Is Woj going to get himself dropped around this time every year?
Just paper talk N7. You never know how much, if any has some truth attached to it or is total bollocks. What I would say is that if Shezza is dropped at this stage of the season then I would expect us to be in the market for a keeper in the summer.
Kos out tomorrow is a blow. However both AOC and Gibbo are available. Red card has been transferred to AOC and then rescinded. So we played. 75 mins at the bus stop with 10 men when we shouldn’t have. It also shows that Akex made a shit decision to handle a ball 15 mins into a game when there was absolutely no need at all to do so. He is a bright lad, hopefully he will learn from it.
Is Kos definitely out? That’s a major blow as I reckon Bony can be a handful, and is the kind of forward we need the Frenchman for.
That red card was always getting rescinded. Never a red in a million years. Didn’t change the result, but that’s what happens when refs give pens and sendings off for incidents they’ve not seen.
Agree re: AOC. Really daft thing to do.
A Football Association panel decided that referee Andre Marriner not only dismissed the wrong player, but that Oxlade-Chamberlain’s goal-line handball did not deserve a red card.
Neither player will serve any ban following the incident.
————
And i said the ref was an idiot and got bolloxed for it…lol!
To be honest id play Apkom from here on in – Either on the flank or up top he’s got the pace we seriously lack and personally I’d love to see him get a few games to see if he’s ready to be 2nd/3rd choice next season. I’d be majorly surprised if one or even two of our Forwards are not moved on in the Summer,
As for the Wenger debate I’m still very much middle ground I’d Love to see him put it up certain managers at other clubs before he goes but then again I don’t feel the world would end if he did decide to not renew – Whatever he decides he will have my huge admiration and Thanks and some of the shit I’ve seen written from so called Arsenal fans is a disgrace.
Up The Arse,
Make that 2/3 I forgot about the Danish Pastry 🙂
In a way that FA panel decision has just left me even more irritated that I was before.
Not only were we utterly shit, but the officials helped us on our way.
Good, balanced view, Chippy. It’s fair enough to have doubts about the manager, but it’s all in how you express them.
Some of the stuff I’ve see in the last 48 hours has been quite simply unreal. I don’t know why I’m still surprised, but I am.
So the ref gets it wrong on the laws of the game, gets the ID of the player wrong, gives a penalty he didn’t see on the word of Chelsea’s players (he’s not allowed to give it if the 4th official tells him and the lino didn’t give it) and PGMO go, “You’re ok by us, Andre. Have a Premier League game on Saturday”.
What a joke.
Cynic – is the ref not allowed to give the pen based on the word of the fourth official?
Apologies to all,
I’m afraid I cannot do a preview tonight.
Really sorry.
Lars@236: Is that the first known photo of Poldi without a smile on his face?
N7G@246: 🙂
‘Holic, here’s your preview:
We need three points and a strong, committed performance. End of.
Chamberlain & Gibbs available definitely for tomorrow. Koscielny definitely out, so it leaves Vermaelen partnering Mertesacker.
@245 Doctor Faustus
It was Apkom’s hat trick that I referred before, but since you’ve mentioned Aneke, yes, I am looking forward to see him play for the first team.
I’ve only seen him playing couple of matches for the younger categories but I’ve seen plenty of videos. I am not sure that he is exactly what we need he is not a classic DM although he is build as one. He is more of a box to box who enjoys playing behind the striker.
Has a required stature, technique, powerful shot, strength, but lacks defensive and tactical awareness.
At least that are my impressions based on very few games he participated.
As for Apkom. I don’t know other Holic’s opinion on him, but I am confident that if Arsene gives him a chance, he is going to be Arsenal’s N1 striker and we are not going to wait for that to happen more than a year or so. Mark my words on this one.
He has all we need, and he reminds me of a certain Frenchman that used to play in that position for us.
Not that one…
The other.
Anelka
N7,
Couldn’t agree more people seem to have very short memories and also seem to think the more extreme you are in your opinions the more like minded twats will lap your shit up – It’s a bizarre world we now live in 🙂 just find it weird you cannot discuss it without insults being thrown – Easy I suppose when your hidden behind a computer but does no favours to anyone!
Dr F,
Strange you mention Chuks he’s just been featured on Fl review he’s getting some high praise indeed, Is he actually still on loan I thought we’d sold him ? The Backroom staff thought very highly of him so hopefully he’s starting to show his true potential !
I don’t believe so, N7, unless the laws have changed.
Hmmm… this raises a few questions and PGMO should tell us howthis decision was given.
The fourth official can assist the referee in controlling the match but the referee makes the final decision. Now it is my understanding that monitors at the side of the pitch were removed and banned some time ago, as managers would go to have a look at them during games and bitch about mistakes. I’m not imagining that am I?
So therefore IF the fourth official gave the penalty, he could only have done so with his eyesight from the touchline, which means Marriner, who was at least thirty yards closer, took the advice of someone who was probably more unsighted than he was and certainly far more unsighted than the linesman, who had a clear view.
We should be told who gave this and why, but I don’t expect the truth even if they do say so.
Even if the fourth official gave it after seeing it on a monitor, he’s not allowed to use technology to make decisions. So it’s all fucked.
When I saw that the Swansea game had been rearranged for the midweek between Chelsea and Citeh I was pleased that we had given ourselves the opportunity to fit in a match which I thought we could definitely bank points from. Now after Saturday Im delighted we can get back on the horse as soon as possible . No Premier League game is easy but a good, positive and winning performance tomorrow would lift morale and put pressure on Everton and Tottenham .
As usual we have sustained an injury to a major player , in this case Koscielny who is arguably our player of the year. If he is out for a long time that would be very bad news indeed. Thankfully Vermaelen has deputised excellently when he was absent previously . I suspect we might see our mystery Swede at last and possibly Fabianski and Sanogo. That we might throw in a boy like Sanogo into a game like this indicates that our planning can be flawed and in terms of strikers it certainly has been. Big support required tomorrow and no recriminations. A good win tomorrow sets us up very well for Saturday.
No apology needed Holic. I imagine a preview would read something like this …. ” Win this match for fuck’s sake. “
I wouldn’t get my hopes up too high on what kind of impact a member of the youth team could make, no matter what he’s done in reserve games or on youtube. It’s a massive, massive step up to the PL, virtualy a totally different ball game.
As for AOC, I feel he’s extreamly lucky to get away with that and I think the review panel got it wrong, I believe he didn’t get the ban to cover up the incompetance of the wrong player being dismissed.
What he did was a red card, all day, every day. He delibrity handled away a goal scoring chance, that the ball was going wide is neither here nor there, he obviously didn’t think so, otherwise why handle the ball at all? As far as he was concerned he used his hand with the sole intent of preventing a goal and that is a red card.
Like we haven’t got enough problems in midfield with so many out injured, he goes and puts us deeper in the doo doo by getting carded for something stupid like that. I think the club need to fine him to teach him a lesson.
As far as I know, although again don’t quote me on this, the 4th official is allowed to advice the ref with decisions, but not based on anything he has seen on a monitor.
H2H,
Not pinning any hopes on him would just like to see what he can do and to be honest he cannot be any less effective than Certain other options at the mo – We could get a nice surprise or we could see he needs more time out on loan cannot see what’s to lose, The boys got serious talent and has been fast tracked let him have a game or two 🙂
Totally agree on the Red Card what a cluster fuck the so called rule book is.
So Marriner got everything around this incident completely wrong, apart from the award of the penalty which someone else appears to have given for him. He’s a great ref.
Accountability, eh…
@ H2H
Ball not going in is all that matters. Player intent doesn’t come into it.
Pen all day long, but never a red card. There’s no denial of a goalscoring opportunity.
Andre Marriner sending off the wrong man, or any man at all, is an interesting story but not an important one.
How about death penalty cases where the wrong man is executed. It happened over and over while George W. Bush was governor of Texas, but did they sanction the governor for it? No, they elected him president of the United States.
Cynic,
No Marriner fucked up – He’s admitted he fucked up and it had absolutely no bearing on the result not sure why he should be hung drawn and quartered for it personally 🙂
Chippy, ok mate, on your say so, let’s give him a try.. 🙂
N7, intent always comes in to it, especially with handball. Otherwise you wouldn’t have the ball to hand v hand to ball discussions. He dived across the goal to stop the ball going in… Red.
Cynic, a word on the misinformation about television replays in the tunnel area.
Look in front of the white haired fella front left. That is where the television company have their monitor at Arsenal. You can see where the fourth official is, and every time something happens he will check that monitor, trust me.
If that happens at Arsenal, you can be sure it happens everywhere.
Perhaps a sending off and a penalty is punishment enough for a deliberate handball where there is no danger of injuring another player. No need for a one or three-game ban. Not that doesn’t mean that the whole handling of the Gibbs/Ox mix-up wasn’t a gigantic cock-up on officialdom’s part from start to finish.
I see that Marriner has been given the Southampton vs Newcastle game to ref next weekend. Can he tell the difference between red and white stripes and black and white ones, does anyone know?.
H2H,
Youve seen the light,good man 🙂 No cartwheels down the aisle mind 😉
Please note, I don’t suggest Andre Marriner should be elected president of the United States. 😉
I dunno H, you go all that way to a game and watch it on a telly? 😉
‘holic. Who employs the white haired fella, the TV company?
TV monitors were removed from the dugout area in 2008 though, that is well away from there and the fourth official would be nowhere near it if he’s doing his job properly
@284 – not on a black and white monitor, Ned – no he can’t !! 🙂
Couldn’t be certain bt8bbgfg, but likely.
Certainly the fella behind him in the headphones is. You know when the commentator says “I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Jenkinson on as substitute in a minute”? That is because the fourth official lets him see the sub slip that is filled in by the bench before the change is made, and he sends the info up to the commentators, possibly via the producer.
That is slap bang between the two benches cynic, and the fourth official spends a lot of time right there, and when an incident happens trust me the benches send someone over to check what happened.
The FA, their rules and the professional officials who administer them, are an absolute dog’s dinner of incompetence and obfuscation.
Is anyone surprised by Saturday’s events and the way in which they have been subsequently “dealt” with?
Really ?
You lot are one bunch of top fellas, by the way.
Thanks for all today’s kind thoughts.
This morning was a bit of a low.
The sooner they allow the video technology in the better.
Way too many wrong decisions influencin important games in the PL. The goal line hawk eye is a good start, but let’s take the next logical step. The TV comapanies are using the technology to slate the refs week in and week out, Surely it’s high time we use it to help them.
I do understand the arguement of some that the element of human error adds to the unprecictability and beauty of the game, but if you’re team is on the wrong end of those decisions then it is extreamly frustrating. One day it could be the difference between relegation or survival, winning the title or being runners up, Champions League or that Yourhopless thingy that Sp*rs are always trying to qualify for.
Right, who is up for a pre match scoop or two in the usual watering hole???
Trev, up for it???? Keep smiling fella. You will soon be up and running again.
Well, well, well, what a difference 48 hours can make?
Justice to be served this season lads. Justice to be served. 😉
@H2H
But he wasn’t sent off for handball. He was sent off for clear denial of a goalscoring opportunity. Handball isn’t a straight red card offence, even for pens.
Shot going wide = no goalscoring opportunity. What the Ox was intending to do doesn’t come into it, in the same way that if you accidentally trip a man as he goes clean through you’ll still see red.
Anyway, it doesn’t matter really. The game’s gone and we were shit. Hopefully we’ll put it right tomorrow.
Bang !!!
BAMMMM
Aaaaaah well in Trev.
Even with the dodgy knee he beat me to it. 🙂
Ah well, a true tabs position for me.
Heh! Scores with no standing leg ! 😉
Unlucky H2H. 😉
Blimey. So engrossed in my own, private version of “You are the Ref” that I didn’t even realise I was laying on an assist.
Well in Trev. H2H in the glory position.
Well in Trev 😆
merciful hour – trev204
keep sumfin back
for the grandchildren
thon was
arse clenchingly
detailed
.
me jalfrezi teetered
touch and fuckin go there
didnt though
so
as dee dee said
hey ho
.
anyhoo
all the very very best
with your renovatiions
.
Swansea is just out of the drop zone. They surely need points.
May not be a cakewalk.
Time to pick up, dust off, and get your collect act back together Gunners!
Houl on one wee minute
ye just scored
feckin fraudster
yer in for
a bitta plastic
aren’t ye
.
comes out with jordans tits
and
an elastoplast on his knee
.
j’accuse !
are ox and gibbs off the reds?
They are, cba. They are both available for selection tomorrow.
last to know
me
🙂
Evening Trev
Glad to hear you have come through the Op okay.
One thing though, that drug regime you are on in large doses,not sure if you are aware of it,but apparently it does cause short term
Erectile dysfunction.
Can last for up to a year or more,and there are no alternative drugs available to reverse the problem.
Just thought you ought to know.
Cheers
The Sweeper.
PS,according to the fixture list i thought Arsenal were playing Chelsea last Saturday,seems i was misinformed.
When’s your first game back likely to be Trev?
Plenty of blues and yellows left, though, cba.
Well in for the triple ton, Trev. Must have been a header…
😉 nbn
So, no one else going and no one fancy a beer first???
Or, is it me????
Heh at Trev with Jordan’s tits.
trev, what clive points out is all the more reason to switch over from morphine to large doses of glenfarclas 10. or you won’t be pointing out anything for a year…
Trev –
Stay on the morphine/pain reduction regimen and worry not about erectile dysfunction…
the Management has informed me there are many other ways to please a woman: shopping sprees, changing diapers, spa packages…
limitless options. Feel better soon.
bmbd
Just as well the game was pretty much lost before Marriner’s boo-boo or we’d never have heard the end of it by season’s end. The guy made a wrong decision, principally cos he didn’t get a clear view (not his fault) and relied on other officials (which he was right to do). I feel sorry for him.
Though not as sorry as I feel for us of course. With 11 men we could have minimised the damage and not put our goal difference into the end-of-season equation. I do not trust the players we have (the fit ones, ie) to keep us clear of either spuds or toffees over the last handful of games. These are worrying times, especially given where we were a month ago.
Öskar
As for Akpom, he hasn’t been recalled he had his loan agreement terminated by Coventry. And anyone believing a hat trick against WHU at under-21 level heralds a saviour in the premiership needs their head read.
Öskar
2 questions for the bar.
2 season scenarios:
a) we win the FA cup but don’t make top 4-how do we rate the season
b) we lose the FA cup but make the top 4 – how do we rate the season
I was asked this from a friend after the loss v Chelsea, and struggled to answer this as easily as I first thought.
An equally inane hypothetical question for you Aussie.
We win the FA Cup and finish third, thereby qualifying automatically for the Champions League.
What would you say if your friend offered that option?
Both would rate as failures, aussie.
Win the cup and the only difference from ‘won nothing in ten years’ would be ‘only one trophy in ten years’ … not a great improvement.
But lose CL football and the slide could really begin, so b) would be marginally better … or less desperately awful.
Öskar
Ever the optimist, ‘holic, Everything’s possible and I hope you’re right!
Öskar
My face would be covered with multiple layers of humble pie (again)
And I would think that would be a very successful season result with many exciting ups and downs
Having a tough time here trying to get it up for the Swansea game…maybe we could see a completely new team! we might not win, but it would work as a statement of intent?…certainly more than the lack of statement of Saturday’s game…and I kinda like the media lock down…no irritating Chesny ‘selfies’ after a 1-0 win, for instance! no apologies from Arteta/Ozil/whoever!! no endless Instagram Poldi pics!!! and, for someone who is captain material supposedly, no more ridiculous comments bout the early kick offs being the root cause of playing worse than a school team, and that Arsenal should put a request in to not play early kick offs…unless that Per’s Germanic sense of humor or the Daily Fail made that one up?
Miserable tonight am I?? 🙂
Just win the game FFS…
Win the cup and the only difference from ‘won nothing in ten years’ would be ‘only one trophy in ten years’ … not a great improvement.
So what are you saying?
It’s better not to win?
Sorry mate, but that’s just pessimism in the extream.
Winning one trophy could be the start of winning more, I’m sure you’ve been following Arsenal for long enough to remember that happening before.
Even a journey of a million miles begins with the first step.
For the record I’d take top 4 over the FA cup, but I believe we can have both.
It’s the hope that kills ya. 😉
People, for fucks sake, the FA Cup and top three or four are not mutually exclusive.
Sorry.
Bad fucking night.
Clive – erectile dysfunction for a year ?
Does that mean I won’t be able to get my new greenhouse up this summer ?
My plums could wilt if we have a cold spring !
Relax, Holic.
Some people don’t know how to be pissed off with Arsenal next.
Night, mate. 😉
clearly the morpho or whatever isn’t doing you any real harm, trev 🙂
Not you, H2H, obviously.
Oxycontin, scruz. It’s like Morphine Supreme. 😉
Sorry ttg – ‘no return date’ for me yet.
Cheers Trev.
Oxycontin is some addictive shit, be careful with that stuff.
Trev – Haven’t had the pleasure of Oxycontin but morphine is wonderful.
Steve T – You are welcome to join me at the George & Dragon in Seattle, Washington for pre-match beers.
Watched Akpom during the pre-season matches and thought he had a lot of potential. One thing I would say is that having spent some time in the Arsenal finishing school, he is seems to fit better into the Arsenal way than Sanogo at this point. Better first touch and better passer.
Trev@331, you’ll just have to run your sweet peas up a trellis.
trev, what h2h said. the number 1 addiction in the USA, and the number 1 cause of overdoses… stock up on the glenfarclas 😉
Nice post Holic, I admire your restraint in the aftermath of such a distressing result.
I followed the lead of someone I know on Twitter and started on the booze at kick off on Saturday, his reasoning was that he was “either going to commerate the day with booze or drown his sorrows after with it.” I’m not usually one to drink at home during a game but I was nervous enough to ‘break my duck’, and it turns out, he partially had the right idea.
It was pretty much a case of every time they scored, I’d go to get another can from the fridge, sadly I’d ran out by the 6th goal, such was the glut of goals that was sent our way. With the 12:45pm early kick off, I knew that the weekend had the potential to be ruined even more so around 2:38pm, the same time I decided to take a 24 hour Twitter exile by signing out of my phone, I also decided to go out later in the night and get absolutely smashed. And smashed I did get.
It’s not my normal plan to get to the point of not remembering how the end of the 2nd half of the night went, but I got on ‘The Claymore’ scotch whiskey and Coca-Cola before I left the house and that set me on that path. A dastardly ratio in a water bottle was made in haste (too much whiskey in hindsight… X_X) and I headed out to cast my mind to other things.
Not trying to blow my own horn or anything, but I ended up being quite the ladies’ man at the house party I ended up going to with a housemate, Cent’s seen and commented on a picture on FB haha 😛 I introduced myself to a nice girl (not the one I went there for concidentially 😎 ) and we hit it off 🙂 Slowly, I forgot about the pain of the result. Towards the end of the night, I was so bolloxed that I was walked out of the first bar I went into within 5 minutes of entering by a bouncer! (A bottle of Henry Weston before I left the house party pushed me over the edge seemingly) Indeed, there’s a first time for everything eh… :p
I woke up on Sunday, truly hanging (2nd time this academic year) but feeling nearly completely indifferent to the pain of the result, so my plan worked in a way. Played a bit of Tennis with a mate, uploaded the photos from the night before, took the banter from the Chelsea fans that I knew and generally sorted myself out to get ready for the upcoming week and the upcoming match today, and here I am now after a segmented whole day back drink that was undertaken on Monday.
I’m not suggesting that everyone should go out and get wrecked after a terrible result like Saturday’s, as 1) it really isn’t sustainable at all & 2) not everyone is a student with less responsibiities than most people but it really helped me to clear my head, and now I’m 100% ready to get behind the manager & the team again, backing them towards taking those important next 3 points.
I hope the players individually know in the deepest part of their being that they owe a proper shift in this upcoming game to the great man they let down on the occasion of his 1,000th game in charge of this great club we all love.
Come on Arsenal!!!
Great post Wind
Although i don’t approve of your gratuitous drinking.
There are a lot of female predators out there that could have taken avantage of your inebriated state and had their wicked way with you.!!
The pleasure of which you would have known nothing about,as you were completely legless.!!
cheers
Sir Francis Drake.
Wind – A proper student and all that! Take advantage of it while you can (but in moderation as with most things). I have no doubt you thought you were quite the ladies man that evening. 🙂
“Sorry mate, but that’s just pessimism in the extreme” #328
I agree, H2H, but I was only answering aussie’s hypothetical, saying the same as you that top 4 is preferable to an FA Cup win, nice as that would undoubtedly be.
But I believe a good dose of pessimism is in order currently. Focusing everything on winning the title with a squad that’s patently not up to the task has created an expectation that has put in jeopardy our minimum target of finishing in the top 4. We gave the title a good shot for quite a while, but three thrashings at the pointy end of the season made it abundantly clear that we’re still short of the necessary quality.
Hopefully the board will make the necessary funds available to sign who we need in the summer, and the manager will spend it to advantage.
Öskar
As to the rumors about AW telling the players he was leaving,a clear case of 2 and 2 making 7 for the more recalcitrant followers of the Arse.
According to Arteta,
” the players and staff dissected the Chelsea game behind closed doors on Sunday,also to clear our heads ready for the last 8 games”
How that morphed into Wenger saying sayonora at the end of the season is for others to work out.
Right. I have just back drunk as I sit on the train into work and come to the rapid conclusion that it’s time to man up and grow a pair people. The fact is that despite all that has gone on before, or not gone on for that matter, we have a game to play tonight. A game to win tonight. It is not a time for dwelling on Saturday or previous failings for that matter. It is not a time for knee jerk reaction. It is a time to get the points by securing top four and for winning the FA cup. In my opinion there is absolutely no reason why we should not achieve both. So my advice is quite simple. Remember who you are, remember what you represent and be proud of that. Support your team till the death. Take each game as it comes and secure the points. It’s time to kick arse.
Wind, don’t listen to Clive. Go out, get hammered and then find some sort that bangs like a barn door in a gale.
4 nil to the mighty Gunners. See you in the Tollie anyone else that is up for it.
The perennial question which has no answer is why do we choke on big games. Forget chelsea, why couldnt we beat a diabolical united team home or away? Why cant we raise our game when it really matters, are we like one of those movies whose trailers are wow but the actual movie turns out to be a dud?
Which team loses with scorelines like 6-0, 5-1, 6-3 etc? I mean just think on this- we have conceded 17 goals in 3 games and 17 more in the rest of the 28 games, how can this be possible? Whatever be the quality of pool, chelsea or city, 17 goals conceded is incredible.
per saying early kick off is the problem, arteta saying sorry, i mean come on this is incredulous, how can they not know who they are playing for!!!!!
I dont want to blame and sound lame after a loss but fact was red card or not, the game was over within the first 10 min, it was a suicidal performance, when eto and schurrle scored, we had just 2 centre back against 4 chelsea players, how is that possible? what was the game plan? go bonkers?
If we do win today and on saturday though, we still are well in this even though the league looks a distinct reality, sadly this for me was our best chance to win the league in some years.
Wenger set to leave?? well i feel if we dont win the FA cup he just may, i think he senses that the time has come but i doubt if he will leave next season, he would want to hand over the reigns to the right person for he cares for the club.
We have a good team which is not great, we can become great but till then it will be like this, some great moments and some more hopefully to come but i think the team is running empty and desperate to reach the finish line in whatever shape, sad the injuries and the defeats have taken a heavy toll on the team and the manager.
Word to all that, Steve.
Time to stop writing sad poetry and cutting ourselves. Time to roar on the team as they hand out a proper fucking beating.
As a better man than I once said: “it’s not about how hard you can hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. That’s how winning’s done”.
Wind, well played! Ah, the days of being a student with the stamina to keep drinking all day and all night and then waking up the next day without being a total wreck 🙂
Steve, good rallying call there. I won’t be at the Tollie tonight, but I will on Saturday!
I’ve been having a look at the remaining league fixtures to see what we may need to secure at least fourth. These are the ones we still have to play:
Swansea (H)
City (H)
Everton (A)
West Ham (H)
Hull (A)
Newcastle (H)
WBA (H)
Norwich (A)
The teams chasing us can reach these maximum points:
Tottenham 77 (one more played)
Everton 81 (one game in hand)
ManU 76 (same number of games)
It is of course unlikely that either of these shall go on 7/9/8-game winning streaks, but it’s quite clear to see that we will have to win a few more to be safe and starting with a win tonight would be quite preferable. I know many say we need a convincing win but honestly I don’t care if we win 1-0 or 18-3. Any win will do for me, quite simply.
Hahaha, Wind, I knew there was a story behind those pictures. Well played. Too much of everything is bad though, so I’m glad you know “it’s not sustainable”.
Good stuff, Lars and N7.
Tonight is fucking huge. Win it and there will be very little pressure on the following two league games. Lose it, and the chasing pack will be right up on us.
To those who will be in the stadium: get behind the team. Whether they deserve it or not. Sometimes it’s on the crowd to lift the atmosphere, this is one of those times – we need to show the players that there’s still fight in the stands, just as there should be on the pitch.
COYG
Thats exactly the sentiment Lars.
Every single one of those games is winnable. In short, I think we should focus on keeping up the pressure. We have some players due back soon which should give us more options. Chelsea have to play Liverpool yet and have lost points to lessor teams this season. This league has been a strange affair to date and there could be further twists and turns yet. A win tonight and we’ll be 4 points off the pace. While we remain a long shot – its not over yet.
Joe: not sure we can rely on getting too many players back too soon. At best, I’d say we may possibly see a subs appearance by Ramsey on Saturday but considering he still doesn’t seem to be back to full training yet I’d be very surprised if that happens. And in any case, regardless of when he gets back he’ll have been out for over three months and will require a couple of games to get back up to speed. If memory serves me Jack is still also at least two weeks away and Özil at least one week and possibly four.
But the one we really, really miss and won’t have back for a few months yet is Theo. Bloody hell how we miss his pace. I hope now people are starting to see what he brings to the team, not just in terms of goals and assists but also how he pins opposition fullbacks in their own half and scares teams. It also shows that we need to add quick feet to the team over the summer, I still like Giroud because he is (generally speaking) a fighter but he just isn’t quick enough to be first choice for us.
Agility. Power. Pace.
Three attributes which are rarely found in the same player.
The first one, when you look at the players in our squad, seems to have been AW’s priority for the last few years.
The second and third are essential if you want to win the Premier League. Few of our players have them.
That is why The Ox currently looks like our best prospect for a new star, once he adds a bit of maturity, and why Sagna has been one of our most, if not the most, consistent players in this division since he arrived. He has the attributes for the job.
That is why Koscielny only came good once he had been here long enough to ‘muscle up a bit’.
In the meantime we are going to have to hope for the best. This is the most physical part of the season.
Are we equipped ? I sincerely hope so.
That’s right lads. Time to knock some feathers across the grove tonight. Teach em how it’s done.
🙂
Hey Trev, I hope the recuperation is going well mate 🙂
Off to the game in hope rather than expectation. We badly need a good performance as well as 3 points.
Would like to see Fabianski, Sanogo, Flamini and Gnabry start with Poldi, Santi and Giroud on the bench! I hope the Ox is played wide left, if Gnabry starts, he hasn’t the experience to play the deep MF role even with the Flamster along side.
At least my side has width and pace!
As always COYRs
Wind 341
understandable
Henry Westons
has stolen the legs
of many a man
vintage at 8.2%
notorious
leg thief
chez cba
🙂
OK Oscar, cheers for that.
Nice one Wind. You played tennis on Sunday? Your hangovers obviously work a little different then mine. 😉
Well said, N7, Joe, Lars and a true call to arms from Steve T.
It’s cannons outward time again, us against the world. A quick look at todays guff floating around will see the meedjas agenda is to pile on the doom, almost every story has a negative spin, from Arsene only staying for two years instead of three, to Sagna off to Citeh, to Ozil celebrating after the loss to the Chavs, how bloody dare he celebrate his girlfriends birthday, what a traitor.*
*For the interlect impaired, that was sarcasm.
Sir Francis @ 342, thanks, although if your scenario had taken place, I’d have risen from my slumber faster than Robben rises from the ground after conning the ref into giving a pen! 😆
Former Artiste ecg @ 343, photographical evidence doesn’t lie mate… unless it’s photoshopped. In which case it does :p
Steve T @ 346, “find some sort that bangs like a barn door in a gale.” I’ll keep these wise words in mind mate 😀
Lars @ 349, the nostalgia for that stamina must be strong mate 🙂 I’ve accepted your friend request on Facebook by the way (Y)
Cent @ 350, thanks mate, and nice intunition 😉 And of course, it’s not everyday drink ‘out’ of moderation :p
cba @ 359, I won’t take it likely again, I knew it was 8.2% but I reckoned, cider’s cider! Guess I forgot about the 1st time I had a South West ‘scrumpie’ 😆 My housemate had hers with Lemonade to take off the edge but I went full pelt at it, “as a man” 😉
H2H @ 360, heh! You do have years of experience on me mate, + it was a fairly light hangover compared to last time, the screws in the brain only turned if I actively thought about the Henry Weston I’d consumed hours before haha! Truth be told, I was far worse than usual up at the courts, blame was obviously allocated to the events of the night before 😉
Are people actually throwing hissy fits because Özil celebrated his girlfriend’s birthday after the Chelsea match? Fucking hell…
Sad, isn’t it Lars. It was in the fail, so i’m not going to link to it.
I took one for the team and read it so you don’t have to. 🙂
Ah, cba,
Top o’ the afternoon to you, sor.
Clive,
Strangely the next side effect of morphine on the list after erectile dysfunction, is euphoria.
Trying to work out the logic of that one……..
H2H, Lars – i refer you to my 332 last night. 😉
People are just desperate to be outraged.
You can recognise you’ve had a shit day at the office, resolve to put it right and still attend a birthday party. They don’t all need to be at home self-flagellating and scouring themselves.
Tony Adams attended a few “birthday parties” after bad results, and he has his own statue outside the stadium.
I don’t much give a fuck what they’ve been doing the last 48 hours, so long as they come out and win tonight. That’s what it’s all about.
🙂
Wind
its also worth
keeping in mind
what’s in cider
bowels can’t cope
imagine eating
a pillowcase full of apples
“sharting”
a popular pastime
in somerset
i’m sure
mind you
bitter experience
has taught me
fuck all
but
i would suggest
that
as a young man
out on the pull
to avoid
an embarrassing
international incident
limit your appley intake
🙂
Trev@365. The euphoria is that the erectile disfunction had now gone.
At least it would mean you are back in with a chance of scoring???? You could even be on the bench tonight if it’s true???
Word, N7.
I’m desperate to be outraged too. I am going to explain to Roxette my last three visits to the bookies, which resulted in 600, 500 and 600 sovereigns lost respectively, was simply an accident.
Who says its only a soundbite for public consumption? 😉
Howdy trev
how the divil are ya?
H2H, we thank you for your sacrifice 🙂
Heh @ zico.
Accidents happen!
Heh cba.
—
It was duly noted Trev.
—-
Heh, Steve, I had a vision of a dude whos just recovered from failure to lift off, sitting on the bench, begging “put me in coach” (oo-eeeeer).
—
It’s a dirty job Lars…. 😉
Unique test today. I hope it’s unique, that is. In any case, it’s a matter of putting things right and nabbing the glory position (1001).
limit your appley intake
buy android
shit motorola 😎
Rumour : Wojciech Szczesny, Olivier Giroud and Mikel Arteta are all in line to be dropped from the side for the Premier League visit of Swansea City.
🙂 377 z
mines an alcatel
no ice
cba @ 369, reckon I should make whiskey/rum and coke more of a staple than the exception on nights out then! :p
cba,
Feeling very strange actually. I’d love to be at The Emirates tonight but that is clearly out of the question. I wouldn’t have made it tonight anyway, rarely, as my daughter is in a big dance show which I really wanted to see. She’s more than a little disappointed herself too.
Also feeling quite bombed out by a cocktail of pain killers, morphine, opioids, anti-inflammatories, laxatives, anti-nausea (induced by the other drugs) pills etc. etc.
And then I venture into the world of Arsenal to find so called supporters accusing and blaming Arsene Wenger for everything except, of course, the standing of the modern day club.
Quite literally every brick and timber of the club that he took over nearly 18 years ago has gone, replaced by a modern version that leaves Arsenal the envy of practically every non-financially doped club in the world.
But there are still supposed fans who want him to fail in order that he will be forced out – who cannot see the season ending in anything but ‘failure’, whatever they measure that to be.
Many regulars in this bar have pointed out the mistakes of last weekend, made by both manager and players, and the repeating nature of those shortcomings. And I don’t disagree.
But the willingness of some to criticise everything and everyone within the club depresses me.
Maybe I’m just feeling it more this week, being in this present state. But choose your targets, eh folks. It’s strange how often we fail to appreciate people for what they are – in life or death – until they’re gone.
Sorry, cba – that got a bit heavy, and wasn’t really even what you asked. 😉
@378
Blimey.
So where does that leave us?
Fab
Bac
Verm
Per
Gibbs
Flam
Kallstrom
Santi
Ox
Sanogo
Poldi
That would be my prediction if the above is true.
I would love to see fresh legs giving it the large tonight. Collective destruction. 😆
My guess is Wenger will field his strongest side!
Just had a quick look on Twatter and it seems the source for the rumours about the dropped players is IndyKaila, an account that I am still not sure if it’s genuine or a rather clever ITK parody/trolling account. In any case he/she/it is pretty much never right about anything.
Average Twatter account then Lars.
even high as a kite, trev knows.
Howdy Trev
no bother
spleen
justifiably
and
expertly
vented
.
they did leave you your spleen
didn’t they ?
😉
you’re not gonna be
on jeremy kyle
with a medical axe to grind
While there might be some rationale in dropping Arteta and Giroud – I feel that dropping Szczesny would be a big mistake. He may well have been at fault for Oscar’s 2nd goal, but by that stage, we had already conceded 4. He’s been superb all season.
I think Arteta will be rested as opposed to dropped because he’s just not able to play again so soon.
I think N7’s team is largely correct except I see Szczesny starting, Gnabry playing on one wing with Oxlade on the other, and I’d probably opt for Poldi up front ahead of Sanogo just because making 2 changes to the forward line is a little too much.
Lars,
Agree with your take on the injuries. And while I do think we badly miss some pace in the team especially on the counter, I don’t think we miss Walcott as much as we think. He’s been out for a good deal of the season even when we were going well and in 20 appearances has scored 7. I think the battling qualities, ball retention and creativity of both Rambo and Ozil have been much more important to us. But then again, I have never rated Walcott as highly as others, and I accept I’m in the minority on that front.
Rosicky in the midfield partnering Flamini would be my choice.
The question is the front four selection.
Ox, Cazorla, Poldi and Sanogo or
Gnabry, Cazorla, Ox and Sanogo.
Either way, I don’t feel extremely confident for tonight. If we manage to score an early goal we should be fine I guess. If we fail, then the nervousness and tiredness could be fatal.
I’m taking no chances for tonight……
First beer in already. 🙂
Trev, never mind the speculation on tonight’s team. What we all want to know is whether you have had a shit yet? 🙂
Hope you are moving in the right direction all over.
391 + 392
🙂
Heh, bath
Well, bath,
That old cba is a
sensitive soul
as it turns out
and he would like me to
retain some details
for myself.
So I will leave you
to speculate
if you wish to so
fritter your time
away.
😉
pay no heed bath
he’s fulla shit
😉
Heh
N7 -382 – it’s really annoying when people write big long downwards posts – really
Assist.
Well, cba,
it’s been so long
i just don’t know
what happens
suppos’i’tries to go
I’m too affeared
to see what gives
after a week on fruit
and laxatives
😉
He only needs one leg. 😉
well in Trev
you just scored
a
four tonner
practise shot?
.
hope you’ll do
the decent thing
and warn
Armitage
he’s gonna get
a rigjt royal
Shanksiing
Well in Trev……..all you gotta do is push! (Just try to keep the piles in)
Feck – Trev has had a McGonagal transplant.
Nice one Trev 🙂
stat that brings it all home:
Number of victories by Arsenal against other 3 top clubs over the past 5 years in away matches:
One
Well in, Trev!
Trev, well in, again. But from the back drinking, I’m staying up wind (not up Wind, let me be clear).
When AW described the Chelsea result as “an accident,” was something lost in translation? Did he really mean a train-wreck?
I agree with those who say there is no point in dropping Woj. He needed to be outstanding against Chelsea, but he was just good. Only the fifth goal was really an error, given he got both hands to the shot. The first two goals would have required top-class saves from top-class strikes, the third was a penalty, the fourth a tap in and the sixth a one-on-one.
h2h
how’s the beer doin’
calming or rousing?
Heh NBN! 😳
I started with a few just to whet the whistle, cba, gotta few punters in for dinner now and a couple on the bar that are eating into my drinking time.
TV warming up, and I’ll no doubt be grabbing a swig here in there during the 90 minutes.
Im pretty calm at the mo, but that can all change in a blink of the eye. 😉
Oh, this site is a real gas.
(backs quickly out the door.)
NBN,
It is all purely the speculation of others – and will remain so.
There are some things I prefer not to discuss – and not all of them belong to Wolfie.
I shall not be going anywhere near Wind – that is quite simply too great a risk to take.
Enjoy tonight’s three points, Holics – wish I was there, or at least at my daughter’s dance show. 🙁
It will be a fine response and a 3-1 victory. I fancy Gnabbers to nab one – Poldi to plunder one – and the German to score with a big f*ckin’ header. 😉
Apparently no truth to the rumors re: Szczesny, Arteta, and Giroud.
Szcz, Sagna, Per, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Arteta, Flamini, Ox, Cazorla, Rosicky, HFB
Evening all,
here are streams
http://livetv.sx/en/eventinfo/221528_arsenal_swansea/
and
http://www.wiziwig.tv/broadcast.php?matchid=253696&part=sports
lets hope for much improved performance
top man trev
Only 2 changes from Saturday. Vermaelen for Kos, and Flamini for Poldi.
I like it well enough. Good enough to do the business, but of course it’s up to them to do that.
I’d like to see an angry, vengeful Arsenal get it done with a couple of early goals, but given the events of the weekend we may see a more careful setup. And maybe that’s the right approach. Don’t care as long as it’s 3 points.
Love Holic and just about everyone who posts on here, with one or two very obvious exceptions.
Pissed now! All the best Trev and cba.
Come you fucking Arsenal! Bit of pride in the fucking shirt now please!
Love everyone else on here.
ITS JUST A SHOUT AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In the absence of your much anticipated pre-matcher, Holic, I shall assume that the pound is on your most favourite scoreline and lodge the rest of my kingdom on 2-1 to the team inn red.
OK?
h2h
encroaching on a man’s
beer time
scandalous
😉
startinn the twitch
herself just said
sit the fuck down
🙂
Fuck Twitter. Pile of unresponsive shit!
Cheers Esso !
Evening all, just in time. Apologies again, unexpectedly tied up last night.
Houdini I am not 😉
Anyway, BtM, the ‘holic pound is somewhat hopefully on 3-1 at 13/1 with Bet Victor.
That should unjinx your kingdom punt 🙂
Esso
you should be
on
the emirates tannoy
brilliant
fuckin brilliant
Great stat John. Just as well we are playing Swansea at home then ????
Support your team.
Evening all!
Time to put one of days on the weekend behind us!
The ONLY way to make up for it is to win tonight nothing else!
The only regret I have really is that we didn’t beat Man U especially at home.
Time to get behind the boys!
Come on Arsenal!
Esso! Brilliant my man! 😀
Indeed he is, Arthur, as are all of you.
Ohhhhhhh. Is that Canadian John then???
Just got into the ground. No silly team news I see.
Bring it on.
3 points. Let’s get the job done.
Here we go now
A sociology lecture……………..
COME ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i hope the joint is rockin’ tonight with support. smoke ’em if you got ’em, folks. i am looking for 2-0, two early plus some stiff defense for the remainder.
COME ON YOU GUNNERS.
Come on!!!
COME ON YOU GUNNERSSS
Come ooon!
they’re really sitting off us. we should take advantage of that, damn it.
Great try OX
nice shot, chambo!
Come on Asrenal!
Kuntz
*Arsenal
fuck
Jesus are they still napping?
jesus. really?
This is the striker we lack!
Fucking shit
time to turn it up a notch or two. hammer their goal.
Bollox!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
speed it up boys. none of this walking pace shit.
nice move, shoot next time tomas.
come ON….keep up the pressure. camp in their box. intricate, quick, and get a goal. then really hammer them.
oooh, almost per.
og…nice work, corner.
keep up the pressure!
WTF are they doing jesus
We look physically jaded.
ThT looked like chelsea without the goal
Gibbs is a weakness, always a hole down our right
We need to improve here and in a big way!
Come on lads!
Ems are very quiet as well
good shot santi, nice save vorm.
not good enough in my eyes!
Trev @ 413, I don’t think I would risk you or NBN coming near me right now either with this recent line of thought… *raised, slightly worried eyebrow*
Awful. Really fucking awful.
Disappointing first half. It’s like we’re giving the ball away for fun almost 🙁
Everton one up. Fail to win this and we are never going to finish fourth.
Only couple of weeks ago we were fighting for the title.
What a mess.
Attacks down the flank are producing precisely bugger all. Movement off the ball unhelpful at best.
Please Please Please change it around a bit,put two up top FFS -if your going to play the slowest forward since slowness began at least put someone with legs up with him, Boring predictable slow. Get an early one and we can rip them a new one but the longer it goes on the more tense it will become and the way things are that’s not good 🙂 !!
Cannot Fathom Arsene at times Dosent play two holding players away at Chelsea but does at home to Swansea !?! Go Figure 😉
Up The Arse,
Stuff of nightmares…its slipping away,cant bear to watch this game…
the blue scouse approacheth
fuck
no
COME ON YOU REAADDDDDSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lost for words really, and the ones I do come up with aren’t fit for public consumption.
Can’t improve on SteveT@463
Only one word describes what I have seen so far – predictable
From weakness against advancing forwards to attacks that are totally known about and easily defended even by sides far worse than the swans. It. Is as if all originality has been driven out of the side
I think that there was exactly one long forward pass, no attempt to give a pass to a forward on the shoulder, very few attempts at crosses.
Oh woe
Boos ringing out at HT never a good thing.
Frustrating half of football, all very slow, all extreamly obvious in it’s exucution. Ball to the flanks to be crossed for…… no one.
Come on Arsenal, it’s all hanging by a thread now.
The team look like they are all in the red zone
change formation Arsene…for the love of Bergkamp
The Swans are so shit at the back and constantly making errors and I just can’t believe we failed to create something.
Sagna has all the time in the world at the flank, but will never produce a decent cross, doesn’t use his left leg at all, can’t cut inside.
Arteta is so slow on the ball. A player in that position should never touch the ball more than two times. He needs four at least.
We need a quick goal.
Fucking come on!
End of days?
COME ON YOU REDZZZZZ
come on guys! turn this around!
So much for the big response.
Sagna’s and Giroud have looked like players whose mind is else where.
Gibbs looks lost.
Arteta looks old and slow.
Still can’t understand why Coquelin not called back from loan.
Everton 0-2. Great.
Come on guys we are better that this.
we need to change something, someone needs to start make some fucking runs
Wonder who is going out? Arteta?
It’s all too spread out. When we try to counter there’s no-one near enough to the man with the ball to do any kind of damage and it ends up getting passed back or square at best.
Child’s play for the Swansea defence, sadly.
We are on some kind of horse tranquilizers …apart from rosicky… he forgot his medication…hence his pace.
Come on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chambo, should have know it. That the way to do it Arsene.
Chambo off.
Not sure if I agree with that.
If only we could be just a bit more direct with the final ball…
Wow…from what I am reading, there is currently no joy in Mudville.
Come on Arsenal!
BMBD
Now wait until the 80 minute before the next sub and leave Arteta please to finish 90 minutes.
Another shot of gibbs running back to a forward about 20 metres ahead of him
We never learn
we look to be running in treacle.
painful to watch really, we are totally bereft of any ideas..
Huh, I’ve just noticed that Giroud was playing. Let him finish the game too.
COME ON YOU GOONERS!
Eandy @492 knows
What is going on?? We look so lethargic….
Swansea just need to sit back exactly as they’ve done since getting the goal, white we pass the ball side to side outside their box, come on lads! Move them around, make them leave gaps to exploit!!!
Keep pressing… them tranqs will wear off sooner or later!
Come On!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this is where we *really* miss aaron and mesut. not to mention theo.
Where’s Bendtner when you need him. No seriously, where’s Bendtner when you need him.
He usually pops up with an important goal I’m these type of games.
Do you think if they played until Xmas they might have a decent shot?
Come on Gibbs
Fuck sake!
POOOLLDDDIII
nice 🙂
Oh thank fuck!!!!!
Thank God for Poldi.
GET IN THERE POLDI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Get in
Take that back about Gibbs. He looks superb. Hahaha
About time. Now win it.
thank dennis.
yeah poldi!
Finally !
Get the fuck in!!!!!!
giroud
GIROOOOUD
THAT”S WHAT I”M TALKING ABOUT!!!
gibbs did a great job there.
Get the fuck in!!!!!!
Poldi to Giroud. Poldi maestro
Come on on!
Giroud! Like Lightning, it’s 2-1!
1 more por favor
two. fuck fuck fuck YESSSSSSS>
OOOOOGGGGG!
I FUCKING LOVE YOU POLDI!!!
Why do they put us through it like that.
I still want Bendtner on.
That is some pass from Poldi!
Thank God for Podolski
i guess poldi for chambo was a good move.
Heh, NB1
This is not over. Keep tight now
makes it more rewarding somehow, don’t you think north bank 1? 😉
Deep breaths, everyone…….
What just happened?
There is a God thank fuck for that !! 🙂
love flamster telling chezza to slow it down. just chill, baby.
What a difference a minute makes, unbelievable.
Keep at them lads, don’t sit back and let them come…. PLEASE.
Has something changed.
Suddenly we have come to life even though no pelanty
Kim Kardashian. Welcome
Kallllllllllllllllllllllsroooooooooooommmmmet~ 🙂
TR7 for some Kim dude. 😉
KK
Come on Kimmy!
Kallstrom on
Its Kallstrom time people!
kimmy coming on.
Arteta and Kalstrom have tendency to be the slowest midfield pairing in the history of Arsenal. If only Denilson wasn’t sold 🙂
Just so you all know…I’ve been wearing my Arsenal wool cap in the office since the Ox substitution (It’s 72 degrees F here). All the passersby wonder why I have this cap on my head as I feverishly type…
If we win, it will be worth all the quizzical looks.
BMBD
kimmy, kimmy kallstrom
Some Santi magic
fuck’s sake, be CAREFUL in the midfield.
COME ON ARSENAAAAAL
beautiful ball from kimmy to og.
Waste of a free kick/
Sanogo for OG
ya ya coming on for o of the g, i hope. yep.
Lonestar
I tried my lucky chair and lucky Arsenal socks in the first half. Got my lucky ball at HT. Chased the cat out of the room. Invited the cat back. Tried with another stream. Got my lucky Arsenal cup. Chased the cat out again.
And Poldi scored.
FUUUUUCCCCCK
sheesh. everton up 3.
Well that is that then really!
Nice one Arsenal. Useless
Only us….
Great
Cant fucking believe it!
fuck. WHY?
three minutes to get the goal. COME ON!!!
Too fucking right only us!
one minute. it’s up for grabs now.
Out of words
fuckity fuck.
Fucking threw it away.
Is it really so hard to keep possession and press a team that were on the ropes?
Sad.
Shellshocked.
We’re lucky the ref blew otherwise deGuzman was one on one with Woj on a walk about.
Well that’s that! Could have been worse.
Looks like we’re in a fight for 3/4th now…!
I would have said I can’t believe it but I’ve seen that kind of display countless times.
Everton 6pts behind with a game in hand.
Shitty next then Everton away.
Sigh.
Yet again we crumble under pressure
No less than we deserved. God help us on Sunday.
I like Kallstrom! He looks sharp. Will definitely come in useful.
For next season, FFS get more players that can play!!!!!!!!!!!
Shambles and shambles again
Deja vu…seen this script so many times before…frankly,am tired…tired….tttiiiiiiiiiirrrrreeedddd!!!!!!! Fuck!!
Didn’t deserve the 3 points but I thought we had sneaked the win then that happens !! Oh my days fight for 4th it is again 🙁 Next up Man City and if we play like we have for the last month or so and as I’ll disciplined we could get another hiding oh the joys – Then again we could beat them smash Everton and the top 4s a stroll 🙂 Positive thinking I’m liking you !!
Up The Arse,
@BB
When you say 3rd, what kind of 3rd do you mean?
Fourth only I’m afraid.
Once we got ahead we couldn’t keep possession and couldn’t see out the game. Swansea actually grew and gave it a go and we shit ourselves.
Doesn’t bode well for the semi final. Hope they find their spin/arsehole between now and then.
I am not too down as have already downgraded a lil of current season’s expectations. In fact am quite upbeat, actually looking forward to city!
Think we’ll get them this time!
Everton still have Shitty and Manure at home.
Too little power going forward, too much timidity in seeing it out.
Deja vu. “Groundhog Day” over and over and over again……
I’ll have whatever BB’s on please barman.
Bayern München are champions.
@NB1
Well, never underestimate liverpools ability to f-up their next match, besides, playing against relegation threatened teams are tough, especially with so few games left!
so 3/4th fight it is, am afraid 1st or 2nd is beyond my wildest dreams…
Already.
Arsene should at minimum buy poldi a beer as he just saved his arse and his job.
I like Kallstrom too BB!
I also like Podolski who in my view should have started.
Another Arsenal season.
Lets just face the fact that we are not good enough.
Another imminent media lockdown.
Gutted.
Glad AW took Chamberlain off. He was awful, frankly. Gave the ball away constantly. Someone needs to make a video of all those little flicks he does without looking to see if there’s teammate there and stick a frame in between each one saying “STOP DOING THIS” (while playing Beethoven’s 5th at maximum volume on headphones).
That should sort it.
Deep inside I guess most of the team didn’t really believe — based on his display I would except TR7 from this list — that they are title candidates and when the pressure came really mounting today’s performance was simply not adequate: tentative, slow and alarmingly technically poor with first touches and holding on to ball. For all of TV5’s energetic display we missed Kos for both the goals.
The title chase went into late March, that is some kind of progress I suppose, but was built primarily on Per-Kos seeing us through the end game of these types of matches where we took the lead and then just tenaciously defended. Sometimes that is okay, but sometimes a more convincing possession of the ball is a better option. After taking the lead we simply were too tentative in challenges and in holding on to the ball.
Most of the 50:50 decisions in challenges went against us, which didn’t help.
I guess time for another ‘secure the top 4’ run.
@ BB unless Sunderland find a way of stopping Suraex and Sturridge at Anfield I can’t see anything other than 3 pts and us 5pts behind. With a shite goal difference in comparison so actually call it 6pts behind.
They could indeed lose to both Shitty and Chavs at home but then again I’m not convinced in this form we can beat Shitty at home or Everton away.
What a performance! I thought we could hold on but it seems we have a bunch of players more worthy of Fred Karno`s circus than a football pitch. How ironic it would be if, just at the time the manager looks prepared to finally spend decent money on the quality of players we need, we couldn`t attract those players because we`d failed to make the CL.
I`n trying not to think of the FA cup because I think that therein lies more misery.
Fucking dreadful. We played for 5 minutes and little more. A complete shambles. If we play anything near like that on Saturday it will be carnage. There can be no excuse from anyone at the club for what I have just witnessed. None at all. It’s about time people started to accept some responsibility both on and off the pitch.
Really tired of the same old script and scenarios we just never learn and I never stop believing for that matter!
I really thought we were going to see response tonight but the last 10 minutes proved me how wrong I’am in thinking we have what it takes.
I’m not too sure if anyone has noticed but the team plays on different notes throughout the field there was not understanding from any of them until we scored those two goals and when we did we came back to the same old shit kick it forward and let’s hope for the best tactic and if failed when it matters the most. I’m not gonna go into one because it happens every year every season and we never learn from those mistakes. I really thought this season was about learning from those stupid fuck ups but we just don’t seem to get the grasp of it in any way.
Next two games will be a biting finger nail scenario yet again and GOD help us we don’t get slaughtered by Man C!
Even with this sort of performance our CUP is hanging on it’s threads!
Lost for word to be honest and really disappointed with this sort of shit!
Dr F @ 592 final sentence.
But for that we must get Rambo and Kos back pronto.
Looks like the accident happened again that’s what you get for pulling out onto oncoming traffic no FUCKING excuse!
Rant over!
dk@ 591: Yes, Ox needs a lot more time on the flanks to appreciate using space and not just raw skill on the ball and power. A nice flick is useful only if you have your angles right and is not too obvious for the marker to anticipate. He was all over the place with his passing today, very poor.
I rather liked the Kallstrom. Of course doesn’t have the pace any more but the passing range in display in the Lyon days is very much intact, and good at challenges.
Arteta’s legs have gone entirely. Kind of sad when you can read the run or pass coming but simply doesn’t have the fitness to do anything about it. Maybe we should have brought on another defender in his place after the second goal to give the full backs more protection…
Bang
We’ll be in a fight for that final CL spot, don’t you doubt it.
We are in the decsendancy while those around us are gaining momentum. A bad result against Citeh could send us into free fall. We could be facing Everton with the very real possibility that they could go above us if they win.
Luckily after the next two games, the quality of our opponents diminish, but that won’t matter unless we can get to a good place mentally.
Fully agree again Dr F @599
At least the top 4 run starts with a six point advantage rather than being nine points behind.
I thought they still looked shell-shocked from Saturday and that last o.g. won’t help the morale much.
Poldi really has to be starting games now – he has a knack of being in the right place at the right time and he regularly gives those perfectly weighted assists like tonight’s. I know he sometimes looks a bit slow and clumsy (and he was lucky to get away with that body check inside the box on Boney-W) but I always feel when he’s on the pitch and we’re attacking, there’s a chance something will fall to him.
Agree that Källström did well – looked strong in the tackle and neat and tidy with his distribution. The next test is to give him 60 minutes.
To many players running on empty to few players on the bench to freshen things up and yet again to many playing connect four in the physio room – Welcome to Arsenal pre 2005 – If the powers that be cannot or will not spend the required funds to at least give us a fighting chance we are fucked for the foreseable future 🙁
Surely to God they saw how many empty seats were there tonight it must give them some inkling of what’s to come of things don’t change!
Well in bath, and good points H2H.
I had that horrible feeling that this bunch couldn’t hold on to the points, and frankly I can’t see them hanging on to 4th. Someone on the radio described them as flat-track bullies and I think that is what they are in a nutshell. Too many player who can’t seem to perform when they need to, which is to my mind a sign that they lack any mental toughness despite what Wenger’s says. No doubt Everton and the spuds will contrive to give us 4th place but this is just papering over the cracks of what is a poor group of players. Without JW and AR there is no real heart and desire in the midfield.
4 shots on target????? Against a side who were 4 points off relegation. 4 shots on target???? For the umpteenth game this season we can’t make an opposition keeper work. It’s so infuriating.
No movement, no pace and no passion. I’m so annoyed right now. Annoyed and bored shitless with endless excuses. I have been up since 5am to allow me to get to the game tonight. I put more effort in the last time I had a shit than half of that lot.
Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
I feel your pain Steve T.
It was horrible and gutless.
Thought we had a get out of jail free card at the end but we got no more than we deserved with that unlucky own goal.
Need a real shaking and a super Rambo back soon.
Saturday fills me with terror.
Well i think the consensus is that we have personnel that we are lacking (through injury) or lacking in personnel from the bench.
Since we are almost never going to have all key players injury free till the end of the season. I do hope we can find enough quality players especially for the forwards positions.
Pity Kallstrom was injured, could have used him a few games earlier. Arteta and flamini cannot be expected to last out a season. Ramsey and Theo is just bad luck(which should be anticipated..)
Still looking forward to this weekend!!!! Bet we can surprise them!
Umm, DkG, I hate to pour water on your hypothesis, but Poldi started at Chel$ki…he didn’t exactly set the pitch ablaze.
This team is far too callow and inconsistent. One match someone looks a worldbeater…next match, the same person looks a wife-beater.
I got nuthin. No answers. No explanations. No excuses.
Feeling pretty pessimistic here…”I hear that train a comin’…”
bmbd
Bath. Saturday is a real effort for me. I need to pull out a lot of stops just to try and get there before kick off. At this particular moment I am seriously contemplating not bothering. I may just put it on ticket exchange and watch it at home.
I, for one, am NOT looking forward to the weekend showdown with €iteh.
bmbd
BB @ 609: Rambo’s case is NOT a bad luck. Rambo’s injury is of a particular pattern that happens to us too much: key players feeling the strains of overplaying because we don’t often strike the right balance between compactness and rotation in playing time. I do understand teh subtleties involved about how best to rotate someone in the form of his life, but Rambo’s injury was coming as in the last few of his matches he was pushing himself a bit.
We had seen that with Cesc as well. It is unfortunately a by-product of having not that many great quality players in the team, but it is somewhat preventable.
Not having some fast goalscoring winger — maybe Gnabry should have come off the bench earlier in place of Ox? — once Theo was sidelined has really killed off one of our main avenues of scoring.
I think there’s a bit of over-reaction in the bar this evening. Yes, Saturday was awful and we’ve dropped another two points tonight in a sloppy way. But realistically, we’ve never had a strong enough squad to compete with Chelsea and City. And even though we have more funds now, it will still take time to build that squad – the quality players we need who are available are few and far between.
So players like Arteta, Sagna and Giroud are beginning to look a bit knackered – even the BFG is looking tired.
But if you look at the table and the other teams’ fixtures, they are likely to drop as many as us.
Indeed Steve.
I think that’s what Arsene would of called sterile possession, We pass and pass, going nowhere, take a friging shot ffs.
dk, we may have a 6 point cushion, but we should no better then most that the run in is all about upward momentum and confidence…. we have neither. We got to stop the rot, sharpish!
This was supposed to be the best season in the last 9 years.
We were five points clear on top. Five fucking points. And then Ramsey got injured for two weeks. But don’t panic it is only two weeks.
New Year. Still on top. We bit the shit out of Tots in the Cup. Happy days. But Walcott got injured. For the rest of the season?!?!?!? Never mind, we are going to sign a back up for him. Pedro or someone equally fast.
Still on top. A whole month to sign a player. What’s the hurry? We are on top and still got two weeks of transfer period.
Ramsey still two weeks until full training. Two days left for signing anyone. Then of course a signing is a luxury, and Ramsey will be back soon. We got a big squad anyway. Cheeky big for Kalou on loan. He refused us??!?! OK then. Kalstrom is an Arsenal player. Injured? Who cares… we got a big squad anyway. And we were five points clear on top.
Ramsey still injured for two weeks. Vermaelen injured. Wilshere injured. Two months?!?!? Gibbs out. Rosicky out. Ramsey still only two weeks away. . Who cares, we were five points clear on top
Trashing against Liverpoo. Ozil injured. 4-5 weeks?!!? Can’t be serious. Out of the CL meanwhile. Monreal out. Trashing against Chelsea. Kos injured. Two weeks?!?!?! At least he will be back with Ramsey who is still only two weeks away. And we were five points clear on top.
Add to that, it is only Swans that are coming to town, fighting for survival. No worries. Then again, they are a friendly bunch, why don’t help them staying in the league. So we did. Because we were five points clear on top.
Next three games. City. Everton away. Wigan.
With a depleted squad, out best defender out, our best midfielders out, our striker out of form, our DM on the wrong side on the 30.
But never mind, we were five points clear on top.
God help us.
That was definitely the Arsenal of old. Overcooked through lack of squad depth, large number of key players out injured, sleepwalking into a 0-1 deficit, ponderous attacking play, tonnes of sterile domination, capping off the lot with the old staple: playing like desperate, headless chickens after scoring which then gives the opposition confidence to keep pressing until Arsenal crumble.
Mental strength? God give me some, please!
Lurky @ 616: Not getting someone at least in loan to step in for Theo does look so entirely foolish now.
And not to have planned for the fact that Arteta cannot fucking last the whole season playing DM in PL for an essentially fast passing (at least purporting to be) team. I know many here have many other wish list of players, but I will maintain that we cannot win the league without a real ball winner-and-runner in the DM. Rambo had an extraordinary few months in the box-to-box role to overcome that limitation in our pivot, but for all their varying and excellent qualities neither Arteta no Flamini CANNOT be the base of of a title winning side in today’s PL where you have opposition midfield with quality players all over the table.
Arsene: “We gave a good performance with total commitment and gave absolutely everything – we were totally dominant”
Not exactly imho
Scholes: “Seems like they go on the field with no discipline, no leadership, no running back, tippy tappy, lose the ball and don’t bother sprinting back.”
More accurate imho
Absolutely brilliant post Lurky >claps<
and to think I was going to have a rant… lol
Too many double negatives @ 618: meant “but for all their varying and excellent qualities neither Arteta nor Flamini can be the base of of a title winning side in today’s PL where you have opposition midfield with quality players all over the table.”
This was truly an awful midfield performance.
Lonestar – so Poldi’s presence on the pitch against Chelsea was why we lost 6-0? Interesting theory.
I’m just saying he has a knack of getting and providing goals – just look at his record last season – 16 goals and 11 assists in 42 games. Only 1 less than Giroud. It’s a mystery to me that he doesn’t get more playing time.
@DrF
Yes i have to agree with you, stress related injury which somehow could be alleviated or avoided by rotation and rest.
Although i was thinking more of ‘bad luck’ that he’s out for as long as he is! Thought he would be back sooner!
In fact you could see how sluggish the whole team was playing, completely lacking in sharpness even from a few games ago, bet that’s stress related too, too many games and not enough rest. Guess that’s how the team is set up.
Either give the players more rest or get more players. I opt for getting more capable players! Since injuries are a common occurrence with us, and more so since we can afford it of late.
Hate to compare but the teams that are champions or are challenging season after season seem to have at least a replacement for every key position. City didn’t miss Aguero at all today.
I hope we reinforce well next season.
Ah! A mystery? I like a good old mystery. Like why do we fail to….
oh, forget it.
😀
dkg @ 622: I agree with you about Poldi. He is not someone to look like the hardest working player in the pitch, but he is really very very efficient in the final third both in terms of scoring and delivery. I don’t think he can play many matched for ninety minutes as he doesn’t often cover Gibbo towards the end that well, but he should be played more often.
Ah well – my glass is still half full.
Drinks all round on me – it’ll all look better tomorrow folks.
Large Bowmore for me barman
‘Night all.
Lurky, Lurky, overly pessimistic as always – you missed the fact that Wilshere is also crocked and, wasn’t Diaby expected back in March 🙂
However, take the four best players and the two top scorers out of ANY team in the league (possibly, but definitely, including Citeh) and they would NOT be in the top four and on the way to winning the Cup.
Why not Citeh? Please refer to “THe View from Auchterchoochty” kindly published on these fine pages by the barman about a year ago. Absolutely nothing has changed – EXCEPT that our financial situation is dramatically improved courtesy of Puma and Emirates, baby! (THat’s good incase you’re in any doubt 🙂 ).
Hahah, Arsene just said that
“Ozil, Wilshere, Kos and Ramsey are at least TWO WEEKS OUT. ”
You can’t be serious.
BB @ 623: Reinforcement is a part of it, but we also seem to get into a formational rigidity where we are almost afraid to change some key players or switch around the attacking tactics enough to create more of a flexibility. In other words we fail to keep the physical as well as mental side of the game fresh enough. The insouciance, the joy has just gone from these players and when that happens, and the team is supposed to be built on the attacking theme, fatigue tends to set in.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger: “It’s difficult to swallow because the team gave absolutely everything tonight, their spirit was great. You wonder how we could draw a game like that, they had nothing and in the end it was 2-2.
“Basically, we gave them the two goals but overall the spirit was great and we have to recover from that last goal.
“The spirit was absolutely brilliant and you have to give credit to the players, even if result didn’t go our way. At 2-1 we became too conservative because of what happened on Saturday and instead of continuing to attack it worries us more to keep the score.”
I agree with “too consevative” bit, although I would use the term “fucking naive”.
As for the rest, I must of been watching a different game.
Lurky knows.
What’s with the Kallstrom love in??? The bloke played for what, 15 minutes??? He was brought on to tighten things up, just as we let them back into it???? How anyone can judge him on that is beyond me???
Should have addressed things in the transfer windows gone by????? Be careful, you will get slaughtered for coming out with stuff like that. No, we don’t need anyone else. Look at the bench tonight. Game changers the lot of them. All top class and proven for club and country.
Bath, if those are Arsene’s words and he really means it then we are genuinely proper fucked. If he honestly believes that then now may just be the time to ask the question.
Shit, 60 grand down the gurgler!
TaBS,
Most regretably, the bottle of Dom that I had promised to procure and share equitably with you, Holic, Snowy, Steve T, Zico, TS, Ollie and Toni from the Chip Inn Fish Bar, in the event of a double win, has been postponed until the 2014-15 season.
My spirit was willing but our mental strength was weak. I’m quite sure you understand and are sympathetic.
BtM,
it is still March, so why loosing hope on Diaby. I for one expect Arsene to declare on the last day of this month that Diaby will be back in full training, IN TWO WEEKS !
Anyway, on a serious note, can we have something optimistic from you to cheer us up. But no title talk this time, please. FA cup, fourth place, that kind of jazz 🙂
DrF
That’s probably due to wenger’s conditioning as he had so little to play with for so long! Hope he sees the light next season and gets in proper redundancy.
I do hope he changes his tactics soon or we will be facing an uphill battle when the injuries come next year…!
At least the boss seemed happy with the performance tonight.
Can’t say I was that impressed. Never liked that filthy bastard Scholes but does make a good point about no discipline. I would extend his comments to the full backs as well who don’t seem to have the knowledge of when to go and when to stay.
Wenger comments are worrying if he was really happy with what he saw today. I think we could be seeing the beginning or ending of something.
We hhaven’t strengthened the spine of the team season after season and it’s showing again at the business end of the season.
It’s a real shame.
DrF should take arsenes job immediately on full salary
Arsene can stay in the accounting department due to his previous years if good service
@ Lurky 616
I had to laugh there in my own irony….but not out of seeing the funny side of it but how hapless we have become again! Perhaps with a drop of anger , disappointment and most of all how decent this season was to be and how we managed to throw it in your own fans faces.
The boos at half time were disgusting in their own right, but the performance was there be seen, we got a bit lucky but we still managed to do what only we can.
I think Scholes is spot on here: No leaders no one takes responsibility in this team. Something has happened mentally after the accident on Saturday and surely it was blatant to see tonight. Most these guys have lost belief it’s still there for the taking.
The old Arsenal is back is echoing in my ears and believe mine are huge 🙂
It will be very difficult to find any positives here and on wards to be honest fellow Gooners, as much as it hurts and there is no denying the fact that we are hurting right now because that would be a complete lie, we really need dig in deep and find the same old Arsenal that started this very season!
No coverage of the game here, so spared the misery. But can’t help noticing that Poldi was left on the bench … again. Came on late and scored … again. Then added an assist for good measure. When is AW going to get the message?????
This kind of result (and poor performance from all accounts) is exactly what I’ve been warning about in the last several drinks. The disappointment of dropping out of the title race is affecting everything. Unless the attitude can be turned around (a win against City would do the trick) we can probably kiss goodbye to the Cup as well as 4th.
Gutless wonders.
Öskar
I don’t envy you, ‘holic, having to pen a write-up. Good luck with that one mate.
Öskar
Arsenal all too often resemble Bill Clinton with Monica Lewinsky (no penetration and a sloppy finish) 😉
Not going to go mental about it though, there’s more important things in life than football.
I lied.
I couldn’t get a good stream, so I went out!
An own goal in the 90th? How cruel is that? By our defensive general? Clearly god has bigger plans for us.
Get ready for sat guys. It’s going to be another bumpy ride. Seat belts on!
This season has been amazing. Only the strong will survive and the faint hearted will be left standing!
Mark my words!
Steve T
One question for if he (Kallstrom) was injured why did we even bother to buy this awful flop? What was the reasoning behind this deal was is just to shut the fans up? Wasn’t there a better player out there younger who could cover for those who got injured? I thought these so called experts were clued up?
I was going to write at the time when we were 2:1 up score another for the Holic pound at least but something told me not to.
Weird that…
@Cynic
Clinton never ‘inhaled’. We looked like we not only inhaled but proceeded to bogart the heck out of it.
Arsene didn’t just say that did he ?
He must takin the piss…..
‘We became too conservative at 2-1’
‘ Our spirit was brilliant’
Fuck me he has truly lost the plot…
DRF- when you take over monday morning, please pass on my best to Tomas- he is the only one as you rightly said…
Regarding the full backs, we’re caught between two stools with them. We don’t really have proper wide players with any pace, so the full backs are having to put a ridiculous shift in to try to provide attacking width and they’re always going to get caught upfield.
We do appear to have abandoned any pretence of defending though, which is strange to see. Swansea looked the more dangerous side with less of the ball, and we appear to be back to using the ‘open door’ defence.
GT
The next few weeks will still be a bumpy ride…
Those injuries they make me wonder sometimes so perhaps instead of heavy duty training sessions we should the boys listen to some some fucking hard core psycho instead!
The oddest thing about Clinton’s ‘affairs’, cynic, was the quality of women he indulged with. Lewinsky was almost f***able compared to the other slappers whose photos duly appeared in the media. Humiliating for anyone, never mind a president of the US. Laughable that he couldn’t do better.
All of which could equally be said of Arsenal FC currently.
Öskar
I was really hoping for us to recover and win after their lead tonight. Not only because of the three points, but to prove to our selves that we can actually do that. It could have been only the second time to recover from opponent leading this season, after West Ham, but it could have been truly important. It could have made us believe that we are able to do that for the games that we have till the rest of this season. Now, I am genuinely afraid for this season.
The previous season was different. We were on the lowest ends after loosing to Tots. But the key players were coming back from injury and Arsene is quite good when his back is on the wall. He tried something else, experimented, and it worked. We saved ourselves.
This year, we were on top. We were looking great. We won against the Tots at their place. And then relaxed, like that was the final game of the season. Job done. Well it is not. The player are not comming back from injury, for at least two weeks, we have no desire to experiment, to change, to try something new. No idea, no creativity, no leadership.
I am very afraid at the moment.
Arthur – Its heads down at the moment! 🙂
Still a lot to play for 😉
Cheer you up, Lurky? Of-course! Just think, you could be a Manure fan 🙂
If you really want to feel some pain, read Red Rants.
Ah, blethering brethren, define major honours please.
Swansea haven’t scored an away goal since 2013 and have shipped 10 in the last 6.
This should have been one of those nailed on 3 points where we played our and gave the first team a rest and won comfortably 2 nil with no injuries..
Aussie, to be honest even though I appreciate your kind agreement to what I had posted, I am too pragmatic and too reasonable to know what a great manager Arsene is, even though should get his fair share of blame for recent turn of events which we all were afraid were coming, and my intention was not to take cheap shots at him. But rather genuinely think about why certain obvious flaws, rendered more obvious by their repeatability and predictability, remain.
Camus I think once said that genius is the intelligence that knows its own limitations. Is this Arsene coming against the limitations of his own genius?
That said, a top 3 finish (okay, okay, top 4) and the FA cup would surely indicate progress and the next summer would be telling.
Heh @ Cynic.
Oskar.
I think Poldi proved today what his best position is…….. Impact sub.
He looked way better then he ever has when starting.
—
I’m gonna leave at that for tonight, it was a horrible performance, that at this moment in time I’m finding very difficult to take any positives from.
Take it easy fellas.
Now I’m going to watch my series and forget how we manged to fuck this up again!
We need to relearn the importance of signing good players to cover positions we need covered in a timely manner. This team running on empty with a room full of crocks is the chicken coming home to roost. Seriously rocky time ahead, I fear. I do wish I had BtM’s bottle of optimism at hand.
What’s going on with this team??? We can’t beat Swansea at home? Are you kidding me, unfreaking believable. Well I guess we have to start fighting for our usual troph, 4th place. This bunch can’t beat Wigan , guys I hate to be a bearer of bad news, but we might need to wait 10 yrs without a trophy.
BtM and ‘holic pound denied at the death Bollocks. >>>>>>>>>>>>>
BtM, you can do better to be honest 🙂
I don’t give a shyt about them as Arsenal is all that matter to me.
On other hand, the image pf the little boy RvP, siting on the sofa injured and watching the 0-3 trashing of his team, on their own ground, by the most hatred enemy, knowing for sure that he will play in the group of death with CSKA Sofia, Sheriff and Cluj in UEFA League on Thursdays …
We have been playing with one striker all season, how in the world are we suppose to be chasing the title. It’s just frustrating, this time of the year same old story, we can’t keep doing the same thing and expect a different result.well Goodluck to the fans that will be at the stadium this Saturday, because it’s going to be some ride for 90mins. Don’t even want to know what the score will be,really frustrating.
DrF- Camus was on the mark as were your comments @592 –
‘the players ‘didn’t look like they believed’
I fear that lack of belief is the underlying Achilles heel for arsene as a leader at this point in time in his career.
Come on H2H, Poldi has only started 13 of Arsenal’s 47 games so far this season, and taken off early at least once as in the chavs game where he was sacrificed for TV5 after the red card. He’s sat on the bench unused as often as he’s been called into a game. So clearly less of an impact sub than a last resort for AW.
Öskar
I read comments from some people and I seriously wonder how they get through life. Most people just set unrealistic targets for Arsenal and then become upset when those targets are not achieved. How many people looked at the Chelsea, Arsenal and City squads at the beginning of the season and still rationally expected Arsenal to win the league? The fact, in my opinion, is that Chelsea and City possess deeper squads, quality and number wise, than us and usually the deeper(quality and quantity wise) the squad the higher their chances of winning games, points, and inevitably, trophies over the course of the season. If we win the league this season(it is still mathematically possible) it would be the exception and not the norm. So please let’s try not to land ourselves in the hospital because Arsenal might not win the league this season because frankly it was almost never in the offing even though our feelings won’t allow us see that early.
Now I hear you say things like “but we were top of the league in february, if we managed our top players better they would be fit now and we’d still be top now” well, I’m sorry to break it to you but it looks to me like clubs have two options, either you play your best players in every game until they get injured and you then have to replace them(and lose points if you replace them with inferior players) or rest them regularly (and lose points if you replace them with inferior players) either way, you CAN’T be able to have your 1st eleven performing at their best for 100 percent of the season and the consistency of your team depends on how deep the quality you have in your squad is, if you can replace a 10/10 player with a 10/10 player then you have better chances of winning more consistently than a team who replaces a 10/10 player with a 9/10 player.
Based on the above premise(if you agreed with it) getting angry that we might not win the league this year is like been angry with yourself because you couldn’t afford to buy the latest private jet Warren Buffet bought for his family, except of course you’re Bill Gates. Then again you could win the lottery tomorrow and buy that jet but what are your chances of winning the lottery tomorrow?