The Thin Red Line Returns
Oct 17th, 2014 by 'holic
At last, following an unusual international break in which we provided five players for England and I enjoyed watching Scotland in Poland, we are back to real football. The stuff that matters, if you will.
There is, however, no getting away from the fact that we are down to the bare bones for the visit of Hull City, smarting for revenge after their FA Cup Final defeat in May. Laurent Koscielny and Mesut Ozil have joined the lengthy list of those ruled out by injury, and Calum Chambers is suspended. Mikel Arteta is fit to return and it is likely that Tomas Rosicky and Danny Welbeck will be available despite picking up knocks playing for their respective countries.
Most expect Nacho Monreal to switch into the centre of the defence alongside Per Mertesacker, and Hector Bellerin to get his Premier League debut at right back. How much cover we will have on the bench to cover that experimental line-up will be interesting.
Arteta’s return could see him paired with Jack Wilshere at the base of a fluid midfield behind Santi Cazorla, and flanked by any two of Alexis, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Rosicky, and Lukas Podolski. Danny Welbeck, pictured in training on Friday, should be fit to lead the attack.
That looks like a side capable of creating plenty, and we may need to given the nature of our back four, and the fact that Hull have strengthened wisely since we overturned a two goal deficit at Wembley. Hernandez, Ben Arfa, Ramirez, Diame and Ince were shrewd acquisitions for the team now lying just a point behind us after the opening seven fixtures. They have scored twice in each of their last five fixtures which included a 2-4 defeat against Manchester City. Their only other trip to London this season saw them depart with all three points from Queens Park Rangers on the opening day.
All of the above should point to a high scoring contest, but as a result the odds on offer for a cautious 2-1 home win look very tidy, particularly the 17/2 from one bookie. That is the destination of the ‘holic pound, but if you fancy a repeat of the 3-2 we saw in May then 25/1 is widely available.
Geordie Armstrong On The Wing
Older Gooners will be interested I’m sure in the book signing taking place in the Tollington tomorrow. Dave Seager and George’s daughter, Jill, are being joined by some Gunners legends to sign copies of the new book about the 1971 double winner.
I’m looking forward to reading about the perpetual motion man who gave his all for Arsenal as player and coach until his untimely death.
Dave and Jill, I know you’ll have a great day.
Campo Retro October Discount For Goonerholics
During the month of October you can get a generous 20% off a classic Campo Retro legend shirt by entering the code GH20 at the checkout. Click here to check out the range and order your favourite. Perhaps you fancy a ’71 classic to accompany the Geordie Armstrong book?
Whatever you are doing, have a great weekend ‘holics.
167 Responses to “The Thin Red Line Returns”
First drink = water 🙁
Scot, returns to the bar.
Can’t be my round now, eh Uply?
Theo had a half for the U21 and didn’t fall to pieces.
It’s the pitch at Boreham Wood you see, not made of marble 😉
4th trophy position.
Impeccable timing Zico 🙂
Our defence concerns me tomorrow. If the boss goes for Bellerin and Nachoman, it must be the smallest defence put on the pitch in the premier league. Corners / crosses into our area could well be a nightmare – suggest those attending wear extra thick nappies (diapers for our merkan brothers & sisters). The pole in goal will need to be at his very best.
Damn. Thursday nights for me.
nicely pitched, ‘holic.
i think we should do just fine. i’d actually like to see the young’uns get a runout, and just run doors off of hull. i wasn’t paying attention; did gibbs play for england and come home unhurt?
thanks for the suggestion about diapers, uply, but her in merka what we call them for adults, well, depends. 😀
hope all has been well for everyone during the foreverlull. i can’t wait until gametime tomorrow! drinks on the bar from hahafornia…
Cheers holic.
Will be suprised to see Alexis start tomorrow, he must be just getting home as we speak. Maybe a place for Campbell on the bench. I don’t even want to contemplate our back line, it really shouldn’t have came to this.
Good work Cynic 🙂
Evening all. Ever been a pincushion? It ain’t all it’s cracked up to be…
From previous, missed the cut off;
Thanks for the kind ones.
Doc Faus’.
Good point about the TV money, however, imagine a half full to almost empty stadium with a sterile atmosphere, no passion, no cheers, no chants. How much do you think the TV companies will then be willing to shell out for that product?
It’s the stadium going public that make the product attractive. Have you ever seen one of those behind closed doors games? It’s very hard to maintain focus watching on TV because quite frankly without the crowd it’s pretty boring.
Arsenal (and others) would do well to remember this before they cut off the life blood of the club by pricing them out.
Zico.
Good point about the players and agents. I was vehemently oppossed to Arsenal offering Feo over a ton a week, because, at the time, I didn’t think he was worth it, the only real thing he had done of note was write a few kiddies books, I can’t imagine in any other league oin the world that a player like him could justify such a wage, but get it he did and mores the pity for football. The PL is flooded with overpayed “stars”, it’s beyond ridiculous.
Great to see a preview piece again guv’nor and a great piece to welcome back the real thing.
I shall be there tomorrow, freeloading with my sister-in-law on my nephew’s season ticket.
ttg from the previous bar – I put “expert analysts” in inverted commas then, as now, because they were a direct quotation from a previous drink.
Yes, I am a grammar pedant, albeit one with poor typing skills.
COYG
Pangloss,
As a grammar pedant, shouldn’t “guv’nor” in your @11 be afforded a capital ‘G’ as it’s being used as a proper noun ?
Sorry, 😉
Nice one, H.
Hope to catch you tomorrow. 😉
Make that “a failed grammar pedant”.
Nicely turned, as ever, ‘Holic. Hull is in that better than mid-table but not good enough to be top six that we often have trouble with, though should prevail. It could be 2-1 or it could be 7-5. As long as it is three points, then frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.
SCG: Talking of prevail, I always attend to those depend references, and I do so with assurance and serenity. I’d bet you a tena on it.
Pangloss
Nothing wrong with grammatical pedantry. My family accuse me of it all the time. Enjoy the match!
I understand tonight Crowley had an outstanding game . From the team tonight Hayden and Bellerin are in the squad tomorrow , no great surprise there. Possibly Coquelin may be at right back but we will need our experienced players to stand up to be counted tomorrow. We shouldn’t be concerned about home games with Hull in October but they have strengthened well and every inter lull seems to bring us disaster. I hope we can scrape a narrow 1-0 victory
*silently watching. Waves at Trev*
nice, ned. you’re always discreet, and it brings me tranquility. and if our boys’ kit fitright, it’d give them *wings* as well as dignity.
gimme three points, too. as long as we have per-fit, we should be fine.
I’m having a nostalgic moment … back to the best days of AW’s reign when it didn’t matter how many they scored cos we would score more. That should be the watchword against Hull. Just go for it.
Öskar
Guv’nor with a small ‘g’ is fine with me in your #11, Pangloss. You are applying a position to ‘holic as you might refer to him as skipper or boss. Only if his full title or name was Guv’nor Goonerholic would it require a capital ‘G’.
Of course, whether it should be ‘holic or ‘Holic as a contraction of Goonerholic, our guv’nor, is a more difficult semantic conundrum. My preference is for the former, unless it’s the first word of a sentence.
Perhaps we should ask Dickie Nee, he seems to know everything…
Öskar
Thin line it is Holic and I’m hoping it will carry us over the line indeed!
H2H
Arsenal will never have an empty stadium but as you say look after true supporters because one day it will be nothing but a franchise feeding of those who have the money to spend. I hope it never comes to this but never say never I suppose.
Stuff and nonsense @20. 😉
Good preview Guvna/guvna.
Just praying for three points here.
Haha Trev. My business name is Write Stuff, so stuff yes. Nonsense? Nah, that’s only when I write on stuff I know zero about, like physio. I leave that to pros like you. 😉
Öskar
The no-nonsense mantra ‘Just f*cking win it, Arsenal’ seems appropriate here. No messing around. No making a meal of it. 3 points please and with a minimum of fuss.
Hull under Phil Brown were a thoroughly odious outfit very much in the mould of their manager at the time. They made my shitlist for various reasons, but the most unforgettable were: beating us at home (and away?), spitgate, Boaz Myhill trying to timewaste his way to an FA cup victory from the 5th minute, Phil Brown and Phil Brown. They’ll always be a-holes and I’ll always take pleasure in seeing them fail.
It’s like a new season. Let’s grab it (and kick it) by the balls !!
This game last season was absolutely fabulous ,we completely outclassed Hull yet only managed to score 2 goals!
I’m going today with some trepidation. Hull have improved their squad and gave us the fright of our lives at Wembley. We are still struggling to find our best form and with a pile of injuries have an untried back line which Hull will try to exploit on set pieces.
I was away for the Capital Cup but gather Hayden and Bellerin stood up well to a full Southampton side. Perhaps we should play round pegs in round holes this afternoon and save Nacho for the bench.
I expect AW will play Sanchez, we need the points!
See you all at the Ems.
COYRs
I saw us play Hull last year. Memorable as Delia said for a good performance but far more for a goal from TGSTEL (copyright Blogs) and the accompanying ‘he scores when he wants’ chant.
This year I will be working right through the game and trying to check the score whenever humanly possible.
Football is back. Praise the Lord.
Three points, please?
COYG
I just have to say I loved Geordie great player very skilful fast great crosser and never stopped lots and lots of peoples favorite if you never saw him you missed something special we would not have won the first double without him john and Ray got the goals but he set most if them up fantastic !!!!!!!
As I said after the Chelsea game 2 weeks ago when there was a lot of doom and gloom, it’s really this run of games over the next 4 weeks that will dictate to me what sort of season we might be in for. I think we need a minimum of 9 points from these 4 league games – and ‘noble’ draws really are no good to us at this stage…
It’s time to put some wins on the board, even if we are a bit stretched defensively and even if Hull might well end up being one of the better ‘mid-table’ sides this season. Obviously a good performance and resounding victory would be nice, but more importantly, let’s just get the 3 points. I wouldn’t mid if we get a bit of luck, win a debatable ‘home’ penalty, Hull miss a hatful of chances etc. Let’s just get it done today.
I expect Wenger will go with:
Szczesny; Bellerin, Mertesacker, Monreal, Gibbs; Flamini, Wilshere, Cazorla; Ox, Welbeck, Sanchez.
Obviously, he could start with Alexis on the bench and maybe give Poldi a start if he deems Alexis to be fatigued by his long-haul travels, and he may start Arteta ahead of Flamini. I just think Flamini did well v Chelsea, and he may ease Arteta back in (perhaps giving him 20-30 mins toward the end) with a view to starting him in Brussels on Wed.
Cheers H! Have a top day today mate.
And massive respect to Geordie Armstrong and family. A true Arsenal man through and through. Already been some lovely pictures on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/TheTollington/status/523424532561137664/photo/1
Cheers to you also Esso…..Geordie one of the very best…never ever gave less than 100 per cent.
Monreal starts at CB, Bellerin RB, Ox in for Ozil (but in what position?)
Ramsey on the bench.
No Poldi.
Arsenal: Szczesny, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Monreal, Gibbs, Flamini, Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Alexis, Welbeck
Subs: Martinez, Ajayi, Coquelin, Arteta, Rosicky, Ramsey, Campbell
Hull: Harper, Chester, Davies, Dawson, Elmohamady, Huddlestone, Livermore, Diame, Robertson, Ben Arfa, Jelavic
Subs: Jakupovic, Rosenior, Bruce, Brady, Ramirez, Quinn, Hernandez
H2H,
Thanks for the note on the accommodation. I actually tried to book the Pembury the last time I was over – primarily because of its proximity to the Tollie – but it was booked out.
And I was with you 100% on the Feo’s new deal as well.
The thing that I notice about the line up you’ve posted is that it does look like a balanced team with most players (monreal excepted) being played in their preferred position. I think we might just see a fluid performance.
COME ON!!!!!!!!
Come on!
Let’s go you reds
Alexis… wow!
ALEXISSSSSSSSSS
Alexisss
what a goal!
Alexis!!!
Fockin ref!
Shittttt
Definite foul on Flamini
That was a bad call.
But where the hell was woj.
ABc — that nkong more and more hou have a point.
Sorry: thinking more and more you have a point.
Home where was Woj jesus did you see it mate?
Homer rather them Home apologies
On replay it was a good finish by diame.
But he waltzed theu the defense and woj did absolutely nothing.
Not a thing. Looked Like a traffic cone.
Come on Arsenal!
Homer he comes out its bad he doesn’t it’s bad too
Strike that. Atg.
Good finish. Woj did fine.
Need my coffee. Its early here.
Could have done better Flamin should never be passing into the box
Enjoy ur coffee 😉
Ref is loosing his plot
Said it once will say it again.. fockin ref!
Yep. This ref is terrible.
This ref bears a striking resemblance to Max Schreck, star of the silent horror movie Nosferatu. Bloody hell!
And now a substitute keeper; will probably turn in a blinder.
By the way, does Arsenal lead the EPL in having its shots blocked? Seems that way; any stats on that?
I wish we could get through a game without the officials having a negative influence.
We wewren’t too bad, but not really good enough when it comes to creating clear cut opportunities.
A little more oomph in the second half please.
COYG
Not good enough in my eyes ref is one thing but we don’t seem to have a plan B
So, what happened to the keeper?
Muscle strain ?
Yeah H2H – tottally agree.
ATG – Started holding top of his left arm then went off holding back of his head w so not muscle strain I think.
ATG@61, plan B? What is our plan A ? That should be the right question.
Fuck.
Plan B is to try harder and score a goal and defend better not start a game and loose a goal
Ah well..
Jesus Christ come on wake up
Fucking sleeping
Come on get on with it nap time over
*SMH*
Ox off Rosicky on
Trailing hull. At home… Poor.
deja vu..like 1000 times already…at this rate i will die of heart desease
painful viewing right now -_-
What are they doing my word
Ouch.. another one out ..Jack!
This is just piss poor.
Noone looks like they have any idea whats going on.
Finally we see Campbell.
stupid fucking Jack, needless foul out of frustration and injures himself
JC looking lively.
Somebody shoot!!!!
If Dawson comes running on the field again….. Grrr!
Arsenal are officially mid table mediocrity.
This is dreadful to watch
Not sure if we can salvage a draw even. Bizarre. Should have been three up in the first half. Don’t know what’s happening with the team. Damn!
Worst ref ive seen in a long time.
FFFF REF!
As optimistic I was before this match, I give up, no excuses piss poor.
Desperate shambles
Relief? Or Anger?
Did you see the run Alexis made?
Let’s get on and win this one now!!!!!!!!!!
Danny!!!!!!!!
Geeeeeeeeetttttt iiiiinnn thereeeere
COme ON!
DANNY!
Bollocks!!
meh!! sad but could hv been worse..
I just love Sanchez, possibly the hardest working of all the guys so far in all the matches played. Works his socks off, poses constant threat and scores. Cazorla was good today. Wilshire is getting irritating with his obedience to gravity. Bellerin was impressive. Oh well, at least we showed some guys in the last minutes to not lose.
If we don’t get our act together… the 4th place finish is going to be a little difficult.
WTF are southampton doing???!
Alexis best player for me for many a game!
Good goals by Welbeck and alexis.
Bellerin looks a player.
JC needs to play more.
Ramsey looked good too.
Otherwise Another embarassing display. Weak, Mid table stuff. No plan. And movement off the ball for 3/4 of the match was thhe stuff of high school players.
More Points dropped. This squad looks like its going nowhere and its depressing. Another pint of plain to ease the pain….
Apologies for my negativity holics but Arsenal looks more lost at sea athan ive seen for quite a few years.
Credit to hull for being cynical, unsporting, and generally opportunistic twats. But they play hard.
Massively disappointing.
Arsenal’s shooting woes are a perfect example of a positive feedback loop, more noticeable in home matches. Teams allow possession and sit back, blocking shots. Arsenal players want to avoid blocked shots, so either try the extra pass into an increasingly blocked area, or take an extra touch before shooting, which only leads to more congestion and increasing likelihood of a block, or an interception, or a shot from a poorer angle, allowing the keeper to close space down.
Which leads to more of the same.
Very frustrating.
we are where we belong right now..mid table…the league is all full of incompetent referees and more I watch it the more I am in favor of video referrals. But we are not making it easy for ourselves…even if referee gifted them the 2nd goal, we should have pressed on….what a lollypop goal to concede, the 2nd one…Mertsecker has gone backwards this season….he simple cannot play 2 games a week for us and i am concerned. But Wenger might be mightly pleased…Flamini and Arteta are 2 of his holding midgets….he is really building another mid table team
Just making the journey home from Ashburton Grove with my 7 year old boy and he’s in tears after hearing what Chelsea and Manchester City inevitably achieved today! For me, that’s the true indication that our beloved club is now just going through the motions every match day. If a 7 year old boy, eight matches-in to a season, has already given up then what next? He came in as a hungry innovator in the 1996 with no operational influence in the club but now he’s become the integral fabric but is being openly left behind on so many levels on the pitch that it is fatal to watch. I think Arsene Wenger has to now step aside for a younger, more energetic and (I hate to say it) contemporary and street-wise on-field manager. A football team, or any organisation, is an indication of the manager’s or CEO’s character. End of rant!
Up the Arse!
@TG
Not sure I follow that reasoning about Per, as it was the first game he’d played since Chelsea away, given his international retirement. And given Wenger has never finished lower than 4th, the chances of him building another mid table team are slim. Unless 4th is new mid table?
Makes about as much sense as the rest of your ill thought out twaddle. Your concern is noted.
When Amy Lawrence,arseblog and gunnerblog was asked if we ca win the PL again under Wenger and they all said NO, I thought no way. But guys let’s be real to ourselves we will most likely not win the PL for the next three years. I just feel Wenger’s job is to keep us in the top four, anything more than that is a bonus. We just lack any kind of motivation, passion and hunger. I respect the guy and pray he leaves on a high, but let us not kid ourselves, this team cannot compete for the championship. And this whole idea that whoever we get as a CB will have to be third choice is crap. Don’t see why we can’t get someone that will bench either one of them, it’s not like they are playing lights out anyways.
It’s not where we are now it’s where we are in May that matters.
A 2-2 draw with a makeshift defence against a team that had us on the ropes not so long ago, when we had our best side on the pitch, is not a disaster.
It’s not an ideal start to the season by any means and I’m not attempting to be a drooling optimist, but it’s too early for DOOMCON 4. The title is gone but who realistically expected to win that anyway?
There are gaps in the squad that should not be there, but really it’s only at centre back where we are a player short, defensively.
Have to do better but we’ll get there.
Two points dropped nothing to add glimpses of good football, why do we always start well then let the opposition back into the game? It happens too many times for my liking we developed this sort of pattern now. In charge after the goal and then oops a little fuck up and heads drop everywhere. Yes REF was a proper cunt but that doesn’t explain what happened later.
Cynic@110, most of the time I tend to agree with you, but not this time around. I mean we have won 2 games all season, think about it for a second, let it sink in, now that it has, 2 game all season is plain HORRIBLE. Not if we are talking about Arsenal, for a mid table team that might be fine. I was optimistic after our last against Chelsea, but against hull at home, we might as well have lost and not deceive ourselves about salvaging a point against hull. Makeshift defense or not, we can’t be chasing a draw against hull after 80mins, we should be going for a win at that point of the game. We lack passion, except for Alexis and I hope the lukewarm attitude of the rest of the team dont rub off him. No excuses, am afraid.
Cynic @110,
It’s apathy and appeasement such as that that makes me boil inside. Blame must be apportioned when necessary and credit given likewise. Alexis Sanchez, when you see his body language, is a winner, battler and is hungry to do well, and I do not think he will continue to entertain mediocrity at Arsenal FC. Roy Keane’s recent autobiography might be worth a read for some in the bar. Yeah Keane was a cunt, and played for ManU too making him an even bigger cunt, but i’d love him to be in this squad right now and to be given carte blanche to crack some heads. A soft underbelly and playing without aggression or accountability are killing our playing staff development.
I can honestly now say, and I really hate doing it, that Arsene Wenger will never win the EPL again or the Champions League with Arsenal FC whilst he manages the onfield aspects of our club. An FA Cup or a League Cup perhaps but not the big prizes any longer. Money isn’t everything to challenge the financially doped clubs and there are numerous examples in the higher echelons of the modern game (e.g. Simeone @ Atl Madrid and Klopp @ Dortmund); it’s now all about the character and man-management of the playing staff at your disposal, r you bring in, that drives success now! Arsene Wenger used to be brilliant at that but sadly he’s not anymore.
A tough watch that. started off brightly and fully deserved the lead. Four and a half minutes and one extreamly dodgy ref decision later and all that good word was for nothing. Hull then took advantage as we sleep walked out for the start of the second half, two chances two goals for them, that really is a worry for us, they may be of been assisted by the incompetent with the whistle, but it has been a weak point from us this entire campain so far.
At the other end we huffed and puffed, but nothing was really working, it was frustrating to se move after move break down due to sloppy passing or the ball being run out of play, that we only managed to test their subbed on goalie right at the end (Sanchez header) is also a concern, however, at least we kept at it and got the goal to salvage a point.
Definetly two points dropped in my book, but it was always going to be hard with so many changes in the team.
Up The Arse.
Only won two games but we have also played Everton, Spurs, Chelsea and Man City in the first eight games and only lost one of those. It’s not a great start but it could have been a lot worse.
I’ll be more worried if we’ve still only won two games by the time we play Swansea in November. Got to win the next two league games.
It’s not apathy or appeasement, DDC, just saying it’s not a dreadful tragedy to draw to Hull at home in the circumstances. I agree with you about Wenger by the way.
113, well said.
We dropped 2 points today, Chelsea have dropped 2 points all season. We didn’t need Cesc though 🙂
Just back from the match. If only the game had been as good as the journey home. I was pretty pessimistic before the game but thought we might scrape a narrow win and after Sanchez’s goal we were lulled into a false sense of security.
I read today Wengervsaying that 85% of EPL games are won by the team scoring first and I contented myself with this as our tempo dropped and a Hull equalised albeit contentiously . Sadly the half- time Valium in the tea was a mistake. We conceded an awful goal at the start of the second half and there was no response from our team- then Wilshere got injured making a rash challenge and we scraped a point through a combination of our two best players Sanchez and Welbeck .
I refuse to blame Monreal for either goal. He is manifestly not a centre half and today’s problem arose because we have nobody to break up okay in front of the back four so we are always vulnerable to a counter and we refused to bring in cover at CB. Frankly that’s negligence on a pretty major scale and if we had any chance of the title it has disappeared now. Today was a disjointed performance, there was little drive or organisation and AOC gave an epically bad performance.
Positives? Sanchez is a terrific player, Welbeck will get lots of goals and those who doubt Ozil’s value to the side should be made to watch that second half again. I like young Bellerin’s attitude and when he adjusts to that level he will be a real asset and I definitely discern a player in Joel Campbell
I’m with Cynic. Good lad he is, and he goes back a long way when it comes to knowing about The Arsenal.
And I very rarely throw me toys out of the pram about Arsenal’s on-field performance (I reserve my real ire for the cunts who run football now – not just Arsenal, pricing out fans of 40+ years like myself), so I’m certainly not going to start doing it in fucking October.
Cheers, Esso.
Slightly worrying that Wenger appears to be turning into Paul Daniels though
On Wilshere’s knee injury: “It looks not a lot.”
Cynic @115 & 116,
I agree with your points regarding the quality of opposition played thus far and the injuries but it still does not leave the main man at the club clear and unaccountable, and I’m glad you agree from you clearly rational way of thinking.
For me now, Arsene Wenger is sadly out of his element as a progressive man-manager of players of a challenging club, and it pains me to say it watching the incredible teams he built-up in the late 90’s and early 00’s. He still remains a wonderful administrator. Someone with younger and hungrier blood, as Arsene had in 1996, is what is now required to take the onfield helm to the final level we all crave. The credit will still remain Arsene’s regardless and he knows he’s not bigger than the club. COYBG!
My boy has finally stopped crying. How did I do it; told him we’ll finish third in the league and win the Champions League and FA Cup again.
Your boy has’nt stopped crying.
He’s currently on arseblog with his younger mates having a moan up.
I blame the parents.
I think it is easy to overreact after a flat performance and the second half was a very flat performance. Having said that we tend to need to look for scapegoats when we are disappointed and the chief scapegoat rightly is the man in control.
I think we owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Wenger and season after season people trot out the mantra in October and November that this year we will not qualify for the CL. We have always done so and I genuinely believe we will again but we won’t get near the two major honours and that is the frustration. Until 2007ish I could see us genuinely winning or going very close to the Champions League but this season we aren’t set up in the right way to do it and that is compounded by an injury list that just seems to keep on growing. Chelsea and City have squads that are way too strong for us this season in the League but by the end of the season I believe, if we get reasonable luck with injuries we will develop into a very decent side. Before then we have to negotiate about ten weeks where we haven’t got the depth in defence or defensive midfield and we could end up very threadbare indeed if BFG or Gibbs gets injured( and we know sadly that Gibbs will get injured because he always does. ) Flamini is also a real concern to me. He has fallen away quite seriously and should be nowhere near a Premier League club first team. He is no shield for the defence in the way that Matic, for example is for Chelsea and every time even fairly mediocre teams break on us they look likely to score. Hull scarcely created anything but still scored twice.
We have conceded at home in all our League games and trailed at some time in every one. We need strengthening but we clearly needed it in July and it was not addressed. So don’t let’s panic it’s only October but also don’t run away with the idea we are contenders for the title either. It will put too much pressure on the team
One last thought. I thought the support today was lukewarm. Too many day trippers and people who resort to moaning rather than get behind the team. The crowd only came to life when we equalised.
What a fffin shit day!
Would have been so nice to come here to see that we got ourselfes the 3 points.
I need more redwine. Cheers everybody!
I said 9 points minimum from these 4 games, so I guess that means we have to win the next three (gulp…)
I’d still like to reserve my definitive early season judgement till after the Swansea game (including the Anderlecht double-header), but as I said earlier in the thread, the regularity of these noble, ‘should’ve done better’ draws is not coincidental – there’s a killer instinct lacking…
The one thing I can say now categorically is that we are crying out for some authority in the centre of midfield – and I’m not just talking about screening the defence, but someone who can add basic variety and drive to our attacking play too. The one thing that worries me is that although we are a team of talented individuals, we don’t seem to install fear/respect in our opponents any more. If I was manager of a team playing Arsenal – for sure, I’d recognise they’ve got some dangerous players, but I’d fancy my chances of nullifying their one-dimensionality through defending deep and in numbers, and there’ll always be opportunities at the other end….
On to Anderlecht away with our third choice keeper. Optimism revisited as always.
@ Cynic
Heh! ‘You’ll like this, not a lot, but you’ll like it!’
Not as much as seeing you garrotted on live TV Daniels you cunt!
Interesting to note that what would have appeared the three “weakest” players to have played today in the squad did rather okay: Bellerin, Monreal and Campbell in a short cameo. Bellerin was more that okay, he was very good and Campbell had a few nice touches and interchanges and a great defensive tackle. Nacho didn’t make much of a mistake but I guess for the first goal he could’ve fouled Diame earlier.
With all the changes in the squad and new players settling in we have lost the pragmatism and the street-smartness that carried us for much of the last season — except in those horrendous away matches where we precisely lacked those qualities. The second goal is the kind of idiotic goals we used to concede against weaker oppositions for much if the last half a decade before we started to tighten things up towards the end of the 12-13 season. What the fuck was the entire midfield doing, especially Jack, letting them have such an easy time on the build up and allowing the cross?
We are not a good enough team to score 3 or 4 goals every match. And most of the PL defenses are physical, savvy and nowadays technical enough to be able to execute the deep-defense-against-Arsenal strategy well enough. We scored two goals, should have been more but two is not bad, but we conceded two awful goals. For the first one we should blame the referee but also should recognize that we can no longer allow players to just run at the defense. Stop them early.
And for the second goal less said the better.
Last season we missed out on the PL by 7 points where we had made sure that we get the full points against teams like Hull and Leicester and Spurs (oh yeah, they are not that good, Man City showed it today and Pool showed it earlier). We had a lot of 2-1 and 2-0 scores and that consistency was build on collective defensive discipline and shrewdness.
This season was supposed to be one about building on top of that, not revisiting all the old follies back again.
If we can get back to our defensive consistency of last season, we will have enough quality to win matches like these. Against Chelsea or Man City we would need something more and it is understandable if we fail to find that extra edge, but we cannot be dropping points at home against Hull (no matter how many new players they have signed ).
Jack, for all his abilities and passion, should rewatch this game with a cool head and teach himself what are the things not to do. Started of so brightly but lets the frustration gets to him so easily.
“Generation Game” @123,
Some expansion wouldn’t be amiss in your post.
Ttg @124,
Spot on regarding the support. Reactive rather than Proactive for the vast majority of the time. God I miss the clock-end at Highbury!
We the match-day support are partly to blame for the somblence but when one pays the highest prices in Europe for a ticket I don’t blame people for demanding more on the park for their hard-earned cash! For that hard-earned expense year after year you’ve got the right to make a noise, or not in this case, if you feel like it! Entertained we want to be and not blindly taken advantage of because of innate kinship and loyalty.
*Somnolence.
A very disappointing day. We looked up for it early on to a degree that we had rareky shown and the goal when it came, from a piece of dribbling by Alexis, had been coming for a while. We should have scored a second before Diame seemed to simply run through our defence in a manner that no-one lets us do….ever. Clearly there was something wrong with that goal as suggested by the reaction of several of our players and the editing of that run on the big screen.
That second goal for them was just criminal. A free run down our left, a free cross and a free header in the centre of our box. Criminal. We huffed and puffed but the final ball went astray and we failed to test their third choice keeper until the last 5 minutes or so. The ref did nothing about the cynical fouling or the blatant time wasting but that’s something that the best teams cope with. We are well short of a ‘best team’.
However heads didn’t drop and in fact they rose in the last ten minutes (after LJW went off). Another piece of brilliant dribbling by Alexis made a chance for Dan the Man who took the chance well. In truth we should have won this game (Santi drew a great save from their keeper in the first half) and we certainly did not deserve to lose it but even considering the absentees we are well short of where we should be in terms of quality.
It would be very nice to have a midfield that controlled the game again. It’s been a while.
Domination….that’s what we need.
Sort it out Arsene.
Stan, can you lend us £3m, please?
Even though the ref had a shocker we should still be able to send teams like Hull to the cleaners. We started well and after scoring a goal we allowed them back in it happens almost every EPL game this season especially at home and to lesser teams as well.
Ox had a shocking game in my eyes as well his passing was not good enough full stop.
Of course someone is to blame for NOT buying adequate cover in areas that were screaming the obvious, sadly he who manages the squad and makes those decisions is Arsene and he’s to blame for the fact we are bare bones at the back. I had a rather weird thoughts before the game I was afraid we would make the same old mistakes and we did. I was hoping for those lads to respond in a professional manner instead it was desperation and complete panic towards the end.
People pay shit loads of money for their tickets they have the right to question why 3 million was paid for services that weren’t justified. Then comes a performance like the one this arvo. Season after season same old shyte. Injuries, not buying players that were a must and wrong tactics being applied to a team full of talent.
Is it me or am I missing something? Are we moving forward? Perhaps we are with our intentions and doing it the right way is fine by me but not buying players who were a must is just suicidal and now the team is paying the price!
Rant over!
Spot on ATG.
Gregoire @126, do you even see this team winning two of the next 3 premier league games. I will say it again, no passion, nonchalant, no winning mentality, leaderless and no character. All those are recipe for mediocrity, and that’s what we are presently. And Wenger has to take some of the blame too, no excuses.
Cynic, draws against Mancity and Everton is one thing. But against Spurs ( yes spurs), Leicester and Hull is unacceptable. Like I said winning two games in eight is not good enough.
Cheers Bath
To be honest I don’t even want to watch MOTD now, too much negative energy is surrounding our club. You should see me watching the game towards the end. Sofa wasn’t comfortable one bit sat on the floor two meters away form the TV set then those passes that went astray I was up in an instant walking around in the living room cursing under my nose.
When we levelled I didn’t know whether it was relief, it didn’t feel like it one bit.
Just returned to my Oxfordshire fastness after a second visit to the Ems. Before knurding, here is the view of the man up in the gods above entrance A, freeloading on his nephew’s season ticket.
I watched the Arsenal make a competent, confident start rewarded after 20-odd minutes by a good goal.
Not many minutes later Hull broke, and after a move that seemed to leave a suspicious number of Arsenal players lying on the turf, got the ball in the back of the net. I didn’t even panic as I looked to the referee, expecting to see him wave off the goal for one or other of the fouls that I was sure had been committed in the build up. Unaccountably, he failed to do so.
This was incomprehensible not only to me and the majority of the fans around me, but also to my sister-in-law, who has never recovered from being uprooted at an early age from leafy North London to points North West where she fell under the influence of supporters of the club that used to be called Newton Heath. She tells me that, having helped her son out with the cost of the season ticket she now has a financial interest in the Arsenal which has led her to knowledge of the error of her ways, but I think that remains to be seen; however I digress…
The rest of the first half passed much the same as the first 20 minutes or so; Arsenal continued to dominate, never actually carving Hull apart, but creating sufficient chances for me to be confident that they would convert one or two.
The the second half opened and it all went horribly wrong; I really couldn’t take in what was happening and now I can’t be sure whether it was straight from the kick-off or whether Hull received the ball halfway into their half when Arsenal’s first attack of the half broke down. Whatever started it, Hull came forward quickly crossed from the right and headed past Szczesny’s left hand.
Arsenal continued as they had for the rest of the match, creating chances, not exactly at will, but regularly enough for me not to panic. Hull continued to create nothing, zilch, nada, and their timewasting began to be sufficiently gross that even the referee seemed to notice. With about half-an-hour left Wenger brought off Flamini and brought on Ramsey to great applause, the game hadn’t really settled down when, a few minutes later, Jack managed to injure himself while fouling some Hull, errr, player and was replaced by Campbell.
Previous service was quickly restored. Arsenal continued to create chances, Hull continued to absorb pressure while producing little themselves – it can’t be easy when you’re playing 6-3-1.
90 minutes up and the fourth official indicated 6 minutes time added on, in the course of which Arsenal scored the equaliser which their superiority more than merited and which they really shouldn’t have needed.
In summary, I thought it was a poor day at the office. We were playing a team who we should dominated and beat easily. Well, we dominated OK, but didn’t achieve the win. I’m still gobsmacked that Hull’s first goal was allowed to stand, and I’ll need to watch it again on MoTD to see what happened. I can imagine that those who watch the team live will be more than a little pissed off at the second Hull goal, which seems to be only the latest in a long series; as a rather, if not very, rare member of the live crowd, I’m prepared to write it off as one of those things.
Once again, having gone behind, the Arsenal team emphatically did not crumble, their heads did not drop. They didn’t switch to a plan B, and maybe they didn’t and don’t have one, but in all honesty, I don’t think they needed one and the two goals they scored illustrate the effectiveness of plan A.
I thought that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had rather a poor first half, but he got his act together about halfway through the second half and did some good stuff later on. I thought that the makeshift defence played OK although perhaps the two goals they conceded should make me reconsider that. I thought that Belerin didn’t look at all out of place and pulled off two extremely good tackles in the second half and seemed to be working had in the first to establish an understanding with Alexis. The match provided me with my first sights of Alexis and Wellbeck and I thought both were very good without being outstanding. I was delighted to see Ramsey back on the pitch where he did nothing wrong. Overall I noticed a lot of strong, snappy, short passes going astray making me think that perhaps the team hadn’t trained together as much or as long as they need to – it was almost as thought they’d been away training with another group of players for the last couple of weeks!
To me it seems very much as though the glass is at around 50% capacity and whether you consider that half empty or half full is entirely a matter of personal choice. Two points lost, but players to come back so things should improve. Who knows, maybe I’ll actuall get to see Özil one of these days!
Now I’m off to back-drink to discover what really happened.
COYG
@ SAG 135 – That was the reason for my ironic ‘gulp’!
Every game looks like a potential banana skin at the moment. I know Sunderland have just been tonked 8-0, but off the back of that they’ll be highly motivated to rectify that in front of their home fans, and we’ll have had a further midweek CL match by then. I’d bite your hand off for a scrappy 1-0 win there now. I fully expect at least 5 or 6 points from the next 3 games (even I think Burnley at home is a certain 3 points), but I really think we could do with the full compliment of 9 now if we have any pretensions trying to lead the ‘best of the rest’ pack from November onwards.
Silver lining is: Ramsey’s back, Arteta’s back, Walcott can start to be reintroduced to the first-team squad, and let’s pray Kos returns in the next week or two to shore up the backline a tad. It’s not beyond us to hit the straps from now till Dec with the fixtures available, but we’ve got to get it done now! And I’d be amazed if a CB isn’t with us some time in Jan. It’s a long season….
Pangloss
I’m pretty much with you except that I felt we lost our impetus completely after they scored at the start of the second half. They had a sub goalie on who was their third- choice and he didn’t have to make a proper save until Sanchez tested him with a header close to the end of normal time.
I would have brought the Ox off after Wilshere got injured and brought Arteta on to anchor and release Ramsey which suggests that the feeling was it was too much of a gamble to play too returning midfielders at the same time.
I thought that given Sanchez had stepped off a plane from Chile some time late Thursday, early Friday he was exceptional in terms of energy and enterprise. I watched the game with a Hull fan who remarked that last season in the same fixture we had toyed with them but this season they were disappointed not to win.
Let’s see, before the season began we wanted a CD, a DM and a striker. Watching today’s game it was clear that what we need now is a CD, a DM and a striker.
On the bright side we only lost two players to injury, Jack and Poldi. That’s pending news of anyone falling over in the showers of course.
Earlier I watched the $hiteh/spuds game and the sheer artistry of Aguero and overall quality of the mancs made our game look like something from the Hackney Marshes Sunday league.
It’ll take more than Özil to make much difference, Ttg, even if playing at his best which he never does for us. OG and Theo are who we’re really missing. And a CD, a DM and a striker.
Öskar
Oskar @ 140: Poldi reportedly had fallen sick before the match, so not entirely injured, and I think Arsene has said Jack would be available for the mid-week game “if selected”. 🙂
Agree with you about Giroud, this is the kind of matches where he had proved himself to be crucial last season. He works on the defenders, holds up the ball well in the final third, feeds onrushing midfielders with clever balls and offers himself as a strong pivot around whom the midfielders can switch positions and exchange passes. Welbeck is much faster than Giroud and is capable of sublime finishes but nowhere close to as assertive and intelligent as Giroud in a tightly packed defense. Welbeck is a perfect counter-attacking forward whereas Giroud is a much better bet when we need to grind out results against packed defenses.
In that respect the corner stats again call for dismal reading. 10 corners and almost nothing created from those. Both Kos and Giroud are rather good aggressive headers from set-pieces, but even in their absence I would have expected Welbeck or Per to make at least a few good attempts. Kind of sad that the only attempted header at goal was from Alexis, one of the shortest in the squad.
For that matter, take out Alexis and his magnificent performance and this was a rather disjointed effort. Santi tried and had some good moments early and Jack started of brightly before mistakes and loss of temper crept up, but we lacked both the verve and the intelligence in the final third especially in the second half.
Oskar@140, that’s was funny.” Falling over in the showers”.
BTW, the poor result probably not making us enjoying this aspect more, but that was a very impressive PL debut by young Bellerin. By the look of this performance he is ready to deputize for Debuchy with Chambers moving to the third CD role when Debuchy returns.
So in Jan if we get to sign the type of DM we need who can also if necessary play in CD for the odd match or two, we would be defensively much more solid.
OTD
I very much like Welbeck and believe he is a level above Giroud partly because he isn’t the slowest player in the EPL but Giroud and Welbeck would be a real handful in games like this. Giroud’s ability in the air would have troubled Hull today and I suspect he would pick out Welbeck’s runs very effectively.
Some interesting stats:
http://news.arseblog.com/2014/10/arsenal-may-be-shooting-more-but-it-is-not-helping-by-the-numbers/
[ In the League this season, Arsenal have taken 64 shots from outside the 18 yard box and 51% of our shots this season have been shots from distance. Worse, 41% of our distance shots have been blocked. And worstest (it’s a word today), Arsenal have only even bothered the keeper on 19% of those distance shots, scoring ZERO! ]
[The other problem is a return of the old Arsenal problem of allowing the opposition to score off just a few attempts. So far this season, Arsenal have conceded basically the same number of goals as they have scored — 11 conceded, 12 scored (excluding own goal) — and they have conceded those goals on less than half as many shots — 57 to 126.]
Lately – i fear im being too negative.
But with OTD posting, i tealize – im not THAT nevative!
I thought welbeck did pretty well.
Seemed like he had little service. The arsenal attack – if you could call it that – lacked any sort of coherence. No plan. Poor passing. No ody knee where anyone was going – or supposed to be going.
That’s down to AW. This is a poorly managed squad right now.
And the defense looked dreadful. Every bull possession we looked shaky.
And shipping 2 goals. At home mto hull.
Hul!!! Jaysus.
I’m not negative, Homer, not positively negative anyway. Put me down as negatively positive.
This is the kind of game we should be winning by a margin, not by the odd goal in three, let alone not winning at all.
Your stats confirm what I’ve been saying for years, Dr F. Our problem isn’t creating enough chances to win games it’s converting a higher percentage of them into goals. Too often it’s down to being hell bent on scoring perfect goals with tikka takka in and around the box. It was evident to me that Santi at least was under instructions to shoot more often today and could have been luckier. But mostly we have a problem getting shots on target, and when we do it’s straight at the keeper more often than not. WE NEED A REAL STRIKER.
Öskar
After a fortnight of Interlull which included a week of ever more depressing injury news and an AGM designed to take the piss out of the high premium paying fans, I set off for The Emirates feeling as flat, before an Arsenal game, as I can remember.
It is a travesty that fans like Esso, who manifestly love The Arsenal come what may, have been priced out of a club that can’t be bothered to explain to it’s fans what it spends it’s new found riches on.
Well, my season ticket renewal, with last seasons extra games included, cost me £2,199.00
I no longer buy the programmes which rose to £3.50 some two or three seasons ago, as I need no confirmation in the ‘Captain’s Notes’ of the latest injury which has kept him out for the previous two or three weeks.
Following Interlulls the notes say little or nothing even about the club, but waffle on about the current fortunes of Spain, Belgium or whoever. Whoopee-doo !
I did, however, treat myself to a hot dog with onions for £5.70, and a 1/2 litre bottle of water for £2.10.
I will award a new paragraph to the news that Arsenal are, therefore, charging their fans £18.90 for one gallon of water. To fill the average garden bucket would cost you a bargain £37.80. With water !
My reward for this financial dedication was, as I had feared, one of the most frustrating afternoons at the football I can remember for a long time.
Messrs Bellerin and Monreal actually did quite well in a makeshift back four, so no particular blame for them, but their presence in the side is symptomatic of some major issues at the club.
The manager said at the AGM that he wanted to sign another centre back in the summer but “couldn’t find one”. That is some admission from the manager of a Champions League team, who tells us often enough that he is always being offered players who want to join, that he cannot find one reserve centre back.
In front of our stand in left-back-centre-back is an alarmingly out of form Mathieu Flamini – because the current captain is not fit – see above. The current captain is not a defensive midfielder anyway, but hey, a team like The Arsenal can just make do without one. Apparently.
And there is another infuriating issue. The manager buys a fantastic young winger from Southampton called Oxlade-Chamberlain and wants to play him through the centre, although the young man shows a natural desire and drive to go round people on the wing. He also pays £42.5 million for one of the best No 10s in the world and sticks him on the left wing.
He has already said that Giroud, when fit, and Danny Welbeck, who came to Arsenal to be able to play centrally, can play together in the same team because Welbeck can play on the wing.
I don’t need to describe the match or the pathetic, incompetent excuse for a referee – many will have done so already.
I do, though, feel that the very expensive piss is being ripped out of me. There is, I am genuinely sad to say, only one man in charge.
And it’s not Sir Chips Keswick.
Trev @149, I think I said it in the previous drinks that I really do feel the pains of fans that spend their hard earned money for the Arsenal and get this crap. And sir, I do feel bad for you and other fans that watched that life, I saw the match and couldn’t bear to watch what our team was serving us. You said a reserve CB, i say why not one that would challenge both Kos and Mert. I don’t care if any one of them turn out to be the 3rd CB,shit we did it with our captain. Sorry to say, but Arsene can’t lead this team to a PL championship, not anymore. This is not a knee jerk reaction from me, it’s just how I see it. I think because of everything Wenger has done for us,( God knows I appreciate everything) it seems that the target set for him is minimum 4th position and everything should be fine. We need change, don’t know when that would happen, but that’s the only way forward in my humble opinion.
OTD @ 148: That stat is about taking shots from distance, so not sure we can call them clear-cut chances. However your point of poor conversion rate — from within the penalty box as well as from outside — stands. And the stats about set-piece conversion rate is quite pathetic from a team of so-many technical players. Some of the deliveries from corner-kicks this season have been atrocious.
It is worth noting that it is already FOUR games where Alexis had put us ahead to lose points or the match : ManCity at home, Leicester away, Southampton at the League Cup and then today.
He can be forgiven for thinking “what the fuck!” .
Another word about Alexis: after his performance today since his return on Thursday afternoon flying for more than 14-15 hours no one — the manager included — in Arsenal set-up should EVER cite tiredness of players as an excuse for poor performance. A player may be tired after an international break or following many matches or whatnot but they should no longer be saying that publicly as an excuse or an explanation if only to save them from embarrassment.
For this season’s home-kit I had bought Alexis 17 for my soon-to-be-three year old, I hope whatever he does in life he has the humility, passion and authenticity of our new number 17.
Trev @149, top post!
Fully concur with every word; especially the scandalous programme, hot dog and bottled-water prices! Milking the fans without significant and equatable return WHERE IT REALLY MATTERS MOST to them can only be tolerated so far. I’m truly sad to have to say that now.
Dr F @ 151 & 152,
Top stuff too!
My boy’s also a fan of the full Alexis attire! A modicum of Alexis’ consistent fighting qualities and and direct purposefulness wouldn’t be amiss amongst all the others in the squad during match-days!
All supporters love grafters regardless of the natural talent God has bestowed upon them! Several players in key positions, and who think they are actually doing enough and better than they really are for the honest talent that they have, sadly still remain in this squad after the clearout of the past 3-4 years. These things will never change now for all the current playing staff whilst Arsene remains at the helm. He’s just too nice a man and a ruthless bastard is now required!
The only way this works out is of AW buys a quality DM in Jan. And a centerback. The prem is beyond us. Not on points but on the way were playing. No heart. No desire. No edge. Nothing.
Im so pissed off at this performance agaisnt hull at home.
Hull at home. God that bothers me. Time to go.
Cheers holics wherever you are.
Homer
You forgot the traffic cones mate 😀
For me OX is not yet ready for EPL
CL and England yes but not EPL
we need players who wil take charge and funny enough BFG was doing just that!
night all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am stunned by the extent of your financial commitment to the club, Trev. You, and the rest of the season ticket holders are due a lot more than you’ve received from your investment for too long now. You’ve built the stadium, purchased smart cars and dumb blondes for the players, and no doubt contributed your share to TH14’s four-storey aquarium project. And for what? A miserable battling draw at home to a club that was in Division 3 when the Invincibles went through 2003-4 unbeaten?
You have my respect sir.
Öskar
Am hoping Alexis will still continue to at least maintain his current form and enthusiasm, it gets frustrating when top players come and have to shoulder most of the work it seems. When Ozil came he’s got into good positions as well but more often than not his ‘killer’ pass was often wasted, maybe OTD is right when he says we need a proper clinical striker! Alexis could do that in my opinion but then who’s going to do all the running and tracking back and covering?!
Is it just me or does it look like the positioning and work ethic of some players could be better?! This is not something new and one wonders if some players are playing with niggling injuries and are at a less than optimum condition. If that is not the case, then maybe it’s time we had a clear out of some players.
Those that had to fill in.. Bellerin, Campbell etc looked quite lively and perhaps should be given more of a chance and rotated if that keeps the general team fit and healthy.
We dominated the game but did not seem to have the luck to finish our opponents off, sadly this seems to be the case for some of our previous matches, here’s hoping this (bad luck?! bad refereeing?! indifferent form?!) doesn’t continue.
Anyways, enough of my rabid ramblings, it must seem nonsense to some.
Up The Arse!
Trev – Very sorry to read yours @149.
Hang in there.
COYG
I did not see yesterday’s game and haven’t even got to the highlights yet.
So, general thoughts only. Momentum is key in football and beyond. I think we are seeing the worst of this team and we are carrying a lot of negative momentum into games.
There is still a lot of potential. We have players and a manager most clubs in the football league would bite your hand off for. It is October. I hope to see us build some positive momentum at some point going forwards. We have all seen title winning sides go on great runs (both ours and other clubs’) and we need to get a surge of positivity and a strong mental outlook. (I’m not saying we are close to the title right now- but no-one else is within 50 points of it either.) These come from wins- chicken and egg.
The right January additions could start making us look like a lot more than the sum of our parts. Which is not true now.
All posts about the financial impact on fans have been, at least, fair and could have been made with a lot less stoicism and humour despite the depth of feeling they obviously (and rightly) provoke- Trev’s gallon of water was a lovely touch of gallows humour. We bloody well need that at the moment.
Bad result, awful second half. Sanchez (world class), Bellerin (top prospect) and Welbeck (another goal) the only bright spots.
We are shipping too many goals. When you ship too many goals you give yourself a mountain to climb. Having lead that game early three points should have been in the bank.
I don’t think the title was ever on for us this season, and it’s certainly not on now. I still think we’ll make top four. I’d like to see us use the season to work out whatever the hell is causing our injuries, plug the remaining gaps in the squad and try to build some sort of cohesion.
Personally, I think this team tends to struggle whenever Ozil isn’t in the number ten role. Whatever his performance level, he brings a degree of cohesion.
The good news is it’s only October, and as surely as being top this time last year didn’t make us the best side in the country, we remain a better team than we’re showing right now.
We do need to start putting some wins on the board sharpish though.
COYG
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
NZ Gooner, when are we going to put this winning runs together? Getting at least 10pts from this four matches was supposed to be our minimum target, I don’t even see them getting more that 6pts at this level of crappy football they are playing right now. Even with injuries, and not getting the CB and DM that everyone but Wenger thought we needed, we should be playing way better than this. And we can’t blame it on new additions either, it’s not like we are bedding in 6/7 players . Southampton got their whole team stripped out, including their manager and are playing way way better than us. That’s a manager in a new league and Wenger is been there 18+ yrs now. I just feel after staying in a job that long, the passion you have slowly goes away. I don’t see tha same passion that Wenger had with those great teams he built in the past. And tha team is showing the same thing too.
I feel Wenger has grown to be more of a club manager than a team manager/coach. He can move upstairs and really use his talent, but we do need someone that players will love, respect which I know they do right now with him, but they also need to FEAR him which I don’t think they do anymore. Wenger has built us a great club, but sometimes you do need someone to take over and move to next level. Someone that will have a different mandate from the club,not to just finish top four, but actually win the league. I don’t think that’s the requirement for Wenger anymore.