Bereft Of Form And Confidence, Gunners Crumble
Feb 28th, 2016 by 'holic
Arsenal arrived at Old Trafford as whispers of a ‘key player’ being ruled out were thankfully proven to be ill-founded. It transpired that Petr Cech had been a worry but his groin problem cleared up in time for him to start. There were changes, however, with Per Mertesacker, the injured Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Olivier Giroud making way for Gabriel, Danny Welbeck, and Theo Walcott.
In the seventh minute we had a reminder of last season’s FA Cup win at the same venue when Mesut Ozil superbly set Nacho Monreal free in the box, but unlike last year the full-back came second in his one on one with David de Gea. Two minutes later Varela found himself the first to get a yellow card for hauling Alexis to the floor.
Arsenal survived a thirteenth minute scare when Gabriel brought down Rashford just outside the area and Depay’s free-kick through a forest of legs was superbly saved by Cech. Monreal countered, playing a one two with Alexis and just failed to pick out Welbeck with the cross. Almost halfway through the half Carrick brought Welbeck down and was the second United defender to go into Mr. Pawson’s book.
Just before the half-hour mark we were behind, and the creators of our own downfall. Theo Walcott lost the ball in our own half, United worked it to Varela and his cross was turned into the path of Rashford by Gabriel. The young striker lashed home and very quickly added a second when he got between Gabriel and Koscielny to head home Lingard’s cross.
The Gunners needed a quick response and found one in the fortieth minute when Welbeck glanced home Ozil’s beautifully flighted free kick. It was the German’s eighteenth assist of the season. A corner just before halftime led to some animated claims for a handball by Rashford but Sky’s producer elected not to show a rerun. On Twitter NBC viewers claimed it was a clear penalty and should have been a red card too.
Arsene resisted the urge to make changes at half-time. The temptation to send Giroud on for Walcott must have been strong. Just past the hour the inevitable substitution did finally take place. The Gunners, surprisingly wasteful in possession fell further behind when Gabriel allowed Ashford to slip a simple ball to his left, and the unmarked Herrera’s sidefoot effort took a wicked deflection off Koscielny beyond Cech.
Back came the Arsenal again. De Gea saved at point-blank range from Welbeck, but Ozil was on hand to knock the rebound in. Coquelin, involved in the build-up, was withdrawn to allow Elneny a Premier League debut. Aaron Ramsey and Herrera saw yellow when involved in a rapid exchange of handbags, and Elneny joined them after his first challenge as the temperature rose.
United, a couple of sorties to the corner flags aside, camped in their own half in the closing quarter, almost daring Arsenal to find a way through. On another day that might have been suicidal, but this Arsenal have been lacking confidence, some night say desire, for some weeks now. Set pieces were providing the best opportunities and Ozil picked out Koscielny at the far post but de Gea saved comfortably.
A late cameo from Alex Iwobi, on for Welbeck, failed to improve our ability to keep hold of the ball. Five points adrift of Leicester with eleven matches to play isn’t fatal, but collectively lacking in form and confidence at this stage of the season probably is. A huge week looms into view.
177 Responses to “Bereft Of Form And Confidence, Gunners Crumble”
Players have only themselves to blame!
Ah well..
From previous drinks….
When we restarted in the second half there was no urgency in our play no plan of action again was Wenger playing for a lucky draw? He must have and he calls his team there were naive perhaps he is the one who is naive as he sets his team out at walking pace when we are down 2:1 at half time with the league title at steak.
Ramsey is a bag of shit he is clueless in the middle, mind you Alexis didn’t have a good game either. Tactically we shambles and defensively too. Two cheap goals given away one after the other. Seems to me we only started chasing the game once we were behind but hey it was too late for that as we all saw.
Rant over, now to read the post!
Thanks for all the good times Arsene, now will you kindly disappear in to the sunset and let’s us get a manager to take this team forward, and maybe heaven forbid sign the striker we were so desperately in need of!!! Your transfer railings are destroying this club!!!
Adios me amigo!!!
Transfer failings that should read
The scum are going to stuff us as well!!!!
Must go vegetarian.. too much @steak!
🙂
This Arsenal side is worse than the one of 4/5 years ago. I dred what Tottenham will do to us next Saturday! We have not player well for months now. Need to worry about finishing top four.
I cannot fathom we can be this poor. We do not retain ball and build from the back like any good top tier team should. Today Manure with their rag tag team looked a better footballing team and they had a sharpshooter too. Our forwards are not good enough and we do not have a defence at all so we keep losing to almost everyone. The most disappointing day of the season so far, I hasten to add, as this shambles of a team can do worse than this.
Theo is not a footballer. Ramsey needs to get it into his head that he’s not Zidane. They both need to be dropped. What even was Wenger thinking starting the second half with no changes? He can’t and won’t win the premier league again on the evidence of this season and looking at the past 12 seasons we can all agree the fourth place trophy is about our level. I’ll leave it to you guys to work out if you’re happy with that or if you want a change.
We’ll probably go on and beat Barca now after this debacle…
Thought we were utterly shite, pretty much to a man, and there were no excuses for it at all.
We are a long way out of form right now. Got to hope something clicks into place in the next few days.
Wake up, Arsenal.
COYG
Simply put, half this team is not good enough.
I like Theo but he’s not good enough far too often. When he is on it, he looks like a world beater, but you think back and how many times has he actually played like he means it?
He hasn’t got any fire in him, sadly, and you need it.
If we got any kind of decent offer for him I would sell him in the summer.
Same with Ramsey.
Slightly in Theo’s defence, I think we’re just not working as an attack. Might seem odd to say so when we’ve scored two goals, but we’re not really making chances and it was notable (to me anyway) that Giroud was almost entirely anonymous after he came on as well.
Half this side could be sold quite easily.
Wenger caused the downfall of most Arsenal`s game. Ramsey and Walcott are not in there best forms, and it would have worked better in an atmoshere where you don’t know what goes round. Players like: Campbell and Elneny should be more introduced into the team while Ramsey and Walcott should be dropped, the more we have them the less the morale boosting of the team
this is as far as arsene can take the club. we can change now or wait another 20 years. its all about arsene, the club do not matter any more.
Spot on N7.
Oh, I see we were beaten yet again and this time by a bunch of kids and a side that just played in the Europa league on Thursday. Oh well, what’s new?! Very pragmatic and matter of fact summary ‘h, I commend you.
In my personal opinion, if Arsene doesn’t win the Premier League title back this year, especially if the LWCs go on and win it instead (I see that they won again today and came from a goal behind at home too in order to do that), then he seriously has to consider his position as the first team coach and manager. Arsenal Football Club is, and always will be, bigger than one man’s machinations no matter how much he’s done for us in the past. Managers and players come and go, but Arsenal Football
Club will always remain. That’s what matters most.
A huge week looms ahead indeed for Arsene Wenger and his charges.
Up the Arse!
I’m sure you were glad to get that one off your chest and retire to a welcoming Glen, Holic. Spot on review, respectfully and carefully worded when, I suspect, the temptation for just a dash of vitriol loomed large.
There was much wrong with that performance. Confidence levels throughout appear to be lower than whaleshit. There is much to be done if this season isn’t going to disintegrate into yet another battle for fourth.
No one, absolutely no one, takes men on by making power runs through the middle on this side. Those types of runs put the pressure on the opponent and opens up the chances you need to score goals. You don’t see that sort of thing from these players.
The manager hasn’t been good enough for ten years but who replaces him?
There’s nobody available I’d want (clue – they’re out of a job because they fucked up elsewhere) and nobody I’d want to MAKE available, by offering his club a shed load of compo, either.
And it doesn’t help that Wenger is unaware of his best 11. Please can Theo Wallbanger be shipped out in the summer; he epitomises what is wrong with this Arsenal team. Man Utd could play the under 18 side at OT and it would still demolish our lot. No excuses, to even view Arsenal as title challengers is laughable. The EPL is extremely poor this year behind belief and to be so off-key for so long now shows up Wenger’s weaknesses in terms of tactics, player selection, playing tempo well and truly. Its so shocking how today’s performance so succinctly summed Arsenal’s season up.
Our senseless neglect of the transfer market has come to the fore.
No passion. No pace. No movement. No urgency. And as Souness (who I generally loathe) just rightly pointed out : No Bollocks.
As the great father Jack would have said…Feck.
Cynic,
Now why would you not offer shed loads of compo for the right man to come and take the club back to where it belongs? You’re not buying a striker for £50+ million who might get injured, you’re getting something much more important than that. You’re getting a true tactician and a modern man-manager, and that now clearly appears to be the most important investment that any “big club” ever makes these days.
Hey, I for one can’t wait for some jolly ol’ rally cries from them there top hole, no-nonsense thinking, dead decent boy scout types – DibDibDib
Who would you want though? Can you think of anybody who makes you think, “HIM”!
On the game, we once again showed we don’t play the game everybody else plays. Varela was booked after nine minutes. For the next few minutes at least, we should have thrown everything down his flank and gone at him.
Not to get him sent off, but to take advantage of the fact that he was on a yellow and would be hesitant in the challenge, perhaps draw someone over to give him extra cover and fucked their shape.
Still fuming at that pile of wank,I can handle defeats but not when they are so clearly lacking any sort of character. – I suppose when you’ve no spine to your side your always liable to crumple and that rests with one man as he’s had the money and time to put one in place but for some un known reason he can’t see what every Fan,writer ex player and little green men on the moon can completely bizarre,
Having said all of the above, if Monreal scores that early chance I reckon we’d have murdered them
Arsene Wenger “cannot fault the commitment or desire” apparently. Which says it all.
I know he’s not going to come out and slate players, and I’m glad of that, but he’s not a fool and neither are we.
There isn’t a Gooner in the world who isn’t hurting after that display. We all show it in different ways.
I wish everyone the best dealing with it in whatever way works for you.
Big love to all Gooners everywhere.
How insipid and uninspired was that? I got no sense that there was a collective will within the side to get the decisive win that was clearly ours for the taking. We were definitely unlucky in that United were utterly shite too, and for their 3 goals everything seemed to fall or run right for them. However, no excuses – we should be beating a side like that. We were so evidently the superior side from the opening 10-15 minutes, yet we didn’t seem to have the will or a winners’ arrogance to stamp our authority over United, and there was no inspiration up front, no drive from midfield, and no care and diligence from the defence. Professional pride would dictate our team should be thoroughly ashamed by that result and performance!
Ramsey’s a massive worry at the moment. Boy, do we miss Cazorla. If Ramsey isn’t contributing goals; his passing, drive and ingenuity simply are not of the requisite quality for a side of our aspirations. Walcott’s problem is that he seems psychologically unable to work himself into games. He’s like a “Billy’s Boots” style player – he can pull off the odd moment of instinctive, inspired finishing (like v Leicester) – but he’s utterly incapable of imposing himself on the game and the opposition and is too reactive rather than proactive. You can’t pick him just on the hope he’ll produce a moment of inspiration – it’s not enough. He’s got a long 3-4 year contract, so I’d use that as a bargaining chip to get a decent transfer fee for him in the summer. A move for both parties would probably be a good thing.
Alexis is hideously out of form, and Ozil is playing poorly too – but at least he’s offering us quantifiable end-product in goals and assists.
I sometimes feel like I’ve been the sole source of constant optimism through the bumpy ride that is this season – but I’m this close to stepping off the bandwagon now. I look at 4 away games v Spurs, Everton, West Ham and Man City, and don’t see us tackling those fixtures with any level of confidence. Could quite easily be 3 or 4 defeats there.
‘Holic is right: this is the defining week. 4 points minimum from the Swansea and Spurs ties or the title is definitely gone. Time for the side to stand up and fight for it!
Terrible performance… For a team that prides itself on its one touch play – this was perhaps the worst performance in terms of our passing game. Decision making for the passes was wrong 8 out of 10 time…. Passing to a man who was surrounded instead of one who was in free space, trying a cute little layoff when a cross would have been high percentage option and not shooting when the chance presented itself (amazingly even sanchez was reluctant to shoot)…The herrera goal just shows the benefit of going for a good shot on goal from outside the box.
The problem area is clearly the midfield for us. The Ramcoq and Ram-flam combination isn’t meant for us to dominate the game. It can only be effective if we play on the counter or go more direct like we did against Leicester. This team has shown that it can have a game like this in the past too – memorably against Southampton… Massive two games coming up against Swansea and the totts… Must win both of them now. I don’t think we are out of the title race yet but we’re hanging in just by a thread.
The big question for the manager now is whether to stick or twist? Should he make a statement by benching Ramsey, Alexis and Theo and starting Elneny, Campbell and Giroud instead of them respectively. Poor as Ramsey and Sanchez were tonight, they are the sort of characters who never hide and would be itching to put it right as soon as possible… The same can’t be said about Theo though. For a player who has been in the team for a decade now – he still has a remarkable aversion to contact!! He has improved few aspects of his game like his first touch but apart from a scenario where he is in behind the defence and running at it like a panther, there is hardly any other where he inspires any confidence. Time might finally be running out on his arsenal career.
Football is a game of glorious uncertainties. Winning is never guaranteed – no matter how good a team you are… What matters though is that teams go out and play to their potential and give it their all. Today that wasn’t the case. The remainder of the season might just determine whether this squad has the wherewithal or will it go down with a whimper. I can take a defeat where we give an almighty fight and the opposition is better than us (ala Barcelona) – but this was a terrible one. The team would know that more than anyone. They have bounced back well in the past and I would be cheering them with all my might on Wednesday. They might need it from every single supporter of the club…
Cheers H!
Cynic @26 nails it. If that goes in – we win.
But there’s been too much of that lately, one missed chance should n’t be crucial, but they always are at the moment.
Dunnoe where we go from here. We’re too fucking nice that’s for sure. Could never see a team with Dennis or Paddy in it rolling over like we do now, nor before that with TA and Nutty in it.
I love Le Boss and my opinion of him will never change – under-rated genius, but I do now think, maybe he’s had his day.
Real trouble is – this Board? Succession planning – dream on! Could well be a good few more fallow years when he does go.
How can he be fuming after Barcelona and not down hearted after that ? These interviews are insulting. Against a second string with a bunch of debut kids. You have to pinch yourself to believe what you’re watching. But why does the manager have no pride or no shame ?
At the beginning of the season I had posted some comments about how Alexis should improve his team-play and learn to play within because there will be patches when his high-risk solo act will not come off at all. This has been an alarmingly long running patch and even his infectious enthusiasm starts to drain off when nothing he tries comes off.
If Arsene takes into account that Alexis is searching for form and may or may not click in a match of this importance, balancing his unpredictability on the front line with a more tactically balanced player is mandatory. And we start with Mr. Unpredictable himself, who stays on for sixty minutes, doing everything wrong.
And searching for a goal or two with 5+ minutes remaining we choose a very exciting but very raw youth player ahead of someone who has scored a few first team goals this season and provided some crucial assists. When all the big guns disappeared to the injury ward, Joel came in and demonstrated desire, commitment, discipline and no little quality on ball. Now chasing goals he sees Flamini in one match and then Iwobi in another get called in.
Our great run in 2015 “Calendar Year” PL owes itself to a combination we happened upon accidentally where Santi’s close control and ability for quick transition was central to the success of Ozil-Alexis upfront, and Alexis’s rambunctious style being balanced by Rambo’s more measured approach from right and the very deliberate midfield loading that allowed.
Quick transitional passing (Rambo’s passing success rate is very high but that doesn’t tell the picture of how he always slows down our counter-attack by taking that extra couple of seconds) and close control are two of Rambo’s biggest weakness. And hence we have no control over central midfield. Our only outlet in that case is through Giroud’s hold-up play, of which Theo offered nothing today. Like a bunch of idiots we tried to build through a congested midfield without any tactical nous about dragging people away from position as Ozil had to drop deeper and deeper, failed to impose himself, and the front three was shockingly poor in passing and keeping possession.
When Giroud came on we kept on doing the same thing instead of trying to at least use him as a target from crosses for goals as well as knock-downs. We remembered nothing from the Leicester match where we own simply by attacking the penalty box from the flanks and using Giroud in combination with someone else. With all that possession in second half, and sun directly at De Gea’s eyes, we made no attempt to change the tactical approach and didn’t test a very unfamiliar United defense with crosses.
As Arsene’s one of the biggest admirers, this lack of maturity, drive, intelligence and inability to change the tactics in the middle of a game from a group of highly experienced players send an alarming sign of his waning abilities. This was not a bunch of young tyros like in years gone by, but a seasoned professional experienced team that played like a group of clueless immature reserve team. But without the commitment or desire of one.
How nice to,see so many new posters here this afternoon. That always seems to be the case when we lose a big match. Where were you after Leicester?
I could not get near a telly today so my accounts of the game were online or from friends. I know of no more reliable observer than Holic who sees the game that actually took place whenever he writes. So I will let his comments guide my view.
Huge disappointment, I suggest that six points not hour is needed to save our title challenge but you can be sure there will be many twists and turns between now and the end of the season.
I suspect we will need to make changes and Gabriel, Ramsey and Walcott are very vulnerable especially for the Tittenham game. That Norwich game where we lost a lead and Cazrla and Sanchez was , in retrospect a big blow. Ramsey is not good enough in central midfield or out wide and Sanchez is well below his sharpest and might be better understood by defenders after a great first season.
Spurs will go into the NLD as big favourites on Saturday. We need great spirit and lots of quality to beat them . The last few League NLDs have seen them exhibit greater desire than us. We have , just have to reverse that next week.
But however we play we are Arsenal and they are my team win or lose. Some of the new posters might do well to remember that
Behave. He has both. Hardly gonna come out and say it though is he? As already pointed out above – if you’d bothered to read it.
Tara ‘holics. I may be some time.
36 was aimed (badly) at 33.
By the way, I’d be interested to know who will replace Wenger who can do better. Don’t just give us the Wenger out mantras. Name a manager who is feasible who will do better.
I honestly think the board should have gone all out to attract Pep when it became clear in Nov/December that he might be leaving Bayern. Off the top of my head right now I’d say De Boer at Ajax is a great shout with Bergkamp coming with him. I’m not a big fan of Simeone’s Atletico. I’m pretty sure there are other managers out there but if we wanted to go the unknown route we could give Bergkamp his first chance at the big job.
Embarassed by a rookie. Face-in-palm.
Another arsenal side going nowhere. Anyone surprised?
Seems that the annual arsenal choke is truly on.
Cynic,
The “him” (or her) are several in world football and with far less resources and a lower salary.
Fight and true courage should be there at all times regardless of form if a player is selected to play by their manager. If it is not, the coach/manager must also bear a great deal of the responsibility for not doing something about it. A team’s performance should always reflect their manager’s character; that is a must. For too many a season now our team’s character when “a knuckling down” at this stage of the season has been required, has been one of lethargy, complacency, arrogance and flattery to deceive. This season, I’m afraid, really is the final straw and just will not cut is anymore for Arsene Wenger. Did you know that before this Manure game, we were on 51 points which is exactly where we were last season and have been for the past 10 years on average – there has been no progress at all by us with respect to the EPL this lucky season when all the regular big boy rivals are alot worse than us this season. Leicester and, I hate to say it, the LWCs have improved significantly this season so they have every deserved right to win their first Premiership title this year instead of us. We would only now win it by default and that would be pure flattery from my school of thought. Next season and subsequent will be nowhere near as “free a hit” as this one has been.
Regarding the match, if a seasoned International Arsenal player cannot recognise that a very young and inexperienced Manure right fullback who is on a yellow card in the first 10 minutes of a big EPL should be targeted, then it should be the coach/manager on the sidelines to do so and to tell him to. Anything less is just barn-door naivety and incompetence on both the part of the players and the coach/manager. It’s also a sign of utter complacency and arrogance. All of which are characterstics that should be unacceptable of any professional footballer and coach/manager that represents Arsenal Football Club.
It’s embarrassing to be a Gooner after that characterless and limpless performance under Arsene Wenger once again. The next four matches are going to be utterly squeaky-bumming for all, especially those that still support Arsene Wenger as the man to take our club forward beyond this season.
Up the Arse.
Tho AW is right. It aint over til its over.
And for the record, ive been slammed at the office for going on 4 weeks, with travel and etc. Catching replays on arsenal player at midnight when i can, so am not commenting much anymore.
Do not be afraid of change people. Be bold for a change. Even if you cannot name a replacement for AW, you still make the change anyway. What are you gaining by keeping him the manager? What do you think will change for the better in the future if you keep AW in place?
Its very difficult for a CF to do much if they are not getting balls serviced to them, be it Theo or Ollie. In addition to that for some reason we were playing narrow upfront.
Non existent defensive help for Monreal, especially on the 1st 2 goals.
Did anyone notice that the broken down link between central defense and the midfield?On many occasions Gab had to keep the ball deep into opposition half in order to find a team mate to pass the ball to.
Bringing in Awobi, instead Joe Camp, really made sense, didn’t it?
Has anyone noticed that ManU is missing 14 of its top players & yet they are only 3 points from top 4?
I am just saying people.
Such as who though?
I agree it’s not an impossible job for almost anyone you could name to match the results we’re getting (difficult but not impossible), but we don’t want to match them we want to do better.
Would even someone like Guardiola be likely to do so unless he’s given the entire war chest, and more?
Are there any outstanding coaches, proper coaches with exciting ideas and tactical nous, out there?
And more to the point, do you see our board knowing about them if there are?
At this point, it does not matter, unless of course you are happy with the status quo. Just make the change for crying out loud or as Nike would have it “Just Do It”. Enough already make the change. Be bold.
Were we so bad today because we have still not recovered from all the running around we did in the Barca game? Even if we had not fully recovered, it still does not explain why we were so disorganized and inept.
We cannot even blame the referee, who had a decent game.
Loads to back drink – just noticed Esso on the way through – brief, to the point, spot on as usual.
I think we lack belief.
We lack belief because we have no power and strength.
We lose every physical challenge.
Our style has become ponderous, predictable and stale.
Can’t get away with those shortcomings in the Premier League.
Or past the group stage of the Champions League.
Goodnight.
KSN @46, if we were so bad because of the running around against Barca, then we should have made the right tactical adjustments to accommodate that, going into and during the game.
Dr Faustus @34 nails it all in one beautiful drink! Cheers fella and have a pint of your favorite draft on my tab. I especially like this sentence:
“Our great run in 2015 “Calendar Year” PL owes itself to a combination we happened upon accidentally…..”
Now, there you’ve said the magically word – “Accidentally”. How can any manager with Arsene Wenger’s experience, and still seen as contemporarily relevant by some fans, still be stumbling upon things by accident? Surely everything should by now have been by design and not by accident in his all controlling coaching and management for over two decades?
TTG @38,
There are many other coaches/managers that would do the job quite adequately with the same infrastructure and resources that Arsene Wenger now has. I’d take Ronald Koeman in a heartbeat at the end of the season and see how he does with the same facilities and personnel already in place. Wasn’t Pochettino at Southampton before he joined the now flying high and improving LWCs?! My point is that there are plenty of quality young coaches/managers out there who i’d be very happy to give a try and chance to grow another dynasty and legacy at the Grove the same way that an anonymous Arsene Wenger was given the chance and did so between 1997 – 2005.
Will always love my London heroes in good times and bad BUT…..if we are really honest this era of a wing and a prayer style football – mostly prayer lately – is not efficient enough to create consistent high performance.
Cocquelin is still a work in progress but is most likely to settle into a leadership role soon. Theo is just incapable of reaching the next level that his earlier promise suggested was attainable. Campbell should replace Theo — until he burns himself out or pulls a hammy.
Same with Ox too, incapable of achieving next level. I’ve seen only one game last season where he consistently and aggressively pushed down the inside channels taking defenders on sweeping past them heading for goal as though he was the Second Coming of Shearer. I think in both Theo’s and Ox’s cases they lack self belief.
We are fortunate with Bellerin and Monreal being consistent going forward pulling defenders in creating space for off the ball forward runs – though they still need to work on closing up shop in defence . Giroud just does not have the best brain muscle coordination or balance to provide a lethal finish when it counts.
This is the team Arsene created. It’s not working. Be a man. Admit it Tell us what you are going to do to improve the Gunners long-term. Worst thing of all those bloody Spuds are laughing at us. St. Totteringham’s Day in grave danger of being removed from Saints Calendar till next season.
Cynic @44,
The Board won’t choose the next Coach/Manager alone, Arsene Wenger will have a massive say.
Arsene Wenger will do the right and honorable thing for the Club when the time is right, and I’m sure he’ll know when that will be if he hasn’t already done so. I actually don’t think it’s far off now from the more I listen closely and critically to his post-match interviews after big match losses. He’s very nearly called it quits twice, with the very latest having not been for our first FA Cup win.
People keep asking who we would replace Wenger with, when we hired him, who knew him. He wasn’t an established coach when he came to the Arsenal just saying. There was no excuse for that shit of a display from the team today, NONE.
Citeh have won the Capital One Cup, thank God. Had Liverpool won it we would have had a non stop barrage from the media about how wonderful Liverpool and Klopp are.
The Board won’t choose the next Coach/Manager alone, Arsene Wenger will have a massive say.
This is hardly comforting 😉
And SAG – I used to say exactly the same thing about Wenger coming from nowhere, and who would have picked him, but the point I was making was that there’s nobody who stands out as The Man.
What other motivation does this team need? the PL is there for the taking, I mean come on play with some fucking heart.
Johnny Johnny!
It’s over for another season. Today’s result leaves only the hope that Leicester can see Spurs off and win it.
TTG @38
I would quite like to see a member of 2003-04 first team take charge once Wenger’s time comes to an end. Someone who knows how to fight and win matches. Vieira with Bergkamp as assistant? Untried and untested but I wouldn’t say no!
King Henry?
Our new boss?
I feel way better after watching the Invincibles.What a team. Speed, power, skill, believe and of course they had a world class striker. The one and only KING HENRY.
Ha ha BB @ 6
Vegetarian indeed looks like my iPhone dictionary has let me down again ?
Some very very upset Holic’s in the bar at the moment.
Understandably.
But when all said and done,not one Gooner i know,at the start of the season,had any thoughts of challenging for the Title.
At best,the consensus was that having signed only 1 player in the summer,and a keeper to boot, we were the same squad that battled for a top 4 place last season,and we would be doing the same again.
The fact that we have flattered to deceive this season,and got a lot of Gooners excited after we topped the table briefly in Jan,has made the latest implosion all the more painful.
But we shouldn’t be surprised.
We have been doing this regularly,season after season for years.
We are serial teasers,promising a lot,and delivering little.
Only a week ago,everyone was over the moon at the last gasp win over Leicester.
But to the old soldiers like me,that win couldn’t hide the deficiencies in the squad.
It just for a moment in time,glossed them over.
We have no excuses now,with virtually a full squad to call on,yet today,Wally carelessly gives the ball away in our own half for the first goal,Gabriel falls over for the 2nd,which gives us a mountain to climb.
None of us have any idea what Arsene says to the players behind closed doors,but he has admitted in the past,that he is a very bad loser.
But does he transmit that to the players. ??
The min a supporter expects of his team,is that they show the same commitment and desire as they do,following the team through thick and thin,rain hail or shine, week in and week out.
To me the weakness is more mental than anything else.
We have had plenty of players over the years who didn’t have the technical qualities of some of their peers,but who made up for it with a burning desire to succeed despite their deficiencies.
I don’t think we have enough players that absolutely hate and loathe losing.
It is about accountability,and i don’t see much of that at Arsenal.
It’s certainly not all lost yet, however Wenger using their fouling as an excuse for the outcome of the game is rather naive in my view. You can’t do that and protect your players from failing to do a job on the day. The ref had a good game apart from the handball maybe but hey there is nothing we can do about that now.
What gets me the most is that we never learn and the lads are huffing and puffing with no end product. Players that normally make a difference are no where to be found. Theo, Ramsey even Alexis are not at their game on top of that we are witnessing some real dodgy subs so we question Wenger even more based on his strange decisions. If we struggled in the middle why not send Campbell on for struggling Ramsey. Instead he gets rid off the most hard working player and sends Elneny for his premier league debut.
We are indeed for a tough week ahead!
Thanks as ever Holic, especially during the difficult times, for providing some sanctuary and perspective.
Kudos to the many good posts above especially from BtM, Trev, Bath, Ttg, Faustus and of course the inimitable and irreplaceable Esso.
Nice post Clive – I agree with much of what you say.
I felt Wenger has wanted to bring Gabriel back into the fold to provide some pace and cover especially against teams like Manu. Of all the teams we have ever faced over the past 10 years, no one has a better record against us than Manu. And the reason why is because they continuously have played a counter-attacking game against us to great effect. It was no coincidence that Wenger opted for pace throughout the team today, especially at the back. The problem of course, is that Gabby has been injured and has arguably, been brought back into the side “a little cold” and as such, we saw 2 soft goals given up rather quickly in the game against a very very poor Manu team. Unfortunately, we have been poor too all season long, and we’re struggling to find some form.
I don’t subscribe to the criticism of Rambo. Whatever people may think of his performances he at least never hides unlike others.
I do agree with Clive’s comments about accountability. There is a sense of calm, a niceness, an environment of complete and total forgiveness that pervades throughout the club and I feel this comes from the manager and feeds right down throughout the squad. This is the business end of the season, and when we needed players to stand up and be counted, we’ve been let down dramatically, once again, against a team we ought to be beating at a canter. Its easy to point the finger at individuals but very few players avoid accountability today. It’s as though we almost expect Leicester and Spurs to fold and roll over and present us with the PL trophy when of course, its a prize that is hard earned.
It is not possible, imo, to trust this team. There are times they surprise you and then disappoint. Like others on here, I harbour no ill feelings about being beaten when at least you stand up and be counted. Today, the manner of the defeat was another that poses some very real and legitimate questions that ought to be levied directly to the manager. It has far too familiar a ring to it now.
Cheers, Joe.
Good stuff yourself too.
Great post Joe, I don’t believe and haven’t believed for a while that this feels like a title- winning season. It is a character thing and Wenger bears a share of the blame but some of those players should be capable of turning up and giving their all…and one hopes theif all is a damn sight better than it was today. I’m sorry to pick on Theo but he has played with so little heart so often for us this season. None of our British core is doing the business except for Welbeck. Wenger is a master of reinvention and gets reaction from his teams but he needs to do it immediately.
But Tapera please don’t say it doesn’t matter who replaces him. Of course it matters. This team has been consistently at the top and attracting top players for twenty years. Getting the wrong manager and replacing him with the wrong manager takes you down the road of United or Liverpool or Tottenham for the last goodness knows how long until this season . It’s vital that when Wenger goes we get someone better. Most of the Wenger out brigade want someone different. I can understand that but it’s short- termism that could really derail this club
@34 Dr. Faustus, spot on.
As for the general perception of Ramsey as a player that never hides, tries hard and always wants the ball so that is supposed to make him better football player than others…
I will just say that I absolutely loved the most beautiful girl in the class for some time over the years but she loved someone else, for various obvious reasons. And trust me I did tried hard and never hide, but sadly … me and her, just never happened.
To be perfectly honest I often wonder how someone of Arsene’s experience can’t see those evident flaws in Ramsey’s game. Man, he is so limited as a player and that is so, so sad.
Just can’t understand how Arsene doesnt see it, and continues to use him, that is all.
He is not the main reason for our poor form on his own that is for sure, and I don’t want to put all the blame on him at all. But, can we just start a couple of games with him on the bench and see where that can take us.
Some may say the same for Theo, but there is a big difference as Theo as poor as he is, was never Arsene favourite. And Ramsey is. That is the main problem.
TTG @66,
I keep hearing that same old chestnut so how exactly is replacing a manager seemingly interpreted as “short-termism by some quarters? Surely it’s an inevitable and natural state of things and it has to happen at sometime particularly when the old manager isn’t improving things any longer where it really matters (cf. The Premier League and the Champions League).
Lurky @67,
Ramsey is both mentally and physically cream-crackered (knackered) and needs a proper break. He’s over-playing to compensate whilst well in his red-zone. That’s quite easy to see so give the wee lad a break. Someone else’s meant to make the right call in managing his physical conditioning for the stretch; he’s known that Cazorla, Wilshere and TR7 would be out for sometime.
No energy, no enthusiasm, no ability to hold the ball or pass it accurately, can’t shoot straight, and the much vaunted ‘pace’ held in reserve at all times … and that’s just Theo, once again the whipping boy regardless a centre forward will always look bad when he gets no service. He is NOT a centre forward, and if it’s somehow in his contract that he gets to rotate with OG for the position then it’s a fucking disgrace of a contract. He’s a winger, and should either start WITH Ollie, playing off him, or as a late sub. He is NOT a centre forward, AW.
It’s games like this when you expect your 3 world class players to stand up and dominate – especially against kids and second-string players (14 senior Manure players unavailable through inkury today) – but Özil and Alexis were hardly any better and Cech let in 3 (although he wasn’t to blame for any of them). But most of all it’s games like this I expect (hope, anyway) to see some desire. I saw none today.
Can we really now be sliding into a struggle for our traditional 4th place trophy? Is the FA Cup now our only hope? I’ll tell ya something, if the neighbours win the title I’m joining the Wenger Aht brigade and looking to Usmanov for salvation…
No, not really.
Oskar
as always clive’s old head gives a correct perspective
i feel our season stumbled when cazorla limped off
he gives us that extra spark which we are sorely missing at the moment
So, who do we blame this week? Injuries? It must be injuries? No, wait a minute. We have 5 players listed as out injured whilst the Mancs have 14???? The ref then? It must be the ref? Or his linesman? Or the 4th official. I mean, that was Dean? Let’s be honest, same here were blaming the ref and the officials in the preview?
The fact is that today was typical of so many performances in recent seasons. None of this in new and none of it should be a shock to anyone. For years we have stood still. We have watched players depart and they have not been replaced. We have of course added genuine quality in the likes of Sanchez, Ozil and eventually a top keeper in Cech. But the plain fact is that many of the others just aren’t good enough. Not if we want to be considered genuine contenders.
We can consider ourself lucky this season that the likes of Man U, Citeh and Chelski have had poor seasons. If they had performed at a level most would expect we could be 6th or 7th now.
This has been a week where there has been more media coverage about our current bank balance. Recent reports suggest that we have at least £160 million sat there. We have signed two outfield players in the last 3 Windows. Neither are regular starters. The fact that we bring Elneny on when we are chasing the game tells you all you need to know I would suggest.
For years we have put up with this. I have said season after season that we have under achieved. Two FA cup victories, whilst great achievements, do nothing to mask the problems.
I have only seen the MOTD highlights due to work. I have the whole match recorded but I really don’t see why I should put myself through that. The first two goals we conceded today were incredibly poor. The third was a deflection but how much space was he allowed?
All I have ever asked is for us to be the best we can be. Now that upsets a lot of people here. Some don’t get it, some don’t care for it and some are just scared of it. But look at where we are. We have vast sums of money sat in the bank. We are told that there is not one outfield player available who would strengthen our squad. Then look back on some of our performances this season. I would suggest that we are nowhere near what we could be or should be.
The players, manager and board etc will get a tough ride because of today. 9 points from the last 7 games mean that they deserve all they get. Will anything change? I’m not going to hold my breath.
Some good stuff above. Especially agree with Clive above.
fuckin hard stare
for that display today
62 clive calls it
and calls it well
and clive
get yer dubbin out
duty calls
shin pads MY ARSE !
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/10185601/graeme-souness-slams-arsenals-display-against-manchester-united
The view from the “experts.” Not too much to disagree with sadly.
Anyone looking at that £160m in the bank should remember FFP, which means we actually have only about £70m available for both transfers AND wages.
Just find us a captain in the TA mould and a couple of Ray Parlours and then see the difference.
Oskar
Never mind Sourpuss, Steve T, here’s what one of our own had to say … http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/35683686
Oskar
get yer point
but
not a fuckin chance big man
the day i voluntarily watch souness
is a day i have plucked out both eyeballs
yanked off both ears
tied all to a breezeblock
and
chucked it at the fuckin shitehawk
Actually two of our own were also quoted in Steve T’s link.
Oskar
I did say experts……. It was in the plural.
Although CBA’s point about Souness is more than valid.
🙂
“who said that? “
it appears
there is no serviceable
helen keller emoji
currently available
for 82
whoever said that ?
or
one for offence taken
by the blissfully unaware
on their behalf
It feels like Groundhog Day again.
Swansea at home on Wednesday. The Groundhog Day script says it will be a 0-0 draw and I wouldn’t bet against it.
Oskar @70, Theo did not play exclusively as a striker yesterday – him and Welbeck constantly rotated between the right wing and upfront. And he was on the wing when his loss of possession cost us the first goal. And he is a far worse winger than a striker simply because of his inability to contribute in build up play. For him to play on the wing we need a sagna in defence. Him and hector are a recipe for disaster defensively and also ineffective in building up play. And if indeed we did have a couple of Ray Parlour types as you suggest in your later post, Theo would be the first casualty… This is not to single out Theo when the whole team underperformed but his complete lack of effort to get stuck in when things aren’t going well really make him stand out (not on the pitch!) in the postmortem of a loss like this…
Chokers gonna Choke@Arseblog. What else is there to say.
@75 Steve, Souness said exactly what I was thinking. Same words, even the same dialect. I don’t think too many will disagree with his assessment.
@36, Wenger’s comments are shameful, would you not agree ? Therefore he himself has no shame. Blaming the ref, claiming Man U won because they spent big, pretending his team did well and effort was huge. Pride ? Something lacking there too, because his erstwhile proud legacy is now buried. More fundamentally if the team displays no mental courage or pride itself, any team, any organisation would look to the top. Two other things ; Cazorla would not have saved us from all this (we’re losing the challenge ; physical and mental, that little fellah, skilful wizard though he is, would have made very little difference I’m afraid). And let’s be clear on transfers, Wenger does buy players but many are such let-downs that the squad ends up clogged up. Here we go again next summer, will we really get decent fees for Walcott, Ramsey, Ox, Wilshire, Campbell, Sanogo, Schezny, Gnabry, Jenkinson etc, etc ? Flamini, Walcott, Rocisky and Mertsacker are all worthless. There may not be much room in the Inn. Although a new man would be ruthless and would get much of the clear-out done. Harder for AW when he’s invested so much in his British core (emotionally and financially too by the way) and when he desperately wants some of his foreign bargain basement buys to prove him right (Note ; playing them might actually help them develop some form, rather than throwing them in cold from time to time). Nobody good to replace him ? If you agree with that you want this to continue so the club is in absolute tatters for the next guy. If you don’t agree well yes, as has been said in a very convincing post already, you look to somebody like Koeman. Wake up and smell the coffee, do you honestly think a proposition of 8 mill a year, a huge support, a superb stadium and a 200 mill war chest wouldn’t appeal ? But all this probably needs Kroenke out. The fans must mobilize Liverpool style and/or Usmanov (another good posting above) must make the Silent One an offer he simply cannot refuse. Footnote ; Nice to see that Kroenke pumping up the turkey has produced the profits on a shareholding that now funds another new challenge in the shape of the Toffees next year. How sick.
The best parts of my day out at Old Trafford were my pie and peas lunch from a street stall, the singing in the concourse before the game and meeting Tim Stillman.
The football – not so much. I’ll leave other correspondents to talk about that.
well 91
you appear to be a self satisfied shite
.
continue wanking
btm 89
i will
and do
As far as I know from reading his contributions over time, Countryman 100 is a proper gooner and totally undeserving of the personal abuse offered above. Pots and kettles indeed.
As for the game, individual performances aside, there seemed to be a huge void between defence and attack, often about thirty yards wide with no Arse player on the move. No link play whatsoever for long periods. Elneny wasn’t given long enough to make a difference but at least he offered movement and a passing option.
Alexis doesn’t deserve to start on current form. I think he should be tried in a different position to try and regain his mojo. Wenger has played many players “out of position” for varying reasons – Cazorla, Ramsey, Ozil, Monreal to name a few – and I think that this may give Alexis a boost. As someone pointed out previously, he is currently far too predictable and it simply isn’t working for him or us.
UTA.
By the way if you want to talk about big players not doing it in a game, please look closely at Mesut Ozil
“Are you mad?” I hear you cry, “He scored and provided the assist for our other goal!” which is true. But against a team like that, if you really want to look at telling contributions from big players, that’s a pretty poor effort over nearly 100 minutes of football.
The creative heart of the team is not, and never has been, Ozil and we are suffering without Cazorla.
And please don’t go on at me about his assists unless you can tell me how many were open play assists, because for me free kicks and corners should not count as assists. They’re dead ball situations and don’t require any great skill, you just put the ball into an area and hope. Of course the delivery has to be accurate and at the correct pace to make scoring easier for your team mate, but it’s not like it takes any great vision or ability to pull it off.
If you take all the free kicks and all the corners, you will have a decent assist tally.
I post that not to have a go at Ozil but simply to suggest that if you’re looking for why this team is failing it is important to look at the contribution of someone like that and question whether it’s good enough, because once you start thinking, “He scored so that’s enough”, you fall into the same sort of complacent mindset that appears to be the curse of the people who run, coach and play for this football club.
And that’s why you get performances like yesterday’s.
It doesn’t take any great brains to look at Walcott or Ramsey or Gabriel and say they weren’t good enough. Anyone could see they weren’t and you learn nothing from micro-examining their lack of ability to get the job done. You will learn more from looking at and questioning the players who “did well” or “are stars” and asking if THEY are really up to it.
Improve your best players and you can get away with having a few lesser lights in the team. Level two “best” players just means the lesser lights often function even less well.
IMO
I very much fear that Wenger has had his time. We make the same mistakes time after time, and apart from Sanchez, we haven’t had a proper goalscorer since Henry – sorry Olivier. We all knew we needed a top goalscorer last summer, but even Wenger has dropped the pretence of being what he calls ‘in the market’ for players in a transfer window. He told us in December that he wouldn’t be making any major signings, and he was true to his word. While you can argue that we wouldn’t have been able to sign the top goalscorer we needed, no attempt was ever considered, and holding up Welbeck as one of the reasons we didn’t need to buy, was an insult to we long suffering supporters – sorry Danny.
And what are we to make of our much vaunted young stars waiting to make the step up to first team glory? Trouble is, we hardly ever see them. When they reach the age of 18, they are loaned out, until, like Afobe, they are eventually sold on. It’s difficult not to believe they are merely a collection of fancy-dans, technically gifted, but lacking that crucial ‘x’ factor which makes good players great. Incidentally, we sold Afobe a year too early IMO, and he has proven to be quite an efficient goalscorer. Would he ever had got a chance at Arsenal? The answer is probably no. Would he have been better than most of our current strikers? Possibly.
So what of the future? As long as Wenger husbands Stan’s money so well, he is pretty much guaranteed his job. In an ideal world, he would be made a director, and fully honoured for his achievements for this great club, but told he will NOT have any say in who succeeds him.
To try to illustrate what I mean, do you think Freddie Ljungberg was an amazingly talented footballer, or did he need amazingly talented footballers around him?
For me, Freddie had one really basic skill that not too many people can master and that was his ability to make clever runs in behind defenders. Without a Bergkamp to see those runs and time exactly the right ball to use them, Ljungberg would not have been anywhere near as effective a player.
And I don’t like to keep on about Walcott because it looks like a one man cheerleading squad when I do, but he has one basic ability and that is pace.
If you are not going to get the ball forward quickly and use that ability, or if you have players who do what Ramsey appeared to be doing all through the game and gesturing at him to come short, you may as well not have him in the side at all.
We strolled through yesterday. Tempo is everything and we had none.
Now if I haven’t banged on too much and missed it, that should set it up in a Bergkamp-like manner. If I have dithered and dallied over this post, the chance will be missed in a tippy tappy fashion.
Y’all are a bunch of Girouds, lurking on the edge of the area instead of getting in where it hurts to put chances away.
BANG!
Boooooom Back of the Onion Bag !
Oh unlucky, Chippy. You dithered…
Bang…….
Fuck me, that’s not even a Sanogo…..
Got to be a dubious Goals Panel on that effort 🙂
Just backdrunk.
Lots of good stuff above.
Too many fine contributions to list the names.
If only the players, the staff and the club had the desire, heart, incisiveness, integrity and wisdom of the denizens of this establishment.
The performance by almost everyone at OT was quite simply utterly unacceptable.
Time waits for NO man………..
It’s like George Graham and Eddie Kelly meets Brian Talbot and Alan Sunderland.
Verdict – Chippy got the final touch as you can’t self assist.
CAS is standing by to hear Steve’s appeal.
And an excellent account of that woeful and totally embarrassing debacle, Guvna.
And I really feel for the fans who spent their Sunday travelling the length of the country and back again to watch that utter shite.
Bath im guessing you were not impressed 😉
cba @ 92. You can get knotted mate. I was trying to add a little humour to what was an awful day. I would point out that this applies to me as said by Bathgooner.
“And I really feel for the fans who spent their Sunday travelling the length of the country and back again to watch that utter shite.”
Thanks for the support of Noosa Gooner.
Fucking cheek.
Some good stuff there, thanks all. It’s actually scary how low we could be next weekend.
Holic,
Nah as sure as night follows day he will get a reaction of sorts next week and besides when its really at stake against that lot we tend to have the upper hand, I Hope…………… 🙂 The other does not bear thinking about !
“If you’re sitting there telling those fans – loyal Arsenal fans – that they don’t need any new players at the start of the season and then you don’t win the league in front of Leicester or Tottenham then I don’t see how you can justify it.”
Not often I agree with Paul Merson but I think he’s hit the nail on the head there.
Sure it can’t get any worse right? Please don’t even go there Holic!
We have nothing to lose now so hopefuly just hopefully we will bounce back from this bad spell I hope, starting on Wednesday evening!
Come on Arsenal it time we stand tall in these hours of darkness!
So we should have loaned them Debuchy then..
😀
Barack O’Barman @114,
Like you, I don’t usually listen much to Merson’s trivial and trite punditry but on this occasion, he’s 100% spot on!
There really will be no hiding place for Arsene if Leicester or the LWCs win the league instead of us; the latter being the worst outcome of all on every level possible. Top four probably won’t save Arsene this time around and he’s pretty much got 11 games left to save his job by winning the Premiership or, much less likely now after the first Leg with Barcelona, the Champions League.
Up the Arse all day and all night!
We will never, ever sack Arsene Wenger or even force him to resign. He could finish outside the top four and we won’t get rid of him.
I keep hearing and seeing Gooners suggesting top 4 won’t save Wenger this time especially if the Swampies win the League.
Just not true. We are owned by an absentee landlord who must be ecstatic that his manager maximises revenue with so little outlay . To Kroenke, fourth place is a trophy. He comes from a very different sporting environment and Wenger’s prudence must be meat and drink to him. You don’t hear shouting from North London in Denver
Cynic & Ttg,
Arsene Wenger won’t be sacked, he’ll walk alone.
We’ll all know soon enough, with only 11 games left, what transpires.
I’m not at all sure that Ttg @119 is the real TTG. If he is an imposter – desist, its absolute dogshit behaviour. If it is the real TTG – apologies. But I’m damn sure its not.
Esso,
It was me honest.
Was it something I said?
I sometimes go into lower case when I feel depressed like yesterday ??????????
No worries. Just never heard you refer to the mob up the road as the swampies.
Me neither. I fear we could be in for a hiding, and I’m already planning to leave the country for a few weeks!
Esso
That’s quite mild mate to my usual description ! I soooo hope we beat them. It hurts to think what defeat might be like.
@199, Yes and No, TTG.
Kroenke is a businessman, not a fan and was pretty clear on day one that Arsenal will be run on a self-sustaining basis during his tenure. Smart fellow. Self-sustainance has been pretty well achieved. The Premier League is a money machine and he bought wisely. His investment has grown rather well and is likely to continue to do so. Good luck to him.
I agree he’ll be happy with a T4 position. This will sustain ticket sales at the max level that’s been achieved and, frankly, he won’t think that the difference in TV revenues between P1 and P4 is worth sweating about. (Mind you, he’ll be hoping that we get into the Cup Final so that he can sit next to Prince Willie again – that’s the kind of accomplishment that ROARS its way from London to Denver).
In any post-season review Stan’s “must do better” will be directed toward the Commercial Team at Highbury House. That’s where we putter and footer way behind Manure and it’s the principle reason that they can outspend us in the transfer market. (The Glazers don’t dip into their wallets either, quite the opposite in fact).
The board will honour Arsene’s contract I think. Contract extension? Maybe a little less likely.
A rapid response is needed, and that includes a rapid attitude adjustment.
So what we are saying is that Stan is a businessman. Arsenal to him is purely a business. It’s a money making machine. His sole aim is to see his investment grow along with his profits. So I guess that just makes us paying customers then?
So, Stan’s only real interest is top 4? As long as he maximises his revenue the rest is pretty much immaterial. Constantly getting knocked out of the Champions League at the last 16 stage means nothing to Stan. Just as long as the cash cow continues to get fatter and fatter.
I’ve said for several years now that aims and aspirations of the board are different to those of us fans. As BtM confirms above, it’s just a business to Stan and the boys. Of course it’s a smart investment on his account. Unfortunately for us I fear it will mean that we will never achieve what we could possibly achieve on the pitch until changes take place.
@Steve T: Of course you are a customer. Still better than 95% of other Arsenal fans who are brand followers a.k.a prospects. Not any different than other big clubs really.
Another worry at the moment is the potential loss to this bar of the “BIG CLUB MY ARSE!!!” clock which has brought so much joy for so long. Worse even than no St Tott’s Day.
Nah, neither gonna happen … starting with another 5-2 thrashing on Saturday, right? Er, no question, right!!
Oskar
Leicester City are overdue for an injury crisis.
So far this season, after 27 games played, their first team have had possibly the fewest injuries of any te
GK Schmeichel 25
MF Drinkwater 23
DF Wes Morgan 25
DF Robert Huth 24
FW Jamie Vardy 25
MF Marc Albrighton 24+1
MF N’Golo Kanté 21+4
DF Danny Simpson 18
FW Shinji Okazaki 16+7
MF Riyad Mahrez 23+1
DF Christian Fuchs 17+2
… of any team in the league. The list shows the number of appearances made by each of their first eleven players. Kanté is now out for the next two games and will be replaced by Andy King, but a more serious injury to him, or to Vardy or Mahrez would be a bit more difficult for them.
For the record we were denied another stone cert penalty (and a red card for Rashford since he was on the goal line at the time) which could have levelled the score to 2-2. The ESPN critics (for what they’re worth) all agreed it was a pen.
Being level at half time facing ten men for the whole of the second half wouldn’t have guaranteed anything, but it easily could have. How many pens have we been denied lately, 3 in a fortnight? Whole seasons hang on such things.
I hope Pawson was unsighted, cos I thought he was the fairest whistler I’ve seen in a long time.
Oskar
Your analysis is spot- on Btm. It was the subject of a chat between Pangloss and I the other day . I really resent Kroenke not being committed to the club with the passion that the fans are. It offends me because I love this club and am invested emotionally in it. Kroenke is financially invested and that’s where it stops. He hasn’t ever misled us but neither has he remotely stirred or excited us!
United were OK with SAF as manager because he had enough passion for everybody but when he left the lack of passion from the Glazers was much more of a factor( and a useless CEO!) . United are commercially much more powerful than us and some of their deals are amazing.
On another point I was disappointed with Wenger’s after match comments where he claimed ‘ United had spent a lot of money’. They had a team of kids or in Carrick’s case , a veteran out there . What was he claiming? Was it that spending lots of money is somehow not playing the game? It was also difficult to suggest that the team played with spirit and commitment. If he transmits that message in the dressing room I would be appalled. I hope he said ‘ I’m going to go out there and defend you in public but I expect- and so do the fans- a greater level of commitment and desire for the rest of this season’. I wonder if he would ever do that?
OTD
I think that would have been an incredibly harsh penalty to give, regardless of what ESPN said. It was deflected onto his hand. To give a red as well would have been very strong- even if I would have loved it!
But if it hadn’t struck his hand it would most likely have finished in the net, Trev. A harsh lesson for the lad, yes, but has to be a pen surely? And the red is just the rule.
I really don’t care if we win ugly, we’re due a decision at OT right or wrong! 😀
Oskar
Interesting that even the ‘Kids’ XI Manure played actually cost more than our XI … something like £170m to £150m. So Wenger definitely has a point, even if irrelevant.
Oskar
TTG
Deflected or not it hit arm which then prevented the ball from going into the net as OTD has pointed out and it looks deliberate too so a red card is a must, however this still doesn’t do us any justice especially for our performance on the day.
I had a brief look at Leicester’s remaining games and to be honest with you I’m not at all convinced they have an easy run in if you ask me:
Leicester v West Brom
Watford v Leicester
Leicester v Newcastle
Crystal Palace v Leicester
Leicester v Southampton
Sunderland v Leicester
Leicester v West Ham
Leicester v Swansea
Man Utd v Leicester
Leicester v Everton
Chelsea v Leicester
The spuds too have got some tough games in their schedule so who knows football is a funny old game, you never know what you gonna get!
As for Stan and the board well we are just customers and nothing else. There is no one with any decent footballing knowledge on the board who knows the game inside out so as long as Arsene keeps making the dough they are happy with him I mean where the hell are they going to find another manager with same principles like Wenger?
Oops. No idea why I called you Trev, TTG. Put it down to senile myopia. Apologies to both of ya!
Oskar
@BtM/TTG: Not sure the commitment of the owner is a gage of success. Newcastle’s Ashley for starters. As for the Chelsea oligarch, his patience is about to be tested. For all his money he’s going to have a tough time convincing top players to join a mid-table club now, how long will his resolve last if they follow Liverpool’s path?
I agree with OTD. Another penalty, no question. I’m not sure about the red card, but I could see that given as well. I watched the linesman on the replay who seemed to be looking right at the play, but I could still see how that’s difficult to call at full speed. Otherwise, I thought one of the best referee performances of the season.
No excuses really. Our manager is washed up, and he knows it. Unfortunately for us, we couldn’t bring on Sanogo.
Interesting reactions here.
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/15205/10186292/paul-merson-arsenal-must-axe-arsene-wenger-if-leicester-or-tottenham-win-title
And here’s what’s so galling. Our manager seems dead set on picking undiscovered gems of footballers out of the wilderness to prove all the doubters that he knows best, this or just not buying anyone entirely. Sanogo, who I can almost understand as a free transfer, along with Chamakh, but neither had any real footballing talent, something the doubters could see in 15 minutes from the other side of the planet on a TV screen. AND somehow these no talent Frenchmen got on the field when Benik Afobe could not, nor could Joel Campbell (not exactly pulling up trees, but certainly utilitarian at worst). The same manager who stumbled upon the defensive midfield brilliance of Coquelin by sheer happenstance?
But it doesn’t end there. Kim Kallstrom? The broken-backed Swede who was supposed to shore up our midfield or something.
To be fair, others have worked out, but again, buying a Champions League quality player from Basel who you don’t really even trust to play in the Champions League ahead of the garbage fire that is Flamini is a complete waste.
On transfer policy alone the manager has lost it, and needs to go. Rip the band aid off, get in a new manager, and embrace the North London power shift that’s upon us already. It will be years in the wasteland of Europa cup or worse, but it looks like it just might be working for Leicester.
Matt Foley @ #144. Great post.
Bit of clarification, Chamakh is Moroccan who played in the French league, not a Frenchman.
But to finish yet another thought on our inscrutable transfer policy.
Wenger isn’t even managing to out value-shop everyone by keeping transfer costs down to 10m on average. He’s being shown how to do it by the likes of neophytes, upstarts, and archrivals, who are smashing it with value purchases under 1m, purchases made with the team tactics and talents in mind, not in patchwork, haphazard one-off buys that throw the whole squad out of balance.
By all means, don’t become United or City, but let’s not pretend that trading low transfer fees for high salaries is the answer because if we can’t sell on our underperformers (and who would buy our deadweight), we’re sorely lacking in managerial nous.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/12178564/Arsenal-to-hand-Arsene-Wenger-75m-war-chest-this-summer-to-bolster-fragile-defence-and-midfield.html
So it seems..
Ox out for six to eight weeks.. 🙁
To be frank, the way he was playing we won’t exactly feel his absence.
Problems with the site? Been down for much of the day.
@Cynic
Well he certainly was better than Theo on his current form..
😀
No complaint with that view, BB, but I would disagree 🙂
Theo’s been shit though and I think we should sell him. He’d be ideal for a team like Liverpool, who are wannabes, but we are The Arsenal and we’re not wannabes.
We’re has-beens 😉
(only joking but he’s not good enough to win titles. Not alone in that but he’s had ten years to make himself a legend and has failed)
Stan in Business Shocker – I’m always surprised when people are surprised – Never understood the fanfare for him all seemed a bit USA = Good. Russian = Bad when in all likelihood they were pretty much 2 peas from the same pod – Although I have a feeling the USSR pod may have spent a few quid more to achieve greater success and there by increase his profits, Football is a business and it stinks but that’s where we are I’m afraid 🙁
Let’s hope for two wins on the trot and everything will seem far brighter especially if West Ham do them too !!
Up The Arse,
ATG, The sleeper of a difficult fixture in your list is Sunderland v Leicester.
Sunderland in the middle of a relegation scrap, at home, facing a team that thinks subconsciously they are getting a little breather amid all the other difficult fixtures. Come on the Black Cats.
I believe today’s website problems are being caused by server compatibility issues with the statement “embrace the North London power shift that’s upon us already”.
Simply does not compute.
Robotronically yours,
N7
Steve, you’ve heard me say it so many times that I’m surprised you stayed awake long enough to respond 🙂 We, the bums on Emirates seats, SKY/BT/ROW tv viewers, and the sponsors who hope to promote their brands and sell more of their products are ALL Stan’s paying customers and he loves us to bits. We’re feathering that golden nest of his quite nicely.
I suspect he likes to see Arsenal success. It gives him something to brag about at his exclusive golf club and he must just love getting to sit beside our Royals at Wembley. Other than that it’s all about the money 🙁
Having said that, big success, repeated often (e.g. CL wins) is a money magnet – principally through more attractive sponsorship potential (through association with a winning brand – always assuming the Commercial unit is up to the mark). So Stan’s nipples will be hardened by the prospect of a little bit of that too.
Will the prospect of stiffened nipples mean that he’ll delve into his wallet, get involved personally, sit front and centre in the stand and cheer wildly, etc? Of-course not. He has people for that. He pays them very handsomely to the tune of paying out 90% of the 300M+ (less debt repayments) of Arsenal’s annual revenues. He slips Arsene alone 8M and, I don’t think he places any constraint on the amount of money that can be involved in buying and selling players – other than to demand that after all costs/depreciation, Arsenal earns at least one UK pound (and is therefore self-sustaining).
Arsenal’s finances are rock solid. Revenues are growing very nicely. Marketing has improved noticably. It’s a beautifully run business. That’s the owner and the management team’s role. I’m sure he and the board are VERY ambitious to see that continue. All of this sets the club up for success (with your weekly contribution for which Stan is eternally grateful).
The fact that, with huge freedom to act on footballing excellence, salaries costing 200M pa, revenues continuing to rise (now well above 300M) and increasingly available to the manager, the manager and team can’t win at the level that we fans and most of the board dream about can hardly be ALL the blame of a guy with a rug on his head :-).
It’s a business, Steve. It always has been. Sorry, mate 🙁
BtM, it has been business for a long time, but when it started and for a lot of years after that it was a passion, for the players, the manager and the owners. Maybe not for the last 50 years but certainly for the first 50 years. Furthermore there was clear passion among at least some of the board members until the Kroenke era.
@Cynic
Theo will probably only go when Arsene leaves..
..has-beens… haha! Pragmatist!
😀
Unpleasant image in BtM’s 156. Stan’s stiffened nipples. Yellow card. 😉
Heh @159. Ooo ‘er mrs! 🙂
Well ..without nipples.. breasts would be pointless…
I’ll show meself out……
😀
I saw the way that we played today
And I guess it’s all true what the pundits say
That we won’t ever win the title again
And we’re gonna blow the season like we blew the last ten
I guess you’d call it cowardice
But I’m not prepared to go on like this
I can’t, I can’t
I can’t stand losing
I can’t, I can’t
I can’t stand watching
I can’t, I can’t
I can’t
I can’t stand watching you
I can’t stand watching you
I can’t stand watching you
I can’t stand watching you
The midfield players are all cack
And we’re so fucking shaky at the fucking back
I can’t see the point in tippy-tappy play
And nobody listens to a word you say
You can call it lack of confidence
But to keep picking Walcott doesn’t make no sense
I can’t, I can’t
I can’t stand losing
I can’t, I can’t
I can’t stand watching
I can’t, I can’t
I can’t stand losing
I can’t, I can’t
I can’t stand watching
I can’t, I can’t
I can’t stand losing
I can’t, I can’t
I can’t stand watching
I guess your contract’s all but signed
And we’ll be falling far behind
Unless you spend some fucking cash
The football team will be total gash
I guess it’s football suicide
But you’re too full to swallow your pride
can’t stand watching you
(only a joke folks, don’t kill me)
I’ll be glued to a stream tomorrow the same as everybody else.
Gordon Sumner would approve!
😀
If I was managing Swansea I would tell my team to press Arsenal like crazy especially in the 1st 20 minutes, just to test their confidence. That being said I wonder how AW is preparing his troops for battle?
Stan only has one sporting passion and its Baseball all his other interests are business and business only im afraid, we are way down the list of Stans, give a shit about 🙂
In all honesty Stan is not the problem and I’d rather have someone like him than someone who wants to meddle all the time.
Imagine having a super rich Cellino owning this club.
I think we will only see what Stan is truly made of if and when we get a manager who demands more than Arsene Wenger does, and has the track record to be able to make such demands of the owner/board.
IF we ever get such a beast.
Is that a cynic original? It deserves a wider audience. 🙂
Anyone fancy West Brom helping us out tonight – 9/2 Seems a fair shout (First goal is crucial mind)may Treble them up wth Southampton and Everton for science 😉 And besides this is a new week so can only be better than the last one!
It’s always been a business. The difference is that all of those that have gone before us have had an emotional attachment to the club. The same as us fans. This is not about brand loyalty. If you get the hump with Tesco you shop somewhere else. This is a business that we are all emotionally attached to. That is why we feel the pain. The fact is that we can’t go anywhere. We can’t change our allegiances. It’s in us for life and for many has been ingrained since we were born. Most of those in charge in previous years would have had the same connection. You really can’t say that today. Again, as I’ve said before. The priorities of the board and the priorities of us fans I think are two vastly different commodities.
Enjoyed that, Cynic. 😀
“And besides this is a new week so can only be better than the last one!”
I’ll have some of what Chippy is drinking please, barman. 😀
It is, H but it’s best sung in a bar like this where nobody will feel like beating me to death
Or at least where nobody who feels like it will say so 😀
Stan has other sporting teams under his portfolio. Guess what team is Tim Howard going to play for when he returns “home”? A team owned by Stan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Kroenke
Good stuff, Cynic.
Before 1984 there were strict FA rules restricting the payment of directors/chairman etc.; the payment of dividends to shareholders and the disposing of a club’s assets .
This effectively forced that lot into the position of being custodians of the clubs they owned/part owned. (They may’ve been irritating egotists in it for their greater glory, and/or the glory of the club they supported/grew up near, or had businesses close to etc. – but they almost certainly weren’t in it for the money.)
Then in 1984 one Irving Scholar floated a lily-white turd (s***s) on the stock market, the FA turned a blind-eye – and the game was changed.
So, in short, BTM, it was never quite ever thus: Football clubs could not be run as an ordinary business.
This might help explain why some of us, who are sadly old enough to remember yesteryear, feel that some football things have turned a bit shit, and that, that may indicate that there is still much stuff re the beautiful game that is headed in the direction of the crapper. Or, maybe this particular era is nothing more than a historical interlude, and once s***s have been universally identified as the root of all evil and expunged from the football landscape forever, we can get back to a promised football land that never really was, and was never really promised.
UTA!
Feels dirty cheering on a Pulis team doesn’t it ?
Hehe, fair enough cynic. I think most would chuckle. I know I did. 🙂
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