Pass The Salt
Mar 15th, 2008 by 'holic
Humble pie doesn’t taste good at the best of times. On top of a large helping of Guinness it is even less appreciated. What sticks in the throat even more is that it shouldn’t even be on the menu.
Did we play well? No, of course we didn’t, but we were the only side attempting to provide anything close to what might be loosely called football. Did Middlesbrough deserve the point for their ‘backs to the wall’ performance. Possibly, though I wonder how many of those who made the trip from the north-east would have considered the performance value for money if the big decisions had gone the right way?
Therein lies the rub. Let’s get one thing straight before I contradict myself. I think referees these days have a really difficult job. For the most part the game is quicker than it has ever been, and the officials will never make the same leap in speed and fitness. Players, I believe, are looking to gain unfair advantage far more than they used to in the days before the financial rewards became so huge. Television can analyse and highlight every little mistake the officials make because every big game is now covered from every angle.
Now there is the word of the day, mistake. The first arrived less than five minutes in when Boateng set up Adebayor and the big man netted impressively. Just yards away Mark Halsey had an uninterrupted view of the incident and got the offside decision wrong. That is more than a simple mistake. The wrong application of the rules is pure incompetence.
From then on it just got worse and worse for him. Boateng fouled Adebayor, and was awarded the free-kick from which the offside Aliadiere helped himself to the opening goal. Judgement calls rather than incompetence.
One wonders if he was alerted to the error of his ways during the interval. I can think of no other reason for the visitors not getting a free-kick, rather than Arsenal earning the corner from which the equaliser arrived, in somewhat pinball fashion, via the head of Kolo Toure.
Had the game finished 1-0, as it should, I suspect we would still have had to accept though that this Arsenal side is clearly not firing on all cylinders. Massed defences are not being unlocked in the way that they were earlier in the season, and in that fact lies the hope for what is to come.
Manchester United, Chelsea, and Liverpool will all show more ambition than some of those we have faced of late. Starting at Stamford Bridge next week we face a number of games where the opponents should come out to play and that may suit us down to the ground.
Thankfully Robin van Persie got a game under his belt today, and how he looked like he needed it. I would also like to see his best mate in the sick bay, Tomas Rosicky, back for the remainder of the season. Without him the burden of creativity is starting to weigh heavily on Alex Hleb’s shoulders.
‘It doesn’t go for us at the moment’, said Arsene Wenger. You can say that again! Think back to the start of the season. The glass is still half-full for me, but we need to rediscover the winning habit, and fast. Chelsea and Liverpool would still like to be where we are, but if we are not careful that’s exactly where one of them could be!
53 Responses to “Pass The Salt”
its too late for rosicky now. if he comes back, it will take him 5 games to get back to speed because he has missed so many games. then he will probably get injured again. I think we need to accept a run in without Rosicky. but this team looks like it has run out of ideas at totally the wrong time. walcott looked good when he came on. hungry at least.
i bet risicky plays in the summer with his country in the euro’s
What a day – and how many still want Eboue to leave – best player on the pitch until Theo – maybe his ban has taught him a lesson!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It can still be ours you know!!
Another view fans – our blip has been, maybe the russians and mancs still have theirs to come………. and the pool, when we woop them in CL… just a thought, and maybe a cunning plan………………
Its all a fix – the winners of Prem & CLalready know who they are!!
If you think Chel$ki will not sit back and defend like boro you are wrong. They try to score 1 goal and then defend their lead.
Rico they’ve already had theirs we just have to hope thats ours finished with. We tend to do better in the big games so lets hope we can win them all.
Were you at the game ‘holic?
It’s over for Arsenal any way you look at it. The refs are never going to give the flair players a decent chance and Wegner blew it big time when he thought he could replace a Henri with an average goal poacher out of the Croatian league. Basically with what they have they’ve done enough.
Wenger is a idiot for not getting quality players to help the team during the transfer market and we are paying for it.
This (EDIT, HOLIC, Cut the crap Danny) git is hindering the dam team, by not buying
we will not win anything with this idiot in charge
ade, hielb are average palyers and RVP will never be a consistent goalscorcer. How many times has he score 2 or mores goals in row – Never, so forget the notion that he will win us games
todays games showed that we are not good enough and just wait until we get pissed on by the bigger boys.
Quite simple, we are the best in the world at three quarters of the pitch. BUT, we still lack the clinical and creative flair to carve through their defense to finish it off. There is this thing that the boys do when they are around the box and could go for a long strike, it’s like pass the hot potato, no one wants to take the responsibility to go for one of those shots, and 9 times out of ten they end with nothing anyways. I think My Wenger needs to focus on the last quarter of the pitch, SCORING GOALS, we are the best at the rest.
I still haven’t got it off my chest yet. What is Wenger’s motives? Is it to win cups or to show how amazing a coach he is by spending very little money? Why do we not have some big name fucking players? People who can close a game? With 70 Million to spend he still won’t fucking do anything!! He wants to keep it a team and is afraid of having an Henry style Arsenal again where one player feels better than the other. FUCK THAT! He is the manager and he should be the one to tell these people to cut that shit out..It’s time to fucking get angry, not to be the zen professor. ENOUGH IS FUCKING ENOUGH!!!!
Lads we still played better than man U or Chelsea all is not lost.
If we had of had the rub of the green ( refs decisions) we wouldn’t have this reaction.
Referees always give poor decisions against us we need to win by 10 clear points in a fair world you must know that since 91″.
Wenger has been placed on pedestal.
Jose Morinho is right to say, what the naf has wenger done lately
I don’t know about you, but I want to win cups now. Don’t give a fick about placing pretty circle passing, just SHOOT for once
Wenger is at fault. The board is also at fault, endorsing him, because theya re making mone and he not don’t job in spend
Hansen is also right , these so called kids will not win anything
We need a owner to tell the coach, enough is enough, I want results NOW
Hello everyone, been reading this blog for a while but not posted before, I now feel that I have too.
Just got back from the game (and a few consoling beverages…)
We did not play well today but we did play well enough to beat middlesborough, unfortunately we were robbed by absolutely amateur, incompetent decisions.
Ade’s goal should have stood 100%, no argument.
Alliadiere’s goal shouldn’t, he was offside when the ball was played, again 100%, no argument.
Again, I say we did NOT play well, do not think this is sour grapes or a defence of the performance, I only want to highlight the FACTS.
(see above).
I feel compelled to post today soley to answer Danny and his post above.
Do you have a season ticket Danny?
Have you ever even been to The Grove?
Actually, have you ever been to see any Arsenal game?
I would like to put this in somewhat more of an intellectual way but I’m afraid that that wouldn’t quite justify what I have to say.
You, my CUNT of a friend are a CUNT.
(EDIT) And that is quite enough of that, thanks.(EDIT)
Danny totally agree.
I have been to every home game for the last three years and enough is enough.
We will never win things consistently with Arsene
erm… our performance was far from laudable but to question Arsene? I don’t know… to me, Wenger is still our best signing. Ever.
Very few ppl here knows about football. Can anyone name any team who hasn’t gone through patches like this….All we need is to support them, they re not happy drawing games, so think before you talk. We need to show our support and i am quite confident that this great team would achieve silverware come may…..Plzz note todays date. 15/03/08.
Right, let’s understand a couple of things here. You are responsible for what you type, not me. If I see any more religious nonsense I’m just going to shut the comments down until you have had a chance to sober up and grow up!
If you want to be critical then go ahead and show yourselves up, but abusive is another matter. Is that clear?
Looks like Asenal must beat Liverpool, Chelsea and Man U to win champions league and must beat Chelsea, Liverpool and Man U to win Prem. Tall order with the team not on form!
GoonerXXX your not giving the man some credit. He is an amazing manager, he just needs to change his perspective. Stop being such a heart filled nurturer of talent start being more of a cuthroart businessman. After all this is a business, yes this is art, but it is also the business of winning. The cunt Furgie has it in spades, he is a scrapper. Arsene needs that, time to get dirty. I believe he can do ti though.
Tall order indeed! But I know we can do it if we can find the right path again. We need Dudu in the dressing room.
I genuinely appologise if I went overboard or offended anyone in my last post (I notice the edit).
But to say Weger is a “jewish git” as Danny did before is absolutley not on.
I feel that neither the C word or my (tongue in cheek) hopes for Danny’s demise are as offensive as Danny’s racism.
If people honestly feel that swearing is more offensive than anti-semitism then I apologise for being insensitive.
OK
We are on equal points with Man U with 8/9 games to go respectively.
We still have to play Man U.
If we win our remaining games we win the league.
That is not to say we WILL win the league just that we are in a very good position to do so. How many of us would have taken the position we are in now at the start of the season?
In the big picture we are over achieving this season.
The reason we are feeling shit about it all at the moment is due to recent form. But (as I once heard Bobby Robson say) form is temporary, class is permanent.
It only takes us to beat Chelsea and Bolton to be held by Bolton or Liverpool for everything to be rosy again.
This may or may not happen but I assure you that it is far from over and things can change very quickly.
In the above Scenario things could seem very different in a week.
But it may be the next game that things change, or the game after.
The point is that there’s a long way to go and we shouldn’t panic or draw any conclusions just yet.
Form is temporary, class is permanent.
As an Arsenal Fan I Want Trophies.
I do not want the manager talking about pretty football, or belief in the team. Who gives a shit I want results!
I think wenger does well with the players he has, he gets the most out of them, but their most isnt good enough. And neither are they!
I want players in the team with more heart, spirits like demons that see the other players on the pitch as enemies and will do anything to beat! Players that might even try running into the box and shooting. Nobody runs into the box and shoots!
If I hear hear wenger bang on about saving the clubs money and not buying players worth 20 million that can actually run into the box and shoot again then I have heards the words of a manager with no respect for the fans!
Your time is running short wenger fix up and clear your own shit up!
Very few heavy comments on here…
A draw is not good enough simple as that, we really need to pick up our form now. We may not deserved to draw today be we certainly did not streth them well enough we should have killed the game off early in the game instead we passed the about without great meaning. Our form has dropped we dont play the nice quick football we did at the begining of the season not sure why we dipped so much now. It’s time for us to change this around now, this is the time to show what we’re made of, and if we have anything to show for now is certainly the time.
Chavski next up come on guys stand by your team not against them and remember Arsene is not responsible for all this I’m sure he wanted to win this game for all of us too. He’s a great manager and unfortunately our boys did not do very well today.
Keep it Arsenal!
Gooner, I’ve been reading your blog for a while now. Sad to see some of these posts. We’re entitled to our opinions but let’s not get overly negative, not to mention abusive.
On today’s game,
– We got ROBBED! Agreed on what Gooner said in the article. Can’t put it in a better way myself. We got robbed 2 points against Birmingham, than this. Even though we were lucky to have 1 point against Villa, we’re still been robbed 3 points – which means we would still have been at the top had those decisions gone the right way.
– It only means that while we didn’t play well, neither did ManU. In this part of the season, everyone’s struggling, trying to cope with the tough fixture lists.
– We didn’t play well. We lacked the cutting edge that got us goals earlier in the season.
– Eboue’s been getting some stick lately (in some cases rightly so), but he had a decent game today, probably his best performance in a while.
– Hleb and Ade have been carrying the team the whole season. They looked like they’re running out of ideas. Especially when Rosicky’s out all the time, the burden on them has been too heavy.
– RvP, Kolo and Theo looked great after being out. It’d naturally take a bit of time for RvP and Ade to get back that understanding. But this game showed a few more good signs between them than the short spell when RvP came on against Wigan.
Looking forward,
– You guys were right in saying that what lies ahead is tough. But if you look at ManU’s and Chelsea’s fixture lists, they aren’t easy either. They could drop points against teams like Liverpool, Everton, Blackburn, Spurs and Villa as much as we could/did.
– Arsene’s right in saying that it boils down to who’s better on the day in the CL games. It applies to the league games too at this stage of the season. I think we’re slowly picking up from the low point we hit at Birmingham.
– With games coming thick and fast, any team could get injuries or suspensions so you just never know. BTW, Belletti, Carragher, Evra, Gallas, Lampard, Ronaldo, Vidic are on 4 yellow cards now, so it’s not beyond the realm of possibilities that some of the key players have to sit out some key games. Arbeloa, Ballack, Cashley, Joe Cole, Drogba, Eboue, Gerrard, Hleb, Mikel, Torres, Kolo on 3. Cesc on 8. (Got these figures on premierleague.com, the numbers might not be updated with today’s happenings, e.g. Eboue picked up a yellow card at the end of our game.)
Sorry for the long post. Let’s keep our perspective – and faith!
Gooner, keep up the good work!
All season we have played beyond our means with Ade scoring 19 and Cesc providing 7 in the EPL. Rosicky, Eduardo and RVP who were being counted on for their share of goals have been limited due to injury. Hlieb will never be a prolific goal scorer and need not be one with the correct squad balance.
It’s now crunch time and the true tale is being told, all the puzzle pieces have not been assembled as yet. We needed a “GOOD†extra squad player who could score goals and although Anelka was available we looked the other way, perhaps because of his history, although he never displayed those symptoms at Bolton in the twilight of his career.
The much maligned Eboue probably deserved the MOTM award and Bendtner was Bendtner, an arrogant, young, potentially brilliant striker who has not yet arrived, but who thinks he has. We rag on Ade now but he was a hero to all when the goals were coming. Question! Where would we be now without his 19 in the back of the net? Answer! Nowhere.
The season always seems to even itself out time and the best team normally wins. We do not have the world class depth at this time and unfortunately it’s now rearing it’s ugly head. Forget about the disallowed goal, we had enough chances to overcome and if we had enough class we would have won the game. Manu always seems to find that winning goal when it’s required as shown by their triumph over Derby earlier today. Liverpool and Chelsea managed to accomplish that also and Arsenal was left feeling like the perennial bridesmaid.
For us to question Arsene is like a mere mortal seeking perfection. It will never happen. As with all other managers, Arsene has his weaknesses but also has many strengths which has allowed us to be one of the top teams in the world with a limited budget. NO other MANAGER in the history of European football has done so much for football with so little. He has reinvented the art of “Jugo Bonito”, the beautiful game, and there is no other club team in the world I would rather watch, win or lose, than the “Young Guns”.
To all the arm chair coaches and fair weather fans who deem to use profanities and racist retorts to justify their anger at not demolishing every team standing in our path, calm down, take a deep breath, exhale and just enjoy the joy, heartaches not withstanding, of good football. Whatever happens, I will alway be proud of Arsenal for their showing this year, the quality of football exhibited and proud of the youngsters for their coming of age. However, the future holds more trophy promises and hopefully Arsene will seek to tweak the few remaining pieces of the glorious puzzle.
As they say in the Caribbean:
NUFF SAID
Yes Halsey was appalling but then he always is.
Add Dean, Riley, Wiley, et al to the mix and we always face an uphill battle. Yes it’s a difficult job but the fact they’re all a bunch of cunts doesn’t help.
Yes we’re biased, but if the mancs suffered the refereeing we recieve every week AF would have been dead of a heart attack long ago.
But we know what to expect and the team has to live with it and work around it since the Club apparently won’t take any positive action. Personally I would sue the fucking FA and their minions for some of the shit we’ve had to put up with over the years but that’s another can of worms.
The real concern has to be that at this time of year the great Arsenal sides have been gearing themselves up for a charge to the title whilst this one has now turned in 4 very poor draws in a row, tossed away a 5 pt lead and appear utterly clueless as to how to turn it around.
Extenuating circumstances just won’t wash, other than perhaps Birmingham. What was the problem today – rain? or the other standby; thinking of Europe?
AW is a great manager but he’s not perfect. Diarra was a tosser but had he been played wide right instead of the wretched Eboue (and yes, he was better today) he might still be here and providing a useful contribution.
We seem to have been plagued by injuries for the last 3 or 4 seasons so surely Wenger knows a stronger/bigger squad is required but no one is bought.
And there remains the lack of plan B. This doesn’t have to be route 1, although that might help – as per Goodison.
The biggest failing at present is the lack of width and penetration. Theo aside the team has a total aversion to getting behind teams and whipping in low crosses (or even high ones if Bendtner’s about).
Instead we cut back, pass across the box, pass it all the way back again, pass and pass . . . and then lose it.
Pass. pass, pass. All the time. When we’re on song it’s great but at the moment we’re not and it just slows the game down allowing the likes of Boro to get men behind the ball and then we try to force it.
We need pace, we need width and we need players who will take on defenders, make them commit and create space. Not convinced Kolo should have played today but at least he did that (and scored!) and, for once, so did Eboue.
That AW can’t see this is a major concern as is his selective approach to games.
League Cup? send out the kids. FA Cup? can’t really be arsed with that either send out kids or if forced through injuries send out senior players and tell them not to bother. EPL? yeah we want that but there’s also the Holy Grail of the Champs League so if the players become distracted by that it’s understandable.
Oh and I’d better rotate even though it doesn’t work and, fucking internationals aside, a lot of injuries seem to coincide with players coming back cold from a “rest”
Seems to me that if you don’t set out to win everything with the best players available you risk winning nothing and that’s exactly where we are heading.
San Siro = Brilliant; but given the choice between a 4-0 drubbing there and wins in our last 4 league games or that win and 4 crap draws I know what I’d take.
In adopting a selective approach AW sends out the message that it’s ok if the team do the same and we are paying the price.
40 years on from my 1st visit to Highbury I cannot remember a time when I actually wanted a season to be over when, ostensibly, we are still in with a chance or winning one or both of the “Big Two”. My visit to The Grove today was just so fucking depressing I just want it over.
I truly hope I’m wrong but despite our league position and the CL I just don’t see us winning anything.
Prediction: 3rd in the league and out to the scouse and at that point surely there must be a serious re-appraisal of why we’ve fucked up so badly when it was all within our grasp.
‘Boro played well and wanted it more.
Arsene knows, so the rest of you armchair beerguts who whine can piss off.
Cmon’ you Gunners, we can still win this, here….
amid all the gloom, i still feel we can win it. The introduction of van persie give us another dimension and opponents dun know where we are coming at them from. The next few games starting with chelski will see better performances. Up the Arse!
“Boro played well”
are you f**king kidding me.. They hardly played anything. They lay in their half the entire game, got one lucky goal then simply run down the clock. There’s nothing to show that they wanted it more. I don’t know where you are coming from
We are better than Chelsea and the scousers. That’s why they are playing catch up.
sorry about the swearing, but i stick with what i said. Wenger is a cunt for screwing up the season
we badly needed experience and quality to supplement the squad, but he runs the club as its his money
spend teh dosh mate, for once no a proven striker and winger
all we do is run pretty circles and never shoot.
helb , roscky, and ade are poor players
this season we overachieved and i see the team falling in front of my eyes. i balme Wenger.
btw, jonny1leg , you are a toser. i am a season ticket holder and see and been to more games in the last 15yrs
What a classy poise of a finish by Aliadiere. Reminds me of that same pose against WBA 5-2 a few years back. Good for him.
As a supporter I’m not worried about trophies at all. I’m more worried about the mistimed rush of passes and the return of the discomposure in front of goal.
When we play to our best, even losing means nothing.
all these rants for the team that has lost just once?
i don’t know what will satisfy you fake fans!!
and i doubt if many doubting thomases have ever kicked a ball
keep the faith !!!
hahhaah my friends take it easy. Untill now its not so bad. They lose just one game and all of you should be honest we even didnt wait for better results. This is team with some good players but our bench is very poor we should accept this. If Wenger dont want spend for key players like Benzema, Quaresma, Ribery he knows that is very dificult won the premier league with this number of good players and in season with too many games. I hope they will done good in champions league even there are top clubes arsenal will not need just to attack like in games in premier leageu when teams like Boro , Villa or Wigan are coming here and enjoy with draw. But even now still is open everything. Games of big fours will decide everything.
I’d like to know how much halsey got paid, and by whom.
Wenger said after the game
“Yes, the referee explained to me that the intention of our player was to play the ball to one of our players, who was offside, so the deflection of the ball doesn’t count anymore. I didn’t know that but, at least I learned something today.”
So now apparently it’s all about “intent”.
So if our player didn’t “intend” to be offsides, but was, it shouldn’t be given as offside then by this “logic”?
Likewise, mido apparently didn’t “intend” to takeGael’s head off.
I don’t recall RvP “intending” to kick that FC Thun player in the face either, but he still got a red card and 3 game ban, and there was no complaint from Arsenal about that.
Howver, heskey apparently also never “intended” to catch Senderos full in the chest with his studs, but apparently that was only a second (and according to him and the media) “unwarranted” yellow?!?!?!!
So Arsenal can apparently get pulled up for “intent” on anything? Maybe we”, start getting fouls and cards against us for “looking at the ref in a funny way” sometime soon?
halsey is a cheat. I suspect he’s backed by the fa inthis.
Message to danny – You’re a twat! An incredible twat at that!
You don’t deserve a season ticket, you can’t even spell properly. On what basis are Hleb, Rosicky and adebayor bad players? I bet you weren’t saying that a few months ago. A few bad performances and you’re questioning Wengers position at the club as he wasn’t the best thing that ever happened to Arsenal? YOU ARE A TWAT
I bet you’ll all be taking back what you all just said when we beat Chelsea next week.
because we supporters moan does not mean we don’t care i have been supporting arsenal since 1943 and i care just as much if not more than any manager arsenal has been my life not just a stint in the middle of it i think wenger is going the same way as george graham unable to motivate and looking for excuses he hardly got off bench yesterday has he already given up
i would agree Ade is not good enough, but never Hleb and Rosicky.
Hope we have calmed down a bit this morning folks! Garrett, welcome, I’m pretty sure I have stood with someone of that name, North Bank, Clock End, and elsewhere, many moons ago. If it’s you I’m glad to see you are ok.
Please, “As an Arsenal Fan I Want Trophies.” So do we all fella, but there are only a handful of trophies and a fistful of good sides after them. If it were all about trophies then the likes of Garrett and I wouldn’t even have started going to Arsenal in the first place. We were a shambles at times in the sixties, seventies, and eighties, but we were still ‘The Arsenal’.
I understand for the younger supporters today who have only known the Wenger decade it is frustrating not to be beating everybody in sight, but Wenger will probably be the first to tell you, you have to learn to lose before you can win. Cheer up for Christ’s sake.
oh..keep the faith ,guys………..
Well said Jimmy – Danny, you’re a mug mate.
I was suicidally depressed at the final whistle but all-in-all, I am extremely happy with this season when you consider what was said before a ball was kicked.
Dawn French isn’t warbling yet and there’s still a lot of football left to play. On the whole I disagree with the negative comments above, although I can understand a few of them. (Ade & Eboue immediately spring to mind)
In saying that, anyone asking for Wenger’s head is an absolute twat and should fuck off and support the Chavs. You have to take the good with the bad and if anyone can propose a better manager for Arsenal then I might listen.
I’ve supported Arsenal man-and-boy since 1972 and he is by far the best thing that has ever happened to the club. Of course, if you want to change managers as often as the Scum and have 20+ years of crap football, then you’re just fickle mugs and have no place supporting Arsenal. I suspect a lot of the people posting here only started supporting the Arsenal in the late 90s and I suspect you’d change allegance with the weather. If you’d supported the club through the 70’s and early 80s you’d realise just how good we have it at the moment.
Danny, I apologise for my rant.
I personally have no problem with your swearing (I was guilty of that myself). You are entitled to your opinion, you may think or say about him whatever you wish but why stoop to racsim? An apology for that would be appropriate.
Wenger has been an incredible manager for us, I wouldn’t want to swap him for anyone else.
All teams go through these patches and although 4 draws on the trot is not great we are still in a strong position and more than capable of putting a good run together.
At half time yesterday I said to the friend that I sit with that coming back to win from being behind may be more beneficial for the rest of the season than an easy win. Alas, it wasn’t to be and in all honesty I think a lot of people left the stadium thinking that we’d blown the title. Even during the game people around me were saying “Today’s the day we’ve lost it”.
There seems to be a bit of a confidence problem with the boys at the moment but that can and hopefully will change very quickly.
The “big” games that are coming up tend to suit us, the opposition will look to play rather than just defend and I believe that we can out play anyone that actually wants to play the game.
Another reassuring point is that Utd have slipped very quickly whenever they have got on top this year so let’s wait and see what happens with them on Wednesday and Sunday.
Hopefully Van Persie will be looking a bit less rusty by Sunday as well.
One last thing, the atmosphere in the last half an hour yesterday was great, let’s keep getting behind the team and showing our faith and support in the last few matches at home. In a lot of way’s WE are the players confidence (or lack of it) so let’s let them know that we beleive that they can do it.
Keep the faith guy’s, we’ve got a great future ahead of us.
I agree with many of the comments here, Wenger is a good manager and has achieved a lot with soo little money but time has come and he needs to change. He needs to buy few experienced quality players rather than school boys. It is not as if there is any lack of money. Every year we have injuries and by now Wenger should know what is needed. Players are sluggish and tired as they cannot be rested as we do not have depth of players. Wenger is a great manager but as everyone, he also needs to change his ways. We all like to see good footbal being played but sometimes one needs to be ruthless and finish games off. The players need to play as they did at San Siro all the time, that is what they are paid to do. I fear that our season is lost for the year.
Hold on, if the referee had have made the right decisions in the Birmingham game and yesterdays we would have been 4 points ahead of Man U.
This is the strongest league in the world and we are in second place we are rebuilding a team that has lost Henry, Pires, Vieria, Ljungberg in the last few years.
We have the best stadium in the country, bringing in the most money on a mathchday
Chelsea cannot buy the league every year spending £500 million on experienced players and losing £75 million a year.
I have supported Arsenal since before the first double and I am ashamed of the reaction to Arsene wenger from some of the gloryhunting supporters. if we win nothing this season it we have done better than I expected for the next two years.
Trust in Arsene and the board they want to win as much as us they have money tied up in the club as well, lets not go down the Newcastle and Spurs route.
Arsenal are not just for Christmas!
I can only say watching Middlesboro play yesterday reminded me of Arsenal of old.. Wheater = Tony Adams. The comparisons are obvious.
As a spurs supporter I find it rather funny that you are falling back on arguments we would regularly use to excuse our in ability to finish off teams having played the better fooball.. Our trip to PSV comes to mind.
The last player to touch the ball .. argument on the offside is tough one.
If the player was offside when the ball was played by his team mate and the intention was to create an advantage, if the ball is inadvertently deflected by the opposing player to your offside player, then your player is still offside.
If Boatang was intentionally playing the ball your player has the advantage..
Harsley got it right in my opinion..
The goal at the other end was right also, even though I do not agree with the interpretation of the law.
As for the guy using abusive language cut it out!!
Your wish is my command Cus!
The post from the worlds first living brain donor is no more.
ok, ok , enough of the rant
i have supported the Arse since 71, and see arsenal more then most of you guys had hot dinners.
i am just pissed at wenger for not buying quality players to supplement the team. He has done this for the last 5 yrs.
we need a killer up front and in the front office , as i belive this team has blow this title race and have no chance with a rampant pool team
Ade misses chances like anything and helb needs to be a ice dancer, as all he does , is go in circles and never shoots. a poor player
Thanks for the namecheck ‘holic, and, yes, we may well have crossed paths in our 110 (?) combined years!
Totally agree with your comments as to the good and bad times. It’s just sooooo frustrating that, what is potentially one of our best ever teams, has been allowed to lose it’s way.
Certainly not calling for AW to be sacked and anyone who still claims Ade, Hleb and Rosicky are crap – well words fail me. As has been said by others, grow up or support the chavs.
Still concerned at the one dimensional nature of our play and the feeling that AW’s other weakness is being too “nice” when the team actually needs a good kicking – but not in the Taylor way.
Speaking of which, even the presence of Eduardo on Saturday couldn’t inspire the team – or the supporters who clapped nicely and then went back to sleep. What does it take?
After 40 years I don’t expect to win everything, or anything for that matter, but it is hard to see us piss away the opportunity that this season has presented.
p.s fair post from Cusop. In the main I agree with his analysis – this result was nobody’s fault but our own – although I think he’s wrong on both counts.
I won’t prolong the debate but, as everyone knows, the problem is that offside has become a “make it up as you go along” rule and I don’t think anyone knows what it means any more, least of all the refs and linos.
What he does not mention is how Halsey also got it spectacularly wrong again for our “scoring” corner, which was clearly a foul to boro.
Basically Halsey is a complete tosser and if he declared the Earth was a globe I’d join the Flat Earth Society.
Still doesn’t excuse this performance though . . . .
Deja vu. I see the same comments as last season (and earlier this season when we went through our blip) – we need width, star signings, blah blah blah. Extremely disappointing.
Its good to know that there are still a lot of reasonable voices out there, who are disappointed with the performance, as I am, but can still see things in the right perspective. The season is far from over, but whatever happens from here, I can say that this team has exceeded my expectations.
Hey “holic, looks like I have a few blogs to read now.
Have a great Paddy’s day and don’t overdo the dark nectar.
I certainly had many pints of that black stuff over the past weekend.
Cheers
Waaaah, I want trophies, waaaah. I pay for my sky sports subscription and Wenger owes me a win in every game as a result. Seriously, some people on here really need a reality check. If I were Prime Minister, In would make it law that whingeing tarts like you (you know who you are) were forced to take season tickets at Barnet for at least three years. We don’t have a divine right to win anything, to demand trophies is a really crass mixture of arrogance and pathetic stupidity. I bet you all sit there yelling at your microwaves because they won’t cook your ready meals fast enough. Criticism is one thing, Wenger probably should have bought someone who can play on the left and stay fit for five minutes, but is that really a good reason to start calling for his head? Those producing posts calling him every name under the sun are doing nothing but revealing their own horrible inadequacies and insecurities. And the twat who claims to be a season ticket holder, do us all a favour mate, give it up and give it to someone who deserves it.
Well, this has all been very entertaining. I’m stuck in Sri Lanka and miss most of the matches, including the Middlesbore one – but with the quality of ananlysis provided in this post and thread, who needs to see the games?
I do like a bit of sweariness so keep it up, but everyone should have zero-tolerance on anti-semitism so danny, whoever and wherever you are, learn yourself a fucking lesson, mate. Ta.
You can talk about this player and that player but I feel that we’re missing just one part of the puzzle. When you look at the great sides, you see leaders everywhere. It’s the one thing I’ve always grudgingly admired about Lord Ferg’s teams (wash my mouf out wiv soap an water). They’re ruthless, they refuse to lose.
We don’t have leaders, apparently we have team spirit and self-belief instead. I’m pretty sure Ferg sniggers whenever he hears Wenger talk about team spirit – it sounds pretty amateur. As for the self-belief, if the manager feels the need to praise it as often as he does, he sends a signal that it needs reinforcing.
I remember once Steve Cram saying that at the start of every 1500m final there are a bunch of guys who believe they can win, and just one guy who knows it. We’re not that guy yet.
But Wenger has his way of doing things, and there’s no point wishing he would do things otherwise cos then he wouldn’t be Wenger. And I wouldn’t swap him for Ferg in a month of bank holiday mondays.
if we had fergie , we would have won more titles.
what you guys want more EPL title, CL or play pretty circles around the pitch
With this coach, we will not win anymore, because of his obession of the winning with kids.
All we need is 3-4 quality , experienced players to supplement the team and get rid of the useless crap we have in helb, ade, eboure and song
and above all, remove Gallas as captain. Give to anyone except him