A Bad Week Gets Worse For Arsenal
Nov 1st, 2008 by 'holic
That was an afternoon to forget. Still we haven’t played any of the better sides in the Premiership, but after the debacles against Fulham and Hull we were supposed to have learned lessons. Well we had a resit this afternoon and once again failed the examination. If you have come here looking for a balanced and sympathetic view, sorry. This week has taken its toll, even of me.
Stoke didn’t even have to play well to win, and they didn’t. Arsenal were unhinged by the totally unexpected tactic of Rory Delap hurling throw-ins into the box. Who would have seen that coming, eh? Kolo Toure failed to deal with the first in only the tenth minute, and we were behind courtesy of the merest flick-on from Fuller.
Seventeen minutes remained when another one was allowed across the box by a non-existant defence and the home side scrambled a second through Olofinjana. What increased the embarrassment was the fact that Arsenal had surrendered all width in order to field four central midfielders, presumably to combat this very tactic?
That frankly staggering selection also contributed to an inability to get back into the contest. Two big strikers lumbered around up front waiting for crosses that would never arrive. Adebayor in particular gave the impression of losing all interest in the contest the more he got kicked. Bendtner had a day where the ball was just bouncing off him.
Salt was well and truly rubbed into the gaping wound when substitute van Persie announced his arrival with a stunning display of petulance. True, Sorenson made a little too much of a foolish charge, but the red card was as inevitable as it was downright bloody stupid. Hopefully he will be relieved of his next two weeks handsome salary as well as the opportunity to face Manchester United next week. That may hurt us more than the loss of points today.
More pain was to follow as Theo Walcott, a second-half substitute for Bacary Sagna, was scythed down by Delap and was stretchered off with yet another shoulder injury. Despite being down to nine players the Gunners got a consolation when Gael Clichy’s shot took a couple of deflections and found the corner of the net.
The coming days will see us scouring the reports of the wounded, walking or otherwise. We should be able to find eleven players who can get a result against the notoriously poor travellers of Fenerbahce on Wednesday, but the prospect of facing Manchester United without Sagna, Adebayor, and Walcott, as well as van Idiotsie, is a worrying one.
The mental scars may be more of a concern than the physical ones. Manager and captain will earn their corn this week if we are to see some sort of spirit return in time for next Saturday’s massive clash. A week that has seen us lose five points out of six to probably the worst two sides in the Premiership needs to be expunged from the memory, and quickly.
40 Responses to “A Bad Week Gets Worse For Arsenal”
triple scotch, triple vodka, 2 pints of beer mixed with guiness, a bottle of red, 12 cans of red bull and a coca cola please al.
dear me. this doesn’t hurt as much as spurs, but it is embarrassing.
arsene, i’m afraid has got this season all wrong. we lack strength in defence and midfield and his tactics today were utterly hopeless.
we should have gone and taken the game to stoke and said, ‘you may score 3, but we will score 4 or 5’. for some reason it seems as though we went there to try to stop them scoring from throw ins.
it didnt work and we lost.
just watching liverpool beating the totts and they will go 9 clear,but what is annoying is that this WEEK last year we went to anfield and give them a masterclass and we where where only going to get better i was told!!! by our manager what is going on then???
Going into this season I was a bit concerned about the power in this side, power meaning hard tackling, etc… After today’s loss I’m definitly not even thinking about the title all that concerns me is Villa creeping up on the 4th place position and snatching it from us and Uefa cup calls for us in 09/10… Not to mention Citeh making the cash splash in the Jan. Transfer window and they too could be pulling our puds for 4th… Seriously I do not think we will beat Man’ure next week nor Chelski when we face them, for me it’s a sad Saturday to watch my beloved Gunners go down to the mighty Stoke (gulp!)
we are in serious trouble and anyone who does not think so is kidding themselves.
not strengthening when the transfer window was open and wenger’s insistance to stick with players that are just not good enough, will cost us big time !
I feel physically ill. I can’t believe how quickly things have unraveled. I know we need to get behind the team and the manager now, but I frankly don’t think they deserve it. This season is over already. Wenger is too stubborn to realize that this team has so many issues and won’t win the league. Ugh. I can’t believe this.
wenger in my mind made a big mistake in giving gallas the captaincy for starters,what is very clear arsenal do need a commanding experiened central defender and they also need dm a leader the only leader arsenal have fab and that huge amount of presure to put on such a young player,i must say i am very dis appointed with the young players i thought they be more mature and would grown up, but that has not happend,in fact they look to extremly complaisent and aragent,that was same when we played fulham,hull,sunderland totnhem and quite fracly today clearly wont up for the fight.delinson does not seem to be tough enough and to me clearly is not defensive midfielder , song is good but is not ready arsenal need some in the middle of the field that will do the dirty work,wenger made a huge mistake letting diara and flamini go without replacing them,i know risicky is comming back that willhuge because he is arsenals most experiened player and edwardo,but if you at arsenals midfield ,diaby,fab,song,delinson,aboue,ramsey,they only world class players there is fab and maybe diaby but the rest have potential but are not there yet seems very light weight,wenger must buy at least one midfielder and hopefully a defender, wenger has been very stubern in the past about getting a defender and i thought sylevstor help solve those problems but nothing has changed they still very vunerible and must buy defender or at least dm that canprotect them and wenger will buy someone becaiuse as thinngs stand the squad is very light weight.
We lack an experienced leader in the team. Yes we need a defensive midfielder , a better keeper and a rock in defence but the fact is more than that we need a captain who can lead the team to win. ( I’ve just heard the shits have won- as if the day wasnt bad enough. better go sit witrh the family now and develop an interest in saturday telly!
Can I get you a drink, ‘holic?
*Tips hat to ‘holic for writing something so eloquently when all he can manage is a tourettes impression*
We have the same problems now as we did when the window closed. The difference is that we are now playing at least two fixtures a week. We knew the squad was thin last season and that was not rectified. I know Eduardo shall make a comeback sometime next month but that does not solve our problems. Total football requires collective attacking and collective defending. The collective defending has been missing almost all season but when we loose it is because we also loose the ability to attack collectively. A man of possessing the intellect of Mr Wenger should figure this out and come up with the solution. One of the best defensive records of this club came in our run to the Champions League final which was achieved with a makeshift defense. So he has done it before and he must do it again and the solution is painfully simple play Johan with Kolo and use Song as the cdm not as right right back or cb.
Players like Cesc, Theo, Ramsay, Wilshire, Vela will come good. The clubs has unbelieveable talent but need someone to play next to Kolo. I don’t understand why the media enjoy it when Arsenal fail to win. If Arsenal where a dirty, Boring team that spent lots of money and conducted themselves in the transfer market in the way some of the other teams do I could understand it, but none of this it true. Fans should get behind the team and look at what the club have achieved over the last 10 years.
steve your a bit naive i think.
the media would love it equally if any of the big 4 were losing to teams that we are losing to!
i remember when man united lost 5 games early in a season and the media heaped nearly all of that blame on laurent blanc at the back. we went on to win the title that year, but united still came back from it and pushed us fucking close.
were not as strong as they were though, unfortunately. 4th is the best we can achieve.
where the fuck are my drinks landlord eh! i now want my patended yard of guiness, red wine and vodka please. now.
At the height of the summer Adebayor saga I made comment that he should leave or his attitude could have a negative effect, also I was critical of Wenger for retaining Gallas as captain, that hasn`t worked either (not that he can be blamed for the Stoke disaster). Like so many others I suggested Arsenal go into the market for a world class mid fielder, they didn`t. Under the circumstances and without the right carrot dangled Fabregas has gone off song ,he`s not a shadow of his former self, he should have been given the arm band.
Then there`s the man himself Wenger. His philosophies are great (we`re all good at that) his policies are not so hot and his decisions are now questionable.
Regretably, we are looking at a total restructure and honours could be be some time away. Nows the time to start, we have nothing to lose.
Lose againse 2 newly promoted teams and 1 relegations struggler and still to play ManU, Pool and Chelski. Wenger has been found out! Will this be our worst season in 10 years?
Complete shambles. Total embarrassment. Agree totally re the throw ins. Not as if it was a bloody secret. I have spouted on about the lack of leaders more often than I care to remember but clearly that has been a factor again. I am fed up hearing about how good we are going to be. I have listened to that for the past 3 seasons. One of the reasons for moving to The Grove was the increased revenue so that we could compete in the transfer market with the others. If we are not going to bother spending any of the extra dosh when it is so clear that we need to, is there any chance I can have a reduction in my season ticket??? No, I thought not.
We need a commanding and experienced keeper. A dominant centre half. Someone in midfield who can win the ball and add an air of calm to the whole situation, and a genuine wide player. Then, and only then will we be competitive. To get done against relegation candidates in the most predictable way is as embarrassing as it gets for me.
this Arsenal might still have some good games later with the same players but the thing is they really are not good enough, inexperienced, and will be always inconsistent.
AW, “they were sharper that us. We looked jaded. They deserved to win”.
How the fuck does that happen 10 games in?????????
A bucket load of Furst Ferret please…… Think it may be a long night.
ill have a gallon of gin please al.
I have never felt this disgusted about Arsenal in my life. Wenger has lost the lpot completely. He continues to believe in bit part players who can never adid the club on a consistent basis Song, Eboue ,Senderos. Think about it are any of these players better than or even close to their rwespective position players at any one of our supposed title rivals NO. Now we already established that the squad was thin last year and lacked some maturity and power. We lose 4 players that are arguable better than most we have now. If we lost Diarra should not have lost Flamini, or vice versa. Gilberto treated with such disrespect whilst the farse for a captain Gallas cries after a draw.In the past we had in Bergkamp,Adams,Keown,Parlour,Wright.Then he brought in Veiria,Pires ,Henry and Campbell,Gilberto.Look at the core of those teams 1998 ,2002 and on to 2004. Compare it to the team now- we can’t. The drive, the passion, the will to win and combative nature is not in this team-it cannot and will not be able to win anything without that sprinkle of combat.
We need power players to add to the skill and technique of Fabregas,Walcott,Nasri,Toure,Clichy,Sagna and V Persie. We need a power midfielder,power defenderand a better power forward than Adebayor,but he can do for now.
Has Wenger ever purchased 2 players in January who have hit the ground running and made an immediate impact? I dont think so. This current squad is all we have for the duration…
Oh how wonderful. It was also so predictable that we would fail to cope with the long throw tactic: but TWICE in one game! I assume we practiced how to deal with it, so our defence must be even worse than I thought. To cap it all Delap is now injured and our main rivals may not have to face him. I `m surprised we didn`t start with Walcott though. I know he`s young and musn`t be overplayed, but in reality this was a must win game and we should have started with our strongest team. I heard someone compare us to King Kev`s Newcastle in that we look to outscore teams: but at least they managed to score the goals: we seemingly can`t. So now we are effectively out of the title race before Bonfire Night, and if Villa win their game in hand, we will be fifth and may also struggle to make the Champions League for next season. Considering we have yet to play any of the big boys, this is nothing short of catastrophic. Will this sting AW into action? I have my doubts.
Replace Ade with Vela/bentner, Denilson with Ramsey and Gallas with Johan. Can it realy get any worse?
Jack laced with Horse tranquiliser please Holic!!! And wake me up next season!!!
geeez…. Could AW be suffering from a mid life crisis of some sort? If so, why do we have to suffer the consequesces?
BLEH!!! I think this is the firt time in 2 decades that I am not looking forward to the Arsenal v Man * game! Frankly i am scared! scared of losing, scared of conceding more than 4 goals(y not, we did against the spuds), bt worst of all scared that we will play as pethetic a game of football as we did today!!!! Scared i mite put down a few quid on a Man * win, crazy!
This team will be great, some day! b ut thats not now! I want tropies now! and AW owes us one after putting us through a week like this past!
FUCK IT!!!!!
We are well and truly stinking. These kids can’t fight.
Well, I remember losing 5-0 to that lot in the 1st Double Season. The difference is that they had a decent side then and we had a great side; and the result was a fluke – although they still gave us trouble in the semi(s) that season.
Today however was not unforeseen, despite the fact they now have a shit side – the reason for this prescience being that our side is still learning with every game.
Learning, yet again, that the central defence is crap.
Learning that the midfield have no real concept of their defensive responsibilities.
Learning that their manager’s team selection/tactics/substitutions often border on the absurd.
Learning their “capi” has no authority, no leadership skills, can’t even do the job he’s paid for and seems to be injury prone when it suits him.
I could go on but the “Wenger Reaction” on the Official Site says it all.
A manager and team in freefall. How have we come to this?
It’s not all bad. Every team is dropping points…
P W D L F A W D L F A GD
Chelsea 11 3 2 1 13 3 5 0 0 14 1 23 Pts 26
Liverpool 11 4 1 0 8 4 4 1 1 8 4 8 Pts 26
Man Utd 10 4 1 0 13 4 2 2 1 6 4 11 Pts 21
Arsenal 11 3 1 1 12 7 3 1 2 11 5 11 Pts 20
It’s the Chavs away that bothers me.
Snail. I admire your optimism but we have lost to 2 sides that will quite possibly go down. We have not played one decent team yet. We have real problems and if we do not get it right sooner rather than later then a top 4 finish could be in real doubt.
Fergie must be shitting bricks…….
Uhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…….
I watched the game and we were shyte!
We have a very negative aproach whem passing the ball against those silly teams that we should be exploiting to the ground and kiling them soflty with our tactic however all Wengers work is going down hill at the moment and he’s not trying to find the soultion for this. His motivation is worse than ever, was it a red card? Dont matter he deserved it with a such a late on tackle what was he thinking…..a bit of play acting went into it and VAN IDIOT WAS OFF!
If you have players like that in your team who commit silly things when you should be scoring then VAN IDIOT SHOULD BE DROPPED AND VELA SHOULD BE GIVEN A CHANCE!
I dont think we will win anything this season ………..it hurts me to say but Wenger needs to sort it out or the borad should really consider the Club the fans and where are we going with this young squad.
we should have been with the toughest 11 out there today and we got Song and Bendy who are far from decent…..
Vela seems to be on the bench all the time we may loose him in Jan as well becose Wenger is too blind to play him and has no faith in certain young individuals but he’s a fighter and if he wants to go then let him …..
this result is a fucking wind up right?
fulham was a blip, hull was hard to stomach but stoke really takes the fucking biscuit, a pint of your finest windowlean please ‘holic
We’ve lost to Stoke, Hull and Fulham
Now our best striker, who has looked good lately has acted like an idiot and got himself sent off.
I wish it was Adebayor
Throw the youth masterplan in the shitter and start over, we suck.
I have never been so disappointed to Arsenal.It is just the begin of Nov.What the eff!!!!!!!
I the greatest fan of Arsene but today i was really disappoinnted by his formation and rotation. This was arsenals year to deliver with much more fire power in the tank addition of vela,new walcott,nasri,wilkshere,ramsey. I great advocate of arsene principles of winning with young and entertaing team WITH ADDITION OF ONE TOUGH CB AND ENGERGTIC DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER. arsenal just need the sligtest aid from terry like defender and flamini type midfielder that it we can win anything. arsense use your tracking device and get outstanding players(might be inexperinced and young).We dont have to sent fortune to win b/c we have great team we have depth in our attack. I cant belive arsene cant anticipate that. Arsenal is still the greatest team in the world WITHOUT BACKBONE.
The thing that hurts and shows how badly we’ve stumbled is that this result was’nt even that much of a surprise. We all knew in August with Wenger’s incresingly annoying stubborness that results like this were going to happen this season and I suspect judging by his reaction yesterday that he knows it himself, 3months to fu@#ing late. We’re light years squad wise behind Chavski and Man Ure and there is only 1 man to blame. 1 man with too much power and say, who has I’m afraid to say lost the plot.
nice post ‘Holic – one item I will challenge is that Toure was at fault on the score. First of all, why does Rob Styles allow Delap so much time to hurl his throw in? He take more time than any team would be allowed for a corner …really puzzling?! More importantly, I would a ‘keeper knowing this was coming run off his line to catch or punch the ball out. Yesterday I saw Almunia abandone his defenders. Bentley’s strike has wounded our “no.1” keeper fatally.
Sickening week of football. Comforted by the Scousers tripping on to their swords against the Spuds.. but not for long as the Mancs look unwilling to surrender points to any club. The emphasis on “unwilling”. We need on the pitch leaders who have the quality (that will be all Song! you’re off too Denilson) and will refuse anything but a victory. Is PV4 interested in coming back to north London?
No comment.
Pint please.
I almost puked after the spuds result. I was hoping for a comfortable away win to get us back on track and we would still be right with the leaders. Instead this. As soon as a team like Stoke get the first goal we know they are even more likely to drop everyone back – although we didn’t get chances they weren’t dangerous other than on throws. CB’s need to ensure that they don’t switch off for something that they have practiced all week.
Also we should note that Liverpool lost to Spuds and drew stoke. There is now huge pressure for us to perform against manu and chelski.
6 points behind the leaders and its a disaster because the team lost to a physical side! Two players strtchered off but that must be because they are soft! Some of the most talented young players arround but we must get some average old heads in the team! The club has a manager that has delivered trophies, a new stadium, a team that is competing in the Champions league and still is yet to play a game in the FA cup, but he must be rubbish!!!!! Well Arsene Wenger is rebuilding the team, it is full of top class young players who will get even better, and despite the results this season the team will improve. The biggest problem the club has is some of its fans who expect Arsenal to have success all the time. So what if its 4 years since Arsenal won the league – We were unlucky last season, nobody goes on about the bad decisions that cost us at Birmingham or Liverpool. Fans should not take it out on the team or manager but support the team. If you look back the team went 18 years without winning the league from 71. Be patient, stick with the team and stay sober – make mine a water!
A water! Ha! I checked out the table too. Only 6 back! That sure didn’t look right to me, but every site I checked confirmed it.
A string of 11 or 12 wins would be great about now.
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