Just About Our Strongest Team Deservedly Beaten
Nov 7th, 2010 by 'holic
That is the scary conclusion to be drawn from today’s defeat. But for Vermaelen we certainly had nine of our best ten outfield players on the pitch at one time or another today. Can anybody remember the last time we could say that? Not this year, I’ll wager. Yet Newcastle came with organisation, with confidence, and with a willingness to sweat their cobs off for their supporters.
It was at times a bit like watching a George Graham side set about beating more technically gifted opposition. Occupy the full backs, funnel everything into the middle of the park, and have bodies there to deny time and space. Above all, when attacking, play to your strengths. There were no surprises for us there, surely? Anybody remember the preview?
Fabianski can continue to build on his recent steady form, but will be sorely tested by Carroll and Nolan at set pieces. I trust attention has been paid to this area in the preparations.
Now we all knew that, didn’t we? Newcastle for certain knew that. Our response? Let Carroll have a free run at a far post ball, and have your goalkeeper positioned on the edge of his six yard box, unable to spring from under the ball, and therefore unable to use the advantage that his arms should give him in the air. Fabianski has had a good run, but top goalkeepers win you points, not lose you them. I feel for him. It was one mistake, and he was horribly exposed by his defence, but it was an entirely predictable outcome. Perhaps we need to find out if Szczesny is made of the right stuff before the January transfer window arrives?
To pile all of the blame on the ‘keeper though would be to excuse others. This was a collective off-day, and the second time at a relatively early stage of the season that we have lost consecutive fixtures. That must be a huge worry to the manager and his coaching staff. Two newly promoted sides have now emulated Hull City a couple of years back in departing the Grove with all three points. There is a long way to go, it’s true, but there is now precious little room for any more reverses in the six months or so that remain.
That means something positive has to come from today. We have Wolves away on Wednesday, who will certainly match the determination and workrate shown by today’s visitors on the back of their last-gasp reverse at Old Trafford. We have to get the fast, fluent passing game going again. It unhinged them at Molineux last season. As well though we need a degree of preparation that seemed to be singularly lacking today.
Laurent Koscielny’s red card today (no complaints, we would have been expecting the same if it had happened at the other end) means we are down to two central defenders. That means they cannot afford to be making any unnecessary lunges on the night, and will need some protection in front of them. At the same time let us prepare to make the most of our strengths.
From an early stage today we had the makings of a highly interchangeable front three sticking pretty rigidly to their positions, and making it easy for defenders to mark them. With Clichy and Sagna restricted there was a shortage of supply to Chamakh from out wide, and the big man looked uncomfortable attempting to play tippy-tappy on the edge of the box. He can play out wide, and would have given the excellent Enrique an entirely different problem to solve, as indeed would Nasri have done. The one time Samir cropped up in the inside-right position he was denied the opening goal by a fantastic Krul save.
Walcott may just have been the option we needed in the centre from time to time, particularly when van Persie replaced the Moroccan and immediately started dropping deep in search of the ball. For a few brief seconds Coloccini and Willamson were wondering what to do with no one player to mark, but then Bendtner arrived and they once again had focus.
It’s not over yet. The fat lady isn’t even thinking about clearing her throat even. But we need to see a response, and evidence of the fabled intelligence that Arsene insists this group of players has. Wednesday will give us a clue. However, with Everton away, and the North London derby to folllow, that intelligence has to exhibit itself now.
183 Responses to “Just About Our Strongest Team Deservedly Beaten”
choked after this defeat
1st?
Here’s how I saw it, Holic. Doesn’t feel too good tonight, particularly with Chelsea two down at haf-time.
The white ribbons fell off this prize quickly, leaving only black ribbons, black moods, a black Guinness for Holic to ponder, and red faces all round for under-performing Gunners.
But before all the recriminations start, before the razor blades are sharpened and the suicide pills swilled down with whisky, vodka and gin chaser, before the cries of “we need to buy a new keeper” are rekindled, can we agree on one thing?
Newcastle has assembled a very capable squad, physically strong – yes. But skilful, powerful and pacey too and able to set out their stall to outplay Arsenal at the passing game for long spells, then take only one of a couple of chances that came their way for a deserved winner. Will this be their only big-ticket win this season? I don’t think so. This is a Magpie team with a future and potential to actually win stuff.
I have to assume that Denilson was injured? Without him, lots of the important simple stuff just doesn’t get done. That’s not to say that Wilshere wasn’t an accomplished deputy. He was and he played a fine game. But with Cesc having an epic off day, mis-passing became contagious and the tendency to default to 1% chance wonder-flicks increased. Deni’s constancy, even off the bench would have been a boon.
On a different day Cesc’s free kick off the bar, Nasri’s blast toward the top right and Theo’s post smack after Chamakh had nearly dispossessed him would have been enough to turn the tide. But, not on this day.
That we lost a goal just before half-time to go was definitely not good. But it should not have been unrecoverable, with a whole 45 minutes to win in. Fabianski might have done better, but so might the mid-field that allowed an unnecessary free kick leading to the cross in the first place. So too might Kos and Chamkakh who played “after you Claude”, “no, after you Cyril”, failed to get an inch off the ground and were out-jumped by about three feet by Carroll.
Our attack was pretty toothless. Chamakh developed three-penny bit feet, Theo was largely unable to beat his man, Nasri looked sharpish and I was surprised to see him leave the field early. Robin had difficulty getting into the game (but SO good to see him back) and Bendy and AA had a couple of moments, but were unable to un-park the bus.
Kos red card? A nonsense from my seat. Clearly a foul, but with Squil in line with him, a very harsh call from dip-stick Dean.
On a day when we set out to win by close passing, our close passing just wasn’t good enough. Too many passes ended up going straight to Newcastle. Too many went straight off without even being touched. Defeat resulted from attacking impotence and not defensive incompetence. Either way, it doesn’t feel good.
Anything wet and alcoholic, barman.
DAMN U DAMN U DRONAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA……..u ruined what would have been one of the biggest accomplishments to date!!..
Getting the first comment at Holic’s and in the arses!!!!!!!
Look at their eyes, Fabianski and Almunia don´t have that mean look that keepers like Lehman/Schmeichel, but Chesney def have it.
If your favourite movie is Bambi* it speaks volumes…
*Fabianskis favourite.
They look like a bunch of girls who believe that everything will be all right in the end. You have to enter and fight for every ball. The movement and the lack of pace was ridiculous today. The balls barely reached its addressee. It can only get better. 🙂
No celebratory drink here in the U.S. Will have to do with a warm Bud Light and cheer on the Reds vs. Chelski…. Who would have thought that Cesc would play like Joey Barton, and vice versa? Just a very off performance from el capitan; our most disappointing player today, even more than the other Fab.
Also did not comprehend taking off Nasri or Wilshere. Yes, put in Arsh (who’s better suited to the first part of matches when the opposition is playing rope-a-dope, and he can help unlock things) but for either Theo or even Chamakh. And to put both Bendtner and RVP and resort to long ball tactics just seemed to play into their strengths.
“Holic, you hit it spot on. Looking at le Prof at the end, it seems as if he was thinking, “This is our best side, and we’re being outplayed on our own pitch? Now what?”
[…] Just About Our Strongest Team Deservedly Beaten 2010 November 7 tags: about, beaten, Deservedly, just, Strongest, Team by rich Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.Powered by WP Greet Box WordPress PluginThat is the scary conclusion to be drawn from today’s defeat. But for Vermaelen we certainly had nine of our best ten outfield players on the pitch at one time or another today. Can anybody remember the last time we could say that? Not this year, I’ll wager. Yet Newcastle came with organisation, with confidence, […] Fifty Years, and never again […]
such a disappointing night dont know what to say….
Fair write up on the general story line. I think though that it’s better to say that great goalkeepers win you many more points than they lose. Great goalkeepers still drop clangers from time to time. This doesn’t cost them their aura. (Fab I don’t consider great, but he has saved us some points in the last few matches lest we forget.)
hmmm, sad sad day. We’ll have to really pick it up from now on and try not to make many mistakes. Two losses at home, sigh!
I was surprised by Arsenal, but I’m pleased we managed to catch you on an off day and we managed to get an unexpected three points.
Listen, don’t get too down, you are still one of the best teams in the league and this one game won’t break that. Come the end of the season you will be up there and abouts challenging at the top.
I know it probably doens’t make today an easier for you, but chin up, you’ll be alreet in the end.
HWTL 🙂
Arsenal are so shit now days. I hate to say it but feels like arsen wenger is coming to he’s end with arsenal feels like he’s lost it, big time. Are players are so small weak and not motivated, we always seem so nervous as a team, look at how much respect we gave newcastle… We were playing with in our selfs for much of the game, I mean we were playing Newcastle 4 god sake there shite!!! We made out like we were playing a top team, we were so cagey, instead we should of attacked from the start. I just duno with this team, somethings just not rite tactics wise.
Not sure we’ve learned a lesson here. Very disappointing display and as I sat before kick off, I said to my fellow season ticket holders, this game will be won by the team who puts their chances away. Here lies the story!
2 Goals in three games, a championship winning side does not make. Newcastle put their chance away and we didn’t. Okay the crossbar didn’t help us on a couple of occasions but neither did the little flicks or lack of a decent finish.
For once I am going to stand up for our defence, they made one mistake and were punished. But how often did our so called brilliant and experienced midfield and attack make mistakes. Many, many times and when it was time for Newcastle to close shop, ‘the fat lady started sing’! We lacked any kind of vision, we lacked bottle, it was a team defeat today albeit Mr, Walcott has got to stop ‘ball watching’ and get some movement going. We have supported that lad for so long now, willing him to do well and this is what we get!
The substitutions were just that, we changed players who lacked the fight with more players who lacked the fight. That said Wilshire did well but looked 90% of his usual self. I will never again listen to bleating hearts of players saying we have to win something this season or I’m off! Guy’s if you want to win something then put the effort in 24/7! Otherwise the only way you’ll win something is moving to a team with spirit and who are prepared to carry you!!!!!
It’s not all over, but we can’t keep doing this especially when our main rivals are drawing or losing too. Take a good look at yourselves boys, stop all the Henry hype or we can’t afford to lose this crap and get out and prove to us you are worthy of wearing our shirt!
Measured i must say. It was an embarrasment, i find. I count this and West Brom as games we must win so thats 6 points lost. At home!!! I dread to think, if we don’t finish first, we finish within 6 off the top.
Keep the drinks coming guv’, I’m still semi concious and don’t wish to be for much longer.
Hic.
Toonsy, I really do not think they need your council. I know you mean well, but it is irrelevant. As I die hard Toon fan I do not appreciate you playing down our lads efforts tonight by claiming Arsenal had an off day but hey, like the Supermen they are they will come back and steam roll everybody. Nobody is assured of anything in this league. Arsenal have to fight just like we will have too.
What I have seen already in this forum is what I already knew. That Arsenal fans have a tremendous amount of class (for the most part) and in defeat are very dignified. So EW, Toonsy, walk on son.
This is Newcastles day. Of course Arsenal are great, these lot know that.
Afc-‘Newcastle are shite’??? Are you demented?! You were outclassed on your own pitch today! What does that say about your sorry excuse for a team? Tiote toally bossed Fabregas and not one of your soft defenders could handle Carroll! Sour grapes I say- up the mags
Ok – only one thing to be said here. 180 minutes against West Hame and Newcastle at the Emirates and our account has 1 goal scored. Nothing more to be said. Teams give up soft goals all the time but scoring goals covers that up.
Goals change games and we are not making goals. Crossbars, great saves – it doesn’t matter. There’s a hundred million dollars of talent in the Red Shirt and there are no goals. 8 shots at goal – 6 shots blocked. You can’t allow defenses to block nearly half your attempts at goal.
At the moment, everyone in the league is happy turning a 90 minute game on 115 meters of pitch at the Emirates into a 65 minute game played almost entirely within 40 meters of their goal AS LONG AS WE DON”T SCORE, and score first. Until we start threatening teams in the first 10 – 15 minutes and doing so with venom, teams will come in week after week and play the same 9 near their box and never open up.
Last point – agreed on Fabianski’s misplay of the free kick, But Championship teams committed – absolutely committed – to not giving up goals, have 2, 3 or 4 players retreating onto the goal line as soon as the keeper comes out to protect the soft ball from going in.
So much work to do and I worry about our captain – he has not been near his full level since August
I’m not sure how I feel….but for the fact that no team looks incredibly good (as I write Chelsea appear beatable for certain) we’d be hoping for a top 4 finish. As it happens I really think we can win the league this season if we avoid any more performances such as this and WBA. I don’t know more about football than Wenger and nor do any of us, but patently our best eleven haven’t been found yet nor have the fitness levels of a good number of key players passed the test yet to my observation.
We now have a new problem, for seemingly 2+ years we’ve been forced to play certain players week in week out due to injuries and now there are more decisions than ever to be made. In August we all said the goalkeeper situation would kill our chances, but we’ve been proved wrong. It a defense that falls asleep at times and makes daft mistakes and an attack that doesn’t seem to modify its approach enough on days like this. Solutions? I don’t know but despite his goals this season I’d try Song at the back until TV plays again.
Sorry…that’s a complete ramble, but if we don’t mix things up we are going to end up with 72 points which is never going to win any league. The crying shame is i think our team has more about it than anybody else. Song for the day is easy… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHGQ3u0hYtg
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by tesa merukh and Arsenal FC, Arsenal News. Arsenal News said: Goonerholic | Just About Our Strongest Team Deservedly Beaten http://bit.ly/d5iXA2 […]
A good summation ‘Holic.
The only winners this weekend is old whiskey nose, themselves lucky to win yesterday.
Guiness, please and lots of it.
Goalkeeping error costs Arsenal dear … where have I heard that before?
Arsenal fans should start to get behind the team and the atmosphere at the emirates is like a local library. I was watching the game on television and the mood in the stadium was shit, like there were 50 000 grandmas cheering for their team. That is something that needs to be work on. Wilshere was the best for us today!!!
Liverpool has just done us a HUGE favour…but in all honesty what they’ve done is just put a sugar coating on shit! (coz thats what we were today!)
No mention of the time wasting today? I reckon Newcastle wasted about 15 minutes of the game taking their time over goal/free kicks.
I don’t blame them, but the ref should have booked their ‘keeper (who blatantly feigned injury towards the end) about 25 times.
This feels like the tail end of last season, when we failed to capitalise when teams around us dropped points.
So frustrating. I purposefully went straight to a bar on Holloway Road to try to forget about the match; something I never do.
Couldn’t agree more with the title of this blog. We were a shambles today. Tiote made fabregas look a mug from start to finish. More points thrown down the drain when we couldve closed the gap YET again.
We won’t win the league.
I’m gutted.
did anybody see what torres did with chelsea, that is the job of a striker..which we dont have..is plain and simple to see..we need a real striker…
BW4EVER – How about letting people have opinion eh? Sorry it isn’t to your taste like. Click the link on my name and read some effusive praise of Newcastle if you wish, butI’ll have my say whether you like it or not sonna.
HWTL
I like your write-up, Goonerholic. Newcastle were good today. I love this Arsenal side, and I still expect them to go on a great run at some point this season (e.g., 10 consecutive wins).
Perry,Imo I think the time wasted by Krul isn’t our main problem though it did wasted most of our time..
The problem was Koscielny giving up his mark on Caroll while Fabianski naively tried to catch the ball not punch it. After we lost the lead, Newcastle has implemented 11 players behind the ball tactic.. Since we didn’t have a decent crosser, it became harder to score..
Afterall, we are breakable , eh ? But we’re still 5pts from the top.. Keep the positivities bro.. 🙂
@Nater31 – I agree Tiote was effective today, unfortunately.
@toonsy
cheers mate for discussing your point in a respectful manner
Good gooners, I did watch the game or follow it coz I was busy tuning my local team for an upcoming tournament. It is so sad. Was it early to let Fab in the squad after the injury as well as Song. I think we have enough players to rush in the injured back players. We should all learn from this
First of all – you bloggers need to realize that your opinions are worthless ! You are all just a bunch of fat dorks with a lot of free time on their hands ! Basically – pathetic excuses for fans and human beings.Without real friends,you create blogs in search for people who share your own opinions.Of course – those whose thinking differs – they are not welcome.Even though they are more right than you,blind followers.
I am pretty sick with the articles which headlines include “plus favorite line-up” ! You really think someone gives a shit about that ?! Or maybe you think AW reads these blogs,and on a match-day decides to play Vela instead of Arshavin just because some blogger says we would be better of that way ?!
Even more sickening are your followers.Not even reading those articles,but praising you in their comments.Such a sucking up is idiotic.Those morons don’t have an opinion on their own,and that is the most frightening thing.I feel sorry for those kinda people.
And finally,you should realize and come to terms with it – this Arsenal team can not win anything ! And that is that ! Can not win big games,can not secure that teams like WBA and Newcastle don’t walk off Emirates empty handed and can not compensate that with some big away wins.Therefore – Arsenal can not win Premier league with this squad ! ! ! I won’t talk about CL,because that is even more surreal.
I guess that Captain Hindsight from South Park is based on Wenger.This team learned from that Birmingham game,from those 2 Chelsea thrashing at Emirates,from Sunderland game,from Shakhtar game and today.This team,judging by that knowledge – should be the unstoppable force of the Premier league season 2016-17.
Yaaaaaaaaaaaay ! ! ! Now fuck off,all of you ! ! !
We sucked .. but a point or more wouldn’t have been undeserved considering Newcastle only had one shot on goal.
Ken,
I’d say I agree but how many times is Arsene going to come out and say we will learn from this? We never do we carry to many passengers that although are technically brilliant on their day have far to many days when they lack the required bottle and fight to win games when not playing well, As it stands like I said early we are a good team but not good enough we still lack a top keeper any sort of width and a 25-30 goal forward and until they are adressed it will be same old same old.
Daxxjoker – So what is worse? People writing blogs, who have no lives? People commenting blogs, who have no lives? Or people commenting on people who comment on blogs, who……. Oh dear 😉
how long can we go on defending this team while the likes of chavski and manure continue to win trophy’s and the scum continue to grow in strength while our stomachs ache in the fact that we’re playing them next at the emirates, how long can we go on as not there but there abouts when it comes to the league and cl. How long can our defence be made to look like a joke when we’re not even chasing a game or a goal. Wenger needs to sort out the defensive side of the team before even thinking about winning the league, the team with the least amount of goals conceded at the end of the season always wins the league, without a solid back 5 it is not possible.
It’s a quiet night in Serbia apparently, toonsy.
Well played your lot today, fella. Seems like your fans like arguing amongst themselves as much as we do, even when you win 😉
Toonsy,
Haha I was trying to work out his logic but gave up;) Fuck me moans about blogs and the bloggers but writes a post longer than any- screwy mug, Fair play today your lads wanted it more we will repay the compliment at your gaff 😉
Fab not fit. Van Persie not fit. Song played well but has clearly mislaid his job description. Walcott anonymous. Chamakh gone off the boil. But it’s not Christmas yet and Liverpool did us a favour today. Let’s relax!
Goonerholic – Cheers mate
Chippy – Hope not, but it wouldn’t surprise me lol
See, we aren’t as deluded as the press make us out to be 😀
By the way, great ‘blog here I may add. I write myself like (which is linked in my name 😉 ) and appreciate how much hard work it can be at times 🙂
Some class fans on here aswell. Most of the time we get a load of abuse from the oppo if we win a game (like you lot get probably lol), but you guys have been top drawer.
Funny old game, isn’t it. If there’s hadn’t gone in and one of ours had we’d be sitting here feeling pretty smug with three points and a scrappy 1-0 win and the Boss saying “we showed great character” and all of us saying “it’s a hallmark of champs to win when the team are playing like zombies etc etc”.
The Chelski result has cheered me up. I had told Her Nellieness to expect that one today. I had also told her I’d be seeing Arsenal going top when “give them a Shallacking*” on Dec 27.
So, one out of two isn’t bad. I’m still looking forward to the Shallacking – but now I need another Chelski defeat before then. Hmmmm, et me consult the crystal ball.
Actually, Holic, the nearly full and strongest squad was there in name only today (Denilson was missing for a start! – smile). It looks like it’s going o be December before we’re all present, correct and match fit. But, I agree, it shouldn’t have mattered. On form, the starting 11 should have won the day.
*Shallacking – holics not familiar with US politics may be unfamiliar with the term. Translates roughly to “a good kick in the arse”
This defeat is not down to fabianski alone and i don’t think this is the right time to call for his head, arsenal performance was just too ordinary,a team with such a lazy character will end up winning nothing. just view the defensive character of most arsenal players and you will come to conclusion that in did they are lazy
Even the best team(B FC) work
hard defensively to get back possession the also go for long shoot atleast 6 times per/M
We need some players with balls and a manager with a sense of urgency.
I blame wenger, its all very well instilling the need for patience, but we have 90 mins to win a football match, not wait for a bus. Patience in football becomes laziness and lack of urgency and comittment.
It pains me to say, but as great in the transfer market as Wenger is, we need someone who can motivate a player and get them to play above and beyond their abilities.
Mourinho was great at this with chelsea, and if you watch the inter team in the champions league, it seems he also took inter above their expected level. Holloway and Hughton are also doing this with with their teams, even Fergiscum has a collection of bog average players and he is keeping them hanging in.
I love what wenger has historically done for the club and i love the solid foundations the club now has, but as a motivator of men he seems to have lost something.
I should add I fucking hate November when it comes to The Arsenal !!
I do think Fabiansli should not be hung drawn and quatered as has happened to him *and Almunia) in the past. He has been excellent and was solid again today, apart from that one rush of blood, which I feel could happen to any keeper. We need to be careful here, as some continually call for him to be dropped, over analysing his performances is a mug’s game, all keepers fuck up, miss crosses and the like. It was unfortunate that it lead to a goal and I hope it doesnt prevent him from being proactive and brave in the future.
No, the real gutter today was the shocking efforts of the majority in front of him. Half arsed seems to some up the performance of the team. Why that is? I have no fucking idea? Truely terrible, its as if some players do not learn from past mistakes and that is a pathetic state to be in. Taking a win for granted before a ball has been kicked would almost, almost be understandable IF this team were champions, or actually won a fucking thing! But for our lot to act like that is scandalous and I hope, the message has finally sunk in, time will tell.
Thank fuck for the scousers!
Double brandy please holic and leave the bottle will you!
Hey BtM.
I’ll wager the Brazilian beauties were a tad chilly today 😉
In the greater scheme of things not too down about today, but bitter at the manner of it. We were promised we had learned lessons after West Brom, but we haven’t.
Just one of those things. What is the old buzzphrase in business? Piss poor preparation leads to piss poor performance? Or something like that.
Never a red card ‘holic. It wasn’t a clear goalscoring opportunity. Squillaci was covering. It’s also not clear the extent of the foul.
@gudugpunyagulink – I know I know IknowIknowIknow!
Agree with everything you say. Today just feels like a particularly bad result for some reason…
@Daxxjoker – Come back when you can use English properly.
Yep, the manner of it was disappointing, Holic. You probably managed to see a bit of the game at Anfield? Even at two down, Chelsea were throwing every single sinew of effort and variety of approach into recovering the position they were in. I felt they might just do it. Didn’t feel very positive about our chances of even getting one back today. It did feel like West Brom all over again.
Never mind, wins away at the Wolfies and Everton and we’ll be back in fine fettle. In addition to hoping for a White Christmas, I’m hoping for a fully-fit-right-through-to-the-last-game-of-the-season Robin Van Persie. We haven’t had that since ?…..forever.
Summed up very well holic, and to me it shows how much we rely on a fit Fabregas,who with others had an off day.
Dedication…. Motivation…. Dedication thats what we needed….. If only we had Roy castle on our coaching staff. We’d have stuffed New castle
Toonsy, I have me an opinion i am not the only geordie critising your brown tongue here, Toonsy of nufcblog.
Ohh Arsenal, you will be fine me darlings. Dont worry pettles and all that tosh. ya patronising as fuck to them man.
Behave yourself man and get bk to your blog Your fishing for browny points.
What’d he say? 😉
ah divvan nar Holic???
Sorry Ole, Seb was well behind the play and would not have got to Ranger in time. If that was Theo at the other end you would have been howling for the card.
I will say though (I think Stewart Robson said something similar a couple of weeks back) that the rule was introduced to stop the Willie Young type deliberate foul on the edge of the box. The wording of the ruling gives refs a copout. I’m not sure all refs would have given red that far from goal, but we all know Dean is an authoritarian fuckwit.
Hey Mr. Holic, no comment on the Captain’s game I noticed. Don’t want to kick a man when he’s down or moan, but he’s been a bit off, no? I know he hasn’t had a string of games, but I don’t remember him ever really needing it before. I love him to death, but I think he’s gotta stand up right now.
Soooo much talent on the field…. it’ll come together for us. Guinness, please.
Two bad ones in a row, pik, but he has earned our patience. We do have the strength in that area to ‘rest’ him should the need arise.
Holic
You’ve been around almost as long as i have,and i think you know as well as i do that there is something not quite right this season.
The warning signs have been there for a few weeks now.
The last 4 league games at home tell their own story.
Very average to below average performances against 4 teams that we should be beating comfortably if we have aspirations to win the Premiership.
I also must be one of the few people who thought that if Man City had kept 11 players on the park,we could well have lost that one also.
When you have 2 members of the squad who would rather be somewhere else and the other players know it,this creates tension in the squad.
Anyone remember the Petit/Overmars episode.
You only need to look at our old enemy up north,who despite having several players ill with a virus from their trip to Turkey,still found a way to win against a very commited Wolves side.
The Arsenal of just a few short seasons ago had that inner desire and total commitment to each other that seems depressingly absent in todays squad.
As a long time Gooner i pride myself on knowing pretty early in the season whether that years squad is going to be good enough to give the title a shot,and unfortunately i have come to the conclusion that unless a fundamental change in attitude happens very quickly,this current crop won’t be putting a major trophy in the Cabinet anytime soon.
A bit of an over reaction I am afraid mate. The team of a few seasons ago was just as prone to piss poor games.
This njotion that cesc wants out coz he wasnt running the show today is the kind of shite I’d expect from a low life tabloid hack. The bloke is not match fit, has been carrying that hammy for a while, but i shouldnt need to make excuses for him. The fact he was there, right at the death trying to scramble a goal showed his commitment for me, even if he is struggling for fitness.
So disappointing.
What was Arsene thinking when he took off Wilshere? Not only does Jack keep a high tempo with the quick passing, he was a terrier in midfield. When he went off what were we left with — Clichy lobbing crosses! We needed through balls like the one that made Walcott’s chance. Instead AW throws on Bendtner so we can “go for it” with four strikers, the Arsenal version of putting Samba or Terry upfront, and about as pretty. So arrogant, i thought: as if “class” alone should triumph instead of just rolling our sleeves up, winning the ball and running at them.
I tell myself two weeks is a long time in football. When City beat Chelsea at home we were told they were title contenders and then, 3 losses later, ready to self-destruct. And just look at the month Liverpool have had.
I think we can turn things around. In some ways, our support at away matches is much better than at home. Hopefully we’ll get a lift from them and one of senior players will find some form. Win the NLD the following Sunday and everyone is ecstatic again. That’s the plan, anyway…
Can anyone tell me why walcoot played for as long as he did?? He was anonymous and should have been hauled off! And what happened to rosicky ??
Holic. You do realise this is all your fault???? Ever since you bought that bloody new TV of yours ??????????????
It’s all very well blaming Fabianski for making a mistake, but how about pointing the finger at a midfield that had a collective off day? Fabianski wasn’t the one making some very loose passes, losing the ball and as a result committing far too many fouls.
The goal was scored from a free kick that should never have been given away.
It’s easy to blame Fabianski, and he certainly made a mistake, but it looked to me like Carroll was pretty much unmarked? Maybe I’m misremembering. It just seemed at the time like he was only partially to blame.
And besides, with our attacking talent, we should be able to score two at home. Even with them settling back after the opener. Very disappointing, thank God Liverpool bailed us out a bit.
Must admit that when I left the Grove today I felt numb, and it was nothing to do with the cold. I felt embarrassed at what I had just witnessed. What really frustrates me is that the same problems and weaknesses that have been highlighted for the last 18 months plus were so evident yet again today.
Let me start with the goal. In my opinion 100% Flappy’s fault. That is the end where I sit. The reason that neither centre back made a challenge was the shout from Flappy that it was his ball. His starting position was all wrong and he was static when he tried to get off the ground. Carrol on the other hand had a good run and leap. It was a poor goal (yet again) to give away. How many points have we lost through keeping errors this season??? That said, I am reluctant to criticise him too much. The goal may have been down to him. The complete ineptitude of his outfield colleagues is certainly something he can not be blamed for. His performances in recent weeks mean he has earned the right not to be booted after one error.
The rest of the performance I found very alarming for many reasons. I am getting genuinely bored having to watch my side and watch us struggle because of the same old failings. We created so little. Two efforts that hit the bar but not a great deal else. I agree with BTM re Denilson. His absence often demonstrates to all that the balance of the side is not right. We play far too narrow. (Have I mentioned that in previous posts????) Today? Same old same old. It is painful. Nasri wants to cut in. Arshavin wants to cut in. Theo was just not at the races. We have no width. Neither full back can hit a decent dangerous ball into the middle. So we end up with a mass of bodies in the centre, bags of space out on the flanks and what materialises into heading practice for the Geordie centre backs. Since when was lumping long balls in a Fat Sam type fashion become our plan B???
Today we lacked heart, spirit and most worrying of all, leaders. We do not have true leaders and on days like today it is really noticeable. We looked lazy and in the end we ran out of ideas. Cesc clearly is not right for whatever reason and he needs to get a grip now. Not next week or the week after. NOW. We were beaten today not by a goalkeeping error, but by a team who just wanted it more than we did. That hurts. That really hurts.
Very few positives for me at all today. Thought Jack had a decent enough game. His work rate puts others to shame. I thought Bac’s had a decent game and I thought Arshavin put in more effort in 35 minutes that he would normally put into a whole game. A hattrick of tackles from the jinky little Russian is at least something to shout about.
We can argue the toss all day about Koscielny’s red card. My opinion was that it was harsh but I will need to see it again. Regardless of that, what really annoys me is that he does not need to make the tackle. That is twice in 10 games that he has seen red making unnecessary tackles in injury time. A lack of discipline that he needs to look closely at.
We are in a worrying period for me. Do not just look at the 11 games this season. Add them to the last 7/8 games of last season. You will see far too many poor results and poor performances. Games at Wigan and Blackburn last season spring to mind. These are not performances of winners, and we need to address that now as well.
Most of you will know my views on the strength of our squad and where I think we are lacking. Sadly, I have seen nothing to day to suggest that I am wrong. I agree with Clive. I think we are a long way from being a title winning side. A long long way. I do hope that I am very wrong but at the moment I just do not see it.
Sorry to go on but I am bloody pissed of at the moment.
@46 BTM………and if your auntie had bollocks etc etc
MikeMagpie64 – Jog on bell end 😀
The last 9 games where Mike Dean has reffed us… W0 D2 L7, apparently.
Just saying like.
Gin!
Hey Mug, was that for me? If so, I had no intention implying any of what you drew out of it. Just noting he’s been a bit off- I didn’t mention any lack of desire or where he wants to go. Just checking…
Snail, that’s quite a record he’s got on us. Though I have to say we did ourselves in today.
P.S. It’s time to unleash the Szczny!
Arsene should have brought himself on. He seems to have been scoring on a regular basis over the last 2 years if recent reports are to be believed.
“Just About Our Strongest Team Deservedly Beaten”
EXCELLENT…what more talent can we put out there…
PROBLEM – TOOOOOO MUCH TIPPY TAPPY…..THE PROBLEM IS WITH THE STYLE OF PLAY….NOT ANYTHING ELSE….
WE HAVE TO MIX IT WITH DIRECT PLAY FROM TIME TO TIME….
haha, ‘a gunner’ goes from site to site with the same subject – always in caps.
not that don’t think he has a point, mind.
NEWSFLASH – Our strongest team isn’t that strong.
I believe the team’s form is peaking right now.
Morning ‘Holic and ‘Holics
First let me put on my Brazillian tinted glasses…..
I have a feeling if we had played Denilson yesterday we wouldn’t have lost to N’castle. Alot of people might not like him, but he’s the only real HOLDING midfielder we have. When Deni plays other midfielders move forward often with no real need to defend, he does the donkey work for this team, intercepting and winning back the ball. Denilson keeps the ball off the opposition – that’s crucial with our posession style of play.
My two pence worth – let’s keep the ball, let them foul us – not the other way round.
Hmmm, a right mixture of POV’s.
My mood I’m afraid is downbeat, I can’t help it, I simply just fekking hate it when we lose, and that’s that. The reasons *why* aren’t particularly important to me at this stage, although it’s fairly obvious that the same old problems for just about 5 years now are still there. We’re a good team, but not exceptional, and prone to failings that are simplistic to fix if you’ve got a Bergkamp, and Henry, etc etc to call on.
Right now we don’t have a world beater in the team.
We need to beat wolves six nil to make me feel better… although a splash of Baileys in my coffee this morning is an early warmy inside type of feeling 🙂
With all due respect to Newcastle and WBA, getting beaten by two newly-promoted teams AT HOME is humiliating.
I don’t think it was a problem in personnel this time; Denilson wouldn’t have added anything we haven’t seen from Jack today (our best player..again). We depend on a fit Fabregas to win, and that’s not just because of his exceptional talent…no..it is also because he’s the closest player we have to a world-beater, a strong leader without whom we just seem to be a bunch of headless chickens, or as was the case today, and on wednesday, an average team, a truly mediocre one.
We need some steel in the team, Jack will provide some of it in the future, but he’s still too young now to give his teammates a but of the hairdryer treatement or try to give them a boost when necessary.
A new Viera, Bergkamp, Henry could
have made a difference. We are too soft and I think Arsene recognised this in his post-match interview when he spoke of Newcastle as having a team of “men”.
Just like Arsene said back in September, this team has the potential, but doesn’t have the winning mentality yet.
I didn’t forget about west ham, or last season’s last gasp goals, but I didn’t forget about Wba, Doneatsk, Wigan and Blackburn last season.
Teams Just aren’t afraid of us, and they needn’t be; we are not ready to be champions.
Losing at home is a humiliation we shouldn’t whitstand if we are to even think we could win the league.
Sorry if this post lacks sense or if my grammar is off, I haven’t had any coffee yet and am posting from an iPhone.
I was going to strongly and unusually disagree with two of your points, but I’ll be strong on one, less on another, having checked another place.
but top goalkeepers win you points, not lose you them.
Not strictly true, ask Messrs Cech, Reina, Van der Sar, Lehmann, Seaman…
It happens. And I think they are considered top keepers. Of course Fabianski isn’t it that bracket, certainly not now, but I was pleased that he didn’t crumble after the mistake, and even caught a few not so easy high balls. So that’s new territory and I definitely wouldn’t drop him for yesterday. Otherwise you might as well not bother with goalkeepers. WS did a mistake against Newcastle that fortunately didn’t cost us a goal, but what do you do then?
Laurent Koscielny’s red card today (no complaints)
Yes complaints, Mike Dean is a muppet. I haven’t got the benefit of the replay so am freely using my totally biased view, but I’m still not convinced that it was a clear goalscoring opportunity in that position. Remember the same player didn’t score when presented with a probably better chance in the Carling Cup 😉
Anyway, it’s neither of these people’s fault, we were utter toilet, starting with the Captain….and it’s weird we forgot that we hit the bar twice (Theo the closest to scoring), but we really didn’t deserve much.
And the atmosphere was bizarre, more like a picnic than a football game.
Still I think i should ask the club for a partial refund of my train ticket.
Alka Setzer please barman!
To me one of the issues when we do not play well is that we are offering little threat/width from the full backs. When Eboue is on he adds an extra dimension. I don’t think Sanga or Clichy did enough yesterday and I have never seen them cross well. We became very narrow and in the end ran out of ideas.
Add to that Cesc and Song playing poorley and bang goes your attacking threat.
And when did we stop breaking at pace? That used to be our trademark. For some reason we just do not seem to do it anymore.
We should be sitting nicely in the 2nd position with 2 points behind Chelski no questions asked.
Very poor display yesterday, Fabianski was 100% to blame for the goal but he never really got any help from his defenders. We created fuck all in the second half, Theo should have scored, if he’s a better finisher this season why can’t he do the job when badly needed? Our midfield run out of ideas and as soon as I saw Cesc launching long balls I knew it was going to be one of thosae days. It’s a funny old game you know we have given away 6 points already this season to lesser teams and this is totally unacceptable.
I was driving back from Luton airport when the game kicked off, listening to it on Talksport was painful enough, when we conceded just on the brink of half time I already had my doubts. I made it to local for the second half and if I knew we were going to play like this I wouldn’t have bothered. On the other hand the beer tasted rather well and I thought I would stay longer for the Pool game as I clearly wanted to drown my sorrows.
A very HUGE, MASSIVE, GIAGANTIC response required agains Wolves and they seem to have improved as well so it wont be an easy game now.
We have lost our spark and I’m worried it has to be said.
Barman a very tall Latte please…
Wenger must have been tearing his hair out. We had a great looking starting line up, but when it came to performing they were as flat as a rag doll’s tits.
Hi all,
To be honest Holic, Fabianski’s howler is typical of Fabianski. I know alot of great keepers have howlers (see: Reina this season), but we too often see Fabianski make the same mistakes, which over time he will learn to alleviate, but at Arsenal we need a naturally talented, gifted and solid keeper now. Is Fabianski that candidate in disguise? Who knows? However, what I do know is that, Joey Barton should not be able to say that his teams game plan was to target an Arsenal keepers weaknesses!(Not quite in those words).
I also agree that it was another collective under-performance. I know Cesc has just got back from a Hammy problem and that could have been a factor of his performance. A fully fit Cesc wins you games, as for a half fit Cesc? Why didn’t Rosciky come on for Walcott?
I know it’s early days yet Holic, but when you take last season as an example, it’s those games we should have won that cost us the title. These losses against West Brom and Newcastle (albeit good performance on their parts) are costing us the title. We only lost against Chelsea and Manure at home last season! We shouldn’t be losing to newly promoted sides at home.
Newcastle and West Brom played well. But we struggled to score against West Ham too! Why do we fail to get the balance right at times? Poor away record last season, unbeaten away this season, lost against the top two last season, lost against the lower teams the season before. These are issues the team need to address.
I watched MOTD on Sat and have been watching highlights of a few championship matches too and have noticed how Arsenal like teams are starting to play. It happens every season. Eevntually coaches basically say “play like Arsenal”, “that is the proper way to play”. It is a compliment, but also means we always need to be one step ahead. With such greatness come great responsibility.
The one twos around the box are now becoming more easier to suss! Even Huddlestone is starting to thread through a narrow parallel Cesc-ish! pass to Crouch. Now teams like Newcastle think they can actually “come and play us”.
Where do we go from here? Well we still seem to be pressing which is good. But yes I agree that we lacked pace yesterday especially in the final third. To be honest we have had good luck with penalties and red cards recently but of late we have lacked our attacking prowess.
So with fatigue being a factor what can we do? Last season we did not rotate the squad as much as we have this season and we are less consistent (in my opinion). We have seen heavy rotation contribute to the demise of Liverpool under Benitez. However we should be able to rotate the squad slightly enough so everyone is fresh, i.e.: give Chamakh a game or two off. But not a total facelift. But with all of our injuries, we are not quite ready in certain departments! But this is not exclusively an Arsenal problem. Manure have had this problem in defence themselves.
How long will it take until we get the balance right?
Do we need a new keeper?
Lets hope we get a good consistent rhythm going sooner rather than later. Let’s start with Wolves away!
Cu’mon you Goonies!!
What really gets on my tits it’s the fact that Le Boss will not critisize any of his platyers, I would love him to come and say this is unacceptable!
@80: ette – a bottle of best on me and take the rest of the day of with my approval.
As usual our snail like square passing tempo was easily coped with by the away team. Cesc was poor & Song overrun by Barton & Nolan. Walcott was shown the line and was crowded out. I feel Theo my just be a speed merchant, if so he is A SRTIKER not a winger, put him there! Wengers subs baffled & his post match comments bemused. I really hope what he says in public is not what he echoes to the squad in the dressing room or @ London Colney. Anyone read Cesc’s programme notes, he’s starting to sound like Wenger now.
I have forgot to add I hate Mike Dean!
ArthurTheGooner –
Mike Dean along with Alan Wiley is amongst the few refs who can behave like D.heads!
Surely this is not why we lost Sunday?
http://arsenalaction.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/wenger_sun_06nov2010.jpg
No pride, no passion and nigh on zero effort; no I’m not talking about the players I’m talking about the fans, before people that go to the games moan about a lack of effort from players they should look at their own effort during the game, are you one of the few that sing and try to lift the side or one of the majority who only open mouths to moan or slag off someone when they make a mistake. I have missed 8 home games since 79-80 season and have sung and shouted my encouragement at every game, I have also never left before the final whistle. If the players matched the fans effort most wouldn’t shake a leg and half would be in their cars on the way home 5 mins from the end. I thought our fans had changed their ways at the west ham game, more singing and very few left early but it was back to the norm on Sunday, dismal. If your going to moan at least earn the right by putting in effort. You shouldn’t need any insperation but if you do just look at how the Liverpool fans got behind their team from the off against Chelsea and then tried to lift them when they flagged in the second half. And lastly, you may even enjoy your day more for being involved in a positive way rather than negative one. End of rant. All together now, come on you gunners
In the wake of yesterday’s “performance” (ahem) there are some very insightful and sage words on what happened posted by new and regular members of our bar alike.
For me ‘Holic summed-up most things well, then BtM added some more food for thought, Steve T’s posts were very good too with a few bits of humour thrown in for good measure. Arthur, your posts always make me chortle mate 🙂
I can’t add any more value so won’t – like all of you I’m very concerned about our credentials/ability to win silverware this season. We seem to have something vital missing in our make-up that prevents us from being champions. Hugely disappointing 🙁
Finally a note to Glennw @ #96. We should all take note of what you have written. It’s exceptional supporters like you that really keeps this club going. Sorry if that sounds patronising, it’s not meant to.
@ Glennw
Agreed, it’s now time to eschew the negativity and get behind the boys to help/urge them on to an away win at The Wolves. This has become another one of those “must win matches”.
Come on you Mighty Reds!!!!!
Ts, thankyou for your comment and no I don’t feel patronised, our great club has a huge army of great supporters from around the world who follow the team everywhere and behave in a way that reflects well on themselves and the club, it’s just attitude of a large number at home games that baffles and disappoints me. I am also amazed people around me don’t sing just to drown out my own singing which painful to say the least!
Glennw
I can undestand where you come from but I clearly heard COME ON ARSENAL COME ON ARSENAL in the 80th minute.
Some people make scrifices to get a ticket to a game and they should be rewarded with decent football not Sunday league display.
For that I hit my local park and guess what it’s free!
Glennw
It always disgusts me how our own supporters can abuse our own players, to their faces like they do during home games. There is a big difference between criticism and abuse etc.
I have always said there are not enough songs to spread across the entire squad. I’m sure a chant here or there would help some of our not so popular players grow in confidence.
I remember when the pre-greedy Adebayor was asked why he was having such a prolific 2007/8 season and he said it was because he wanted to hear the fans chanting his name and singing his song!
@ 91 Bergkamp’s The Man:
much appreciated that bottle, so ideal since am working from home today 😉
Glenw,
Agree to a point but its not just Arsenal every ground in the premeirship has the same problem- Yes the scousers can lift themselves from time to time but ive been to Anfield on many occasions and the atmosphere is nowhere near what it was even 10 years ago in fact when we drew 1-1 up there a couple of seasons back it was the quietest ive ever known it,
Id go as far as to say weve got one of the most vocal away supports in the country and why is that could it possibly be that alot of the loyal fanbase are fucked of with the so called Emirates experience and prefer to travel away where you can still enjoy yourselves rather than enjoy the pleasant Nazi stewarding at the home games where even a flag causes offence to one group or another?
Im not spoiling for an argument in any way shape or form but im just asking a question, The club to me seemed to lose its identity before and after the move from Highbury – Gazidis is trying to right alot of the wrongs but it will take time before many forgive what has gone on,
Goonertown,
It always disgusts me how our own supporters can abuse our own players, to their faces like they do during home games. There is a big difference between criticism and abuse etc.
Yep i carnt quite understand that myself and it dosent float my boat – but again its not a new thing players have got it in the neck for years, personally i think its a build up of frustration and the need to scapegoat but then again if a player puts in 100% effort they soon win the fans back onside,
We suck.
‘Holic and holics – haven’t read all the drinks so apologies if any of this is repetitious.
From where I sat yesterday in Bl 91 it was a pretty bleak picture.
There is little point in picking the nits out of individual displays when there are some serious general issues that AW needs to address, and quickly.
Clive Waterman – agree wholeheartedly with your comments.
When the manager constantly talks up our fantastic spirit and mental strength, I think “our fantastic spirit and mental strength” are obviously an issue.
Yesterday, we showed little or no spirit and no-one shows the strength of any kind to pull this team together when things are not falling into place.
Fantastic player that he is, Cesc Fabregas does not seem to have any effect on his team-mates when we desperately need a leader on the pitch.
Arsene Wenger is quoted in the press today as saying that we played “a good Newcastle team of mature men”. I believe that says as much about our manager’s true feelings as it does about some of our players.
As has been said before, you can forgive a player a mistake as long as he is trying his utmost, and he learns from that mistake.
Unfortunately, those two qualifications do not apply to too many of our players.
‘Holic, even you have now clearly lost patience with our seemingly No. 1 Accident waiting to happen.
No wonder Sczszesny has lost patience. If he had super-quality in front of him, then he would have to wait his chance without complaint.
While two games do not prove long term quality, he has performed without fault in his only two first-team games to date, and looks our best keeper by a million miles. What is there to lose in giving him a chance now ?
As for mental strength, why is it that every time this team looks capable of winning something it freezes and completely under-performs.
Every time there is a chance to take advantage of a slip by a rival, we spurn that chance.
Sitting at the game yesterday, I had the same feeling as I did when we lost 2 – 4 to Charlton at Highbury in whichever year it was – you know, when Richard Wright was in goal.
That feeling was that something fundamental had to change, and I don’t mean just the keeper.
I tried hard to find something positive about yesterday’s (and this season’s) performance. Something that made me optimistic that we can win a major trophy this season.
Sadly, I failed.
Congratulations to Newcastle, by the way.
They played with a determination I would love us to show more of.
And they did it, even the despicable Barton, without kicking us.
Should also say that Jack Wilshire DID show exactly the kind of determination that we need. Another great shift from him.
There, grounds for optimism already.
The pressing problems currently lie at the front, not back. Over the past three games we’ve averaged one goal for every 20 shots; the three games before that we were averaging one goal every 1.8 shots. We have stopped opening up defences to create clear cut chances.
A glass of your very best clarets to revive spirits, if you would, ‘Holic.
chippy –
I hear you and I understand that we all get vocally frustrated from time to time, which I cannot see it ending anytime soon either.
But saying some supporters get on top of the players from the second the whistle blows. I remember hearing alot of abuse during the Blackpool game then seeing alot of embarrassed faces by the end of it. Win or lose it seems as though some supporters only occupy their seats just to hurl abuse at the squad! It only seems to dis-encourage the players rather they kick them up the BS. I think “cu’mon do better than that” is more effective than “put it in the back of the net you C@*#!
What happened to the Up For Grabs podcast today holics? I was looking forward to it.
I was so gutted, I didn`t even feel like a beer after the game. I thought we might sneak a late equaliser but we were never going to win. We were too narrow, with Theo being ushered inside, and unable to use his pace. I was surprised that Nasri was taken off, and I thought that Bendtner would have come on first. The goal was another soft one, as it always is, and it was agonising to hear, one again, this time from Lee Dixon, that we arn`t even getting the basics right. It really is time to sort out the keeper situation once and for all. How AW can defend Flappy once more, is beyond belief. If he hadn`t dithered, he would probably have got to the ball first, end of. I agree that now is the time for AW to tell Szczeseny to prove he is the best, and start him against Wolves. If he gets a run and proves he isn`t ready, at least AW will know he really does need to get the cheque book out in January.
What, I wonder, would happen were Flappy to pull a muscle in training, would Almunia make a miraculous recovery?
Biscuitbum
I have to defend Fabianski here, he got no cover from defenders, yes you are correct he made a mistake but what did the others do?
Evening
Just by way of starting a rumour…. check out Wcss$$$%ny ‘s latest tweet on Twitter…. he seems a happy boy. I wonder if he’s been given a heads up for Wednesday?
Pint for whoever is here please
CG
Just saw that perhaps you’re right about this one and hopefully he will get the nod.
And thank you for the drink next round is on me 🙂
I’ve been in the camp of let’s play the youngster since we failed to buy in the summer as what I’ve seen in the small amount of times I’ve seen him oozes top star billing, So I’m not all of a sudden going to back track on that, The game at Newcastle summed him up to me yes he made a mistake but he learnt from it and for the rest of the game was outstanding He will make mistakes but to me has a confidence the other two lack,
I don’t blame Fabianski as last year he was in and out and could never gain any sort of confidence and for that Wenger must take some blame and It couldn’t be easy for him in the summer knowing we were after a new number 1, The other thing is if the young pole dosent get his chance he will be off and who can blame him he’s currently behind sub standard keepers and will get a chance elswhere, Id be devastated watching him strut his stuff at another club.
What does his Twitter site say lads ? I’m not a tweeter or what ever it’s called lol
Trev,
I have to agree with your assessment of Wenger’s description of Newcastle being a team of “mature men” as an indirect assessment of his own team as immature. He may not have meant his comment that way but Freudian slips do happen. There is no question that our immaturity has cost us dearly but the harder question is how can we mature quickly enough to recover our heretofore promising season?
Re: The Song @ 104: Based on our performances at home against West Brom and Newcastle I couldn’t agree with you more.
Wolves away on Wednesday is the game I expected to be more difficult than Newcastle at home, and it still may prove to be so. If, however, we can put in a good performance it is an opportunity to redeem a quickly sinking season.
Chippy @ 115
He said; “I just came back home.Had a good day. A really good day… :)”
Could be Wednesday, could be a new contract, or maybe he got lucky with the blonde from PR..!
Cheers Catalan,
My moneys on the blonde in PR she’s meant to be a right sort lol,
Back home again. About £550 for the flights, hotel and match ticket for the second time in less than two months. And for the second time in two months I get treated to a shower of shit for 90 minutes. I sure know how to pick the games.
Sp*rs 4-4
West Ham 0-0
Sp*rs 3-0 (A win!!!)
Villa 0-0
ManUre 1-3
WBA 2-3
Magpies 0-1
These are the last seven games I have been to. Seven games, one win and only three goals scored in the last four and all three of them more or less pointless. Not exactly a purple patch.
Alright, enough moaning about that, on to the Sunday fiasco – which, of course, means that there is more moaning coming up.
The positives first: it was a very nice surprise to see RvP back in the team and even on the pitch.
Well, that was about it as far as the positives go…
Don’t really know where to start, but as for the comments about Wenger not critisizing the players – have you looked at what he has actually said after the last two games? “We were complacent” was the main theme after Wednesday, and yesterday he referred to Newcastle as “mature men” or something – to me a very clear message to his own players to grow up and stop arsing about waiting for someone else to do the dirty work for them.
Fabianski mistimed his jump for the goal, no question about that. But what was Chamakh doing allowing Carroll to run like that? If you are assigned a player on a set piece, then you fucking stay close to him even he goes to the bog to take a dump while waiting for the ball to be kicked. Stand close to him before he starts running, tug a bit at his shirt, push him a bit – you know, those things that players at every other team do to us. At least make him have to work to get to the ball, don’t just stand there.
And why does not anyone run towards the goal line BEFORE Carroll heads the ball? Fabianski made that one mistake, but it speaks volume about the rest of the team when you consider that Fab was the one player who always tried to pick up the pace by taking quick throws/kicks – but most of the time no-one wanted the bloody ball!
There is something fundamentally wrong with this team that causes it to constantly collapse like this and it has obviously got something to do with the mentality and self-confidence within the team. It only took watching five minutes of the warm-up before the game to realize that this was a game we were going to lose. The Newcastle players held their heads high, their backs were straight and they were focused, hardly misplaced a pass and worked on some very simple routines that they then used in the game on several occasions. On the other side of the pitch there were several players who looked at their own feet, could not pass the ball five yards and then as the only proper warm-up (other than running back and forth for bit while Pat Rice claps his hands every now and then) went through that ridiculously complicated warm-up routine (it is too complicated to describe, but if you have seen it you will probably know which one I mean) where more or less the only result is that the players run into each other. I have seen many teams use that routine and I have never understood the purpose of it, the players either run into each other or the balls collide as they are passed around and it does not bear any resemblance to anything you do during a game.
And I have to say that playing a clearly unfit Cesc does not seem like the greatest idea in the world. Just look at him, the poor bloke can’t even walk properly. He hobbles around trying his best but is so clearly not physically fit.
This was a game we should have won, because without any disrespect to Newcastle who had a game plan and stuck to it and used their resources to the fullest, we did, even playing as shit as we did, create enough to hit the bar twice and force Krul into a great save. Imagine, then, what we could have created had we actually turned up for the game?
I could go on but there’s little point in doing that. I just had to get things off my chest after the disappointment of Sunday.
Pint of bitter, please.
Greetings Lars
Well that was a sh*t load of money spent watching, er, the same. The curse of the Lars is real after all!!!
To your point: “There is something fundamentally wrong with this team that causes it to constantly collapse like this and it has obviously got something to do with the mentality and self-confidence within the team.”
I hate myself for typing this but there is more than an element of truth in that. Regulars will know I’m usually much more up-beat than this but these lulls/lapses/I don’t know whats are happening with far too much regularity for my liking…. and we have such a talented squad…
Like you say, best to get these things off the chest and then move-on.
Barman? I’d like to join Lars in that pint please and one for yourself as always.
Evening Holics
Having vented my spleen @ 63 on Sunday’s abject effort,i am going to lob another hand grenade into Holics blogsphere.!!
I have had a good long look at our league fixtures up to the end of the year,and i reckon that if we can get to Jan 1st with just 6/7 defeats under our belt,we have a 50-50 chance of finishing in the top 6 at the end of the season.
By the way Holic,where are you.??
You’ve been missing in action for a while now,are you still in shock from Sunday,?? ILL,??Fed up,??
I miss you.!!
cheers
clive
Chippy @ 120,
Oh do tell us more and help to brighten up this filthy winter’s evening ;-).
There’s a few drinks in it for you if you agree to indulge us 🙂
Holy hell, that sounded a lot more whingey than I meant it to 🙂
Arthur, I agree, but can we afford to keep relying on a keeper who might `chuck one in` in any game.
@TS: well, the weekend wasn’t a total waste of course so I’ll admit to using the sum for dramatic effect 🙂 Other than the game, we had a really good weekend and having a pint at the Gunners Pub while watching Sp*rs collapse v Bolton was time well spent!
Lars
There you go, more than a few satisfying +ves. Glad you had a good trip.
What’s your thoughts on Wolves? A miraculous Gunners recovery and few goals in our favour???
Lars I feel for you my man no wonder you had to get this off your chest I know I would.
Clive
I hope this is not going to happen they need to wake up and start doing something about it and Wednesday is a perfect time to do so.
TS, I really don’t know what to think about the Wolves game. On one hand it’s a chance for the players to get some revenge on themeselves, but on the other hand we have really struggled to score lately and how has that affected the team? And don’t forget that Wolves has played really well in the last few games and judging from the MOTD highlights they could very well have beaten ManU on Saturday. In any case I can’t see it being a comfortable win for us, I wouldn’t bet on us winning at all.
However, I just saw this piece where Squillaci speaks out and I have to say that for an article published on the Pravd… sorry, offical Arsenal website it is a remarkably frank and honest piece. No nonsense about “oh yes, we learned this and that”, instead much more of a challenge to the rest of the team to knuckle down and turn things around.
Sorry to be late on parade.
Chippy, for 103 I’ve put one in for you.
Holic, smash your telly up will ya?
Lars, let us know what match you’re next going to, – *BEFORE* I go to the bookies please? 🙂
My round gents, lets big up wednesday night FFS, we are The Arsenal after all 🙂
MtS
Well said, I’ll join you, cheers! 🙂
Lars
Thanks for the pointer on Squillaci, good spot, very un-Pravda like.
I really don’t know what’s going to happen on Wednesday, that’s why I asked 😉
Right now, I’d go along with your logic but hope that we’re proved totally wrong of course.
More bitter??
@Mark the Spark:
Ok then, the next game I will attend will probably be the midweek game against Everton at home in February and after that it will, of all teams considering the Sunday fiasco, be Newcastle away on the weekend following the Everton game. So now you all know and can start preparing for the disappointment…
Evening all. Big apologies for not being around today. Hectic day at work. Now I am trying to get some windoze movies onto a dvd for a mate without a computer. Sounds simple don’t it. Nineteen quid later I’m still struggling getting them into a PAL dvd format that successfully records.
Anybody want any coasters? 🙁
Barely recovered from the deception and the kickoff before dawn. What I saw on my stream was eerily similar to what I witnessed at the Emirates last week.
The team has been built around Cesc behind the strikers, almost as a second striker at times. Because of his positioning there is no way around it, he will be at the center of everything happening in the final third. Unfortunately for us he is not playing well at the moment, he was transparent until 80+ minutes last week and even worse on Sunday: slow, untidy, uninspired. Nothing catastrophic, it happens to every player now and then. But with our current formation it results in the entire team being neutered as there is no path forward without him orchestrating it.
We do have a player that could replace him adequately for the time being in the person of Nasri who’s shining in midfield. He’s certainly a guaranteed starter but unfortunately for him (and for us), Cesc and LJW get to start there and Nasri moves from one wing (right last week) to another (left against the Geordies) where his talent is equally wasted, actually even making it worse for the team as he naturally drifts towards the middle, contributing in the narrowing of our attack that Steve T has been mentioning.
We have too many good players and Arsene has to make tough decisions for every game (Rosicki and Denilson surely deserve more playing time for example). The time has come to make such a decision for Cesc and rest him until he fully recovers. As long as he is playing in his current form and we keep the same formation, the same scenario will repeat itself with or without Denilson or whoever else, we will continue to be toothless.
As for the game Newcastle played well but we should have scored even in our current form, it’s true we were a bit unlucky. The defense and Fabianski could have done better on the goal but it’s far less bad of a performance than not scoring against Newcastle at home.
The only positive for me was to see RvP back on the pitch, but if Arsene realized it was time to replace Cesc with Nasri, the lost points could be well worth it.
On a side note, it was refreshing to see the scousers defeat Chelski, the exact same team which had been abysmal for 2 months is back to top 4 level again showing that a winning team depends on much more that just the players that make it.
@Lars: you’re too cheap. I paid almost 3 times as much last week-end and this was the bare minimum to be rewarded with a late late goal. On the other hand given your record perhaps you should consider saving your money altogether 😉
`Holic: check http://handbrake.fr
I am still really hurting. Really really hurting….
I’ll check it Matt. Close to meltdown now 🙁
A few more hours have passed but it gets no easier.
Wenger’s comment after Shakhtar Donetsk “you have to concentrate 100% for every minute of the game at this level otherwise you get nothing. It will be a good lesson for us”.
Wenger’s comment after Newcastle “we knew that on set-pieces we couldn’t afford this type of mistake” – “in the Premier League you have to be focused every minute of every half”.
These words are for players that we are told time after time after time are mentally strong and intelligent.
We are surely left with two possibilities.
Either the players do not want to learn these “good lessons”, or they are not capable of learning them.
The “mature” comments referred to earlier are particularly worrying as these players are no longer kids. Even the younger ones have now played many games in various competitions, and most are now entering the supposed peak years of their careers.
And therein lies another worry. Most players in Cesc’s role would not establish themselves in a top flight team until about the age he is now, so 23. Cesc of course was only 16, and has now played 7 years of first team football against physically mature men, 5 of them with his own physically immature body.
After 7 years of first team football he could normally expect to be around 30 years old, at which time his performance levels would start to go into decline, and he would begin to incur more frequent injuries.
For his sake and ours, I hope this is not already happening.
Rope, anybody ?
Let’s not be dramatic about Cesc. Don’t forget he spent the summer at the WC and historically has not had his best seasons for us after returning from international tournaments. He will be back to his best but it may take time. My hope is that Nasri will play in Cesc’s role while Cesc recovers and I’m ready to bet that if Nasri can be given some games in a row behind the strikers he will impress everyone.
Chums! I’ve entered wearing a bright red top. Serious error. A complete set of black apparel is the only thing that will match the mood in here tonight. Let me go and swallow a bottle of downers……I’ll be back in a minute.
~ BtM exits stage right. Swallows bottle marked, by Her Nellieness, as “downers – near death simulation”. Sits down. Hums “Paint it Black” (mixes up second line and gets “I see a black car and I want it painted red”). Tries harder to get depressed. Simulates a wrist slit. Working? Not really. Tries “As Tears Go By” Working? Not really – but times a’wastin. Returns to bar. ~
OK. I’m back. On Sunday we saw eleven human beings being outplayed by another eleven. Our eleven lost. Their eleven won. Simultaneously, the Champions were thumped by a team struggling at the bottom of the League. Man IOU went deeper in debt and only just scraped a home win against a recently promoted jobbers eleven. Spuds were thumped after a tough CL game.
Cue mass depression, change goalkeeper, bench Cesc (nay, put Cesc out to grass – “neigh”), change the warm up routine, we just can’t play, and on. And all this from a group of bar mates who were predicting wonders of Babylonian Gardens proportions only a week ago? What changed?
This is a tough competition. There are no free passes. There will be many more surprises before this particular season’s out. Will we be on the wrong end of several? You bet we will.
But after all is said and done, can we win this thing? Yes we can. But there is not one single guarantee. That is true for every other team in the competition. We still have the single best squad and, in my mind, in AW, the pick of the bunch.
But every Saturday, Sunday or Wednesday, it’s 11 against 11. there is no rule “This is Arsenal : Stamp WIN” in result column. At the end of the day, like it or not, that’s what makes it fun. Right? It’s not predictable, I wouldn’t watch if it was.
Remember the last time we had Cesc out with his cruciate. We went 22 games undefeated. Only one player featured in every game. Who? The sultan of swing, the samba sensation, the rhythm king – Denilson. And that boy was nowhere near Sunday’s defeat. Robin’s back and can play in the Dennis role.
I didn’t enjoy Sunday’s defeat, but I’m expecting to see more. I’m not blaming our goalie and I still think we’ll be right there at the finish.
OK. Off to try some more downers. Still Too, too, positive by far.
Matt @141
Nasri went off on Sunday because of a calf injury.
According to Wenger it is only minor,which probably means a month on the sidelines.!!
Arthur @ 129,
i hope i’m wrong mate,but a significant change in attitude is required if we don’t want to fall in a heap before the New Year.
In both the WBA game and the Newcastle game,it seemd the players thought they only had to turn up to win,neither of the above teams are anything other than enthusiastic mid to lower end of the league opposition,yet they made us look very very average.
We have done this time and again over the past few years,and never seem to learn the lesson,that you have to be 100% focused and ready to go from the first minute to the last,not stroll about as if you cannot be arsed and expect teams to just roll over for us.
BTM @ 142
All us fans want is for OUR team to fight from the first minute to the last with enthusiam,skill,guts,sheer bloody mindedness,call it what you will,so that when they walk off the pitch,win lose or draw,they have done everything possible to win.
What we shouldn’t have to accept,is them turning up thinking it will be an easy game and playing accordingly.
Sod the other teams results,it’s ours that matter,the fans pay a fortune to watch the Arse these days,and the least they can expect is 150% commitment from the players every time.!!
I respectfully submit that we were very very short changed against West Brom and Newcastle.
cheers
clive
“Here comes my 19th nervous breakdown”. Nope, still not working.
Clive and BtM, If you are both up at this hour, the situation must be getting serious!
bt8bbtn @ 146
we could say the same about you.!!
and yes it is very serious,with 2 tough physical teams to play in the next 5 days,we need to lift considerably to first meet them headon and then overcome them with superior skill.HO HO HO!!
Btm @ 145
Your red and white tinted spectacles need cleaning my friend.
The season ticket price argument is pretty spurious if I may say so. I don’t think anyone would be more forgiving if the tickets were half-price…
@BtM: I waited over a day to post since I knew my reaction would have gone overboard at the final whistle. It’s clear the only difference between this game and last week’s is the result which could have gone both ways in both games. As much as I agree with your outlook, others need more time to digest it. It’s the Invincibles effect!
On a different note I’m very glad that for once the gutter Telegraph didn’t get away with the lies they publish: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11709871
matt @ 148
Obviously what passes for ‘ acceptable performance levels ‘ in your world,is markedly different from the majority of visitors to Holics site..
Also, to contemptuously attribute the majority of disappointed Gooners expressing their thoughts as ‘It’s the Invincibles effect’ does you no credit at all.
Perhaps you’re wearing the same red and white tinted glasses as Btm.
MRS@131,
Cheers mate drank with gusto,
TS, Just messing mate I’ve no idea if the person in question is a sultry blonde 😉
Clive, Couldnt agree more- I can handle and accept defeats if the team has given it’s all but to many times over the past year we’ve gone down in a whimper which is more in tune with that lot up the road than The Arsenal, That an 18 year old kid was having to show his more seasoned teammates what it should mean to play for the club was a sad inditment of some of them.
Anyway that my moaning over till the next time lol points need to be won and hunger shown on Wednesday now.
“We went up to Wolves we took their Northbank we went down to Derby they ain’t worth a wank” but take my advice there’s nothing as nice as……………
They need a kick up their comfy butts nothing less, I have posted earlier that LeBoss never seems to slam his own players and I believe it’s about time he did so. Just for the sake of giving you an example here, look at Twitchy after their defeat to Bolton, he was out straight after the game saying this was “unacceptable”.
Two home defeats already and we are only in November this is certainly unacceptable to me. Perhaps the others may disagree but Emirates is not a fortress anymore.
I’m still hurting yes, beacuse we should be not only two points behind Chavs, but we should be top now with 26 points in the bag!
Barman a tall latte for me and if any Holics are present whatever they fancy.
Interesting Young Guns comments on Twitter:
Fisrt one:
“It’s a different level, but the Reserves have the same vulnerabilities as the first-team. Reserves look strong, first-team looks beatable.”
Second one:
“The Reserves win games by being strong and dominating midfield and having a killer forward. Can’t say the same about the first-team.”
And you know what? I agree with him…sadly
Chippy @ 151
can you imagine ” Gorgeous George ‘ accepting Sundays performance.?? or the WBA one.??
He’d have had the players on double training sessions,and on army rations for a week.!!
Whilst we are not privy to what goes on in the dressing room after a defeat,it doesn’t seem to have had any effect on the players if Sunday is anything to go by.
Wolves on wednesday will tell us a lot about our team as will Everton on Sunday.
cheers
clive
Take it easy Clive, no need to get personal to make your point even more so when you missed mine.
Anyone can observe it in this very bar every time: a defeat generates many more comments (many of them excessive) than a victory (where a sizable proportion is still critical, if not negative).
The Invincibles effect which I’m talking about is the state of mind where winning is merely normal when losing is the end of the world. They have shifted the expectations towards eternal success. And it explains a lot of things starting with the ambiance (actually lack of) at the Emirates.
Others have come with various arguments to explain the phenomenon like the price of the season ticket, the attitude of the players on the pitch or not having won anything in a long time which I all consider contributing factors but not the root cause.
@Chippy, you’re just providing the counter-example I was looking for. Against Chelsea our lads gave their all. Have a look back on Holic’s thread here http://goonerholic.com/?p=2895 and check for yourself how many “handled and accepted” the defeat…
Matt. I think the problems you mention have been apparant for the last 2 years. We all know what they are and have all highlighted them numerous times. Nothing has been done to address these despite us all being assured that the money is there. That is fine if it all works but if you check out the performances like the on on sunday, west brom, shaktar and a few from the end me last season then you will see the frustration. As i have said numerous times before, i do not think we are that far away. But like clive and many others i am getting frustrated hearing the same old excuses for problems that we all highlighted 2 years ago. There comes a time when it just does not work anymore.
Matt
Perhaps if you had explained yourself in a bit more detail,i wouldn’t have taken your comments as flippant and dismissive of other peoples thoughts.
I must say i was surprised when i read it,as normally you talk alot of sense.
At the end of the day WE all want the same thing,a team challenging for Trophies every season and giving their all to achieve it.
My apologies if you felt offended,but i have followed this club for 50 years now,and i cannot accept players taking their talents for granted.
So i vent my spleen now and then.
Cheers
clive
Matt,
Just reading through that and these were my thoughts after the game,Its so frustratingly obvious where our weak points are but for some reason they are not rectified. But yes some did go overboard.
9Chippy
Morning,
Fair report Holic, I hate to say it but I just cannot see this side winning either of the big prizes, Theres no doubt they have the ability as footballers but they just make to many basic defensive errors and that starts with the midfield not tracking runners and ends with defenders thinking they are pele instead of just clearing the ball, We will have some fun and great performances to marvel at but I fear it will end as the previous few years.Under his great sides we had no shortage of flair but we also had steel and a you shall not pass atitude this side lack no flair but are sadly lacking the other 2 components.We can have the best profit margins in football but until they add the 2-3 players we so badly need Groundhog day will repeat! It could be worse tho we could be scouse eating oops carried away 🙂 in the bottom 3!! That would give us something to moan at lol
Up The Arse,
@Steve T: Remember we disagreed about the problems and solutions. I for one think we do have the team to win it this season, not as favorites but at least as decent challengers. Which makes the current stretch so frustrating.
@Clive: no worries, indeed we all want the same thing.
I have been asked recently why I was more relaxed than most in defeat and the best answer I can give is that since the creation of the Premiership every single winner had either the highest or second highest wage bill (and it’s the same in every big league). We’re now 4th behind Chelski, United and Citeh but in 2014 once all our contracts are unlocked and renegotiated we’ll have the means to be top dogs financially and as a consequence grab a lion’s share of silverware. Until then I bide my time, if we win something it’s gravy. We have the team to do it earlier and that’s already an amazing achievement in itself, that thought alone comforts me when we lose must-win games like this one or the WBA one. I’m still very disappointed but in the grand scheme of things I know it’s just another bump on the road to success which I’m 100% sure is not too far away now.
Matt. I fully accept that our views may differ but waiting for 4 years to compete in 2014 just will not appease fans. Especially when we have the means to do something about it now. That said, i admire your patience.
My arguement has always been a simple one. Do we, as a club maximise our potential with the resources we have? In my humble opinion the answer is no. As i have also said many times, i sincerely hope i am wrong. But the fact that many on here now want to give our 3rd keeper a go just 11 games into the season speaks volumes for me.
Quick break to wipe the grindstone dust from my hooter. Big thanks to all, but it is true that a bad performance or result does generate the biggest response here, and it never ceases to amaze me how most of you contest the points with dignity and civility when I see what goes on elsewhere.
Take the hidden message from some that I was more negative in the piece than usual. I was in a dark place on Sunday, and I’m not really out of it yet. We got into a challenging position because the midfielders and front men were on fire for the opening months. When they misfire though we are in trouble, because we have full-backs struggling for form, and no dominant goalkeeper.
Back this evening after a couple of beers with a Wolves preview, and hopefully something a bit more upbeat. Cheers all.
Matt, what makes you think that “once our contracts are unlocked and renegotiated” that we will spend any more on players or wages than we do now?
And even if we propose to, who says others won’t pay even more?
I think matters may come to a head before 2014 as I don’t think we can continue to sell 60000 tickets every other week until then, with the team spectacularly under-achieving.
It would be a good start if Arsene would stop giving soundbites to the media about focus/lessons etc and prove to us that this squad is capable of learning the lessons that are being repeated on a regular basis. Everything he says just seems to me to placate the players, with little acknowledgement of the hurt inflicted on us, the punters!
I see Steve T got in before me!
This is what happens when you type with your toes!!
‘holic I was wondering if the dark place was different from Clive’s secure unit in any significant way. Of course, the ‘holic part of Goonerholic suggests a certain attraction for intense highs and lows which we all seem to share but my tolerance for intense lows is also being tested at the moment. Now let me return to the remote bunker.
Holics…UP FOR GRUBS podcast it’s funny as hell you have listen to it!
So Koscielny will serve a two match ban due to his second sending off with immediate effect.
He will be back for Tony Totts
This place needs some cheering up, come on you holics’ we have game on tomorrow and Szczesny is getting ready for the trip already!
Oooopps Tiny Totts that should have said…. 🙂
Why are we panicked? Theo said we shall win……don’t we trust our players…..?
Oh
Bad News
Looks like Verminator had a setback and worrying thing is there is no time scale on his injury, his achilles is clear on the scan but as soon as he trains it gets tense and he has pain, he will need to see a specialist again beacuse they cant source where the pain is coming from. Not really the sort of news I wanted to hear. Witch Koscielny out we have to turn to Djourou for the next two games. Not worried abou him really he needs a good run of games and was starting to show some good signs and I know he can head the ball as well. But
Same goes for Diaby he will have a test wed/thur and if he has no pain then it will be short, if he has pain then he will need to see a specialist as well.
Bloody hell when will it end!
Good News
Van Persie didn’t break in half after the game on Sunday but I don’t think he will travel, Nasri is available so is the rest of team apart from Koscienly.
Anyone up for a drink in the Bar?
Wait till 2014 to win a trophy??? WTF you on?????
C’mon mighty mackems it’s your turn to ring the sorry Sp*ds gnarly necks. If the mackems aren’t up for it I’m down to backing QPR or Ipswich in the WTF npower league. Barman, pint of bitter for me and a glass of whatever Arthur wants.
Tiny totts are passing everything to the left oh dear oh dear
Sp*rs started well but started to lose focus toward halftime. Gallas and Bentley looking odious.
@Steve T: Just to make sure: I do respect your views too, some of them I agree with some of them I don’t. I am not saying we will have to wait 4 years as I still think we’ll grab silverware this year or be razor-close. What I’m saying is that in the worst case it will take up to 4 years before we’re top dogs (in the league and in Europe too) whoever is at the helm at this point. Many fans at other clubs would love to have such perspective, Mancs and Scousers in particular. It doesn’t alleviate the pain of losing against Newcastle (actually WBA was the worst in my view, I still haven’t digested it) but nonetheless is helps relativizing through rough patches.
@zicoinexile: Surely we can count on the owners to want to maximize their investment. Once we start winning silverware on a regular basis while generating profits or simply breaking even the club’s value will double or triple from what it is today. Luckily the path to their greater wealth coincides with the fans’ wishes for silverware.
As for others paying even more they would need the means to do it organically as UEFA is introducing fair play rules to prevent rich owners from skewing the game. That’s the main reason behind Chelski’s, Spud’s, Liverpool’s and others desire to move to a bigger stadium for fear to be left too much behind on gate revenue.
I totally hear you about typing with your toes. I’m even worse as I have two left feet…
@GAZ: Again I’m talking worst case. Personally I believe we do have the players to win silverware this season, or come razor-thin close. But surely most fans would have been outraged too if they’d been told upfront to have to wait 5+ years in 2005… and still it happened.
Sunderland just made a meal out of this one 🙂
Oops our Neighbours had a shocker an all 😉 Billy boy whay have you done.
@Arthur: I’ll have that drink with you. I’ll start with a lager-top, still early here.
We’ll win nothing without a decent commanding keeper which Flappyhandski certainly isn’t,Almunia also isn’t so Wenger either spends big and buys a keeper or gives Schneszney(can’t spell it) a chance starting tomorrow against Wolves and see if he’s all he says he is,in my opinion he’s our best bet and if he turns out to be a dud like the other 2 well at least Wenger can say he gave him his chance.
Matt. I agree that we are not far away. That is why it is even more frustrating when we all see where we are short. We hear the board tell us how wealthy we are and we listen to AW tell us 6 months ago that he has identified weaknesses and subsequent targets. But then very little happens. I feel it is not just about spending money but retaining what he had. I will never understand why we let players go so early. I still feel we are not strong enough. If we added to the current squad the likes of Gallas, Eduardo, Gilberto and Flamini then I would be very happy. Now I know many will have views about each player, but my point is this. All we have done is replace players. I wanted to see additions to the squad. Lets be honest, who really thinks that we will ever get a full season out of the likes of RVP and Cesc?
Matt, I enjoy the debate. Allow me to join you in a beer and to top up your glass……..
Agent Gallas job well done after seeing Tottenham had the lead.
I enjoy the debate too Steve 😉
For me it’s the first time in a long while that I think we’re good enough. Our defense is stronger with Djourou back and the arrivals of Squillaci and Kos, our midfield is crowded with exciting young players (LJW and Rambo in particular) and so his our attack. I agree we could do with a real left-winger, I was hoping for Vela to fill the spot unfortunately it seems we’ll have to wait for Sanchez Watts.
Let’s move on to Holic’s new post though.
Cheers Matt I’ll have pint of Star please barman!
Day off tomorrow mothe rin law is over for 10 days lucky me, she will have to put up with my shouting tomorrow 🙂
Have you seen what Gomes did again today? That could of easily been another red, I say he’s one lucky man.
behind the 8 ball but not nasri
I’ll buy a drink for that comment 😀 nicely done mate! Ha ha ha