Frustrating Gunners Shot Down Again
Mar 4th, 2018 by 'holic
Well, Arsene Wenger did ring the changes and for whatever reason Hector Bellerin, Aaron Ramsey, and Danny Welbeck made way for Calum Chambers, Jack Wilshere, and Alex Iwobi. With a trip to Milan looming on Thursday the Arsenal were seeking a confidence boosting three points.
The visitors started well and had the first meaningful effort, Mesut Ozil curling one over from the inside-right channel in the fourth minute. Then Henrykh Mkhitaryan’s whipped cross was sliced over his own goal by Dunk. It proved to be a false dawn however. Petr Cech flapped at Brighton’s first corner, under some questionable pressure from Duffy, and the ball dropped at the feet of Dunk who found the target at the right end.
Brighton 1-0 The Arsenal
A brief spell of pressure and further Brighton corners were weathered but the Gunners lapsed into that oh so familiar slow build up with lots of possession but no penetration routine. Bereft of confidence and stung by an early set-back we looked in need of a moment of inspiration, but from whom?
In the twentieth minute Laurent Koscielny’s careless pass gifted the Seagulls a golden opportunity to double their lead. Knockaert’s side foot effort lacked the power to beat Cech. Another corner resulted in a free header, fortunately over the top, from Duffy. These were warnings not heeded by the Arsenal defence. In came another cross and Murray, in the huge gap between Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi, planted his header under Cech. Schoolboy defending all round.
Brighton 2-0 The Arsenal
The pattern of the first-half had been set and the mood of the travelling faithful was turning again. “We want Wenger out” rang around the Amex. It is hard to argue that this group of players is of a mind to fight for the manager. That is as damning an indictment of them as it is of him. Jack Wilshere’s nasty lunge on Knockaert summed up the frustration felt by many and earned him a deserved yellow card.
Rampant Brighton were launching wave after wave of attacks against the Gunners badly protected rearguard. Lulled into a sense of security they fell to a sucker punch inspired by Ozil dropping to the halfway line to help out his defence. The move ended with Granit Xhaka finding Pierre-Emerick Aubamayang, who finished with a deft flick from point-blank range. Would that be the moment that turned things around. The muted celebration spoke volumes about the spirit in the camp at that moment.
Brighton 2-1 The Arsenal
That certainly signalled a momentary change in approach by the visitors and we could have scrambled an equaliser at the end of the half when Koscielny’s deflected header came back off a post. Where there was misery, there now was hope.
The start of the second-half was worrying as Brighton picked up where they left off in the first, and we didn’t look like a team that had been lifted or shamed into putting in more effort. Xhaka was next to see yellow for a pointless trip on Bong. We mounted a rare breakout which ended with Alex Iwobi forcing a save by Ryan. A light had been turned on. Wilshere and Ozil powered forward and the latter forced another excellent save by the Brighton custodian.
Aubamayang rounded Ryan but the goalkeeper got aa hand to his attempted cross. Stephens felled Wilshere 24 yards out and saw yellow but Xhaka fired the resulting free-kick straight into the wall. Mustafi headed a corner straight at Ryan. It was like watching a different team. Schelotto’s dreadful lunge at Xhaka saw him the latest to receive a booking.
For the first time in the match Brighton were hanging on. Then all hell broke loose. Sead Kolasinac, carded for dissent in the first-half, collided with Schelotto sparking handbags all round. Brighton fans, not privy to the replays that showed both players only had eyes for the ball. Their xenophobic chant in the minutes that followed did them no credit. Schelotto and Kolasinac shook hands as the Brighton player was led away for treatment.
Danny Welbeck was sent on for Iwobi, and Brighton March replaced the petulant Knockaert, prominent in the earlier handbags and throwing his toys out of his pram on the bench. Murray was the next to earn the displeasure of the referee for another lunge on Wilshere. The hosts were desperately trying to upset the Gunners tempo.
Wenger’s last throw of the dice was to send on Bellerin for Chambers and Eddie N’ketiah for Mkhitaryan. Their momentum had been broken by an intelligent Brighton side, but with Wilshere prominently involved we tried to build a head of steam again. N’ketiah was on the end of a cross but his header lacked power and Ryan snapped it up. Ozil’s shot was deflected away for a corner by Bruno and Wilshire blasted one wide as seven added minutes was signalled.
Trying to capture the feelings as this match progressed was an insight. I won’t change what I wrote in the first hour, but without doubt this team did show a reaction in the final third of the contest. Quite how this team can turn from Hyde to Jekkyl like that is as much a mystery to Wenger as it is to the rest of us. Aubamayanf fired on target, but too close to Ryan.
Bellerin won a race to deny the Seagulls on a rare breakout. Mustafi fouled Murray giving Brighton the chance to run down the clock with the resulting free-kick. We had run out of steam and The whistle blew on another defeat for this inconsistent and broken team. Who can lift them? That is the question tonight, tomorrow, and this week.
125 Responses to “Frustrating Gunners Shot Down Again”
First
Mustafi fouled Mustafi giving Brighton the chance to run down the clock
Even for him that’s Gold Standard Buffonery 😉
Whoever stole my Arsenal !!!! please bring it back.
This is just a car crash, who is in charge here ?
Yet again, lightening quick, Guv’nor. The team, on the other hand, out of gas.
Just watching that opening goal again and we have nine players in the six yard box as the corner comes in. The only one who goes for the ball is the keeper and nobody reacts to the knocked down header.
Fair review, and let’s not forget this was Brighton not Manchester City, this should have been a chance to improve players and fans morale and instead it sinks us deeper and deeper, I still worry for the future of Arsenal and if Wenger still intends to see out his contract we will be relegation material next season, he has not only lost the team he seems to have lost his mind as well.
A very well-balanced report Holic, especially in the circumstances.
If you look at our away results recently it shows we are a side who would currently struggle to ward off the threat of relegation. Genuinely it is quite awful.Brighton deserved that because they can defend. We couldn’t close a game up like that.
Better level of effort in the second half but we didn’t move the ball threateningly enough and we had no width. We are a very fragile side at the moment and Milan could be painful .
We can’t find a central defence . Mustafi is quite awful and stupid to boot. Koscielny is half-fit and lacking in confidence but we’d have to play a three with BFG and Nacho if we could get him fit in Milan. Don’t think Nacho will be .
Wenger looks ill to me. The poor guy needs to be rescued from this, although he has created it for himself. Frankly I would get a caretaker in now but this board won’t do that. Kroenke possibly hasn’t looked at recent results…just the share price.
We won’t be competitive till we fund or find a workable back four or three…
🙁
Cech is past it. The only person worth keeping in that defence is Bellerin.
Having said that, the team put in more effort today than in the previous three matches and can get a result against Milan if they replicate it minus the brain freezes at the back.
Thank you, Goonerholic, for another speedy and concise report.
Thanks for a speedy and concise report, ‘H.
And the really sad thing is we used to be such an entertaining team to watch even neutrals would applaud our football, now I find it hard to call anything we do, football.
Should I watch it when I get home?
IBtM
That depends on how masochistic you are..
We can’t get Brendan in quick enough?
Another disheartening display but l also thought Jack and Ozil picked up the pace in the second half only for the momentum to be lost during the lengthy injury break.
The CDs and Cech were culpable for the two Brighton goals, a repeat performance of previous defensive horror shows. Don’t we do any defensive drills in training, it doesn’t look like it.
I fear we will be embarrassed in Milan.
No # 13..Instead download, “Alice in wonderland “, if you like bizarre comedy. with AW as the Mad Hatter.
Holic you are the man picking up the pieces, thank you for that Sir…
Wenger speaks of players being jaded etc… what a pile of nonsense!
Asked about our next game: “It is important to recover mentally and physically, we are still jaded today, we gave a lot on Thursday night and you can see that today.”
We have been playing like this practically all season Arsene open your eyes!
HA HA @ Pierre! I like that! 😀
Not one member of the Board was there today. Very few of them were there on Thursday.
They should be forced to go!
Cech in fairness has taken to Twitter to accept the blame for the two goals. They were both bad mistakes from him.
Who would you expect to go to an away game apart from Gazidis? Hopefully he’s in America trying to persuade Kroenke to pull the trigger on Wenger.
How was the second goal his error?
The defender gives a bad pass to Wilshere, who can’t be arsed to try to get it, the cross comes over, two out of position defenders allow an immobile striker all the time and space he needs to score.
Perhaps better served by taking the ball than taking to Twitter, TTG.
Cynic@22: his was the final error in a string of them; the ball squirted under his body as he went down.
Cynic@21: Keswick, Harris and Friar are all UK-based, are they not.
Solid@9: That is why Bellerin is the only one any other club is trying to buy.
Cynic
Most of the Board is the answer, especially in the current situation.Keswick, Harris, Gazidis and Friar all live in the South- East . So does Carr I think
Cech dived over the ball for the second and has admitted it was his error, in fact he takes responsibility for losing the match. He has more balls than most of that side but sadly he is looking a very poor keeper at present …but behind that defence it’s not surprising.
Ned – I closed my eyes at that point… 😉 Taking the blame for the second goal is a bit silly though IMO.
As for the board members, I know Friar goes away from time to time but he’s not exactly in the first flush. The others aren’t either, but do they generally attend away games? Home games?
Genuine question, I have no idea what their usual routine is.
This type of disjointed and wildly inconsistent performance within a single match, especially away, has become rather typical of us since Arteta’s legs melted and Santi’s feet were cut into pieces by some surgeon. With no one to tie the attack and defense together, and control the tempo of the game we have been playing the helter-skelter style for a while now. Last couple of season we got away with it for more games than not because of Alexis and Giroud. Alexis thrives on chaos and has always had that drive and ability to make a difference through one or two individual moments. Giroud too — predictable though he had become over the course of a full game — was a very reliable goal scorer when we start throwing everything at the opposition, and had that presence to always create opportunities for others as well. Neither were any more the players we could move forward with, but their contributions are being missed.
This is what transition means. Uncertainty, chaos, deflation. This could of course have been handled so much better, and hopefully decision making at the hierarchy will now be swift and forward looking…but these are the breaking of the eggs before that fluffy yummy omelet is tasted again.
Make the man announce now his retirement after the season — there is not an ounce of joy left in his relationship to football anymore, it may have become a destructive addiction even — and let everyone come together to give a mighty push towards the Europa cup. With right discipline, attitude and application we have a team that can win it.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/mar/04/fiorentina-italy-davide-astori-dies
That’s heartbreaking, terrible. Only 31.
R.I.P, Davide.
There’s an article on Arsenal on F365 that doesn’t make for pretty reading. It shows what a disaster the 17/18 season has been thus far. Truly mind boggling.
A Brighton win was as sure a thing as you’ll ever them to be. All thanks to this car wreck of a team and spent manager.
Get him out now please! What are those useless complacent happy with their lot board doi.. oh yeah. They really ardent Arsed are they.
Solid – This was posted on F365 after the Cup Final. It’s long but…
Restricting it to the last ten years (there were some even when they were winning things, but they were at least more durable)
Jan 2008: Tottenham 5-1 Arsenal – famous for Adebayor and Bentdner having an argument on the pitch)
Feb 2008: Man Utd 4-0 Arsenal – admittedly a very good Man Utd side. But 3-0 down at HT, Eboue sent-off in second-half and Nani taking the piss is the abiding memory of this game.
Feb 2008: Birmingham 2-2 Arsenal – YES, the injury to Eduardo was horrific, but their reaction to this summed up why they don’t win titles.
Oct 2008: Arsenal 4-4 Tottenham – They were 4-2 up in the 90th minute ffs…
Nov 2008: Stoke 2-1 Arsenal – The first of repeated shatting of pants at Stoke.
Apr 2009: Arsenal 1-2 Chelsea – FA Cup semi. Wenger’s team selection doesn’t include Arshavin who’s in the form of his career (he would score four at Anfield days later). Fabianski in goal gifts the tie to Drogba and Chelsea.
May 2009:Arsenal 1-3 Man Utd – Champions League semi. Not even close. All over after 10 minutes.
Nov 2009: Arsenal 0-3 Chelsea – Drogba’d, AGAIN.
Apr 2010: Barcelona 4-1 Arsenal, Spurs 2-1 Arsenal, Wigan 3-2 Arsenal Three games on the bounce. Barcelona were a difficult opponent, yes. But Arsenal were abject that night despite taking the lead. Then a week later Danny Rose scores the goal of his life and Gareth Bale, who months earlier had gone on a 3-year run of never winning a Premier League game, tore them apart at the Lane. Then, 2-0 up against Wigan at the DW with 10 minute to go, they go on to lose 3-2, with Titus Bramble amongst the goalscorers. Utterly pathetic.
Nov 2010: Arsenal 2-3 Tottenham – 2-0 up at home to bitter rivals, lose 3-2.
Feb 2011: Newcastle 4-4 Arsenal – 4-0 up. You know the rest. I mean, fucks sake.
Feb 2011: Leyton Orient 1-1 Arsenal – This begins the period where Arsenal are REALLY shit in February/early March every season.
Feb 2011: Birmingham 2-1 Arsenal, Carling Cup Final – A Frenchman walks into a Pole. Birmingham score.
March 2011: Man Utd 2-0 Arsenal FA Cup. Man Utd’s midfield that day? Fabio, Rafael, John O’Shea and Darron Gibson
April 2011: Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool Score a penalty in 92nd minute. Concede an equalising penalty in the 98th minute.
May 2011: Stoke 3-1 Arsenal Andy Wilkinson ,Rory Delap and Kenwyne Jones were too much for Arsene’s boys.
Aug 2011: Man Utd 8-2 Arsenal I’d 8-2 be Arsenal fan right now…Inspired the panic buys of Andre Santos, Park Chu-Young and Yossi Benayoun (also Arteta and Mertesacker).
Sep 2011: Blackburn 4-3 Arsenal – Blackburn, who would be relegated this season, managed by Steve Kean score four times against the Gunners. 46-year-old Yakubu scores twice.
Feb 2012: Milan 4-0 Arsenal – This wasn’t a vintage Milan side. Another round of 16 humping. Of course they go 3-0 up at HT of the return leg and don’t score anymore.
Feb 2012; Sunderland 2-0 Arsenal Like day follows night, Arsenal crash out of another cup competition in February.
Apr 2012: Arsenal 1-2 Wigan – in a race for 3rd place that they were fortunate to get on the last day of the season at West Brom, Arsenal couldn’t copy with a a Franco Di Santo/Jordi Gomez 1-2 in the first eight minutes.
Oct 2012: Norwich 1-0 Arsenal Well organised, tough, and of course, Arsenal can’t cope with Grant Holt.
Nov 2012: Man Utd 2-1 Arsenal The first game against RVP since his move to Old Trafford. Scores after 3 minutes, obviously. Andre Santos swaps shirts on the pitch with him at HT. 90th minute consolation by Cazorla makes scoreline reflect better on Arsenal.
Dec 2012 – Bradford p1-1 Arsenal Losing on penalties to a League Two side after naming a strong team? Not great.
Feb 2013: Arsenal 0-1 Blackburn – Trophyless for 8 years, Championship Blackburn win at the Emirates to end Gooners’ FA Cup dream.
Feb 2013: Arsenal 1-3 Bayern Munich – Could have been a lot more. But the tie was over by the end of the first leg. Of course, Arsenal win 2-0 in the second to NEARLY go through when the pressure’s off. A pattern begins to emerge…
August 2013: Arsenal 1-3 Aston Villa – A mediocre but determined Villa side score 3 on the opening day, including one by left-back Antonio Luna who makes his only notable contribution to the Premier League.
And thus, ArsenalFanTV was born.
Dec 2013: Man City 6-3 Arsenal – Defence? What defence?
Feb 2014: Liverpool 5-1 Arsenal – It must be February again. Arsenal do what they usually do after an embarrassment and put a good run of results together, eight wins and one draw out of nine going into this game.
Liverpool 4-0 up after 20 minutes, and to be honest it should have been more. They were superb, Arsenal utterly and predictably abject.
Feb 2014: Arsenal 0-2 Bayern Munich – Szczesny sent off, tie over after the first leg again.
March 2014: Chelsea 6-0 Arsenal Wenger’s 1000th game. Chelsea 3-0 up in 17 minutes. Even their joke of a substitute Mohammad Salah scored. Whatever happened to him?
April 2014: Everton 3-0 Arsenal – Arsenal let Everton into the race for fourth place by being utterly abject. A sight their fans are very used to seeing.
Nov 2014: Arsenal 3-3 Anderlecht 3-0 up at home – Premier League stalwarts Anthony Vanden Borre and Aleksander Mitrovic with the goals.
Nov 2014: Swansea 2-1 Arsenal – the game afterwards, they let a lead slip with two goals from Swansea in three minutes.
Dec 2014: Stoke 3-2 Arsenal – 3-0 down at half-time, they claw it back only for Callum Chambers to get sent-off. Yet another defeat at Stoke.
Feb 2015: Arsenal 1-3 Monaco This isn’t the Monaco team of 2017. This is a Monaco team with an aging Dimitar Berbatov up front. Despite getting a consolation goal in the 90th minute to make it 1-2, they concede seconds later to put the tie beyond their reach after the first leg, again. Embarrassing.
And yet again they win the return leg by one goal fewer than they need to go through.
Aug 2015: Arsenal 0-2 West Ham – ’12 points a season’ was the line now they’d got Petr Cech. He made a blunder for at least one of the goals and another opening day defeat/crisis was upon us.
Sep 2015: Dinamo Zagreb 2-1 Arsenal – The bottom seeds in their Champions League group ease past their hapless opponents.
Sep 2015: Arsenal 2-3 Olympiakos – Maybe they didn’t want to go through to the round of 16 and save embarrassment again?
Oct 2015: Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 Arsenal – A classic Arsenal performance.
Nov 2015: Bayern 5-1 Arsenal – More of these later.
Dec 2015: Southampton 4-0 Arsenal – Following a good win against Man City, victory would have put Arsenal top of the league. Instead…
Jan 2016: Arsenal 0-1 Chelsea – Chelsea, a team in crisis and in the bottom half just weeks earlier, make light work of Arsenal, who have Mertesacker sent off, concede 5 minutes later and never recover.
Feb 2016: Arsenal 0-0 Southampton – Arsenal really should be title favourites, and the same night that Leicester beat Liverpool, they meekly draw at home to Southampton.
Feb/March 2016 – Arsenal 0-2 Barcelona, Man Utd 3-2 Arsenal, Arsenal 1-2 Swansea – That time of year again. Three games in a row, and hopes of two trophies go into dust.
March 2016: Arsenal 1-2 Watford – Another cup run comes crashing to an end.
Dec 2016: Everton 2-1 Arsenal – Going well in the league, slack defending allows Ashley Williams to head in from a corner in the last five minutes.
Jan 2017: Arsenal 1-2 Watford 2-0 down after 13 minutes.
Feb 2017: Chelsea 3-1 Arsenal – Bye bye, title hopes.
Feb 2017: Bayern Munich 5-1 Arsenal – Wait, there’s more to come…
March 2017: Arsenal 1-5 Bayern Munich – I guess these things 10-2 come in threes.
March 2017: WBA 3-1 Arsenal – Tony Pulis managed team outmuscles Wenger team? Hmmm, sounds familiar…
April 2017: Crystal Palace 3-0 Arsenal – I for one am shocked Arsenal couldn’t cope with a motivated Sam Allardyce side away from home.
August 2017: Liverpool 4-0 Arsenal – This was deliciously Arsenal. Several meltdowns occurred following this game, three games into the season.
October 2017: Watford 2-1 Arsenal – The ‘cojones’ game.
January 2018: Nottingham Forest 4-2 Arsenal – Their first defeat in the 3rd round of the FA Cup since Bruce Rioch days. Still, at least Eric Lichaj got his dogs.
January 2018: Bournemouth 2-1 Arsenal – Surrendered a lead to a deeply average Bournemouth team.
January 2018: Swansea 3-1 Arsenal – included a delicious defensive blunder for Jordan Ayew’s goal.
Feb 2018: Arsenal 1-2 Ostersunds – A team I hadn’t heard of until December win at the Emirates and capitalise on Arsenal’s complacency.
Feb 2018: Arsenal 0-3 Manchester City “A disgrace” – Gary Neville. And he wasn’t even talking about the first goal.
This took me 45 minutes to write. Which is more time than Arsenal have spent on addressing the glaring deficiencies at their club.
Oops sorry that didn’t look so long on another screen… *ahem*
@29 Terrible news 🙁 RIP Davide
Solid,
Those stats don’t lie and are painful to read indeed!
Cynic, the shit I’ve been eating all those years and games?…I (we) probably look 3-5 older than we should
35
Cynic@32
That took some doing.
What a load of shitty results AND performances we have amassed along the line.
The thing is, we bore that crap because we knew that something sublime was almost always around the corner.
For all the crap results listed@32 there have been some pretty good to near perfect performances from different iterations of Wengers Arsenal.
Not so much now.
ATG
Indeed.
I believe that based on those stats, the 17/18 season can be classified as one of ‘terminal decline’.
I’ve just seen his post match press conference and he’s going mental. Sorry but what the fuck is on about when he says this rambling load of old balls?
“When you have just the trousers on, it’s diffi… it’s easy to take the trousers off as well, but when you’re naked completely you have to find the shirt and try to put it on again and errr that you’re dressed normally again”
That’s a word for word quote.
“I make sure a light stays on in my office all day and all night, like a
candle in the church showing Christ is there”
Guy Roux
“Two in one and one in two, flush ’em both, down the loo”
Cynic
He’s trying to talk all sexy to take our minds off it but it didn’t work .
Maybe if he’d said ‘ she walked into the darkened room, the embers glowing in the hearth. She began slowly to undress , and I felt the heat rise in my body as we began to entwine our bodies thrashing ………oo-er sorry I got carried away there. It’s probably the snow. ????
The point about the board is that it’s convention to entertain the other team’s board before and after the game. Most of our directors have their own seats and turn up at home games…but nowadays….? I thought Josh Kroenke was on a fact-finding trip but maybe he doesn’t like the facts he is finding.
Frankly I’ve tended to give out quite a bit of stick over the years and now we’ve become a laughing stock and an embarrassment . It’s hard to take any pride in the current team or any of the players in it.
I expect in the way it does hope and optimism will rise before we play Milan but it’s this side with Welbeck upfront. We haven’t got an earthly against them and it’s hard to see this side getting many points. I thought sixth was nailed on even if we’d gone on holiday for a month but we really could finish in an ignominious mid- table.
Kroenke has gone back to the USA I thought?
Maybe they were all sitting in the board room playing dares.
“I dare you to sack him”
“No, you can’t I dared you first”
“Let’s dare Chips”
“Too late, he’s already got double jinxes on, we’ll have to dare Stan”
“That’s that fucked then”
But in all seriousness, when the entire board fails to show up for a game it doesn’t say much for their confidence in anything.
They should all force the issue or resign.
First of all, credit to Cech for stepping up and taking responsibility, whether you think he was at fault or not. Maybe in his prime he would have prevented those goals.
My question is when is Arsene going to take responsibility for the terrible performances this season? He blames the refs, the weather, the pitch, the schedule, the kickoff time, and his players (in an indirect fashion). And yet he reminds us time and time again that he is responsible for all technical decisions. When you decide not to sub any players on a Thursday when you are obviously not going to get back in the match, you cannot blame Sunday’s performance on dead legs as a result of the schedule.
I used to enjoy Arsene’s pressers as he was at one point very well-spoken and eloquent. Now he is just as embarrassing as our performances on the pitch.
All very sad. Thanks for an excellent report, Guvna. Hemlock on the bar, gents.
I have wanted AW gone for years , but he will go soon enough even from a bussiness standing he is starting to do damage,
He is now starting to ruin the brand
I think we are seeing yet again how useless a board we have. Would any of us tolerate a company where a board let a once high- achieving CEO carry on when he is clearly waning rapidly in powers.
They need to act like a board must and decide he needs to go but they are absolutely horrified to do this not just because of their respect for him ( understandable) but because they haven’t the slightest idea what to do because they’ve delegated a ridiculous amount of power to him.
They need to act like a board of directors. Most of them have had very successful business careers but they are in thrall to Wenger. That shouldn’t be the situation.
Ordinarily, I would have been annoyed by this result, but its gone beyond that now. I hear and read the comments of pundits including ex players saying that our players aren’t good enough, but I’m not buying that. I believe the quality is there but the players aren’t being coached or used properly, and also lack confidence and feel directionless. I think the players sill respect the manager, but they don’t listen to him anymore, and don’t believe the club knows where it’s going.
You have to believe that if the board really are going to discuss Wenger’s future with him at season’ end, that results like this one will push them in the right direction; but part of me thinks it’s just to see whether the manager intends seeing out his contract, and if not, to persuade him to stay for a final year.
BB@48: You are right that the players are good enough, but at this level the margins between success and failure are small. Individually and collectively they are making too many mistakes. Where the balance lies between that being a failure of coaching or of application and attitude, I just don’t know.
I think it’s disorientating them to switch between a four and five at the back and they haven’t got a holding midfielder as Wenger doesn’t seem to believe they need one. The nearest to it ( and he wasn’t very good) was Coquelin and he was sold in January.
Tony Cascarino is saying in the Times today that the fans stayed away because of the football on Thursday and not the weather and that the decision to move Wenger on has already been taken.
I think he’s a cretin and is wrong on both points. They are still desperately hoping that he salvages it and will stay for another year.
I think Arsene is gone sooner rather than later (by mutual agreement or otherwise).. just by virtue of who has moved on… Ox, Walcott, Coq, Giroud.
They are all the players who he has stuck with for the longest time.
In fact am not even convinced he wanted Auba, who currently is finding it hard to fit into his system…
That said, let’s hope we show some grit against Milan.
Glasgow Herald reporting that Brendan Rodgers has been seen doing press-ups in his underpants under the Jock Stein stand at Celtic Park in preparation for the ‘heavy lifting’ that he’ll need to do when he arrives at The Emirates. Is he already thinking about reconfiguring the seating in the dugout singlehandedly, I wonder? Meticulous pre-prearation for a title bid if that’s the case. Gives me a warm feeling to match the rising temperature outside to picture him sitting in the boss’s seat.
He’s quoted as saying he’s “never been done by a Seagull and never will be” But these wing marks and beak pecks on his back in the picture give me cause for pause. Who new that Calvin Klein did that colour of orange in their underpants line?
And the golf course is open again. Things are looking up.
Two of the first seven drinks mention the specter of relegation next season. New manager, please. It is not the fault of the players that there is an air of doom and gloom around the club.
bt8, So what’s new?
There’s a constant air of gloom around in many a Whine Bar and amongst those who paint the inside of their houses matt black. There was even deep gloom and despair among many when we thumped Chelsea in the Cup Final last May and then thumped them again in the Community Shield.
Relegation next season. What a laugh. 🙂 Not a chance that Big Bren will let that happen, even if he does start the season with revenues £100M lower than City, Yanited and Chel$ki. He’ll mend and make do like what his mother taught him.
Actually if you read the drinks that mention relegation, only one talks about next season. TTG merely mentions relegation in terms of current form, not that we will face the threat of it.
Cheers Holic !
The Plight of Saed Kolasinac – (and the problem with the Arsenal team / squad)
An Arsenal Q & A.
So, do we play a back 3 or a back 4 ?
It depends.
On what ?
Nobody really seems to know. Might be injuries, or the opposition, or desperation.
So, Is Monreal a centre back this week, or a full back, or maybe even a wing back ? No, hang on, we bought the best left back in the Bundesliga in the summer – isn’t he a wing back too ?
Er, nobody knows any more. He doesn’t play very much and when he does, he is expected to fit in with the ever changing personnel around and in front of him and be either one.
But his positioning is very poor, isn’t it ?
That’s because he doesn’t have an actual position and he’s struggling to remember where he’s supposed to be whilst adapting to the fastest league in the world.
But can’t the holding midfielder alongside him help him out ?
Er, we don’t have any of those. Don’t need one, you see.
But can’t his winger work something out with him ?
Er, he IS the winger some weeks. When he’s not, he has a different winger to work with every game, Welbeck, Ozil, Lacazette, Iwobi – and none of them are really wingers anyway.
Aha, I see ! I’d begun to think we were just making it up as we went along ……. ?
All this talk of David Brent coming in as manager is getting me down BtM.
Jest not thus lest it comes to pass, my friend.
(Josh not in case Josh reads this blog).
*runs out of the room screaming*
Seriously, we are in the March of the current season.
We – does anyone ? – don’t know what our best system is.
We don’t know who is best in which positions, regardless of which system we use.
Every game sees changes of personnel in key positions – centre of defence, central midfield, behind the striker, goalkeeper.
There are no partnerships in key areas of the team so that understanding can develop between players.
When we manage to unearth a rough diamond we seem to want to cut it into several little rough diamonds, none as impressive as the original.
What does that mean ?
It means we take Ainsley M-N and use this promising midfielder as a left back, left wing back, right wing back and, finally, as a midfielder before he is dropped for looking a little out of place.
It means in the one season when Abou Diaby, a potentially super box to box player, was fit, he was used most often as a left winger to a) fit him in the team and b) teach him to become better by playing against the restriction of a touchline on his left hand side.
What is Calum Chambers ?
Were all this chopping and changing, and converting and adapting part of a process to develop a new total football side to rival Johann Cruyff’s, there would be some justification. But it’s not.
It is to try to fill voids caused by a lack of quality in positions right through the squad, or to try to keep our perma-crocks fit by never having to play two or three games in a row.
It is an unbelievable mess for a club of The Arsenal’s stature to be in.
There is no point in reiterating the now only sensible solution.
Instead, I will wait for BtM to offer to come round and repaint the inside of my house.
Stairs and hall first, please ??
We – does anyone ? – don’t know what our best system is.
Four
Four
Fookin’
Two
Yep, it looked quite brilliant yesterday.
Four, four, fookin’ two requires some solid protection in front of it.
We don’t have any.
Not that three at the back looks any fookin’ safer ……
Nothing is safe without a top defensively focused central midfielder. Even a moderately skilled one (Coquelin) made a substantial difference at times.
In the past, fans have complained that the manager has been too inflexible, but now even he is prepared to chop and change when he feels he has to. The players have no idea what formation they will be asked to play to so of course they don’t know whether they are coming or going.
As for the attendance on Thursday, it was obvious that anything so mundane a reason as inclement weather was poor copy. I live in Suffolk, and cancelled my dog sitter on Tuesday, knowing that I would have been lucky to have got back to Ipswich, not to mention the 40 mile journey on treacherous roads to my house.
So, because the game was moved to a night where I had long booked gig tickets in Cambridge that my wife was really looking forward to, I missed last Thursday having been at Wembley on the Sunday. I will be there on Sunday vs Watford and against Milan the following Thursday. Now is the time, if you can, now that the weather has eased, to turn up and support the team.
Come on you Gunners!
Good man Countryman, that is exactly the spirit we need.
I am attending a double Mother’s Day celebration on Sunday ( thanks Sky) and am at Cheltenham on Thursday but I will try to get to every game I can despite the awful atmosphere/football / weather/ Brexit etc.
However I am seriously thinking of not renewing next season if they were to keep Wenger.
Trev you took words out of my mouth ?
Palace scores again love the look of Maureen’s face 😀
Trev @58. Vintage. 😀
Just saw this.
Don’t rate the fella but not purposely baiting him.
http://www.givemesport.com/1269556-what-gary-neville-told-lee-dixon-when-arsenal-signed-shkodran-mustafi-in-2016?autoplay=on
Very good summary Trev @58. Are there not intelligent men on the Arsenal staff who can sort these problems out ? Answer – apparently not.
But put as lucidly as you did it does show just how chaotic our planning is. Add to that the nonsense of the summer transfer window and ones heart bleeds.
Solid gooner @58
Why was he playing for the world champions if he’s that rubbish?
I am aware of his displays lately but it has definitely smth to do with Trev’s post, Germany is full of quality players in every position so it cannot be by luck/chance
Sorry, @68
@70
Don’t mean to ruffle any feathers, just relaying what Lee Dixon purportedly said.
Having said that, Mustafi is a Germany international yes but is he an integral part of that team?
His first cap was against Chile in February 2014. He’s had 19 more between then and now.
Doesn’t shout mainstay to me.
Mustafi “playing for the World Cup winners” makes it sound like he was a regular starter, rather than a player left out of the squad originally, called in as a replacement and then used as a sub twice, only starting one game.
He didn’t play in the quarters, semi or final (he was injured) and his total time on the pitch was around 130 minutes.
Palace gave a two goal lead to loose 2:3 bonkers!
Hmmm. This the Gary Neville who said Wenger must stay last season. Kn*b. In other news, Debuchy at St Ethienne has apparently refound not only his trousers and shirt but some new scoring boots too, bagging 2 goals in 5 matches and getting nominated for Player of the Month for February, alongside Neymar. Can you Adam and Eve it. The curse of Wenger gets lifted again. Man U, there you go, grinding it out. Depressing.
Excellent summary, ‘holic, to which I would remind the bar that we had 68 per cent of the possession, more shots at goal, more on target and twice as many corners. Just the quality that was missing then. Especially OG in both defence and attack.
And I’ll say it again … two Italian CBs s’il vous plait M Wenger.
Yeas ATG, Manure came from 2-0 down to win their game.
reading on BBC that Arsenal board want new manager to be more of a head coach, is this an indication that the board are going to move AW into a position above the manager, huge mistake if the club leave AW in any role IMO
The Palace game shows that the better teams, (I hesitate to call Man U. a top team) can overcome a two goal start, whereas we would have failed. Weather permitting, I shall be there on Sunday, when we will see if the rot has set in so badly that it affects our performances, or at least results, at home against those teams we should be beating out of sight.
It would be sad for anyone to give up their season ticket this summer, only to find that at the end of next season Wenger has mercifully gone and a smart new Head Coach with a proven success record is in place, with the promise of renewed success.
With the reorganisation that has gone on, I doubt very much whether Wenger would have a role at the club once he leaves tha manager’s job.
Unless they invent a job for him.
I’d rather he just went back to Japan.
Mustafi and Xhaka and Perez were signed in the summer of 2016 with Rob Holding. Holding has chosen an odd club to further his knowledge of the defensive craft with but has some promise and cost a relative pittance.
But the other three cost nearly £90 million and although Perez showed some prowess he has pulled up few trees back in Spain. The other two have been disastrous and £70 million almost completely wasted. Xhaka is not suited to English football. He is not a good holding player because he is poor defensively, he’s not a box to box player like Ramsey and he can’t dominate at Premier League level. He can occasionally pick a great pass but he also gives the ball away too much. He is someone we must jettison.
Mustafi is far too erratic. He was brilliant at Chelsea away and against Spurs at home but he has been quite awful in other games and he isn’t the strong personality we need in central defence.
Our recruiting was very poor considering we have some special whizzy computer system which is an exclusive recruiting aid for us and that hurts a club with a smaller budget than the giants. Xhaka was purchased in preference to Kante who we turned down the chance to sign twice and Mustafi always seemed a very expensive option .
The main thing is Wenger should have nothing to do with the replacements either choosing them or coaching them. I believe Mavropanos may be worth blooding this year and we will need better than Jonny Evans to get back to the top table .
Wenger has always been a coach who puts much store by intelligent players who have the capacity to express themselves when given the opportunity and freedom to do so.
He has never been one to micromanage players and play on a pitch.
His forte was finding the right set of players to function within certain parameters without excessive external input.
It worked for many years until it didn’t.
The present crop of players are not quite good enough to be trusted with the responsibility of sorting out issues as they occur.
The buck stops at his table because he has assembled them and set them out as he sees fit.
The game has moved on and attention to detail is more important than ever before.
Holding, Chambers, Iwobi and even Xhaka are quality players thrown in the deep end without adequate nurturing and will come good with proper guidance and patience.
Can’t say the same about some others (cough..Mustafi..cough).
It will be interesting (hopefully positively) to compare how our strikers (Danny and?) go against Godin and Gimenez compared to Costa and Griezmann vs Musti and Kos.
Er … oh dear.
TTG@81: Did we twice turn down Kante, or did he twice turn down us?
Cynic @32
Thanks for the depressing yet thoroughly interesting list. Although it would also be nice to see a similar list with our prouder moments during that time.
4-1 v Liverpool
3- 1 v Liverpool
3-0 v Man Utd
0-2 v Man City
0-2 v AC Milan
5-2 v Spurs
5-2 v Spurs
0-3 v Olympiakos
5-3 v Chelsea
2-1 v Barcelona
5-0 v Porto
Etc
Second one should say 3-0 v Liverpool
Ned,
The first time we declined Kante when he played in France. The second time I was told we had an opportunity to sign him but took some time to clinch it and Chelsea came in with a much higher offer.
Henry Winter told an AISA meeting a couple of years ago that Arsenal had a deal lined up for Kante around about the time we beat Leicester with that Welbeck goal. He was absolutely confident it was done and he’s not a journo who usually indulges in that sort of stuff.
However I think that Chelsea’s wage offer was much bigger than ours so it might never have worked out. The time to have got him was when he played in France.
More dressing room leaks to multiple papers today. I just wish (if this stuff is coming from board level) the person responsible would grow a pair and sack the manager rather than drip drip the poison.
If it’s not coming from someone at board level and it’s a player, try putting a bit of effort in ON the pitch.
If it’s a coach, have the guts to resign if things are that bad, because a new bloke is unlikely to keep you around.
As to the leak, no complaints about the players identified as being allegedly under fire (although all have German connections and it looks like we’re heading in a German direction after we get rid of Wenger, so maybe German football ain’t all it’s cracked up to be, bearing in mind how rotten we’ve been since Mad Jens came back. That’s not exactly worked out well, IF he has any influence at all on the coaching that is)
More depressing room leaks ……….
Distressing room leaks?
http://metro.co.uk/2018/03/06/josh-kroenke-warns-arsenal-must-face-reality-risk-long-term-damage-amid-arsene-wenger-speculation-7366337/
Cynic
I think it’s the board getting a message to the Chairman ..and the fans.
On a more positive note we play Colchester away in the Youth Cup Q/ F tonight . COYG
TTG@87: Kante went to Caen from Boulogne for 50,000 euros in 2013, so that would certainly have been a good time to buy him. Any idea why we didn’t? Flamini, Arteta, Ramsey, Cazorla, Coquelin seen as sufficient DM depth?
We are one up at half-time at Colchester.
Ned,
As I understand it we had identified him at Caen. I think the emergence of Coquelin was a factor but I think it was an Arsene dither and Leicester snapped him up. Maybe the Wenger of 1996 would have nabbed him.
I don’t see Kante as the same player he was two years ago. He has had two amazing seasons but looks a bit burnt out now. But it would be nice to have had the benefit of those seasons
Good news from Colchester.
After they equalised from a penalty we have gone 3-1 up with Smith- Rowe scoring two. Apparently he is playing brilliantly. Reiss Nelson is not playing as he is training with the first team
Arsenal win 5-1 to enter the semi-finals of the Youth Cup. Sounds like a comprehensive win and fine attacking performance. I’ve not seen these boys live but I’m told there are some very exciting players in the youth side. Nice to see things looking up even before the BFG arrives. Traditionally a good youth team has meant a good first team if you correlate the successes but fewer players are getting though to the first team. It would be nice to change that
Good news indeed TTG
Although we should have been playing Reading.
They beat Colchester 4 -1 in the previous round,but apparently fielded an ineligible player and were disqualified.
Such is Life
TTG@95: An Arsene dither is always credible.
Ozil, Mkhitaryan and Mustafi. The players lambasted in the dressing room after the Brighton game, according to the Sun. Lambasted by the rest of the players, not by any authority figure of course.
Clive
Indeed we should have played Reading away who would have been much tougher. We play Blackpool in the semi which I think is two legs . They scored two late goals to beat Blackburn. It’s probable that we will play Chelsea in the final if we get there.
I received an apology from the club after I protested that the game was played last Thursday. They told me that they didn’t have grounds to postpone it if the police felt it was safe to go ahead and we wouldn’t get a refund. It’s exactly what I expected but it was a nice email. I think it underlines the fact that Sky effectively control the Premier League. A game not on TV would not have been played .
From the BBC Sport gossip column yesterday … Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes he is the best man to take the club forward, and has told his coaching staff that he will not step down this summer. (Times – subscription required)
Unless you’re a subscriber you’ll only get a glimpse, but the headline probably says it all.
@91,
So the clearly cowardly US owner, does indeed look like he’s sent his boy “to do” what he couldn’t do himself last Summer”?! What a Chicken-Shit Pussy!!!
“Beware the Ides of March”, Arsene! “Et tu, Josh”? ??
https://youtu.be/AT-Vsuhlsfw
By the way Arsene, the PSG job should become free for next season, after Emery was once again dumped out by another Spanish side! ?
So please start lobbying hard for that one now before it’s too late! ?
After all, didn’t Paris’ French Super-Club, want you there before, but you turned ‘em down?! ?
If you can’t win the CL with their current squad (and before even your own mortality sets in), then you were probably never ever destined to win it in your Managerial and coaching career. ?
You’ll never get a better chance again to still show us all what you can still do; and we who do now want you to leave Arsenal, will invariably all cheer you on during your CL campaigns. ? ?
After winning the CL with PSG, all you’ll then have left is the Carabao Cup; and I’m sure that another PL Club’ll be able to give you that chance later if you still want it?! ?
However, and since you’ll clearly still want to be in football for as long as your health and your sanity allows; you might then consider focusing on the World Cup and the European Cup titles with Les Bleus?! That’d be a nice way to end it all, wouldn’t it?! ☺️
Salut! ??
It is being reported that even PSG don’t want him.
I reckon he will go “home” to Japan, go to China or maybe even the USA when (if) he leaves. Unless he stays until he dies, which is likely IMO
A good read on the youth team if like Clive and I you enjoy following their fortunes .
Interesting to note that my friend who watches them whenever he can and knows a couple of the coaches makes the point that they are very expressive but defensively are coached to a tee. Defensively well- organised with a very strong holding midfielder ( Burton) breaking play up in front of the back four. It does show that good coaching is taking place somewhere in the club. The coaches from Hale End I have met are excellent
https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/fixtures-results/arsenal-youth-ratings-smith-rowe-14376649
‘Even’ PSG???
They are probably the richest club in the world.
They will be looking at Pochettino who is a former player and who has not shunned a possible defection in the press.Wenger is very well- connected with the Chairman and the DOF role would probably be his if he wanted it. Imagine that combination if Pochettino does move there!
The French national team role might become vacant after the WC. Wenger is a strange, driven man and would probably not break his contract to move because he still believes he can turn us around. We would have to finesse a gentlemanly switch to Paris if they did want him.
I can’t imagine another big PL club being interested in him nor him in a smaller PL club.
I think the Totts will beat Juve tonight .
If the LWCs do beat “the old lady” tonight, a switch of Allegri for Wenger, may be an option, if even those minted Parisians don’t want him now?! ?
Arsene has painted himself and the club into a corner if these statements really are genuine. “I’m the best man to turn the club around and I’m not leaving this summer,” and “I’ve never broken a contract,” do not suggest a voluntary departure is forthcoming. If so it’s bound to be an extremely messy end and not the gracious departure both sides should want. Either a contentious sacking this summer or a further bloody decline in the team’s fortune next season.
Just watched Smith Rowe’s free kick, a beauty.
“Even PSG” in terms of Wenger being close to the owners, who supposedly were ready to give him a job if he left.
If even his mates won’t employ him….
TTG@107: Word reaching Castle Ned is that it will be Pochettino, Kane and Lloris to PSG as a package, partly paid for with the money they will get selling Neymar to Real Madrid. Only question is the timing.
I do wish Wenger would understand that any talk of him leaving, and there’s a lot of that about, is not because we’ve “had a bad week”
We’ve had a bad decade ffs.
Tiny Tots just give away 1-0 lead to Juve and should be down 1-3 if ref had given a stonewall pen in first half. Come on Gigi B !
And a yellow card on Vertonghen, followed by a second yellow he received later
We know how they feel although we’d have lost the first leg 4 nil before a valiant fight back in the 2nd leg when the pressure was off.
Wojtek’s team marches on! LOL @ LWC! 😀
Chuckle
Spuds were winning 1-0.
My missus sent me a six second voice message enquiring if I knew her opinion of Tottenham, followed by informing me exactly what it was.
One minute later they conceded.
Four minutes later they were losing.
The woman is a witch. She hexed them right out of the CL.
I thought of asking her to help out Arsenal but then I realised that it wouldn’t work- she thinks we’re shit too.
Missed the game tonight and followed it on BBC Sport as I was chairing a dinner for a Spud who felt he had to be at Wembley.
I’m getting to be a sad old git. Part of me hates Tottenham, the club with the most unjustified view of their status and when we play tyem I kick every ball and hate them with a passion.
Then I see my ten year old grandson who has been corrupted in his youth and they are his side. I was agnostic about tonight but watching most of the first game I thought they would win because they were the better side over ninety minutes in Turin. It turns out that Italian knowhiw was too much for them and that TalkShite who predicted that all five English sides would go through were wrong. I am sure Chelsea won’t and United are vulnerable after a 0-0 result but Mourinho’s pact with the devil will take them through.
Of the English sides the one with the best chance is Liverpool because away from home they play such incredible attacking football. Citeh are an excellent side but if you can get at that defence it won’t stand up. Much the same might be said of Liverpool but they have great intensity.
But I expect the winners to be Bayern, Real Madrid or Barca.
As for the Spuds it seems they can’t get beyond the last 16 of the CL. Poch Out!
Oh dear, plucky Spurs go out in the last 16. It will be interesting to see how the media spin this one. If it were Arsenal, they would give us pelters.
Gotta say that was a fabulous CL tie. Enjoying winding up my Spurs mates but a great game. Love the Juve passion, especially Buffon
So are we gonna turn up tomorrow or do we get our arse kicked?
Jut give us something to hope for tomorrow week Gunners! A nicked 1-0 away win would be great!
Great point Devon Stu. Rest assured they will get a sympathetic hearing. But they are a small club with little history venturing into new waters.
ATG
I’ve noticed a cult developing around Szczesny as if he was a quite brilliant goalkeeper who never let us down . I accept he is a better keeper currently than either Cech or Ospina but the reason we parted company with him was because he was underperforming, smoking in the showers and generally being an arsehole. He hasn’t displaced a 41-year-old Buffon and while he is well placed to eventually do so the idea that he is going to emerge as a world – class keeper is a bit of a fiction in my view. Maybe we might have kept Fabianski who is looking a very decent keeper nowadays
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Thank you, Claudia. ?