How have Arsenal become everyone’s A-Team?

To paraphrase the old TV show to suit Arsenal, in 1996 a crack football team was formed by Arsene ‘Hannibal’ Wenger and they went on to take the English Premier League by storm and become invincible. Today, still wanted by the Arsenal fans, they survive by finishing fourth and helping other clubs out of a rut. So if you are on a bad run of form or have a striker that hasn’t scored for ages, and if you can find them…maybe you can play against the Arsenal team.

Even Arsene Wenger is feeling it, as the Frenchman was reported on the Arsenal website bemoaning the fact that the Gunners cannot seem to get a break while every time we do something wrong the opposing team punishes us.

He said, “I believe that we gave very few chances away but unfortunately we paid for everything we gave away. It is very sad at the moment to realise no matter what happens, we pay for every chance we give away.”

It does seem as though Murphy’s law is against us at the minute but just like with our recurring problems on the injury front, it is becoming impossible to keep blaming it on bad luck and increasingly obvious that there is a pattern here. How many times this season has a striker ended a goal drought when playing Arsenal? And the same goes for teams like Swansea and Watford who all of a sudden play well when they are up against the Gunners. Strikers find their shooting boots and keepers have the game of their lives.

It is becoming a very nasty habit, but what is the common denominator here Gooners? We must be simply making it too easy for people to play against us.

Tags Swansea Watford Wenger

25 Comments

  1. A major blow at Marseille – Bilal Boutobba (17) OM’s best youth star – has refused to sign a professional contract. Please get this guy. Hot prospect, just like Mahrez

    1. My suggested squad for next season:

      GK: Cech, Szczesny
      RB: Bellerin, Aurier
      CB: Koscielny, Laporte, Mertesaker, Gabriel, Chambers
      LB: Monreal, Gibbs
      CDM: Carvalho, Coquelin
      CM: Ramsey, Wilshere, Elneny
      CAM: Ozil, Cazorla
      RW: Walcott, Ox
      LW: Sanchez, Campbell
      ST: Ibrahimovic, Welbeck

      1. Next season i hope we sign Laporte and slowly integrate him in the team by playing him with Kos. Gabriel is a decent CB but is too volatile and has bad positioning. He needs to be way more cool headed to start in the future.

        Also let’s get Lacazette who is still top class and paying for a bad side. 25-30m should secure lacazette. If not Lukaku would be a great addition but he would most likely cost over 40M. We could also attempt to get Kante, Wanyama or Krychowiak for CM/CDM.

        We should sell Szczesny to Roma, sell release or sell Artera, Rosicky and Flamini.

        I fear the worst when it comes to Ozil as every top club would probably make bids for him. If we do happen to lose Ozil i hope we can rack in 50m+ as he well worth over the 42M we got him for. We could try to replace him with Isco or Gotze but ofcourse those will be very big boots to fill.

        We all know Wenger won’t leave so let’s not even bother to entertain the idea…

      2. It baffles me how some fans still count Wilshere as part of the squad. The poor boy can’t stay fit! Please refrain from mentioning Wilshere as part of the squad. Wenger mentioned him as part of his squad, hence he claimed had enough options in the mid-field. But we all knew Wilshere would not play half of the season fit. The season is winding up and Wilshere has not touched a ball this season.

        1. I agree with what you say but he will not be sold for sure, hence i mentioned him. But nonetheless, we would still have 6 options to play in the midfield trio, so i guess it should be enough for the season, provided Elneny continues to grow.

  2. Haha! Wenger is as good as baked potato for the club now.

    I think if we had managers like Pulis or Big Sam then even they would’ve won us the league atleast once in the past decade. The teams they’ve managed have always been a bunch of pocket monkeys in terms of talent but they get the absolute best out of that lot and then some. Smh.

  3. The team lacks confidence now, everyone is jittery and so prone to mistakes…strikers missing chances they will put away with their eyes close, defenders trying too hard not to make mistakes and then end up doing just that, the midfield does it best impression of ‘who can have moat possessions and do eff all with it”, the manager is confused, jaded and out of ideas….and as for teams getting breaks against us, well unless one is a new AFC fan that has been the case for more than just this season and its simply borne out of the fact we are one dimensional and very very predictable; set your stall out strongly, be a bit physical, hit them on the break….and more often than not it works, because Wenger’s team don’t have the fight in them to dig deep and turn adversity to their advantage, they fold quicker than a deck chair….and with a manager that will be quick to defend them and talk arrange nonsense like mental strength and character, you wonder why they will feel the need to dig deep….

    1. True!………. We are Looking for that man…….. Wenger ain’t that man! And so are his players

    2. they are right to have low confidence: with wenger in charge: a man happy to meet his financial goals and have a sporty go at winning at the league, but not too seriously. despite his words, all his actions speak loudly: he will have a go at winning, but not too fussed to lose. that comment after watford , that we will lose in the future, although true, is something that he accepts too easily it seems.

      he is a man full of nervousness and this transmits to the players. instead of strengthening them before clutch games in jan/feb/mar he falls apart.

  4. Claudio Ranieri revealed after
    beating the Magpies that his coaching philosophy of ‘one game at a time’ has been keeping the Foxes going.

    “Our concentration is important. We are so strong; we think only of one match. Step by step, that is our philosophy,”

    “Our fans are dreaming and we want to continue winning. They must dream and we must work.

    “It is difficult and we want to enjoy it, but we must continue.“

    Boy!….this is too much optimism and determination…..and Less TALK…. devoid of empty promises….we can all see that…..one game at a time….. One goal per game…… 3pts per game

    anybody recall chelski from Last season?

  5. I think one one reason a what we have all seen and what Gomez said after the game, Arsenal give too much space. Strikers become twice as good when given space.

    We don’t close teams down and harass them as soon as we lose possession. For me this is one of the key reasons the likes of Barca and Bayern are so successful, they don’t give you time on the ball.

    Strikers playing Arsenal are allowed time on the ball, space and are allowed to shoot and Arsenal defenders tend to jump out of the way.

    1. players attitude: the way ozil threw up his hands after losing possession: i think wenger has lost his players. at this point, closing down and all that is only a symptom of the underlying disease.

  6. Everyone makes a big deal when we do something wrong because we keep doing the SAME THING wrong ! Negligence of the opponent’s threat, no urgency moving forward, no urgency off the ball, refusal to shoot when in front of goal and inability to convert the easiest chances.

    1. goonerlad, wenger is the invariant here. we dont change, he doesnt change. how is that we get new players, but after a while they look just like the old ones? wenger.

      1. Exactly, the ones who don’t look like they have the weak mentality get sided out for no reason, Sanchez was scoring for fun when he was free to play in the centre and the wings, but he was outshining Giroud so the manager restricted him, Ramsey was scoring for fun when he was allowed to shoot outside the box and had players supporting him at the back but now the manager tells him to play Cazorla role instead, when Ox was new he was dribbling past City defenders for fun but then he was benched for Walcott who can’t even dribble past one defender, now we have Campbell who always impresses on the pitch but the manager benches him for a player with no confidence. Wenger doesn’t like superstars and that’s why we will never move forward, he should allow players to believe they can win a game for the team at any moment, not just when there’s 10min left in a game. The reason Nasri and RVP did so well was because they played with confidence and didn’t always follow the manager’s passing instructions, you would see them dribble past players to create goals and show their discontent with the team when we played badly, we haven’t seen that for the past 5 years, it’s like the manager doesn’t want players to take command of a game and that would explain why we never have any leaders on the pitch. Real leaders would demand for better quality and would’ve threatened to leave if there was no sign of the team changing.

  7. My fingers are nimble to type for a reply or comment on this forum nowadays!

    My eyes are swollen and weak to read articles that are Arsenal-based because I know nothing positives come from the club for now!

    Arsenal has turned me to a laughing stock among my peers here because football is a RELIGION in Nigeria !!! Nigerians on this site can attest to that.

    I have more 5 Arsenal home and away jerseys from current and the past few seasons, yet I dare not wear any of them anytime I choose because of jest from friends owing to bad results from my dear Club.

    I hope and pray that Wenger or Board will do the needful next season from 2 available options:
    1). Throw in the towel
    2). Re-inforce the team with quality players of winning mentality.

    Till things improve, I will continue visiting this site and other related Arsenal sites, but be in shadow somehow to mourn my dear Arsenal !!!

    1. I heard that too, ist really intresting that you Nigerians are so obsessed with that! You guys are so passionate. Anyways, here in Hungary, the Arsenal fans are that passionate too! they are having 2000+ people community in Budapest! They are watching matches together, and walinking in the streets of Budapest. They are like worshipping Wenger, lokking for him like a God, even got a website, and facebook account named from Wenger… but even they are thinking now Wenger should go….

      Cheers from Hungary, Nigerian fans!

      1. i feel sorry for you guys. you deserve better than kroenke and wenger. as long as you buy their stuff, they dont care how you feel.

  8. it baffles me how no EPL team is capable of stopping Leicester save for Arsenal and probably Westbrom…….. Yet Arsenal are over 11pts adrift!

    1. soopa, i think its a lack of concentration (and a bit of luck with the 2nd leicester win). whatever our problems were and have been over the last 3-4 years, we’re now moving into a different phase in the last few weeks: its falling apart at the seams.

      i’m sorry but wenger doesnt have it any more. he’s done what we were afraid of and stayed past his due date — because he deluded himself that he could win PL w/o significant investment, just hoping his current squad could become a bit better, “be consistent”, and win the PL.

  9. Wenger and the players must be under a serious curse, I see no other reason why we are throwing the biggest chance for a title in the last twelve years. Mr Wenger, I suggest You go and see a psychic, the lads as well. After that I know the title is ours.
    Biggie smalls, biggie smalls, biggie smalls.

    1. Not curse, just the manager’s inability to change his ways. Insanity is when you repeat the same thing expecting a different result, Wenger has gone mental because of his ego. Instead of doing what’s right he tries too hard to prove his doubters wrong and it ends up hurting us. It’s either that or the board are not willing to spend money to win the league because of Kroneke and the manager is taking the blame for it.

  10. I really think it’s time for wenger to leave the club, Cus he has no new ideas, clueless, no good tactics and no motivation on the players.

  11. Kronke in his recent interview talks about the importance of growing the “Brand”. He also says “if you want to win championships then you would never get involved.

    Seems to me that these comments are contradictory, if you want to grow the brand you need success on the field.

    With muddled thinking like this I think we know where the problem at the club lies. Much as we may criticise the sugar daddy clubs, at least Abramovic and Sheik Mansour are clear, they want success on the field.

    Perhaps Kronke will wake up and realise that fans no longer accept that top four is good enough due to stadium debt. Fans are paying top dollar and expect and deserve top performance. If fan discontent turns to reduced attendances and reduced spend on merchandise then reduced advertising revenue will follow and fall in share price. The last one Kronke will understand.

    Perhaps we are blaming Wenger when we should be looking at the majority shareholder who thinks that winning championships is not important.

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