Stale Arsenal showed that nothing has changed

We reaped what we sow this summer...‏ by KM

It comes to no surprise as we were humiliated in our first home game this year. Honestly, I didn’t want to say it, but I was expecting us to be beaten. We put one of the weakest squads we’ve put out in recent times and we obviously lost.

Let’s point out a number of things that went wrong – first this game was Arsenal in a nutshell. We missed a penalty, but still opened the score. Then we crumbled at the last minute before half time. The crumble continued until all hope was lost and then we tried to make a heroic comeback that didn’t succeed.

This is because, we didn’t address the real problem. We needed 4 players – a CB, a Striker, a DM and a Winger. We added only one of the four and he didn’t event start the game. United bought the 4 players they needed. City bought what they needed. I mean it is no coincidence what happened. It’s sad but there still are a lot of people with blind faith in Arsene, but this could well be his last season. Sadly though, he is everything around here, and I believe he’ll only leave when he wants.

The real problem is lessons are always thought the hard way at Arsenal, but worse we never learn. We need Mustafi ASAP, as well as Lacazzete and Draxler. Will we buy any of the three is uncertain. There is literally no excuse for this. We had to prepare better and expect what could happen and we didn’t. Instead we rely that the Ox and Theo would finally come good in year 6 and 11 of their attempts to do so.

I am careless about Arsenal these days. There’s nothing to be excited about. No new manager, no new players… Everything is stale. I’d like to know why Theo took the penalty and not Sanchez? Even the missed penalty showed lack of character. It was a bad kick with not enough power and easy for the keeper. We had a number of mistakes in defence before they scored, but did we learn? Why did we foul Coutinho with his back on goal?

Why did we lead ourselves to the place where young Rob Holding had to be our CB… Couldn’t we have put Monreal there and play Gibbs on the left. Put some experience out there, the season is starting and we concede 4 at home. We are a laughing stock. We are not an elite club.

Ask yourself these questions when you step onto the Emirates next time – What is Arsenal about? Why do I come to the games? Are the money spent on a season ticket worth what I’m seeing? How many more chances does Wenger deserve realistically based on the last 10 years?

I believe deep inside you all know the real answer, but you just don’t want to accept the truth! Just like Arsene doesn’t.

Konstantin

30 Comments

  1. Come on it’s the first game of the season. Its a marathon not a sprint.
    When we have all our players back and fir we will quickly move up the table. Didn’t we lose our first game to Villa once and then didnt lose in next 8 or something. Calm down your all knee-jerkers

    1. What player do we have that would have prevented yesterday? I can only think of Kos because Mert and Gabriel wouldn’t have made a difference. Ozil might have made a difference to yesterday’s game but Giroid wouldn’t have helped. So all in all it is not a bad game in isolation. This is a poor mismatched squad. CB and CF are still big issues and do not address the fact why we didn’t win the league last year when all other big teams fell by the side.

      1. shambolic preparation for the season.
        no excuse for going into the season with two inexperienced cb’s

        i hope holding an chambers are not too effected by yesterday, im unhappy with wenger throwing them into the cauldron like that, they are footballers but at that age in that atmosphere ist can affect your development- we have seen as much.

      2. @ RVP

        Even though we need a quality striker, winger and a CB,
        I blame yesterday’s defeat on our team selection, formation and non-existent game plan.
        Yeah, maybe Liverpool took their foot off the Gas when they went 4-1 up, but that mini revival that we showed, gave a clue to how the starting 11 should have been, at the start of the game.?

    2. G Rude
      Please, don’t be deceived.
      We know this is the first game of the season.
      As yourself this question…why is it that everyone (at least, almost everyone) knows what Arsenal needs to challenge for the title…We didn’t have to wait for Mert and Gabriell to get injured before pursuing a CD.
      We shouldn’t be conceding 4 freaking goals at home. Have you noticed we always get pummelled at least once every year?
      Why do transfers take long at Arsenal. Too many questions…no answers. Only more excuses. Annoyingly, we fans have the ability to make things better, but most of us are helping Wenger make more excuses.
      Anyway, as long as we are content with happenings at our club, and happy with 4th place, things will remain the same.
      If I’m not wrong, this year is the 10th year at Emirates. No BPL.
      Oh to be a Gooner.

      1. By the way, do you know what Wenger said during the Post Match conference?

        Lack of experience cost us the match…

        How dare he say that…so he knows…but he still fielded ‘inexperience’.
        Sometimes, I wish he doesn’t even speak…because he gets more annoying when he does.

    3. It’s no coincidence that while we were getting mauled at home by Liverpool and Looking Lost in the Striker position………. Lacazette was banging in a hatrick for Lyon

      in a window where Bailly goes for 30mil, deeney 35mil, stones 50mil , Bolasie 30mil…… Yet wenger can’t fork out well over 35mil for Lacazette (or any other Top quality CF)

      whose fault that the market is inflated?…… Dance to the tune old man…. Dance to the tune skeleton

  2. I do not hide my sentiments. I am an anti mr stubborn. and why? because year after year he promises to go to the transfer market, but always the same excuse? when we find the right players? how come that other clubs find the players they want? I go backwords and ask? is there any money or not? if not the board should resign en-block especially krone (hope I spelled it correct?) does he know if the ball is round? goner for ever

  3. I know it is the first game of the season but expect more of this games this season…We all know what this team lacks but Wenger still want to get a midfielder. .

    I wonder how Wenger motivates his players. He is a father figure to the players as he has been with Arsenal for 20yrs now but he should be doing better. He always preach cohesion,mentality and team bond but we lack that and it’s annoying..

    I bet fans won’t be so mad if we lost to Liverpool but we made good signings. They know the team showed ambition. Wenger is his own enemy..

    What’s Bould job? Can someone tell me..

    The mentality has to change. Arsenal “soft” mentality is rubbimg off on the players..

    We have been here before.. .same old story, different season. ..

  4. Yes as you say today’s game
    was a microcosm of recent
    Arsenal seasons.
    Start with great hope stumble
    at a critical moment, crumble badly
    then fightback gamely when the title is beyond us.
    The transfer window has been a rerun of past seasons too.
    At the beginning Wenger talked about being “very busy”
    with his seconds scouring the globe for top quality.
    The board referring to funds being available for the “right” players.
    However as the window progresses targets become “hard to find”
    and those we do find are “extremely difficult to acquire”
    usually because we offer only 40% of the asking price 🙂
    The board then starts talking discipline and financial restraint.
    But why is it like this?
    The owner is not interested in winning the title.
    In fact he is against such an idea because it raises expectations
    which leads to higher spending levels which he is dead against.
    The Manager is happy to collect 8 mill while never having
    to face the intense heat of a genuine title challenge
    especially after Mourinho burned him in ’05/’06.
    Kroenke would be quite happy with top 6.
    38 league games 6-10 European games and a
    run in one of the domestic cups would adequately
    cover his financial targets.
    While a few fans booed yesterday no doubt a win against Leicester
    and they will all be singing “One Arsene Wenger there’s only one…”
    As you say its deja vu all over again again.
    Twoud be great if we could do a Leicester 🙂

  5. Really impressed by Chambers aerial display yesterday. He looked a tower going up, bullying the ball and man. He won everything that came in high. And he was knocking it back into good positions. He should take this on himself when Kos is there, I expect Mustafi but am sure CC and Kos will play at some time. Kos could do with someone a bit more like that beside him, loved his dominant attitude. Pity we got shredded though, I hope they realised it was more about our bad wide defending and liv blistering goals than it was about errors on their part.

    1. What Chambers? The same one that defended port side against Origi and left the inner pitch exposed? Against a better striker, it would have been goal number five. I wonder if he was trying to prevent a throw-in lol.

    2. Thank god someone noticed that it wasn’t just our inexperienced CBs. Chambers was in fact very strong in the air.

      No one could have prevented the first goal apart from maybe Cech (didn’t make a big enough wall and didn’t look prepared for the shot).

      Bellerin was at fault for letting Firmino get in behind him to cross and Monreal was out of position which didn’t just allow Lallana to slot in the goal but also left I think two other Liverpool players even wider free as well as pushing our CBs out of decent positions.

      Again, Monreal didn’t prevent the cross and Chambers should have gotten in front of Coutinho but that’s actually harder said than done when the ball is whipped in so quickly and the midfielder is running in.

      The last goal Chambers sweeps across as he should but is outpaced but then Monreal basically lets Mane run by to score.

      So basically Monreal was directly involved in 3 of the goals we conceded, the oldest and most experienced.

      1. Good observations. Cech should have favored the closest post. Easier to curl a shot. Shouldn’t be beaten from there.

  6. wenger is our problem, and as long as he is in charge nothing will change, I can only pray for this to be his last season, forget about transfer tactically wenger is finished, chambers is a scam for 16mil, God help us

  7. Loved Coq and Elneny’s strong defensive cover too. That will come in handy, away to moaninho it might do the trick. Only problem is our passing gets slow at times, so I look forward to seeing Xhaka, hopefully he’s a strong defender. He was lucky not to get booked yesterday five minutes after coming on, he looks aggressive alright.

    1. Oh but last week he was singing a different story then “we were ready”
      well all the time he is in charge we wont EVER be ready cos its the same players making the same mistakes and doing the same stuff over and over again.
      Farcical and its time it ended and we started acting like a competitive football club rather than a well turned out financial institution

  8. The truth is we need a new manager we need our 2nd major share holder to be able to put his money in to our team we need to have a big clear out and free wages up we need a number 2 in place to take over then we need the German coach at Arsenal to change our play. TBH I would watch Arsenal play crap but win ever week

  9. Of Course NOTHING has changed, there were even less regular players on the field than usual, as a statement of intent it was spot on!!! it was stating that we have absolutly NO ambition and no will to win and that unfortunately comes directly from Wenger Himself.
    Last week when we beat city in Gotheburg Wenger said we were ready for the new season and he stated there was cohesion and understanding….now just a week later we are NOT ready and he has no idea when we will be……????
    Ill tell you when we will be ready, when we sell players like Walcott and Chamber who just cant perform and we bring in players who can and are willing to win, and that means spending money NOT getting cheap and cr@p alternatives.
    Yesterday was a debarcle of massive proportions and was the second opening season game we have lost in two seasons, its farcical and the person you have to hold responsible is Arsene Wenger.
    He steadfastly REFUSES to spend the money we are supposed to have and deliberatly misleads the press AND the fans in order to diflect the attention that Arsenal Get every season regarding transfers and the who thing is unacceptable.
    If he doesnt know when we will be ready for the new season then he’s NOT DOING HIS JOB PROPERLY and that begs the question as to what are we paying him for?
    I cant stress enough that the responsibility for this type of embaressing loss on the opening day of the season lies soley with the manager. Wenger need to go as we are only going to get dragged further and further down with every second he stays

  10. I agree Wenger and the club deserve criticism for their poor transfer market activity or lack there of and the negative energy this has created around the club.

    We still need a top striker and Sanchez is probably not the backup striker Wenger makes him out to be.

    Maybe Henry is right in that players just don’t want to come to Arsenal. If this is the case this can only be because the consistent lack of ambition displayed.

    Xhaka was a silly buy if we don’t have enough money. We should have prioritised a second striker over a third DM. Xhaka was not even deemed good enough to start. If me memory serves me correctly, when we splashed the cash on Ozil and Sanchez they started right away and rightfully so.

    Having said that, we have to be honest, and to me the reason we lost was not entirely due to Chambers and Holding. The free kick was soft when given and the subsequent goal was brilliant. Not sure any PL keeper wold have stopped that one. On at least two other goals both Monreal and Bellerin each, allowed their man to get behind them because they were too far up the pitch. That was not on the Holding and Chambers, sure they didn’t have the experience to make up for these mistakes but it seems to me, Monreal and Bellerin should have been prepared by Bould or Wenger with two such young CD. They should have been told not to go too far up the pitch and expose Holding and Chambers.

    We also lacked teeth because my favorite Arsenal player, Sanchez, was not doing a great job as central striker. Perhaps he is too small, or perhaps he too was not ready as a result of too little preparation. It begs the question why we didn’t throw on Akpom at some stage.

    That brings me to the final part, Wenger still doesn’t seem to master the half tiume adjustments that some of his colleagues make. Where Klopp used half time to show his players where Arsenal was leaving the big spaces (behind Bellerin and Monreal) Wenger seemed to not have made any effective adjustments.

    There is little chance of this squad winning the PL even if we buy a striker but we certainly have the ingredients to finish in the top 4 if we do buy a top quality striker and make some adjustments.

    Can we argue with the theory that Giroud was more effective for France as a result of the way they used him in conjunction with Griezman? Henry suggested we try this by playing Sanchez in a Griezman like role just behind Giroud. This would require Wenger to switch to a 4-4-2 and I think his stubbornness prevent him from make these adjustments.

    I don’t think we will sign a serious striker and I don’t think Wenger will make the necessary tactical changes if he doesn’t. Guess what that means, surprise surprise, the most realistic outcome we can hope for this season is a top 4 finish. This will be a lot harder this year than last year IMO.

    1. I utterly agree with everything you have said, in a nutshell its time for Wenger to either wake up and get with the pprogram …or leave us alone and go manage another side somewhere else far away.
      The facts of all this are thus….IF we dont have to money to spend then say so, stop harping on about supposed Warchests that dont exist, OR trell the board to free up the money so you can take the team forward or your going to hand in your notice to leave.
      IF the club has the money and is providing the money for you to spend then SPEND IT !!!! EARLY AND ON TOP CLASS PLAYERS !!! there are no excuses for not doing either and if AW really valued the club and its traditions and ethos then he would show greater respect for the fans and show his hand.
      instead its the same smoke and mirrors policy every season and he always adopts the attitude that everybody else in the world including fans, ex players and pundits are all stupid and could NEVER understand the complexities of the game and team management and transfers and that HE is the great genius father who is guiding us through dangerous and uncertain times despite our childish rantings and precocious demands.
      It does wash Wenger not anymore we’re fans we want to see silverware and as we pay the MOST expensive prices in the whole of europe then we are entitled to expect BETTER than we have been getting for the last ten years.

  11. I’ll be honest I couldn’t bring myself to watch the game yesterday I knew what was going to happen and didn’t want to wind myself up watching it happen. The point is if its so predictable that the defence is not up to it and Sanchez isn’t a lone striker, why can’t Wenger see it and do something about it. Instead he comes out with the same usual bs about focussing on what he’s got and transfers being no guarantee of success. They may not guarantee success but playing inexperienced youngsters at CB and wingers as lone strikers is a guarantee of failure, as it seems is keeping Wenger on as manger.

  12. I should be wanting Arsene to win the CL but I find myself in a strange situation where I feel it would be best if we don’t qualify for it and he leaves the club!

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