The shape of things to come by Neil Watson
Arsenal’s second match this week without Sánchez and Ozil from kick off and our attacking threat has been neglible.
Where once we would bemoan the lack of clinical finishing in a sea of countless chances we are now watching a side bereft of any quality in the final third in the two aforementioned players.
Jack brings a lot to our team but in all honesty he can’t be compared to any other player in a similar position in any of the other top 6 teams. Iwobi and Welbeck are even less effective in their positions and defensively Rob Holding and Calum Chambers are poor at best and prone to calamitous errors which paints a grave picture for the future.
The most worrying thing for me has to be the gulf that is evidently growing between ourselves and the genuine title challengers.
It would be no surprise to find ourselves 10 points off the 4th place (Arsene Wenger trophy position) by the end of February which would also put us nearly 20 points off City.
In May we will most likely find our squad without a single star player, a player that can unlock a fixture. We will have an abundance of mediocrity but that is exactly what teams like Everton, Palace, Southampton……The biggest problem is that we have too many of these players. We’ve bought too many nearly men or youngsters that haven’t made the grade or show no sign of ever reaching it.
The question is how many players are needed to transform our current squad of mediocrity into genuine title contenders? One keeper, one centre half, one holding midfield player, one creative attacking midfielder and a striker that can do something different and more regularly effective than Lacazette. The immediate problem is we simply do not have anywhere the allocated finances to buy that regardless of whether it exists. In today’s market we are realistically talking about an investment in one pre season of somewhere in the region of 300 million pounds.
Sadly I am unable to see past Europa league status for us for the foreseeable future at best.
Isn’t it going to be a terrible ending to Wenger’s time at Arsenal, a man who did so much for our club and then undid all his great work…
Neil Watson
Depressing times………
From Cambell, Asley Cole, Viera, Pires, Henry to
Chambers, AMN, Xhaka, Iwobi, Welbeck
Says it all. Gone backwards.
This sht creates apathy in fans. I for one won’t be following arsenal anymore as i got sm other stuff in my life. Well done board on screwing the fans.
Why depressing? No need to worry, we aren’t getting relegated to the championship. It’s the same turd, before it used to be 4th place ( wenger’s holy Grail) trophy, now it is 6th place, good enough for Europa. Just kidding. Oh for ffs please boycott the palace game. At least an empty stadium will send a very very very very clear signal to the board members and management that we are really fed up of Wenger, kronke and the lies.
I certainly won’t be there
Unfortunately it won’t be an empty stadium though.
Empty stadium please.
Me either, saying without Sanchez & Ozil we’re rubbish , we’re rubbish with them as well.
The excitement & thrill of watching Ars has gone….without Oz & Sanchez we really look and play like a mediocre team.
Will require close to £300m to buy quality players in todays market and frankly Kronke the scrooge is not going sanction that sort spending….honestly we are doomed.
What a lot of fans dont realise is at that point in time Wenger was in his prime, he was young and he could spot talent a mile away he had the full support of guys like David Dein, now he is almost 70 years old, no longer in his prime and his support base of people/staff are gone, the game has moved on yet he still believe that he can turn it around, not a chance. he is in denial. Players like Sanchez and Ozil will come and go, what we need now is a young, hungry and energetic coach someone that will give the players a good kick up the behind, someone that will change things up when we need to employ different tactics depending on the opposition. I dont know what must still happen for the board to realise that we are steadily declining. For starters “WE NEED A NEW COACH”
Agreed our old one has still got crossly tyres on it.
Should read cross ply sorry
It’s not about the players but rather the coach and his tactics.
even with sanchez in top form we still couldn’t get top 4 last season.that should tell you alot.
we really need to fire wenger since we cant make top 4.
get a caretaker manager like ancelotti..he might just motivate the players.
In may board should sit down and look for a good permanent coach.
someone that is capable of going toe to toe with this young tacticians like pep,conte,klopp,poch.
hints:
allegri,simeone,enrique,jardim…that calibre
Come on Arsene luvvers where the xxxx are you ? Or has the penny finally dropped ?
Can someone tell me where are juve. Monaco and al Madrid in their leagues, as for Enrique things were declining with a star studded Barca so he quit, anf how is Zizou doing with the galacticos, please support wenger in these crises like a true gooner
All except simone…..i dont like his tactice…..he will suut chelsea more
Man This sucks !!!! I wonder where the hell the club is going.. During the years from 2007-2012 we had players that were even worse than the current squad even if we exclude the two guys making the headlines,and still somehow managed to make the top 4. But now with a team full of gifted international players and talents,we are in terrible form. I just don’t want to see a live match anymore. The only thing that I can have some sort of consolation from is the fact that city lost FINALLY and at least our famous INVINCIBLES record will be safe. But for how long ?????? We need to improve ourselves first….. COME ON ARSENAL FOOTBALL CLUB DO SOMETHING TO FIX THIS CRAP..
Excuse me? “A team full of gifted international player and talents… ” CARE TO NAME NAMES THEN? COS I CAN’T THINK OF HARDLY ANY, ONCE SANCEZ AND OZIL LEAVE.
Shut the hell up. Rather than finding faults in each other’s comments,we need to worry as well as support the team coz this is the time they need us the most. I don’t want to become us like the evertons,sunderlands and newcastles-JUST PROUD HISTORY AND NOTHING ELSE…
I think you will find at least 10 international players are regulars.
Nooo, we have our precious Ramsey, and Xhaka, and El Neny, Mertesacker, Welbeck and other great stars!
I look at the team and all these players who we now call crap were at one point in time “great talents” – Chambers, Ramsey, Jack, OX for example. The coach has clearly lost the plot – the players are regressing and every year we botch the transfers. Why we spent 35M for Xhaka when Kante was available was beyond me. When asked Wenger once mentioned “we have a similar player in Coquelin” -delusion land that is where he leaves. Do not want to be disrespectful to the man but he needs to retire now (at least from Arsenal)
Wenger already ruined his legacy!
He has to go asap, but what if he stays untill the end of his contract? Jesus, we ll have to be patient. This season is already dead for us. We wont win anything and whats worse we are not competitive and brave team which I like to support… and we ll need time to return to that level.
Although bringing Sven and Raul to the club gives me hope. We will see better days but, for start – without Wenger!
What on earth are the thumb down people on ? Do they even now think Wenger is both wonderful and irreplaceable ?????
One fan on this forum has a way of boosting his likes and boosting dislikes to people who disagree with him on some other matters.
Dnt know how he does it, maybe his a son of Admin. 🙂
But everything is fine.
Wenger out asap.
I have tried liking some comments twice. It doesn’t work…..
maks you still on that?
its sad ???
Here we go!
Admin this is your boy? 🙂
you crave this likes soo much..
relax
Lack of tactics
Trembling under pressure
Arrogance and ignorance
Three main areas which reflect Wenger as a manager and as a person, translates straight into the team.
Don’t matter which players are brought in, Wengeritis is infectious.
You can paint a pikle of sheit gold over and over, but until the core of the leaderhip and ownership changes, good luck!
The club is in a much worse position now than what it was when Wenger arrived, so he has destroyed his own legacy in my opinion, and damaged the reputation of the club. We were not the complete laughing stock home, and abroad, back then, as we are now. It could take years to repair the damage.
He was lucky in inheriting one of the top 4 goalkeepers in the world, the best defence in the world and one of the top 3 attackers in the world.
After Ozil and Sanchez leave what is left? Chambers? Xhaka? Welbeck?
Forget what happened 15 years ago Wenger has ruined Arsenal and without the injection of £400mil (which won’t happen under Kroenke) it will take years to fix the mess he has left the team in.
Injection of 400m after wenger leaves. The last part of the first statement is crucial.
Very true.
Hey, no problem… if I see that the Board got a new smart manager who respect tradition of Arsenal FC, and who starts from scratch but players are fightining and we have a style and structure, then I will enjoy like after The Invincibles!
More then 10 years ago I believed that Wenger can do it again but then he start making huge mistakes… released Invincibles too quickly, rvp case, Fabregas return to Chelsea not Arsenal, forcing some players who are not good enough, etc etc etc
We call that self sustain!
Cone on Wenger fans …. what is your reaction ?
Guys this has been on the cards for at least the last two years, if you look at my comments last year I said Lacca wasn’t WC, I am still holding judgement as I think he needs to play with two wide men like Mane and Salah to get the best out of him.
As for Xhaka, no manager will make him half decent never mind WC. The manager has lost if I’ve been saying this for years, so many AKB used to stick up for him at least now the AKB are very few.
I actually worry where this will end if Wenger leaves I don’t believe Kronkie will spend so we could end up another Everton.
How many of our players would get in the top 4 teams?
Wow that hurts to say the 4 top teams knowing we are not one of them
None I would say. I am never the one who thinks that “buying” alone can solve a team’s problems but I look at our team and it needs major rebuilding. We need at least 5-6 top players across positions. And we all know that is not going to happen.
We need a new 11 to be honest
Enough is enough, Wenger must go, Bould too, with the money that’s around success is key, and with them at the helm, it’s not going to happen, The yank needs to FO back to USA and leave it to someone who cares about the name, tradition and history of the club, not how much it can make for him, too many old tossers on board raking it in, shame on them, let’s be vocal Saturday show them we had enough!,,,
You can’t blame Steve Bould. Wenger treats him as a mere YES MAN with no influence whatever. The same as he did Pat Rice before him.
AFC better better hurry before Wenger turns Laca into the next Lucas or Theo . . . .!!!
Maybe Lacazette realises he has made a big mistake. Looking like another of Wenger’s French sulks.
Wenger ruined work class players like Arshavin and Podolski unfortunately Lacazette faces the same fate.
You are looking at the new Arsenal!!!!
Welbeck running to defenders unaware of the space and even running into his own players.
Walcott who still after 10 years in the league can’t hold a run without been offside and the
miracle of midfield Xhaka/Ramsey/Wilshere who can’t track an opponent .
There was not a top 6 team out there today . At best you are looking at mid table.
I have said in posts the last 2 years that our best chance to rebuild was total collapse and we are close to that. Hopefully there is a reaction to it from someone upstairs who still cares about this club and the name .
weve played this bad with Ozil and Sanchez on the pitch before. Arsenal and bad performances are just a normal occasion, no matter who is on the pitch. Every game every fan knows deep down Arsenal have a high chance of not turning up and being a complete embarrassment.
Good players start to leave Arsenal not because is a bad club they just have enough of the manager lies every summer
Bringing in Sven M and Raul S is a clear sign that Wenger’s clock is ticking and his grip over everything Arsenal is weakening. The only question is whether it’s this year or next. I think this transfer window will give us a hint. If Arsenal make a few big signings then my gut is that he stays. If we sell and build a transfer kitty for the summer then I think he goes. I love a big transfer as much as anyone but I’m hoping that Sanchez, Ozil, Walcott etc are sold and we limp through the season without any big signings. Let the next manager mould the team character. The icing on the cup would be the Europa League trophy (I would love Wenger to go out on a positive note despite being fed up with him) but that’s not looking likely.
Wenger deserves to leave in disgrace ! 10 years of stagnation and decline. And no other club would get itself into such a mess as we are with Sanchez and Ozil. We could have raised £100m last summer and swiftly reinvested. (swiftly ? no, sorry, not with Wenger dictating).
Wenger dithering
are you as delusional as Wenger?
If he wins the Europa trophy we will have another 5 years of him
Can’t believe wat I’m watching can’t believe alexis to man Utd can’t believe forest ko is out fa cup,can’t believe Steve bould is not load give instructions can’t believe dt arsenal fan is ready cry can’t believe ozil is injured, cant believe ox is gone couple months and looks he’ll player under klopp can’t believe we’re not even close top 4 can’t believe we were out title challenge by August so much for having no champions league was in that meant help na more lies can’t believe we’re in Europa league can’t believe ke coq and ox sold and no replacement can’t believe walcott is on more than most spurs team weekly wage? can’t believe no x legends are not aloud back in club can’t believe we never replaced vieria can’t believe Cech is captain when jack should be red blood running true he’s veins not blue, can’t believe we haven’t sorted he’s contract? can’t believe arsenal most expensive tickets hahahaha cant believe spurs and Liverpool have passed us out can’t believe we didn’t get klopp or pep when available I could go on and on but what I can believe is wenger will still be in charge next season and can’t believe I still love arsenal over and out with Sanchez to utd?
Wenger believes.
….. in his own infallibility.
I think Arsenal is still in a
decent position all round.
Today’s loss was unexpected..
However there are still
15 League games to go. Its a long season.
We are on the cusp of going to Wembly in the Carabao.
We have a soft last 32 tie in the Europa.
The Sanchez saga will soon be over and I hope
we can welcome some fresh young faces as the rebuild continues.
Spurs Liverpool Chelsea are in the much tougher Champions league
with Chelsea starting to struggle now as their squad tires.
I see Arsenal winning the Carabao.
I also believe Arsenal will make top 4
through either the league or the Europa or even both.
Once the transfer window closes the team will settle down.
Out of the FA cup is good as other teams will face a mounting
fixture list which will compromise their league form.
So lots to look forward too.
Carabao cup, top 4 and a successful continuation
of the rebuild will be a satisfactory season.
Then a grand finale season for the gaffer
as he completes his contract next season.
COYG 🙂
You are an optimist, so is Wenger.
Enough said.
Well at least barrygilik is trying to be positive.There is so much dome and gloom on this site it’s embarrassing
HIGHBURY44, What is really embarrassing is the fast diminishing few “away with the fairies, living on Planet Wenger” on here and weirdly still supporting him. YOU AND YOUR ODDBALL FEW ARE ENEMMIES OF OUR CLUB AND ENEMIES OF VITAL CHANGE, WHICH STARTS WITH REFUSAL TO PUT UP WITH THIS RUBBISH ANY LONGER. ACCEPT RUBBISH ; GET RUBBISH. DO NOT ACCEPT RUBBISH; GET VITAL CHANGE!
And what if a change of manager doesn’t improve the situation
Highbury 44 … why is Arsenal the only club in the whole world which can’t find a new manager. Think of the good Managers who have joined the EPL in the last few years while people like you have shat themselves in case they lose Arsene Wenger. Just go away and don’t come back.
Oi!
He is an Arsenal fan. Respect his opinion or go away yourself. This is a democracy and no bullying is allowed…..
then you change again and again and again until you get a good one. Don’t worry though because there are few human beings over the age of 10 and undr the age of 80 who could not do better than Wenger. I mean what is he good at these days? Tactics, motivation, coaching?
Jeez there is no need for such vitriol. Everyone is titled to their own opinion. Take a chill pill….
What do you expect ??
I’ll have what you’ve taken, we are crap!
Tho you may try, you simply cannot polish a turd. Wenger inherited solid defense and couple good players when he took over.
What will he leave next manager? No defenders;
Trembling insecure children, and 2 cb’s on way to retirement.
Wilshire in midfield, AMN looks ok, thats it. No wingers to speak of; nelson never got chance, Welbeck purchase was like buying a fart; here for a bit then gone. Dude scored against utd then nothing, like a fart.
What decent manager interested in this shit show?
Owner lies and cheap with money, squad chock full over paid deadwood, no WC players, and a goalkeeper who should have retired last year with Mert.
Pullis next year so he can help us avoid relegation. At least he’ll teach team defending, upwards from there
C’mon man let’s not get too depressed. The next manager will be fine and as long as the funds are available (which has little or nothing to do with Wenger) he or she will do just fine – a fantastic stadium, a handful of pretty good players, great training facilities, top scouting outfit, one of the most passionate (if not slightly fickle) fanbase and some exciting albeit untested young talent. Everybody needs to take a few deep breaths.
“he or SHE”? God help us all, Weed Walcott is coming back to manage us then! Always thought that beard was fake!
Jon your comments are getting desperate, c’mon man rise above it. You’re better than that!
It will not be a quick fix to rebuild after what Wenger has done.
Don’t get depressed? Have you watched us recently? We’re awful.
What are you smoking? It sure must be working.
Barry that’s so funny ?
Hey Barry,
first loss this season, a?
So you are healing your ManCity ass on Arsenal forum?
Find a life man.
Don’t tell lies. You don’t believe a word of that devils advocate stuff you wrote, just to get attention! NOR DOES ANYONE ELSE, SO WHY BOTHER?
I’ll have what you’ve taken please…..we’re crap
I had thought tgat we would secure a pont from Biurnemouth to reach 40 points – a safety level in EPL from relegation.
By the way, when will our 1st win come in 2018 ?
Latest news –
“Arsenal FC transfer news: Gunners close in on Malcom and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – reports”
We’ll see, but only a good story if a manager comes along with the deal . . .
Wenger will still be manager till he is 90
Sanchez is off to man utd.
No decent signings will come this january.
Just some unknown kids
The squad you saw today will play so many games this season.Most in fact.
We will be battling to stay in top 10 come the end of the season.
Ozil will not sign a new contract and will lose him on a free.
Wenger gets rewarded with a new contract.
And a rampant downward spiral begins
You know you have just dug in to my nightmare. Aargh!
Joking apart, Kroenke could well extend WenKer’s contract even further !
Very likely. If there is no immediate action, there won’t be any at the end of the season.
Running a club like Arsenal and keep preach philosophy/self sustain/project thats the only results you will get there is no other way around just build a team for buying few quality players not just one every summer – Liverpool did it!!
We are doomed.
WENGER HAS TO GO.There is nothing more to say
No sympathy for wenger. He has brought it upon himself and deserves to go out in shame. Any other board would have sacked him. I still think he will continue as he won’t be sacked. Who wants to give up such a salary without any expectations to perform.
If you tried to mismanage a team you couldn’t do it better than wenger and co. have over the last few years. How he still has supporters beggars belief.
What I think most of all and regardless of how bad Arsenal are doing at the moment is to remember we all support the same team and actually want the same thing for the team and to avoid the fan base from becoming a laughing stock is to respect and stop arguing amongst ourselves.
That is something we can actually effect- we all support the same team – let’s stop bad mouthing each other in certain situations as that just makes us look stupid and pathetic to other fans.
Chaos Is What Killed The Dinosaurs, hahaha, so instead of freaking out, for a greater cause, all of you have to welcome the current happnings with oppen hands
The big scary thing apart from all the obvious failures and depression right now, we have failed to be a part of the modern financial world of football. The world of Buy Big and/or Sell Big, in terms of individual player price (blockbuster price).
Buy Big Shows the ambition of a club and Sell Big vindicates the player development and club’s ability to create stars.
ManC is in Buy Big league.
Liverpool is in Sell Big league now and might enter the Buy Big league as well.
ManU is Buy Big.
Spurs are in Sell Big league.
Barca does both and they are one of the world’s greatest.
Mide level clubs: Neither.
We ? We are in neither. We are in the depths of mediocrity in both the leagues which proves we can not keep up and thus have seem to have fallen behind in modern football. Mix this fact with the shambolic performances, we are a mid level club, period.
Instead of training this week for the Palace game, our squad should be made to watch videos of the Liverpool/Man C twice a day until they understand, skill, commitment and passion.
Some terrible over reaction from fans after poor performance against Bournemouth.I cannot believe the unjustified flack aimed at MN and Holding in particular. Neither player well but MN is merely filling in at left wing back and Holding has only recently had a run of games. Fans ire should be directed towards senior team members such as Cech,Mustafi and Xhaka who is useless as a defensive midfielder.