Arsenal do not even want to win the Premiership.by Peter H
Hi all you Gunners. I am writing this before the Chelsea game and am hoping we can pull it off to get our season started, so good luck to the team.
Win or lose today, we are deluding ourselves if we think that Wenger and the board even want to win the league.To me it is clear that Wenger is still employed by the board because he is brilliant at calculating what he needs to do to keep the team in one of the top four positions that he holds so dear.
After those embarrassing thrashings last year the manager of most teams in the league would have collected their P45 and gone into happy retirement on their final exorbitant pay-out. So why is Wenger still there? Why does a top team like Arsenal put up with being humiliated in so many crucial games?
Surely, because the club is making a healthy profit for all those directors and overpaid employees who many years ago would have done the same job for no money, just because they loved the club as the fans do.
Have we spent wisely and ambitiously now that we seem to be on such a good financial footing? We all know the answer is a resounding ‘NO!’. We love all the Arsenal players who try so hard for their manager, but we all watch in amazement as Wenger buys yet another fragile crock or untried youngster, and groan as we sit and watch the truly ambitious teams who refuse to accept second best and go straight out and buy the best players money can buy to fill the positions they are lacking in. Football is a great game, and weaker teams can sometimes shock the big boys, but if you keep buying at Poundland do not expect to be ruling the world. So, 4th again, if we stay fit.
Sorry you Gunners to be negative on a sunny day. Do you think Wenger and the board will ever man up and spend what they have to to get to the very top?
Peter
Ozil is not a winger
play him at no. 10
then we can win the title
#COYG
NO even with Ozil at 10 we don’t have a commanding DM like Matic who protects the back four from making stupid mistakes so we are far off from winning the league!
@ravi2485 –
ffs WE ARE NOT GONNA WIN THE TITLE OR THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
absolutely delusional fans we have
we are the worst of the elite epl teams
chelsea are the best
top 4 trophy is ours every year
Even the top 4 trophy is in danger we had a terrible weekend we lost to Chelsea,Spurs won,Liverpool won,United won and Man City won this is a very sad weekend!
Well last week we are happier.
not really we drew with the spuds- do u mean last decade?
now those were happier moments
Muff, remember that out of the top 7 we have played Chelki, City, Spuds and Everton. Before Christmas the only big games we play are Pool and United. Our next 6 games are Hull, Anderlecht, Sunderland, Burnley, Anderlecht, and Swansea.
who cares about top 4 anyways. The only advantage is the money, which our manager is scared to spend. We have 0% chance of winning UCL, 0% chance of winning league… our purpose as a top club right now is pointless. were not here to compete right now. Our manager is not the same person he was a decade ago. The club is screaming for change, but dictator Wenger remains. He’s done so much good for Arsenal, its a shame its come down to us begging for him to leave.
I watched the Chelsea Arsenal game and I could not believe the stupid free kick we took that gave the ball away and ultimately the first goal.
A silly penalty that Hazard will dive for every time and Referees are conned all the time. Penalties need to use camera evidence and then decided.
I’m still sticking with my prediction of 3rd in the league, retention of the FA Cup, and reaching the QF of the CL. For me, that would present an improvement on last season, and is a realistic aim considering our summer purchases. Under Wenger we aren’t going to see any rapid improvement, it will take time, I can’t see us winning the PL for at least another season, and the CL is a long long way away. I do wish that Wenger would just accept that he’s not in touch with today’s football anymore and just hand over the job to another capable candidate. If we can lure Simeone or Klopp I would be a happy bunny, but again would they leave their respective jobs? That remains to be seen.
4th place, no trophy. Thats the realistic prediction.
Being realistic, I would take that in a heart beat. But I don’t think we even get one of the three. FA Cup is contingent on not drawing a good side away. If that happens, we are out. 4th place is the best we can hope for in the PL (3rd is a long shot) and the only way we make the final 8 of the CL is by drawing a weak team in the round of 16. To do that, we have to win the group.
DID ANY NOTICE THAT FABREGAS HARDLY CROSSED THE MIDFIELD LINE THROUGHOUT THE MATCH?
Yes ,from there , he was orchestrating and initiating all Chelsea’s move. he was always available to bail out their defenders and at the same time launch their attacks.Can one person remind me of one game ,with Jack Wilshere starting at No 10, in which there any form of fluidity in our game like the champion league match or even the Aston-villa match ?
Why wenger keeps entrusting the most important position on the pitch to wilshere , i do not understand.
The fact is Wilshere always looks good when the team is not playing well . Can anyone tell me one good thing he did all match? Not one through ball to welbeck or panic inducing pass through the midfield.
Many people confuse running with the ball and colliding with the opponent at the end with good football. it is not and that is pretty much what Wilshere does all match. apart from a few short easy passes, Wilshere is pretty match limited as a footballer , not to talk of being a No 10 at the top level.If he is not running with the ball and taking all the opponents with him to the person he is passing the ball to, he is taking a tumble.
Many times during the match, ozil was turning and turning .looking for wilshere and runners to make themselves available for the pass.Nowhere. he ended up losing the ball
like someone said, Wilshere is Wenger’s project but that project is seriously costing us.
wilshere was bad 1st half, better 2nd, but still just okay. But lets not pretend Ozil was any better. As usual he went missing in a big match. When Alexis plays you know he’s on the pitch, he has a presence. Same with Hazard, same with Di Maria, same with Falcao. Those are big game players. Ozil is not as good, and he hasn’t lived up to his price tag, simple. Am I blaming him for the defeat, no, because he shouldnt have even started ahead of Ox in the wings, and Cazorla has been a better No. 10 at Arsenal compared to Ozil. Ozil shouldve been on the bench, thats the truth.
can you remember when wilshere was played on the right 2 seasons ago?
why i say wilshere was the worst arsenal player on the pitch, many of you argue.
Tell me one thing wilshere did all match.
Ozil was No 10 twice
champion league
1 assist and 1 indirect one and initiating 2 others
aston villa
1 goal , 1 assist
in that position , this is what matters ,not tracking back or running with ball.
@RSH
The truth is it’s the manager who should be on the bench not Ozil.
Why spend 42million on a player and then not use him properly???
Be careful what you wish for.Just look at Man united. you are obviously talking from the point of view that the board are going to give any new coach gigantum sums of money to buy world class players. Wenger is taking one for the board. The problem is not wenger, the problem is the board. All those talk of money in the bank is PR. The fact is Kroenke bought arsenal on credit card and we are still paying for it.Probably why arteta/giroud were given contract extension even when, it is obvious that they are not championship winning materials.The board is simply not going to spend.
Alexis sanchez was bought to sell Shirts.
Ozil was bought to stop the fans from going gaga after the loss to aston villa last season.
to even imagine that we would have been stuck with sonogo right now……..
This team can only get better under a manager who actually has more than one tactic. SAF left Man United with a crap team that overperformed under him. This Arsenal team is a team that is not living up to their potential. Huge difference.
@galaxygooner, u obviously didn’t watch the match! First, wilshere didn’t play the no10 role. He played the Ramsey role, and for now he obviously doesn’t have a rival in there. Secondly, he delivered a sublime pass to Sanchez, which led to collision with courtois. Finally and personally, I thought he is our best player among the front six. My worst player of the night would be flamini, followed by Sanchez…! Hazard, Ronaldo, Bale, Messi all have the wisdom to change or drift inward when troubled by “wicked” defenders, our boy simply remained and allowed Ivanovich to enjoy “qwacking” him and the ball. Ozil to me was good with his movements. Saw lots of the ball, but bullied off by stronger fighters. Overall, though I ain’t no fan to wishere, I say he had a better game than u rate him for!
call it whatever , he was suppose to conduct the midfield . he didn’t; fabregas did.
@galaxygooner
RealTalk…
I don’t understand why Wenger changes formation and system after our best performance of the season so far against Gala!!!!!
Same when we played really well to beat Villa and then next game Wenger changed again. FFS so frustrating.
@dopplesoldner
I agree. I said exactly the same thing on the last post.
Galatasaraay are much worse than Chelsea. We couldn’t push everyone forward against Chelsea. We played in the right way and they were too strong.
your right playing that way against chelsea would have been too dangerous.
fact is they have a better manager and better transfer policy.
you say what about torres- i say what about ozil
Ozil couldn’t have gone bad In a year. If you look at distance covered and heat maps, he is everywhere. Something aint right, I think he lacks agression.
he wasnt needed in the first place! was bought to appease fans, then dumped on the wing. so although i feel for him an know mesut deserves better…
right now he is a torres level flop
Well Fabregas wasn’t needed either. If he was bought to appease fans then I don’t think that we would have spent money this summer either. Ozil had played on the right wing at RM and has even said that its his best position. Arsene Wenger could have subbed him earlier. Ozil has to take that blame. Atm he is Torres like.
You’re lying Ozil was never Right wing at Madrid he was number 10 with Di Maria on the right then CR7 on the left then when Ozil left Di Maria came in centre to allow Bale to play Right wing
In big games, he played on the right and drifted inside like he did today. Look at his heat maps and you will see this.
@muffdiver
Wenger is the real Torres level flop!
You think so?
You had better thank your God it was ozil and not wilshere anchoring the midfield.
The ball simply zipped around quicker with runners at the end of it.even at that,the soft underbelly of the midfield was still obvious.
The match could easily have gone the other way. It is the champions league after all.
Would you honestly play Cazorla in a deeper role against a team like Chelsea? Chelsea is not Gala you know. It wasn’t the starting formation that caused us but the substitutions. OX should have come on for Ozil not Cazorla. Cazorla shaking his head, when he was our most positive player on the pitch, said it all.
*cost us
We played great because wenger didnt forced wilshere in to the 1
Kos6 has conceded 7 penalties since 2010 he’s not as class as he’s made out to be,Mert is always made the scapegoat but they both equally poor our CB pairing and lack of a DM is not good enough to win any title!
That is 7 in 4 years. If we had a decent defensive midfielder then that ain’t happening. Kocielny is very agressive in tackling. It pays off most of the time. Our defensive pairing did 16 clean sheets last season. Matic was the difference.
@dee we’re talking about eden hazard in the box dazlling two players and facing you at speed. i dont blame kos, hes our rock and our best player this season.
I agree with that. We need to stop playing the blame game. The result could have been better or worse. We don’t shoot enough from the edge of the box and should have tested their defense more.
Kos6 is too rash in the tackle there are many instances I can recall where he’s cost us it’s just that people choose other players to blame,for France he’s not a starter because against Ukraine in the 1st leg he was careless and almost cost them a world cup place!
That was just 1 sending off. He is not a starter because Sakho and Varane play better together. Sakho is awful. Neuer is a rash keeper and so was Lehmann. Does that make em bad?
Change the board the manager and the under preforming players and we might stand a chance.
Buy a LW, CDM and two CB’S our defence has been neglected for far to long.
PS and play players in their best positions.
ill stop givin comments until were back on the title race im heartbroken 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁
twice in a week 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁
oh oh my heart 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁
my heart is made of glass u know dont play with it its fragile 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁
and those who said that ive moved to senegal or uganda, feck off!!!!!!! i like livin here i aint move to africa!!!
Oh I miss your comments especially when we lost the game. Your cheers me up. Thanks haywill!
Whats wrong with Africa it is a beautiful continent 🙂 🙂
i agree it looked magical in the lion king
We have got as much chance of winning the EPL, as I have got in staring in a Hollywood film 🙂 ROAR 🙂
Man, u still dig lion king? Simba is a man now, just grow up.
@KickAssFa
We were having a laugh. In adversary the british tend to laugh about things when they are going wrong 🙂 🙂
@Andrew, indeed.
Haywill, it’s a pity this happened. However, I promise you we (Bob, Muffdiver, Leo and I, together with Gazidis and Stan) are working on this situation. Tomorrow we hold a crucial meeting to see how we can move Arsenal forward.
Son, just take a good look at my face in the picture of me you have with you, you see how serious I am there. I’ve not changed. I promise u, a change is coming for good.
Ozil didn’t play good today, he was easily out muscle by Chelsea players. Seem like he only can play the no.10 roll, for the middle to the left or right.
guys let us be realistic,the squad we arsenal have compared to chelsea is uncomparable!wenga s tha fault because morinho cnt work with failure squad beta he quit,wenga on the other hand doesnt care,give morinho arsenal squad and he wil be relagated,giv arsene chelsea squad and he wil win everythng
This window Arsenal bought Chambers, Ospina, Sanchez, DeBuchery and Wellbeck. Peter, let us know which one is fragile, crocked or untried. Thanks.
YAWN
Can’t we accept that Chelsea were better. Except from Ozil everyone gave 110%. A great moment from Hazard won the game. Instead of having a scapegoat and blaming the earth with knee jerk reactions, we are 1-2 players behind Chelsea. We spend 70 million net this transfer window and bought Alexis + Ozil. How is that shopping at poundland? People always need something to bitch about. I have never seen such a spirited performance for years.
Having zero shots on target is spirited?you’re more deluded than I thought
The team got stuck in at fought. I admit that at times we didn’t shoot enough, however I have never seen such a passionate performance for a while.
passion was there – i agree, but wengers pass into the net with a perfect goal crap meant not a single shot on target.
we spent 46.4 NET spend- why say 70?
wenger is a great man- i love him , but football has changed- he hasnt
Transfer league has said that: Ospina – 3 million, Debuchy 12 million, Chambers – 16 million, Alexis – 35 million and Welbeck 16 million. That’s 82 million in. Vermaelen, Miquel, Djourou and Eisfeld went out for 19.4 million combined. Arsenal also had to pay, agents, loyalty bonus’s etc as well. Vela and Fabregas’ money don’t count towards this season’s n outgoings and the Vela money was most likely budgeted for.
Or perhaps, not too clever. Disgraceful!
That’s mediocrity
Wenger prefrence of wilshere (and playing him central position to make him look good) is destroying the whole structure of team. Ozil, the best No. 10 has been relegated to wings, cazrola and Rosicky are non starters and proper left winger like podolski and campbell never plays.
His stats for attacking (Key passes, assists, pass completion in final third etc) is pathetic for someone playing at top level in middle position. His defensive stats are also not very good (tackle won etc).
Just analyzing past season record:
1) our best wins like against Borussia dortmund away, Liverpool at home, against napoli at home where we totally dominated the opponents came when wilshere was not playing. We even drawn Bayern at their home ground when he didn’t played.
2) Our worst defeat like BD at home, Liverpool away, Manchester City away came when he played. (I am not taking chelsea defeat into consideration as we were one man down).
3) In final phase of last season, arsenal won 9 out of 10 matches when he was injured and didn’t played.
Even now our best wins, i.e. against Villa and Galatacsy came when he didn’t played.
I agree fully Wilshere must be benched he’s not good for the team dynamic we need Ozil and Cazorla in the centre the we can play the front 3 with pace of Welbeck,Sanchez and OX
@Dee@ease
Exactly. He disrupts the flow that Santi and Ozil are so good at creating with Sanchez and Danny. People on here sayin he was the best player on the pitch because he ran into defenses, are mad.
When either Ozil or Santi tried to orchestrate, he would just follow them around until they passed it to him, all the while blocking avenues of play. Then he would run right into Chelsea’s wall and lose the ball.
@NY Gunner
But what about our manager who lets that happen time and time again???
@arsenalfan1
What about him?
Wilshere was our best player! U on weed?
Football is a team sport,Wilshere may perform well on a personal level but the team suffers as a whole,we play better more fluid when he’s on the bench he blocks space for Ozil and Ramsey to perform,last season Ramsey’s best performances were when Jack wasn’t in the starting 11 we won games not draws and losses
Blocking space is a stupid assertion. At that level if a player is in space then you don’t flock to where they are. If Wilshere is in space then it’s stupid for Ramsey or Ozil to go in that space. You could argue that they are blocking Wilsheres space.
Did Wenger employ you or you are just like to think opposite to get attention. Anyway you did get my attention. Well done son.
Lol, exactly, his stupidity I’m afraid is profound; it makes for good comedy too. Keep on I say.
@Shankj
Thank you so very much…
It’s only a matter of time before he comes good.
I know he was sh*t today. But it’s not like he alone was responsible. The whole team was sh*t save a few.
@Sumo
Sorry dude, we ain’t got the time to molly coddle any player at this point. People are so quick to shout for AW’s head and question his tactics. My main peeve with the dude is his team selection with favoritism towards certain under performing players such as Jack to the detriment of the rest of the squad. With the exception of a couple good touches, and some disastrous dribbling and giveaways, he was f**kn invisible. did not defend or help Flame in any way. Oh yeah, he had a chance at goal which he flubbed. Woooo!!!
I salute you for that.
NY, I don’t know if I will make any sense but here is what I think-
This title was never ours to win or lose. I always maintained we will finish 3rd or 2ndat best. We don’t have that killer squad yet.
Next year will be a wholesale clear out as in Flamini, Arteta, Rosicky, Podolski, Santi, Diaby most probably will be gone. And we will do something similar to this year, that is bringing in one superstar and youth.
Ramsey, Ox, Gibbs and Szczesny are better than average (not world class yet) and will be and integral part of our team for the next 7-8 years. Wilshere clearly has that talent, and Wenger is just wanting to fit in him with that squad.
Next year is the litmus test when we have finally “that” squad.
People will still complain that “When will that year come?”.
Mesut Özil and Sanchez represents at least half that answer to that question.
Wenger is in his last contract(most probably). He will neither get the chance nor time to develope players anymore.
Wilshere is the last throw of the dice. And that is why(i feel) Wenger is persisting so much around him and trying to get the best out of him.
@Sumo
I feel ya dude. It seems as if Jack feels he can run the show and I’m sure he’s well aware that he cannot. He’s tryin too hard to impress. But it keeps going sideways for him. Maybe he feels a bit intimidated by Santi or Ozil. I don’t know. One thing is for sure, there is no communication or cohesion between them whatsoever. Aw must see this, but it seems he’s tryin to force it to work.
Finally people start’s to realize that wilshere seriously harms team’s fluidity and team selection. In fact against chelsea a sh*itty version of mesut completed far more dribblings than wilshere (wilshere only made one). If we plan to stick with possesion style Wilshere need’s to leave, i’m serious, if jack doesen’t start worriying more on passing than on selfish runs he will need to look for another team more suited to his ways.
Wilshire was shit today? I’m starting to think I know nothing about football because I thought he was pretty damn good. I do agree though it’s concerning that he doesn’t seem to fit in well with our current personnel.
There is a conflict between wilshere and ramsey ozil style. The last two dictate tempo, jack alway’s bomb forward with the ball on his feet, jack you are CM not a f*ing winger, wilshere greatest performance against Barcelona was all about passing.
The best No. 10, where? when?
Wake me up for the start of next season.
what for… will be the same every year until he goes
The worst part of wenger is he want to support particular player, he will kill others in the team.
Most Arsenal fans are not realists (the AKBz). I hate Barton, but he spoke the truth: it’s very easy to tactically undo Wenger.
As a matter of fact, there are folks on this forum on whom I can bet my life that they can manage AFC very well, even with a small budget. Take a look at Jurgen Klopp for instance, he doesn’t spend over the roof for players, but he buys well and when he wants to sell, he sells very expensively. But his team always play good football and they bring down so called “big teams” (though their form this season isn’t really charming).
Wengeris performing badly tactically, not mainly because he is stubborn, but because he is actually clueless. With him we can’t win the EPL.
You must be a special kind of idiot to believe that a random bloke on a forum knows more tactically than a former professional footballer with 18 years football experience at top level!
@arsenalman365
You nailed it dude…lmfao
Ya a 18 years experience manager don’t know how to adapt to the EPL and bring out the best of his squad.
Every match just select 11 players he like and ask them to enjoy themselves on the pitch.
I see you have secret inside information on Arsene Wengers pre match preparation. But do you know if eminem predicted Gerrards slip in lose yourself?
When just 1 or 2 people said the same thing, maybe were just pure accusations but if most of soccer pundits or people know about soccer around the world talk about our team and Wenger than that are some true.
Well I use my heart to follow arsenal but I do use my eye and brain with it.
LMFAO
“A special kind of idiot”? Lol! Coming from an AKB, I take no offence.
Nailed it! Dilusional fans need to stop playing football manager and FIFA!
I cried infront of my girlfriend 🙁 🙁 🙁 when fab provided the assist that led to the 2nd goal. I’ll start watchin cricket..atleast there even if you loose your team will always score. today we didn’t have even ONE shot on target 🙁 🙁 🙁
Well that is a class assist and well taken goal.
@justsoccerfan
It was class…
We need Giroud! he have Celia Kay more shots on target than we did today
This is going to be a long reply so bear with me fellow gunners but I believe there are a few things currently wrong with Arsenal and the match today was a bitter pill to those stinging realities.
First of all let us get the obvious out of the way, Arsenal do not currently have a team capable of lifting the league trophy, I say team and it is a word I am using as a conglomeration of everyone from players and substitutes to the manager. I have seen it over and over again of recent years but Arsenal do not have a plan B in situations where a defense decides to lock itself down. This happened last season at Stamford Bridge and it happened again today.
Now a lot of you may point to the fact that “Oh, at least it wasn’t 6 – 0, we did better” but to an extent I do not agree. Lest some of you forget on the day I believe Martin Atkinson it was decided to forget his glasses at home and sent off Gibbs for Ox’s handball reducing us to 10 men. As such a team that is as heavily reliant on possession as Arsenal being allowed to have the ball with no defensive midfielder present to provide even a modicum of cover meant we were ripped apart time and time again on the counter. With the new season open we SHOULD have learned from such issues, this is manager AND players included. There is ZERO excuse Arsenal do not have a defensive midfielder present and for any team that has the ability to defend well as well as counter attack well it will always pose Arsenal problems.
2. Arsenal do not have a plan B. Now as many of you realized Arsene changed the formation that did well against Galatasaray and it may come as a surprise in that the change to the system was welcome. We changed from the 4 2 3 1 we played in midweek and adopted a 4 3 3 of sorts, it wasn’t the 4 1 4 1 that we have been use to seeing and that is a fine formation in itself to deal with a 4 2 3 1. I said it before that 2 formations that are designed to stifle a 4 2 3 1 are a 3 5 2, which we are not capable of playing at the moment and a similar 4 2 3 1 and while we adopted neither the 4 3 3 is suitable enough to cause problems….ASSUMING THE RIGHT PERSONNEL IS USED. If we were going to use this formation then we should have adjusted the players accordingly.
Ozil is fine being used on the wing in the 4 2 3 1 formation and a 4 3 3 but Arsenal have been trained to attack centrally. So when he does pick the ball out wide, he drifts into the middle. With defenders sitting back you need someone whipping in crosses from outwide once you get to the byline. How many times during this match did we see Ozil pick the ball up in a wide position only to drift more centrally then lose the ball? After a few occasions of that Ozil should have been subbed off, especially considering Chelsea were defending deeply. Danny Welbeck had no hope in hell going up against both Cahill and Terry and I severely wondered ahead of the game what many fans were talking about with the pace of Welbeck troubling either CB when both are known for being positionally astute. Pace is severely negated especially when defenders sit back and attacking players come central.
Prime example – Bayern vs Chelsea when Chelsea won the CL
Chelsea vs QPR a few seasons ago
the list goes on. It is exactly the reason that full backs are told to overload the wing. To provide width. But whenever we did get into a wide position we’d just pass it back, very rarely did I ever see us cross and it was never hit with any conviction. Since most people know you’re sending the likes of Sanchez, Wilshere and Welbeck to compete with the likes of Matic, Cahill, Terry and Ivanovic. Just won’t happen especially if they are given a chance to actually defend.
As much as you might not like to admit it but Giroud did give Arsenal a different dynamic, go back and watch the Everton Arsenal match again from earlier this season. With all that being the case Ozil should be asked to either play in the no.10 position or not at all, not because no.10s are incapable of doing so on the wing, because time and time again several no 10s across the world perform well in fluid attacking roles allowing them to play either centrally or attack out wide. Hazard, Mata and Oscar have all done this and Oscar did this even in this match. Ozil does not seem to have the skill set to do so and this is no knock on Ozil, he just isn’t that type of player and as such he should be played where he is able to give his best.
As such, Ox and Sanchez should have started on the wings. It would have been a far more direct approach and it would have been far easier to attack on the counter with a greater breadth of field to play the ball into instead of a central ball first then a ping out wide.
3. Set pieces, now a lot has been made of this zonal marking similar to Ozil being played out of position and again a lot of it is misinformed. Zonal marking itself is not the problem, a lot of teams defend zonally. The problem is the Arsenal players do not seem to have a clue as to what they are doing. We are to be defending zonally yet I see the likes of Wilshere trying to mark Cahill AND Terry at the same time. That isn’t bad zonal marking, that is a player having absolutely no idea what he is supposed to be doing. If Arsenal is to defend zonally they need to go back to basics or use a mixture of zonal and man marking. Man marking especially vs teams with more than a few players that are aerial threats. You have Terry and Cahill, two of the best CBs at attacking headers and you have Wilshere marking them, on this same occasion Ivanovic was free, Cazorla was close to Matic and Koscielny I don’t even remember where he was.
4.The final 3rd, a lot was made of Welbeck’s midfield performance and while I was glad he was doing well people seem to forget just how poor Galatasaray was. That being said, if you are playing a 4 3 3 with slow build up play and have an isolated Welbeck there is absolutely no way he will ever get any service. I think I remember a comment on some site that said “Mining experts were on their way to assess just how deep Welbeck was in Terry and Cahill’s pocket”. Welbeck had absolutely no chance, we had 0 shots on target and for a team that is SUPPOSED to be a big club that is unacceptable no matter what way you look at it. Some may point to the fact that Chelsea only had 3 but if you assess the situation, Chelsea were never going to come out guns blazing at Arsenal, Chelsea thrive on controlling the game and counter attacks, having a free flowing game of attacking football is in Arsenal’s best interest not Chelsea’s and as such they would do everything to break up the play, seek for one off opportunities to get a goal and or get goals from set pieces and it worked like a charm against us. Never once did I ever genuinely feel that we were in the game or were going to score, it was that bad. The score doesn’t tell the whole story, we never looked dangerous.
With the aforementioned Arsenal need to get a few players more to add not only a different depth to the team but to be able to have different options. It was painfully obvious that Arsenal had absolutely no idea what to do when they had the ball in the final third, but had no where to go, oh…can’t go through that defense? pass, no space there, pass, no space here, pass and these were all forced passes that were as a result of being harried or hounded b 2 or 3 players. As such eventually we lost the ball and were susceptible to a counter attack, you’d have thought that the result against Dortmund would have been a reminder of anything but sadly that is not the case.
Where does that leave Arsenal?
9 points off the top, do I expect us to win the league? realistically no…I don’t think over the course of 30+ games we will be able to sustain a title push. We simply do not have the balance. Walcott would add a different dimension but it would be very similar to having Ox, pace with nowhere to go does not yield an end product as we all saw today. For me Arsenal should make a solid push for the top 4, see if we can nick the FA Cup once again and assess the squad come may, I believe a DM is a must but even in that case I don’t think it alone will solve the problem.
Off to the pub, have a good day gents
@truegunner12
Very good assessment as well as a good read. Thank you…
Well said. Should email your assessment to wenger , he really need it.
Arsene hasn’t learnt his lesson. Arsenal have played like this against Mourinho for over a decade!
the only positive thng frm tht game s wenga bulying morinho,,morinho s suferin frm verbal diorrhea
Just see the difference between our no 10 and chelsea no 10
Oscar had a poor game offensively
But Oscar was everywhere
he defended from the front
Came to make interceptions in the middle(did many times)
Thrown his body into the way 2 times to save us from taking a shot( Flamini and wilshere)
Ran non stop to close us
If Ozil is having a bad game he still needs to put the effort
God knows how many times he got disposed of the ball
No need for him to get extra love on the field
Exactly. Oscar is just as small as Ozil too. Wenger dont motivate his players correctly, and Ozil doesnt motivate himself. instead hes a passenger in every game instead of trying to be a leader. Jack may have overall failed today, but he at least tried to do something. Thats why the fans appreciate him more. Ppl say Jack played bad, but he tried to do something instead of just watching, losing the ball and then standing there. And in the end Wilshere was a ton more useful than Ozil
Overall we need a player with both their quality combine.
@RSH
Tell me something. Who motivates Sanchez, Rosicky, Kos, Chambers, Wellbeck, Santi, Ox, Flamini, Gibbs?
They motivate themselves to do the job set for them to do. Ozil is an anomaly. And Jack does not fit into the side. I don’t care how much you try, if your trying is being counterproductive to the squads mission.
agree Jack dont fit into the side. All problems stem from Wenger in my opinion. But at least Jack does something and attempts to justify his selection. I dont see that from Ozil. And there is a motivation problem because we fail to win every single big game in the league. We havent beaten Chelsea, City, United, Everton in league since 11/12 season. Theres a huge motivation problem, as well as tactics problem, as well as fitness problems, as well as ambition problem at this club.
@ Tony Montana
The answer is simple. Say this after any other game and you might remotely have a point. But here is a little fact you forgot to mention. Ozil was a Mourinho player far longer than he has been a Wenger player. You really think that shit would fly with Mourinho? No! If what you said was true then Mourinho would have disposed of Ozil just like he did to Mata. But he didn’t.
Like I said in an earlier post, Ozil is just fine. If this is the way Wenger wants to go down then yes Ozil is a flop. But in any other team in Europe he would have come in as the best no. 10 around and still been that.
“Win the league”!
It has never been and never will be the objective.
Weger is the ONLY manager, the only manager, who still has to state the season aims…!!
I will assume that he is waiting March (or later) to reaffirm that we “can get a top four finish”.
I am not surprised Mourinho has no consideration and respect for the “fake”…!!
I don’t know if he has a ” unhealthy fascination” for Wilshere or they are sucking each other testicles or he is really just tactically poor, but the young boy has nothing to do in the first line up, NOTHING…!!
Everytime he lost the ball, we were in danger. Chambers got a card because Wilshere lost the ball and he made to fault Hazard.
Ozil is our number10, and Wilshere should be on the bench (his rightful place).
Today we had no shoot on target (for people loving statistics like Wenger)… The last time it happened was in 2003…lol 🙂 (I know it is not funny but you wonder if it is a football team).
We just cannot compete, Chelsea are just too strong and Mourinho is another dimension than Wenger (Mourinho has CL cup wins and the rest).
We no players with power. Even our players shots are weak, just weak.
Nobody can deliver a proper corner…!!!
What are they doing in training?
Wenger obviously does not do his job or just the minimum…
IT IS UNACCEPTABLE THAT A MANAGER PAID SO MUCH (£8millions/year… Still a f*cking joke and totally undeserved) DOES NOT DELIVER TROPHIES ON A REGULAR BASIS.
No matter how much we beat the small teams
Until you start beating or drawing against big teams nothing is gonna change
1 match lost and you lose. 3 points and your rivals takes three points
The problem is the balance in the team
We dont have that
Well done to the lads’ general performance today. Cons were Welbeck, who seemed a bit tired and Ozil who was easily outmuscled by the opposition. I particularly liked Sanchez, Flamini, Chambers, Gibbs and Koscienly(except from the penalty, which he could have avoided). Had the ref not been so tolerant, Chelsea would be playing with 10 players at most and we would have been granded a penalty for Fabregas’ handball. Also Sczezny should have made a quicker exit on Costa’s goal. The individual performance from Hazard and Chelsea’s solid tactics made the difference between the two sides today.
I’m surprised not more was made of the Fabregas handball. He slide in to block a goal scoring opportunity and the shot hits his upraised arm. Only question for me because I haven’t seen the replay is was it in the box. If it was, it’s a penalty and a completely different final 20 minutes. I don’t think Cahill’s was a red though and Danny is a lucky boy, on another day…
‘HELL NO’ is the bitter answer. Period!
Whats the difference between Arsenal and Chelsea? They buy top quality players they need to strengthen their squad, we try to do it on the cheep. Just look at how many flops we have had in the last ten years.
andrew afc@ exactly,jst compare arsenal squad and chelsea,and sam fans wil thumb u down 4 speakin tha truth,let us nt live in fantasy world,chelsea bench in arsenal squad theyl be starters,thumb me down f u wish bt tht s tha dam bitter truth
And to top it off don’t we have a higher wage bill
Exactly! He does that at the expense of other players who are much better and well suited to such positions that need them.
How much money has Wenger thrown away on cheep players that didn’t make it in the last ten years. F-cking millions.
@Andrew AFC
No comment….
Whats up dude? Hope alls well on your side.
Didn’t like the loss. Felt we could have done em with the right team selection. But hey, what can ya do…
Wenger is Mourinho’s b*tch… Once again!
We have no clear view of improvement and it has been the case for the last 10 years…
This club has been filling his coffers and losing the sport battle since 2006 (please no mention of the stadium… Other teams did it and still remain solid winners).
This is a man who set his own agenda and prices on the market because he is allowed by the board and unchallenged by no one.
You look at the faces of some of our players and you know and realise that a lot of them are ready to depart…
There is a “disgust” with the way Wenger manage his players.
HE HAS NOT BEEN WORKING FOR YEARS…!!
But, hey, why panic… They have announced the numbers for the shirt sales… Sales are almost up %456… !! Personally I don’t understand why you would run to the shop and get yourself the new Arsenal jersey every time it comes out… And then complain about the seat prices, the manager and the all farce, when you are in fact part of the problem…!!
Anyway, that is why Wenger is still in charge because he has understood the system.
An average manager selling “beliefs” and “bullshits” season after season, but still majority of the fans are swallowing the craps!
Well, 2 more years of that… Yes 2more years because we will NOT see any improvements.
Wenger will be 67 years old (even now at 64 yo I think he has some absences… 6 defenders for 4 competitions… He is clearly deluded). I just hope he will then leave because we will have the longest manager and may be the oldest too.
So true, expecially today when the camara zoomed to the players, you could see misery on their faces. Like for example Gibbs. His face was all about, plz leave me alone i want fo f$$ off this place right now. lol
guys the truth is every team in the epl,every pundit and every media,blogger etc,knows aresnal’s weak link,and vulnerability.which is the fact that we have a slow centre back and no defensive midfielder.every body except wenger.(bitch).well the truth is arsenal will need a miracle to win the league under wenger(realisstically) cos the psycological disavantage of top 4 every year has eaten deep into the team,ther4 pushing above average will not be easy especially if wenger is still there cos he represents mediocrity.he is the father of mediocrity and he will always get top 4.nothing else.
truth is lower,and mid table teams, can not exploit arsenals weakness even if all teams in england and beyond knows this weakness cos most of them dont have the quailty in terms of personell to exploit it.the ones with very good tacticians and pretty good sides can pick a point(eg sothhampton,tottenham,everton etc).so overall arsenal will always pick enough points,just enough to make top 4 and thats about it.so guys WENGER HAS TO MOVE UPSTAIRS.WE NEED A MANAGER WHO IS IN TUNE WITH MODERN FOOTBALL TO TAKE OVER.WENGER IS STILL LIVING IN HIS FANTASY OF OLD.FOOTBALL HAS LONG EVOLVED
@Andrew afc @ny gunner Wassup guys how are you??
I hope everything’s well
@hardy
Whats up dude. Long time no…
Hope ya holdin up well. Good to see ya back in the trenches…LOL
@hardy
Everything is great thanks apart from going from 4th to 8th in one weekend, how are you?
“You don’t need to win the league or even trophies to be recognised as a top club”
That is Wenger philosophy.
So far so good….
An optimist might suggest that our team has improved from last season particularly with regards to the margin of LOSS but the fact remains LOSING is still LOSING.
Unfortunately for Wenger a man by the name of van Gaal has proved again this weekend that spending money on bolstering the squad can have a huge positive spin on team performance. This renders Wenger’s squad nurturing philosophy as extinct as his bygone tika-taka football.
Competition is coming thick and fast in today’s football, (man city proved it first) that money can buy you all the class you need to win and win BIG. Totally agree with pundits for a change that this result at Chelsea proves how far behind our so called ‘rivals’ we’ve dropped in recent years. Reality sucks!!
Month 2…….
The Wackshere experiment still continues……
We are losing points just to accommodate Wackshere into this team……
We are losing for the sole reason of Wenger alone. That Wackshere you are speaking of is one of the best England has to offer. And if you are not pleased with his progres then point fingers at the right direction and not in the air.
So what? Arsenal have Cazorla and Ozil to offer as no. 10’s. Before Ramsey returned to form Wilshere used to play ahead of him in the B2B position. Now all of a sudden we sacrifice Ozil, and as a result Cazorla to accommodate him.
We played a million times better when he didn’t play in those two games and as a result Ozil ended up in the middle. That is a fact.
A fact is, that we have to many players, playing in similar poz. Another fact is that Wenger is no fan of rotation. Another fact is, Wenger is prone of favorisem.
Wilsher is not the problem, this is what i want to say. They are all good players but Wengers confuses the hell out of them. And i think Wilsher did fine today. ( doesnt mean that Ozil or Santi could play better then him at this poz anyway).
But that was the same point I was making. To accommodate Wilshere you play him out of position and then Ozil too.
Before today, if Wilshere was to play then do the right thing and either drop Ramsey or play Wilshere on the wing just like Ramsey did when he was accommodated. At the moment the player being accomodated is not only being played out of position but the players position he is being played in has to still play. Ozil really needs to be dropped if Wilshere is the solution. At least that way it is just one player being disposed.
We have to endure this bs for another 2 years i am afraid. Ozil in his mind is all Pi%sed off thinking why the fack did i came to this place. lol
I wouldn’t be surprised, mate. If I was Ozil i would think the same. Same as Arshavin, Podolski and even Cazorla today who only gets a look in because Ramsey is injured.
Wackshere has been playing better than Ramsey this season.
If you believe that then why does Ramsey get a virtually guatanteed starting position? That is a genuine question. If Ramsey isn’t good enough then why play him and push Wilshere to no. 10 when he is quite obviously someone that needs to run with the ball from deep and hence not a no. 10. And then why push Ozil out in all of this when the guy hasn’t had one good performance from wide. That is two player out of position to accommodate one B2B.
PS: I don’t agree with the Ramsey comment. Ramsey actually put points on the board. But even then, if he isn’t good enouhlgh why play him.
Is Willian any less capable than Wilshere? Yet he didn’t start. I don’t get this backward philoposphy that one one player is good enough to put two other players out of position. Play Wilshere B2B by any means but after that you have Cazorla or Ozil to chose from as a 10. Simple thing is chose one, drop the other and you have riches other managers dream of. Except over here we have just killed not one but two 10’s – one in a wide and second in a B2B and then our 10 is Wackshere who obviously isn’t up to that job.
A,B,C help for some special gunner amongst us.
Do we want to win the League?
Fans say, Yes.- Check
The board say, Yes, but their actions say No – Fail
The managers says, yes, but actions say No- Fail
Whats needed to win the League?
Ambitious Board.- fail
—-//—– Manager.- fail
—-//—– Players.- fail
—–//—- Fans- check
How far are we off being a big club?
4 to 5 players. Striker, Lw, Dm and 2 CB.
Seriously, i cant see Arsenal winning the leauge under Wenger ever. We are nothing more then a 4th place team, and i would totally be ok with being a second Spurs, if it wasnt for the memories i have with Berkamb and Henry. I know that Arsenal can become a great team. But like the topic said, We chose not to be one, and this fact is pis%sing me off. I almost feel srry for my self for loving this club which kicks us fans on the balls year after year.
After 10 years of rebuilt, with last season perform, thought this season we can shoulder to shoulder with them but reality we are still apart from them. We did improved but they excel.
How many of you think that Arsenal could win the leauge even with a player like Messi in the team? Serious question ?
We can’t. Ozil and Sanchez are not on Messi’s level but two seasons ago we wouldn’t even dream of them. Now we have them but we are no better.
we’re better.
but not good enough.
but thats not the main issue.
the main issue is that we have a manager , who despite having enough $, who despite knowing he has to get a world-class striker, CDM , failed to do so over multiple transfer windows.
for that, he should be let go.
he’s not interested in, or capable, of winning the PL, so he should be let go.
While I agree with your sentiment, that just isn’t the case. Today, Flamini was as good as an DM in the world. Our issues were elsewhere.
If Jack must be a no. 10 then drop Ozil!!!!!!!!! Wenger needs to grow a pair and decide what his priorities are. He can’t have it both ways. Either drop a player to play Jack where he should be or drop Ozil to play Jack as a 10.
Last season we are doing well, we know what arsenal lack in which area. After a few buy, we still didn’t puck the hole of last season. With wilshere back from injury, Wenger want to build a team for him so he change last season wonder to accommodate wilshere so we are back to starting point again. With the hole that is not puck and start a new combination we can’t ask more, 4th is still the target, more than that is a bonus.
I think the diff is Ramseys lost form and Walcott being off for so long. And dont forget our defense. It was quit ok last year. This year its shocking.
Jack played well, a matter of fact our midfield on a whole played well. We lost the game due to a ridiculous substitution. Carzola with Jack and Flamini was effective, in fact, we owned to middle until Wenger in all his genius pulled Carzola in favor of Ozil. Can’t understand what game he was watching. As much as I don’t like Mourinho, he at least has the balls to drop big money signings when they are not playing good (Oscar and Hazard last season). Bottom line is Wenger needs to grow a pair and drop or substitute players who are under performing regardless of how much they cost.
I think if we had Walcott today we would’ve won. We negated most of their attack limiting only to three. 2 were goals penalty, and in the end when we played high up the pitch and one deflected shot of flamini and then of the keeper. That deflected shot of Flamini went of Scszesny and that was the only save in the game from either goal keeper. We needed simple cutbacks a bit like the Cazorla to Wilshere pass in 1st half, from the side to the middle.
we couldve had Walcott and Messi for all i care. The problem is Wenger
No I think today, he lined up the three CM Wilshere, Flamini, Cazorla, that was a good decision. The bad thing he did was to play Ozil on the wing. He should have played ozil in behind both Welbeck and Sanchez, so 4-3-1-2. I know there wouldn’t be any width but Sanchez could move wide when needed (left) and Cazorla could’ve gone to the side (right) when needed, when we were in an attacking position.
Cazorla was the link betwen defence and attack today, collecting from deep and dribbling trying to find space. Unfortunately those suckers always try to foul us and then ref gives play on, but doesn’t bring the play back when we quickly lose it shortly after getting fouled.
i think the main problem is our players dont try to open up space for others, they dont even attempt to shoot the ball, besides Alexis and Poldi. The amount of useless passes we do are ridiculous. When we have possession we are never even a goal scoring threat. Wenger is the one who puts this “pass the ball into the net” philosophy in the team and its killing us. Podolski the only player with a shot in 90th minute is embarrassing.
Wenger out! Enough said!
GET A BLOODY DM and stop keeping faith in a player who hasnt given up to the expectations after 5 years.Look at CESC, he came and at 16 became regular and then CAPTAIN AND CONTROLLER OF THE TEAM..wiilshere hasnt and it is time to drop him..Let’s be more football analyst and accept..WITHOUT A DECENT DM ( likes kheidra or carvallo – even Tiote to kick some A.. ) physical preesnce needed we will not be a top team am affraid…would I love a team like : scezcz-gibbs-kos-per-debuchy-khedira-ramsey-ozil-the-santi-sanchez-wellbeck? solidity-pace and aggression but we got with flamini-jack so our offensive midfielders are scare to have a go in order to avoid toe be expose as it happens time after time..GET A BLOODY DM period..sorry im just frustrated..5 years still waiting for one.make US proud ARSENE STOP BEING STTUBORN.
Wegner is not a tactician. That is why his record against Mourhino is embarrassing.
We looked threatening when we would counter. That’s why I think it would of been wise to have Ox start out wide, Cazrola in the middle, and Chambers as DM. Let Chelsea control possession but as soon as they cross half, we press as a unit. Having Chambers over Flamini is because Chambers passing ability >>>>>>>>> than Flamini.
Wenger is more interested in Wilshere playing than the team winning so no matter how many times the team looses he will continue disrupting the flow of the team in order for his favourite player to be in the team. I wonder what exactly he will benefit from that though.
Good to look back on this after the Chelsea defeat. Wilshere was the best player, Mk2013. The article is just a conspiracy theory, embarrassing.