Hindsight is a wonderful thing and when Arsenal have just slipped to a shock defeat at home to West Ham on what was supposed to be the first step on the way to a great season in the Premier League, the knives are bound to be sharpened for the manager.
So did the Frenchman get his tactics wrong against Slaven Bilic and his team? Or did he pick the wrong line up to implement those tactics? Some will say both but I am not so sure. I do think that Wenger was perhaps a bit too negative and he hinted as much in his post match interview reported by Arsenal.com.
Suggesting that he was worried about the fact that West Ham have been playing competitive games for some weeks now while the Gunners were facing our first, Wenger hinted that he would have been reasonably happy with a draw and perhaps that is why he played Giroud to hold up the ball and Chamberlain and Cazorla on the flanks to keep more possession.
He said, “West Ham are a bit more advanced in their preparation than us. They’ve played many competitive games in the Europa League. I knew before the game it would be a tricky game on that front. A big part of it was not to concede, even if we played for a 0-0. The way we conceded the goal just before half-time, with experience we have in our team, is difficult to understand.”
To be fair to the boss, if his plan was to keep things tight it was working as there was nothing in it until the goal and that was almost at the break. And with their second goal in the 57th minute coming from their second shot on target and us dominating possession over the 90 minutes you could say that Wenger´s tactics were okay but their implementation was not.
However, even though he was getting ready to put Walcott on when they scored, which is early for Wenger, I think we should have been more adventurous from the start. Arsenal are better when on the attack and I think we needed to start fast, use the confidence around the club and put West Ham under pressure from the off.
I am not going to be too hard on Wenger as there is not a lot a manager can do about individual mistakes leading to goals or so many players having an off day, and I can understand his concern about the teams´ relative fitness levels, but it does feel like we played into their hands a bit. What do you think Gooners?
We should’ve started with Walcott, but Giroud generally plays well against west ham (5 goals in 5 appearances I think) so i’m not gonna blame him Wenger.
This is up to players who we know are capable of playing better than this abysmal shit performance they had today.
It’s only game 1 in a long season, but we better show up for Crystal Palace.
palace will give us a game, mark my words…
*grabs permanent marker….
mark them!!
mark them words you son of a b*tch!!
arrghhhhhhhh
Of course palace will give us a game. Second defeat on the way. I won’t watch the match.I have heart problem and arsenal never help my condition. That’s why I hate Wenger. Plus recently I have got anxiety attacks same thing as panic attack due to Wenger’s tactics. Hope he just leaves us alone. Wenger out
I feel, this is how we should line up:
1st Choice =
Cech
Bellerin – Mertesaker – Koscielny – Monreal
Coquelin – Cazorla
Walcott – Ozil – Sanchez
Giroud
2nd Choice =
Ospina
Debuchy – Chambers – Gabriel – Gibbs
Arteta – Ramsey
Ox – Wilshere – ???
Welbeck
U know when u are so angry and want to so many things but end up saying naffin, that’s me at the moment.
Hmm… But I do got to say this, how come most of the clowns here who were saying Giroud is good now suddenly think otherwise? Did they just watch him for the first time today?
By the way, what’s up with our bac kline? Que passa, Rhino?
Yeah..those clowns….
Giroud is a decent scorer.
Too bad defense was shambles today.
Why is it about giroud wwhen like today was a defense isue
Yeah, I forgot to mention how our defense could not score, like create and convert scoring chances.
Why stop at Giroud if it’s about goals. Blame Walcott, Alexi, Ramsey, Ozil. Giroud had two or three shots on goal, which is the sane as the whole West Ham team. It was sht from everyone. Need a DM and striker like everyone’s been saying. Good signings won’t fix Wenger though.
Wenger is to blame for the result.we should have played ox on lw and Theo on rw and bench Ramsey. But he is so stubborn that he had to use his son Ramsey. I’m sorry to see our manager being such a retard.playing to many midfielders at once never works.Wenger just destroyed our entire season.giroud is not a WC striker butvhe was notvat fault for our failure. It was all wrong tactics from Wenger
Exactly you can’t sit questioning tactics or selection when the basic hunger and tempo were AWOL from our game today. We had more than enough talent to dispose of a West Ham at HOME , as if swapping Theo for Giroud or some other would’ve changed our fortunes drastically.
Underwhelming team performance with some recurring themes from our ugly Arsenal side. Giroud not top class, Ozil went missing, Rambo chose every wrong option, Coquelin can’t pass. That’s the disappointing aspect for me today, I’m looking at some of these guys to finally stand up and it wasn’t a good start for that.
Whatever, one game. Reality check, wake up call…any cliche you like.
The make up of our team means that we will always get 4 or 5 result like the one today.
When the team is firing , things go zippy
But when things do not go our way we lack answers
The spine is weak .
Meertesacker is soft and slow
All our midfielders apart from coq are light weight and are poor at winning the battles for the ball . Add ox and Walcott to that .
Giroud’s slow presence means you can scratch out the counterattacks , which can responsible for as much 40% of other teams’ goals is out of the question.
My question for our fan is ,
Do will want a striker who hold up play or we need a striker who score goal and score them early in the game , to make the rest of the match a stroll?
Cohesion!…where is Cohesion?
Was he on the pitch today?
Seriously …how old are you?
Son,
The only stupid question is the one that goes unasked. You have done well my boy.
Now leave your father be. Daddy has to rest ok.
😉
So…like 15 hahaha a
By not answering you gave yourself away kid.
And that “father” hahaha u are cute.
Well hope u get a little smarter growing up…life teaches things!
this cohesion theory is BULLSHIT !!!
cohesion is a problem for average managers and average players, look at sanchez or fabregas or costa or suarez or bale or any top player in their first season at new club, they read the game well enough and know where they should be and whose around them.
I face palm at your naivety. Alexis came in and did wonderful solo things, and a few team things. A player who is embedded and cohesive with the team will do wonderful solo things but also contribute to lots of team movements. A single player cannot create a team on his own, a single player can score goals but they can’t win championships. You tell me 1 team who has won a major championship where they didn’t have a core of players who were very used to playing with one another?
Yes today the cohesion is too suck together.
todays game for me:
the ox is dangerous- in good an bad ways lol
ozil got his ass handed to him by a 16 yr old on his debut (thats gotta hurt)
giroud is rusty but still maintains his gd work rate
agent petr cech has completed his mission
arsenal fans go mental , ive not seen this reaction since the berlin wall
Hahahaha dangerous in good and bad ways.
Comment of the day
Yes ox is dangerous and he has proved it against Monaco and today. Ramsey was verry poor. Another lesson wenger never learns is that cazorla, ozil, lecoq and Ramsey cant play all together. I really don’t understand why Wenger never learns from his mistakes. Is he that stupid?my god
Well Ox deserved by scoring v chelsea. ..but yes. Today line up was a little weird
If i could predict the lottery numbers as well as i do arsenal i would be a millionaire. I knew Walcott has to be our main CF until we buy benzema. No more Giroud!! yes cech made mistakes but Walcott has to play as our main CF for now, also please stop playing ramsay on the flanks.
as long as mild fielders are played as wingers we will remain at the bottom of the table..thank you to prevention of more disasters courtesy if injuries.today we would have seen Wilshire play as left back and rosicky play as a striker.
Ramsey was not supposed to be fielded. he has no number in arsenals first 11.Wenger,get your nerves and bench Ramsey..we cant accommodate him at wrong positions at the expense of pleasing him while giving away points…its clear that we have faired so well in games where Wilshire and Ramsey have been out injured.sorry but it’s true.when fit they are played at wrong positions while inform players are benched
Exactly! We need to sign a WC winger. Asap! Enough of using Ramsey and cazorla on the wings. We need a WC winger…Wenger needs to listen to others for once. Stingy old fart head
Giroud did nothing wrong today. It was ozil, cazorla and ramsey who were really bad. ramsey was supposed to play right wing according to the formation but he was too selfish and drifting inwards. And thus no width. And when will Wenger listen and stop playing the three together?
Giroud could’ve scored a goal for us, he did have 5 chances. Last week Wenger played the three players you mentioned together, we won, and no one complained. But you are right, playing two of them works best and in the middle. Monreal was operating by himself on the left today for most of the game, because of Cazorla moving inside. Ramsey and Ozil were tamed by Oxford and co, to easily. Then when we go into challenges they are lazy efforts to win the ball back. Sometimes we need two or three players to win back possession, even then we conceded a second goal because of it.
Giroud had 3 half chances at most. Not five ..there is lots of difference’s between half chances and a real chance. I’m not saying we should bstick with giroud. We need benzema
Sean cali fair comment.
And also bilic was brave enough to field a 16 year old. Why wouldn’t Wenger play iwobi if sanchez wasn’t fit and if he didn’t want to play walcott.
And where was the spirit from the players? They gave up when the second goal was in. they are paid a lotta money to entertain the fans and its like they didn’t even care. I don’t mind losing, but I don’t like losing half way through the game.
That 16 yr old put Ozil in his pocket as well!
#superHeroIsReallySuperAverage
Would the real Aaron Ramsey please step up.
Wondering if his good year was a fluke. If he can’t beat out Santi, then he should be on bench trying to play himself in.
Midfielders on wings making things harder, and they were struggling anyway.
Game was harsh punch in the face. Eerily reminiscent of Monaco.
Good strikers commit their runners to make the pass .
Van piersie ,Henry ,Ian Wright make the move or show intent and the winger or midfielder has no choice but to pass /cross the ball.
Good strikers are there one moment and the next moment they are gone because they are not static .
They are unpredictable and can sell the opposition a dummy they are as lethal with their back to the goal as they are facing it .
Long range, short range they can mix it up.
The can chip a keeper or place a curling shot .
The best trait of all , they position themselves on the blind spot of their marker or always looking for that spot .
GIROUD DOES NOT HAVE MOST OF THESE TRAITS AND MOST OF HIS GOALS ARE EITHER TAP INS OR CROSSES GIVEN TO HIM ON A PLATE .
BY THE WAY , SANCHEZ SCORES LESS WHEN GIROUD IS ON THE PITCH BECAUSE GIROUD BRINGS THE CROWD TO HIS SANCHEZ’s SPACE
Our pace was so slow. By the time we got service in the box. The bus was parked on Girouds head. Sign Ronald Koeman or his brother!
time for the red arrows:
if you lot think paying 50 million for a guy who turns 28 in december, doesnt give his all in games, has attitude problems, is gonna win us the league….
he an mesut were primadonnas in madrid an they bring that here
you are deluded to think benzema is the answer to our prayers
PLEASE WASH ME- BATHEEE MEEE IN UR RED ARROWS—
radox now comes in red arrow flavour-
Muff president!
Ah no…presidents lie hahaha Muff not for president!
Logical muff.
@Muff,
Whilst there is a risk, it is better to try than not to try. I shall not fault Wenger for failing to win major trophies after he tried his best to bolster this squad rather than just sitting on his hands and being happy with what he has got and feeding the fans B.S. The key word is TRY HIS BEST. At the end of the day, its not his money and this is the reality of the market today. Also, the club isn’t going to go bankrupt or into administration by spending 45M on Benzema. Lewandowski is only a year or months younger and will cost more. So why not?
Wenger, the board and the players win regardless of whatever expectations the fans have. If Arsenal finishes 4th and gets eliminated at the road of 16 in the CL, they all win. They all still get paid ridiculously. The only LOSERS here are fans who have nothing to shout about and watch year by year as the club gets overshadowed by the likes of Chelsea and Man City.
I think it is cowardly that a manager of Wenger’s calibre doesn’t want to take on the risks, pressures and responsibilities that comes with spending big on quality players, completing the squad and having players that put you in a position to strongly (and legitimately) challenge for titles. Its just a bloody excuse all that talk. Its harder when people expect you to win major trophies than when you are just an outsider for the EPL and the CL. Big risks, big rewards.
When u grow up u ll see that business is dkne by agreeing parties. No one can force to make striker up or to agree to sell. Even if one party offers the other party can refuse.
I think you D be happier supporting clubs that can actually buy for 3 times prizes and…
Oh wait…u probably don’t understand this
Dont tell me Arsenal has not had opportunities to buy a better striker than Giroud in the last 3 seasons.
This loss was not Giroud’s fault but the fact that we need and should have bought a better striker remains.
I trust if we buy him that he will gel in the team. I don’t know enough to comment on his ability or his attitude however.
I’ll ask though – what additions do you feel would improve the team if not a proven goalscorer from Madrid? I don’t ask this as a sarcastic question either, I genuinely wonder who is available who can improve the team so that days like today are limited over the season.
Klopp?
Pep?
Simeone?
Gary monk?
Billic ;)?
How comes those seasons where we had to qualify fo CL, the reason for us not winning the first league games or the couple after that was because we were fatigue due to CL qualifying. Here it is West Ham are better prepared because of Europa qualifying?
Oh don’t worry, all it takes is players to apologize for their poor display on twitter or arsenal.com and then they will start posting selfies and tweeting this and that again.
We don’t have enough players who can create their own chances, sometimes you need to do that. Sanchez, Cazorla and Chamberlain are the only ones that can create their own opening to shoot. Walcott and Giroud are full service players.
I didn’t watch the game (thk God).
But from all the comments from objectives and usually harsh on us sites…..players mistakes and awful perfs took the best of them.
So I D say maybe it was the players.
But from our commenters here….formation was wrong.
So…a bit of both seems logical as reasons for a horrible start.
u didnt watch the game?
man the bit where the spaceship came down was EPIC!!!
Sorry English isn’t my native language…don’t get the joke
It wasn’t a joke.
I saw aliens. Two greys sitting in the technical area sitting motionless. But they conveyed great confusion, nervousness and seemed very lost.
Perhaps they are?
#ET-TheExtraTesticle
This is a legit question, and please consider the question before you abuse me.
Can you Name one thing Giroud did well today?
Cus I can’t and I’m sick of everyone pretending like he’s some sort of God
Well this is a legit answer. haven’t you seen Giroud drifting to the wings because our players who were supposed to be playing there were too busy at the center of midfield doing God knows what? I specifically remember one of his crosses in to the box where ozil was too lazy to try get a touch or something. He was also doing some defensive work. In fact the only think he did wrong was miss that one chance at the end of the game from a very tight angle. And where was walcott? he was given more than enough time to make an impact.
I could ask the same of Ramsey, Cazorla, Ozil, Mert, Cech and Debuchy. Debuchy and Cech were DIABOLICAL. Rambo and Santi were virtually invisible. Ozil was a nuisance but had no cutting edge and didn’t get into the box. The only players who did anything good in the game were Coq, Monreal, Ox and Koscielny honestly. Most of our best attacks came from Ox, most of our defending done by Koscielny. Most of our quick ball counters in the first half were Coq winning good ball. Giroud actually gave us width today on the left and delivered some decent balls. The final ball was HORRENDOUS today. Giroud was living on scraps. He did completely mess up 3 good chances though. For that I understand your anger. I just don’t understand singling out 1 player out of a team that played bad.
I completely agree with you there I could have asked the same question about basically anyone.
However I just thought it needed to point out the fact that Giroud isn’t good enough and simply can’t fire us to title
Can you name one GOOD reason why Arsene Wenger is still managing Arsenal? His latest trick is to make one of the best goal keepers in the world look like a novice in his first competitive game for the club!!!
LMAO! Seriously? You blame Wenger for Cech today? I’m sorry, you only have to have the basest knowledge of goalkeeping, set piece tactics and general awareness of the game to know both goals were individual errors from Cech that cannot be removed by a manager.
Goal 1
Arsenal Tactic – If the ball is getting close to the penalty spot from a deep freekick Cech will claim
Cech Response – Misjudge the position of a player and instead of challenging the ball ahead of the player, chooses to challenge the ball beyond the player
Verdict – Cech ignored the manager and as such caused the goal
Goal 2
Arsenal Tactic – Prevent West Ham getting dangerous possession in the box, if there is a long distance shot you cannot block, ensure maximum visibility
Cech Response – Misjudge the player’s body position, position self to dive for the far post, hop a moment late as misjudged player’s wind up for the shot and be forced to dive a moment late
Verdict – Arsenal can’t stop every single shot but we limited West Ham to pot shots. This was a highly choreographed shot with minimal time to pick his spot but maximum time for the keeper to adjust himself. The keeper misjudges his positioning and timing, resulting in a goal – the fault is with the keeper.
I’m sorry – blame Wenger for not using wingers but to do so for individual goalkeeping errors that directly contradict his management is just pathetic.
This is simple a very intelligent child can solve this problem.Firstly today our keeper was very poor however i know he will come good.By the way why is Paulista no getting his chance.What i have observed about arsenal since we signed Mertesacker from day one and since he started playing is that Mertesacker hardly gets involved you will usually see him a few times because he does not want to get caught out.e has always been a weak link in the defence even in his greatest performances here.When i see us playing with a high line and he is there i always laugh.It is just a mistake waiting to happen and i can tell u that it will happen again this season.Secondly why is Ramsey Cazorla and Ozil playing in the same line-up in a 4-5-1 formation.That is just not right though it will win you some matches due to individual brilliance.It wont work at all.Lastly the least i say about Giroud the better i am not judging him on one game.One would imagine if he was not french and like chinese will he be getting these chances under Wenger.To me he will always be an average player and i will stand by my word even if he has good games.
BACK TO F*CKING REALITY?
Have you seen any worse than Cech today??
Funny, especially from a guy supposed to bring us 10 to 12 points… lol
Motherf*cker just gave 3 points to West Ham.
I hope everybody has calm down now with all the hype about winning the league… Let’s not forget Wenger still at the helm and he is a proven manager with limited tactical abilities… Proven time after time!
Fans are dreaming if they think they will see something different from last season. We are going for top four and NOTHING ELSE… Because we can do nothing else… We do not have the squad nor the manager to win the EPL.
What the f*ck is Chamberlain doing in the first team???
Chamberlain, Wilshere, Gibbs and most of the “young” players in this club will have “flashes” of brilliance, but we’ll all clearly know they are not first team material (well may be expect Arsenal were major trophies is no near a priority).
No need to panic, unless you think we can win the league (then you might want to check yourself out)… Some of us know that we are “fighting” for a top four space and “small” stroll in CL (can’t win it, that is just a fact!).
We are ok, Cech will recover and hopefully get it right (because that was just shocking), otherwise we have Ospina.
Will Wenger bring more top players (because let’s not make any mistakes about it, we need some) only him knows since he is the ONLY ONE in charge and %80 of the fans (pole run after the preseason) support him (wonder who they are!!)…
Anyway, let’s not forget it was only the first game?
Wenger is NOT gonna spend any more, we’re NOT gonna get Benzema,Giroud is NOT gonna fire us 20 goals this season, wlallalcott is NOT gonna earn his parish and Arsenal are NOT going to challenge. There was nothing in the way of a plan b there was no class finishing and there was no one to alter the game in our favour. Wenger and the team are to blame but in retrospect it was what I expected. No effort to bring in new players and no real ambition. If A thinks he’s going to win the league then going on today’s performance he needs to think again.
This is not the time to panic…but we seriously need a prolific striker….as serious as a heart attack.
Can you tell me time that is appropriate for panicking so I can set an alarm just before?
Thanks in advance!
Can you tell me the time that is appropriate for panicking so I can set an alarm just before?
Thanks in advance!
JustArsenal on mobile performs as bad as Arsenal on a Sunday;)
This makes the Palace game huge. We won’t have confidence from a win under belt and Palace will try frustrate us tactically. We cannot let last seasons performances occur again, a draw will not be good enough and we need to watch out for those. I will expect to see every Arsenal play go hammer and tong, like their lives depended. I don’t want to see them try and slow the game down with over passing the ball to one another. We need to see a quick tempo with plenty of shots. This is going to be a long wait, I wish we could just say lets start over again and maybe play on Saturday because whenever we get a chance to make ground from a Chelsea defeat we never seem able to manage it. Really hope the lads put in a great display and get back on track.
our problem is that there are too many cooks, no one has clearly defined duties !!!
what happens is that every one wants to be CAM and drifts inside leaving our full backs in attacking positions. Teams simply make their midfield congested and as soon as on of our intricate pass is intercepted we become exposed and concede on counter attack !!
also we still have not learned how to defend or score on set pieces
@indiangooner
Exactly.
Strategy was rinse and repeat.
I have said before Wenger has earned the right to run the team without any questioning BUT HE KEEPS MAKING WRONG DECISIONS IN SELECTION AND IGNORING THE MARKET WHEN HE SHOULD MAKE A FEW KEY ADDITIONS.He forgets that West Ham coach Bilic is a tactician, who has coached at International level across the continent. WENGER REALLY NEEDS TO UP HIS GAME TACTICALLY, AT TIMES.
I WOULD LIKE TO SEE SANCHEZ, BELLERIN AND WALCOTT UPFRONT. PERIOD!!!!! Goalkeeper wise, considering how Ospina performed, this was not a priority, SO ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS WITH CECH IS DOWN TO WENGERS CHOICE. If we add new world class players, the better.
THE SIGNS ARE NOT LOOKING GOOD but I will reserve my judgement on Wenger till near season end. IF WE LOSE TO PALACE NEXT WEEK, my confidence in this team will drop significantly.
– Liverpool has just won away to Stoke, Chelsea battled better than us with 10 men yesterday, Utd has started winning ugly even when they don’t perform.
NO DISRESPECT TO WEST HAM BUT THESE TYPE OF GAMES ARE A MUST WIN IF YOU ARE TO HAVE A SNIFFING CHANCE OF WINNING THE LEAGUE. A lot of people have doubts and performances like this only seems to prove them right!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You will reserve your judgement of Wenger until the season end!!!!!!!….are you serious….Wenger has been shown up by every season (end) over the last 10 years….that is in terms of being a challenger for the top prizes like the Premiership and the Champions League……why waste another year (year 11) before passing judgement on Wenger’s ability to compete at the top level.
What a lame excuse by wenger,
Saying that they (West ham) played more competitive games then us.
Didn’t we beat and keep a cleansheet against Chelsea last week? … wasn’t that a more competitive game than the game’s west ham fielded their 2nd string player’s in the europa qualifies, which they got knocked out of by some mickey mouse team?
Apart from the injured right back, why didn’t wenger start with the same team and tactics that beat Chelsea?
Enough of the excuses,
Wenger got his tactics and team selection wrong today!
And I believe that affected the players on the pitch.
True.
True?
He didn’t mentioned giroud! Reads again!
Hahahah
After a long think about this game I have come to the conclusion similar to Graeme Souness.
Put this game behind us and don’t for one minute think this performance is going to be a reflection of our season ahead.
I do however still question Wenger’s decision making during a game
It was a mistake of being over confidence
But we are gooner respond against crystal palace.
#COYG
A real anti climax to the start of a new season except for koscielny who played well doing what he does best thats defending.Everybody else hold your head in shame.Win the title I don’t think so not playing like that any way.
I don’t think even Koscielny had a good game. He made himself a wall for the 2nd goal instead of trying to close the player down. One back header almost gifted West Ham another goal or chance atleast.
The team or tactics? On another day they’d have had one shot easily picked up by Cech. They shouldn’t have even got to the ball for the goal and that I blame on the defence not Cech…who I reckon saw the player running and the big gap and realised no AFC defender was gonna get there in first. What was Monreal doing and why was everyone behind Koz playing their players on side. Just a bad bad defensive lapse and ditto for the second goal. So on that basis personal responsibility was the issue.
Other than that we need a winger of the class of Reus. I can’t help but agree that trying to accommodate Ramsay and Cazorla does not work if we have Ozil and Le Coq on the pitch. We need wingers who can deliver and stability in the centre.
Still (given we are bottom of the league) there’s only one way to go!
For the first goal I can only assume we had planned to keep out of Cech’s way. The players stop dropping back when it is sailing deep and when you watch Cech he has MORE than enough time to get in front of Kayoute and catch the ball, let alone punch it. Yes – defence should have held line but this was a single player’s mistake (coq) and once a set piece has been broken in that way it is hard for other individuals to correct it. Cech was still the MAJOR culprit as his decision was not just a timing mistake but a complete misjudgement of the situation to the fact he punched at below chest height BEHIND an opposition player. Keeper’s are taught to take the ball at the highest possible point for them – i.e. the point no other player can get to it. This was just Cech making a HUGE hash. You can see him change direction and choose not to challenge getting in front of Kayoute. It made no sense.
Arsene Wenger, as the manager, is the problem! We haven’t been competitive, in terms of mounting a realistic challenge for the Premiership, in 10 years now!!! This year – 2015/16 – will be no different. Change the manager or expect more of the same!!!
Wenger is the root of the problem at Arsenal, but since its impossible that he’s leaving any time soon its pointless to talk about it. Let the circus continue. Won’t even buy a damn striker, sticks with this clown Giroud, and keeps playing his love child Ramsey for no good reason.
I still think Jury is yet to be out on Coquelin. We have already termed him a world class footballer. We should have signed Schneiderlin, no excuse of not doing that. He would have added more strength to our midfield and given attacker more purpose.
wenger after last year: it was difficult to start well because of the champions league qualification round.
wenger today: west ham looked better because they played in a competitive europe league games.
WTF?????????
he’s lost it. Has been long gone for a while now, fans just dont wanna see it. Invincibles have to be one of the best and worst things that has happened to us. Over a decade of mediocrity has followed their success.
im not sure yet. but yes, the game was a consequence of a terribly mental preperation. the manager lose us the game more than the players.
chelsea looked yesterday much better than us, even if their goalkeeper and our goalkeeper made mistakes.
if we lose a game, its better to do it before the transfer window close.
COUG
PetrCech tweets
First game like this was not in the script – Mistake and no points, but tomorrow is another day to get ready for the next game #COYG
Some Chelsea fans are trolling. He is a top goalie.. We will bounce back.
Coquelin had a really bad game, didn’t win a single tackle entire game. Anyways, it happens.
Scary thing is, if this would continue, our options to replace him is Arteta and Flamini. They are worse than Coquelin on a bad day. GET A REAL MIDFIELDER, WENGER.
Oh and stop fielding only midfielders, so bench either Ramsey/Cazorla/Özil and start Walcott.
Was with you until the start Walcott remark …. The guy is 140 grand of footballing mediocrity …. He was on for 30 mins did nothing at all … A decent manager would have sold him in June and put in a big bid for griezman … Too latr now … We need to spend at least half of this 200m kitty or we don’t stand much chance of retaining third let alone challenging for more …
he did nothing at all because our midfielders kept attacking down the middle the whole game. Don’t understand why the team doesnt utilise our pacy players like we used to. Now we just pass, pass pass until someone loses the ball. Walcott is a great weapon if we actually use him. (on the wing, not striker)
Pace needs space. Skill is what is required in tight areas. Theo needs space to operate but Ox doesn’t. Ox was carving West Ham open for most of the game but our lack of box movement and some AWFUL final balls when Ox crafted space for someone was beyond abysmal. For the most part any idea of using pace was limited by the fact West Ham were camped inside their 18 yard box. The only player using pace on the field was Sakho rinsing Koscielny in foot races every time they hoofed it up the pitch.
OR get a proper manager!
I always believe in the things what Fergi do say. A club main man is the manager, and he needs take the full responsibility for everything what happens in the pitch. But nothing like Fergi, our is so much filled with ego problems, that happenings like today he excuses himselfs and calls it on bad luck and fate and call it an accident. I knew that he would come up with this. Pathetic.
I really detest the title of this article. it is deliberately to put words in fans mouth write-up. it is clear to see, players not takin the bull by the horn, not makin hay when sun was shining, same old inconsistency. the two goals are nothing but schoolboy defending, always standing like a statue, blocking the keepers view. it has nothing to do wth tactics or selectn, more of no game changer influenc when it matterd. regular arsenal, create a mountain and toil hard to climb it. spare d manager pls!!!!!!
Anyone still dreaming about winning the league title? Forget!!
The EPL champion usually has 3 or 4 losses. We’ve got one already against a weaker team. Considering Chelsea, Man U, Man City, L’Pool, Everton, Swansea, Spurs and even Stoke City fixtures both home and away, I see us getting more losses with AW as coach and his squad.
Forget the title. Otherwise I wish you a quick recovery when that pressure hits you hard.
exactly. We are going to have to scrape for 4th yet again. Stoke, Chelsea, United losses are annual so that puts us 4 losses already. I hate that pundits beefed us up so much this summer. Its silly. This team under Wenger is going nowhere. So sick of our players talking nonsense, especially Ramsey who cant shut his mouth about winning the title and then plays like crap.
Manure lost the first match in 2013 season to everton and later won the league so losing the first is just a lesson
Manure lost the first match to everton in 2012/13 season but later won the league. This is just a lesson for us
On vacation with my soon to be wife, we had a fun filled day yesterday looking forward to today’s game while she had a little sleep in. Got woke up by the alert on my iPhone, picked it up saw halftime Arsenal 0 West Ham 1. Got up thought I needed to wash the sleep out of my eyes or something, did that and started some coffee while I was at it. During that time the alert went off again but I didn’t check it right away as I told myself there’s the equalizer. Drank some coffee grab my iPhone then immediately put it back down, woke her up and started making love. Lol I’m sorry that was pointless and personal but that was the only way I could have erase that from my mind immediately. That’s thinking on your feet because in my mind it was Villa all over again. The crazy part is that I was even upset as I was 2 years ago. It is what it is maybe it was a blessing in disguise for me to be on vacation and not home or something probably would have ended up broken that I might have regretted. Hate f**king losing though to be honest but I’m now worried for myself that I’ve now become completely numb to Arsenal losing in this manner and I don’t know if that’s good or bad. Yet life goes on and I’ll remain a gooner for life.
Are you unwell?
Perfectly fine, just know insanity when I see or here it being repeated time and time again. I wouldn’t get my hopes up on defeating Palace away either from what I saw last season and they too have strengthened. In my honest opinion of all the games this month, this was the 1 must win. So much for that now but unto the next 1…
Good rump was it?
Title contenders, hmm? A chelsea fan took pleasure in telling me today that cech has now lost the same amount of home games with arsenal as he did with Chelsea. #perspective.
because one team has a manager that is a winner and the other team has a manager that is a joke and laughing stock.
Well you know where to spend your time then.
A few players short of a prem winning team cf and dm
Never watch wenger post match talk after a bad game, he will make you more angry. He use his a*s to talk.
Don’t worry arsenal will be still here when wenger is gone, hope I can out live him.
I said before the game that Wenger’s biggest problem is his team selections and for us to challenge this season, his team selections first have to be spot on. Wenger wants his son Ramsey to be in the team at all costs. Shifting Cazorla out wide compromised our midfield. There was no playmaker in the middle. Ramsey doesn’t release balls quickly enough and he turns to be very selfish as evident during first half when the ox was in a better position he went for goal instead. Also because we play a very high tempo game and often use high lines at the back to support our play Mertesacker shouldn’t be in our back four…why can’t both our CBs have pace? With him in our defence arsenal will always lose the odd game especially against teams with pace ….eg like against Monaco. Granted Cech didn’t have a good game but his defenders let him down especially on the second goal
I pray for those who want see arsenal lift the bpl and UCL trophy for the past decade but can’t wait so long, may you rest in peace. Amen!!
I will out live wenger. Amen!!
Anyone who watched the game and thinks Arsenal is all set at defensive midfielder is wrong. If Cech was the worst player, then Coquelin was second worst. The first goal he made a mental error keeping the scorer onside, the second goal he made a physical error. Although on the second goal equal blame should go to Chamberlain for his lazy play and mostly Cech.
The squad needs strengthening at striker and defensive midfielder. Period.
When we were having a jolly ride during the pre season and Wenger and most of the fans were building their confidence over mere pre season games, i said we should not get over ourselves but most decided to continue living in lala land. Thank goodness Westham has given us the rude awakening we deserve.
Now, we should look at the team and our chances more realistically and make the necessary adjustments where needed.
Wenger, strenghten the team in necessary positions eg CF and DM and play players in their natural positions, plus learn to motivate the team from the bench whenever they find their backs to the wall. But i doubt if Wenger will ever make these essential changes cos he is just set in his ways. And thats why i think it will be near impossible for us to win the EPL agian with Wenger still in charge.
Wenger will never go easily, like a pest. Rich £8m pest.
Wenger should sign players,
He should rotate (and not try to play everyone at once).
He should also get a clue as to how to setup a team capable of beating the opponent. He should also be more effective in terms of changing the system when things aren’t going right (I.e loosing).
He should be able to identify the obvious holes in our team/squad and procure the necessary talent to make us contenders.
I could go on…
#groundhogSeason
Tactically we made 1 mistake today and that was lack of width. Our normal problem. We have no natural LW so we made do and suffered. Debuchy gave us TERRIBLE options on the right and we barely attacked down the left with any meaning at all. So let’s address the 3 glaring tactical issues and point fingers:
1. No LW and playing a CM there – well seeing as how everyone is baying for a RW/CF/DM it seems to me that none of you can talk when our softest position has no player. I wonder why we couldn’t field a LW when nobody seems to think it’s a priority? SOMEONE had to play there and Wenger chose to use one of our talented midfielders there. The idea is Monreal overlaps higher and Ozil pulls out wide from CAM. It’s not a great tactic but it can work. We have NO natural LWs. Who do you expect to play there if Alexis isn’t?
2. Debuchy at RB – we had an injury and Wenger was forced to make that decision. Debuchy is a player who has barely played and is second choice JUST getting back into the game competitively after a year out. No wonder.
3. Lack of width – WELL this is caused by the no LW. I’m fairly certain Wenger wanted that ball wide – that’s why he continued to let our fullbacks bomb down the pitch – but not having a natural left footer on the left means everyone wants to cut in.
The result? Wenger couldn’t have done f*ck all about those problems. Let’s look at the other problems:
4. Giroud not scoring – we had chances and we fluffed them. Giroud was poor today and he scuffed his lines truly. A better CF is wanted. Who the fudge can we ACTUALLY buy though? Having watched him, Benteke would have been no better. Martinez may have been better but no clue there. Basically – there is not a readily available super awesome option and Giroud had a bad day – I’m not going to blame my manager for that!
5. Not using the same tactics as against Chelsea – the people I’ve seen write this need to grow the hell up and realise a football game isn’t just a copy and paste job. My gosh you must be naive. Chelsea like to defend deep BUT they are actually going to attack us. West Ham didn’t want to play ball today. We couldn’t sit deep and soak pressure because there was no pressure to soak…he HAD to use more attacking tactics because the game DEMANDED that.
If you want to analyse why we lost that game instead of blaming Wenger for things he had no control over be my guest. But today was not Wenger choosing the wrong players (on the day) and certainly not down to a tactical error in attitude or intensity or what not. The four reasons we lost are as follows:
1. A TERRIBLE display in goal that cost us 2 goals from non-scoring situations
2. Abysmal finishing up top
3. A lack of width caused by no LW reducing clear cut chances created
4. A defensive display straight out of a schoolboy novel that enabled chances to be gained for the opposition
I don’t have to detail 1, 2 or 3 any further but as for 4 we have some serious issues if we play any game like that. I mean honestly – SCHOOLBOY errors in defence – stepping up at the wrong time, playing bad lines, squaring up opponents, not making blocks, not being strong in the tackle etc. I’m sorry but a manager can’t be blamed when your team just suddenly stops doing the things they did perfectly a weak before. Our formation and positioning changed exactly NOTHING from the previous week – our players just did not perform.
We weren’t awful for the first half. We were clearly the better team. If Giroud had scored we’d have walked away easy winners. He didn’t. Cech kamikaze-ed. After that we were always in a tough spot trying to get up a gear we just couldn’t find thanks to players being off. Seriously though – before you blame Wenger actually LOOK at the tactics being implemented and then the players who were just making individual errors. You can’t really adjust for that.
Ok…..?
So we have no LW apart from AS..if we can’t blame Wenger, then whose fault is it?
As for all your other points who is paid £8 Million big ones to ensure his ayers can hit a barn door, can defend and can control the midfield?
Whose choice is it on whether or not to have wingers or to just pack the width of the park with similar players?
Who chooses not to sign top DMs?
And forward players who can score us more goals?
I could go on..
The LW situation I believe IS Wenger’s fault. But it’s a totally different problem to the one everyone complains about and the solutions everyone goes on about are totally wrong. For today we lacked our LW and we suffered for it. His solution was one that worked perfectly well against the champions last week. I WOULD blame Wenger for not having a LW – but when people on here are talking high and mighty blaming him for not buying a DM and a CF but in the same breath not understanding that we at least HAVE players in these positions.
A manager can only do so much off the pitch before players get on it. Some players play rubbish and make mistakes. Say you have players do great in training, say we have a pre-season where we’ve conceded 1 goal in 6 games and been scoring for fun. ALL your prep says you are in great position. When they go out there and make individual mistakes that you cannot possibly prepare for (i.e. Cech) you can’t do bugger all.
DM would not have helped at all in this game. The reason Coq wasn’t doing great is because they always bypassed the midfield. It’s madness to blame someone for a non-mistake. Granted you could shove a better ball player in there but it’s like saying we should have played with just 2 CMs instead of a DM. Coq is a GOOD player. I stand by that. He isn’t great at this time but he’s improving. Why place blame on Wenger for a player doing nothing wrong? Tactically we could have been more attacking but if we’d have lost by the same goals you’d blame Wenger for not having a DM on the pitch!
Forwards scoring goals – who do we buy? I do not see strikers moving. Everyone keeps on with this buy a striker malarchy but the quality of striker signing we’d get is tantamount to the Remy’s or Falcao’s who’ve done SO well for Chelsea. Why is it so hard to consider that Wenger is trying but the options just aren’t there?
9/10 times we win that match today. We controlled the possession, we created plenty of chances and we lost because we gave them two half opportunities and our “BRILLIANT” new keeper flopped harder then Hazard when he sees contact coming in the box. You can’t account for someone suddenly being totally awful and throwing a game plan out the window. Nobody can.
I agree on much of what you say, however:
Steve Bald and AW are paid handsomely to manage and motivate their team in order to bring success on the field (or are they:)? So, get off your seat and shout, do semaphore or text to your ayers to let them know A. Your not happy and B. What you would like changed.
What annoys me most his Arsenes inability to see and reflect upon his own decisions.. Play CAMS/CMS across the park with no real effective width offered. I don’t buy, that ze game has changed and we no longer need goalscoring CFs or wingers. It is an overly complex and totally unnecessary and ineffective system he has built.
The coq, I rate (not in that way) but today he had a mare. It showed that he still has much to learn but this guy is our no.1 DM. Behind him we have two faithful but very long in the tooth and short in the bite department reserves. The boy Morgan was up for a move and would have come but AW was just not interested…WHY!? a superb DM who can also pass but perhaps he is thinking of converting Per or Ospina…
AW is Managerially, tactically, motivationaly and ideologically flawed IMO and whilst he is at the helm I expect another season where we end up coming in second at very best.
I agree about our width options being an issue. Buying Alexis and trying to promote Ox seemed to be the solution for this. The problem is the depth in this dept is TERRIBLE. As proved today. I have no doubt once Alexis is fit we’ll not be playing CAMs across the park. I don’t believe Wenger doesn’t want width though. He has forever played with wingers who cut in and it’s worked for a long time, but it’s NOT been CAMs. It’s been tricky, skillful wingers. I think he wants that back because when it’s available that’s how he does play. I just think that’s our 1 depth issue in the squad other than DM.
Again with DM I don’t think it mattered today. You either played a CM and ignore the DM position or you play Coq. He does what a DM needs to do and if you want a deep lying playmaker then you play one of those, NOT a DM. Morgan went to united. We don’t know if we bid or not. I hate the presumption that when we don’t get a player we definitely didn’t bid or that we definitely didn’t bid high enough. Sometimes a team just can’t get their man. Look at how we stole Alexis from Liverpool.
I think Wenger is different to a lot of modern managers but I don’t think he is as bad as you make him out to be. I feel looking at the past 10 seasons realistically that I can only come to the conclusion that we had no money and Wenger did a brilliant job motivating players to get us into top 4 every season. I DO think he lacks the ability to drive a team at half time or while they’re on the pitch, but sometimes there’s just a limit to what a manager can do. Sometimes you need leaders to lead and when your leaders crumble it spreads – exactly what happened today. Buying a new leader is exactly what he did in Cech…but then Cech has a game like today and does more damage than good.
I am not completely disheartened by Wenger like you. BUT I understand your point. I just don’t think this was a game Wenger could have done a whole lot about and I think that it’s still hard for us to buy really top quality players to shove on the bench. Our bench is already filled with quality…it’s just that LW that seems to be a constant issue!
We have Theo and Iwobi and the bench who could have both played LW or Ox could have moved there and Theo could have played RW.
Now Playing against Chelsea in Wembley and against West Ham in Emirates are two completely different things. It requires a different approach.
Maybe it requires to start with no DM and Santi and Ramsey in the middle, maybe it needs that we start with two wingers instead of one.Whatever it is, it is not the same game, it shouldn’t be the same squad and tactics.
This is ALL Wenger’s fault. He bought every single player in that team(how many managers can say that?) He trained them all, he gave them the tactics and the motivation for this game.
Yes Cech made unbelievable mistakes, but at the end the whole team was total shite and it is Wenger’s team after all.
Why he every time chose the wrong time to make subs. We conceded the 2nd goal before the 1st sub. Is there a half time blasting from wenger ever?
Why he always talk sh*t after bad game. Can he man enough to ture talk about our problems.
Today game everyone are sh*t, from the top to the bottom and the manager has to answer for that.
Fans are always the looser, they still take £140k after the game. Wenger still get his £8m. I only down here f ck them deep deep, I don’t think they feel it in their pocket.
We were the better team for the whole first half. They barely sniffed in our half, we created some good opportunities and we just looked a little rusty with the final ball. They caught a lucky break when Cech decided to have a howler. Do you believe at that point going into panic stations is the right decision?
At the second goal he reacted instantly and went more attacking to try and save the game. He had no reason earlier to believe West Ham who’d not managed another shot on our goal would suddenly score a second from another chance where they barely could sniff our goal. No manager in their right mind would have gone gung ho before that point and going gung ho meant we were laxer at the back. Having done that earlier may have resulted in them scoring a second goal NOT pertaining to Cech having a howler.
Why does the manager have to take sole responsibility for a huge chunk of players not playing well? No – EVERYBODY has to stand up and say we did badly. I think Wenger needs to protect his players and say the team did not do enough, things did not go to plan and we paid the price for a couple of cheap goals but what more can he say without damaging the confidence of the players?
As for the fact the fans are the losers – yea, we do lose. So does any fan on the losing side of a football game. Your point? If West Ham lost their fans would go home disappointed and their players would still pocket thousands. What exactly do you want? These players WANT to win. Many of them really give a damn. Look at how frustrated ox was at half time even. The fact is though, there’s only so much a player can do on the pitch. If you have a bad game and things go against you, it’s life, you move on and prepare for the next game. Wenger cares more than anyone. Why do you think he gets so irrate these days? Yea he still gets paid but that doesn’t lessen the fact he’s doing all he can. If you don’t think it’s good enough, please tell me how he could do better.
I don’t know I am not the manager, I am just someone who watch arsenal play. I am not professional enough to teach them. I watch them on match day, from there I comment on their performance and I only can f uk to released my anger.
There is always need improving, I didn’t ask for who to buy, who shoud played, is the manager jobs, at the end he should take the responsibility or credits. Is our players too pamper to take another steps forward?
And for money they earned, I just want them to know, play to earn that money, don’t feel sorry, what the point of feeling sorry and keep on repeating it. They themselves say that they have playing together for a long time, the cohesion are there but why today just another bad day of many bad days before and after.
Adding point, why they are rusty? Our 1st half don’t even look like we will scored, everyone keep missing the pass, only ox did some wonderful thing but he still need the rest to support by creating space or some thing like how Bellerin did on few occasions.
Wenger himself said we need a flying start, is his words too soft for the players? All the players pre talk all come to sh*t on the pitch.
We conceded weak goals but nowadays why we don’t have right attitudes to fight back and our score them.
Sorry, I’m having trouble with your English and trying to understand your point. You are saying that the manager should take responsibility when the players play bad and instead of apologising…just be better? These people are human! Do you play football? Or have a job? Every day isn’t perfect. Sometimes you play bad or have an off day and mistakes happen. Sometimes that coincides with something else and it goes wrong.
Wenger isn’t perfect. Neither are our players. That doesn’t suddenly mean they aren’t worthy of being Arsenal players/manager because they have a bad game. What’s the point in analysing a loss if just to point the blame and say “YOU’RE AWFUL AND LET US DOWN!” instead of actually seeking ways to improve or ways to rectify mistakes?
Sorry English really not my cup of tea.
I didn’t ask who he should buy or play. He put up the 1st 11 and i comments on that. And yes there were not always sunny day but why is always the same old mistake, we always short in something. We got the spirit and cohesion why I can’t see them on the pitch today.
It’s pretty simple how he could do better – he could play people in their correct positions instead of forcing his favourites into the team at the expense of team balance. A more balanced starting attack would have been Theo on the RW, Giroud in the middle and the Ox on the left. Please bear in mind that the Ox had one of his best ever games in his first ever game (against Man U) on the left wing until he was inexplicably substituted.
Not much good today on anyone wearing and Arsenal shirt. Defensively we were pretty bad. First goal Kos needs to share some blame with Cech. No one other than Per were goal side of their marks, forced Cech to make a bad decision. 2nd goal Cech should have stopped. Overall, total lack of creativity, poor passing, no fire, no fight, just bad all around.
I also agree that players need to be played in their best position to be successful. Santi is not a winger. Santi should probably play CAM unless Ozil plays better.
I think that we are going to miss JW. He was looking better to me than Ramsey in that position.
Hope they can rebound for next week, it could be tough
It’s so funny to read some so called fans here.
– they don’t like the coach
– they don’t like the players
– they don’t like the board
– they don’t like Stan
– they rant when we win and when we lose
– they don’t know the history of the club
……..wtf are they fans of?
Hahahaha the funniest part is that all those mentioned people are well and living and those so caked fans are bitter.
Peace
Yeah here are bund of plastic fans, only you the real, keep licking, they will pay you £1 from their £140k.
@gigi
You enjoy loosing then to a mid table team?
– they don’t like the coach
No I don’t. Haven’t for a very long while.
Outdated ideas, bad rotation, tactics, system, plays players out of position, does not make the necessary signings to strengthen the team in the transfer window, is uninspiring on his warm seat, talks media school b@llocks in press conferences and is generally aloof.
– they don’t like the players
I like nearly all the players we have bar DW
– they don’t like the board
Correct. Business men who aren’t interested in the success of the club on field. Only in the rewards ‘pragmatic’ financial management can bring.
– they don’t like Stan
A man who is not a AFC fan, nor ‘soccer’ fan. Just another sports business amongst many in his portfolio.
– they rant when we win and when we lose
I and others rant when they feel the Board, Manager of team are not deserving of their extremely elevated status or pay cheques. Problem with that have we?
– they don’t know the history of the club
False, what do you think you can tell me that I already don’t know about the club I have supported all my life (I’m 44 this year).
Is it the time Wenger pulled out his wallet from his deep pocket and moths appeared as did a little piece of paper that had his secret for keeping his position with the club? For the record it read ‘just say yes to the board’
Really well said Gigi2
Gigi will give you £1 from what he earned. Zombie fan.
They dont rant when they win they lick Wenger’s p***y when we win. They say we will win treble after doing pre season treble. #Wengerout #Kloppin
To be honest Giroud was one of our decent players today..Ozil was hopelessly lazy..Ramsey dribbled into crowded areas..Debuchy can’t bomb forward..Cazorla lost possession annoyingly ..Chambalain did all the nice thing the undid everything with one piece of poor control ..Coquelin played as if he is Viera already..Mert has never realised that he lacks pace..Cech fulfiled the mission Mourinho sent him to do..Wenger sat on the bench hopelessly..
No heart no bottle that’s arsenal!!!!!!!
Utter disgrace
Just shows it was one man who carried us last season n to be honest only when he came on did we create some chances.
#alexis# boy do we need him back in line up ASAP
Wenger is a f** p*** y. Tactics wrong, team selection wrong, no width, not good enough CDM and ST, not good enough pace, lack of pace in defence and no creativity.
Wenger will not win us league or UCL even if signs Messi, Ronaldo, Pogba, Mascherano, Godin,
Neueur, Lahm. Deluded AKBS and Giroud fanboys have ruined Arsenal.
What a disgraceful performance.
Wenger wont sign anybody. Dont get ur hopes high. Wenger believes winning isnt everything losing gives him satisfaction. 4th place mentality. F**k u C**T. Sign new 10 year contract and ruin Arsenal.
He already did.
Don’t even joke!!!!!
Vidal was available, went to Bayern for 26M, dont tell me we couldnt use Vidal in the midfield today??
Schneiderlin was available, these are both players that can block and pass. They can add vitality and steel to midfield. ANd they can pass a ball unlike Le Coq, who is a good blocker and that’s that.
Not buying Vidal, and not adding a forward alternative to the team is criminal.
When Arsene replaced Ospina with Cech, it felt that he was ready to do the difficult thing this season, replace players that have been good with players that have proven to be better.
A Vidal for Coq or a Benzema for Giroud, or Otamendi for Per, or anybody else that could have made the team better.
No he started with Cazorla on LW, Giroud in the middle, and I cant pass Coquelin in the centre. Bravo 8M fracking quid a year, and this is the best you can do.
Predictable shite tactics, shite transfer window, shite motivational abilities = Shite result
No amount of tactical changes or re selections would have changed the result it was not Wenger`s fault, the players let him down and they should apologize to him personally.
If I were to select a team to face Crystal Palace I would replace Chec with Ospina leave Ozil and Giroud on the bench play Belerin and Gabriel in the back four, move Walcott to centre forward with Sanchez and Ox-Chamberlain on the wings. Ramsey too needs to watch the match on TV and play the club captain (Arteta) in mid field. Show them who`s boss. Maurinho must be having a chuckle.
Playing Ramsey on the wing was the mistake imo
i felt le coq was playing sometime too high on the picth, with cazorla and ramsey replacing him as DM. Was it a Wenger requirement? bad bad decision. most of good attacking phase we had was when le Coq got the ball back in the middle and passed the ball quickly to the front. why just change things that works???