Gary Neville was not specifically talking about Arsenal and the situation that Arsene Wenger and the players find themselves in this season, but the former England and Man United defender was talking about things that could just as easily be applied to the Gunners, as he did his punditry for Sky Sports Monday Night Football last night.
After Newcastle United lost again to leave them joint bottom of the BPL table with Burnley, Neville suggested the problem might be the time it takes to assimilate a number of new players into the team. With Newcastle, however, he thinks the problem is that a lot of the new magpies are new to the Premier League, while only Aleis Sanchez of the new Arsenal signings is new to English football.
But Neville went on to discuss with Jamie Carragher why he thinks United have the edge of Liverpool in the race for a top four spot and that does mirror our situation. Because of this season’s Champions League games, Brendan Rodgers (and Arsene Wenger of course) do not have the same amount of time to work with the players and get the new squad drilled into what he wants from them and get them used to playing together.
In fact, Danny Welbeck has already mentioned his lack of proper in depth training sessions with his new team mates. So with new players like Alexis, Welbeck, Calum Chambers, Joel Campbell, Mathieu Debuchy, David Ospina and now the young players like Bellerin, Hayden and Akpom to integrate into the Arsenal system, is this the reason for our slow start to the season?
That’s No excuse!!
Absolutely. Arsenal added 6 players this summer, more than we usually do, but still the fewest of any Premier League side. If it is an excuse, it should be other teams struggling more than us, not the other way around.
Koscielny injured now.. fml..
please tell me you’re joking.
No .. just read on arsenalnews.net . He has aggravated the Achilles injury. . Now we can say with bellerin as a left back nd no back up defender.. we are nothing but doomed.. all thanks to brilliance by arsene wenger..
I think Lord Bendtner cursed our squad. He said he was angry at Wenger for making him waste a year at Arsenal.
I am serious here mate.. don’t joke on these situations.. no joke will cheer me up now anyway
fine. but realize this sh*t hasn’t been easy for any for us. this season has gone from bad to worse – no one could’ve predicted how many players we would be without. and now that Koscielny is injured, our situation won’t get better any time soon.
i could’ve predicted we’d have a lot of injuries. always have.
for a team like us, then , we need even more depth than do other teams.
yet we have less.
why?
Well said mate. Excuses only come when you don’t want to accept your failures. The fact we lack defenders and a DM is because of bad planing in the transfer window. I don’t know what to say about a striker, because it’s absurd. Besides, Chelsea added Costa and Fabregas and their team is flying. We don’t have excuses, Wenger has to deliver or go.
He has a point. Just remember the game against Villa and think at the 1st eleven. Only EPL seasoned guys and only Welbeck was the one who didn’t had much training with Arsenal. I reckon that if Wenger does play our “old” players against Chelsea we will get at least a draw.
Good games are there (except Dortmund) and hopefully the results will start to come.
dont forget last season we played 4231 w ozil in the hole.
maybe w arteta out, wenger will go back to 4231.
with 4231, sanchez, welbeck & ozil in hole, we should be pretty good:
welbeck
sanchez ozil ox
for the mid, wilshire hasnt been bad (when ramsey isnt playing)
and we have no choice but flam.
at the back its an epic mess.
And thats why we should sign players pre season so they can gel. Wake up Wenger!!!!!! I have been calling for it for years.
Well done thumbs down!!! You’re a muppet the more time players have got together the better they will gel.
Can’t believe you people put any stock in this thumbs up/down $hit. If I were admin I will take it out in a heartbeat. Or allow only thumbs up. Personally I give only one thumb a month. And that’s one thumb up. Which reminds me that I haven’t gave any this month. So here’s one for you.
@Budd
I have always said where this site falls down is there is no debate and people hide behind the thumbs.
Would members prefer me to remove the thumbs? Give me your yes or no by clicking on the thumbs up or thumbs down please….
@admin
We all support our great club I hope, so why shouldn’t we have a debate. If I am wrong I will take it on the chin and say fare point. The only thing is members have got to get used to it.
PS admin. I didn’t give you thumbs up or thumbs down I would prefer to talk about it 🙂
Okay , well I can only say that I have always listened to my readers views, and if I thought a majority would prefer them removed then I would do it. Let us ask for other members opinions?
I personally find the concept of
like or dislike too simplistic .
Thumb up implies you agree
with everything while thumb down
implies you disagree with everything.
In 90% of comments I like some parts
and dislike some so I would prefer a
1 to ten scale.
This matter has been raised
before a year ago on this site
and thumbs were removed for
a day or so but were quickly reinstated.
While 2 people would take the time to
respond with a comment ten people
may thumb you. Thumbs or like /dislike
are very popular online and seems to be
the most pragmatic option so I would say
leave things as they are but am open to other options 🙂
LOL David! That’s just a tad too complicated! I like to see the thumbs myself to see what the majority think of a comment. Obviously the longer ones are harder to define, but the answers can be seen and rated.
But if the majotity want them removed I will do it!
#Anyway did anyone notice the NO SPUDS pic at top has been restored?
i like this arsenal site better than others, and the thumbs are a main reason.
most of the time i cant be bothered writing.
but i like being able to give a quick thumbs up, thumbs down.
for comments in which there is significant points i like, but also many i dont like, guess what i do: i dont give up OR down. voila.
i also like seeing the thumbs up & down stats.
its not perfect, but its better than nothing. plus its fun sometimes.
Andrew
Wenger will always frustrate the masses.. When someone has been with the club for this length of time it becomes apparent after previous successes that they become ingrained in the soul of the club.. They ‘believe’ they are bigger than the club – Just how manure will be forever living in the past of old whiskey nose..
Wenger has only length of service similair to fergie, as he will never be a Sir and will never win the premier league or champions league this century!
Wengers time has gone.. Not much more to be said on the matter.. I think come January it will be irrelevant if we spend any money whatsoever as we will be out of contention on all fronts..
We cannot allow his previous success to hinder our future.. The club is bigger than ANY one man whether it be Henry or Wenger, so when we wake up the day after he leaves we can look forward to a more positive passionate knowledgeable manager capable of adapting to styles or adapting to new challenges.
Not wanting to sound like our perpetual push for the top 4 but the sooner Wenger goes the better..
@phil-thompsons-nose
How are you good I hope? Well said.
Andrew very tired mate.. Of our failure to spend in the ‘real areas’ we needed.. The failure to see our deficiencies of the small weak or slow midfielders that Wenger has this sick Barcelona addiction to emulate.. When it’s clear that we came close years ago with a similair style yet we had the proper players to do it back then.. We currently play like a children’s team.. Like an under 21 youth team .. Our team has no power purpose or passion .. No heart, hunger or hope..
The manager has built a team capable of winning nothing this year because when you look at the ins and outs we are actually worse off!!!
We all know the reason why we can’t win the league because in my opinion the only midfielder capable of staking a claim to be a great player is diaby.. And without him ( which is usually all season) we have nobody capable of holding the ball up or breaking the opposition play, linking defence with attack..
Arteta and flamini are pure jokes not worthy of playing in a side with aspirations to win the BPL or CL .. Slow and naive.. Too many mistakes and more often than not putting our defence under pressure..
The defence.. How can we go from taking a corner to conceding a goal or very close to..? The manager must have some say in as to why we are ALWAYS exposed.. There’s no maturity in the team.. No responsibility.. Mertesacker is the only one with half a brain but half as slow as everyone else so what’s the point of playing him..? Chambers gets booked nearly ever game..is it his fault or is he desperate in chasing other players deficiencies ..?
Sanchez.. Undoubted talent but Looks like a fish out of water .. Is he chasing other players deficiencies ..
Ozil..talented… But lazy and looks disinterested at times..
Playing with inadequate players or …..?
Ramsey injured again.. Debuchy and giroud out.. Walcott injured since last season.. Diaby…!!!!
Injuries aren’t Wengers fault.. Buying players that we actually needed instead of players no better than what we had is his fault..
Are galatasaray better than spuds..? What will be the difference ..?
The team needs a serious wake up call otherwise we will be out of the CL and BPL race before Xmas..!
and i seriously think that weve gotta beat this galatasaray guys i know these arab turks are good in soccer and cricket but i believe that we can beat them were the finalist of the champions league once and we have ozil who speaks turks and he should be able to persuade these galatasaray not to beat us cuz theyll never win the champions league anyway but ozil with arsenal can win the trophy so ozil has to play his role now not only on the pitch but also in soccer diplomacy oh ozil come on ozil ozil 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁
The Turks don’t like Özil because he chose to play for Germany – the Besiktas fans booed him.
But yes, you have a very valid point – we need to forget about Chelsea, the Galatasaray game is very important, we need to focus on it. A loss, or even a draw could see us knocked out in the group stages.. A win is a must.
and i miss our captain robin weve never been in the top 3 since he left us oh oih 🙁 🙁 🙁
@haywill
It doesn’t matter about robin he is to old know, what matters is our future.
Robin has been god awful so far this season, his talent receded faster than Rooney’s hairline
there should be a 2-thumbs-up for these kinds of comments.
amid all the gloom, the wit shines thru.
thanks guy!
Not acceptable as far as winger is concerned. Our problem is more complex:
Tactically winger is embarrassing himself almost every week playing players out of position and not adapting quick enough to events on the field.
Wenger never addresses the weakness of Arsenal as we know.eg Manolas who we should have signed was excellent for Roma today
The naivety that because you spend 30 years in football you know all. Wengers STUPIDITY in rejecting Fabregas shows everyday.
No one can deny Wenger credit for first 8 years of success at this club but CURRENTLY Wenger seems to be the stumbling block to achieving greater things. I would rather we spend a season out of top 4 knowing we are building to REALLY challenge for BPL and UCL than coming 4th every season and exiting UCL in round 2.
and what if gervinho wins the champions league with rome 🙁 🙁
if he wins hes still not good enough…..
hes not a big name or big tag player
Very right, we need to sign players for pre-season training so the all can gel.
@KickAssFan
So I don’t talk sh-t then 🙂
Haywill, thought I saw u in Senegal de other day with some black chick.
@joejoe. Agree completely, season after season we dont eeally progeess in an aggressive way, we continue to eek along and just do enough/half a job. Welbeck I’m hoping will come good negating the need for a prolific striker but there was no excuse not to replace vermalen and buy a young and powerful dm’er. #halfajobwenger
Wenger is holding the club back.. Only the weak minded want him to stay..
Perennial underachievers..
Galatasaray will be a struggle and I don’t even want to think about the game at Chelsea..!
@phil-thompsons-nose
It’s either Wenger or the board both are accountable.
both. look at us. there is no fan right now looking forward to our upcoming matches. No one here is saying COYG as much anymore. our club is in a mess. and all fingers point to them and the predicament that they put us in.
Since Wenger fails to see the glaring obvious there’s no point in getting excited or looking forward to actually winning anything because the teams he assembles aren’t capable of winning anything other than the race for 4th!
We’ve had too many seasons of chasing 4th.. The money is there but the manager refuses to spend it on the right players because he is either deluded or under strict orders not to blow money..
Either way us fans are getting the piss taking out of us..
We can’t blow money like City and Chelsea, when was the last time we bought a player for a large amount of money who was a flop? I can’t remember, but look at the likes of Torres, Rodwell and MILNER COST £26 MIL. Chelsea have been doing it for years even going back to Shevchenko for £30 mil.
The problem is if a scout makes a report on a player and he comes back and says he has a 65% chance of being a success then they can take the risk. But for Arsenal it must be closer to 80-90%. I wholeheartedly agree we needed a DM and least another centre back but I do also empathize with Wenger, who would you have bought in for the DM role? Schneiderlin? Saints ruled out selling him and he would have cost far more than he should. We all saw how bad Carvalho was, chances are Wenger has looked at all the potential signings in depth and decided against it. I cannot stand up for him regarding center backs tho, there are plenty around that were good enough to be our cover.
Ozil Arshavin Reyes giroud Sanchez..to name but a few..?
agreed. I’m not excited for the Chelsea match at all because I know its going to be a mess. I usually hold out on a little bit of hope even when we’re against the odds, but we’ve just been so terrible. And i dont mean out of form terrible, just downright terrible. Wenger went and changed everything good about last season. The only people playing in their correct positions are our defenders, GK, and striker. The 4141 formation ISNT WORKING yet arsene keeps playing it and we keep fail to win. I’ve always said I’m willing to go through a rough patch is the club is trying to head in some sort of direction with a clear destination. There is no destination. Everyone is just doing what Wenger says just because hes been there for so long. Truth is the brilliant manager that we used to have is gone and is not a modern manager. He’s living in the past and our days of scraping 4th may be over. And now im hearing about Arteta getting a contract extension until 2016. What a JOKE! What has happened to this club. Even the attractive football is gone.
I guess the late arrivals of the Germans and then the last minute signing of Welbz and those new to the BPL could have had an effect on our current form. And ever growing Arsenal Hospital wing doesn’t help either.
But we’re 7-8 matches in to the season. And these are all issues Wenger must have faced in the past, he should already have an answer on how to solve it.
I have been a life long Arsenal supporter. The only thing I have lear’t from this site is we all want the same thing.
Goodnight everyone and admin. I just wish for a win tomorrow GOYG.
We will have no problem at all! Good night…
from your mouth (or admin skills)to the score sheet
hmmm meant to be a “thumb up” comment, didnt come out well haha