I don’t really feel like talking about the number of headers Song won (he was 4/4 but one led directly to a goal) or passes in the final third first half v. second half, etc. Because the reality is that neither Arsenal nor Norwich were very good at much, except the one thing that really matters; Norwich converted 13 shots into 3 goals. That’s a rate of 23% and high conversion rates are a hallmark of this Arsenal team over the last few years.
With that in mind, let’s do this:
622 – Arsenal shots this season¹
231 – Shots on goal by Arsenal
71 – Goals by Arsenal this season
31 – Percent of shots on goal that Arsenal score
170 – Shots by Robin van Persie
82 – Shots on goal by Robin van Persie
30 – Goals by Robin van Persie this season
37 – Percent of Robin van Persie’s shots on goal that he has scored
17 – Percent of Robin van Persie’s overall shots that he has scored
149 – Shots on goal by players not named Robin van Persie at Arsenal
41 – Goals scored by players not named Robin van Persie at Arsenal
28 – Percent of those players’ shots on goal that they converted into goals
9 – Percent of those players’ overall shots that they converted into goals
27 – Percent of Arsenal’s shots taken by Robin van Persie
35 – Percent of Arsenal’s shots on goal taken by Robin van Persie
381 – Shots conceded by Arsenal in 2011-2012
47 – Goals conceded by Arsenal
12 – Percent of Arsenal shots conceded that the opposition convert into goals
562 – Shots conceded by West Bromwich Albion
47 – Goals conceded by West Bromwich Albion
8 – Percent of WBA shots conceded that the opposition convert into goals
Graphs of Arsenal’s worsening defense:
So, the numbers above indicate that Arsenal’s offense mostly runs through Robin (duh) and that the defense is quite leaky. Not that you needed my numbers to prove that. But problematically, Arsenal’s defense has gotten steadily worse since 2007-2008 while Arsenal’s offense is staying mostly steady.
The chart above is Arsenals League goals for and against during all of Arsene Wenger’s tenure. What’s worrying is that for the first 11 seasons there wasn’t a clear pattern defensively, the line zigs and zags all over. But in the last five years Arsenal seem to have been found out and teams have become better at exploiting Arsenal’s weakness, thus the red line is steadily rising.
Focusing in on those last five years we can look at conversion rates and see that Arsenal have been conceding more goals on fewer chances. The conversion rate is simply the percentage of shots on goal that the Arsenal or the opposition convert into goals. The gold bar is Arsenal’s offensive conversion, the blue line is the opposition. As you can see, five years ago Arsenal only allowed 17% of the opposition’s shots on goal to be converted and now the opposition are converting at a 37% clip.
Not only that but the gold bar used to be above the blue line and over the last two years that has changed. Meaning that Arsenal’s opponents are better at taking their chances than Arsenal are.
A similar pattern appears if you look at the number of goals conceded per shot (just any old shot) which has climbed from just under 9% to almost 13% in the last 5 years. As I wrote in the numbers section of the column, WBA have allowed 181 more shots than Arsenal have this season and yet WBA’s opposition have only scored 47 goals.
To put that into perspective, if Arsenal allowed the same number of shots that West Brom has and kept the same conversion rate, the opposition would have score 69 goals. That’s because Arsenal concede goals on 12% of the opposition’s shots. That might not seem like much but Bolton Wanderers have conceded 73 goals on 623 shots for a similar 12% defensive conversion rate to Arsenal.
In a game of very small margins, the difference between 4th and 6th place is often down to just a few tenths of a percentage point.
Farewell Pat Rice
1964 – Year Pat Rice joined Arsenal as a player
1980 – Year Pat Rice left Arsenal for Watford
528 – Appearances for Arsenal as a player
2 – FA Cup medals (1971, 1979)
1 – League Title (1971)
1 – League and cup doubles (1971)
1 – Appearances in “Five minute finals”
1 – The top song of 1980 was “Call Me” by Blondie
4 – Years he played for Watford
1984 – Year he returned to Arsenal as Youth Coach
2 – F.A. Youth Cup titles as a coach (1988, 1994)
3 – League Titles with Arsenal as assistant coach
4 – FA Cup medals with Arsenal as assistant coach
∞ – Respect I have for Pat Rice and his 44 years of service to The Arsenal
Don’t know if you really want to follow anyone on twitter but I’m there @7amkickoff and also on 7amkickoff.com.
7am
1. League play only in this section
It confuses me as to why some of the best players in the world just dont turn up to play when they should
To be fair, our lineup was pretty awful. Understandable, given injuries, but seeing Ramsey in a starting lineup ought to inspire dread in any Arsenal fan’s heart these days.
Big problem — we’re not a one-man team. We haven’t won without Arteta, and I doubt we’ll be OK next game, either. 🙁
we should just start the ox in the middle he keeps the ball better than the ox but can also drive forward, and vs milan he covered for song, why he doesn’t start I don’t know, wenger must know something we all dont
Because playing the Ox would kill Ramsey and our stubborn manager wouldn’t be able to prove the whole world is wrong and he is right, err just as he did with Almunia and Denlison. Any player that is not Arsenal standard needs 3 years till Arsene can see it!!!.
if you objectively look at it, we along with man city and tottenham probably have the most talented squad in the premier league, but lets look at who won trophies this year, chelsea-fa cup, liverpool-carling cup and man united/city for the premier leauge. So whats going wrong, how is it less talented squads can win trophies and beat teams like barcelona, for me something in the dressing room has to change, no matter how good our squad has been for the past few years we cant seem to win, there is a recurring problem and unfortunately it seems to be… Read more »
I think the overwhelming feeling nowadays is one of bemusement, bemusement when I see the contrasting performances of the game vs Milan and then the performance against teams such as QPR and Wigan. The real funny thing about this whole situation is that if they hadn’t scored that 85th minute equalizer, we’d all be talking about the ‘mental strength’ of this team and how they’d come back from a 2-1 deficit. And maybe that’s what separetes the Milan games against the QPR games, that one moment when instead of conceding to a jaw-droppingly stupid goal, someone on the team just… Read more »
Why the Bemusement? in the Spuds, Milan and City games we could carried ONLY one average with flashs of Brilliance player that is Theo. In the other games we added Ramsey and Theo or Ramsey and Gervinho. No matter how good you are as a team you can’t carry two average players in the team that has no intelligence, good technic, moving the ball at pace and can take people on. It is like playing with 9 men.
@CLF
In all fairness to Gervinho he had a good game against Norwich. The midfield left the defence awfully expose when Norwich was playing the long balls to the wing. The midfield seem a bit headless without the charm and magnificent of Arteta.
“…the contrasting performances of the game vs Milan…”
You didn’t need to go any further than that. The contrast between the performances in the two legs of that says it all.
If you didn’t know, you’d swear that was two different teams.
Boy have we missed the calm authority of Arteta at the end of the season
Can’t believe there were some doubting his qualities earlier in the season, but he’s been the glue holding our midfield together.
The Ox has to start against WBA. There can’t be any question of it after yesterday’s fuckin shambles.
Book mark this page. Ramsey going to start as the Man stubbornness know no limits. He is going into ego trip and forgot to do what we pay him for. He is at the stage of thinking he is doing us favour by managing our great club, while we pay his 6/7 mil wages.
Mr Wenger if you reading this, you have humiliated us enough and made our great club a feeder club for the like of City and Barca. Please leave NOW.
0 – percent chance Wenger is reading this.
Yes, Cygan’s Left Bollock, I personally have been greatly humiliated by 15 years of Champions League football. I hope to be humiliated in the same way again next season.
I feel like the best replacement for arteta he is kind of old might be leon britton of swansea, he doesn’t seem to get talked about a lot but he never mis places passes, and is kind of a midget like xavi
I mean that arteta is kind of old
its 30 goals for RVP
Aye. Thanks.
Some players were just piss poor. We should splash the cash and get Hazard and play him alongside arteta and song. Ramsey just isn’t good enough to play for us.
Like selling Ramsey(a squad player midfielder) will solve our leaky defence .
But I understand we need a scapegoat ,it easier than admitting our defence is SHIT
How about this… Ramsey is currently shit, as is our defense. And, to be fair, our defense looks a lot more suspect when our midfield vanishes into thin air (only to reappear now and then to deliver a shockingly ugly tackle).
Easy to have a scapegoat, easier still to play armchair manager and pick the transfers. If we had Hazard, where’d you suggest we play Wilshere? Or even Diaby or Rosicky?
Good lord!!!, did you just mention diaby again?……..for fucks sake, leave it.
John,
We do you come here to talk about football if you dont EVEN know what position Hazard plays?????.
What is Hazard got to do with Wilshere and errrrrr 86 mintues a season Diaby having game time????
Ok John lets agree with you and say Hazard play in the same position as Jack, Diaby and Rosicky. Ramsey plays in the same postion and he had more than 40 start this season!!!!!!!!!!!!.
If M’Vila comes to us Ramsey should be sold to AC Milan or 5pur2! If M’Vila doesn’t come Ramsey should be sold anyway! Why? 1. He is not very intelligent player 2. When he runs there is an invisible force puling his ass otherway (simular to 5pur2 Niko Kranjcar, amazing coincidence) 3. When opposition has a ball and arsenal forwards are running to take it Ramsey is running like a bee from flower to flower not even thinking that he can win it. 4. He didin t have a decent shot on goal for a looong time 5. Remember Rosicky… Read more »
Defence minded coach pat rice should have been replaced along time ago. Yes he’s a hero but still…. Defence has been shit for past few yrs
The reason he has not been replaced because he is a “YES” men, with Arsene being a control freak, he only keeps and plays the yes men not the out spoken or someone that point out to him why he is wrong. To prove to you Arsene thinks more about his mental experiements than the team or winging trophies, this is the best stats to prove it….. 2007/8 – 31 goals 2008/9 – 37 goals 2009/10 – 41 goals 2010/11 – 43 goals 2011/12 – 46 goals (and counting) This showes after seven years he is not going forward but… Read more »
37%. So over the course of a season Arsenal’s defending has led to conceded goals from the opposition the equivalent of which is only matched by the league’s best player (RVP). Nice of us to even things out a bit. He’s an astonishing player.
14 – number of cunts that played for Norwich today
You can’t blame Norwich at least they came and attacked and played decent football even after they took the lead
Attacked Sagna too. How the fuck are we supposed to win at The Hawthorns on Sunday without the Bac?
Infuriating season. We don’t have a 100% record against any of the promoted teams. Loss to SC, QPR and 4 points from NC
Yann M’Vila? Vertonghen? New signings will help but new coaching staff will help, I think that’s where the problem lies. I believe Wenger will sort it out, but he most definitely cannot do it on his own. Adams? Keown? Bould? I’m concinved one of these defensive monsters will be able to have a positive impact, not to forget Sol who obviously retired just the other day. Seeing the defensive figures really put it all into perspective and shows how shit our defending really has become by putting undisputable facts out there. In Wenger we friggin’ trust, now cummon Le Prof,… Read more »
But he won’t get a defensive coach, he is been a football manager for over 30 years and 50.000 games. How can you tell him how to do his job??? He won’t bring anyone no matter how good they are as long as they know the word NO. Ladies and Gents we have Arigo Sacchi part two in our hands, that still believe he is the best defensive coach and need no help. Oh wait this is prove how out of touch, blind, deluded and use the stats when you want to lie to the blind sheeps. what about this… Read more »
That was our best back four today and we concead 3 against Norwich at home and don’t look like we give a fuck, I was at game and the casual approach by song and szez at times was unbelievable I won’t even go into Ramseys performance I just hope this dos’ent effect the RVP outcome because we could end up fucking fifth,we can only hope for city and villa wins now but i’m not to confident about that
EIG, I agree with you totally. I thought I was the only one who has noticed that Song has been very careless with some of his passing. Yes we also know that he delivers some peaches for RVP to slot away. He has lost the ball too often. If guys like Song have off days then you need someone like Ramsey come to the party. And this is where the problem in mid field has been. Arsenal have performed better without Ramsey. The young man is clueless in midfield and should be sent out on loan to get more experience.… Read more »
10,000 – Number of times I have said “I don’t believe it” following missed chances,appalling defending,Song being dispossed,Ramsey trying to be cute,
Walcott bottling it and key players being injured this season.
About the same as the last couple of seasons!
I was going to say it ought to be a drinking game. But it really is one.
Ends with, drink your Saturday afternoon into oblivion because you’re so sad about Arsenal’s pathetic display. (Yeah, I’m in the States, so it’s usually afternoons I hate after Arsenal losses.)
0 – number of penalties Arsenal have been given this season at home due to cunt referees.
http://www.debatabledecisions.com/
look at the table of bad calls against and we have the most, absolutely rediculous
Chist! What a great blog.
I really really hope we’ll still be discussing the CL next season. For now I will drown my sorrows 🙁
Bring back the good old days of 442 when we where winning things with that formation. Things has went down hill since 433.
What like the 442 we had at 3-2 up with 5 mins to play? you could play 640 but unless your players know what their job is and respect that you still aint going to win. you also need fans that know what football is about too. the fact is the way arsenal set out is with 6 defensive players (gk back 4 and dm) and 5 offensive. yet still people want to blame the offensive players for our problems. it seems some players are devoid of blame whilst others cannot escape it even if they are not playing. the… Read more »
please buy it for us…and play them against WBA
I would love to see Martin Keown come in to replace Pat Rice. We need somebody who’s really good defensively: somebody who could coach the team to close out games like today when we just need to kill off the match.
But would Wenger listen to him?
Love to see it FG, but just can’t imagine arsene getting in someone with a character as strong as keown..he won’t be a yes man and I honestly feel that’s what arsene will be looking for. The total opposite in fact of what we need right now.
I would put a tener on him being Cygan!!!!!!.
He ticks all the boxes for the BEST yes man you can find around. But with a sweet left foot.
I know that it’s hip to talk about how dreamy Robert Pires is/was but right now I’m dreaming of Tony Adams and Martin Keown.
We seriously miss Arteta. Maybe Tim, you could do a ‘by the numbers’ at the end of the season comparing our midfield with and without Arteta.
Thought about doing it today, so it’s on my radar.
Our team without Arteta = not worthy of the EPL. Even the bottom clubs demolish us without the little Spaniard.
Over-exaggerating, duh. Sheesh!
I see people bashing Ramsey again and screaming for more creative attacking midfields. The REALITY is that Szczesny had the worst game of his carreer and that my grandmum would have had more positional awareness for their third goal.
Not an either/or… both poor.
Koscielny was defensively outstanding apart from a few stray balls over the top he was as efficient as always. Martin Keown needs to come in and sort out Vermaelen who decides to goal hunting 20 minutes when the score is at 1-1 in one of the most crucial games of the season.
Vermaelen sometimes thinks he is a basketball player .trying to win the ball and start an attack ,Completely lacks calmness.He is still a top player tho
Yes, farewell Pat Rice. WANTED: Are you old, Irish, have pasty white legs that you don’t mind showing off with shorts rain or shine? Arsenal Football Club is searching for a dynamic assistant coach to replace Pat Rice. And by “dynamic” we mean “you don’t mind Arsene Wenger yelling in your ear every time a decision goes against us, or a player makes a cock’s balls of things,” as well as “you shout instructions that nobody in particular listens to!” Seriously, I love Pat Rice, but it’s no secret, is it, that the no. 2 is just there to do… Read more »
Have some respect pal, how do you even know what the training looks like, Pat could be a monster behind closed doors … He used to be in the past and seeing as he has 44 (might be off and apologise if I am) years striving to make arsenal the best (including captaining us through a number of tropheys) I would imagine he is nothing like the YES man everyone seem to know!!!!
Good bye Pat Rice, true arsenal legend …
I remember a European game (away) last season, first half was a horrific terrible shambolic fuckup. My fingernails were chewed right down to the knuckles.
Wenger was red carded and had to sit in the stands for the second half.
Pat Rice took over and what a relief! It was like watching a different team. Suddenly The Arsenal had defensive shape. It was an almost miraculous transformation.
Methinks Pat Rice knows his business.
Good luck and enjoy your future. Pat Rice Arsenal legend
Go on,bash on ramsey.Did anyone see the rest of the team walking back when Norwich countered to score their second? This arsenal team is good and we have seen how good it can be (milan 2nd leg,man city home game,Dortmund home game and blackburn home game),But they seem to lose to smaller teams when it counts the most.My view is that Arsenal are being outfought,they are complacent in the worst way.Norwich,Wigan,Fulham and QPR are not better than us,they just worked harder.This team thinks it just has to show up to win,then when the opponents show no fear,they end up startled… Read more »
Why do people always defend Ramsey like this? Can we all agree he’s horrible right now, and that the rest of the team was shambolic today as well?
I usually find myself defending Ramsey, but he was absolutely shocking today. Much too ponderous in possession, misplaced 1-2’s, didn’t run back hard enough on the goals, almost got himself sent off. Our change in fortune with the introduction of AOC certainly wasn’t a coincidence.
@Thiago. You start an argument that we shouldn’t bash Ramsey and then slay yourself by listing matches where we, as a team, have shown how good we are. But the problem is mate, all those matches you listed had something in common, Ramsey didnt play in any of them except for 14minutes against City. Your stat should convince you, if you are not too blind to the truth already that is.
Thorough,
Yup I was just about to say that, Thiago just Thiagoed it by mentioning those games we played great.
The QPR, Wigan (start after 8 mintues), Chelsea, Stoke and Norwhich the commen thing is Ramsey started on them with Theo or Gervinho. As I said before the team could JUSt carry one average non Arsenal standard players but two is asking the impossible.
@Cygans left foot. Thanks mate, great to know some people still support Arsenal FC (once managed by a Coach Wenger) and not Arsene FC (now managed by Bank Manager Wenger).
Norwich played with two up front, but we defended all game as if they were playing with a single striker. It was suicidal really. Waaaaay too many outnumbered situations at the back, in part due to the midfielders not getting back, in part due to our fullbacks (who generally operated like wingbacks today) being undisciplined. We had the numerical advantage in midfield (3 to 2), and we really started making hay on it in the second half, when Rosicky and the Ox ran at them. That’s something that’s missing from Ramsey’s game, and we definitely lacked that drive forward for… Read more »
Your point about Ramsey is precisely why I dislike him as a player. He can’t or at least doesn’t run at defenders and put them on their back foot. For an “attacking” midfielder, that’s a pretty damn important skill. And lacking that, Ramsey is not a very threatening player.
It seems strange to me that our defending has gotten worse this year. I’m generally happy with our defenders, even while I’m not happy with our defending. Verm, Sagna, , and especially Kos are really solid defenders in my mind. And even our supporting defenders seem to be doing reasonably well. I guess the issue is more with team defending than with individual skill/effort.
Agree, but think the issue is one of not defending as a team. When we do it and follow this 3 second rule Tomas was talking about, we look great.
Today the midfield and attack sat off and just let the player on the ball have time and space, mainly to loft one up to their big unit. Then they’d win the second ball and go from there.
Nothing we haven’t seen before, but it keeps happening time after time and it’s bollocks.
I really hope arsenal buy Dempsey. Yes he is old but he’s got experience and he is a fighter. Will be a good replacement for Yossi. Importantly, he is versatile (can play in 3 or 4 positions in the current formation), and he likes to pass a ball. Dempsey, along the with Podolski, a defender (someone who reads the game well, something we lack that without Mertesacker), and a solid defensive midfielder (Mvilla maybe) should prove to be enough for a title challenging squad next season, or so I hope. But to do this, Arsene will have to clear the… Read more »
Same old Arsenal and another end-of-season meltdown. There is a serious attitude problem with Wenger’s team. Does anyone seriously believe this squad has the right attitude to challenge for the EPL title? After a terrible start to the season, we managed to crawl our way back into the top 4. And after meeting our only target for the season, the players go walkabout. They think they’ve secured CL football, when the season is far from over. And Wenger might bemoan about poor defending and players attitude, but he needs to take a good hard look at himself and figure out… Read more »
He can’t motivate the players because he is busy thinking about the crisis in the european economy and the lack of movements in world of football transfer market.
We still can get the best out of him though, let him manage a small club in France, and use that club as our feeder club or send him our dross that he signed on loan until their contracts run out.
Challenge for the EPL title? Fuck that! We need to win at West Brom on Sunday.
If we fuck that up we won’t have a challenge, Europa League is the kiss of death.
I wonder if Ramsey will start. Our win ratio with him in the side is hopeless.
I feel like we need to have a big post about how awesome Pat Rice has been. 44 years of your life. I cant see myself giving 44 years of my life for any single cause… Is that even possible for a human being?? 44 years!? seriously!? come on… that’s insane…!
Spartcus talk: let me go drown sorrow in cunt and wine……wait for me.
Feel for Pat Rice. This is not how he would have wanted the last home game to end. Can people also stop insulting him with this “Yes man” bullshit? He is an Arsenal man through and through and deserves our respect.
It’s out of our hands now. We might still grab third. Predicting results “on paper” just doesn’t work anymore, at least not for this league.
Any stats on our performance with vs. w/o Arteta?
I am so glad that after I, Midfield Corporal and a few others have insistently said Ramsey was our major problem, a lot many people are agreeing by not thumbing down hitherto cursed comments. However we must note that even though Ramsey makes the team look terrible when he is in it but he has absolutely no blame whatsoever because he doesnt pick himself. Our problem has always been and will always be Wenger. Is it so hard to agree on that and work together as fans to see that we dont get our weekends ruined so often? Wenger lives… Read more »
Yup…
Second that ARSENE OUT.
In reply to post by ‘THOROUGH’ Overall an excellent post. I agree with most of it, but certainly not the last two words. As for Song, he’s one problem for sure (in my opinion). I’ve discussed him on another site to the dismay of a handful of Song fans. Against Norwich he simply didn’t help his beleaguered back four. His job is primarily the same as that of Flamini, Edu, Gilberto, Petit or Viera before him. They handled the defensive side of their duties superbly. But Song… his lack of pace also concerns me, and his tackling lacks the strength… Read more »
Alan, You forgot to blame the tea lady for not putting enough lemon in the tea as Arsene instructed her for the result!!!!!. Get out of it, you are an Arsene supporter more than The Arsenal. We give him 7 years to build a championship team with 140 mil wage bill (10 mil more than Byren) and 6/7 mil annually and you telling us we can’t get a manger to beat Wigan, Norwhic, Fulahm, Wolves at home?????? beat Sunderland in the FA cup or Brimms in the CC final???. Stop it, Arsene’s time is up. If he has any self… Read more »
It’s very easy to say Wenger Out, but who to replace him? The minimal criteria would be to have top european class experience, comfortable with taking shit from the press & media, competitive in transfers while given a shoestring budget compared to the other top teams and not to play Stoke-esque goblin king football. You do realise if he goes so there will be an exodus of players. The likes of RvP, Vermaelen, Song and etc would probably hand in their transfer request. With the likes of Oil baron clubs and european top elites grabbing them for cheap prices. Then… Read more »
Every year some manager gets praised for saving a hapless team from going into relegation (watch as people will suck on Martin O’Neil’s two incher at the end of this season), Moyes gets a blowjob from every pundit for doing so well with so little, Harry gets mad props for having the best Tottenham side in decades but Arsene who consistently gets his team in the champions league, has won more silverware than any Arsenal manager and has his team in third currently (this despite playing most of the season without his top back four intact) gets a big old… Read more »
@Cromulus
Seems like everything Arsene do these days are criticised till no end. I’m not saying he is always right but I respect AW for taking so much shit from all front and still wants to give it all for the club. After all I’m sure he has a nice pension pot to live on by now.
@ Josh
I could not agree more. It’s patently obvious that the man does what he does because he loves it and become he loves being at the club. If finishing high so consistently was so easy then every manager in England sucks with the exception of Ferguson because he’s the only other one who’s done it with any consistency in the age of billionaire football club playthings (and it really helps when your club is such a thing!)
I’m sorry, but Wenger is in elevated company for a reason and that reason is that he knows what he’s doing.
He is paid 7 million a year to get results and win things not try to use our club for his personal agenda. Football is a result base industry, he has not delivered for 7 years. In fact he is taking us backwards. If he has any decency or self pride left, he should leave our great club and go find a job in a small club to be used as a feeder club. He is IMMORAL, talking about economy crisis while happy to bank 50 million in 7 years while wining sweet FA. You just know as soon as… Read more »
@CLF If Jurgen Klopp was to take over what would that say about him? He build the Dortmund team and if he was to leave them without winning everything under the sun and defend them then I would be hugely disappointed because it show he lack the competitive edge required and if he would leave the team he built he would easily leave Arsenal if the likes of Citeh and Real was to come knocking. Even if we do change manager there is no guarantee that we will be able to win trophy therefore I doubt he is the man… Read more »
Arsene wrecks players? Come off it, if anything he makes many average players better! And before some of you go off calling me an Arsene fan… I’ll save you the trouble, I am. I am a fan of everything Arsenal, I have no choice, I think I was born this way. So Ramsey on his bad day, that’s my man. Ramsey on his good day- Get in! This has been the season from hell, I have been wishing it over for months, and we are almost there, still hope we get 3rd, I would have taken that a month into… Read more »
the hardest thing for him is to try and consistently get results when there are people like you going on rants like that. it’s far from certain we’ll beat west brom next week, but if we do, and we come third, above chelsea’s criminal owner, and liverpool’s 100 million, that will be an incredible achievement.
the thing with arsene that’s terribly wrong is that he has made us have faith in a bunch of losers except some exception. what more can Ramsey offer! ! diaby, .let wenger go he is so over that stubborn Guy.di mateo won a trophy already so what is wenger thinking ..he is done for real.let him have the much anticipated break. huh
Let’s not over complicate the result. Two goals Norwich got were lucky, one a deflection, the other an error by the keeper. Factor in the penalty not given and two good chances missed by VP any other day we would have hammered them.
That said. Interesting point about the goals conceded 7am our inconsistency there this season has killed us.
[…] Match report – Video – By the numbers […]
This cant be Arseblog.com. People who speaks ills of Ramsey dont get their comments closed after 10minutes again?
Can’t really see it but…come on Villa (not including their withered testicle headed manager,for he truly is a cunt)!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2MDLMWRUfY&list=UUTu9JGsBM0kRuIrNzAZ284A&index=1&feature=plcp
Sagna didn’t get injured through controlling that ball ^
Can people stop talking about ‘defensive’ coaches, sounds like we’re talking American Football. Defending isn’t just about taking the back four and drilling them, if your midfield leave you exposed your bolloxed. You defend as a team. If Song can’t do the job he’s paid to do then get rid of him and get some in who can. The midfield two don’t have to be a tactical genius’s to realise if one go forward the other covers and if you take the lead with 10 mins to go you don’t have to score again, just have to keep the ball.… Read more »
Love to be a fly on the wall at training or in the dressing room. Wouldn’t you? I 100% understand why CLF, Thorough, Fatgooner and others say enough is enough, and there has to be something inherently wrong there. I just wonder if the players are just plain thick though? Do they just nod their heads and go ‘Dur, yeah boss’, when he tells them what to do, before doing the complete fuckin opposite? Don’t matter who the manager is, with 5 mins to go, do you really need to tell Alex Song not to fuck about with the ball… Read more »
I think that’s it, we have a squad of Tim Nice But Dim’s. If I hear another one of them spout this shit about not being complacent against poorer teams or needing to concentrate for 90mins, I think I’ll drive over to Colney and shove my membership card up their fucking Arse.
The last 4 seasons our first XI has been as good as anyone’s, but it is astounding how we are always one injury away from total mediocrity. It wouldn’t surprise me if Spuds and Newcastle let us back in today but well still fuck up against WBA.
Moore,
I hope you know why we pay Arsene that amount of money and call him a manager? To kick the players out of our club if they don’t do as asked of them in consistent bases . Not give them a hug and watch them make the same mistake again and again for 7 years!!!!!.
If they don’t listen to him and they don’t get motivated against small teams, they should not play for Arsenal. PERIOD.
Just listening to Man City game on Talkshite. Stan Collymore only has one tone to his voice, he just gets louder as something exciting happens.
I think we will finish 4th by default. Spurs will get 3rd on merit and Newcastle will not get the points they need and I can’t see us beating WBA. But have a horrible feeling chelsea will win the cl final. Even if we do by some miracle keep 3rd I can’t see rvp signing. The bloke is an intelligent man, and the problems at the club are probably more obvious to him than anyone. He must have an idea about arsenes thinking on transfers. At 29 he has one more contract in him and doubt money is now his… Read more »
This whole leaving for trophies thing is not as big as it’s made out to be. And not as honourable either! In some ways, I would rather leave for money. What use is it going to a ‘better team’ that splashes money around to put all the talents together in the hopes of winning. If you said no, they would just find someone as good or better than you and still win. So what difference would you have made? If I can guess at what Van Persie will do, based on how I perceive him. He should be looking to… Read more »
You’re probably right Volders, but as I write this Villa have taken the lead, get in there you beauties. I think I’m going to be sick with nerves.
I think we’ll draw last game and get 4th on GD ahead of Newcastle.
Corp, I’d love to get third, and can see the posts conning now about doomomgers fuck off etc were the best team in the world blah blah blah but I want third for one reason only. And that’s to deny spurs and shut thier mouthy fans up again. I don’t think third will get us better players because I don’t think the board will spend the money and as it stands this squad I beleive is not good enough to win the cl regardless. So third for me is all about finishing above spurs. Picked my tickets up for WBA… Read more »
Voldermort, your last two posts are spot on. There’s a world of difference between being in the CL and competing for the CL.
We’re nowhere near the later so it’s serves two purposes – finish above the mugs and attract players who aren’t in it regularly.
RVP he needs to be competing, not just taking part in at his age, so if he decides he has to move on to do that, fair enough.
The man has done his utmost to get us there this year and been let down by others.
I get what you mean Volders, like you said yesterday, I doubt not qualifying for CL will mean we’ll lose out on signing any players as we’re probably not on the market for Hazard, Goetze or Erickson. Vertognen will probably sign anyway and will improves us but he’s not going to turn us into title challengers.
After taking shit from Spurs fans for 6 months, then throwing a bit back over the last few weeks, I pray we don’t blow it next week and give them bragging rights.
Mancity have done us a favour now for Aston villa to follow suite.
Forget what I said yesterday, forget the previous 37 games.
Win next week and 3rd is secured and send Harry to a twitchy summer.
Newcastle have lost and Sp*rs have drawed! There is somebody watching us from above with a very sick kind of humour..
Now it’s up to us again! Go gunners!
It’s back on!
Battle of the Chokers next week then. Shame we’re not playing those mugs – the only team more liable to fuck it up than us.
Shame we have to rely on other results but thank fuck for that this afternoon!
yes yes yes.i always kept the faith.we are back.we have had an amazing season and we have to finish it off.we deserve 3rd.yes yes yes.
mind the gap you cunts.
Great. Now we have to go through all that again. I hope they don’t spend the week at training thinking Norwich was a point earned.
We’re due some big performances let’s hope they show up against WBA and knock them for 6.
Or win 1-0.
Lady luck lifted her skirt and she’s wearing Arsenal knickers!
Now if we can just give a proper professional performance in the last game, get the 3 points, make 3rd safe and for Wenger to finally realise that we’re not good enough to challenge without proper investment…………..
My health can’t take this bollox much more
Rottenegg cold spurs just drew and newcastle lost so it’s still in our hands. I’m not getting carried away though, we have to win the next cup final……come on the gunners!!
3rd could make all the difference for summer transfers and contract negotiations, especially if chelsea win and Arsenal don’t have qualifying matches to play.
Can we beat WBA? I’m not sure…
How did coq do at RB? I thought Yannaris looked good when he played there, Djo was aweful at RB, I hope he is not recalled.
Most important not to lose next week, a point will keep us in 4th, unless newcatsle can win by a 17+ goal margin
For every sad defeat there is a goal scored from a living legend.
For every dropped point there are sp*rs bottling it more than us.
what can we make of this season??? Only the final game will tell.
Thank fuck for villa now show up at west brom and get the fucking win