Arsenal’s participation in next season’s Champions League remains uncertain following a tumultuous 3-3 draw with Norwich City at Emirates Stadium today.
Arsenal got off to the best possible start with a quickfire goal from Yossi Benayoun, but the visitors led at the break after sloppy defending allowed Wes Hoolahan and Grant Holt to score. Robin van Persie looked to have turned things around with a second half brace, but Steve Morison’s goal five minutes from time means that Arsenal will be watching nervously tomorrow as Tottenham and Newcastle play their games in hand.
Arsene Wenger opted for the same starting line up as against Stoke last week, and his side burst out of the traps, with Benayoun latching onto a ball from Tomas Rosicky and cracking home a superb strike with less than two minutes on the clock to open the scoring. The Israeli’s face was a picture of happiness, with the goal made an even more emotional moment given that this was potentially his final home game for the club.
Having taken the lead, Arsenal started to lose concentration and, eventually, a goal. Wojciech Szczesny really should have done better with Wes Hoolahan’s tame shot, then, on 27 minutes, a Grant Holt effort deflected off Kieran Gibbs and looped over the stranded Szczesny to put the visitors in front.
van Persie and Kieran Gibbs, the latter playing against his former loan club, both had efforts before the break, but Arsenal’s situation was made even worse when Bacary Sagna was forced to withdraw with what was later confirmed as a broken leg. He was replaced by Francis Coquelin and the second period would prove to be even more open than the first.
Simeon Jackson really should have done better and applied the finishing touch to a Norwich break, before Arsenal started to carve out chances. Aaron Ramsey squandered a good opportunity, then Thomas Vermaelen was denied and Tomas Rosicky, who was at least attempting to inject some urgency into Arsenal’s attack, shot wide when well placed.
Arsenal eventually drew themselves level when van Persie turned home a ball from Alex Song. The PFA and Football Writer’s Player of the Year then doubled his tally after being threaded through by Rosicky. That looked to be that, but nothing is ever certain where Arsenal are concerned, and Norwich subsequently broke downfield and levelled proceedings again through a well struck effort from Morison.
There were still chances for Arsenal to go ahead again late on and what appeared a clear penalty claim was turned down when van Persie was brought down by on-loan Tottenham Hotspur defender Kyle Naughton. It was the final major piece of action in what had been a crazy game, with Arsenal made to pay for some inept defending and casualness in their play.
all my years watching football, home or away, live or on telly, I have never ever seen such a cunt of a ref.
Don’t get me wrong, we’ve got ourselves to blame for fuckin it up but fuck me, what an inept cunt he was.
A bit unfair, he denied penalties to both sides.
If it were only the penalties, that would be bad enough. But his decision making and lack of authority through the game was truly awful.
fuck me.robin is not leaving us this summer.the fact that we have not won a trophy in so many years is not painful.to see our best player leave every summer is painful.replacing them is another thing but atleast we should have enough balls to keep the players and the players should have enough heart to play for us. i don’t give a fish’s tit about the following this summer- ‘gentleman’s agreement to let our best player leave’ ‘europe is in crisis’ ‘there is no movement in the market’ i am pretty sure we will have a packed stadium if they… Read more »
To blame this on the ref is missing the point by a mile. At the end of this game Norwich couldn’t of found a weaker team defensively. Wenger is to blame no-one else. We might sneak it if City and Bayern win but Spurs won’t fail against villa and Blackburn.
Blackburn??? Oh you thought that Ian Darke the inept commentator on ESPN was correct. For your info Spurs already played Blackburn last week.
We’ve collected 3 points from our last 4 games. we should be out of sight by now. but we bottled it. as usual. we won’t beat WBA. so lets hope spurs get beaten twice otherwise, i’ll blacking out this arsenal side. bunch of losers.
You’re right mate, but did you see how many thumps down you’re getting for blaming the Manager?
On this forum the Arsenal supporters don’t want to hear any criticism directed to our Manager which I think is completely wrong.
If we’re not careful even fifth place will be difficult for this team that Mr Wenger has assembled
I really don’t think you can blame Wenger. Szcz shoulda had the first goal covered. The defending was pathetic for the second goal; Kos or Vermaelen had made a run up-field and sagna was also near their corner flag, Song should have dropped back, neither he nor Ramsey busted a gut to get back and they left Kieran gibbs woefully exposed and the deflection was cruel. PL players should know to drop back when two defenders run up! Song needs to learnt to sometimes play the simple pass. Shocking defending for the 3rd, they thought they had it in the… Read more »
I just wish to add that even though all the goals for Norwich came due to individual errors from the players, the reason these are happening is because the Manager has a bit of a Laissez-faire attitude towards defending. This arsenal team has a mentality of attacking (also a complacent attitude towards defending against lower ranked teams) which means that even CBs are making runs into opposition boxes. See how we fete TV5 for scoring in the last minute against Newcastle at home. We go Ga Ga over him. But we (and he also) seem to forget that his primary… Read more »
@SG_Gunner you have articulated everything I was thinking. Wenger needs to enforce discipline in Song and Vermaelen’s play. Sergio Busquets can’t go walkies in the middle of a game, he holds his position if he doesn’t Pep will get someone else in who is willing to listen and do what he says. If I were Koscielny i’d dread having to play with Vermaelen, constantly leaving him exposed at the back.
I knew when Monsieur Death-To-Waterbottles tossed his Evian all over that we were fucked.
The ref had a bad game but not as bad as szcesney vermaelen gibbs song coquelin and ramsey defensively they were shocking.
Gibbs and coquelin were alright. Song went missing defensively all too often. They took it to us physically and we needed song to give some back to them. Couple of shocking tackles from Ramsey, thought he should have been sent off.
Ramsey confirmed with this game that he isn’t ready to be playing football for AFC, at least not on the first team squad.
Not using him as a scapegoat; obviously our goalkeeper showed immaturity in his decision-making, our defenders want to be strikers and Benayoun, one of the few players giving it his all and making the effort to defend, was subbed off.
Thought Gerv did well, once he showed up (barely realized he was on the field in the first half).
Clear that we’re not a one-man team… we can’t win without Arteta!
The same referee that denied us the Arshavin penalty and goal against Sunderland last season…
Cry me a River, I cried a river over you. I have been to every home game this seasons, and this was the third time I’ve seen my team lacking in drive and ambition. We the paying supporters and long distance travelers from across the ocean who spent hundreds of pounds to see the Arsenal for the first time are very sad today. The team did not turn up in the first 6o minutes. When we took the led, something happened to Song and TV5 The Pole in Goal was nervous as hell and I really don’t know why. On… Read more »
enjoy your corporate lounge?
I get you wrong of course and I get you as a blind sheep that support Arsene more than Arsenal. Why don’t you just say I feel sick a team that just got promoted last year to the EPL, playing for nothing at our home ground, came to play with spirit and desire. Where is out team that fighting for third and coast 130 mil in wages with a manager who is getting paid 6/7 mil a year that more concern about the world well being than doing his job to win football games against shit teams. This is not… Read more »
too many people love shit
This isn’t a scat video discussion site, fella…
I’m sorry but the replay of the second goal and ramseys pathetic excuse to cover back when he’s meant to be prided on his fitness was a disgrace. That is not good enough for arsenal fc. How we don’t have 3rd place wrapped up now is a joke.
I feel physically sick at the thought of those cunts finishing above us.
we should label this arsenal team ‘the losers of 2012’ if they do. imagine finishing below spurs. absolutely pathetic. that is the level this club has sunk too.
*to
but in the end the question is did we deserve it more than they did? answers no, a clear no, when the going got tough the arsenal players shut down
i fear for Sagna’s foot. i hope he didn’t twist a muscle or something.
it looked like the right foot from his previous injury.
oh god why are we losing key players on such important games
he broke his leg, we’re probably more fucked than we already thought we were
I heard Sagna’s foot is broken
Seems we have a patent on late-season collapses. I think it’s pretty stupid that we end the season as we started it. And I think the lap of appreciation should be officially renamed the Lap of Boos – since they’ll annoy home fans every final home game these days.
i don’t know how they can play hardball when they, the players are the ones to blame for our lack of trophies. they are the ones to blame for poor defending. Please, if Van Persie leaves, he would have done it to himself. missed like 5 really good chances today.
The good players you mean, not the one the world can see they are not Arsenal standard and your beloved 7 million man Arsene trying to prove the whole world wrong!!.
I thought the Almunia and Denlison days behind us, now he is got Ramsey to prove to the world he is right. Did you see when Ramsey was taken off we start playing better????? So next game Ramsey will start again because Arsene want to prove the world wrong.
The players got cheered and sung as they rounded the last part of the lap having avoided some Norwich cheering. I still haven’t decided if the Canary fans were taking the piss, or not, yet ! van Persie got duly sung his songs and a chorus of We Love You Arsenal greeted the palyers and manager and backroom team as they approached where I was standing behind one of the goals. They need to know that there is still some love for them, although a lot of people had left, I thought if they didn’t get a move on there’d… Read more »
Thanks for that. Here in the States I didn’t get any coverage of the lap, so I could only guess. I also figured the booing (if any) would be nothing compared to last year.
van Persie is utter class. Both off and on the field. Class player!
Whats was this pre season football?
And who was it who was jogging i mean walking back for the first norwich goal?
I can remember another player not long ago who was excoriated by us for “jogging” back for a United goal. However, the current incarnation has the right passport, so I doubt the fall-out will be as severe as 1.0.
It was Song. Szczesny blundered but the Norwich player shouldn’t have been allowed a fee shot from 7 yards out in the first place.
Coquelin should be replacing Song next year. I’ve officially had it with him. He can’t defend, he doesn’t track back, and what the hell was he doing giving that ball away for their 3rd?! With 5 minutes left?! If Wenger had any balls whatsoever he would walk in that locker room and tell Song and Ramsey they will never wear the shirt again. Then he would walk up to TV5 and tell him his days are numbered unless he decides to pull his head out of his ass. And I’m not sure what he says to Gibbs yet
Agreed. They played a diamond with Hoolahan at the tip, that’s Song’s territory. No excuse for not having him in his pocket.
I said it a couple of weeks ago, Alex Song is not disciplined enough to play defensive midfield. He needs to understand he there’s to defend. I’d take away a few of his assists this season for him doing his job properly and changing a few draws/defeats we suffered into wins via him doing what he is put in the team to do. When I hear transfer talk about him I am not fussed. 1) because he doesn’t defend 2) Coquelin can replace him or at least be groomed for the role 3) we have Jack to com back to… Read more »
Ha, Arteta — slow as he can be — at least gives it his all to track back, and plays defense. Benayoun, too. How is Song so bad at defending as a defensive midfielder?
85 mins, we’re winning and Gibbs (who I thought was excellent today) was standing on the halfway line, ahead of Zhervinyu. And what happens? Only at Arsenal do you see that.
Stuck around for the lap of meh this afternoon. Did not like the look of the wave RVP was giving.
I’m no waveologist, but it looked like goodbye to me. Hope I’m fuckin wrong.
Agree ref being completely clueless cunt. But hasnt this season already given us enough lessons how to play a game out evenif the refs a cunt .we bought it on ourselves by that kinda defending for a minute till rvp scored the third i think we were just play acting and teasing spurs but the third norwich goal made me realise that how this season has been.
I thought Gibbs had a mare today, he let Holt get all away with too much and lost him most of the first half at least.
Holt picked him out because Vermaalen and Kos closed him out of the middle more often than not.
Goodbye Mooro can’t understand how blind you are. we need change
What are you on about?
I don’t blame Robben, a world class player deserve to win a trophy and play with a team that full of world class players. We have a man that managing our club who is so stubborn and puts his personal stubbornness above the club needs. A manager that rewards and encourage mediocrity to only let good players with no option but to leave because of his refusal to spend the money the market required to buy top players. At the same time, his false economy and rewarding mediocrity has taken more of our budget to sign the required good players… Read more »
Congratulations to Wenger’s serial bottlers ! Does this seem familiar ? It should as we had third in our hands last year with two games to go and along came Villa with nothing to play for – and we blew it ! Deja vu It is abundantly plain that this Manger is incapable of motivating the players and getting them in the right frame of mind for key games. This has been the case for the last three years now and it stands out like a sore thumb. Birmingham in the CC Final. Villa last season. Wigan and Norwich at… Read more »
I really think that the buck should stop with the players. They need to be self motivated too. Don’t forget that Wenger’s led a team to an unbeaten season. Sometimes you look at the players. I really think Mikel Arteta galvanises the mentally of this team, he ‘s so calm in all situations.
The players don’t pick themselves. The players don’t decide their own tactics and substitutions. If Wenger takes the plaudits – rightly – for the successes, how come he is not to be criticised for the failings ?
Wenger is to blame, what on earth did he start Ramsey for, this guy has shown all season that he lacks composure, good ball control ,passing and finishing. And these are supposed to be the attributes of an attacking mid-fielder.
Ain’t seen it on tv yet and not sure about the rvp pen shout as was to far away. But today for me we lost it in midfield. Song Ramsey and gervinho all had shockers. The defence had little or no help at times.
Shocking first half display from everyone considering what was at stake.
Gutted.
Was ‘lucky’ enough to be chewing on a prawn sarnie in one of the boxes today, right behind that goal. It was nailed on.
The lino looked like she’d shit a brick when I glanced over in case she had to call it. She just waited for the ref to decide.
What is the point of linos these days? I’m sure they used to help the ref call these things.
Do you think she saw the handball off of one of Ox’s crosses, I clearly remember replays being shown of a Norwich defender defending with his arms spread eagle and Ox’s cross was clearly blocked off by this guy’s arm in the box. The replay showed the head ref not in a position to see it clearly, but the lady AR had a clear view, maybe she was focusing more on watching for offside tho
we are shit you need your eyes tested
I am sure someone will correct me but I cannot remember a gamethat we have won this year when Ramsey and Song have been playing together. Niether of them wants to defend and thay both seem to think that there is an ‘i’ in team
Newcastle in August, 0-0
Everton 1-0
And I agree with you about Song. But Ramsey is a team player, he’s been alright since the Wigan game. Nothing to complain about really. Song is just shirking his defensive duties, especially as Ramsey is nowhere near as good as Arteta at defending.
As soon as we took the lead after our third we let them have the ball again. Song and one other needed to shield the defence and pass
the Ball to death, but we kept flying forward. The shape of the defence was terrible for their 3rd. Was Jenkinson injured? Why not stick him at RB once we were in the lead and move Le Coq into the middle. 2 points from three home games is not acceptable.
A decent manager would have made sure that his side shut down the game at 3-2 with 5 mins to go. But not Wenger. We were so open it was pathetic.
All 3 goals were defensively awful.
Why blame wenger alone by now going through the season the team should have realised what should havebeen done.
wenger barely had a chance to to shout in joy before they equalized…no, a team with players like benayoun,song,rvp,koscielny and vermaelen should know by now to protect a lead with only 10 mins remaining and should tell the others to just keep possesion
I can’t see blaming wenger for this one. As a player, you have to have a footballing brain. I’m afraid this lot is brain dead.
How is Wenger at fault for 11 professionals switching off?
It was pathetic on part of the players, not much Wenger could do about it. They were just BAD today and Norwich were miles better!
I love fatgooner always says how it is unlike the moran mooro
How is the manager not to blame????? He has 7 years to train and build a team that not to switch off. It is not one off, just few games ago against Wigan we were playing with 10 men while one of our player was being treated and we didn’t slow the game down for a sub to come on and conceeded two goals in 3 mintues!!!. Did you see City Mancini against the Manure when Le cunt missed that chance late on, he took him off straignt away. Where is our Arsene today would give Ramsey and Song a… Read more »
squeaky bum time has begun! With no one but ourselves to blame for it… how on earth did we let a crucial lead slip with only 5 minutes remaining at home to Norwich? Poor poor poor.
I’ve been a defender of Ramsey this season but he was horrible today. At least, in previous performances, he could be counted on to track back after making a mistake. Today, he was guilty of ball watching and jogging back on defense numerous times. The fact that Wenger took him off for Ox shows how woeful his performance was. I’d take an Arteta on crutches over him at the moment.
Did this set of players really want to put themselves on the line for the club?
The last 4 Games have been a nightmare.Bottling on a major scale.
If we get lucky tomorrow wil they be able to raise their game against WBA
next week?
Thoroughly disappointed at today’s performance.3-2 up yet no common sense
to try a play the game out.
Oh dear! Here we go again. Just when we needed a decent, professional performance at home, we play like a side who have just spent last night on the piss. These end-of-season collapses are fucking, fucking annoying. In truth, today’s game just exposed, yet again, the limitations of Arsene Wenger. Defensively, we were a shambles, and even Chez had a nightmare. Somehow we have managed to score three at home and yet still not beat the might of Norwich City. Pathetic. The limitations of Wenger favourites like Gibbs, Ramsey and Gervinho were plain to see. Our squad is so weak… Read more »
I’d disagree it was Wenger’s fault. The team that he put out today can have no excuses for not finishing Norwich off. We have to blame individual performances from Ramsey, TV5, Gervinho, Song and Szcz, who all played very, very poorly. Unfortunately, they’ll be our best players next season after the inevitable exodus that’s coming.
Rad carrot…….. I’m sure Gervinho didn’t pick himself. He hasn’t put in a good performance since the african cup of nations, and should not of started instead of the ox. That is down to Wenger.
I think if Ramsey is a starting player for us next season, I might have to reconsider my love affair with Arsenal. That really would be pathetic.
I don’t think this loss can be put on Wenger. If he is such a shitty motivator, how the hell did we go on that run a month ago? If you’re a professional footballer on silly money, I don’t care who the coach is, you shouldn’t be jogging back on defense and look so positionally naive.
@Grumpy-gunner. We went on that run because Ramsey was injured. Stats dont lie, go have a look.
‘Thorough’ we had Arteta then remember. It’s funny how for some, when things go well it’s some named fantastic plyers and when it goes wrong, it’s the manager!!!
Don’t be silly Fatgooner, If Arsene fucks up for the next 7 years you would come here and someone wouild still tell you it is not his fault, the players, the board and the tea lady to blame, not him for picking the team and work with them 7 days a week in training. Final point, thank god he can not blame the fixures or tiredness for out bottling this time, we have been playing a game a week for the last 3 months. I hope he leaves our club and take these blind sheeps with him to where ever… Read more »
You really hate Wenger don’t you? I doubt you’ve ever liked him. He’ll never do right in your eyes and the ones he does you’ll never see.
Clam,
I love The Arsenal and this man is making us a feeder club (he can sell for 35 million and complain he has to buy for over 12 mil), paying high wages to players don’t deserve to wear the red and white and don’t sign what we need.
Now, a question for you….
You really love Arsene more than Arsenal, don’t you? I doubt you’ve ever thought he did wrong. He’ll never do wrong in your eyes and the ones he does you’ll never see!!!!
We clearly don’t have the squad to challenge on four, three, or even two fronts. Maybe a season in the Europa “Rest Your Best” League will be good for us. I mean, people go on about how we won’t be able to attract world class talent if we can’t offer them CL football, but with the odd exception we don’t really buy world class talent anyway, even when CL football has been assured.
Arteta has been a big miss. No discipline in the midfield.
True we dont’ sign world class players, but we sign top top quality special players when available in the market.
World class player will win you the league, but those top top quality player will make sure we don’t lose our top 4 trophy.
well im tired of that top four trophy, id rather have a real trophy
Game over lads, I’m afraid.
No chance of CL now. No chance of keeping RvP and Theo. We’re just going to have to lay back and accept it, just like the team did here – laying back and accepting a long, smooth hump up their bottoms from the Norwich lot.
Feel sorry most for Sagna – the only player who has played his heart out this season, and for all his hard work, he misses out on the Euros and CL football next season.
Disappointing, We’ll have to withstand a whole season-worth of ‘Mind The Gaps’ now.
A little harsh, perhaps. I’d say Arteta, Koscielny, Sagna, and Van Persie have all played their hearts out for us this season. But yeah, 4 out of 11 isn’t great, and we’ve missed Sagna and Arteta for crucial portions.
i don’t mind losing theo. RVP is going nowhere till next season ending. let him leave after that. I don’t care. He was the one who missed the chances and we keep overlooking it cause of the amount of goodwill he has on his side. He’s not that exceptional. he’s fucking good, but he’s not so clinical that we can’t replace him.
You don’t care if Van Persie leaves? Missed Chances? He scored 2 great goals today, and because of his incredible movement is in a position to score much more than is normal. He can’t do everything for this club, he needs help. He was voted best player in the premier league by the PFA and FWA. He has scored 30 premier league goals this season in 37 games and will win the golden boot. He is, almost singlehandedly, the reason we are in even in a position to claim 3rd place. If not for Van Persie we’d prob be lucky… Read more »
Absolutely. We desperately needed to keep Robin, but that’s passed us by now. Really is game over, we need to accept this – it’s not being ‘detrimental’, it’s not being ‘wrong’ – we have lost the fight for a CL place, and we have lost our best player. Simple as that. I wish people would stop banging on about how Villa might beat Spurs tomorrow – it’s not going to happen. If you wanted to be pissed off, I think the Wigan game was where it all went wrong – this is just par for the course, currently. What will… Read more »
It looked like a defo pen to me, why would he Not score from 3 yards. Can you believe we were talking about being 11 points clear by the time Spuds played after their semi, it would be laughable if it was so painful. When are this team going to start being cunts to refs and letting them know when they fuck up. Adams and Vieira were always in his ear.
We may not now qualify for a tournament that we are not good enough to win, and we may not now get players that we were never going to sign in the first place
What we have done is given the board the excuse to not spend the money they were never going to spend anyway.
All it means is we take some shit from spurs fans if you are unfortunate enough to know any.
Am off to have a few bottles of peroni and contemplate life the universe and arsenals inability to hold onto a lead.
Happy fucking days.
Great points Volders, I’m on the London Pride-ironic I know.
This season has been absolute bollocks and an utter shambles we have managed to drop so many unnecessary points we now have to hope Villa manage to get something from there game with Spurs tomorrow. Which I see going as well as Gary Glitters baby sitting service went. I would kiss goodbye to Champions League and to a bigger extent I would certainly kiss goodbye to any established players wanting to come to the club as hardly any of them will want to play in Europe’s second string competition unless we decide to offer an added bonus by offering higher… Read more »
i know blogs usually defends ramsey, but there is no way he can do that now, jogging back while right behind the norwich player? fuck off
Ramsey is the worst midfielder in the league.
As i’ve been saying for months Ramsey is Brazilian in disguise he is the new Denilson
I doubt that very much, but I’ll admit I have a difficult time imagining him on the pitch for any of our immediate rivals, including Tottenham and Newcastle. They wouldn’t play him. Why do we? I’m looking at Wenger right now. Isn’t the received wisdom that you introduce young players gradually? We’ve used the PL as a training ground before. Sure, it works when you have a genius like Fabregas on your hands, but most players aren’t ready at 20 to play consistently at the highest level.
today was a real shocker, usually he gives a 110% in every game no matter how good or bad he plays but today he gave about like what?? a 60% ….
no real effort in attacking or defending
It was actually Song (for the first goal).
Thumbs up for Wenger to leave. Perform at final home game of season was shite. We didn’t bottle it just not tactically astute. For me time for new management. But let’s not heap blame on Ramsey. He has great future. Blame should be targeted at the real flop this season and unfortunately that’s Mr W.
LOL… a great future? Can you fervent Ramsey defenders ever admit he’s been awful this season? Were we watching the same game today?
The idiots who continue to defend Ramsey are just plain blind. I want him do well, I really do. But I can’t believe that so many fans are blind to the fact that he is simply. THE WORST MIDFIELDER IN THE LEAGUE at the moment. he really really is. we are indeed a contrasting team. We have the best midfielder(on form) in Rosicky and the worst midfielder in Ramsey, all at the same time. fucking epic. fucking poor.
Hopefully all you Ramsey bashers will choke on your words next season. A few bad games doesn’t make so much talent useless. Yes I have a few Spuds friends and have been taking the flack but I try and remember that no player is a robot.
Same old end to a season, players thinking ahead to the summer, manager can’t motivate players enough to beat likes of Wigan, QPR, Stoke or Norwich, whose to blame of yet another superstar moves on? He might find them but Wenger is not taking us forward anymore so thanks RVP and bye
Thank god Podolski’s already signed – couldn’t shine him putting pen to paper after watching today’s performance!
Shine = see…grrr iPhone!!!!!
I know what Mooro means about the ref, but I honestly think the crowd were so tense in the grove today that any decision by the ref seems bad. Will have to watch on tv to see it properly but just feel because the game meant so much to us that any dodgy decision just seems ten times worse at the ground.
You might be right mate, but what summed his game up was a bad foul on someone, can’t remember who, but the ball broke for us and we went hareing down the left. Instead of playing on he brings it back to tell their player off when we had the advantage. Not even a card.
Anyway, not the ref’s fault we naused it up. Yet another game on a long list where we play a so called lesser team and don’t put any pressure on the player with the ball. Drives me up the wall.
Getting too old for this.
Can’t get my head around it mate, play like champions against city then Wigan and now this. We was saying on the way to the game as you do, that the defence is sorted, now with podolski the forward line looks like its done and we may only need one or maybe two quality players in midfield then it’s a proper go at the title next season. But now I just don’t have a clue anymore. Been watching the arsenal for donkeys years now and I honestly have no answer to what’s wrong. is it mental is lack of ability… Read more »
Mental. Has to be. Put em up against a City and they know they’ve gotta work their bollocks off to get anything. Against the likes of these, they think they can get away with one bollock. One bollock isn’t enough. Ask Hitler. I was doing my fuckin nut from the off today as they weren’t at it. No pressing the player, no pressure on the ball. Even then we claw it back and still manage to fuck it up. Like you, seen a lot but this Arsenal side still amaze me in the number of ways they can fuck it… Read more »
Norwich are a tired side, we should have dominated them, FFS we’ve only played one game a week since Jan. our squad seems so fragile, we can look like we’re only 2 signings away from a title charge then a month later look like a mid table side. We seem to get slightly worse each year and our method of failure seems more spectacular every time. I could cope if we were just shit but it’s the hope that kills you. I hate to say it but if Mourinho was available I think I’d take him tonight, I know I’ll… Read more »
Mooro you bore the hell out of me yawn
Mooro is gay
Corp, if you keep downing the London pride the fact that your wife ain’t there will be a blessing mate..your performance could end up being as good as the arsenals today.
My wife found that comment highly amusing Volders.
Winterlovin- wow what insightful and interesting comments you make.
i wouldnt if i were you. I couldnt take living those 90 mins all over again.
I’m tired of being disappointed… it physically hearts…
yea it hurts alright. can you imagine how it hurts for Rvp? he scored 2 goals for us but yet we still bottled it.
some of the players never learn don’t they? its like they dont want to be responsible for their actions. Here’s the real truth – Norwich wanted it more than us
imaganing the pain RVP goes through can we really blame him “if” he would decide to leave…?
our players need to man up, stop slacking off, and get shouted and roared at, slackers need to be axed from the squad. recently every team wants it more than us. norwich shouldnt have even cared what happened today. theyre not figting for 3rd.
Underrated, hardworking Benayoun, too! He and RVP were running their butts off while everyone else just jogged around with their mouths hanging open.
Not the happiest 32nd birthday… but maybe he’ll be happy to go back to Chelsea now?
Serious questions need answering. Going on a 8 game undefeated run merely papers over the cracks. Yes it forced us back into contention but to follow up with such pathetic dispalys that may mean we miss out on 3rd or 4th. Why are we are so feeble at the end of every season? A lot of players need to look at themselves long and hard. If we don’t qualify RVP may go. That will be a big loss but you can understand if it happens. If we don’t qualify no one decent is going to be attracted to come and… Read more »
Guaranteed if Arteta hadn’t gone down we would have won most of these last few games.
Manchester city and Astonvilla to decide rvps’ destiny?……Anyway, sir chesney should be stripped off his title til further notice, he was complacent throughout the match……..song, holds the ball too much, led to the third goal. Ramsey, well…..was ramsey, he’s awful in tracking back and most of the time he seemed a square peg on a round hole. tv5 and kozzer need to be kept on their toes by a new signing (vertonghen). Gervinho was excellent, no fault there. gibbs was meh. Coq was brilliant, though too attack minded hence the constant exposure at the back.
FC…… Gervinho excellent! hahaha you are having a bubble………
Hardly tracked back, kept running down blind alleys and had one shot on target I think.
His direct play needs to be noticed though, provided an inch perfect cutback for gibbs who needless to say squandered it. I felt he had a better second half and the highlight was the cross he delivered for rvp (still hurting)……..was dangerous on the flanks, forget the tracking back, bodies were everywhere so I hardly noticed that. Swell game for him.
That was a ‘game changer’ of a match. Our immediate history could be deeply effected by today….RVP, Theo, Wenger,new signings, Europa League, Thursday/Sunday football and price hikes. Bunch of chokers.
Real game changer = Arteta going down. Sadly, we haven’t won a game without him, and when he isn’t available, it means Ramsey gets more playing time.
But yes, agreed… things were really looking up when I thought we’d finish third.
Hoping Chelsea manages to screw up CL… think it’s quite likely, given their shambolic lineup, but who knows?
Maybe all of you can give Song a pass because he finds these over the top passes every now and then, but he’s a fucking defensive midfielder who doesn’t like to defend! He was awful in our own half today. TV5 was a joke, Gibbs was a joke, need I speak about Gervinho and Ramsey? The middle of the season run only papered over the cracks. This team is terrible. Great we won some big games. So have the bottom sides. We can’t beat Wigan or Norwich at home? Wenger please go, you are the most tactically inept coach in… Read more »
Not sure I want Wenger to go but I do want someone to come in and show this team how to defend, how nothing should be taken for granted, how complacency loses you goals and matches, how thinking you’re Billy Big bollocks doesn’t mean you don’t have to put in the effort. I’m more fed up with the players than i am with Wenger but I realise he must take responsibility for this complete and utter mess. For that is what it is. If Wenger went who would come in. I like Martinez but Wigan were shocking for most of… Read more »
I understand what you’re saying, not sure who replaces him. But do you really think Ferguson has to bring someone else in to motivate his team and teach them how to defend? If the HEAD coach can’t get his players to show up on a day like today, who will?
The reason we struggle without Arteta is that when Song goes crazy and loses all thoughts about defense, Arteta is experienced enough to cover. Ramsey is not able to reel Song in and Song does virtually no defending – look at the first half.
Honestly, I said that back when we beat Liverpool, but Song’s been horrible defensively since October or so. He just doesn’t defend anymore, just tries chipped passes to Van Persie all day long. I can see why we’re interested in M’Villa.
Disagree with Wenger being the most tactically inept coach in the league though.
You’re right, I should have said most tactically inept coach when it comes to defending. Couldn’t agree more about Arteta though. The sad thing is, if we had a real defensive midfielder, Arteta would have been allowed to shine in an attacking role all year. Song is the prime example of complacency running through this team
I love Le Coq, but I watched the game on a crap stream, it looked like he did some silly back heel type thing just after we sores, down by the corner flag, who ever it was it was criminal, I doubt you’d see it in an U 11’s game.
Agree, but how tactically illiterate must our midfield pairing be not to watch each others movements? When I play 7 a side at a very average level we all try and keep some sort of shape. It feels like ground hog day today.
you are talking like you doesn’t know tactic at all.
song is not that he doesn’t like to defend. (where have you been this whole season. song has been tackling, intercepting like crazy, and at the same time has contributed around 10 assists). he has to join the attack otherwise our front players are outnumbered. and, you think with ramsey dwells on ball, passes ball to badly for other players to receive, and when he dribbles, he falls down or dispossessed, can get things done?
What?
english is not my first language, live with it
Maybe if you actually read something, you would have seen me question Ramsey.
why should he have to live with it? you are on an English language forum.
and maybe you should look at the second goal. when song (who isn’t attacking), loses the ball and fails to track back, leaving the defence to play 2 v 3.
Ramsey was also at fault there. but pure laziness and lack of professionalism from song.
My feeling for this match: – When Benayoun score: We might trounce them, or hand brake on to justify the feelings that the players might take this game like it’s an easy game.. – 2 goals scored by Norwich: Usual laps of concentration and combinations of bad luck. – 70 minute: Began to think that at least a draw might come in handy. – 2 goals scored by Arsenal: Yes, at last we can win this.. Come on Arsenal.. RVP break Ronaldo record. – The equaliser: Damn it, did the players also thought the same think and not close up… Read more »
Seven………the number of heart attacks I nearly had during this game.
when our defenders go forward there is no real smooth transition, our entire formation goes to shambles, we get caught instantly, we need to find a good formation that allows our defenders to go forward while others cover them at the back instead of leving one man at the back, the results of which were evident today
Say what you want about Mertesacker, at least that guy would hang out back, so he wouldn’t have to run too far on his stilts. 😉
I can only think that these players simply cant handle pressure. How can so many of our players play this badly in a game they were all so painfully aware was a must win? its inexcusable after the season we’ve had. It was like watching kids, no balance between attack and defence. It’s almost like certain players consider defending beneath them, like they cant get their shirts a bit grubby. If i was Vermaelen I’d be worried about game time next season. He’s looked average in a number of games this year. What happened to the Verminator? At this point… Read more »
Let no one blame the reff, we got what we played for. Our defence was porous at some point and we were so unlucky in the final minutes but when are we gonna learn that football is about the team, look at Song holding on to the ball and giving it away for no reason, if he had passed the ball to one of his team mates their third goal wouldn’t have happened. Let’s hope for our rivals for third spot to lose their matches, because it’s not in our hands anymore. We are the ones who suffers most (the… Read more »
how can a match report comments be without person to blame (ramsey). take out 66 sec of yossi goal. it’s basically 0-2 until ramsey went off, suddenly it’s 3-2. the blaming part even makes more sense if we won. fact is we didn’t. who to blame? no one but all the players. sorry but everytime we are leading, we put on the handbreak. what’s the problem of midfielders to tracking back a little just to protect the back four. arteta’s absense is really a big blow. no midfielder who can cover others. also, why the last 5 mins, suddenly the… Read more »
“how can a match report comments be without person to blame (ramsey). take out 66 sec of yossi goal. it’s basically 0-2 until ramsey went off, suddenly it’s 3-2”
That makes a lot of sense.
/Sarcasm
Stop searching for scapegoats, Song was defensively awful too. No one played well except Rosicky, Benny and Coquelin.
well, u didn’t read the second paragraph.
that “/Sarcasm” you put means you don’t understand sarcasm in my comment.
Rvp’s conversion rate puts him at 23%……and after this game i can’t really argue with that.
what?? wenger out?
come on guys, even if we are not winning the title, yet. but i rather to have wenger until we win the title, just to prove again that to win, we don’t need to splash cash like manure, citeh, chelski, liverfool (sp*ds is not worth mentioned).
ramsey’s workrate today is a big question. what, the, fuck. golden boy. even if we keep on hide the stats that makes him look bad, people who watch arsenal matches, know how bad he is. song is too good to be put as defensive midfielder. he can create and has vision as central midfielder. to have another defensive midfielder is really a big plus. if we can’t get big name like mvilla, i don’t mind to have coq as defensive midfielder, rather than ramsey as central midfield. yeah i know, “but ramsey is an attacking midfield, ya da..ya daa..”. a… Read more »
You say a midfielder is a midfielder, he has to help his team defensively…then advocate for Song to be a central midfielder? Ummm hello?
what are you talking about?
song as central midfielder is to help more attacking rather than focus more on defensive tasks. song is better offensively than ramsey. ramsey has no defensive skills, and reluctant to do defensive tasks.
The spineless jellyfish collapse once more. Blaming the referee for our inability to beat Norwich (who were in League 1 two seasons ago) is missing the point. Look at the goals we’ve conceded to teams like Wigan, BLACKBURN (FFS), Fulham, QPR and now Norwich this season. How easy was it for Norwich to get the final equalizer… there is something fundamentally wrong with the team’s mentality and I can’t look anywhere but the manager for reasons why. Wenger does deserve some credit -the team has done incredibly well to be in top four contention after the summer we had- but… Read more »
Totally agree with that bobolancs and if you look back at some of the comments made by Hill Wood, you will see that the whole club have this complacent attitude. That coupled with the boards lack of ambition have led to this. Now they want to increase ticket prices with the possibility of no ECL football. Now is the time for the board, the management team and the players to man up and hope for a bit of luck at St james’s and Villa Park!
I’m pretty sure their equalizer came from a horribly mistimed offside trap. Looked like Vermaelen stepped up and Kos didn’t. To me, that’s on Vermaelen. Why not play it safe in that situation and track your man back???
Mark Hughes and QPR (Fulham last season) caught us out with our predictable play. Hughes told them to attack the channels and to attack when Verm rushed out of position.
Arsenal are very predictable and easy to exploit. Wenger hasn’t noticed this yet, but any team can score at will against us. Arsenal score, opposition retaliate immediately.
That is why Wenger’s team cannot close out a match, defenders INSIST on running all over the place.
We need a hairdryer.
I have never seen a more lazy inept performance from a defence or keeper in such a big game in my life. RvP has to be thinking WTF do I have to do with these fucks to win? Chezzer looked drugged. Gibbs hopeless. Back in the CL relegation scrap for fucks sake.
And seriously what is the point of champions League football. We have no chance of winning it with this team. We will get knocked out the minute we face anyone half decent and the money we make out of it all goes to fund the deep pockets of these useless fucks (with obvious exceptions) that make up our team. As I’ve said it will be more of a test if we don’t qualify and Gazidis, Kroenke and Wenger will actually have to do something positive for once.
Wolves match: we’re winning three nil—–instead of going for more goals, we defend imperiously and with intent……………….fastforward………….
Norwich match: we’re struggling to win it three–two—–instead of defending resolutely, we decide to go for more goals. wtf!
Talk about upside down priorities!!!
aaargh!,i’m fucking pissed.
Some people saying gervinho had a bad game :/ I thought he was one of our best players in the second half alot of our chances came from his good work. Our too captains tv5 and robin need to stand up and be counted after today if we are willing to praise him for all his good work we have to look at the things he does wrong too. I hope we can clear the loanees out so we can bring in some better players, cause were falling at the moment
But did he make a difference? Did he score? How many has he scored this season? How many since ACN? Sweet fuck all. Not good enough.
[…] 来源：[Arseblog News] BY JEORGEBIRD […]
i remember an interview of Armand Traore recently that said he was petrified while playing against the 8-2 result against Manure. A professional scared of his profession…Why was he played then? because we had virtually no other option. hmm OK i guess we had no other choice. Aaron Ramsey’s performances have been below par of late…Why was he played then while Ox has been busting a gut and generally putting a decent shift in and le coq has just come back from injury after a decent run? I don’t necessarily hate Ramsey anymore than i dislike Theo Walcott’s moments of… Read more »
Why do you hate Park ? He was not given the chance to prove himself.Do not follow the Mob and make those inappropriate comments.Is it his fault being on the bench?.Do you know how good he is for his national team.Just think before you post.
cheers
A non-Brit who loves logic and The Arse(obviously)
i dislike the fact that Park is warming the bench to a high temperature and not playing, all while getting paid to do so. I certainly do not hate Park.
I’m sorry i didn’t make that clear enough, its also pretty hard to hate someone who literally hasn’t done anything to deserve it. And apperently his national form means sweet fuck all at Arsenal because Wenger doesn’t pick him and would rather run RvP ragged.
And I might add this attitude of Wenger’s that qualifying for the CL is the goal, that passes down to the players, you could almost feel it, fuck it, we’ll get fourth, that’s all the boss wants, not gonna try too hard today…and too many believing their own hype. Let’s hope not but that third goal could be a massive moment of change downward for the Arsenal.
norwich can join stoke as hitmen who know a thing or 2 about football.
Some of you can complain and mope but i wont. You are all within your right to get annoyed.
But Ill be staying behind this Arsenal team, because we came back fighting. We were 2-1 down at half time, and RVP thinks “fuck this” and gets us into a winning position. Im proud of that.
Now will the Naysayers please go back into the woodwork, I have to take shit from my mates and i accept that, but not other Arsenal fans, we’re in this together.
But when its costing me the best part of 2 grand a season to watch….. I retain the right to moan as much as I want! Just because we moan doesn’t make us any less of a supporter, and as a supporter if getting on the clubs back causes a change of tac next season which leads to better things…. I might stop moaning!
From what I see, you’ll mostly find people pushing agendas and looking for someone to blame (blame Wenger, blame the ref, blame Ramsey, blame Song, blame TV, blame Szcz, etc). From what I saw today this team was too knackered to press hard enough and one of our major defensive issues was exposed, when Arteta is not in the side our midfield doesn’t cover for one another properly. There were a lot of individual mistakes too, and the players have to take the blame for them. All in all, it has been a strange game, and although defensively we broke… Read more »
Gutted. If by miracle still qualify for CL, then the blessings must be counted. No reason this shouldn’t be in the bag already. Lost to Wigan, draw vs Chelsea, draw vs Stoke, draw vs Norwich. 3 pts out of 12, no one to blame here, I’m sorry. Szczesny has to be culpable I’m afraid. Not sure what the hell he was doing on the 1st goal, I could have saved it, it was right AT HIM. No chance on the 2nd goal obviously, but crap positioning for the equalizer. A couple of goal kicks straight out of play, unacceptable. And… Read more »
Ramsey haters galore today,what a surprise-yes,he had a poor game but he wasn’t at fault for the first Norwich goal,that would be our Polish saviour’s mistake -he wasn’t at fault for their late equaliser (he wasn’t even on the pitch!) ,that would be our whole defence/team- and he wasn’t any more at fault regarding the result today than RvP,TV5,Song,Chez,Gibbs,& Gervinho, but he’s an easy target isn’t he? And fuck off fatgooner,if you blame Wenger for this result you’re more foolish than you seem,if 11 professional footballers can’t defend a lead for ten minutes ,at home, against Norwich City then the… Read more »
Hello? Who coaches these cunts every day? Who brought these players to the club? Who motivates them?
If this was a one-off then you might have an argument, but this defensive shit has been going on for years now. We’ve conceded almost 50 goals this season!
This group of players don’t have the defensive skill or mental strength to get results when it bitterly matters – and that IS the fault of the manager.
For all the jibes he gets about not being able to run and not being able to jump, at least Per knows where to stand. We ain’t conceding 3 goals with him in the side, at least I don’t think so. Koscielny did the job of 2 defenders today, such was Vermaelen’s lack of discipline and concentration. As for Song, I think the praise he gets has gone to his head. Or his hair. Wouldn’t pin today on the manager, thought his subs were good. Ox was dangerous and Chamakh got more out of RVP. Loved the Coq jeering up… Read more »
Well said. I actually wrote twitter earlier how we missed Per. He was such a calming influence on the game. I actually preferred to see him with Kos instead of TV5. They complimented each other very well. Kos the aggressive tackler and Per moping up behind him. TV5 does these runs because sometimes the midfielders are going nowhere and lack that incisive pass. He obviously has been given the blessings by Wenger to do so.
The mentality of this team does not favour defense. Hence the mess
Agree with you ‘Taking The Mik’ in all except replacing Song with Coq, when Coq makes a mistake who would you replace him with?
Can anyone tell me where the verminator went?
What fucks me off most is teams like Norwich turn up with their ‘plucky honest’ team of English journeymen who spend the whole game kicking balls away and wasting time. Actually I guess what fucks me off the most is that our well played players don’t have the mentality to kill a game off when needed. At one point Gervinho was chasing a Norwich player over the half way line who was running into a 30yd area of empty pitch in front of our defence. Just clip his heels and take a card, it seems like our players a football… Read more »
Whatever, can’t fault Norwich. I didn’t think they were overly dirty, and we should have had that game in the bag.
Not overly dirty? What about Sagna’s leg?
Spare a thought for Bacary. Second broken leg of the season. With luck we might still make the CL, but no amount of luck is going to get Sagna to Euro 2012.