We don’t quite know how to react to that one. A terrible Arsenal performance, but in the end a very important three points so we can go on in this competition and lose to somebody good.
Here’s how the players rated. Feel free to add your own ratings and comments below.
No alexis, no party ! What a player we got !
but for how long, frankly? didn’t see the match — were we really thaaat bad?
It wasn’t great by any means, but it was nowhere near as awful as everyone here is making it out to be.
It was a pretty poor showing from Arsenal compounded with Andelecht bringing their best performance in their club history
You are clearly another young man with limited knowedge. In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s Anderlecht were realtively formidable opposition. They scored 29 goals on their way to the (equivalent of) the Europa League Final of 1970 (and no group stages in those days). They knocked out Inter Milan in the semi-final and beat Arsenal 3-1 in the first leg of the final…….and that was the Arsenal team that went on the following season to become only the second team to do the domestic double since WW2. They went on to win two European trophies in the next decade.… Read more »
Anderlecht were poor, but we were poorer. They had zero attacking threat all night, and then they could’ve scored 3. So yes, we were pretty damn poor.
But it’s clear that this team is lacking confidence, man for man. Only Alexis and Welbeck, the new recruits, look up for it. Hopefully this great escape will provide some confidence, and once that comes maybe we’ll look a little better.
Anderlecht are an average side at best, but to say they posed zero attacking threat all night is simply untrue.
Maybe the rest of the team are so fed up with too many years of Wenger stubbornness. I would be.
Exactly…certain players like Cazorla needs to be dropped though
Anderlecht were so comfortable they were showboating with 3 minutes to go. Jack wilshere looked like a goalie making his debut in the champions league (in the centre of midfield.) Aaron Ramsay played like the welsh judas. Flamini played like the ball was covered in Ebola. And that’s where it stemmed from. It was the worst midfield performance I have seen. At times it looked like the Chelsea 6-0. We’d “attack” Jack would pass to an Anderlecht player and suddenly there was loads of them pouring though acres of space in the middle of defence. Ander fucking lecht. The three… Read more »
What are Jack and Aaron playing at these days? AW should really be on their backs telling to play the easy ball when it’s on.
There is a time for showboating and it’s not when we are playing not very well.
Sometimes its easy to see why Ramsey will be a good player. Great vision. But he forgets the simple things on most of the days. All to do with the amount of expectancy on his shoulders. Asking him to make late runs into the box and score goals. Great. Asking him to be the creative midfielder is asking to get screwed. Somehow it seems like every goal we score must be a Wilshere vs Norwich kind of goal.
I love the new summary at the end, I wish i could say the same of our performance.
I don’t like that Campbell still doesn’t have a photo. The man has played enough for Arsenal that someone, somewhere on this Wold Wide Web has posted a photo of him in a match. He should be considered as an option out wide from the start, not thought of as anonymous substitute.
He came on and looked like he was trying to do the right thing but his passing was atrocious. Simple 8 yard passes being underhit by 5 yards, longer balls being overhit. He was picking the right ball to play but his execution was horrible.
I think the guy has potential but you saw tonight why he’s put on as a sub and not a starter.
We’ll correct that but it’s nothing personal.
We’re going to win on Saturday as well !
Hopefully a darn sight more entertaining as well.
Fuck , we were shit tonight.
Thank fuck we’ve got Alexis. Bit of a one man band at the moment.
Can we get some more football players like him from somewhere?
You know, young chaps who are prepared to run about a bit for their weekly 100k?
Hello, my name is Kieran Gibbs and i am better than this guy.
Man Utd: oh hello Kieran, how much did Arsenal pay for you?
Gibbo: 0, how much did you pay for Shaw?
Utd: 32m… ffs
We heard you the first time. Posting the same thing in a dozen different threads isn’t cool.
Especially since it wasn’t really funny the first time.
funny? wasn’t a joke, i was dead serious. proud of our gooner Gibbo that’s all.
Give Podi more playing time, Arsene. This guy can score goals.
Poldi…PR King
85 minutes average
4 minutes awareness
1 minute lethal
Not the best ingredients on a football ground
It’s best to use him only for the minute
#banter
Poldi true value is around the box, not tugging the sideline around half way.
how many time he has been given the chance to proove himself and fail. my granny would have a
score that goal yesterday and she is 87 yearrs old and hate football.
Pod has a deaddly left foot and thats s it. poor workrate, as lazy as balo when nothing work, no thanks
Look at the stats mate… he has the highest goals per mins played stats of all Arsenal players. Likewise, his record for Germany is equally exceptional. There are player who – if bought into a team – must be used for their strengths and the team insulated against their ‘weaknesses’. That – for me – is what Arsene seems to have completely lost in recent seasons: Poldi given so little time and then shoved onto the wing when he does get on, when it’s patently clear from his entire career that he’s a master predator in front of goal… The… Read more »
You know we’re having a bad day when Flamini doesn’t get his yellow card. Aside from that, we got the result that counted. Hopefully we can recover from that performance for this weekend, COYG!
Got to the stage now where I am pretty much past caring. One abject performance after another, our team is turning into a laughing stock, fuck knows what is wrong with them
I know, its because we expect the boys to be title challenges but right now they are mid-table mediocrity and its hard to accept and watch.
If it wasnt for Sanchez awesome performances I would take my own interlull from the Arsenal and come back with a new set of expectations.
But I dont think we will play like shit all season, my feeling is we will turn it around in the new year!
Well. Hello Sunshine!
Yes we’re not playing as well as we’re used to but the idea that you’re past caring because of that smacks too much of a fan who only wants to be associated with winning.
“Supporter”……there’s a clue in the name, you support the club. If all you’re bothered about is success, bragging to your mates and having your own ego massaged, then the club doesn’t need you.
Assuming you’re actually from North London , you can get to Chelsea quite easily on public transport. Bye………
So supporting the team means we shouldn’t or can’t expect them to challenge for trophies? Great mentality there.
Is it my fault I had such high expectations for this Arsenal team this season? I know we have had big injuries but that was the worst 85 minutes of football of my life.
Just thank fuck we won, at least now we are basically through to the KO stages.
We will be through to the K.O. stage second in the group and then draw Madrid or Barca or Bayern Munich. We’ll get ripped to shreds and eliminated. That’s what we’ve done for the last 10 seasons I am fucking sick of it.
DCgooner, not last 10 season, last 5 season, yes.
Who knows? Theo, Mesut, Chez and Kos, will make a difference, especially if they are all available at the same time. Big if I know.
I would use Lukas more. He knows where the goal is.
Really? That 85 minutes was worse than the 2-8 at Man Ure, the 0-6 at Chel$ki, the 0-5 at Liverpoo? It was worse than losing to a fourth tier team in the Carling Cup last season? It was worse than having 19% possession at home to Bayern last season?
Really???
I was waiting for someone to bring a little perspective.
It wasn’t worse obviously, but the fact those examples you brought up all came within the last 3 seasons does speak volumes. It’s too frequent to be a coincidence.
Watching Chelski play the other day I was struck by how confident and controlled they are.
I think our players need motivatio more than anything and that’s got to be down to the boss.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj185f8PRHo
fuck.
FFS if wearing the Red and White plus the little matter of the 100k every week doesn’t motivate them, what on God’s good earth will?
Boogaloo Shrimp???
That was one of our worst win games…
Alexis must go home at night and shake his head in amazement at some of the quality of our play….(players)
I hope we click soon…..
Happy Birthday Boss
I think there was one game this season (maybe 1 and a half?) where Ramsey and Wilshere were both on the pitch and they looked great together… Other than that, although it’s been a stop start season for both, when they’ve both been on the pitch they’ve both had pretty shitty games and since they occupy the middle of the pitch it’s made is seem even less fluid then we’ve been… Can they play together? Who knows… But from what I’ve seen is that they both cancel each other out cause they both play the same type of role which… Read more »
Half of ’em are in the sick bay, for one. Blah blah blah.
I got about a sentence into what was looking to be a big spiel, but it’s wasted typing. Your comments on Jack and Rambo said it.
For the time being I’d like to see Ramsey hang back and get that boss tackle/win rate from last year up again.
I really do think that Ramsey has been hamstrung by playing with Jack in front of him rather than Ozil or Cazorla. Which do you think grasps the game better and is mentally prepared to make the run to either get open for a pass or dummy a defender away from Ramsey’s runs? I know I saw Jack clog up enough passing lanes that I wasn’t sure if he knew which team was going which way. One of the worst matches I have seen from him, not that anyone really covered themselves with glory.
Ramsey looked pretty good in pre-season because we played mostly without Jack who was recovering from the World Cup. It started going downhill once the season started and the two of them were shoehorned into the same space. I really do think that has tremendously affected Ramsey’s performances, and at this point probably has hit his confidence too.
Terrible performance but a great result! still waiting for that great performance this season, hopefully we snap out of and it comes this weekend!
Alexis has played 4 games in 10 days (two in South America). What a soldier.
People seem to forget that a lot of players were away on the international break. They should be pretty tired. I bet Anderlecht rested players and got primed for this game.
Now I finally understand why Wenger kept using Ozil even when he was out of form or even half injured. We’ve got no creativity whatsoever without him. We didn’t even look dangerous for the most part against a team that hasn’t won a single CL match in 11 years or some such thing. At any rate, an ugly win is better than no win, so I’ll keep the whining to a minimum. The good news is: We have one amazing player (Alexis) and one extremely efficient one (Poldi). For some reason the latter rarely gets to play football, but his… Read more »
Ozil’s movement unclogs the middle when he’s in the 10 spot, and creates new passing lanes so other attackers can also be less predictable.
Unfortunately Jack is the counterpoint, straight up the middle into traffic, onesey-twosey or little dink chip-lob. He needs to mix it with the wide play more. And sooner.
Cazorla was our worst player tonight… by a distance. I find it strange that he doesn’t get anywhere near as much criticism as many our other players.
I think he doesn’t get too much criticism because he generally plays very well indeed. The problem with lots of fans is that they only remember the latest game. Look back at the articles on this site and you’ll find one on how effective he has been so far this season in an Arsenal shirt.
If 4-1-4-1 was a bloke I’d like to punch it in the face.
So what if Jack loses his spot in the starting 11 in a 4-2-3-1? At his current level of maturity he wouldn’t get in the Hull City squad.
Yes others were poor too but could that not be down to being overburdened by Jack’s deficiencies?
I have to agree that it seems the formation is a big problem. It looks as though the players are so confused about when to make their runs and also don’t understand when a teammate is going to run or wait. So all that ends up happening is players standing around looking confused. Sure, the last 7 or so minutes had horrid defending, but one thing that had been proven by then was the strategy was not working. The only real chances were Cazorla’s and Ramsey’s (who don’t seem on form to take those unfortunately), and the rest of the… Read more »
Why should Jack lost this spot, Ramsey should! He has been a disaster this season.
Wenger will not drop Jack, he can’t annoy Gooner’s core base, one guy said it seems Wenger is determined to force Jack into being a superstar, that he is not….quite!
Alexis was awesome…end of story. His determination and never-say-die attitude gave us the winning goal. Great signing.
Hope we give him reason to want to play for us for a long time.
Alexis was awesome…end of story. Give him a 9. His determination and never-say-die attitude gave us the winning goal. Great signing.
Hope we give him reason to want to play for us for a long time.
Our midfield isn’t functioning.
Ramsey needs to play deeper, Wilshere isn’t really doing enough to warrant a place.
Whatever it is we’re trying to do unfortunately isn’t working.
Sacking the manager now won’t and shouldn’t happen, but come May…..
The squad this season is probably the worst under Wengers tenure. Not so much the individual talents but more the depth & availability of players. Six defenders, no holding midfield player, average strikers, terrible formation, an awful injury prevention team, a manager not willing to listen when players are in the “red zone” we will be fortunate to make top four this year
Really? You’d rather have a squad full of Niklas Bendtner, Chu Young Park, Almunia, Chamakh, Frimpong, Santos, Squillaci,….
Rather than the squad we have now? The worst ever? Take off those shit-tinted glasses please.
It’s not the worst by a long shot, but it may be the most unbalanced. Especially with the injuries we’ve got at the moment. We have 4 fit defenders, 1 defensive midfielder who was not up to snuff last season and has been even worse this season, and 1 fit striker who we may have only bought because our other striker broke his leg, thankfully 10 days before September 2 not 10 days after or we’d really be in a mess. And you can definitely blame Wenger for letting the transfer window close with such an unbalanced team, even if… Read more »
I would love a way to fit podolski in to our team – he just guarantees goals. Great player, great character, just not right for this arsenal team and shape it appears. Sad
What nonsense, he does not guarantee goals at all. He had a period last year where he was played up top alone & he was awful didn’t get close to scoring.
Funny, after the Southampton game, I swear just about everyone was saying we should sell him. Obviously I don’t know if you were one of them, but there were many. I would just like all those people to admit it now, the same people saying he should be starting, the only one who knows how to find the back of the net, etc. Isn’t it great having such fickle fans.
If only we could find a way to leave him in the box and not need him for anything else.
Seems he did not get that many goals when he started some matches last season, best coming off the bench, hungry and angry.
The 4-1-4-1 looks like it should work theoretically and i dont object to the idea but it honestly looks like every player we have is lost without a “number 10” in behind the forward. I also would have liked to see chambers in at CB because i think when he plays there he knows he has to be more disciplined and we get more out of him plus we dont have to play monreal there.
As an ardent Arsenal fan, I was presented with the dilemma of watching Arsenal live today or watching Madrid. In the end I opted for good beautiful football and watched the Madrid game. Immediately after I watched the Arsenal game on DVR. It saddens me to say it turns out I made the right decision. What a pitiful performance and against an Anderlecht team made up of 8 or 9 teenagers. This is pathetic and we didn’t deserve to win that game. We have not managed to put together one single decent performance since the season started (except maybe the… Read more »
Surely an ardent fan of Arsenal does not choose watch Madrid over Arsenal, especially a Madrid with Ronaldo and Bale in their side. Particularly Ronaldo.
Obviously you are one of those who believe that “ardent” means “on and off, some time, fair weather”. Please obtain a dictionary (a proper one like Oxford’s) and look up “ardent”.
It is NEVER the right choice to watch some other team when Arsenal are playing.
I know that many of the Arsenal fans in the UK and especially in London were born fans of the team. Some are fans because they live in north London others because it’s the team their parents and grandparents before them supported and it’s in their blood. For me, I fell in love with Arsenal in the early nineties when they started showing premier league games here and it was the Arsenal style that i fell in love with. It’s not the trophies; it’s the way Arsenal plays the game. Even during our trophy drought since the 2005 FA cup,… Read more »
Please don’t use “local fans born to support the team so they are used to this shit” as excuse, I’m an foreign fan too, Arsenal in good form, I watch Arsenal, Arsenal in dire form, I watch Arsenal, for me there’s never any dilemma.
You chose Real Madrid simply because you wanted to watch Real Madrid.
whats the point of supporting arsenal, when you dont even watch them when you think there’s a better game on. it means you dont support them you fool haha
Praise where it’s due: the comment below made me laugh out loud, great writing – I just hope it’s not true and Rambo hits the heights again soon (considering what he’s overcome before, am sure he will).
“There’s only one Aaron Ramsey”, went the song last year. But what if there are actually two? One who’s great at football and one who’s a bit average and the pair of them are taking it in turns to play a season as some piece of elaborate performance art which is going to be released as a film by Joaquin Phoenix? Worth considering.
Good game ..saw Real thrash Liverpool…am slowly getting indifferent now..
atleast got our three points
Wilshere and ramsey can’t play together they both want to do the same exact thing until they develop the maturity to decide who should do what until then our midfield won’t flourish
You are right on the money, but Wenger seems unable to drop Jack.
Because IMO i think Ramsey brings more to the team at this time.
Also Carzola needs to be dropped as well.
No wonder Alexis was shaking his head as he walked off, we were rubbish tonight and Wenger said we controlled the game and showed good spirit. Well he needs to show some spirit soon or go
“his form is in the toilet and that toilet is the one from Trainspotting.” lol!!
The Trainspotting toilet scene which was actually ripped off from Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow.
Sorry, very much a bit off topic.
I’d say we performed pretty damn well against Villa though.
FFS
Imposing DM needed.
Every game Wilshere and Ramsey have started together the team has been shite and they have been shite excluding the Man city game, They dont seem able to play in the same team this season, looking like they will turn into the new Gerrard and Lampard. They are both so talented but at the moment they are really annoying me as they have both developed irritating habits that hinder the team and put us in danger on the counter so often. Wilshere holds the ball too long, takes too man touches and this gets him caught/injured. He needs to simplify… Read more »
Ozil is shit!
to be fair, he was invisible tonight
Is it just me or is Chambers a better CB than he is a RB ..?
which might be a reason why he wasn’t getting games at southhampton
Ramsey should be played in the deeper position where he played last season to get the best out of him. Wilshere is nowhere disciplined enough to hold a starting role right now, does zero defensive work and just tries too much when going forward. Cazorla also looks lost in this formation. You can understand that wenger is trying a new formation to improve the team but it feels like our players are more suited to the 4-2-3-1. Wilshere or Cazorla could occupy the no10 role when Ozil is absent. Also it doesn’t help that the back four changes for every… Read more »
Why Jack is getting it in the neck but Caz isn’t, is beyond me. Cazorla had a shocker. And I really do love Alexis he is a brilliant player but damn he does give the ball away a lot in some bad areas though he does usually make up for it.
sitting in a lecture where electronic devices are not allowed, i almost got caught thrice in the second half because everytime we went forward, we looked like we were going to concede and I yelling FUCKING SHIT and hitting my head……whatever happened to Bould and his soothing treatment for our nerves? I want that 60% bould 40% wenger team back ASAP.
Arsene Wenger is fucking things up with the un necessary 4/1/4/1 formation. Ramsey is not as affective in this formation, Wilshere is doing much Flamini is left exposed by himself because Ramsey and Wilshere are to far away from him the majority of the time. 4/2/3/1 is the formation with Ramsey next to Flamini or Arteta, Wilshere in the number 10 role or on the bench. Wenger does what he does best, which is making things complicated and harder than it has to be.
I’ve grown up loving Arsene Wenger but there is no doubt in my mind that he is to blame for the current situation. Many of Wenger’s strengths in the game are also his failings. – His outdated tactics have been found out and he is too proud and stubborn to change. Teams are happy to sit deep and counter attack. We have been toothless in all our games except 1 or 2 and they were down to Ozil playing brilliantly. Other than that it has been Alexis bailing us out. Wenger still seems to think possesion is ‘dominating and controlling’.… Read more »
What a disjointed effort, so many poor passes leading to turnovers all over the pitch. Our attacking play on the breaks is dreadful, so easy to defend. The only positive of the night was really Alexis (and that we some how pulled it out at the end). Yes we have a ton on injuries, but we still had Ramsey, Wilshere, Sanchez, Carzola and Welbeck out there all of which are considered “starters” in my book and we were just dreadful with the ball. They are all trying to be too fancy instead of playing quick and fast like so many… Read more »
First off, 3 huge points. And as many times as we have kicked away points well-earned, kind of nice to see it break our way. But lets not kid ourselves, that performance was a turd sandwich. When I saw the starting 11 was absolutely floored (don’t know why, should be used to it by now). Unlike others on here, I rated Monreal a 4 against Hull and said before that game that I would have preferred Hayden. Not really Nacho’s fault, he is a very satisfactory replacement left back. Only Alexis put in a better shift than Bellerin against Hull,… Read more »
Sometimes I feel bad for Alexis. He works so hard while the rest of the lads are just walking around the pitch! We need 10 more Alexis in terms of attitude and workrate on the field.
They’re in a funk with this formation no doubt. Couldnt be a bad thing to change it up to a bit. 442 old school for a few games.
i switch the channel to madrid’s game few times. and feeling so helpless how can they play such a great football. is it all just about the money factor? I don’t think so, I watched Dortmund too, they played as great as madrid. Seems that we’re lack of inspiration. Get Well Soon Gunners
Let’s be honest, it was a bit shit. Thought Flamini had a mare, that dummy was face-palmingly woeful, Chambers looked very inexperienced, Cazorla’s passing was well off. Ramsey and Wilshere didn’t do the simple things properly, and it pissed me off Sanchez played well again, but he can’t be expected to drag us out of shitty situations every time. Anderlecht seemed to want it more, first to every ball, keeping solid and using pace to catch us on the break. But they’re fucking Anderlecht for fucks sake. Their record speaks for itself; one win in their last twenty Champion’s League… Read more »
We need to go back to 4/2/3/1. When the team is fit Gibbs/Kos/Per/Debuchy/Ramsey/Coq (or new DM)/Alexis/Ozil/Theo/Welbz. In the meantime I’d put Chambers and Bellerin in and Santi in the number 10 role. I think both Flamini and Arteta are too slow for the prem. Ox, Poldi and Campbell coming on as subs and a fit Diaby to help kill off games. As a number 10 Wilshere is absolutely awful. This new formation to accommodate him is making the rest of the team worse than they actually are. I doubt there are many number 10’s with worse stats than Jack…
http://www.reddit.com/r/Gunners/comments/2k036m/jack_wilshere_stats/
The team lacks confidence. Will this bring a bit back? Maybe, but the players know they were poor. We need to marry performance and result for a bit, and then hopefully the confidence returns.
Cazorla was worst closely followed by Wishere and Ramsey. Campbell did great when he came on, timing of passing and movement were on, whereas the 3 mentioned were completely off. And why the hell ws Bellerin not playing RB and Chambers CB? WTF Arsene? Did he watch our last game?
Uh Campbell came on and he may have been looking for the right balls but most of his passes were horrible. Several times he attempted a simple 8 yard pass and underhit it so badly the ball stopped on the pitch 2 yards from where he kicked it.
i think he did a bad pass once the rest were decent, with a forward intention.
futhermore he has not played on game full 90 mins or even close so do you REALLY expect him to be on perfect form?
you expect too much.
Also seemed to me that Wilshere was playing deep alongside Flamini, despite the giant uproar that our formation is the problem, think again. Ramsey is no no.10, neither is wilshere, they are both box to box mids. So little man Flamini is not good enough to cover that, not at all. Nor Arteta or Coq or Diaby.
What you said makes no sense
An interesting thing about Alexis is that during his whole time at Barca he never got consistent game time (mainly because of club politics – he wasn’t Catalan) and he had to play a very disciplined role. Last season (when Messi was injured) he got a dozen or so games in succession and was fantastic. In fact, the whole team was on fire. So, my guess is that we have yet to see the best of him. He’s only just starting to hit his stride. Alexis and Welbeck are going to score a hell of a lot of goals together… Read more »