Arsene Wenger was quizzed about transfers, as you’d expect, in the wake of the 2-0 defeat to West Ham today.
While saying that he was still open to doing something ‘exceptional’, the manager was keen to make the point that the team he put out today should have been capable of taking the three points.
When pressed about any further moves in the market, he said, “I would like to think that we are responsible to buy the players and the coaches, not the media,” he said.
“When you’re a professional footballer, you have to face your responsibilities and not always look at something else.
“Today we have to look at ourselves and think we were not good enough and not to think that these kinds of things are solutions for us. We were not good enough, we were not convincing. And that’s basically it.
“Again, I can only repeat what I already said. If an exceptional solution turns up, we’ll do it, but after a defeat like that, it’s important not always to think we take a solution from outside.”
Of course a result like today only increases the clamour for new signings, but the reason we lost today wasn’t really anything to do with lack of transfer activity – especially when our only signing was culpable.
Got slated on this site a few weeks back when I said as it stands we’re not good enough to win the league. We need a world class striker, Giroud is not good enough.
Sure.. World class striker would have saved the goals, made interceptions and would give provide assists today…
Yeah… because we were able to score 3 and still win the game 3-2… Oh no wait…
World class striker would have also put in a strong performance in midfield to support Giroud up front and not let him hanging for the whole game and not feeding him any balls.
Too many variables for you to say that. The goal a world clas striker scored might spur them on. I doubt it though because they are too busy twitting and posting selfies to worry about playing football…
lol exactly. fickle, fickle Internet “fans” don’t seem to understand that had we done better defensively and cech didn’t make that blunder, the result could have been vastly different. this was a bad day at the office for everyone involved. shall we buy 11 new players?
no, we should just change the manager. the players are fine if they played a different way
So the players have no responsibility today then?
how many times have we had different set of players and yet we’re still having these defensive lapses? all those players are flawed? who picked those players? who signed them, bought em and built the squad?
after the invincibles era, players who left the club started winning and players who come here after having won at other clubs stopped winning…not blind for you to see that…argue whatever…money blah blah blah…there are managers who have achieved more with less and like you said our squad is not far from winning
Was it not the same defence that kept a clean sheet against the Champions to win the shield? Funny how you think they’re shifty now just because of a bad game.
No costa
Of course you are the perfect fan given licence to judge people as fickle because you don’t agree with them – why don’t you slink off and overdose on something…
wow…. just wow! You know that’s, technically assisted suicide if he follows your advice, right?
Yeah, and if we hadn’t lost any game last season, we would’ve won the league as Invincibles mark 2.
But we didn’t. So what’s your point?
Nobody will dispute that it was just a bad performance by every Arsenal player, (especially Cech) but there are so many variables. Had Cech not let in the first goal and we went on to score, we’d more than likely comfortably see it out 1 or 2 nil. This is what happens in football. i It’s a simple league, as evidenced by Liverpool 2 seasons ago. They were a shambles defensively but scored so many goals that they were right up there until Gerrard’s hilarious comeuppance in the final weeks. I don’t think anybody expects us to sign ’11 new… Read more »
Win the title ?
Did you even see the match today?
Perhaps, though we had world class, Ozil, Cazorla, Alexis and Ramsey on the pitch and about three other players more than capable of scoring.
The issue is Arsenal got beaten by themselves and not once got a grip on the gameand more then ever teams have the ability to punish.
Aaron Ramsey is in no way world class… He is a decent footballer who has way too many off days after a brilliant season a couple of years back. Nothing more. He was terrible today.
Ozil isn’t world class. He hasn’t had one world class performance in 2 seasons.
Aaron Ramsey is clearly not gonna perform at that high level now so it seems. Jack Wilshere if he manages to stay fit could run riots from that position. Ozil and Wilshere could be quite a partnership I think. Ramsey too many stray passes for a CM.
We could’ve passed that ball in slow motion all day and still not found the net….. it just wasn’t happening.
@izzymuzzet – If Ozil is not world class (which he is, don’t be silly. just watch the lad) at least he is not like Aaron Ramsey and pretends to be god’s gift to football. The kid has become so frustrating to watch. He has more average to below par performances than spectacular ones and I feel he gets in the team because of that one off season 2 years back. He’s been average at best bar a few spectacular goals. But if spectacular goals is how we are measuring who plays and who does not, I am surprised we didn’t… Read more »
Of course today there were deeper problems, I’m not saying he was to blame for the defeat.
But he till had a few chances and didn’t threaten Adrian at all. He’s just not clinical enough to win us the league.
With the potential for up to 55-60 games if we had a great season we need another top striker. Giroud, Walcott and welbeck are all very good but none are clinical like Costa, Aguero, Suarez, ronaldo or messi. Bergkamp was a legend but we still needed Henry. Which of welbeck giroud or Walcott would get in a first 11 ahead of bergkamp in his prime (or even later!).
Is benzema up there with Costa, Suarez, etc? Not convinced he is but he would be a welcome addition in my view
For me, absolutely nobody would get in over Dennis in his prime……nobody ever!
Well, tbh Artem, a world class striker would provide assist… Albeit to our midfielders’ stats.
Do people genuinely believe we can win the league with Giroud as our main striker? Let’s just look at the main striker of the teams who’ve won the league since we last won. 2015 – Costa 2014 – Aguero 2013 – Some Dutch C*nt 2012 – Aguero 2011 – Rooney 2010 – Drogba 2009 – Rooney 2008 – Rooney 2007 – Rooney 2006 – Drogba 2005 – Drogba 2004 – Henry Now come on, Giroud is nowhere near as good as those. There’ll be games this season where there aren’t many chances created (such as against the top teams). We… Read more »
In my opinion Sanchez could score 20-25 goals in a season, and his name would like right at home on that list
Giroud was out injured last year and still scored more than some world class strikers at United. He’s not a clinical guy but I doubt we lost cos we didn’t have the much desired world class striker. United and Chelsea didn’t get a goal from their strikers, did they? On to the next game!
I don’t understand all this clamour for a WC striker. While I rate Benzema as (one of)the best striker, and i would love it if he signed for Arsenal, we have a WC striker, his name is Alexis. it doesn’t matter where he plays, Ronaldo, Messi don’t play no. 9, for heaven’s sake! and they regularly score 40-50! And Alexis can just as well play centre-forward, which i think he is going to, a lot more this season, now that Ox is a more tha nviable option on the left. We also have two other very good strikers, Giroud and… Read more »
Why the Giroud bashing? Benzema would have taken a real kick-in and may have not lasted 90 mins in that game. The problem was the entire team was below par, Giroud included. Yes I agree, having someone like Aguero to take a half chance with no fuss will be great, but to say we won’t win the league with Giroud is a ridiculous statement after a performance like that. If we performed like that in every game we would be candidates for relegation, so leave the bullshit aside. Giroud is a very good CF by all means and was extremely… Read more »
I think Ozil is more to blame than Giroud. It’s insane that he’s a 40m player; you pay that sort of money for a player who takes games by the scruff of the neck and I’ve rarely seen him do that for Arsenal. At the same time you have people declaring that he’s a genius, and people who can’t see it are ‘uncultured’, like you need some sort of advanced degree in football to understand what he does on the pitch. I think the ultra-defensiveness about Ozil is really just people in denial that we wasted a whole bunch of… Read more »
Spot on with that comment. Ozil has done little since arriving. Yet for some reason he is untouchable.
Maybe but I believe the we hate Ozil brigade are the people that keep screaming spend spend spend. Then when we do because we don’t instantly walk the title and dominate the champions league he receives the full brunt of our anger and disdain. Today’s performance from Ozil was poor but then I really struggle to find a good performance from anyone. It looked to me like we believed all the hype over the last few weeks and went out with a lazy mental attitude. A wake up call was dished out and I expect there will be much improvement… Read more »
Ozil’s display was so bad. I don’t want you guys to be biased. Pls did u watch Andre Ayew for Swansea just take one look at him and you know he’s EPL material. Ozil wa waiting for the ball to do things for him. Ozil was so lackluster. No power (my God even a 16 year old had him under control). Ozil should be benched. People defending him simply coz they liked the Ozil at Real Madrid. The one I see everyday has no business in the EPL. Unless he can prepare himself to less pediastrian. Ramsey is another guy… Read more »
And just thinking that both of these are the reasons we don’t have Cesc back again. Ramsey has tunnel vision never looks wide all ways coming inside and for Ozil he has never grabbed the game by the scurf and do something that can chance the game he is keeping Santi out of his best position. I think both should be benched for the next game and until they start playing better and if they don’t improve sell them and replace with players that are fit to wear the Red & White of the Arsenal
Ozil is a unique player with a very specific skillset and play style. If there were dozens of players who could play the way Ozil does, he wouldn’t have cost us 40m.
A unique skill set that doesn’t suit this league.
If he had such a great skill set there wouldn’t be so many doubters.
Or maybe he’s still got world cup hangover or Theo’s injured or some other weird excuse for Ozil.
We saw Sterling take the Baggies by the scruff of the neck didn’t we tonight? Maybe you are talking about the 80 mills players? Ozil is a brilliant player, his vision and passing ability are sublime. If you cant see that then its your loss. We will enjoy his brilliance even though you dont.
God I hate “World Class Striker”. I hate it so much I’m willing to start World War III to never see or hear it again. Just like with Hitler should have been taken out for good after the Beer Hall Putsch, the term World Class Striker should have been put against the wall when we started buying players like Ozil and won the FA Cup. It’s still not too late.
Anybody can sit behind a keyboard and give fantastic ideas. The point remains: who is the “world class”6 striker available in the market? Aguero is not; neither is Lewandoski, Suarez or Costa. Benzema is not (if Benitez and his agent are to be believed). I may have missed a few but you get my point. They are not there at the moment.
Everyone knows that this “World Class Striker” is going to swoop down and fix everything. We will never lose another game again when WCS arrives. WCS is also going to pay off The Emirates in full, slay Mourinho, oust Blatter and end war, disease and famine. All it takes is for Wenger to spend and spend big. WCS out there but Wenger just won’t do it. One could say it’s because he’s not as clever as everyone else who understands the deep yet simple WCS solution but personally I think it’s because he’s bad and wants Arsenal to fail. WENGER… Read more »
“He’s evil and wants Arsenal to fail”
Please please please tell me you’re joking?
My sincere apologises, I didn’t read the first paragraph before commenting.
To be honest the reason why people talk about world class striker is this. Suarez nearly won Liverpool the EPL did you see that? If we had gotten Suarez( am not blaming anyone or even the silly bid for not getting him) but we would have won the league that year. You can choose to believe it or not. Either way that’s why people talk about world class CF. Giroud always came deep to help the abysmal Midfield that contained shitty plays from Ozil and the other one Ramsey. Both need to be benched. RUBBISH.
Suarez nearly won Liverpool the league title, I agree. Was he world class when signed? Certainly not. Once proven and world class, strikers cost ginormous amounts of money IF they are available at all. We got Welbeck who has the potential to become a great striker. Pace and power in abundance, all he needs to add is finishing to his game. Giroud, however, has had 2-3 seasons and he’s reached peak levels last season at Arsenal. We will need a little more from our first choice striker than giroud offers.
Aggreing with your main points; but I’m not that optimistic about Welbeck. Please don’t mistake me, he’s a very decent player who might score many important goals and proove to be a very astute buy. If I’m allowed to make an odd comparison the guy is more Parlour than Pires .
Suarez was so great for Liverpool that they sold him after the season ended.
Throwing money around for a quick fix is rarely a quick fix for anything. It rarely fixes anything in the long run either. Man U of late being a good example.
I wish I could “thumb you up” infinity times. People love bitching and moaning saying let’s sign a “world class striker” or “lets sign a DM” or whatever area but they don’t come up with names, they just identify a problem and say that thing is shit and add no other value to the debate or conversation. Which so called world class striker is actually available? Out of the top 5 strikers in the world who could we realistically afford? How much would their wages be because they are probably on 200k wherever they are! It’s very easy to spot… Read more »
I tink your correct_we need a world class striker not GIROUD.
GIROUD is trying his best but that’s the issue we want [Perfect] not [Trying]
Tbh, it’s even scarier to admit that new signings weren’t the cause of today, because to witness the same systematic failings in this squad as there have been over thenyears makes one question where or who the sources of these failings are from…..
Exactly ! If ever a performance smacked of abject preparation and complacency – i.e. no motivation – that was it. And it was far from being unique, these last five or more years.
The players change but the failings are the same year in and year out. How many times have we seen this scenario played out over the years? I am not disappointed that we lost a game. After all, any team can lose a game to lesser opposition. However, the manner of the loss was so reminiscent of past losses that this game could have been played nine years ago with the same MO. Perhaps that is what’s so disappointing about this loss. While it would be foolish for anyone to be calling for Wenger’s head at this point, one has… Read more »
I think it is too easy to make that comparison just because the manager is the same. Our approach and tactics have changed considerably over the last couple seasons. Fans need to just realize it is a bloody tough league and Arsenal were not at it. It happens to Liverpool, it happens to United pretty often, and it even happened to Chelski on Saturday – where they got completely outplayed. It is the worst start to the season but come on, grow some balls. Nothing great was built overnight. Wenger has developed a fine squad which will bounce back. All… Read more »
I agree. Players have come and gone during Wenger’s reign, many of them top-quality players, and yet the same problems remain. We’re good at creativity, less good at converting our chances – 15 shots off target today – and once the inherited back five had retired our defence has been a continual worry. The poor finishing is particularly interesting because it’s so unexpected. We’ve had some of the most accomplished finishers in Europe, especially in the Invincibles era, but bizarrely that Invincibles team, which also had a decent defence, never once got beyond the quarter-finals in the CL, mainly because… Read more »
The deflatting aspect to this is after all the initial anger at the game, I go to sleep wake up and then read more press. And of course there is Wenger front and center talking as though the game was an abstract thing not quite connected to him. “Mistakes were made… I can’t see many individual convincing performances today….West Ham are a bit more advanced in their preparation than us….I felt we were a bit nervous and we rushed our game a bit…” The season opener against an inferior but plucky team (predictable) and for whatever reason our manager is… Read more »
Depressing, but I hate to admit, I think you may be right
Totally agree. It’s the system that’s predictable and easy to play against. The players and the performances weren’t that bad. We had the quality in the team to win that game, but teams know they can sit deep, park the bus because we’re not going to provide a direct threat, and they know we’re weak when they hit us on the counter attack. It’s been that way for ages. I never understand the idea that players aren’t motivated. It’s the first game of the season, at home, in front of 60,000 optimistic fans who are desperate to see them succeed.… Read more »
My friend a Man Utd fan said same thing yesterday. The mental strength needs to be worked on. Going 2-0 Down wasn’t the issue. We immediately played like we had lost but there was 20 minutes to fight for a draw. ABYSMAL.
Wenger please sign that lollipop chap to help Cech
Didnt see the game today due to unexpected family committments. From what ive read it seems we turned up expecting to win. This team needs a serious kick up the backside aftret games like this. Trouble is im not sure who does the kicking at Arsenal!
Spot on mate – I sat with my dad at half time and we were considering who in our dressing room would be reading the riot act saying that the first half performance wasn’t acceptable and to get back out there and sort it out !!!
! Instead somebody probably stood up and went ‘let’s try a bit harder please?’
It should be Steve bould.I wouldn’t mind if God comes over from ajax.
Steve bould can go back to coaching defence.
We lack leaders and that’s been mission for years.
Missing not mission for fuck sake you fucking autocorrect cunt John Terry.
in england you wont be champions with a bunch of nice guys, deny it but we need dirty cunts, angry leaders and fucking generals to do thar, last time around? lehmann cole fabregas viera ljungberg… not to mention tough guys like gilberto henry campbell never needed any help to stand their ground. even coquilin (our closest thing to tough guy) or mertesaker (closest to a leader) are too dove
Couldn’t agree more….fucking pathetic today.
There was plenty of dirty play from Arsenal today and it did us no good at all.
There was a strange lack of urgency to our play in the first half. I’m not sure there’s too much to say more broadly about systemic issues, etc. Give them a few games. It hurts though to drop points three points to West Ham at home! Those could be valuable points later in the season.
It’s maybe a good sign that the players didn’t take a team like West Ham very seriously during the match (especially the first half), pulling “fun” passes and not really always taking chances. This is a big change from before, where we lost to big teams and beat everyone else. While the result is a wake up call for the squad that just defeated Chelsea, there’s 37 matches left and it’s naive to think signing a striker means a title. There weren’t enough chances. If Messi was up there and he still wouldn’t score from those chances. Chelsea lost three… Read more »
Haven’t we had enough wake-up calls yet for your liking? Didn’t poor Merte say again and again post-match last season that we were complacent and not really up for it? Unbelievably I remember him saying it after the Monaco game, in the comp that’s the holy grail of club football and where for once we had good chance of progressing. Not really up for it, eh? Merte blames complacency, Wenger blames nerves. Too much confidence or too little? Take your pick. It hardly matters because it’s probably a bit of both, the inevitable product of lack of match preparation. Wenger… Read more »
I’m all for criticism when it’s due but let’s not forget this is the same team that was the best in the country for the second half of the season. At least wait 7 or 8 games before we all completely give in. If this is the wake up call we need to prove we can’t just turn then at least it’s the first game of the season and we can take that pain into all the other games.
I apologise to Mr cech for the comments I made before, which were over the top, but I still reserve judgement on whether he is the solution to our supposed goalkeeper problems. Giroud and Walcott had nothing to do with our defeat today, so I can’t see how anyone would see this game as proof that we need a new striker. Whenever Giroud had anything to do I thought he generally did it very well, on several occassions showing superb technique. The fact that we didn’t score had nothing to do with our strikers. It was the same panic we’ve… Read more »
And i’m sorry for calling you stupid (in my mind, i didn’t comment). “there was absolutely no movement off the ball at all” spot on with that. i felt the only player trying to make things happen was Özil. The only real danger we made was on a run started by Özil and finished by himself moving between the lines, shooting but unfortunately hitting a boot. There were two players which i thought were below par a long way, Cazorla and Ramsey. Neither doing anything to open up play and stretch the opponent.
Possibly because they were both in the wrong position. Santi in mid- field all season for me along side the Coq. Ramsey is no good on the wing he drifts into midfield, then we loose our width. And enough already with the glory hunting attempts at goal scoring, team play is what is needed by one and all and that includes you Ramsey, yes you!
Everyone’s worked out how wengers teams play. It has nothing to do with who is on the pitch or who we sign anymore. Same shape, same tactics. Predictable. Nothings going to change.
And yet we manage to get 3 points in most games. Very strange phenomenon that.
At least come up with something innovative
Lets face it. It was just a bad day at the office and hopefully we will get back on track next week against Palace
Yeah, you’re right, we do win more than we lose. But we’ll never win the league with aw anymore. That’s an unfortunate truth. Familiarity is the price you pay for longevity. Aw has been fantastic for the club. Hes a wonderful man. But we need something different to progress. The same fragilities will always emerge with arsene.
I can remember people saying we will NEVER win anything with Wenger a few years back. “We can’t even win our own Emirates Cup!” they said. I can’t find those people again because, yes, we won two FA Cups back-to-back with Wenger. You people should be tired, or at least wary, of saying ‘NEVER’!
wrong…give a competent manager with the right blend of players…they will beat us…we manage 3 points because our players are superior to most teams but when a middling team with physical,even half fast players we’re vulnerable. We just need to concede the first goal to get beat. This is what separates a great team and one which is just good enough
We need at least one out and out winger more than we need a striker. We have far too many central players, all of whom are actively vocal about not wanting to play out wide. As a result we have several players who have to take it in turns to play out wide, and this constant rotation is not viable. There is no cohesion between the “wide” men and the fullbacks, because the fullbacks are having to link up with a different player every few minutes. Today it was as obvious as it can be. The players we had out… Read more »
Agreed sir. Was at the game and I find playing Ramsey out wide is so so frustrating. He will never in a month of Sundays be able to offer width. He does not have the pace to take defenders on so as a result it all drifts into the middle. And then it can be to predictable as it’s too congested. Arsene has to take some of the responsibility today, one nil down at half time and he starts the second half with Ramsey on the fucking left wing. Theo and Sanchez sitting on bench. Early days but if he… Read more »
Tim stillman did a good piece on the link up between wide player and full back. I do agree that ideally Ramsey isn’t a wide player and I think (as Tim said) Ramsey wide right works better when Belarin is there overlapping Would like to have seen ox right and theo left today as neither Monreal or Debuchy offer the same attacking pace and threat. But I also see why he went for Ramsey wide today as it has worked in last two competitive games (WBA last home game and cup final). But it’s not a preferred long term option… Read more »
I thought exactly the same thing.
Walcott as a young player often played on the left. He could have started left, Oxlade- Chamberlain on the right. Santi is dropped back to play the deeper playmaker next to Coquelin, with Ozil in front and we hit them with pace and determination.
Instead, Santi pushed out left (losing all pace from that wing) and Ramsay was running around the entire pitch cramping an already crowded attacking half of the pitch.
Wenger seems to reserve a wide berth almost as a training spot for developing central midfielders. He has done this with Wilshire, Ramsey and now Ox (AW stated he sees ox as a central midfielder in the future – but personally I think he has all of the attributes to be a great wide player, and should be trained for just that.) I’d rather see a recognised and experienced wide man have a place in the squad than have several striker-come-wingers and a dearth of central midfielders who may have to fill in out there when required (which will be… Read more »
Good post and absolutely spot on though a further point is that one of our true wide players thinks he is a striker! Surely the players should suit the system and not the other way round? I actually thought Giroud’s work was good today and apart from one poor miss the keeper did well on a couple of occasions.He too often lacked support typified on a couple of occasions when he got crosses in working wide and nobody but Ozil had gambled and got in the box.Ox was a good 15 yards back – if our midfielders are going to… Read more »
What do you mean by ‘out and out winger’? An old-fashioned winger that sticks to the flanks, whipping in crosses? Those hardly exist any more, the only ones I can think of are Navas and Lennon, not great examples. Or do you mean someone with pace? We had Chambo. A dribbler that can skin a fullback? Chambo again. The fact is we played with one winger and that’s normal today. Chel$ea have Hazard, a winger who generally doesn’t stay wide, and Willian, a midfielder. Last season Man $ity had Navas (winger), and N*sri, Silva and Milner, midfielders. I don’t know… Read more »
I would like a wide player who actually wants to play out wide, not one who is forced to do so because he cannot fit anywhere else on the pitch. I want a wide player who will stay out wide, create width, stretch the game so that it creates more space for a creative players to operate in. Without this wide man we have passes inside, cutting inside, switching from one side to the other with no penetration, narrow play in congested areas. It is easy to defend against, because without a threat out wide the opposition do not need… Read more »
He means The Jeff goddamnit!
Let the battle for 4th place begin!
It’s the FIRRRRRRRRRRRRST GAAAAAAAAAAME OFFFFFFFFF THEEEEEEEE SEASOOOOOOOOON!!!!
(Sorry for the capital letters, it wouldn’t have come across how I wanted it to in lowercase)
Yeh but its groundhog day…….again
Cazorla back in the middle alongside Coq.
It worked for the whole of the 2nd half last season why the fuck change it? Just to fit all your favourite players in? He tried that the beginning of last season.
Ramsey and Coq doesn’t work as well a santi and Coq.
Also why did he drop Bellerin for a home game where you need good movement? I don’t get it.
Bellerin was injured apparently but agree whole-heartedly with your point about Santi.
It’s typical Wenger/Arsenal though, it seems like every season he starts with the players/system how he would ideally like them. And then after a month or two when every one can see it’s not working he shoves a Coq in (snigger), or gets Ramsey to keep it simple or gets the team playing tighter, more solidly etc.
Why can’t we just stick with what seems to work?!
Santi & Coq in midfield, kick Ramsey out or play him on the wing.
Let’s not all beat ourselves too much – we’ve a fine squad. Good enough to challenge but possible not yet to win the big trophies. And we’re miles ahead of where we were as a selling club in the past. But, but…..one of Wenger’s huge failures is complacency. One needs to start concentrating in the PL on the first weekend…..and we’ve not won our opener since 2009. One needs to start concentrating in the CL at the knock out phase… none of us need reminding on that front. And that complacent mental laziness is – sadly – down to the… Read more »
Erm, we won our opener last season, genius. 2009 my arse.
WENGER OOOOUUUUTTTTT….!!!!!!!!
Wenger has to be brave and bench one of the creative players. We don’t realise this but we missed pace in absence of alexis/welbeck on the left. We also miss wilshere and his burst in the middle that ozil lacks. Ozil has his attributes but for our short pass game we need someone like jake who can keep the tempo high in the opposition half. Also what worries me is the style of play. Its too slow for my liking. We see very few situations in which one of our players are one on one with the defenders. Most of… Read more »
Personally, I’ve thought that we really do need to add another striker and a holding mid to kick on this season – not because I think poorly of Giroud (or Walcott & Welbeck) and Coquelin but because I think the additional depth and variety would really strengthen the team – especially later in the season (we can’t field the same few players., playing the same game for every game of the season). Having said that, there’s no way signings (or the lack of them) were to blame for today’s performance. There’s no magic bullet, it has to be a team… Read more »
Cech was in decline several years ago that’s why Chelsea replaced him so wenger decides that a keeper in decline is the answer. The outfield players were nowhere near good enough last season so he thinks they are good enough this season. Apparently there is money to buy players yet he sits on his hands and does nothing. This is all Wenger. I know it’s just one game of thirty eight but I don’t see a challenge from Arsenal – another season of league failure. We just don’t have it. You cannot win the league with players like Giroud and… Read more »
It is all Wenger…..hmmmm. Well that’s that then, next?
I never wanted Cech, but to be fair he was very good pre-season and he’s a nice man who does inspire confidence in the defence. Still, I’m glad Ospina opted to stay and fight for the place. I just hope he’s given a fair chance, though I fear Wenger will be more reluctant to drop Cech (his prize signing, his only signing) than he was Szczesny. Has Martinez gone to Spain yet? I noticed he wasn’t on yesterday’s bench.
The more I see the second goal the more I keep thinking wtf was cech doing. Nd I’m sorry u can’t say he was nervous. He’s been playing at the top level for so many yrs now. He’s past that nervous stage.
And ffs stop making Giroud the scapegoat every fucking time. He had no service today. Atleast he was trying unlike some of our players. People never criticise Ozil just coz he’s our record signing
No one criticizes Özil? Really?
What I meant was. Us Arsenal fans don’t criticise him as much as Giroud. After every poor performance fans post those nonsense stat pics justifying his performance. And BTW even Cazorla and Ramsey had a piss poor game today. Don’t see many saying anything about them.
Every1 crying for Benzema. Well if we had him today and our mid played like this. U honestly think he could have done something different? Basically what I mean is that the entire team as a whole was poor today
I can agree with that. As much as I love Santi, he put in some half-hearted challenges today. One in particular close to our penalty area springs to mind. Not really an excuse for that. Has nothing to do with gelling as a unit, playing on the left or any of that – just a lack of intensity that’s hard to explain.
The fact is whoever wins the league is going to get beat 5 times, maybe more this year. Chelsea dropped points at home and united look woeful. Let’s all swallow down this bitter pill and look forward to a response next week.
Wenger epitomises an old expression “those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it”
Just a shame that the league title isn’t decided on meaningless summer friendlies
Also not decided on one Sunday. Stupid 3 points to drop, but there’s a long season ahead and a lot of chances to make the points back up.
No it isn’t decided on one Sunday…
But history has shown us that Arsenal fall to pieces with surprising regularity.
The critics of Arsenal are right about what they say that’s why Arsenal fans dislike them so. No one wants to hear the truth.
Arsenal simply are not good enough to challenge..
Not sure that people disagreeing with a particular interpretation of events means they don’t want to hear the truth. We dropped three points on two bad goals that won’t likely happen every week and not much going forward which should improve as well. Compare that to Chelsea on Saturday – taken apart at times by Swansea. Ivanovic couldn’t live with Moreno. Have they given up on the title already? The sky isn’t falling after every loss.
It’s the first game of the season! You were probably besides yourself a week ago…. You could always support someone else?
We can buy Benzema, Suarez and Busquets but until we start getting results when playing badly we have no chance of competing with the big boys.
Despite Chelshite going down a man, they got a point and despite ManUre playing terrible, they got three. When we have an off day, we loose.
TBH Wenger seem to struggle with coming up with the strongest midfield combination especially when everyone’s fit and available. Carzola and Ramsey are like the lampard and Gerrard of arsenal..they can’t play together as one has to play off position and the team suffer. Yes Rambo is energetic but one 2 many extra touches let’s him down so Carzola shud have that deep lying CM.
the saddest part of today isnt that we dropped points.. it is the fact that the defeat makes people like michael owen sound like proper pundits..
while watching the match today all i felt was that there were a bunch of boys trying to win.. i didnt see anyone in charge.. for all the talk of technical and team leaders we sorely missed one today .. at 1 – 0 it was still winnable .. at 2 – 0 there was still a chance for a draw..
You cannot buy mental strength. Spending hundreds of millions of pounds is not the answer. We’ve got a great squad on paper, but once again the pressure got to us. Who can you buy that are technically worlds better than Özil, Santi and Koscielny? People can slate Olivier Giroud all day, but it’s not his fault we lost today. The passing from midfield today was awful, the ball was so slow and these factors highlight Olivier’s passive qualities yes but that doesn’t mean he should be singled out. Until the players can handle the ‘favourite’ tag and manage the fans… Read more »
You sound like Wenger talking about mental strength.
It’s about confidence which is gained from winning games, especially home games against markedly inferior teams like West Ham.
What baffles me is that it is the same story every single season and no one can figure out the reason why – it’s WENGER or doesn’t the manager assume responsibility in the eyes of arsenal fans ?
you should start your own Wenger out blog…. then you could spare the rest of us.
Side has no balance…Need a natural left sided player…Who actually stays wide. ..A better/different striker to Giroud. Santi or Ramsey not both Santi and Coq worked so well in nearly all their games but Wenger decides to break it up today…and play Santi on the left, where he has proven he hasn’t got the legs or physicality…Ramsey is a great player but needs a fucking slap…Really not a fan of this Hollywood Ramsey that appeared last year…He went away towards the tail end of the season but seems to have come back in full force. Holds the ball too long… Read more »
Spot on mate
I agree with most of this assessment, apart from the bit about being dominated. I wish we had been dominated but shots and possession stats will tell a different story – 63% possession and more shots, on and off target. Our game looked slow today and we wouldn’t have scored if we were still out there now….that’s the annoying part for me.
I mentioned those two players because they had dominating performances and performed their roles better in comparison to their counterparts in our team..They were a large reason why West Ham won today.
It’s interesting to think that no one said signing Cech was a bad idea – in fact virtually every one – myself included, said he is world class and an upgrade. And yet today he partly cost us the game. And still everyone thinks that there is always that player out there that if only Wenger signed we would never lose a game. Such a player doesn’t exist with the exception perhaps of a Messi or Ronaldo and yet even they lose games. Wenger is right. We should not buy anyone who is not better than what we have. This… Read more »
No, not true. Arseblog questioned why Chelsea would sign him if not past his prime, and I have posted reservations concerning Cech since last year. Last year many Szczesny fans kept repeating ‘but, he won the Golden Glove’ as if Szczesny’s place could not be challenged. I pointed out both the previous season’s Golden Glove winners, Cech being the other, were now warming the bench. I also posted several times pre-season to say that whilst I hoped Cech was still a good goalkeeper, I had reservations as I did not believe he was the player he was. In fact, even… Read more »
Sorry … Chelsea sell him rather than sign him…
one game, mate, one game….. give him a chance, ay.
Now rarely negative about management but today they broke a cardinal rule and tinkered with a team that were comfortable against much stronger opposition last week! Why did we not start with Theo? Why Debuchy not Bellerin? Sure the use should have wine but clearly not quite as comfortable together as last weeks team?
Bellerin was injured.
A long time ago, in a footballing galaxy far far away, a short, pie eating, moustached, fat bastard by the name of Mickey Quinn scored a hat trick against us, at Highbury, for Coventry City on the opening day of the season. 0-3 to Coventry. I was 13 years old, I nearly cried. The very same season we beat an extremely wealthy Italian club, with huge star names, called Parma in the Cup Winners Cup Final in Copenhagen, with one of the greatest defensive displays I have ever seen by any football team. Football. Sometimes it just gets on your… Read more »
“Football. Sometimes it just gets on your tits” sums it up so beautifully.
I applaude you Sir (or madam).
That’s the best thing I’ve read on here in ages.
I was 13 that season too. Sat in the North bank for a lot of games that year. Who can forget, Ian Wright’s suspension……absolute disaster, but then Smudger’s goal – 1 nil to the Arsenal. I think that was the first parade I went to.
We were shit. Fuck all tackling no closing down and didnt get the ball out of the back fast enough. Too narrow and complacent.
If anyone says they saw that performance or result coming today, they’re talking shit. No one has been clamouring for signings this summer, so to start going over the top about signing this or that player is complete bollocks after just one game. Did anyone really expect Cech to have a game like that? No, of course they didn’t. We were poor across the board today, and West Ham looked fitter and sharper than us probably due to them playing competitive games in the last few weeks. What pissed me off the most was the lack of fight from Arsenal,… Read more »
absolutely frustrated :@……..Ive always been concerned with our ability to test keepers from outside the penalty box , we still try to walk the ball in , i remember when Santi used to shoot on sight but now it rarely happens. Fair enough its the first game of the season, but Crystal Palace and Liverpool will be much tougher games for us , and their tactics will be the same (sit back with two banks of four and frustrate us)and let us pass from side to side looking for the Killer , we desperately need a plan B ….. and… Read more »
Is buying buying the solution? I remember last year some of us were upset because balotelli went livpewl. Fawcow is supposed to be world class but was shit at shity. When suarez signed for livpewl few of us and their fans knew he was that good in fact most of the hype was about aquilani , same for aguero. We always want to sign and that’s understandable as it is the trend since billionaires are bying cups for other clubs but we have a good enough squad to win this league. They were at the top for long last season… Read more »
A world class striker makes opposite teams change their tactics against you, he makes opposite defeders and midfielders more conservative and think more defensively. Ramsey was at fault today for trying as usual to overdo everythibg instead of keeping it simple. Giroud doesnt kbow how to get in between the lines. Did he ever get into a one on one situation in his 3 years? When you play against big defenders, you use speed like walcott or Benzema and not air duels with Giroud. We currently lack a left forward when Sanchez is out. Today could have been a game… Read more »
we looked like we were still on our summer hols, psssing wasnt crisp enough, movement was laboured, seemed to go back to the gung ho approach and got caught many times too far up field and sucker punched on the break, apart from the Ox every one seemed under par and lack lustre, did our over confidence to the oppposition from previous results make us too casual, and not forgetting it was a derby match! more like apre season aproach we didnt click today but need to very soon and find the form of the end of last season
Arsenal had good or very good starts to new seasons in the pre Asian tours era. They usually spent a two-week preparation time in Graz in Austria were they practised and got physical too ( mountain region helped with that ). Their play was fluent and eye catching after that while now every year it just hurts the eyes.
Also – it was in the pre selfies and fancy haircuts time 🙂
How many fuckin times has it been said……….
We need an DM to back up the Coq
We need a world class striker
BTW, Its just an observation but, Gabriel would have picked up the fuckwit that scored the first goal
Please excuse the language, but Im serously fuckin angry
Complacency is a problem with this team, I think. When it comes to certain “lesser” opponents, they turn up just expecting to win. And that’s hugely problematic, because if you go into games with that attitude and things don’t go your way then you start to panic flounder. It was clearly at show in the Monaco game, for instance. Coming back from a good pre-season, feeling positive and at home against a mid-table club, they played as if all they had to do was just go through the motions and the result would be theirs. You cannot do that at… Read more »
The first goal really shouldn’t have come. After it, West Ham just went into full park the bus mode. The defense and Cech cost us three points today, not the attack. You can argue that with a better striker we would’ve scored earlier, but we’re a team that need to be patient.
Christ, I fucking hate football
We’ll be fine. We were in the ascendancy today before Kouyate’s goal and slowly stepping our passing up a gear. If Ramsey had made the correct decision to play Debuchy in instead of shooting that time it might well have been us who took the lead but alas so it goes. On the whole we just couldn’t get any fluidity to our passing, but I’m assuming this defeat will have woken up any players who sleepwalked into the first game. I’m also hoping Cech doesn’t have a repeat of today any time soon, because as far as debuts go, that… Read more »
This is why the premier league is exciting. Anybody can beat anybody anywhere. It’s natural to be upset after all the hype with media as Arsenal possible title challenger. Better to lose now and wake the boys up than starting the decline in the second half of the season when fatigue is there already. I’m still confident we have great season ahead. COYG
What’s that, some common sense you say? At last someone with a sense of perspective and proportion. We’ll be alright!
On a serious note, how many times now has the Ox lost the ball in delicate areas and we concede from them? He has to improve that part of his game.
The problem weren’t signings, it were those already signed. They let themselves down, Wenger down, the club down. And they know it. Oh, and they let Sanchez down, who should have had no reason to play today if we’d bothered to show up.
A terrible effort all round and hard to pin-point why when we’ve all seen more effort and desire throughout the preseason. Baffling.
Shit and Fuck!
You will be alright Paul. Everything is going to be alright. Just drink a hot beverage, stay away from match of the day and go to bed early. Everthing will be alright tomorrow mate
Cheers mate I do feel a lot better today…
“Bad day at the office”
“it’s just one game”
“Don’t overreact”
“Buying players won’t solve things”
“In Arsene we trust”
“fickle fans”
….and it goes on.
To all of you mighty Gooners who defend results like today with any of the above, you must have erased the repetitive memories of the last 10 years attempts on EPL.
Yes it’s one game but like last year, despite a fantastic 2nd part of the season run, we were still way behind chelski due to too many results just like this!
CHELSEA AGENT PETR CECH in the form of his life today.
Double agent they say, eh?
0033, licence to spill
It’s quite funny how the mood can change from one game to the next, descending at the speed of light from golden euphoria to the darkest depths of depression in less than 2 hours……. we’re doomed! Wenger out! Ozil’s shit! It’s all Giroud’s fault! aghhhhh, bring back the Ashes and the sunny optimism haha
This is the first time we’ve started a season without Diaby in the Physio’s office. Coincidence???? He was obviously our behind the scenes talisman …………..!!!!!
I would be so angry at Wenger if he did what he has been doing in the past years (not having a great full squad), but now i think we are having a great squad and they are playing well, but shit happens, specially at the beginning of seasons. guys believe me it’s just a bad day, and this an early Wake up call for the team !! so they know that the EPL is Not easy and not listen to the media(they were saying Arsenal is gonna win the league for sure.. they are better than chealsea, Cech is… Read more »
i don’t care if the first goal was poor defending…world class goal keepers are supposed to make up for defensive breakdowns. no excuse whatsoever for the second goal. It was rolling in slow motion and checks feet were glued to the pitch. Don’t tell me DeGea wouldn’t save both of those shots.
this game was reminiscent of flabihandski and almunia. If we don’t concede I think we push on to score. Then to concede again is unforgivable.