Another miserable away day for Arsenal, losing for the fourth successive time on the road.
A 3-0 defeat to Crystal Palace led to the away fans singing “You’re not fit to wear the shirt”.
It’s hard to argue with that. Here’s how the players rated.
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Thursday, December 19, 2024
Every time I see bellerin’s hair(and play football) I like him a little less.
“Everyday I love Bellz less and less…”
On the bright side, barca may not be inclined to buy him with his current form…and somebody, anybody, please ask him to get a haircut
He was better and more effective when the Ox came on.
Walcott did not offer sufficient protection first half.
Nothing done from the bench of course.
I just don’t get the fuss over his hair… He’s a young player who’s going through a seriously poor patch of form. There is also no viable back up to replace him at right back or even just pull him out of the limelight.
If you truly believe his hair is the problem then you have lost sight of what is important when it comes to football, and in this instance a football team.
There is Jenkinson. He is a decent replacement. He just lacks Wenger’s trust and approval. Even Maitland-Niles can play well at right back. And as much as I have supported the gaffer, I think he should rotate more. No player should be guaranteed a starting berth. At this point I think The Ox is much better than Ozil. And Giroud has a much higher return than Dat Guy as a center forward even from the bench. And the defence should be much more tenacious. Put in stronger challenges that put the fear of God in your opponents. And play with… Read more »
I was planning to wake up at 6:30 and watch the game delayed, but I accidentally clicked to watch live. I’m so happy I only had to watch 10 minutes of that shite, rather than 90.
Another Aussie gunner? I feel your pain.
I wish I’d made that mistake!
5am kick off was a kick in the nuts
I was going to say ass but…ouch
I woke at 5:00am and watched all 90 mins of that shite. Then I went kayaking and fell in a freezing cold river. I hate life
I too woke up at 5am and had to get straight to work after final whistle. Just finished work. What a shite day. And I’m reading the comments here because i love arsenal and clearly enjoy the pain 🙁
Slept in at 2 am doing my uni assignment, and woke up at 4am to watch that shite. Aussie gooner here, painful times but still keen to go to sydney when they come down.
this season AW has been exposed to the point of no return.our squad has enough talent to be one of the best in the world.. but it all comes down to the manager to place great motivation, and cause a healthy mix competition. it is clear as daylight, AW has lost the dressing room. whatever happens till the end of the season doesnt matter.. I’m not even trying to say that lighty. Yeah if we do end up getting fourth place and wenger retires the squad will continue to fail. right now everything needs a reset button, from the board… Read more »
Our squad has enough talent to be one of the best in the world, it all comes down to the manager…. If we get 4th and Wenger retires the squad will still fail…
I don’t understand?
I meant the squad has the capabilities to be one of the best, when there all coherent and in song. Just seems like something is holding them back. if aw hasn’t got it in him to make this squad champion clearly he aint fit for the role anymore. also having the extra pressure for this squad at the champion league seems to have become a heavy burden. clearly we need to restart from the beginning. TBH I can’t see any of that happening, and clearly it seems wenger has signed the contract but with him being all long about announcing… Read more »
Oh okay I get you, but if the squad is as talented as you believe then surely a complete rebuild is the last thing we need? Maybe just a new voice to get the players motivated? The situation with his contract is a bit shit alright, but ask yourself, if Wenger comes out in the next couple of days and announces what his plans are, be they to stay or to finish up, do you think that will kick the players into gear? I don’t really think that affects them that much and I think it is a really poor… Read more »
This! I remained puzzled why so much blame is piled on the one guy who can’t score the goals, make the passes, or defend the crosses. The PLAYERS are professional athletes, paid millions, physically pampered…and the logical analysis of why they don’t win is because the 70 yr old Frenchman in their locker room isn’t providing the right pep talk?? Supporters seem to think bitching about AW is their right and board memebers seem to think that should be the impetus for change. Almost to a player, the squad has under performed all season. Sure Alexis is scoring, but he’s… Read more »
Look at what Fergie did in his last year and where they are now. Look at Chelsea last season and look at them now. Manager makes a HUGE difference and it’s also hugely significant when the manager ‘losrs the dressing room ‘
And Wenger does sure get credit for wins too. You know the whole One Arsene Wenger chant and all
Yeah, I get that. But what does it say about PROFESSIONAL players that they stop playing well because of their manager? Seriously: how do you go 19 without losing, to this? We know Wenger hasn’t changed. So, the players can just turn it off because…they’re…sensitive ? They get paid to play and win. They’re barely doing either, and the manager should have little to do with effort. I think it’s rather telling that the last 2 League players of the year (Hazard and Mahrez) both seemed to switch off when they didn’t like something about the manager. That’s not particularly… Read more »
They are not the only ones getting paid well. Hazard and Mahrez? Not the best examples to use, the only player to put any effort in for the chavs was Willian when Moroniho got the shove. As for Leicester safe to say no one was trying. The problem here with most people is that they are obsessing with our two star players, not looking past them. If they did then they would rightly worry, Bellerin, Gabriel, Mustafi, Xhaka, any one of our frontline goalkeepers. The list goes on, that’s when you have to wonder if the manager has his players… Read more »
That whole “19 games” is a bit of a red herring. For the most part, we haven’t really played well since we best Chelsea.
Also this isn’t even the same team set up that went for those 19 games unbeaten. For one, Wenger had Sanchez as a CF and for whatever reason dropped it. That’s down to the manager.
And if players aren’t performing, you bench them and give someone else a chance, even youth. You don’t just keep playing the same players over and over again expecting different results. That’s down to Arsene too.
We also had Santi. Huge difference. The man is a legend.
I almost included this as counter to my own argument, as I largely agree with you. There have been some lineup choices that I think have been suspect, and not using Sanchez up front is the big one. It’s all shades of grey, really. Which is why Arsène getting so much of the blame seem wrongly black and white. But I disagree about the 19 games (insert “Clue!” reference here). Regardless of the competition, you have to play good, consistent team football to achieve that. Yes the manager has decisions to make, but ultimately, players have to perform at some… Read more »
In about 13 years of this devolution, players have come and gone. But the pattern of capitulation has remained. Only one person can be blamed for that. When you look at the breed of younger coaches,you can’t help but feel wenger’s time is past. Even the transfer market seems to have moved beyond him. I hope for all our sakes the right thing is done.
Jonas, you don’t bring common sense to a gun(ners) fight. Very well made point though.
Ha. Sincerest apologies. I’ll drink more…or less, before posting. Never sure which helps more.
When teams win or lose the manager gets more recognition than the players so I’m not quite sure you’re correct.
Secondly, if the manager isn’t the most important figure why is he paid 8 million a year?
Players to have to take responsibility but the manager is paid immensely to ensure they perform.
The club just needs to grind out the results for the remainder of the season. Come summer, AW Has to step down. I agree completely that over 6-7 previous seasons we have always had sufficiently talented players. You can see when they play well. And we’ve many example of some great games. But season after season the same nature of failures with different groups of players, the only constant has been this manager. Surely everyone should be able to see that. He HAS to go.
Yes, Wenger sets the team up to face the opposition, and prepares them, with the help of his staff of course, also his responsibility. He selects the team and motivates them when necessary (“man management”). Our failings on set pieces are legendary and longstanding; that’s poor training. We’re not motivated, with the exception of the most professional (e.g. Monreal) or driven (e.g. Alexis). The wrong players start (Walcott) or are put in the wrong position (Alexis). The players are obviously skilled, but they haven’t been prepared properly. It’s natural to lose confidence in a manager who you can see has… Read more »
Wenger out please, we beg of you
I will give every player a 1 for just turning up… No passion, no determination.. Wankers
this team is worse than the one that had eboue, denilson, hoyte and maybe a few other unnameables in it! can we bring back project youth please?!
I’m not sure this team is worse… But you know, I’ll forgive a player who’s selected and genuinely isn’t good enough when he gives it his all. I can’t forgive players playing like they don’t care. Manager’s lost it, dressing room’s gone, whatever – we desperately need to improve.
Thumbs up for Project Youth 2.0
Atleast the kids will be hungry to make a name for themselves.
and we still don’t have a functioning midfield. Why do other teams make it look so easy? Mark bloody Noble would walk into our starting XI right now.
Getting very worried by Bellerin at this stage. He wouldn’t be the first young exciting player to break through under Wenger before being over played when out of form until lack of confidence and stress injuries destroy what made him exciting in the first place. It’s not too late for him (or Iwobi) but Wenger has to go
The players were pathetic today, no fight (bar perhaps Monreal and Xhaka). There was a moment in the second when Crystal Palace had a corner, and Giroud, Bellerin and I think Mustafi were just staring glumly at the corner flag while Xhaka was screaming for them to get organised; they didn’t respond. One could see Xhaka screaming “Ollie”, but that french fuck just didn’t care. Additionally, I know people seem to like taking the piss out of Ozil while praising Alexis at the same time for his ‘heart’, but today, Alexis was awful. There’s a limit to the amount of… Read more »
Maybe the players don’t care because they’re trying to get the manager sacked?
Confirmed change: Next season we’ll be known as ‘Arsenal Comedy Club’.
Allardyce, Pulis, Koeman, Howe, Mazzari – all showed how Arsenal can be humiliated and each probably earns less than half of what Wenger gets. How can Kroenke allow that to continue?
Would Usmanov allow it?
Would David Dein allow his friend to continue to put himself through this?
Can I allow myself to continue to be treated like this at £2000+ for season tickets?
First off maximum respect to Crystal Palace and Sam Allardici, we made it too easy for them but they played with determination physicality and skill. Grats on the win against Chelsea too. The sheer arrogance of Wenger is astounding, if he and the board thought a top 4 finish would be good enough reason to renew his contract for another 2 years then they would be wrong. What would change in 2 years that would be different to before? The man is tactically naive definition of madness and all that. Your average fan could have told Wenger that Giroud would… Read more »
Forget Adams, keown and Vieira etc, these performances would even make the likes of Djourou, Senderos and Denilson cringe.
Whatever you think of senderos’ talent, u couldnt fault his commitment. He was just proud to be an arsenal player.
Oh.and a small step in th right direction would be Bellerin ditching his spanish geisha hairstyle
I’ve literally given Wenger about 30 last chances because of what he’s achieved in the past and the belief and trust I had in him that he could turn things around but now I’m done. It infuriates me that at 3-0 down both Bould and Wenger were rooted to their seats and not talking to each other. No ideas, no motivation.
Did a hero or live long enough to be the villain.
I think Wenger is now venturing way too far into the other side now. I went from Wenger in to Wenger Out reluctant, to Wenger Out fully to now Wenger out quite intensely.
Also this won’t be popular but here it goes… That’s the news. I know the fans give Ivan stick, but I genuinely think he’s the one in the board we need to keep. Right now he is the difference between Wenger staying for life or f*cking Josh Kroenke runnng our football decisions. Its been subtle but clear for the past few years there’s a difference between him and Wenger. He would talk up our ability to buy players, then the next day Wenger would play it down. He recently spoke of catalyst of change and the next day Wenger was… Read more »
It must be said that the use of analytics and purchase of statsDNA was his vision. You might be anti-stats like so many in football, but it least he has the vision to make the club a more modern and progressive club for the modern times. But before they purchased statDNA, he first had to convince Wenger via a presentation of why they should do so.
Have you ever heard of a workplace where a boss has to first seek permission from his own employees before he can make an executive decision? Isn’t that f*cked up?
John Terry’s still a cunt. It doesn’t help much, it’s the best we’ve got in the circumstances.
I find it unbelievable that you rate elneny as one of our best players today. Clearly he can’t keep up with the pace of premier League football. And how sad and frustrating that he may be our best option along xhaka in midfield. And it doesn’t even matter, because we have issues that are so much worse than bad midfielders
No case for the defence tonight. Front 4 were poor but I can’t believe anyone in that back 4 got more than a 3, very generous on the DMs too, never got close. We’ve now conceded 3 in our last FOUR away games! Only Liverpool have conceded more in the top 6. It’s just bloody mental
Harsh on Monreal in my opinion, his play down the left was pretty much our best attacking threat.
But Zaha had him on skates all night. And the first two goals came down his side, unable to deal with a cross or cutback. Allardyce was saying after the game that they targeted the flanks because our fullbacks go too far up the pitch, so I’d struggle to give him credit for his attacking threat when it played into Palace’s hands
This is the worst worst season we’ve had for a while now.
Is this the point where we give up on fourth place hopes?
I don’t care about Wenger staying or leaving or anything for that matter right now. I’m just too sad.
I hope we give up on 5th too – don’t want Europa League at all. May be worth losing semi to avoid going in via FA Cup.
Frimpong and diaby can handle the midfield better against this CP.
Don’t be hatin on Frimpong, he always gave a shit and put in a shift unlike this sad sack.
Frimpong is playing in the Swedish top division. And he would still have been ashamed of that performance…
What a freaking embarrassment of a team right now. I am so sick of seeing us go into these matches we need to win with no sense of urgency at all. No leadership on the pitch whatsoever and the only one that plays as if he gives a damn is surely going to be sold this Summer or play out the last year of his deal and then leave for free. Every previous season of the Wenger era I figured at worst case we’d get 4th place and have that as a carrot to draw players (though of course many… Read more »
Dont really understand the ratings. The defenders are on average rated higher than the attacking players when Arsenal conceded 3 goals against Crystal Palace. That doesn’t make sense. And how are all the forward players rated the same? After a shoddy performance like this its understandable to just call them all equally bad. But they were not all equally bad. Some were definitely worse than others. For example our captain for the night and supposedly future captain of England, Theo Walcott, had a pass completion of 47% (which means he misplaced more passes than he completed) and he literally only… Read more »
This.
I’m really unable to see the light at the end of the tunnel with Wenger in charge. He needs to be a man and admit he’s past it and step down. I can appreciate he wants to stay on and make things right, but I cant see him turning this around.
Getting walloped by teams that are fighting their way out of the relegation zone like that is inexcusable. Clearly, no one wants to be playing for Arsenal at this point. They don’t act like it on the pitch. I don’t doubt we have the capacity to be winning matches, but dear god, something within the broader structure of the club has got to give…
I dont often agree with Big Sam but he hit nail on head where he identified Arsenals biggest weakness is their attractive style of play.. when Bellerin and Monreal both bomb forward in support of the team at same time, it generally leaves the 2 CB’s exposed and primed for attack if the ball gets in behind our midfield. Tonight, you can see that happen many times and suddenly its a 3v2 situation and our entire defence is all over the shop as the opposition counter. My point here I spose is that Gabriel and Mustafi probably didnt perform as… Read more »
Big Sam is obviously a tactical genius. Oh no wait, every team knows how to beat us because we play the same way and do the same idiotic things every game. It’s almost like if we had a manager he could manage the players to learn from their mistakes.
Considering Steve Bould was a defender, I should expect the least problem in our defence. What is his role really? Chewing gums?
How many time should we repeat it ?
WENGER OUT !
WAIT : wenger’s fan : shut up !!
I have two questions, what was out game plan? Secondly, how on earth is Walcott our captain?
I like Walcott–kinda–but I wondered how he came to be captain too.
Wenger’s idea is that the most senior player is Captain, whether he can motivate or not. Kos is no good either, even BFG has no organisational power on the pitch. Ramsey was Wales captain but had it taken from him and he got the armband as nearest player to our subbed captain.
walcott and welb are too static…. i cannot remember any moment that welbeck link up play and lay off balls to runners..
we should revert to how we line up at the beginning of season.. sanchez/giroud to spearhead with walcott/ox starting..
we need to play more direct and throwing in balls more often….
Wenger could actually learn from Herbert Chapman and employ WM formation (younger viewers should look it up!)
How in the fuck can the same team produce back to back performances like this and the West Ham games?
Because West Ham are dire at the moment and Crystal Palace are actually in a run of good form? That 19 games unbeaten comment above is a nonsense, in the same way there was that stupid stat about Arsenal not losing whilst Mustafi was playing (up to the beginning of the year). We played a load of shit opposition in that period and were extremely lucky to get draws at home to Tottenham and Man U (and Mustafi didn’t play in the Everton or Man City games – no doubt we would still have lost with him in the team).… Read more »
As I mentioned after West Ham…we’re still papering over cracks. Chiefly in midfield : Elneny is a mediocre player at best. Ramsey lacks bite in the link position, Coquelin can only play with Santi. So we are left without a good partnership in midfield. This issue has persisted all season. All options Elneny, Coquelin and to some extent Ramsey are pass and play players. None of them can move the ball vertically through feet. Hence the side way passing. This issue needs to be sorted in the summer. Until then we can only pray and hope something clicks. Ox has… Read more »
Again I say, is Elneny worse than Punched, is Coquelin worse than Drinkwater, is Xhaka worse than Fletcher? Or is it the organisation and motivation that’s at fault.
We had this blog being full of “can’t wait to get Welbeck/Cazorla /Ozil/A. N Other/ back” only to find they were not the solution – it’s more ingrained than a single player can handle.
Welbeck was poor. Again Wenger persisting with a player and it cost us. All that pace and running around but he can’t hold the ball up for us. May as well had started Giroud earlier. Walcott another one who could not stick the ball for us. Did not offer enough support for the under performing Bellerin. Should have started Ox. Poor on field management IMO (which saw Ramsey take the Captain’s armband) Reminds me of the time he subbed off Ox and RVP got annoyed because he was our best performing player. Its the same issues. Not getting the maximum… Read more »
Just wow. For once I am going to say maybe it’s not really down to our back 5 unit. Our defending gets so much stick but when the rest of the team has no control over the other 3 quarters of the pitch, it’s going to be hard to defend.
I agree we need change but deep deep down I would like wenger to succeed in now with the Emirates giving back what it was planned for. This might too far gone no though.
We should realise that these same players under a manager like Conte would be totally different (better). Arsenal must find a new manager, there s no way around it. Wenger should ve gone on a high after the fa cup win
…………………………………Giroud………………………………….
……………….Ozil…………………………………..Alexis……………
Ox………………………Granit………….Iwobi………………Bellerin
…………Monreal………………Gabriel……….Mustafi……………..
………………………………..Martinez………………………………..
Maybe like Chelsea we need to tweak to a 3 at the back and use Ox as a wing back with Bellerin on other flank.
Keep Ozil, Granit Iwobi (or Coquelin) and Alexis able to fill into the midfield with Ozil and Alexis closer to Giroud in attack to feed off of him.
We seem so porous in the middle at the moment and uncompetitive we need closer proximity in the middle.
Interesting idea. Wenger would never consider a fundamental change like that.
Whenever I heard Palace
fans all season on radio phone in etc… They moan Hennessy crap goalkeeper not premier league class. Yet we did not test him enough, if we had shot more on goal we’d have scored more, sounds basic but true. Why hand brake on . Only elneny I remember shot on target all game.
I thought our confidence was back after the West Ham win hahahahaha another classic quote from a manager 10 years past his sell by date. No doubt he’ll say about our spirit if we manage to beat Middlesborough. What an utterly gutless squad he’s assembled
I think that Mustafi’s rating was abit harsh because Bellerin was the one that is causing problems for him and he often have to come out to RB position to help defend for him. Bellerin played so awful today. Worse player on the pitch was him
But by diving in so early he pretty much set the teams’ Panic Level to “holy shit” level, even though we had started the game only at “let’s try and keep it together” level.
I have to say, I think the rating for Ozil is harsh.
He gets the same rating as Walcott who did the square root of nothing.
Özil was everywhere, always open to receive, always trying to make things happen.
The shape we’re in, I guess the club wont announce Wengers contract extension until after we win some pre-season tournament..
In the shape we’re in now, I doubt we would even win an Emirates Cup consisting of us, Wigan and Leyton Orient…
The moment that more or less summarized the game for us: when Özil played a sublime pass…to an Arsenal substitute who was warming up. Oh, FFS!
Only Martinez and Monreal were close to OK. Against PALACE!
EPL needs two things.. a dominant centre Back, a general midfielder and energy, pace and hunger.. none of it on the pitch last night. Ozil and Sanchez not suited to the Premier league, and the tactic of a team playing at home, open to counter attacks… Maybe this team has talents, but the failure to have a proper game plan ( other than find MO an AS and sloooooowly pass it in MF then on the wings ad nauseam..) is now being exposed almost weekly. Get rid of ozil and Sanchez, take a dominant CB ( not a ball player… Read more »
There is not one player representing Arsenal last night that would get a game in his corresponding position is any of the teams currently sitting above us, not one. On last nights display not many would get a game in most of the teams below us either.
Shocking, embarrassing, cowardly, devoid of passion, unjustifiably arragont, I could go on. At this moment in time I can honestly say I would not be disappointed to see any of them leave the club.
All we need now is for Santi to say he wants to leave, together with Ospina, Ox, Ozil and Alexis, and we will be well and truly stuffed!
Kroenke – cunt/10
Dick Law – twat/10
Ivan The Terrible – do something/10
Arsene Wenger – Poor bloody sod/10
I think you’ve been too generous with the ratings tbh