Jack Wilshere and Wojciech Szczesny both admit Arsenal just weren’t good enough in their 2-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund.
Recognising that the Gunners surrendered possession far too regularly in their own half, the England international reflected that he and his teammates struggled from the off before the game was killed by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang two minutes after the break.
“We knew what Dortmund were all about,” Wilshere regretfully told UEFA.com after the game.
“We didn’t start great and once they come onto you and their fans get behind them, it’s a difficult night. We struggled with that [Dortmund’s pressing game]. You could see that was their game plan and they executed it well, but we’ve got to be a bit brighter early on.
“We need to play a bit longer instead of trying to play football in our own half because once we lose it we’re in a dangerous position and they made that count.
It had looked as though Arsene Wenger’s side might reach the break on level terms only for Ciro Immobile to convert a fine solo effort that capped off an impressive showing by the Germans.
“If we’d have got into half-time at 0-0 it would have been a little bit different,” admitted Wilshere.
“Unfortunately they got the goal on the breakaway and it was their game from there really. We’ll bounce back from this. We’ve got a home game next and we’ll be looking to get three points.
“It’s always difficult when you’re 1-0 down, but we regrouped at half-time and wanted to come back into the game. They then got one early and that sort of killed the game off, so unfortunately it wasn’t our match.”
On a night when Dortmund had 24 attempts at goal including 7 on target Wojciech Szczesny helped save his teammates from an embarrassing drubbing.
Lamenting Arsenal’s performance he admitted: “It wasn’t good. We lost two goals and it was probably lucky that we didn’t concede more. They counter-attacked us very well. On another day they probably could have finished more [chances] so it was very disappointing.
“We’ve got six games to play. We lost the first one, which was an important one, but we’ve got to pick ourselves up and get some momentum over the next couple of games at home, and hopefully put ourselves in the mix.”
Time to change our fortunes!
“A” Level in stating the bleeding obvious now forget it and give Villa a mauling
Chessers and Jack “A” level in stating the obvious now forget it and thrash Villa
Oh just relax my predicatble fellow fickle fans. We are in mid september …with players still not having completed pre-season training/ gelling. This is normal. Conditioning/fitness is done now so team can cope after xmas when games come thick and fast with added importance. Right now you can sacrifice games to test things …nothing is at stake, positions in league and cl are recoverable. Now as far as individuals are concerned…scheznhy might be the one with the world class potential but fabianski was at a more mature level to deal with professional football and its competitions we take part in.… Read more »
…. whatever you’re smoking…. feel free to pass it round.
heh…. im afraid youre too young for that…..
So you’re saying we shouldn’t be harsh on the players because they’re not fit (when some of them had the whole summer off) then go on to slate Ozil who played every round of the World Cup? Exceptional logic.
you cut me; i bleed arse.
You might want to see a doctor about that.
bloody hell
Yea, we’ve heard all these before. Go out there and show it against Villa. We will just have to take what this team can offer till January. If Arsene does not use that window the way he should considering the gaping holes in the squad, then that should be that. Get in Klopp or Simeone or any young enterprising manager to push this team to the next level. We have a very good core, thanks to Wenger.
It wasn’t a lack of a player like Alexis that had us thrashed last season. It was spinelessness and ineptness when defending. That hasn’t been addressed at all and is really disappointing. Arteta is too slow, Flamini too wild, and we don’t really know what we’re doing against good attacking teams.
I think we need to show it against other top teams and not against teams like Villa
That’s unfortunately fanciful dreaming, AW will see his contract out and most likely move upstairs next. January is a pipe dream cause remember he only looks for super quality at bargain basement prices!
One of Wenger’s enduring faults, it seems to me, is his inability to see how ineffective it is to play our best players out of position. He seems to persist with his Total Football theory, which is admirable, but it clearly hasn’t worked at times and he refuses to shake things up when it doesn’t. So now we’re back to players like Ozil being undroppable and players like Rosicky not even making the bench most of the time. This is the slowest and scariest start to a season since our infamous visit to Old Trafford a few years back, and… Read more »
totally agree with everyone you typed. totally. we need more of you and less of cunts among us. you have got brains mate. i will remember your name mate.
well look….top teams dont change their tactics…they decide and develop an overall strategy/philosophy and stick to it irrespective of who comprises the first 11 or who the opponent is. There are managers who are teachers of the sport ( van gaal, wenger etc) and there are managers who change tactic every game because they are pressed to get results. These directives are owner terrirory. If the owner is happy to have a team/club institutuin academy and win something once every 5-7 years then they will hire a wenger or a van gaal . if the owner wants to break madrid… Read more »
Before we had Frimpong, Coquelin and Squilacci on the bench.
Now that the financial shackles are off, we’ve got the likes Cazorla, Ox, Poldi, Campbell and Rosicky on the bench.
to When you play 7 games in 21 days you’ve got to rotate seven or eight players each time otherwise half the team is run into the ground and the other half is rotting on the bench feeling disgruntled.
It’s crazy that after all the good buys we did (and we do have a stronger squad than last season), it’s like we’re going backwards. Where is the defensive switched-on-ness we had with Mertesacker+Koscielny as our CBs, the tracking back and 2 lines of 4 we’d transition into upon losing possession? Where is the ability to see out games once we reached the lead (the City game)? We really made progress there for the last 2 seasons. Is Sagna really such a huge loss? Or is it the general attitude towards defending? After winning the FA Cup, do our players… Read more »
The difference last night for me was desire, hunger, commitment and quite simply being switched on at all times. I definitely would have preferred to see Rosicky, Ox, Welbeck, Ramsey and Sanchez – all committed players – playing in front of Wilshere and Flamini. Don’t know why Arsene is seemingly afraid to bench players such as Ozil/Arteta when they are clearly out of form and off the pace.
So.. you’d play with three defenders?
If Wenger plays the same formation and players next week, it will be hard to shield him from blame. Our team needs a shake up.
“We need to play a bit longer instead of trying to play football in our own half because once we lose it we’re in a dangerous position and they made that count”
Only, they picked up the ball in their own half for the first goal, with Immobile running straight into our half with four backtracking defenders and still managed to get the shot and goal. It really was terrible.
Here’s hoping we pick up our game and start clicking, ASAP.
We here the same things every time yet we make the same mistakes over and over again. On paper the team looked almost as good as we have. we played well against city we looked like we had gelled a lot more so I could never see a performance as bad as last night coming. I have no idea what the answer is but unfortunately neither does the manager it seems. For a start maybe play Ozil in the middle and give the full backs more cover by giving them the midfielders that will track back more. If Ozil doesn’t… Read more »
Özil’s position might be weird but it can’t be the reason for these performances? We had the same ones last year in those horrible games and he played CAM at least at City and Liverpool (Don’t remember if he was healthy for Chelsea and Everton)
Wenger needs to trust our bench a bit more. Dortmund were forced to play half their B team and look how well they played against our tired A team.
Surely it isn’t a big risk to put the talented Cazorla on. Surely a fired up Campbell (who can score in the CL mind you), can bring more than an overplayed Özil or Ramsey.
Ozil is lazy. Szczesny makes park keeper decisions. Arteta is too old. Wenger has gone stale. We need new ideas, new tactics and a young, hungry manager.
we need win-hungry players
We need that manager in the opposite dugout last night.
Sets up his team with such pace and power and his players adore him. He’s on his feet the entire game and living every second.
Reminds me of Wenger 15 years ago !
We were inaffective everywhere. Its impossible to single out one player who had a good game. Its very disappointing and its hard to see how the game and tactics are going to improve quickly enough to stop our season becoming a forgone conclusion. All the talk of yes we finally have strength in depth seems a far cry from what the facts actually are. Already down to the bare bones in defence. Im sure the lads will pick themselves up and dust themselves off.
we know our defence is not great..but on paper we have good attack..but then we got no goals to show for…
wenger has to crack this…coz we already cracked our skulls in frustration..
They’ll sort it out, I’ve no doubt. Top of the group with 15 points come 9th December. Keep the faith!
Yes! I am with you on this… COYG!!
Close to every aspect of Wenger’s tactics are incredibly frustrating at the moment. I cannot get my head around the concept of pushing both full backs forward-if the play is on the left then by all means Gibbs can be involved but the RB should be tucking in level with Mertescielny. That is not a critisicm of Bellerin because Debuchy was guilty of it too as are Gibbs and Monreal when the play is on the right. This cavalier attitude seems to always leave Per and Kos completely isolated and although I like Arteta, his role is bypassed too easily… Read more »
Right now I think we will need 4 huge, athletic monsters and one more with 10 hands.. so that we stop conceding so many goals
We’re not going to raid the Norwich City dressing room in January, so that’s not going to happen.
‘@boringJoePatch’
I couldn’t agree more.
We’ve needed a holding midfielder for years now.
I second that.
This team needs a different approach and there are two options. 1. Wenger changes his approach to games and player selection… make no mistake, yesterday’s game was winnable by our team. 2. We change Wenger. A time comes in the life of an individual or corporation when strong and dispassionate decisions have to be taken. We need to break the shackles of past achievements and analyze the future staring at us. The Germans did it in 2004 and look at where it got them. One way or another, something has to give. After all his commendable work, Arsene may just… Read more »
who are we? He was hired by the Board and they will change him when they want to. Personally I didnt expect Arsenal or Atletico madrid to win their yesterdays games, i was hoping for a draw for both due to their weekend games. Arsenal was lucky dortmund had serious injury problems and Atletico were lucky the opposition wasnt their level. You cant have a tournament where your team wins all games home and away so this lamentation is rubbish coming from myopia. There are 5 games to go, its not the first time a team, even Arsenal has lost… Read more »
Not sure if tiredness from the weekend is an excuse when you have able players on the bench and still start the ones who are tired from the weekend. Incidentally, someone like Cazorla has had a better preseason than Ozil. If Ozil hasnt hit form and fitness due to lack of preseason, why isnt Cazorla starting till Ozil gets his form and fitness back.
I struggle to understand the switch from 4-2-3-1 to 4-1-4-1 formation, especially as we neither have the best of defences nor an imposing, proper DM.. too often our defence has been left flatfooted due to zero cover from the midfield..
also arsene has to grow some balls and drop players who are underperforming, FFS we have a large pool to choose from
I’ve been banging on about the need for DM on here for a while but also agree if we don’t have the required player (clearly don’t against the top teams) we should look to change the current formation. Or if Wenger is not willing to change from 4141 then he needs to be more ruthless with his personnel. Ozil should be playing in the 4 just behind the striker, Arteta or Flamini as the holding 1 with either Ramsey or Wilshere (not both) making up the other central midfielder. Cazorla, Ox, Sanchez etc fight it out for the left and… Read more »
Wilshere would be a much better option playing on right compared to Ozil. Ozil could then move to the center. But i think Ozil is not 100% at the moment and hence not getting the prime real estate. Which makes me wonder why force-play him at all.
As much as I love most of this squad of some very good players I miss the times of the pace power and size of 10 years ago! When they weren’t on form they battered there way to results! Weather it be a point or 3 we just need more fight when things go tits up
Since it hasn’t been mentioned yet (I don’t think), would just like to say shout out to the lads who were there last night. Still in full voice despite the drubbing we got; that’s what I like to hear. Well done and more of the same at Villa this weekend! Have to keep supporting the team positively no matter what. COYG
We need a change of tactics… we are playing against one of the best counterattack teams in the world and we are staying too open, are not quick enough to come back… when you see Dortmund pressing one player with 3-4 players then you can only do one thing… pass the ball, pass the ball, pass the ball… but that is another story… what I am totally sad about is the will to fight. Show some aggression on the pitch, like Wilshere did against City!!!
Anyone else tired of reading these articles? Players saying the same old shite after poor performances. I sometimes wonder why we even bother trying to qualify when Wenger refuses to add to his squad sufficiently to win the competition.
$$$$$$ < We do it all for the Benjamin's
Oh, you mean like the sale of Tommy V? Obviously that was proven to be a deal we made just for some cash bc it wasn’t reinvested in then squad, not 1 coin.
Hes just happy to make up the #s in Europe & if anyone would like to dispute that, please give me a good argument as to why it’s wrong. He shows no ambition to win bc the matches & results in Europe every year remain the same…..if nothing changes & you have the opportunity to do it but don’t then that means he’s content just making up the #s. Not good enough for a club of our stature, and I’m starting to fear that neither is Wenger anymore.
We are too methodical in our build up, we need to be quicker passing and break with pace and purpose.I’m sorry to say but we are predictable and without a true leader with a voice on the pitch.When we move the ball around quickly we look fantastic we just don’t do it enough.Sanchez is full of running and energy he looks like he is putting in 100%, Wellbeck is lively too. We can be so much better than at present. Come on Arsenal lets pick it up!!!
The better team won, we were shit, on an other day we might have won?! We’ll see…at the moment we are not good enough to beat dortmund. Practice and talk to eachother. And Wenger needs to think about how the players best fit together in a team, right now we can’t compete with the big teams… In my opinion we should play santi and the ox instead of ramsey and özil…until they get there shit together. And what’s going on with diaby? If he’s ready to play Wenger should try to play him as a DM. We need someone with… Read more »
Diaby is not & will never be a DM, he’s been gone for so long people are reimagining not only his position, but also the type of player he is……he’s as offensive as they come.
Am #WengerAlwaysIn Brigade but something must be changed..the current system not working at all…Yesterday i felt like no one gave a fuck abt us losing except may be Wilshere..He Tried
Really Dissappointed with TEAM and ARSENE:(:(
Im already dreading the game at Stamford Bridge.
It might be time to unleash the Coq, Arteta is not good enough as DM, its so obvious but just like Arsene persisted with Denilson, Almunia etc He’ll do the same with Arteta.
Flamini imo should be our 1st choice DM, at least he runs around like a headless chicken.
I would drop Ozil, Ramsey and rest Jack for the Villa game and use Rosicky, Cazrola and Ox in 433 system. Fuck 4141.
Also, if need be let the tackles fly in. City and Dortmund bullied us with their tackles and we kept retreating.
Dortmund taught us a footballing lesson & Klopp upstaged Wenger with minimal effort in terms of tactics, there was no bullying in tackles at all, just good football.
Can’t help but be concerned by the slow start to the season and the propensity to concede goals on the break. Luckily I’m not being paid £7m to come up with the answers so I’ll leave it to Le Prof to sort this particular muddle out. That being said, the prospect of Gabby running at Arteta at the weekend is truly terrifying!
Simple case of poor management. …. The manager and NOT the players need to think on his feet. Players play to a game plan given to them by the manager. Player for player we exceeded BM’s skills, our game plan just sucked and never adapted to what was being presented to us. I back the players 100%!!!
Something has ti give. The formation, the player’s attitude, a different gameplan. Surely ther is something that can be done. Apart from the City game, we have been utter $h1t. Same old problems high pressing, quick counters. I understand that maybe the players are not gelled properly still, that there are injuries, players haven’t settled in the 4-1-4-1 or even that it was a bad day at the office. But they manner in which we played, we couldn’t play a pass for our life, forget about the 1-2s and flicks and one touch passing. It all points towards a mental… Read more »
I am a big AW fan but I agree with you. The naivety of our play is the most worrying. We don’t adapt our tactics ‘in game’ when our approach isn’t working. Most of the big teams turned us over last year because they countered our predictable approach. We need to evolve and quickly learn or we won’t be challenging for top honours. Very disappointing. The only positive thing here is that it hasn’t cost us much. It was our most difficult game of the CL group stage and we can still qualify and even still finish top in the… Read more »
Yeah lets hope we get straight back up from the defeat with 3 points against an impressive Villa team. it is going to be hard if we play like last night. In context of the group, it does not matter much if we beat them at the Ems, we can still top the group IMO. Otherwise the same old second place in group then a Bayern/barca round of 16 match.
Watching Ramsey effectively playing as a striker and Ozil as a full back is painful to watch. I just can’t see what the thinking is. Ramsey’s good form last year was as much to do with his tackle stats as his goals. Now he’s often the most forward player on the pitch! Lets play wingers on the wing (or the closest we have to them; Rosicky, Cazorla, Podolski, Ox etc), not an out and out #10, and play our midfielders in midfield. Its not rocket science. Arteta is never going to be able to play well in a 4141, even… Read more »
If Arteta can’t play as a DM in a 4-1-4-1, then he can’t play as one at all
Time to watch Ozil play keepy ups with chewing gum.
Never fails to bring a smile.
The answer to our problems is droping wilshere….Ramsey had one role last season which a lot of us forget easily cos he scored and made a lot of goals,that role was breaking up play of our opponents.he made more tackles than any of our players per matches played last season.we looked dangerous wen ramsey played behind ozil.Ramsey was the reason our defence was hugely protected last season.ramsey is playing as the attacking midfielder leaving the box to box role to wilshere which he abandons,he wants only to attack.wilshere is a fantastic player but he is just not ever going to… Read more »
Barcelona, Real and Bayern would ALL have lost to Dortmund if they played like that. Klopp gets his team to drink blood then go out (before 75,000 baying fans) to execute the most intense press I have ever seen. Like he says, they are a pressing machine. Early in the game (indeed for the first half) it is basically impossible to play through. Indeed, it’s not worth trying. Better to park the bus and play long balls to the flanks. Then slowly try to get a foothold in the game. Last season Athletic Madrid caned Barca and Real Madrid playing… Read more »
Dortmund were the better team yesterday and we were poor. But to suggest Barca , Real and Bayern would lose too is just a bit too imaginative. We cannot deal with the physical side of the game , period. Our players are not acclimatized to the theory of trying to get back possession as soon as they give the ball away , they will never be. Physical prowess and willingness , notwithstanding.
Agree with you on the Klopp style though.
Barcelona, Real and Bayern wouldn’t have played as badly as we did. Helps that they have better players, but they’d (probably) also be up for a fight unlike us!
Then you didn’t watch Barca against late-Mourinho Real at the Bernabeu – Real terrorised Barca with their press; or Barca against Athletico last season at home – Athletico terrorised them with their press.
People are quick to shoot down players like the Coq as not having the quality for Arsenal but why as fans can’t we question Wenger’s judgement. The default position is that the manager knows best but when he is showing no ability to adapt or change a system and lineup that is not getting results why should we assume that this is the best he can do. For me it seems like he is merely maintaining the status quo rather than exercising discretion with his lineups. I believe that apart from the injuries to Walcott and Debuchy the lineup was… Read more »
The players were not 100% the problem, it was the system and the way we were instructed to play. As a team and individually we were also piss poor, but we couldn’t adapt to the situation in hand. Every game is different. Dortmund pressed high up and they knew from before the game that they would get joy out of that. There is a naivety about our game and our approach which is really concerning. The manager has to take the blame, obviously. But the players are also at fault for not adapting when necessary to what the game demands.… Read more »
We don’t have a perfect squad, but a good manager would be getting more out of the present team we have. Arsene would keep playing those same guys without rotating till they get injured. What a shame the great arsene wenger would probably never win the UCL. I just hope Gazidis and the board are already working towards getting a good successor.
We can’t go on with Mert and Arteta and keep expecting to get results from this big games.
It might not seem too obvious, but its the root cause of our troubles, especially Mert.
See how much better Germany played in the WC when he was dropped. I love the big guy but he is physically incapable of playing for us especially against big teams.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Gunners/comments/2glhn7/biggest_weaknesses_mertersacker_and_arteta_once/
that explains further
Nope, it is THAT obvious to everyone but Arsene. He gave Arteta the armband FFS!!!! That means unless he wants another embarrassing “Captain on the bench” situation we are stuck with him as our DM…….I just don’t know what is worse, that Wenger isn’t doing anything about it OR that he doesn’t think anything is wrong???
Drop Mert….and bring who in??? Fuck sake
Only one man is in charge of that situation & he’s been proven to be not up to snuff with transfers required. If Arsene wants all the control, then he gets ALL the blame. It’s pathetic that nobody can question him at the club, because he’s become a dictator through past achievements & financial frugality.
We got destroyed by any decent team last season and did our best not to win any silverware. We’re not as good as we think we are and will be lucky for fourth this season. Besides the money the Champions League is well beyond our abilities and is a drain on the squad.
I like the myopia bit and I agree with you. The only problem is that you, Micro, can’t see who is myopic. We had a difficult game on Saturday and you did not expect to do well. If you were a manager, wouldn’t you shake up the squad a bit? What were carzola and Ox for example doing on the bench? Why do we bother to have depth if we are not going to use them? Myopia is the word my friend. Everything is not 100% in my life but if I am paid 8m a year to guide equally… Read more »
Wenger made Arsenal a big club……it is his work and his transfers and his playing style that have helped arsenal become one of the biggest and most recognised sports brands in the WORLD. if you want a club to go and break madrid’s and bayerns records then you need Owners with balls who will go out there and face up to romans, perez, sheiks…..does Arsenal have that? Did they ever have that? No… So lets try and say a thank you every now and again because without wenger we would be worse than totenham everton liverpool newcastle.. ‘putting up’ with… Read more »
Atletico Madrid
Borussia Dortmund
(did not get your post, sorry if you were trying to be sarcastic, but if not then this does not apply)
borusia dortmund was winning champions league at a time arsenal started buying its first world class players mate …we got nothing on dortmund….. hitzfeld sammer chapuisat mueller souza…… they have history and pedigree.
atletico madrid has also won european titles…plural….
who is arsenal again? oh thast right…a midtable club all their life with the occasional title win per decade….. up until wenger showed them what is required to remain in top positions domestic and abroad.
the point I am trying to make is, they did not buy big players,
they became big players playing under a manager and a system which knew how to get the best out of available squad and thus showing that it can done on a small budget..whereas we did not.
Also I dont know how old you are but we did win trophies(may more than the rate of 1 in 9 years) before that.
Google is your friend here..
“Also I dont know how old you are but we did win trophies(may more than the rate of 1 in 9 years) before that.” before wenger arsenal counted 10 championship titles. arsenal was established in 1886 1996 -1886 = 110 …so on average 1 champion title per 11 years Also never in the club;s history has arsenal done anything of significance in europe…ever. the two clubs above have won things in europe ..have made their mark. it is not wenger’;s fault arsenal was never a serious player in the world of football nor can you expect them to be when… Read more »
and if you need to find out what atletico has done or what players have played for them or equal for dortmund you can also use google .. 😉
arsenal;s only era where the team/club can be described as world class and top dog ( in a univeral sense) was the vieiera and henry era….thats it.
At least, I made you google some facts..good “1996 -1886 = 110 …so on average 1 champion title per 11 years” and how is that worse than the rate we have now ? 110 years vs 15-16 years (with significantly more resources at our disposal) Arsene did not buy Vieira. He won because he inherited a great defence and the fact he is unable to win anything meaningful after that suggests that he is incapable of doing it on his own. Surely ~10 years is enough time 😉 Fact is its possible to win with small budgets like the above… Read more »
i didnt have to google anything mate…the same argument ive been shoving back to deluded fellow fans years and years now whenver i hear an old timer- arsenal fan presenting arsenal as being some ultra mega club before wenger i remind him/her some awful truths…… arsene did buy vieira from ac milan you dipshit… and at teh very worst he kept your sorry club at the same level 2014- 1886 = 128 years and you have 13 champion titles…so again 1 per decade plus you now have new stadium, world class training and academies, fame, world wide fan base and… Read more »
Fact is its possible to win with small budgets like the above mentioned teams have shown, but we did not.
well dear melet …it is onlypossible provided the circumstances…
atletico taking advantage of getting in between a real madrid with a new manager and a barceloan in transition and or dortmund who only have bayern to deal with.
they stole it under the big boys noses cause of circumstances
arsenal has to deal with 3 bayern munchens in england…….. plus 4-5 others who could spend more while we were fielding kids to repay the emirates.
Oww… you seem bitter now..calm down man…am sure you remember everything.(?) Two things though mate..you refer to Arsenal as my ‘sorry club’ in your post above, which suggests to me you are trolling here and no Wenger did not buy Vieira. Arsenal bought him not Arsene. I can see why you might get confused based on the level of your repost. And you refer to me as’ meletie’ in your post..really ? Not just once either, this when you are trying to put your point forward. Its ok I guess time will tell, no need to get your knickers in… Read more »
Why oh why do we never improve? Why oh why is every season the same regardless of who has joined and who has left?
We are so predictable, and so predictably poor in every big game we play.
It has to be the manager!
Lets see..still September and we have – an injury crisis already ion defensive positions.. [ check ] – inform striker injured replaced by another work-in-progress striker, might come good in future but that does not help the present situation, so no ready made replacement again [ check ] – Not playing to strength of the players we have [ check ] – Arsene unwilling/unable to change our game tactics when required [ check ] – Playing almost the same team at Borussia Dortmund without any rotation, so players lacked energy, too many passengers.. [ check ] On Ozil (yes had… Read more »
agree with most of your point. but I wouldn’t go as far as saying ozil is angling for a move.
I will say the coach is not using his strengths. then again, he’s not exactly using the strength of the
squad at his disposal.
True,
re Ozil..they are just my observations ..without any fact or proof though
or more like an educated guess without the education bit
or more like a prediction but without taking into account the positions of Stars and Sun…
or a gut feeling , the gut being doused in Whiskey at the time of typing..
Guess…I just want to know why he bad, why he no play good football…
(sorry my inner child came out for a bit)
Wenger is essentially still in the ‘invincibles’ era where he would rotate with Parlour, Wiltord, Edu and Kanu. He actually has a bigger squad than that. I honestly thought a rested Cazorla, fired up Rosicky were going to start. Ozil needs to be a sub for a bit, and Wilshere treated with kid gloves. Ramsey in tough away games would be awesome if he had instructions to be Arteta’s legs in front the back 4. Flamini for my money should have been right back with Sanchez in front of him. Having two converted wingers at full back away to Dortmund… Read more »
I really can’t understand the lack of rotation in the attacking positions when we have so much depth. I also fear that there will be no major changes to the Villa game with the League Cup game coming. I’d love to see Rosicky, Santi, Ox or even Campbell given a start. Well, Wenga gonna weng. Also, it’s quite amusing how much less criticism some players get. Mertesacker was bloody awful last night but I hardly seen any words about him. I love the BFG but I think there’s a bit of a blindspot on him sometimes because he seems to… Read more »
heh…thats what you get for staying back and clapping the fans 😉
…and another thing. What about Joel Campbell? If you’re going to have to be defensive in big away games rather than try to pass it quietly around the back… why not focus on breaking fast with Campbell, Welbeck and Sanchez. Campbell is so keen to please I suspect we’d having him tracking back and working hard for this year at least… And is Ozil essentially just a decoration player. First I thought all he needs is Walcott back, now we have Sanchez, Welbeck etc. Then it’s maybe no defensive responsibilities. Asking Ozil to track Seamus Coleman – who is basically… Read more »
“We didn’t start great and once they come onto you and their fans get behind them, it’s a difficult night.”
…and all we ever hear is about ‘mental strength’.
Let’s hope we see some of it at the weekend eh?!
Don’t forget the “top top quality players” we always here about from Wenger. You know, the ones every other top teams find, but he can’t seem to
look….its not like he can have the creme de la creme in every position and start paying every 1st 11 team member 200k per week right?
he still has to mix and match with what comes out the academy and the one or two ..maybe three from the top top shelf of world class players that can be purchased without getting into bidding wars…
I feel bad for you, we’ll just leave it at that bruh
Like Dortmund? Like Athletico?? That EXCUSE doesn’t hold weight anymore, this isn’t 4-5 seasons ago when we were in the middle of the stadium move (which according to Wenger was supposed to make us compete financially!!). Keep accepting no progress, it’ll get you very far in life./s
I can’t wait for Walcott’s return, there is no doubt that the defensive frail is here to stay until for the rest of the first half of this first half of this season. I believe Arsenal’s most dependable asset is the speed and counter-attacks from the right flank which has been missing since Theo got injured in January. Let’s not deceive ourselves, Walcott’s abilities keeps the whole attacking forwards ticking; Arsenal will let in goals, but their strength lies more on scoring goals, which is currently not happening. However, it is somehow better than our deficiencies are obvious and noted… Read more »
Well I have now completely had my fill twice over. Time to walk away from the comments until we have some more positive results. This is a shitfest. I think I’d get more enjoyment from clicking every ad link on every post. (not complaining blogs, I know they’re necessary to keep the earth spinning on its wobbly axis.)
Time to stick to the top notch blog and news posts. A bit less froth about the mouth and spraying spittle.
COYG
If we begin to sharpen our bayonets to bring about an end to the Wenger Reign please oh please tell me who should take over? Bergkamp, the man afraid of flying? Villas-Boas, who likes to buy players based of Football Manager? David Moyes, a Ginger twat who like to play diagonal crosses? Mancini, who would prefer to have his face on all his players jerseys? Who who? Be careful what you wish for is all I’m saying. It is still very early in the season and we are still in the hunt for 4 competitions with a team of players… Read more »
Simeone or Klopp I would prefer.
UTD went out and got LVG.
Why do you think Arsenal couldn’t do the same (i.e. find a top coach to replace Wenger).
Simeone would be a disaster with this team. We don’t have the players to play the way his teams play. On the plus side, the first thing he’d do is buy like 3 defensive midfielders. And then play them as wingers. Sort of the anti-Wenger.
Why so afraid of change?
Wenger won in England in the early years because : 1) We had a head start in talent because he was early in raiding the continent and French markets for players. 2) Tactically England was much simpler then and there were less foreign coaches. 3) We had a great crop of french players when that country was producing a vintage. Wenger is finding it much harder now because : 1) TV money is equitably distributed which affords even lower teams the opportunity to get foreign managers or players of better quality. 2) There are 2 teams which have unlimited resource… Read more »
” … spark them”
or spank them..
Maybe Wenger was hoping we could absorb 80 minutes of pressure whilst repulsing attack after attack and when the Dortmund players had run out of puff, we’d counter attack and nick a goal.
JUST LIKE LAST YEAR.
Sadly Herr Klopp learned that lesson and our tactic was fucked from minute 1.
Big fan of AW, has given me times i only dreamt about back in the day BUT i have also seen several other managers at Arsenal and CHANGE is good. To see other managers screaming, pointing, changing tactics, formation, using subs, while wenger just slinks down in his seat/sleepingbag scratching his head and the players running around like headless chickens its a fuckin joke. Ive defended AW last couple of seasons was on the fence and now am starting to believe it time for the change. Thanks for the memories arsene.