After the horrendous 3-1 defeat to Monaco in the Champions League last night, an Arsenal player has fulfilled their media duties by saying something.
Speaking to the press, and directing their words into a microphone while being filmed by a camera, the player attempted to say the right things despite the fact there’s no possible way of doing that after a performance and result that terrible.
“If you look at my face you can see I’d rather not be doing this at all,” they said, “but UEFA’s rules mean that somebody has to say something and it might as well be me.
“Let’s stand here for a couple of minutes while you ask me blindingly obvious questions, perhaps referencing how disappointing it all was – because we know you can’t just say ‘Well, that was a load of total shit, eh!’ – and I’ll agree that it was indeed disappointing because I can’t say ‘Well, that was a load of total shit, eh!’ either.”
Pressed on what the hopes were now for the second leg, the player tried to sound vaguely optimistic.
“I think we all know we’ve about as much chance of going through as Peter Dinklage has of reaching the biscuits on the top shelf but I’ll say something about how we’re just going to have to give it a good go.
“Nobody whatsoever will believe me. I don’t really believe it myself, but under the circumstances what else can I say?
“I realise people will be furious with anything that comes out of my mouth so I’ll be as bland as possible, using as many football related platitudes as I can.
“At the end of the day it is, literally, a game of four halves and we’ve got to give it 110% in the second leg. You never know in football.”
Fans, however, were apoplectic with rage, with @GoonStar_1985_bae taking to Twitter to say:
It’s believed that further things will be said by other players in the not too distant future.
We need:
– more strong, tall, athletic players
– more communication and structure maintained through the match
Monaco had both and this highlighted the problems we have.
The first is for the summer, the second should be being worked on day after day.
so we should become the team we hate, Stoke?
No, of course not!!!
‘More’ doesn’t mean pack your team with stupid hackers, it means more than we have now. More Vieiras and Petits, Keowns rather than most of our current midfield that has no-one over 6 foot. More centre backs that can run fast or communicate to make sure that the nippy full-backs are in place to cover them when needed.
‘More’ doesn’t mean get rid of a genius like Cazorla, just don’t have too many like him on the pitch without protection from those I’ve mentioned above.
Intriguing debate/reaction – I didn’t think I was being controversial. Would love to understand what people think we need, in a sentence or two, particularly if not agreeing with my two points.
Height and athleticism is not what lost us the game last night. That was a tactical defeat. We played with not width so the fullbacks where to to play high up the field to create some. No pressure or work rate in midfield alongside some slow laborious passing meant that, monacos athletic players could sit deep and counter at will.
This problem could have been avoided by taking our early chances and keeping the ball upfront, perhap forcing them into damage limitation mode or forcing them forward to get a goal
mike i suggest you do a background check on the invincibles. henry 6’2, viera 6’4, bergkamp 6’1, pires 6’1, gilberto silva 6’1 now thats a combination of high quality skill and power. plus aerial dominance during set pieces.
A world class striker and DM.
In contrast we have Santi (5′ 6), Coq (5′ 10) Ozil (5’11), Ramsey (5′ 10), Ox (5′ 11), Jack (5′ 8), Theo (5′ 9), Alexis (5′ 7), Mikel, Tommy and Matthieu (all 5′ 10) .
Opponents were defeated in the tunnel looking up to our Invincibles players, now they look down on our players, literally, and know they can bully them.
The two teams above have Toure and Matic in the middle of the park, we need more pace and power. Allied to more discipline/better shape, the Invincibles (and other great Arsenal sides) had that as well.
To cb. I get what you’re saying. I’d argue we just need better players regardless of height. Our right back is average at best. (Debuchy out hurts badly). Our two left backs are above average. Per is too slow to play against top competition. He’s fine against the mid tale clubs. Coq is still learning his trade. WElbeck can’t finish. Ozil is too inconsistent. And Giroud is a 15 to 20 goal in all competitions striker. We don’t have a dominant mid to compliment carzola. These deficiencies are why we continue to finish fourth each year. We aren’t as good… Read more »
More injuries for Arsenal players must be linked to size and athleticism.
And Monaco last night – nowhere near the invincibles but beat us through running power, strength allied to disciplne.
i agree with @MaliceMajorE15
how does one explain the success of Barcelona, who’s average height is 5’9”.
we were VERY narrow against Monaco (http://www.fourfourtwo.com/statszone/5-2014/matches/788104/team-stats/3/OVERALL_01#tabs-wrapper-anchor). I’m still struggling to understand our shape at times. seemed like Giroud and Welbeck were constantly holding hands. no movement through the midfield to find the gaps (until Walcott and Ox came on). and defense pressed up WAY too high — when we KNEW they were looking for counter-attacks.
just a tactical nightmare for the team!!!
Barcelona – several genius players who played together for many years, with others bought in to fill the gaps as Barca are rich. A one-off we can’t copy.
Contrast Atletico Madrid and Monaco, pace and power plus discipline (whilst selling players!). We can learn from them.
Chelsea got a good balance between power and technique. We could use a midfielder like Pogba I think to balance our team. But the summer is still a long way off, so pointless to discuss that now. With the players we got though I think we should be more forward minded like the Liverpool of last season. A duo of Alexis and Welbeck/Giroud up top. Or perhaps even try Alexis/Walcott as the striking duo with Ox and Welbeck on the wings, Özil number 10 and Wilshere in a deep playmaking role like on the national team. Coquelin could fill the… Read more »
Where’s Cazorla then mate? Eh?
somehow I don’t rate pogba…even at ozil’s price what more at the 60/70m that is quoted…Pogba’s style is very susceptible to disappearing for large portions of a match and not the steel we need his club compatriot more…vidal…
i suggest you do a background check on the invincibles. henry 6’2, viera 6’4, bergkamp 6’1, pires 6’1, gilberto silva 6’1 now thats a combination of high quality skill and power. plus aerial dominance during set pieces.
child, Bayern Munich have tall athletic players, so do Chelsea, so do city, so do Madrid, id rather we became them, were able to compete on every level and not for a few months every season
I think there was no courage & willingness. Anyway it’s one game and people complain, had we won it everyone would be ecstatic. We weren’t efficient in front of goal, should we score inside first 10 mins it’d another story.
No point to dwell, I’m confident they’ll work their socks off in 2nd game & I really believe we can go through to quaters.
Your believe is something to admire. Shame the players and manager believe 4th in the league and last 16 in the CL is all they need to keep their jobs.
Honestly, I can’t see us going through no matter how we play. Why? because they were missing four of their best players, and I have heard funny story, their right back has only 56 minutes as a pro football before this game. Real shame.
Bayern underestimated us in 2nd match when we won 2-0 and we nearly got the 3rd goal which would see us through. I know Monaco won’t do the same in 2nd game but we had one of this days I’d say. Normally (lately) we w’d score one of the first few chances we had and the final result would be much different. It’s only one game I believe which didn’t went ours way. If they repeat this performance in Monaco then Arsene will know which players aren’t good enough. I blame him for not making changes earlier, Rosicky & Walcott… Read more »
We need: – Wenger to wake the fuck up and realise that a few players are far too inconsistent to be first options at a club like arsenal. – The players that should be dropped in the summer and replaced are: Giroud, Mertesacker. – Improve our defense. – Get more passion out of the team. – We need Wenger to improve his tactical awareness and adapt tactics after the game. – World class striker. – We need a leader on that pitch, a defensive general. – A better fucking goalkeeper. If Wenger where to fail to do these things we… Read more »
He is not going, you have to wait two more years and hope he or uncle Stan don’t decide on contract extension. But for the next two years, try to enjoy us beating the small teams, get to the last 16 of the CL and getting 4th.
The worst game for me was being up 4-0 against Newcastle and our players watching them get to 4-4 in 20 minutes.
For me I was there at the Emirates when 4-2 up to Spurs with next to no time remaining and still drew.
For me the worst was Black Sunday, the 8-2 drubbing at the hands of ManU.
Maybe we should bring Mr Passion himself – Tim Sherwood…..
Maybe not
I’d like to see the Boss get up and shout at his team occasionally. Or Steve Bould. Pat Rice would have done.
I don’t believe the players were trained to play like that. If they’ve forgotten how to defend, someone needs to remind them.
Worst Arsenal game ever? Let me guess, you didn’t watch us pre ’98 then? Let’s have it right – we were fucking awful but it’s funny to hear people wanting to rip up and start again with a team that everyone was wetting themselves over a couple of days ago. It was shameful and slightly depressing but they’ll be other games and other tournaments, sometimes we’ll enjoy it and sometimes we won’t and that’s just the way it is… I find that sedatives help… That and the obvious lift from realising that it could all be so much worse….. We… Read more »
we were bullied all over the park. I think it’s time for Gabriel to come in for Per and Szcz needs his starting spot back. That was woeful from Ospina, especially the 3rd.
I thought our main problem was that we didn’t play according to the Arsenal success plan that’s seen us through so many games since the 0-2 at FC Bayern two years ago: 1. A solid defense is primary. 2. Build off the solidity after it’s been established with our abundant creativity. Clean sheets + Creativity = Arsenal wins in any competition. We resumed this basic philosophy just a few weeks ago. Why did we throw it away AFC? Why? When we don’t play like this we’re fortunate to get 4 or 5 out of 9 points every three matches. That’s… Read more »
I believe we need more of this, too. This being how Marco Reus of Borussia Dortmund describes their derbies with Schalke and how he views them and I believe it’s not just talk: “…what the derby means to the Ruhr region It’s basically in your blood. Against Schalke you know that you just have to run and fight until you drop and you simply can’t lose. That’s been clear to me for years now and I go about this game accordingly. As a team, we know that as well. The derby just means so much to the fans and for… Read more »
We played with ‘Invincible’ belief for the first 5 minutes or so and I felt very confident. When the goal didn’t come after all the slick attacking, that feeling of invincibility – against a believed-to-be weaker side – started to evaporate and as my confidence drained I could see it happening all too palpably on the pitch. Sport is much more about momentum and belief than people realise and we just seemed to lose belief. I don’t think we stopped trying or deliberately slowed down or gave the ball away for fun – we just realised they weren’t going to… Read more »
When you’re at the game they announce the attendance figures right? And I reckon the announcer ought to do the same for the team because some of em just don’t TURN UP on a regular basis.
Hmmm, but maybe its better to just admit the truth and say ‘we fucked up, yet again. and frankly we’ve been shit’. Instead, Mertesacker says its ‘half-time’ and thinks his bunch of half-wits will have the intelligence to have a strategy which they’ll play to. Shame he didn’t know it wasn’t even half time when he abandoned his team and gifted them the second goal. Hope he’s dropped for Gabriel from now.
I wanted to add something ‘level’ to the debate ( I’ve been critical elswhere) as I admit I was not angry or even surprised at the result yesterday. Just deflated once again. After all, erratic performances will not evaporate as nothing significant is scheduled to change at the club in the near future. However, before the match even the most ardent Monaco fan would not have dreamt they would win by scoring three goals away from home. If they could do it, so could we. We went to Galatasary and put four past them – though ‘written off’ they still… Read more »
Gala is not heading the Turkish league they are third. I believe we will win, Monaco played the game of their life and we played the worst game of the season. But, it won’t be enough to get us through as that third goal was a killer. I stopped getting upset now, 10 years of hurt just stopped me dreaming. Also, I stopped jumping up and down when we beat small teams and watch so called positive boys jumping up and down telling us we have the best players in the world and we are going to win this or… Read more »
I believe Galatasary are leading the Super Lig with 48 points, Besiktas 47 points and Fenerbache 3rd with 46 points.
for the sake of my sanity, i will adopt your optimistic approach……..anything else, is a recipe for clinical depression!
i sat since yesterday, totally stunned!…..what the fuck just happened? monaco? arsenal at home? this was not in the script?… its like a fucking nightmare, someone please wake me up!!
its beyond words, but i have to remain positive…there has to be light at the end of this seemingly very very dark tunnel……….nothing more to say, except……..COYG!!!!
I have 2 Fucking exams tomorrow. And now I can’t study shit. All because of these cunts playing like Groundsman Willy 11.
Here are some tips from the man himself….
– Just try to have some mental strength
– Avoid any hair products
– Answer the easy questions
– Release the hand break
– Believe next year you will be better
– Use top top top quality answers
– Avoid any accident or suicidal mistakes
– Always remember beautiful hand writing is better than the correct answer.
Last line is the most accurate metaphor for our brand of football I’ve come across. Kudos.
1. Concede a goal against the run of the game
2. Panic
3. Attack like there is no tomorrow
4. Concede a goal on a counter
5. Repeat 2-4 until the end of the game
Our team needs to grow up. It was a two-legged tie, there was no need to run after the game while exposing our defense. Even if it was a final, at 1-0 down, you’re still in if you stay focused until the end. By panicking, we’re just making it easier for the opponent.
I thought blogs article was hilarious and badly needed
Meh….its 5 years too late.
just when i was starting to get confident about going to old trafford for the f.a cup…this happens. This!! This heap of crap performance. one things for sure…never a dull moment when u support the Arsenal…alot of sad ones never a dull predictable one.
This is a top top top quality comment.
Sums up the game and may be other bug games.
2-1 would have been a great result the way we were playing. That silly 3rd goal was bloody sad and I think going there looking for a 3-0 win against a team that really knows how to play solid D is too much for us to overcome. They were also missing 4-5 or their starting 11…
P.S. your comment is bang on!
The defending was USA 98 against Iran bad!
Nothing more can be said about that. It is time for Wenger to do something big. Player swap Jack and Pogba plus a load of cash Juve’s way and sell Santi to Athletico.
We need a box to box midfielder that can kick it up a gear. Make sure Coq knows he should emulate Gilberto.
Midfield Özil, Pogba, Coq.
Ramsey, Ox, Cazorla. Rosicky? Would you replace them all too?
I would leave Ramsey and Ox, I said sell Santi and Rosicky is not costing us games.
Unfortunately we have to understand that English “talent” does not exist.
There has been only 2 players in the past 20 years that could be considered the top 3-5 in their position Ashley Cole and Paul Scholes.
Football is broken in this country.
Coquelin is not good enough. Just like everyone getting overexcited by Ospina (who I thought was just as poor as the rest of the team last night, perhaps worse in some cases), all he’s done is temporarily cover up the huge deficiency we have in midfield. And this isn’t a knee jerk reaction, I’ve found all this “if he’d cost £30m everyone would be going mad for him” bemusing. No they wouldn’t- he had one properly good game against City, but he had the benefit of being surrounded by an entire team of players hitting a purple patch at the… Read more »
We’ve got 3 weeks to seal that “Emergency Loan” move for Kondogbia…
The “positive fans” were talking about how we don’t care about “internal” improvements but would rather blow money on “overrated” players like gustavo and schnederlin.
Some even went as far as saying Coq was better than matic and schnederlin.
I do not blame the Coq, i blame the guys who overhyped him to the extreme.
When you have arteta and flamini as your dm and claim to be title challengers, what more do you expect.
Well if you only credit Coquelin’s quality outings to the team around him having a ‘purple patch’, does it make sense to say he’s the cause and ‘not good enough’ when the players around him are having a ‘shit brown with a hint of green’ patch? Kondogbia didn’t do it alone, the whole team kept shape. Matic doesn’t do it alone. Fabregas is asked to sit a little deeper and contribute to defending. Chelsea collectively park the bus, and Matic looks like a rock star in comparison to whomever is unfortunate enough to have our hapless job of covering for… Read more »
I agree with you, and I didn’t mean it to come across as though I was blaming him, far from it. I just don’t think he’s (currently) good enough to be proposed in a ‘dream’ midfield as the bloke above did.
As an Iranian, let me personally thank you for reminding us all of that proud, happy, joyous moment in our country’s footballing history!
You are more than welcome. As an American, I had a very different outlook on that game and was not happy to see a replay of it last night.
Game of four halves .. hahahaha..
Bring back Willy Wonker
We will win 3 1 in Monaco and we will go through to the last 8. You heard it here first. In Arsene we trust.
Except that would still knock us out, thanks to the away goals rule
ummmmmm no it wouldn’t – it would take it to extra time
we wont score 3 goal vs this Monaco side ,been lucky they let us score one yesterday
and then we would lose by one penalty! Wenger has called it!
If this is what some player actually said its idiotic.. If this is a joke from arseblog its not funny in tge slightest. Id rather hear what our players actually have to say than this. Truth is that the best thimg to do at this point is remain silent until wengers press conference on friday amd make their statements on the pitch. I said it early in the season with his lack of defensive signings.. I was foolishly appeased by our improvement mid season but it really is painful to say and believe that the only way we can take… Read more »
*groan*
Sigh
So whilst complaining about us losing you then say you want us to lose in the FA Cup. That’s almost as ridiculous as the events of last night.
Long term goals Mc1892
If you down voted I am realy intrigued to know why you think wenger is still a long term solution, hes been given enough chances
the game i watched last night featured a bunch of players so motivated to score that they forgot to defend, and let in two breakaway goals. so the capitulation was easily explained, in fact AW did so immediately after the game, as has just about everybody in a similar vein. Apart from you, that is. although as you apparently can’t tell the difference between real life and an obvious piss take, perhaps this is also quite easily explained i shudder to think how much abuse AW would have been on the end of had he failed to sell our club… Read more »
So, according to you…. – The manager could not shout from the touch line to Gibbs who was 5 yards from him to stay back, not his fault – It’s the players that don’t listen to what he says at half time, not his fault – It’s his team different players same bottling job, not his fault – You’re the only one saw a motivated team in the whole world – Same mistake as the ManU game, not his fault – Dropping our best defender this season for Gibbs, not his fault What is exactly is his fault? If he… Read more »
i saw a team busting a gut to get a goal, so much so that they forgot about the one at the other end. which game were you at? as to the rest of your post, not sure where you got that from, but it’s an interesting piece of extrapolation. i wasn’t attributing fault, just making an observation (ie that it was rather explainable what happened, rather than being an unfathomable mystery). but, never mind. it’s always good to have at each other after such a morale-sapping defeat. and when you think that what you see is evidence for your… Read more »
“although as you apparently can’t tell the difference between real life and an obvious piss take, perhaps this is also quite easily explained” Ofcourse I can, I just found it very unfunny which gets you a downvote campaign apparently. Forgetting to defend is the kind of excuse Van Gaal might use on recent evidence and isn’t a reason I’m willing to accept. We can’t get away from the fact that we’ve managed transfer period after transfer period inadequately and given poor performances in big games domestically and and in Europe on what feels like a regular basis. Something isn’t right… Read more »
I was at the game last night . Some observations: I thought Ospina didn’t cover himself in glory for any of the goals, and I really don’t think he’s done anything to warrant staying in the team in the run of games he’s had before last night. He began to look increasingly shaky in his last few matches and the early clean sheets were really down to a team effort, not brilliant performances on his part. Equally, he hadn’t really done anything to be dropped but surely now it’s time to restore Chesney. It’s just a shame it takes a… Read more »
Its only going to get worse dreading Utd game as that’s another big game were going to play shit in we will beat Everton because there a poor team and to quote a cricket saying where just flat track bully’s and then everyone will be saying were great again and next game Utd will stuff us
Ever heard of punctuation? He a new mid fielder…
mertesacker trying to do damage limitation. i just feel he’s jaded so for the love of football, pls start gabriel on sunday. thanks.
For me at least, the only posutive last night was Kanye West’s performance and Madonna flying. But whilst my name is positive man, i wont be happy.
There are two (sports) things in life I love – Arsenal and the England cricket team.
Both make me want to pull my heart out of my own throat.
Going out of the competition is actually a good thing. It’ll mean we’ll have fewer games to play and can therefore focus on cementing that all important Champions League spot for next season and then who knows where that might take us? 😀
Back to this very same moment
Great Scott!
Dont fuckin blame the Coq as with the Spurs game he needs a hand in their i.e another holding midfielder.
Gibbs is tjick as fuck and was twice caugjt out of position for 2nd and third goals.
Why he dropped Monreal ill never know.
A team with no balance who all bomb forward like school kids chasing the ball
Right on. Every time I have seen Gibbs now, it strikes me that he has no game at all. He can’t make any slightly tight pass and always then passes back at an angle that means that the attack has to be reset and started all over again. Momentum kill. And he simply had no clue what to do if he can get past his man on the wing. Plus I have said before, he has never shown interest in blocking a cross. Potential, potential. Actually, not. Another player without any savviness. This team is full of those, lack of… Read more »
It is a football match and it is not us alone who is out there to score. The opposition is also there to pounce on any available opportunity. But more often than not once the opposition scores we seem to give up all common footballing sense and play like a high school team. The organization gets lost, individuals start trying to rectify the situation on their own. There seems to be no one trying to organize or group the team and calm down. At 1-0 before half time, a football match is not over and moreover when here we have… Read more »
*”to be lack the hunger” – “to lack the hunger”
This made my day, haha! That Twitter screenshot oh my god!
We need players with mentality and skills who could give the club a warning sign saying “I want the title and if I don’t see the club moving in that direction I am not happy”.
How many players do we have who must be thinking like that?
Shocked about our performance. Can’t imagine how you can have any hope. We are not playing with tactics in my eyes. But here is an easy tactic against us: Stay deep, defend with 9 players, 2 players attack the defence and force a mistake in the build-up and we will score with a counter. After this Arsenal is going to open the door and it will be even easier to score. Not enough movement, too many players who love to dribble. A striker that can’t score the goals in the biggest matches. Fullbacks looked exposed and nervous all the time.… Read more »
The comment about ‘growing up’ strikes a chord. Our teams seem to be perpetually immature! The present ‘best Xl’ no longer has youth as an excuse. We really, really do need some height and strength in midfield and have done for years. I think this will probably be BFG’s final season along with Rosicky and possibly Santi. I’d also cash in on Walcott – speed isn’t enough and his football brain is still embryonic. The same possibly applies to Jack!
I seriously doubt if he had fallen, Giroud could have hit the ground last night.
Dont take your chances you don’t win.
Simple isn’t it
Giroud takes 2 of his chances
Welbeck his 1
3 goals against a team that don’t let in many
We had the chances, didn’t take them and lost
And what about Sanchez’s miss? 4!!
Giroud couldn’t finish a wank.
Every arsenal player on the pitch was crap compared to how they can normally play.
Was just a abysmal performance by all.
That last goal has killed us, 2-0 at their place was ‘doable’ but to win 3-0 is an uphill battle to say the least. By uphill battle I mean running up a hill towards machine gun turrets, armed with nothing more than a triple a battery and a frying pan
I don’t understand this so called lack of hunger – have the wages taken away the desire? I’d play for Arsenal for 100k a year, not per week, and have the necessary focus and drive because quite frankly I would wanna win every game as a matter of pride and professionalism!!! What are these goof balls playing at? I also find it amazing that people drool over the fact that a player made six interceptions in a game – really, is that all? That is what runs through my mind at reading the by the numbers section – when I… Read more »
It was one of the worst performances I have ever seen and even by arsenal standards it was a catastrophe. I had dared to hope that we would progress far in the ucl but now that hope is shattered beyond repair. Thank you arsenal for breaking my heart again
I think ozil was just as bad others but not sure why he gets away with the flak. On the other hand, this is probably girouds one bad game whole season he gets unbelievable amount of criticism. Per was at fault for second goal but so was Kos for third. Where the hell was he? Even the Ospina should have saved it. He just perried it to his own goal. But at least he got his hand to it, the simple thing he couldn’t do for the first goal. I am sure if de gea, Courtouis or hart were in… Read more »
I was disappointed with the result as everyone else but I still think there is a chance to turn this around. Monaco, as the previews were saying, defended. Stopped arsenals rhythm, blocked the channels etc. And yet chances, very good chances were created. In my earlier post I pointed out that Giroud could and should have scored 2 and welbeck 1. Giroud had other half chances along with welbeck and alexis. And this is with arsenal being slaughtered by everyone saying it’s the worst performance and breaking people’s dreams. It will all come down to players taking their chances, chances… Read more »
Why are we so angry? Are we good enough to win the CL? No. We can’t be surprised because this has been our MO in the last 10 years. We are a manager, a Kondogbia like player, a GK away from actually having a shot to compete with the best. A world class striker wouldn’t hurt either. Somehow we will win in Monaco but we will get bounced on away goals or we will miss a sitter to get us through and Le Prof will talk about our fighting spirit and how unlucky we were again. As of right now… Read more »
I hate it when players say something. Cliff Bastin never said anything ever and is our third top scorer. Maybe players with vocal cords and mouths could remember this before they speak?
He’s be our top scorer if it wasnt for those pesky germans!
Only Arsenal. Only effing Arsenal.
Point me to another team anywhere that regularly conspires against themselves in the manner Arsenal does. Point me to another team that manages to hit rock bottom 3-4 times per season. Point me to another team that runs into an identity crisis every year. Point me to another team that can be so utterly brilliant and so utterly bollocks week in and week out.
Only Arsenal. We are truly in a class by ourselves.
Ok I will: Liverpool, Spurs, Everton, Newcastle. How’s that? Would you rather we were as successful as them? We are 3rd in the PL, still in the CL and FA Cup. Those teams would be very happy with any of those. Last night was shite, but what we supposed to do if our on form striker suddenly plays like crap? We will bounce back. We have the talent, except perhaps up front. Kept thinking last night about Podolski, the one Arsenal player in recent years who could actually hit the fucking target every time. Can we get someone who can… Read more »
i watched the highlights again and you know what. i felt the 2nd goal all came about because of bellerin’s lack of discipline in the first place. When sanchez lost the ball, bellerin was at the “D” position (way too advanced). As a result, mert had to cover for him on the right flank and on the counter, that’s just gonna be suicidal, to quote wenger. In that position, it is hard for mert to choose whether to stick to the man or go in for the tackle (really a 50-50). Ultimately, it proved a costly mistake. I felt this… Read more »
The fullbacks were so advanced because they were trying to give arsenal some width
What? Bellerin and Gibbs are supposed to surge forward as wing backs and in part, they were drawn even further upfield as Sanchez and Welbeck kept getting drawn into the center. Mertesaker and Kos are supposed to provide the deeper lying cover. The idea that Meresaker is ever playing in the opponents half is ludicrous but for set pieces. I have detailed before against Dortmund we had a corner/attacks and I noticed how dreadfully slow he was to return to defend. He had another corner and lost possession, so I timed him and he took 20 seconds longer than the… Read more »
I just don’t see enough passion in this team. They’re all a nice bunch of lads but I want to see more togetherness and drive. We have the quality but the passion isn’t quite there right now
I just wonder, how much longer do we have to endure Wenger?! It’s the same old story over and over again. Being exposed by either our naive way of playing or for lacking the right players which gives the team the right kind of balance. I’m amazed at the manager’s unwillingness to sign any players you might refer to as “fighters”. Players who’s got a fighting attitude and spirit, who maybe doesn’t have as much grace but makes up for it in toughness and physique. That we didn’t sign a proper defensive midfielder is also further proof of Wenger’s incompetence… Read more »
Mismanagement. A manager with a vague grasp of football tactics and motivational skills would do so much better than Wenger.
I love and respect him, but it will always be the same. How many of us could change our own characteristics? None. Wenger won’t and can’t change. Man City away was probably more to do with player power and/or Steve Bould.
Wenger out this summer.
just makes no sense: you love and respect Arsene, yet you want him to go because of his flaws… are you the break-up king? He is the same manager, who coached the invincibles, so surely he can have success again. Give Wenger and our invisibles some time before breaking up a 15 year old relationship. On the one hand you love him, on the other you back-hand slap him: it will always be the same! Boohoo, that’s why he is our manager and luckily your word carries no weight in da club. Sorry, but riles/cracks me up. Actually, I aint… Read more »
…’ give Wenger and our invisibles’…
Classic Freudian slip.
no slip, pun intended
😉
It’s time we start measuring Arsenal performance by how we perform against really good teams. Against the so called lower teams it should be judged by how smoothly/easily we get our result. How many of the chances created are buried. Not just riding on luck and profligacy of the opponents’ strikers.
First off, Gibbs and Bellerin can’t play together. They both push way too far up the field at the same time. It needs to Gibbs and Chambers or Monreal and Bellerin/Chambers.
Second, he’s been great the last month but Coquelin left the gap in front of the defence exposed way too many times.
Third, Alexis and Welbeck seemed to have completely forgot the concept of width entirely.
And finally, Giroud. He can never have a match like that ever again. Especially after talking the whole week about his “improved” confidence and ability.
What I’d like to see us do regardless of who is selected for each match, what formation we play, etc. is to play a high tempo on offense and defense like Dortmund, Liverpool, South Hampton, Bayern, etc do. I’d like to see us press the issue more and make the opponents uncomfortable in this big matches instead of being that team that looks to be struggling with the pressure. All teams have their issues, even Chelsea this season when they were looking so strong getting stomped by Spurs, tying Burnley, etc., but it just seems that we continue to be… Read more »
I think we can understand why German coach drop Per after playing two games at world cup. I HOPE Mr Wenger will take note.
City away felt like a turning point at the time. Now, sadly it feels like an aberration. If we don’t beat United in the cup I really fear for my state of mind.
yeah, he shoulda gone Marshawn Lynch on their ass, “I’m just here so I don’t get fined.”
I hope City, Chelsea, and Everton all get eliminated in Europe too. This way we can blame it all on the BPL heavy schedule instead of our terrible performance.
All I can say is Wenger better master mind a victory against the worst manure side in years when we play the scum in the FA cup or it really is end of the road for Wenger in my eyes!!!
1. Lack of big game mentality 2. Defene set the pace + no responsibility frim central midfield shown 3. Lack of ruthless finishing 4. Lack of leadership from sidelines 5. Lack of game plan i.e. ‘if this then do this or else if this then and so on’ 6. If there was a plan then players are obviously not disciplind enough to follow it. 7. Lack of reaction from the sidelune to a changing scenario as clearly we dont have thinking players anymore. 8. Lack of long term view planning. 9. Too much talking and photo sessions in the changing… Read more »
…. I’m sorry for my England mates but Gibbs didn’t even try to make a cross yesterday … Awful
Please. Its not as if we haven’t fallen either when we had our top squad back in the hey days. We had our moments in Europe even then. You could not say the players back then were poor quality. Even then, there were moans about squad depth etc. This team is basically inconsistent. It lacks the bite necessary to kill teams off regularly. We need aggression but we also need to temper it with a bit of common sense. That went out the window against Monaco. I’m not sure Wenger is culpable for team selection (the selection was reasonable enough)… Read more »
Man, OG12 don’t work with no service, Welbeck and AS17 don’t give service. That’s why we’ve looked complete ass when we play with Welbeck and OG12
I don’t think we need more players…we can win with any team on given time with players that we have. I think the team that we have right now have the skills to challenge any team. Its just they don’t play as a unit or the mentality like the invincibles yet… The invincibles when that play…they know before they play they can win…our team now gets so much pressure…if they win they are over celebrate if they lose they take it so personally…in order to win in anything you need to be consistent in your work ethic, your style of… Read more »