Arsenal were routinely beaten by a Manchester United side playing in second gear as Arsene Wenger’s side submissively bent over and took one from Robin van Persie and co.
The Gunners set up at Old Trafford with the same starting line-up that laboured to victory over QPR last weekend but barely mustered a shot on target as our former captain and Patrice Evra scored either side of half-time.
Santi Cazorla scored a consolation with the last kick of the game, but the 2-1 defeat could have been far worse with Wayne Rooney missing a penalty and the home side able to pick holes in the Arsenal defence at will following Jack Wilshere’s 70th minute sending off.
If you’d asked any Gooner before the game to describe the worst possible way the game could start they’d probably have muttered something about our defence pressing the self-destruct button and Robin van Persie scoring.
And so it came to pass.
In the second minute a Ferdinand pass was cleverly flicked by Valencia outside Andre Santos leaving Rafael with space to cross low across the box. The danger appeared to be over as Vermaelen assessed his clearance options, but instead of hoofing the ball up the field he miskicked straight to Van Persie who first-time arrowed a right-foot shot through the Belgian’s legs past Mannone. It was the stuff of nightmares.
The first half continued in a similarly error-prone fashion; we produced nothing of merit. Wayne Rooney didn’t allow Arteta any time on the ball meaning the Spaniard often had to pass backwards to Mertesacker rather than find Wilshere and Cazorla. It slowed the pace of our game down from the outset and meant we rarely got out of our half without facing ten men in red shirts.
When the midfield did find space, simple things like controlling the ball proved impossible for their teammates. United bossed the midfield, while up front Giroud toiled away without any reward.
Andre Santos was ripped to shreds in the left-back position, not helped by Podolski’s apparent unwillingness to help cover, Rooney and Van Persie had further efforts which Mannone kept out with a minimum of fuss, Wilshere picked up a booking, before Young and Cleverly were also cautioned – the game was pretty dull.
Alas, just as it looked as though we might make it to half-time at 1-0 we conceded a penalty. A short corner was played to Young and his cross was blocked by Cazorla’s hands as he tried to protect his face. Harsh? Maybe. A penalty? Yes. Wayne Rooney stepped up to take it and finally we got a break as he fired off the post and wide.
At the start of the second half Thomas Vermaelen, channelling all the quality of a Pascal Cygan-Igor Stepanovs hybrid, made another awful error on the edge of the box which nearly led to United doubling there lead. On this occasion Valencia wasn’t quite able to make contact with the ensuing cross.
Aaron Ramsey was sacrificed in favour of Theo Walcott on the 50 minute mark; the Welshman possibly suffering from a groin problem. A couple of minutes later we produced our first effort at goal. Santos chugged down the left and fed Cazorla who in turn fired across to Giroud. The Frenchman swivelled well but could only hit the near post.
We were a bit more competitive as the game reached the hour mark. There was a little more pace and resolve in possession and a bit more crunch in the tackles, but despite an upturn in urgency we weren’t a match for Ferguson’s mob.
On 66 minutes Ashley Young floated a ball over the top of the defence, Van Persie found space and looked certain to score before Mannone smartly turned the ball around the post. The reprieve was only temporary. From the resulting corner Rooney crossed and Evra headed home. 2-0 and game over.
Things went from bad to worse 90 seconds later when a frustrated and tired Wilshere picked up his second booking and received his marching orders. There was little complaint from the England international as Evra lay in a crumpled heap.
The last twenty minutes were played out to the noise of the travelling Gooners bravely chanting, “We love you Arsenal.” The players didn’t deserve such support and they knew it as United squandered several more chances to extend their lead. In the dying seconds of injury-time Cazorla flashed home a nice strike, but before the game even restarted Mike Dean blew for full-time.
The whistle came as a relief. We were poor, awful in fact, and the 15 point total we’ve amassed in our opening 10 Premier League games is our worst since we finished 12th in the 1994-95 season (stat from @Orbinho).
I’m loathed to sound too depressed, but it really isn’t looking good at the moment.
I’m actually becoming numb to this now, same shit over and over again.
BUT THE he team’s back passing was outstanding
THE TEAM’S BACK PASSING WAS OUTSTANDING. FACT.
sorry for the typo above
Yeah, come back Denilson, all is forgiven !
* rolls eyes *
Seriously. Since the Norwich match, we’ve been controlling the game but still losing. It’s because we’re fucking back passing all the time. Denilson will fit right in now.
its not controlling its hanging in there
Denilson would be our best player right now. Maybe we should recall him
vermaelen is an average defender. he became fans fav because he scored goals. now he doesn’t, so he is shit.
Vermaelen’s always been shaky. He’s like Frimpong — beloved for gimmickry.
I thought I’d be numbed by now too but it feels like somebody punched me in the gut. I don’t know what’s worse, that we lost or the fact that I’m content that we lost only 2-1. The only good thing about today was the fans.
We’ll never quit on Arsenal.
🙁
probably why the board abuses us so badly
United were smart… they didn’t want to score a second until it was obvious that we wont get crazy and start playing above our possibilities 🙂
In some ways this was more depressing than that 8-2 defeat. Atleast we had key players out then. What an uninspiring display. And it has not been for the first time. What excuse can Arsene possibly have for such a poor display?? First shot on target during the injury time. Completely inexcusable. Spending money won’t solve our poor work rate,complacency issues, tactical problems etc. Is it time for Arsene to leave?? How long can we allow this to continue. And as sad is it makes i think it might be time for Arsene to leave.. But then does anyone think… Read more »
I feel a bit sad to admit that, but definitely we need a change and Arsene should probably go. I still have a lot of respect for him and what he has done in the past. Recently however you can’t but feel something is wrong. Transfers and game tactics have been awful for the last 2 years and to my regret Arsene can’t seem to turn it around.
We need a change, a strong message to the fans and the players
Finaly the penndy dropped and people can see what I have been saying for the last two years, the man has taken his eyes off the ball. To Arsene all it matters not the team or the fanst to him what matters is .. 1 his ego and proven others wrong. 2 making the board happy by not spending even his budget. 3 loyality to average over paid player that make the to class under paid leave. Us supporter is not important as he thinks he will keep spining his way out of trouble, now it is catching up with… Read more »
Arsene Wenger “I think we were a bit unlucky, especially with the penalty decision, we always have a penalty against when we play Manchester United, us so we get used to it. “We had the better chances than but overall in a game like this you ought to not put yourself on the back foot when you are one down.” If he is this is the message he’s sending the players then I fear this poor run will continue for a good stretch. It’s embarassing for arsene which match was he watching. Same shitty possession along the halfway line performance… Read more »
It’s so obvious, it’s so fucking obvious. Even to a nobody fan like myself, Santos should not have played, Ramsey should not have started. It’s as simple as that. It might all just be brainwashed propaganda. It’s coming out that Arsene truly does NOT know. As much as I love him (almost like a father weirdly enough). It is time to say goodbye. Let them finish 8th; where they deserve to be (biased opinion). That will be a real shock to the system. Bring in Jurgen Klopp (PLEASE) and lets rebuild for real this time. It’s been 8 years of… Read more »
I’d bring in Guardiola myself.
Just so glad im off travelling for 3 months at least watching a match with beer in hand and a TB on either arm wont be so painful to watch. The thing is szcesney gibbs and walcott aside there is nothing in rezerve to improve that x1. no disrespect but a keeper and a left back wont make too much difference walcott for ramsey is an improvement but if theo dont wqnt to play on the wing im afraid he is only going one way OUT like all the others.
Why is Vermaelen the captain?
So that we can sell him at the end of the season
Why can’t we fire in some decent crosses?…. oh.. we only play the Arsenal way… my foot… that will give us Europa league!
So, will they fire Arsene if we don’t make CL and don’t get the CL money? (Serious question.)
Can’t see them firing Arsene. The only way he goes is if he calls it a day. Somehow I don’t think he’ll do that as he won’t want to leave on a low.
They won’t fire Arsene and he won’t go as he thinks he still got it and will win, which is no one believe he will win a thing. I don’t want to see him pushed out of the club and the fan calling for his head and not turn up. But with his stubborness it will end up this way.
I wished he called it a day 3 years ago.
Arsene is likely to call it a day at the end of his contract. I really don’t think he feels he can compete with United, Chelsea and City spending as much as they have. The board has asked him to do a job and he’s done what they wanted brilliantly. They’ll want him to stay but I think he’ll feel a little bit let down by them always instructing him to sell the best players
After Wenger said this: “We had the better chances than United but overall in a game like this you ought to not put yourself on the back foot when you are one down.” Added to the fact he insists on playing Santos, Ramsey and the toothless 4-5-1 set up, his time has to be up. The fact he sold Song (good enough for Barca but not Arsenal) to accommodate Diaby is simply criminal. Diaby has not been able to stay fit for for six seasons, it isn’t about to suddenly happen. We are an embarrassment, players looked uninterested, unimaginitive and… Read more »
I think both fans and players have established we can’t beat those manwhores anymore. But it still hurts. Really bad.
We have equally prone to mistake gks, utd’s defence is just as shaky as ours, we have better midfield and our strike options are not that bad either and still we failed to make the fight.it seems players don’t know anymore that what fans feel like to lose to utd.they themselves don’t know that what kind of disgrace it is for an arsenal player to lose to such an arch rival without a fight. Arsenal spirit is long gone from this group.
being in love with arsenal right now is alot like being in love with your wife after she’s gained A TON of weight. you’ve made a commitment to love through good times and bad, and you do, but you remember when she was soooo hot once, and wish those days would return. i love arsenal and will always support her, but she needs to loose some weight and get hot again….man do i miss the old days..
CUNT
“The whistle came as a relief” – This guy continues to be fucking annoying.
Next time I won’t give up going down the pub with my mates and you can write the fucking thing…deal?
Deal.
I miss Diaby…
Oh and the away fans were amazing today, not that many sung the ‘She said no’ bit which was good but they deafened the whole of Manchester with ‘Youre a cunt’.
I agree that the team does seem to miss his bursts from midfield, but really who expected him to stay fit this season? Surely we can’t be that reliant on a midfielder who never plays. If an injury to one midfielder with an outstandingly patchy fitness record derails the team’s passing rhythm and momentum, what does that say for the rest of the midfield?
To be fair, I think having Wilshere back will be important. Obviously shouldn’t have been left in for so long today.
We missed Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s directness as well.
Our injury list is full of our most “direct” players: Diaby, AOC, Gibbs (if the first weeks, his average position on pitch was higher than Podolski), Gervinho to an extent.
I can only assume that Wenger didn’t start Walcott because he was exhausted from the League Cup tie. If he doesn’t start at Schalke, that would be quite the surprise.
ffs. What an embarasing performance. I’m starting to think Wenger has become a massochist
Has this team given up?! Wake up people, wake up!
PLEASE!!!! YOU WAKE UP!!!!!
what is up with this team, it’s as if they’ve been pampered into complete harmlessness. only highlight was the numerous merteceptions and rooney’s penalty, how many more ‘games to forget’ do we have to play?
fuck training sessions these guys need to be driven out to the woods and left to fend for themselves for a few days and come back FERAL
Let’s just lower our expectations and hope we make the Europa League this season
Ha ha ha, you already got 6 thumbs down just for telling a truth!
Ok, Chelsea, United and City are miles ahead of us, but what about the rest? Scum’s shit, Pool’s shit. Then there’s Fulham, Everton, WBA?
We’ll get that boring 4th place and CL. Feels like every season is just a preparation for the next season. A cup trophy would’ve been awesome.
Nah. I think we’ll get the 4th spot. We’re better than Spurs, even though our performance today betrays that prediction. The problem for me is that we’re stuck in a sort of loop. Every year we fight hard to make it to the 4th spot, and then start all over again the next year. But the fundamentals aren’t changing. We still look weaker compared to our main rivals and we can’t seem to keep our top players (not even our mediocre players it seems). Every year there seems to be a new captain, a few desperate buys, but NO change… Read more »
I can’t help but think it is Wenger’s system that is failing the team at this stage, it’s too old and predictable. Team’s like Norwich can stop our attack with no trouble, let alone united.
I think we’re in for a long month.
Agreed. The system is failing.
Because this year honestly we have all around a better team, better players than before. I just can’t understand what is wrong but honestly I don’t think the players should be blamed first. The problem lies elsewhere
Agree no fucking fight, the game was shit and if utd had got out of second gear we were fucked, I miss the days when we went up to that shithole and battled till the end and expected at least a point, another season battling for fourth
I usually read this blog but i don’t comment and for the past few weeks I’ve avoided the temptation of coming here because all I was gonna see was despair and depression. But we have no other emotion to run to. Anger has finished in me with regards to Arsenal (I have no child yet and I’m in my early 20’s, don’t wanna die for nothing. If professionals who are paid tens of thousands of pounds a week cannot be bothered to do some basic things then who am I?) Hope we haven’t forgotten last season so soon. Shambolic start… Read more »
Dream on pal!Everyone saying that Wenger should which manager is available now and won’t bankrupt us? Rednapp?spoilt jockets
Merteceptions. Classic. He was a big fucking German today, and cool, cool as a cucumber. Such a shame that Verm and Santos had a double-nightmare, and Shrekky Potato Head did a job on Arteta (rather than trying to stop Cazorla, stop the ball at source). Ol’ Rednose’s tactics worked a treat once they went 1-0 up. But our left side was a liability. Still, for all of you wanting Wenger Out, did you really think we were going to get a result today? Norwich was much worse than this… Leave it until Christmas and then let’s see where we are.… Read more »
Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’ve lost all respect for Santos. His performance and what he did at HT was disgraceful. Do players even know what it means to play for the Arsenal anymore?
yeah, i dont know what all this rvp love in was about, we are meant to be going to war against that team, not fucking pissing about hugging and smiling
Carrying his sweaty shirt . Pathetic.
Can you imagine Adams or keown asking for a jersey at half time of a cunt that’s just scored against them, they’ed more likely fucking slap the cunt in the tunnel and come back out and battle harder
How can Santos say he loves Arsenal and then do that?! It’s like saying you love your girlfriend and then getting chummy with the guy who cheated on her.
He has to go back to Turkey asap!
Santos is just not good enough to play against the better teams, he’s a liability and teams are targeting the left with Podolski not helping him enough and Vermaelen being generally error prone.
I felt like Podolski’s influence has been limited, playing with Santos.
He and Vermaelen would never wear the Arsenal shirt again if it were up to me. But it’s not, oh well
Vermaelen shouldn’t be captain. Been saying it for weeks.
Captain? He should be our FOURTH choice cb. Yes. Behing djourou. At least he appears to try not to fuck up.
To be honest, I might feel more comfortable seeing Djourou out there.
Sagna had a look of deep contempt on his face when he shook van persie’s hand. Everybody else seemed over joyed at seeing him. But aside from the van persie sub plot, it’s glaringly obvious that we aren’t good enough to compete, not with a performance like that, not with a spirit like that.
I agree. Absolutely disgraceful taking his shirt like that at HT. Completely wrong mentality – it’s almost as if Podolski doesn’t think he’s worthy of defending. And, by the way, what the fuck has happened to Podolski? I’m sorry but Santos is another Eboue, offering nothing in attack and nothing in defence – just a fat giggling gourmand that Arsene plucked from the Turkish league. Personally, I think a LB is a necessity in January – If Kieran Gibbs wasn’t injury-prone, I’d say don’t bother, but calculate how many points we’ve lost so far this season because we’ve had to… Read more »
Agreed, but think you’re too harsh on Mannone, who for me has been decent, especially today. Don’t mind having him around as backup, and don’t believe Szeszeny would have offered anything more today.
@Charlie – It’s no coincidence that Pods are gone shit since Santos has been in the team. It’s like the Sagna/Walcott thing last season. Pods needs Gibbs to play well by the looks of things.
I quite agree with you regarding Santos, but who’s to blame? The Arsenal system has let a lot of players down, Arsene Wenger has let his players down. We have been made to feel inferior, we have been built to become the 2nd best team, we heard Wenger say it himself “fourth place qualification is like a trophy itself and its our priority to ensure we finish top four”. This team will finish top four no doubt, but individualy, what do I want to achieve as a player? When in the tunnel, before we walk unto the pitch, am I… Read more »
Away fans fantastic – but the tone was set from even before the match when all the arsenal players were embracing and joking with rvp – disgusted. I was so pissed off and it seemed to exemplify our performance. On to the next one.
Really think Vermaelen should be dropped. He’s become rubbish. Maybe we should sell him. It wouldnt be surprsing if we did anyway. #indifferent shrug
TV Should be stripped of the captaincy and Arteta takes over….TV isn’t leading by example at all, and even worse he has become way too much of a liability by conceding costly fouls and making costly errors nearly every game he plays. Never even rouses the team when we are playing crap like today, so what the heck is he really doing as captain?
Is that what we really want from a team captain? I think not!
Was not going to thumb you down before I read “sell”
Well he is club captain, which makes him the most likely player to leave in the Summer…
Don’t think anyone would be foolish enough to make a bid…
Oh and when Podolski came out with his arm outstretched,..boy I thought It was gonna be a punch,..there I was dreaming
Scene in the tunnel just made me sick to my stomach. Really? You spineless fucks, do you have any pride in wearing that Arsenal shirt? Be professional all you want and shake his hand before the kick-off that’s fine, but don’t be all friendly with that traitorous cunt. Or exchanging shirts with him. Sorry, I’ll have to draw parallels here, but just take a look at NBA, Ray Allen goes to Heat before this season. Boston play their first game this year in Miami and Allen comes in as a sub. He tries to interact with Garnett on the bench… Read more »
Regardless of what one may think of G. Neville, I recall him blocking out Schmeichel when the bacon ambassador crossed the Manc divide….and I liked it.
That’s why America rocks.
terrible performance. What hurts more is that we gave them the game with the first goal. For all the flak Santos gets, I’m surprised at how folks are still clamoring for tv5 at LB.
tv5 is more errorprone than Santos if you ask me. QPR last season a case in point.
Atleast we won’t be selling our captain this year.
Agreed. TV5 is disgraceful this season. Arteta for captain already.
We have players more interested in getting Van Persie’s jersey than playing defense…Wow, just wow.
To be fair, Santos did look like one of the only Arsenal players who wanted to get forward in the second half. That shirt swapping was weird though.
Nonetheless, he will never be interested in playing LB, the only thing he likes to do is run forward and over commits on every tackle he is making… I hope Gibbs is back soon, train started going off rails completely when he got hurt.
I don’t comment here often? Santos was any good? It is good that you don’t comment here .
Of course I’d rather have Gibbs back, but there’s a lot of blame being piled on Santos when the entire team were fucking useless apart from Mannone and perhaps Mertesacker.
Arteta and Cazorla seemed to be trying, too. If you ask me, ManUre had one strategy… shut down our midfield. (They know our midfield is our rock, and that our defenders/strikers aren’t offering much at the moment.)
For me, Mannone was our best player today. Could easily have been 5-0 or worse.
The lack of attacking threat and players running off the back of a sketchy united defense was really sad.
We need a player who can get in behind Giroud didn’t do that at all
Verm was poor as well today.
And our lack of a midfielder to replace Wilshere whe he was on his last chance cost us a chance too.
But really for the last 3 games our attack has been poor for what we were used to seasons past
WHY THE FUCK do the players NOT attempt playing balls over the top? why? what good are back passes and horizontal passes in front of the opposition? when arshavin played centrally vs reading, he played a few superb passes over the top to release walcott. THAT is what we need more of.
Fucking toothless.I could tell Jack was going to get sent off as soon as he picked up the yellow. He might’ve been a bit knackered from midweek but Theo should’ve started, and Vermaelen’s error was fucking schoolboy shit. Not what you expect from the captain of Arsenal.
Really disappointed. Sort it out Arsenal.
what a complete waste of time
How are we so poor at attacking? In my years of watching Arsenal, the past few weeks have been the worst offensive performances I’ve seen from an Arsenal side.
It’s like they have no idea what to do.
Last season RVP,Song, and Walcott made the most goals + assists. We sold two and Walcott mostly sits the bench. Not a big surprise that we struggle.
You can’t rebuild your side every season and expect to stay at the top
For all the talk of our wonderful midfield, they didn’t create a thing. It’s all well and good drooling over the prospect of Arteta, Wilshere, and Cazorla pinging passes between each other, but against a supposedly weak Manchester United midfield they didn’t do much at all.
I thought you don’t comment here often
Generally I don’t. Sometimes a guy needs to vent though.
agree completely, santos neutralising podolski, ramsey as right winger, giroud entirely reliant on crosses coming in, somethings gotta change
Santos can fuck off changing shirts with the dutch cunt at halftime! Classless player and useless to. Boot out the club straight away!
remember that time vieira and keane swapped shirts at half time?
So what? Does that excuse Santos?
Eh? I think the point of the comment was that it didn’t happen.
Oh dear, s/he missed the sarcasm.
Did Keane leave us to join Utd?
not the point, when i was a kid this fixture was a fucking battle, today felt like a formality
It’s the away fans that I feel most sorry for.
True, the fans (away fans in particular) are being subjected to moments of sheer stupidity and weaknesses and its difficult to get excited with like 0 shots on target and 0.001 chances created for most of the game. Wenger needs to sort out his team and choose the correct players for the f*****g job. No one really on the wings to take on a defender, beat him and drill one in. As much as I have slagged him off, Arshavin has serviced Giroud the best but the problem is that Arshavin will play 90 minutes of absolute garbage but somehow… Read more »
Disheartening performance for sure. With a flaccid attack like this we were bound to invite more pressure on the defence. Simply not good enough.
I’m not a big fan of pointing fingers but since we’ve lost Gibbs it feels like we’ve been carrying Santos. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we are seeing less and less from Podolski ever since we lost Gibbs.
One Word Review:
Gutless.
Best part of the match was when the away fans starting singing “We love you Arsenal, we do” straight from Utd’s 2nd goal to the end of the game. Absolutely amazing. This team doesn’t deserve such fans.
That looked like a performance from a midtable team. No scrap that, even Spurs and Blackburn last season put up a better performance than that. Spineless. Depressing.
This team has too many problems. We have zero creativity. Formation needs to change 4 4 2 please. Let’s try go back to basics because this shite is not working.
Too one dimensional 🙁
4-1-3-2 with that ‘1’ being a ‘pure’ DMF. M’Vila fits that mold, and while I ADORE Arteta being in our midfield – he is not a pure DMF. Of course, buying M’Vila to stick him in THIS formation would have been tantamount to crippling a skier and asking to still win the Slalom.
There`s a big possibility that we will be a mid table team at the end of the season and the performance reflects the quality of the team.
Midtable performance = midtable team.
Next year more players will leave to make a nice profit and the team will be even weaker. The good thing is that we are out of world class players so it will be harder for us to sell. But this board will manage and at least sell Wilshere and Sagna!
Well i thought we will put in a shift at 2nd half and all that 1st half was mockup play. But then got to know they were all shit except for bfg nad vito. Shit shit shit… What frustrated me the most is thats a very vulnerable utd side def and mid is the worst i have seen and we still didnt had a little bit of desire to just test them.what i saw was mert passing to sagna you blink utd have the ball back and cross it to another flank where its all empty and utd players rushing… Read more »
Something needs to change. A shake up of some sort. Whether that be a few signings in Jan to cause competition for players or, whilst I’m not convinced it’s the whole problem, a change of management.
Every other top team on the planet would be sacking there manager after this string of total shit games.
What a stupid comment. That will do infinitely more harm than good.
i want a new manager by tuesday mate
Who?
there are soo many managers to choose from and we pay so well. the guy at ath bilboa maybe i van baston moyes rijkaard new broom needed
You want us to end up like Liverpool or Spuds?
no mate i want to end up like ARSENAL
You want a new manager by Tuesday? Change a team then.
What was disappointing was how little fight we showed. As an arsenal fan living in manchester I get constant abuse from my mates, but it always makes me proud when the loudest fans at the 75,000+ Old Trafford are the Arsenal ones singing “Arsenal we love you”, win or lose, its a shame the players don’t seem to show even half the passion, apart from maybe wilshere, although his sending off was bad for us, I didn’t mind as much because he showed desire (and took a chunk out of CUNT and the evra- i hate that cunt so much).… Read more »
I can’t blame any of our players for leaving — who wants to be part of a side that play like this? I used to joke that we were never more dangerous than when we were down to 10 men — if we had someone sent off, we’d just get mad and beat your face in!! Now … we can’t even be bothered to show up. At Old Trafford. Something is very, very wrong.
Looked like we gave up there when young Jack got sent off.
Bloody left side of defence completely broke down.
Playing Miguel cant be any worse than what we witnessed today.
Why does it feel like our feet are draggy and so slow when we have the ball coming out of out own half. Players are searching for someone to pass to in midfield..if thats the case why bother playing 433.
ARGGH!!
We played without any belief that we could get anything from this match right from kickoff and there were no character and fighting spirit at all…and it’s utter painful to watch man u toying with us…this is all too hurting
Oh, also did anyone notice how central Walcott was? He was non-existent the whole game as a result and so essentially we had no threat down the right wing which is a side we could’ve exploited. I wonder if AW told theo to take up such an advanced role – if he didn’t, is that not MASSIVE disrespect from Walcott? Not trying to find a scapegoat but he was absolute shit and also as a result giroud who was the most dangerous man on the pitch for us was ignored.
everybody wanted to be central walcot pod santos ffs ramsey all stupid cunts . Who was left to serve up the killer ball
Santos, did you see his quality cross when there were 3 arsenal players in the box?
santos did you see him drift infield and then not track back all the time
For once dont blame ramsey. He was atleast putting up a shift and trying to make things happen. Cazorla and giroud tried but coundt really do anything untl the last 30 minutes. Poldi was poor as was santos. Mannone was fantastic. tv5 had a shocker(this is becoming a regular affair now though).
Every team goes through a tough period during a season. Hopefully we can recover quickly
For me, this proves why Walcott should be on the wing — he can’t sprint with the ball through the middle of the pitch like he’s able to do on the wings. Useless. It’s his speed we value, not necessarily his ball-handling skills.
Watched a different game mate. Theo was on for 40 odd mins and did well, made great runs yet too often not supplied with the pass. Had one half chance where Santi delayed too long then played it too wide for walcott to take in his stride. Giroud on the other hand – not Arsenal quality in a million fucking years. No pace, not nimble enough, shot hold-up for a lump, good shot but telegraphs it and just not suited to a quick-passing team. Against shit opposition (reading) he’ll do. Not against anyone half decent though. Theo’s ten times the… Read more »
man united didnt look anything special, just very well organised and hard working, and with a plan
what was our plan?
lets just go there and do our usual thing?
pass and move, pass and move?
for fucks sake we are so predictable, i think we even bore our own players so much that they just approach games like sleepwalking …. here we go again ….
We didnt even pass we didnt even move.
And we put the word FORWARD on our jersey.
Well Fergie got his tactics right telling Rooney to drop deep and press Arteta when we had the ball.
Goes to show how much of our game goes through Arteta. ManUre knows our midfield is pretty much all we’ve got at the moment, and were smart to go after it. They knew our strike force is toothless and our defenders clumsy and prone to slipping, so they only had to concentrate on Arteta, Cazorla and Wilshere.
Wenger out, Santos out, Vermaelen out, Fuck it, the whole team out.
a true fan can only be gutted right now . it can’t get worse so why not tare it up and start again. thumbs down fuck off you are deluded cunts
I don’t know what to say except we were very lucky to have this scoreline.
Gooners comment , the top one, is the most alarming. I hate to say it, but
I am starting/possibly already feeling that exact sentiment.
MOTM – Away fans. But honorable mention to Manone.
I really admire Mannone. Great performance, looked really confident against a major team, and made impressive saves I daresay Szczeny would have missed.
Another lifeless display, nothing up front,the obligatory mistake at the back. All to easy for united. We look what what are, a team without ideas and going absolutely nowhere.
And santos, the worst player on the pitch and then takes the cunts shirt at half time. Had enough of this shit. Totally gutted yet again.
Vermaelin was as bad as santos. Koscielny sits on the bench. Ramsey start again. Podolski is shit. Giroud can’t get one good pass in. Wenger out. Gazidis out. Stan out. Joachim Lowe in. Finish 8th. Start over. Fuck this.
Right, because Joachim Loew has been racking up trophies with Germany.
Podolski has been absolutely invisible for how many games now? Combine him and Santos down the left and look what you get – torn to shreds
Read somewhere that Santos and Podolski both like going into channels, which is why they then become crowded into the same space and thus invisible. Shit. We need to sell Santos, Squillaci and bring in a new LB and a CF, possibly a winger too if the Theo situation goes south as well.
Ha ha… Sell Squillaci. That would require there being someone foolish enough to buy him from us.
The shock, anger and frustration has all but disappeared, knowing full well any if those emotions will be in vain. All that’s left is the numb acceptance. We no longer can compete consistently with the top 3 clubs. We are no the best of the rest. Beer. FFS.
I thought we went to three at the back for a while. I thought it seemed to make us more solid by pushing Santos out of the equation . . . also a more attacking option too. For what it was worth at least ! Thought Walcott should have started. There was no service to Giroud and we were often too narrow. Arshavin might have come on earlier, he seems to look brighter from the bench this season , maybe not worth a start yet but he did seem to make a difference for the 10 mins he had. Probably… Read more »
Better team won. RVP still a class act for not celebrating Increased respect for him. Yeah, I said. Don’t shoot me. That said, I didn’t like the pre-match pleasantries between him and Podolski. Something needs to change at Arsenal but I can’t put my finger on it.
In hart and minds this “new” arsenal side stayed the same as a side which lost League cup final… Very very baaaad mood.
In my mind RVP not celebrating was just “you guys” mark 2. Couldn’t stand all the fawning over him from our players. Show some fucking grit and get your pride back lads!
As usual when the opposition doesn’t play the way want them to play, we struggle. Simple, Lack of a plan B. we always play the same way no matter what the situation is. No tactical changes. Why couldn’t Wenger take off Wilshere like fergie did?
‘Cause unlike Fergie, Wenger didn’t have a competent replacement on the bench.
..and, unlike Fergie, Wenger likes to make a pre-game plan , AND STICK TO IT NO MATTER WHAT. I call that tactical hopelessness.
It’s always hopeless to play Ramsey as a winger and Santos as an Arsenal player.
Have we ever been this toothless at front? Defense has always been our problem. But, now our offense is also terrible. On top of that, we have lost our fighting spirit. It is just sad. ehhhhhhhhh……….
As the commentator said “the rot started with TV5 error” .What an understatement and how many times this year has he let us down…..too many to be captain.
Sorry AW you got it wrong.Jack was stretching for too many tackles.That 2nd yellow was always going to happen.Ferguson took Cleverley off AW left Jack on,
big error.
Giroud you are still the elephant in the room..Poldi what is happening.
The scoreline flattered us but 1 down after 2 minutes against a top team is crates a massive problem
Need to raise the game against Schalke,big style
TV5 needs to be dropped for a few games onky problem is Kos hasn’t exactly been outstandig this season (yet)
I agree with some of that, I still think that if you give Giroud better service, he will come good.
Poldi misses Gibbs, Santos is not a defender.
Agreed, Wilshere should have come off for Walcott, keep Ramsey on and push him into the middle and Walcott down the flank.
If Walcott wants to prove himself down the middle, today was his chance to take the game by the bollocks and make his case.
I am sick of Ramsey lovers… he was lost today, done almost nothing, and what is even worst almost everybody were like him… lost and impotent. Wenger should stop playing him. We were better whne he left.
Yes we were better when he left, because a player more suited to the position came on. Ramsay is a central player, and will be a good one. He’s 21 and wouldnt be starting if Diaby or Rosicky could stay fit for 2 weeks. Or if Ox was fit, or if Theo would sign a contract. Or if we had held on to our best players
Great point.
Ramsey isnt half as bad as some people who comment here think. He was having a decent game today. But reportedly he had a groin problem and so was taken of.
And lid the whole team was lost today especially poldi and wilshere(excusable) .
Wenger had no choice. We were a goal down , Wilshere looked like the player who could make something. And who was he going to bring on in place of Wilshere ? I’m not defending his tactics for the whole game, but to criticize him for keeping JW on is a bit harsh.
Many would disagree when you see what Fergie did and Man U ended the game with 11
I love our away fans, I do.
at least we play nice attacking football …NOT
cant believe after 6 games, we were the highest rated epl team on whoscored
Sad to see an arsenal team without any fight whatsoever.
Perfectly illustrated by santos asking Dutch skunk for his shirt as players made their way for the tunnel at HALF TIME!! Wtf – like a visiting tourist gathering souvenirs. That’s not arsenal.
Give us a moment here – maybe Santos was being clever. Maybe he took the LUCKY shirt away (no goals in second half for RVP?). or maybe he needed that shirt to spark a ‘Beat United’ rally by burning it in public when they come to N. London?
*grasping*
People have always associated Arsenal FC with creativity and a fluid, direct style of attack play. What the hell happened to that? I don’t know about you, but if I was playing one of my main rivals and went down in the 3rd minute, I would be fired up and try to reciprocate. None of our players seemed to exhibit that drive. I’m absolutely disgusted and extremely worried for the future. We have to pick up the slack NOW.
ah well soundly beaten, I got no complaints
didn’t learn much that we didn’t already know i.e. that we always concede first, andres isn’t a top level left back and a more mobile striker is required (or maybe 2 up front?) anyway cheers for the goal santi!
This is Wenger’s mistake! Board fucked us for strenght of the team but this team was capable of getting a draw today. So I think Wenger is completly guilty for what had happened. But first… Vermaelen should be striped of captaincy! What is enough is enough! Last season he had lot’s of mistakes which led to direct goals and now this season he is in the same “form”. Made at least three crucial mistakes today and we were lucky not to suffer more. Wenger followed my worst fears and played Santos and Ramsey to “strengthen” the midfield. But he weakened… Read more »
They were promising at the beginning, now they play as if they were not paid their wages for months.
Against manure they were shits.
Am still keeping hope alive, but am sorry to say this on here, Sir Alex Ferguson is a far better manager than Wenger.
He may be spending a lot but he is wining trophies and also making tons of money for Man u. more than Wenger is doing for Arsenal.
2-0 down with 5 minutes left and all we’re doing is passing the fucking ball back and forth between the back line. What the actual fuck? Does no one have the balls or desire to try attacking?
Hahaha. “What the actual fuck”. Made me smile. Thank you.
Because Arteta was closed down, and nobody wanted to fill his role….? Not sure what happened.
Could gave almost been as comprehensive a defeat as last season really. In fact this season we don’t have the excuses that we did last year for such a poor display.
Something is deffinetly not right. The team look almost as if it was preseason and Manu were a few weeks ahead in match fitness and sharpness. Defensively we were headless chickens.
Couldn’t watch the game due to a certain post-tropical storm’s after effects.. from the comments, I infer that United just clogged up midfield (a standard strategy from past games). Were we playing long ball (now that we have a big target) ?
Guess I may have to wait for the tactics column here..
no mate we clogged up midfield no width at all ever we are shit
Do not wait for anything… go enjoy out. I wish you a littlebit of sunshine. You wont get that with arsenal…
We need a shake up at the top, our mindset as a club is too mediocre. End of.
we need diaby desperately. our performances took a nose dive when he got injured.
2-1 flattered us today. we were poor.
come on arsenal. COME ON!!
Things started going south when Diaby and then Gibbs went out injured
Thank Bergkamp..it could have been worse..the scoreline dosnt reflect our performance as we were total shite..only outstanding Playerz were BFG,HFB,AA23 and Mannone..We lost the mildfield battle which I thought was the most important
And the away Fans were amazing! ….
I can’t brig myself to get angry with the team. Arsenal is now just a group of very average players, who for the most part are punching way above their weight. How many of these guys would have made it into The Invincibles? None, maybe only Cazorla. The rest just aren’t good enough. Blame the manager or the board or whoever sanctions the selling of our best players. How can this team ever realise their potential if every summer the best players are sold. As for the fans…we’re only left with what ifs….like what if we hadn’t sold our best… Read more »
The real problem with Arsenal’s players is not the quality of the players. Truth is that they are average, ok but see how Everton TOTALLY dominated ManU with mostly “average” players. The problem is the attitude of the players and our tactics. The players have no drive and our team is predictable, add this two together and u have the kind of limp displays we have been seeing. A few years back, I could beat my chest at half time with the confidence that we would put up a fight but what I see today is a whole different picture.… Read more »
Don’t agree with you.
I think we have good players this year, definitely better than last year ( though you might be right about nearly none of them making it into the Invincibles ).
Something is wrong but I can’t totally blame the players only. We lack tactics and motivation and this should come from the coach
I rate Arteta, Cazorla, Sagna quite highly. Even Podolski, aside from his stint with Arsenal thus far.