It’s frustrating that one of the most important games in the calendar for a lot of Essex based Gooners is this one… yet we quite often seem to make hash of it.
Today was frustrating because you could only put it down to one thing, complacency.
Complacency from the players, complacency from the management and maybe even a little bit from the fan base.
Arsenal went 0-1 up early on after Robert Green flapped at a Sagna cross. RvP was on hand to tap in once again.
It didn’t take long for us to capitalise on our lead. Gallas leapt the highest and nodded in an RvP corner to send us into the break cruising.
The second half started and Arsenal came out believing the game was won. Our passing was the first thing to go. Coupled with West Ham’s renewed vigour, things really started to fall apart. As an Arsenal fan, you have a sixth sense for things going wrong… a clumsy challenge from Diaby on the edge of the box started the downfall. Demented fired a relatively tame freekick over the wall, Mannone clambered across the goal and palmed the ball at a reverse angle back into the box where Carlton Cole was awaiting ready to pounce. A bad mistake from the keeper, some sluggish reactions from our mob to clear it.
By this time, most of us knew what was going to happen… after Gallas got away with a shocking challenge in our box, it didn’t take long for someone else to make an equally silly challenge. Alex Song clipped the ankles of Carlton Cole and the ref pointed to the spot. On replay, it probably wasn’t a penalty but when the ref has watch Song make 3 or 4 dopey challenges in the space of 20 minutes, he’s hardly going to give him benefit of the doubt is he?
Up stepped Demented, 2-2.
So, I have a few complaints about the day.
How many times are we going to persist with a right back in midfield? It’s embarrassing… everyone in football can see that Eboue is a very poor midfielder except Arsene Wenger and a few of his fanboys. His product in most games is falling over in suspicious circumstances to win a free kick in a non-threatening area. He was back to his old tricks today, diving around at the merest of touches, shanking crosses and feigning injury. He is an embarrassment and should not be fielded unless he’s being played in defence.
What must Ramsey, Vela and Wilshere think? What do those two have to do to get a chance in the starting 11? At least they know how to deliver a final ball and know where the back of the net is.
The late substitutions were also baffling. We were clearly on the back foot and struggling for ideas, yet we wait until the 81st minute to make a change. If we’d brought on some fresh legs earlier, perhaps we’d have given our attack a bit of freshness and turned the game. Instead, Arsene sat there and watched the inevitable unfold.
We seem to capitulate under pressure. Alex Song had a reasonable first half and was looking ok, then in the second half his game went to pot in a big way. He started passing badly, then the clumsy challenges began… then the penalty, which perhaps wasn’t a penalty, but the earlier Gallas challenge kind of ruled out any thoughts of me complaining we’d been hard done by.
Arshavin was a passenger again, but the type of passenger who’d just landed a Ryan Air seat next to a 43 stone man with wind problems. He looked very uninterested and some of his play was wasteful and lethargic. Diaby was marginally better than the Russian, but still very frustrating… he seems to struggle past 60 minutes.
The most disappointing complaint of the day comes on the back of a warning many of you said was unfair. I said in my last post I hoped we wouldn’t have to witness an error by Mannone before he was dropped… boy did we witness an error. I play in goal for a Sunday league team and I struggled to see how the Big Italian managed to palm that shot back into the danger zone like that… it was very amateur and sadly something we’ve seen regularly from him, though normally unpunished.
Arsenal need to approach games against weaker teams with the same vigour they approach the bigger matches. The players have superb technical ability and have done very well so far this season, however, technical ability alone never won the league. Character and fight did though and we need to start showing some of that if I’m to be convinced we can win a major trophy this year.
Player Ratings:
Mannone: I willed him on to do well with all my footballing heart, but deep down, I knew it would come to this. Fabianski needs to come in, or Almunia will have to take over the gloves. The position between the sticks is one that we can’t afford bedding in time if we are to challenge. 5
Clichy: I wasn’t very impressed with him today, his crossing was woeful as always and his passing wasn’t very sharp. He needs to buck his ideas up because as a xenophobe, I’d be more than happy to see Gibbs take his place. 6
Gallas: Took his third goal of the season very well, battling through a sea of bodies to nod home a RvP corner. He had a shaky second half which nearly culminated in him giving away a penalty. I still maintain I’d like to see more from him leadership wise when we’re up against it. 6.5
Vermaelen: Again, a good performance in the main. He got forward when he could and even managed to secure himself a place on the free kick roster. 7
Sagna: I thought he played ok today. He managed to fortuitously bag himself an assist from a cross which was pretty poor. He defended ok and passed the ball much better than Clichy. 6.5
Arshavin: ………………… duff pass……………. duff shot…………….. hand on hips, strange facial expression. That pretty much summed up his game. I’d like to see more effort from our record signing in the non-glam games. 5
Diaby: Released the ball quickly today and tried his darndest to muck in with the defensive duties. We need to see more end product though, otherwise, I struggle to see his use to the team. Nasri will have no problem taking over from him when he is fit. Opportunity well and truly missed by the Frenchman. 6
Song: Started well, passed ok and got in the way. Then the second half began and the cracks began to show. He missed headers, his passing disintegrated and he started fouling like Robbie Savage on a bad day. He doesn’t deal well with pressure. 5.5
Eboue: I’m lost for words… he is diabolical in midfield, he really is.
‘Oh but he covers well’
Please… I’m sure Senderos would defend well if we put him in right midfield. It’s such a weak excuse to play him in midfield when we have obvious talent sitting on the bench. How will Jack, Vela and Rambo ever develop defensive skills if they’re never given the chance? 3
Cesc: I thought he played quite well in stages. His passing was ok, but he looked a little lost when West Ham pulled back level. He is Captain because he is top of the wanted list in Spain. Give me a PV04 or TA6 over Fab in that role any day… he struggles to get a grip on the team when things are going badly. 6
RvP: On the score sheet again and very busy all over the pitch. I don’t think he had very good service today, but when Diaby, Eboue and Song are off-key… Arsenal kind of limit where the opportunities will come from. There was not excuse for the missed header in the last minute though. 7.
Conclusion
Very disappointing and a bit worrying. The weather turns and so does our game. We need to stop the rot early and Wenger needs to start making some bolder decisions when it comes to team selection. Going with average in the hope you’ll squeeze by isn’t good enough when you’re looking to challenge. Take a risk on some of the obvious talent we have wearing out the bench… it could work out rather nicely.
I sometimes think Arsene makes a rod for his own back. He’s spent the whole week telling his kids how amazing they are and how they will deliver this year, despite them not really doing anything of note this season. I don’t think many would disagree that over the last two games, we’ve played like we believe the hype… like you just need to turn up to win games. That’s a bad trait. Liverpool in the Carling Cup next… I think a few of the first teamers need to be played in that the recover a bit of form, that would be a bad game to lose when we’re teetering on the edge of a loss of form… memories of United in the cup are flashing in front of my eyes…
See you in the comments Grovers!
P.S. If you have spares for the Liverpool game, let me know… I have hoards of people who will snap them up!
Yeah Tom, thats why they won the treble and are unbeaten in the league so far. We are clearly better than them.
Diaby plays in keita’s position and eboue plays in messi’s …!
Arsenal are my number 1 team….but I dont see why I cant admire what another club is doing….
Plus Henry still plays with Barca…so I follow them somewhat…
What I am saying is Manure, Chelski, Barca etc would not let a 2 goal lead slip…..
Yes it happens to every team once a while but it happens to Arsenal waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy toooooooo much
If they continue like this they will never win another title…
Its a team/club/mentality problem because we got Vermaelen who is an improvement defensively but somehow someone always panics and gifts the other team goals almost every single time.
It seems Wenger will not a buy a keeper so I hope that Almunia has learned his lesson from being dropped and transform into a super keeper.
fab would look amazing in that team.
I would not even mind as much, if West Ham had fought for their point, if they had come out after half time and were right up for it.
But we gave them a point on a diamond encrusted silver platter. It should never have happened. Sure Chavski and Man Ure drop points, but so rarely in that fashion, but we did it two games on the bounce and nearly 3 on the bounce if it was not for a super cool finish from Arshavin against Brum.
Would they play Song, Diaby or Eboue? Would they fuck!
well Stu…
we’re on it again then …all i can say that if we had lost against a team like kazan you most probebly would have had a go at all our players and called them no good…you are the living proof of how a true Gooner should be mate
and Ja Gunner why dont you buy a one way ticket to the city of Sodoma and Gomorra…i hear there are lots of nice cheap crack addicted whores there..travel well my friend..
tom
the mancs are shit this year. they won’t get that many 2 goal leads to defend.
Tom – I can forgive a draw or a loss, but I cannot forgive complacency and trying to run the game down for 45 minutes against a fighting team like WHU…
calling players no good? they earn more in a week than I will earn in a few years, therefore I want to see some fucking application on the pitch…
fucking ‘Ole’ shit in the 60th minute? Keown for AW’s hairdryer for me please…
I wouldnt hire almunia to look after my bees if i had some, he is the worst keeper in our history!!
How am i proof of how a gooner should be Tom? All i said was that Barca are very successful and that we arent better than them. Im being realistic.
If we lost to Rubin Kazan sure as fuck i would be pissed because we lost but that has been Barcas one slip up all season. We have lost 2 in a row against main rivals (apparently we are better than both and Barca aswell?)
But Kazan are the russian champions and play very good football and won because of an absolute screamer and a counter attack. When we drop points it because of complacency and piss poor defending.
Whats up with Tom…
Some weird comments you have there….
Yeah Goonermichael Manure are shit this year but in their championship winning years they would never leads slip so often…..
Wenger is hypoctrical inst he……he loves attack minded football but then he puts a guy with no end product as a forward….
I would mind seeing eboue play right wing in 4-4-2 because atleast he would have to stick to the right wing aqnd get up and down the pitch..
But when he plays right forward all of a sudden he thinks he is Ronaldo or Messi and pops up all over the final third….. Why the fuck does he pop up into the centre forward postion when he cant shoot…
Again Vela should have played….
And I would not blame Vela if he left the club….because he is behind…..Arshy, RVP, Bendy, Eduardo, Rosikcy, Theo and Eboue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GM, agreed, they won’t, but they will most likely grind out enough one-nils to finish above us…
And 4 shit players Stu, don’t forget that!
Dont worry about tom ja, hes into magic mushrooms pref with a omelette!!
Most likely but I wouldn’t put money on it. Even the refs are turning on the alchy.
every time they take the foot off the gas, the fans should boo, not ‘Ole’ them…
leaves me really with one single questionen
before the season started..when played 9 games in the league..we’re one point a drift in the premier..
we have secured going trough in the CL…
we have scored more goals than ever before..
are we in some sort of crisis…???
hmmmmmm…well well…
i must agree what a shitty team Arsenal is ??
and one more small thing i see Our Beloved Arsenal as family…and in my family we tend to support eachother ?? maybe im wrong..
tom
How could i forget them Geoff…they are the root of all our problems.
Tom,
yes, we are quite high up the table, but we played a bunch of shit teams, and every time the oppo showed any fight, we just collapsed and that is a fact…
winning/drawing games where we are the better team does not bide well, as I just cannot see us grindin out a result when we are shit…
But we arent one point off the top Tom. Thats the difference.
If not for moments of madness in defence and needless complacency then we could and probably should be top of the league. We have dropped 8 league points and at the most we should have only dropped 3. United was really the only game we shouldnt have been expected to win.
Tomstoned..
not a crisis per say.. but its only 9 games and complacency has already been rearing its ugly head!
just as you say… 9 games played!
* losing/drawing, sorry
stu i feel there were tomany flat perforamces,without dought someone like aa had better game it would lifted them a bit players like aa and risisky will be crucial and song
tomstoned
Nothing would give me greater pleasure then crushing the chavs,mancs,dippers,and grinding them into dust but with AWs present policy i cant see that happening for a long long time!!
the thing is that wenger needs to stop the rot and play a strong team tommorow,
we ned to get back to winning ways very soon or our november slump will happen again .
The trouble is that wenger’s arrogance will not let him admit he’s wrong with eboue , we all fucking see it , as a wing/forward he’s a disgrace and has to be carried it makes you wonder what , vela, ramsey, wilshere think watching the games.
why does wenger allow the team to stop working like they did against az and west ham. fergie or ancelloti wouldnt allow it. its not a one off. it has haunted wenger teams for a few years now. he does not seem to have any sollution. there has to be something wrong when a team continually throw away matches from winning positions so often. any oppinions?
nn it’s called bottle are prima donnas dont have any…………
nn.. not ruthless enough.
the same starting lineup threw it away at AZ, yet the same players are rewarded with more playing time at West Ham.
the players are not playing for their places, why should they worry and exert themselves?
Both make sense.
No bottle and the players know they wont be dropped so dont fight for their place.
nn…
this is a more productive opinion..and fair to disucuss…one may disagree with Wengers lack of substitutions..like Geoff did in his post..but from there to say that Our players are shite…thats far off in my opinion…and to discuss what we might do is both interesting and to me fair…
i think Wenger is abit to stubborn at times.and would have liked to see Vela against the hammers…still im more than convinced that this team will only gettin better mate..
tom
thing is, you could take out of favour players and assemble an XI, which would punch well above its weight:
Szczesny, Senderos, Gibbs, Eboue (as RB), Ramsey, Merida, Traore, Vela, Eduardo – that leaves one more CB and one striker position to fill…
Having jusr skimmed over the headlines on newsnow i have suddenly realised something.
Lots of people are calling for Almunia to come back int the team and understandably too considering the mistakes Mannone is making.
ALmunia hasnt been ill or injured or even dropped. Wenger wanted to show how shit a keeper can be by playing Mannone and tried to trick us into thinking Almunia is a quality keeper. It all makes so much sense now.
i agree Choy..
we could/should let players that have an off game, rest the next game and give others a chance…no doubt..
tom
Stu ..
when it comes to goalies…i would like once more to point to the ice cold Russia and Akinfeev….we shouldnt let him slip trough our fingers…he might just be the best one out there..
tom
I wouldnt say Szczesny is out of favour SUGA. He was never in favour to begin with and is still too young to be in the first team.
I would consider Almunia out of favour considering he hasnt played for weeks despite supposedly only having a chest infection.
geez one worse than the other stu.
:shivers:
chest infection…Stu did keep Almunia out because of fear of the swine flu…blackburn hit today..and you could actually see that somethings where wrogn with them against chelski…they usually put up more of a fight..
tom
Agreed Tom. Akinfeev is a great keeper but also has a great price tag. One too high for Wenger to consider.
Wenger could really learn something from Pep…
I follow Barca too and realise that Pep rotates alot…I know over rotation is bad….but he has a core and rotates the rest…
Last season he consistently started Henry Etoo Messi Xavi and Iniesta….and to some extent Yaya and Dani Alves
This season I realise that none of Yaya or Busquets starts more than 2 games in a row…I dont know if thats to prevent fatigue or just to inspire them to always perform…
He also very oddly rotates his CBs alot…
Pique is the most consistent starter but Chrignsky, Puyol and Marquez are all rotated
The only sure starters when fit this season are
Xavi, Iniesta, Ibra, Messi, Valdes….
Why didnt Wenger employ a lil rotation after the midweek exertion….the players got stale after 60 mins and Wenger could not realise this….but everyone else did …..even the West Ham players because theysmelled blood and went for our throats..
And again when Henry and INiesta were out….Pep didnt promote Dani Alves to forward….he gave Pedrito the chance and he did well
If it was swine flu then Almunia wouldnt have been back in training or near the team.
still i would put up the money Stu for once..could solve Our probs for a long time…he’s only 24/25…but as you say it most propably will not happen …
tom
i think geof said 4 of our players are shit tomstoned and i agree with him
Ja Barcelona..
los stupidos the inglorious barca’s…isnt a club ?? if its a club to be looking at…look back at the last 10 years you will see that Arsenal have done better….and in Spain…Real is the team that have been consistant if any….
they have no pride..no honor..and absolutely no respect for anyone else…so fuck that..
tom
Agreed Ja. But Barca have a much better squad and less injury prone one aswell. Not to mention a manager who doesnt play shit players.
For DM alone they have Yaya, Keita and Busquets. All of them are physically capable and good footballers too. We have Denilsong.
Their front players dont tend to get injured either. Pedro and Bojan dont play often but when they do they certainly take their chance because there is a posibility of another game if they do well. FOr us Vela could score a hattrick in the CC and not get another game until the next round.
i read that nn…and be careful soon you will be a bitter old man like Geoff…
tom
It is Ok for vela to lose his place to arshavin or eduardo or rosicky..
But to lose it to Eboue?
Cmon
Is that so Tom? Not a club huh? How did they win the greatest club comepetition last season then? Hmmmm one wonders..
well well..
ill leave you los inglorious barca’s fans to yourself…i thought it was football we discussed in here..not whores..
viel gluck…
tom
just raped WHU on PES
i think pedro summed us up in 2 words in his blog, character and fight. i hate saying this about a team i support but i have yet to see any of the 2 in these players bar the verminator who plays like the ghost of big tony adams. which tells me wenger needs a complete rethink about this squad or a new manager needs to come in and kick ass
Interesting…some people usually on here are no where to be found to remind us just how much of a c*nt we are for not licking Wenger’s balls.
Faceman comes to mind.
Depression is a b8tch
Interesting how some who are usually on here to tell us just how much of a proper cnut we all are because we arent licking Wenger’s ballz…
A certain Faceman comes to mind.
Interesting how some who are usually on here to tell us just how much of a proper cnut we all are because we arent licking Wenger’s balz…
A certain Face-man comes to mind.
David, he isnt here because he got in a fight and was banned.
when did faceman get banned?
Wow,
Have i been away for that long?
Did A get into a fight as well?
when did face-man get banned?
Nah.. he was fighting with geoff!
Only happened yesterday. I dunno about A tho. I havent seen him on here in days.
He got banned for calling Geoff some names and threatening him. It was all very aggressive stuff.
HOT one week, COLD the next! Again failed to show passion and commitment and just going through the motions. Jack or Rambo would really change the energy in a complacent midfield. Vela for Eboue who should remain good cover for Sagna. Certainly would have dropped Clichy weeks ago, yet another player going through the motions. Shit performances yet again will be rewarded with more starts. Yet again season will be fruitless. Desparately need ROTATION and not just in the Carling!!!!!! Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool are there for the taking this season and i am sick of saying this but please don’t roll over and let City have a go!! fucking wake up!! COME ON ARSENAL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Had a look back at yesterday. Presume the offending posts have been removed.
Nice story about chatting to Charlie George.
How right was he about this though?!!
Face-man Says:
October 25, 2009 at 10:10
Right fellow Grovers..
time to make some easy cash on a Sunday afternoon, whilst sitting on your arse watching the arsenal.
Step 1. go to paddypower.com and open a betting accout
Step 2. deposit cash
Step 3. back scott parker to be shown a card @ 3/1
Piece of piss.
Freaking Hilarious to hear United Fans Moaning and Groaning about the Refs…I cant laugh hard enough. Well maybe ofcoarse in May.
I didnt watch the second half.
But After watching the First Half…I sincerley thought we would score 1 more goal and win it 3-2.
I knew we were going to concede stupidly…and if they got a penalty we would be in trouble but i fully expected us to score 1 more to seal the deal…but as Management would have it they didnt realize we were fucked till the 80th minute.
well Geoff can be quite direct at times too..
great film…Stan Helsing..in these times of fighting
that movie will entertain you …
have a great evenin All Grovers and Gooners alike..
tom
Geoff, you so hate song that you have been hoping and searching for a day he flops so you can unleash your rage at him. This is actually is First poor game this season and I can say that even Cesc was very poor and Arsh was even worse than him. Be a little fair with your criticism, he has hugely improved a lot
and For some of the player you are comparing him with now are far older than him, we didn’t even know they existed when they were Song’s age.
Very UnArsenal like goals as well.
A Sagna cross?
We scored off of a Sagna cross?
Gallas Scores mostly off set pieces that arent corners….but he scored a corner set piece was a very much added bonus…this team should look at those goals as added bonuses and shouldnt have relaxed till we scored a proper Arsenal goal.
The team isnt complacent. Management is. Or maybe both.
how come I don’t see my comments ???
David
what youre saying is a stretch at best…complacent after two draws ?? not the way i see it..these things do happen and for it to be a trend we will have to wait and see…me personally i dont think so at all…but maybe it can be a wake up call if needed…and if this is us being bad..well then we will win the premier by a mile…manu…l’pool..mancity..and chelski have been far worse in some games this year…
i think we will have a crackin seasons..have we ever scored more goals ??..don think so…
tom
Underperforming AA23 is worrying me – I’m beginning to think he’ll end up at Man City. (I suspect he sacked his agent Dennis whatsit once he realised what his Arsenal contract was really worth eg 50% tax.)
If Barca had wanted him, surely they would have got him before he came to London? Plus according to Simon Kuper, Barca don’t pay big bucks, they pay out big bonuses when playerz win prizes, to the tune of 40mil euros last season. (Oh the pain, as Kuper said.)
If the ££££ is the issue for him, who could offer him what he thinks he’s worth if he really wants out? City. There’s been some noise lately about Robinho going to Barca, and Arshavin could fit that space.
Would AW really go through another season with a want-away striker? (The Diarra ep also comes to mind.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcGlWmSLr_s
scp for Gods sake..Arshavin have one not top notch performance and you really mean his not focused…
paranoia cames to mind…robinho doesnt like hughes so he is off come january…and im just happy we arent in for that no good player..
tom
Tom, we have been complacent all season in my eyes.
Yes this may be the first time we have dropped points because of it but we have been conceding sloppy and late goals all season because we arent able to concentrate for the full 90.
we can afford one player like arsh in our team.. who doesn’t give 100% all the time..
problem is .. as someone pointed out earlier.. we can’t have 2-3 players like that.
http://www.onlinegooner.com/exclusive/index.php?id=1361
Twas I doing the point on that one Choy.
Why am I still in moderation for F***K sake!!!!
What a load of tosh. He isnt fast becoming an arsenal player….or maybe he is? Hmmm no end product and cant defend. Never mind.
He can defend Stu. He shut down Ronaldinho in his POY year. His crossing is better than anyone we have that plays on the right
That was then, this is now. Eboue is a shadow of his former self because of him playing in midfield so much. Totally ruined him.
Eboue is a good player.. even an excellent one.. but at RB!!!
Who made rhe cross at the for the Van Persie header..?
Stu he’s still a very good right back, just doesn’t have the concentration or positioning at right back in comparison to Sagna, otherwise he’d be far superior and playing every game ahead of him. Eboue is a better player than he was when he was in the top 3 defenders in the champs league, but his different roles don’t make him stand out as much.
^end
sagna i think
Well EBoue doesnt play right back enough anymore. He plays in midfield..for whatever insane reason.
I consider him worse now, if only because he is a midfielder now.
I hate Eboue…the midfielder.
Heh, dammit, I was thinking Ebway. just remember he got subbed before anyway.
So was that two good crosses for Sagna, also Song gave a lovely chipped pass for Van Persie early in the first half or was that against Alkmaar
Stuvid – You just seem to have a lot of hate. Whats up mate ?!
i have been worried about aa23 also, his body language has not been good all season, he drops his head too quickly and does not look happy at all. It wouldnt surprise me if he has a short stay at the emirates. I obviously would be so gutted to see him in the EPL with any other team….. but it would not surprise me one bit. just like i wasnt surprised 1 bit when checking my sky sports app on sunday showing that we lost a 2 goal league. all so predictable . how aw persists with eboue on the wing and bentner anyway near the first team shows me that we should be content with a top 4 spot,, more chance aa23 leaving us at the end of the year than us adding to the trophy cabinet me thinks…… thoughts ?
yeah it was sagna choy, actually a good cross too!
Eboue has started 8 games this season, 4 at right back, 4 in midfield. He’ll play at right back against weak teams at home, and he’ll play in midfield against tough teams away from home when we have injuries, and i’m happy with it working like that
*lead not league
Keyser I’d say one good cross, the cross for VP’s goal was a typical shocking sagna cross, but green just had a nightmare!
Song did do a great flick over to vp, which he should really have scored, but managed to connect with his shoulder.
West Ham is hardly a tough team tho A. Especially considering their form this season. We should never have dropped points against them regardless of derbys being unpredictable.
Im not happy with Eboue starting anywhere apart from right back.
I’d say Sagna’s first was a good cross, green was stretching for it at best, Van Persie needs to sort out his headers.
United lost to Burnley, Chelsea lost to Wigan, Liverpool lost to well Sunderland seem ok, we drew at West Ham.
Yeah Stu I agree, but he wouldn’t have started if Rosicky, Bendtner, or Eduardo had been fully fit. I was surprised Vela wasn’t near the team, but perhaps he isn’t fully fit either.
Hopefully Vela, Bendtner, and Eduardo will all have this week to get up to full fitness, or maybe even make an appearance in the league cup to help get some match sharpness.
I expected us to beat West Ham, as we should have done on the day certainly, but before the start of the season you wouldn’t write it down as an absolutely guaranteed win, a draw isn’t a total disaster, though frustrating obviously.
Exactly Keyser,
Chelsea have dropped 6 points against Villa and Wigan,
Utd have dropped 5 points against Sunderland and Burnley,
Liverpool have dropped 9 points against Sunderland, Villa, and Spuds,
we’ve dropped 2 points against West Ham
OK, point taken tomstoned, of course it’s paranoia – I don’t want Arshavin to go anywhere.
But with what he’s saying to the press, he sounds really unhappy in London and bangs on about tax all the time (which is not very classy given how people earning a lot less than him are having a hard time in the economic situation right now).
I just think it’s a possibility he’ll go, whereas with Cesc I don’t.
Team on weds will be interesting, keeper too. Whether szczesny plays, or perhaps Fabianski to start, I really hope he starts against Spuds, Mannone shouldn’t play again.
Just because others dropped stupid points doesnt make it alright that we did.
Obviously it doesn’t make it ok, but all teams drop stupid points over the course of the season, and thus far we’ve dropped less stupid points than the others. If we continue that then we’ll win the league!
There have only been two league games that we’ve had to try and hang on, or that have been tight, in games we’d expect to win, and in both we were 2 goals up, and comfortable without giving the opposition a look in, then a Mannone howler gave them a way back into the game. Against Brum we held on and eventually got the third, though it was pretty tense for a while, against West Ham we didn’t get the third and they got the equaliser.
We have dropped less points against the smaller teams that the other top teams. But we have dropped 6 points against rivals. United and City (if you even consider city a rival).
We are expected to finish ahead of City therefore we should be better than them and win against them.
We have been conceding sloppy goals all season and now its starting to cost us points (in the last 2 games).
I was worried about it at the start of the season and apparently my concerns were justified.
Utd and City away are two of the toughest games there are in the prem, and two games than no team would expect to win. If we’d lost or drawn with them at home then I’d consider it dropped points, but not away.
Up until the Birmingham game we hadn’t conceded a single significant sloppy goal. One big change from last season is that teams havn’t looked like they can score against us at any time, we’ve not been conceding an early sloppy goal and having to come back, as we had to all last season, and the season before. This season we’ve been incredibly solid, and not given teams a look in, until we’re 3/4/5 goals up, and switch off in the last ten minutes.
Then in the Birmingham game we were exactly the same, hadn’t given them a look in, but a Mannone howler gave them a way back in out of nowhere, and we tensed up, and exactly the same happened yesterday. If Mannone hadn’t had howlers then we would’ve won the last two league games by big big margins
Against AZ we were complacent, but that’s the only game I’ve seen complacency set in, and the team will have learnt from that.
We may have only dropped points recently because of sloppy goals but thats not to say the other ones werent as damaging.
Regardless of the score, be it 1-0 or 4-0 a goal is still a goal. The team should have been in the habit of concentrating fully for the whole match regardless of whether the points were in the bag already.
Confidence breeds confidence, goals with goals, clean sheets with clean sheets, trophies with trophies. Get in the habit of doing something and eventually you can do it without much effort.
Switching off is an awful habit to do and it seems to be one that has caught on this season. We arent having to come from behind as much as before but instead we are dropping points because other teams are. Its just not acceptable if we are seriously to challenge for major honours.
stu
100% agree its the philosophy i preach also .
winning is a habit , and inconsistencies as ever pull down our over all quality ..
we always fail the big tests and until that changes … nothing will result – wise change
(trophy wise ) for us .
Wenger: West Ham was a major missed opportunity
Dear Supporter,
It was very frustrating to come away with only a draw from Upton Park on Sunday having led 2-0 for much of the game.
But West Ham fought until the final second and, to be honest, I never had the feeling that the game was won. Even when we were completely in control I saw the attitude of West Ham and they were not giving up.
We knew that if we made a mistake we would be under pressure. The crowd got behind the referee’s decisions and after that it’s always difficult when you are away from home.
Still we know it is a major opportunity missed and in our job you have no luxury to do that. You must get points when you deserve them and sometimes get points when you don’t deserve to them. On Sunday we didn’t get the points we deserved and that means we have not made the maximum of what we should have done.
It is not complacency. We just have to continue to play in a rigorous way, respect the game we love and the pass. That is what we forgot sometimes on Sunday and we paid for it.
On the day, I felt we complicated the game a little bit. We had five or six chances in the second half where we missed the final ball or played it too late. That’s where we have to learn.
Afterwards I was asked if we lacked a killer instinct. Well, in football, sometimes you have periods like that. But when you make a problem of it, it becomes a real problem. We have to play the football we love and learn when we are leading to kill the games off.
We have a great chance to win the title this year but of course you cannot repeat the kind of performance we had this weekend. However I feel the Premier League is tight right now and I’m convinced it will be very tight until the end.
Thanks for your continued support.
Arsene Wenger’s signature
Arsène Wenger
Better not happen again, thats all I will say. Its happened two games in a row, both times players and wenger coming away with the same lesson…obviously it hasnt been taken to heart. Get your shit together gooners, this could be our year.
Why can’t the manager raise his head and say “I was complacent, I should have made some timely changes to invigorate my team and did not. It will not happen again, Gunners.” Is the job for life so taken for granted that simple truths are difficult to admit? This his meaningless verbose are really for the AKBs, not real fans.
A Says:
October 27, 2009 at 00:28
Utd and City away are two of the toughest games there are in the prem, and two games than no team would expect to win. If we’d lost or drawn with them at home then I’d consider it dropped points, but not away.
Up until the Birmingham game we hadn’t conceded a single significant sloppy goal. One big change from last season is that teams havn’t looked like they can score against us at any time, we’ve not been conceding an early sloppy goal and having to come back, as we had to all last season, and the season before. This season we’ve been incredibly solid, and not given teams a look in, until we’re 3/4/5 goals up, and switch off in the last ten minutes.
Then in the Birmingham game we were exactly the same, hadn’t given them a look in, but a Mannone howler gave them a way back in out of nowhere, and we tensed up, and exactly the same happened yesterday. If Mannone hadn’t had howlers then we would’ve won the last two league games by big big margins
Against AZ we were complacent, but that’s the only game I’ve seen complacency set in, and the team will have learnt from that.
Ha Ha Ha, A finally crawling outta the woodwork now the dust has settled, and trying to defend one the indefensible!
ALL goals are sloppy, regardless of who, how, where and when they are scored. How the he’ll can you say we’ve been solid this year??? Nothings changed, how many goals have shipped already?? Man Shitty deserved to beat us because we are generally sloppy in our play especially when we are on top! ManUre away is quite rightly viewed as the toughest fixture to get anything from, but they are weak and they were there for the taking, but guess what, when it really mattered this bunch of bottlers choked again!!
Jesus! AZ was the only game you’ve seen complacency creep in!!! Were you at the Birmingham game? Swept them away, them reverted back to type, sloppy passes, over elaboration, no urgency, the game was in the balance until AA’s goal near the death, struggling at home against digshit like Brum ffs! Did you watch the WHU game, second half? As unprofessional a performance as I can remember from an Arsensl outfit!!
Are you having a fucking giraffe??? You need to get your head outta your aese and take those rose tinted Arsene galsses off fella!!
I was looking to hear from A after Wenger’s lame excuse. Nice to see he remains the one and only “A”!
I got some adobe for all Grovers. Never try a long, complicated post on your iPhone whilst travelling on a high speed train……shocking spelling!!
DDM, how you finding the new Le Grove on the web?
A, I beg to differ on the sloppy goal front…
ManU away, Man City, Blackburn!
They are just 3 games I can think of!
Incredibly solid? I’m not sure I’d go along with that.
More solid as a unit… yet more prone to individual error… which can hopefully be addressed.
I think the main difference this season is the players we’ve got back. We are better at keeping the ball and more direct than we were last year. The biggest difference this year is goals and the abolishion of crab football.
Btw… I think Geoff is going to write a beast of a post today.
Pedro – Rubbish!
Seriously, it caused my Blackberry to crash!! And, I had to revert to the original format on my iPhone, because whenever I refresh the comments section it takes me back to the top, so ihave to manually scroll back to the bottom, which can take fecking ages!!
No chance of that DDM for me.
Really, that is disappointing!
It loaded really quickly on mine.
Morning all, if you are an AKB, don’t read my post this morning.
This how future generations will look for those who spend all their time on a PC, Blackberry, iphone, ipod, twitter, etc
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~trouille/EYH/pics/435px-Alien.png
Get some exercise people, smell the roses
Well I’ve done the post and Pedro will post it at 9am. What time is it in the penal colony Gnarley?
Gnarley, I hit the gym for the first time in a month yesterday… fuck me and I feeling it today!
Sunny & excellent lifestyle Geoff. As per usual
Where’s my post Pedro?
Whats happening in your country Europe?
New post!
Pretty much as yours in Asia!
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