Pretty much the first thing Denilson did was generously play Falcao in behind Sol Campbell, however, using his experience the giant defender managed to make a world class challenge.
Seconds later, the Hulk found himself in front of goal again and somehow managed not to miss. We were looking a shambles! Where were Denilson and co?
Diaby lost the ball in the middle of the park, retrieved it well… ran up the pitch and set Nasri up for a toe poke at the keeper.
Then the first key moment arrived. Varela crossed badly after skinning Clichy… Fabianski looked like he had it covered, but let slip into the back of the net. One of the worst goals we’ve conceded this season. And to be fair, we’ve seen a few!
If there is one position you can’t afford a learning curve with… it’s goalkeeper.
Rosicky did well to cut Bends in, his ricocheted shot was unlucky not to go in!
The following corner hits Vermaelen, then Rosicky played it back across goal and who else was there to finish? Big Sol Campbell!
Rosicky was playing really well, he was creating space and running at players the way you’d have hoped.
Watching Denilson potter about the pitch was grating to say the least. He doesn’t have the hunger to be an Arsenal player. I watched Ferguson spit blood at Evans during the game yesterday, would Wenger do the same to Denilson at half time? Time would tell.
Bendtner got on the end of a Cesc cross, his header forcing a great save.
The rest of the half played out with a number of dirty challenges, cynical you could say.
Rosicky had a great shout for a penalty turned down. Stone wall in fact.
The ball headed down the other end. Campbell marshalled the ball, got a touch on it, Fabianski picked it up! The ref blew for the freekick. Arsenal switch off, Porto take the kick quickly, Falcao slots home. A fair goal, another embarrassing piece of defending. Ok, I’ll say it… THE worst piece of defending this year.
Those two goals were so poor, they’ll be in the advert for Danny Bakers footballing gaffs.
Arsenal didn’t have an outlet, Nik was getting pulled outwide and we didn’t have the pace over the top. Walcott came on with the aim of rectifying that. He didn’t.
Cesc did well to smash his 90th minute corner 20 yards past the back post.
I usually welcome Eboue as much as I do another Pfizer special offer e-mail, but I have to give it to the lad, he did fantastically well when he game on. With 92 minutes on the clock he beat his man with a superb dummy, he cut it back to Cesc but Portos centre back got in the way, the ball fell for Diaby who didn’t have the confidence to hit it first time. Failure to shoot… the story of the last 5 years!
So, we lose the easiest tie of the last 16 in the champions league last 16. What does that tell us?
Well, firstly that Arsene Wenger likes to suffer in the name of his art. If someone tells you you’ll get problems with your car if you don’t get it looked at, but you insist it’ll be ok, then it breaks down on the QE2 bridge. Well, don’t come crying to me when your cam belt snaps and you’ve got 2000 people driving past you bibbing their horns calling you an idiot.
Here are some of the problems under the bonnet of project youth.
Denilson doesn’t have the athletic capabilities to be a top class footballer but worse than that, he doesn’t have the attitude to be a top class footballer. Watching him fluff challenge after challenge, miscue passes and saunter back to defend at his own pace made me feel a little bit ill.
If Wenger watches Fabianski in training everyday and he does things like that, why is he our back up keeper? If he is amazing in training and he does things like that in matches… that just goes to show, judging a player by what they do in training and banking on them replicating that in a champions league last 16 is suicidal and tantamount to negligence. Trouble is, could you have bet against Almunia doing any better?
Gael Clichy was absolutely woeful again, he was roasted time and time again by a second rate winger. However, like the keeping issue, who do you put in his place? We have a squad lacking in good back up. Where are our Wes Browns or Alex type reserves? Ours are either pulling their pension or sitting their GCSE’s.
How about overall team attitude?
Cesc hit the nail on the head. His voice trembling with anger when he pointed to the ‘school boy error goals’. He said maybe our team is a bit soft. When we lose goals, Cesc says we’re not good enough to pick ourselves up.
A defeatist attitude at this level? Are you kidding me? That is a diabolical thing to hear from the captain of Arsenal.
As much as I love him, HE should be lifting the team. Would Tony Adams let heads drop? Would Patrick Vieira let Denilson get away with jogging. Not in a million years. Who is leading this team? What have you got to lose when you know you can get overtaken by a ref in a game against Man United and still have a place in the team inside a month? That’s two weeks docked wages in my eyes… or a proper day working with underprivileged kids to realise how good you’ve got it.
Theo Walcott? Why bother bringing him on. His pace is his asset, he’ll run for 20 yards, have a brain freeze, then cut it back. My pals jack russel Barry has more instinct for the game… at least he’ll run with the ball at full pace until he hits a boot bag. Shame he doesn’t earn £60k a week…
Finally onto Wenger. We’ve got a great player in Ramsey sitting on the bench. A player we know can either do an amazing job, or the same type of standard job we get from Denilson week in week out. The Wenger of old would have taken the risk on Rambo… the new Wenger… well, he’s to interested proving to the world he was right with Denilson. A demise of gutting proportions.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCWjioIR5MM&hl=en_GB&fs=1&]
Wenger can moan all he likes about the freekick, but it was within the rules and we’ve seen Thierry Henry do the same before. Instead of venting your anger at the officials, why not vent some at your inept squad of highly paid flops? It was funny to listen to his post match reaction, he didn’t know where to go with it, when the commentator asked him if Cesc’s appraisal was correct, he gave that ‘I’ve just spat my cornflakes out’ look. Sometimes, it’s ok to call a cock up a cock up.
The fact is, you can’t win games when 2-3 players aren’t up to the job. It’s unfair on the rest of squad. All these problems are rectifiable, but Wenger seems incapable of making the tough decisions. We knew we needed a keeper, we knew Gael was playing poorly/unfit and we knew Denilson was a liability. We know Theo isn’t a game changer. That’s enough to lose at this level.
Still, despite my rant, it’s important to not get too wrapped up in misery, we’re not out of this by a long shot and I’m sure we’ll qualify at home. However, we want to win this trophy, not brag that we’ve made it to the quarters 22 years in a row.
With with an attitude like the one on show tonight, I struggle to see that culminating.
Ratings:
Fabianski: Two of the most ridiculous pieces of keeping I’ve seen. The first was inexcusable, the second was inconceivable. He scares the defence as much as Big Al. 1
Clichy: Roasted time and time again. His crossing was poor and you always felt nervy with him in the box. Love him as a gooner, but he hasn’t been cutting it for a while now. Needs a rest or some proper competition. 3
Campbell: I thought he had a very good game. There was no accounting for Fabianski picking up that back pass. The goal was superb and some of his defending was world class. You have to do double the job when you have a midfield as disciplined as ours in front of you. 8
Vermaelen: Some real sloppy challenges out there today. He looked annoyed and a bit aloof. Not his best game, but adequate. 6.5
Sagna: I thought he played ok. Nothing too scary from him bar his crosses. He needs more cover like Clichy, he is too often exposed alone. 6
Diaby: Attacking wise I thought he had a very good game. The second half saw the sloppy indecisive Diaby come out to play and no one in midfield can say the did a good defensive job. 5
Cesc: Not good enough for me. You’re supposed to be motivating everyone around you, you’re supposed to stick corners in the dangerzone. I love you, but I’m not going to start justifying a Barcelona move to you like so many fans keep on doing. You’ve signed to us, you get paid handsomely, you need to deliver. You wont get away with performances like that in Catalonia. 5
Denilson: Look, if you let a monkey drive your car and he crashes it, would you get angry at the monkey? Of course not. That monkey doesn’t know how to drive. Same with Denilson, why get angry at a weak footballer? Everyone knows he is poor bar Wenger and it’s not his fault he gets picked every week. The worst performance I’ve seen from him all season… and that’s saying something! 2
Bendtner: We saw the best and worst from him. He won a lot of headers, his passing was good at times. However, he was pulled out wide too often and his reticence to pull the trigger is infuriating considering he is a striker. 6.5
Rosicky: In the main he played pretty well. He claimed a great assist for the goal and forced a couple of handy saves from the keeper. Went missing in the second half. 7
Nasri: First half was pretty average, the second half was pretty anonymous. Same old, same old. He doesn’t have the personality to do great things for me. There is no edge to him. 5
P.S. Any spares to the game this weekend will be welcomed!
Nah ethan even he will cost us w.s at brentford,he still has the urge to come rushing out like a madman,none of the g.k we have are or will be good enough.
good analysis but don’t forget we had injuries in defence and midfield. I think you’re wrong when you say that we don’t have backup. We do have good backups like Eboue for Sagna, Gibbs and Traore for Clichy, Denilson and Ramsey as backups and campbell. But what can you do when you have worst injury crisis ever. Was missing five first teamers: ARSh,Song, Ed, Gallas, Almunia. We need only a backup for Almunia or say someone better than Almunia and Clichy (who’s in this form is only a backup) as well.
BBK
i still think vito is the BEST worst sandwich in the goal keeping lunch box .
im sure logic will suggest he recruits a goal keeper in the summer , but hell ive been wrong before
but it is so glaringly obvious even wenger wont ignore that problem much longer ..
its out of control ..
and the only good striker we have at the club is always cac’d and made of fuckin glass . And even RVP who i do consider the best obviously , even he feels to me he would benefit from an older partner .. a more experienced top shelf striker ..
then we might win the odd important game then …
Cashley threw the pizza at Whiskey-Face
I wonder how many of this team have the same fight as that “invincible” team had.
And to think we could have taken PV4 back – he is already doing what he does best and taking no shit from the Stokie thugs. Imagine going into a punch-up at Stoke with Denilson and Diaby in front of you – no wonder Vermaelen looks deflated
I wonder how many of this team have the same fight as that “invincible” team had.
only Sol !
i saw that V porto !
the invincibles were at a whole other level ,
shame .. cesc AA rosicky TV gallas – in time nasri vela maybe nik ramsey jack even theo if he can snap out of his pointless runs COULD ALL make it a reasonable team ..
but timing will ensure they dont all peak at the same time , and even if they did half would be off long before they do !
Denilson was just a useless cunt before.He is now turning to a lazy one.He should be fucking greatful that he is getting oppurtunities at such a great club even though he is championship quality.Denilson in the lineup affect the whole team.He fucks up our counter attacks and his defending is appalling.
When cesc got injured for a couple of weeks ramsey stepped up and scored a couple of goals and was brilliant.He had one bad game against villa(He was still better than denilson in that game) and hasn’t got a chance since that game.If denilson starts ahead of ramsey against sunderland then there is something seriously wrong with wenger.
Team for sunderland
Fabianski(Doesn’t matter who the keeper is)
Eboue Campbell Vermaelen Traore
Song
Ramsey Cesc
Rosicky Vela
Bendtner
Fuck theo,clichy and nasri.I am sure this team lineup can batter sunderland
Ethan-Back then when we use to go a goal down we had so many players who could turn the game with one moment of brilliance.Henry,bergkamp,pires,vieira,ljungberg etc.Now we have cesc and arshavin(RVP can but he is always injured)
providing sol stays fit and still wants another year, id much prefer him as 2ndary backup in lieu of fish face ..
this team isnt that far away , wenger hasnt failed totally .. but as far as expectations this season , and his failure to add when we clearly needed it is concerned he more than has …
its been a let down as a fan to see the lack of spirit this club has at the top level of management .. there lack of drive is disheartening ..
even if wenger is on some youth power trip , the board could easily say, (like us) come on mate this aint working .. heres some cash 5mil will get you a great short term goal keeper .
you got a striker lad coming in on a free next season
a real DM and CD is all you need to pay for …
hop too it , and no more BS deals on deadline day , they are just as much a gamble as your fuckin players !
I think we should continue with fabianski.He needs to be eased into the team.He gets very few oppurtunites and it usually turns out to be the crucial(A great keeper would have made the best of those oppurtunities).A game against sunderland would be ideal i think.
It has been the case of some time now.Just 2 or 3 players away from being a top side.
hello
You boys should sleep!
I am in Hong Kong and it is cold here too if that helps. Lucky me will miss Sunderland lol
I still like Veloso for midfield with Cesc and Song
Denilson I can’t bring to talk about and Diaby is so brittle he is a complete liability – sell the pair.
I like Ramsey – he looks tough but surprise suprise – he is bit short Typical Wenger signing: he doesn’t look at their passports when he signs them – well perhaps he fucking should – they tell you how tall they are!!
ricardo
if i slept now in thailand what the hell am i going to do at night
actually being based in Pattaya there are several things i could do
my passport doesnt say how tall i am , and i have 2 .. an Australian and British ..
what draconian country are you from that would state your height in a passport ?
russia ?
Ricardo, Ive been thinking the same thing about Viera. It seems with Cesc, Song, Diaby, Ramsey, (Denison ehh not), we have some good prospects. Cesc obviously, Song is doing great IMO and is looking better every game (he did look tired at UTD/Chelsea but he was fatigued from int’l duties), Diaby is looking good, and also improving every game IMO. Thought he looked very sharp during the 1st half at Porto. Ramsey too, he will be a great. Fuck denilson. But to me it seems, we need a 27-30 yr old experienced head in midfield. A “sol” esque signing, just to add experience and keep the team cool. Viera would have been perfect, I also like Marcos senna, really anyone with some experience and intelligence, ie, not denilson.
Ethan
“A” reckons that you are 5′ 4″ tall.
I always imagined you as at least 6’2″
I’m remembering back to the start of the season when we were battering the cunt out of everyone and scoring like bastards.
Now we are absolute shit that even useless teams fancy their chances against. It doesnt seem possible really.
Next season Wenger reckons we can go an entire campaign without winning a single game.
He wants to do the complete opposite of 2004.
The Beatables
Obviously the spurs games could cause problems with this but the rest should be easily loseable.
the “Beatables”
I like it except it should really be for a Benitez team called Liverpool.
Don’t passports have our height in them?
Lucky you in Pattaya – Personally I like Krabi, AoNang – not been to Pattaya – am sure there is plenty to do there
It is the afternoon here and I have had a liquid lunch – so I am off to sleep anyway
denilson and nasri do not have the passion to play for arsenal. i would rather watch a passion filled talentless guy play for me than a lazy ass bitch cunt who is passionless and purports to know a thing or two about football.
how does wenger play nasri who comes out openly and says that we cant compete? if he believes that is there any wonder that he does not deliver?
play rambo. he has the desire and passion.
Denilson for le chump please
I don’t have much faith in Fabianski, but he can’t be written off when he’s never had a decent run.
Tomaszewski says he has the talent and if anyone can judge keepers, its him.(The english know who he is, I’m sure of it). Lehmann had around 5 appearances for Milan and made a huge mistake in each and every game for them.
Legia doesn’t produce bad keepers. Their goalkeeping coach is the best in the business(England and Polish National team both fighting for him last I heard).
Dudek, Boruc, Szczesny all from Legia
AA23 for le chump please
im 184 cm AA23 tall enough to kick your ass ..
im sure of it
and ive dropped taller
the beatables ? lame ?
i think something like ‘ the Invisible’s ‘
is a far better name …
If Flamini had been on the pitch Cesc would never have taken that battering.
Apologies if the subject has already been mooted, but I see that buying a keeper is “totally out of the question”. So I assume we can put that to bed now
we nick named them when they were good!!!
i think we should also nic name them when they suck too !
Arsene wenger and his … ‘ Invisible’s ‘
Arsene and his injurables Ethan!
The Blow-Job boys.
better…
Denilson and the head wobblers
sort of like after… jose and the pussycats ..
i do like Arsene wenger and his blow job boys thou !
it has to be the best so far …
maybe pedro can do a poll of
‘what are we called now’ …
it is unfair that sol is in the current team , we should give him a Experience handicap . he has to be tied up to be as shit as the current lot
Ethan, I think you’ll like my todays post, I’m not holding back.
Le Wimps
How come the Rooney’s of this world are so driven despite the wages and being so young. Watched the Utd Milan game the other night, and the commentator said that Rooney had spent the summer practicing heading the ball. I wonder how many of our grossly overpaid young guns were doing overtime.
During last summer’s window, I banged on about the need for a motivational leader on and off the pitch. For a pre match chat, where’s your money, AW or SAF?
Where is our Tony Adams?
Sorry, Good Morning Men
The problem is Micky, is that Wenger never tells them they fucked up, he can’t or Denilson would never get a game, I would love to know what goes through his mind when he watches him, then takes Rosicky off.
Rice just sits there like a bitch and says nothing, now that really is money for old rope.
Totally agree Geoff. What pisses me off more than anything, is not our lack of world class players (well, ok I’m lying), but that there players who would spill blood to play for a team like AFC. When I see Denilson or a Nasri ambling back after being dispossed, I really want to run on to the pitch and assault them. It is the biggest insult to all those who scrape the money together for games.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/arsenal/7265937/Dermot-Gallagher-says-Portos-controversial-winning-goal-against-Arsenal-was-strange.html
Dont worry guys we have an excellant GK on loan at Brentford called Chestnut or as near as dam it.
But Will Wenger give him a chance, yeh you guessed it he’s too young hahahahhahahahahahahahhahahahahj
New post please?
guys our team needs more support rather than talking about the last game lets discuss about the next.
well see what happens at the end of the season. I , myself will be pissed off if we don’t at least reach the semis of the camps league i believe we can do it if everyone tries. y does vryone hate denilson wen he scores goals u hail him andbecause of him inexpereince u fucking taunt him arsenal for life