Very quick post today because I have things to do!
Big game against Liverpool this evening. Not often we have massive game on a Wednesday these days! Maybe that’s because this isn’t a massive game in the eyes of the Sky people? Or the BT People? Or the foreign TV channels!
Anyway, here are some things I’m looking forward to seeing this evening…
How is Klopp going to play?
He knows he doesn’t have the talent to beat us at our own game, as he said yesterday, he fears our possession football and the counter attack. So is he going to play deep and look to break? Is he going to bulk out his midfield and try and kick us out of the game? Is he going to take advantage of some shady performances from Bellerin of late? His plan will be interesting. He’s going to be revved up. I imagine the Liverpool players coming into the changing room with him half-naked lightly covered by a sheep skin he’s ripped from a freshly slaughtered carcass.
The madman…
How is Wenger going to play?
Does this sort of game require a nullification exercise, or is this a business as usual game for Arsene and his team of enthusiastic tacticians? We have Ozil and Flamini coming back into this mix. Is he going to go all out for pace, maybe resting Giroud? Is he going to let JC continue in the side after a few good games? It’ll be interesting to see if any special thought has gone into this evening. Wenger knows dropped points here could signal the start of a dismal run.
How is Ozil going to play?
This for me is a massive game. This is one of those games we need our star man to carry us. The atmosphere will be big, he’ll probably get a brutalising from Henderson and Lucas. How will he cope. Will he have the eye of the tiger? That’s the big question for me. Can he deal with a wet evening up north…? Post Christmas is where titles are won. It seems like we’re a long way from the end of the road, the excitement of festivities are over and legs start to feel the burn. I hope we have the best Ozil out there this evening!
Are we title contenders?
These are the games that matter. The games where champions in waiting step forward. Are the whole team up for the fight? Do they have the focus? Do they actually believe this is possible.
They should do, they are good enough. It’s all about how much they want it though.
Switch off and we’re back with the rest of them… win, and it’s about proving it all over again at the weekend.
BIG GAME.
Enjoy!
“The only disappointing thing is if we lost the league by something like 2 points.”
Where do you come up with this drivel???? Have some pride/ambition ffs
Really gutted not to have won the game but anybody who watched the game will agree that we were asking for it with our dreadful defending. Really warmed up to Campbell tonight,he put in a great shift. Obvious we are missing Sanchez cos we would have countered Liverpool’s high pressing game with a front three of Alexis,Theo and Campbell.
I really dont know Chamberlain’s problem right now.
All in all,i will still pick up the point seeing that Leicester are still our closest competitors. City for all their squad strength have flattered to decieve and tonight was no exception. If Wenger does not make another decent addition we can all kiss the title goodbye.
Lastly, Cech fumbled Liverpool’s second goal to me
We will have to play number 3,4,5,6, and 7 away from home,if we defend like we did today,zero points.
We are missing a real hardline DM that can take the pressure of our defense,today it was like a highway trough the middle.
The only thing missing from this “same ol’ Arsenal” match was a wenger zipper problem.
We are all disappointed We didn’t take 3points
Even if we did win
moaning will never stop here
boring!!!
Just got in from the game.
Have to say it was a fair result. Just gutted we conceded at the end.
Turns out the other games went well for us.
To b twice down great character from the team ..get coq and Santi back and we will win this league..
Man city do bring on Ihenacho to get them a goal
Iwobi is also a pacy striker why not give him a run?
its the substitution that lost us 3points coz when Liverpool were tired we should have gone for another goal instead of trying to defend our lead
no lucky undies then?
Disappointing to lose in the way we did, but I’ll take that. Positives for me are that ramsay’s starting to score, and giroud- he’s not world class, we all know that- continues to put shifts in. The next two games are massive.
Its confirmed Elnino is now officially Arsenal player
The lucky undies are being retired.
alexanderhenry- did you know Ramsay has a grand total of 4 goals this season. Does that make up for the fact he is never in position in midfield and spends most of his time upfront
Olivier Bergkamp is not world class
what a fok does that mean?
Diego Costa is world class n Giroud is not, Smh
Always found the overating of Arteta a bit puzzling, but then you have people rating Mert as a top CB and calling Flamini a legend.
AKBs are a sad, strange bunch.
Arrests was a decent attacking midfielder for a mid table side and poor defensive midfielder. He was never a great player
Maybe I have been wrong about Pep……things that make you go…..ummm,
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11881/10129227/pep-it-could-be-two-years
Wenger has confirmed what we all knew since that ElNeny has joined Arsenal
Arteta replaced Cesc ffs, a WC 22/23yo CM playmaker/#10/false #9.
We dont need another Arteta, we need another Fabregas! A more athletic one if possible.
Arteta replaced cesc? Lol how?
You know physical appearance and nationality don’t count. Since when was Arteta ever played off the St…
He has joined us and we will see if he can qualify for Sunday.
– Wenger
Ha ha
We are played are most dire, dull and dreadful attacking under arteta.
1 He can’t control the tempo he can only slow down a game
2 #in slowing down the game are football became meaningless sideway passes and back passes to the keeper
3 arteta had a gal pal in ~Song who saved us time after time by actually adding forward momentum into the game and livened up our attacking with his accurate dynamic aggressive through balls.
4 When Ramsey had his golden season Arteta was his gal pal and played it simple to Ramsey who would power up field with the ball in his feet before laying it of to the side running into the box and receiving the ball again and shooting. Arteta was limited to a very simple role of getting the ball to Arsenal.
5 This whole thing of Coq is limited so needs cazorla is dreadful stupid as arteta was limited he needed/song/ramsey.
Difference between Schnerdline and Coq in passing alone (coqs dribble stats are 3x better)
Successful passes 56.71 51.33
Pass completion% 91% 91%
Key passes 0.37 0.30
Oh and Coq passes
7 less forward passes a game than MS
6 Less forward passes than matic
10 less passes over than MS
4 less passes overall than matic
If he can add 11 passes to his game a match and 8 of them are forward passes he will have be the pest passing DM in the league on average,
That’s not a huge ask
London gunner
Your attempt to paint an anti-Arteta and Coquelin>anyone argument is desperate.
3 years ago Arteta ran our midfield from deep with Ramsey and co all 3 years less polished, and your argument is Alex song drove us? The same song who was terrible at West Ham?
You clearly live in a football world where numbers are what makes you tick. A quote straight from Wengers mouth: ‘stats are important, but they cannot tell you what is only seen when watching a player’
I would play Sanchez Giroud Campbell, maybe not long term but Giroud and Campbell are both playing well Walcott isn’t so he gets dropped once Sanchez is back for me, then we can bring Walcott on in place of Giroud or Campbell depending on circumstances
“anti-Arteta”
lol lol lol
@daz Agree Walcott should make way for Sanchez.
Paulinho
“Barca are the best swarm team in history off the ball, and Wilshere was absolutely masterful at dealing with it.”
Glad someone else here appreciates Jack.
If this is the blog tonight after a 3-3 draw at anfield, albeit a last minute equaliser to drop points.
Fuck knows what Sunday will be like when we get beaten by Stoke,haha!
VP: “Same old level of ambition demonstrated by the lack of signings
Same old hype regarding the so called emerging talents such as Ox and Wilshere. Same old injury occurrences, and excuses readied for WHEN we fail to win the Prem. The same old pathetic participation in the CL, leading to a last 16 knock out.
Yes the environment may have changed, but in my opinion it’s the same old crap from an internal perspective. The club’s lack of ambition and ability to exploit opportunities will guarantee to make this just another groundhog season.”
Yeah, I am lazy to make a comment after last night sleepless misery match watching. And rather to avoid the swearing words. Same ol’ arse’ne.
Feels like a loss after coming back …
I got a feeling that Wenger is going to start our new Egyptian very soon.
Just like Coquelin is jettisoned in off league 1, there is every possibility our new signing is what we need.
Flamini and Ramsey does not feel right. (Then again Flamini does not feel right with most of our midfield).
As for Giroud, well done. He missed a sitter yes; but the man played through the match with staples on his head while scoring a brace.
Wonga should not taken off joel, and bring pisses urine ox and artetos.
He should defend better withdrawing ozil, walcott, and bring gibbs, chambers as double shield with ol’ flaminos, make ramsey to ozil’s place and bring gabriel also to 3 CBs at last 5 minutes to replace giroud. That’s showed you how naive and poor of ol’ arsene to not cracked at important last minutes hang on.
Watching the game on replay as I couldn’t see it live. Emre Can has been the best player on the field for the first 15 minutes, and Liverpool have completely dominated.
Champagne Charlie,
You’re the pro-Arteta poster here.
You’re 4 years too late.
He’s been dead on his feet for at least three seasons.
He’s a pathetic individual who does not know when he’s done at the top level. The Xavi’s and Pirlos know when to bow out. They leave before the booing starts. Arteta is a bloody leech who was a little above average at his peak and now wants to burrow deep into the Arsenal largess. He will be asking for another year after this and posters like you will still be singing his praise.
Captain Arteta, my foot.
Wenger lost that game in retrospect.
Too many changes were made too late in the game. You don’t make three changes in the last 10-15 minutes and expect it not to affect the game.
Holy shit what a goal from Firmino. Second goal was absolutely brilliant.
Watched the game again Flamini was completely useless. He was always about 5 yards behind where he was supposed to be for the whole game. On top of that he passed straight to liverpool players so many times.
Koscielny was pretty bad too ,dont know what happened there. This is his second bad game running.
God knows for what reason every liverpool player got 4-5 yards right outside our box. Bellerin and Campbell were getting killed defensively. Campbell is bit clueless when defending Moreno was easily getting rid of him.
I wish we play Chambers instead of Flamini even Bielik ffs . They certainly cannot be any worse than Flamini .
heard at the crown & anchor when arteta came on for ozil – ‘i have a bad feeling about this’
Arsenal isn’t the primary jewel in Kroenke’s kitty anymore.
His LA plans blows everything out of the water. He will be building the best sports stadium of all that will put even the cowboys stadium to the shade.
I hope he will be tempted to sell his Arsenal stake to fund in mega NFL ambition.
vegas gooner
I am a keen supporter of Arteta. Have always been.
But he is clearly pass it.
The first time I have this “bad feeling” thing when Wenger makes a defensive sub is quite some time ag. When we sub in Nelson Vivas late in the game, we almost always concede.
Best finish I’ve ever seen from Giroud. Great turn. Great shot. Light on his feet, if you can believe it.
Somh erandom,
Agree with you on Flimflams useless and Kos inconsistency (4 games at least so far if not mistaken).
That’s why wenger’s stubbornness will always killing us every time with his delusional loyalty to useless players and not to add the DM and ST/RW that we were badly needed and screamed by may fans.
If he choked again on Stoke, then the shite on himself to swallow, useless ol’ naive.
It was a very difficult game on paper and Liverpool our played us. Yet there were major positives to twice come back from being a goal down and then to get that third goal. Fair result overall, but the thing is Champions win those games. Luckily for us our rivals City are not playing like Champions either.
I have said it before. Arteta coming back from injury will be a massive liability. Hard to put too much blame on him for last night, although he wasnt great. I am more concerned about the impact his return from injury will have on us going forward.
We now have a ticking time bomb that will come in for the last 10 minutes or so of all our games for the remainder of the season. Each time, exposing us for lack of pace and slow reflexes.
qna
Nah. With Elneny signed and Sanchez back, Arteta will not even figure on the bench. It will be taken by Flamster, who will also miss the bench when Coq returns in early March.
Black Hei. I dont think so. Arteta was given the captaincy when he was a liability. Dont see why he would have lost Wenger’s trust. Wenger has his favourites and they can do no wrong.
qna
You are right. for now. 7 on the bench. So if Elneny starts, here is what the bench will look like.
GK, Gibbs, Gabriel, Flamini, Ox, Arteta, Giroud
But with Rosicky back in full training, my suspicion is that he will take Arteta’s place sooner rather than later. 3 attacking subs and 3 defensive subs.
qna
And here is a thought.
With Welbeck, Coquelin, Carzola, Wilshire and Rosicky all due to return, even getting on the bench is going to be one hell of a slog.
Coquelin and Carzola will go into the bench while working their way back to fitness. Which means no Flamini or Arteta for the bench.
The one whose bench spot is threatened is Ox. Wilshire, Rosicky, Welbeck and Ox are all fighting for that 1 spot on the bench.
Funny how before the game everyone was saying Liverpool are weak and have injuries and this should be a routine win etc
and then we draw and the same AKB posters are now saying we should be happy with a drAw because it’s liverpool at anfield etc
Wenger bottled it with his subs. This draw is on him for bringing on the geriatric arteta who should of been sold 3 years ago.
We will be lucky to get 5 points out of Liverpool, stoke Chelsea. I would say 3 max
Bamford
Best finish …lol you are a numpty..You’ll find his finish against Brighton better
Our midfield has been consistently ineffective. They were overran by Southampton, City 2nd half, Newcastle and now Liverpool. It should be a thing of worry to a manager, and I have my doubts if Elnemy is the Solution.
What is clear is that Flamini is not adequate, Ramsey bombs forward too often and Chambers is not an option.
I must say that I was impressed with the pace of Liverpool players.
When will we know how to park the bus away from home?
When will wenger know how to change tactics during game?
When will wenger make the right substitution?
How much point will these average English players cost us before we finally sell them?
Gibbs was Gibbs again (useless), useless doesn’t describe Walcott enough, Ox is dumb again. Wenger panic again and arsenal slips yet again.
The bottom line is that Arsenal have conceded 7 goals in two games since Christmas and a team aspiring to win a League Title should not be doing so.
Both games were played against teams who played a high tempo pressing game and goals were conceded from set pieces and/or aerial attacks.
Our major weakness in absence of both Coquelin and Cazorla is poor defending in midfield and a lack of ball control. Frankly we give the ball away too
easily to opposition when pressed.
For me you have to also question why Wenger brings on as substitutes players
like Arteta, Gibbs and Oxlade-Chamberlain. Arteta has not got the legs and
pace to defend properly and the other two players lack the ‘football brain’ and
‘discipline’ to close up shop when we are under threat.
I thought that Mertesacker and Koscielny were an effective combination, but
in absence of Coquelin and Cazorla they appear to revert back to type as we
saw in 2013/4 season making far too many mistakes when under pressure.
Wenger has now bought Elneny and hopefully he will bring some defensive
stability in midfield in absence of Coquelin.
I think that the club needs also to review some of its marginal resources. We
can see that there is a drop of performance level when we bring on some of
our bench players.
We know that Arteta, Flamini and Rosicky will be replaced in the summer, but
perhaps a bigger problem will be that four of our English [Home Grown] players are rather limited players. The dilemma there is we need to satisfy EPL
and Champions League regulations. Are there better home grown players
in market available at realistic prices who could replace some of these players?
I’m still struggling to understand what Gibbs add to the team whenever he’s introduced late on.
Football does not start and end with pace and power, Ox has clearly proved that much. Sometimes it feels like he’s actually making effort to disappoint. Campbell is miles ahead of him!
I think too many teams give Arsenal too much respect and as shown when pushed back with sustained attacks they can’t cope with the pressure.
Arsenak do what they always do but this season they just might get away with it because the league is so poor.
RT
I tend to agree with that statement, but the issue is not what the opposition are
doing but more how Wenger resolves the problem.
Posters criticise too often our offensive play, but that is not actually the weakness
in our team. The problem is as ever how we defend and concede goals.
Useless is better than gibbs
Redtruth
Agreed
Bit annoying the way that ended. Would’ve taken a point before the game but given the circumstances, it was a shame we couldn’t hold on. Not sure why people are moaning about the subs, if we hold on nobody bats an eyelid at who Wenger brings on. Normally we’re pretty good at seeing out games but that’s twice in successive seasons at Anfield we’ve conceded late. This game always has so much drama. Maybe we’re still being punished for ’89.
Thought we did as well as we could’ve last night considering we didn’t have the players who can beat the press/pass through the lines quickly (Jack, Santi, TR7). Did well just to go long and look for the second balls from there. Don’t like L’Oreal but thought he was great last night, as was Campbell. Theo continues to stink up the place, but he isn’t a midfielder so it’s not a surprise. Özil was a bit quiet but mainly due to the lack of rhythm in the game, it was more a basketball match than anything else. Need some more athleticism and El Neny is supposedly good in that as leg so let’s hope he can help.
why did we stop playing football after 70? you cant expectt o not touch the ball for the last 20 mins at anfield and not expect to concede
Romford Ozil Pele
Actually we are not particularly good at holding on in these type of games.
I can think of quite a few games where Ox has made a poor decision or pass, which resulted in us conceding a silly goal and the same applies to Gibbs as well.
These may be players to chase a game, but certainly not to close up shop.
Had no problem with the subs, they would’ve been the ones I brought on too. I think we may have conceded the initiative to Liverpool a bit too early though. Always gonna be hard to hold on for 20 mins when they’re attacking to the Kop. Klopp’s pressing strategy is great and all that but there are quite a few wholes in it. If you can keep up with Liverpool for 60 mins or so you’ll beat them because they’ll just run out of gass. They leave a lot of space in the channels. Campbell seems to understand well when to stay wide and when to come in. And they’re absolutely abysmal at defending crosses, they need to work on that. Would’ve been a great 3 points had we hold on, especially considering City’s result. But probably need a few legs introduced now. Hopefully Alexis is back this weekend while El Neny can make his debut. Give Gabriel a run out too methinks.
ES: I think that the club needs also to review some of its marginal resources. We
can see that there is a drop of performance level when we bring on some of
our bench players.
Yes. Marginal resources of this squad are extremely poor. Unlike other clubs where one might say, that is to be expected, they are lowly paid squad members, the same is not true at Arsenal. These marginal squad members get paid higher salaries than top quality first team players all over Europe.
Emirates, name the examples? Generally speaking Arsenal are quite good at seeing out games. We defend with a low block with Per orchestrating the team just in front of the 18. Ox and Gibbs aren’t the reason we drew last night. Liverpool deserved the draw. We have one of the best defensive records. Obviously it’s hurts because of the lateness of the goal and feels like a defeat but holistically speaking it’s not the worst result in the world
tbf subs wise, camobell had to come off he was knackered. its more a case of mentality, once it hit 70 we just surrendered posession. the goal felt very inevitable once you invite that kind of pressure on.
Ive given OG
You can look at the result in a few ways. Definitely points dropped considering the timing of the equaliser. But considering we’ve been playing with this midfield partnership we all known aren’t compatible for the last two months, we’ve coped well. We don’t cope well with pressing but showed good resolve to come back twice and then take the lead. In an ideal world we obviously hold on. Just need to turn the frustration into motivation and hopefully pick up s few points. I said that if we’re still in contention in March with a healthy injury list I think we have a very good chance. This Arsenal team much prefer to play away from home anyway. Picked up more points away from home than anyone else last year.
ive given og a lot of shit over the years but yesterday he was genuinely great, i know he only turned kolo but it was still a banging goal, his hold up was great too. finally a big performance in a big game.
unlike years gone by where we would have totally shit the bed in those opening 20mins, we somehow managed to salvage a draw from the jaws of victory…
DUIFG, yeah pretty much. We were gassed but had nothing on the bench to keep Liverpool guessing defensively. You could’ve maybe taken L’Oreal off and moved Theo up top but Theo was stinking up the pitch and L’Oreal was news ting Sakho and Toure by himself. When you see that kind of strength from L’Oreal you’re scratching your head when he goes down like a pansy. Benteke may be the better athlete but technically he’s not a patch on L’Oreal.
for me the result is poor because its not what winners do surrender leads like that, how mnay chances have we had to build leads in the table in this shocking league this year. you cant surrender chances like that to go clear and expect to end up on top at the end of the year.
Yeah a couple seasons back Liverpool would’ve steamrollered the team and been like 4-0 up within 20. If you can match them for energy and work rate you can take them. I hope Klopp for his own good can advance this Liverpool side because if he’s still relying solely on work rate and energy in a year’s time I think he’ll be in trouble. It’s the same problem he was encountering at Dortmund last season.
Yeah I agree, the gripe is that when we were 3-2 up we didn’t take the chances on the counter to increase our lead. The only saving grace is that our f***k ups aren’t being punished because Man City for their awesome squad and money aren’t anything to write home about. We could’ve crucified them a few weeks back.
Romford – we needed og as a focal point at the end i think, as you said theo had done jack shit to warrant staying on.
ye its very strange, i think its the french side of him coming out!
benteke gets a lot of shit on here but that was a towering header for the assist, along with carrol he is a monster in the air.
It went exactly how I thought it would, tho I predicted 2-2. They couldn’t keep possession in the last 5 minutes even with 3 fresh players on the pitch.
If we win the league this year its by the grace of vincent kompanys fitness record not us actively smashing it.
bodies wise surely this is the low point, it can only get better from here in that mid
“you cant surrender chances like that to go clear and expect to end up on top at the end of the year.”
oh, who then? one them teams who are giving us the chance every week to go clear? they’ll be top come the end? dumb
frustrating in the end, but drawing away to Liverpool is never a bad result. thought Campbell(again), Giroud & Monreal were excellent. the Flamini/Ramsey CM is a very limited one, so bearing that in mind the results we’ve achieved the last 6-8 weeks with them in the side have been excellent.
can’t believe Leicester are back at it. beating Spurs at WHL…
Romford
Not the first time Walcott has struggled this season, particularly when he is asked to do more than just run in behind.
Not the first time bringing on Arteta to see out a match has cost us. He’s past his best. Ideally, I hope we sign two CMs this window.
We get into these basketball style matches at Anfield, too often for my liking.
Because of our inability to control the tempo, you can expect Mark Hughes and Guus Hiddink to employ the same tactics in the next two matches.
“If we win the league this year its by the grace of vincent kompanys fitness record not us actively smashing it.”
why say stuff like this? its pathetic. we aren’t without injury problems to our main players too yeh know
RP
I agree that when we’re extra comfy against teams that are hesitant to press, we see games out more successfully.
The issue, I believe, is sentimental substitutions that seem to be doing the rounds every game, almost. Not to mention the amateur predictability of Wenger 70-something-minute subs.
No way did we deserve to win last night; Giroud’s goal was top class. The other two goals via Ramsey were comical. I mean, now you can see why L’Pool want another keeper.
Anyway, I think Wenger needs to take a more objective look at things before his does subs.
It’s disappointing to see our manager grin and hail yesterday evening as a night of “great English football.” You might explain such a comment from a pundit but not a manager chasing the title. Especially when we conceded an equaliser in the manner we did.
I get that he doesn’t want to criticise the team publicly but the truth is it was his subs that lost the match. Very disappointed.
Emirates. Some days ago you posted a list which from memory you called automatic starters. I believe they were: Cech, Bellerin, Monreal, Ozil, Sanchez and Coquelin.
I agree with this core group 100%. This is the core group that we can dream of achieving success with. However, not if they are supported by the remaining 18 or so players that makes up our squad. The very best of these 18 players are at best squad players, but we should be looking to recruit another 4 or 5 elite players to go directly into our starting 11. I believe we have made major mistakes in recent windows by recruiting additional squad level players – Gabriel, Welbeck, Chambers, (and now Elneny), rather than looking to buy first team players, which would demote the good but not great players we already had to squad players.
Instead, we now have far too many players that are not good enough, or who are past their prime. Personally,I would have hoped for a top quality centre back of around 25 years to partner Kos and demote Mertesacker to squad defender.
We should have already ended the contracts of Arteta, Rosciky and Flamini. If we were going to keep one, it would have to be the youngest, Flamini – for squad depth. Also, last summer, noting that Cazorla is nearing the end of his career, we should have recruited a top quality player to play along side of Coquelin. Now that Cazorla has had an often career ending injury, this requirement is even more so.
Wenger keeps going on about how he wants to leave the club in a good state for the next manager – but what he is doing is more like how Ferguson left his club. 18 overpaid players who are past their prime and into their 30s, or mediocre players who Wenger wants to “develop” from a player no big club is interested in, into a world class player. This is about Wenger’s ego and not the good of the club, as we have 200m+ in the bank, which has devalued in terms of what quality players it can buy each and every year it has stayed in the bank.
oh, who then? one them teams who are giving us the chance every week to go clear? they’ll be top come the end? dumb
not really, its like having mike tyson on the ropes and not finishing him off, squad wise city should be smashing this up, if they click backend of the season we’re cooked
why say stuff like this? its pathetic. we aren’t without injury problems to our main players too yeh know
your a clown rambo
hopefully Elneny & Alexis in the squad for Stoke. think I’d start them both on the bench. what a game to introduce Elneny to English football.
” squad wise city should be smashing this up, if they click backend of the season we’re cooked”
but I ve been hearing this since day 1. like some prophecy. more than half a season in and they look no closer to clicking than they were early stages. even with our best player out and our best mids out, they can’t beat us or better our points. maybe they aren’t as amazing as y’all thought
Dream, agreed. Personally I would’ve sold Theo in the summer and not given him a new contact but Wenger loves him. He’s so limited which is why I only want him in the team as a striker or not at all.
As we’re striving for better things you can see the players that are likely to hold us back due to their limitations. All that said I’ve been impressed by the durability of he squad considering the injuries and thresh we’ve had to deal without key players for the last two months.
“your a clown rambo”
great argument. you ve really proved your point there
Carts, what was sentimental about the subs? Who would you have brought on? Since we’re devoid of so many attacking options right now I can’t argue with Wenger’s subs. And if we hadn’t have conceded I don’t think anybody would’ve been talking about the subs.
I thought we were good value for the point at least. You could even argue we should’ve won. L’Oreal had the miss of the season. And considering the personnel missing we’ve been quite durable.
Arteta was the reason we drew that game? Have a word with yourself
The best thing that could happen to Arsenal is if Stan Kroenke sells his stake. Better than Wenger Retiring, City falling on its face and giving Arsenal the league Steven Bradbury style, or any other thing.
As far as AFC goes, Kroenke is the Devil and we are living through the darkest ownership period this club will ever have. You only have to look at the way he has treated St Louis fans (of the state he is native to) to imagine the disdain he would likely have for Arsenal fans. The fact that Wenger is his perfect manager says it all.
Leeds, how did the subs lose us the match?
“Not the first time bringing on Arteta to see out a match has cost us. He’s past his best. Ideally, I hope we sign two CMs this window.”
Agreed. Not for the first time since he was signed. I would love to see a statistic showing Wenger’s points per game with and without Arteta. For me the worst period in Wenger’s reign has started with the signing of Arteta and ended when he was no longer the main man and also regularly injured and out of the team.
some corking posts on le grove last night, Koscielny ‘the most overrated Arsenal player of all time’? and whoever it was that sneered at Joe Allen’s entry getting a bashing afterwards….
L’Oreal had the miss of the season.
fuck i forgot about that, jesus even in his good games there are still glaring elements that make you want to sacrifice your left bollock for a wc striker
Arteta’s brought on to help us keep possession. Liverpool were only able to build up some steam because we couldn’t keep hold of the ball. nothing wrong with his introduction. unless people think he should have been outjumping Benteke and clearing that cross?
“Leeds, how did the subs lose us the match?”
Wrong subs. Wrong tactics. Why bring on Ox. What exactly can he do when you are trying to hold a lead other than give the ball back. Arteta is too slow and makes mistakes. Gives away dangerous free kicks. For the last 5 minutes it was obvious that Liverpool were going to switch to bomb it into the box. Gabriel would have been better to bring on in central midfeild, or we could play three at the back.
I dont have a problem with Gibbs on, but why not keep Campbell who was probably our best player on and switch him with Walcott and take of wally who is weak defensively
Arteta should not be playing – did you forget the last time he played a match for us. I mean if you consider the last 15 minutes of football Arteta has played, it must be the worst 15 minutes that any Arsenal player has played. 2 goals given away, an injury, the free kick which led to one of the goals. He should be shipped to the other side of the planet and kept there for good luck.
Qna, so who would you have brought on? How exactly were the tactics wrong? Liverpool are chasing an equaliser so envitably we’re going to be under pressure. They barely created anything. If not for the goal and we end up winning the game people wouldn’t have even brought up the topic of subs. Campbell was gassed, you could see it in him, he barely had any energy which is why he was brought off. And we were already under pressure before he came off.
RP
In the sense that the idea behind Ox, Gibbs and Arteta didn’t really make much sense and even in the past – where similar subs have taken place – I also render it pointless.
Think about it: Ox who flatters to deceive has practically lost another opportunity to JC; not to mention being overlooked by Wenger in favour of Ransey in the past.
Gibbs – the same bloke who only recently has strung games together as opposed to being sidelined over and over again. Then Wenger said Monreal isn’t his first choice LB? Appeasement going on there?!
Arteta – our so-called skipper who’s been promised a coaching roll upon retrirent. Lack almost every necessary attribute to perform at this level but is brought on, having played so few minutes, against a Pool team desperately trying to avoid defeat.
I mean, if you can’t see sentimentality in those above decisions then I really don’t know.
Carts, but you haven’t answered my question. Who would you have brought on? Ox was a logical sub. Theo and Campbell had covered a lot of ground and were knackered by the 70th minute.
Of course Monreal is first choice, he’s been playing as first choice for the best part of two years. Wenger is only saying that to appease Gibbs and make him feel like he’s part of his plans. Any manager would do that. You have to keep your squad players happy.
Arteta was also a logical choice to help us try and get a foothold in midfield. Didn’t have great effect but are you really trying to tell me he was the reason we conceded the equaliser?
Lot’s of folks blowing steam here.
The Le Grove forum gets more interesting whenever we have a result like this.
Hey lets look on the bright side.
Afterall, Arsenal will probably win the league by default. Being good enough for the 4th place trophy now lands you top spot.
Monreal is a beast. In term of balance, he’s the best left full back in the world.
Romford Ozil Pele
If my memory serves me right Ox came on as substitute in game against West Ham and gave the ball away as he habitually does from which they scored a
goal.
Similarly I recall a game a few seasons ago where Gibbs right at the end of a game needed only to kick the ball near the corner post, but chose to try and beat an opponent, losing the ball and we conceded silly goal.
My criticism of both these players is not their talent, but their lack of football intelligence and poor decision taking.
we had a lot of tired bodies on the field, the bench was pretty rotten. there was not a huge amount wenger could do given the options and the state of the game/our legs
Apparently w/ Coquelin (0.75 goals per game allowed).
W/out Coquelin (1.33 goals per game allowed).
With a wage bill of 190m, having two or three alternate defensive CMs who are effective.
Saw a tweet from @afcstuff a couple of days ago regarding Chamberlain.
AW was saying that he is more suited to the middle “being a right sided box to box CM” If this is true, he is really intent on fitting Ramsey, Wilshere and Ox in the same midfield smh.
Romford. I already gave some options. Gabriel with three at the back. Gibbs was ok, but switch him for Walcott and switch Campbell to the right. Campbell always looks gassed. That is Jedi mind bullshit saying you know he is more tired than anybody else.
The problem comes back to Wenger’s decision at the beginning of the season not to sign an outfield player in the first place instead of keeping Arteta, Flamini and Rosicky. We should have already replenished our CM stocks. Then we could have been bringing on Flamini as a worst case, rather than relying on Flamini-Ramsey-Arteta as our midfield to defend that lead.
I dont mind the point. I will take that away to liverpool. We seem to have this type of outcome written in the stars anyway – no matter what we did it would have been a scored. But patting yourselves on the back for it, not acknowledging that our squad shouldnt be this light in the first place rubs me the wrong way.
agree that the manager’s method of substitutions leaves a lot to be desired. whenever we are with a one goal advantage and under pressure he takes away all attackers and brings in defensive replacements. don’t understand this logic. shouldn’t he be trying to trying to relieve the pressure instead of throwing the dice and hope that we can withstand the siege?
You can blame Wenger for not strengthening in the summer and for having injury prone players but to blame him for the subs when there weren’t any viable options anyway is laughable. Bring on who exactly?
This is the problem with LeGrove. People don’t rate the team and call a lot of our players shit, so why are you then surprised if we don’t win? The overreaction is mad. Like we’re playing a tough team at Anfield and we should expect not to come under pressure.
Emirates, was that late on in a game though? I’m asking you specifically about us holding onto leads in the last 10 mins. Generally speaking we’re pretty decent at it.
A player with brain will have cross a parallel ball to Giroud instead of the hit from Walcott. It’s a great miss from Giroud But the pass wasn’t great to be honest.
There was period Arteta in Liverpool nod the ball straight to Sakho without any pressure, if he’s brought to retain posession he could have chest the ball, control it and bring others into game. If Arteta cares, he should just retire now and join the backroom staff.
QNA, yes for sure, blame the wider failings of the manger, no problem. But specifically, all you’re doing is speculating. If that goal doesn’t go in and we hold on, nobody moans about the subs. We were already tired before Özil, JC and Theo were subbed off.
Sukky, there was nothing wrong with the ball. If it’s played along the ground it’s probably intercepted. The weight was fine, just a shocking mad from L’Oreal.
“I already gave some options. Gabriel with three at the back.”
this would ve been better I think. with another centre back there Joe Allan might have been better checked. benefit of hindsight, mind.
Sukky it was a great pass from Walcott, Giroud could have scored if he went with his right leg. Why bring on Arteta When Gabriel is on the bench afterall we are parking the bus to see the game out.
Gabriel was the sub we needed play 5 across the back.
Koz was ball watching all night. And had a shocker.
They brought on Caulker fro last 5 minutes
Happy to see Ramsey saying he is feeling really confident again. I think that’s when he plays at his best. When he genuinely thinks he can waltz through 5 defenders like Maradona is usually when he actually does it.
Its gonna be a massive test of our defense next match. I really like the look of this Stoke front 3. I notice that it started snowing last night. Looks like UK’s delayed Winter has started. Fucking great. We go to away to Stoke in the middle of winter. If there was one place in England that I would not want to go on a freezing cold, windy day its Stoke. Not sure how they convinced all these pretty boys like Shaquiri, Bojan and Affelay to move to Stoke. Hopefully, they will be as soft as our pretty boys on the night.
It’s literally all hindsight. Easier to say now when we’ve conceded and drawn. Had that not happened, nobody would be moaning. Anyway, are we not shit? So this is not a good point?
Romford
But the reality is the goal did go in and we are 2 points worse off.
Forget about the last 20 minutes we only had to hang on for 5-6 minutes.
Some of out players needed to be a smarter also. Giroud when Sakho fouled him needs to stay down longer.
Ox needs to either run that ball into the corner or play Ozil in. He does neither.
That stupid free kick conceded by Koz was ridiculous. The players never learn from games like this at Anfield. Liverpool throughout history give blood and tears in this type of fixture we needed to hang on that was all.
“The weight was fine, just a shocking mad from L’Oreal.”
disagree. shocking would be getting the perfect contact and still not managing to hit the target. there wasnt the best of understanding between Wally and Giroud there. either Wally delayed the ball or Giroud anticipated it early. it hit his thigh.
“I already gave some options. Gabriel with three at the back.”
nah, you rarely see this, and i think it’s because it just causes confusion. maybe if the game is stretched, but not when you’re camped in your own half. a third body in the centre just gets in the way of Kos & Mert doing their stuff.
It’s literally all hindsight. Easier to say now when we’ve conceded and drawn. Had that not happened, nobody would be moaning. Anyway, are we not shit? So this is not a good point?
Romford this is Le-grove someone always finds thinds to moan about.
Romford. NO. Saying dont bring Arteta on was most definitely not in hindsight. For many Arsenal fans, we were hoping the last catastrophic appearance by this shockkingly slow liability of a player was his last ever as he limped off after his short appearance as a sub where he gave away 2 points and wasted a sub.
If you cant see in foresight how much of a liability Arteta is, thats your problem. But dont say others dont see it.
Samesong, yes we did need to hang on but I’m not even sure that was a free kick. Clyne ran straight into Kos IMO. It’s all well and good saying this and that when the game is done but we were blowing in the last 20 and had nothing offensively to change it. I’m not too angry considering the personnel we missed and that we battled back twice from behind.
Obviously this may cost us at the end of the season but I’ve seen no sign from anyone else that they’re about to motor away from us.
nah, you rarely see this, and i think it’s because it just causes confusion. maybe if the game is stretched, but not when you’re camped in your own half. a third body in the centre just gets in the way of Kos & Mert doing their stuff.
You give Gabriel the Man marking job on Benteke.
Think El Neny will go straight into the XI on Sunday. After a hamstring injury, it would be best to not start Sanchez. Give him 30 minutes.
QNA, are you referencing the WBA game? Yeah sure he was shit and cost us but we had how long to get back into that game? And we missed a pen too so to lay one defeat at one player’s feet is unfair to say the least. I agree that he’s finished but don’t agree that it was the wrong decision to bring him on. He actually played well against Sunderland just s couple days ago in the FA Cup
Wallace: nah, you rarely see this, and i think it’s because it just causes confusion.
No. You hardly see it at Arsenal. You hardly see any type of defensive systems at Arsenal because Wenger and Bould are pretty ordinary defensively. For the past 12 months they have looked somehow better and that has been based on the performances of Coquelin and the defensive shape that he left imprinted on the team. This was further supported by Cech as he came in and commanded the back – except for one match. As the memory and confidence of the Coquelin protected defense fades, so does the defensive performances of Arsenal. We saw that against So’ton and also L’pool
Giroud on his two goals…
It has been a special game for me. I scored the second goal, but after that I missed a chance but Theo did well and I knew he was going to do that but I saw it at the last moment and couldn’t tuck it in, so I was a bit frustrated. But I was pleased to get the third goal that I hoped would win the game but it wasn’t enough. But that’s it, a good performance but we could have done better.
Arteta please die.
From the bottom of my heart.
Good morning by the way.
This season we have a great chance for the title, but wenger will always find a way to screw it up.
Le senile one out asap.
Poor understanding between Walcott and Giroud I must admit
Theo does need to up it though, he’s been turgid for a while now. Still can’t get out of my head how many chances he missed in that Bournemouth game alone.
Agree with ROPs comments, as for the Giroud miss it was bad but he was a tad unfortunate he threw himself at it and 99 out of a 100 as long as you connect it goes in but it hit him on his heel probably the only place it could have to miss.
Agree with you Romford!
BBC Sport: “With 10 minutes remaining, Arsenal’s lead at the top of the table was four points. Yet Robert Huth’s late winner for Leicester City at Tottenham and Allen’s late strike left Arsenal only ahead of the Foxes on goal difference.”
i wish all Arsenal fans read the above sentence twice over (and AKBs twice everyday till end- season)
My point exclatly daz
Red&White4lifeJanuary 14, 2016 09:18:36
Arteta please die.
From the bottom of my heart.
———————————————
Never should you say that about someone even if you are joking.
“Never should you say that about someone even if you are joking.”
I’m not sure he is!
Lol Louis you don’t have a choice, you’ll be in trouble with your sister otherwise 😉
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/10129303/arsene-wenger-told-jurgen-klopp-to-calm-down-during-epic-3-3-draw
lol this is priceless, and so the picture, too!!
Haven’t seen any of the city everton game were city poor or everton solid?
The picture on Arsenal.com is priceless
Mert telling Ramsey to calm down and Flamini looking at Ramsey.
http://www.arsenal.com
@ Cesine!? Do i know you!?
Anyways, in hindsight a draw against Liverpool is not a bad result (a bad result is the loss to Brom, the collapse at St Mary’s and the loss to Westhampnett at home)
If we can get a win at Stoke and win/draw against the Chavs then this draw at Anfield would be a good point.
I am not worried about Citeh or Spurs as this season they will always flatter to to deceive. The dark horses are Leicester. (as everyone has already alluded to)
Players should be getting back soon from injuries, so it should be a straight gunfight between us and Citeh on who can be more consistent in putting down results. The league will be tight. We just have to hope we hold our nerves (starting with Stoke)
We should forget about Cavani and Benzema. Both are too old now to get value from them. One season to aclimatise and they are both in their 30s, the same age as Giroud.
Even though Giroud is not as good as either of these two strikers, his year of experience in the EPL and also experience in Arsenal’s system of play would likely mean that he will be as effecive or more so than these two for the remainder of all three of their collective useful careers (3 years give or take).
Lewendowski would be worth the money however. But hard to see us being in the mix for his signature. Arsenal should still be looking at a top quality CF next summer. But we should focus on young players. Dybala is the only one that I care to mention, but there are a couple of others including his strike partner Morata.
For me Dybala should be our number 1 target for the next couple of years.
on what the players have learnt…
They need to transform the frustration they have in the dressing room at the moment to even more motivation for the next game. There is a lot of positives in the game and there is more positives than negatives in the game. I think what happened tonight should strengthen their belief that they have a big part to play in this league.
So clearly the boy’s weren’t happy with just a draw.
Haha, typical Le Grove response whenever we fail to get anything other than three points. Negatives are obviously there but I also saw plenty of positives there. Ramsey getting back to scoring form, Campbell looking better and better, Giroud delivering another great performance in a big game.
What must also not be made light of was our resilience to stay strong and TWICE claw back into the game even after that strong Liverpool start. Previous seasons, we go on to lose that meekly. Now we are here, bitterly disappointed that we didn’t get all three points.
Also don’t forget how strong Liverpool have been against the best sides. Klopp might have struggled against midtable teams but against the very best, he’s delivered.
The important thing is after one of our feared ‘tough’ away games, we still lead and maintain the same lead we had over our title rivals.
Underrated, agree fully.
For virtually all of Wenger’s post Adams,parlour,keown and Dixon’s era, the team has been vulnerable to either strong-arm stoke style aggression or more recently the schoolboy playground high pressing game. Unable to modify his tactics to counteract, the team gets hammered in the first half hour. Last night was a perfect example, but to the players credit, they rolled up their sleeves and worked the equalizers with great spirit.
The pressing game makes perfect sense against arsenal as most 50-50 tackles are won by the opposition. Basically we have a team of non-tacklers, and the idiot in charge obviously feels its not part of his deluded vision of total football. Montreal is the exception and obviously the coq. We were lucky to get a draw based on the important areas of possession in and around the box. I have great respect for flamini and arteta, but their gross limitations are an absurdity in a team with title ambitions. I feel for the players knowing their skills and endeavour will probably not amount to a title win, because wankger has failed to address what the whole footballing world knows is a soft underbelly.