Yes, I now admit we’re overly reliant on Robin Van Persie
FULHAM 2 ARSENAL 1
NO COMPLAINTS here. We got exactly what we deserved and the closest we came to misfortune was the fact that we rode our luck for so long that when it finally went we no longer had time to regroup and try and claw our way back into the game.
As someone who has spent the last few months arguing against the oft trotted out view that we are over reliant on Robin Van Persie, I’d now like to admit that I am wrong. I say am wrong rather than was wrong because if you look at the stats (and frankly I don’t have the time right now to go over them in fine detail), we were scoring a fair few goals from other sources just a few short weeks ago.
But they’ve dried up of late, in no small part because the wingers, who should be chipping in plenty, have been woeful. Gervinho’s decision making has been dreadful. Yes, he should have had a penalty yesterday. But he managed to fall in such a way that you could see why the referee didn’t feel confident giving it. Theo must surely be testing the faith of even the most devout Theoists and I’ve barely mentioned Arshavin’s terribleness of late because it seems to be a point of so little disagreement that it has hardly warranted discussion.
Yes, that last paragraph is harsh. But true I think.
In recent seasons you could look at defeats like this and question the commitment of the players. Thankfully, I don’t think that was the problem yesterday. It was not so much a lack of effort, but a lack of end product.
There was also a significant failure in the second half to stem the tide. It was something we saw against QPR, where we appeared incapable of slowing the game down and keeping possession. We need to learn to do that.
And clearly we need to invest in a couple of positions and get a lot more out of some of our players.
Anyone remember the last year there wasn’t a St. Totteringham’s Day? Just wondering how many years it took them to finally stop the tradition this year.
Are you sure two players will do it? I think 3 is a minimum, with a 4th pre-signed for the summer … when there will be an almighty clear out, if not before
To spell it out:
Striker now!
Top drawer creative midfielder, now would be nice, but could delay until summer for the right man???
Defensive midfielder now. Cover for Song at the very least.
Left back now. Preferably adaptable.
Criteria – Got to be better than what is on the bench currently.
Found it! 1994/5; the year George Graham got sacked! It was a good, very long run but like all good things ….
Wenger’s very clever though; by getting in Henry who I strongly suspect will play very few games he is distracting us from what we really need which is a really good fullback and striker; this he hopes will help to placate the fans when we don’t sign anybody in the window cause he can now say “see, I signed Henry!”
I’m used to all the games and frankly as a fan I can only hope we somehow survive this era until the next regime change comes about.
On a wildly optimistic note Blackburn were the champions in 1994/5 and they lost 7 games to do it while Man Utd were second after losing 6. I guess there is still hope for us then …. We lost 17 games in a 42 game a season league then and yet finished around mid-table.
i think Wenger really thought if we had won last night’s game we had a shot at the title. that’s over now. baffled he didn’t freshen the side up. surely RVP would have been more effective as an impact sub? the spine of our side – Koscielny, Mertesacker, Song, Arteta, Ramsey, RVP – have played pretty much every game so far his season. they need a break.
As RVP was helping a spirited surge of recovery,what was in Wenger’s thoughts? A sense of relief,though subconsciously aware that RVP must not be solely relied on,hence the earlier statement of Arsenal does not only rely on RVP. Great,that should have been the trigger and opportunity to CHANGE , reorganize and progress. Clearing out deadwood,bringing in solid replacements to ride on the crest of belief before RVP has a dip in form or other teams begin to shackle him heavily. But the spurt of good run must have lulled him into a false comfort zone of self belief that actually he was right all along,he has the depth and strength in his squad already. No need to do anything other than using same old mind tricks to urge the team forward. But reality is stark,the referees were always erring on the wrong side of Arsenal as most fans know only too well. The real issue is to use this opportunity to CHANGE and fast now before doubts of confidence creep into core players’ mind. Forget the referee,a strong team does not depend only on favorable refereeing decisions. All is not lost,but act he must and now.
Wenger have for long overcomplicated our attacking play,as Ray parlour said,it doesnt matter who you bring in if you are not willing to tweak and sometimes change your outlook and system it will be the same old,same old.Wenger still want the perfectly orchestrted goal every time and that is why we keep trying to pin the needle.Teams defend deep when they want to beat Arsenal,it very often works because our passing is slow and cumbersome,when we speed it up we instantly get more chances but basically every team have an idea on how to nullify Arsenal and wenger havnt changed his ideas and philospohy and that is why we have gone stale and struggle to score goals.
I agree with most of what you have mentioned above. We were awful in the second half yesterday and it surely broke my heart to see Arsenal FC play this awful way. I am sure Wenger would have a lot to say to his inefficient players for this display. Where was the mid-field in the second-half (Arteta, Ramsey and to an extent Song as well) ? In the dying moments why Schezny was going for long kicks rather than pass the ball to defenders and move on with the passing game which Wenger has developed for long? Schezny is a bit over-confident and he needs to bring maturity in his game sooner than later. The players were tired and went on the defensive mode after the first 35 minutes. There was no hunger to score the second. We needed to hold the ball in mid-field and unfortunately the mid-fielders or the guys on the flank failed miserably to do so. How can one expect to win such an important and hardly fought battle away from home in this way? I would want Wenger to take stringent steps against the non-performing players of yeterday and give a chance to Ox and Arshavin. And yes we are definitely going for a couple of players this window. A striker and a full-back (on-loan). Miserably gutted Arsenal FC supporter.
The defense is in shambles, and you can’t blame Wenger for that, it is pure bad luck. With that being said, he needs to sign some fullbacks in January, it is top priority. Theo is useless, he is so easy to defend these days, opposing teams must laugh at him before the games. They give him all the space in the world and he does nothing with it, and his final ball is pathetic. I am not sure when Whilshere gets back, but once he does, that will be a HUGE addition, his creativity is sorely missing. Ramsey is a fine player, but he doesn’t have the creative instincts that Jack does. Jack can unlock defenses with a single pass, Ramsey was able to do that earlier in the year, but that has left him. Please, please bring in some fullbacks.
Finally some1 shares my point of view on why scezczney kept giving away possession with his goal kicks which only invited more pressure. And yes, we seem to hav retained many squad players for reasons other than footballing for why wud players who put in below average performances make the team week in – week out? Isnt there competition for places @ arsenal? The same team selection twice in 48hrs? Isn’t that proof enuf?
Why, pray, do we pay arshavin, rosicky, benayoun & chamberlaine’s wages if we cant use them to relieve jaded players who had to start 2 games in 48 hrs? Is that they arent good enuf or was it a tactical error? Either way, A.W is culpable
Chicago Gooner, the defence is not a shambles. We’re generally doing ok, you could say very,very well given the players missing. We might get one on loan (and even then he’ll be very,very difficult to find) but to suggest we need to buy more than one fullback is madness.
The problem is up front. 4 games against 4 bottom half teams & we scored 5 goals. That is awful.
The psychology of any football game changes immediately when 1-0 changes to 2-0.We’re not capable of scoring 2 at the minute, therefore the defence comes under pressure. At 2-0, Fulham would have accepted it & the game would have petered out to a comfortable win for us.
Same as Wolves, same as Villa,same as QPR. We got away with it twice, we didn’t twice.
We have the same midfield 3 & the same front 3 playing practically every game & the only player of any consequence injured is Jack. Arsene keeps talking about the size of our squad but Ron kefa is right : what are we paying Chamakh,Arshavin,Benayoun,Rosicky (not to mention Park ffs !!!!) for if they can’t be trusted to come in when we have 2 games in 48 hours ?
We have 2 players playing in a front 3 practically every game & they have 4 goals each by January. And yet they’re undroppable…..we have no squad at all from midfield onwards. That simply can’t be argued.
4th is looking very, very iffy….
Me thinks Wenger has got his tactics wrong when dealing with determined teams.Rarely does Arsenal mount a comeback when they are behind and rerely do they defend resolutely.i have no faith in a defense that has to call upon the useless Scilacci and unpredictable Djourou.The former should have been sold like yesterday.the team only relies on one consistent player to score and has no other tactics to use as a game changer.Its a pity.Wenger will never learn.terrible.
Actually Chicago gunner it was Ramsey that provided the assist for the opening goal which shows be has the ability to unlock defences. The main problem for me is the lack of end product from our wingers. I have to say gervinho is a dreadful finisher. He really should have had at least 2 goals but he seems to be missing sitters nearly everygame. Walcott on the other hand is a terrible passer Of the ball, all I could see was the fulham defenders blocking his crosses time and again with consummate ease. I had serious hopes of vast improvements when he first arrived but he seems to never learn . Den we have djourou who in my opinion is just championship quality, gets far too nervous and as a result makes rash decisions. If we are to make it to 4th place we need to buy a Quality striker and left back.
What has happened to Rio & the Ox?
have these two up and coming star left the planent
cos Gervinho is lets be honest here WOEFUL!
in front of goal, and as for TW 14 he should Titi his
shirt back and start learning from sratch, as he seems to have lost his way also.
Feel sad as we had a real chance to be in the mix.
Wenger is embarrassing. Blame everyone else rather than taking a good look at yourself. I’m tired of the excuses.
We should be champions .had arsene after convincing cesc to stay not signed cheap and rubbish players like squilachi & chamach and spent bigger we wouldn’t be having groundhog season again, except this time we might not qualify for champs lge
Random thoughts
- Ramsey gave typical performance which is IMHO error prone and not strong. Matters less to me that he runs so many miles per game – which AW has brought up as his strength – but that he can play faster, pass better, he’s not physical, doesn’t assist RVP when it’s there
- where has Gervinho gone
- Aside from Benayoun header last game, I ignore Benayoun, Arshavin, Chamakh, Rosicky they just can’t make anything happen – I mean if Koscielny and Vermalaen are as apt to score as those guys then what’s going on!
- As slow as Santos was/seems, we miss him now so much
- I do think Theo can get around people but yes his final bass as mentioned has been weak.
- Jenkinson improved tangibly over the season and hurts to not have the new Jenkinson available
- Play Chamberlain! AW seeming slavish devotion to playing the same players and same subs is odd
On the positive, with Santos, Jenkinson, Wilshere back from injury will be amazing…
I love Arsenal.
Unlucky arsenal, but dats the difference between my team and urs. We generally have more match winners in our team. Gervinho is a terrible finisher lyk the guy above has mentioned his conversion rate this season has been horrendous. On the other hand I do feel Walcott is short on confidence. I mean his miss against qpr showed the lack of belief in himself. Trust me when walcotts cOnfidence is high he can finish, who remembers his hat trick against Blackpool, his three for England or his goal against my team in dat 5 3. I still feel that arsenal need a centre back, I do believe that if vermaelen was playing they would have won. Djourou in my view is a liability and will Mark my words be sold soon. This guy is just another bendtner, wenger puts faith on him time and again in the hope that he will improve but he continues tO disappoint. Wenger will definitely lose his patience. Anyway goodluck on whoever makes 4th place
Wenger should emphasise to the players on the art of game control (ball possession & the passing game plus slowing the game down) especially when the team is on goal advantage and the match is nearing the final whistle! Arsenal’s play is similar to Barca and surely, that shouldn’t be a problem, right? If they had done that, they could have saved the 3 vital points!
dear god, this new layout is horrendously illegible
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