Manchester United v Arsenal: What I’m looking out for

[dropcap]A[/dropcap] genuinely crazy week of League Cup football has provided a confusing and exhilarating backdrop to what is sure to be a spectacular clash with Manchester United.

I absolutely love this fixture and the Robin van Persie affair will only add further fuel to the fire.

Here’s a list of the things I’ll be looking out for in our game at Old Trafford:

  • The return of proper defending, maybe — four goals conceded in the opening half at the Madjeski? Unbelievable for a backline that featured Koscielny, Djourou and Jenkinson. We can only hope for better with Mertesacker and Co in control.
  • A start for Theo Walcott — It might not happen, particularly after 120 minutes of football just a few days ago, but surely Walcott’s form means he deserves a starting spot. Should we play him up front? Perhaps, but I’d prefer Olivier Giroud also get the opportunity from the opening whistle.
  • Faster transitions — I spoke about the fact that our transitions from defence to attack — in other words, our counter-attacking — had lost intensity in recent weeks. I don’t see us getting a lot of opportunities to counter United — our midfield domination should see the home side sit deep and lure us into a false sense of security — but when the opportunity arises we need to move the ball quickly and accurately.
  • The return of Wojciech –Will he play? Maybe not. But if he does, it is the perfect platform for a spectacular return to form.
  • Improvement from Vermaelen –– Our new captain has had a poor start to the season, no doubt. He has made mistakes defensively and his decision-making has been poor, particularly in contrast to Mertesacker’s calm presence. Games like these are made for captains to show their mettle and I expect a lot from Mr Vermaelen.
  • An epic van Persie fail –It is more likely that van Persie will leave Old Trafford as a match-winner rather than a person responsible for a defeat, but I can only hope something extraordinary happens. An own goal? A red card? A missed penalty? Maybe energetic Jack will give him a good kick to the knee, that would be pretty funny.

As a final note, thanks a lot to Midas PR for sending me a copy of the new Thierry Henry biography, written by the incomparable Philippe Auclair. I’ll be churning through this as quickly as possible and writing a book review on the blog ASAP.

Enjoy the game!

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Comments

  1. First! (A bit childish but what the hey). Good post Andy, was wondering when it was coming. I just hope we score first as the theatre of morons is not a good place to do come back at, although any win for us anyway it comes is excellent there. Lets hope for a good performance, I’d like for Giroud and Podolski to score and Cazorla. A thumping 3-1 to Arsenal.

  2. Just know, Andrew, that our family will all be united by Arsenal tonight! All four of us will be watching the game at 4 different venues but all hoping for the same thing …….. that Jack gives RVP a good kick in the knee!

  3. Maybe energetic Jack will give him a good kick to the knee, that would be pretty funny.
    i like it…
    hahaha…

  4. You are right about the need to move teball quickly from defence to attack. Blame it on the lateral passing.Arsenal shd move the ball swiftly to the box and start shooting.
    If not,it will be a repeat of the games when Ronaldo and Drogba ran riot.If other teams can stop these two guys,why can’t Wenger?Chelsea managed to stifle Mess i. It can be done but if Wenger can’t do it or won’t do it,he shd let a defence coach show the way.

  5. Vermalaen makes another mistake.he better start scoring to make up for all these costly mistakes. Idiot.

  6. I don’t see us getting anything from this game, Santos is running around like a headless chicken and unless we change our game plan Giroud is a waste of space

  7. We have been so bad am beginning to think we might get something
    .lump some balls in the box and you never know that idiot Dean might feel guilty about the pen he gave and give us something for a change . Yeah right

  8. We look pathetic in this game. It is like a top 4 team playing against a lower league team .
    Our passing is slow because of the lack of talent in the team.
    Wenger was asked if he was surprised by RVP success with united he answer ” not really beacause his a very good players surrounding him” really Wenger?!
    That’s why after our good start of the season many had high hopes to compete with the best …the truth is there is such a golf in talent between United, Chelsea, city and us is so wide that the best we can hope is top 4 .

  9. Giroud has lost possession 13 times that half and ramsey has kicked it away 12 times.
    No shots.
    No intensity.
    No heart, except from a half fit wilshere.

  10. Doesn’t seem like there is any urgency or hunger with the team. They look like they are going through the motions. What the hell is wrong with these guys?

  11. At the rate things are going,the gunners are lucky to be a goal down with the ugly Brtitish bulldog missing apenalty.Vermallen has gone off the boil.I believe Wenger ‘s style is too predictable.. His attack is too weighed down by too many short passes and lack penetration.
    I believe this will be the season when the gunners fail to claim a cl spot unless there is some injection of a few players to shore up the side. We need someone like Diaby to run at defenders and open up the defence.
    RVP’s goal was a simple execution. The gunners as in many games are trying to waltz their way thru goal with many defndersinthe way, I don’t know why .
    When Bale scored against red faced he raced thru to shoot. That is why the gunners find it so hard to shoot and score.

  12. Sometimes we look like we never prepare for these games.
    I still don’t get the idea of having wide players who can’t get past their fullbacks, it’s just sad. What r they doing out there?? Giroud needs balls pumped in there.

  13. This is what inferior talent looks like. That’s why RVP left , he told Wenger he wanted better talent surrounding him.
    After the humiliation of last year, Man U had another easy game against us . Sad very , very sad.

  14. Did we see thelook from Cazorla when he scored? He is angry……same for probably all out top players. Ramsey has no business starting any league game

  15. Carzola will not stay long at Arsenal if we don’t bring some real players . No wingers ,no speed, no left back , no defensive midfielder and no real striker = loss against good teams.
    The game against schalke was no accident !

  16. Finally got access 2 da blog,another dissappointing defeat and no one is going 2 take blame,I don’t care if the team is still finally there feet its just horrible? becoz all eleven didn’t play full 90 during da weekday,when you thought the defending is able 2 put a decent performance they go haywire, da next match is against spurs does any of da first eleven players deserve. 2 play ?questions marks all over that one! Why did santos even play he was tested and fail against schalke and stil he got show before koscienly, ramsey is damn loseless but wenger stil determine 2 play him!I am back and goin 2 continue my assault on wenger arrogants! I am here 4 da team not wenger kiss ass club!

  17. Finally got access 2 da blog,another dissappointing defeat and no one is going 2 take blame,I don’t care if the team is still finally there feet its just horrible? becoz all eleven didn’t play full 90 during da weekday,when you thought the defending is able 2 put a decent performance they go haywire, da next match is against spurs does any of da first eleven players deserve. 2 play ?questions marks all over that one! Why did santos even play he was tested and fail against schalke and stil he got show before koscienly, ramsey is damn useless but wenger stil determine 2 play him!I am back and goin 2 continue my assault on wenger arrogants! I am here 4 da team not 4 wenger!

  18. THREE DEFEATS,4 wins nd 3 draws in TEN MATCHES NOW BEEN RECORDED as DA WORST NUMBER OF POINTS BY ARSENAL since da 1994/1995 season,frustrating having 2 listen 2 wenger been himself,no vidic no kagawa and chi chi rato didn’t play and still couldn’t put a decent performance!

  19. it hurts a lot, we look like an amazing team when we play weaker side. We hold the ball and pass it as carefully as shifting a baby from cradle to bed when we play the minnows. When it comes to big games we are school kids playing against professionals. Injuries in the team rubs salt to the wounds. I don’t feel Mertesacker has to start, so is Giroud. Come on guys, when we aspire to be a world class team winning some trophies we have to give our best. Today’s game except for 5 mins in second half, it was like all were forced to play a match against their wishes, no life. Tired of finishing in the top four without any trophy. We are the team to concede highest number of goals in the first half this season and above 80% of goals are conceded in first half. Yet we love the game Arsenal used to play few years ago, Beautiful!

  20. Rubbish performance again. No game plan from the coach. We should have packed the bus and counter attacked. Vermaleen is becomming a joke of a captain. Always error prone and lacks any motivation at all.We always struggle or loose whenever Ramsey starts . Ox was available. Carzola is frustrated with mediocrity around him. Podolski was a reject by BAYERNMUNICH. W e shall never win anything with mediocre players and a clueless coach like Wenger. Another Baptism of fire awaits us in Germany come Tuesday

  21. Isn’t it blatantly evident by now that Wenger has lost the dressing room, as well as the ability to motivate his players? The tactics, team selection were shocking, and the same problems from 5 years ago continue to haunt us. Players have come and gone, but the same problems remain. Isn’t it obvious where the finger of blame should be placed? Until Arsenal get rid of Wenger, we are never going to win anything

  22. I hope we can all see that Arsene Wenger is a supreme cunt…….He is killing the club with his madness. When he played Santos in the unimportant last group UCL match last season, he should how naive he was. This was a group we had effectively topped before the last round of matches. Santos was on very good form, he picked up an injury in that match and we can all testify that our season ended effectively with that injury. What I say does not matter, but I was the bad one when I protested against playing him in that useless match we still ended up loosing. The substitutes he refused to allow to start ended up playing and you wonder if this man cares about the clubs progress at all.

    http://www.goal.com/en-my/news/3890/england/2012/11/03/3499465/van-persie-vindicated-as-manchester-united-highlight-growing

    Today he started Ramsey against Walcott or Arshavin and we seem to be comfortable with this arrangement. Arshavin assisted in our last two wins, he is a valuable gem. Why we do not allow for him to dictate games with Cazorla is beyond me. If Cazorla, Rosicky, Arshavin all play behind ONLY one striker(Podolski or Walcott, Giroud can lift us up in the cups), you can forgive Arteta and Wilshere for playing behind them. But when we let a nonentity like Ramsey to roam aimlessly in front of Arteta, then you begin to wonder if our coach is sane. This is why some say he sets us up to loose. He has completely wrecked Santos’s game, Arshavin’s before that, now its time for Podolski, Cazorla, Arteta, Coquelin, Koscielny and Vermaelen(whom he blamed today). Why he feels he should be dictating to experienced players is what beats me completely. Why do we pass and pass and pass, game after game after game and lose and lose and lose. Do we think these guys dont know there is something wrong with Arsene? Before, we used to play very beautiful football before even Barcelona with Ronaldinho’s dribbles. Now, where is the intelligence he is showing to world? We look so ordinary and beaten very very ordinarily. I’ve said Cazorla and Arshavin are wonderful at shooting, why do we not unleash them like Chelsea do with Mata, Hazard and Oscar? Until we do this, we will continue to fail and lose matches. Do not say i told you.

    All of a sudden, is our defense now bad? NO. We dont have a bad defense at all. What we have is a stubborn manager, who’s understanding of his team is diminishing as each week passes. Cos manure have NO MIDFIELD at all. They just have quality strikers and a good defense. We have a good defense, superb midfield, but we are still behaving as if van Persie is our striker. This illusion and lack of adaptable tactics to accommodate our best players(midfield) is pure suicide.

    What is the way forward? Leave out sentiments and favoritism and send out Ramsey completely. Bentner 52 would have done a much better job than Giroud is doing. I’m in no way criticizing Giroud, I would actually love us to be more patient with him, but this is not what we need right now. You do not sell a Van Persie so you be patient while rebuilding yet again. Athletico sold Maradona’s inlaw(Aguero) and IMMEDIATELY used all the money to buy Falcao. In other words, if we shut out B52 for any reason or even sold Song or RVP for any reason, then we can do away with Ransey.

    What do we need to do again? Leave out favuritism and play Wilshere and Arteta, Diaby, Coquelin etc as defensive shields.
    They play behind any three of Cazorla, Arshavin, Rosicky, the Ox, Arteta, Gervinho, Walcott, Podolski etc in that order.
    I would like the lone striker to be Podolski, Walcott, Gervinho, Giroud etc in that order of preference.
    THE DEFENSE IS OKAY. We never troubled their defense cos we seemed to not play to our strengths yet again.

    What do we need to do yet again? Utilize the bench as much as possible, this is why it is a bench. Fact is, we have a very big squad, but on matchday, we seem to act as if we barely have anyone to sub while Ramsey starts every game. What do you think goes on in Walcott, Ox and Arshavin’s minds?

    What do we need to do yet again? Recognise that players are not slaves and treat their contracts with respect. Tony Adams says Dein never allowed his contract to get into the last two years before renewal. It was always renegotiated before. We have a Walcott situation again after RVP, Flamini etc. Why is this allowed to keep happening or drag on for so long? When we start renegotiating contracts with a view to reducing pay based solely on performances and valuations(or get out) and rewarding outstanding performers with increases or status quo will we begin to look serious.

    I’m afraid right now, its like we’re being run like a big joke. But, when we do this, we will see salvation.

  23. In the last comment, my two preferred defensive shields would be Arteta and Wilshere playing behind Cazorla, Arshavin and Rosicky with Podolski up top.
    The defense is totally okay. The manure defense is probably not as good as ours, they only utilize the flanks better cos they have three sitting midfielders(so they are always covered whenever they bomb forward). Not providing room game in game out for Cazorla to have an open shot is suicide. We throw our midfielders everywhere and still let our full-backs bomb forward, making them look silly. Where are the covering players? We are clueless at best.

  24. You are right realistic_gooner ! Actually the manager has to take full blame . Is not about team selection or formation, it has always been about quality of players.

    I imagine a fictional conversation between Cesc Fabregas and RVP 3 or 4 years ago while in London.
    RVP – “why doesn’t the manager buy some quality players, it is frustrating to be playing with all these rubbish players? ”
    Cesc -” They are being cheap , they have built a new stadium , but do not want to invest in players ”
    RVP- ” We have become a selling club. Frank Sylvestre ,seriously?!”
    Cesc-” We are not winning a major trophy with these players. I had enough , I am going back to Barca .
    RVP-“I will not renew my contract here. I love the club but we are not good enough to win a major title.”

  25. Bharath,what da hell re u talking about?mertesacker has been so far da best defender 4 us koscienly and vermeulen have been a sore eye 2 watch,giroud has been isolated wit da opposition becoz no 1 is crossing da ball in the box,while giroud is havin 2 make miracles happen,arrogant wenger and his believes is what destorying arsenal,ramsey and santos should have neva played,its da fans that suffering not wenger and da fatcats!

  26. Hey Dutch! There you are. You certainly pick your spots that’s for sure.

    Well fellas we just weren’t good enough again. It’s a regular theme now.
    Forget the blame we’re way past that. The AGM was last week. Wenger isn’t going anywhere and we are NOT going to make any new cash-splash signings in January so get used to it. Truth is the board and manager are trying to spin the sale of Walcott this January and God know’s who next summer.
    How much is enough Scotch and Darvon?
    I’m having a Sylvia Plath moment it’s somethin peculiar to native New Englanders. Time to clean the house…and of course the oven.

  27. Stagnant in attack, closed down in midfield, torn apart down the left with a captain suffering from an alarming lack of form at the heart of defence. We were lucky that Mannone pulled off some good saves and Utd fluffed some golden chances, otherwise the final score could have been similar to last year’s debacle.

    This was always going to be a difficult fixture; Santos does not have the quality to play against top drawer opposition (or the character judging from the RVP shirt swap at HT, WTF?) and Podolski/Ramsey on the wings are never going to create enough opportunities to win games. That said, I’m not sure the boss had any real alternatives. At LB the most apparent choice in Gibbs’ absence is moving TV5 there and bringing on Kos, but the Belchman is not a natural fullback and Laurent hasn’t exactly been doing the business at CB this season either. And I don’t think expecting Theo and/or Arshavin to back up in the run on side after the midweek marathon was realistic, sadly.

    Major honours look beyond us at this stage of the season, but if we can get some players back from injury and tweak our tactics to suit our playing squad and opponents rather than just defaulting to 4-2-3-1 all the time we should still crack the top four in the Prem and challenge for the Capital One Cup. Given our history, should this be the extent of our ambition? Clearly not, but I fear this is where we are at for the time being.

  28. Leftcoastgooner,it me alryt I have been on arseblog becoz da guys thr re keep on refreshing their posts or article,I hate da way u said wenger is going no where,but its a fact of reality is he really is going no where,becoz we da peasants which re arsene wenger blinded,pundits re saying wenger will b in big trouble if he don’t win any trophies haven’t we seen and hear that before, its just frustrating to see manu, man city and chelsea can just throw in any player that has nt got much experience and stil put in a decent performance,its does not make logical sense 2 play sum1 that’s wants to play as a left wing most da tym than a proper left back,we shouldn’t have to depend on gibbs comin back,if santos is going 2 be beaten then he shouldn’t leave his post and cum back jogging,as far as I am concern wenger has lost touch of other managers greatest for success! Example if abou diaby gets injured again then he will just b a liability tell him 2 go its just extra baggage!

  29. Andrew, your wishes just about all backfired! The return to proper defending. Um, no. Start for Theo. Nope. Speedy transition. Negative. Return of the Pole in goal. Nyet. RVP fail. ‘fraid not! And the return to form of TV? WTF? I am not saying you’re to blame but you could not get further from the hopes you had if you tried.

    Am just trying to inject a bit of light relief. God knows we need it. That was another insipid performance and the scoreline as others have pointed flattered us. Even the comic relief of Spuds losing at home can’t lift the gloom.

    Look at our team, who do you honestly would rate a spot in Manure’s squad? Cazorla, Sagna and on yesterday’ s showing, Mannone. The rest; forget it.

    And this might be simplistic, but the 433 does not seem to be working. Neither Pod nor Ramsey seem to fit the bill for the wide attackers. Perhaps it is time to revert to 422 with better cover for the fullbacks and an attack of Giroud and Walcott/Podolski. Oh fuck I don’t know. It’s just so frickin depressing!

  30. I raised this point elsewhere. I just can’t understand why a team that’s turned in crappy performances recently can’t be motivated themselves to play their heart out at a venue like OT, knowing how serious the fixture is. Why were they so indifferent? What the hell is wrong with the team and TV who has been is ble handedly responsible for some of the crucial goals this season due to his sloppiness? Maybe there’s truth in what some of you guys are saying. About we having lost it. Damn that’s sad. If this type of display continues we’ll be out of every competition soon.

  31. The mentality Wenger has instilled in this team can be summed up by Santos at halftime yesterday.
    Losing again at Old Trafford and off the back of some really poor performances both as a team and for Santos individually, hes more interested in getting Van Persies shirt than getting ready for the second half, which starts with the halftime teamtalk.
    Could you imagine a Utd or any other player doing this? The manager would have his head.
    They dont fear Wenger because he is constantly making excuses and covering up for them with his vague post match interviews…’ we lacked intensity’, ‘ we wernt incisive enough’, the pitch,the ref, the long ball, blah blah blah.
    These players actually dont care whether they win or not, bar Wilshere nobody has the drive.
    Sick of looking at them now. Their an embarrassment to Tony Adams, Keown, Vieira and co

  32. If Santos had the guts to get Van Persie’s shirt at half-time, then he must be really mad. I did not see that. Sloppy performance from him and silly sportsmanship………..

    Well, maybe he’s tying to be a good sport. But, that should be only if we were leading by 2-0 not when we were loosing. Plain stupid. What a shame. It shows the lack of strong characters in the squad. Where was the captain? Do we even have an influential captain anymore? Gallas was clearly the last we had.

  33. @Dennis10 – I just can’t understand why a team that’s turned in crappy performances recently can’t be motivated themselves to play their heart out at a venue like OT, knowing how serious the fixture is.

    Good comment, but do you know of anyone called Wenger? Yes, he refuses to believe it is serious and it shows in the preparations and finally first team choices. From this post, http://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/man-utd-boss-ferguson-bemused-victory-over-arsenal-3617981 ………you can see that the Ferguson has completely written us off even though he kinda hid it behind his comments. I think he is really trying to say he feels sorry for us.

  34. @Shambogunner.
    There’s no use making yourself sick with it dude. We are stuck with Wenger,The board and the whole pile of steaming, malable dung,
    We will win something again but under the current administration it looks very doubtful at best.
    I think it was the English Beat who said it best. “save it for later”

  35. @shambo, deja vu again mayhe? Its so bloody sad whars appening 2 such a fantastic club. I dont even visit da site much sny more b’cause I ate Wenger so
    much 4 what e has done ovr da last 6 yrs. E as b”come a sick old man. E was so so so close but chose 2 risk fucking it all up 4 a profit. They r all just business men making money, Only money, Fairplay makes no difference, they will spend less when time comes and cup win will come with pure luck, not prop investmt. Greedy wankers

  36. Let’s face it, Bendtner is better than Giroud. Giroud just wanders around looking to get a pass only to lose it. Terrible. Walcott got his wish up front but only for 45 mins. Walcott will definitely go in Jan and then what?!?!?

    This is where we were last year, and the year before. We criticise and then just put up with it. Pep is available. But I doubt if he’ll be interested in us.

  37. @Gunnerboss: you’re right perhaps, seeing AW is the only constant in a team that’s been changing for the last 7 years. It is sad really. I thought things would change after Bould, still seems same old, same old. TV has made some serious mistakes this season. Kos seems to give away own goals a bit much (we have 2 OGs, one in Kos and one up front). Per is good. I liked his calm handling at the back at the match as he always does. Oh well. Like Leftcoast said, this is what we are stuck with, let’s see how it pans (damn, this is just the 10th match and already it doesn;t look good).

  38. In many ways this is worse than the 8-2 defeat.

    It’s quite obvious that the team hasn’t learned from the mistakes of the 8-2 thrashing.

    Poor team selection, no plan B when Arteta was marked out of the game and too many passengers – it’s shameful for the Arsenal football club.

    As poor as Arshavin is sometimes, I think it’s time to give both him and Theo a start, and for god’s sake get rid of Santos. I feel sorry for Giroud in many ways. He wasn’t great in that game, but he didn’t get any service whatsoever. I can’t even think of a ball that was anywhere good enough.

    The lack of someone who can consistently cross a ball into the box from the wide areas has been problem for years. Look at United – they have people in wide areas who can do this consistently. In our invincibles day, we had people who could do this. We haven’t had any – for a long time. If you’re going to play a big man through the middle, you have to have others who can deliver the ball in for them to attack.

    Either play Sagna or Vermalen on the right, but don’t put in Santos – he’s a major liability. Vermaelen should be given a kick in the pants actually and be considered as someone to drop for the next match.

  39. @Davem
    Dude check out the Inter v. Juventus game last saturday.
    Bentdner is a big, fat joke.
    Giroud is learning the ropes and taking his lumps but hear me. He will come good.

  40. @leftcoast – Agreed. Flamini is an even bigger and fatter joke now. Was he not a rock in Arsenal before he left? Was Hleb not a rock before he left? That he is a big fat flop does not mean he will be bad if he were here. Giroud was the highest goal scorer in ligue1, he has only got one here after 10 games.

  41. In giroud a defence it’s an old cliche but he has been unlucky on a number of occasions. I am all for giving Walcott a go, but Arshavin gives the ball away far to easy.

  42. Took a while to get through all the comments. Lots of venting and frustration and the knives are out again for Wenger, I see.

    I’m still a believer. If you take away Chelsea and the Manchester teams, what would we have won these last few years? Pretty much everything. We’ll never compete with those three under our current business model, and I think Wenger has been spectacular in that context.

    That being said, clearly the sides of late have lost the plot in terms of consistency and playing to their ability. They have the best jobs in the world at THE best club in the world and so many times they manage to play like such spineless, gutless wimps. Wenger has his glory which can never be taken away, but he also has to take the blame for putting out such a poor product on the pitch by his own standards.

    Darragh @ 2:03, a commenter on another blog said that the 8-2 team had more fight in them than this one. Hard to disagree.

    At this point, winning has become secondary for me. If we play to the level of which we are clearly capable the silver will take care of itself. Where is the spirit? Where is the determination? In the words of my favourite musician:

    “Badlands,
    you’ve gotta live it everyday
    Let the broken hearts stand
    as the price you’ve to pay
    Keep pushing ’til it’s understood
    and these Badlands start treating us good”

    Come ON you f$%cking Gunners.

  43. 1Nil,
    ‘If you take Chelsea and the two Manchester teams out we would have won pretty much everything’.
    Thats just crazy for me to see you say that. The reality is they are there and are doing much better than us.
    You think a Valencia or Ath Madrid fanos saying if Barce and Madrid wernt around theyd have so many trophies? Is this how you pacify yourself with where and how this club is being run/ managed right now.
    We need to stop using other clubs success as an excuse for our failure just because their approach is different, though obviously effective.
    Birmingham beat us in the Carling Cup final. Not Utds fault.
    Stoke beat us out fa cup a few years ago, not Chelseas fault.
    Weve been taken to numerous replays by lower league teams in recent years, not Citys fault.
    We got bashed by a bad AC Milan last year..nobodys fault but our own!!!!
    Almunia
    Cole Gallas Toure Clichy

    Song Fabergas Nasri

    Eduardo Adebayour V Pursestrings

    Hleb, Reyes, Bartley, Gilberto, Senderos,
    Thats why we are where we are.
    Poor sale selection and worse replacements.
    We are now in a position where we find ourselves actually not good enough to compete for trophies even if we had a board and manager with the know how and desire to do so.

  44. Which cole is the RB? This is a whole winning team sold. Including the reserves. So sad to see all these names are no longer here.

  45. Am spitting blood now we get another free kick in a dangerous position and it goes back to mertesacker. Again

    If we ain’t going to play to Girouds strengths then don’t play him

  46. 1st Walcott and now Giroud from Podolski.
    It’s a great start. Will we build on it or choke it off?
    The next 61 minutes have a tail to tell. I’m staying tuned COYG!!!!

  47. That’s a good point, even if we did snatch a draw from the jaws of victory.
    Scoring two that early? It was never going to last against Schalke at their house.
    I’m just glad we hung on, and we’re in great shape in our group right now.
    Giroud scored a technically difficult header, a real striker’s goal. He has quality no doubt about it. I really hope he can build on that performance. He was everywhere.
    Walcott played an above average game (for him), but can do much, much better both on and off the ball.
    Mannone was a stud out there, no brainer for MOTM.

  48. From Giroud’s second half performance today, I think i’m gonna effectively give up on him considering the Walcott option looks at least five times more promising. He refused to put the game to bed with the missed chances. I think it was plain stupid to not play Walcott up-front as a CF.

    We had Coquelin to come in and help cover the defense, but no, lets play Podolski till he starts gasping for oxygen.
    Giroud is wasting opportunities, nope, i cant risk Walcott or Podolski there yet. We just have to be stuck with him till he comes good, so we can then sell him and make a profit.
    Why not take off Giroud and bring in Santos early 2nd half, so we play 5 at the back when defending and four when attacking with support from either flank considering we have a lead? No, he swapped shirts with VP and it would be best if he is introduced at the 89th minute so he has less time to try and get some more shirts.

    I personally think we should have had atleast 10 points now. It is refreshing to see the side that started today and no Ramsey on the bench. But, Giroud is clearly the weak link. No player is above mistake, but I’ve seen enough to say this guy is clearly not efficient enough to be starting for us.

    Wenger had Arshavin on the bench, but refused to give it a go and win this. When he sold Song without buying any replacements, he claimed we had a very big squad. A squad filled with talent that cannot replace teammates panting on the pitch because they can only be replaced within a minute of stoppage time.

    I’m thinking Wenger really does lack a plan B. I was hoping Giroud would’ve limped off, so he would be forced into winning the game.

  49. Going to disagree on Giroud the problem is we are not playing to his strengths. Sure he’s no RVP but he’s the best we have got today. Walcott and Giroud would be my starting pair

    I would unload Arshavin ASAP he has sporadic sparks of genius but the way we play the opposition are at there most dangerous when we have the ball. Arshavin is simply to wasteful.

    Hats off to Mannone after a shaky start he’s beginning to look the part, be interesting to see who plays when Szs is fit

    When the jan window opens my two priorities would be a left back and a ball winner, it’s a shame about Diaby and Gibbs but they are too unreliable

  50. so its round 10 the time when conclusions can be made based on performances, As far as My Arsenal goes some things are almost certain
    1. We wont win the league
    2. we wont finish 3rd or 2nd
    3. It looks like once more a fight for 4th place, our trophy
    I almost forgot the champions league, BUT wait, we never win that, Yep so true…

    We’re 1 point worst then we were last season and most fans blamed the messy summer we had (one of our own making i might add) this season no such blame can be used, we did the business early, and here is the result a worst point tally than last season.
    The only constant is the manager who as far as am concerned has already said what he values most, the board don’t care as long as the dollars keep rolling in.
    I can go on and on BUT what good will it do am not going to blame the players or even wenger because the real problem is the FANS.
    Complain, Complain and then what??? not one sh*t

    We have the power to effect change, STOP going to the games, its the only way especially after the AGM where no proper reason was given for selling two really good player ( footballing reasons my A**)
    To show you how low my Arsenal have fallen, we blew a 2 nill lead yesterday and people and wenger has hailed that as success, when the performance on a whole was below average AGAIN.
    Since i now know for almost certain what is happening to my money i would rather flush it down the toilet literally then give it to wenger and stan, and ivan because in their world of making money i do not exist.

  51. Watching Celtic match.
    What a display of pride and execution of a game plan.
    No diving in, defending as a unit on their feet, COMMUNICATING and waiting for the chance to employ their strengths.
    Hats off to a phenomenal team and coaching performance.

  52. Guys there is no rocket science in this. Issue is Wenger simply can,t tactically get anything from this team. Regardless of what, he has run out of ideas. Steve Bould could if given chance could may be bring about some change. Look at Celtic beating a mighty Barcelona by packing the bus. What happened to Wenger really that he can never play to the teams strength and ability. Its no brainer mediocre teams have beaten giants by packing the bus but Wenger has never known that in his mind. The is bad but good enough to play on certain specific guidelines. YOU HAVE wALCOTT a speed beast who on any day can be devastating in the opposition box but Wenger never looks beyond that. Guys i cast a vote of no confidence in Wwenger taking us forward .He has simply run out of ideas and only change can be demanded for.Fans shouldnt pay their money to watch this bullshit from a retirement old bound coach. Pathetic at best. Shalk o4 has out played us on both fronts and we riskan elimination which i think is possible considering our record in Greece.

  53. @Delano
    Your ideas are well thought and stated.
    Here is where I disagree with you.

    Wenger has not run out of ideas or anything like it.
    He is active in the coaching community and is aware of the myriad of formations that could be tactically applied in any given game situation.
    The man is stubborn. He has made his mind up that there is only one right and true way to play and he will pursue this course to glory or ruin.
    There is no “plan B” and will not be one in the future.

    I use this quote from Gunnerboss whom I have disagreed with on practcally everything else…

    “I’m thinking Wenger really does lack a plan B. I was hoping Giroud would’ve limped off, so he would be forced into winning the game.”
    (Gunnerboss)

    THAT’s what I’m talking about.
    Like it or hate it this is what we have and it will not change until he leaves and he is not leaving anytime too soon.

  54. LFC,so we must wet our pant everytime we lose becoz of wenger stubbornness,we can’t call ourselves in da famous names bracket becoz of wenger arrogant behaviour which leads to humiliating defeats that just sucks! , as much as i want to believe in wenger philosophy its a been a disaster,but if we da fans start recognizing that for example that @ssholes that continue to show that flag“in wenger we trust”stop showing that and arsenal start booing arsenal lacklustre sloppy behaviour by all rights wenger will eager to prove that arsenal is improving but we da fans are allowing wenger to do whateva he pleases,da only thing that I see now is that I hear and see more arsenal fans are wanting wenger and gazikis out! Large improve from last year arsenal management shouldn’t be surprised by this

  55. When we started the season, did you guys think that we had the championship in the bag? Because I didn’t. I knew that we could challenge. Success was not a guarantee. Same as the past couple of years.

    The man everyone has been blaming is the same man that has kept us above water. The vision was for Arsenal FC to be one of the biggest teams in the world. A status that we have judging by the team always being present in the first pot in the Champions League. This was achieved by being meticulous and responsible with our finances. (eg. transfer dealings, wage structure etc) that will keep the club CHALLENGING in the long term. That means we have been punching above our weight considering the other teams who are also in that first pot. Meaning, the manager and the board has done well.

    I know you have heard this before and think that it is just an excuse but it is valid. The reality is we can not compete financially with the big boys (Rich owners and commercially developed teams) at the moment. Not when we try to sign someone and some other team will pay double or triple in wages or transfer fees. It is just not fair.

    It’s a long season though and I know the team will bounce back like last season. We have seen in glimpses how great this team can be and they will keep getting better as the season go on. As always, we will still CHALLENGE for trophies this season.

  56. @Brigas Arsenal has some of expensive seats in the league , we are not a poor club. We do not have to spend 50 mil on one player, but buying top quality players is imperative if we want to continue to fill up a 60 000 seats stadium and ensure tat the revenues coming from the CL keep coming in.
    It requires some creativity , thinking outside the box and risk taking , exemple : Hulk used to play for Porto , how did they find him? There is a fabulous player called Willan that plays for Shaktar. He gave nightmare to Chelsea last night in the CL. How did they find him?

    There is only way changes will come to Arsenal.if We do not finish in the top 4 and if we will miss the CL . Players like Carzola would want to live then the fans will turn Wenger. A man full of pride , Arsene will leave on his own.
    Mark my word , when Wenger leaves , he will leaves us with less quality players then when he joined Arsenal:Berkamp, Parlour,

  57. BrisVegas Gooner

    Agree with your comments, we have to be realistic about what the team can achieve. As I have mentioned before there is a direct comparison between club finances and league position. The days when the likes of
    Blackburn (who were financed by Jack Walker) Aston Villa, Derby, Forest winning the league are long gone and let’s not forget that Chelsea hadn’t won anything for 50 years before the roubles came rushing in.

    It’s all to easy to take a snapshot in time and draw comparisons from it. The other day there was mention of Celtics performance against Barca. They parked the bus gave a gritty performance and rode their luck. Well done congrats etc, but in Europe Celtic haven’t been getting it right in Europe for donkeys years. One gret result and suddenly they become our role model. Same thing in the league last year, suddenly Newcastle and
    Spurs were to be aspired too, but I ask the question when was the last time either of these two finished above Arsenal.

    As for discovering talent how about Viera, Petit, Anelka, Adebayor, Henry and a certain Jack Wilshire to name a few.

    All that said (I ramble). There does seem to be problems with the current squad. Throughout the barren years Arsenal played some great football. When we did lose to lesser sides we invariably peppered their goal and then got caught by a sucker punch. I didn’t see that against Norwich, we failed to create anything against a team we should have torn apart. There was a lack of passion. If Tony Adams had been on the pitch he would have been ripping people’s heads off. The team does appear to be lacking in the passion department and frankly lacks a leader.

    I have a ticket for Saturdays game my first one this season and it wil be interesting to gauge the crowd. Despite the many setbacks this season isn’t over yet

    COYG

  58. @Gunfest I understand where you are coming from. Yes, Arsenal has some of the most expensive seats and we are not a poor club. True, but it does not mean we are a rich club either. Those ticket sales has definitely helped the club financially.

    And as for making smart buys, @Retsub has named a couple of astute signings that the manager has done over the years. To add to that, has it ever occurred to you that scouts can be poached as well? (I got this from Goal Magazine., eg. Paulo Budna switched from Arsenal to Boca Juniors and Sandro Orlandellu, switched from Arsenal to Athletico Paranaese) When clubs realised that they can make a lot of money for spotting talent, developing them and selling them on, they grabbed the best scouts the game can offer. So Arsenal has had to rely on developing youngsters or finding bargains in the market and make a team from that. Also, teams have been difficult to deal with. As soon as they know Arsenal is interested in a player, it will surely come out in public to try and create a bidding war. A process which the club does not want to get into.

    And for the tactical ingenuity of parking the bus, no thanks. That is not football. I’ts lame. Remember Netherlands Vs Spain in the World cup? Greece 2004? Not very exciting is it? Chelsea won it all but what respect do they get? Are they being crowned gloriously or do people see the win as a steal?

    @Retsub, I also agree that there is something missing in the team. As for leadership, I can’t really comment on that because I am not in the dressing room. For the people that have said that maybe it is time to give Steve Bould a crack, I think he would have a word to the team if he was in the dressing room. He is a coach after all.

    I think the team lacks confidence. We have seen the quality. But the indecisiveness sometimes shows a lack of trust and belief in each other. I can’t wait for the Tottenham game really. It is where our run started last year. It will be a massive boost if we win that!

  59. The buys within the last 5 years have been mediocre compared to the early Wenger reign.
    As a manager if you bring in Sylvestre , Santos to your club then you have lost the plot!
    Wenger is the manager ! If the scouting has been horrible for the last 5 years , he has to take the blame .
    It is not a lack of confidence , we are having but a lack of quality players!
    Please think back and this season , when we played well who were the impact players? Carzola and….Gervinho

  60. Wenger arrived and found a football culture , players like Adams, Parlour , Seaman men of strong character who gave their all every time they wore an Arsenal jersey.
    Wenger just had to add a few quality players for the team to become great very rapidly . There was a solid base!

    What do we have now?

  61. I think its because the policy of the team changed when we bought the new stadium. We had to rely more on the youth and being self sufficient while making budget but quality signings. In the last 5 years, we have signed Sagna, Nasri, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Mertesacker, Cazorla, Ramsey (good signing but slowed down by injury), Eduardo (same), Arshavin, Arteta, Gervinho, Giroud, Podolski, and ox. Good players! The only mistakes I reckon was Silvestre which you mentioned and I will probably add Squillaci. But most signings have contributed enough for us to always be in the top end of the table every season and in the knock out stages of CL.

    I would also like to see us grab names that are being thrown out there that are destined to be great like Goetze, Reus, Falcao and Neymar and World class stars but there is no guarantee that they would be a success in the PL and there is no guarantee that we can outbid teams like madrid, bayern, barca, chelsea and city.

  62. We agree the players you named are good, but for the most part are not great and impact players that help us win the league or the CL.

  63. Another rubbish performance if its not bad luck day 4 vermeulen then it was arteta bad luck day,an ordinary arsenal would out play their opponents,it was not about da penalty but his whole performance during da game,wenger a man that’s lost it all he probably say fulham is a good team and we were lucky 2 get a point,more shit talk,what is that idiot ramsey doing on da pitch he did nothing useful he could of cost us a red card, first half there had no answers to fulham possession football,arsenal lesson 4 today: that they are going 2 compete wit these middle team clubs for uefa cup positions and wenger wil stil say we don’t have 2 buy world class players,everton(last 22 seasons) was once a succesful team in da 80’s now look at them we could be joining them a lot soon then we thought!

  64. Wow! I thought the jury would’ve been out already. My take is anything travelling without the right destination bearings(knowingly or unknowingly) is definitely in for a surprise upon arrival.

    RAMSEY WILL SINK THIS SHIP. WE WILL NOT WIN ANYTHING WITH HIM EVEN ON THE BENCH.

    1. So, we have a rare early substitution and Ramsey comes on leaving far superior players (Arshavin and Ox) on the bench. Where are we heading with this rubbish?

    2. Are we beginning to see that Arteta is not a DM? Some of us here were busy praising Podolski and Arteta just after three games as if we did not need Song and VP. For the fact that Wenger feels Coquelin should be in a more advanced role than Arteta when infact he is Songs heir in the team shows we lack bearing. Arteta is way better in ball distribution, shot power and accuracy than any of Coquelin and Wilshere(talkless of the joke called Ramsey), why they play ahead of Arteta is sick. Is our manager sick? Maybe…. Why? He made Fabregas to play as a Defensive midfielder in Arsenal when it was very clear that he was even more accurate than VP at shooting (only Arshavin was more accurate). Last season VP showed unprecedented class and persistent hunger and lifted up his game quite amazingly. Perhaps we benefited from the EUROs just around the corner, but this is not my point.
    My point is that FABs was made to play as a false CF for the reigning World and European champions in the EUROs just a year after leaving us. Why is it that our blind manager could not see this and push him up when Guardiola played him as a support striker in his first ever game for Barca just after leaving us? My verdict is that I do not think waiting for anyone to come good will take us anywhere. We have no time to convert a Henry and wait to see if he comes good etc. The team is average at best, we do not have the team we had before when we had that luxury of converting players etc. The team is badly in need of quality, so ONLY round pegs in round holes permitted. He has clearly lost his bearing on this one.
    3. The Walcott impasse is not helping the squad, Jack Wilshere has just voiced out in support of trophies. The players want trophies too. It shows that all fans who feel we should follow the manager hopelessly are clearly deluded at best. Playing Walcott in CF would have put this game to bed FULL STOP. I’m not against Girouds progression, but we MUST be professional and not sentimental if we want results. This is why i’m all against favouritism especially biased toward Ramsey and (the unfit)Diaby.
    4. Finally, we can all see the manager is clearly our problem, not Diaby or Ramsey (whom I feel has not been able to motivate himself enough to make that step up because he is clearly guaranteed a regular starting berth once fit) or Santos (whom he played and injured in that useless UCL game last season when he was the only fit LB in the squad). He and a returning Vermaelen where the only regulars to start in a match we could comfortable afford to lose 10-0 away cos we were already top of the group. We seem to forget very easily, but it is because of risking Santos in that useless game that we had 19 different defense combinations last season and a clearly off-form Santos this season because he clearly has not been up to last seasons standard. Ramsey had a leg break, but why are we so patient with him(3years since he came back) when we sold Eduardo and VP(why has injury not affected his performances?)?

    The wrong bearings we travel with, an unexpected but hopeful destination awaits us. Is this the season our silly superstar sales policy finally catches up with and cripples us? I pray we do not sink into the lower echelons this season.

  65. He and a returning Vermaelen were the only regulars to start in a match we could comfortably afford to lose 10-0 away cos we were already top of the group. Pardon

  66. Home draw with the Cottagers. yea.
    Top class stuff and more to come.
    Don’t get me wrong I’m grateful for the point.
    It’s all hijinx and low sarcasm until you end up in the relegation zone.
    Sure, I know, it could never happen to us.

  67. You know Ramsey bashing is getting very boring. He didn’t play badly today and frankly there were worse players on the pitch. I was at the game today and Ramsey got a pretty good reception. Something isn’t right with this team. It may be the board, it may be Wengers stubbornness, or a number of other factorsbut it certainly isn’t all Ramsey. Give it a rest it’s getting boring

  68. I have absolutely no qualms with this guy. Point is if he wasnt available for selection(since the manager is clearly biased), then we would do better.

  69. There is really no point in arguing the point anymore, Iv been sayin for years we were goin ln this direction but ‘fans’ didnt want to hear it and its our fault we are here now. There should have been protests years ago for selling our best and then fielding the Chamakhs, Bendtners, Squillachis, Almunias, Sylvestres, Denilsons and Djourous. They would be even more exposed at lesser teams.
    What Arsenal was is a distant memory now.
    The manager has no apetite for competition and instead hides behind the foreign owners of other clubs using them as his excuse while he persists with poor player selection and lack of any tactical nuance.
    Its not what drew me to this club 20 years ago.
    We are now a club that makes up the numbers and fulfills its fixture list…theres not even good football to watch anymore its all a rerun of the previous gane.
    Were in that bad a shape now it doesnt matter if you got Wenger out because we are the new Liverpool…the next manager will need 5 years to turn this side adound and make us contenders again

  70. Shambo am busting to argue with you, but sadly a lot that you have said is true. I do think they will improve when Jack gets into gear, but its too late for this season

    I really hope Schalke beat Olympiacos in the next round. I really hate those games where you have to draw 3 ..3. And it has to be your birthday next week to qualify

  71. Retsub,
    Im sick of arguing with fellow fans mate. I reread some of the stuff after Iv posted here and I regret it but its unbelievable how frustrated the fans are as a whole.
    My argument is we should be demanding more instead of towing the line because for me the board has crossed the line and our staunch support has been exploited to the point of barefaced lies and insult of intelligence. The board is the most insular in world football in my opinion.
    The other side is some fans believe they truly are being loyal and serving the best interest of the club by standing strong in support of the manager and club policy which is fine aswel, each to their own.
    But what we cant deny is that both sides of this fence are taking the frustrations of the last 7 years on the mediocre merry-go-round out on eachother on every blog around.
    Not healthy and were defo not going to move forward on that basis.

  72. Shambo
    Well written, it’s very true what you say. Tinkering with the team may help, but it doesn’t hide the major problems behind the scenes. I don’t have the answer but arguing amongst ourselves isn’t going to archive anything.

    It wasn’t a good game from a quality perspective yesterday, but it was certainly entertaining

    Spurs next week, gulp. I had a ticket but have to collect my cousin at Heathrow. If we lose that one Wenger will be under huge pressure

  73. Quite frankly and to the best of my knowledge(I’ve been playing football against men since i was 6), the manager does not pick his best for any game. We are ALWAYS lucky to be getting an above average 11 cos of injuries to Diaby and Ramsey(Schalke anyone?). When did the subs come on? 89th minute. Did he want to run Podolski to the ground? This is why we drew a game we should have won cos he lacks what it takes to make good changes to hang on to a lead. It is same with yesterdays game. How on earth do we surrender a 2 goal lead to go down 3-2 to Fulham at home? What was the manager looking at? It does not even matter what he looks at because he can not see who is who in the squad anymore. He has lost it with these guys because he is just too rigid with his assessments.

    Good, but when he feels Ramsey should come on( when did anyone ever come on at the 55th minute for us?), he does it just 10mins into the 2nd half cos he misused Coquelin(Songs successor) and Arteta(now playing in a new role this season as a DM) and swapped their positions. All these swapping makes for inefficiency. Playing Ramsey and being favourably biased towards him when I know we have much much better players like Arshavin and fan favourite(the Ox) makes me hate him so much(it is same for all the fans worldwide). Everybody gives out a big sigh of disgust whenever they see Ramsey turn up. While not running away from this pertinent question, let us ask ourselves this again? WHY DID HE SELL 2/3 OF OUR PILLARS OF LAST SEASON? He said Wilshere and probably Diaby were like new signings. So, he actually gave us this excuse cos he wanted to use Ramsey. Sagna voiced disapproval at the sale of Song, Wenger benched him till we had manure on the horizon and he decided to play him cos he wanted to play Wilshere too. It would not be nice to have Sagna on the bench and Wilshere playing.

    Against Schalke, we just needed to bring on Santos to plug the gap on the left(so we play 5 when defending and 4 when attacking cos he would be the one going forward). But, he acts completely unprofessionally and ended up drawing the game.

    Finally, if Ramsey is unavailable, the next favourite would not be so bad considering Diaby is still indisposed.
    Please, let us take our cue from there.

    P.S Its all jumbled up

  74. Just having 2 watch man city and tottenham,man city shrugged out there dissappointing draws hope I could say da same for arsenal but players just seem stuck wit lacklustre form,seven years wit out a trophy coming from a so call top side well that seem hard to believe but true, da longer fans keep on praising wenger da longer he wil see his performances as satisfactory,I rememba seeing a match I think it was barc vs valencia,barc was in a bad patch wit their season seeming trophyless they da fans decided to wave white material in protest of change in manager,I just believe we shouldn’t be one dimension and believe in wenger philosophy becoz in da 5 year trophyless drought he said things will get better too bad they just took a serious nose dive 4 da worst, since 2005 manu got nine trophies and we got nothing its only a suggestion that arsenal as a whole still depends on us until they bring in a fake crowd disguise on tv something been plan in italy,we the fans still have a say on what happens at arsenal!

  75. The worst lie of all,

    Apparently wenger has been asked if he new berbatov was available from MAU
    last summer he frankly said he did not know he was available.

    Do you want worst than that?????? sick!!!!!
    BUT don’t blame wenger or the BOD
    We all know who should be blamed

  76. Berbatov is a lazy git at times but equally as lazy as Chamakh, but then theres no comparison with the ball and goal scoring ability.
    We shud have got 22m and Berbatov for Dick van Pursestrings but Wenger and Gazidis really dont know how to deal.
    He was perfect for us because we only need a striker for 2/3 years whille we wait for Campbell and the brazilian kid Wellington Silva.
    But what we have is…..Chamakh.
    I have to laugh ‘cos if I dont Il sob.

  77. Interesting enough there is still a lot of people defending Wenger. It seems they will find positives on possible anything he does. Not too long ago we were better because we sold that useless guy called Song, apparently we improved defensively.

  78. What is frustrating for me at this stage is that we simply refuse to strengthen, to prepare for games or to get players that will grind out results/hard workers. It’s depressing to see our club giving up on the field and concentrating on making money.

    Is it really possible that one of the top clubs in the whole of Europe can not afford to spend +-£30 mill on players. Are the fans that stupid

  79. Agree with you Shambo. 5 years ago , it was hard to Arsenal’s to criticize Wenger for decisions, the Wenger knows best brigade were out in full force.
    It pains me that almost my worst fears have come to pass. mainly the quality of our players have been declining over the years.

  80. @Gunfest
    What I’m afraid of is that there is worse to come.
    Not to fear monger but Wenger stature is so enormous no one dares act on the failings of Wenger the manager of a badly faltering football club.
    I also firmly believe that the brittle nature of the team is a fair reflection of the Man’s character.

  81. How we were proved wrong(and how). The fall of Arsenal from glory is complete. Difficult to swallow but we are playing like a mid-table club at the moment.

  82. @leftcoast ,I agree because of WEnger’s stature with the club no one will act . The tragedy is Wenger will leave only when the fans turn on him , especially if we finish outside the top 4 and teams like Spurs finish above us.
    Faced with fans fury and our humiliation , Wenger will leave on his own.
    He will leave a club financially strong but with very little quality players. The new manager will have a big task to rebuild this team.
    I am of those who thought that our league position finish in the last few seasons were deceiving , players like Fabregas and RVP kept us among the elite clubs.

    Wenger the coach is still great, I don’t think that he forgot how to coach , the problem is Wenger the manager of Arsenal has been mediocre at best for last 5 years. I don’t think that Fergie or Guardiola could do much better with these players, and that ‘s Wenger responsibility , he bought these players.

    I saw in the news recently, Chelsea has turn a profit for the first this year. They have also passed Arsenal in become Europe 5th biggest club financially(revenues and assets).
    Does anyone believe that we play like the 6 th biggest club in Europe? Maybe 8 years ago , but not now!

  83. Wenger has lost it,he claims we have a large squad bt dat is nt d case,our defence is nt d problem,santos is nt our broblem,vermaelen played 2 games at left back,replacing the ‘terrible’ santos and we still conceded 5 goals,dat shows dat santos is nt d problem…our problem is our midfield,no steel,if the midfield cant stop or rather reduce the rate at which the defence is attacked,u’d concede goals,especially when u r playin against teams wit classical goal poachers,huntelaar,rvp,berbatov.ramsey,arteta,coquelin,they dont scare attackin playes,frimpong does,he is a mountain,a beast,clearly he is d least creative of all our midfielders bt he’s got huge phisical presence,an intimidating physique,dats what our midfield needs now,since diaby got injured we hav lost our midfield dominance.in as much as i luv jack wilshere,he is nt the solutin to our current crisis.we need steel in our midfield,jst look at the present bunch,they are nt intimidating at all,dats why smaller clubs jst have a go at them and they get results.i neva tot there would come a time when i wuld nt be able to watch my darling Arsenal,i think d time is fast approachin.the beautiful game Arsenal was once praised for is no more,the present crop of players,except for walcott,diaby,rosicky,djourou and sagna,have been playin in arsenal less than 4 years,the captain is in his 4th season,of which he missed an entire season and half,we hav had more captains in d last 7 year than anyoda club in the league,wenger does nt know wat he is doing any more,wenger i used to know wuld not sign cazorla for 15 millio pounds,cos he would nt have left his team in a position where he wuld require a big money signing,90 million pounds in transfer in 2 seasons.hw can u spend 90 million in 2 seasons and ur team stil plays d way Arsenal is playin.Arsene wenger is a disgrace,off with him

  84. 90 million pounds in player purchase nt to mention d salaries,i bet none of u realises dat what we’ve spent to strenghten our squad since august 2011,man utd spent jst about the same amount in the same timeframe,everton cant even dream of spendin dat amount in strenghtening,they are ahead of us in the table,and who can honestly look at our current team and say we wuld beat everton.it’s been coming,d media has been singin it for over 5 years now,i dont see us finishing in d top 4 this season,unless chelsea repeat their performance of last season in d league,the last time everton started the season brightly,they made top 4.maybe thats what The club needs to make them sit up,lets face it,qualifying for the champions league in d last 15 years has nt really yielded us,the fans anything,we have nt won it,only the management that gets more money.

  85. well guys As the Arsenal fans have proven over time they will complain and comply.

    The fact of the matter is the BOD will never sack wenger as a matter of fact there is a new contract on the table for him, can you rationalize that??? they must think Arsenal fans are the biggest fools in the whole footballing world.

    And he will see out his contract i can be sure of that which ends in 2014 that’s a long time, so the only way to get him out next season is to not go to the games and vote with your wallet, noother way will will remove him.

    As i said before now that am sure what wenger, Ivan , hillwood, stan, and all the rest are doing with my money they will not get a next cent from me as long as these dictators are in charge i would rather flush every cent down the toilet literally.
    7 * 5= 35, Yes, 35 mill, that’s wenger has dug out of the club these last 5 years and for what, F*ck all, finish 4th and 3rd, then 4th again, no improvement
    selling the best assets of the club to all and anybody, all because of money AND the worst crime of all charging the poor fans an arm and leg to watch very average players, and food, ah yes Food , 14 Quid for fish and chips day light robbery,
    BUT you will bet that the fans will do the usual and comply and complain

  86. It’s frustrating I know, but it isn’t all bad. I.m ready to jump off a cliff after reading the last few posts. I do believe when Wilshire gets going we will have a decent team. Not a great one but decent. We have a great stadium and are financially sound… Not rich. We have a decent.. Not great base to build on. I guess the best we can hope for is 4th place, which unfortunately seems to be on a par with winning a cup. I am still confident we will archive 4th. Partly because I don’t see spurs , Newcastle, Everton as great threats.

    Not ready to jump yet coyg

  87. “Wenger has lost it,he claims we have a large squad bt dat is nt d case,our defence is nt d problem,santos is nt our broblem,vermaelen played 2 games at left back,replacing the ‘terrible’ santos and we still conceded 5 goals,dat shows dat santos is nt d problem…our problem is our midfield,no steel,if the midfield cant stop or rather reduce the rate at which the defence is attacked,u’d concede goals” ……………FINALLY, SOMEONE franck SEES IT

    Just like me, he probably is no authority, but this is where the problem is and this is where my grouse with playing RAMSEY comes from.
    Favouritism, so he can probably get a cut from the sales(joking) of Ramsey or Diaby will do us no good. THEY WILL CONTINUE TO BE WASTED INVESTMENTS.
    Possession football requires quick thinking and accurate ball passers(highly technical players), not running all over the place midfielders. I rest

  88. I’ll tell you why Cavani wont come. Its cos we wont be offering him 250k. Mancity started with Robinho, now they have Aguero. We can definitely start somewhere. Van Persie paid his way to Cologne for the friendly(cos he was impressed by the Cazorla signing) and got booed by silly Arsenal FC fans. The manager decided after that game to sell to United. All of a sudden, Giroud(not even fellow newcomer Podolski) and not Walcott(who sees himself as that heir) is chosen to wear the BIG shoes of Anelka, Henry and Van Persie. This is FLAW number 1.
    This is where we have condescended to(our worst league start since 1983). Need I remind us that Van Persie was used as a 2nd half sub in that game(an insult to a current team pillar). Who’s top scorer now? By following this manager, we all look STUPID. He is very vindictive and stubborn and makes other fans laugh at us.

    Sincerely, Wenger is NOT a great coach, he is at best just average. He won games with especially HENRY(Speed and Precision), not because of any extra-ordinary coaching. Walcott so far has the speed abilities of Henry and Anelka before him. Just do the math Wenger and start using the counter-attack thing again. Its so sad we have not been able to look back to see what styles we used when we were successful.

    If he buys good technical players, he WILL win again(any coach will). For now everyone still sees him as a god that once did wonders and we take every excuse stupidly cos we can ourselves see no further.

    I’ll probably not be writing again for a while, so…
    The reason we were tolerant and patient with Songs development was
    1. Flamini just ran away.
    2. We stupidly sold Gilberto BECAUSE HE WAS TOO OLD for us, but not old enough to captain Brazil to winning the World Cup.
    3. He was in a good team….one bad speck at DM could be managed.

    The two main understudies we had for Song are Coquelin and Frimpong. After selling Song with no replacements bought, who should naturally be promoted? This is FLAW number 2.

    Arteta, Rosicky and Song were not bad in midfield last season. If we want to do better this season, we have to replace Rosicky and Songs quality. We bought Cazorla only, but we have Arshavin who can also play behind the striker(i dont know whats wrong with Rosicky). How we can not make the most of the players available is the most frustrating part of my watching any of our games. I see the flaws before they unfold (This is my Ramsey problem, irrespective of whether he does well on the day or not). Ramseys best is not good enough for us anymore. If we are very honest, who would magreed or Barca sign between Wilshere, Arshavin, Rosicky, Diaby and Ramsey in order of preference? I bet the last two would be the least preferred. This is FLAW number 3. To make my point again..Possession football requires technically sound midfielders. This is the reason why barca bought FABs and Song from us. We have refused to complement Cazorla with another maestro(arteta can try), hence we reduce him to struggling everyday he plays for us. Barca do the one-two passing cos they are very accurate at both passing and shooting. Who is Cazorla doing it with before laying the killer pass or vice versa? So, no Nasri, no FABs, no Song. Where are the like quality replacements?

    Where are the assist specialists? Why is Arshavin not starting every game once fit? Why is Walcott not used in the CF as Henry once was? Why are we now using people that cannot run so fast in front? Why are we not using the proper tactics to suit whoever is in front? Why do we play the same predictable pattern even when we know we are using less efficient players(teams like Norwich and Schalke exploited this). We lay a very heavy burden week in week out on our defense, but no one complains when the midfielders keep on passing the ball backwards(i dont know when we started this). I can go on and on and on.

    Its so sad knowing how bad we have gone. If the manager does not sincerely sit down and take a critical look at this team (especially now we have Cazorla) with a view to getting better players in, then we will certainly go down. I will still support us even if we play championship football, but I firmly believe we can do better with this lot.
    I’m sorry for using the words STUPID a lot, but i’m so depressed knowing just how silly we have been managing(Arsene Wenger) things.

  89. Lets get rid of Wenger! The question is, who do we replace him with that will IMMEDIATELY get the team wins using a different system, a different tactical approach that the team has adopted since 2008? Someone who will not risk the future of the club by making expensive and irresponsible buys?

    We are only 4 points from the 4th place and a couple of wins from the top. That means we haven’t lost our Champions League spot and the trophy is still within reach. I say this because the Premier League is way stronger than the other leagues collectively. The teams in the bottom of the ladder have the potential to beat the teams at the top. Don’t tell me that QPR with the players at their disposal are not capable of beating the top teams?

    I am a tad bit optimistic because I know we have the solutions. The last 3 games before Fulham was a worry because we don’t create a lot of chances but that was fixed because we looked dangerous every time we had the ball against Fulham. We did lack the defensive intensity needed but I am sure that will be sorted as well.

    Why do we need to replace Giroud as the front man when he is finding form? If that is the coach you are all looking to replace the manager with is, then we absolutely have no chance.

  90. @ BrisVegas
    The problem is that you are targeting 4th place. Despite our form I also believe we will still achieve 4th place, but for how long?? We seem to have no ambition or plan.

    A new manager will probably have us lying somewhere mid table for a few seasons and hopefully make it back to the top. I know there is no guarantee that the next man will do a better job but that is one of the big problems with club today……..taking a short term risk is seen as a complete disaster. Can’t remove Wenger because we might not get someone better, can’t spend on a big name because he might be another Torres/Carrol.

    Playing champions league 15 straight seasons with nothing to show for it is embarrassing…….I would take 8 seasons a gold medal any day.

  91. A champions league for a minimum target is not bad because it keeps us as part of that elite group who plays the toughest competition in the world. Top players want to sign with teams who plays champions league every year with the exception of teams offering big money that we don’t offer. If we sacrifice that, who will want to sign? I would never accept being in mid table even for just one season. As I mentioned before, playing in the Champions League for that long has been a major credit to the club because Arsenal is now considered one of the top clubs in the world. Are we playing like it at the moment? probably not!

    Let us not get mixed up with targets. Every year, we have been trying to go for the title but we do have a minimum which is the Champions League. I see it as a realistic target considering the Financial Powers that we have to come up against every single year. I’m just happy we still compete every single year and sometimes we even look promising!

  92. @ BrisVegas Gooner

    Let me ask you this, if GOD forbid and we finish outside the champions league places then what do we do???????

  93. @ BrisVegas Gooner

    “Top players want to sign with teams who plays champions league every year with the exception of teams offering big money that we don’t offer. If we sacrifice that, who will want to sign?”

    And tell me how has Arsenal benefited from playing in the CL for 15 straight years, in-terms of signing top players, who top players have we signed because we play in the CL????
    when arsenal sign a player its because no other top club in Europe is interested, And don’t tell me Podolski because he went to bayern and flopped and so far it doesn’t look good, he’s complaining about playing out of position when he always plays in this position for germany so why complain??? I know its early BUT he’s beginning to look home sick, I’ll judge him in Jan. you might say carzola BUT look how we got him, someone compares his signing to reposes goods.

    But seriously what top players have we attracted because we play in the CL ??
    tell give me name..

    And to say we don’t pay big wages is not true one bit, are you for real???

    We buy players on the cheap or free and pay them ridiculous wages hence a lot of players prefer to sit on the bench and even risk their international careers by staying at Arsenal because of the wages, to which noone else would match, come on man!!!! its well documented that the policy that arsenal under wenger has adopted these past years appear to be transparent
    at first glance BUT if you dig deeper its flawed left, right , and center, as a matter of fact it’s blatant mismanagement of funds, its almost a scandal.
    How can they justify the ticket prices?? can you?? scandalous!!!!
    How can you justify wenger pay , 7mil, for what?? tell me what???
    People keep saying a lot is not wrong BUT if you look closer a whole lot is wrong at Arssenal and the longer it continues the deeper in shit we go..

  94. Yes Kel , tell it like it is! How is it that our manager who is so concern with funds accept a salary of 7 mil per year? The frugal Wenger ?
    I have been watching the French league even before Wenger came to Arsenal. When I read and hear fans ask who else if not Wenger? I reply 90 % of Arsenal fans did not know Wenger prior to him taking the job.

    My concern is not that we would not find a new a manager , I believe they are many in Europe who believe in possession football and have the hunger. The big question is what would the next man find at Arsenal ? To be frank , very few top quality players are left, I am afraid!

    Here is another shocker , we could stil finish ahead of them , but I believe that Spurs have more quality players than us now. Germaine Dufoe is a better forward than anyone we have, they have Adebayor better than Giroud at the moment, not to mention Bale, do we have a winger in his class?

    Our next manager can not be our CFO , the manager ROLE is to request as much funds that he can and buy the best players he can afford. He HAS TO push the board and ownership for funds and their job is to limit how much , he gets . It is the normal dynamic that should exist.

  95. Prem league wage bill 2010 to 2011

    Chelsea £191 million

    Man U £174 million

    Man city £153 million

    Liverpool £135 million

    Arsenal £124 million

    Scandalous sack them all!!!!!!!!

    Does it occur to people that there is a direct correlation between money and league position

  96. @kel,
    Spot on.
    I said from day one Wenger would never have signed Chamkh if he hadnt been on a free, in fact we were linked with him when he had a year left and still Wenger wanted to risk losing him to another club judt to get him for nothing a year later.
    We should have all known when there was no competition for this guy that he wasnt up to scratch, yet he got a big sign on fee and sits on his arse getting 70,000 a week now…thats who Wenger bought to replace Adebayour.
    Then theres Arshavin who went awol from Zenit and flew to London to force through his move to us, again no real competition for his signature and although he by noway deserves the massive wages he gets Ithink Wenger is to blame for ruining the guys carreer playing him left wing when he plays the Cazorla role so well, anyway thats now 150,000 a week sitin on their arses.
    Sebastien Squillach.
    I dont have the stomach to go into detail about the guy,€8M from Seville, 65,000 a week.
    Thats now 215,000 with no return PER WEEK.
    We still pay a portion of Bentders 55,000 a week wages whiles hes on loan. Who pays Nicholas Bendtner 55,000 a week?
    Thats 270,000 a week wed been paying while he was here.
    Diaby costs the club more in medical costs than hes worth in wages.
    Djourou gets 40,000 a week without ever having played two solid games in a row.
    310,000 a week now for mediocrity.
    Santos ……who knows what hes been paid a week. lets say 35.000 but Id imagine its closer to 50,000 being a former Brazil international and Arsenal not having a clue how to rate their players by wage.
    360,000 a week now.
    When we were in dire need of quality on the final day Wenger again risked at the eleventh hour making Arteta take a paycut to leavecEverton, again the player forces through the mive.
    The reason we got Cazorla, Wengers best signing in 8 years, was because we had Malaga over a barrel. Thet were broke and had upset the player by not paying his wages towards the end.
    Once again there was no competition because Chelsea had Oscar, Hazard, Mata, Marin, etc etc, City had Silva, Aguero, Toure, etc etc, and Utd knew they were taking Van Persie. We couldnt get Sahin to come here instead of Liverpool, forget about his lack of impact for a secong its irrelevent and forget about the Mourinho/ Wenger bull aswel.
    Sahin had final say and chose Liverpool ahead of CL football with Arsenal.
    We lost Mata over a couple of million when ge wanted to come yet Wenger thinks we can afford to pay the above wages a week to these scrubbers?
    360,000 a week been sucked out of the club by these guys running down the clock til they leave. Thats 1,440,000 a month.
    Thats €17,280,00 a year 5 or 6 awful Wenger signings are costing us on wages alone. Thats the equivalent of another Santi Cazorla.
    Wenger and Gazidis are failing tremedously well.
    Wenger has had 15 years consecutive CL football and this is seen as accomplishment…NEWS JUST IN….. 0/15 isnt a good stat.
    We have to pay a fortune on a day out at the Emirates so Wenger can get his 7M a year for agreeing to sign Squillachi and Chamakh.
    Protest scheduled for December.
    We want our Arsenal back.

  97. Whoops!
    Forgot about my old friend Denilson
    That brings the yearly wage for scrubbers to 21M….if you inclube Wenger in the scrubber category thats 28m a year…thats a Juan Mata and his wages for 4 years right there.

  98. @ Shambo , you forgot Frank Sylvestre. Great illustration of the waste of fund at Arsenal!
    The tragedy in all of that is if we bring Matta or Carzola while RVP is here and he extends his contract because he would have had hope and seen a direction.
    RVP probably looks at us now and thinks “what a mess” ! We have not done a thing so far to make him regret his move.

  99. Chelsea for the first time turn a profit , it is directly related to playing the CL final and winning it.
    What did we do after we played the CL final ? We sold Henry,let go of Pires ,sold Kolo and so on… Went on a youth policy with mediocre players such as Djourou, Denilson, Ramsey , Bendtner with won how many trophies? 0

  100. A retsub

    “Does it occur to people that there is a direct correlation between money and league position”

    Ok, so lets see..

    Germany

    2011/12

    Spending in Euros

    Bayern 183
    wolfsburg 152
    Hamburger 130
    bremen 127

    stuttgart 126
    schalke 125

    Dortmund is down in 15 place 68

    2 League titles back to back

    and look at schalke their 5 on the list but still have the ability to finish 3rd in the league
    Wolfsburg are 2 on the list BUT finish 8th in the league

    As someone said and it true that having lots of money may guarantee a champions league place BUT it will not guarantee a league title the manager is the one who has to instill the winning mentality and tactical nohow to achieve this.

    In serie A
    Milan 120
    Juventus 115
    Inter 100
    Roma 95
    lazio 66
    Napoli 53.2

    Juventus won the league even though they spend less than milan
    Udinese finish 3rd ahead of a host of big spending clubs. Inter are 3rd on the list and look where they finished, 6th

    I wont mention spain because madrid and Barc are technically and tactically ahead of every body, and they spend money as well.

    My point is regardless of the money in the game if the coach and the management know what their doing then they WILL be able to succeed
    Buy the right players to suit you system
    Know your opponents (tactically strong)
    Instill a winning mentality
    Keep your best players at all cost
    And the rest will fall into place

    The thing is that even though you buy cheap you can still buy the write players to suit your system BUT for some reason wenger just continues to buy the wrong players to play in his system, if Arsenal really want to play 433 and be successful then more then half of the team needs to change
    and that’s one of the main reasons why we struggle, wrong personnel in the system

  101. There is no correlation between spending money and winning championships, that is an illusion. How much money does it take to beat Norwhich, Hull or Fullham? And how about a point at Old Trafford? We have dropped a lot of points this season already and you can’t look back and tell me that those looses and draws were unavoidable. it’s a combination of wrong buys (as pointed above ) and lack of respect for opposition.

  102. While waiting for the next blog post, I ‘ve been reading through the-growing-longer-by-the-week comments section.

    This is officially our worst start since the Premier League began. We now are truly what we are: a club mired in mid-table crisis. If we start winning this weekend and keep it up through the New Year it will all change. No more angst, no more handwringing. It can happen.

    The late great Sam Cooke had just about one of the prettiest voices God ever gave to anyone. After he heard the great and still very present Bob Dylan for the first time he said, “From now on it ‘ain’t gonna be about how pretty you sing, it gonna be about whether people believe what believe what you’re singing”.

    I’ll give up all that pretty football that we can play for some football I can believe in.

  103. AWESOME STUFF. Can some of these unrealistic fans now see the truth? It hurts you know, but its the truth and facts like mentioned above do not lie.

    WE BUY(HAVE) AN AWFUL LOT OF CHEAP GARBAGE(FULL STOP)

  104. @rooiseun

    No correlation between winning championships and money huh? Maybe you can explain to me why only five teams (I think) have won the premiership since it was formed in the early 90’s. lets see United and Arsenal oh and Blackburn who had a large influx of cash from the steel magnet jack walker allowing them to buy shearer and Sutton. Then suddenly Chelsea who hadn’t won zip for 50 years appear on the scene, why? Abramovich, then city who won the cup about 40 years ago, why? Abu Dhabi. W,e can talk about bad buys and bad decisions all day and some were very bad, but to suggest there is no correlation is plain naive.

    Wenger cannot compete with the other big buys from a financial standpoint, so he has to look for bargains and he hasn’t done badly, Henry, Pires, Ljunberg, cazorla, Anelka, Adebayor were all picked up at good prices. It’s been said we only got cazorla because of Malagas financial situation, true enough, but it was Wenger who bought him.

    I agree things arn’t right but it ain’t that bad and all the top managers have brought duffers at one time or another

  105. @Retsub thanks! Thought I was by myself! Hahah

    @kel there is no point talking what ifs because if I say what if we win this year, would you stop being frustrated? So let’s deal with not making it when we actually don’t make it.

    Maybe I could not pinpoint who exactly joined because of our CL qualifications because I haven’t spoken to all the players who joined since but if you are an aspiring footballer that wants to compete at the highest level, wouldn’t you join the premier league (I reckon is the best league in the world because of the speed of the game, the growing technical abilities of players and not being a 2 horse race like the Spanish league), and join a team who plays at the highest level in club football? ( champions league).

    Also, we may have a big wage bill but it is not as big as the other clubs as Retsub illustrated above. The top earners are the difference. We don’t have one that exceeds 150k and up as reported. And some clubs just throw that around because it makes a difference.

    @gunfest spuds have a better team than us?? Hahah sorry mate but not a chance. If there are players I would trade from our current team, it would only be Bale. Modric and van der vaart are gone.

    @shambo it’s true that we have deadwood and probably wasting away. Doesn’t all big clubs have that though? I mean with KAKA alone bought for approx 65 million and probably earning 200ks a week. He doesn’t play every week. Point is, all clubs have the same problem.

  106. Just to be clear in where I stand. I am frustrated and disappointed as well but basing on how the team and manager performed the past couple of seasons, I know they will bounce back and it’s still only early in the season. I will probably be worst if we still don’t improve by then! Just trying to be optimistic and be overly dramatic like some.

  107. @Retsub
    If you were right then football would be boring. Money definitely put those teams u mentioned on the map, it allowed them to compete, but it did not make them win championships. There are a couple of seasons Chelsea look shit, Man city could only do it on goal difference last season. With all the millions they have spent they only have one championship to show for it.
    Chelsea won the CL because they applied their tactics correctly not because they are rich.

    We are so concerned with what these teams are spending we forget about the small things they do to achieve success, maurinho was more important to Chelsea winning than the millions they spent on players.

    I will ask how much money do we need to stop leaking goals season after season.

  108. @rooiseun

    I think we have a chicken and egg situation, you can’t apply good tactics if you don’t have good players. And good players cost money.

    Chelsea worked damned hard for the European cup, in effect thy parked the bus, the biggest asset they had was a lot of luck

  109. Hey Andrew, you’re a bit slack with the reports these days. Man U report? Schalke report? Fulham report? Should we not see a report on each game a few hours after? What’s your mandate? I think if you’re going to run a blog you should keep it up to date as much as possible or people will not bother returning. I like commenting but when I come back every couple of days it’s just the same old report from weeks and weeks ago. It’s a bit boring mate. All the other blogs I’m on are very active and up to date. I’m sure everyone thinks the same thing. Come on, be a bit more active please or it’s just not worth it!

  110. davem,
    Andy said things would be slow for a bit as hes under serious pressure timewise…personally I could do without those three particular match reports..and if you and other loyal bloggers dont post then he may consider pulling the plug so lets keep things tippin over bro

  111. Where is diaby??? he was only supposed to be out for a couple of weeks.

    And how much longer does he have on his contract???
    This situation seems so familiar to RVP, injured almost all of the time and as soon as he gets one good season he leaves, this diaby situation is going down the same road and we’re powerless to stop it

  112. Sad but its da truth,on espn rob stewart said that wenger has been too long on da job and that steve bould must be push up and others(on arsenal technical team) to be successful,becoz wenger for da last seasons has not been ratifying da defence problem,if its not da left back then its da right back always a continue problem,tommy smyth was saying that even da bookies are rating arsenal 40 to 1 to win da epl, how pathetic is that? there is no miracle of trophies from wenger just an old man that refuses to give up power!

  113. Steve Bould is in the coaching staff and I am guessing that He is in charge of the defending because he was a defender. He was getting all the plaudits at the start of the season when we were getting all those clean sheets. So how will steve bould be different from the current set up? Laughable commentry.

    Tommy smyth with the Y has always been known as an Arsenal hater. Always predicting Arsenal to be out of the top four and has been proven wrong every single season. I wouldnt rely on those people.

  114. @brisvegas gooner- thanks 4 da feedback but seven seasons wit out a trophy really tells a story about arsenal and where we are heading,I can understand if I saw a change wit our determination of playing da game but its da same old same old, we are no more seen as a threat in da barclays, what team plays so long in da champions league but can’t win it,arsenal got da wenger sickness of going on a losing streak that been occurring for years! I dont like tommy smyth but the pundit are proving what a pain in da ass wenger arrogant stubborn behaviour has become!

  115. Great result.
    Giroud starting to put fear into defenders..Walcott finishing is Henry-like…might have to backtrack on him!

  116. It feels good to get the specially against Spurs. Great to see Giroud starting to come good. I still think that we will see the best of him in 1 or 2 years. Let’s not forget , 3 years ago Giroud was playing in the second division in France. He is still learning to play at a high level and he has to adapt to the English league.

  117. Hola Dudes and wuuuuu fuckin’ huuuuuu!!!!
    Whooped the Yid Scum right outta their silly striped socks.
    As psychotic as this side is who the heck knows what’s next?
    I think I’ll just watch the replay one more time and drink it in deeeeeeeply.
    Ahhh, that’s better 🙂
    coyg!!!

  118. That was beautiful, another 5-2. Giroud & Podolski are playing like proper strikers, putting shots on target.

    I’m also unsure about that Walcott guy anymore whether to support his pay increase or sell him ASAP. He can go missing for most parts of the game and then produce good results like yesterday. I’m glad it’s not my problem/decision it’s Wenger’s.

  119. @Gunfest told you we were better than the spuds! hehehe Vertonghen looks like a decent player though.

    Good to see the boys win! Still let a couple of silly goals that could have been avoided but we played much more confidently. Still lacks the balance, it feels like everything is coming through the right side. Hopefully, the team will kick on from here just like last year. What’s the score Adebayor???

  120. @Brigas Gooner , I am glad we beat them because it was becoming depressing…let’s thank Adebayor for our victory , we were being outplayed , prior to his sending off.
    I still think on paper that they have a stronger squad than we do .

  121. @gunfest

    Gonna disagree with you on Spurs hacking a stronger squad, I just don’t see it. Many people in the past have commented on Spurs being in better shape than Arsenal (and Newcastle to.) if the tables were turned we had been 1 ..0 up at their place lost 5 .h 2 this blog would be loaded with negative comments. Lets celebrate.. I am with the glass half full brigade most of which seems to be in Oz. have a brother in Perth do I qualify?

    Adebayor is part of Wengers secret plan. Brought him for diddly squat, sold him for £25 million disrupted city, now he’s doing the same at Spurs. Lets hope United take a shine to him, although I doubt he and RVP are friends

  122. So Arsenal won the north london derby, good for them mostly the fans deserve it.

    Walcott look a lot better and crossed a lot better BUT am afraid it’s all in vain because the better he plays the more likely he’ll be sold in the summer.
    wenger came out said we’ll keep him at all cost, that statement surly constituted the end for me, when it comes to selling our best players that’s the only thing wenger is good at.
    As sure as day walcott is gone in jan, and i wont begrudge him, why stay???
    we don’t pay big wages and we’re content with finishing 4th and making it to the knockout stages of the champions league. what’s the point in staying!!!!

  123. @kel

    Walcott will stay till the end of the season and go on a free or sign a new deal. I can’t see the Jan window being the time he leaves. I’m sure Walcott wants to see where this team goes this season. It’s a very different looking team from last year and he’s getting some time up front as promised. I believe the more he plays up front, the more he will want to stay. If Arsenal pump the cash up a bit I think it’s a deal.

  124. BTW Andrew, regarding my comment about your lack of activity, we the bloggers, don’t need a massive in depth crit for each game …. just a couple of lines. Don’t feel like you have to post war and peace. Just give us something/anything! You’ve been silent for almost THREE WEEKS mate. Perhaps you can hand it over to someone else if you are too busy. I could knock out a good summary in 30 mins. Anyway, back to you mate……

  125. @ davem

    I wish we could bet on that, those money grabbers up at the Emirates wont risk loosing walcott for free, noway!!!! he’s gone in Jan, the only thing that will stop that is if he signs and once he does not he’ll be flogged off, almost certain.
    wenger has come out on many occasions and said the player won’t be sold and look @ the out come.
    Wenegr has one agenda and that’s simple buy young players develop them then sell and am afraid walcott fits that bill to the tee.

    The thing is we keep getting sucker punch with the same trick every season.

    I’ll bet

  126. @ devem

    I just when through swiss ramble and looking deeper Arsenal are running @ a loss, its when they sell 2 or 3 players they break into profit. so they have to sell.
    That’s why am quite sure walcott will be sold come Jan because the money men can’t afford to let him walk on a free.

  127. @kel
    I agree Walcott with almost certainly be sold.
    But if we don’t qualify for the Champions League next year and we don’t win a trophy how much longer can Wenger himself survive?
    And make no mistake it is becoming a question of survival.

  128. Chelsea and Money city out of Europe at least. There is a rare chance that we may be a surprise package in the league. On Walcott. I am the only one on the blog who glorified Walcott while the rest gave the young man a sluck. You are the same people hanging on for Walcotts signature.Walcott is a must have for any good side and his speed emulates his Life long hero King Henry.He will be irreplaceable if he leaves am afraid. We have had glorious days with him in the Champions league and has scored scintillating goals as well. In the Sansiro ,at Anfiled. You just can’t afford loosing a young champions league quality of player like Walcott. He loves the club and his heroes are there. Pay him the money and we retain his services. It was devastating to see Henry helplessly score against us and it will equally be worse if Walcott plays against us with any of our rivals. We need him at all costs.

  129. Di Matteo out at Chelsea.
    I hope this will negatively affect their morale and form at least long enough for us to catch them. Seems some clubs give unsucessful gaffers the sack.
    Hmmmmmm.

  130. First few minutes v. Montpellier. Wew Look dis-jointed and have thrown a lot of passes away. I hope we pull it together before we get punished.

  131. I think if we hold on to this 2 goal lead, it will boost our confidence for the league. Come on boys!

  132. I think I speak for all of us on this blog when I say “SUCK IT UP NASRI YOU CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ###T!”

  133. Great to see the boys win and get a clean sheet too! Podolski is showing his quality. He may look lost at times but he comes up with the goods when it matters! Lethal in front of goal when he gets an opening!

    Giroud is just getting better every game. He took a while to get going but he has the final ball to match his work ethic now. He just gets better and better every game.

    Most of them played well. i think Ox needs a couple of games and Vermaelen needs to find a new role! even Ramsey did well. But MOTM for me is Koscielny the colossus! They never had a chance.

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