Sunday 18 April 2010

An absolute shambles

In a strangely optimistic way, the fact that we threw away three points today against Wigan may actually be a kind of blessing in disguise. Let me explain.

We have been on contention for the title in the last few weeks, yet our Achilles heel has been exposed time and time again, against Chelsea, Birmingham and Tottenham for just three examples, the shambolic defending on show has been nothing but shocking.

We can make excuses, injuries, luck, et cetera, but frankly many of the defensive problems are down to the fact that we have not defended solidly all season and our squad is weak in certain areas. Arsene cannot hide from this now, it is out there in the open and he must do something in the summer, there is no room for any more excuses.

Certain players are simply not Arsenal quality, Silvestre and Fabianski are two clear examples of this, their careers at the club should be over and if not, then serious questions should be asked regarding the manager's judgement. Fabianski has made error after error this season, while Silvestre is clearly well past it.

In all honesty we are not good enough defensively and have not been all season, I don't think the recent dropped points have been particularly surprising, it's been going on all season, we have conceded almost forty goals this season. Our defense needs proper surgery this summer, I think there's no hiding from this now, the money is there and it must be spent.

28 comments:

library2.0 said...

i have one transfer hope for this season.....we get paid £10million to buy out wengers contract by real madrid......his goalies are a jon=ke, dismantled the back four an losing to wigan.....go on tell me i'm a twat, but we could be playing europa footy

Anonymous said...

Serious changes needed!

Anonymous said...

so does wenger still know best?. thought not

Anonymous said...

If you look at the next three fixtures..we have a genuine chance of playing Europa next year..
I remember our kids defeated this Wigan team 3-0 in the Carling Cup and to capitulate like this is depressing..

Anonymous said...

what about diaby - lazy good for nothing cunt. please please LEAVE!

Anonymous said...

Maybe this will be enough of a slap in the face for AW to realise that we need a world class goalkeeper in order to win anything and that the likes of Diaby and Silvestra are just not good enough.
When Watson scored Wigan's first goal, Diaby was jogging back into the penalty area watching the ball, not tuned into what was around him! I think starting with Eastmond was a bit of a mistake too as he was literally carried for 90 mins. Why not play Eboue? Disappointing decisions.

Unknown said...

Our League position and getting to the later stages of the Champs League has flattered us this season.. Its been a poor premiership, which us helped us stay up there, plus we met many teams at the right time,,,e.g. Everton and Liverpool away,,, plus we had the easiest draws possible in the Chanps League until the Quarter Finals . -- Missing Cesc this past few weeks has exposed how he has almost single handedly kept us in the top 3 all season. -- We have struggled to beat so many teams, Burnley Home, Wolves home, Hull away , just some recent examples..... -- Truth is apart from Cesc RVP Song Vermaelen Ramsey Campbell Clichy (& Eboue for his enthusiasm alone)there are just too many poor players or passengers totally lacking in any character . Major Surgery is needed,starting by removing the tumors between the sticks.. Unfortunatly -- major surgery is not in Wengers nature...

Anonymous said...

I thought about it for a while and ive noticed that arsenal are not sure what to do when they are put under pressure. for example the wigan game, we invited it onto ourselves and started 2 lose the ball very cheaply the same thing happened with barca cos when they defended they looked as strong as they do going forward. Dnt get me wrong when our passin game gets goin were the best (even barca tight defence couldnt stop us scoring) but without the ball we look very weak

Anonymous said...

Arsenal are the best team in history and play the best football right? Wrong - overrated and so, so arrogent, like the "hoof" chant at almost every other team. You are no getting what you deserve.

junior said...

with 20 minutes to go iwas shouting for van persie to replace bentdner who was lazy the whole game.We needed to kill the game off because defensively were terrible.In all the big games arsene wenger has froze this year.this fear spreads throughout the team.We are set up as an attacking team ,so whats to be afraid of.At the beginning of the year we were scoring goals for fun ,when it matters we are like arabbit caught in the headlights.Some of his selection decisions when it mattered were terrible.Arsene needs to have a good look at himself this summer and shrug off this fear he shoulders.The squad is good enough with a couple of defensive additions and a top class goalkeeper.Im finding it very hard to keep it together now,after an afternoon of alot of frustration and alot of foul language its great to share my thoughts with fellow gunners.Junior

Anonymous said...

what can wenger say now .... he has be lying to us for 3 seasons about buying players and now the renewals are coming up hes off again we are going to buy yes yes yes arsen
the worst thing is the corporate deals end this season they were 4 year contracts as were some club levels .... tell us the truth Arsen after all we deseve to know after all its our team and our money .IMPROVE the team or leave you have taken as far as we you can THANK YOU AND GOODBYE

Anonymous said...

Truely unbeleivable, shocking and gutless! I need a drink and afterwards I am going to give my dog a good kicking.

Anonymous said...

Is this Wenger's pet youth project or ....just a con job?? Those who still think Arsene Knows, stop hallucinating and dreaming.

bt62gooner said...

What a f@@kin disgrace just watched that shower of sh@@te.Total capitulation just wait 2 u c the players we bring in the summer.THE ONES only good enough for a mid table sides.I dont believe we can match chavs,manure or the spuds in transfer fees let alone wages.Im sick to death of this circus every year.Time 4 big changes or we will continue to slide into europa footy which is totally unacceptable.The time has come to stop the rot and get rid of the deadwood from top 2 bottom.SAVE OUR CLUB BEFORE ITS TO LATE!!!RED ARMY!!RED ARMY!!!THESE PERFORMANCES ARE NOT AND NEVER SHOULD BE ACCEPTABLE STOP IT NOW!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Fabianski has fluffed every chance he's been given. He's cost us league points & cup games. Today's mistake has shades of Richard Wright all over it. His confidence will be shattered after yet another howler so let's see what Wenger does this time. If he's got any sense he'll bring in a new 'keeper, demote Almunia to no.2, sell Fabianski & promote Szczesny above Mannone.

Davi said...

Have to say, the refereeing was awful today, I mean, we say it ever week, but this was beyond a joke.
Nonetheless it isnt an excuse for this single defeat, and what you said in the article is exactly right, our defending has not been good enough to win the title.
We were missing both our CBs and 1st choice GK but Utd have dealt with that many times this season and are still going strong, and the same could be said for the last couple of seasons really. The backups are a bit past it, particularly silvestre, and fabianksi messed up again. Given his previous performance, theres an argument that we should have seen this coming and at least given mannone another chance in goal. Im not convinced about him either tbh, but fabianski has been really poor in his last few matches and shouldnt have been risked in this game.
One other point - eastmond should have been played more recently. Denilson is awful when carrying an injury, hes shown this many times, and craig never disappoints me when he plays. I think he deserves more opportunities next season and really should be considered denilson's equal in the squad at this point.

Rhinogooner said...

Hilarious. Absolutely hilarious. When Wigan's 3rd went in I just found myself sitting there laughing.

It was so predictable. Our players were too passive. That's the manager's fault I feel. Yes there is blame on the players as well. But teams are a reflection of their manager. You can see their personalities come out in the way the team plays.

Like the way Man U were dogged yesterday and dug out a victory. That's Ferguson. I don't like him. But he has grit and determination.

We're precious artists. We weave mesmerizing patterns of beauty at times. And at other times, we allow ourselves to be bullied or worse, disinterested. We feel the physical side of the game is beneath us. As are insignificant matches.....like Wigan away perhaps???

We need to see ruthlessness at the club this summer. If we don't, more crushed hopes will follow next season. We'll delude ourselves into thinking we can achieve something. And we'll make excuses to cover over our deficiencies. It'll be the same "if only's". Too many injuries to crucial players. Poor decisions by the ref cost us. On and on.

Either Mr. Wenger needs to cut loose the players who have not convinced when given many chances, or the board needs to force the manager to do so. I don't think 5 new players would be overkill.

I'm happy to give Mr. Wenger one more season to get things right. But he needs to be told to make changes to playing staff, medical staff and coaching staff.

If he refuses, move him upstairs and bring in someone who will stop deluding themselves about this team. The supporters have identified the weaknesses in this team and the solutions to improve it for at least 3 seasons now.

It is an insult to our intelligence to continue in the same vein....

Anonymous said...

you are absolutely right, thats what all arsenal fans think at this moment....

Lack of application, loss of focus, school boy goal keeping has cost us time and again....season over by all means.....

Interesting post/comments below.

http://arsenalfbc.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

What cost us the game today was
one of the most incredulous set of substitutions I've ever seen. Up to 60 minutes we were doing OK. Wigan upped their game & we started struggling, but held out for another 20 minutes.It was clear that we needed lifting & to take the game back to Wigan, rather than sit there soaking up pressure, waiting for the inevitable. All it needed was RVP
to come on at 70 minutes..& replace Diaby who'd given the ball away on every possible occasion....but no, we got "I've only played twice this year & am away to Spain in 3 weeks time..." Fran Merida, & Rosicki who'd run his socks off was substituted.
To add insult to injury Wenger brought RVP on in the 89 minute.
Was he even watching the game????

Anonymous said...

Wenger must now go

we need new ideas and energy

sick of his bullshit

Sean Arse said...

Extended highlights of Arsenal v Wigan at

http://arsenalfbc.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

You are right Gooner.But like everyone else you are too linient... The performance by Arsenal in the last two games has been absolute rubbish!!! Just what does AW think? Is he serious?? Even a blind man could see that Diaby, Bedntner, Silvestre was absolute shitt!! Why do the subs he deed??? As we talk about transfers we need to scrutinize AW'S commitment, and if we play like this against ManC I wont be surprised if they score the highest scoreline against any team anywhere in the world!!!

Drew said...

Wenger out! Phil Brown in!

Those who don't support Arsene are a bunch of morons. How else would you have? I think Alan Curbishley is available. Let's punt Wenger over to Real Madrid and bring in Alan Pardew. Barring all of the injuries we have had this season, which even for Arsenal's standards have been plentiful, we would be at the top of the table. We have played without RVP for half of the season. Cesc was out for two extended spells. Arshavin has played injured all season. Add to that the Gallas injury, and it's easy to see why we have struggled. Starting the season, those were our four best players. Yes, the squad needs tweaking, especially at goalkeeper, but it looks as if most of the reactions posted here were made right after the game. We should calm down a little, use our heads, and think when we say "Wenger out."

marcus said...

The focus shouldn't be on bringing in new players (tho of course we do need that): the much bigger problem lies in training. What good does it do to bring in new players if this team is still coddled, if first team players are run into the ground (AW doesn't have a lot of trust in his squad players, regardless of his rhetoric), if there's no defensive disciplined drilled into the players -- and if there's no communication and understanding among them.

What's shocking is how little communication and understanding there is among our players. We can trash the players all we want for that farce yesterday -- but this is Arsene's team. He built it, developed it into what it is.

Sure, sell and buy players in positions we need. But what we need is a serious, dramatic re-think about what goes on in training.

A Moron said...

Pep Guardiola
Mourinho
Guus Hiddink
Fabio Capello
David Moyes

....just off the top of my head.

For the record, I agree with Marcus above. We've pinpointed the obvious deficiencies in this side that are fundamentally simple to solve in training, yet have not improved for several seasons.

Individually, our defenders are talented. Collectively, they are a scattered wreck. Bring back Keown!

Rhino

Drew said...

Guardiola: has the best team in the world and he himself has admitted that it is unlikely he would coach anywhere else. He would be ideal, but he is Barca through and through. I'm sure he would rather coach Messi than Walcott.

Mourinho: Great. When he finally wins a trophy, he will be lambasted for not playing the "Arsenal" way. And he will always have an eye on Old Trafford anyway. Plus, do you really want his personality at the club? He will always believe he is bigger than Arsenal.

Hiddink: He is a great manager, and he has pulled off some miraculous things. However, it seems his interest for jobs lasts approximately 2 months, then he moves on. I don't want this fly by night manager. Especially if he can't get a LOADED Russia team to the World Cup.

Capello: Let's wait until England capitulate at the World Cup and then see how many teams line up for his services.

Moyes: Sorry, if you can't be patient with Arsene Wenger after he brought us titles and has kept us in contention for titles all these years, I find it hard to believe you will be patient with Moyes' trademark slow starts to the season.

Rhinogooner said...

Drew, using your rationale, I could make similar remarks about Mr. Wenger.

You only want to see the positive when you look at him. And you only highlight negative aspects when you analyze the list of managers I mentioned.

How do you think fans of other clubs view our manager? I'm sure many have the same unbalanced perspective towards him that you have towards the manager's of other clubs.

How long is Mr. Wenger permitted to dine out on his past successes then?

And tell me, why have his current teams been so vastly different than the teams that won him all those trophies and accolades?

He had a winning formula and he changed it. It's not all due to lack of funding. He could persevere with this new model for 10 more seasons and still not win a trophy.

He has lost something.

If you truly feel that there are no managers out there that could do better with our club than Mr. Wenger at this stage, that is alarming and myopic. He has been out-coached, out-thought and tactically out-played on several occasions this season by managers who have won nothing. If he wants to stay he needs to change. He is too rigid and unyielding.

Nevertheless, you are not a moron. And I wouldn't label any Arsenal supporters as morons that allow the passion they have for the club to manifest itself in critical, yet thoughtful, comments.

For the record, I have not said that I want Mr. Wenger out. I do, however, feel that he has entirely too much power at the club and should have his leash shortened.

He doesn't need to be a workoholic and be stretched by all of the responsibilities he has. Let him focus on the team and training only. We have others who can negotiate transfers and contracts. Others can worry about the building projects and financial situation.

Harris1985 said...

We have been blessed this season. If we were to play in other years like we have been this season we would not even get europe league. For some reason the rest of the top teams in the league have been performing bad or develope late. I'm serious when I say Almunia would not get into any other premiership team!!! Stoke have Sorenson for God sake, a keeper that is 10 times better then Almunia. Imagine being a defender to look behind you to see this Donkey who was Celta Vigo nd choice Keeper before he came to Arsenal (the best team in England at the time). Wenger out! Blanc in!! with a balanced team and non of this 30+ and your out. Look and Giggs and Scholes for Utd.