Chelsea’s day-after thoughts: I can maybe accept defeat, but humiliation at home is unacceptable
As many of you know by now, I wasn’t in a position to watch the game last Tuesday so for the first time in maybe a year, I decided to go round some blogs when I came back to check how we played in the Champions League, and I was amazed at the optimism of many ahead of the Chelsea game.
Make no mistake, I was also confident ahead of yesterday’s game just as I wrote in the preview, but what surprised me was again the same broken record of dull optimism coming after winning an easy game, as if what happened before it never actually took place or should be forgotten, and I’m of course referring to the away games against West Ham and Sunderland, two games which clearly showed that there were problems which needed to be fixed.
I always made it a point not to feed my readers with lies, reason why sometimes I am pessimistic even after winning games comfortably as you don’t need to be an expert to understand that some problems may not hurt you in easy games but will be back to haunt you in big ones.
But anyway, we are now eleven points from the top, eight if we win our game in hand, but based on what I saw yesterday, there’s a lot of work which needs to be done if we are to keep our title dreams alive.
Wrong Substitutions
Problem number one. And a big one. Andrey Arshavin was not performing before having his World Cup dream destroyed by Slovenia and came back depressed after that. He clearly said he doesn’t want to play football, yet he started today and played the full 90 minutes. Samir Nasri, who was much better than the Russian, was instead substituted.
Second problem. Alex Song. The Cameroon International was not having his best game of the season but was the only one in midfield who was making his physical presence felt against the ring of blue fire put up by Chelsea players. Yet he was replaced at half time. Denilson, who started brightly but went back to his old immediately after the first ten minutes of the game, played until the end. I wonder what the statistics say about the Brasilian’s game by the way.
The Forward Line
Ok, let’s start from the obvious. With Robin van Persie and Nicklas Bendtner out, how can you score goals? Arsene Wenger’s solution to this problem – as I’ve said last week – was the correct one. You have Nasri, Rosicky, Eduardo, Walcott and Carlos Vela, all offensive midfielders who can find the net so you go out there with four of them, hoping they can invent something.
There was no other solution, really. But last week, this solution simply didn’t work out and I believe it was because Walcott, Nasri, Rosicky and Eduardo are not 100% fit as they have been out for way too long to expect them to be on fire immediately after their return from injury. As for Carlos Vela, well he’s new to all this, is new to the Premiership and needs time to settle down.
But, I expected changes yesterday. From someone who is constantly labeled as a genius, as a professor, we saw no change at all for the Chelsea game. It was going on the wings, over and over and over again, with Sagna and Traore not really knowing what to do, simply because crossing would have been useless when you only have Eduardo and three other short figures in there!
Now if you ask me what sort of changes I was expecting, well Carlos Vela starting instead of Dudu was an option, something incredibly crazy and desperate like gambling with Sanchez Watt also was an option but experiencing 90 minutes of pain which we saw coming from the Sunderland game, I’m afraid was not an option.
Carlos Vela
I get plenty of e-mails from Mexican readers who want news on Carlos, primarily because we are blog partners with Carlos Vela News. And I enjoy answering them because I feel Mexican people are very sweet and care about what their National players are doing in Europe.
Here is therefore my view on Carlos now that he’s enjoying more time on the field.
Above I said that he is new to the Premiership and this is where Wenger and I don’t agree. Arsene failed to experiment with Carlos last season in the same way he experimented with Denilson, Diaby and Alex Song and the Mexican is now in a position where he needs time, plenty of, to adapt himself to Premiership football.
Wenger said he is the reason why Emmanuel Adebayor, but how on earth you can be sure someone who only played something like 120 minutes in the Premiership last season, is good enough to replace one of your main strikers who left in the summer?
I’m not saying that Carlos is not good. Contrary to Eduardo, and despite his young age, the 20-year old has a great first touch, vision and pace, but you can’t expect him to turn water into wine after only two games. I’ve read someone – elsewhere – saying that he’s not good enough for Arsenal. How nice! So Diaby and Denilson are good enough even if they have been shocking for a whole season and a half, yet after two “disappointing” games, Carlos should be sold.
Again, if there’s criticism to be made on Arsenal’s manager or players, I see no problem with that, but at least give the player some time before jumping to conclusions.
Is Arsene Wenger too soft?
You may not like them, but one thing I admire of Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho is that they are not scared to impose themselves as the boss of the team. These type of managers are not scared to make three substitutions at half time – and I’m referring to Mourinho here – if things are not going to plan. They are not scared, read Ferguson, to substitute the Cristiano Ronaldos and leave them on the bench crying like babies and to then sell them, to sell Carlos Tevez, if they are not in their plans.
Arsene Wenger, unfortunately, doesn’t fall in this category, he is one ready to throw away a full season hoping to see Denilson and Diaby become top players even if top players they will never be. He is one ready to stick with Eduardo even if the Croatian needs months to get back to his old level, just because Dudu suffered a horrible injury and maybe needs time on the pitch to settle down again.
I’m not criticising Wenger’s way of understanding football as everyone knows nobody is good as he is in teaching football the way it should be taught, but he needs to stop treating Arsenal players as if they are little boys who will go crying to mum if they don’t play or are substituted.
Looking Forward
There’s plenty to look forward to of course. Manchester City will host us on Wednesday, then it’s Stoke at home, where we will probably win easily and some will say Chelsea’s defeat was a one-off, then Olympiakos in the Champions League and then more and more football for December.
Let’s take it one game at a time, shall we? I’ll publish the usual preview and favourite line-up tomorrow.
Until then, take care friends.
![[Video] Blackburn vs Arsenal highlights: Big win as we go second in the table!](http://www.thegunninghawk.com/wp-content/themes/arthemia-premium/scripts/timthumb.php?src=/wp-content/uploads/video.jpg&w=80&h=80&zc=1)
Nice topic and thoughts. i think our biggest problem is keeper. Our keepers don’t have much to do but yet any ball that come toward Manuel Almunia is a goal. why do u think chelsea have a strong defend? because of their goal keeper.
Look at the games we loss and u will see what i am talking about.Sunderland game he had nothing to do but the first ball that came toward him was a goal, chelsea first goal was the first ball that came toward Almunia and it was a good. Liverpool won their game because of good goal keeping and so was man-utd but Arsenal once the ball passed Vermaelen and Gallas it is a goal
Everybody is calling for defensive midfielder but that is not our problems. we need world class keeper. Another problem is that we need to learn how shoot because everybody want to walk into the goal.
the biggest problem(diaby) did not play yet we lost twice in a row. who is going to be a scapegoat verminater for his killer own goal or some one else may be..
oh its still Diabys fault you know. Even when not present he screws up for his team mates. Did you know know this? Ask any of the ” hobby managers” that loves to roam the forums and spew out poison. Diaby is always to blame. always…. that is the rule on the forums…..
I find it very silly to say Diaby is good for the simply reason that we lost two games when he wasn’t there. It’s like last season when people kept on saying we went unbeaten with Denilson on the pitch, forgetting all the draws as part of that run and forgetting what it would have been with a much better player.
Why is it so hard to admit some of our players are not good enough?
Lets hope we can try to win d next thrée games in d premier league .Coz if we cant do dis forget the title and concentrate on oda cups.Wish d gunners d best.
very nice article….i agree with your opinion about wenger being too soft…
My opinion is that if we want to make something from this season we need some transfers…a goalkeeper,a central defender (who can play as def midf also would be perfect considering song will be out soon) and a powerfull striker (i like chamakh very much)…
in top matches u need top strikers and our top striker is RVP…Without him we are like man utd without rooney or liv without torres or chelsea without drogba..nowone is as good as him at finding the net and nowone can replace him now from our squad…(he crushed chelsea last season by himself although we didn’t play very well)
We have fantastic passing midfielders but we need someone who can score…Sure we can do that with little teams and in easy matches, but in big ones we are like sitting ducks
I’m still optimistic about the future though because chelsea will have more difficult matches at the end of the season and their influential players will be out on the affrican cup, but we must look at what we can do to improve and fast…we have 4 defeats and my opinion is that we can afford only 1-2 defeats and a few draws till the end if we want the title…we need to step up and fast
hope chelsea will make at least a draw at city since they are so good at draws
I knew that despite the fact that Diaby was injured and hence unavailable for this match, some ‘brite’ spark will find a way of blaming him for the defeat. You speak with some degree of authority and I share some of your views, yet this id not a time to throw away the baby with the bath water.
I’m sorry but where exactly am I blaming Diaby for the defeat?
I used him and Denilson in reply to those who believe Carlos Vela is not good enough and as an example to why I believe Wenger is too soft with his players.
I didn’t mention Diaby in the Chelsea context, let’s try to be fair and to not twist anyone’s words
Bearing in ming the fact that your coment was after this bad defeat, your coment: ”Diaby and Denilson are good enough even if they have been shocking for a whole season and a half…’ suggests a certain level of culpability for the two in question.
Bearing in mind the fact that your comment comes after a bad defeat, the statement: ‘…Diaby and Denilson are good enough even if they have been shocking for a whole season and a half…’ would lead some to believe that the he was on the field of play and hence culpable.
Completely agree with you mate.
No, it was a general comment to show my surprise to why people are saying that on Vela yet they keep on defending those two, who in my opinion, yes, have been poor for a whole season last year and the first half of this one.
I’ve been highlighting this for a long time now, you would know that if you were a regular reader of my articles mate. If however you’re new, then welcome aboard and thank you for your comments
The way I see it Chris is we were contolling the midfield most of the game. We couldn’t get forward enough to be a threat. I’m of the ‘The best defense is a good offense’ shool. We need a big strong striker (Drogba) to punch through when people pack six in the box, like Chesnik did. I thought Eduardo was that sort of player until he got hurt. Can he be again? Don’t know. At this point, though, obviously some changes need to be made from what we have now to compete against MANUre and CSKA London. YaYa? Chamach (SP)? I thought we were physical enough this year, but maybe not.
Thanks for the comment mate.
The impression I got yesterday was that Chelsea took it easy. I know it’s harsh, I know it’s sad but that’s the impression I felt. They let us keep the ball, passing it around knowing that we would have never produced an end product.
Seriously, I can’t remember one single shot at goal, maybe Samir’s, in the first half. I don’t want to be ultra pessimistic but we’ve been there before, last season and Wenger made no attempt whatsoever to shuffle the cards.
Will he, this season?
Agreed Chris, it’s what we don’t do with our possession that counts. It is most disturbing that chelsea could defend the way they did, allowing us to come onto them knowing we have no end product nick the ball away and pass it to their midfielders in acres of space. Tactically I have to say they were excellent and followed Steve Bruce’s approach perfectly, only with Carvahlo and Terry they have perhaps the best two central defenders on the planet, they gave us nothing save a half hearted shot from nasri just outside the box. I can’t criticise Edu, he’s not a lone striker, but neither is vela or walcott.
Maybe no one wants to admit it, but Eduardo isn’t the same since his injury, which iis to be expected. But his lack of sharpness is costing us now, he was fed in behind the defence several times against Chelsea and never managed to even get a shot away. He needs to be eased back into the side, he’s certainly not good enough at the moment to replace van Persie.
We need to buy Chamakh in January. He’s tall and strong, a target man with a touch of class.
I agree with the earlier posts that state we should invest in a decent keeper. Almunia is just not good enough to play for Arsenal. I will always support the players that Arsene chooses to field, but Almunia is consistently poor. A world class team needs a world class keeper. Eduardo was too slow to even get a decent shot off. The trickery and good first touch that he’s been known for were nowhere to be seen. He definitely needs more time. We need a strong striker who can use their head and isn’t made of glass. The scene in which Traore collided with Drogba and went flying while Drogba was unfazed could be used as an analogy for the entire game.
I’m still just wondering how different the game would have been if it hadn’t rained the way it did.
I have to admit Arsenal (despite all avoidable mistakes) are quite unlucky.. generally speaking…
First the injuries and the timing of injuries. Thank God it’s December.
The rain the rain the rain… I knew the score as soon as I saw the rain and I wasn’t shocked by the goals at all.
That FRIGGIN angle…
Drogba must be pleased at how that bounced double.. and has every right to.
But damn the odds of the second goal slotting in the same hole.
Strictly footballistically speaking… it was the experience factor that helped them soak the rain in better. The spotlight is on the kids (Arsenal).
I am by no means suggesting that the rain is a valid excuse for the bland performance on Sunday.. I just wanted to highlight how different I believe the game would have been had it not rained so heavy.
I agree…. Abou Diabi yes sir. Carlos Vela 90 minutes sir yes sir. Eduardo shouldn’t have played. Arshavin should move up front… whatever…. I’m not the manager.. and no where as good as Le Boss. Still, I felt he was hesitant, wasn’t creative enough or experimental. I can’t say that he was full of surprises.
I doubt we could see Arsenal worse than we saw them against Chelsea. I really hope this is the worst of it, and somehow I feel I may be right. Inshallah. There are so many lessons out of the Chelsea match and I hope it will stand sharp in the minds of our players. RVP injury took out some of the cohesion in the team that Eduardo’s injury did last year.
By the way…
Where the heck is Jack Wilshere?
And can we get a penalty maybe?
Pleeease?
Very lively comment mate, made me smile
Yes, I thought the same thing, the first two goals ended in the same bloody top-right hand corner, very unlucky though one could see them as two identical defensive mistakes.
We’re not football managers, I believe no-one is in the Arsenal blogosphere, but that doesn’t mean we can’t provide our favourite line-ups and our favourite formations. This family, because that’s how I see The Gunning Hawk community, wouldn’t be so large if we keep our thoughts to ourselves because we’re not football managers
Hello to all,
As we are debating intellectually about the reasons of such a beating and humiliating defeat,we have to go back in time and remember how we conquered and won so many trophies…
We are not going to compare the invincible with the team we have now because I believe that none of them,and I stress none of them would figure in the starting line up (Fabregas,Song and Van Persie will have a nice warm place on the bench)…
I will give you a simple example; while crossing the ball to the 16m it would be impossible for any of the actual players to get the ball! Why? because,aside the fact that placement is important,the average height of our team is 5′8 (Bendtner being the tallest and injured)… Ashley Cole was the smallest of the invincible with 5′9…!!! Go figure!!!
As I was watching the game (vs Chelsea) it took me back when I was a young boy playing football with the grown ups… I was reminiscing about how they were pushing us around because we were so skilled passing the ball! and how sad we felt because we always lost and finished the game all bruised …
Arsene Wenger lost his touch,he almost forgot how he won so many trophies playing beautifully…
We are,at every transfer period, recruiting skilled players but short,fragile and too young…
Here is our weakness (but also our strength) because when you play a physical team/game (Helloooo !!! the English league is the most physical in the world) we are and always will be second/the weakest…
I stood with Fabregas,Arshavine and Denilson for a picture and I thought I was posing with my nephews and I am 6′0…
So,to be clear and simple (and I know I will be sticked for that), HE NEEDS TO RECRUIT,not in the summer,but in January…
Why? because we are going to a guarantee catastrophe! and please don’t tell me Vela can do this,Arshavin can do that or Edouardo can make things better…
We all know it is pure fantasy (I have been watching,we have been watching the season so far and we know that Vela is not a centre forward, Arshavin is still deep in his thoughts about the Russian exit and has not produced yet and Edouardo,PLEASE, is not that great)
Like I said, a big change is needed,QUICKLY,FAST,whatever you want to call it…!!
A STRIKER: strong,reliable,hard working and deadly. Where can we find him? there is none around because they all playing in good clubs and they won’t come to a club to be paid peanuts! So problem…
A DEFENSIVE MID: same characteristics (Please Wenger I am begging you,Song is gone in January,what do we do after that?)
A CENTRE BACK: Same characteristics (Matuidi is available as well as many others; we missed Cana,who is playing for Sunderland,and he showed Denilson and Song how it is done)…
Also the summer will be a good time and a good opportunity to get a new goal keeper because Alumnia is just not good enough (he is less than average)…
Now you can hit me with comments but the fact is I am an Arsenal fan,I love the club and the shirt but I also think logically when the facts present themselves and we need to stop (especially Wenger) dreaming about a team of midget passing each other the ball beautifully but inefficiently…
Even Barcelona (who is playing the same game or may be better than Arsenal) possesses strong midfields,strong defenders,a strong skilled and deadly striker and a good goal keeper… Added to the fact that they have strong personalities in the team…. Imagine playing Barcelona now,they will eat us alive…
LET’S GET REAL…
Herbert
You’ve lost it!
…lets get real.
i really think that wenger still knows what he is doing.. what arsenal lack is a ruthless striker. one that will occasionally be selfish and take the shots on goal to challenge the keeper, keep him on his line, and make defenders have to play him, knowing that a shot on goal is on his mind. Eduardo is very quick on his feet, but defenders know they can defend him by not letting him get by. If they had the thought that they have to constantly remain goal side for fear of a 20 meter shot to the lower corner he would be much more successful trying to pass the players.
we need ruthless. we need to be cut throat. if we want to win, everyone has to just get going with a “take no prisoners” mindset. we can’t dribble it into the goal.
Lets give Herbert a round of applause, he saved me half an hour of typing.
*CLAP*
There is a lot more to it aswell. When I look at our team in comparison to Chelsea I see our team who has been playing together for a year perhaps two save for some core players against a team who has been playing together far longer. I see good players wait great players song, eduardo, vermaelen doing jobs chelsea players have been doing 7+ years longer. I know they have experience but Vermaelen is 23 in a new team in a new league. John Terry is older, been in the league longer, in the same team. Eduardo who has not played a lot still recovering mentaly and physically expected to do the same job as a striker in great form, who has been playing longer. I could go on and on especialy song in comparison to Essien. Some of our players are just in the spotlight now.
When Rosicky, Eduardo even Nasri and Arshavin recover mentaly and physicaly things will improve. This injury to Van Persie and Bendtner has come at a bad time for us. So hey a game in hand is 8 points I can live with that. I love my team, our players improve so much each year. But raising a young team you need to expect and deal with the occasional humbling from a larger side.
We play amazing football and this team well look at this way ten years from now could still have a Fabregas, A vermaelen, A bendtner, A song, A denilson etc Chelsea don’t have that luxary. Time is our ally and it is Chelsea’s enemy.
Saying all this I do believe we need a centre forward added to the team. We play enough games to give the youngsters experience I just believe we have in Eduardo, Arshavin, Bendtner, Walcott, Vela and even Van persie some one who works well with a strong man, a strong partner up front to play off and combine with. Thats the missing piece in my opinion.
i love your passion for the club mate i can put my hands up an salute to you there but will we really have cesc next year if we dont win anything let alone 10 years
From all the comments of him seeing out his career or finishing his contract I think he will stay for a while, haha ten years was more an example. If he sees out his contract Ramsey will be ready when he does go and the millions we get will be a giant profit.
I don’t see why we can’t win anything. We have a good squad, FA cup would be a good target. I truely believe once everyone recovers we will win something. I am so impressed by Song, Bendtner, Rosicky with all thier fight so a cup is not hard to see coming to Arsenal. These players are amazing and look we were unlucky and lost to the best team in the competition. With a depressed Arshavin, unfit Eduardo, Rosicky, Nasri, Denilson, Injured Gallas, with a 3rd choice left back on the morning of your friend and great player rvp being out for 5 months. Talk about a handi cap.
This summarizes the match perfectly – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxu-qBKW_dg
Hilarious.
lol
We loose one game and look at you barking like enraged clan of pitbulls!
We lost a game and we need to recruit a whole new team? what?! Was it the same you ( and the press) that praised Wenger for his team quality when they had 5 straight win? Shame on you guys…
Chelsea won by counter attacking the whole time. They did not make the game. They played italian style with double defensive curtain and were trying to steal the ball in the middle to counter attack from high in the field. Great strategy from Ancelotti, Arsenal lost most its game like that last year. Their defense rarely opened up.
The reason why we did not score it because they all choked in front of their goal. Clear lack of sharpness from Arshavin, Edouardo and Nasri, they were afraid to go one on one.
I think Bentner was the big absence of this game. If we really need to recruit someone, I would say a tall serial scorer for this kind of game. But it would make just another Bentner and I rather see him grow.
The thought that Arsene is too soft has also crossed my mind, and while I agree there are probably some negative effects of his approach, overall I dont think you could say his method is worse than that of a hardline coach.
He has after all, been incredibly successfull (won things) in France, Japan and England.
While I can’t know what his approach was like in France and Japan, I doubt it has chagned dramatically since then.
He’s not shy of selling players either. He sold Ade and Kolo last transfer season and each season he sells someone who he doesn’t think is right.
Sometimes I feel a tougher approach could get more out of Arshavin, but then I think Murinho struggled with a personality clash with Ballack, and is now struggling with Bollitelli, and Ferguson had to sell Beckham after throwing a shoe at him, so the tough approach certainly isn’t ideal either.
As for subbing poorly performing players, it could be a case of Wenger believing “class is permanent, form is temporary”, and being optomistic about that player improving.
Well Jakseth,no one is barking like pitbulls…!!!!
I don’t know if you have watched the last 3 seasons of Arsenal,but we’ve been going backward…!!!(sis the ranking especially in points)… Selling players and not replacing them, the team was/is getting younger and younger before he recruited Sylvestre (who is not playing and I still cannot figure why he bought him) and Arshavin.
If you tell me that you see or you saw any improvements please point them out ,I will be shocked…!!! We have been playing the same for 3 or 4 years (only the system has changed this year,COPIED on Barcelona).
I guess anybody here is untitled to his opinion,which is fair.
I think you’re being a little harsh, Herbert. The team definitely seems to have improved in some areas since last season. Still not enough to challenge for the title, but probably good enough to challenge for second place against United. That was my thought process before the Sunderland game, at least. Without van Persie there hasn’t been a good chance, let alone a goal, for two matches.
In terms of where the team has improved, there are a number of obvious points:
- solidity at the back, chiefly because Vermaelen has dovetailed nicely with Gallas. Still not as good as Chelsea’s backline, but better than last year
- Song has been an unqualified success in his role
- the pre-RvP-injury attack was functioning relatively well, and Arsenal were scoring pretty much at will for the first 3 months of the season
However, there are a number of areas that haven’t improved:
- Goalkeeping stocks are still mediocre, having 3 okay ‘keepers is not the same as having one really good keeper. You need someone to own the position
- the same old ‘men against boys’ criticism: lack of physicality, lack of experience
- still obvious weak links in the squad. I don’t think Diaby or Denilson are awful, because they’re not, but they aren’t good enough to start as many games as they do for a club with title aspirations. Compare to Chelsea: Denilson has started every game (except vs. Sunderland) he was available for, and Diaby has started 10 matches out of 13, despite being injured for the past 2. Mikel and Kalou have started 6 and 3 games respectively out of 14.
This is definitely Chelsea’s title to lose, and I can only see injuries and the African nations cup getting in their way. Even if they do stutter, a van Persie-less Arsenal will be less likely to take advantage of this than United.
What’s the upshot? I think that this Arsenal team is better than last year’s, but not by enough to challenge for the title. If they can overcome the loss of van Persie (be it through Chamakh, or the current crop of Vela, Eduardo and Bendtner) then they can probably be a realistic challenger for the domestic cup competitions, and maybe even the CL. But I doubt the squad is strong enough to challenge Chelsea over the course of an entire season.
Herbert u spot on.wenger needs change of attitude.we need in our team players who can do d dirty job i.e fletcher 4 man u,mikel n essien 4 chelsea,mascherano 4 liverpool etc players who wil not b afraid of receiving card such that d opposing players wil dare not stay long on d ball when he’s coming 4 tackle
Gunners fans am still sad very sad abt the loss i think we dominated the game bt we have nothing to show for it. This has got me asking my self very many question is it bad luck? or what can be the problem. I will not point fingers or blame anyone wat i wil do i wil keep the faith thats all i can do now, i hope you can join me the season can still be salvaged do not loose hope
Once again Herbert,well said.I wish u could go back to some of my postings before the start of the season and see we agree on almost everything.unfortunately though,I feel we are going to see the same thing this January,talk, talk and more talk.they may buy 1 player in January but the league will be long gone.
You guys keep saying the team has improved.how do u measure improvement?points aT the end of the season or our position in the league or laurels?it’s been pretty well t same in the past 4yrs so please can you guys tell me where we have improved.
I can answer that One ede! No improvements,NONE…
Wenger has adopted the Barcelona line up system,but the problem is,we do not have the players to apply it…
A team should have alternatives… What I keep hearing here is,Vela should have a go,Wilshere should have a go… I mean, It is a dream,we are not living in a perfect football world unless you try to make it almost perfect… Guardiola did it and won all that was possible …
I know as a fan you will defend your team and your manager against all critics… I always do when I am talking to opposing team fans (especially Tottenham),but amongst Arsenal supporters we should be able to criticise the team and find solutions even if we do not have an influence on decisions.
I was mentioning alternatives before; with Van Persie we had the possibilities of just sending the ball up front and make a play… Again alternatives,the physical aspect of the game,we do not have a physical presence,up front or in the middle! (well you might say Song,but when Essien gets involved it is game over)…
Edouardo,Edouardo,well not good enough,sorry… He is a box player (he is not a runner and has no speed),that is how he scored so many goals in the croatian league and for his national squad (Olic goes around him and works for him,while Modric and the Tottenham guy provide services;that is why he is so successful with them).
Again,Walcott,well! Still over rated ,I don’t think he has the muscle nor the balls to handle the job (check out Lennon! Walcott is not even in his league anymore)… And please stop talking about Wilshere ! that would be unfair to put him in the game so early as he is still developing! he will definitely fail and the gossip will just kill him (yes,UK style)…
The fact is we have the same type of players in every line of the team; what the point of replacing Nasri by Rosicky !!! that’s the same thing!
SOLUTIONS,SOLUTIONS,SOLUTIONS…!!!
I agree, losing at home so heavily is unacceptable, and it is not the first time it has happened, Villa, Utd and Chelsea twice have come and shat on our players at home, and this is not right at all.
1) Wenger needs to act professional now, also the players. And this means no more using the Carling Cup for ‘kids’, especially when those kids have won nothing. Send kids to get real experience to other teams where they play week in week out, and don’t become 1 match celebrities. Carlos Vela looks a nice player, but he only shows his quality in the Carling Cup, in a one off game. He can’t handle a 38 game campaign because he rarely plays, so what is the benefit? Same as Ramsey, Wilshere, Merida, send them on 6 month loans to play and learn then come and challenge the current players.
Also, if any of the current first team players had any pride, they would be critical of this policy, if Man Utd and Chelsea (who have won this cup in recent years) are proud to win it and will use big players, why is Arsenal acting like they are better than them and not using our best players? A trophy is a trophy, we are here to win, PERIOD.
2) We are a professional team, where the players study and live and sleep football, so why can’t they adjust formations? It is either a 4-3-3/4-5-1 or a 4-4-2. If Chelsea or Liverpool have to, they will use a 3-5-2 to chase a game or to ensure they are not weaker if key players are injured. Arsenal on the other hand, have players injured and players who cannot use a 4-3-3 properly, so we have Rosicky and Nasri as wingers, and Eduardo who is a secondary striker playing as a target man? This means we are already playing at 85%, why not adjust to a 4-3-1-2 with Rosciky/Nasri playing behind Vela/Eduardo/Arshavin, places where they made their names? Or if we are losing, to put Sagna with Vermaelen and Gallas as a back 3, Eboue as a wing back who will own the whole right and this will allow us to attack more, instead of relying on crosses, whilst keeping us secure on the break?
Why are we paying these guys to train and not do anything? Walcott can’t use his left foot, Vela can’t use his right foot, so what do they do in training apart from Usain Bolt sprint drills?
It was painful losing the game, but practically all the points you raised in the article shows how little you understand the game.
…a whole day to decide on the possible changes during the game? Does that tell you anything about your capacity to judge the Arsenal manager?
You really ought to stop spreading vitrole and concentrate on supporting your wonderful team.
Anon, mate your passion as a supporter is great but do you know what you’re supporting? a braindead youth policy that just got us cleared off the pitch! Luckily is was only 3-0.
It’s the “a whole day to decide on the possible changes during the game?” part that I didn’t understand. Dare to explain?