Arsenal vs Manchester United, 1-3: Full time analysis and player ratings
The Game
I never, ever expected this scoreline. To be honest, I predicted it in the reverse but after watching yet another heartless performance from some of the Arsenal players, believe me, it’s a very flattering scoreline.
Arsene Wenger is doing an amazing job at Arsenal, he always did, but the minor weaknesses which he never addressed are coming back to haunt us when the going gets tough as in the case of 0-3 vs Chelsea, 2-1 vs United, 1-3 vs United and 4-2 vs City.
This is no good, I’m afraid.
Manuel Almunia, Gael Clichy and Denilson are three players who are causing a lot of damage in this Arsenal team but if I can understand starting with Manuel and Gael because Lukasz Fabianski and Armand Traore failed to show they can replace them adequately, I simply cannot say the same for Denilson. Aaron Ramsey was there, a much better player, available to start, available to come in but was not utilised.
The ratings, as always, are below. It’s not easy after such a game to still provide the service I provide after every game, so appreciate the effort and hopefully I’ll be in a better shape in tomorrow’s day-after thoughts.
Match Video Highlights
Match video highlights are available in the Videos section of our website. If not there yet, rest assured they will be up in a matter of hours.
Player Ratings
Almunia: 2 – There are days where we can afford his mistakes, there are days when we cannot. We started brightly but he gifted them the first goal which helped them cruise to victory.
Gallas: 6,5 – Made a phenomenal interception off Rooney to keep us in the game in the first half and one of the few who showed heart.
Vermaelen: 6,5 – Also showed heart until the end and gave us that little hope when his shot found the net after a deflection.
Clichy: 3 – Lost the battle against Ashley Young, lost the battle against Nani. With Kieran Gibbs out until the end of the season, we’re in deep trouble on this wing.
Sagna: 5,5 – Compared to Clichy, he had very little to do since United’s attacks were all going through Nani but during that little, he didn’t impress against Park.
Denilson: 2 – Big liability. Involved, in the negative, in United’s all three goals. Stretched his leg out instead of using his body against Nani in the first, let Rooney race past him when United counter attacked for the second then gave the ball away and stayed put when they surged forward to score the third.
Fabregas: 6 – I feel for Cesc, I really do. Twice he made exceptional runs into the United penalty area but was ignored by Arshavin. Another one who showed heart, the captain and I’m really sorry he’s not properly supported by his team mates.
Song: 6,5 – He’s back, played well and showed heart, but it’s never easy when you have to do the job of two players, especially after a long trip back from Africa.
Rosicky and Nasri: 4 – These two were supposed to provide the help Arshavin required up front but seriously, did they do anything worth mentioning? Samir, especially, was incredibly disappointing, which was sad to see.
Arshavin: 6 – Full of runs and the only threat to the United back four. However, when I said he and Cesc can be the key to our success in the preview, I should have maybe added that for the key to open the United defence, he had to remember that football is not an individual game and if a team mate covered half the pitch to be in a good position to score, you have to pass the damn ball.
(Subs)
Eboue: 4 – Am I the only one who thinks he looked “confused” out there? The way he fell to his knees when Rooney dribbled him and also the sluggishness when on the ball were strange to see.
Bendtner: 4 – Incredibly slow and failed to provide the strength and height we needed at this stage during the game.
Walcott: 4 – Nice runs with no end product as always.
![[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)
Most Arsenal supporters are convinced of the fact we need a striker! Well 60 Premiership goals scored so far, would suggest we don’t. I was a believer in this magical striker we needed up until a few games ago and which was cemented against Aston Villa and then today.
I was at the Emirates today and I was ashamed of a team which showed little or no ambition. We were fighting for a top finish and today we could have shown the league we were not only serious about that, but ready! We blew it against Villa and we completely surrendered today. Yes I was a boo boy, but I have invested a lot in this club, a club I love!
The problem I see, is defence and in midfield. Today I can honestly say (and yes this is my opinion) there were only three players who turned up for a game. Tommy V, Cesc and Monsieur Gallas. Everyone else I’m afraid to say, were somewhere back on the M1, still coming back from an equally dire performance at Villa.
We allowed an average manc midfield to dominate. We were always second to the ball and our once razor sharp passing and control was completely missing. We were poor. We gave away 3 cheap goals. We made Rooney and Nani (Nani for goodness sake) look brilliant! It was sickening but more so embarrassing. We have players coming out and saying it’s our year and all we need to do is get stuck in! These same players are the ones not mentioned above!
Our defending is woeful, but that’s not Tommy or Bill, they have been great, it’s our choice of goalkeepers! They do not command their area; they can’t even kick a ball! So back to the plot, we need a good aggressive and commanding keeper and we need a big powerful midfielder. But above all we need whoever is picked, to play for the badge. The goals will come but let’s stop conceding cheap ones as we do.
Well I read this blog sometimes, actually a lot lately and have to finally comment.
This was probably the game where I lost faith in Wenger. His rating for this match is a 0.
I have NOTHING positive to say about today as this was clearly the day we lost our title challenge. I have always had faith in Wenger but after seeing Denilson and Almunia I think I lost it. HOW CAN YOU HAVE A KEEPER WHO CANT CLEAR THE BALL PROPERLY? OR CATCH IT?
How can you have a player who made the mistake of jogging back and letting someone run right by him… and start him? And then have him do it again? It pained me to see him jogging back as Rooney ran right by. We clearly missed Van Persie but that is on wenger.
We aren’t signing a striker and our “new signing” didt start. Tactics were horrible, corssing the ball in the air is what killed us against Chelski and it was the same story today. Get around their box and go nowhere then cross it to Arshavin?
Arshavin cant lead the line, he needs to play off of someone . Come on Arsene, this is United. They ALWAYS get their tactics right in big games (except Barca). And they were missing Vidic and Ferdinand.
While I’m ranting, if I see Rosicky do one more stupid flick or no-look pass, jesus christ. What is the point?
Where is our attacking football?
On a side note, Nani gets a lot of grief but I have always thought he was class. He makes some bad mental mistakes but always gets the ball in dangerous places. He really lit Clichy up tonight.
Man oh man I am pissed. Arsenal had a few chances at the beginning but what do they expect if they let United counter like that? If Wenger doesn’t change tactics I can see us picking up 0 points against Chelski (who are on point right now) and Loserpool/
Well the transfer window ends soon so you have a few hours to buy a keeper and a forward. And why wasn’t Sol Campbell suited up today?
And for those who will criticize me for losing faith with Wenger I have one word… Silvestre
u said it all my brother …. tell me how we lost to chaski and manure in one season thats poor and they aint no normal lost we lost at the emirates of all places…. loook at almunia guy is pooor i trust non of our keepers at the moment cause they say he is the number one then the rest shud b werse……….. damn guy cant even clear a balll to save his life when under a little or no pressure… drop the guy go buy someone keepers are cheap and if we have a weak foundation(keeper) how we going to build…..
Yea agree, but i still have faith in Arsene, for 95% of his decisions. But we should try to pick up Buffon (only 32) and he’s tired of Juve (frustration shown in an interview a week ago). If not Buffon then Joe Hart…
Sell Almunia and Fabianski, because our two up and coming gk, manone and sceczney (?) need a good role model!
forget buffon mate, he will never never never come. manone is by far a better choice now. he did one mistace and then wenger changed him with almunia, but how many mistaces almunia is doing and wenger has donne nothing for this!!!!
ahahhahhhahhahaa silvestre nice one.
rosicky wasn’t that bad. i thought nasri didn’t show up. i expected more from him. Dont put nasri en rosicky in the same box because rosicky also showed heart with some nice tackles en dribbles but got out of breath in the closing stages
Thanks for the contribution mate.
I don’t know, maybe I expect too much from Tomas, thinking that he’ll be back as strong as years ago.
dont you think that he has taken tremendous steps forward during the last ½ year? surely he isnt still as fast and strong as he used to be 2 years ago but he might catch up during spring time or after summer.. and what is amazing is that he is doing so well allready even though being handycapped.
agree with you dutch, but i thought nasri did a bit better when he was dropped into the midfield after denilson left. well, its tough to say if he actually did better but i had more confidence in the team at that stage. an abou diaby would’ve suited us today.
well mate, every one would have donne better than Denilson thats for sure.
the fans deserve more arsene and you know it
we havent seen a title for 5 years and the only player you buy is sol campbell
yes we have scored a lot of goals but we have also been shut down by united, chelsi, and villa… when it mattered
jesus christ if we lose to chelsea then we could find ourselves 11 points back if they win their game in hand
tactics need to be changed… guess why? if we start denilson and almunia we will lose
i know we have won with them before but they have both regressed. what i saw from denilson tody was pathetic
we need diaby back and we need to start bendtner
and ill stop ranting after this but i have to say the worst thing about this game is that it made that hack evra sound right
I am devasted of this result…it ruined my whole day…i never expected it…especially with they’re central defenders out…
So many negative things to say but i won’t mention them because is useless..Now i think everyone knows if chelsea beats hull and we don’t get at least a draw with them and a win with liverpool the title is over..
I wonder if wenger realized that almunia gifted goals in both matches with united and we need a better keeper…we’ll just have to wait untill summer now to see what changes will make…hope the obvious ones that everyone is seeing…
“same old problems haunt us”
Chelsea is a must-win game mate, else it’s over.
IS JUST SHAME AND WE GOT CAMBELL FREE FREE HE JUST WANTS TO MAKE MONEY FOR HIM SELF
Clichy is clearly not 100% fit. I’ve never seen him outpaced but the last 2 games it has happened. I wont be hard on him becuase i know a fully fit Clichy is superb. I wont talk about Almunia…sometimes if you have nothing good to say it’s best not to say anything at all!!!
I don’t see any real quality strikers out there that are available and it’s easy for us to say we should buy one but who? who is available? what club wants to sell a top drawer striker? what players wants to leave 6 months before a world cup? It really isn’t as simple as “arsene should buy a striker”. I’m convinced he would if he found someone who was available, affordable and wante to sign.
i face an embarasing situation when my friends here in pakistan said to me,this z da club u folow,shame on u…N i hv no answer… Poor game by defendrz…no finish by arshavin…
Misin u Persie…
i turned off my fone from the second goal tell me how am i goin to look defendin a team that lost to manure with out their first string centre backs… evans isnt good neither brown but we cudnt make them look dum as they really are…. y we have arshavin as lone striker yet still cross a ball at his head….. any one saw the walcott header damn guy seems as if its the first he ever headed a ball his entier life
Well this is us out of the title race and much as as I think wenger is the god for arsenal how come the whole of the football world knows he needed to buy a striker bar him. Before anyone points out our high scoring this season it’s fine getting away with it against the average sides in the league but the big games is where a class striker wouldve made the difference hence the facts which are against our title rivals( Chelsea and man u) this season:- scored 2 conceded :-9 that’s pathetic by any clubs standards. Wengers deluded faith in almunia denilson and clichy is annoying now. Please don’t tell me otherwise because clichy is the first player this season to make nani look good. What’s depressing is wenger has found out a lot longer than rest of us and too late for the transfer window that this team just isn’t good enough. Cheers to another trophyless season and either buy big in the summer arsene or leave it to a manager who will
Nice to see more “Chris” involved, but in order to avoid confusion, I’m the one in lovely cyan
Arshavin deserves a Lower mark, he could have changed the game if he wernt soo selfish.
Denilson needs to be sold.
There are some crap teams who need more crap players, such as HULL CITY.
In the first half, when he put himself in such great positions, Andrey was doing 90% of the job right but failing to complete it by not passing the ball. I couldn’t believe how selfish he was, but in a way, it was yet another confirmation of how much he plays for himself and not for Arsenal.
by and by the most frustrating thing i saw besides the almunia alioop and DENILSON’S LEISURELY STROLL WITH ROONEY was arshavin’s performance; the guy is the purest definition of a mercenary. by half time i fully understood why spain raped russia in the euros, russia depended on arshavin in crunch time and spain would never touch almunia.
i have never seen Arshavin fighting everrywhere on the pitch as he did today. for me he was the best player on the field, yeah he didnt take his chances to score but i can tell u even rooney had more chances than one and still scored one ( only coze Denilson is sh…t).
It has been clear for everyone except wenger that we need a striker even before Van persie was injured Abe was never replaced.
It is quite clear we need a big strong midfielder Falmani never replaced.
I could go on players lke Denilson are just not good enough are goalkeeper has been a liabilty for a long time
my question is this knowing the problems why was a striker not signed on the 1st of Janauary?
Why is Denilson and Almunia still playing ?
Arshavin is a great player who carries and injury yet he is played out of position Bendtner is unfit the same can apply to ed my fear now is free full if we win nothing which we wont again Wenger has got to go a managrer is only as good as his last success
Why not try a striker from the reserves or bring back Jay Simpson?
yea try barazite where is he…… even jay simpson shud be gooood let go silves… almunia and denilson no need for them. either him or lucas who is the worse brazilian ever to play footy and i mean it he dreams of playin in world cup with those performances…… guy must think dunga is living in an illusion like wegner…. or almunia playin for england at world cup think capello madddddd
no mate adebayor is replaced, wenger said Vela will replace him, hahahhahahahaha thats RIDICULOUS.
Simpson? where is he is he alive?
I hope we learn something from this. We need to play with 2 holding mid fielders. Song did well but denilson was pathetic! Ramsey is a good choice but again not enough defensive cover. Why not play song and Eastmond in center. Nasri looked out of touch as well.
Denilson. Why? He contributes absolutely nothing. Playing Ramsey may have left the defence more exposed but no more so than playing Denilson who is supposedly a defensive midfielder. He is an abysmal footballer with no heart. Ramsey HAS to play from now on as much as possible.
We are also unfortunately stuck with two defenders at left back who cannot perform the title of their job description. Clichy and Traore are wingers with zero positional sense and who simply cannot defend. Both were coached from 16 onwards by Wenger.
Sad, very sad but predictable. The team as currently constituted is far too light weight, small, lacking power and pace. The Wenger blueprint for any new player over the past number of years had been that of being two footed, comfortable on the ball, with good vision. All very well but when you end up with a team that has nothing else well you end up with an unbalanced side. There is little pace, power, heading ability and Rooney like clinical finishing. In short we have become an eefete, poofy team that when it is put up to us by imposing strong physical teams like Chelsea and Manure we literally fall apart. It’s not rocket science. Every fan that has been paying top dollar for the past five years can see it. We just don’t have the power and passion and I never thought that i would call my beloved team poofy. But I just can’t forgive a team and management that puts on a performance like that.
Against Chelsea we need:
To have Diaby back,
God needs to visit wenger in his dreams tonight and tell him buy certain players who are good and will fit into Arsenal.
Wenger needs to listen to God.
Drogba, Anelka and Lampard need to have an off day.
arshavin 6, dont think so… he was useless, and incredibly selfish, not one shot on target
denilson was his usual sloppy self, in big games cant afford to carry these players…
i wud have preferred eboue RB and sagna LB
Summary, our squad/players are not as good as Wenger thinks, and his stubborn views will cost us silverware again, bring MOURINHO IN!!!
It is clear now that we do not have the stomach….
It is a serious step back, not in the tittle challenge, but in the team spirit, mood and mentality…
How can you expect to win the league if you can’t even compete with Man U and Chelsea…
Denilson showed a total lack of commitment and heart… Why not play Ramsey???
Alumnia is not only horrible but also goofy… The Arsenal fans at the stadium were even making fun of him… I feel sorry for Gallas and Vermy knowing that they have to play in front of that joke of a goal keeper…
AW said in the prematch interview that Bendtner was not fit…!!! What was he doing on the bench???
Again and again we have raised the “striker” issue…!! Why do you thing Man U does not seem to beat Liverpool? That’s simple, they have a midfielder of hard players with a captain (wish he was playing for us) who can do it all (Gerard) and up front a tall, strong striker who disrupts the defence constantly… Do we have that? Not at all.
AW is putting himself in a hole, the tip tap passing, one dimensional (same “bullshit) no variance does not work against all the teams…
Van Persie brought us an alternative and we need that (here comes again the target man issue)
Can we still win the league? Possible.
Are we going to win the league? I doubt it.
“lost to lost” Mannone should be given a chance, because we are going to a total disaster with Alumnia…
AW did mentioned that some players were poor, is he going to do something about it? he could, but he does not have the squad to rotate! Who’s fault? well watch me point the finger——-> Arsene Wenger
A Manc just passing through. I really thought you weren’t as bad a as you’re making out. Sure you feel down after the result but you made so many chances and certainly a 5-4 scoreline either way would have been realistic. You just need to take your chances and I hope you do next week. Goal 1 great peice of skill from Nana not a lot Almunia could do. Goal 2 should have closed down Nani or Ronney but they did move very quickly. Goal 3 a result of chasing the game.
we need someone to lead the line in this big games. arshavin is to small en his touch isn’t 100%. eduardo is weak. bendnter only has potential. so that leave us with an injured van persie. that is our problem in this matches. everything is ending on the side of the field. the option then is go back or cross the ball. arshavin isn’t big enough so everytime we cross it, it leave us open for counter attacks like today. thats why our counterattacks wasn’t fast enough. we didn’t have pace in our counter attacks because there was no target man. their counterattacks were faster. WHY? they had a target man leading the line (rooney). After chelsea he did the same today. these top teams knows how to play us. and he is sitting there doing a interview saying: I don’t know why we play bad today. Each person with a little bit of brains knows this is ONE of the problems. nobody is leading the line so nobody is bringing nasri and rosicky in the game. that makes them look bad.
the other problem is Denilson. I thought it can’t get any worse with denilson. Don’t get me wrong. I was a fan of this fella. But all the 3 goals he had something to do with it. Why is he always jogging back? he did it at stoke, he did it today again. At that moment rooney was his man. We are playing with 1 DM and 2 CM where fabregas has a more free role. Denilson is the other one. when diaby is playing, he is penatrating in the box(even if it doesn’t work all the time). But denilson don’t attack, Don’t defense. Why is he on the field? I see Song as a 5th defender. he covers the backline. even he showed up in united box having 2 chances and try to help out the defense. Don’t think im a denilson hater. i know he can play decent like that game at everton and a coupleof others. he was helping out song and doing some dirty work. pressing the opposition on their half. but lately he is doing nothing on the field NOTHING. i was a fan and now i rather see arsenal playing with 10 men than with denilson.
the 3th problem is almunia. WTF is he doing in my team? doesn’t he know or train how to kick the ball. sorry for cursing. but damn let that kid manonne in the goal. this man looks like he is using drugs or something. Somebody have to test him on drugs or something.
But i still hope and try to believe in this season.
All i can do now is accept that wenger is in charge and if denilson and almunia keeps playing
i just hope they bounce back and stand up or something.
Keep the faith gooners keep the faith!
Right on Dutchgooner,
I totally agree,but is it too late for changes and is AW going to make them?
Get rid of that smiling fool Denilson, I care more about the Arsenal than he does……and I live in northern Sweden!
I´m pretty sure that we will have both him and Almunia out there when next season starts, Arsene have this idea that we will win something with players like Denilson that stops backtracking everytime the opposition gets close to our goal and a goalie like Almunia..
And the more we complain the more stubborn he gets, ALL HIS YOUNG PLAYERS ARE WORLDBEATERS.
Cesc will leave….
Things are simple….
1.Get a world class goalkeeper,because we don’t need goalgifters anymore..
2.Find a tall,strong striker who can lead our offensive line.
3.Arshavin is a great player,but he should play more with his teammates.
4.Denilson is not an arsenal quality player.
That’s my opinion and i think we cannot talk about title,before we solve this problems..
Remember that we are know perceive as a cheap club due to Gazidis and may be Wenger policy…
I don’t really think he went for Smalling…!!!
We won’t recruit (market closes Monday night) so we are stuck with what we have now…
My only problem now is, are we going to be able to keep our best players after another fiasco of a season?
while watching the match it felt horrible to watch denilson play.. once again…
after the match I felt even more sorry for cesc and alex.. they have to play with him every day.
In a strange way it`s a relief, for me it is anyway. After watching United take Hull apart courtesy on Nani and Rooney and knowing (as they do) how weak we are at left full back the plan was obvious I predicted it and it came to be. After this display I can only say “good luck to all you Gooners with blind faith” I don`t share your sentiments.
It`s no knee jerk reaction, I`m far to old for that, but it`s time to face facts and plan to do something about it, this season is shot. No more chances, no more excuses we don`t have a title winning side and quite a few have got to be shown the door. I don`t like naming names but this is serious. Almunia, Clichy, Denilson, Walcott, Bendtner and even Asharvin need to move on. The latter would do better with City because he just doesn`t have the Arsenal style.
Negative? NO, it`s positive criticism. On the plus side my blood pressure will feel the benefit and I just might make next season now.
I still believe a striker is not the answer. A goalkeeper who can command his area, make correct decisions, punch a ball, kick a ball and clear his line, is paramount. We will not win anything with the ones we have! We haven’t had a decent keeper since Seaman! We need a big big player in midfield, someone who can get to grips with his peers when the chips are down, a Verminator type character, good in the air as well as on the floor. I did miss out on Song’s contribution to the game and perhaps I shouldn’t have, he did better than most. But as I say on a day when all our players turn up, we cannot be defeated, unfortunately we see this so rarely. They should put up or shut up and ship out!
I agree.
We need a top-class goalkeeper, an Italian one, maybe Vito is the one after all.
And we need a strong and fast midfielder, one who unlike Denilson, if we are caught on the counter and he’s there, he either blocks the opposition, or stays with them to slow them down or at least, for goodness sake, foul them and get a yellow if it means preventing a goal.
i really feel sorry for almunia. he knows he’s awful and looks embarrassed to be fielded some times. this is a guy who had to be told to punt the ball down the field in the closing stages by tommy v. with goalkeepers, you get what you pay for. and this is a position that i would like wenger to actually invest instead of reeling in some obscure, unproven name that has no weight or confidence behind it.
as far as cries for a striker go, i fully back them. yes arsenal’s midfield scores most of the goals. however, wenger even admitted that van persie’s “first touch invites other players into the attack,” thereby making room for our midfield to waltz in a la cesc or diaby. add to that when rvp scores it is massive and we can see the hole he has left. i dont think bendtner did particularly horrible today (he looked his usual lost self) but it is humbling to think he is the guy we thought would fill that void.
wenger has a psychological problem. the more they tell him something, the more he goes and do the opposit so. he loves it when he can tell people ” See, i told you see’ or ”i was right”
sometimes he is right but how many times he’s been wrong lately.
they told him to replace adebayor, buy a good midfielder, buy a scoring striker.
all he can say is ” we scored the most goals in the league”
or he tell us how much his midfield is scoring or how many diffirent people is scoring.
but look where we are right now. only thing wenger was right about is that chelsea would drop points, but they still no. 1.
if you got higher ambitions why we got denilson on the field. look at their subs and ours:
Subs: Owen, Berbatov, Giggs, Valencia
and arsenal:Subs: Walcott, Ramsey, Silvestre, Eboue, Traore, Bendtner
Traore over Clichy any day of the week…. Gibbs before Clichy any day of the week…. still…. I can’t blame him for the whole game…. especially with Almunia gifting away the first goal…. I REALLY wonder what happened to Almunia this season…. last season he had his retarded moments… but at this frequency? At other times he makes game winning saves…. but today he was really out of it.
STILL…. NO TO THE BOOERS. Boo should never be suited to the fans of Arsenal….
I watched the game on the tely from all the way across the world….
There were moments that it felt I was watching a game at old trafford… I even called my friend at the emirates BEGGING him during the first ten minutes to MAKE SOME NOISE… Please make some noise…. what a dead beat…. EVEN BEFORE THE FIRST GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We walk onto other stadiums for away games…. and its LIKE A DEN!!
WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU GUYS??????????
LEAVE WENGER OUT OF THIS. HE’S GOT MORE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT ARSENAL THAN YOU. TODAY WAS TERRIBLE…. THE WORST GAME….
Even worse than the Chelsea game…. in which it RAINED like a tsunami….
IT’S NOT OVER. May this game be the big slap on the face…. I always thought we’d get second this season…. from the very beginning…. and the way it’s looking is I was right that MANCHESTER IS THE TEAM TO WATCH OUT FOR AS ALWAYS.
Can our FANS bring the EMIRATES to Stamford Bridge the way Manchester United Fans OWNED US TODAY?!?!?!?!?!?!?
What a nightmare.
i really felt the life drain out of me watching the game today, maybe because i have seen these types of performances before. Physically we can’t compete with Man U ,Chelsea or even sadly Liverpool in midfield. Looks like Denilson is becoming our Lucas Leiva at Liverpool. I think Gus Hiddink would spend the money that arsene wenger is saving for a rainy day. Wenger has brought us through a tough patch financially but is time to go to the next stage , that is to build a team capable of frightening the life out of Chelsea and Man U. Just like the Vieira ,Petit, Adams and Keown days.
Clichy deserves another chance as he’s clearly not fully fit.ALMUNIA IS NOT UPTO PAR.SIMPLE.While i see the need for a striker,-wenger also does-there are no good strikers available.Also,the lack of a striker isn’t why we lost today.We lost because Almunia is poor,Arshavin wouldn’t pass nor score,and Denilson is zero.He has no physical presence,no awareness and no passing.He was supposed to be a good reader of the game but over the past .onth in songs absebce,henhas prooved to be inept.Generally,our diffending is suspect.We have two of the best cener halves in the league but due to a por defencive approach by the midfielders,we conceded too many goals.We give away too many chances and conced emvarassing goals.The teams deffending needs to be addressed.The dwffensive mistakes we makeagainst small teams will go unpurnished butnot againsr the big twams.The team ,manu and chealsea,if we did not defend so nively,leavinng the defending to to the defence.This is the main weaknessmWe need to defend as a unit.It is cleae that we can crwat chances-apart fromthech ealsea game,but we need morw defensive discipline.the team could have won against city
Z KWT Gunner my friend, i was at the game and can assure you we were singing and shouting aloud from the moment the players hit the field. The goal hit us hard, but even then we were still in voice. The second one though, did kill us. But it wasn’t just the goals, it was the effort our glorious team were putting in. That is why they were booed, and like or not it is the right of everyone there! we all invest a great deal of our time and money, in return for effort on the pitch! If these guys don’t want to put it then then why should i applaud that? They need to learn the bad and the good, we don’t want mediocre we want to be the best, and we are capable of being the best but we need 11 players working together with pride and beleif!
Lets get some things straight:
We have to many midfield players who are similar – Nasri, Rosicky, Arshavin (although he has more going forward), Walcott, Denilson – all lightweights. We can only really have 2, at most of them in the team at any one time.
We need a new goalkeeper NOW, this has to be a priority, the team have no confidence in him!
We must get more steal in the team, or bring in Ramsay to support Song and Cesc in the middle. Walcott is a waste of time too, Denilson is no good as a holding midfield player.
We must also sort out the left back position, I like Gael but at the momentits not working, so we need to give him more protection from midfield……. this is were I think Nasri/Rosicky/Arshavin fail terribly.
Dont kid ourselves. To be number 1 in the Prem we need a goal keeper, and new right back (Sagna is good defenidng but cant cross for toffee!!), a new right sided midfield player and a new powerful striker. Yes 4 players!!!!
We are good but not good enough………
What this team need is a wrecking ball
In my opinion, we need Lloris/ Afkineev in goal, Loric Cana and Van der Vaart in the midfield and Huntelaar/ the Hulk or both up front all the while getting rid of Walcott, Denilson, Almunia.
In Wenger we trust? Not anymore!
I am shattered, absolutely shattered. Losing is one thing, but the WAY we lost was extremely devastating. I got extremely terrified when they got the 2nd goal, because I’m not joking – they could have had 5 plus. But then again, we got into very good positions and just the final ball or lack of composure was missing. Arshavin had several opportunities, Song had a few attempts, and Gallas came close at the end.
But I dont get it, why do we struggle with Man Utd, I mean not just today, but in the recent past. Whenever we beat them, its always by maybe 1 goal, whereas they can beat us by any margin. We had a few missing players, but still, to hear the words ‘outclassed’ and ‘torn to shreds’ after the match just make you feel sick. Makes our team feel like they belong to 2nd or 3rd tier. Is it wrong personnel, wrong tactics, I mean what is it.
Why do we struggle with Rooney and Drogba so much? Maybe we are too attack-minded and dont focus enough on keeping it tight at the back. That makes it even more important that we invest in a striker, which we wont unfortunately.
Feel very gutted, like all of you guys. Being beaten isnt the worst thing, but the way it happened was frightening, especially being 3 down after 50mins. But we have to move on and try our best.
It would’ve been easier on the fans if Wenger came out and admited that he was wrong not to buy impact players after letting so many great players leave. But Wenger never admits his mistakes because that means he has to do the right thing next time. So the fans keep getting disappointed.
My worst feeling is when he decides to lie to us about wanting to buy David Villa. I wish to know how much he was willing to pay for him? This kind of statement is an insult to the fans.
In the meanwhile Wenger wants to assure us that there isn’t a player available who can improve our team.
Only David Dein can manage Wenger.
Arshavin, Denilson and Clichy lost us the game, on 2 occasions Nasri and cesc were totally open, but the Arshavin finished himself bith times, and did so poorly. We could hace been 2 up and united would be on the back foot. Arshavin did create a lot, but in the end, all wasted but him. Denilson was at faul for all 3, let Nani through for the first, stopped the tracking of Rooney for the second right before the pass came to Shrek, and gave the ball away to park for the third. He is totally useless. Clichy was tatally owned, can take part in the blame for the first and third goal. He is only good when Arsenal are in charge, which they never were fot the last 3 games. Poor and discraceful showing from the gunners. Also, Gallas and Vermaelen, if they play in the center of the defence, why on earth was Clichy all alone on several occasions? Where the hell was those two?! And Almunia…. I’m not even gonna say it, but if I was Wenger, the spaniard would be fired, simply released from the contract immidietly. Made only one save from Rooneyes long shot, which even Arshavin could have saved if he played in goal, scored an own goal, and almost had a nice assist to Nani which never converted into a goal thanks to the belgian defender. Arshavin should not be a striker. But he has to since Wenger “alredy has many attacking options and will not buy” Why is he so stubborn? He said he will win the league with his babies, and he has been proved wrong for 5 years now, but he is to stubborn to see that he is wrong, so he will try again and again, and he will try to win the league with a squad with an avarage age of 17 if it so takes him 20 years to do it…. I hope gunners fans are very very patient…
again if we were to rate wenger it’d be a 0 or 1,hw many times will man utd &chelsea humiliate us b4 he knows that we need change of tactics when we play them,whats d use of scoring 10 against d hulls if you can’t score 1 against d man utds &chelseas, man utd was never troubled by our play,they know every trick we’ve got.it was same wit chelsea. we didn’t play that bad, we just played a side who know us inside out &so got their tactics right
I can recall a few times when we have beaten the mancs by a similar scoreline (that glorious game when Bartez gifted Henry 2 goals) and even the odd 4-0! Generally though the games are close! didnt we take 6 points last season??
Took 4pts off UTD last yr..
2-1 first game..
0-0 second..
I am absolutely convinced now that Arsenal will not win another trophy unless Wenger leaves the club!! If he really thinks that this particular squad is better than the Invincibles – then he has definitely lost the plot!!! This team is built as a poor imitation of Barcelona – not for the Premiership. No power, no fight, no physical ability, no height and no defending ability!! Please leave now Arsene or join the board. We must have a manager who recognises players of poor ability – which is over half of the present first team squad and who will buy the players we need.
sadly I agree with all today.
chris – spot on with your ratings, probably too kind to some
I think we are are all seeing this game for what it was.
Our weaknesses and arsenes poor decisions of late are now coming home to roost.
our players all talk a big game midweek and deliver none of the talk on the pitch.
you could see and smell this poor performance coming at villa.
I too feel incrdeibly sorry for cesc, gallas, song and vermailen who all put in without support.
almunia is indescribably bad, denilson useless, clichy was outclassed and walcott also average.
we need senior players mixed with up and coming talent, not all up an coming. arsene also needs to stop talking and defending his team and start listening and realising he has got it horribly wrong this year.
Thank God manu have prove everything i said about our team, i repeated many times that we don’t have a goalkeeper, a striker and a rugged midfielder. Wenger where is the quality and character of your team when it matter most? Welcome to trophyless season
Denilson fckn piece of shirt! pt me on da field n il play with mre heart! jus fckn jogs around n passes sideways! wtf did wenger ever c in him.
a sign that almunia is good the ratin on goal.com copy and paste
Almunia – 4 – Culpable once again for an important goal conceded. Flapped Nani’s cross into his own net. Nearly repeated the trick with a dreadful clearance in the second half. How much longer can he be allowed to get away with these mistakes?
HOW LONG WILL WEGNER KEEP UP WITH OUT BUYIN A KEEPER
It would be a start to get rid of Denilson. Clichy has so much ability and has been great before so I think he may get back on it. But Denilson is poison. Aside from the fact hat he can’t tackle always gets knocked over, gives the ball away never tracks back at pace, has no pace, no guts gumption desire to defend, he also slows us down going forward. If he’s not giving the ball away or putting our own players in danger e.g. the pass to Diaby in a crowd that resulted in his calf injury. He was promising enough 3 years ago but he’s ruining us now.
Blaming Almunia for the opening goal is just a gias against him. I think he’s rubbish 90% of the time but he couldn’t do anything about the opening goal. Instead the blame should go to Clichy and whoever else it was that allowed Nani to skip between 2 players. Seriously? 2 v 1 and he gets away scot free. There was nothing Almunia could do about any of the goals. The four in front of him let him down. I still think we need a keeper though – that 9M for Shay Given looks like a hell of a deal for Citeh.
Rosicky and Nasri did what they could. They aren’t goalscorers. Never were at their previous clubs and never will be. They pull strings but there’s no one to feed the ball to since we have no striker.
Cesc played well but I feel he should have taken this one on his own. He should have played selfish because let’s face it, if he’s not scoring then no one else is. Without RVP the goals in the team have dried up. So what if we’re top scorers? You can score 100 goals against Pompey but it’s still only 3 points and you have 37 more games to go.
Arsene is playing stubborn about adding to the team. We haven’t have a 100% squad in over half a decade so he needs to buy depth and quality because there’s no way everyone is coming back to full fit all at the same time for months on end. We don’t have Lampards or Terrys who are made of metal. We have Rosickys and RVPs who are glass cannons and you have to plan for that.
Cesc tried mate, believe me, he skipped past the Manchester midfield at least two times and also tried to score from distance.
But alone, he cannot do much.
The fact that Denilson is receiving first-team football for the Arsenal makes me sick to my stomach. I’m sorry, but he is a disgrace to the Arsenal badge he wear over his heart. This is pitiful. There’s no way he would even be a regular substitute for Chelsea or Man U. When is Arsene gonna realize that he is simply not good enough to start for us? Aaron Ramsey is at least showing some growth.
Wenger, we are tired of experiment, please go and buy players. You sold players and instead of you to use the money to buy their replacement you refused. Almunia is not a goalkeeper, when you had opportunity to sign shay given you let it go.
u know guys…
sometimes its just hard being an arsenal fan….that’s all i gotta say after todays game
i mean who gave them the right to build up all the hype of winning the damn trophy and then throw it away with a performance like this……
i am just sick of it now…
Why are we so tolerant of arshavins crap? Imo he singlehandedly lost us this game. We could have been two up before their first goal.He should leave if he thinks his team mates are inferior to him even when they are in superior tactical positions.
I agree almunia made a few mistakes, mainly with kicking, but I didnt think he “gifted them the first goal”. That ball was going in one way or another. I dont think he was costly at all.
Basically, clichy has looked weak for a long time, and Utd exploited it.
Denilson didnt do much, and I agree he was poor, but I dont think he was to blame particularly for what went wrong. As with almunia, i see this as scapegoating.
Fergie out-thought wenger today. He really pressured our fullback, and the pressure told. We, on the other hand, didnt appear to have a game plan at all.
Also it has to be said, we didnt have a striker to play. Normally, with eduardo we at least have a true forward in the front 3, but today we had 2 CMs (both of have played DM before btw) as our attcking wingers, and a left winger, at best support striker, leading the line again. We didnt have enough in us to trouble their defence, which is depressing.
Diaby’s presence was missed in midfield today…
definitely, cant wait till he gets back
arsenes comments of “we were poor”suggests he may finally have realised he cannot blame anyone else today.
when u constantly pass under pressure to players who are marked well and under pressure themselves you get the same result week in week out.
injured team mates from poor passes.
tackled from behind all day long, missed passes and lost balls.
when u then dont fight for the lost ball you need to defend.
when you dont defend you need shay given, we have no shay given !
when u are young and told you will be champions after every game and the cold or wet was to blame then u stop chasing as half our team do.
when the opposition all figure this plan a out and start to play tactically against u you need a plan b
arsenal have no plan B
arsene has no plan b – only old guys and juniors.
that should be plan C
there is our year as hard as that was to write !
TAXI FOR WENGER make it a seven seater you can take the rubbish with you weaker than last year , we are going no where , real rubbish display , you no your job is on the line
weaker than last year?
Disgraceful performance, i met a LOAD of scandinavian gooners who were all hyped and going to watch the game….need i say more…..
This team is still missing something, though we are not far off the final ingredient, the question is will the other ingredients keep cooking adequately before those other ingredients are added, or will they disappear??
Chelscum is AGAIN the make or break game for us – unfortunately they’re probably licking their lips after tonight’s farce.
We need God on our side for that game…..
Arsene has built a fantastic outfit…and shouldn’t be overly crucified. I think his problem (and that of almost all other managers, except Mourinho of course) is developing undue attachment to certain players, and i think personality plays a part. I’ve met Denilson, and he’s a great lad, quite likable actually. Unfortunately, he isn’t really a good player. Can be carried by the team on a good day, may shoot and score occasionally, but he’s average.
Almunia has never been a good keeper; i think even Arsenal Kids would agree. Clichy is suffering low confidence, and has some positional difficulties, but he’ll get through…….would’ve helped if Diaby had been present on the left wing.
Arshavin is out of position and not fit (painful foot). I like what he’s doing though, trying to shoot when he can (Arsenal has been accused of having one-pass-too-many around the 18yrd area). That’s how he finished off Liverpool, shooting instead of giving that extra pass.
….i say a little selfishness is necessary….
I think if Arsene can partly dismantle the team, and build another, especially around the Bill-Verm, Alex-Fab core and Arshavin-Robin core, with Diaby, Rosicky, Nasri and Ramsey…..we’ll be unstoppable….but then again, why have we wasted another season?
Almunia is a good keeper he need some protection in the back which he constantly get from Gallas and my boy Varmelen.
Why on this earth or how is it possible that NANI was able to split Clichy and Nasri to get into the box and had the audacity to score and humiliate Almunia from that angle.
Nani abused Clichy thoughout the game and that is not acceptable.Where was Nasiri defensively?
Arshavin is playing out of place and was the only threat to the United defence PLEASE I NEED SOMEONE TO ADVISE HIM THAT HE SHOULD PASS THE BALL SOMETIMES.
Wait and see if I’m right; next week when Diaby comes back, Arsenal is gonna gain some favors for a few matches and Mr AW will continue his song: “We score more than anyone else, we have potentials, we have people coming back from injuries,…., that’s why I don’t need a new player who is nowhere to be found world class, on bargain, available for CL”. Oh well, I just wish there are more of today game. Our season is now officially over lad, would you hope anything from Chelsea and Liverpool games? I think not.
Anyway, could someone please tell me why he changes in to 4 3 3 formation? Wouldn’t it be more suitable to play 4 2 2 where Nasri, Rosick are right for wide midfield while Arsav supporting a striker?
Denilson? One word: calamitous. Almunia must be replaced immediately.Now,we must win our game against Chelsea or we’ll probably be out of the title race.Things are complicated…
We played a decent enough game, fact is, when facing top quality opposition we’re in big trouble. Manu came to our house and said ‘thank you, don’t mind if I do’, and really there was never anything we could do about it. On the other hand, we didn’t have any injuries today, that’s always good.
people may criticise arshavin but did anyone see what happened when bendtner came on and he went onto the wing(where hes comfortable)? he turned rafael inside out! he was clearly uncomfortable and was played out of position AGAIN! denilson was the main problem today, he was at fault for all 3 goals although almunia and clichy helped to give away the first 1. if diaby was playing today i think it would have bn a great, even match and we may have won. maybe clichy is still a little rusty but there is no excuse for almunia and denilson they are not fit to wear the shirt!!!!
Almunia has to go. Listen i’m not one of these fairweather fans who jumps on a bandwagon after a bad result but i’m sick of the fact that he always costs us the initiative in the big games. B4 his own goal it was an evenly balanced game which could have gone either way but after it we were chasing the game yet again and got caught twice on the counter. Its not the first time either, reverse game at OT we were cruising until he comes out rushing like a madman giving Rooney the opportunity to dive when he wasn’t really going anywhere, CL final beaten twice at the near post costing us the cup.. i could go on. Nothing personal against the guy but he’s simply a No 2. Everyone going on about a striker when its obvious we need a new man between the sticks if we’re gonna compete for trophies. I say bring back Chesney and put him straight in or give Fabianski a run.
Almunia, I have no word for him. I just can’t believe that he is one of the most experienced players in our team. He’s mentally sick!
For the second goal, Clichy should have closed down Nani before he found Rooney. It was a typical counter-attack situation and if it was Brown or Evant, they surely make a fault to stop Nani.
The third goal, Denilson was our last men in the middle-field, and he lost the ball too cheaply because of his trade-mark poor first touch. It happens many times without punishment, but today MU was ruthless.
Get rid of Denilson, Almunia and bring in replacements, we’ll be good
It was not Arshavin day, he did his best though.
People are so stupid to criticize him
Lack of heart- yes in some. Lack of nous and discipline as well but horses for courses too. Against Manure and Chelski you need more pace in midfield ( first half particularly) and a DM who is not going to desert his post. Cesc ran blood to water but the other attackers- apart from Mr Greedy were not pulling their weight. To many chances going begging and a gift shop at the back!! Not ideal is it? Common get it sorted!!
Almunia is the most horrible goalkeeper I ever seen in arsenal history.we have a real substitute for him;mannonea and he showed that in the beginning of the season when almunia was injured and I wish he get the opportinuty again. Denilson is not an arsenal player .its a shame to see that guy with arsenal uniform.eduardo is handicapped and mister wenger consider himas a striker the way he runs and the way he takes shots so funny.clichy is a great player but was not in his best today.sagna should be the substitute for eboue.don’t see why he is the starter may be because he is french.bentner better come to the NBA he may be lucky in this sport.Same for willcot he should try the 100 miter race track and field.we need a striker and a goal keeper .denilson and almunia and eduardo they should not wear the arsenal shirts
Night mares
Absolutely no game plan man u is a physical organised team you don’t play them with open doors and neither do you do that with Chelsea we were home and we couldn’t even square it no excuses at all just not good enough but having said that up to the first goal we were doing ok nani shouldn’t have had the ball period how many did he get through then through the centre for the second how is that possible but still we got chances they were little short
The naked truth hits the face so hard it wakens you i truly believed we were going to win this one i was shocked but i believed we still going to win and when the whistle blew i was devastated
But then this is sport and above all its a ball and a ball is a ball it just keep bouncing let us bounce with the ball back up we got to keep playing to the last drop you win some you lose some same as usual such is life
Now comes fixing and tweaking and analysing with the window closing down game on team you got to work twice as hard leadership is vital here conducting and securing wins will have to come out from the team i am sure Mr wenger come the summer he will have a new team he knows what he wants and he will do it and get it
Come on Arsenal com on Arsenal let us play ball come on
Arshavin should not be played as a lone striker,that is not his position of exuberance and skill …
He is, at the moment, doing a favour to Wenger and it is unfair to him… Why are we in that situation? because AW and the board do not have the “balls” to recruit another performing striker…!!!
As for Alumnia, I have always said that for Arsenal to progress in the defensive department they needed a top Goal keeper… If Alumnia was top (like AW said) he would be in contention for the Spanish national squad…!!! Arsenal needs a keeper playing for his country like the keepers of Liverpool, Man U, Chelsea and so on… Even teams like Hull, Bolton, Wigan and Wolves find themselves with good quality keepers… He is a clown, a disgrace to the shirt, an embarrassment to watch and may be the worse at his position in the league… If he had some kind of pride he will give his shirt to the technical staff and burry his head in the sand…
Denilson is an enigma to me, where does he come from? who is he? As far as I am concerned we played the last 2 to 3 games, 10 against 11 because he does exist on the pitch… Why is Ramsey not playing??
I know some fans are still in owe of AW, but the fact is we have to be concerned…
He has been 4 years with nothing to put our teeth on, each year we are going from fiasco to fiasco…
Last week Gazidis (the “tw..” who should have stay with the lowest league created by men, the MLS) reassured the fans that money was available for any transfer possible!!! i don’t believe a word of it… the board is happy with the situation as long as we stay on a CL spot…
You see things like that will not happen at Barcelona, because the fans (socios) control the club (they are also aware of any transfer inquiries and the money available because they have representatives on the board who only care about the club) and if they want you out, you are out…
The transfer market closes later tonight and we are done, as far as Arsenal is concerned…
So we are stuck with some players who will not give their all to the shirt…
I mean what’s the point of signing long term Walcott, Edouardo, Denilson and so on?? I don’t think that they are going to get better or stronger in the next years, what about getting titles now? AW is delusional !!!
We are now at the cross road…
We still have a chance to win the title ,but can we? (I don’t think so)
AW is always talking about Man U and Chelsea dropping points… Well they might not, they might go on a unbeaten run until the end of the season… We did it before! Why not them?
We need facts, and the facts are that we can not compete with team like Chelsea and Man U… So at the end, we are the third wheel and it gets annoying by the years…
Again this year, no title unless we get lucky in CL… but that’s a lot of luck involve…
i totally agree with you mate..
id give almunia a 0
arsene wenger’s first job as a manager is to win trophies, not manage finance. (i still love him though)
Wenger, stop this madness!!!!! stop this madness!!!! We cannot afford to be man handled by Man U every time. Yesterday was the worst day of my miserable life.
Talking about the match, I think there are several positives. We just learned that a Good team is made up of good players who can make the difference. I always said we needed a Goal keeper and a back up DM. Wenger should stop this madness and play song infront of the back four. He has got alot of energy and needs to use that against strong attackers. Denilson was never meant to be an arsenal kind of player, I am sure Ray Parlour, Viera and other midfield maestros we’ve had over the years will be ashamed to see such shit!!!!! playing for arsenal.
I am so ashamed of myself because I actually supported the ides of having denilson on the pitch today.
I believe if we have Diaby back, and song playing infront of the back four, we are going to be tough defensively,.. Tought defensively??????????? Almunia was a united player yesterday. Wenger, this is Arsenal, and u cannot use a team like arsenal to experiment your ideas. Buy the players we need or resign.
5 Years without even the Carling cup???? Come on guys, Has this french man not lost touch with reality?
damn i want to kill denilson after this game he travelled with rooney all the time and when rooney entered our box, denilson was nowhere.
almunia is just not a big game player i never expected him to save from nani and rooney
i will not blame this 3 player Denilson, Almunia and clichy…i just want to blame the manager..
he the one should be blame for this losing, he run this team with boys not men…he the one don’t want to listen to other people…always looking boys to plays with arsenal that needs some 6-7 years to play well not some men that have experienced …Arsenal should have a new striker…yeah that’s true we have highest score in bpl but we just can score when we meet the stupid team like bolton and portsmouth..when we meet the team like chelsea or man utd..we just like stupid team for them.. if this year we still can’t win BPL..Wenger should step down and give the people that really know the way to win trophy not to build young team..i just miss our team in 2003/2004 just like henry,pires,viera,edu,gilberto silva,lujberg,lauren,toure,ass-cole,dennis…we have a lot of experienced players
Wenger pretended to be deaf when fans and media were noting on the weaknesses of individiual players, that some in our squad are not good enough. Wenger said it is all about ATTITUDE and bla bla bla…Yet, yesterday he mentioned himself that we conceded 3 goals due to individual mistakes…But the same was in Chelsea 3-0 match, can’t we just learn who is the liability in this team??????
And for yesterday’s game:
- Denilson, Almunia should really get a **** out, these two do not even deserve playing in EPL
- Nasri – not an impressive player, and will never be
- Bentner – loves talking too much, but a crap on the pitch
- Arshavin – worked hard, but what a selfish prick that does not play for the team
Fabregas, Arshavin, Song, Gallas, Vermalen, Diaby – the only players who are assets in this team.
Our team must learn to play as a team Arshavin had an opportunity to pass he chose to shoot, our defenders need to learn to mark players and not watch the ball the Rooney goal was a case of players watching the ball instead of seeing where the opposition was .One or two players follow the player with the ball the others should following the other players running towards there goal.
yr after yr we get killed in Feb/March when we play the top teams. Put it simply when the other team doesn’t allow time and space in the middle of the pitch we are simply not good enough to threaten. We try to play the quality passing game but don’t have the players Barca/Madrid possess, hence we get killed in the big games.
Almunia is someone I have always hated since his gaffes in CL final 2006 and I simply don’t know why despite a 200mill turnover we can’t find 8-10mill for a decent keeper. Clichy has been horrendous in the last few games and I have no idea what Denilson/Nasri were doing on the pitch. At home we could only find Arshavin to put up-front alone by himself, what does that say about manager’s faith in Eduardo/Vela.
Lets be honest we are just pretenders and not real candidates for top trophies.
wil ar jst on lucky.keep d faith
GOD bles fab&vem.d rest ar useless
and Song
I think we are still deluded by arshavins four goals against liverpool. What has he contributed this season?He is being played out of position you say? How does that explain ignoring better placed teammates once with walcott vs bolton, at least twice in this game.what about his total mis cue inside the 18yard box? Come on guys have we gone blind?The second and third goals came cos we were chasing the game no keeper could have stopped those chances with the defence totally gone. As for denilson he had a terrible game buti sense a section of our fan base was virtually praying for this just to be able to claim vindication.
my sentiments exactly, we are quick to jump on the usual scape goats. The ignorant little russian is costing us and hasn’t impressed at all, he only wants glory for himself and does not care about the team. If he had passed we could have scored early hence gain control as we always do. The midget should be benched if he cant play with the team, and he is the one with the loudest mouth——–its funny
First of all, something anyone can’t deny is that we didn’t play in the half of our real capacity.
If you watch the damn again and specially the three goals, you realize that ManU played in a defensive certain way, I don’t know how to say it in english, but in spanish we call it “contraatque”, which I think is contraatack or something like that; we were over and over and over but we dind’t score, mainly because of a little selfish russian called “Arshavin”. And when we lost the ball they hade like 5 players and we had 3 defensive guys! And of course they were way faster than us, that was most of the game, luckly we had Gallas and Vermi, if it wasn’t for them they could easliy been like 4 or 5 goals.
I still think that we are a better team than ManU and of course a better team than Chelsea, I just hope that AW realice that we need definetly a keeper! Not a striker, not a defensive player, not a midfield player! A KEEPER! (I insist on Guillermo Ochoa) ‘Cause that is what ManU, City, Villa, Chelsea, etc have! A really really really good keeper.
Talking about the title, I still think that we are in track! ‘Cause we might lose against big ones, but they always drop points against Wigan, Hull, Burnley, etc, etc. So lets wait until the very end of the season (at least 4 or 5 games before the season ends)
By the way Chris I have good news hahahaha sort of, remember the game in Mexico were my team is called The Gunning Hawks? Hahaha well! It is the third week in the “Primera División Mexicana. Torneo del Bicentenario” and our team is in the place number 2,893 of 48,581. It is a good place considering the quantity of contestants hahaha.
And I don’t care if we get to the 1st Division, 2nd Division or even to the Nationwide Conference, I will always be a Gunner! For ever and ever ’til the day I die! I love watching them play because they play a beautiful football, like very few teams in the world do it, I know tha trophies are important, but sometimes you are happy when they play such an amazing football (not talking about today of course) or when you see players like Vermalen, that when everything looks lost they push and push, just to show that we don’t get down easliy. Because this is more than a team, is a family and almost a religion were you have gods like Fabregas, Henry, Vermalen and many more TOGETHER WE STAND! ARSENAL FC! COME ON GUNNERS!!!!!!
Thank You! If your read all this.
Glad to see your Hawks flying high mate
10 POINTS OF FAITH- I BELIEVE MANCHESTER WAS A BAD PENETRATABLE TEAM LAST NIGHT, ARSENAL ALMOST INTENTIONALLY MADE THEMSELVES WORSE.
1. I said before the FA Cup game with Stoke City that we should not rest players as that was a must win game to me and should have been to every Arsenal lover. Many disagreed, they may still do, but i was right.- FA was an easier chance to win, And resting of players has so far helped nothing at all.
2. I wish Manchester United were brilliant last night- they were not- With Arshavin & Song having more than one clear chances, Theo Walcott, Cesc Fabregas, William Gallas, Thomas Vermaelen all through on goal, This was the easiest Manchester game we have ever played, their defence was useless and our shots needed to go wayward with Manchester United’s defence not able to stop us. When you see Alex Song of all people through on goal twice, you know the other team has no defence – I still wonder how we lost.
3. I have never been against Manuel Almunia, but he has to tell us if he is a Manchester United fan, last time around, he gave then a goal through a needless penalty(harsh one though),
Now he scores for them, how lucky they can be 2 sublime goals against ourselves in one season.
4. Denilson chased Mamady Sidibe all the way for Stoke’s goal, then he stepped away when Sidibe was about to DELIVER a deadly pass, He chased Rooney all the way yesterday and then he stepped away when Rooney was about to RECEIVE a deadly pass. Both passes became beautiful goals. Is he on a mission or What is he doing?. We have 2 players who are miles ahead of him in quality, Aaron Ramsey & Craig Eastmond. He should be the bench player and not them.
5. Gallas-1:- He was a let down last night, we were conceding goals when he was on the first line of attack – HIS JOB IS TO BE ON THE LAST LINE OF DEFENCE!!!!!!!. His energy and ‘heart’ were worthless as if he had defended us well, we have other scorers who would have won the game for us. He is obsessed with scoring and as noble as that may sound, It has killed us enough times, Even Pienaar & James Vaughan in our game against Everton, they found nobody in the box.
6. Fabregas was playing with no desire for the first time in his life – How many times he should have shot and scored you all know. He did extremely well with his runs and he actually got THERE!. I can’t believe this but his final ball to Nicklas Bedntner was awful, and he was in a much better position to shoot and score compared to Bendtner.
7. Until when will Manchester United kill us with counter attacks, how come we did not see their box empty as they were manning it while our box was constantly empty with Gallas and Vermaelen always upfront – Is it so hard to learn a lesson? – They have hit us the same way so many times.
8. Clichy had a bad game but it did not cost us anything, In my opinion, Rosicky had a good game and I was sorry to see him going off as that is when i felt that giving up mood. He is a match-winner and you don’t remove someone like him when you want goals.
9. We now have to depend on Manchester United beating Chelsea for us, Liverpool beating Manchester United for us. Everton, Aston Villa, Totenham & Manchester City are now charged with a responsibility to win this league for us.
10. Until it is mathematically impossible and it is still more than possible even almost promising keeping in mind that after the next 10 days we don’t play Big 4 again, And remembering that resounding Liverpool’s 4-1 victory over Manchester United last season when they beat United 6-2 aggregate home and away and still United took the trophy, I still KEEP THE FAITH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dear Sir,
I appreciate your mental agony but still with broken heart you have rightly rated the players. All Arsenal supporters should unitedly criticise AW for not buying players. Arsenal is not his father’s club. He is an extremely stubborn person. Ferguson is miles ahead of him. The way we conceded the 2nd and the 3rd goal is unimaginable. Just by 2-3 touches they finished and the entire defence was absent. Man U or Chelsea or Liversool will never ever concede such type of goal. Arsene Wenger does not try to understand that Almunia, Clichy, Denilson, walcott, Bendner are worst footballers. I really feel extremely sorry for Fabregas, a truely class footballer, for our two central defenders and Arshavin. Though Arshavin missed opportunities but still he was the only man causing problem upfront. One thing I will never understand that why after conceding the 2nd goal in a foolish fashion, AW did not tell Gallas and Vermealan not to go up. Man U were playing on counter attacks and they could have scored 3 more goals. I have always seen that there were atleast 5-6 footballers jamming Man U’s defence.
AW should resign or else he should apologise to millions of Arsenal fans for not utilising money he earned by buying Adebayor and Toure. Why did he allow Gilberto or Flamini to leave ? Gilberto is still playing for worlds best team. Go hell AW, you are the most overrated person on earth.
I appreciate your mental agony but still with broken heart you have rightly rated the players. All Arsenal supporters should unitedly criticise AW for not buying players. Arsenal is not his father’s club. He is an extremely stubborn person. Ferguson is miles ahead of him. The way we conceded the 2nd and the 3rd goal is unimaginable. Just by 2-3 touches they finished and the entire defence was absent. Man U or Chelsea or Liversool will never ever concede such type of goal. Arsene Wenger does not try to understand that Almunia, Clichy, Denilson, walcott, Bendner are worst footballers. I really feel extremely sorry for Fabregas, a truely class footballer, for our two central defenders and Arshavin. Though Arshavin missed opportunities but still he was the only man causing problem upfront. One thing I will never understand that why after conceding the 2nd goal in a foolish fashion, AW did not tell Gallas and Vermealan not to go up. Man U were playing on counter attacks and they could have scored 3 more goals. I have always seen that there were atleast 5-6 footballers jamming Man U’s defence.
AW should resign or else he should apologise to millions of Arsenal fans for not utilising money he earned by buying Adebayor and Toure. Why did he allow Gilberto or Flamini to leave ? Gilberto is still playing for worlds best team. Go hell AW, you are the most overrated person on earth.
Really2 shit performance by almunia, clichy and denilson. I still can accept errors by clichy, he just came back from 3 months lay off. But what was that with the winker goalkeeper and the brainless brazillian??? I don’t understand why and why wenger still believe in what are for me, two of very big liabilities and biggest threats for Arsenal itself. I am very disappointed that ramsey was not even get a chance, instead he is a center of bidding war between Arsenal and MU in the past. Arshavin, i did not understand why he was so selfish in this match. He got more than 3 clear chances, he was in the difficult angle to score, he saw his teammates unmarked but in the end…….??? We are not playing League 1 or League 2 teams to do all alone our self. Nasri, all time rubbish maker. I just dont want to see Almunia, Clichy, Denilson and Nasri in the starting line up next week. Otherwise, i could say that was a really2 a gift from god if all of these clowns play. Vermaelen should play left back position, he loves to get forward but he returns quickly. He is strong and he can scores. Why not?? Campbell also should play, with Drogba set to feature, Campbell is the only player in our squad who match the size of the ivorian. I really missed the performance of Don Vito, looking back in the last year.
arshavin was one of the best players on the pitch for arsenal…. along with fab04 and song…. it was just not his day. And people are saying why he doesnt pass the ball… well if he would have scored that goal himself… people would have said anything…. i knew for a fact arsenal would lose when i saw denilson starting….i mean why why wenger cant get… that he is not a player to play in the premier league…he needs to be kicked out of the team… he could have played nasri over there and walcott in the wings just to track back evra or nani… doesnt wenger have any brain…. arsenal will not win any silverwares this season and many more seasons to come… until they bring in some quality impact players just like arshavin…. get a proper worldclass striker… who can pair up with van persie… and get a defender and a goal keeper… next season… otherwise we fans will never be happy…. can u imagine we didnt win any of the big games. Even the liverpool game we were losing…. we could lost to everton and villa also….. I personnly have a feeling we will lose fabregas this summer…may be van persie too…..
I was totally dispointed in the starting 11 on Sunday.. I wish Wenger started with either Walcott or Ramsey or both.. Arshavin played well but was a bit selfish as we all saw.. Fabregas and Song probably could have scored a few goals had they kept their cool but it was frustrating to see Man U up 3 goals.. and their confidence was slipping away with time..
Arsenal started so well and up until late in the first half, they created stuff.. But I agree with everyone above that mistakes cant be forgiven at this level.. Almunia doesn’t deserve his place in the team.. Clichy might have been rusty today but he plays well otherwise.. But once again, Im all pissed because Wenger didnt utilize his best to start with which probably would have helper Arsenal score first and it makes a lot of difference to their game if they score first..
I want to go on n on writin.. but the point is, there’s no use.. and unfortunately so…
don’t moan u gunners fans, we just put you in your place where you deserve to be we tore you apart in your so called “fortress” you are no longer the force that you used to be now there is no so called “big four” now there is only “big two” manchester united and chelsea and it was once again men against boys now you will lose next game against chelsea and tou will be back in the race for that 4th spot……..lolzzzz
Lovely feeling boss but I hope you belong to Manchester United at least Man U is a big something, Chelsea is a big nothing, The only teams in their league of 2 or 3 or 4 trophies is Newcastles & Aston Villas, They are not even comparable to Sunderland, Tottenham or Everton!
@ Stupid Manchester fan, you are obviously insane, and devoid of good sense of understanding. U watched d game but did not understand the game. The season isnt ended yet. We played without Van Persie. I hope Rooney gets injured so that we will see how you guyz would play.
Let’s face it, Wenger srewed the pooch. BIG TIME!!! Denilson should be dropped from the team for the rest of the season, two games in a row he gave away the ball at a crucial moment, one led to a goal the other could have. I was so shattered after we conceded that second goal, after the first i felt we would surely come back and show that steel that has been evident in the team this season, but no, we rolled over and let Manchester United obliterate us. Can someone tell me why Gallas thinks he’s a striker, sure he was good in defence but you can only be good in defense when your actually in the defensive line and after the first goal he was absent from that position. Mr Wenger should have been on his feet screaming for Gallas to remain in his position but he allowed the defender to play where he wanted to, and when he does get into a position to score he screws it up horribly, by that time my remote was broken from how hard i had been squeezing it. Also, is it just me or is Almunia shockingly bad, he’s got to be in the bottom five keepers in the premiership, and what really annoys me about him is that when he makes a blunder and concedes a goal he gets this look on his face like it was not his fault, like the defense should have done better, but that Nani goal was a fiasco in which he is the main recipient of blame. After a loss by the gunners i usually go into a depressive state in which i think our whole season is screwed but over the next day i recover my optimistic point of view and get excited for the next game, but with Chelsea next i don’t think i’ll be too plucky for a couple of weeks.
how painful was that result. I must say that some of that some of those arsenal players were piss poor.I can’t say I didn’t see that coming. No matter what anyone says we gave a wretched performance at villa.Some of the players are just there to enjoy the riches at arsenal.
Almunia was as unnassured as any keeper can be.same yesterday and same against villa.when he kept launching his goalkicks long for the whole match despite the fact that our strike force consists of midgets.You think somebody would say something to him but even arsene sat there like a dolt
Samir Nasri rarely contributes in defence -.remember the chelsea game he let cashley cole get his crosses both times and no need to describe how he allowed nani in for the first.every wiide player in the premier league help out their fullbacks and our’s think they are a gift to the league – too good to bother about defending and come on honestly the bloke is no great shakes going forward.most of his game consists of sideways padding
I don’t know what’s happened to clichy.He get’s terrorised by good runners and his decision making is poor at times conidering his experience – but you cannot fault the guy for effort – so let’s move on to the bigger culprits.
Speaking off culprits – Denilson is probably the worst player in the top 4 teams. And think about it.If you offer him to portsmouth for free or hull or wolves I don’t think they would play him.With or without the ball he has no clue what to do on the pitch. tackling- poor marking – poor pace – ***** effort – poor passing – sideways or misplaced and yet he plays everytime he is fit.
that brings us to the gaffer.The guy is the most deluded person on earth.Every year his squad is injury hit and he refuses to buy.I don’t think this team has the desire to win matches adn have very little character and it won’t change as long as Arsene is in charge.
Apart from arshavin, cesc, gallas, vermaelen, song the squad has 0 ambition they just don’t care . just coasters happy to be at arsenal
We need the boardroom to step up for us. Someone needs to line up the entire team from manager down to reserves and demand that anyone who fails to represent the club with maximum effort and skill will be sold to Notts County. We are way to soft on underperforming “developing” talent. i am all for allowing player to develop in a nurturing enviroment, but when do we finally lay down the law and make these kids grow up!!!!!! manager included.
I am severely disappointed in this club. We have been asked to be patient and when are we going to see results?
The gunners obviously played better especially Varmalean, Fabregas and Arshavin. The goals we conceded were cheap and avoidable goals. Why did Clichy allow of all people Nani outplay him? Denilson did not cover Rooney in the second goal and Gallas Sagna went up front which led to the third goal. We lost for some stupid decisions and Man U won cuz they took their chances.