Ughghghh.
Again. Yet another disappointing afternoon up north. As I sat in front of this one, bacon sandwich in hand and two litre tub of Tropicana in the other, I was gradually overcome with a miserable sinking sensation, and that was only as Andy Gray moved his interactive formation photographs around. As the dust settles on the one-all draw, I am asking myself questions. Lots of questions. Namely:
Are there four words better to flatten the spirits of an Arsenal supporter than Denilson- Song – Fabregas – Diaby?
If you’re playing a northern team with a dodgy defence, do you
a) Play with some pacy wide midfielders, to complement the centre pairing and create goalscoring opportunities?, or
b) Play with four central midfielders, including two who have been consistently hapless, and push your almost-established Brazilian holding midfielder into a wing position he is uncomfortable and useless in?
If you are struggling at 1-1 in the final twenty minutes of a match you really cannot afford to drop points in, do you
a) Bring on an exciting young forward player, maybe even change formation, in an attempt to salvage some pride (if not points) from your season.
b) Wait until 80 minutes have passed and then bring on Nicklas Bendtner, whose sole (and it came off his head, har) contribution is to deflect a goalbound cross/shot.
I don’t know. Very frustrating. What do you want to say to Arsene? What should he say to the team?
Tags: Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Nicklas Bendtner
December 13th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
I’d say to Arsene: Keep it up, you’re such a great manager, you’re just so unlucky. One day the results will turn and we’ll all be calling you a genius again. I love you man!
December 13th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Difficult to be positive. I wasn’t too unhappy with the team selection. It looked OK on paper. Within ten minutes though, it was apparent that Denilson (I’m a big fan of his) just wasn’t at the races. I’m sitting watching Hull play as I write. The biggest question in my mind is”where’s the desire to win?”. Hull, L’pool and M’boro all showed much more desire than us today. Where’s our terrier ball winner? We aint’ got one, have we!
Until we buy (and it’s apparent now that we must), build the defence from Sagna, DJourou, Song, Cliche, Toure. Gallas and Silvestre don’t have a future at the club. Alex Song isn’t going to make it as our mid-field saviour. Gael Clichy, your desire is superb BUT you’re beginning to make too many critical mistakes!
Cesc and either Diaby or Denilson (not both) must become a stable centre midfield duo. Neither Diaby or Denilson are wide players. Recognise that, pick the team accordingly.
Ade and Robin are shoe ins for me up front (even although rvp missed 3 gilt edged chances today). So, I have two places to fill. If Theo and Nasri are fit, they go to them. If neither is fit, rvp goes wide right, Eduardo lies off Ade. Rosicky looks long term unfit so Traore comes back from Portsmouth and plays wide left.
So:
Alminuia,
Sagna, Djourou, Song, Clichy,
Cesc Denilson,
rvp, Adebayor, Eduardo, Traore (Nasri when fit).
At Boro today, I would have replaced Diaby with Vela after sixty minutes and Denilson with neutron Jack at half time. Four central midfielders doesn;t work.
December 13th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
I THINK ARSENAL DONT HAVE THR QUALITY TO WIN THE PREMIER LEAGUE TITLE ,ME AS A ARSENAL DIE HARD FAN I HAVE LOST CONFIDENT AND CONSISTENCY OF ARSENAL WINNING THE PREMIER LEAGUE.MAYBE ARSENAL NEED A STRONG DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER LIKE YAYA TOURE WHO WILL HOLD THE MIDFIELD VERY WELL BUT JUST CONTINUE THE HARD WORK IN THE LEAGUE AND WILL SEE WHAT COMES AT THE END.
December 13th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Try boo’ing until wenger does the obvious and buys a world class centre back and def midfielder. Or wait and let the lab experiemnt continue until cesc leaves. Up to you….
December 13th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
A bunch of smug kids with no respect for the badge or club. The only experience on the pitch is a pouting X Chelsea SLAG!!! and you mugs expect better result. Wenger has sucked the pride out of my and yours club and exchanged for a bunch of heartless little Pre-Madonnas. Half of this squad should not be on the pitch and the other half should be fighting for there lives just to get into the first squad. Not only do we look like Charlton Athletic on the pitch but we play like them as well. He knew each of these problems existed at the end of last season and chose to sit on his arse and do nothing about it. RESTORE PRIDE NOW!! Are you kidding me SONG, Denilson, Diaby, & Djourou, all reserve players posing as real Arsenal men on a pitch. Yeah but who else do we have? NOBODY because Arsene Wenger has backed us up into a corner over the last 3 years…. With No End in Site!
December 13th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Sorry Royal Arsenal, think you’re wrong big time about Djorou, he is easily good enough for Arsenal… good game today Johan! Denilson on the other hand is way off the pace… even for wide right he didnt show any intelligence that Arsene keeps rattling on about, I feel sorry for Fab, until he gets 2 or 3 players to play with in the middle he is stuck… he needs someone with more experience than him in there Rosicky and a new buy. Song is not even a squad player, though its hard to think in what circumstances you would bring him on as a sub… Diaby is great, saw that against Fenerbache, just playing in the wrong position and isnt good enough to play lazily. Must work harder or end up at West Ham or summin… VP needs some pressure, Eduardo and Walcott will do that…
December 13th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
We have NOTHING on the wings!! NOTHING!!
why not play Vela on the wing or even RVP?
Diaby like u say walks around on the pitch, Bendtner is the same standard as F.Jeffries, i dont care how old you are, you are at arsenal. There are plenty of 20year old around bangin in goals.
I really do not understand what it is that we are waiting for with our team? Is Bendner going to wake up tomorrow and run 10times faster? And suddenly start to finish off all his chances?
Diaby will always be lazy..
Bendner is simply not good enough..
Denilson is a good player, but he cannot replace Flamini who couldnt replace Vieira..
Rosicky is a better player then Ljungberg but he is always injured..
For the past 10years i was waiting all week to see an arsenal game, i was exited and happy all week..
Nowadays to be honest im looking at the games with one eye. I can be on the phone, even on my computer.
I Love arsenal, but i have a hard time supporting these players, cause they simply do not care. They walk around like they run the world! they have won nothing!! and alot of these kids are talented but without passion and commitment they will soon be forgotten.
I am tired of waiting for these kids to mature and to show dedication. Ashley Young is a “kid” who runs his socks off week in and week out. He is a gooner, he wants to play for arsenal. Get the funds up!! splash 20MM on him. Raise some funds by selling off some off these kids.
Wenger is wondering how come the fans are not singing and supporting their team. Well Mr Wenger, everybody has a boiling point!! if these kids fight and show us that they love arsenal i will sing. until then i am waiting for changes.
We are going to finish fourth this year in the prem. And we are going out in the champions league next round..
wooohooo the kids matured this year too…
its been 4 years now mr Wenger.. what r u waiting for??
gooner for life
-Timmy
December 13th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
we fan are the solution to the problem,we have the weapon but we are not using it.let us continue to boo everyday,during matches and trainig saeson.we can frustrate to do our wish.afterall we have given him space to experiment for 4 years but his policies are not working.to worsen the case he has stylishly said it again that he wont be strenghtning the team in january.i think respect is meant to be reciprocal if he,arsene wenger doesnt respect us as a fan then he doesnt expect any respct in return.we have the weapon lets use it-
December 13th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
I don’t know about anyone else but what I saw was a bunch of players who had no confidence in each other. Sometimes during the match the ball seemed like a hot potatoe…no one wanted it! Fabregas doesn’t seem completely comfortable passing the ball to either song or denilson (depending on who’s partnering him). Also, Clichy is not given the freedom to bomb forward because he need’s to cover in case of a counter attack as he’s the only arsenal player with pace! This wasn’t the case last season..or any other in the last few years as we’ve always had a solid defensive midfielder to pick up any counter-attacking threat!
We must purchase a decent tackler (even if it’s only 1 player we buy)..not necessarily world-class, but just decent to win the 50-50s!!.. We also need pace on the wings, but if the boardroom/AW is too tight, we must use what we have..which are Vela and Wilshere. Afterall AW started Theo there to protect him (partly)! why not do thesame for Vela and Wilshere if he feels they are too young!!.. Common Arsene!! Ease the pain!!
December 13th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Yes, i quite agree with my friend, until we start jeering at Wenger he won’t respond to our calls. He seems to forget that fans do have emotions/weapons.However, let’s reserve our venoms till January and see what he can do.
December 13th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Save your own scalp wenger and explain why you don’t us the money, this is so needless. Just tell us what’s going on?? The team clearly needs help and you want only the best to bring in but can’t afford them?? If there is a funding shortfall, sell some players and see what we can get from that. Gazidis, if you’re more than a wenger yes man, explain what’s happening. If we make top four it will probably only come down to luck as others stumble, but that is a stretch to assume we do make top four.
December 13th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
wengers comments tonight – beleive in this team , how can you beleive in a team that has lost beleif in them selves , we have no leaders , no ball winners , But we have the most Stubbon manager who refuses to invest and beef up the squad – what direction are we going in , where is a our one-touch breakaway football , maybe this years failure to qualify for the top 4 will be the kick up the ass he needs , bender is f–king shite i hate him i want to send that cunt to the moon – how can our world class manager believe in him – i say wenger your time is running out you are full of exscuses , we now have our 2 biggest games of the season comming up – It could decide our season we need to take the full 6 points , We need to ship gallas , bender, denilson,song ,eboue , diaby out – Wenger spend some money we love you really!
December 13th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
What another shocking performance , And another shocking exscuse from wenger , well if he does not bring two quailty players in i really feel for our season , This could be the season we finish outside the top 4 – Our next two games are massive we need 6 point maximum ,
December 14th, 2008 at 10:00 am
The lads are trying, but we are lacking real pace in the side and appear far too defensive when we have the ball and not defensive enough when we don’t.
Of the current team, I rate the following:
Almunia – No
Sagna – yes
Djourou – yes
Toure – yes (lacking confidence)
Silvestre – no
Gallas – not any more (has lost the will)
Clichy – yes (best left back in the league)
Denilson – yes (but not ready yet – should not be played on wing)
Eboue – yes (needs a few confidence building 1/2 games)
Song – no (does not appear to have the drive required for a midfield player – should be box to box)
Nasri – yes
Diaby – yes (as a sub – does not have the stamina)
Ramsey – yes (in a few years)
Fabregas – yes (but the team is beginning to revolve around him, which stunts the other options)
walcott – yes (but will take a few years to reach potential, until when he will disappoint in some games)
Adebeyor – yes (must react when he loses the ball though)
RVP – No (does not have the clinical finish to be a striker)
Bendtner – yes (but not for a few years)
Vela – yes (but not for a few years)
Wenger is a genius and know far more than me about football and he should never be sacked, never! I would suggest that he knows where the weaknesses are and will addresss them when the right players become available.
We need urgently:
Keeper
Big CD
A winger who is willing to take on players (Walcott is the only one who will do this)
A central midfielder
A top striker
We will probably get oneof these is the january window.
Finally, as mentioned above, we are far too defensive with the ball and far too slow when we have possession. We need to take chances to go past defenders. We also need to defend effectivelyie from the front. I lost count of how many times we gave the ball away yesterday and strolled back – just not good enough!
December 14th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Funny how people throw the word “genius” around. Arsene Wenger a genius? Then what will u call Ferguson, Mourinho or Hiddink??
Einstein/Newton/DaVinci were genius – are u comparing Wenger to those elites? Look, this team sucks shit and everyone and their blind pets can see this but not Wenger. Look we dont have to go through this. Personally he’s lost the plot, got too comfortable (more like a board member).
Look – Hleb was a huge loss, we have no natural wingers, our keeper is the worst out of the top 4, Eboue,Denilson,Almunia,Song etc. are starters on an Arsenal team. And we call a manager who puts this kinda of ‘trash’ on a team with EPL & CL ambitions a genius. You call him a genius when he plays 4 central midfielders with no creativity (with exception of Fab) when he has better options on the bench ???? What a joke!!!
We can start booing Wenger so something is done or wait another 5 years and see how “great” Eboue,Almunia,Gallas,Dennilson,Song, Diaby will turn out.
Genius?? Please don’t insult my intelligence. TV pundits just throw that word around…..