The impact of yesterday’s result (and Grabs’ wonderful blog earlier) is if anything a testament to the success of the season so far. After moaning and moaning up until two weeks ago about how crap we are, the capricious half of the Gooners decided that we were now having a brilliant season and destined for piles of silver.
In some ways it’s the first big setback of the whole season. Losing early-season league matches doesn’t carry the same impact, as distressing as it is to lose to Fulham, and neither does going out of the Tottenham Trophy. Against the top three sides in the PL we’ve won two and drawn one. You also never really go out in the league, you only don’t win it.
A 2-1 defeat in the last four of a cup competition to the most expensively assembled, highest-paid team in the history of football is nothing to be ashamed of. I’d remind you that we’re also in the last four of the most prestigious and competitive club competition in the world. And over two legs against United, I’m backing us all the way.
As for those complaining about Arsene’s tactics, stop talking complete bollocks. Our under-strength side frustrated Chelsea for 83 minutes, and then a defensive error let them score. All players make errors. On another day Ivanovic would have bounced it off his arse over Cech’s ninja head condom and into the back of his own net. It just wasn’t our day. We’ve had plenty of our own, and we’ll have plenty more.
Unless you wish Arsene Wenger had never come to Arsenal, support for our club means supporting the vision of the world’s most innovative post-war manager. This vision means nurturing a skillful, quick, youthful side who grow together, rather than breaking the bank chasing instant glory. If you want that go support Chelsea, or Leeds. Arsenal represent everything that football should be about, and I wouldn’t lose that for the world, certainly not one FA Cup semi-final.
Even after yesterday, I’m prouder than ever to support Arsenal. I pity Chelsea fans, and I pity Arsenal fans who think like Chelsea fans.
April 19th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Perfectly said, great post. I agree completely :0)
April 19th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
howright you are
April 19th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Really pleasing to read some sanity.
I think last night there were a lot of articles and comments made sort of in the heat of the moment.
We weren’t that bad yesterday, we were playing with one 4th choice CB, and our 2nd choice fullbacks (both of whom were excellent btw). I think Chelsea’s experience was key to their victory.
The trouble with a lot of our fans at the moment is how extreme they go with the comments. If we had played exactly the same way yesterday, except say toure had somehow cleared drogbas goal off the line, and arshavin had scored in the final seconds; everyone would be saying it was a great performance. The fans’ response is so unbalanced. Its based WAY too much on result and not performance. This is particularly tru when they assess a player’s individual performance. Some people had eboue down as playing really poorly… Thats retarded, he was really good! No one could touch him one-on-one, and while hes not a perfect defender, he did a pretty good job yesterday
I will say however, the team selection may have had a part to play in our eventual demise. The only player I really thought should have played who didnt was song (arshavin should have come on earlier as well tho). Hes been man of the match for the past 3 games IMO. BUT, its not right to immediately blame wenger for this, he may have picked up a slight knock, or he may have been suffering fatigue, I dont know. But if he was simply left out for rotational purposes (ie to keep other players happy) then its a very poor decision on our managers part.
Nonetheless, as you say, they all make mistakes. Across a season all the best managers make tonnes of mistakes, and wenger is still one of the best around
April 19th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
@dannyfailure
Thanks very much, and thanks for the comment Grabs and I both feel that the response to yesterday’s game is a moment where fans show their true colours (as it were). Some of it’s been pretty ugly.
April 19th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Well said mate
April 19th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
I re-read all of yesterday’s comments and I think Grabber is just making up excuses now to try to gain the moral high ground. No one ever said anything about spending money and frustrating Chelsea for 83 minutes is in reality a farce. Watching the highlights again we didn’t stifle Chelsea for 83 minutes, Chelsea just took that long to finish their opportunities. They had much more chances than us and most of it came through Lampard who was allowed far too much space. No one really called for Wenger’s head but stated that on the day he made a poor decision in personnel by going with an unorthodox 4-2-3-1 setup after having success with a tried and true 4-4-2 in the past few games. I don’t think criticizing the manager means anyone is fickle – it just means those that don’t are just subscribing to a blind faith without ever questioning the management. This is the same kind of thinking that has the world economy in the situation it’s in. Wenger hardly ever puts it bluntly and always shifts blame elsewhere for poor performances when he’d be much better off simply saying he made a mistake, he’s human and he’s sorry. But no, he chooses other outlets for the loss like a poor Wembley pitch among other things. I think the fans would much better appreciate an honest wenger saying he messed up and he’ll take the blame on that one rather than beating around the bush and feeding us lines. Your article points to a decline in the club in the past few years – we have to pick one trophy to win instead of trying to win them all. You make the argument we can sacrifice the FA Cup and the league title for the CL but why can’t we go for all three? Why is 4th place suddenly the apex of our season? Sure it’s great to be in a CL spot but why not the top spot? Why is glorifying 4th place such an accomplishment for a club that is capable of so much more? Say what you want about some fans being fickle but we’d much rather face the truth and find a solution then be self-delusional and pretend all is well.
April 19th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
LOVE COMMENT ON NOT WINING LEAGUE VERY POSITIVE MY KIND OF GUNNERS FAN…THINK WE DOIN OK THIS YEAR ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.. TOP FOUR..SEMI FA CUP SEMI C/LE HOW BAD ASK THE SPUDS THEY THINK 7TH PLACE SUCESS .CHRIST ONLY A FEW WEEKS FROM THE SUMMER TRANSFER BULLSHIT…
April 19th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
ok WC i understand what your saying but let me correct you that the amount of posts i was on that night of the loss and which i was reading of i must say the things mentioned was like a devil persuading some fans to disrespect and making commments about wenger needs to go i find it utterly terrifying after what a bad season we’ve had and the a good period most fans return to square 1 saying arsene needs to go oh eboue needs to go i mean its a JOKE just a few months ago people was saying diaby needs to play in CM and song needs to go and now people were saying that song shouldve started and diaby and denilson played rubbish who also need to go “I mean come on now am i going crazy or what” let me just mention this we played with eboue, toure, silvestre, gibbs, “TODAY MAN UTD LOST WITH PLAYERS LIKE
EVRA, VIDIC, RIO AND RAFAEL NOW THATS THEIR MAIN BACK LINE AND WHAT WAS THE MAN UTD FANS SAYING AFTER THEY LOST FA CUP SEMI AGAINST EVERTON……..OH SIR ALEX PICKED THE WRONG TEAM THIS WAS A JOKE, DISRESPECT….I MEAN COME ON LOL” HAD THEY WON THE COMMENTS WOULD HAVE NOWHERE BEEN LIKE THAT AGREE…… ANYWAYS NO POINT OF DWELLING ON FA NOW ITS GONE EXCELLENT DISPLAY FROM GIBBS, TOURE, WALCOTT AND EBOUE THE REST COULD HAVE DONE BETTER BUT LETSS GET THIS STRAIGHT NO TEAM IN THE PREM CAN BEAT US BY OUT PLAYING US IN FOOTBALL CHELSEA BEAT US BY STRENGTH ALTHOUGH THIS IS NO EXCUSE WE LOST WE LOST LETS FOCUS ON THE PREM AND CL NOW THE ONLY WAY TO SOLVE THIS NOW IS GET BEHIND THE BOYS AND THE BOSS COME ON U GUNNERS OH YEAH BY THE WAY EXCELLENT BLOGG
April 19th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
i think you and grabs are commendable for your desire to stand up to the criticism, and as good bloggers i think it is important for you to do so.
At the same time i think you are both misguided, and i am saddened that we are now happy for our team to scrape 4th and get close to winning cups. Close but no cigar will lose us our best players and will lead to further years of frustration. Your argument that there is no shame in losing at that stage to such an expensive team is made redundant by the lack of passion and drive shown by our own team yesterday. The only ones to me that looked like they could really be bothered were theo and gibbs, and considering terry and lampard were key for chelsea(regardless of being cunts) i do think more of an english spine would help
Chelsea looked extremely ordinary and yet we spent most of the game walking about. We learnt nothing from taking the game to villareal, and that plus the team selection definitely lies with arsene. We endure weeks of players like RVP, ade and cesc saying how hungry they are for silverware, yet given a diamond opportunity to win something, they all chose not to turn up.
I think that the over-reaction to this match was not over just this one game (even though we were pretty bad and made to look slightly better by a poor chelsea), but the fact it epitomises what has been wrong with this team for a few years now, and based upon yesterday is not going to change anytime soon. We have so much talent and year after year we waste it, no wonder the fans are starting to bubble over..
April 19th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
The wrong team was chosen;
The tactics were poor;
Some players played within their capabilities;
Other players exceeded their capabilities;
Our stand-in goalkeeper was responsible for one goal;
Our stand-in defence the other;
We were outmuscled on the pitch;
And we lost as a result…
But we will get it right the next time!
A gunner for over 35 years.
April 19th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
@WC
as one of our regulars, we always respect what you have to say. I don’t think anyone’s having a go at you personally.
it’s not your more considered kind of criticism which i object to, so much as this sort of drivel: http://www.football365.com/mailbox/story/0,17033,8744_5210228,00.html , the likes of which I have been reading all over the place.
i think we’d all agree that there’s a place for criticism of the manager, but that it’s important not to go too far.
as for wenger’s “excuses”, i didn’t hear to many being made yesterday to be honest. he complained about the pitch, but explicitly said that it wasn’t the reason for the defeat, instead pointing to the fact that we didn’t play very well and that we made 2 big defensive mistakes.
but managers shouldn’t have to apologise every time they make a mistake, they’re not bbc presenters or cabinet ministers.
April 19th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
I’ve read all previous comments and I must say it is well balanced debate. However, as much as I love and admire AW, the team selection, tactics and substitutions (includging the timing of them) in yesterday’s debacle lies squarely with him.
I appreciate this young side are improving and the level of crippling injuries the squad has suffered this season, but each season seems to follow the same pattern. Early promise, injuries, inactive transfer windows, hard luck, lazy players with no competition for places and so on.
We have to stop the rot.
April 19th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Your playing one of best club teams in the world and you don’t pick your strongest side possible. Then the result doesn’t go your way you leave yourself open to ridicule. I’m sorry but leaving your best player on the bench and the only reason we are in this position in the first place is madness. The signing of Arshavin saved Wenger from the sack trust me without him this season would have been over 6 weeks ago. Big money signings have always helped confidence weather in players or fans and when they are as good as him the transformation can be unbelieveable. Sometimes great teams can come about by one signing and i think this could be one of those times. But Wenger still needs to show some balls for this to happen otherwise we’ll be waiting another 5 years for a trophy.
April 19th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Long story short, non of our central midfield trio was eyeing Lampard, their main source of payroll. This time, he created both goals for them.
Also, Arshavin’s omission was very likely Wenger’s somewhat gentlemanly gesture towards Hiddink. It would be like having your loaned out player playing against you.
Or perhaps, it’s done and dusted , one trophy for each of Big 4, with Chelski drawing the F.A Cup straw and us, the CL.
April 19th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
I think Wengers conservative team selection yesterday reflected his priorities for the remainder of the season. Top four is still not a certainty & winning the Champions League is his dream. I’m with him on that score but believe we definitely needed AA earlier in the game to stretch Chelsea more.
I also thought it odd that he believed the ageing Silvestre would have the stamina to keep Drogba at bay for 90 minutes having played 90 minutes in the mid-week CL game. I’m a massive supporter of Arsene but believe he made mistakes yesterday.
April 20th, 2009 at 12:22 am
CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHY SILVESTRE STOPPED CHASING DROGBA? He has been my WORST SIGHNING OF SEASON! I knw he was a free transfer but has been a disaster since joining. No doubt Song would have proved a better partner for Toure,even United fans cant believe Wenger signed him. Very CLUMSY and for a big guy also gets pushed off the ball easily. Its not because of Drogba that im saying this but if you’ve watched most games when hes played you’ll agree. If he was signed for experience then its more laughable than the wembley pitch!
April 20th, 2009 at 7:29 am
Sagna, Clichy, Gallas and Almunia out. I would have been very surprised if Chelsea hadn’t scored.
What was disappointing was the lack of energy further up the field. I only saw the second half for various reasons, and it was played at a walking pace that suited Chelsea. I also agree that stopping Lampard from playing should have been a no-brainer.
So yes, it was a bad performance. Wenger said as much. It’s gutting, but you know what? It’s not the end of the world. If gooners truly believe in the greatness of Arsenal, they should be brushing off one poxy defeat by Chelsea. To respond by calling for Wenger’s head shows a lack of belief and confidence in the club. It’s the kind of inferiority complex you’d expect from a Spurs fan. They turn on their managers after 5 minutes, and look where it’s got them.
Arsenal are bigger and better than that. Chelsea beat us but I refuse to give them the satisfaction of watching us turn on our club. They beat us this time but we’re still better than them.
While I love Arsenal I’m getting pretty sick of Arsenal fans, who are developing into a nasty, petulant, spoilt, negative bunch of armchair managers. I never hear other fans rip into their players the way we do. And we hunt in packs, isolating the weak from the herd and then going in for the kill. If a player has a bad game, he’s fucked. At times this season Silvestre, Song, Eboue, Ade, Bendtner, Denilson, Diaby and Almunia have all been targets of howling waves of criticism and derision.
This is not what I support Arsenal for.
April 20th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Well put Ignatz. Arsenal have some of the worst fans the I have seen. Just because we lose one game they all say Wenger is the worst manager, well if you one of those people then you try and manage arsenal and try win the FA Cup without Gallas Djourou Clichy Sagna and Almunia.
I support Arsenal with my heart and that will never change no matter how many times we lose!
April 20th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
@Ignatz & Taf
I don’t think anyone is saying Wenger is the worst manager ever but just on the day he made questionable decisions that only he understands. I don’t expect a manager to apologize for every loss because quite frankly it’s not always their fault. Sometimes you put out your best team and it’s just not their day. However I’d be very surprised if Arsene could look me in the face and say he put out a full strength team on Saturday with the most ideal tactics. In the back of his mind he perhaps has eyes on some other glory but hasn’t shared that insight with us as yet.
@wambam
It’s not so much that Silvestre stopped chasing Drogba but more that he could never get him. Drogba is a very rare player – big, strong, powerful and fast. It’s not very often a seemingly 200lbs monster forward can accelerate the way he can. Silvestre is not fast and as big as he is, so is Drogba but Drogba has the speed over him and it was never going to be an even contest in that 50/50 ball over the top.
April 20th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Wenger made some mistakes. Everyone can see that. In private he will admit that. We move on.
People have to realise that they don’t know the whole story. that’s why its so easy to criticise. People don’t realise that Gibbs, Silvestre and RVP are patched up. Possibly Eboue and Ade too. The naked eye can’t see to what degree Nasri is struggling, and whether he needs a breather. Its easy to say that so and so should come off and so and so should come on.
For me the bottom line is that the side Arsene put out should have played better than they did. Much better in fact. Diaby, in particular, was nothing short of awful. The man got tackled IN HIS OWN PENALTY BOX!!!!!!!!
RVP was pitiful. I don’t think he’s played particularly well since his January purple patch. Even Cesc was poor.
Anyway, bad day at the office. We move on.
April 20th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Like millions of Gooners around the world, I was truly baffled by Herr Wenger’s team selection for the match. And after seeing Theo “Speedwagon” Walcott utterly destroy what was left of the reputation of one Cashley Cunt, I felt sure that our AA would have been doing the same to Ivanovic on the other side.
In the end, the Boss has to accept the bulk of the blame for what happened. His team selection was plain wrong, and I am fully in support of the section of supporters who wonder why Song, the only one of the current crop who seems to have an idea of what the duties of a defensive midfielder are, got dropped.
The buck stops at Herr Wenger’s table, and it’s why he gets paid the big bucks. That being said, Wenger has given us several great years, and if any Manager on planet Earth is entitled to a truly terrible season (by his own astronomical standards, by the way) then Wenger is surely that man.
I challenge any of the half wits who keep demanding his sack to show me the man out there who could do one tenth of what Wenger does without the benefit of FM Modifier.
April 20th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
Arsene knows. How many times have I heard people calling for his head, this season and last, “We’re finishing fifth” they said, “We can’t challenge without Henry” they said. We’ll see who’s lifting the Big-Eared Trophy in Rome come May. I suspect it may be a certain Spaniard;)
April 21st, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Well said WC,maybe i’m being too harsh but i still cant understand WHY we signed him.Premiership strikers have goten stronger and faster so a defender like him is useless to a title chasing team like ARSENAL. I’m just angry because the FA-cup would have given these so called YOUNG players something to call their own and not to be under the shadow of INVINCIBLES!
April 21st, 2009 at 12:38 pm
MAKES YOU CRY WHEN YOU THINK SILVESTRE IS GONNA BE MARKING HENRY if we get past MANURE! Arsenal4ever.
April 22nd, 2009 at 7:48 am
It is quite funny, one day all the fools shout ‘we suck’ and then after a win ‘we are the best in this world’, and at the players..taking Gallas for an example,when he lost his captaincy “he is the worst player in the world’ and then when he started playing good and scored a goal in a few matches ‘he is the best defender in the world, we are nothing without him’.
I just got three words to say: WHEREVER,WHENEVER,ARSENAL!