Where’s Our Arsenal?
29. Nov, 2006 
25 Comments
This is a short post tonight as I’m much too inebriated to write a well composed, thoughtful post on what was truly a wretched game. We went down early to an American striker, which I unfortunately have the responsibility in calling out in my pre-match report. The only saving grace was a set-piece from VP11 which saw a bit of fight left in the Arsenal side.
I don’t know what Arsene was thinking with the line-up. I understand that the team is playing 2 games a week for several months. I understand that some of our players need a rest. But did he not understand that we abso-fucking-lutely needed a win? Song was wretched, and we only looked decent after Cesc came on. If anything Song should have come on in the second, after we’d secured a win. I was fine with Flamini and Hoyte in the back line, but without Cesc and Gilberto constantly showing for the defense, we couldn’t even successfully get the ball out of our own half.
Senderos looked particularly lost in defense and gave up several balls unnecessarily. Then he went on to claim a second yellow, that was absolutely deserved I feel, and with 10 men and a goal down all hope was lost.
Lehmann was my man of the match as he was forced to make much to many necessary saves. Without his goalkeeping we would have lost by much more than a goal. After him was Cesc, who despite playing for 45 minutes, helped to give the Arsenal a bit of respite.
There really isn’t much else to say about this match. We lost, we didn’t play well, and we’re in trouble. All that we, the Arsenal faithful, can do is get behind our team.
Oh to be a gooner.
thanks for the coment . But to me i think the coach need some breifing about the selection of the team .yestarday’s loss i put it directly to the coach , in fact to be honest with you arsene yestaday mis calculated it shows as if he never wanted a win .i agree it is good to rest some players but first make them play the 45 minets then see how the game is you can make changes but not to rest first team players and then after realising that your loosing you bring them in that is a total mess (may he want to aply economics in football )
am anoyed with his selection and on addition to that it seems his a person who doesn’t want to be corrected
I think Asene Wenger, seriously need to welcome back our loanees, for example Larsson, Mumba, Bentndner, Lupoli and stokes, we seriously need power up front.
I think Thierry Henry need a rest, he seems to be very tired at times, but he is still my fav list and really sad he never won european football award.
I am disappointed with the loss to Fulham but I disagree with both Gunnerific and Joe that Wenger had made a mistake in last night’s team selection. Among the four matches: Fulham (A), Tottenham (H), Porto (A) and Chelsea (A), the most important one is the away match to Porto, followed by Tottenham at home and then Chesea away, simply because Tottenham’s is a home match and Arsenal have a better chance to win (anyone fancy that by Arsenal’s current form, they can get something at Stamford Bridge?). While the most lose-able one is last night’s match. Strategically, Wenger has to put out the best team for the matches against Tottenham and Porto, that’s why he had to rest some of Arsenal’s players last night. Joe’s proposal is unfeasible because if Arsenal did not get the upper hand at half time, he would be forced to play the key players for 90 min. I also believe that no one would think that selecting the unfit Baptista or uninspiring Ljungberg would have revitalised last night’s performance.
The team selection was diabolical for a start, but there did not appear to be any effort from the team.
This type of attitude when in difficult situations will mean we lose more than we win.
The squad is full of low quality players, song , flamini , adebeyor , hleb not good enough.
The manager is losing the plot, he was talking about the fixture farce.We played Saturday evening, Chelsea and Man Utd played Sunday and still won!
from last seasons Champions league squad we have lost Bergkamp , Reyes Pires Cole and Campbell and gained Baptista who is dropped infavour of Song?? Rosiky and Gallas all three have been injured but who would prefer the five we have lost to the three we have got?
New song for Saturday
” If Song plays for Arsenal , so can I”
ALTOGETHER NOW
” If Song plays for Arsenal , so Can i”
for an alternative replace Song with Adebeyor or Flamini
Thanx for the comment but i think the Manager should consider game by game. If he wanted to rest players for the next game, he would have won this one.
Its quite unfortunate rest players who may even get injured before the major maches
No need to pile on Song. Yeah he’s not good enough for us, but he’s trying and I’m sure he wants to do his best. I heard some fans booed him tonight and I think that’s completely out of order. Come on you fickle Arsenal fans. Don’t boo a player for trying, no matter what the outcome.
he should be booed . it is the only way the management will understand that we will not put up with that type of player.
Arsenal fans have booed for years, It is not fickle, It is the way we show we are fed up with what is going on.
The team is not competitive enough, the team has no guts and most of all we have no goals in the side. Wenger should wake up and see what is going on.
I would not boo a player for trying, but in the case of Song and Adebeyor to that they are not trying .
It’s time to take to the streets, friends. C’mon men, for heaven’s sake, we have a job as supporters too.
Please ensure that these protests are heard by Wenger and Henry, and Dein, and the rest of the management. We’ve got to ensure that the players understand the value of playing in an Arsenal jersey. For too many times in two years have other people (media and other managers) said junk about Arsenal , and I’m not going to take this lying down anymore.
We are Arsenal, we stick by our players, but sometimes we need to wake them up as well. Wenger is in denial, Henry is not competing like we know he can, some (Eboue, Flamini, Adebayor) are simply careless in their preparation and overall awareness. We have to make them understand that their current work-rate is not at par with Arsenal’s standards and they must make the additional effort.
I am not talking about booing on the ground — that is unthinkable. But atleast we can take a protest march to Emirates a few days before the match (i.e., today, tomorrow).
At the moment, we’re just not good enough. That is the simple naked truth. Not so long ago, we had Henry complaining about support from the fans. Last night, the support was unbelievable but our lads just didn’t have it in them to fight for a win. Is there something we are missing behind the scenes? Who dictates that we play this rigid passing game? Is it Arsene? How come we cannot adapt our style of play when the situation demands it? We’re so predictable in the way we play and as a result so easy to mark. Wenger must change his methods first before wa can expect anything out of the ordinary from this side.
Truth be told.Arsenal are simply not good enuf.To blame everybody but thyself is a conveneint way of deflecting criticizm.
Since the 03-04 season teams have analysed how Arsenal play and to thier credit have found ways to nullify the gunners. To be frank it started at OT when the gunners lost 2-0.
As many of the fans have said there is no variation in the attack.How many goals have been scored from corner kicks?I dare say it’s less than five to ten for the whole of last season.Titi likes to come in from the left. Put three defenders and Titi will have a problem.
I think the gunners can thrive in the cl cause the refs will clamp down on the slightest tackel unlike the pl which is why the English players have a problem adjustin g to thd different referrring standards.
You lot are unbelievable. You still think that arsenal are the all conquering side from several years ago. Wake up!!! You are an average team with one star player (who is playing like he regrets not going to Barca). The so called invincibles have departed. Vieira,Pires,Campbell,Edu,Bergkamp,Cole. You havent really replaced any of them. Gallas is probably the only player who is up to that standard. Fabregas shows signs of being a good player but isnt the full article yet. Rosicky is very,very inconsistent. And Wallcott is too young and inexperienced to really make a mark. He doesnt strike me as being a natural finisher anyway.More like setting up goalscoring opportunities like Aaron Lennon does, with pace. You have absolutely no depth in your squad.and when the chips are down you have no-one to bring on to turn the game.I look forward to our North London Derby with eager anticipation.
It is sad to see a high caliber team get scored on from a corner in almost every game. We learn as young players to defend corners and set pieces.Honestly Song,Flamini and Hoyte are not good enough to play in a championship team.Our team desperatly lacks a leader on court. Henry seems to have lost his will and confidence and looks a pale shadow of himself. We need to buy serious players now not skinny kids with high hopes around. Wake up Arsene and stop making excuses for things. Face the the facts and react in propper manner
For once I agree with the main point made by Bubbles, and that is for AW to stop buying so many potentially good players from abroad, and bring in more locals who will fight for the club. Sorry to say it but I think AW’s purchase of Song may have been to help out a small French club who needed the money and Song was all they had to sell. Just remember at that time for another £ 500K he could have had Carrick ….that says it all to me.
Simply not good enough is the most optimistic comment I can make right now.
What has happened to the Arsenal? Where has the passion and belief gone? We are a team who seem to no longer beleive or muster the ability to be able to take our opponents apart anymore.
For me, there is something seriously wrong at Arsenal and its not the players, its higher than that. Bad top level management breeds bad lower end productivity and that for me, is where the problem lies. Dein? Frizman? Wenger? Something is not adding up this season at all and its frustrating both the playes and us, the fans.
TH14 is NOT a captain, end of story. By all accounts, he had an awful game last night and all said and done, he has not exactly set the world alight so far this season. He looks tired, fed up and downright lethargic. His whole body language and attitude are there for all to witness.
Where do we go from here? Three points and a thumping win over the Spuds would be nice, but it will only paper over the obvious cracks IMHO. We are currently a team who appear to be suffering a massive self confidence crisis right now and it can only get worse, before it gets better.
Please don’t boo the players as that is immensly counter productive. Yes, Song is arse, but its not all his fault and he tries hard, but is obviously not up to the standards required at Arsenal. Blame Arsene, he puts him there.
Currently disillusioned, but looking forward to screaming my head off in support of the team on Saturday from block 104.
It might be ridiculous to point out only Song from this sorry affair.
Song and Denilson are meant to be holding midfielders (future replacement Gilberto).
They are meant to do a good job simply keeping the ball moving. If and only if they are gaining prominence due to losing possession, then and only then they are not doing a good job.
Flamini is neither a holding midfielder, nor a playmaker (in the Fab, Ros, Hleb mould), nor a defensive midfielder. He still gets away with a lot of critical mistakes. Eboue is a great attacking wingback, but not even a decent defender. He (and the other alternative rightbacks — Hoyte et al.) have been making one critical error per game. He needs to do his homework.
Henry is a genius. I think we’ll have to accept that. There are things that he does on the field that are contrary to our regular views on how centreforwards should play. But his form is simply non-existent.
Toure is a brilliant defender, but the lack of application of people around him in the defence dept has unsettled him too.
The people who are performing well so far have been Fab, Gilberto, Hleb, VP, Lehmann, Gallas, and Toure.
We need Lauren and a good (sorry, very good) alternative left back. Also, we commit too much in terms of the last four being almost near the half line. This needs a serious rethink.
Set-pieces practice seems to be non-existent too.
I could go on…
Give me a break !!!! All this nonsense off being tired.They are paid a kings ransom to play for Arsenal twice a week ….noone complained about being tired when we won the double….it is all a bad Excuse from Wenger.
Bubble9 conveniently forgot Robin Van Persie who will probably score a hat-trick on Saturday. GunnerPete…Carrick?, Carrick?..are you stark staring mad.
“The squad is full of low quality players, song , flamini , adebeyor , hleb not good enough.”
I completely disagree with Hleb not being good enough. In mine (and pretty much any gooner’s) opinion he has been one of the most influential players of this season despite looking extremely lightweight last year. He and Eboue have created a very dangerous looking understand out on the right, reminding me of the famous Cole – Pires – Henry triange of our Invincibles days *sigh* the memories.
Oh well could be worse: could be following the scum! I vote for pre-game lasagnes all round come Saturday.
the game against spurs is the turining point in out season hat-trick for henry will silence all these complainin arsenal fans .
This sides needs to show fire. not just about ysday’s game.
the team is OK technically
OK skillwise
but there is no fighter (Vieira, Parlour…) in this side
it is such a soft side
it is irritating
look at manusa, they’ve got more fighters than footballers and teams are scared of them.
you are not on top of your game everyday
but when teams are scared of you, they gift u games,
that is what arsenal needs
I said it during the summer we would regret signing Rosicky and Song.I watched Rosicky play for Dortmund when he wasnt injured and that wasnt a lot.
He is incredible lightweight and wont ever be suited for the english game as well as the other Bundesliga misfit Hleb.Song……well we all know about Song dont we……………it takes some doing to outstrip Gus Ceasar of the worst arsenal player ever.Wenger havent made a decent signing for some time.
They are all bottlers.Remember Adebayor,Song,Reyes,Hleb and Rosicky.We could have had Rooney.
For to long this season Eileen Wengers team has underperformed for large portions of matches, this is not all her fault I might add but the likes of Henry , Cesc F and VP to name but a few need to wake up and smell the skidmarks they aint playing well they can have no excuse. The gooners results should be better with the quality of player available to yous but you just cant get it together in the league right now , Bolton&Fulham , maybe Europe is the tonic although theres probably more chance of getting struck by lightening but thats a matter of opion really who am I to say it is anyway tooodle do my bent gooner friends best of luck for next weeks game its gona be mighty.
The latest news is fixture congestion is responsible for Arsenal’s poor form.
It’s really unbelievable.MU
the solution lies in the january transfer window. something is missing and arsene needs to figure out what. and quick.