Official Gooners Thread - A New Hope

[T Fearon]

Looks like another trophyless season for the Goons. I mean if you can't beat the likes of Birmingham and Boro, you cannot aspire to win the Premiership.Also the Goons are the worst of the four English sides (or shoud that be english based sides crammed full of foreign players) left in the Champions League and much as it would delight me to see the Arse lose a second final in three seasons I think it will all end on the banks of the mersey on April 8th

[ONeill]

A real kick in the knackers that one. Chelsea just had too much experience all over the field, even though it was the long ball to Anelka/Drogba which did the damage. Both sides had periods of dominance. You could say 'only if' regarding the rash of injuries in the one minute before the equaliser but I still feel Arsenal weren't the better side.

The future - the three games v Liverpool will now dictate the reason. No one really to come back apart from Rosicky. Badly need a goal scorer on form.

[Uladh]

One thing that that has surprised me with the press and gooner supporters is how they've allowed wenger to get away with playing almunia over lehman, especially at this stage of the season. almunia is a rank bad keeper at this level who has cost arsenal a fair few points this season and sticking with him when you've a top class keeper sitting on the bench, for no other reason than personal ones, is mismanagement of the highest order. i know wenger can do no wrong in a lot of gooner eyes but its just one glaring example of poor decision making from wenger since christmas.

[new devil]

Enjoyed that game last night and thought Blackburn played really well. Arsenal are a joy to watch when they move the ball at pace. League is over

Still over Declan 

[ONeill]

Have to say that's complete bollocks Uladh. Wenger dropped Lehmann after some serious clangers,

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/6931066.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/6941871.stm

at the very start of the season. Alumnia has come in and has rarely put a foot wrong. His performances in Europe have been mistake-free. In fact I can't remember any mistakes all year. Arsenal have only conceded 24 goals this season in 31 games.

Lehmann was well past his best-before date and had become a complete liability/laughing stock. Wenger played him in the cups this year - including the 4-0 at Old Trafford.

Wenger has blinkers OK when it comes to his style of play and the 'fruitiness' of his teams, but he has been spot on with the Jens decision.

[hitzelsperger]

agree totally o'neill, jens is over the hill and almunia has done nothing wrong this season..made one unreal save down to his left against chelsea and was unlucky for the drogs second...definately made number 1 his own, our major problem is that we want to play beautiful football every game for 90mins, we need to learn to play bolton type football where we can hoof it up and get a few scrappy goals.

would love the dixon, keown, adams and winterburn back four again, no nonsense and no goals conceeded

[ONeill]

Not a sniff.

[Declan]

Still over Declan  Wink

Sure is. Didn't think the Gooners would implode like they have in the last few games. It's their worst run of form in 9 years. 

[Dinny Breen]

Very disappointed with Arsenal, they really seem to have hit a wall, not enough squad dept and seriously need a centre-back ala Vidic or Carvalho who was immense on Sunday. Adebayor has been terrible the last month. Will struggle against Liverpool's long ball game and I can see the season ending on a damp squip...very demoralising

[ONeill]

Arseblog


Four points from fifteen does not make champions

Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal

It's impossible to be anything other than bitterly disappointed this morning. A 2-1 defeat at Chelsea has probably killed off our title chances for this season and while defeat against them hurts it's our current form that's the most disturbing to me. Four points from the last fifteen is not the kind of run title winning teams go on.

The team looks tired and I think we're beginning to pay the price for having such a small squad. There's no chance to rest players, there's no real competition for positions and while I wouldn't dream of suggesting any of them have been taking things for granted that extra bit of pressure on you to perform when you know there's someone itching to get a chance really does make a difference.

For a while it looked positive. The first half was pretty even I thought. There were a couple of chances, Gallas, a couple of van Persie shots and a goalmouth scramble, while Chelsea had a great opportunity with Drogba but he fucked it up. It wasn't great football though from either side. In the second half we took the lead through Bacary Sagna's smart header from Cesc's corner. It was a great finish and I did think we had the ability to hang to it.

However, a couple of things happened which put us under pressure. The first was when Emmanuel Eboue was moving down the right, a Chelsea player lay 'injured' and the crowd were beginning to call for him to put the ball out. Eboue, who wants to be everyone's friend it seems, did just that when he should have just played on and waited for the ref to stop play. This bollocks convention is creeping back into the game and frankly it's down to managers to make sure their players don't do it. If the ref stops the play then fine, otherwise play on. Then John Terry, great sportsman that he is, instead of giving the ball back to us kicked it down towards our corner flag then Chelsea attacked the throw-in. Poxy stuff, and what a great example the England captain set there. w**ker.

Cesc ...From that moment we found ourselves under pressure and Bacary Sagna injured his ankle clearing a ball. Not to be outdone Eboue had to pretend to be injured too and when Kolo needed treatment we found ourselves with just 8 players on the pitch at one stage as Chelsea had a throw in. Sagna went off, Eboue to right back, and we just lost our shape from then on. Both Drogba and Anelka were offside when the pass was played forward but Gallas completely missed the header and when the ball fell to Drogba on the edge of the box he lashed it home to equalise. To my mind that all came about from Chelsea's unsportsmanlike behaviour. I'm not saying they wouldn't have scored in the game, because they had players capable of it and had been putting us under pressure, but that sequence of play came about from that.

The second came when Gallas was beaten in the air again, this time by Nicolas Anelka (hardly renowned as an aerial threat). He flicked on, Kolo kicked air and the ball fell to Drogba. His shot into the ground might have Almunia thinking he could have done better but I think the keeper got caught out by the bounce. Drogba was denied a hat-trick just minutes later when Almunia made a great stop at the near post after that **** Beletti had opened us up down the right hand side.

We threw on Theo who, to my mind at least, seemed to be ignored by his teammates. At least twice I saw Hleb look up and see him in space on the right only to turn back infield and try the impossible pass. I know he didn't do much with it the one time he did get it but I didn't like what I saw there. Bendtner came on but it was too little, too late - and Chelsea's bench showing where the sportsmanship comes from in the club by holding onto the ball when we had a throw sums up everything about that despicable club. The same fans who were chanting 'You don't know what you're doing' to their manager were the ones cheering loudest at the end. c***ts. Three vital points lost and it leaves us with plenty to discuss.

I don't really want to go too far down the road of criticising inviduals because as a whole the team is not playing well. But when that happens you need your big players to take on that bit of extra responsibility and make something happen. We seem to have regressed into the frustrating Arsenal of last season, everything through the middle, no width, and always looking for the eye of the needle pass. We know how good it is when it comes off but when it doesn't come off you have to be able to try something different. Get wide, get crosses in, something.

The bottom line though is that we're lacking personnel. I don't understand how Arsene thinks Emmanuel Eboue is good enough to play on a regular basis for this Arsenal team. He is a joke of a footballer, rubbish again yesterday and one cross aside has contributed nothing to what this side has achieved this season. No goals, just that one assist, and this is from the right hand side of midfield - where if you really want to win the title you need players who can contribute something. Anything! He was also lucky not to be sent off yesterday, if Clattenburg had seen his deliberate handball he'd have been off. He's a liability. Give Theo a run in the team on the right hand side now. I just can't understand why Arsene persists with him. I really can't.

We have players off the boil too. Adebayor is struggling but he made an outstanding contribution to this season already - and you have to say he's not really getting the same kind of service at the moment. Alex Hleb when on song is a fine player. Alex Hleb when not on song is a hindrance. He slows things down, always looks for a difficult pass, never shoots and overall, on song or not, doesn't produce enough in terms of goals or assists for a player of his ability and responsibility. He probably does need a rest but we can't give him one. That's not his fault, that's down the manager for not augmenting the wide areas like he should have done in either the summer or the January transfer window, but he's got to give us more than he's giving at the moment.

I'd also question why van Persie, a striker, was played left so Hleb could play behind Adebayor. If Hleb was in sparkling form that'd be something but he's not producing at the moment and van Persie's effectiveness is lessened with him out there. Play your best striker as a striker. Makes sense to me. Hopefully the time on the pitch will do Robin good because it's fairly obvious he's finding his touch again after so long out. There were a couple of moments where I think a fully sharp RVP would have caused some serious damage to Chelsea yesterday.

At the back I don't really understand why the Gallas - Senderos partnership was broken up. I know Kolo has been a big player but this has not been his finest season and I've always maintained that he and Gallas are too similar. I lost count of how many times they simply stood off Drogba, not challenging him in the air, and let him take the ball down as easy as you like. Hopefully the runaround Drogba gave both Toure and Gallas might dispel the myth that it's only Senderos that has ever found Drogba difficult to play against. Drogba's scoring record in the last couple of seasons suggests that pretty much every defender in the league has found him hard going. We needed somebody to challenge for headers yesterday and neither Kolo or Gallas did. I'd drop Kolo and bring Senderos back - or if Sagna is out for a while I'd consider moving Kolo to right back, especially if it means Eboue doesn't play. You've got to pick a team on merit, not reputation, and Senderos did not deserve to get dropped.

Afterwards Arsene Wenger was critical of the defence, saying:

    It is a big setback for us when you add the four games we drew and today's loss. Now we just have to come back and win games before we dream of the title. We needed a bit more defensive authority as the game was there to be taken. We had plenty of chances on the counter-attack when they went 4-4-2. It was just a matter of time to score the second goal. We were not serene enough defensively.

I don't know that you need to be defensively 'serene'. Solid, would be good. More committed would also be fine. You need your experienced centre-halves to not kick fresh air. Of course it's a team thing, defending from the front and all that, but the fact is we're still prone to conceding sloppy goals and it's costing us.

Anyway, like I said there's plenty to discuss and everybody has their opinion. On the other hand though, before everyone gets too downhearted, there's still a lot of football to play this season. If by some miracle we do find our form again we still have a chance in this league. A win at Old Trafford would cut the gap to 3, and we just need United to slip up once more (remember they have to play Chelsea as well) and it's all open again. I know it's unlikely but it's not impossible. And that's saying nothing about the Champions League. So, while it's perfectly normal to be pissed off and upset and angry about yesterday let's not start wallowing in it. The fat lady might be warming up but she hasn't sung yet. We've got to find our form again though, and quickly.

So, with Steve Bennet doing his best to make life easy for Demento at Old Trafford (Mascherano's sending off was quite disgraceful, as was the yellow card Torres got for being kicked in the back of legs three times) it's been a good weekend for United. And it seems like way too long since we had a good weekend ourselves.

[jaykay]

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=dvn8HYp_RD0&feature=related

[Uladh]

Poor management from arsene:

appointing gallas as captain. unbelievable. toure's form has dipped this season having been inexplicably overlooked.
perserveing with almunia in goal despite him being adequate at best (second goal on sunday just the latest example of not making anything above functional saves - If wenger was not sure about Lehman he should have bought in january.
not purchasing a centre back with physical presence in january. despite losing toure to ACN wenger was more concerned with protecting his reputation of not spending big in the transfer market. he seems to be intent on playing footballers at centre half, hence their inability to deal with Drogba, etc.
refusal to take "stars" out of the firing line when in a rut of bad form. wenger's poilicy over the last 6 weeks when Adebayor and cesc hit periods of very poor form has been to close his eyes and cross his fingers.
He has introduced no width to his teams. teams block the centre and arsenal have no answer. there isn't a single player in the squad who can beat a man on the outside and provide the crosses adebayor is crying out for.
wenger has consistently given his players excuses for poor performances. "no protection from the ref", "still traumatised over the eduardo incident", etc in the vital stages of the season. squeaky bum time is for strength of charachter and mental resolve, which wenger's teams patently lack.

[ildanach]

Arsène Wenger has hinted that he may rest Emmanuel Adebayor for the trip to Bolton on Saturday.

The Togolese striker has been the mainstay of the Arsenal attack this season. He has featured in 29 of his side's 31 Premier League games this term scoring 19 goals in the process. However he has hit the net only once in his last eight appearances in all competitions. It came in the solitary win of that sequence - the 2-0 win in Milan. Otherwise the 24-year-old's difficult spell has coincided with the struggles of his side. With three games against Liverpool then another at Manchester United on the horizon, it is no surprise that Wenger was suggesting he might rotate Adebayor this weekend.

"I believe he has given a lot this year and so he would need a little breather, maybe," said the manager. "He has played a lot on his own up front and has had to fight very hard. So at the moment, to refresh him a bit would do him some good.

"He has not scored recently but then, as a team, we have made less chances. Also physically he was a bit jaded because he has played in nearly every single game since the start of the season.

"He is an important player in our squad. But I have Bendtner there and I have van Persie coming back."

He has looked tired alright for a few weeks now. I thought he was very well marshalled at chelsea. Hopefully bentner will take his chance now.. we need goals!

[ONeill]

appointing gallas as captain. unbelievable. toure's form has dipped this season having been inexplicably overlooked.

Bollocks. Toure's form dipped since his injury at the ACN. As Arsene says, when Arsenal were riding high a couple of month's ago Gallas was the bees' knees in the eyes of all and sundry. I'd have Gallas a million times as captain material.

perserveing with almunia in goal despite him being adequate at best (second goal on sunday just the latest example of not making anything above functional saves - If wenger was not sure about Lehman he should have bought in january.

Already covered. Almunia has been solid all year.

not purchasing a centre back with physical presence in january. despite losing toure to ACN wenger was more concerned with protecting his reputation of not spending big in the transfer market. he seems to be intent on playing footballers at centre half, hence their inability to deal with Drogba, etc.

Yes, it's Arsene's philosophy and we're stuck with it. When it works it is fantastic but will come a-cropper at times. The first signs were when Adams, Bould and Keown starting playing the ball on the ground between themselves - twas heart in the mouth stuff but we got used to it. Arsene recently stated that winning trophies wasn't the be-all-and-end-all for him - it was winning through beautiful football as he sees it and if they don't win, at least they played the way he wanted to. Again, as Arsenal fans we're stuck with that.

refusal to take "stars" out of the firing line when in a rut of bad form. wenger's poilicy over the last 6 weeks when Adebayor and cesc hit periods of very poor form has been to close his eyes and cross his fingers.

In the past Arsene has rested players regularly. Henry, Vieira, Campbell etc all had free weekends in the past. However, this year the fringe players are mightily young and not ready to sustain a title challenge. I think his starting team matured 1-2 years early in terms of challenging for a title and has surprised everyone connected to the club.

He has introduced no width to his teams. teams block the centre and arsenal have no answer. there isn't a single player in the squad who can beat a man on the outside and provide the crosses adebayor is crying out for.

Arsene has never played that way. Even in 1998 and 2002/04 with Overmars, Pires and Ljungberg he made his wingers play through the middle. That's just Wenger's way of doing it. In fact this year has been the first he has veered towards the less innovative system you are indicating, with Walcott and Eboue both sporadically hugging the touchline. As for Adebayor crying out for crosses, have you not watched him play? Apart from one game when he scored two headers, he almost shirks aerial contact. His ground play is much more impressive.


wenger has consistently given his players excuses for poor performances. "no protection from the ref", "still traumatised over the eduardo incident", etc in the vital stages of the season. squeaky bum time is for strength of charachter and mental resolve, which wenger's teams patently lack.


Wenger had lifted two doubles plus another title in which he went the whole season unbeaten, and beyond. For any side to manage that they need serious mental strength and character. Add to that the panache with which they achieved it. He has also won something like 4-5 FA Cups, reached the UEFA and CL finals. His sides have set records in almost all competitions in recent years.

Now, all Arsenal fans know we'll never be a Liverpool or Man Utd. We (I know that's frowned upon here) will never be a massive club which almost demands success no matter how it is obtained. Utd fans will be happy with Fergie nicking the talent off his nearest rivals or the cream of the rest in his division (Cantona, Rooney, Yorke, Cole, Keane, Ferdinand, Carrick, Saha, Tevez...the list is endless) and that's their prerogative as they demand success. Arsenal have always done it the Arsenal way and unlike every other club, have won titles in almost every decade, the 30s, 40s, 50s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s but will never dominate for a concerted period of time. Under Wenger, the Arsenal way has been to nurture talent or spot the diamond in the rough, gel them and challenge regularly. We accept he'll never go berserk in the market in order to achieve silverware. He'll do it his way. And despite the occasional frustration, we love the club and the man for it.

[Uladh]

you actually only disagree with 3 of my 6 points (that was easier than i expected!). i'm a little confused why you can just accept avoidable failings such as not strenghtening the squad, over loyalty and stubborn persistence with a failing style of play. anyway...

appointing gallas as captain. unbelievable. toure's form has dipped this season having been inexplicably overlooked.

Bollocks. Toure's form dipped since his injury at the ACN. As Arsene says, when Arsenal were riding high a couple of month's ago Gallas was the bees' knees in the eyes of all and sundry. I'd have Gallas a million times as captain material.

Gallas was always a terrible choice for captain. Gilberto has been ostracised for his public disgruntlement over the choice (to the detrement of arsenal's title aspirations) and his strops and disloyalty at chelsea should have been warning enough about the strength of the man's character. gallas' public criticisms of teammates recently are unbelievable from the captain of a team at the sharp end of a crumbling title challenge.

perserveing with almunia in goal despite him being adequate at best (second goal on sunday just the latest example of not making anything above functional saves - If wenger was not sure about Lehman he should have bought in january.

Already covered. Almunia has been solid all year.

He has been far from solid unless arsenal are winning. almunia is one of the worst pressure game performers ive seen in a long time. when arsenal go one down he gets more like grobalaar with every passing minute. but lets say he has been solid. he is still not amongs the best 1o keepers in the division, which is unforgivable for a manager with title aspirations. How much would Friedel or James have cost in january? less than £2m.

wenger has consistently given his players excuses for poor performances. "no protection from the ref", "still traumatised over the eduardo incident", etc in the vital stages of the season. squeaky bum time is for strength of charachter and mental resolve, which wenger's teams patently lack.


Wenger had lifted two doubles plus another title in which he went the whole season unbeaten, and beyond. For any side to manage that they need serious mental strength and character. Add to that the panache with which they achieved it. He has also won something like 4-5 FA Cups, reached the UEFA and CL finals. His sides have set records in almost all competitions in recent years.

there has been no middle in wenger's teams since the departure of the players with that quality whom he inherited. wenger would never sign an adams or keown. they have consistently faild to convert from winning positions in recent seasons. how many years trophyless now? the only player who could have improved arsenal in this respect, gilberto, has been standing in the bold corner for 6 months.

this story that is spun about wenge never spending money doesn't wash. he has recently spent big money on walcott, eduardo, hleb, gallas and rosicky. i will give him his dues though... his policy of sending his scouts to watch the academy teams of the major european clubs rather than to scout players themselves was a masterstroke. tribunal fees or cut price fees for academy contracted players is the cheaper option by far.