Good afternoon to you all from a very wet and cold Cork.
Well Saturday afternoon, what can I say that hasn't already. Going back to my previous blog about slow starts and no will to really get down and complete the job. We really needed to win this game, once again Chelsea and City have dropped points and we failed to take advantage. Straight from the off we were slow, second to everything and had one clear chance that fell to a centre half. Chamberlain had his worse game in an Arsenal shirt, Poldolski had a terrible game, Carzola couldn't find any space and we generally had a bad performance all over the pitch. Arsenal's match of the match for me was Mertsacker he once again showed that he has quality and had a very solid game. I'd like to touch on the save Szczesney pulled off which could have meant we lost the game. So I feel he deserves a bit of credit for that.
After the game my thoughts were that it's the right system but the wrong players. We had no pace in the side on Saturday and found ourselves passing the ball side ways and not going forward. The missing link in that system is Theo Walcott. For me he must start in the middle and play as our striker against Everton and for the rest of the season if we are going to worry any teams from here on in. Giroud is a great player with a great strikers head on him but has he got the pace to penetrate defenses? No I don't think so.
Now the substitution... A very strange one at that and it was right up there with when he took of the Ox against Manchester Utd. We needed the win and Wenger takes off a center forward to be replaced by a central defensive midfielder. That alone says to me that Wenger has no confidence on our ability to achieve the draw, and also run out of ideas on how to score and take all three points. I watched the press conference after the game and Arsene looked like a man under immense pressure and dodged a lot of questions. When asked about the chants of "You don't know what your doing" he gave a firm reply of " I've been a manager for 30 years, do I need to prove that I know what I'm doing?" To be fair to Arsene it was a good answer, but on the other hand I think the chant had a degree of truth to it. He really looks like he's running out of ideas and I'm worried that he is having trouble motivating the teams. I've heard reports that he locked the players away and gave them a dressing down in language that I cant repeat.
David Seaman has been quoted in saying that its not Arsene that is the problem, but our financial strictness that is running at the club. You have to agree with him as if you drew up a side with the players in it that we have let go in the last 5 years we would have without a doubt in my mind a team that would be right up there every season. We cant look back on the past and look only to the future. But it is clear for all to see there something not quite right at our club at the moment and I'm starting to wonder is it Le Boss?
Until the next time sing for the Arsenal
Follow me on Twitter @ScottyBoyGooner
To be fair coming on the back of the away fans chanting "there's only one Arsene Wenger" at Tottenham Saturday's chant has a degree of bi-polar about it.
ReplyDeleteYeah we are bi polar as is our team!
ReplyDeleteSeriously our chants shd not give ammo to wolfpack journos to attack our manager with. Bout time we stopped expressing frustrations in that way. How bout applauding the good stuff that does get done like the timely save mentioned in th blog? Applauding the passes that are completed; the attempts on goal even if they don't come off? Let's encourage the players and the manager and remember we have opposition enough in the rest of the premiership and the media vultures.
I'll b at the boxing day contest with West Ham, hoping to hear some cheers no matter the result. Let's get behind our players and our manager. Show some true Gooner spirit.
Red Army!
Bi polar, never thought of a better word to describe Arsenal currently. Consistency is something that we haven't had for a number of years and doesn't look likely to come back anytime soon. To be honest the departure of Gilberto Silva lead to the downfall in consistency.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'd stick with Giroud up front with Walcott out wide which I know isn't where he wishes to play, but Giroud's strength is a great asset to the side and links very well with Walcott's pace. However without Walcott in the side, we have no-one who runs onto his knock downs.
The irony of many Arsenal fans wanting Wenger gone due to us not meeting "expectations" is quite laughable. If these fans actually took a step back and looked at our expectations they would see the reasons we have them is due to what Wneger gave us.
ReplyDeleteI thik it speaks volumes that im sure if he was to leave, he would then be linked with every job in the EPL, including the likes of Chelsea, City, Spuds and Liverpool.
Wenger gave us a golden age where frankly he spoilt us. We wnet from boring boring arsenal, to the seconde best footballing team in the world, second best to barca, whihc aint too shoddy.
The key problem is the dynamics of the EPL (and the world of football) have dramatically changed. Before hand Wenger only had to compete with Man Us money spending ways, and abroad it was simply Madrid and Barca. Forward to now and its Chelsea, Man U and City at home and the likes of PSG and a couple of others abroad.
Yes Wengers brought some dud players and yes our wage structure is crazy but that comes down to how Ivan and the rest want to run it...and that is run by lining their pockets If the money was truly there, then by now our BOD should HAVE sacked wenger and brought in someone else. For me they havent because they know that no other manager would do what wenger still does on a shoe-string budget and that is he still year in year out gets us in CL whihc means a nice big payout...a Payout we dont see and nor does our team/manager because if he did, then i have no doubts he'd have kept RVP by offering a decent contract (a contract that Ivan dealt with) and the same goes with Theo.
The bottom line is yes Wenger has his issues but without him, we'd be in an even worse state IMO.