debosky:

Which kain loff? Do I look like Gazza and Scholes who kiss after y'all win?  

Don't worry mate - I dey kampe. The only thing I will attack is exhibition of unclothed stupidity, anyone else is safe.

How can you or mancs be of help? Lose to Tottenham.  

debosky:


We had a run of seven victories, and then we stumbled, as the injury crisis just got worse and worse, day by day. So we lost to Tottenham and Wigan at a time when we were not going to win the league.

What a piece of mediocre, defeatist, boot licking bunkum.

I see why you agree with that blogger - he is as deluded and probably has his head stuck further up Wenger's behind than you do.

Anyone who has seen Diaby do the rubbish he has done in the past 5 games will know there is a problem with WENGER. How on earth, with an outside chance to WIN THE LEAGUE will you have players playing so LAZILY? What have these overprivileged idiots achieved to feel they can coast in the 80th minute when people like Scholes who have won more titles than they will EVER win are bursting a gut to score in the 93rd minute??

Wenger's boys have ZERO mental strength and have an overbloated image of themselves. We got decimated by Barca for goodness sake and at 4-1 (not 2-0) they were chasing us, taking the ball off us and trying to score.

We on the other hand are 'too big' to do that, with the idiotic mentality being fostered by Wenger that we are so good and so talented we can just coast by.

The longest stretch without a trophy for 20 years and nothing bad is happening? Something has truly happened to some gooner's mental faculties - Wenger has dulled them so much they can't see beyond his retarded and hopeless 'project'. One would think Arsenal were in poverty before he joined, or had never won. He had a good decade, but began taking things downhill from there.

No one is talking about going overboard here - what we are talking about is your blinkered, myopic view of things that cannot comprehend the egregious folly being displayed before our very eyes. If it was a coach who had balls, those players would be in training THIS MORNING watching that 10 minutes over and over again till they could never forget it.

But no, Wenger will pamper his kids again, HOPING they will somehow learn but they WON'T.

duduspace:

@Debo

It is easy to complain but very difficult to proffer realistic solutions to problems.

Wigan 3-2 Arsenal: Spineless bottlers get what they deserve

First things first, I've been quick to praise this team throughout the season when they've kept battling and shown character. A struggle to beat 10 man Wolves, for example, can be viewed as a positive when you just don't give up and grab the late winner. Conversely, when we capitulate as we did yesterday, there's got to be a measure of criticism.

Secondly, while doubts I have about the manager grow as another season ends without a trophy I'm not joining in the chorus of those who want him to go. We've been challenging for the title almost to the very end and while I understand completely why yesterday's defeat would provoke a great deal of negative reaction you can't go from one extreme to the other that quickly.

That's not to say the manager doesn't have questions to answer, clearly he does. After the game yesterday he said:

   I believe that we were not focussed and were not disciplined and we got caught. In football you have to keep focussed for 90 minutes. After we went 2-0 up our game lacked cohesion and discipline and I always felt that we could be punished.

The first half was pretty turgid. It was real end of season fare. Arsenal looked like a team that thought they had nothing to play for, Wigan tried but didn't really threaten. Our performance was summed up when Theo Walcott was sent through by Diaby, but instead of shooting he chose to cut back. Nobody out there really wanted to take responsibility. Alan Smith on Sky said Theo didn't shoot because of a lack of confidence. I don't understand that one bit. How much confidence do you need to smack a shot on target from less than 10 yards out?

We took the lead when Nicklas Bendtner dropped deep, played a nice ball into the path of Theo and his quick feet were too much for the defenders and the keeper and he made it 1-0. Not long afterwards he went on a decent solo run and fired a shot just high and wide and it was better from Arsenal.

The second half began well. Bendnter again set up a great chance for Diaby but the Frenchman's attempted finish was lethargic, at best, and Kirkland saved. From the resulting corner Sylvester scored with a decent header which the Arsenal players thought was hilarious. So at 2-0 you're looking for the team to be professional, to look at it as an outside chance of getting a few goals back in the goal difference stakes, and to go on, be ruthless and kill the game off. Arsenal should have made sure.

Instead they thought it was won, coasted half-heartedly through the rest of the game and got taught the same lesson by Wigan as we had been taught by Sp*rs and Barcelona - desire and will to win a game goes a long, long way. As it became clear Arsenal weren't particularly interested in doing anything more than hanging on to the two goal lead, as evidenced by the manager's reluctance to bring on Robin van Persie, Wigan kept at us knowing one goal could very well put the shits up us. And how right they were.

If you watch replays of Wigan's first goal you can see Abou Diaby running alongside goalscorer Ben Watson. The ball goes wide, Watson keeps going into the area, Diaby trundles along watching the ball and when it's fizzed back into our box Watson is alone, with all the time in the world to sidefoot past Lukasz Fabianski. This is the kind of goal that I've been talking about all season. An individual mistake that is nothing to do with lack of skill or ability, it's entirely down to laziness. Diaby must have known Watson was his man, that he had defensive responsibility, yet still he shirked it. This goal would not have been difficult to prevent, it just required a little concentration and defensive discipline, but once again we've been found wanting in that area. I can point out specific examples of this happening before this season but lessons don't ever seem to be learned.

With the goal giving them a huge boost Wigan just went for it. There's no other way to describe it. They knew this was an Arsenal team capable of conceding at any time and with Premier League survival to play for (clearly more important than any outside chance of an actual trophy, like) they went at us. Nasri cleared off the line from one of a succession of corners but the goal was coming, you just knew it. And when you play Lukasz Fabianski in goal, the longer the game goes without him dropping a massive clanger, the more nervous you get.

Wigan took a corner from our left hand side, Fabianski came, got two hands on it and promptly fumbled it onto the head of Titus fucking Bramble who headed it over the line. Clichy's vain attempt to hack it clear was too late. 2-2. I know we're supposed to believe Almunia had a wrist injury but I suspect he could have played yesterday and I expect him to play against City. Maybe the manager thought Wigan away would be a nice easy way for Fabianski to redeem himself for his outrageously bad season so far but to me it's clear the Pole has no business playing at this level right now.

He might well be a very nice young man, he might well have the reflexes of a cat and pull off wonder saves in training day after day, the bottom line is he makes mistakes in every single game he plays and most of those mistakes cost Arsenal goals. He has the mental strength of Joey Deacon. I've had to reassess the way I judge players after Alex Song proved me wronger than wrong but I don't think I'm wrong this time when I say Fabianski is not good enough. He's had plenty of chances, he's pretty much bleeped them all up. It's not nice to see, he was clearly upset, but his own personal torment is really not an issue. He's got to be judged by what he does when he plays for Arsenal and on that basis I can only say he's as poor a keeper as I've ever seen in an Arsenal shirt.

A draw would have been bad enough but when Charles N'Zogbia took the ball across the penalty area and cracked in a left footed shot off the post the humiliation was complete. 2-0 up with ten minutes to go and you end up losing 3-2. There's something seriously wrong there. Before I go on, let me give credit to Wigan. They didn't give up, they kept fighting and trying and hoping, and they got their reward. It's as famous a victory as they'll ever have, the circumstances of it were incredible, and they'll live to fight another year at the top. Good luck to them.

Arsenal too got exactly what they deserved from that game. Nothing. I don't want to hear one thing about injuries and players missing. The manager refused to use that as an excuse after the game and nor should any fan. The players we had out there were capable of going 2-0 up, there's no reason why they couldn't have won that game.

It's after such a performance that you have to question the intelligence of some of our players. You've watched the best team in the world work like Trojans as they beat you in the Champions League. You've seen your local rivals do exactly the same during a painful midweek defeat. So why do some of these players think it's ok for them to coast through a game like this? It's because they look at Wigan as a game they just have to turn up to win. It's because they're too cosseted, too comfortable and too cocksure. They think they're far better than they actually are.

I normally try not to single out players but Abou Diaby drove me mental yesterday. Not too long ago he was putting in the kind of dynamic displays that made us all think we'd got a seriously good player on our hands. In recent weeks he's been found wanting and his sloppy, lazy play encapsulated Arsenal's performance. I felt sorry for young Craig Eastmond who tried his hardest but is barely ready for this level. He needed the senior midfield partners to help him out and to show him the way. Eastmond ran his socks off, harried, tackled, got stuck in, Diaby ambled his way through the game. Like Fabiasnki, he has had many chances and has shown that he's got plenty of talent - yesterday showed that he doesn't have the attitude or the balls to be a top player. He was abject.

Ultimately though questions have to be asked of Arsene. Why did he not give Robin van Persie twenty minutes? He needs the match sharpness ahead of the City game and would have provided a real attacking threat. Throwing him on with just injury time left was almost embarrassing. What made Arsene think Fran Merida, a player who is leaving the club in the summer by all accounts, would have been a better option than van Persie? Where is his motivation to win a game for Arsenal? I've nothing against the lad, he's decided his career will be better furthered elsewhere and that's entirely down to him, but it was an odd change for me.

Wenger spoke afterwards about us having problems keeping the ball, but that wasn't anything to do with the pitch or the way Wigan tackled us, it was entirely about our own attitude. It was clear we were coasting through that game and despite what he says I believe Arsene thought it was won as well. He didn't see Wigan as any kind of threat and so there was no real urgency on his part to put things right. That the changes he was making came in the 81st minute tells you exactly that.

He was happy to settle for the mediocre win and deflect any post-match criticism of our performance by talking about lacking a bit 'the sharpness', the midweek games, the injuries, and pointing to the fact we got three points. He got it spectacularly wrong. Those players needed a rocket up their arses yesterday. They needed to be reminded they were playing for the Arsenal, wearing our shirt, representing those fans who made the long journey north early yesterday morning, and the way we got turned over by Wigan was nothing short of a disgrace. The players and the manager let the club down yesterday.

This morning we should be sitting comfortably in third, just two points behind United, three behind Chelsea, and with three games to go hoping against hope that something miraculous might happen. Instead we're now looking nervously over our shoulders at Man City and Sp*rs and wondering if we can hang on to third place.

Watching yesterday you would never have known this Arsenal team still had an outside chance of winning the league title. They lacked motivation, they lacked discipline, they lacked balls and most of all they lacked heart. And that is about the worst thing I can accuse any Arsenal team of. Lack of talent and ability I can live with all day long once we try our best. If, for some players, that's their idea of their best then we've got to be ruthless and let them ply their trade elsewhere. And if the manager can't motivate his players properly for a game like this then he's got to take long, hard look at himself too.

Sorry to start your Monday like this but this result has really annoyed me. Barcelona I lived with, even Sp*rs I could cope with, but yesterday's craven surrender of a game we should have won is just not something I can defend in any shape or form.

After the game the Mugsmasher called over to my house and we played a bit of FIFA.

"That result has added truth to the table", he said. "You're the third best team in the league".

With three games to go, one of them against a team who could nick that position, we've got to go out and prove it. We've got to react. Over to you, Arsenal.

duduspace:

Arsenal spending outlay in PL before and after move to the Emirates (also from Sky sports News)

                                               Before                            After
Total cost of players in:         199m                                 71m
Total from players out:           132m                                105m
Net spend:                               67m                                  -34m
net spend/ season                    5m                                   -9m

Yet, we've never dropped out of the top 4 in the PL and some idiots are calling for the manager's head, do people look at figures at all?

~Sauron~:

Whatz the NET SPEND of Portsmouth when they won the FA cup in 2008?
Whatz the NET SPEND of Aston Villa who have already been to WEMBLEY twice this season?

Arsene Wenger is a failure and he's lucky 4 teams represent England in the UCL.
By default, Arsenal are the 4th best team in England so whether they spend or not, finishing 4th is 100% certain.

I hope Platini strips the 4 places in Europe into 3 or 2.

Before the first whistle had blown this season, Arsenal were largely unfancied. Only Thomas Vermaelen had arrived to bolster a side who had required a remarkable turnaround just to finish fourth the year before. With United, Chelsea and Liverpool (whoops) expected to contest the title, our Champions League qualification was now under threat. Former stalwarts like Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor had jumped ship to the snowballing threat of Manchester City, whilst Tottenham were insistent yet again that this would be ‘their year’.

When our season began at Goodison Park, we took people by surprise. In a new 4-3-3 [/b]system based on [b]Barcelona’s high-tempo model, we hammered a lacklustre Everton 6-1 at Goodison Park. Every one of the front six worked to exhaustion, chasing and harrying and not allowing Everton a moment on the ball. It was exemplary stuff.

The form continued and so did the victories. Before long talk of Arsenal failing to make the Champions League had metamorphosed in to talk of title challenges and ending the wait for a trophy. The players, through graft and no small share of ability, had stuffed one up the critics. And do you know what? They were proud.

Unfortunately, pride - as they’ve said ever since Adam and Eve got a bit haughty about their jungle paradise - comes before a fall. As soon as Arsenal felt they were part of the top three rather than the chasing pack, they were a different team. The points were still racking up, but under different circumstances. The work-rate had dropped and teams were given an easier ride. We celebrated last-minute winners when perhaps we ought to have been wondering why they were needed. The hallmark of this Arsenal side’s early season form was that you barely had time to think, let alone get a foothold in the game.

Fitness problems played their part. The injury to Robin van Persie meant that we lost not only our best finisher but also the natural leader of that attacking line. He was the one who instigated the pressure; who drove those around him to work ever harder. Perhaps it’s also fair to say that as the injuries kept on coming, the players who remained simply tire[/b]d.

I’m not sure I buy that. We have one of the youngest, most athletic squads in the league - Arsene wouldn’t have it any other way. [b][b]What actually happened was that this team forgot what had lifted them above the chasing pack and alongside United and Chelsea. It wasn’t the skill of Arshavin, the passing of Fabregas, or the shotgun striking of Robin van Persie. The technical ability of this team has never been in doubt. What marked this team’s improvement was working hard for each other and defending as a unit.[/b]

You’d think the exhibition of team play that Barcelona put on for us across two legs might have acted as something of a wake up call. It didn’t. Following on from that we were beaten by a super-motivated Spurs team and, from a position of absolute comfort, managed to crumble in just ten minutes against Wigan to be beaten 3-2. “Mental strength”, one fears, is a facade that Arsene’s post-match interviews can no longer keep from falling down.

People will point to individual errors, and rightly so. Only a player far more gifted than Abou Diaby would deserve the indulgence with which the manager has treated his lack of defensive discipline. Lukasz Fabianski, meanwhile, is far more befitting of the “clown” jibe once hurled at his countryman, Jan Tomaszewski. Massimo Taibi was shunted out of United after just four games - one wonders how long Arsene will take to learn the lesson that some players are just not cut out for the high-pressure environment of Premier League football.

However, it’s important to remember that any player can make a mistake. Thomas Vermaelen might go to clear and completely miss the ball, but it doesn’t matter if Sol Campbell is there to tidy it up. If a unit is strong most individual mistakes are recoverable. And, frankly, if you’re concentrating sufficiently on your responsibilities then they’re less likely to happen at all. The problem with this team is that they believe they are the “great entertainers” the press build them up as. But if you don’t do the basic work, skill is pointless. Barcelona recognise that they can’t do any damage without the ball, so they fight incredibly hard to get it.

I mentioned Sol Campbell there. You have to feel for him. As a friend said yesterday, he plays every game as if it’s his last - probably because it might well be. But the thing to remember about Sol is that, a few ‘wilderness years’ aside, he’s done that for his entire career. The difference between a player like him, who has won medals and accolades at every level, and an unfulfilled talent like Abou Diaby is entirely psychological. Campbell can’t hold a candle to Diaby’s technique or fitness. But Sol knows that to win a title you have to fight just as hard if not harder than a team battling relegation. Every ball, every tackle, every header is a statement of intent. Sol wore the armband yesterday, and deserved better from those around him. He must be kept on as an example of the required attitude.

Although Sol was a January signing, this problem is not something that can be remedied in the transfer market. An ethos cannot be bought, and Arsene knows that better than anyone. At the start of the season I was impressed that our usually stubborn manager had revised his thinking: he’d changed his formation, and seemed to have recognised that hard work had as big a part to play as technical proficiency. Over the course of the season, perversely just as success started to come, that philosophy was lost.

The responsibility lies with the manager. It’s no good signing another two centre-halves if the team is not compelled to work for each other. Every player must know that if he does not fulfil his responsibility to the team, he will pay the price with his place. Not in the starting-line up for the next game, but in the squad. If we want success here, we only have room for winners. It’s a lesson the likes of Nani have learnt well at Manchester United. If we want to match their achievements, our players will have to suffer the same kind of tough love. Over to you, Arsene

Arsenal must learn the difference between fourth and first

duduspace:

Why is portsmouth being relegated and going into administration?

Why has Aston Villa never been to the UCL?

Well good thing yu aint Platini or all clubs would have to go into relegation or administration to advance their fortunes. And be careful what you wish for, by the time Platini does decide to make that decision, y'all might be the ones trying to get into the top 4 then, with your existing debts I'm not so sure yu'll be able to pull it off.

duduspace:

Arsenal spending outlay in PL before and after move to the Emirates (also from Sky sports News)

Before After
Total cost of players in: 199m 71m
Total from players out: 132m 105m
Net spend: 67m -34m
net spend/ season 5m -9m

chic2pimp:

I guess this is what happens when your team has not won a meaningful Trophy in quite a while now.
Or when did teams start basing their sucess on Net spend and what not?

chic2pimp:

I guess this is what happens when your team has not won a meaningful Trophy in quite a while now.
Or when did teams start basing their sucess on Net spend and what not?

~Sauron~:

I wonder o.
Nothing was said about their outrageous wage bill that is almost the same amount as Man Utd's.
Wenger woke up this morning to give excuses about money he does not have and reh reh reh.

Mind you, watching a league game @ the Emirates costs more than watching a football game anywhere on the planet.
What is eating their revenue?

~Sauron~:

I wonder o.
Nothing was said about their outrageous wage bill that is almost the same amount as Man Utd's.
Wenger woke up this morning to give excuses about money he does not have and reh reh reh.

Mind you, watching a league game @ the Emirates costs more than watching a football game anywhere on the planet.
What is eating their revenue?

duduspace:

Yes, it is the very reason why the club has not won a meaningful trophy as you say but has been in the top 4 every season.

chic2pimp:

P:S Can Someone Pls  Tell Me What Arsenal's Wage Bill was During the Times of Henry, Vieira, Campbell,Pires and Co.
I'd Like to Compare the 2003/2004 wage bill to the present Day

biolabee:

http://gunnerblog.com/?p=2304

dudu the ethos is the word, these guys doo not have a team mentality no more which is why they are content to rise when Cesc is up for a game but cant help him when he is down.

Nani has improved tremendously when he did not make the bench consistently and he scored two great gols against bayern and demolished Arsenal at the emirates
If NB52 after his shambolicness against Burnley knows he will still play against Porto (in the 2nd round of UCL) why would he bother himself and not have a [size=16pt]sense of entitlement?[/size]
This applies to the other passengers in our team.

chic2pimp:

Are you telling me you are content with Finishing in the top 4 every season?

chic2pimp:

Wengay is a smart dude, Infact he has Gunners wrapped around his little fingers.
He keeps using the same excuses over and over again and they are now starting to wear out.
I willing to bet his job is more secure than that of SAF'S(and we all know Fergie is pretty much unsackable)

P:S Can Someone Pls  Tell Me What Arsenal's Wage Bill was During the Times of Henry, Vieira, Campbell,Pires and Co.
I'd Like to Compare the 2003/2004 wage bill to the present Day

Dudu, you didn't answer his question.
'Are you content with simply finishing top four every season?'

dayokanu:

Let me guess the answer: We would win the league soon when our little one grow up,

Let me come in here. To say Wenger doesnt spend is outrightly silly. Wallcott went for 16m while a tested and proven Wesley Sneijder cost 13m.

Wenger bought Reyes for 20m in 2004 while Arjen Robben was transferred for 25m in 2009.

Wenger bought [b]Eduardo for 16-1[/b]7m while a Franck Ribery was sold for 22m.

How much would Sorensen cost to start with, Hart, Given, Howard, I can name 10 keepers in the EPL better than Arsenals. In the continent I can name 50

Hugo Lloris, Akinfeev, Neuer, Adler, Handanovic, Wiese, Diego Lopez but he knows he has retards as fans and wont question him.

I think one of the requirement to be an Arsenal fan is low IQ with a few exception

slimshay:

And one of the requirements to be a donkey is to be a able to pull numbers outta your backside!!!

duduspace:

That wouldn't show yu too much as they would have been on contracts signed before Abramovic came with his money miss road attitude. Freddy Ljunberg was reported to be on 35K when he left. However wages had to increase so we wouldn't lose our top talents to the likes of Chelsea and Manure.

duduspace:

Around 04/05 (when we won our last trophy) our wage bill was about the same as manure, their wage bill has however outgrown ours year on year since then and at the last accounts (07/08 season) there was a 25m difference between ours and theirs. Ours has only grown about 8% since then with our tying our young players to long term contracts but I'm yet to see Manures.

duduspace:

I am saying that I'm content with the direction the club has chosen to counteract the effect unsustainable spending by some other clubs has contributed to our inability to win trophies in the present. I'm aware it will take longer to achieve success with it, but success when it comes will be sustainable and I'm willing to wait until it is achieved.