Arsenal Thread

[Molo316]

Surprised there's no posts in here tonight. Have we all come to expect Arsenal to fuck up every opportunity they get now?

I was at work when the match was being played, so I've just seen quickfire highlights of the goals, and not the play of the game itself... yet. But from what I heard, and looking at the stats, Swansea fully deserved to win.
I've heard that they played us at our [former] own game and came out on top. I believe that Swansea have an unbeaten streak at their stadium so that played on at the back of my mind, but deep down I felt comfortable that we could get three points today, and I would have thought that since Spurs slipped up yesterday that that was enough motivation for us.

When I heard the final score, I was upset and somewhat disgusted, but I literally laughed. How long can this go on: just settling for mediocre players and seriously expecting to mount a serious threat to other teams. It's one thing to beat the bigger or smaller teams, but if you can't do both, you don't win anything. After this loss I am seriously hoping we don't take another thrashing from United next weekend.

On a brighter note, if that's possible, I went to see the statues at the Emirates Stadium last week and made a video of it. I tried my hand creatively too and put together a music video montage at the end, which I quite enjoy myself I must say.
I'll post it here once it's uploaded, and if anyone cares to watch it I appreciate your time.

**EDIT**

Video uploaded:

[DINAMO788]

We just looked so average. Arsenal is no longer playing like an elite team. I feel we need make some mental adjustments and get back some focus. we do not look Nearly as hungry as other teams right now. we are too casual about things. its really annoying to watch.
the goals swansea scored were basically all bad goals (not howlers, but preventable with decent play). The first was a PK. ramsey made light contact with dyer who kind of lost balance when he tried to spin, but nevertheless contact was made as he turned. on their second goal, we were passing it out of our zone, arshavin fed a ball (not the best but manageable) up to ramsey in the middle, as a player came in to pressure ramsey didnt do anything to kick it away from him or shield it or anything, instead he took it from him, played a through ball into the center and they scored. then the third goal which occured like 40 seconds after got the equilizer, they got a long through ball down the right side of the box and kosielny couldnt get in that extra step to block the narrow angle shot, but Szczesny came way out for some reason and the shot went in. I beleive had Szcz just stayed put in goal, he would have saved it without too much issue. Thats my take at least on the goals.

And againa, we only really started pressing in like last 15 minutes or so. Ox came on late and I was impressed by him.

[Nitey]

Yeah I'm with both of you on this one; just appaled and disgusted lol

Going into the game I was quietly confident, knowing full well they gave Spurs a good game a couple weeks back. They are a seriously decent team at home and they made that home advantage count (on a dim positive note, no other team has scored more than a goal at their stadium, yay? lol)

Agreed that there just didn't seem to be any hunger in the team, any drive. I can't imagine they'd have been ontop of us the way they were if we actually gave more of a fuck. Everything started so well, we were on top and got a goal for it too, but that alter-ego, that other-Arsenal decided to come out of its shell once more, and we just got casual and took things too easy. I'm not dismissing Swansea, because they did play well, but much of it was down to our lack of whatever-you-want-to-call-it

Add that to the fact that the team is without many key players, such as Verm, both fullbacks AND their replacements (this was a huge problem for us yday, as DJ and Miquel were both poop imo) and of course Arteta, it just made things a lot worse.

At the turn of the year we were 4th and looked OK but a few injuries here and there and that bug that runs through Arsenal of getting casual when you think things are going fine is costing us again

Sigh

The pen wasn't actually a penalty btw. They showed replays of it zoomed in and Dyer actually stamps on Ramsey's standing leg which hyper-extended and could have broken :/ In real time it looked like he got fouled but that wasn't the case. I don't blame the ref though as it needs to be zoomed in to be conclusive

Anyhoo. With Man Utd next I don't really know what to expect. I guess the last time we played them (and heavily lost) Wenger went out and got a few players in, maybe the same could happen again? Lol.

Joking Here's hoping the lads are fired up and ready.

[nickrobbins]

i really don't know what to make of the season so far, i did have quite a bit of hope during the long winning run we had but now if we can't even beat swansea..... no excuses we should be winning those games end of.

on a brighter note, going to blackburn on the 4th can't wait for my first ever arsenal game

[DINAMO788]

I think we're really going to miss Gervinho in the ManU game. I think he would wear up their weak flanks.

[Firefox]

Brilliant video Molo!

As for Gervinho I hope The Ox will start on the left for the game even if it isn't his best position, but Arshavin will I bet.

[DINAMO788]

I too would like to see more Ox, but I worry a little about starting him in a grudge match against united. still, I hope to see him sometime though. I'm really liking his energy and attack mindedness as opposed just playing our old horizontal pass game.

Firefox (and others), I dont know if you listen to the arsenal fans forum podcast, but i listened for the first time today and i think they hit on some really good points. i agreed a lot with the host, i dont like this myopic temper that so many fans seem to have where they simply think buying players will fix our woes. I personally think that our players werent the problem against swansea but it was the attitude and mentality of our boys. We are simply not hungry. We play with no urgency. we do not become stubborn about getting the ball back asap when we lost it. just too casual and cavalier overall, their second goal when the ball was taken from ramsey so easily typified this point.

http://feeds.arsenal.com/arsenalfansforum

[The Boy From School]

Cool...

http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/0...d-live-on-fox/

[DINAMO788]

So it looks like Verm and Arteta wont be ready for this game. Which means Rosicky and Miquel should start. Which means Miquel is going to be responsible for stopping Nani. Which means we're going to get torn up.

I'm a big AW support but this really is inexcusable. I cannot fathom a good reason why we didnt sign a fullback on loan. QPR just signed Tiawo. City are definitely open to doing some loan deal for Bridge. But AW did nothing. and now we have some 4th choice defender going up against one of the most dangerous players in the EPL. it is inexcusable. We're going to get taken to school again and be exposed defensively.


well you guys suck no one is replying. I personally think we should put Song at left back. Miquel just will not be able to contain Nani at all and if benayoun or rosicky is his cover, that wont do much. I also think that without arteta, we might want to play a 4-4-2 otherwise our midfield will just get torn up.We could do rambo and rosicky in the center. This could also give room to start AOC at left wing while Arshavin and RVP start up top.
....ugh just trying to come up with some makeshift survival formation is depressing!

[yourmumsface17]

Will be good for u to see the ox playing.

Good luck today guys, hope for another classic.

[DINAMO788]

As an Arsene Wenger fan, this is the first time i've really doubted him. What in the world was he thinking. The crowd was booing it. The reaction from RVP said it all. he couldnt comprehend this insane move.

I'm starting to get angry with the rest of the crowd. I cannot stand Peter Hill-Wood, especially after his comments this week. We can cope without making top 4? The senior management clearly has no ambition or desire to see Arsenal be great again as long as their coffers are full. It is a disgrace. If we do not make top 4, and do not get into the champion's league, RVP will leave. every game is so important and everyone is just pissing it away.

AOC was amazing. Mertesacker impressed me too. The first half was shyt. Second half i thought we would be the ones to go ahead until that fatal substitution... No words.

[adamp93]

I couldn't agree more, we need to get rid of Walcott in an effort to give the Ox more game time. He was the only one that had any real fire in his belly and gave us a real threat. So Wenger takes him off and, surprise, surprise, we concede and never looked like scoring again.
I actually think that was a decent team we had out there, with the obvious exception of the worlds worst makeshift full-back. Just get back one of our regular full-backs and Wilshere or Arteta and thats the best we can hope for in the **** we're currently in.
Oh and another injury to talk about. Frimpong had the absolute dench kicked out of him against Villa at Molineux; hope he gets well soon.

[The Boy From School]

Do you guys know any good Arsenal forums?

[Molo316]

Do you guys know any good Arsenal forums?

Arsenal-Mania is quite lively.

[Firefox]

Don't really get the point of Arsenal dedicated forums to be honest a lot of talk about pointless things.

PSU's Arsenal Thread + www.reddit.com/r/gunners + CescyFabGooner's videos are all you really need.

[DINAMO788]

man, no one has an opinion though on the game or the fans?

and FF, the tuesdayclub part about yossi and andre was hilarious!

[Nitey]

Concerning the game, I'm still disappointed. I don't think we were rolled over as such and I believe we held it together for quite some time until conceding late in the first half. That, to me, was the real kicker as wel. I think had we got to half time without being a goal down we could have came out even better than we did, unfortunately, that wasn't the case

Overall, the game was lost through two individual errors in defending. Like I said, I don't think we were massively outplayed or anything and we had some golden chances in the 2nd half (Smalling slip comes to mind), but we just couldnt make it count :/

Our weakness in the full back areas is basically where I think we lost the game. Nani, Giggs and Valencia just had too much time and freedom whenever they operated on the wings. As if that situation wasn't bad enough, Wenger thought it was a good idea to bring Arshavin on (and take Ox off) lol ..Still stunned about that. I'm with the crowd with this one, it wasn't a good move by Wenger. However, I think the boo-ing was bang out of order... Personally, I'd have liked Benayoun to have come on, but oh well

I was a little worried when I read this quote from Arsene after the game

"Arshavin is captain of the Russia national team. You have an 18-year-old kid making his first Premier League start and a player who's captain of his country and they are querying the substitution?"

Fair enough as those are the facts, but Arshavin just hasn't been able to replicate the performances we expect from him and what we should be expecting from the captain of Russia, and it has been this way for a VERY long time. We all know he is lazy on the football pitch, we all know that he won't track back and defend in a way that he should (evident in the way he ushered Valencia towards our own box, just foul him or something?!). So, if he can't even do these kinds of duties whilst not being able to do the business on the other end of the pitch (which would make it easier to 'forgive' him), then what use is he to Arsenal? He realy doesn't play or look like a player that cares about the club. Not anymore, at least

The fans were querying the substitution based on how the player (Arshavin) has been performing for WAY too long and how the player coming off (Ox) was performing so well in the game the fans were witnessing. The queries aren't based on Arhsavin's position in his national team/the things he's won/his record-or anything like that. The fans had a point...

I feel weird ranting about just one player as I'm not usually one to jump on a single player's back, but it just boggles my mind that Wenger still has faith in Arshavin and some of the other players we have in our squad.. Other than the above quote, Wenger did seem displeased with the way his subsitution panned out after the game. Maybe he realised that it was a mistake? Maybe he sees that he requires players that have attitude like Koscielny and Arteta, and less players that are like Arshavin? I'm not sure, but I hope he sees what we see as it is becoming even blindingly obvious to our own players (judging from Van Persie's reaction to Ox coming off)

-

Still unhappy with how things went in the Swansea and Fulham games too, but not much can be done about that. Hopefully we can pull some good results out from here on out, as Chelsea are still looking shaky so we're not out of it as much as people would have you believe

[DINAMO788]

no one is posting here anymore?

One thing that worries me a lot that no one has mentioned is that RVP currently has 4 yellows and in games, we face the likes of pool, newcastle, and spurs in a row. I think RVP !!!NEEDS!!! to get a yellow either this game against bolton or next game. If he is out for any of the crucial games that I have mentioned, we are going to be in a MUCH tougher position.

[Cyn]

Do you guys know any good Arsenal forums?

I post on goonersworld.co.uk. And also visit AFC forum occasionally. Both are good, far better than arsenal mania, stay away from that cesspit.

[Nitey]

One thing that worries me a lot that no one has mentioned is that RVP currently has 4 yellows and in games, we face the likes of pool, newcastle, and spurs in a row. I think RVP !!!NEEDS!!! to get a yellow either this game against bolton or next game. If he is out for any of the crucial games that I have mentioned, we are going to be in a MUCH tougher position.

Oh I had no idea..You're right, a tactical yellow card could well be a good idea. Whilst we need him in every game, we need him more in the games you mentioned

I post on goonersworld.co.uk. And also visit AFC forum occasionally. Both are good, far better than arsenal mania, stay away from that cesspit.

Agreed!

[DINAMO788]

What a shi**y game. arsenal were AWFUL. even as bad as they were, bolton was so bad that we still had AMPLE scoring chances that we did not deliver on. Especially in the first half. I think wenger should put a microchip inside of Theo's brain so that whenever he gets a clear breakaway, he can stop all thought because when theo thinks, he stinks. but bloody awful i cant say enough.

[Nitey]

Walcott and Ramsey (during this bad run of ours) have just been God awful...I'm just shocked we didnt score AND it seemed the only way we were gonna do that was via the brilliance of RvP

So pee'd off by that performance. In the end Bolton probably could have nicked it as well. Arsene knows best, but, couldn't fathom why Theo played the whole game and Ox was first to get sub'd. On that note, the subs offered nothing, ref carded Verm for nothing, Ramsey running into our own players and slowing down our attacks whilst offering nothing, bla bla bla. I'm annoyed :P

Worrying that while we have a few players to come back for defence, we're "stuck" with the attackers we have now, as the window is closed. We couldn't beat the worst team in the league with what looked like a good team we had chosen (on paper) =/

Blegh. Only highlight for me was Sagna. Looked good

[Molo316]

Worrying that while we have a few players to come back for defence, we're "stuck" with the attackers we have now, as the window is closed.

It's always the same now. We have a good game or victory before the transfer window shuts, and if asked, Wenger will say that we have a good, strong team, and therefore won't buy any new and good players. Same thing happened here, but I'm sure he wasn't going to fork out anything significant on a good player anyway.

After our bad start I reckoned we were going to finish say 6th, 7th, or 8th, or something round about that region, and to be honest, if it continues like this it doesn't look like I was exaggerating or just blowing off some steam because of said bad start.
Van Persie surely will be gone by the start of next season.

[Cyn]

Kiss goodbye to top 4. Oh well whatever, the club needs a massive kick up the arse anyway

Just win the fucking FA Cup

[DINAMO788]

From what I saw that game, the problem is not at all buying new or better players. We have a strong team. On rare occassions we've seen them play to their potential. I assume that Wenger is a great tactician and motivator so I was puzzled as to why we've played these 4 games below par. I honestly cant remember the last time we played a full 90 minutes.