By Walter Broeckx
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | Pts |
| 1 | Manchester United | 31 | 19 | 9 | 3 | 68 | 32 | 36 | 66 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 30 | 17 | 8 | 5 | 59 | 29 | 30 | 59 |
This is the way the table stands for the moment. And this is what many gooners call total failure. They start again with the name calling of our players and the managers.
I can understand supporters are frustrated. And disappointed. Because that is what I feel also for the moment. Because now we don’t have things in our own hands. We depend on slips of United to come closer. Not the ideal situation.
But for all those who now proclaim that they knew it would happen at the start of the season I cannot understand that they are angry. Because they knew it would happen. And it is more for us believers in our manager and team a moment to be disappointed.
For some reason we just can’t seem to score a goal for the moment. And this is a bad time to have such a moment. We had almost all our players back who we have when it comes to attacking and it didn’t work out. Is it to still being a bit rusty in some cases? Is it because Cesc and Walcott haven’t played in around 5-6 weeks that they still are not as sharp as they can be? Well if that is the case they will get better.
Is it that Van Persie got a knock in midweek why he didn’t look as good as he can be? Well he will get back to his best and start scoring again.
Was it the knock and big bruise on the head of Nasri that made him play a flat game? Well I sure wouldn’t want to wake up next to him tomorrow morning because it looked a nasty bump on his head.
So the frustrating thing is that with all our players on the field we couldn’t create the opening. And we have again a game at the Emirates in which we couldn’t score. We had the early chances and if we score one of them we would have won the game. But we just didn’t and then it is hard to take at the end of the game.
But now to say that we are a total failure and speaking about foreign mercenaries looks a bit strange if you look at the league table. We still are in second place. And at the start of the season the pundits and those who now say they knew this would happen never predicted us to be there. United would be there, Chelsea would be there, Manchester City would be there. Liverpool would be there. Even Tottenham would be there. They all would be there and we would be nowhere to be seen. But we still are second in the league. So how can you be disappointed if some of you predicted we would be happy if we would qualify for the CL.
Yes things could have been better. In fact things should have been better. We could have won all our games if you just look at the chances we had. But that is part of football. Creating chances is fine but you must score them and if you don’t you end up with games like this.
But to see our team in second place at this stage of the season is not the ideal situation but still better than others. You could be supporting a team that has spend 80M in the last transfer window and are in third place, 4 points behind us. And that team has spend a lot of money on players even before this transfer window. Or you could be supporting a team that has spent an obscene amount of money in the last two seasons and are only in fourth place like City. Or you could support a team that tells its fans each year they will end in front of us and who are still far behind us in fifth place. You know all those teams that would overtake us. Well they are behind us in the league table.
So if we are useless, how useless are they? For the moment United look like they have the upper hand. If they win it, of which I still am not that sure, they will have deserved it. And then we have to see at the things that went wrong. And take measures. And see how we can improve things. And to answer the mercenaries name calling we then have two options: use what we have coming through our youth system or… bring in more mercenaries.
I still support my Gunners! Till the final whistle. Some of you have deserted our Gunners today. How disappointed I am for the moment I still will back them and support them.
Match Fixing: How did we do under each ref this season?
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@Gooner 80 ….Pat rice for Keown might solve that
@Dark Prince. There was no shame in the players selected because Arsenal had 5 who are not first-teamers
Almunia, Koscielny, Gibbs, Denilson, Diaby
and so did United
Brown, Smalling, O’Shea, Gibson and (one or other) da Silva.
The difference is that they chose to play defenders. It is easier to play on the counter than to control the possession so yes maybe Wenger needs to teach his players more than one way of playing. I would say Wenger has one weakness when it comes to winning games, he asks his team to play the same way no matter what tactics the opposition employs. This is not necessarily a weakness though, he would see it as his philosophy for beautiful football. It is a bit like the Brazilians, we will play this way, it’s up to you to stop us.
Charlie- its nice to see you admit that Manu, City, Chelsea will become stronger. You fail to realise that only Arsenal will remain as it was. We’ll have the same injury issues, the same lack of quality back up players, the same defensive problems, the same complacency issue, the same lack of leadership. I dont expect Wenger to buy unless the board supports him.
@Dark Prince
What I meant about putting pressure about 6 years is that blame this team for the performances they put in. But the last 6 years are not their fault. Most of them weren’t there, or weren’t playing consistently all those years..
As for Wenger putting pressure on them.. You really expect Wenger to say we aren’t good enough to win? Would the team even finish top 4 if they thought like that?
Regarding strengthening the defense, firstly it’s not as simple as going to the market and buying a defender. And if march was the date that Vermaelen came back then he’d be back by now. Not an unreasonable gamble, though Wenger’s gambles never seem to pay off.. His statement about needing a defender were when Squillaci seemed like he might be out for at least 3 weeks, if not more. Leaving us just with Djourou and Koscielny.
Charlie- tactical stubborness is one of Wenger’s major flaws. Its his weak spot, his achilles heels. Just think in how many games this season has he started with a different formation?? 0!!!! Nil!!!!
And i far from differ from you when you say that we play like the ‘brazilians, we play this way, its upto to you to stop us.’ its infact more like ‘stoke, we only play this way, so pls dont try to stop us.’
@Redgooner
I see what your trying to say. I agree with you to an extent. The thing is of course, that we don’t know how good those players are, or indeed can be.. But the fact still remains that they are available should they be ready, and needed. Now I think they are needed, if for no other reason than to shake things up a bit. Some of them seem to be ready to play at least 15 games a season. But we’ll soon find out I guess.
Specifically, I think you are right when you say Coquelin might have the upper hand when it comes to filling the backup DM slot. But I think there is more than one spot up for grab there. Diaby is one that might need some competition, and with Lansbury there, I do think Denilson will go. His head seems to be gone already. We’ll have a midfield of Cesc, Song, Wilshere, Nasri, Ramsey, Diaby, Lansbury, Coquelin, Frimpong, and even Henderson. (Rosicky will probably go too) That isn’t that many established players, and in fact I think we might see a signing in midfield too. Not him, but someone like an Arteta..Or Mata as I’ve heard mentioned.
I do agree with your doubts about JET. But I do think he can be a wild card sort of player. Throw him on and see what he does. Regardless though, I think we should buy a striker. I’m not sure it’ll happen of course.
Shard- you’re failing to see the paradox/irony in your statement. (whatever figure of speech is applicable). On one hand you dont want the players to feel the pressure of the club not winning a trophy for 6yrs when Wenger comes out every season to say they will win and on the other hand, you dont want Wenger to demoralise the players by saying they’re not good enough. Either way, the player or the manager will be the reason for the club’s failure.
@Dark Prince
The players should believe they can win in order to win. There is no irony here. One is positive reinforcement, the other is negative (and blaming them for, and doubting them on the basis of something they were not necessarily a part of)
Shard- also regardless of Vermaelen coming back in March or Squillaci coming back in 3 weeks, we always knew we were short in numbers in defence and that we cant gamble on the fitness of Vermaelen or Squillaci or even an injury prone player like Djourou. We had the opportunity to bring someone in and we had the resources too. But we didn’t by choice.
@Dark Prince
I wonder how you know we didn’t try to bring someone in? The fact is though that we didn’t, so you can criticise that, and I’d be inclined to agree with that. At the same time, I can understand why it wasn’t done/didn’t happen..
Dont know what to say to u guys who still believe this team is capable of winning ANYthing for dear life! At this stage of the season what matters is the result, not cute passing. Just get the ball into the net in any way! But did you see anyone trying to do that? And Arsha (who despite all his laid back attitude) is the only player you expect to go for the jugular is taken off! Crazy Wenger. SAF played Giggs at left back for God-sakes and we all had just seen that.
Shard- thats what i’m saying, eventually Arsenal didn’t sign anyone, though cant believe that they were any valid reasons for it. In the end, we didn’t get one and thats what is going to come back and bite us. And whether it was the board’s decision or not, all the blame will eventually and unfortunately come on Wenger. Even though i believe that its the board of executives that should get the worst of the stick, its eventually Wenger and players who will feel it.
“they will have deserved it”
Really? Is that a joke? When the league is a level playing field then perhaps we will be able to judge who really deserves to win the title. How many times have their players avoided red cards and suspensions this year? By my count it’s scholes x2, giggs x1, rooney x1, neville x2 and rafael x1 – but that’s just from what I’ve seen. Avram grant also claimed that vidic deserved to go in their last game as well, but I haven’t seen that.
We played like a team who had been bombed out by bad refs too many times this year and had a major rival who -for the umpteenth time this year- was been helped by those same refs. We have been 10 points better than Man U this year- despite bad recent performances and they say ‘the table doesn’t lie’!!
And it isn’t just refs! Compare how Sunderland played against Citeh today and how they played against us. Where was the 9-man defence and the desperate heroics? Isn’t it funny – no-one plays a weakened side against Arsenal. Finally, as much as I like our little Russian, please AW- no more starts for him this season. And if you are going to keep playing Wally wide- bring him on after 60mins when there is space for him to use his pace.
Two points, first the more unrelated. There are no end of news articles about Arsenal looking at somebody (XYZ). These are invariably a fabrication of the person writing the article. There was nobody at Arsenal (let alone Arsene Wenger) looking at XYZ. But, if any of these bloggers/journalists making up these stupid stories have lots of money, by all means buy the contract of the player in question and then offer the player to Arsenal for no fee and also pay his salary.
There are too many variables in football, and even if any coach (including Arsene Wenger) had the perfect team, it is not certain that would win any particular competition. Ideally, a person should not have to adjust play for who is referring, but Untold Arsenal seems to feel this is a problem. Not that referees are necessarily unfair towards Arsenal, but often that they are just not fair. And in some situations, not competent.
Miracles do happen. It may be that Arsenal wins the league this year. For me, it is unlikely. But, it still means that next year is very likely to win something. There are so many pieces present, and we get runs of things working.
It would be wonderful to see Arsenal win the league this year. But, I suspect Arsenal has served notice on the better teams in the premier league and elsewhere (CL, …), that they are a force to be reckoned with. Not that many of these teams felt differently at the beginning of this season. But if nothing else, Arsenal goes into the next season without any trading activity, better equipped to win medals than any other premier league team.
But, a bit of luck is needed to get any of these trophies. And lately, luck has been going elsewhere.
I still support my Gunners, as well!
Its sad to see the people still blame the refs for our poor performance against Blackburn. You can fool yourselves but not everyone.
@Dark Prince in response to your response to my message much earlier. When Arsenal are on form you can see the philosophy of “this is the way we play, keep us out if you can” and it is fantastic to watch. When there are players missing or players lacking sharpness Wengers’ achilles heel as you put it is exposed. I think he has been fantastic for this club but dominant football requires exceptional talent and you need to be able to adapt when you can see that the team on the pitch will struggle to win that way. Against United we lost mainly because of naiive defensive tactics. When you see that United lack creativity and your own team isn’t at full strength you ensure that the few players in their team who can create something are always closed down (Rooney). That’s where you start from and if that means pushing less players forward so-be-it. I absolutely want Wenger to stay but in this area of the game he does have a weakness. We saw George Graham become much more defensive after the failure of the 91/92 season, just a pinch of this would do Wenger a lot of good.
I think we are actually a mid table team which has over achieved for the last 7 years. It is based on the fact the meager price we pay for the players we buy as compared to the top 4 teams.
We have to wait for another 3 years for renewal of our commercial contracts and to become a debt free club and for the expected retirement of Arsene before we compete with the big league clubs for super stars.
Actually, Donnyfan1 makes a good point, and one I was thinking of a little earlier.. What effect does it have on the players when week in and week out they see ManU getting the benefit of very dodgy calls, while they themselves are subjected, off and on, to the likes of Mason, Dowd and Webb? Some would suggest it should fire them up even more to win, and I can agree with that. But at some point, it has got to get in their minds that nothing they do will be good enough. We all can see that ManU are being guided to their 19th League title. I’m sure the players see it too. Szczesny’s tweet is just the tip of the iceberg, I feel. I think there’ll be stronger emotions about it.
I don’t know, there are so many people complaining about so many different things… We didn’t buy a defender, Wenger is a poor tactician, everybody will improve except us, we have useless players and injury prone players, we need experience and on and on and on…. I’ll try to answer some of these critics.
1.We didn’t buy a defender. As far as I see, our last results don’t have anything to do with the lack of a defender. With S’land and Blackburn it’s our attack that let us down, and with WBA the culprits are Ramsey and Almunia…
2. AW is a poor tactician. That’s easy to say, but it’s very difficult to say what’s the right tactics. But I heard that we should bring Rafa Benitez (lol). Please, don’t!
3.Useless players plus injury prone players. The useless players are backup players. Btw, which world class player will come to Arsenal to be a better backup than Denilson? Maybe Pirlo – he’s at the end of his contract (joking). About injury pronenenss, how injury prone are Lampard (3 months out this season), Rio Ferdinand (when did he play last?), Alex, Gerrard and the list may continue.
4.Everybody is improving and will improve. Crap. Chelsea went backwards, Liverpool is a horror show without Stevie G, the Spuds are exactly the same as last year (minus 50 millions spent), Man C a bit better (minus how much, 100 millions?) and Man Utd plays pretty much the same.
5.Experience. Easier to say than done. In what area of the pitch do we need that experience? Which is the player that will come to Arsenal, play as a starter and will improve the team? Neymar (19 or 20 yers old)? Hazard? Cahill (invaluable mid-table PL experience, exactly what we need)? Torres (obviously improved Chesea)? It’s easy to play football manager, but a bit more difficult to be a real manager…
In the end, it seems that many people just hope that a new manager will bring a trophy, although it’s not clear what Wenger did wrong. I sincerely believe that a new manager will be a disaster (e.g. don’t even think that Nasri will sign an extension without Wenger and Fabregas will be as good as gone).
Wenger has done nothing wrong – the board control his purse strngs but he take the blame David Dein spent all his time trying to make sure Wenger had a transfer kitty, was removed for it. enger would have spent if available – but even now, the board are trying to pay off the debt asap which reduces funds. Wenger put what he did have available into wages – and not all have justified these wages.
As you say, a new manager would be a disaster. Just who could do better? Jose would want £20m a year and £150m to spend, it will not happen here.
If the disgruntled need someone to blame, start with the board, they have not been fully truthful on our spending power – probably for very good reasons.
If we end up potless, a few pllayers will go, some will come in, Wenger must stay but will maybe have to force the hand of the board. It would help if they came out and admitted how little money Wenger has operated on, then many would see our manager in a different light.
@Many Dodd
Let me tell you a secret. I HATE JOSE. He would ruin all what I like in Arsenal – decency, politeness, a good traditional way of doing things (e.g. don’t spend more than you have). And he would (exactly like many other managers) destroy what I like most – the promotion of young players who have been at the club since they were 15-16. I really love the fact that players like Song, Fabregas, Wilshere, Djourou, Fabiansky, Szczesny managed to succeed (despite some lack of confidence from fans and pundits) and I’m waiting for Ramsey, Frimpong and all the others to do the same.
@sharpshooter
I don’t know about hate.. But i certainly have no respect for Jose Mourinho.. Firstly I think his results are overstated as being incredible. But that being as it is, I don’t buy into the culture which seems to say that it’s ok being a disrespectful d*** just because you win something.
Completely agree Sharpshooter, Jose is nothing more than an expensive short term silverware solution.
Cannot wait to see some of these kids coming through. If the Arsenal must buy brigade had their way last summer, Joe Cole could have hindered Wilshere, Schwarzer could have meant Szczesny going out on loan.
I think there are a few who have been relegated down the pecking order who have become despondant, have lost their hunger and will have to be moved on but we have a new wave chomping at the bit, who have been schooled in the Arsenal way, some of whom are built like Vieira with skill in abundance! The likes of Diaby, past injuries aside may have a rethink over not covering runners with JET or Lansbury breathing down his neck.
The last month has been dissapointing but the future is bright. As for the weekend, a typical after international week with key players coming back from injury display, nothing more, nothing less. Some fans need to get over themselves.
This year, looks like outside forces will hand Fergie his 19th, and hopefully last title (I sometimes think the FA and refs actually want him out of the way more than anyone else) If Arsenal end the season potless, the club need to use this year to take stock, revamp a few things in the summer, including maybe some coaching staff, and move on.
@Mandy Dodd
Now that’s one way of looking at it. You think the FA have a deal with Fergie that he retires once he wins the 19th title for ManU? I don’t know if that’s the case. I don’t even know if I want it to be.
Not sure on that one Shard – maybe putting jumping to false conclusions but when I look back at the ref rescue acts for Utd, the amount of other managers doing all in their power to make sure Utd win it (witness the likes of Stoke and Birmingham going to OT and not putting in a tackle), when I look at recent pics of Fergie – who lets face it – does not look to well – I do sometimes wonder. I know these things have happened for years but there seems to be something different about this year.
As for the FA and refs, they have in Fergie and his team, created a monster they are too spineless to put on a level playing field with everyone else, but who continues to embarass them in increasing levels – eg Rooneys elbow, Rooney swearing at the camera, Scholes tackles, Fergies comments etc. If I were them, I would want Fergie gone, but there again, I like to think I possess a measure of integrity, not sure all at the FA / EPL do!
I think the reason they are so scared of Fergie – he knows where a lot of bones are buried.
As a matter of fact, some of you should remember that a certain W.Rooney who, by the way, scored a hat-trick this weekend, didn’t play against Ghana because “he had to prepare for the Champions League”. Strangely, another dude called Jack Wilshere, 19 y.o., played 70 minutes, and than had a less than good display against Blackburn…
Best comment in the Press this morning:
‘AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi believes Mario Balotelli’s off-the-field “behaviour” will prevent him from putting on the Rossoneri shirt in the future. “There is a Milan style of behaviour that I don’t think is very close to that of Balotelli. Every now and then, he has a bit of a distraction,” said Berlusconi of the Manchester City striker, who is an AC Milan fan. (Press Association)’
Presumably the President of Milan has never had ‘a bit of a distraction’?!
Very interesting debate since Saturday.
Many Gooners have claimed that this Arsenal side do not deserve to win the league ‘no matter what happens’ apparently concerned that Arsenal may in fact STILL win the league. What an odd place to find ourselves… hoping NOT to win the league.
I am as fed up than any of you. Believe me. But while we have a chance to win something we MUST stick with the team. The reckoning will happen in the summer and we will duly say goodbye to Almunia, Rosicky, Denilson and at least one forward. But until then the supporters must SUPPORT.
We’re in a best position than any other club in the country to catch United.
The lack of bottle many of you are showing is the exactly equivalent of leaving the Emirates down 1-0 against United at 71 minutes! That you same people call for the manager’s head at 71 minutes is an absolute, utter disgrace. Don’t leave the stadium.
But if you do please let me know. I’ve got a lot of mates dying to get their hands on season tickets. Enough with the limp support.
And yes… I’m talking about YOU!
As i said earlier, its sad to see how we again are trying to sugar coat the cracks. Someone here said that the sunderland and blackburn games were not bcoz of ineffective defenders. But people forget that our attacking players become more cautious when they have a weak defence behind them. Eventually, their concentration levels are not the same going forward. But when you have reliable defence then these same players will start to perform to their best.
Also another very stupid excuse is of our stadium debt. If you guys are living on a different planet, our stadium debt has been cleared and we have only bonds left to pay for the next 20yrs. Our chief executive Ivan Gazidis has himself said that all the profits are now available for Wenger to strengthen his squad.
Charlie- even though i think Wenger does have some flaws, i dont think he’s not good enough to solve them. There was no weakness a decade ago. The only difference is that the quality of players we have now is simply not good enough and in some cases, not fit enough to win the league. When was the last time Fabregas played 34-35 epl games a season? When was the last time Van Persie played the same amount of epl games in a season?? Same goes for Djourou who has been with us for half a decade now. The problem is that we have only put out our best squad for only 6-7 epl games this season. And that is not good enough to win a 38 game league.
So what is the solution for the above problem?? There are 2 solutions – either have quality back up players to replace them when they are injured. Or replace the current players with players of the same quality but who are fitter.
I thnk the 2nd option is quite tough but the 1st option is absolutely possible.
@Dark Prince
“Somebody said that the sunderland and blackburn games were not bcoz of ineffective defenders”. That would be me. So, you’re trying to say that we didn’t score in those games bcoz the attacking players were covering up for the defenders. And they didn’t concentrate enough bcoz of that. I’m sorry, but that’s laughable. I’d like to remind you that a classic problem of our team is that some attacking players don’t help the defensive (Arshavin, for instance), no matter who the defensive players are. Anyway, I understand you don’t like our defenders, but blaming them for B’burn and S’land, this is a bit over the top…
I suppose that all the attacking players were afraid of the 10 man B’burn, right?
I think we should simply accept that RvP, Theo, Nasri, Cesc and even Wilshere had some bad games, that’s all.
Sharpshooter- ok, let me test your own fear. Be honest when you answer this. Are you sure that you are not more afraid when Squillaci and Almunia plays in defence and gk?? Dont you feel much more safer when Djourou and Szczesny plays?? Just think, the players too would be feeling the same. Haven’t you ever seen how much better our attack plays when we have a good reliable defence and goalkeeper?? Just look at 2 different nil-nil draws – the City game and the Sunderland/Blackburn. You can see the difference…in the City game, we were all over City, though we didn’t score, we still run them ragged. And compare this to Blackburn game. Almost the same set of attackers and they played so poorly. So what was the difference? Did you notice the cautious approach our players take when we have a 2nd string defence and gk??
The simple point is, as we as well as our players and our managers have expressed before, OUR TEAM IS SCARED OF LOSING. And that fear comes out best when we have players like Squillaci and Almunia in the squad.
Come on…in the game Man City game we had some in-form Theo, Samir, Cesc and RvP. With S’land we had no Theo, no Cesc, an average RvP, a perfectly legitimate penalty that the ref didn’t see and a perfectly legitimate goal disallowed. With B’burn we had a tired RvP, a rusty Theo and an even more rusty Cesc. Nasri had that horrible bruise and didn’t look as his usual self. It was not Djourou the one we were missing.
Don’t think that I keep Almunia in high regard or I believe that Squillaci is a great defender. But this is Almunia’s last season and Squillaci is better than that dude, Silvestre. As far as I’m concerned, Sqiullaci can stay at the club until Bartley or Miquel are ready for the big step, but if TV doesn’t come back we definitely need another defender (I won’t say any name).
@ DarkPrince.
I think you are right in one part and wrong in the other.
Correct in saying the performances to win at westbrom and at home to blackburn were NOT good enough on the day.
Wrong to say the following.
Dark Prince
April 4th, 2011 at 3:11 am
Its sad to see the people still blame the refs for our poor performance against Blackburn. You can fool yourselves but not everyone.
You only have to stop Arsenal or give Utd unfair advantages to see them break Liverpools record.
Scholes should have seen red against us
Rooney for the elbow in the head to that player a few weeks back should have seen red
Vidic yesterday should have seen RED and westham would have went on to win.
To many disgraceful decisions wheter its like the newcastle game or letting manutd away with stuff certainly means we CANT win the league they dont want us to.
There is NOT a fair level playing field and thats all we are asking IF we are not good enough at the end well thats fair enough …..BUT the bullshit thats going is NOT right and should not be ignored.
Sharpshooter-C’mon, be honest to yourselves, isn’t our team is playing superbly since the chelsea match in december?? I mean, Cesc or Nasri or Theo didn’t need 6 months into the season to come into blistering form. They only reason why we have performed so well since December till the Carling cup final was only because we had a solid defence (djourou) and a solid goalkeeper (szczesny). Thats what made our attackers look more threatening, bcoz they believed in our defence and didn’t have fear in their minds while attacking. Regarding our player’s fitness in blackburn game, other than Cesc, Walcott and Song, every other player were completly fit without a doubt. And even though these 3 players are important, we should have won this game even without them playing. Tell me, if Rosicky was playing in place of Cesc, Ramsey in place of Song and Nasri in place of Walcott, would u still expect our team to come out with a goalless draw against a team who are on a complete free fall and fighting for Relegation??
RedGooner- you say that i’m wrong when i say “Its sad to see that people still blame the refs for our poor performance against Blackburn. You can fool yourselves but not everyone.”
Pls lets be honest with each other, i admit that the refs are bent towards ManU. They certainly have a number of decisions favoured towards them and also i admit that there have been games where the refs had cheated on us. But its your time to be honest,…tell me, do you think the ref is the main accused and robbed us of our points in the game against blackburn?? Give me an honest reply and say how i was wrong when i said – “Its sad to see that people still blame the refs for our poor performance against Blackburn. You can fool yourselves but not everyone.”
@DarkPrince.
I didnt say at any stage that the Ref robbed us of points against Blackburn.I said we played poorly.
I said we would have closed the gap had the Ref been fair in the ManUtd game and sent Vidic off. because Utd wouldnt have won with 10 men.
I am sticking to the same point IF the Referees had been fair this season. Utd wouldnt be top of the EPL we would and thats despite the poor displays at times this season.
I wont watch crap refereeing week in week out and know its making a huge difference and then slate our own teams performances which isnt the full reason we are in second place.
RedGooner- You’re right on one part that the refs hav been very biased towards ManU, and yes, if we had a fair ref in every game then we would’ve have led the table. But eventually, a ref cant be blamed for a poor performance like Blackburn. Just think, this is not the first time this has happened this season. And if we had performed better in games like West Brom (home and away), Blackburn, Newcastle (home), then we would have led the table.
Thats the reason why the fans had started booing the players. They know this type of performance is not acceptable so many times in a season.
@DarkPrince
To be honest I understand what you are saying some of the performances were yes indeed poor.
I look at Utds and Chelseas and the other rivals performances and I see far worse performances this season.
I am not suggesting all the players deserve their place or that they shouldnt be immune from criticism.
Newcastle at home was a strange game for me Waz made an error in goal, I was going to say that he wouldnt normaly make Birmingham aside, I thought if we had gone in 0-0 at half time that we would have worn them down they changed and defended well second half. BUT waz is 19 and I think he will make it at Arsenal so I cant do anything only forgive him those blunders his talent leads me think he has a bright future everyone makes mistakes.
Almunia against Westbrom well lets just say I wont shed a tear when he moves on in the summer.
I wont boo our players though I get annoyed because footballs a big part of my weekend but thats about it.
What do really want though is my question ? as Arsenal fans ?
Do we want wengers head ? I dont think so. Do we want some experienced players and cut some of the youth ? Do we want to keep at this youth project now providing we can keep the better players we have as it should soon reap rewards.
My guess is we want a trophy and the media muppets off our backs we want to be able to shut up our friends who support other teams and we want and deserve fair refereeing.
I would sooner win no league than the way ManUre won this one. Its a joke honestly. I want us to be the best and I think like many we aint far away.
RedGooner- i think, its a very subjective debate on what we all want from Arsenal. Some wants trophies, some wants Arsenal to be among the top clubs every year. I want Arsenal can give it all in every match. There have been 9-10 matches this season already where i’ve felt that our players had become very complacent or did not perform to what is expected of them. To me thats completly unacceptale. These players are professionals, they cant afford underperforming in so many games. And Wenger always tries to protect them with his unjustifiable excuses. Thats the reason why our fellow fans have started to give them the stick.
@ RedGooner
Fabianski was the one who made that awful mistake against Newcastle at home. In terms of Waz as you call him, for me his the best keeper Arsenal had in ages, at only 19 he is very solid and I would love to see him in goal next season, Over the last year I always been telling people that he’s the answer for the gk crisis, no one believed me however. Aside from that, judging on the overall team performance, just look at the past 5 years and you’ll see that there were moments where Arsenal used to trash teams like Blakburn 6:2 easily at the Emirates(happened twice), but then draw or even lose to such teams because they simply ran out of fuel or whatever you can call it. Things like that have been happening over over again, especially at the end of the season, mainly February-April time ( remember 2008? Unlucky spells like the unlawful 2:2 result against Birmingham? 1:1 with Aston Villa at the Emirates?). I can see a slight improvement, at least Arsenal are stikll 2nd and look solid whihc makes me belive that Man C nor Chelsea would be able to overcome us, but the lack of drive and determination is still a factor among Arsenal. Sometimes on days like this (Blackburn) I can actually feel from the start of the game that something is missing and that’s gonna end bad, although I try and believe till the last moment! Believe is important, it drives the team on, just remember Bolton away 2008, Arsenal didn’t require dodgy officiating to come from 2:0 down unlike Man U on Saturday.
Sorry for the spelling, I’m doing this at work
@ Paul your correct on fabianski my appologies
I thought it but wasnt sure at the time.
I look at the results and while I agree to an extent with both yourself and dark prince.
I also then look at all the other teams and poor performances this season.
ManUtd 2-2 at fulham
Manutd 3-3 at everton
ManUtd 0-0 at sunderland
ManUtd 2-2 home to westbrom
ManUtd 2-2 away to Villa
ManUtd 1-1 away to birmingham
ManUtd 2-1 away loss away to wolves.
I could go on but when your saying DarkPrince that we boo them because of 9 or 10 poor performances this season and you look at the only team above us with just as many poor performances.
It tells me this its like international teams their are no more easy games the EPL has improved and no one even Utd has the right to go and pick up points at these places.
If we had fair refs we would still be winning the league and YES you are right we have a few dodgy players I hope get moved on over the summer and players that give their all every weekend replace them.
I just think its unfair those who call for wengers head when its a long way from just been his fault.
RedGooner- I think its wrong to call for Wenger to resign bcoz he’s still one the best managers in the world. But honestly, he did make mistakes. And if we end up another year trophyless because of the very same reasons, then it would not be just because of Wenger but also because of the players and the Arsenal Board.
Regarding how ManU have played this season, if we look back during the start of the season, we always believed that ManU were going to be very weak in the midfield area. Plus with their lack of signings in summer, it was expected that they would not be at their best. Infact, this ManU side is the weakest ManU side i’ve ever seen. And yes, they have performed poorly bcoz of this. But what is the reason that we have underperformed in so many games?? We have so many players that have become better than last season but still we never tried to strengthen our weak link – Our defence and gk position. Plus i’m surprised that even after being one of the biggest clubs in europe with the best facilities and expertise, we still haven’t been able to figure out why we have so many players injured. Its more of a collective failure at Arsenal. So dont believe that Wenger alone is at fault. I hope our Board and Players can and must do better than what they are doing now. At the moment, i’m more disappointed with the players and the board than Wenger.