By Walter Broeckx
This was a difficult day to be an Arsenal supporter. Let me start by congratulating the away supporters. For a large part of the second half I heard them support the team. Even my match commentator said they out sung the home supporters at that time. Despite the difficult game they showed that they are true supporters.
In the darkest hours as a football supporter one can do two things. You could have a go at the whole team, the players, the manager, the board. Or you could say: ‘okay, such things happen in live. Being a football supporter is not always rosy and shiny. This is part of it.”
We could look at some maybe valid excuses. The penalty miss from Van Persie when it was 1-0. The missed chances after that. The unbelievable perfection of almost every shot and free kick from United that for some reason always ended in the top corner of our goal. We could look at the missed chances that could have brought us back to 3-2. We could point at the fatigue that entered the team after one hour when it showed we had been playing a difficult away game at Udinese on Wednesday evening.
But we know such a defeat is sometimes part of the game. Even more because…. well we have seen it before. And I don’t want to add to the pain but this wasn’t the first time Arsenal suffered a hard an heavy defeat at Old Trafford. We can only hope that just like the last time it happened we can avoid such thing for a few years now.
Because it was 10 years ago we suffered a similar thing. It was 25/02/2001. And we lost 6-1. Now we all could say that the players who were out on the pitch are worthless after such a defeat. We could say that we must get rid of them. But if we would have done this in2001 we would have lost a few legendary players. Because the starting line up in that game were:
Goalkeeper: David Seaman
Defenders: Oleg Luzhny, Ashley Cole, Gilles Grimandi, Igors Stepanovs
Midfielders: Robert Pires, Patrick Vieira, Ray Parlour, Silvinho
Strikers: Sylvain Wiltord, Thierry Henry
Seaman stayed another few years around and brought us another 2 FA cup victories.
Ashley Cole became a part of the invincible before turning in to the money grabbing person he still is.
Just look at our midfield…. Robert Pires was there. Ray Parlour was there. And most of all… Patrick Vieira was on the receiving end of this bad loss.
And we had Wiltord in our attack, who one year later took revenge by scoring the winner when we won the league at Old Trafford. And we had Thierry Henry in attack. The best goal scorer in our history.
The team that was out there in the field was actually the core of the invincibles. Also Ljunberg came in later in the game. Another future invincible.
The core of that team won us the double just one season later. Yes there were some changes in that team. Just as I think there will be some changes when all our players are back fit and not suspended. And I think that even when we play next time we will have some changes. As there always will be changes in a team. When some players are back we already have on our books we will be stronger. And if we can add a few names in the next days we will be stronger.
And if you look at the names I mentioned in the team that lost at Old Trafford in 2001 you see that this team contained half of the invincibles in fact. I spell their names out once again: Cole, Pires, Parlour, Wiltord, Vieira, Henry, Wiltord. That is 7 players who formed an integral part of the invincible. I really don’t know what the supporters said after the defeat at Old Trafford 10 years ago.
I can imagine them blaming Wenger, the players for not having what it takes. Well one season later they proved them all wrong. And a few years later when they were on their peak they brought us the invincible season.
Sometimes history repeats itself. As it did today with our defeat which brought us the painful memory back of that defeat 10 years ago. Well after that defeat we only became better. And had one of the best spells in our history even with going a whole season unbeaten.
So if you want to throw all and everyone away…just as could have happened 10 years ago.. we maybe would never have had a title each year and an invincible season.
So just like the away supporters who backed the team I will support the team. Yes it is painful. But nobody promised me that there would be no pain when supporting Arsenal. Nobody said that this will not happen to us. Defeat is part of life. And what is important is that we try to learn from our defeat.
Who knows maybe the defeat at Old Trafford 10 years ago was a blessing in disguise. Maybe the pain on that day inspired the core of the invincible to their greatness later on. So what looks terrible today might just be the start of a new bright tomorrow for our club and for many of the players that were on the field today. Sometimes shit happens. Sometimes you step in to the shit. It’s painful and embarrassing. But the only thing you can do is clean up your shoe and get on with life.
Come on you Gunners.
PS: Oh and I will be there for the next home game against Swansea. I will be travelling a few hundred miles just to show you that whatever happens I will be there to support you. Come good times, come bad times. Once a Gooner, always a Gooner. No defeat can kill my love for the Arsenal. It didn’t kill my love 10 years ago. And even now I am so glad I didn’t turn my back on you when things went against us.
You’ll still be writing cock sucking articles when Arsene’s got us playing in the Championship. If you love this club as much as you say you do then at least have the dignity to look at it from a different perspective now and then instead of kissing Wengers arse at every opportunity you get. He left the sales of Fabregas and Nasri til the last minute so he could say we didn’t have enough time to replace them. We are an absolute joke for keeping Wenger on
Spend or Go? Wenger is more Arsenal than any of you brainy bunch. He is hurting more than we are. I am an Arsenal supporter and will always stand beside Mr Wenger and our club. I am disappointed by the defeat but not surprised. I bet on a penalty and I bet on a red card. I was not disappointed.
Webb was smart as his United colleagues. He didn’t send Arshavin off but ensured our defender was sent off. It’s a smart move. We have a big problem in defence made worse by the cards. Webb saw all the unsporting behaviour at free kicks but let it be. It is what we should learn from and do the same. We should learn to dive from the experts.
One positive is that this team played together for the fisrt time and we played against a good team. This team is made up of good players that need to gel. We will get better and we will come back stronger. We only lost 3 points and will get a lot of stick, but we are still the Arsenal.
I am proud of my team and we 8 2 say well done United (CU&TS),
Love your posts mate. I really hope after today all the plastic Arsenal “fans” go and support man city im sick of them the scum bags booing the players and making disrespectful chants. You should be proud to be a gooner, even if we had been beat 20-0 id still be cheering because they’re my local team and im a true gooner till i die! It will take patience but when we do win something it will be so much sweeter knowing the amount of hard work that went into it & knowing we did it the right way rather then just buying success. Up the Gunners EIE!!
@ash This team has never played together until today. Everyone of these players is quality. They need time to gel. The only prt of thiss team that have played together is the front line. The midfield lacked cohesion and missed some guile.
I am not upset with 8 just disappointed we only scored 2.
SICK OF THIS AKB JUNK. 8-2 LOSS TO YOUR MAJOR RIVALS AND YOU HAVE ENERGY TO SOMEHOW DRAW POSITIVES FROM THIS DRABBING. SHAME ON YOU.
Sorry you cant look at who we had missing today and make the comments that it is excusable
United also had Vidic, Ferdinand, Rafael, Valencia, Carrick, Fletcher, Berbatov, Fabio missing played no part
There 2 main central defenders and defensive midfielders arguably better players than we had missing if not just as good.
Its a squad game these days and our squad isnt strong enough the team that lost 6-1 this side wouldnt lace their boots.
Coach of The Decade??? Isn’t that always that beetroot faced scotch geezer up the dusty end of the M6 who knows how to, to, to well actively coach and do tactical stuff and instill a hunger and a never diminishing belief and a sense of pupose and belonging. Season after season after season.
Tony, Walter, with all due respect you need to apply a little honesty to that strapline on your banner. It’s almost as humiliating to many balanced Arsenal fans as seeing their “team” being battered 8-2 by a bunch of kids.
I just want to second what everyone has said about the fan support at Old Trafford. Just hearing that many Arsenal fans in the background that were still supporting the team, actually made me smile at points during the second half, which I wouldn’t have thought would be possible.
No offence but that kind of ‘I’ve supported them through thick and thin’ works with Leyton Orient, it works with Barnet, it works with Dagenham & Redbridge but…..erm…..Arsenal!
I don’t think so.
They’ve been in the top flight for 90 years.
They’ve been in the top half of the top flight for most of them.
They’ve been on the ‘Champions’ League gravy train for a decade and a half.
There is no ‘thick and thin’ and therein lies the problem.
Noble comments Walter but it didn`t need to happen, you know that, I know that. It was an accident waiting to happen every supporter was waiting for it, bit like waiting for `Irene` but at least they did something about it.
As you rightly say it could be the start of something big and we only have Sir Alex to thank for it.
Just last season a full compliment madrid side was hammered 5-0 @ barca but they r not worthless r they we need to to b real here. We had eight first team players out. Wilshere gervinho song frimpong gibbs sagna verminator diaby. Stop complaining and support the team or bugger of and support shitty.
Context: One point in three games. No excuses. We must replace those we lost. No gaps. Continuity. Henry, Vieira, Ashley Cole, Sol Campbell etc all not replaced. There is a time for speculative buys and a time for proven articles. Now is the time for proven players who are good to go NOW.
Your loyalty is admirable Walter but whatever follows will not erase this 8-2 humiliation. It’s time to face reality.
We fans can be upset, but I hope the players do not shake with this humiliating defeat, as only they can change that. Forward Arsenal!
Just noticed a comment above saying that ‘we can’t, won’t be’ etc. etc. good enough for fourth.
And that was a well written and positive posting.
But even he/she has fallen into the trap of ‘aiming’ for fourth.
Fourth?
Fourth?
Fourth!!!!!
Are you all living in Sky’s/UEFA’s multi-coloured wonderland?
Since when was fourth the aim?
Hold on…….what’s that rumble?
Matt Busby, Bill Nicholson, Bill Shankly and Bertie Mee turning in their graves.
Fourth, my arse!
Maybe you should email this post to Paul Merson and question his loyalty and commitment to Arsenal FC.
the best article about our worst nightmare.
we need to support the players and rebound together.
still have faith in our manager and all the experts, leave arsenal to sort out its problems.
always gooner
So is this the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end ? Unfortunately i fear the latter. I have kept loyal to Wenger but i’ve just about had enough. The excuses of failing to find the right player in the market for the right price don’t wash any more. We have 3 more days and if nobody is signed this summer has to count as a monumental failure by a man who used to know what he was doing but now he must step aside before things get much worse. I would say that there is almost no chance of us qualifying for the Champions League next season and all because they club has been unable to function in the transfer market.
I’ll leave now, but the above poster has just done it again!!!!
Fourth!
Is that The Arsenal’s ambition?
T.R.Y.
T.O.
W.I.N.
S.O.M.E.T.H.I.N.G.
Until you don’t:
(a) you won’t, and,
(b) supporters of other clubs will have a field day!
All,
I think we need a five day truce to then take stock and address the whole picture which – better or not better than today’s – will offer different facts and potentials on the ground. Right now, much of our commentary is being driven by our feeling humiliated (as Arsene states as well) and we can’t think or act constructively whilst being in a rage for having been humiliated. It’s what infants do. So let’s agree to come back after the window closes to take stock then. And, in the interim, by chilling out for a few days, we might not drive off some potentially new and good signing.
Though i feel that such an embarrassment cud have been averted if necessary actions were taken a long time ago in the transfer period….but cant complain much now…
I hope this defeat was a big big lesson for the board and the manager as well…you cant always expect reserve youngsters to shine. Putting too much faith on youngsters is a bad idea…necessary transfers should have been made, and i hope we can rectify it in these few days…
On the other hand, i think its time to get together and be stronger…have never seen our supporters, manager and players in so much despair ever b4,…so we need to show our support now to them….
Also i feel that this was expected…too many injuries, too many suspensions, too many departures, too much inactivity in transfers, too much of a tired squad after trip to italy few days back, and the toughest match of the season….It had to give in…all this negativity and mistakes and bad luck had to leave a big mark somewhere….it did ystrday….
it’s been a while since my last visit to this blog,
here I am, in Indonesia, with my fellow gooners, watching MU vs Arsenal live from TV in a neutral pub, just when the MU scored the 6,7,8th goal, we got tons of humiliation and mockery from United fans.
The sad part is, we can’t even talk back, we can’t defend the pride! We 100% bad just like they mock us! And personally, this is the saddest and the most frustating part from 15 years being a Gooner.
I know this happens also in 2001, but seriously, even I hate to admit it but judging from couple matches before, we can’t bounce back just like in 2001, I just can’t see it with our current team.
Walter, I always love your positive writing, I always be a gooner and support the team, but it’s time to face the reality personally I think this season will be the worst for us. God help us.
Cheers,
Indonesian Gooners.
@Aditya:
Your link is an interesting read could explain what is happening.
I am gonna post it again for everyone.
http://www.thefootballnetwork.net/main/s378/st170548.htm
Lol history does repeat itself and i’m glad it did cause as we all know it was an accident waiting to happen just the boss to stuborn to please some of the supporters request,mayb he will change his stance as he had a 1st hand experience that our second string team are not good enough and at some point in the reason we may sit with a similar situation where 5 or more 1st choice players will be out of the game, ONLY CONCERN NOW IS 4 ARSENAL IS THE PLAYERS THAT ARE AVAILABLE ARE FEW AND FAR IN BETWEEN AND THOSE THAT ARE WILL BE INFLATED, AS THE WINDOW IS ABOUT TO CLOSE AND OUR WEAKNESS’S HAS BEEN EXPOSED TO THE WORLD TO SEE!
What people are forgetting is that we could have scored a couple of goals or even more..Rvp’ penalty..his chance in the second half and arshain had a good shot but missed..that would have made it 8-5…not a bad score…even though we had a very young team that hasn’t played together for long..i think we can get better as the season progresses..we’ll finish in the top-4 for sure and probably do well in one of the cups..
That’s the problem bob. The club has just had a whole summer to take stock but that entire summer has oh so predictably been squandered in the futile attempt to keep two players who were always going to leave regardless. Meanwhile a squad that was known to be short in May has been stripped to the bare bones and with three days of a transfer window remaining we seem to be staring down the barrel of a season long exercise in very public humiliation.
In the spongey netherworld that has become AKB such will – as always – be dismissed as doom and gloom. To everyone else in football it’s a concrete reality.
I will put my support in the new manager if there is one. Right now Wenger has got to regain my trust. I have been supportive during this transition. Emirates is a great stadium even though I wish it was closer to the pitch, but the league form from the end of last season to the start of this one has been….well awful. I am proud of this club. I will always support within reason. Arsenal existed before Wenger and will exist after. Every manager and player must leave the club sometime. If this is Wenger’s end I will remember the Invincibles and not the 8-2 loss at OT.
Why doesn’t Wenger simply say he is committed to bringing through talented youths, and stop putting Arsenal fans through all this anguish every transfer window?
it was not surprising, but i still expected better from even a makeshift team fighting title rivals…
whilst there seems to be contrasting optimism and pessimism here are the positives and negatives as i saw from the game yesterday.
negatives:
1) lack of fight and dropping of heads. we had good support yesterday, but the team look visibly low after the first few goals, and almost accepted a drubbing.
2) lack of strength in the squad. yes we have had injuries and suspensions, but we really should have more quality in reserve especially after our appalling injury records and expected departures. lets hope we are able to bring in more quality before the transfer window shuts.
3) the form of our experienced players. i was disappointed at how poor our experienced players were yesterday – van persie, arshavin, rosicky, Djorou and koscielny (who were our first choice cb pairing last season). walcott was the only one who i thought did anything decent.
4) the tactical inability of the coach to make any changes to stem the flow. it was obvious we had defensive problems as a team in the first half… it was only worse in the second half.
positives:
1) this was an understrength team. once we have our first team back, we know we are a lot better. wilshere, gervinho, song, vermaelen, gibbs, sagna. if we manage to make some decent signings, then all the better!
2) our youngsters are good. i have been impressed by coquelin, frimpong, miquel in games played this season. but you cannot throw them all in the deep end together. blood them in properly playing alongside vermaelen, wilshire, song, van persie and we can have a very very good team soon.
3) It is only 3 games into the season and they have been difficult games – Newcastle away, Liverpool and Man Utd who are top teams who have invested 100m each this summer. yet from the same games as last season, we just got 1 point less (the draw with liverpool at the emirates). Maybe it is best to tank these games where losses are expected/more acceptable, and have the team regroup and ready for the business end of the season.
4) any 8-2 loss will damage moral, but i am hoping with the uncommitted players gone, the ones that remain really love the club and have the mental strength to understand the humiliation and vow to fight as hard as possible never to have that happen again.
5) we’re still above spurs
in the end, we still have to put a perspecitve on this. we’re not as bad as some teams which have been thrashed by 7, 8 or 9 goals in the league before. we were very tactically and defensively naive against a very good team who had everything going for it (rooney and Young’s shots almost all went in perfectly to the top corner). We tried to attack and stand toe to toe at Old Trafford using our reserve team. i remember seeing a stat when we were 6-2 down and man utd had 22 shots to our 18… thats the kind of game it was.
lets move on, see what happens before the transfer window closes and win our next few games. remember, it was just a few months ago that this team beat man utd 1-0…
There is no way we can finish top four at the end of the season. Maybe top 8 also is hard to reach with this CURRENT SQUAD. Yes, we did lose 6-1 to United in 2001. But look at the squad we have at that time. We can see such positive side in them. The strong physically and mentality and also they are an experienced footballer with the maturity attitude. That’s why we can bounce back in the next years. But look at our team now. What do we got here buddy? Nothing. There is no way these current team can bring us the glorious moment. Just wake up Walter, face the reality.
For the first time in my life and in the fifteen odd years since I have started watching soccer and supporting Arsenal I felt dreadful to go into an online forum.
I don’t remember history as you do Mr. Walter Broeckx, but I can vouch for one thing you pepped an ardent Arsenal supporter on a Monday morning.
I for sure know well we would bounce back from this and hopefully very soon. I wish we drub United somewhere this season and let the scot and his team learn some lessons hopefully pretty pretty soon.
I still cannot believe what happened in Manchester. Our worst defeat after 114 yrs. I love Arsene as Arsenal manager and still believe in him. But last fixture really frustating us for supporter. Sometimes he is brilliant and sometimes is very idiot. “Idiot” looks harsh right, but let’s see, is there any EPL manager come to oldtrafford with reserve team and still playing attacking football rather than defend and playing counter attack football. Sir Alex often play this againts us and seems quite success. Remember last year FA cup with 6 defender on the field and they still beat us. In my opinion it is not our back 4 is the problem, our strategy is! Arsene pride is making him stubborn, he was never play defensif stategy – or maybe he can’t. Poor Jenkitson, Djourou, Koschielny, Traore, they looks not better than championship player. I think the result will not be better if there is vermalen in the squad. Arsene must change our tactics, strategy, and buy commanding centre backs. Come on Arsene we still have 3 days we already miss 8 point!
Ed I think you missed a ton of stuff and probably more negatives than positives two things that annoyed me yesterday were.
Did anyone see when Walcott gave out to Carl Jenkinson for constantly been out of position ? Jenkinson told walcott to fuck himself three times in a row and then dismissed him with a hand gesture.
Probably because the player who was telling him to stay back he doesnt respect … you could say its because walcotts 3 years older you could say its because wtf has walcott won in his career
You could look at our team and say who the fuck would he respect RVP maybe and per
continued and perhaps Vermalen ?
Also how many of them players walked around smiling shaking hands afterwards ? winners/good players dont do it they are furious Rooney wouldnt have been smiling shaking hands after 8-2 he would have been afraid to go into the dressing room with fergussons waiting in there.
How many of our boys were afraid going in 0…..
I flew out to India and was lucky/unluck to find the match on ESPN… I remember the 6-1 aand that felt like this felt. Yess We do need to move on as fans, but other things need to also move on. When Arsenal lost 6-1 there were no other teams other than Arsenal and Man U, but there is now. With the spending power around and a move into a higher wage structure, we are looking down the barrell of a similar position to the Scottish League where only a small few teams at the top attract the good players and the rest have to watch. I have always admired Arsenal for the very fact that we are the only club that has build our sucsess in the PL and not relied on marketing or Billionares to fund us. The fact of the matter is unless there are tighter laws on spending we will fall behind with everybody else. We will also have to get used to the fact that players will want to leave to play in teams full of big names as its a big draw for them. Money has completely taken over the game and that is a much bigger loss than 8-2. I told my mates around 5 years ago Chelsea are spoiling the game by having an unlimited fund for players. City have now taken that to new hieghts. It is wrong that a team from nowhere can buy a title. A team like Arsenal has showed the right way, but unless the law changes we will fall behind. All that said, our inability to buy players is shocking. It doesn’t wash that there are not players better than ones we have. We won stuff with a mix of old and young. Bring in some expeirience NOW.
as an arsenal supporter on a grim monday morning i wanna ask the more knowledgeable of our supporters is wenger’s claim that he wants to spend but does not see the quality really true… could we not have bought players like mata, aguero, dzeko( last winter), or even the highly rated phil jones…. are they really overpriced or over rated… is our new signing (to be) chu – young really that good ???????
EXCUSES, EXCUSES, EXCUSES!
If 3 Vermaelen and Sagna were missing from Arsenal’s back four, so were Ferdinand and Vidic missing from Man Utd.
Our back four is injury prone anyways and has been increasingly weakening for past four years. So why has Wenger hasn’t done anything 2 days before the transfer deadline? And don’t give me the bull about he tried. All the other clubs who try get their players, atleast some of them.
Some say this is because Cesc left. But he was always going to leave, we all knew that months ago. When C Ronaldo left, Man Utd did not collapse like us, they won the freaking title! Cos SAF planned well, and not fiddled around like our manager!
Tell me honestly. In the past 6 years, when was the last time that an outgoing player was signed with someone with better quality, and not a unproven player “with potential” who may or may not come good? The team has been weakening gradually for many years, and it is all Wenger’s FAULT! Yes, he did some great things for the club in the past, but he has only excelled in making lame pathetic excuses for past 6 years. It’s time to smell the coffee!!
Well, if nothing else, the result yesterday, makes life difficult for everyone in transfers department at Arsenal. The players would suddenly see Arsenal in a more negative light now, at least for a few more days. Only some of the prospective incoming players would be able to see the result for past ten years, and accept that Arsenal are much better. Especially since we only have a couple of days left in transfer window, the result will loom large over any final negotiations.
It might even change their minds. I hope any prospective AFC players see through the result yesterday, and choose football over other matters by realizing that it is one off.
I’m afraid the WORST IS YET TO COME!
The lame idiot is going to fiddle around and not sign anyone noteworthy, maybe a few more unproven players “with potential” in the next couple of days.
WE ARE GOING TO DROP OUT OF THE TOP 4 THIS SEASON!
And then he can’t even brag that he’s been giving us CL football and profits every year which are more important then winning trophies or getting humiliated 8-2 by united.
a loss is a loss, so what’s the big fuss !? No, the real problem of this Arsenal team is team formation and integration, you can’t expect result in 5 combative games with so many players in and out for one reason or another. Plus the fact Arsenal is in dire need of reinforcement, especially at mid field, and the full back line. Yes, the real problem is there’re only 3 days left for signing anyone.
People who post under different names to agree with themselves will not see their comment appear on the site.
well there’s one good news after watching the dismay game against MU, Arshavin is really looking lean and mean, and I like it.
Thanks Walter ,I was wondering how I was going to pick myself off the floor and get to work ,but your article was a consolation.
Hope this break gives time for all to heal ,and hope they come back stronger .Is is painful but we will move forward .
Just like you and the others have mentioned ,I ‘ve never seen a game where all the shots taken ended up in the corner of the net- Ashley Young’s two goals and Roony’s two freekicks.
Eh.. if the rumours are to be believed, then this is just a move in the game of chess played between AW and board! Sometimes, you have to loose a piece to get into a better position. I cannot believe that someone like AW would not be able to see that a team is not balanced; and not try to compensate by improving on tactics. So, this must be what AW wanted – To make it so glaring that board has to act, like they did when Arshavin was brought in to save our 4th position status. If nothing else, this game would give AW more leverage in his quest to bring better players to the club. We might even end up revising our wage structure! (Too far fetched?) Fans may never know, but one might be inclined to take one in the gut, just for the team, especially, when one loves AFC as much as AW does (or at least I belive that to be).
on the wage structure at the Club…
It is difficult to find excuses after a game like that. Wages-wise, of course we are behind the other teams. AW
Re: Wenger and the Board at Loggerheads Exclusive
Posted by: RadioFreeArsenal (IP Logged)
Date: 24/08/2011 20:46
No one is saying we should but we do have more resources and ought to use them just as we did the same from 1998-2005 when we were outspent by most clubs but still were willing to spend more (relatively speaking) and more ambitiously and be more competitive.
The Board misled us and let us down really for the past several years and if anyhting is continuing to do so I fear. No we didn’t have to spend like Chelsea or now Man City. We just had to spend more like Arsenal used to and clearly there was nodesire on our Club’s opart to do that much even, and clearly given the lack of question or complaint or even action certainly our Board felt no desire to see us to do so.
If you increase our wage strcuture out to 150-170K a week you can sign that many more players like we used to sign from 1998-2005 and equally importantly you can keep your better players until the team does finally compete for and win trophies. Right now we offer neither good wages or good prospects of winning trophies you cannot blame top players for going to City ahead of Arsenal, period. They will make more money and have better prospects to win silverware too. I mean sickening as it is to say there are 4-5 clubs in England right now that if I were a genuinely ambitious player I would look to before Arsenal, because I will either get more money and more trophies or maybe both.
I don’t see us changing the trophies thing with the players we now have so we have to change the wage structure get some of these players to sign with us for the wages and then when we win a trophy or two we’ll be set as players will come to Arsenal for less because they have more chances to win trophies.
If we don’t change the wage structure now who knows how long it’ll be before we are ready to attract players with success on the pitch again?
Keep up the spirit, MU ‘s days of greatness (this season at least ) are numbered, it’ll go down hill from now on and Arsenal will definitely rebound. I truly believe things won’t last long when it hits a 10. Like the Ying and Yan.
@Mahesh: If this defeat can help bring quality in the squad then so be it. But it does sound a little far fetched, that AW would do so intentionally, deliberate or not this defeat should wake up the board. Changes need to be made in the wage structure, world class players do not play on the salaries we are offering right know.
Godbless the fans last night! Fantastic! Its a f*#$ing hard result to take, but it made me proud!
Theres a long road to travel…but I love my Arsenal. And im happy to be a fan of this great club
I hope that the board an Arsene will look at yesterday’s defeat and use it to change course. Whilst I love our football style when we are playing well the truth is it is 6 years since it was good enough to win anything. We knew we were in decline when losing the Carling cup to a team that then got relegated and drew 4-4 after leading 4 – 0 at half time. The club have taken our money and given us a world class stadium but have failed to invest in the team. Fabregas two games at Barcelona and two trophies just highlights the problem. Nasri looked outstanding against Spurs. If we want to keep our best players and be competitive we need to pay premier league wages and big transfer fees to bring in the best players available as well as win things. The fans can no longer be relied on to defend the club as we have nothing we can defend it with. As for sacking Wenger this is not an option as we have three days until the transfer window closes. If he was replaced any half decent manager would want to do a clearout and buy in some committed players but could not do so until January. If we don’t spend our decline will become terminal, our revenue will decline and we will be just another also ran.
Walter,
Thanks for the article, in fact its times like this when you see a true Gooner. I looked at the the match and realised that we really had a great opportunity to nick it. Yes! If only Arsene was more technical! When you are missing 6 first teamers, definite starters and leaders of your team (Wilshere, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Sagna, Song and Gervinho)then you can pack the bus and every one would understand. Therefore, even at 3-1, we had the chance to come back if only we had been more cautious. We didn’t have to adopt the gang-ho style, we should have closed up shop and worked on our counterattack. ManU would have come at us because they were at home and really had no choice but to attack.
In otherwords, Djourou and Cochelin should have played holding midfield, Miguel should have stayed in defence and would have done really well. Instead of Rosicky, Lansbury should have played to add commitment and great engine, and instead of Arshavin, any of the other players should have given us the commitment we need.
When you score two goals at your major rival, miss a penalty and a host of other chances, that shows you could have won.
Finally, I take the defeat into perspective. When you look at corresponding fixtures last season, we have actually only lost two points, not 7. Last season we lost at ManU (3points), drew at New Castle (gained 1 point) and drew at home with Liverpool. So I’m still optimistic for the season. Besides, these things some times happen.