By Walter Broeckx
After the bad result on Saturday we get the same old comments from time to time on Untold and you can read them on other social network sites about Arsenal.
People blame Wenger for losing the game, for not having bought enough, for playing with the handbrake one, for every thing.
Now if we look at buying first. If we look at who was not available for this game we have Sczesny, Fabianski. Our numer 1 and 2 goalkeepers. We have Sagna our first choice right back for many seasons now. We had Koscielny out, last season named as our best defender. We had Gibbs out; one of this seasons revelations for me.
In midfield we didn’t have Diaby and Rosicky. Diaby has shown his class earlier on in this season and his first injury came when playing for France. And anyone who doubts Rosicky hasn’t seen football in the past 10 years. I might remind you that Rosicky got a small injury at the end of last season and then his national team turned him in to a complete wreck. You can also count Frimpong in if you want.
And of course Jack Wilshere. But it was clear from the start of the game that only if we would have a comfortable lead we would use him.
And in attack we didn’t have Walcott who was the victim of yet another international injury. A bit the Robin Van Persie story one could say. And according to the stats Walcott is the player with the most goal/assists for Arsenal this season.
Now if I still can count correct these are 9 players(I didn’t count Jack in and the link can give you some insight) who were not available before the start of the game. And apart from Gibbs and Frimpong all are full internationals for their country.
Ah but Wenger should have foreseen this and should have bought more players. Okay what kind of players? Because they must be good so they must be full internationals. If you know any names of full internationals who want to join Arsenal to come and sit on the bench be my guest but I don’t think you will find that many.
You cannot have 3 full teams of internationals at your disposal. Have you heard of the 25 squad rule? So the players who were left had to play. In fact the inclusion of Jack and Gnabry on the bench should have made the alarm bells ringing. A player who is not match fit on the bench is not a good sign. And a 17 year old on the bench who has never played in the PL is a sign of two things. One: that we are short of players (just look at the list and you understand). Two: that he must have some talent and hopefully will be given a chance in the next weeks.
So the players on the field who all had been playing two games for their country had to deliver the goods. And some looked tired. Is it a wonder that the two players who looked best were Arteta and Jenkinson? Both who had been at Arsenal in the past 2 weeks.
Another thing I read is that Wenger is responsible for us playing with the handbrake on. Is there really anyone out there who thinks that Wenger starts his game talk with saying: Now look guys today we will play with the handbrake on. Those things just happen. I think that not being fresh enough or running out of steam will have more to do with playing with the handbrake on than the manager saying so. And I am willing to bet a few £ on the fact that Wenger will not tell his players to take it easy before the game.
And if you point at that they say: but he is the one that should motivate the players more. You can motivate the players all you want but if the players don’t have the legs to run there is nothing you can do. Expect rotate the team. But then we come back to the missing players. And to the 25 man squad. Take 9 men away from the 25 squad and you have 16 left. So the tired players have to play.
But this is typical Arsenal (and of course Arsène Wenger) for Arsenal to play with the handbrake on they say. He can’t fix it so he has to go. I say this is typical for ANY football club. Or do you really think that it only happens at Arsenal?
Do you really think all other teams play for the full 100% in each game? Let me tell you I really doubt it. Do you really think that when we beat Southampton with 6-1 they played for the full 100%? Maybe they did but it wasn’t good enough to stop us. But we can assume that they had a bad day at the office that day. Just as we had last Saturday.
Except that we call it playing with the handbrake on. Maybe because we know we can be better. Maybe because we expect Arsenal to play better. Yes we have such days. But other teams also have those days. But then we don’t notice it. And we don’t care. But believe me it happens to all the teams every now and then. Even without injuries. Even without having 9 players out.
It just can happen on any day and maybe most when you don’t expect it to happen. That is why football is so popular. Because some things are unpredictable.
And as one of our oldest readers just told us the other day: this is typical for Arsenal in fact. Having a bad day against a team that has never won a game in the season. He has been following Arsenal for a longer period than I am alive. I think he has been a Gooner for twice the years that I have been following Arsenal and when he says it is something that happened all the time during his time as a Gooner who am I to contradict him.
So it just was another game in the history of our football club. A bad game and a bad result. But nothing is sure in football and in our existence on earth. Saying it only happens to Arsenal is ridiculous. I don’t like it when it happens and I was very upset with it. But that is the way it is. And who knows maybe next game the boys will be up to it, fit for the game and give us a magnificent game of football.
Remember this is football, this is Arsenal. Anything can happen.
By the way: Happy birthday Arsène.
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@Nick Lee
To cut your long story short, YOUR KPI for Wenger is to win the EPL with at a budget you have not specified.
@ Walter
Got to disagree. It is just a bad performance at the coaching level and the team level. I think that the injuries have hindered the variety of our attack but TVM and Andre Santos is just a bad cocktail. I wouldn’t blame Wenger for not buying another LB. But really he needs to get really tough with their attitude of non-defending.
With all due respect, the repeated “who can come in and do better?” question is so very sily. Notwithstanding that many gooners easily answer that question with several possible examples they think could do better, it’s still a seriously silly question.
First of all it’s not the job of the fans to come up with a replacement (should we get to that point), it is the job of the club’s directors and executives to find a suitable replacement..
Secondly, you will never know who is truly available or will make themselves available UNTIL the job is atually open! And personally, with our stadium, location, prestige, history, and finanical clout, yes finanical clout..I believe the job will be a VERY attractive job, and managers inlcuding top managers and top emerging managers will MAKE THEMSELVES available for it even if under contract, that is in no-way unprecidented.
Thirdly personally I and many others (fans, ex-pros, pundits alike) believe so much more can be done with our current resources or as some like to say “limitations” yes we are not City of Chelsea..but at least in my opinion, we waste the resources we do have at our disposal or use them highly inefficiently. There is so much more a manager with a different vision could do with this said budget. Perhaps instead of having one of the biggest squads and amongst the most players on professional terms out there, with an alamarming amount who contribute nothing to little, or so many youngsters who will never make it (look at our record in recent years), or some 14 players out on loan etc…Trim and replace quantity with quality…instead of Chamakh, Bendtner, Denilson, Arshavin, Squilacci and many many many many many more players contributing next to nothing and eating up valuable wages and resources, perhaps another manager would say, why not buy and pay wages for a Falcao for the same or even less than what we spend on those in wages (fees in some cases) and other supporting resources…far more impact and return on the investment instead of wastage, far better chance of winning which in terms reaps so many indirect and direct financial benefits. Perhaps another manager would see that, and perhaps another manager wouldn’t worry about the socialism-tinged concern that other players may become jealous and want more, but rather instill a meritocracy (like at many other big clubs) where the best players are paid the best, and players at other tiers are paid accordingly…
I guarantee if every single one of us was not performing in our jobs our superiors won’t be so terrified of the unknown as to who can come in and do better…rather in the real world we would be dismissed, and the recruiting staff would do THEIR JOB and go on the search for a suitable replacement, and do their job to sell the job as attractive as possible to land a suitable replacement…
And there’s no need for dismissive, sarcastic comments about applying to Kronke for the manager position…because I know I can’t do better than Wenger, but I am not paralyzed by fear of the unknown, or don’t think it’s beyond the realm of possibility that someone else can do better with a different vision…
Regardless, sometimes it’s just time for a change and new direction…Are we at that point now? I’m not sure, but should this season follow the now very familiar pattern of the last several, we just might be…
A. Stewart,
Sorry to pick on one sentence in your comment:
Trim and replace quantity with quality?
A great idea could be to sell all our players replace them with 11 world class players on 300.000 a week and play the same 11 all season long.
Or less extreme give RVP his 300.000 a week and then sell some 10 players to make that possible and not replace them.
that would also be trim and replace quantity with quality.
I think you know both options are not really an option but that is a possible consequence of that sentence.
Spend it on Falcao. That player is owned by Ken Bates I have read the other day. So where will he go do you think? Will he sell him to us? Don’t think so. Even if we would want to spend the money.
“A great idea could be to sell all our players replace them with 11 world class players on 300.000 a week and play the same 11 all season long.”
Respectfully, that’s just nonsense, and it’s not a great idea, and I’m not even saying anything remotely close to that, (there needs to be a suitable mix of top players, squad players, youngsters etc).
Similarly just as when people call for further sensible investment are not “asking us to spend like City” “want us to go bankrupt” or the “way of Leeds”…Why must Wenger loyalists always apply and attribute extreme absolutes to those with which they disagree when questions about him are raised and we are trying to have a discussion…
Falcao was just an example of a player who would contribute loads more for less investment than we waste on any number of players who contrbute nothing…so feel free to focus on the minutia of Falcao situation..it’s the general theory I’m referring too, about value for money, and not wasting money on quantity but rather investing the same money in quality…yet I suspected you knew that..but needed a strawman argument to respond.
Truly you don’t seem interested in the least in the concerns of people who question Wenger, rather you’ll prefer to attrubute all these extreme positions to them which is nothing remotely like their argument, in an attempt I guess to marginalize and ridicule them…it would be funny if it wanst so transparent….
Anyway I have posed this question before, at what point does Wenger become even partially responsible for the problems we have been facing? (assuming you think we even have any problems). At what point does this a blog want to have a rational discussion with those who question Wenger, instead of trying to marginalize them, or question their pureness as an AFC supporter.
Truly I’m not an AKB, AAA or whatever silly divisive achronyms there are out there these days.. I’m an Arsenal supporter, who questions the way the club is currently being run and who wanted to come on this blog to discuss things rationally even if we disagree..but it seems the focus here is largely on Wenger protectionism above all else, and marginalization of anyone who disagrees.
The Norwich and Schalke performances have been real disappointments after what has been a good start to the season. OK there was Chelsea as well, but although we also lost that one the performance wasn’t that bad.
But in these games we now seem to have lost both creativity in attack and solidity at the back. I don’t buy the ‘handbrake on’ reason, although it certainly looked like that at times. Leg weary? Lacking confidence (according to Stevie Bould) ?
Yes we have injurys, but enough to explain the single shot on goal against Schalke or the gaping hole down the left side of our defence? Is injury the reason for moving Gervinho into the striker role, after he’s had his most productive spell playing wide, and having Ramsey spending more time away from the middle ?
And what about Geroud? He goes and breaks his duck against the Hammers, following up with a another for France. Then he finds himself on the bench for the next two games. Seems a bit strange to me. Meanwhile Podolski seems to be carrying a mystery injury that prevents him playing 90 minutes.
Yeah I know, loads of questions and no answers. I won’t even get started on Walcott’s contract! But one thing I won’t do is to spend time looking back on the ins and outs of RVP or revving up on who should be bought or sold in January. It’s QPR up next and it is not unreasonable to expect a much better performance on Saturday no matter who plays. Should that not happen then I fear a return to the negativity that up until this month had largely been dispelled.
the idea of spending loads of cash for a world class can do wonder for Arsenal is a fallacy, an expectation or projection as best. Who say Giroud is not good while playing in the French league, who can guarantee Falco can repeat his best at Arsenal ?
Making wise use of resources is commendable as well as a practical idea and it should be part of the system.
I’ll try to make a unpopular guess, some players in the team are not happy with the selection and this explain why the listless and lethargic display on the field. The team spirit just not there during the game.
i mean there must be some sort of leadership in the team, Verm as captain should be obvious and Areteta as well, get your teammates work and help each other out, run that extra mile for each other. Will we ever see another spirited perforamce like the last home game against Milan, 2nd leg of the CL group stage.
A Stewart, wenger is fully responsible for issues to do with the team, and it is up to him, his staff and the players to halt this. He takes blame for some things and credit for others. The problem is, he is a visionary ,a Herbert chapman in a world that demands a Jose m. Not all fans….or for that matter, players can live with the required degree of patience. I can only speak for myself on here, I think a lot of wenger, but I too sometimes get frustrated and baffled. But I come on here to get an alternative more positive view than some of the sites out there , some of which are so desperate for his downfall, they have at times become arry or fergie lovers. Some on these sites actually want us to do badly under wenger…and I do not just mean spuds sleepers. Nothing wrong …as you say with reasoned debate and critique, and that should not be marginalised, tbh i do not think respectful debate is on here…but I guess for some, this is a site that is a refuge from the hatred of all things current arsenal that exists out
there. From your posts I have seen, not aimed at you but. What is wrong with just loving your club as opposed to working into a frenzy over wages of so called dead wood players….empty
seats….or the number of times stan visits….if that makes one deluded, so be it…