Arsenal Banter Archive January 14 2013

14 Jan 2013 23:04:33
We can forget about signing the real top class players. Arsenal have never been able to attract the likes of Falcao, Cotze, Hummels etc.. for a long time now. To attract these players you have to be a side winning things or at least very much in contention, which we are not and have not been for a good few seasons now.

What we can still do though is get good committed players in that make for a more cohesive and balanced squad.

Without doubt our midfield is too over balanced with small technical attack minded players and not enough big strong athletes that know the defensive side of the game better. This is why half of the time our defence looks so bad because of the lack of decent protection in front of them (Although that's not to say things can't be improved there aswell).

We need to get back to basics as such. Let's start man marking at set pieces and overall get solid defensively, get organised and communicate better. Captains are overrated the whole team need to communicate better. Perhaps play the back line a few yards deeper and make us hard to beat. If you're hard to beat it always gives you a chance. Look at Chelsea winning the champs league last season, not pretty but by being very hard to score against it gave them a chance even against much better technical sides.

2 Decent DM's like Wanyama and Capuone for example will in my opinion make a massive difference to the side. We can then go 4-1-3-2/4-2-3-1(against better counter attacking sides) rotate the smaller creative guys more to keep them fresher each game and maybe we can start to build consistent performances maybe win a cup to build confidence go from there.

All is not lost and we still have some very good players that can really hurt teams given the platform to succeed.

We can all see the problems he have the big question is can Wenger. Can he change his ways, can he admit his mistakes can he re-invigorate himself for the challenge and in turn re-inspire the players.

If he can we have hope, but for me he just can't no more and I think the most important signing at the end of the season is a new Manager that will fix the issues we can all see in front of us. Not sure who to be honest but there are plenty of managers that seem to perform better than expected with their sides. Like Martinez like Laudrup like Moyes etc..that warrant a chance at a big club which Arsenal still is by the way.

I wish people would stop with the 'we can't attract' cr*p.

These players you mention cost 30, 40, 50mil and get 200k plus per week, if we offered that they would come, but we don't and rightly so!

14 Jan 2013 22:46:28
Even Bendtner would improve our attack right now. {Ed035's Note - steady on mate, let's not be to hasty..........

15 Jan 2013 02:07:52
somebody's been on the heavy stuff! ..... dj gooner

Bendtner seems to have got worse? Perhaps lost his confidence, reality has caught up with him and he realises that he is not Messi?

What a stupid comparison, he's much taller than Messi!

14 Jan 2013 22:45:45
No defensive midfielder will be signed in this window. Wenger will instead wait until the Summer and sign Victor Wanyama for £15million

14 Jan 2013 22:31:54
Seen a few black jeeps outside Coloney tonight! Are we supposed to be in talks with anyone ED's {Ed002's Note - The SAS?}

Very funny ed, they have tanks!

What about maybe half the football team have black 4 x 4s and it's snowing? {Ed007's Note - Are they flying tanks?}

SAS with tutor Wenger for their weekly "how to be a sneaky ...." meeting!

Mong Out!

14 Jan 2013 21:49:01
Could anyone help me with this please, When did Stan Kroneke last attend either a match or a have a trip to the stadium/training ground?

Holmesy

I know my last post might of been percieved as negative and sorry if i gave the impression i don't fully support the 11 players on the pitch i do. I have never and will never show signs of distrust to the 11 players on the pitch. They regardless of who they get my full support. Its more a board level i am disgusted with, no manager pressure, Manager no longer dealing with only football side, Lack of empathy towards the fans these are my issues.

AS ALWAYS 100% GUNNER

Holmesy,

Allow me to say I enjoyed reading your last post, it was spot on mate!

I think its fair to say we all at the end of the day support the club. I firmly believe the club is alienating its supporters by not justifying their prices with the on pitch performance.

Its time Mr Kroenke responds and acknowledges the supporters. If not perhaps its time we as supporters do more than just voice our opinion and financially boycott the club!

Gunners4Life, In AW we trust!

14 Jan 2013 21:16:31
ED002 once won X-Factor using sign language....

Hackney Gooner

14 Jan 2013 20:57:13
There used to be a street named after ED002. But it had to be renamed as nobody crosses ED002 and lives!

Hackney Gooner

14 Jan 2013 20:27:45
If winger fails to make any signings this month his position at the club should definitely questioned.

Enough is enough. All this talk of "I will not be forced in to making signings" will not wash anymore. For gods sake spend the money us fans put in to the club. We're seriously in a bad way. We will not be playing in the champions league next season if we don't act now. Buy a goal scorer. Who cares if he costs 20 mil. It's not going to put the club in administration is it!

wenger has stated spending money is not the answer. Right now I have to disagree. It's working for everyone else you stupid old man!!

Purchase

I don't think we let our wingers make signings do we ?

In arsene I trust

Billy

They should take the money usmanov offered, this guy is richer than abramovich.

14 Jan 2013 20:24:41
Hello Ed's you do a good job on here and I think it really funny some of the transfers that poeple think we have done then nothing ever comes of it lol.
But on a seroius note I think the Video I just watched on DM site is a disgrace to our club and fans, I do hope that Arsenal board see this and ban the two fellas you can quite clearly see in the Video from the ground for life. Also Arsenal agreed to sell and loan these players so it's not right to abuse them as there out to earn a living like everyone else, I'm not agreeing with the way they go about it, in Chamak (spelling) case he wasn't and isn't good enough to play for the team at the present minute but to take that kind of abuse why would you want to even consider coming back if he started to prove himself ( Big IF ) but football is a funny Game.
I have been a Arsenal fan since I was no age but after seeing that video it saddness me that fans of are club could be so disrepectful (spelling ) to any players past or present. If a player wants to watch a game of football way should he not be allowed to walk in the front gate pay the same as anyone else and sit in the stands along with the fans just cus he doesn't play for us and plays for another team dosen't give anyone the right to give them abuse.
Arsenal Footballl club by any former player always has good things to say about the fans I think that's good but wot happen in the video has been a let down to all of us fans. Yes we all say things about them but at the end of the day there just doing a job.

14 Jan 2013 19:33:58
Yes AW hasn't signed a player as yet, but, all the January transfers that have been signed by other teams so far are just average. We have lots of average players, what's the point in adding to the list. I would rather wait for summer than waste more money, realistically, we can only compete for 4th place and I think we are better giving the players we have a run in the team before making an informed decision in summer. Panic buying is what led to buying players like Squid, Chamakh, Gev, Santo, Park etc

MOFAYA

We desperately need more depth if not world class players. Our team is too thin to compete for the rest of the season. Buying has never been more essential for this team

Jason c

Ba is not average for one. Remy will either be great or flop.
Windsor Gooner

14 Jan 2013 19:07:22
All arsenal need is a defensive midfielder to be complete, I believe we have a pretty good defence and attack now giroud has settled down nicely! I believe the defensive midfielder is the missing link! Strootman is my preference!

14 Jan 2013 18:28:23
Just putting this out there... In my only little dream world Arsenal you sign David Villa, Alexis Sanchez and Sergio Busquets all from Barcelona

Yorkshire Gooner

14 Jan 2013 17:51:21
We can win the champions league if we start to believe in ourselves a bit more.

Stupid post, we are currently a poor side

Yeh like hell we can, we can't even beat Bradford in CO cup you really think we can beat the elite teams in europe?!

Or if we can manage to stay asleep long enough...

psychocyst.

Welcome Arsene

1404

L.O.L

14 Jan 2013 20:05:46
Appreciate your thoughts Messi but you do realise your on the Arsenal page.

Stoner

Chelsea fans said thing most of you guys are right now after they lost to Napoli and look how that turned out. Keep the faith.

14 Jan 2013 17:22:58
6 months ago many people were destroying Wenger for not being able to close the Sahin and Niang deals, 6 months later i haven't seen even 1 post regarding that issue. I believe there is no one here that could say Wenger was wrong on that particular negotiations, Sahin and Niang have proven Wenger was right about them. I still trust him in this kind of issue so if he doesnt think Mvila, Ba, Zaha, etc., are Arsenal type of players in their tactical, strategic or proffesional display i think we should listen to him. In the other hand, i also remember the last 2 weeks of the last summer market Wenger spoke about buying 1 or two, world class quality players, he said back then: if we don't do it now, we will do it in January. Now i ask myself, 6 months gone through and Wenger claims we are not even in the negotiation moment of any signing, we are still looking and searching for "exceptionall players", there are two weeks to go and if Wenger doesnt make at least a signing per week, we will certainly have some dark, gloomy next few years, cause actually it has been champions league football which has been Arsenal´s "stability centre" for the last 8 years, so if we don't have that there won't be quality signings, not even cheap ones.

Ecuador Gunner

And you think Squila-rubbish and Denilson and Chamkh are arsenal type players? 2yrs on we still can't shift them permanently

Our problem has been that we only manage to get players who're looking for a way out or will be offloaded soon. we can no longer pull players by our will, challenge or money.

when Wenger says "exceptional", i think he means "good/half-decent player who's willing to come from a club that aren't completely against selling him for slightly lower than the asking price".

thankfully, a good core (and i'm not just saying this now because the kids signed new deals, it's been two years now for me repeating this) together with some kinda experience splattered about so it's not all completely belly-up yet.

psychocyst.

If you think 4th place is good enough then my friend your ambition is as much as le proffessors.
you mention niang and sahin 2 names that were not the do all and end all of arsenal. there were many other names on the radar like vertonghen hazard mata ba to name a few which would have made a difference,
but my friend our obvious weakness is defending and players playing out of position - until wenger addresses what 60 000 can see every game and millions on tv how can we have faith in a man who is so deluded that he doesnt realise his flaws. it maybe arrogance or stubborness and yes i know what the man has done for the club but we have given him 7 seasons to right the wrongs, how much more should we wait. he is ruining his legacy.
everybody wants wenger to be remembered as the kingpin of the invincibles and the double winning teams not a tired and weary manager that has run out of ideas.

GS

Good post

14 Jan 2013 16:54:40
They always say when a manager loses a dressing room he should go. I don't believe wenger has lost the dressing room but i do believe he lost the ability to motivate the dressing room a long time ago.
However!
I do believe that wenger and the board have lost an increasing amount of the fans and every interview promising exceptional players or mental strenght or justifying prices and now blaming the lack of support for some of the performances, i believe will alienate wenger with even more of the fans.

Its a real shame that wenger seems to want to undo all the good work done in the early years and im sure he is not enjoying life in the way he used to either.
The club should do right by all, target a long term replacement manager, commit to several top class signings and reward wenger with a role on the board that does not conflict with the first team and its financial needs.
Otherwise he will end up leaving under a cloud and that would be a shame.
Ike.

14 Jan 2013 16:28:49
Ed, are there any truth in the reports that chief scout Giles Grimandi was as the Toulouse match last Friday, watching both Capoue and Aurier?

By The Way Thanks And Continue On With Your Great Work!

Lets Just Hope Some Top Signings Come To The Emirates Before The 31st! {Ed002's Note - I don't know where GG was last Friday.}

14 Jan 2013 15:29:15
Wanyama / Capoue
Belhanda
Falcao
Baines
Hummels
Zonal marking scrapped...

I do love fifa 13!
# nobody can take your dreams away!
Flybo ;-)

You don't need FIFA to do away with zonal marking & 4-3-3....

Wenger has used zonal marking for 17 years, why is it only now being criticised?

Because it isn't working. Flybo

Because we're predictable as the outcome of a race between dead snail and Gervinho being made to run in a straight line. plus, the players just aren't good enough to pull it off. the formation we use doesn't suit it either. did i mention the players aren't good enough for zonal marking? well, they aren't.

psychocyst.

Zonal marking doesn't work.... uh ha. We are all far too quick to spout off whatever football pundits tell us. You really think that with all the money in the game that this sort of thing is not analysed? It's either or, and I bet you that we'd concede as many if not more goals with any other system.

Most pundits played before the game in England changed, when statistical analysis became so important. This 'back in my day' stuff is a load of crap, due to the standards of preparation in those days, every single one of those teams would be soundly beaten by equivalent modern teams, and it's not because modern footballers have more talent.

The formation thing is the same, we're not that much different from the 'classic' days with Santi basically playing Bergkamps role. The problem is the players in those positions. Podolski and AoC are not Pires or Ljundberg, they have different strengths and ideas on how to play.

433 does not work for us as we have so many attacking midfielders. Santi (As much as I love him) goes missing during games, leaving Jack and Arteta, and sometime just Arteta really struggling, because the wide players are so attack minded, we basically play 4-2-4 with the ball and do not get back fast enough when we lose it. Tell me, who would play RM and LM in your 442?

Maybe Jack on the left and AoC on the right? Could work, but isn't that kinda like putting Ramsey out there, which everyone complain about? I mean Podolski is a striker, Walcott thinks he is, so who goes out there?

Or should we play 442 with a narrow diamond, making the fullbacks provide width, sticking Giroud up top and play the Stoke way?

I don't know, do you? I'm rambling now....

Dicky

The back four of adams, dixon nigel, bould/keown man marked.....get yor facts right.....

Keown was best man for man marker you could find

The back four of adams, dixon nigel, bould/keown man marked.....get yor facts right.....

Yes they did until this french guy came along and forced them to change. Initially they were against it but they soon learnt - Keown has spoken about it on Motd etc...

14 Jan 2013 15:02:07
Arsenal back in for Zaha Devon gunner

14 Jan 2013 15:28:21
Arsenal 125-1 for the title
Worth a shout
Jaz

Save your money Jaz :-) Flybo

I don't like money
Jaz

Money doesn't like me. Flybo

I wish Wenger would spend some
Jaz

14 Jan 2013 13:29:08
Will,

Can I just say that your post was far from negative but probably one of the most honest and un blinkered views of where we stand. Arsene has allowed a group of mostly talented players to slide into mediocrity.

Our defence was our building block and needs to be revamped; we can't except as a unit that they are good enough, it needs to be our spring board not our Achilles heel. That requires additions, a pucker CDM and the correct input in training, defending as a unit. Not two games of 5 aside, proper hands on Bouldy doing his thing. They have to have confidence and more importantly confidence in each other, can anyone see that?

Our attacking options are not far out, from midfield onwards but Theo has pace and can finish but he is neither CF nor a fantastic winger, if we keep him we need to use him accordingly, off of Giroud or Podolski. Get a proper winger not Gervinho. Most importantly get him away from free kicks!

Finally INSPIRATION, does anyone see that coming from Arsene, is he really still capable whether you're running on a fiscal socialist budget or whatever you want to call it. Metal Gooner made a great point of how many other managers out there are getting results and playing great football with far less resources than us.

Absolutely nothing he now says inspires me that, even on the other side of the fair play bollox, he will do what he's achieved previously in his tenure as our manager. I don't say that as a knee jerk just as an honestly held opinion.

I've previously posted about who in this squad would get in the Invincibles, Jack and Santi is about as far as you could go, others making top squad players. That remains a long long way to come back and on a maximum of £16 million a player....well probably god only knows how long. We went a whole season unbeaten, before City it was we're doing well, we've gone 5 games unbeaten. If that's the start of the season I'm with you all the way, but really.

The fact that Flybo is asking, Europa league or not says so much. Playing on a Thursday night. Oh the joy of it.

Stoner

Thanks Stoner, I appreciate your comments, and it's good to see other like minded fans on here. Will

14 Jan 2013 13:27:10
ED's can you add my name to the bottom of my post I jusr sent forgot to add it. It was about the abuse Nasri and Chamakh got yesterday.

Keep up the great work!

Burtonwood Gooner {Ed002's Note - I can't, but no doubt this will suffice.}

14 Jan 2013 13:13:52
once upon a time there was an Emperor called wenger, he had lost alot of his kudos, seven years earlier he had been the toast of his land and even europe.I want every one to take notice and see how great i am again, i, m going to create a finest suit of clothes anyone has ever seen, and i, m going to parade it, in may infront of those f.a and fifa wigwigs at wembley, then i, m going to march to islington town hall on an open top bus.Emperor Wenger needed help for this suit, which was going to be the toast of europe, so he send for the best tailor money could buy.Yes one ivan gazidis.i can forfill your wish emperor, but it will cost you two million per year.Fine said The emperor agreed and off went gazidis scouring the earth for beautiful fabrics.
gazidis return to the emerites palace with some materials, and a fitting for the emperror.i bring fine schillacci silkfrom europe, g, sun park from korea, and wait for it gervinho from cote d, ivorie, also santo silk from turkey.the emperror was delighted, but those closest aids a man called bould, whispered will the material keep emperor warm at stoke in feb, remembering how the emperors coat got shredded eight times at old trafford.
may arrived, and the crowds were 5 deep down upper street, a young lad named jack climbed a lampost to see the emperor arrive at islington town hall.every one was silent as he arrived, when superjack up the lampost said, The emperor has no clothes on, we, ll the guy next to him who always is ten minutes late at the emirates, and leaves ten minutes before the end started to laugh, then all the crowd who use to boo eboue and denilson started to laugh deliriously.the emperor rushed back to the emirates and stayed upstairs humiliated, while gazidis was banished from the emirates on a kroenkee.
superjack was rewarded captaincy and became the finest player in the land and vowed never to follow the filthy luca.

You have far too much spare time!

Very good, although how do you march on a bus?

Love it

14 Jan 2013 13:03:01
Maybe Wenger should go, he does not deserve all the criticism he gets as he is a genuine legend.

He would be replaced and we would realise how lucky we were - we would become no better than Spurs churning through mediocre managers every couple of years.

Listen, once upon a time I helped an old lady carry her shopping from Argos to the car park when she didn't expect her things to come in such big boxes.

This doesn't mean that 7 years later I am excused criticism when I fail my exams.

Seriously, there's what Wenger DID and there's what he DOES. That ties in with who he WAS and who he now IS.

Move on. Wenger is done.

Maybe you replied to the wrong post? My post says maybe Wenger should go you are objecting to one staying he should stay.

There is only so long Wenger can live on past glories. We have steadily declined since the move to the Emirates, designed to increase our income, to compete with the salaries of the big payers! This is the weakest Arsenal team I have seen since Wenger arrived at the club. Since Dein & Fiszman departed, Wenger is running all aspects at the club and failing. His tactics & his choice of players beggars belief.

Spurs are 6 points ahead of us with that mediocre manager.

Sorry - I was disagreeing when you said he does not deserve all the criticism. I agree he should go at the end of the season if not now tbh but my point is he was a legend but nothing h has done in the last 6 years has been legendary. Even what once was something to be proud of, qualifying for champs league, is now a total joke in itself as we are not contenders for that title. We're the Jamaica bobsled team of the competition haha.

14 Jan 2013 12:52:32
It seems RM have a similar problem to us, it will be interesting to see how they address it.

Ronaldo has stated that he intends to see out his current deal which has 2 years remaining before he decides what to do, they could sell him now for say 70-100mil or they can let him run his contract down and leave for free (prob back to Manutd).

Lots of fans on here have voiced that we should have kept RVP and made him see out his contract, personally although it doesn't look like it right now we probably did what was best for the clubs future, time will tell.

It is interesting to know how many fans if we had this Ronaldo situation would sell or keep him?

Agree for Sell or Disagree to make him run his contract down.

14 Jan 2013 13:22:42
Ridiculous question, of course I would sell him.

Stan Kroenke

I'll handle the PR on this one Stan.

Arsene Wenger

I think it's important to tell the fans that we don't need to sell him though.

That said, let's sell him for half his value guys!

Ivan Gazidis.

Bloody persons, i'll lend you the money to sign him up

Mr Usmanov

Stay out of this Mr Usmanov, we don't want your sort here.

Mr P.H.Wood

Dear oh dear....why oh why did they boot me out! look at the mess my Arsenal are in. Gutted

Mr D Dein

14 Jan 2013 12:19:28
the need to spend is obvious, we have a very thin squad in terms of players who can actually perform week in week out, i would look at the following

Mignolet Sunderland 5-8 mill
Baines 10-15 mill
Sissoko 3.5 mill
M'Bwia 5-10 mill
Ben Arfa 10 -15 mill
Serge Aurier 5-10 mill
Mertens 10-12 mill
Lewandoski 15-20 mill

There really is no reason we cannot attract these players to the Emirates, they would all improve the squad massively and none are out of reach in terms of transfer fee's or wages, the time for searching in the bargain bin has to come to an end, we need real quality at arsenal but quality with passion, determination and not afraid to role their sleeves up and fight for the cause!!

N. Wales Gunner

Good list.

Nick.

Hey there and Wales Gunner, I like your optimism, but Dortmund have a good chance of winning champions league and lewandowski is cup tied so he's off limits.. would you really want to bring in baines and put gibbs on the bench at this point in his career? he looks promising to me.. i would sissoko and m'biwa to reinforce defence and ben arfa may be possible due to newcastle's problems but they may want to hold onto him to avoid relegation.

hoping for a winger, a DM and reinforcement for the back 4

Trinidad-Gooner

14 Jan 2013 11:38:08
Want your opinions.
If we don't get champions league, would you want to qualify for the Europa league or avoid it.
Agree for qualification.
Just testing the water.
Flybo

Europa League is better than nothing.
Besides, I think we could win it.

Nick.

^^^ City, Utd and Spurs couldn't win last season

The last time we were in the the Europa league (UEFA Cup 2000, which was the last time we did not get past the champions league group stage - Well Done Arsene) we nearly won it. Seems hard to get the balance right though because teams seen to not take it seriously these days. I personally would favour a complete realignment of the tournaments. A Champions League/European Cup which is competed in only by Champions, and everyone else filling up the secondary competition. That way the European cup would but more prestigious but the secondary competition would be more competitive/better.

Hi Nick,

We have lost to Norwich, Swansea and Bradford this season and failed to beat Stoke, Sunderland, Saints, Villa and Fulham. It would surprise me if we even made it out of the group stages at present.

Chess

Chess,

I think you're right, our results have been poor, and it hurts to look at the table.
And to the other guy, city Utd and spurs didn't win it because they don't try, they focused on the league.

Nick.

14 Jan 2013 09:48:25
Back in the invincibles era, we used to pressure the opponents as a team, we used to hurry them into making mistakes, then take advantage and we all know the rest!

Barring JW10 who runs his socks off every game there isnt many that will put pressure on the opponents. With JW10 doing the pressing, he can be left out of position leaving us open (and him knackered), now this is by no means an attack on JW10, its an attack on the rest of the team, if you play as a team you will get the rewards, if you leave it to one man, or play individually you will get no where.

The formation for me is all wrong, Theo is far too LAZY to be up front on his own, he expects to do minimal running, no chasing down balls, and why the hell is he taking free kicks?? truly shocking.

Giroud is the one whos taken the proverbial slap in the face thanks to the contract saga of Walcott, he's had to make room to keep Theo happy. If the reports of the signed contract are true then drop the lazy sh1t until he realises he is the same as everyone else, an ARSENAL player.

Transfers... well, we all know where we need to strengthen, unfortunately we all must be watching a different match to AW.. so maybe a couple of 17 year olds who won't have any chance of a first team appearance.. obviously hope im wrong and we get the quality in we need.

N. Wales Gunner

Im sure Giroud would be playinfg more and Podolski would be subbed less if the Theo saga wasn't happening, feels like we are trying to keep Theo happy to get him to sign...........of all the players we have lost over the last few years, this is the one we try to keep!! unbelievable !!
Personally think Theo isnt good enough, strong enough or clever enough to play up front in the style we play.

I get the feeling this is more about not losing another player for free rather than wanting to keep Theo.

1404

1404, i fully agree, we are trying to keep a name and ruining the team at the same time, Theo maybe best used as an impact sub late on in the game when the defenders are knackered, but as for being the lone striker, no chance for me

N. Wales Gunner

Giroud needs to up a gear and he may get more games, Podolski blows hot and cold and is not quick enough for the wing.

I quite agree, there was so much pressure from the fans to sign him a few weeks ago because he scored a few goals. But let's be honest, he's nowhere near Cesc, RVP et al; he actually is replaceable.

Yeah the supply to him is appalling, but so it his work rate, desire and commitment. He cannot play as a lone striker, he is a coward who is afraid of getting hurt, and will not ever get stuck in. I know he's small, but do you think Sir Alex would put up with that?

Ultimately, he's not good enough to play upfront on his own for any of the sides above us, would not get near that position in any of the teams, so why for us? I think he is a great impact sub, depending on the situation. Sometimes you have to accept your lot in life, and Theo soon will. Shawm Wright Phillips mkII.

Dicky

14 Jan 2013 09:26:39
One thing I find interesting/pathetic/depressing is how Wenger appraises the team's performance as though we are a club who is new to the league and has zero aspirations.

He says things like 'we were a bit up tight' as though there are no real ramifications to losing. He says 'we need to develop our defensive stability' as though the fact that we are a very slow work in progress is fine when it isn't.

Surely we should be hearing 'despite going down to 10 men, we were not good enough today. We didn't shoot on sight, again, we were found lacking when we were in good positions, this is not good enough.' or words to that effect.

He speaks as though Arsenal is some special-needs footballer-developing entity that is entirely separate from the league it finds itself in. It is astonishing the way he gives away his perspective on our club so easily. There is nothing coming out of his mouth that suggests he ever has any real designs on challenging for top 2 which is where we should be. The coaching standards for which we were known until recently, combined with the calibre of most of our players, should see us competing up there but it doesn't. It's no coincidence that 99% of our problems stem from Arsene. There is just so much wrong with the man in today's game.

14 Jan 2013 08:40:38
This is the weakest Arsenal team during Wenger's time at Arsenal. We desperately require, a goalkeeper, proper left back, a tall dominant centre back, 2 tall tall strong driving central midfield players & another forward.
We need to see or release all the players on loan & get rid of Mannone, Fabianski, Santos, Arshavin, etc...
I personally think Wenger has had his time at Arsenal. Ideally I would love to see Mourinho as manager, more realistically David Moyes has done an amazing job at Everton, with limited resources. My worry is that without the likes of Dein & Fiszman, we no longer have any inspirational characters on the board to sort this mess out.

14 Jan 2013 08:08:36
Let Walcott leave and sign Erik Lamela. Younger and way better. Then sign a lethal finisher like Lewandowski, Jackson Martinez, or Pablo Osvaldo

14 Jan 2013 07:06:17
Anyone know if Kos has apologied to fans for westling a man instead of playing football.

And he lost us the carling cup too

He also got us 3rd spot last season.

Nick.

I think you should apologize for one of the most stupid posts ever

watford gooner

14 Jan 2013 06:56:43
"Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger believes the negative atmosphere at the Emirates is making his players too nervous to perform to the best of their ability."

Haha so nothing to do with the fact no trophies won/ charged huge sums to watch a bad team /players are paid over 50+k a week to perform in football matches?

All arsenal fans it is our fault now.
Time you go wenger you have become too comfortable at the AFC you think you now own the club.

He's right, it's been that way for years. It's not our only problem, but honestly our fans disgust me a lot of the time. Especially some of you on here.

Dicky

I think we will need to pump £200 mill in to get anywhere near the quality team we had, so was it really worth selling the team? when you have players like Walcott telling the club what to do it just shows how week our management is, no wonder we can't get the best from our players if they want a lazy day well its ok just chill Wenger says.

Well we pay up to £123 for yesterdays game (not club level seats) and we wonder why we get the hump when the team for years has been under strength and under performing. Buy players that will give us trophies and i'm sure the attitude of the fans will change.

I believe if we reinvested the money from selling our top players in to top players instead of selling world class to buy 2-3 mediocre players he then might find the fans in a much more positive mood.

1404

Just read this page! Find me someone saying something positive!

Don't get me wrong, fans should never become customers and that is the problem now.

But the news cycle repeating 'haven't won a trophy in 7years' and the fact wenger can't buy a team like chelsea/man city can but only build one leads to a massive collective loss of patience. The negativity is getting pretty brutal because of it.

14 Jan 2013 06:35:46
Hi Ed

Last night Theo proved me right. i posted few days back regarding Theo does not deserve to be a centre foward and should not earn 90,000/ per week. His finishing was awfully pathetic. What a waste of talent ? Theo come back as a winger where you can provide assists and score goals as well. Giroud will be gutted not yo start as a CF considering he is a CF. Why wenger does not have Arshavin on as a sub ? He still has the skills ti score and make plays for others. In one of the cup games he was started as an attacking midfielder (second strikers being Giroud) and played brilliantly. His playing position is this, then why wenger kept on playing him as a winger. He should have noticed that he is struggling there so why not revert back to his original position as an attacking midfielder. I am sorry to say this AW has not done justice to the guy. I don't believe a player who has so much talent has no more left. When he went on loan to Zenit. he played really well and scored around 8-10 goals. At least he should be played as a sub and see if something happens or not.

He is a much better finisher than Theo that's for.sure. Theo has to improve a lot in his finishing and also learn to be calm in one on one situations. Play at the wing, gain more experience, score more goals, provide assists, his confidence will increase. Because a CF has to score goals, if he is does not scores there will be added pressure on him. Believe me even big experience players feel the nerves when you know you had a chance to win but could not score. Look what happened to Torres. a winger if is not scoring goals will always provide assists, which keeps away pressure, as you are giving something to the team. Nani is the best example. So Theo don't cry and come back on the wings.

Regarding Transfer - Wenger why the hell you letting this great club to its knees ? for heavens sake buy top players ( who are really one of the best in their role) Lucas bigilia, please let spuds have him ... take strootman, buy reus, m'bigwa, wanyama or capoue, levendoski or Steven joevetic, de jong from Ajax eriksen, goetze . Don't cry tell us this won't improve the squad. If you pay well then anyone can be buy. even Ronaldo or Messi as well. So please buy 2-3 best of the best players in Jan and rest in summer. If we don't come fourth don't worry guys we will win the champions league and qualify for next year as winners.... i tell you spuds will go bonkers and mad !! just imagine what will be the atmosphere at that "rubbishty heart lane" :)

LONG LIVE GUNNERS !!!

Theo had one chance yesterday when Ramsey of all people supplied him with a decent pass in th 88th minute. His shot beat the keeper and was on target. Not sure what match you were watching but if we do not give him the supply then he will not be able to score. Behind Podolski he is our most natural finisher.
Chess

14 Jan 2013 05:18:35
At the middle of the season we are 6pts behind 4th spot, but with one postponed match with West Ham at the Emirates. Yesterday with 10 men the second half we outplayed the champion of EPL. And you say we have no chance for top 4 and for CL football. You have to be kidding. Get behind your team. They need support now. I think our first team is very good, but they need self believe. In this team only Jack has self beleive. Yes, we need new players, because our back up is no good. But it is very hard to buy good players forr good value in january. Remy, MVilla are no good. That is way both of them will be playing in teams figting relegation battle. AW knows the french players very well and he has reasons to pass on them. It is very hard to me remember truly good transfers in january. In the winter teams usually hurry, make mistake and overpay(Torres, Carroll and others). One of the few good transfers was ours: Arshavin saved our season back in 09.
I don't realise why there is such panic. I am confident that we will have top 4, in 2013 for the first time where would be no departing stars(sagna may be but we have jenko) and plus 1-2 players in the summer(Arshavins and Squilachis contracts are over :150k for wages will be free). The team don't need panic now, they need support, they need to realise that we are behind them and with us behind their back nothing is impossible.

Get behind your team !!
In AW WE trust !!

P.S. Many of you will say that I am blind but that was never a red card. By that rule Huth and Shawcross and every other in Stoke and Evans from Unt must have one red card every match. May be that was not even a penalty. And ask your self, do you truly believe that Dean would have give that kind of penalty for us. And another thing why the most of our games are reffered by the man we have the succsses in %. Dean is reffering us an enourmos(that was his 16 match in 20122013 I think) amount of games. For me that stinks.

BGGOONER

14 Jan 2013 09:42:49
You are mad. 6 points off 4th spot? 4th spot is not a fecking acheivement! 6points off the lead fair enough but we are 21 points behind utd - 21 points that's 7 wins! Even if we were given 7 free games to catch up we couldnt because we'd lose or draw half of them.
The team needs self-belief? What a load of bowlocks. They're not good enough.
And I'm not panicking and I don't think many others are on here either. Panick finished 2 seasons ago, this is anger at poor management and pathetic excuses for playing crap football - belief, spirit etc.etc.its complete bs the reason we lose is Wenger has bought poor players and sets up with one line off attack which is - pass to cazorla hopefully he can create something. No plan b, no defensive plan, no leadership, inabilty to change a failing system.
As for the kos red card he fecking rugby tackled him when he was the last man! Theres no debate about it, blame the ref all you want - he didn't pick the ball up and throw it in our net, he made the correct decision. Maybe if we played better we might have scored or not conceded 2 cheap goals.
AG

Get behind them? for god sake this is every week what do you want us to do play the game for them? these are men who need a kick up there behind.

You must be happy finishing 4th, I'm not....look at the points difference between utd and is...... I've been going arsenal for 36 years......used to go go to go to highbury when there was no more than 18,000 and the average crowd was 24,000.......I'm no johnnycake come lately......I'm no glory hunter... But Wenger has lost his way.. He buys players because he considers them good value and not very good/eceptional players.......Henry, Viera and pires already moved to bigger clubs from their original club.......Wengers legacy is massive.....top stadium in the country, training ground and lots of silverware, but he has lost his way in the transfer market..... He regards 4th place as a success....

So trying to hump a player 5 yards from goal is now NOT a red card? I guess you also think the red card for Kompany was correct to?

Wake up and smell the coffee!
Or in my case, the bottle of brandy I polished off. I'm a mess. Just like my club.
Jaz

14 Jan 2013 03:50:46
Well guys after reading all the long posts about all the clubs problems (our many problems) what as fans are we actually prepared to do?

Will we boycott games? Stage a protest? Write Arsene Wenger a strongly worded letter? I would like to hear some real arsenal fans opinions on what we could do rather than just moan all the time, I'm sick of it and action has to be taken in some form or another or will we just stick to moaning and looking back to our past for comfort??

A very fed up Trev179 :(

I actually think the players tried very hard yesterday to put on a good show but were simply not good enough. Fair enough our defensive disply was horrendous but going forward we actually looked OK. I would rather we actaully chant against Wenger than boo our players or the ref. For me it is Wengers fault with his ridiculous tactics and horrendous ideas about how to defend. Lets protest against Wenger now!
Chess

Trev - I gave up my season ticket for this year in the summer and am so relieved that i did. I have actually turned down free tickets this season on a couple of occasions because i simply do not like what the players and staff are doing. I have bought no club merchandise this season for myself or my family. This is the first season in 15 years that I have not had a ticket or any club merch.

Until the changes are made, I am a Fan & Follower of Arsenal PLC, but not a Supporter - I will not give any of my hard earned cash to this club.

The writing has been on the wall (literally on this websites wall!) for around 3 years now. What is happening this year is not a surprise to most fans.

About 18 months ago I got slated on here when i compared Wenger & Arsenal to a Drug Addict/Alcoholic - they are completely falling apart, everyone can see it but them. and it will take hitting rock bottom (i.e. finish outside of top 4) for them to sort it out and take real action to change.

gun44

14 Jan 2013 02:52:55
The only surprise about todays performance and result is that it wasn't a surprise. We no longer expect let alone hope to beat our rivals. How can a manager so revered, so successful be so incapable of getting his team to do the basics. Defenders to defend with focus, strength, intelligence and as a cohesive unit. How many times does koscienly get sent off? Guy doesn't learn, vwrmaylen, he can't concentate for 90 mins and is positionally so poor. You can't build anything on weak foundations. All the money swilling around the emirates, surely we could spend some on bringing george graham back to sort out our defensive woes. He knows more about the art of defending than pretty much anyone. Our defence needs the collective discipline george would give them. Can we trust arsene to sort this out by himself? The man who bought stepanovs, vivas, cygan, luzhny, garde grimandi ........ ironically arsene often repeats the quote "i son't mind someone making a mistake, but when they repeat the same mistake." Well sir that is what you are constantly guilty of yourself, and they pay him seven million pounds in the process. Unbelievable. Our beloved club has lost it's soul, it's identity, so a few people can laden their already bulging pockets. Mo mo.

14 Jan 2013 01:38:29
Why AW change Podolski and not Walcott. Podolski player great and Walcott was only walking in the field

He always substitutes Podolski for some reason.

Bergkamp's apprentice

14 Jan 2013 00:13:29
Just wanted to say, well done to the people saying Walcott has signed a new deal to be an announced before the city game, looks like you got that one right guys

JW10

14 Jan 2013 08:59:30
Its all B.S mate, 90% of the posts here is guess work. Then they will say "hey its a rumours site okey"

At the end of the day most of it is just cow dung

13 Jan 2013 23:49:58
For me the hardest thing I think to swallow this season has been the realization that we are no longer one of the top teams in the Premier League and are a huge distance away from mounting anywhere near a serious title challenge. While I hate Van Persie for joining united and the way he went about it, it feels like a knife to my heart each time he scores, can you blame him? He is at the team who are clear at the top of the table, he is on much higher wages than we would of offered him, the issue of not having enough experienced players, or a defensive midfielder etc are non-existent at United, he knows they will sign players, they are more likely to win him trophies as well something he hasn't done with us since 2005 and didn't look like doing anytime soon, and I personally doubt we would have Cazorla or Giroud if he hadn't left. For me this sums up Arsenal these days.

If you look at the squad as well we have too many average players, nowhere near enough strength in depth and the same holes in the squad year after year. How many seasons now have we needed a defensive midfielder? Each year though we persist with a fragile Diaby who barely averages over 10 appearances a season, I have no issue with keeping Diaby and trying to get the best out of him but not having another option, and forcing some like Arteta to play there is just stupidity. How many games have we lost because the defence haven't been protected? I also agree with so many on here that we need wingers as well, we don't have enough in the squad and the ones we do like Gervinho are useless. But I also feel we need a striker someone we can count on to score goals if they only get one chance in a game, Walcott for me is a good player but he is not that caliber of striker. Today where I admit he had the hardest of situations to play in I didn't feel he would score, and I don't always have that much confidence in him he losses the ball or makes silly decisions to often the whole footballing brain thing has been raised so many times, that said I would get him to sign a new contract firstly to stop the glut of players leaving due to contract issues and because I think he can still do a job at the club with his pace. I think Giroud was a good signing as well but he needs to take more of his chances, both today and at Swansea he had great opportunities but headed both wide. Compare that to last season with RVP, even down to 10 man I would of felt confident we would score, whereas now I don't, and surely in the absence of RVP we could of signed somebody either in the summer or January who could do that, or why not give Podolski a chance there he has got plenty of goals out of position. I can see why we were linked with David Villa we need somebody like him who can score from nothing and given half a chance can put the ball in the net, but are we going to sign him? No chance. How many players have left and failed to be replaced and this for me was another example of that.

I'm also tired of the constant defensive errors, year after year costing us points why has this not been addressed it's a complete joke. I'm tired of hearing we have no leaders, no authority, no presence it's just embarrassing. I'm sick of us always rigidly playing 4-3-3 never changing or adapting to a game. We also always fall foul to teams pressing us high up the pitch but never adopt that policy. I've also had enough of people saying we play the beautiful passing game no we don't, not anymore many teams do it better than us now. I also don't understand Jenkinson being dropped for Sagna it made no sense, to drop a player who had made huge improvements and was playing extremely well. I'm tired of suffering through the rubbish performances of players like Denilson year after year then suddenly we loan him out same with Bendtner, if he wasn't good enough don't keep playing them sell them early on don't make our performances suffer then just stop far too late. I don't really want to get into wages but our system has got to be addressed for a team who hate spending money or offering big wages, we shoot ourselves in the foot with this system. I've had enough of hearing about our finances and how we are preparing for ffp and will compete in a few years, fans don't want to know this, we want honesty come out and say we aren't spending money, rather than plaster the website with information about how much we've made from sponsorship deals and how we have money to spend in the market, if we then wont.
I've also had enough of this tired old story each transfer window from Wenger of, we will only sign players with quality, and we want value for money and a high transfer fee doesn't mean a good player. Then we hear we've got so and so coming back they are like a new signing or there was nobody of quality to add to squad. This coming from the man who added Gervinho, Park and Santos and is telling me there aren't players of greater quality available or better value for money? What about Wanyama, Honda, Fellani and Llorente for example. While I would love Cavani, Falcao, Goetze etc most fans are aware we won't sign them and just want reasonable signing is that too much to ask for?.It also is so sad to see that each player we want know is a target of Newcastle, Everton and even QPR rather than United, City and Chelsea, this has got to highlight that we simply aren't competing anymore. We also missed out on some top signings for example Debuchy who could of replaced an aging Sagna and provided competition for Jenkinson.

Supporting a club shouldn't be this hard! I fear the worst if we don't add real quality in January as every newspaper, website and fan is saying but the club can't seem to see. We really look like we could miss out on 4th which is horrible to say firstly as spurs are ahead of us and secondly because that is it all we compete for these days 4th, and all the club seems to care about. Look what happened to Liverpool when they missed out, we must avoid that at all costs. The only hope I hold is the huge quality and determination we have in Wilshere along with other young talent like Chamberlain, Gibbs, Jenkinson and Eisfield and hopefully with them in a few years we can compete again provide we can keep them all at the club.

I know this post is pretty negative and I'll get told it's not all doom and gloom but I've had enough, part of the issue at this club is that the fans just seem to accept what is happening and make excuses for our short comings, the whole in Arsene we trust thing is tired and out of date. And please don't accuse me of not being a real fan we could be in the lowest league and I would still be and Arsenal fan cheering them on each week. I may be unhappy with the club but as soon as we kick off I get right behind the squad, hoping for the win.
Will

Very well said mate I feel the same as you about everything in this post. It's just one thing after another and what some people can't seem to fathom is that 90% of it comes from the manager. There seems to be a core of readers on here who struggle with negative posts and I feel they simply don't care enough about our history, name and reputation being dragged through the mud week after week. I am a fan of long posts and I'm glad nobody has clicked disagree, this was a top post.

People saying judge Wenger at the end of Jan - well I'm judging him now. Day 14 no signings and now we have a choice of 2 CBs for the next 3 games.

Also we're linked with that clown Olson who makes a red car challenge, handball and penalty box error every single time he plays, cannot stand him, we must aim higher.

Metal Gooner

Should email this to arsenal.com. Well said.

13 Jan 2013 23:28:14
All I keep hearing is "The only reason man.u are winning", THEY ARE SODDING WINNING. Their players get MEDALS and care about putting in the shift to keep winning medals, it's about time our players done the same, they are professional footballers for god's sake. Stop being so scared and start smashing into teams. Our players have stud's on their boots too!