The Official Arsenal - 12 x FA Cup Winners - Thread [Vol 3]
Discussion
Just back from the game....best player on the pitch was Forster, looks like a genuine top quality keeper and Martinez for a nipper looks really impressive.
A few thoughts
- Ramsey looks worse every time I see him....his passing is really f
king poor and at least a couple of very threatening attacks broke down because of poor decisions he made. He certainly shouldn't be playing 90 mins but needs to be playing to find some form. I'd have brought him off and moved The Ox into that position.
- I really like 4-3-3 or 4-2-1-3 but I fail to see how Ozil fits into it when he's fit.
- Sanchez looks knackered. He's playing 90 mins of every game because he's such a vital player. I fear he's going to get overplayed like Ramsey and Ozil did last season and end up crocked.
- Chambers and Monreal offer very little going forward. I think when we have Debuchy back and hopefully in tandem with Gibbs we'll look a lot better.
- Giroud transformed the side when he came on. The "Giroud's a donkey" brigade need to look at his touch and link play...I really like Welbeck too but other players can play off Giroud much better. Good having strikers that ask different questions.
Very happy with the three points....Southampton looked a really decent football side first half but second half didn't really offer as much. We only seemed to really threaten once Giroud had come on/they'd tired.
A few thoughts
- Ramsey looks worse every time I see him....his passing is really f
king poor and at least a couple of very threatening attacks broke down because of poor decisions he made. He certainly shouldn't be playing 90 mins but needs to be playing to find some form. I'd have brought him off and moved The Ox into that position.- I really like 4-3-3 or 4-2-1-3 but I fail to see how Ozil fits into it when he's fit.
- Sanchez looks knackered. He's playing 90 mins of every game because he's such a vital player. I fear he's going to get overplayed like Ramsey and Ozil did last season and end up crocked.
- Chambers and Monreal offer very little going forward. I think when we have Debuchy back and hopefully in tandem with Gibbs we'll look a lot better.
- Giroud transformed the side when he came on. The "Giroud's a donkey" brigade need to look at his touch and link play...I really like Welbeck too but other players can play off Giroud much better. Good having strikers that ask different questions.
Very happy with the three points....Southampton looked a really decent football side first half but second half didn't really offer as much. We only seemed to really threaten once Giroud had come on/they'd tired.
JackReacher said:
He wants to win, he goes out to win every match and wants the club to do as well as possible. He especially hates losing to the big clubs. It's clear how upset he is when he loses. I get why people question his tactics sometimes, I do as well, but to question his "desire" (using the wenger term) is nonsense.
He is a perennial loser in the big games, he must be used to it by now. JackReacher said:
I want Wenger to have 2 or 3 seasons to build up the squad now that he has these funds. He is not stupid, he knows we need defensive back up and a high quality central midfielder.
This what makes me so angry about apologists like you. Wenger has had 10 years to build the squad up, however you now want his to have another 3 years on top. If I didn't perform in my job I wouldn't have 3 years to sort it, I probably wouldn't have 3 months let alone 10 years that Wenger has sat there collecting the biggest pay check around whilst delivering fk all. He's had enough time, he's taking us no where and needs to move on. He's not stupid but let 3 defensive players leave the club last summer without ensuring we had adequate cover. No, not stupid at all.
As for the midfielder again that's been the same for 5 years and still he hasn't addressed it.
JackReacher said:
Simply changing manager, will not get us above 3rd in the league, it is more likely to knock us out of the top 4 in my opinion.
No simply changing the manager doesn't guarantee we'll immediately improve but you've decided without absolutely no basis what so ever that we'll finish outside of the top 4. How so? ''I want Wenger to have 2 or 3 seasons to build up the squad now that he has these funds. He is not stupid, he knows we need defensive back up and a high quality central midfielder.''
yep i'm with Alfahorn on this point. AW has managed to enter each of about the past 7 seasons with deficiencies in one of the areas; be that defensive cover, midfield, striker.
If we haven't had a massive surplus of funds part of that can be attributed to his insistence that certain players would come good - keeping them on the books well beyond their sell buy date ( Dennilson, Diaby etc ).....
Let's not forget that last season Giroud came good - now that was a roll of the dice, because there wasn't exactly a ton of strikers queuing up to challenge him or take his place if he'd been injured for 2-3mths+
Changing manager is always a risk, but risks can be mitigated - choosing someone to suit your business model and bringing them in when you see fit rather than when the incumbent decides to leave is one of those.
i watched the game last night and had to record the last 10 mins, sure we were pressing them, sure their keeper made some good saves - but this team as it stands will always be a 4thplace at best effort. Back to teh 1st point - this season, same as many of the past ones we're atleast 2 players short - quality players, not promising young 'maybes'.
yep i'm with Alfahorn on this point. AW has managed to enter each of about the past 7 seasons with deficiencies in one of the areas; be that defensive cover, midfield, striker.
If we haven't had a massive surplus of funds part of that can be attributed to his insistence that certain players would come good - keeping them on the books well beyond their sell buy date ( Dennilson, Diaby etc ).....
Let's not forget that last season Giroud came good - now that was a roll of the dice, because there wasn't exactly a ton of strikers queuing up to challenge him or take his place if he'd been injured for 2-3mths+
Changing manager is always a risk, but risks can be mitigated - choosing someone to suit your business model and bringing them in when you see fit rather than when the incumbent decides to leave is one of those.
i watched the game last night and had to record the last 10 mins, sure we were pressing them, sure their keeper made some good saves - but this team as it stands will always be a 4thplace at best effort. Back to teh 1st point - this season, same as many of the past ones we're atleast 2 players short - quality players, not promising young 'maybes'.
greengreenwood7 said:
Changing manager is always a risk, but risks can be mitigated - choosing someone to suit your business model and bringing them in when you see fit rather than when the incumbent decides to leave is one of those.
This is absolutely critical and as can be seen from Man U letting a manager a) decide when he's had enough and b) choose his successor is not always a recipe for success. It's nailed on that Arsenal will make the same mistake...let's hope Wenger has a better call on who succeeds him....most football clubs have people that actually know something about how the game is played somewhere on the board...apart from Ken Friar who has been at the club for longer than most of us have been on the planet we're got a couple of old Etonian duffers and some Septics. The problem is in Wenger's case that whilst people sit here and say for £7mil he's very overpaid he's also managed to deliver CL football for a long time with ZERO investment from the shareholders and paid for the stadium with selling your best player every year. That's made the former shareholders and Kronke and Usmanov literally hundreds of millions of pounds. Arsenal are valued at something like £300 or £400 million more than Chelsea because of that stadium.
So as fans we can all get frustrated but for £7mil a year he looks cheap given how much money he's put in the directors/shareholders pockets. That buys you a s
t load of loyalty. Alfahorn said:
This what makes me so angry about apologists like you. Wenger has had 10 years to build the squad up, however you now want his to have another 3 years on top. If I didn't perform in my job I wouldn't have 3 years to sort it, I probably wouldn't have 3 months let alone 10 years that Wenger has sat there collecting the biggest pay check around whilst delivering fk all. He's had enough time, he's taking us no where and needs to move on.
Why the anger? This is a thread for Arsenal debate, it's not exclusively for "Wenger out brigade". I'm a life long gooner, and spend about over a grand a year going to see them, so I want to see them performing well and i've been there to see these poor performances in person. But I still think Wenger can do the job.k all. He's had enough time, he's taking us no where and needs to move on. You say that you'd be out of a job if you don't perform, but what you're not realising is that Wenger is performing in his job, for his employers. He has kept the club in a strong financial position, getting CL football every year despite very little net spend on players. Like I said the club is run as a business, not as a billionaires plaything. Wenger would not have lasted long under RA at Chelsea, or under the City owners, as their managers are measured purely on results on the pitch. But Wenger is not measured that way.
The 2-3 seasons comment, for me those seasons started last year once he had money to spend on Ozil, so we are now part way through the second season. I expect him to buy well in Jan or more likely the summer, to get the team in a much stronger position next season, with adequate back up in positions to cover injuries.
Putting the corporate/managerial/business side of matters to one side, here's one scenario (which we've seen many times over the recent years with Wenger).
We're in a game; a game which we should be winning. But we're not. It's a bore draw, or we're trailing (or failing to score, basically). Every fan watching is imploring the team to SHOOT, or get forward or even bring on another attacking/goal scoring option. What does the mad professor do? He TAKES OFF an attacking/goal scoring option, and substitutes him for a tiki-taka midfielder.
We're in a game; a game which we should be winning. But we're not. It's a bore draw, or we're trailing (or failing to score, basically). Every fan watching is imploring the team to SHOOT, or get forward or even bring on another attacking/goal scoring option. What does the mad professor do? He TAKES OFF an attacking/goal scoring option, and substitutes him for a tiki-taka midfielder.
Well, Gibbs has made it, and Monreal being out means that Chambers is in the middle with Per and Bellerin is at RB. At least it's a balanced back four. Koscielny on the bench, but I can't see that being for anything other than emergencies - he'd be starting if he could.
I know Flamini isn't the most popular player at the moment, but maybe at a place like Stoke he's the right man for the job in the middle.
Is there a football fan in the country (barring stoke fans), who wouldn't like to see Ramsey get the winner?
I know Flamini isn't the most popular player at the moment, but maybe at a place like Stoke he's the right man for the job in the middle.
Is there a football fan in the country (barring stoke fans), who wouldn't like to see Ramsey get the winner?
Allyc85 said:
Not even angry any more. What. The. fk..
That's just the thing - neither am I. There is just a strange, resigned, almost 'laugh at the ridiculousness of it all' kind of feeling. Like I should roll my eyes at myself for thinking a few days ago that we turned a corner. And it's only half time.k..Gassing Station | Football | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff