Apart from the ref what else went wrong? Balance I tell you, balance

200 Replies to “Apart from the ref what else went wrong? Balance I tell you, balance”

1. A nice and an unbiased write up

2. Please suggest any world class player ready to come to us to sit on the bench for most of the time

   And there is your problem, you don’t need “”world Class “” but you do need disciplined good. We tend to look always for a similar type of player that can be good on the ball, pass for fun and have an eye for getting forward. No real surprise then that the Villa goals all came from runs that started some 30 yards out and went clean through our midfield unchecked. With Mertesacker’s lack of pace you always need a body in front of him which would stop Koscielny flying forward in last ditch attempts to make tackles midway between the penalty box and the halfway line frequently arriving late with yesterday’s consequences.

   A specialist defensive minded midfielder please.

3. It’s so hard to get a balanced assessment of anything, really. I would add that Scheszny was quite embarrassing. Not bad, just embarrassing. We do get the crazy keepers, don’t we. And I can’t stress the next point enough: we are shit without Arteta. None of the shit that happened (sans taylor going mad) would have happened with Arteta around. And we need his heir soon. But jesus we outplayed those cunts. Rosicky Rulez~

4. If English ref will continue to go against arsenal fror one reason or the other, then arsene Wenger should do away with there players. Then build our team on foreign player like Chelsea. They are just jealousy, because no English manager has won the premiership before. Carry on Wenger in arsene I trust.

5. Walter, I don’t think anybody suggested we should buy a left back. The consensus was that
   we could do with a defensive midfielder who could also play in the back line (as Gustavo can). It wouldn’t surprise me if Flamini was offered some kind of deal as he would be a perfect fit and as he’s without a club and a pay packet would even welcome a situation where he might not play too often, but when he did would be useful as a DM or left back.

6. We do not have a defensive midfielder, thats what basically wrong with the setup. as with the games against Fene and Napoli, playing without Arteta, means thatwe have no cover. Playing with thre attacking midfielders is basically suicide only to be attempted when we are behind and late in the game. It was so easy for Villa to cut thru and have clear run at the defenders. Even with the best defenders in the world, any team will suffer playing without a DM. Period. Basics in football formation that has been forgotten. How did we allow Coq to go out on loan, a question that begs to be answered.
   Something is really wrong in the entire club structure from the manager to the board. To blame just the manager is too simplistic.

7. Nice one Walter, i think you explained that very well, but i think you have missed another key element in Keeper Szezesney. Another mad rush forward to give a penalty away, all right rushing out if you get the ball but a rash dash and a clumsey challenge equates to a penalty all day long. He also got caught out being outside his area and was lucky enough to get back before he was made a fool. This keeper is an accident waiting to happen in every game. With keepers and Referee’s like this, its going to be a long season.

8. A common sense post and agree that left back is not a position we need to strengthen so injuries to 1st and 2nd choice is just typical Arsenal misfortune!

   Jaz – I wish people would drop mentioning Gustavo – yes, we need a player like him but it clearly was never actually going to be Gustavo. He’s stated he wanted to stay in Germany and a guaranteed starting XI spot pre-world cup; we are not in Germany and we couldn’t offer starting spot each week so that (and a reported £120k per week wage assisted by Wolfsburg’s Audi links) was never gonna happen.

   Personally, I’d go all out for Fellaini as a proper presence in midfield and judging by Rooney’s attitude yesterday, break the bank for him too…

9. YOUR CLUB IS SHITE 😉 get over yourselves 😉 From the board to the FROG manager ( YOUR SHITE ) NO decent footballer wants to go to ARSE-ANAL 😉 GET BACK TO ROBBING Barcelona of there kids …USE SHOULD’NT EVEN BE IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE ( YOUR SHITE )

10. Thanks for that Danno , erudite as ever.

11. So which is it, the squad is really thin, or it’s too hard to buy players? You seem to have both excuses at the same time. And as much as I agree that Arteta is vital and vastly underrated, he’s not a prototypical DM. Gustavo or Fellaini would have fit in beautifully. Competition for starting spots is a good thing ffs. I swear we’ve heard every excuse in the book. It is impossible to excuse the negligence shown by one Arsene Wenger this summer.

12. I think ARTETA injury is a blessing. Its a perfect opportunity to play Ramsey and Wilshere together. A few games together can get the balance back. Bringing in new player for Arteta will have same problems, then why not try what will supposedly be the future midfield partnership of ARSENAL.

    After seeing the first game…..I know what to expect from referees. I think this is the sign of what to expect. I hope our players dont get Shawcrossed again.

    Also got to see the “Home” crowd……..Half the crowd was gone when our players needed them the most. I thought football was like a family, all stick together no matter what. How wrong was I.

    Just had a look at Mr Wengers interview…..I could feel the pain in his words.

13. Nothing going on on your blogs then Danno.

14. @Walter. This is my very first post ever. Being a die hard Arsenal fan I agree with you 100% on your match analysis. Spot on.
    I do however think once you have identified the areas of weakness, be decisive and and act swiftly since top top top players are in short supply. By the way top top top players comes with a premium and as such you have to spend $$$$$ not $$. Pretty sure you are fully aware that our manager is shrewd (border line penny pinching guy) who will always try to negotiate best price possible. However is constant undervaluing of his target leaves a lot to be desired because the socio-economic landscape of football has changed. Footballers no longer will go to a club for glory but big money beckons especially with agents or third parties looking out for their pockets.
    The days of attracting young prospects, turning said guys into world class players are not over per se but they now have options. They dont want to be part of a project anymore they want trophies.

    Question I have for you since you say the positions we so desperately need cover, no players want to come and be second or third choice. Why do Mancity, Chelsea and other clubs have such quality depth in their squad? Why can’t we do the same?

15. gustavo select wolfsburg over us b/c we are taken as a small while wenger makes it. how can other class players can be attracted by arsenal next. wenger is not only killing our feeling but the historic club also. please spend in this few days, unless leave us leave us leave us leave us leave us leave us leave us leave us you stupid wenger.

16. Thanks Danno for your morning philosoph- in a time of difficulty its always great to have an enlightened scatological view point, even if a tad grammatically lacking.Your are perchance writing from the chicken coop?

17. Danno, YOUR SHITE.
    Have just read that Ox could be out for 3 months with knee ligament damage according to the Mirror.

18. in Reply to Danny

    Yes our club is shit due to that a** hole manager that we have and all those bloody AKBs’ who support him.
    He should be named “LE FOU” because he is completely mad and totally useless. AFC will not win anything again, again and again.
    ASSene est un FOU.
    The more he stays, the more difficult will it be to win anything with him.
    FANS, Wether you are a new fan, a lifelong fan, an old fan YOU NEED TO REACT SINCE THAT OLD FOOL WILL TURN U INTO A JOKE.
    He cannot assess the strength of his team, he cannot identify targets that can realistically be bought and that would better the team. he can only make bold excuses and false statements.
    WE ARE DOOMED WITH SUCH IMCOMPETENCY! 70M AS WAR CHEST AND UNABLE TO IMPROVE THE TEAM? WE CLEARLY LACK SOMETHING AND STRENGTH IN MANY AREAS BUT THE FOOL CANNOT SEE THIS. HE IS SURELY SENILE.
    REACT FANS, FROM ANYPLACE , ANYWHERE, LETS FIGHT TO PUSH HIM OUT BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.

19. Arsenal 13, Wenger has had a fair time to bring in players, he should not have to wait till a player is injured before he buys. Players should always be brought as squad players and be rotated so they all get to play regulary. No one player should sit on the bench waiting for an injury. By the time the seaso kicks off, especially when your thin on the ground the squad should be in place. I dont believe we should buy players just for champions league games but without new signings we may struggle to make it. Jack and Santi are both lightweight the get overpowered to easily close those two out and your only left with Rosiski he’s great at forcing himself through but runs out of ideas at the crucial time.

20. I say “withwengerwerust” old boy, I think its time to go back to the rubber room, and have a glass of water.

21. Steve Palmer

    I agree with the need for new players, and I am certain Wenger does too. Didn’t he agree that we’re short of numbers. Then why have those players not come? Do you think Wenger says, oh let’s make it harder for me and not bring in the players I want till the last day of the window? If not, then what?

    The fact that we’re not in the CL can be a possible reason good players will not want to join us yet.

    After all, the ‘panic buying’ of two years ago also came after we’d qualified. Last season we didn’t need a qualifier and Giroud and Cazorla (both from CL clubs) joined us fairly early. Podolski joined before but he was from a relegated club. Do you think it is then better for Wenger, in suc a scenario, to just buy whoever’s available? Isn’t that what the moaners have been complaining about? Buying inferior quality players.

22. We have needed a defensive midfielder for 2 seasons now. Song never cut it, Arteta is only so-so at it. Gustavo proved nothing other than we refused to commit to him. Career suicide for him though.

    Why didn’t we swap Gervinho for De Rossi? Same price tag, Roma already replaced him, perfect signing.

    Sakho is third choice at PSG, cheap wages, get him in.

    Those are two positions we NEED to fill. We then have optional signings to strengthen the squad. Ozil, Hamsik, Suarez, Rooney… 2 or 3 would give us a chance of a trophy.

23. As I said earlier to bolster a squad you do need a balance between top top quality and good players. We at present have a squad that needs replacements for some of the good ones and a few top top ones because we don’t really have any at the moment.

24. in reply to kenneth Widmerpool
    and it is time to have a look outside Wenger’s shit hole

25. Even the tea-lady at the Emirates Offices knows we need to strengthen the squad…..so I presume Arsene is aware of it too.
    The problem is how to obtain the signings. There must have been compelling reasons why the likes of Higuain, Gustavo etc have failed to join us.
    Britain isn’t a police state. We have no divine right to require players to sign our contracts.
    As we have no idea of the negotiations going on behind the scenes, all we can do is have patience and trust in the professionalism of the backroom staff at the Emirates, to earn their corn.

26. Troubles at the Emirates..

    An appalling display yesterday…. by the referee. There were some harsh challenges around the pitch and the guy who got sent off was Koscielny who (1) made a great tackle to give a penalty and then didn’t touch the player for the second yellow. You cannot even say there was intent there… look at the other challenges made. Vlaar could have walked, Benteke should have gone.

    Massive problems now and AW will need to turn to youth and I think Flamini if Gibbs or Ramsey are not fit.

    The transfer wish list is getting longer – AW needs to ensure it is no longer a ‘wish list’.

    SV

27. Sczezney – If he hadn’t of rushed out and given away the penalty then Gabby would have slotted it past him next touch near post, and then you would complain that he didn’t move. Which do you want?

28. kenneth Widmerpool
    Are u going to live your life inside his ass?

29. Shard, do you really think players are that bothered about Championd league, lets face it we were the last team left in it last year while other English teams played only a couple of games. Not a lot for a top footballer is it so all this wanting to play champions leagueis really a load of tosh in my opinion.

30. “Withwengerwerust”, in reply to your posts, is it?, and yes.

31. I wish we could buy a defender who can play in midfield.

32. Walter, Arteta is a nice player for sure, and a bargain. But he’s not in my opinion a world beater. He’s a few rungs up from journeyman. How many Spanish caps does he have? How may other top teams would be keen to let him be their most important player, as you call him for us? I think this is part of the problem. Our midfield isn’t strong enough.

33. Very well written article, pity some of the responses aren`t

34. Steve Palmer

    Champions League is what players care about. Why? Because it leads to more money. It leads to greater exposure, and hence greater payments from sponsors. It leads to more of a chance of a richer club coming in and giving you even more money to play for them. It’s called a career plan. Most players need the CL with a big league club to progress in their careers.

    Some players at the top rung move to clubs with no CL, but this is only when they are compensated by crazy money. Such as Falcao at Monaco, who earns what 9m euros a year tax free? Or something like that. Players who are not top rung and not playing CL might agree to move to a club like Arsenal which is waiting on the cusp, if they don’t have other options. But then again, after seeing how the refs allow Arsenal to be treated, how the club is represented in the media, and now even amongst the fans, why would they jump at the chance?

35. Good analysis I must say. However Arteta is in his 30th.After long battle at Everton during his prime don’t you think it was expected to much to expect from him to get the same performance?

    Guys! I am not on to this buy, buy thing but is obvious to rely that much on Arteta giving his age will take us nowhere. And the idea that Ramsey can fill his boots is simply a joke for me.Requires technicalities of high level. Understanding positional moves.High concentration on dribbling and ball passing which Ramsey hasn’t a clue.What he had is good engine. Period.
    Never ever rated Ramsey let alone to replace Arteta.We didn’t lost the game though because of Ramsey.
    Wenger gave a good explanation “spirit of the game” allowed by the ref.Witch summarises the bias.

36. WWWRust, I understand your frustrations with the manager, i get the same way at times, but can you name a manager who we can replace him with, who can get us in the top 4 for sixteen years on the trot can you also get one that can go a season unbeaten. Remembering of course he would have some money now to work with. And do it in a wonderfull stadium, if of course you can keep him for that long.

37. Walter

    I find it very difficult to assess Arsenal’s performance with any degree of accuracy when the match was so clearly manipulated by the referee.

    Anthony Taylor’s display dominated this game. His decision making ranged from bizarre to downright cheating and this, for Me, is where any match analysis must start.

    All the other aspects up for discussion, such as player performance, signings or not, will remain irrelevant for Arsenal football club if this, far greater obstacle to future success remains unchallenged.

    And for those people who believed the EPL would be a better, more honest place without Alex Ferguson?

    (Holds head in hands)

38. If you’re going to continue WUMing then at least learn the rules. The ref is allowed to play on for a brief moment to see if an advantage is gained…..it wasn’t and the right decision was made. The second penalty saw him get a slight touch on the ball but he clattered the player and I would have made the same decision

    Two bookings were both correct for the new Tony Adams (Jesus, whoever posted that after his goal at Newcastle fucking come out from hiding now). He’s about as comparable to Tony Adams as Giroud is to Messi

39. It hurts to see players limping out of pitch, bleeding or suffering neck breaking injury getting booed by fans. When did we become so insensitive? These players are like idols to us and how can we boo them or criticize them for getting injured giving their 100%. Since when did Emirates become so cold and silent as a graveyard. Its as if people go into the match thinking “let’s see how they mess it up this time”. Its still a new season, and we should be cheering the players rather than booing them.

40. 70 million in the kitty, supposedly there to be invested in players. But come the first game of the season Arsenal are the only club that has made more money than they started with and have not brought anybody. If he doesn’t spend could that be the sign that says he’s decided not to stay.

41. Any game involving Wenger changing players to new positions – we go on and lose it. I just shook my head and waited for him to prove me right again and he obliged me.

    Jenkinson should have been played left since he can play across the whole defence and Sagna remain in his normal place. That is not rocket science. If the selection is a straight forward logical choice, Wenger will deliberately do something against logic and if it pays of with sheer luck he smiles smugly, if it fails he says, “I don’t have to explain my tactical decisions to anybody” like he did after swapping an Oxlade-Chamberlain (having the game of his life and if I remember correctly heading for a hattrick) for Arshavin. If we ignore Cazorla (a CAM) being put on the wing and Podolski (a striker) being put on the wing, Walcott put on the right when he always plays best on the left and Chamberlain on the left wing when his natural and best position is the right, the endless sight of a CAM being used as a DM and when we have a DM the endless sight of him high up the pitch playing as a CAM … we cannot forget that game at the Kop, CL QF, the time Eboue remained on the Right wing when Sagna was crocked while Walcott remained on the bench and … Toure was put on the right of defence where he went on to concede a penalty. When it was too late and Eboue replaced the dismissed Toure, Walcott came on and was our best player. Yep, like I said, ANY game involving Wenger moving players to new positions, forget it, the guy has proved he is cluless at such decisions. Lehmann gets sent of so what shall we do, hmmm, take off Bobby????

    Wenger blags his way through each season and has been lucky to have teams with players who are intelligent enough to know what needs doing, the teams are cohesive and usually have players at the hub of them to manage it for him. As Walter in a roundabout way points out here it’s normally Arteta, but other players share the job too. In games like the Villa game yesterday when that element is missing in the team, Wenger moves players into new positions and makes it impossible. What he should do is tell players to play only in their natural pisitions and to strictly remain in their zones and tough it out …. not experiment so his ego has a chance to be jacked up on praise. He gambled our points yesterday and lost the bet. Yes the Ref was an idiot but EVERYBODY knows the style of Agbonlahor is to sprint as fast as possible so the slightest touch takes him down. Ashley Young taught him. Why haven’t we a goalkeeper who makes it his business to know who the main threats are in rival teams. He had a shocker of a game yesterday and no matter how you dress it up, we lost the game because he was our keeper.

42. Wenger has lost the plot saying before the start of the season with our depleated squad that we can win silver. Even with Van the man at his best we only came 3rd. That saying we needed additionally players eg a hard spoiler in the middle of the pitch. We now have neither so what planet is he on. I can see the scum finishing above us and in three game time taking us to the cleaners. We used to have the best playing side with the best potential that was backed up with the best scouts. The word best I cannot use the word best any more for any thing that Wenger does or says relating to Arsenal and football. He made a rut 7/8 years ago and can’t find his way out 🙂

43. ….and more excuses Walter? Your misplaced love for Mr Wenger shows no bounds. We are Arsenal fans are we not? Our current plight cannot simply be down to refs, the FA, those pesky ‘Arsenal hating Arsenal fans’ – or is it? In you opinion is Wenger responsible for anything that is wrong at the club? Or, Walter, is there nothing wrong? Happy to hear your thoughts.

44. If new signings is to be some kind of holy grail for success.

    How many new signings actually started the game yesterday?

    Answer; 22 players on the field of play and only one new signing started.

    Too much emphasis has been placed on this subject when the focus from this game has to be on the disturbing display from referee Anthony Taylor.

45. pls explain what you meant by world class. because while Arteta is important to Arsenal, he’s not world class by any stretch of imagination! and you say Wenger admits the squad is thin, and I assume you agree with him, you then go on to try to explain away his decisions not to sign the players needed. I mean why not call a spade a spade? NEGLIGENCE, IMO.

46. I think Gooners have missed the worst of it. The club is in complete disarray. Not just the incompetence and dithering over transfers but the medical and youth departments are falling apart. Where is Vermalen? Seemingly minor injury and hasn’t played in a year, Wilshire, ankle injury – out for 2 years so any hope of Arteta or Monreal coming back in a few weeks is fantasy.

    Liam Brady announced he was leaving over a year ago and who has replaced him – no one! The youth team has just given away 13 goals against Luton and Colchester with Steve Gatting playing a team with everyone in the wrong position.

    Whoever comes in has a hell of a job to do the mess that we saw on the pitch yesterday runs right through the club.

47. Shard I think you are right that the CL qualifier is a factor in the lack of signings but not for players but for the club. We have repeatedly seen the club wait until after the qualifier before committing to signings and on most occasions we’ve been left with panic purchases or the dregs of what is left in the market.

    If the CL was a factor for players then we wouldn’t have seen Spurs pick up four quality players all of whom would either meet the criteria of an improvement on what we have or a useful squad player who could be rotated. Their wage structure is even tighter than ours so the excuse of money compensating doesn’t come into either.

    Back in May the club said two things, firstly we would get business done early and secondly that we would bring in top quality. They have certainly failed on the first and from what we’ve seen so far its going to be difficult to meet the second.

48. Untold,
    Has it occurred to you that Taylor’s activities yesterday was a message from Mike Reilly to stop with the ref’s performance analysis?
    I thought we could breath a sigh of relief when Dean retired, but this new muppet, and his ilk are a big worry for this season. Northern Football my arse, how likely would it would either manc team to get a Londoner to ref a home game? I’d suggest there would be media outrage at the very thought of it.

49. @Shard, the CL thing maybe a valid point but I’ve never heard Wenger use it as an excuse and he seems to have made plenty of others regarding our lack of signings, my favourite being that the transfer window is quiet. Maybe he didn’t notice all the players Spuds signed or City or even Chelsea.

    And regarding players going to clubs that have CL football it doesn’t seemed to have stopped Spuds buying some decent looking players, obviously they’re not super quality though. But if those players help Spuds finish above us then I wonder what excuses we’ll hear then. For sure Wenger can’t have overlooked these players for he said himself we’re analysing players 24 hours a day.

    As for the Villa game it stresses how desperate we are to keep all our first team fit because once one piece of the jigsaw is missing (Arteta) the team functions poorly.

50. Just to balance out the incompetence issues with this ref:
    By the letter of the law, Shezzy should have got a ref for the first peno, there was no other arsenal player back there to prevent a goal scoring opportunity.
    Btw – where exactly was Per for either of these penos?

51. dearest Withwengerwerust

    let’s say (for the sake of argument) that you (despite the paucity of your English expression and your tendency to descend to insult rather than intellectual discussion) are correct.

    What would be your solution to the problem at the Arsenal? If (as seems evident from your comments above) you would like Mon. Wenger removed from his position, whom would you like to replace him with?

    Give us poor ignoramuses a shortlist of, let’s say 5, managers that a) would improve the situation and b) would come to Arsenal fortnight before the transfer window shuts tightly.

    No abuse please, just a straight answer thanks
    merci

52. One penalty can usually be a game-changer, but if two incorrect penalties and an incorrect sending off aren’t game-changers then I don’t know what is. The dark forces really mean business this time; to do that, in our very first game, at home, and against a side such as Villa can only surely mean worse will follow. The ref used the Newcastle game as a template for this game, and the only other time I felt like this was the 50th game at OT. Even Villa fans agree the refereeing gifted them the points on a plate, as can be seen from this Villa blogger’s post here; http://metro.co.uk/2013/08/17/arsenal-v-villa-verdict-hawkeye-cant-save-referees-from-themselves-3927881/.

    I feel sorry for the manager and the players because they really are up against it this time. IMO I think any team fielded yesterday, with world class players or not, would-ve suffered the same fate(the one that suffered the robbery at OT was the best in the world at the time and couldn’t do anything about a determined & bent official). If Villa fans could see the bias that was out there yesterday, any Arsenal fan failing to see the obvious bias against us needs help.

    I’m afraid I will be taking a back seat from following football for a while, just too disgusted right now. Cowardly I know, but when you’re up against this kind of bent officiating then there isn’t much hope.

53. Question:
    situation: a forward was supposedly fouled outside the box but the ref played the advantage & allowed the forward to play on.

    the fouled player maintained the ball & took an unimpeded shot on goal. he missed. the ref then called the ball back to where he said the foul occurred for a direct free kick. should the ref have called it back after he let the team play on til he shot on goal? the ref only made the call to bring the ball back after the player missed his shot.

    USSF answer (February 22, 2011):
    The referee cannot guarantee that a goal will be scored when he or she invokes the advantage. If this player had an unimpeded shot on goal, then the advantage has been fulfilled and the referee MUST NOT go back to the foul. Life is hard; shoot better next time.

    Categories: “Inventive” Refs, Advantage, Law 18 – Common Sense, Law 5 – Referee, Procedure-Ref

54. Unbelievable belief,

    Walter explained yesterday that he couldn’t red card Szczezy because he already allowed advantage play. The goal soring opportunity was still available but was missed. There shouldn’t have been a penalty either but the yellow card was correct in instances that like that.

    I felt like we were lucky with the yellow too until I read Walter’d comment on it. It makes perfect sense as that is what is usually done for fouls in other parts of the field. If a player is fouledin the midfield but his mates carry on forward with the ball, the ref could allow play to see what they can achieve with their attack. At the end of that particular play, the ref then issue his card for the fouler.

    I wonder why Szczezy wasn’t just issued a yellow card as normal in such circumstances and let us have a goal kick. That ref kicked us in the nuts repeatedly. I don’t really engage in ref bashing but that fellow’s performance was atrocious.

55. AL wrote:

    “I’m afraid I will be taking a back seat from following football for a while, just too disgusted right now. Cowardly I know, but when you’re up against this kind of bent officiating then there isn’t much hope.”

    I don’t blame you man. But your decision is the one that I have always prescribed to disillusioned fans. Rather than posting vile insults against the team that you support, just give it a rest for a while or till things start working out the way you want. They never listen though.

    AL my man, keep your head up, it will get better. And I am as disgusted as you are right now.

56. I honestly don’t know who to blame over the lack of transfers this year or for the past 5 years really. It can’t be just coincidence that after David dein was frozen out that arsenal became inept in the market. However it is/was wenger’s decision to sign park/chamack/squid/bendtner. He filled the squad with dead wood. Every summer it is quality not quantity yet we end up with a squad packed with average clone players.

    Look at our midfield. We have 6 centralmmidfielders who all play in a similar way. Ox/wilshire/Ramsey/arteta/cazorla/rosicky. They all do the same job. They all have similar builds and none of them are cut out to sit back and destroys attacks. Arteta tries, however he is not the answer. He is neither quick or powerful enough to be the screen we are crying out for.

    Wenger’s signed all 6 of these players but where is the variety? Where is the Keane/vieira/gilberto/alonso/toure/Essen.

    He continues to add midfielders who are neat ball players as though this is all a midfield requires. It isn’t and this list of ball players we have is clogging up our options. We need effective wide players also as padolski is not a winger and if Walcott is having one of his “brain freeze” days then we need players who can pick the ball up and run with it. Who can beat a man and spot a pass. This is not Walcott who is more suited into running off the shoulder into the channel. Chelsea have hazard/ Oscar/mata and now schurrle. City are overloaded with dangerous wide men. We need one of our own. A quick tricky wide player a la nasri or pires.

    Giroud quite frankly is the donkey he was last season. His movement and pace are appalling. Hi touch is either exquisite or non existent. We need a mobile forward to lead this team. Giroud will continue to score but this does not make hi, the answer. Our fluidity breaks down with him as our focal point.

    These are all issues wenger’s must address. He must see this.

57. Also our movement is static. We need to work on movement in training as only Walcott seems to have the eye and inclination for running into space. One isn’t enough

58. @Bootoomee
    Thanks man, for the encouraging words, and am hoping and praying it does get better soon. Time will tell. No justice at all. These people are messing with our feelings, and I don’t think I can let myself be part of that much longer.

59. The problem, yesterday, was the lack of defensive midfield and tactics. Wenger is great at pulling together attacking sides, but really has a blind spot for defenders, including defensive midfield and goalkeeper. There appears to be no one in the side capable of playing the holding role when arteta is missing. So why not either train someone to do it (frimpong), not put similar players out on loan (le coq), or buy some one (wanyama, gustavo, etc) – there were plenty out there this summer. We have not had a decent keeper since seaman (arguably jens) and again there have been several available this summer, all better than chesney at the moment.
    And now tactics. Playing 5 attack-minded, tactically unaware midfielders in the same team is football suicide. The defence did not stand a chance. We always need a balance of flair , grit, experience , resilience and height in a team. This was lacking yesterday. Wenger tends to buy short , skillful, attacking midfielders.

    I also wonder whether it is a bit of a holiday camp at arsenal – a few players have said that clubs they have moved to are much more rigid and organised than arsenal.

    I suppose whilst I’m griping, what’s the point of buying youth players to put out on loan? Campbell, wellington, ryo? I dont get it.

    It will get better, but only if attitudes to transfers and tactics change.

    Mind you, still cant see us challenging the top three even if we did get a few more in. We are a long way behind!

60. Yes Suarez can help us, but I wish Arsene realises that if he bought just one player, a decent holding midfielder, then we will challenge. There was no balance, hence no organisation in our midfield. Yesterday, if Arsene had played Frimpong (even though he’s not very fit) or even Nico Yennalis, regardless of whether ref Anthony would have been biased, we could easily have won that game. These are holding midfielders, therefore, whereas they don’t have the experience, they would have civered better. In the midfield there was no organisation too!

61. @Shard. I think you are over complicating it my friend . Isn’t the problem with Wenger not buying the right players simply because he has underestimated the market? You can’t offer a fraction of asking price for a world class player when the selling club is not in financial troubles and don’t have to sell. Especially in a sellers market.All you do is piss them off . Isn’t true Wenger bid 14 million for Gustavo when Bayern was asking 20million, or 6 million for Williams when the Swans value him at double that?

62. There should be an emergency Board meeting today with the outcome they say thank you Arsene…but YOU’RE FIRED.

    Anyone living in a bubble that a couple of top signings will change things..They WON’T

    Some of you can all worship that we have a big shining new stadium & a cash moutain larger than any sporting venture in the world.

    We don’t have a team, a manager or owner capable creating an ambition FOOTBALL club.

    Like the British economy it took a few years to sink us into debt and welfare waste and will take years to reverse.

    The same could be said of Arsenal FC.

63. Well the game was the game. Walter describes the game well. Arsenal should be beating Aston Villa with the team they had out yesterday. We didn’t. We didn’t deserve to lose.

    A few weeks ago I wrote in reply to one of Untolds posts (and also to a Le Grove post as well) that things would get very nasty if come the end of the transfer window we hadn’t signed anybody and things were not going our way. I was wrong. They are nasty now.

    There is zero patience amongst some of the Arsenal support and it is a growing number. Where I sit these are grown men who are totally losing their control in response to what they saw happen yesterday and events over the summer break. When somebody has lost it you cant have a rational discussion with them. Its the same with some internet posts.

    Some of what they are saying I agree with. The squad should have been improved with one or two more bodies before the start of the season. It hasn’t and the Manager and the board are responsible. I’m not saying it is easy to do that and I’m not suggesting names. I don’t tell Marks and Spencer how to run themselves and what to stock. I am a customer of both! The difference is I can choose not to shop at M&S but you can’t do that with your football team!

    “Spend some f*&^ing money” the crowd chanted. Yes they did and lots of them. The trouble is our board and our manager do not respond kindly to this type of messaging. They don’t like it. They need to listen to the sentiment though if not the wording. They are losing their customer base.

    Now for Arsene Wenger; I like him. I always have. And he certainly doesn’t deserve the vitriol that some of the fan base are giving him. And before I get any replies saying he does deserve it please stop and think how rational people communicate with one another when they are not hiding behind a keyboard. I want Wenger to succeed, most of all so he can stick to that element of support that have been getting on his back for the last 3 to 4 seasons. I don’t want him to leave but at times he (and The Club)don’t always help themeselves. I’m just stubborn that way. The more I have somebody shouting “Wenger out” or “Wenger you c*&t” (lots of this yesterday) the more I will dig my heels in.

    If (note the *if*) this situation persists Wenger will not be Arsenal manager next season; there will be no renewal of his contract. I hope it doesn’t come to that but things are pretty grim at present with little Entente Cordiale amongst the fan base; that to me is the most dissapointing aspect.

    Tottenham in a few weeks! I hope things have imrpoved before then.

64. Gooner S

    So, lets hear your alternative to what Arsene should be doing ?

    Or are you going to come out wish a comment like ‘ he’s the manager & knows more than all of us’

    Kroenke is a profit man. I think Danny Fiszman will be looking down regretting the day David Dein ever introduced him.

    Danny Fiszman was Arsenal to the core. He was since a child.

    He would not have put up with Wenger’s dithering although he is also part responsible for letting Wenger become all too powerful.

    Kroenke is not a stupid man. The value of a company can drop very quickly based on results & the negativity that is spreading.

    Top players won;t come, Sponsors want to be associated with top teams & especially top players.

    Puma cannot be happy with what they’re seeing right now.

65. Last spring I feebly suggested we needed 4 players: Begovic, Sakho, Capoue, Jovetic. Well, 2 have gone to PL rivals, but 2 are still there for the taking. My 2 replacements: Bender, Lewandowski. C’mon, let’s go for it, while these good players are still available. With Cesc to return next year, we only have the pgmol to overcome. In my dreams anyway – the exposing of riley & co. may take longer.

66. Finally some good news:

    Fenerbahce warmed up for their Champions League qualifying clash against Arsenal with a shock 3-2 defeat to newly promoted Konyaspor.

67. Injuries again. It’s like the happy slapping a few years back its just funny when our players get injured but no media outlet has said anything about the cause just watched the full match I want to kill the referee. Has any other team had so many ridiculous tackles? Poor Gibbs and chamberlain. The. Real concern is how to publicise this and make football worth watching right now it’s makes me sick of the corruption. Wenger looks the same fed up gets shit if he talks about anything with gets blown out of proportion with no sense. Glad to read your article otherwise makes me think I’m going insane. AAA at it again lets by a new starting 11. 5 spare defensive midfielders blah blah verbal diaorhea.

68. I thoughtThe decision to bring on Cazorla at half time but leave Podolski on the bench was mystifying, given the Spaniard’s trans-Atlantic flight in the build-up to this fixture. Surely Podolski could have offered more. The consequence was the error that led to Villa’s second penalty, with its knock on effects after Koscielny received a yellow card. On that note, Koscielny was foolish to commit the challenge that resulted in his second yellow moments later – another moment when a wiser head would have aided the team’s cause. It should be remembered that although the refereeing was poor, the situations that led to the two penalties were both a consequence of bad play by Arsenal in the build-up. Not dealing with Agbonlahor’s run led to the first penalty, which was fair enough in my book (and the keeper fortunate to only get a yellow). Villa should have finished the game with ten men as well, but this should not detract from the poverty of Arsenal’s overall display, even when they had a full complement on the field.What concerns is that the home side, having scored an early goal, failed to really control a game they should have comfortably been able to. The good work that was done in terms of establishing some kind of platform to build on at the tail end of 2012/13 has been thrown out of the window in one fell swoop. The team look brittle again, and I am genuinely uncertain how things might go in Istanbul on Wednesday evening.

69. Doublegooner, I take my hat off to you mate for trying to make people in here see the light but I fear many are too are gone. Spend your energies elsewhere. These guys feed off your energyz just resolves them and they further dig their heels in against common sense and look for excuses. When Arsene goes, I sincerely hope many of them go with him. Utterly embarrassed to have these guys as fans. Apologists, the lot of them. What will it take, what the hell will it take?

70. @AL

    This is what I decided a few years ago. The writing was on the wall along long time ago, but the Birmingham game was a watershed, and then the Fabregas season that ended in a mess, with the Barcelona heist, sealed it for me. I have a lukewarm interest these days. If Arsenal do well good for them, if not, I feel total indifference.

    Eventually the truth comes out in all things; as we speak the Met are re-investigating Diana’s murder.

    Imagine the hurt and trauma that William and Harry are going through as they discover the Army they serve in may have murdered their own mother.

    Our whole society is totally screwed up really. The One Show concerns itself with the ‘plight’ of footballers who squander their riches. Ah diddums. As if there aren’t enough people suffering appalling poverty and hardship in this country at the moment….

71. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7gSFEaI4HdA&feature=youtu.be&a=&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D7gSFEaI4HdA%26feature%3Dyoutu.be%26a

72. LMAO…UNF@*KINGBELIEVABLE…WILL NEVER VISIT THIS SITE AGAIN…FROM A TRUE ARSENAL SUPPORTER.

73. I think the club need to move on from Arsène Wenger and until they do, we will continue with the slow tortuous decline (and attendant managing of expectations) under a man who can no longer cut it in football today. He should have gone at the end of 2007-08 when his vision of beautiful football was exposed as one that would implode at the critical moments. If nothing else, the pair of Cup semi-final exits at the end of 2008-09 (Chelsea in the FA Cup and Manchester United in the Champions League) should have left no-one in any doubt that he had lost his mojo with the all too speedy break-up of the Invincibles. Here we are four years later and still in a rut.The hope that remains is that Wenger is in the final year of his contract and that the board have enough bollocks to do the right thing and ensure he is not offered the opportunity to put supporters through another four years of underachievement. The club has a great financial platform to move forward now, but in today’s game, they do not have the right man to make the most of it.The question was asked of me yesterday – would I trust this board to appoint a decent manager? Who knows? Jupp Heynkes isn’t doing much at the moment and could certainly steady the ship for a couple of seasons. What the team needs is decent preparation for matches. It should have been obvious Villa would be physical and test the referee, so mentally the players should have been prepared for this approach rather than looking shocked by it. It seems to me that they lost their focus far too easily and committed far too many mistakes.

74. @will absolutely agree with all your posts. or me the worst case scenario is that Wenger does indeed have a panic trolley dash, as how much more dross on overpaid contracts will we get this time around? Any rational person can see Wenger is finished, and has been for quite a while, so why the hell can’t the CEO? Oh I forgot Wenger chose his own CEO and vetoed the appointment of one who would actually have asked searching questions! This is now beyond a farce, and Wenger reminds me of Hitler in his bunker at the end of the war, still believing they would win. He is yesterdays man, and has been so for a number of years now, and if he truly cared about the club and it’s supporters he would do the honourable thing and resign. He won’t, as he is only interested in his own ego, and truly believes, as do his disciples, like the one in the photo on this article, that he is Arsenal! Losing the Champ League qualifier might seal his fate, but knowing Wenger’s luck the next day Fernerbache will have their ban upheld and we will qualify by default. As it stands, with our paper thin squad and paper thin tactics, I can’t see us registering any points in the next two league games, because even if reinforcements arrive, it’s all to little to late, to have any impact in the short term. What an utter preventable shambles Wenger has brought onto himself, and he deserves all the hostile crowds reaction and undoubted bad press in the next few days.

75.  the least the board can do, even if they are not about to resign, is act in the best interests of the club and start the rebuilding process immediately. They won’t do that, but for the sake of Arsenal’s future, the very least they should do is ensure this is the final season of Arsène Wenger. Maybe a Champions League exit and defeats to Fulham and Spurs might convince them it is better to act now rather than wait. Having played a single competitive fixture, many fans have already written off this season.

76. Yeah will written off like last season we made 4th then get written off for celebrating. Are you ever happy?

77. When Wenger was winning Premier league titles he invariably had the better players to play most teams off the park so tactics were not an issue.Europe was a different ball game were tactics are a prerequisite to any success and in which Wenger was time and time again found wanting.

78. @Will
    ‘Having played a single competitive fixture, many fans have already written off this season’
    Some fans!!!!
    If that’s true and I sincerely doubt it, we’re better off without them.

    Yesterday’s result does not contribute anything to the debate regarding buying new players. The position is exactly as it was on Saturday morning. The defeat was a direct result of apalling/corrupt refereeing and unfortunate injuries to key players.
    Progress towards CL qualification on Wednesday will be the catalyst for any decent signings that might happen.
    I was disgusted by Aghbonlahore’s applauding of the red card for Kos. What a nasty little piece of scum. Hope he enjoy’s Villa’s annual relagation battle next spring.
    Keep the faith people, remember, ‘WE ARE THE ARSENAL’ and we’re still in good hands.
    Allez Le Boss et les Gunners!

79. good to see Frank Doberman on the you tube clip…” I say oi! Wenger noooooooooooooooooooooo!”

80. This season was over the moment Wenger didn’t walk, he’s out of his depth.

81. But, to say having gone through the entire close season with no investment in the team had no bearing on the result is wrong. Simply put – having better players would make us a better team. A better team could have built on Giroud’s fine early goal. A better team would not have allowed Agbonlahor to waltz through our midfield leading to the first penalty. With better players you have a better chance of controlling the game, thus situations which bring about danger (and bad refereeing decisions) are less likely to happen.Imagine an Arsenal team with Luiz Gustavo and Gonzalo Higuain available yesterday. Better. More solid, more attacking threat. Imagine an Arsenal team with Begovic in goal. I like Szczesny (perhaps more for his personality than his goalkeeping as it turns out), but seeing him go full Almunia, miles outside his box, heading and making a last ditch tackle while on a yellow card already, was not good.And in a summer when it’s hard to make any sense of what the manager has done off the pitch, how do we make sense of what he does on it. Why, when Oxlade-Chamberlain had to go off at half-time, did he put on Santi Cazorla? He’s had little or no pre-season, he’s just back from Ecuador and his performance was that of a man who was simply not ready. All the while, a fully fit, well prepared Lukas Podolski sat on the bench until thrown on in the 93rd minute when Sagna went off.We ended with Aaron Ramsey at centre-half. Think about that for a moment. Now think about next weekend against Fulham when we’re likely to be without the injured Gibbs, Monreal and Vermaelen and the suspended Koscielny. Maybe Sagna will be ok after his horrible looking fall, but if not Arsenal have two available defenders. Carl Jenkinson (who I was told they’re considering loaning out), and Per Mertesacker.Going into a season with just two centre-halves isn’t so much ill-prepared as downright stupid. We know players get injured and suspended, yet we’ve done nothing about it. We knew our midfield was light, we’ve done nothing about it. We knew we needed somebody else up front, we’ve paid lip-service to it by bringing in Sanogo, walking away from Higuain and involving ourselves in the gigantic, embarrassing mess that is Luis Suarez and his imaginary release clause.Yesterday was the direct result of the summer. Sure, you can’t legislate for a referee having a nightmare, but you can put yourself in a better position to be able to cope if that happens. At the end of the day, there’s no transfer official making decisions which stop us spending money. We have, deliberately, chosen not to spend any money this summer.

    dec,wrong. Please read above exactly howit as stated from arsarseblog.

82. @Doublegooner

    Not really sure why that question is coming at me now but I will repeat what I have written here and elswhere for sometime.

    Firstly, it is not all about Wenger. If you really think a large company such as Arsenal depends on one man then you are mistaken. It is about the owner, the board, Chief exec and the manager. The club (owner, board and chief exec) need to do more and support the Manager in respects of securing the talent that the Manager says he wants. If Arsene Wenger is managing contact negotiations then this is a failing of the club not the manager. Quite simply he shouldn’t have to worry about this. In these respects I agree with BSM. The structure of our club is wrong and isn’t performing to the extent we would all like it to because of the owner and the board. There are serious shenaniggans going on behind the scenes, I’m sure of that. Gazidis’s comments back in June werent for the benefit of fans that was him covering his backside. Strange behaviour for a chief exec towards the manager.

    With regards the footballing side of things; The squad needs adding to: A centre forward, A defensive mid field player, a centre back and possibly a goal keeper. I’ve been saying this for a while now to the point of disagreeing with recent Untold posts. Wenger’s responsibility is to say this is my 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice in each position. It is Gazidis’s job and others to secure those targets. Frankly I do not believe all the guff that this is all Wenger fault. It is too simplistic and frankly it goes against my own experience working in a business culture. That blame and misscommunication occurs is not a surprise to me.

    We have the money. That is good. We should press on and capitalise on the hard graft and sacrifice of recent years. This transfer window is close to being a lost opportunity.

    With regards to the manager, he has had my support, qualified, but nonetheless my support. I’ll admit it is sometimes difficult to have this support for him when we are in situations like we find ourselves. I still support him. That doesn’t mean to say I agree with everything he says/does. It doesn’t make anyy sense to sack Wenger now or in Spetmebr. If that happens not ony will it be wrong but that would be gross miss managment by the board. There is also another reason why I support him it is because he doesn’t deserve the vitriol he gets. I’m pretty stubborn and I really don’t respond to insults and abuse. It wins no arguments with me. I do it to be contrary :-)…to some extent anyway.

    Should the current situation not improve then I do not think Wenger will be at the club this time next year. Should this happen and the club doesn’t alter its structure and methods then I pitty the poor guy who comes next.

    Summary; short term improve the squad with some quality in the positions I’ve stated. Stick with the manager and provide him with some support. Take a decision in May on whether to extend the managers contract or not. In parallel sort out the running of the club and be clear and transparent on what our ambitions are (KPIs in business terms). Lastly the club needs to improve its communication out to it’s stakeholders: it’s fanbase and it’s sponsors but in particular the fanbase because it is losing out to the noise that is social media and the classic media (tv/radio/printed press).

83. I tell you what would improve communication, winning matches and competing at the highest level.

84. I also thought the decision to bring on Cazorla was wrong. But that team we played were fully capable of beating Aston Villa, and as we all know we ended up playing against 12 players today. No one in a position to slate the ref does so, because they fear. I knew just before half time that he would be sending off one of our players, it was clear to see where it was heading. He, (for whatever reason, you can think your reason here) was determined not to let Arsenal win the game, and i go so far to say that he had been instructed to do just that. I have no fear of being called paranoid or what ever, it is completely clear to me that the opposition against Arsenal does not boil down to just a ref here and there, but is a combined attack from all quarters to remove the Arsenal from the premier league. There is no love for the model the club has and there is pure hatred. I am pretty sure that money has much to do with the reasons why a club that is building a solid foundation is so hated, because they cannot make money from the club. All i know is, this will not be the only game where we will have “extra opposition” this season, and our team will have to rise way above it and use their head this season. Cut out all the silly things that will cost them yellow cards themselves, just get on with playing as we know we can. It is going to be tough, the opposition to Arsenal has now reached another level people, it has been simmering for so long now, and they have just stepped it up.
    //
    All those who think that if we had signed 6 players that the outcome of this game would have been different, are deluding themselves. Our team is quite capable of beating Aston Villa, and would have won with at least 3-5 goals today, but we did not prepare for the referee, no we did not even see him coming. 4-5 players more than lightly injured in one game, that is not normal by any means.
    Now Arsenal are damaged and those who wanted this, will be feeling content, but beware, the Arsenal is not beaten yet.
    We will have to realise that we are not playing an opposition team of 11 players anymore, but of 12 and more, and adjust our game accordingly.
    //
    So Mr Wenger, i know you cannot say the things you wanted to say, that is why i have said them for you.

85. @dialsquare

    We win more matches than we lose so you should be taking this defeat in your stride and be communicating sweetness, light, love and peace to all.

86. See the full picture Will, and think like an adult not a spoilt child. I would confidently state that everyone here would like to see some additional signings. The difference of opinion is between those if us who acknowledge that it’s a very complicated and risky (not to mention incredibly expensive) process to sign the top quality players in the modern football business. Most of us commenting have no real insight to the goings on and the various components / personalities / egos involved. Some of us are content to leave it to the professionals (Arsene, Ivan and their team), others seem to prefer to stamp their feet and suck their thumbs like children demanding sweets outside a sweetshop. To say Arsene has deliberately decided not to sign players is just barmy and does your argument no good at all. He’s stated the exact opposite many times already.
    The Higuain debacle didn’t fall apart because of anything Arsenal did or did not do, it was pure greed from Real Mad and we ( correctly) didn’t allow ourselves be screwed for an extra 10 million. As for Gustavo, as I understand it, he decided to stay in Germany for family reasons. Again, nothing Arsenal can do about that. As for Suarez, I wouldn’t take him if Liverpool gave US 50 mill and paid his wages as well. If we can prize Michu away from Swansea, that’d be a far better use of the money.
    Just looking at Palace on a shoestring holding their own against the Spuds and their 60 million signings.

    Regardless, Arsene Knows Best.

87. @Dec

    I suspect Michu will have the dreaded 2nd season syndrome, I could be wrong.

88. @Walter/Untold towers

    Will is a cut’n’paster

    August 18, 2013 at 1:22 pm
    http://arseblog.com/2013/08/arsenal-1-3-aston-villa-disaster/

    COYG!

89. Gunz, are you thick or don’t you read? Read the bottom of my post dummy.

90. Not having made any signings will not have made a difference to the result yesterday, the difference will now come where we don’t have adequate replacements for injured / banned players so people need to stop whining about that and get to the real issue of the ref making 5 incorrect game changing against. I’m not saying we don’t need to sign players here but people need to stop the bullsh*t that lack of signings caused yesterdays result.

91. Sorry, you should put where you cut it from, at the start of your post. So proper posters can ignore it. Numbskull!

92. Proper posters read the whole post before making premature comments

93. @Gooner S

    Not this season we don’t: played one, lost one.

94. Time will tell Dan, time will tell.
    He looked sharpish yesterday though at least from the highlights.
    If he’s staying in Wales, I hope he does. 🙂

95. @dec, what were you saying about Tottenham signings? Soldado has just them put one up. Seriously, get a grip with reality a different wake up, Wenger is finished. I hate to see arsenal lose but if losing in Turkey and the next two games mean this tyrant is forced out then we have to suffer short term to gain long term good.

96. Open letter to Arsene Wenger.

    Please have the grace to compliment the Villa team who was lead by a class striker in Benteke. Who was our leader? We have none because in recent seasons you’ve seen fit to sell our captains.

    Yes, the ref had a bad game but the cause of this team’s fragility is YOUR FAULT. Please don’t blame the ref Arsene please look in the mirror and man up for the first time in your life.

    You had the funds, the time and the targets to make this team into a title
    challenging squad this summer. You chose to dither, you chose not to spend. This predicament is your making.You love to praise the team for their self belief and mental strength when they win, what now? Will you tell them the truth? Will you tell them the truth that they are not good enough for this club? After you do that, take a hard look at yourself. Are you good enough?

    Really?

    Thanks for the memories Arsene. You were great once. But really, isn’t it time to go?

    Please no more promises you have no intention of keeping. You say you only want super super quality players to play for the club. Really? Why was Chamakh signed? What about Bentdner? Squillaci? Denilson? Djourou?
    Why is Diaby still at the club?

    How can you say they are super super quality? Are you ever going to say sorry for those purchases?

    After such an abject display whose going to want to play for us now? If you were Rooney or Suarez would you?

    You may say “you tried to sign them” by trying doesn’t cut it does it? You may have tried but failed.

    Face it Arsene world class players don’t want to play for you.

    No more panic buys. No more excuses.

    Please just have some dignity and go. Show us that you love this club like you say you do.

    I’m a “nobody” compared to you, just an ordinary joe who loves the Red and White. Do you love our club? Yes? Please, then just go.

97. did we won league yet?

    bigest joke of arsenal blogosphere

98. too many Wenger apologists who don’t know how to engage in a debate without telling Wenger critics to ‘f**k off and go support Spurs, Chelsea, Man City or Man Utd’. Full credit to Villa for the win. The referee may had had a shocker but to me that’s a cop out and a flimsy excuse for Wenger and his great squad…….. .pardon me….losers. I’ve said for a long time that Wenger will be ‘rewarded’ with a new contract so he can do the ’20 years as Arsenal manager’ thing and I won’t change my mind even though I don’t agree with it one iota. We never built on the great start and yet again some of the defending was questionable. But then I forgot, our defensive record in the league last season means we don’t have issues at the back. Complete nonsense. Szczesny should have been have sent off after the first penalty and the 2nd Villa penalty shouldn’t have been given but then that’s down to our desperate defending which was brought up by one of my matchday neighbours during the game. I’ve never been a Koscielny fan as he’s not immune to rash challenges and red cards. As for the poor summer regarding players coming in after the nonsensical spin from Gazidis, the club have got what they deserved. I can see another trolley dash circa August 2011 regardless of the European Cup play-offs. Wenger is still stuck in his old ways and as long as he calls the shots, then we will continue to come up short in so many ways. A change of manager is badly needed but with this current board (who are brilliant according to the Wenger apologists) it won’t happen in my view. Jupp Heynckes to come in the short term? Why not? He knows how to win and won’t tolerate the current culture at The Arsenal that 4th place is a trophy and there is no (financial) value in winning the domestic cups. If the worst happens against Fenerbache and it goes horribly wrong against Tottenham, then it could be carnage for Wenger and maybe no way back. Chris Hudson, I salute you sir. Up The Arsenal!

99. Will
    Proper posters post their own thoughts and not use others work to make a statement. If you liked what that article had to say, post comment+link it.

100. @walter/untold towers

     Will does it again

     August 18, 2013 at 2:49 pm
     Cut’n’pasted from ‘Gare K’ post no.40389
     http://www.onlinegooner.com/article.php?section=editorial&id=439#.UhDSEZBwaaw

     Sad!

101. Gunz, grow up and stop acting like a prick…ohh sir sir he copy n paste …6uxkin pathetic loser. Have not got a leg to stand on now that your dear lord wenger is about to be lynched by the arsenal fiathful

102. @paul

     LOL!

103. I was under the influence that we cannot afford to lose Wenger’s experience at this time,in such a short space of time espescially with no suitable replacements.But after his most recent comments about “We cannot find the right players”,I want him gone no matter what.I don’t care if steve Bould takes over for an interim period.He is so deluded,and he is not only lying to the fans but himself too.The most hurting part is to see Quality players likke Lloris,Dembele,Verthongen,Paulinho and most importantly soldado,all of whom who could have done a great deal to our team have joined our main rivals.What Gazidis and Wenger have done to Arsenal is not only unacceptable but unforgivable.The have disgraced Arsenal,and us fans have allowed it to happen.

104. Please, let’s not have the cringeworthy ‘Open letter to ….’ starting happening again. I have no problem with people having an opinion but it really is sad, pathetic and embarrasing when these are published online and I bet most of them are not actually sent to the club anyway.

105. From the files of the Medical Division of UA from ,

     http://www.wolfescape.com/Humour/MedJokes.htm

     1) Wait a minute , doesn’t this remind you of …..

     Who to call …. The Proctologist or The Ophthalmologist??

     A man with a glass eye had been out for a night on the town. Being the worst for wear, when he stumbled into bed, he dropped his glass eye into his drinking water on the bed table. During the night, he drank the water and swallowed the eye.

     A day or so later he was suffering from severe constipation, so he went to his local M.D. The doctor inserted his proctoscope and muttered under his breath, “Good grief, I’ve looked up plenty of assholes before, but this is the first one to ever look back at me.”

     2)Just change the names to people that creep/rile/upset/humour you and it becomes funny ! It was for me . G’night lads !

     What’s the difference between a physician, a surgeon, a psychiatrist, and a pathologist ?

     The physician knows everything and does nothing.
     The surgeon knows nothing and does everything.
     The psychiatrist knows nothing and does nothing.
     The pathologist knows everything, but always a week too late

106. @ Stuart – Opps ! Had posted a copy of my e-mail sent to the club on the previous post .It was not delivered so I resent it to Ivan Gazidis .
     I wasn’t sure if anyone at the club would read it here though!
     Cheers !

107. The core of the team is very solid; Koscielny, Sagna, Gibbs, Monreal, Arteta, Ramsey, Wilshere, Rosicky, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jenkinson, Szczesny, Podolski, Cazorla, Giroud, Vermaelen, Mertesacker.
     However, we need a couple of world class players. It shouldn’t be that hard. Bring in 1 and others see we mean business. 1-2 true world class players per year and use the promising youth for quantity. 3 years down the road and we’ll have bought ~5 world class players plus the players that are already at the club.

108. @Gooner S

     Agree 100% with what you say. Wenger stands up and has to take all the flak but he does not run everything at the club and never has. The Board spent time feuding amongst themselves over shares when they should have been planning for taking us forward post-Emirates. They then sold out to an absentee owner and now there is a void at the top with no strategic direction and drive. All top clubs have top men (not the manager) to negotiate transfers, often the chairman himself, but not us apparently.

     Wenger has plugged up the leaks, not created them, and I’m sure that simply replacing him will not make it better.

109. Brickfields,
     There’s nothing wrong with showing support but I find these open letters to Ivan Gazidis etc to be quite sad and embarrassing. There were so many of them last year, I felt ashamed to be associated with these people.

110. A once truly magnificent club is actually going down like a sinking ship. All this is because of Wenger and the mercenary board. After watching the post match interview of Wenger, I finally gave up on him leading us to any success in the near future because of his egoness, his reluctance on spending and his STUPID replies back to the questions that has been asked to him. Wenger has actually lost the plot and we fans are the one suffering. If this situation continues, forget about champions league, we will be finding it tough to even compete for a Europa league place in the coming years! We have to put an end to this. Who is Arsenal without their fans. We are the voice of our club and we have to act, NOW! I suggest we boycott matches to hit the board where it pains the most. Come on Gonners. ACT NOW

111. Unless Wenger comes through with the goods (he still has about 14 days), there is a better than even chance of a real assault on the current regime. And it appears that the touch-paper will be lit, not (as I fondly imagined) by the AST, but by the BSM. In their open latter to Gazidis, they claim to be the largest supporters group and the fastest growing. If they receive an unsatisfactory reply (or, more likely, NO reply), it seems they will have no alternative other than to bite the bullet and adopt the ultimate sanction: a boycott. What happens next will depend on results: if Fenerbahce dispose of us, if Spurs beat us, then the absentees will increase of their own accord. Picket lines of protesters may form, so even those who want to attend may be deterred. If BSM are true to their principles, firing Wenger won’t be enough. They will insist on cast-iron guarantees, either from Kroenke or – if he goes – from Usmanov. A year of turmoil, yes – but well worth it if fan-power finally wins the day.

112. Quite an embarrassment really Paul. And the BSM claim to be for the club.

113. Paul,
     This is a quote from the BSM website:-

     “I get a lot of stuff thrown my way on Twitter demanding we take action against the Manager, and it generally follows this theme: “Do a Wenger Out protest, do a Wenger Out protest!” … “Why are you refusing to do a Wenger Out protest?” … “When will you wake up and protest against Wenger?” … “Do a Wenger Out protest!!!!” … “Raaaaahhhhh!!!!!!”.

     However, our position has always been clear. You want a Wenger Out protest? Arrange one yourself.”

     Doesn’t look like they would be arranging picket lines etc… Unless of course they go back on their word.

114. Not an embarrassment, in fact lunatics like you are a joke. So the results from the weekend man u, Liverpool, spuds, Chelsea and arsenal…. Who’s the odd one out?

115. If public outbursts are not embarrassing, you need to re-assess your morals. No need to start with the petty insults either, I’m not a lunatic (infact my Twitter profile states clearly I am a retired lunatic) and I’m not a joke, I’m real and deadly serious.

116. I see that apart from no one has suggested a name of a manager who could take over from Arsene except Will ( who suggest Jupp Heynkes, but he may have pinched that idea from someone else given his track record). The reality is that AW is our manager and has 2 weeks to reinforce the team. It’s necessary and it’s possible so lets hope he does and the oars support him.

     Will’s abusive retorts to some posters to my mind shows the real quality of the ‘man/boy’ so I would suggest we ignore him.

     Paul, organise your own boycott if you choose or let someone else use your season ticket. Supporting a football,club is like a marriage, it’s rarely a bowl of cherries and you have to be in it for life, in sickness and in health. Easy to support a team that’s top of the league and winning every week, not so hard when the chips are down. Do you want a divorce or are you prepared to try Relate?

     Peace fellow Gooners.

117. Arsene said the refereeing problem is a “deep problem”.

     I guess by that he means it’s not a simple problem, whereby crap refs get disciplined and chucked into lower leagues.

     A deep problem.

     Fracking is a deep problem.

     Fracking and the PGMOL…..I guess that makes Arsenal Balcombe Wanderers?

118. I’ll like you all to check out this article by Julien Durand. Makes sense for good reading.

     thespotkick.com/2013/08/19/out-of-my-arse-shut-up-you-entitled-brats/

119. Lanre,

     Thanks for that link. Quite a contextual look at the whole picture.

     But isn’t blaming AW for not “spending the fucking money” much simpler? To be honest, the ref actually did some of our ‘fans’ a huge favour as they have always been clamouring for a loss to prove their point.

     My take: it’s 1 game out of 38 in the league. We have a couple of such every season. I feel very positive based on our performance before the ref started handing the goals to Villa. We’ll be alright.

120. Thanks Lanre, thats a link to a level headed article.

121. In reply to blacksheep63
     There comes a time when you are fed with saying as well as witnessing the same recurrent foolishness and lack of vision from both Wenger and his brigade.
     Possibly it has not occurred to you that if we do not start by replacing him, we would not know the outcome.OR rather if i understand your point it is better to go on with this shit as it is too late to look for someone else. How long should we wait? Oh ,until the end of the league, then we go back to square one!
     On the other hand am i paid to look for a replacement for Wenger ? or is that AFC has a board to handle this stuff. But one thing is sure, HE IS HOPELESS, he will never learn anything, if not from his previous mistakes: blind and senile. It is high time to dump your hero who is past his expiry date. We have to replace him, even if that means trying several other coaches till we reach success again. Tht is the only way to go forward. Hell can’t u see that we are not moving in the right direction with him.
     I have been supporting the club for more than 40 years , nobody ( i mean other coaches) have debitted so many lies,innacuracies, wrong strength assessment. Wenger is unable to see how we are so often torn apart through long crosses, the defensive frailties, the lack of caracter of his teams. He used to play with 2 defensive midfielders through Viera and Petit. Now it is the contrary ,we play without anyone sitting in front of our defense because he needs extra firepower to palliate for the deficiencies of Podolski and Giroud specially.
     Not buying quality or even quantity is criminal, it is cheating on the fans.
     Words are not enough to describe my aversion of that litte old liar, even insults are not enough. This goes for AKBs’ also.

122. Great article

     @Paul etc

     “It’s alright to be angry, but don’t be an entitled, aggressive knob.”

123. Just my thought Bootoomee. It’s just one game out of 38 and many more. Man Utd lost the first game of last season, still went on to win with enough points.
     I have been always been a regular here on Untold but prefers to read and learn. Both sensible and idiotic comments. I am an AKB, and I am not shy or afraid to say it. I trust that man. Doesn’t mean I don’t question his decisions. One thing that still baffles me is why someone would want something or someone he claims to love to fail so as to justify he is right.
     As you said Bootoomee, we will be alright.

124. ‘The reality is that AW is our manager and has 2 weeks to reinforce the team’.
     This only shows how bad he is as a manager. After months his dithering once again made him look like a clown. The whole world knew the squad was threadbare and could see this coming.
     I don’t feel sorry for Wenger and can’t take this ‘get behind the manager’ seriously.
     Managers staying too long are a bad thing. Ferguson was an exception but Wenger doesn’t have the same winning mentality and capacity to reinvent himself. Wenger belongs to the late 90’s. He couldn’t adapt to the things on and off the pitch and he should be held accountable for his own mistakes and failures.
     I’m tired of people making pathetic excuses for him. Why do they want to prolong the pain? This isn’t good for the club at all.
     Arsenal is losing its appeal as a top club. No top player will want to play under Wenger. And as long the French manager stays, Arsenal will slip further and further behind the leading clubs.
     A new direction is necessary. Arsenal needs a manager with fresh ideas and other methods. Someone who can try. Wenger is too complacent to leave his comfort zone. As such the fans will be destined to see the same things happening over and over again.
     I hope the toupee wearing guy is not stupid to offer Wenger a new contract. Even if he doesn’t care about ‘soccer’ he surely can see the damage to Arsenal brand.

125. Lanre,

     I will never understand their thinking. It’s so pathetic that I wonder if they have anything good going on in their lives. I am as saddened as any other gooner when we get poor results but my way of dealing with such disappointments is to temporarily shift focus to other aspects of my life and interests. I always feel better. Always!

     When I see people post about football clubs that they claim to support such vile invectives on the Internet, I just really wonder about their sanity and personal lives. It’s only a game. It should be one of your many interests. Anyone who makes the outcomes of the actions of another entity (e.g. Arsenal’s football matches) the sole purpose of their existence has only one person to blame for the despondency that days like yesterday may bring: themselves!

126. It’s pretty bad when you find yourself longing for the days of Alex Song. We are a joke at the moment, this transfer window was a disaster. I genuinely believe the board/Wenger were willing to spend money but their ridiculous valuations of players and short sightedness stopped them doing so. Now we are going to make some awful panic buys, most likely. We should have just taken Higuain at £35m, or Jovetic. We also should have signed a couple of young defensive players like Kurt Zouma or Kjaer, and we DEFINITELY should have signed Gustavo and Bernard. We could have snapped up Gustavo and Bernard so easily, both of them wanted to come here, as did Higuain. What an absolute disastrous shambles. I’m going to find it very hard to watch this season. The best we can hope for now is Ashley Williams and a few panic bought nobody attackers. We could even do with the likes of Bentdner, Denilson, Mannone, Park etc back in our squad. I’m usually one of the more optimistic Arsenal fans on here but this is really bad.

127. It seems some usual posters can now only moronically hurl abuse at Wenger. Anybody who doesn’t agree with their Wenger-out mantra is labelled an AKB is now getting similar abuse.

     Well I think there are many like me, possibly a majority, who care passionately about the club and are concerned about many aspects of where we are the day, but aren’t AKB’s.

     Many things certainly need to change, and maybe Wenger eventually leaving may be one of them. But believing that there is a silver bullet for today’s issues in sacking the manager now is naive in the extreme.

     Repeating the same drivel post after post doesn’t make an argument more relevant or more incisive.

128. I’ve been trying to form words in response to the article and other people who have commented here. In few words I will say these
     1. The referee was and is and will always be a disgrace to the football world.
     2. We didn’t lose the match because of lack of signings, the team yesterday was capable to achieve that but due to 1 above.
     3. Even Messi wouldn’t have helped yesterday.
     4. That we lost the first game doesn’t mean we’ve lost the league.
     5. Don’t lose hope, keep hope alive. Support the team come what may. That’s what we are expected to do.
     Remember, the artiste that performs first will always be an onlooker later on during the ceremony!
     We are the ARSENAL! We will be BACK!!!!

129. @ Liam, we couldn’t have got Bernard as our league does not allow 3rd party ownership of players. His first move to Europe was always going to be to a more minor league to further showcase his talent ahead of a mega move (providing he proves to be that good) to give the investors the big pay day they invest for.

     Besides, if Messi had been in our team yesterday we would still have been done over, unlike spuds who were handed it – watch Holloway’s press conference on bbc website.

130. Based on yesterdays performance, we need to SPEND BIG!!!! Forget suarez rooney etc etc. use every cent of the so called 70m warchest on the only transfer that will guarantee us trophies. Yes gentlemen, we need to buy mike riley now. Farkin muppetz

131. @ soglorious, spot on, others just want to use it as a stick to beat Wenger’s with.
     Could have done with Le Coq though..

132. When will people stop pretending is all down to one game? Have they lived in a cave for the last five years?

133. If Messi had been in Arsenal team yesterday he would be shocked by how bad Wenger is. No tactics, no game plan, poor subs and many average players with no desire to win.
     If a team like Villa could rip through the midfield and defense so easily at home, imagine when Arsenal play against a top team. The thought of this is really scaring.

134. @ soglorious

     I think you covered everything I felt about the game.

     Also, anyone else get the fealing that Villa’s 3rd goal was a bit off-side?
     http://i40.tinypic.com/v4asth.jpg

     COYG!

135. @ Sperez, I was at the game, and I watched it again this morning and regardless of any views on Wenger, we were robbed by the ref.

     His job is to send out a team to try and get 3 points, and he sent out a team capable of this.

     Now, I’m not sitting here saying we couldn’t have improved our team – Sczcesny is just not good enough, despite us wanting him to be, and we need cover for Arteta, and another striker, and I’m very annoyed that we haven’t signed them so far.

     The board need to get out there and support their manager 100% and take the flak they deserve for f**king around bargain hunting instead of just getting the business done; Wenger has given them the targets before the summer started, it’s their job to get the players, and they are currently failing miserably.

     Wenger does not hold the cash, that is the finance director, backed by Gazidis and monitored by Mr Chips – a common misconception, nor does he negotiate for players – he may meet them but the negotiations, finances and contracts are done by Dick Law’s team, again overseen by Mr Gazidis.

     As for being tactically bereft, he reorgainsed down to 10 men and we still had a go and shots on target, as per Barca when a certain goalkeeper got sent off for handling in the area.

136. The ref was a gooner going out his way to ensure Wenger’s position at the club becomes untenable.

     I suppose the current regime were responsible for the sales of Petit, Overmars and Anelka.

137. i will never understand how a gooner can be hoping that we get knocked out of the champions league? lose more in the league etc because of a personal vendetta against wenger or the board. and its a sentiment that im coming across with alarming frequency.

     im not happy with the lack of signings. especially because i dont have insider knowledge, it all seems extra strange that we havent. whats going on?! surely we could and should have signed some players? whats the problem? and because i have no insight of whats going on, and its all the more frustrating, but with that in mind, i also have no right to bitch and moan about things i have no concrete knowledge of….certainly us fans are in a shitty position, chasing rumors and trying to appease our wildest hopes but remaining very much in the dark.

     i also sometimes disagree with the tactics or substitutions wenger uses/makes. i think this its possibly an aspect of his management he could improve on or be assisted with. but who am i to say?

     however, i have great respect for the man; what hes done for the club over the years, his philosophy and desire to create art and entertainment through his football, his respect for his players, and his general desire in life to aspire to something more. even when im upset with his decisions my respect for him overall doesnt allow me to insult him.

     but even in those moments, where im screeming at my TV for him to do this or that, or when i see a player i like move to another team and i cant understand why we didnt sign him…even in those moments where theres more curses than sense coming out of my mouth…i always want arsenal to win, i always want to see an arsenal goal, the players celebrating with the fans, that warm feeling i get after a victory…

     when the team plays poorly, when everything is going wrong, when we fail….my desire to see arsenal win again, celebrate again becomes stronger…its obsessive.

     how the F#&k? can you spend so much time on arsenal websites, in forums and with friends…thinking and talking about arsenal and lose that burning desire to see the arsenal score a goal, win, celebrate?

     who cares about the board, the manager, signings, money, rumors, hyperbolic media, bent refs…in that moment of excruciating joy from a beautiful goal? or a game won?

     sometimes i get pissed, actually any time we dont win i get pissed and for that matter an awful lot in between. but i dont think i will ever tire of seeing us scoring and winning…

     so regardless of the future, or my feelings about the board or manager…i hope we win by 5 goals on wed, because that will make me happpy…and really, why else am i here?

138. @ Johnl, you are the man.

139. Patrick Vieira speaking in June 2001:

     Vieira’s Highbury feud turns ugly

     Arsenal were meeting today to decide their response to Patrick Vieira’s extraordinary attack on the club’s board, his team-mates and Arsene Wenger’s summer signings.The Frenchman is demanding to leave Highbury but the board are believed to be ready for a legal battle with Vieira to hold him to his contract, which does not expire until 2004. The club know that, in World Cup Finals year, the one good card they have to play is the threat of banishing Vieira to the sidelines.The 25-year-old’s reported comments today inflamed an already tense stand-off. He said: “I need to leave because I want to win more trophies and I just cannot see that happening at Arsenal. Certainly not over the next few years, anyway. Comparing Arsenal to the big clubs in Europe this season is going to be quite ridiculous.”I do not honestly see Arsenal finishing in the top five in the league – and you can forget the Champions League.”Arsenal wished to keep their star player happy by launching a summer spending spree but Vieira dismissed the signings of Francis Jeffers, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and probably Richard Wright.”When I told Arsene Wenger I was leaving, he said to me, ‘I have £25million to spend on a few players’. My answer was, ‘Obviously, Mr Wenger, you are not shopping in Harrods. That will only buy you one good player.’ Now I have been proved right. Arsene Wenger has signed two hopeful players who haven’t proved themselves in the Premiership yet. One of them is a boy of 20.”You can’t compete with the best clubs in Europe by making these kind of signings. Arsene Wenger is an ambitious manager and he knows deep in his heart that he needs five world-class players to compete among the best in Europe.”With £25million in the kitty, Arsenal is not a great European club. With that budget they won’t even be among the top 20 clubs in Europe.”Fellow Frenchmen Robert Pires, Thierry Henry, Sylvain Wiltord and Gilles Grimandi have urged Vieira to remain at Highbury, but the midfielder criticised his team-mates, saying: “I have given 100 per cent to Arsenal over the last five years. They have only been there for a year or so. They have won nothing with Arsenal. They should stay and try to win things for the club before they open their mouths. My message to these players is that they have their lives and I have mine.”  

140. Wenger evaluates the player and he is renowned for his dithering. If he doesn’t see value for money he won’t buy a player.
     David Dein said Wenger was too indecisive when it comes to spend. When Arsenal was trying to sign Reyes(I believe the Spaniard was the player in question) Dein had to hide from Wenger the fact the price went up a bit because he was afraid the French manager could quit.
     Dein also said recently that Wenger would never pay the going rate for a world class player. He said Wenger was a teacher who likes to develop players.
     Since Dein left, Wenger has been given too much power.
     The Project Youth is Wenger’s idea. So don’t put the blame on others because Wenger has been deluded himself into thinking he still has the ability to make top class players.
     I believe Kroenke has to share the blame. Arsenal would have annual losses were it not for the sale of their best players. So, Kroenke has been ok with the asset-stripping policy to make profits but Wenger is complicit in all this. If Wenger had any self-respect he would have walked years ago. Instead he spouts excuses and lies to protect himself. He doesn’t like to be accountable. He seems to enjoy the power to toy with the team. He wants to live his Cruyff dream. The problem is he’s incompetent to achieve success with his own policies. (Youth Project, faith in second rate players, outdated approach in the transfer market, abysmal socialist wage structure, etc.)

     As I said this is not down to one game.
     Wenger’s tactical ineptitude could be seen over the years. There’s a reason he couldn’t deliver for almost a decade. He’s finished. He failed. Time to go.

141. John L, Soglorious, robl & gunz,

     Same here men, same here! I still remember that 8-2 at OT. We came 3rd that season. Yesterday was a sad day for Gooners but we’re better than that result. Wednesday will be a good day.

     Like you, I intend to keep the faith and support my team!

142. @ Sperez,

     That’s the whole point of the board as overseers – they will all know the targets and it is their job to make it happen regardless of what value Wenger ascribes to a player. That’s what boards are there for, if they don’t then they are not doing their job and need to be replaced by people with bigger nadgers.

143. I don’t think the board trust Wenger’s judgment and who can blame them after he’s sold most of our best players.

144. Well it’s all going on now!!!

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gSFEaI4HdA

145. The board needs to be replaced by football people but Wenger has to go. In fact, the first to go should be Wenger.

146. @Sperez

     Are you that delightful chap in the youtube link I posted?

147. And do not forget it was not Gazidis or Kroenke (who remained silent) who spouted utter bullsh*t like ‘This team can challenge for the title even without signings’.

148. No, I’m watching that guy now. Thanks for the link.

149. @ Sperez, it was Gazidis that told the world we had an enormous pile of cash, so charge us what you want.

     What was Wenger supposed to say about the team he was putting out due to the gross incompetence of the board in signing his targets? You’ll all crap and I have no faith in you.

150. sperez,

     i dont think you can take everything that wenger says at face value. when he says that ‘this team can challenge without signings’ it doesnt mean he thinks we dont need improvements, i think the list of players weve been linked to says the manager has identified a need. it could be simply that hes trying to motivate and build the confidence of the players we currently have.

     realistically, doesnt he have to say something along those lines? i think i would be more worried if our manager was coming out at the beginning of the season and telling his players that they ‘just arent good enough, and will surely fail’. as a player im not sure i would find that particularly inspiring….

151. Walter, it is nice to see someone who has read the Herbert Chapman’s periscope on football!

     Certain “rent a ranter” seem to be drawn to Untold Arsenal, to display their contempt for The Arsenal. They make-up comments that have never been said, by the individuals concerned. They distort the facts, such as Mr Wenger has too much control!

     The London Metropolitan University had a report entitled “Arsenal Business Cases”. Paul Kitchen with some others, was embedded in Highbury House in the early days of the engagement of Ivan Gazidis in 2009.

     We are told that all eight Divisions are answerable to the Board of Directors. This includes the playing operations at Arsenal, including Arséne Wenger, the players, coaching staff.

     We are further told that the playing side is deemed to be a separate entity to the other departments as it is solely involved in playing and does not concern itself with the other seven departments.

     The Playing Operations have 6 sections, including Players, Coaches, Scouts.

     The main reason for the distinction is to keep the playing side, at “arm’s length” and separate from the Bond Holders’ Agreement.

     The seven other departments are (or were), stadium management, finance, IT, box office, press office, commercial and community.

     The Departmental Managers of the seven divisions, are responsible to the Board of Directors, and NOT repeat NOT to Mr Arséne Wenger.

     That is your lot!

     Like me, most of you will wonder, what do the press office do?

152. In 6 months time when clubs small large and great are going bankrupt across the board, this guy will feel very foolish.

     Wenger has never squandered money, if he can help it, and in the long run his prudence will stack up.

     To be honest I don’t really understand how the Arsenal board runs, and none of the ranters like Sperez have enlightened me.

     Ultimately the whole football model in Britain is obsolete really anyhow. This guy is going nuts when surely if he doesn’t like the product, don’t buy it. Don’t buy a ticket. Because that is all English Football is – a product, and a very shabby one these days.

     If he was German supporter with a financial investment in his club, he could attend a shareholder’s meeting, and make his points. And if he was truly unhappy, then he could sell his shares. Problem solved. Hernia averted, aneurysm put on hold.

153. What all this farce does prove is that Wenger can’t manage a football team on a limited budget.

154. @gunz

     Not offside for 3rd goal. He was in his own half when the pass was made.

155. Notoverthehill at 9:31 pm

     Great post. Is that study available? Would you know the link it were available?

     Thanks

156. Do you really believe Suarez is a Wenger kind of player? Wenger didn’t buy top players in the past to protect his project youth.
     He didn’t buy Alonso because this would kill Denilson.
     Gazidis said money was available. Two things to consider.
     1. Gazidis said this to put pressure on Wenger. There’s money but Wenger sticks to his guns buying no player worth mentioning. After all he wants to prove his doubters wrong.
     2. Gazidis lied. The money is not available for Wenger and if this is the case and Wenger is being shafted by the board then why doesn’t he do the honorable thing.Resign and tell the world how greedy Kroenke is?
     As I said Wenger has too much power at Arsenal. Tell me other top club that allow the manager to implement the wage policy? Wenger himself told the socialist wage model was his idea and the board has allowed this.
     Wenger has power and earns £7.5m a year. Power and money corrupt.

157. Notoverthehill

     I’ve found it and downloaded it, thanks

158. I’ll give you a stat Arsenal failed to beat a top 3 side last season and only won 2 games against a top 7 side and one of those victories came against a ten man Spurs

159. Wenger interview, seems pretty level headed to me.

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwAZevwmlWk

160. @Sperez

     1) Wenger has bought top players. Fabregas, Van Persie, Walcott, Cazorla, Kozcielny,

     and I’ve probably missed a few.

     2) Wenger has preferred not to buy top players because they ramp up the overall wage structure. If your top player demands 200,000 plus, the rest of the team will demand more.

     3) Arsenal have already bid 40 million for Suarez. The money is there now and AW is prepared now to spend.

     The real problem is STATUS

     Arsenal are a third class club in a second class league. It is very hard for Arsenal to actually attract players these days.

     The EPL is in decline, and Arsenal are highly loathed within the EPL. They are not an attractive prospect. That is the core problem.

161. You say buy,buy,buy. Who sould I buy? That’s your job you’re the manager who has 30 years experience,which you take great pleasure in reminding us.The fan base is split we need a leader to bring the club back together.Is Wenger that man? Who really thinks things are right at the club? Who has been really disappointed so far in the transfer window? What needs to be done to get things moving in the right direction?

162. Sperez,
     Re your comment : “2. Gazidis lied. The money is not available for Wenger and if this is the case and Wenger is being shafted by the board then why doesn’t he do the honorable thing.Resign and tell the world how greedy Kroenke is?”

     If this is the case, maybe he feels it is too late for him to start again elsewhere. We all have dreams and ambitions. Why should he think like you? That certainly wouldn’t have got him into top flight football that’s for sure.

163. Nothing to do with STATUS Chelsea and Man City have no STATUS it’s all about how serious you are in the transfer market.
     Putting a bid in is not the same as spending.

164. Here’s another stat;

     Arsenal were the only team to win against Bayern Munich in the Allianz arena last season. Also the only team to stop Bayern from scoring at home.

     Remember Bayern Munich were the dominant team in Europe last season.

     What does this prove. Nothing

165. Nice one Tasos.

166. Chelsea and Man City have a lot of status.

     Man U have much higher status than Arsenal, which is the nub of the matter.

     That is why players like Ronaldo ended up at Man U.
     Smalling ended up at Man U. I am sure the list is endless of players who have opted for Man U because it has greater status, i.e. it is a BIGGER CLUB

     Players always want to go to A BIGGER CLUB

     Liverpool have tried to halt the Suarez move by claiming they are a bigger club than Arsenal, i.e. have more status.

     Various things define what is a bigger club, or what creates the perception that a club is a big club.

     Perhaps the key ingredient is the greater chance of success offered by moving to that club.

     RVP went to Man U because he wanted to win the league.

     The only way these days to break into the monopoly of the “big clubs”, [Real/Barca/Man U (just) ] is with money (Man C, Chelsea – which means a very rich proprietor )

     or with a very good development model, and some talent to nurture. Bayern have done just that recently. Arsenal have tried the same thing, but been thwarted by a monopolized English football system, which has thwarted them from reaching the goals they probably deserved to have reached.

167. @marcus

     True. The EPL is in decline. How many top players have joined in this transfer market?

     Cavani, Gotze & Falcao have all chosen not to join whilst plenty of other up and coming talent don’t appear interested. Maybe they realise the corrupt nature of the league now?

     And with every club receiving more TV money than ever before it does seem strange that no English club has been able to attract the very top talent anymore.

168. Arsenal were the front runners for Ronaldo’s signature until Man Utd came and offered to treble Ronaldo’s wages.

169. @ Stuart

     Well if he loves the club as much as he says he does he would do what was best for the club.

170. All things being equal no top player would choose Man Utd over Arsenal unless they were mercenaries.

171. @Dialsquare

     Man U offered 3X what we offered in wages…

     At this point the conversation gets difficult.I don’t know the ins and outs of Man U’s finances, or of Arsenals.

     What I do know is that Real Madrid are massively massively in debt, live on handouts from the Spanish state, which is itself totally and utterly bankrupt….

     and still they are offering 105million for Gareth Bale.

     This is a completely mad world, and so far Arsene Wenger looks pretty sane in this loony world. Eventually bubbles will burst. What happens to planet football God only knows, but I wager that within 12 months, this is all going to end very badly for an awful lot of clubs.

172. David Moyes or Arsene Wenger?

     Who has the greater respec/profile in Europe?

     I doubt many European or World players will know who Moyes is. That’s not meant to be a cheap shot at Moyes, just a statement of fact.

173. Dialsquare

     Ronaldo signed for Manu due to Porto becoming a feeder club.

174. Arsenal made Wenger who heard of Wenger before he came to Arsenal.
     All the tabloids were running with the headline: Arsene Who?

175. dan

     Get your facts right Man Utd signed Ronaldo from Sporting Lisbon.

176. True but that wasn’t the question.

     Although Arsene Wenger may have been an unkown when he arrived in England he was well enough known in Europe to attract the likes of Patrick Vieira straight away.

177. Read my earlier post on Patrick vieira

178. @slugboy
     Thanks!

179. Yes I’ve read that post and it makes interesting reading although I fail to recognize its significance.

     In the period just after 2001 Arsenal became the dominate force in English football. Vieira maybe came to regret his words when you consider what the club went on to achieve under his captaincy.

180. You call 2002-2004 as being a dominate force in English football?

181. Arsenal became dominant, invincible in fact, during that period, yes. Not sure how you would define dominant but not losing a single league game, that pretty much does it for me.

     Besides Vieira also went on to say he was going to leave the club that year (2001) but he never did.

182. I would rather have back to back Titles than an invincible year.

183. That’s your choice. Back to back titles has been proven to be extremely tough but invincibility takes something special.

     I’m sure there are are many other fans out there who must crave at the thought of it. Invincible or back to back Premier League titles.

184. 165 comments so far on this topic, many of them just the usual clap trap repeated ad nauseum from the same old negative sources (sperez, dialsquare, the rust guy) nothing to offer but abuse and criticism. At one stage it used to be mildly amusing to keep one or two of these guys around, a bit like taking in a stray mongrel out of pity. Now we seem to have attracted a whole pack of these mutts, all yapping and barking relentlessly to no particular purpose apart from being a nuisance. The window has 2 weeks or so to go, if/when we do sign somebody, you can be sure the mutts will howl that it’s the wrong man or the wrong price or the wrong day of the week to sign him on. It’s gonna be a long fortnight on Untold.
     Tony/Walter, how about we put some of these into boarding kennels for the duration of the window and allow UA return to being a positive place for genuine Arsenal fans? Maybe we could keep Danno, sometimes he seems almost human (albeit a very angry, stupid human). Sort of the UA family pooch who could just drool and chew his toy and occasionally fetch sticks to amuse us?
     Roll on Sept 3rd.

185. Dec,

     That’s why I’m kind of on a ‘sabbatical’ right now. The negative nellies got their hearts’ desire yesterday and I knew immediately that Untold will be unbearable for some days.

     I’ll just sit out the shit-storm as I don’t have the patience to address these guys. Let them entertain themselves with the repetitive bullshit.

186. I watched the game about 18 hours after watching a Bunuel movie, and Anthony Taylor provided a far more surrealistic scenario to the show.
     Anthony Taylor for an academy award, please.
     The injuries are also his responsibility: by not giving fouls, yellow cards, red cards, and penalties to punish the Villains, he encouraged rough play and indirectly the injuries suffered by the two full backs.

187. Spot on, the article that is. I think Arsenal sorely misses Arteta. Remember when we signed Arteta, most people were like ‘oh! trolley dash’, ‘Average player from a mid-table team’,’no international caps’ etc. Now without him, Arsenal is incomplete and imbalanced. However, we should also not forget why Arteta signed for Arsenal: the promise of a CL football. Now wednesday we are arriving at a point when without him, its gonna be difficult to win or atleast get a draw with an away goal because its the same team that played the first PL match. And we are going to show the same imbalance unless AW does something tactically different. I doubt there really is a replacement for Arteta. That said, maybe we could bring in someone who can play a deep lying mid.

     On another note Gibbs is playing wednesday, according to his brother’s twitter a/c.

188. Dialsquare @ 11:08pm: Ever heard of AS Monaco in the early nineties? The “Arsene who” line was a mock, the guy had won the French League and went to the CWC final in 1992. Check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AS_Monaco, and Arsene’s Wikipedia page too. In the Internet days, there is no more excuse for ignorance:)

189. I had heard of Wenger before he went to Arsenal. I was a huge fan of George Weah when he was at PSG and knew Wenger had previously signed him from Liberia to Monaco. Also knew he was doing wonders in Japan, and had a great eye for talent.

190. By the way here is a short video of the penalty shout involving Per Mertesacker and an Aston Villa player who climbed on the BFG’s back and rode him like a pony:
     https://hotfile.com/dl/240387805/b493f66/BFG_pen.avi.html

191. Nice to see the regulars back and in support .Cheers guys!
     Thought you’d like a laugh ; and before someone asks what this post has to do with this article , let me just say that its all in the title –

     WAIT TWO WEEKS AND ALL WILL BE RESOLVED

     There was an Indian who went to China and when he was there he had a lot of sex and never used a condom during his entire stay.
     Then he returned to India and one morning he woke up and noticed bright green and purple dots on his penis. The man freaked out. He went to the doctor.
     The doctor said “I have never seen anything like this before. We will need to run some tests.” So they ran some tests and he said come back in 3 days for your test results.
     The man came back in 3 days and the doctor said “I have some bad news. You have a disease called pongolion HP. It is very uncommon here and we know little about it. I’m sorry sir but we will need to amputate your penis.”
     The man was horrified.
     He went to a Chinese doctor thinking he would know more about it. The doctor said “Oh yes, pongolion HP, very rare. Yes.” said the Chinese Doctor.
     ” The Indian doctor wants to amputate my penis”.
     “Stupid Indian doctah, make more money that way, no need amputate.”
     “Oh thank god.” said the man.
     “Yes, wait 2 weeks, it fall off by itself.”

192. @ Jonny Deigh – Very clear in more way than one ! But not to blind refs !

193. @Brickfields Gunners – And the one on Wilshere when it 2-1 was just as bad, but Anthony Taylor didn’t want to know.

194. @Dialsquare

     “What all this farce does prove is that Wenger can’t manage a football team on a limited budget”

     I’ve read most of your replies. Some I agree with, most I don’t. But the quote above is just plain silly. Get some perspective…please. You are refering to an Arsenal manager that has qualified AFC for the champions league upteen years in row, cups and league wins and you write that. For most of the years that Wenger has been in charge it was at Highbury. During this time and in recent years we were punching above our weight collectively from a finacial perspective compared with the likes of Man Utd. He deserves a little respect even if you dont agree with what he is doing.

195. @Gooner S – spot on regarding your reply about Wenger managing on a limited budget. To me, this is the manager’s forte especially when you look at the club making a transfer surplus over the last 10 years.

     The difficulty he seems to be having is making the transition to a manager of a club that wants to attract top quality players (not top potential quality).

     Back in the period 1998-2003 when he spent more freely, he targeted players with something to prove (i.e. Overmars, Henry, Vieira, Campbell) rather than the clasic big name players, but that market just doesn’t exist any more as more clubs are able to take a chance on those players and just sideline them if it doesn’t come off.

196. Wow the shitholes are here again one game and we are dead morons. it is only arsenal you deluded sewer rats who have gone a league unbeaten if you need a reminder as always we will be there. If anyone wana bet lets bet 300 pounds.

197. Blackfields Gunners I like your stories this time around you made me cry at the same time crying. Give us more.

198. @Ray from Norfolk, Virginia.

     You put it in a nutshell – well said.

     Yes, Anthony Taylor is responsible for our injuries.

     Is Arsenal Football Club going to call him out on it?

     Go on, AFC, stick up for the players, stick up for the manager.

199. We really need some perspective here, we lost to very bad refereing an empty bench and a lack of balance in d middle. The last 2 are our own fault and its someone’s responsibility. As much as we all (used) to love Wenger, we should not gloss over his apparent shortcomings, he can’t change d market by swimming in d opposite direction. We have lost many players cos of his narrow mindedness. Where we are now its either he adapts and changes or we move on without him. We fans have been ridiculed and tortured enuf especially when its obvious that our problems are 90% self inflicted.

200. Walter
     The other things that went wrong is the fact that Wenger has lost his touch. U were first to post an article here blaming our failure on the Ref. U came back later and highlighted other things that went wrong and left the most important. How do you explain to the fans that you released 17 players and brought one. Explain to the fans how we got only 11 players fit and u did not deam it necessary to buy. Explain how u did not find any player for 3months. We bidded for Mata and Chelsea overpayed i understand that, but for clubs like Napoli, Wolforburg (I hope an correct with the spelling) and others to over-bid arsenal is a shame. What went wrong is that Wenger gamble again as he used to do and it did not work, the ref is another one. Take care of little things and big things will take care of itself is how they say it. You can now understand why some arsenal fans wish for arsenal to lose matches or for some players to get injured because that is the only thing that pushes wenger to spend. I do not support such fans but the reality proves that they are correct.
     If Sagna had killed himself or broke his spinal cord, that guilt would have been on Wenger for the rest of his life.
     Arsenal is like a car that has break failure and some fans are trying to see how to stop the vehicle while others are trying to figure out what to do after the vehicle has been stopped. AKB belongs to the latter and AAA to the former.