By Phil Gregory
Our Arsenal travel over to Stamford Bridge looking to put a disappointing home defeat behind them. Any trip to Chelsea is always a tricky affair to negotiate, but on the back of the United defeat many would no doubt prefer an easier tie to allow confidence to be rebuilt.
The cards however, have been dealt. Let us hope that the United result serves to motivate our team to reestablish their title credentials. I myself still believe this team can be top come May, but a put-down to all the doubters would be much appreciated.
On the key-men front, Chelsea’s threat is obvious: Didier Drogba. The Ivorian has an unfortunately impressive scoring record against us, and the Gallas-Vermaelen partnership will have to up their game from a below-par display when Chelsea visited the Emirates.
Essien is a loss for them, but they have strength in depth in the middle of the park; with players such as Ballack and Deco capable of coming in for the injured Ghanian. Belletti and Bosingwa, the rightbacks, are both on the treatment table too, so Ivanovic will continue at rightback for Ancelotti’s side.
With Eduardo Da Silva out, we will most likely have Arshavin leading the line against Chelsea. Diaby is rated a maybe, with Campbell back in contention. These sort of games are the ones where the difference between sides can only be slight, and yet slight differences can lead to a victory for one side, and three points to the loser’s zero.
We are naturally hit harder by this than most sides due to our injuries, and Robin Van Persie is a big loss in these tight games. One only has to look at his contribution during our last trip to Stamford Bridge to realise this.
But deal with it we must, so I’d expect to see an Arshavin, Nasri, Rosicky frontline, with the latter two out wide. We showed against United we can create chances against anyone, we just lacked someone to get on the end of them. Perhaps Niklas Bendtner will be that man, with his recent substitute appearances serving to improve his match fitness. The Dane may even start, I wouldn’t like to make a prediction either way.
Without further ado, line-up:
Almunia
Sagna Gallas Vermaelen Clichy
Song
Fabregas Denilson/Diaby
Rosicky Arshavin Nasri
With likely substitutes to include Eboue, Bendtner, Ramsey, Campbell, Silvestre et al.
The first-choice back five are available, and many eyes are likely to be on Clichy who has struggled for form since his return from injury. Chelsea don’t play with widemen per se, but expect Anelka and Malouda to drift wide from their original central berths.
Diaby’s physicality would be welcome in this tie, though he may have to settle for a bench role even if he is passed fit. Brazilian Denilson is more likely to partner Fabregas in midfield, here’s to hoping for one of his thirty yard strikes to silence the Bridge. More likely will be his usual composed passing game, providing an easy option for Song and create space with one-twos in the middle.
Arshavin won’t be winning the knockdowns against Terry and co, but he can beat them on the ground. We all know what the Russian can do, and many forget he has been playing injured for much of the season. Nasri and Rosicky will keep possession and create chances, with the Czech in particular showing increasing end product too.
It’s going to be tough this one and I don’t think anyone would be fooled into thinking that we are favourites. That said, there are plenty of positives to be drawn. I see us capable of winning the midfield battle: Mikel has poor passing for a holding player, and is much, much more limited than Song, while Essien’s athleticism will be badly missed. Lampard is a quality player, but much like Fabregas won’t physically dominate the area. The England international will need to be closely marshalled by Song.
I’m expecting us to have much more joy down their righthand side, Ivanovic has played well when called upon but I still feel he can be a weak link that we can exploit. We will score goals as long as the balls go to feet: in the home leg, there were far too many crosses. This was partly due to a difficulty in creating chances through the middle. This was partly due to Essien’s marshalling of the midfield, perhaps in his absence we will have more luck.
2-1 to the Arsenal, and boy do I hope I’m right.
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- Post-endthought: the headline of this article is ironic. There’s always someone who doesn’t get irony so I have to explain.
My heart bleeds as I fear we’ll lose this game again!
I’d love to see a win but it’s not going to happen, Chelsea will have seen how poor Clichy is playing at the moment and they’ll be all over him.
Plus they will have noticed how insecure our keeper is about coming out for high crosses.
My main concern though is our 4-3-3 formation it just doesn’t work against teams like United or Chelsea, both those teams have very strong midfields and are quick on the counter, with a 4-3-3 our main attacking threats are too far back to mount any kind of quick counter against teams with such well orgainzed defence.
Nasri, Rosicky, Arshavin spend too much time trying to defend, and doing a crap job too, to be effective on the break.
It’s time to take a risk and completely change tactics, Chelsea are too good at reading threats from other teams and are too well organized to keep trying this formation. 4-4-2 is what we need now.
Almunia
Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy
Rosicky, Song, Fabregas, Nasri
Arshavin
Bendtner
This formation would give us stability in midfield, Fabregas has come a long way with his defensive duties and this would allow the two on the wings to play box to box without being exposed. Arshavin would be allowed to play his favoured role and Bendtner would act as a targetman to win high balls and hold the ball.
Switch Nasri for Walcott late on and have a front three of Walcott, Bendtner and Arshavin, would be a drastic tactical change that would be very difficult to defend. Hopefully Vermalen and Gallas will stay put too and not go on forward runs, Song doesn’t have the pace to effectively cover Drogba or Anelka.
The comment above reflects a growing theme in comments here and in other blogs… Arsenal under Wenger do not change, while all the other teams do.
In this case the argument is that Chelsea will see the problems of Clichy and react to that, but Arsenal just keep doing the same old thing.
The problem with this analysis is that there is no evidence for it apart from that based on opinion rather than fact. In the match against Man U at the Ems Wenger changed the whole format and arrangement of the team in a way none of us had ever seen before. I don’t know if it was mentioned on TV, but sitting at the match behind the goal Arsenal attacked in the second half, we found ourselves watching a totally new experimental format.
If you have been watching Arsenal from the start of this season (let alone for the rest of the century) you will see how Wenger has come up with all sorts of experimental strategies.
Yet somehow these are air-brushed out of history, and instead we have statements about “Lightweight Denilson” and how Wenger’s insistence on playing him reveals his intransigence. (I know this was not mentioned in the email above, I am trying to widen the point here).
I don’t see anything in the current set-up to suggest that Wenger is less liable to change than any other manager – in fact the absolute reverse is true. But because this statement is made over and over again on the anti-Wengerian blogs and in the press, it is believed.
It is the same old problem – say it enough and everyone takes it to be axiomatic, even when the facts and stats don’t show this to be so.
I’m not anti-Wenger nor am I of the opinion that he doesn’t change formations, in fact we play such a fluid style that the starting formation is not very often adhered to by the players on the pitch, as was the case with United and with Chelsea at the emirates. We regularly play a match in which you could argue we rarely have a set formation.
This in my view is a mistake agains teams like those two that can pounce immediately on any player out of position. If you look at how Hull or Birmingham et al or any of the other teams that were able to contain and even beat these teams, they played a style of hard pressing and close marking, closed the gaps and switched from defence to attack and back again with unity of formation with players rarely out of position, while unimaginitive and not pretty to watch, it frustrates and it works.
Most of all though, we need to figure out a way of containing Drogba, he’s always proved too much for us, he knows exactly how to exploit us.
Bendtner WILL score today!!!
Phil – I am happy to see in your predictions/prognostications you haven’t fallen into the self-inflicted trap created by the scapegoaters who claim to be bloggers in support of Arsenal FC. Having failed to acknowledge that Denilson has been rushed back to the 1st team after two back injuries, (BACK INJURIES no less) which have obviously affected his performance compared to last year, they are now placing all their hopes for a victory over Chelsea on Diaby who is also returnee from injury. Apart from the the fact that Diaby is being set up to fail, this is just another case of failing to put our defeats in any balance perspective. They have been due to collective rather than individual failings. But this is too complicated for the scapegoaters.
The truth is we are an attack-minded team. Our 4-3-3 set up was designed to break down teams who in the past were content to park the bus with 10-men behind the ball, conceding the midfield to our passing game and throttling us in the final third with the hope of nicking a goal from set play or a defensive mistake. It is also our weakness and was our undoing against ManU. As Tony observed our set-up vs ManU was unique and different, something that was not obvious to me from the TV screen.
As AW observed, we simply have to play our game, not worry about Chelsea’s. This I understand to mean that we will learn from our mistakes and weaknesses. Having observed AW for the past five years, he will certainly not throw Denilson or any player under the bus as a scapegoat for any defeat. Too bad for the scapegoaters, but then they now have Diaby where they want him. Hmmm.
I would have liked to see Bendtner and Diaby in the first 11, but since its not going to happen, i will cross my fingers for a draw. Chelski’s phyical attributes will be too much for Denilson et al. However, if we started with Eboue to exploit one wing, Nasri to exploit the other, and then in the second half withdraw Eboue for Theo, then we might have a chance.
Good article, Phil.
I can’t see Diaby starting either – I think he is more likely to be on the bench. I wonder if Eboue might start on the right of attack, to provide some powerful direct running? Wenger has done that before. But if Diaby IS fit, to start…someone else suggested this formation, which again Wenger has gone for before.
Almunia
Sagna Gallas Vermaelen Clichy
Song Denilson
Rosicky Fabregas Diaby
Arshavin (would have been Bendtner if he’d been fit).
What do you think of that? I think it needs Bendtner for it to work.
@ Tony
Absolutely. Sometimes it frightens me that people can be so impervious to facts.
Just saw Mike Dean is the ref… already one penalty down..?
Make no mistake gents, this is a an enormous game. This is money-burners vs frugality, corruption versus honesty, Wengerball versus win at all costs.
Lets hope we see a put down to all our doubters. Arsenal!
Theo and Denilson start. Wenger seemingly going for more penentration with the pacy Walcott starting in place of Rosicky. Should be interesting, we all know what Theo is capable of. C’mon Theo, silence some doubters!
Diaby!!! is back!!!
sorry if iam incorrect but was alumunia saving his face at drogba’s shot???if that so then maybe he shud hide it forever…wenger shud get rid of him for now….he’s not in mental condition to keep for arsenal…
arshavin plz play even if u want to move on…
ugh. we played so well that half. yet it’s 0-2.
come on you gunners!!! please prove to me that good guys do win.
sad.
This is life.
We got caught twice. We tried our best but we didn’t take our chances when they came.
Drogba did and this was the only difference between the two teams. They had their top striker in the team, our best striker is out and we slowly are paying the price for this.
watch ur back….liv coming hard and fast…
i saw lots of positives in this match. obviously the final score wasnt great, but its obvious that walcott is improving since coming back from injury. his tracking back and defensive plays were excellent. diaby looked assured and will soon be back on form. clichy had a much better match than last time. we had the majority of possession mostly in their half.
i am sure that critic will be pulling his hair out but hes probably a spud anyway. liverpool at home next week will bring more improvements and maybe even some points. its true that we are missing rvp, and that he will probably get fit just in time to get injured in south africa, but the season is far from over. we have the spuds away and city at home to worry about, but apart from those, the rest of the epl season looks fairly tidy.
we are back in europe in 10 days and that is another front we can attack.
chin up all you d&gers, it might never happen.
I think this was a much better performance. And going by this, I would say, we should be able to beat the teams now that we come up next. Its more like in the past few matches, we were caught on the downward trajectory of performance. Looking at today’s performance, its updawards again, and we should be able to win our way through. However, just that the result today leaves very little in our hands for the title.. we will again be dependent on Chelsea/ManU dropping points. 🙁
I also saw a lot to be positive about. The difference again was Drogba. When Bentner is one tentgh as good as him I might begin to listen to what the lad says till then he ought to shut up. Overall though we played some good footy as usual and are only 2 players short of a brilliant side.
Simon, you just spoiled a big part of what I have just sent to Tony for an article on the site.
I had the same conclusion as you had after the game and wrote it up. We had them nailed on their goal in the second half and well they can defend that is for sure. But the only thing they had to show after the game was a brillant defence and we must admit it a brillant striker.
sorry dude
Better than the previous week.More people getting fitter after injury.I believe that we will start winning now.We do however need to keep the trio of Fab,Song and Diaby fit.A top 3 finish is a must.I think we have one more season left to win the league or C.League or Fab will be off,and i think Lord W. will follow on his own accord.
Aluminia and Bendtners days are numbered.Keep the faith.
It must haunt AW, and trouble the hagiographers like Tony, that he never snapped up Didi for £200,000 when he had the chance.
It was surreal to see the unwaivering support for Terry.. I feel bad for England. Anyone who supports him need to do a gut check. On another note; time is on Arsenal’s side..As the old legends move on Lamps, Didier and others disgrace themselves (John Terry) it is refreshing to see the youth of Arsenal start to realize the future. There is definately room for improvement on this Arsenal side but not from anywhere but inside themselves. Maturity is on its way. You can see the baton being passed on from Legend to superstar by once BIG players like Lamps who are fading. Cesc’s frustrations are evident now but he is not battling what Didier, Lamps, Drogba, Terry, Cole, Cole, Carvahlo, Belleti, Anelka,Malouda & the numerous coaches Chelsea- Age. It’s God’s way of saying your time is up. That’s what I saw today! It was Arsenal’s innocence being shed and Chelsea’s last gasp at success. It may be that Chelsea will win the title this year but what is for sure this is their last shot for some years. Arsenal are heading down a path a stardome and barring a few “oldies” (Gallas, Almunia, Rosicky, Sivestre) Prime playing careers are about to explode. You see wht I saw was Malouda purposely head Verminator in his eye. I saw Drogba follow and hack down Cesc. I saw Lampard tackle Walcott from behind. WHat we have not seen and it’s coming is the last laugh. The last laugh is the power of when a young man becomes a man…and we are going to see them over the next few years. So go ahead you D&G’s and you posers distract and be distracted. We are on course!
PS did I miss something in regards to Bendtner? He came on the 72nd minute looked good! How is this his last game or making his days numbered?
from wikipedia
The term “hagiographic” has also been used as a pejorative reference to the works of biographers and historians perceived to be uncritical or “reverential” to their subject.
mark, we see nothing negative in our all out support for arsene and arsenal so if you think that its an insult, you are very much mistaken.
@Mark,
My response was unprompted to your unthoughtful remarks however should be sufficient. But, I must say your dig at Tony makes you are marked man in terms of genuineness of a true supporter. I will look at you as a nasty unthoughtful scoundrel. I will call you a “poser”.
My son Ben came home as he had watched the game in his girlsfriend home and who’s dad is a Chelsea fan. He, the Chelsea fan, said that the only difference between the 2 teams was Drogba and that Arsenal played very well and gave Chelsea a lot of troubles and that we kept Chelsea very quiet for most part of the game.
So over here a lot of credit from a Chelsea fan over here.
I bet the tune in the media will be: Chelsea was the best just because they won. And I have no link with madame Soleil. 😉
No problem Simon it just shows that we had the same impression on the game.
What can you say. Arsene’s choreography, his ballet rehearsals, and his ballerinas. He planned his choreography and he rehearsed it with his ballerinas all week in ballet rehearsal. Then he set his ballerinas out for their performance and hoped for the best.
Hartwick89
Top post!
I enjoyed Ivanovic bouncing off Bendtner. Walcott’s defending when not fully match fit was another highlight.
Although that won’t stop the hordes from claiming that the team that lies third (nearly won the league two years ago, CL SF last year)in the table doesn’t know how to defend.
Ah! Ok, I see now….in the land of free opinions, we are not really allowed an opinion. Funny how enlightenment fades, and one dogma merely replaces another.
A “poser” Hartwick89….?
I am not sure what the party line on the blog is:
Adoration?
Adulation?
Blind adoration
or Worship?
For my own part, I put myself in the category of very respectful,
very respectful of AW and his achievements. Clearly the lack of a cultist mentality is a worrying development for you.
But the facts remain, and as Benitez once said, let’s have facts, not opinions.
The facts are that AW passed over DD at £.2 Million.
The fact is that Arsene, like most great people, has blind spots.
The fact is that in the greater scheme of things we are on the up and up.
In this forum I have witnessed opinions and disagreement but there is clear intent with your statements. You have read the creation of this Blog and what it is all about? You clearly crossed a line with no clear debate in mind. I believe the belief here is in the Manager and his tactics and creator makes no bones about it…What you did was try to make them both out to be less than that… So nothing like an “I’m sorry for that or what I meant to say was” I actually had to look up the term and it was offensive to the Manager & Creator of this site….. Poser
And who the fuck are you when the cat’s out?
I am no one & No problems here just found a site with mostly dissent people that I like but on occasion certain comments were below the belt….. yours being outrageous. So that’s it. Nice language by the way.
Woke up about an hour ago, and I’m trying to get work done. Slept better than the week before, that’s for sure. Probably because Arsenal played well. But damn, still sad cause i hate Chelsea so much.
To me, two players were the difference: Cech and Drogba. Cech had complete command of the box. Any lesser goalkeeper would’ve conceded at least 2. (Yes, I understand that this is not the most insightful of comments, as anyone with eyes would have probably said the same thing…)
One player who stood out for me was Nasri: I thought his ball control and movement were fantastic.
Hopefully a win vs. Liverpool will help boost morale.
@Mark and Hartwick89 — I’m a historian (er…will be one if this dissertation ever gets done), and “hagiography” is not a term thrown around lightly. But people have different interpretations and inflections of words, especially in different contexts (like, I think, in this case, where the word choice was tinged with anger and frayed emotions after another loss).
What I mean to say is: take a deep breath and calm down! I enjoy reading your comments, and I’m sad you guys are taking personal swipes at each other.
I’m glad you liked it.
I had no idea the blog was so proprietorial.
I enjoy the blog because it’s upbeat, and has some great posts. Tony has had me rolling on the floor a few times.
But I take issue with the idea that Arsene is some kind of infallible polymath.
If you set Arsene up as that, or worse as some kind of god, you set him and yourself up for a fall.
Arsene knows best? A lot of the time, maybe, but in the matter of Didier Drogba, clearly not!
In Arsene we trust?
Not me, I trust in God!
There’s no point playing at the 3 monkeys all the time.
There are problems for Arsene , and he has admitted some of themt.
He is probably wondering whether Arshavin is a liability. he bought a marksman and he seems to have ended up with a sniper.
Over the summer AW will probably review certain personnel – and try and iron out one or two deficiencies.
But in the general scheme of things , I think this team is poised to excel.
Maybe the point i am driving at, and which you have driven me to express is this:
There is all this hyperbolic language that floats around Arsene, but if you asked himself how he sees himself he would probably just say:
” I am an ordinary guy doing my job.
I work hard, I am very self-disciplined, I believe in the virtues of hard work, discipline, team work etc. And I get results.”
We all come on this blog and deplore the fact that some gooners don’t seem to understand the methods and vision of Arsene. They squeal at the first loss because they apparently lack critical faculties amognst other things.
But if the blog is titled “supporting The Lord Wenger in all that he does”, that equally implies a lack of critical thinking.
this kind of language is no less hyperbolic than the Arsene knows best language.
All of this language and way of thinking is I believe at the root of the problems.
If Arsene is really so omniscient, then the D and G ers are right, we should be winning the EPL year in year out.
the language around Arsene has created all these unrealistic beliefs and aspirations.
Its no wonder people get upset when Arsenal lose……if Arsene walks on water as his party trick, you’d think he would find time to arrange the small inconveniences of winning footballl matches.
Mark,
Seriously, you had me at “It”. That was your first post in this write-up… After that I was reminded of the rhetoric I clicked away from site after site. Like I said before and I will put it in its proper context now are you ready? Go! “Mark
February 7th, 2010 at 8:59 pm
It must haunt AW, and trouble the hagiographers like Tony, that he never snapped up Didi for £200,000 when he had the chance.”
My response, “Hartwick89
February 7th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
@Mark,
My response was unprompted to your unthoughtful remarks however should be sufficient. But, I must say your dig at Tony makes you are marked man in terms of genuineness of a true supporter. I will look at you as a nasty unthoughtful scoundrel. I will call you a “poser”.
I thinkwhat you wrote in the context of this: Arsene is revered as a to Tony and most individuals who read his site. But, Arsene is a fool because he could have had Didi for pennies on the dollar and instead of Arsenal losing today they would have won.
Do I have it right? or still out of context?
As for me not being critical of Wenger why don’t you hang around and read some of my criticisms of the sacred Wenger.
PS you are hung up on something you really lack understanding of “Lord Wenger” is how would you say a satiric term. A lot of what’s on this site is based on Satire, humor, and other entertaining qualities.
lol, I would never say Arsene is a fool Hart.
My feelings in plain English are these:
I think Arsene probably kicks himself for not buying Drogba when he had the chance.
And he would never so say publicly, but if he writes his autobiography when he retires, I suspect that for all the bravado about “Drogba not contributing anything to the game”, Wenger will probably say “I really missed a trick by not signing Drogba”.
How can he not? Drogba is a superb player, maybe not as lissom as Torres, but built like an inside centre, and perfect for the EPL. And not just that, he’s a total competitor.
It’s one thing to pick a jaffa like Jeffers. You probably just laugh and move on.
But to miss out on a player like Drogba ….that must seriously hurt!
So you get all this obsequiousness to the all-knowing wisdom of AW, the cool cerebral Frenchman who learnt football management under Martin Heidegger, and inside the poor guy is just a seething
mass of inconsistencies like anyone else!
Its not as bad as the guy who didn’t sign the Beatles, but it is painful, it must be painful for Arsene.
Anyway, its no big deal, but if we are being ultra-critical, we could wonder if Arsene always picks players built for the EPL.
Drogba and RVP may be equivalent talents, but if RVP is continually injured he will never be able to develop properly as a player.
Re the supporting the Lord Wenger – is it satiric though Hart?
Is it really satiric?
I think the site is unequivocal in the fact that it does support Arsene, unequivocally support him as far as I am aware.
I think people get too hung up on the greatnesss of Arsene.
I am not saying he isn’t great, because he is clearly staggeringly talented.
But at the end of the day, he is only as good as the 11 players who set foot on the pitch.
Sometime only as good as the 11th best player on the pitch , cough cough – no names no role call.
I mean pack drill.
A couple of points first; It’s no mistake that you used the term hagiographer. If retracted well we have no argument apology accepted.
Second, Arsene probably had more bargains than you care to ever know that he did not sign but equal to that would be the signings he did sign Veira & Thierry Why did you not give him credit for those… But in this world we deal with who plays in red and who does not.
Lastly, “people” may be hung up on Wenger. Not me but, I like him as a manager and wouldn’t replace him for any current manager. Because if that was done well what would Arsenal look like? MIOU? Chelsea (Who haven’t won a thing but Carling Cup & FA for 3 years), Real Madrid. That’s what I guess we are on about. Arsene is the all in one manager He wins titles, He keeps club profitable, and he has vision for the club(not himself).
OH by the way my first point was RVP will still be scoring while Drogba is long gone! AGe does hit even the Legends!
I wasn’t planning to retract the term.
Like I said, as long as people mythologize Wenger, then others will de-mythologize him.
I prefer a healthier balance than that.
I am also find it strange that you feel insulted by a term applied to someone else.
Its not like Tony is your Dad.
6 defeats 2 against Manu 2 agains KGB Fulham one against Manchester Arab
that means something is gravely wrong and we have won nothing for the last 6 years we should have reached puberty by now something is missing which we are not addressing we need to win some domestic trophies to learn the art of winning Chelsea will buy again this summer and we will be battered by “BATTLE HARDENED” CHELSEA MANU AND EVEN LIVERPOOL NEXT YEAR
and i dont’t think song is the answer to essien fletcher and ,I SINCERELY hope he proves me wrong getting rid of bendtner and almunia is a must
Arsenal are my favourite clunb as i started football with Arsenal not to learn economics we deserve better
Quote Mourinho
“I always leave teams set up for future years, because I always leave excellent working conditions and structures for those who arrive.
“But if my place is in danger after having won the league and with me leading it again and having qualified for the Champions League, imagine what it’s like for those who cyclically fail to meet their objectives.”
He doesn’t know Arsenal
Mourinho is a tosser. He was lucky Wenger didn’t take him to court for his defamatory remarks.
Furthermore Mourinho was set an objective by his paymaster, namely to play attractive football, that he was unable to meet.That is why he was jettisoned.He was too cautious.
Wenger is anything but cautious. He is almost gung-ho sometimes.
That is why I support Arsenal. Its more fun, as long as you accept the downs with the ups.
Mourinho reminds me of the Pakistani batsman who went out to bat on his debut. Runs were needed fast, so Imran Khan told him to swing the bat. He didn’t, instead he plodded away for a slow 50. He came in full of himself, and Imran Khan never picked him again.
Wenger constructs a team for others to savour, Mourinho constructed a team as his pet ego project,i.e. for his own CV.
Mourinho came and went, Wenger endures. Go figure.
But in the end we deserve some success don’t we ,you didn’t savored our 1-0 win against Fulham!!.I am not saying we should be boring Chelsea But we haven’t scored agaisnt Chelsea this season and u cant savor that.
Out team is full of similar type of players .
We have artists but no artisans
Mourinho is a great coach—that’s what he is.
Wenger is a great manager.
The game last night showed 2 things to me:
– We can compete with all teams despite people’s claims. Just like the next trophy, the next win against those teams is the biggest hurdle which the players have to surpass. I know we didn’t win but just think if our players made the chances count, we clearly had many more chances to score.
– You want criticism about Wenger? I’ll give you this: I realm think Clichy is not ready. The way he defended (or lack of) Park’s and last night second goal was so bad. I know Traore is maybe too raw to be thrown into big games but I feel Clichy is playing with no confidence whatsoever. Almunia too should be rested. The way he stopped and stood still with that expression on his face at drogba’s free kick was telling enough. If Wenger was prepared to drop Lehman after 2 bad mistakes then I think it’s time to do the same to Almunia. The young goalie(s) maybe too raw now but they at least will play with more confidence.
The loss was a big blow but what I can do now is looking forward to the next game.
And who can say this team won’t win another title? Anything CAN still happen and CL is 7 games away to be won.
I just wish the players come to read the comments in the site and know that a big part of supporters always believe in them no matter what.
His stance is a bit like that of Don Corleone’s in the God Father. The Don didn’t want to move into the drugs trade as he deemed it a ‘dirty business’. Wenger sees spending money in the same way, yet misses the flaw in his argument. Luring other clubs teenagers to Arsenal with the offer of huge wages before they sign a pro contract with the club that schooled them is equally immoral. Preaching values in a valueless industry that you’re a part of is futile. It’s growing tiresome.
hmm…nice comment kushagra….very nice…it’s immoral al right….
Its from Le groan ,pun intended
@mark….what rubbish…..titles are not won by playing beautiful all the time and carefree all the time…u need to be dirty sometime specially against big teams…this blog is overly positive…tony shud rename this blog “hiding wenger’s mistake” rather than “untold arsenal”….
I have a house. It’s a big and rather splendid house with a notable history. But for the past few years, every time it rains, water comes pouring in. It has damaged many things in the house. My family and all of my friends and neighbors have told me that the roof is leaking. But I am not so sure. They have told me that, if I don’t get the roof fixed, then the water will start eating away at the very fabric of the house and after a while the whole building could collapse. I am not convinced. I have the money to fix the roof but I believe in my roof. It has great strength and maturity. When your roof is leaking, paying an accomplished builder from outside to fix it is not always the answer. I believe that my roof will fix itself. If not then a small tin of sealant will do the job.
Getting some material from other blogs insightful
nice, nice……
@kuhsagra…
getting rid of bendtner???? are u serious?? he was beginning to look like a good striker before he got injured…he is gonna improve, he’s the only one at arwenal that can hold ball up….r ur crazy….song not in the league of essien b’coz essien is the best dm available…..but song still is very very good…well alumunia needs a break…