By Walter Broeckx
Well this wasn’t our best day today.
You could see and feel from the first minutes that half of the team was still celebrating our victory at WHL and the other where checking their list to see if they had everything packed for the visit to Belgrade next Tuesday.
As a result only Nasri really turned up and had a good game in my opinion. But he couldn’t find many players on the same wavelength today.
Was it any coincidence that Almunia had a bad day? Or was it because the team, for the first time this season, was not defending like we have done in the previous games. Then the whole team defended but now a few players were totally not involved in the game. I think it is obvious that the first 2 substitutes show who I mean.
Diaby and Eboue had their worst game in a very long time and as a result we lost the battle in midfield and couldn’t build up like we are used to do. And because we couldn’t keep the ball and the off day of some players our defenders were left alone for a large part. The midfield didn’t pick up the runners from WBA and they capitalised on that.
I really do wonder if Diaby was fully fit. He moved very slowly over the pitch and it looked that he was in trouble physically. Off course we cannot know what was decided on Friday but if the medical staff found he was fit and the player also, they should reconsider their opinion. He could have been medically fit but I think he was not match fit. By medical fit I mean that you can run and turn on the training field but that is not the same as running and turning when you are being attacked and you have to track back on the tempo the opponents are giving you. I can understand that if the medical staff tells the player is fit that Wenger started him. It could have been useful to give him playing time to get him back on tracks but it went wrong.
Eboue was also having a bad day. He also had a test on Friday and maybe he had the same problem. He missed a lot of passes, looked slow and didn’t find his place on the field. But here also, he never looked at ease during the game today.
These are the things that can happen to a player and certainly when you just come back from injury. Sometimes you just step in and continue how you had been playing before the injury and sometimes you need more time. I think it was obvious the latter in Diaby’s case this time. Nasri has been an example of the first option. But as a manager you never know what will happen.
I think that Wenger has played them both with an eye on Tuesday. I think that on Tuesday he will start with almost the team that was played at the end but with Koscielny still on the field. I think he wanted to give them a game today so that he could rest Wilshere who had been playing a lot until now and also Rosicky who was doubtful before the game. It didn’t work out as both Diaby and Eboue played not at their best. This can happen.
And maybe the rest of the team also can try to keep in mind that you need to do more than just walk on the field to win the game. For the first time this season we didn’t fight and play with the whole team and it showed in the final result.
Now I must say that when the game was lost and we were 3-0 down we finally started doing what we should have been done from the start. I think that Wenger will have a serious word with the players that started today and point at this.
We can feel let down by the team today but this will not mean that I will shoot our players down. Or write them off. This is just part of being a supporter. And by no mean don’t think that I am saying that any of these players is not good enough. They have shown enough that they can do it. But as they are only humans this can happen.
But I do hope that we get some important players back as soon as possible. I’m not using our injury list as an excuse as I do think the players who started the game should have been capable of winning it. And I also hope that the players are more focussed on what they have to do next time around.
This is the first defeat of the season since we started it on July 17. So it is always a bit sour but we just have to stand up, dust ourselves off, and start again. And show that we are The Arsenal.
And if defeat hurts us
On a rare and seldom day
We will not desert you
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I agree with most of the post – with one exception: we didn’t start playing when we were 3-0 down; we started playing when Jack was introduced for Diaby.
In my humble opinion, and yes, I know we all sport AW here, me too – every single one of us saw the kind of bad day Diaby was having. It can happen. The sub was to be made at half time. Eboue was not having a great day, not really contributing, but at least he wasn’t ruining our game like Diaby. People say Song isn’t the same as last year – I don’t agree. I think he’s still doing a great job for us and for some games (even without Cesc) you could see that with Song and Jack, trying to cross the middle of the park is like crossing a minefield.
Remember when Eboue was having his worst game for us? AW subbed him after 20 minutes. He survived that moment and became a much better player. No player should be extended the grace that Diaby was extended, as it hurts the team. He should have gone to the bench earlier, and I’m sure he would have come back stronger.
No matter how much we want Arsenal to win every game, to collect every Cup, at the end of the day it is only games of football. Let us all remember that and get our priorities right.
I think we have started to feel the full impact of the injuries we have. Without Van Persie, Walcott, Cesc and Vermaelen, we might win one or two games but in the long run, we lose out where we shudn’t. The more dreadful fact it that we have to face Chelsea next week and if we lose, we’ll be 7 points behind them. And we might be facing them without the above mentioned players. I dont think we are progressing much. We still suffer in the long run. We still have half of our team injured. Is it just bad luck or is it our players or is it our fitness staff that our players get injured so easily?? For how many years will Arsenal continue to tread thru the same path??
Honestly, i’ve always believed that most of our players dont do justice to Wenger’s managing talent. They have to step up. If not, then they have to be replaced.
Diaby really did not look right from the start. The defence were not protected. And this could have a horrendous effect on Almunias confidence.I guess Wenger had reason to believe Diaby was fully recovered but at times like this, Cescs broken leg in the CL after the injury in the Brum game, and Gallas’s brief appearance in the Barca game, I do sometimes wonder if our medics are up to scratch – or maybe our injury situation leads to players being rushed back early.
This site is carrying out an informative record on injuries vs those of other teams, seems to me like we are pretty much top of the injury table week in week out and have been for a while.
The point has been made about the age of many of our players relating to the injuries.
To cut to the chase, we were poor yesterday, W Brom deserve credit but to me , looks like yet another game where injuries have hit us, along with a couple of keeper mistakes
We have finished 6 games out which we won 3, drew 2 and lost 1…if we continue like this then we’ll be lookin at our season as 19 wins, 13 draws and 6 losses…which adds up to 70 points. And that will never help us win the league. Infact, we might struggle to reach top 4.
We may perform better than this, but we hav already lost 7 points this season, out which 5 points could have been easily saved. And its just 6 games in. I think thats a really sad. I hope our players understand that its not about just this one game, but if occasionally, they lose such easy games then we’ll be again losing the title by 8-10 points. Our players should learn the meaning of the word ‘CONSISTENCY’!!
Not poor Arsenal but poor Wenger. Wenger working hardly but the players left him in disappointment.
Seriously,I cannot accept this lose.But gunners must go on.Although we lost yesterday but luckily M.U draw with bolton and chelsea lost with M.City.
Hope Fabregas will play on next week Game.
We should win against Chelsea next week.It is important.
all of u are rong and just stop bleming any one in the team, if Arsene him self he can’t blem any players either. Why I am say this: “it because me and u, Arsene and players we think is a simple game just walking in the peach and collect 3poits and +- 5goals, we was over comfedence and nothing in life u do with over comfedence to get 100%” ok come on Gunners, we loose the game end the story and let be a good looser I can see some of u want Arsene out? Who will replace him? Sory guys Arsene is our father no one he can replace his father.
i feel you dark prince. winning is about consistency. my brother left our group because of that.he said arsenal will never be consistent and that was three years ago. we seem to think we can just trot around and win games. see chelsea and man u as a test case. even when they lose, you can see that they fight from min 1.
up gunners!!!!
thing is my voice is less sure.
give szczesny more game time..almunia is always almunia..and please not fabianski..AW has to admit his mistake of fielding 3 ‘not too’ creative midfielder-diaby is not fit though but i still don’t think he is more creative than denilson.maybe AW get too excited of declared club profit before..
bad 1st eleven + bad gk = 3-0 loss..at homeground..careless play..no urgency. chelsea? not too convincing with many 1st team player injured..title? still early to conclude..CL?we should concentrate more on EPL as CL is an away match..goalkeeper? no gk is perfect nowadays so we just stick to whatever we got.lol
I for one certainly do not want Wenger out Salim, hopefully not many on this site do either! Agree with you one one thing – you cannot replace Wenger, he is a one off for this club
Arsenal had 28 Shots (including 2 goals & three woodwork) & 65% possession & 451 passes completed & 92 missed the mark & 27 tackles won & 35 tackles lost & 14 interceptions & West Brom had 52 clearances & 9 Blocks & 35% possession & 8 shots including (3 goals & 2 of which were gifts & 1 missed penalty) & 221 completed & 59 unsuccessful…
I just want everyone to see these numbers before emotions and faulty recollections start to come in… I think Tony had it right a couple of articles ago when he said on an yother day we may have tapped in at least one of those…
@Mandy did u follow all this site coments from suterday game? oh, just let me quite, enough is enough
Salim,
Your spelling makes it difficult to understand your perspective? Sorry Cosmojim another random question mark.
i agree… i used to take defeats badly before… i am surprisingly feeling much better than i used too.. maybe because other results also helped… ? haha…
but still .. wenger himself couldn’t understand… you see there is no point blaming wenger.. as he knows the quality of these players as we have seen in all are previous games… it was top notch… we were winning almost every game we played before this…. so the players were same… just somehow we all had off days… no sync… and wenger cant possibly do anything about it!
it was almost like you buy something.. it works great for a long time….and then one day it crashes! it stops working… so you call the technical department. they fix the stuff… and then it starts working again…! haha
All I see here is a bunch of excuses, we were at home, I believe the carling cup team would have won that game.
the players need to have a good look at themselves, they took their opponents too likely and thought they just had to turn up to win.
Another typical week in being an arsenal supporter.
please AW go for the carling cup
Right that’s it! No more Almunia, no more Flapianski, no more excuses. What happened yesterday could be for the best as now even AW will have to admit that neither first or second keeper are good enough to win anything.
Clichy looks drunk, always out of position. Gibbs get fit soon please.
Song looks like a granny with that blue rinse, a shadow of the lion we saw last season.
Diaby? It’s always a lottery as to which Diaby will turn up.
Eboue is not all there let’s be honest he is a bit bonkers and can’t pass it 5 yards.
Arshavin is so good that even with his half arsed attitude he still contributes but he must despair at the muppets around him.
Give that big mouth Szszszeszszsny a go or Manone I don’t care but no more talk of world class in the same sentence as Manuel or Flappy.
nicky, honestly mate, if you think it’s only a game maybe you should follow netball or something, that really is only a game.
By the way shouldn’t you be off doing some charity work rather that moralising on this website where proper supporters are looking for some succour. Look it up, it’s only a word.
re. Tone
I’ve supported Arsenal since the middle 1930’s, much longer than you.
When or if you reach my age, you will hopefully have the sense to put things in their proper perspective. Football is a GAME not a war and it is morons like you who cause so much aggro in what is basically a GAME. There is nothing shameful about charity work but there is about bigotry…..look the word up.
Well said Nicky, I am only a few years behind you and agree totally.
Hey Mick and Nicky,
We all owe you a great depth of gratittude and love! To read that you are supporters from the 30’s I bow down and say now that is awesome. Have you ever heard of an Arsenal trialist name Richard “Dick” Bartley? He is my uncle who was on trial for Arsenal who made the team pre-WW2 and was injured in combat so couldn’t play.
PS. I would love to see an article from both in regards to anything because I would love to read it! Perspective from great men is always a good thing!
AA, I disagree with the stats side of things these players just put in little or no effort and were a huge let down to everyone who believes in them.
I think there was a lack of urgency, I still support Almunia 100%. I have seen lehman and David Seaman make many mistakes worse than Almunia and he made about 6 good saves saturday also.
It was not the second goal that cost us.
These players can take a long hard look in the mirror if cesc ever leaves it will be because of how nonchalantly they strolled around with 0 effort on some occasions not taking the opposition seriously.
RedGooner,
Yes and agreed 3-2 to WBA is what it is! Not possible… But, the stats remind us of what can be claimed if anything at all. I think the stats balance short term vs. long term accomplishments. If you look for example at ManIOU today you would see the stats would compliment the score… Arsenal well you would have to dig a little deeper, as we all have, to understand the why’s. I believe it comes down to as Wenger says we were “flat” and as you have said accurately we lacked effort. I believe, though, with a little luck the posts would have been vastly diff’t. I also believe if we were a Stoke with the stats we had Sat. The headline would be Stoke deserved at least 1 point… But, the score was what it was. And in football you win by passion and love over the competition not by stats alone.
its time to stop paying manuel and lukas 40 or 50 grand a week
@Arsene Apprentice- Stats do not win you the game. Also, almost in every match, Arsenal have better stats than their opponents. That doesn’t mean we have won anything. Even against Chelsea and United last year, we had better possession, better passes, etc. But we were no where near them. I think stats always mislead. And the way arsenal plays, we’ll always have better stats in every match. But we all know how we perform in the final third of the pitch.
@Dark Prince
Now if some genius out there could get the stats pertaining to the final third, they really would be fascinating reading. Chalkboard looks a likely source if of course, you understand it!
Old farts like me (a relative baby, who only started in 1948, compared with Nicky and Mick ) are IT dinosaurs so get to it young gooners.
If we want to realistically win EPL this season, then we have to target 90 points by the end of the season. Which can be calculated as 28 wins, 6 draws and 4 losses. And lookin at our current record, we are way far behind. I think the draw at liverpool and sunderland is acceptable but the loss to west brom is not. Now we have to win either against united or chelsea to compensate for this loss.
If Arsenal want to win the league, they have to put together a run of consistency, maybe win their next 10 league games or something like that.
People always talk about the form of champions and this is as simple as just winning loads of games in a row – as this is incredibly difficult to do in this league. So let’s look at our next 10 league game:
Chelsea
Birmingham
Man City
West Ham
Newcastle
Wolves
Everton
Spurs
Villa
Fulham
If we get 30 points out of these games, we would go into December on 43 pts after 16 games and most likely top of the league along with Chelsea. And whilst it seems unlikely for us to have a decent shot of winning the league we must perform to that level. Let’s hope there is a serious improvement in the consistency of the team this week
@common sensei- i think it would be too much to expect Arsenal to win 10 games in a row. I think we will lose against Chelsea next week and wil draw the city game. Its the rest that is important, especially the away games of Wolves, Everton and Villa. We have to win the rest of those games and try to get a point against City which is also an away game. If we can do this then i think we are on the right track.
Not sure what the odds are on us winning the next 10 in a row… but if you are confident then I would suggest you stick a fiver on it and plan your retirement.
🙂
Anybody who thinks that we were showed anything on Saturday that suggests that we could beat Chelsea away is delusional.
We were outplayed at home by West Brom. Chelsea hammered them 6-0 at home.
That game was so key it’s not funny. Pity nobody told the players eh.
DP,
Did you bother to read my posts? I have not suggested anything of the sort…
GF 60,
28 Shots. 2 goals, 3 woodworks, 18 corners….Not sure about passes in the final third (Arsenal)
8 shots, 3 goals, 2 gifts, 6 corners?, 57 clearances (West Brum)
Not asking to draw any conclusions guys but you all are not getting over the loss and are in some cases being rude.
fans fighting each other when the team is lost..other said keep the faith other said D&G..i say Arsenal will not win anything if injury problem still continue and GK issue..please prove me wrong
AW said size doesn’t matter..but i believe size is important and relates to injury proneness…football is a physical game..we can’t escape from that
I have the luck to see all our games twice for the ref review. Mostly this is a pleasure but you can imagine that this time it wasn’t that much fun.
But when you look at the match again and take away your feelings (that is what I try when I look at the ref) you see sometimes a different match.
Maybe it is hard to believe but without playing well we controlled the game.
The reason why it looked different the first time is that you expect some things to happen and want us to win and when this doesn’t happen we are disappointed.
What I have noticed the second time around is that we had lots of posession but our players didn’t use the outside of the pitch and ran in to the tunnel WBA hoped to create.
We closed our own space down and then we gave away so many balls and we got punished for that.
And we gave the balls away in dangerous areas and so we created the chances for WBA ourselves one could say.
But I think the dissapointment of the defeat changes our view very much.
And I hope that no one is going to think I am telling you we played a great game. No we didn’t, to our standards it was wel below what we can. But to say that we did nothing is also not correct.
@AA- yeah i read ur post and was continuing where you left off…as for the stats that you provided, there is nothing rude when i say that this loss wont be forgotten for a long time. I know the only thing that we can do is to prepare for the next match but we have to learn from our past experiences. And believe me, this is not the first time that our players performed so horribly against the weakest teams. Thats why i’m feeling sad. Every season, there comes 2 or 3 games where our players just dont wanna perform to their highest level. They take their weak opponents for granted and then lose embarrassingly. I’ve seen this for a number of seasons now. And probably we’ll see more couple of such matches like the one few days ago.
Having supported the gunners since 1997 I think it’s time this lads showed mentality of people like Beckcamp, viera, Pires and company.The squad that that played on saturday has Nasri to mention.for those of you who watched the INVINCIBLES will racall that scoring agains this guys will call for a minute after minute attack on your goal.That is what we are lacking….fighting spirit.