Crunch time for Arsenal
|The loss to Aston Villa all but ends Arsenal’s title aspirations. If they are to be any threat they need to win all of their games to the end of the year, a tall order from this squad.
What the recent games revealed is a Gunner’s team which lacks spine down the middle, has a midfield with no bite, and does not play well when they concede the first goal. They have the ability to compete with the best but they are plagued with inconsistency.
The biggest problem is in midfield where Denilson just isn’t a holding midfielder. Too often he’s in the same area of the field as Cesc and not providing the kind of cover the Gunners need. I really thought Song would play today to stiffen the midfield, but Wenger went with Denilson and we came off second best in midfield. Would Song have made a difference? I don’t know, perhaps a little.
Bendtner has proved that he cannot play the role of lone striker. Wenger sent him on a fool’s errand out there and too often he looked stranded and ineffective. He plays better when partnered with another striker.
The only time we were dangerous was when Walcott had the ball. Nasri had a forgettable game today and Cesc looked tired and harried.
Defensively, we appear vulnerable much too often. Manchester United opened us up five or six times and couldn’t convert. Today Villa did the same thing and did convert. The Gunners lack a solid back four and one watches them play with one’s heart in one’s throat the entire game.
Arsenal have a better chance winning the Champion’s League than the Premier League. The tight aggressive style of English football works against them. The referees in domestic games let the Gunner’s opponents get away with much more physical play.
Arsene Wenger needs to break down and buy a holding midfielder, someone who can add more muscle to the Arsenal midfield. If the team loses another game by December 31st, we might as well kiss this season goodbye.
just seen the goals . get agrip of urseles gallas and almunia . u are a disgrace
ces this cesc that . dennilson has been carrying that bluffer fabregas
all the players were below average today, but one player for me stands out today “Bendtner”. usually when someones says stands out, its in a good sense, but this is totally the opposite. he is a pathetic excuse of a player.everytime i see bendtner on the team sheet, i know we are automatically down to 10 players. he is a liability. he seems to have forgotten that he is a striker.he receives the ball and either passes it back or jus runs in a straight line. i do not recall him getting the better of a defender for a long time and i mean with his feet.against man utd, he realy should have scored with his head, bt it seems liek he is no good with his head or feet, so what on earth is he doin playing football in the first place. as much as i hate eboue,i would prefer him playing upfront instead of bendtner, atleast he would get us a penalty in some shape or form by TRYING to beat the defender. gift wrap bendtner and pass him on to totenham or porstmouth as a christmas present
There is no excuse this performance was terrible Dennison and Cesc do not compliment each other, we need a midfield player who enjoys defending (DM)this will let Cesc shine,can nobody else see this?
I totally agree with harsh1l…Wenger should have started with Vela, or even young Jay Simpson, anybody would have done it better today. Everytime Bendtner got the ball, he’d either miscontrol and give it back to the opposition, or (if we’re lucky enough) pass to the back and undo whatever attack we’d be planning….
Also, I believe it is time to cash in on those sold players throughout the years and get demote Gallas, Silvestre, and Toure to the bench and get world class defenders, and a good holding Midfielder: Alonso, Barry, ANY FRIGGIN BODY !!
Does anyone have Wenger’s personal mail or smthg…plz forward this to him somehow…
Fabregas was useless today! Denilson was the best midfielder for us today!
not much i can say about the performance really except that villa deserved to win, and couldve by more. its not good for arsenal. the penetration has vanished- blackburn were ripped apart easily by arsenal (in paticular walcott) and i was afraid of arsenal. thats gone. now its just a toothless attack with a sackless defence.
you need a defensive midfielder, and you need someone whos primary aim is penetration of defensive walls. by this i mean you probably should have replaced hleb and flamini.
i think youll beat man city because their defence isnt much better, but i worry for how many you might concede with robinho, wright phillips, sturridge etc on the counter.
well…good luck.
I watched the game today and villa were just better in all areas. There is so much wrong with us at the moment i don’t even know where to begin. Champions league our best chance of siverware? I don’t think so. I’m afraid if we are lucky, carling cup. Stop playing players out of position and spend some money for gods sake. I refuse to pay any more money to watch our first team. Come on the reserves! watch the empty seats increase!
I’m tired of Cesc always getting a pass and Denilson being blamed for Cesc’s bad performances.
Denilson was one of the very few players out there today for Arsenal who pulled his weight and had a good game.
It’s Cesc who is letting Denilson down, not the other way around.
Denilson is not playing Cesc’s crap passes straight to the opposition.
Denilson is not the one being indecisive and slow on the ball and losing possession.
Cesc is doing that.
Denilson is not.
Open your eyes people!
Cesc is a fantastic talent, but right now HE’s the player who should be dropped, not Denilson.
It’s time here was some honesty instead of convering up for favourites.
i think they are all crap
U said it Mike…. the sfortsighted recent fans of arsenal think that cesc is the be-all-and-end-all of wenger’s vision. i think eh’s not at all, and this season will show him to be a much less important player than we thought he was. Denilson must be chomping at the bit by now, and if i were him i’d seriously start challenging Wenger to be played in Cesc’s role. If simply wanting to prove he is better than cesc is what motivates him, than that’s fine with me.
U know, he was captain of brazil U-19s. That takes balls, guts, brains, flair, authority, but also patience, humility and above all a team-based mentality.
These facts tell me Denilson at 19 may not be quite as good as cesc at 19, but Denilson at 21 will blow cesc as he is now out of the water.
nucks
With fans like you, who needs the spuds eh?
Top attitude there fella, well done.
Im asking till when he have to suffer as fans from the f u c k i n g recruitment policy of the f u c k i n g board of directors!? Where’s the 2 stars wenger promised us to bring them there’s no doubt that we have talented young players but can they give us titles!? OOH where’s Henry , Pires , Viera , Bergkamp and lot of excellent players we had!!! Denilson is not the problem , he’s a very good player the problem in those who lead the team who has no intention to bring very good player to strenght the team. Yaya Toure or Aquilani r needed for the midfield and Huntelaar for the offense and not less than 2 defender .
hi how can people complain about bendtner he had no support whats so ever how can u judge him on that hes only 20 thats the problem young players are too inconsistent especially young strikers. But our main problem was ball retention our whole midfield was a disgrace they couldnt keep the ball and denilson is a joke hes suppose to be DM but especially in the second half he was playing left and not deep recieving the ball from our CBS. However Denilson is still young and he will learn. Cesc had a stinker maybe coz hes missin rosicky,hleb flamini and senderos all his close mates have gone. Ramsey has to play against man ity now that cesc is banned
NO YAYA TOURE-I am not being racist but there is too much of an african french speaking influence in the dressing room. We need a player who can cut it in the premiership and is not afraid to make tackles yaya toure is not a fighter hes more of a tactical defensive midfielder someone like mark van bommel experience very ba tackler and knows when to commit good fouls
wasnt dennilson who pulled out of a tackle at the edge of the villa box that led to villas second was it fabregas
If you think Denilson was the best player for Arsenal today you are on crack. He is absolute garbage, not even fit to be in the Carling Cup side. He can’t pass, can’t tackle, can’t shoot, can’t grow – so what exactly does he bring to the table?
Who else was poor today and doesn’t deserve to be in the side – let me count the number:
Bendtner – awful; barely Championship quality
Silvestre – Wenger is kidding if he believes this guy should start. He is slow, can’t pass, and has no awareness.
Diaby – usually a quality player but a sickening performance. He dribbled, danced, and dived – thanks for that.
Gallas – poor captain, poor marking. A first-team player maybe but not the regular Wenger thinks he is.
Almunia – saved a penalty through luck. He is not a first-team keeper, plain and simple.
Fabregas – he is gone after this season. He must be, since he is playing with no heart and no effort. A liability today.
Wenger needs a kick in the face. Average 18-19 year olds will win you nothing. You want to complain about injuries or too many fixtures? How about getting a deeper squad, you putz. Cheers to Villa they deserved the win 100 percent.
Seriously, Arsenal fans are possibly the most emotional and fickle fans around. A win against Man utd and all the players are lauded to zenith levels and then they lose against Villa and half the team should be dropped or sold. The truth is somewhere in the middle. Arsenal are simply not good enough to win any trophies but have the potential to produce sparkling performances on occasion.
Consistency is the true mark of quality and our lack of it is due to Wenger. His whole transfer policy is based on buying potential for a nominal fee (and then the moron ponders on why the team is inconsitent). When you buy the so called ‘star players’ you are not just buying quality but, on most occasions, someone who has performed consistently for a number of years.
To be honest, anyone who is happy or content with this situation is a born loser or has acquired the traits at some point in his or her life. Wenger is also by definition a loser as he has the means (apparently) to solve some of the problems we face but chooses not to.
What was the point of the stadium if we are not going to spend any of the profit. Wenger has come out publicly and said that he will never buy star players, so i have to scratch my head on this one because if the money’s not going towards players it is simply going towards making Arsenal a more profitable bussiness venture.
Consistency is needed to win trphies, consistency comes from players who have performed at a top level at top teams and usually cost over 15 million. Wenger doesn’t want to buy that type of player so something has to give. Either Wenger is replaced by another quality manager with different ideals or Arsenal continue their recent flirtation with mediocrity.
You need consistency to win the league.
Not a Cup! So we’ll ne winning a cup then this season!
Ok Spike, if you say so.
If you think that we are consistent enough to perform well in all 7 champions league games then that’s cool…i guess.
People think you can be inconsistent and win in a cup competition. It’s strange, do you think that our only bad performances will come in the league or something? It seems like logic is a rare commodity nowedays.
Stop being a patronising twat!
We were shite in the league when we got to the CL final so thats your logic blown out the water, as were the scousers too.
So, there you go, now i suggest you slit your wrists you whiny loser.
Angelos
Pay no attention to what I just posed.
I’m just so completely fucked off with this team and am trying to put a positive spin on things. No offence.
Maybe I should get a job with the club PR!
Cool
Btw. Good thing you sent that when you did. Was standing there razor in hand just about to make the first incision.
But you see what I mean about the emotional fans thing? Because Arsenal are in a constant state of flux it leaves people more vulnerable on an emotional level than any other team in my opinion.
It’s a real shame because it shows a real passion for the club and you all deserve more. It’s something Wenger doesn’t seem to take into consideration.
for fuks sake wenger get some backbone into this team . all this crop about teams getting too phisical. go out and buy some fukin players who arent scared too mix it and get a result. sick too death of watchin this bunch of pansies getting roughed up a bit , givin up and then gettin turned over nearly every fukin week. bring in some people with some passion guts and balls. this is the most gutless, spineless team ever assembled on a football pitch . thank god they are not disgracing grand old highbury .if ur not prepared to get rid of these big time charleys then pack it in and give the job to someone who will not exept this kind of performance
Cesc is playing like his heart is in spain, maybe he is starting to think we cant win anything!
WHY ARE MAN U AND CHELSEA’S REJECTS OUR BEST CENTER BACKS???
GALLAS AND BENDTNAR ARE USELESS,THE SQUAD IS RUBBISH, FLAMINI HAS NOT BEEN REPLACED,WHERE IS THE MONEY?????????I’D RATHER BE AT HIGHBURY WITH A GREAT SQUAD THAN AT THE EMIRATES- LOOK AT MILLWALL.
I THINK WENGERS HANDS ARE TIED.LET US BE IN DEBT LIKE CHELSEA, AT LEAST WE’D HAVE A FEW LEAGUE TITLES TO GO WITH IT.
Gallas needs to be dropped,djourou and song are better than gallas