Gunners Post Mortem
A terrible week crowned by a loss to Manchester City. Now the Gunners face Dynamo Kiev and they cannot falter, otherwise their Champions League season could be over. Perhaps that’s why Wenger chose to rest Adebayor, preferring him to play Kiev rested.
The difference in the game yesterday was the Arsenal midfield not taking control of the game. Denilson was unable to run the midfield, being physically overwhelmed by City and his passing not being sharp enough. Diaby was particularly disappointing. Too often he was caught in possession or he would squander a good move by doing something rash. Nasri drifted in and out of the game, but never able to create the decisive opening that Arsenal needed. Song played okay, but his passing was erratic and he looked a little slow sometimes. Ramsey added a little energy and a few good passes, but he wasn’t able to make a big difference.
Defensively I thought we weren’t too bad until injury time when Clichy and Silvestre flubbed clearing the ball. In the second we looked far more vulnerable, especially as the game opened up. Djourou, I thought, played reasonably well and was harshly penalized late in the game. Hoyte was adequate, but Arsenal need something better than that.
Bendtner and Van Persie were both disappointing. Bendtner was let down by his poor first touch and thus squandered a couple of good chances. Van Persie failed to put his stamp on the game either and wasn’t able to work in tandem with Bendtner. Vela was disappointing off the bench, making no real impact on the game.
It was particularly disappointing that Arsenal couldn’t open up the City defence as the game opened up in the second half. After City scored their second goal the Gunners seemed to sag. They created few clearcut chances the entire game and this is what worries me the most. They get to the edge of the opponent’s box and cannot penetrate or put a good shot on goal.
Can the Gunners pull it together now? Gallas “might” be gone now, which might be a good thing. Cesc will be back, Adebayor will replace Bendtner, but we don’t know about Eboue, Sagna, and Toure. Things are so bad that I’m hoping Eboue returns. Eduardo cannot return soon enough either.
Can the Gunners pull it together over the next month? I don’t know. Will a new captain make a difference? It can’t hurt. Right now they need to focus on one game at a time as Wenger said. In the meantime Wenger needs to start searching for a new holding midfielder and he needs to buy one on January the first, not January the 31st.
things are so bad im hoping senderos returns
i know it’s not useful at a time like this..but i’m really beginning to miss Thierry now, i think at a point i forgot how lucky we were..i guess you don’t know how lucky you are until it’s gone. ANYWAY i think a good destroying of kiev by 3-4 goals to nil will get so confidence back, hopefully with each striker scoring and one for cesc, COME ON YOU GUNNERS!
I think the problem is that as Wenger had addmitted himself he wanted Diaby to partner Cesc instead of Flamini and Denilson.. What i dont understand is that when Diaby has come back he refused to break the Denilson partnership to let Diaby play with Cesc wonder what message that must have sent to Diaby.. One injury and he is going to kept playing out of position everygame ? I think its time if wenger hasnt made enough mistakes to eventually give a go to Diaby and Cesc as far as im concerned this is Diabys year if he doesnt deliver he never will its been 2 years in the team for him yeah he got injured but hes been playing regularly even last year and he actually switched to the holding role agianst milan last season and did well.. Denilson played like 10 games last season and out of the 10 5 were the penultimate games of the season where arsene rested a lot of his main players and he never looked impressive.. This is it according to me if the time if ever there was one is to let Diaby play centrally with Cesc lets see if they can do the job because clearly as we have seen Denilson and Fabregas havent worked.. Im not saying denilson isnt a good player but he is not a ball winner he is a passer of the ball if at all he should be playing instead of Cesc not with him by which i mean he can come on for Cesc to give him a rest as clearly his game hasnt developed sufficiently all round to allow him to partner Cesc in mid field…
It is time for Wenger to go, he has his head in the sand. If there is no money to spend that’s fair enough but I understand that there is money and he does not want to spend it!!
This season is more and more turning into the one where we reached the CL final, then lost against Barca. I remember we didn’t do that well in the Premiership there, although we were doing well against the big ones and losing points against the low-ranked sides.
Just like now.
very goog article. adebayor was not rested though, he injured his knee playing for togo and is a maybe doubt for next sunday let alone tues. eboue has a knee injury too and hasnt started training yet 2-3 weeks away. sagna 2-3 weeks more to….thats its for the injury update!
GG its people like you (plastic fan) that makes me want to vomit….stop talking out of your backside and grow up.
Arsene has been great for The Arsenal – ok we are going through a bad spell but we will come through it. A team is for life not for 90 mins.
well lets hope AW bringd his head outta the sand this midfiels things still baffles me heis yet to explain why Denilson is playing there …he does not have a defensive brain his positional play is poor 60,000 fans can see the danger coming yet he doesn’t provides no cover for the back four should I go on…yet he has been better than Cesc season that alone says it all….
I wonder what happenned to Kolo Toure he is usually by far our most committed player is he injured?..I won’t rate our season with the Man city match bcos we had Ade Rosicky Gallas Toure, Sagna, Eboue, Walcott, Eduardo all injured or unavailable any team would struggle I just wished they had played with more passion it would have been good enuff for me..
I am looking forward to a Djourou Toure Parnership and perhaps Diaby to partner Cesc its worth a try….. what have we got to loose anyway?…
Sue,its people like you who do not see the reality. I dont known why people like you fear change. There was a manager before Wenger and the must be a manager after Wenger. Football is business and in business you have to meet some standards. Its a shame that Arsenal is being white washed by teams like Hull city,Stoke city and Manchester city. So far we have been beaten by teams which were promoted. Am starting to wonder if we are any better off that the division one teams.In life time people have to move on and its time Arsenal moves on if Wenger cant win anything. Nobody is bigger more than a club and Wenger is not bigger too. its 4 years now Wenger has not won anything not even to assembly a world class team. Every year he promises that the club is up to standards and promises to win something but each of those years he has been wrong and i cant trust him any more. The reality is football has changed and the club must buy players who are ready to fight not 17 years old. Since 2004 Arsenal has taken so many steps backwards every season. Its time to stop being afraid of what might happen if wenger his not there and demand more. Its time we start realizing Wenger is making so much wrong decisions. Recall he promised to sign a holding midfielder over the summer but what happened.
WENGER OUT!!!! GET HARRY REDKNAPP!!!
First things first: I support Arsenal. Arsene Wenger is a fine manager, but he is NOT the club, nor is he bigger than the club, and no manager is above questioning, no matter what his track record. That said, anyone calling for the manager’s head now is a fool. But Arsene must address this team’s obvious shortcomings in January. Denilson turned in a ghastly performance Sat., Diaby looked lazy and disinterested. Song is worthless… he’ll never be good enough for Arsenal. Only Nasri, and later Ramsey showed any spirit, fight and thoughtful play in midfield. With Cesc back in the fold, Ramsey is the only player we have that should currently partner him in central midfield. Diaby lopes around and doesn’t track back, Denilson is completely out of his element. Thankfully Ade is back for Kiev so we won’t have to look at Nicklas “the Wall” Bendtner. Chins up gooners… Cesc is the captain, and tomorrow is a new day.