Where the problems lie.

Tempting to blame wenger but im not sure the board let him have the money, should have just bought mata, if we had there is no way chelsea would be ahead of us.

They did let him have the money. We spent £50mil on players in the summer and I can assure you that that did not come out of the original summer budget.

For the purpose of future discussion, it's Wenger who decides how much he wants to spend and who he spends it on. The board are not holding him back.

Definite truth on the midfield. Completely tame, all they do is pass the ball backwards, no defense splitting passes or moves, their main function seems to distribute the ball to the backline.

Saying the midfield only passes backwards is completely wrong. Clearly all three of them do pass forwards and do switch the play. The reason why it doesn't create is because there one too many components lacking.

Creating chances is the result of the combined efforts of the midfield and the attack, not just the midfield alone. Our current midfield and front three are simply not connecting as it should, and it's been this way for a while now.

I think we can afford to commit one extra midfield to attack, as right now Ramsey is the only out-and-out attacking midfielder we have. One of Arteta or Song should break forward and support the attack more often as both right now seem too content to sit in midfield.

Also, when van Persie does drop deep the two wingers and most advanced midfield need to be dynamic in their runs off the ball and give him options. That's the whole point of having a false 9. Although maybe having proper full backs will remedy that somewhat. Despite his average showing Walcott's movement was much better last night with Sagna back at right back.

I'm not in the boat that the squad needs an overhaul. Our strongest eleven is good enough to get into the top four and possibly challenge for the title if they're at their best. It just needs depth and more options, so we can drop players not playing well without fear of the replacement being just as bad. There are only two positions I'm currently unhappy with and that's attacking midfield and the forward positions. Everywhere else I think we're good.

^^ Well put Jay.

Wenger is the #1 problem at Arsenal, he dose what he wants and no one can tell him anything and Wenger knows it.

Wenger’s ignorance to not strengthen our squad for the past 8 years has coast us many trophies and now top 4.

Manuel Almunia
Andrei Arshavin
Chamakh
Abou Diaby
Djourou
Gibbs
Ramsey
Squillaci
Walcott
Bendtner
Denilson
Vela.

srigooner wrote:

MJGunner wrote:Definite truth on the midfield. Completely tame, all they do is pass the ball backwards, no defense splitting passes or moves, their main function seems to distribute the ball to the backline.

Imagine if Denilson were in that midfield.

I wish there were a vomiting emoticon

Wenger

"The negatives are that we didn't take our chances. Maybe we lacked a little bit the relaxed attitude we need when we get chances at the moment and hopefully that will go away now."

LOL at relaxed attitude, wonder if they they know we only have 1 point in the past 4 games.

I think Wlacott needs a big raise to raise his game from a 10 year old to a close 15 year old.

We just need the forehead back, that's all.

Very underrated player around here.

And Rozza to start some games.

And Wilshere back

If you think about it, with a fully fit squad Wenger would be 100% correct.


Bench: Fabianski, Ramsey, Vermaelen, Jenkinson, Chamakh, Walcott, Coquelin.

There's still Djourou, Arshavin, Rosicky, Benayoun and Diaby left out of there. Nevermind if we count our loanees. That squad could easily challenge for the title, IMO.

We have a massive squad, but are always frakked by injuries

Gervinho's movement will help, though there is still the issue of his end product being utter rubbish most of the time.

Funnily enough, Chamberlain has the opposite problem. Very good end product, lacking in intelligent movement off the ball.

I agree though that Rosicky should start more if available. In his recent games he's looked good. It's just a shame that he can't complete 90 minutes anymore or play more than once in a week.

Depth is good until you get to attacking midfield, wings and forwards. My assessment of the squad is:

Szczesny, Fabiasnki - Future world class keeper in Szczesny, Fabiasnki good backup even though he probably won't stick around for much longer.

Koscielny, Vermaelen, Mertesacker, Djourou, Sagna, Jenkinson, Santos, Gibbs - Great depth in defence. Maybe a bit lacking at left back with Santos' defensive frailties and Gibbs' injuries.

Song, Coquelin, Frimpong, Arteta, Ramsey, Wilshere, Rosicky - all good enough options for top four, though perhaps lacking that one special player that maybe Wilshere or Ramsey could one day become.

Walcott, Gervinho, Chamberlain, Arshavin, Benayoun - is where we start to get a bit iffy. This area desperately lacks consistency. On their day, any of those players can be devastating but all of them seem to lack the consistency to produce it every game. Chamberlain still young, of course, so could be an exception.

Van Persie, Park, Chamakh - world of difference between first choice and backup. Difficult to have two quality strikers and keep them happy while only playing one of them, but not great options nonetheless.

So you can clearly see that the squad up until the wingers and strikers is absolutely fine, which supports my belief that the squad needs some freshness, not a complete overhaul. Some players just aren't playing with confidence and sometimes you need to be ruthless with them for the benefit of the team.

Never really convinced of our squad all year. Don't care for santos he is a defensive liability and IMHO does not bring much to the team on offense. Never thought he was worthy of a top 4 team. Artetta, I know many liked him but just never did and Wilshere is the same type of player as Ramsey. A little better in tackling though. Still no creativity in the midfield and RVP being marked by 2 or more with no other scoring threat out there. Sounds like we try and grind out more 1-0 wins, ties or losses. More of the same all year.

TV on the bench?

Santos can be shaky defensively, but he was improving. Doesn't contribute to the offense? He even bagged in some goals, FFS.

Arteta is the only classy thing maintaining our possession game going. Nevermind his great workrate. He tracks back like hell and you only need to see Arsenal matches without Arteta to see how shit we are.

Wilshere is miles better than Ramsey considering Ramsey's recent performances. He might not be a creative powerhouse, but he does the simple things well, fights hard and can launch nice through balls if needed.

Walcott if he were in form would be another scoring outlet. Gervinho has a striker-like scoring record in his past clubs, just hasn't had his shooting boots on lately.

Apart from just quality depth, there's not that much missing from this team (if it were all healthy). Maybe just a pair of balls.

Wilshere and Ramsey are not alike as players. Unlike Ramsey, Wilshere has excellent dribbling and a good amount of pace and agility to go with it.

I think it's an attribute people overlook. Ramsey has very good ball control but lacks the pace to be a threat driving from midfield and the turning speed to keep the ball in tight areas and under pressure. Both are very important skills to have when you're playing in an advanced midfield role.

A lot of people obviously remember Wilshere's ability to use the ball sensibly but not his ability to carry the ball from deep to attacking areas with his dribbling and pace. His assist record may not be good but you have to bare in mind he was playing behind Cesc for the majority of the season. Who's to say that given a free role Wilshere can't be a creative force? You won't know until you try him there.

Also worth pointing out that other good Arsenal sides have had a player who can drive from midfield with the ball. Remember the Song-Diaby-Cesc trio not long ago? Great midfield that had everything.

Moving on, I didn't mention this earlier but I believe some freshness in the backroom staff could have a major benefit, too. We've had coaches like Rice and Primorac here since Wenger took over and it's very possible that the methods their implimenting is out of date and that the players may have heard all the advice they have to offer. Some new methods may help improve performance and decrease the chances of injuries.

I highly doubt that if Wenger is so cautious and has so much faith in his players, that he'd let go some of his key backroom staff who have been with him over the years and pretty much have the Wenger philosophy stapled to their hearts.

But I do agree it might help. New staff with different views that might conflict with Wenger's, but at least make him think and maybe alter his legendary stubborness a bit.

Yeah, that's the problem, isn't it? Wenger is stubborn as hell and will stick to the same personnel and methods because they've been successful before. Usually that's fine, but it just seems to me, even though I'm not privy to what these methods actually are, that we're behind everyone else.

This is what sets Wenger and Ferguson apart. Ferguson changes his backroom staff every few years regardless of success, so that he has new ideas and new methods that can galvanise his team.

Dare I say it, this is where changing managers would be a good idea. I don't want to resort to that sort of talk right now, but it's something to consider if we don't turn this form around, I think.

Seriously your complaining about being 7th in the table? listen to yourselfs saying you dont see the point in supporting your football club because you are underperforming.......

May i remind you that you are only 5 points behind Chelsea who play Utd at the weekend and you are home to Blackburn( who we just beat without half a team ffs)

Again there is 16 games left theres more than enough time to turn this around.

I shudder to think what would happen here if you got relegated

You have been spoiled that much is obvious and now your struggling to be loyal to the team you support.

To quote one of your greats.......

"I really like Arsenal. But you, do you really like Arsenal? Or just Arsenal with trophies?" - Dennis Bergkamp

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Seriously your complaining about being 7th in the table? listen to yourselfs saying you dont see the point in supporting your football club because you are underperforming.......

May i remind you that you are only 5 points behind Chelsea who play Utd at the weekend and you are home to Blackburn( who we just beat without half a team ffs)

Again there is 16 games left theres more than enough time to turn this around.

I shudder to think what would happen here if you got relegated

You have been spoiled that much is obvious and now your struggling to be loyal to the team you support.

To quote one of your greats.......

"I really like Arsenal. But you, do you really like Arsenal? Or just Arsenal with trophies?" - Dennis Bergkamp

The girl in the red, I just notice how big they are.

She's f*ck ugly tho lol, does'nt matter to Pardiola tho just bossing in general as usual

Man I miss this guy.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:She's f*ck ugly tho lol, does'nt matter to Pardiola tho just bossing in general as usual

LOL, I know.

GoonerJay29 wrote:

Man I miss this guy.

Jay man that was really emotional video, we miss the Lion heart.


Why cant Ramsey just be like him, stop dribbling and pass the ball to open man?

Raptorgunner wrote:Why cant Ramsey just be like him, stop dribbling and pass the ball to open man?

That would be far too easy as he would be looking at his man rather than blindly flicking the ball behind him. Rambo needs a challenge. Either that or he is challenged.

Raptorgunner wrote:
Manuel Almunia
Andrei Arshavin
Chamakh
Abou Diaby
Djourou
Gibbs
Ramsey
Squillaci
Walcott
Bendtner
Denilson
Vela

Players in red need to leave ASAP. Will thank them for all that they have done for the club, but enough's enough. Look at United and Gibson. Fergie saw he was crap and wasn't going anywhere, so he gave him the boot

Lex wrote:

Raptorgunner wrote:
Manuel Almunia
Andrei Arshavin
Chamakh
Abou Diaby
Djourou
Gibbs
Ramsey
Squillaci
Walcott
Bendtner
Denilson
Vela

Players in red need to leave ASAP. Will thank them for all that they have done for the club, but enough's enough. Look at United and Gibson. Fergie saw he was crap and wasn't going anywhere, so he gave him the boot

That means we wont throw away 300k a week in the garbage, how can we live with ourselves.

100k who could go to the guy in your sig and the other 200k as transfer money or just to clear up the wage bill which is always good long term, especially in our economical situation.

Oh, and contract extensions.

Wenger is to blame for allowing mediocrity to creep into our team, he's to blame for accepting poor performances and rewarding them with bumper contracts and starts.

Walcott could play rubbish for the next 5 games he'll still start, Ramsey the same

and whilst it is a team game, individuals have massive influence upon the performance

if you cannot keep the ball the team will struggle, if our widemen lose the ball everytime they try to beat a man and never win it back the team cannot progress

if midfielders are losing the ball because they would rather do back heels and other unnecessary tricks instead of a simple pass progression cant be made

forwards are there to score goals, I understand the confidence thing fully because I play league football myself but I work I dont have everyday of the week to use WC facilities with WC coaches and training regimes

we have been struggling essentially for the whole season which is plenty of time to see your weaknesses and work on them

I dunno I'm just getting fed up, I'm angry at Wenger for not treating these players the way they treat him

julias wrote:Wenger is to blame for allowing mediocrity to creep into our team, he's to blame for accepting poor performances and rewarding them with bumper contracts and starts.

Walcott could play rubbish for the next 5 games he'll still start, Ramsey the same

and whilst it is a team game, individuals have massive influence upon the performance

if you cannot keep the ball the team will struggle, if our widemen lose the ball everytime they try to beat a man and never win it back the team cannot progress

if midfielders are losing the ball because they would rather do back heels and other unnecessary tricks instead of a simple pass progression cant be made

forwards are there to score goals, I understand the confidence thing fully because I play league football myself but I work I dont have everyday of the week to use WC facilities with WC coaches and training regimes

we have been struggling essentially for the whole season which is plenty of time to see your weaknesses and work on them

I dunno I'm just getting fed up, I'm angry at Wenger for not treating these players the way they treat him

The reason he is not benching them is cus the media will prove and Wenger wrong and Wenger does not like that. We have players on the bench that can come in and get the job done.

Rosicky has been that guy he comes in and gets the job done, he should be starting the games for time being.

Sushi Master wrote:We just need the forehead back, that's all.

Very underrated player around here.

And Rozza to start some games.

And Wilshere back

If you think about it, with a fully fit squad Wenger would be 100% correct.

Chesney
Sagna Mertesacker Koscielny Santos
Song
Arteta Wilshere
AOC----------------Gervinho
RVP

Bench: Fabianski, Ramsey, Vermaelen, Jenkinson, Chamakh, Walcott, Coquelin.

There's still Djourou, Arshavin, Rosicky, Benayoun and Diaby left out of there. Nevermind if we count our loanees. That squad could easily challenge for the title, IMO.

We have a massive squad, but are always frakked by injuries

On the bench??


But yeah, we need more vision and a little bit extra up front.

GoonerJay29 wrote:

Man I miss this guy.

How many chances did our players threw away in this video? lol

Sorry to bring negativity Jack is amazing, and we miss him badly