Chelsea 2 - 1 Arsenal: Another Jekyll and Hyde performance as January continues to suck

Oh and Coquelin was epic today, he deserves a run in the side his ability to win the ball and turn defence into attack was tremendous. He played even better than in the defeat to Spurs at WHL last season.

anyone noticed how useless diaby was?

It's strange that I'm still optimistic about this team? Just two signings would solve a lot of our problems and I expect us to make those signings.

As for sagna, I don't know. He can't even kick the ball in the right direction atm and his defence has gotten very bad. Didn't expect him to repeat that Southampton game but he's starting to worry me. it's so difficult to win when one of your defenders plays THAT badly

It's not strange to be optimistic because this side has shown that it does have quality. It's not a bad team, really. If we had someone to stick whatever chances we make away, we'd be in a much better position than we are at the moment. That's essentially what we did last season.

But 1 match of optimism and 3 matches of depression ?

Is that good enough ?

wilshere annoys me sometimes, everyone talks about his leadership abilities but if he was a true leader instead just shouting nd complaining he would help tactically organise the team, in the first half there was no tactical organisation, and at times it was like we didnt have a midfield. and sagna had a pretty bad game but i think we're being idiots by not giving him a new contract.

there are some positives, vermaelen had a very decent game, our combination play was excellent at times which was really gd to see and theo walcott was making some intelligent runs- i just wish he stayed onside more .

For the second week running Arsene Wenger lamented his side’s sluggish start as Arsenal conceded two costly first half goals against Chelsea. While the Gunners certainly didn’t get the rub of the green from the officials, the boss accepted that the timidity which plagued his side against Manchester City again proved costly.

Juan Mata and Frank Lampard did the damage as the Blues dominated the first half and despite being on the back foot for much of the second half after Theo Walcott’s trike, Rafa Benitez’s side managed to hold on to the three points.

Speaking to press after the 2-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge, the boss said:

“Tactically we changed some things. Psychologically I felt we were more on the front foot.

“We had a similar start to Man City last week – didn’t really go for it, didn’t really defend well and gave too much room to Chelsea.

“On top of that, I feel we were a bit unlucky because it was a free kick on the first goal and it was not a penalty on the second goal. We were a bit unlucky. We didn’t play well in the first half.

“In the second half we came out with a different spirit, a different attitude and were much more dangerous and dominated the whole second half.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t come back. We didn’t make enough of our corners and free kicks and didn’t make enough of the chances we created. That’s why we lost the game. It’s very damaging for our position in the league and very difficult to swallow.”

Pretty much repeating himself, he continued, “We had a physical problem to get going today. In the second half it was much better. When you play every three days, it’s difficult to know.

“There’s a psychological ingredient in there for sure. I felt that in the last two games that we didn’t really go for it from the start.

“There’s a great spirit in the team. There’s great quality in the team. The team has to believe more in the quality we have. You could see with 10 men against Man City and today again that we can be dominant in the games. We have to [do that] from the start.”

Why would anyone expect a 21 year old to tactically organise his team? That Is the 60 year old managers job, as well as your experienced players to do. Having said that is doesn't help that Couquein is even less experienced than wilshere, and diaby as the only guy with some experience didn't turn up

Benry wrote:Oh and Coquelin was epic today, he deserves a run in the side his ability to win the ball and turn defence into attack was tremendous. He played even better than in the defeat to Spurs at WHL last season.

He has good dribbling ability but he uses it too much.

It was a foul, but he was caught dribbling too much and that led to the first goal. There were a couple times where he got caught with the ball and you can't afford to do that when you're playing as a DM.

He's talented but still has things to work on.

3 games in 8 days after 3 months out. Not to mention Diaby has more experience of the medical room than on the pitch lol

Diego Armando Maradona wrote:It's strange that I'm still optimistic about this team? Just two signings would solve a lot of our problems and I expect us to make those signings.

As for sagna, I don't know. He can't even kick the ball in the right direction atm and his defence has gotten very bad. Didn't expect him to repeat that Southampton game but he's starting to worry me. it's so difficult to win when one of your defenders plays THAT badly

I see what you saying but this is Wenger we talking about he wont sign players.

To all the fans enjoy these good times, yes a 2-1 is good and just wait and see how far Wenger will sink us.

At this rate even top 10 will be hard. We are not good enough, and plus having a useless manager does not help.

I dont think we can beat WHU.

Arsenal will reduce gap on Spurs to 4pts with a win against West Ham on Wednesday. Must win.

Rg true dat lol. Have to say I think if we rested wilshere and diaby against Swansea we would have got something today. We owned Chelsea from 45 to 70th minute but it looked like we tired when we needed to kick on in that last 20 minutes.

Raptor for some reason I think Wenger will sign. People keep saying we have more money to spend now and I think he will

Next 5 PL matches:

West Ham (H)
Liverpool (H)
Stoke (H)
Sunderland (A)
Aston Villa (H)

Better find form. 2-3 cup games in between them I might add.

All those are losable games tbh

Arsenal

MJGunner wrote:Next 5 PL matches:

West Ham (H) Tie/lose
Liverpool (H) lose
Stoke (H) tie
Sunderland (A) lose
Aston Villa (H) tie

Better find form. 2-3 cup games in between them I might add.

Expecting 3 points might be too much to ask this Arsenal team.
34 points from 22 Premier League matches, delusional Wenger still thinks we have a good squad.

I wonder if finishing outside the top 4 for the first time in the Wenger era would be enough to see legitimate changes come summer time.

Who to replace him though?

Not sure that it will matter in the next few years. Whomever comes in will still be burdened by all the over paid deadwood that nobody else will want to take.

I'm starting to fear the thought of Europa League football for next season, which is becoming more probable by the day...

You guys know how much I hate EL footy!!!

Juz realised it's West Ham on Wednesday, Brighton next weekend and then Liverpool the following Wednesday... And this after playing three times in the last 8 days.

Be prepared for the return of the "jaded" excuse my friends.

You guys need a better striker than Giroud. It was almost like your players didn't know what to do with him. Through balls, not really, crosses, not really, short passes, not really. He is a jack of all trades but master of none.

And Sagna was horrible, give Jenkinson a game pls

Art Morte wrote:You guys need a better striker than Giroud. It was almost like your players didn't know what to do with him. Through balls, not really, crosses, not really, short passes, not really. He is a jack of all trades but master of none.

And Sagna was horrible, give Jenkinson a game pls

I agree that Giroud is waste but Sagna has no help and should not be blamed.

MJGunner wrote:I wonder if finishing outside the top 4 for the first time in the Wenger era would be enough to see legitimate changes come summer time.

It would be a miracle if we make top 4 or 5, even Everton have better team than we do.

I cant wait for the day the truth comes out.

Arsène Wenger post-Chelsea press conference - http://bit.ly/XqOZTZ

Wenger on top 4: "The table is the table. We have lost 2 big games this week. It's very damaging. We can't afford to drop points now."

I'm worried now, I saw a scary pattern. Arshavin amazing 1st 6 months, turned to sub; Chammark banging goals for fun 1st 10 games, turned to scrub. And now Cazorla, amazing 1st 8 matches, turned invisible ever since.

I'm very disappointed with the match, I'm a patient person can't really be bothered to rip into the team to much but I'm tired of these performances.

Oscar raped Sagna today, Sagna is officially a bitch now 'sigh'.
Coquelin falls down way to easily, it has to be said.
Wilshere totally has the wrong idea, he needs to know his capablities by now. He cannot compete against Ramires, Ramires runs him to the ground, why he dribbles near him I don't know.... N why is he body checking Cech from corners who sets that shit up.
Gervinho I can't blame you for today but you need to get off my team, asap.
Arshavin should never be a sub, he's totally useless now in 2013 he shdnt be here.
Van Persie Damn you, whore. Seriously, taking out Van Persie n replacing him with Giroud is akin to taking Denzel Washington out of Training Day.
Giroud Chelsea handicapped themselves by playing Torres, we turned it into an advantage by playing you, you sir are a magician.
Arsene Wenger He is now happy with losing 2-1, his aim is to solely get 4th which is progressively bringing us right down.


For the first 45 minutes I was ashamed to support Arsenal, I think it's my first time saying that. They just didn't give a shit, Chelsea should of punished us much more if they started BA it could have gotten ugly tbh. If we dare try that game against bayern it will get ugly.

How have we gone from our glory days to this I don't know. What the hell is up with our bench? We have zero firepower, these players don't deserve the name the gunners.

To make matters even worse I can comfortable say we are a worse squad then Tottenham, yes they have better players from their GK to their bench. I worry, I really do. Even Carlos Vela would be the star player in our team right now, why did we fall so hard.