Arsenal vs Chelsea Match Thread.

If Wenger had the balls to actually make the big decisions he gets paid handsomely to do, it wouldn't be that brutal. I'm sick of putting up with mediocrity.

 

Wasn't meant as a dig mate ... more of an observation

 

Have said before that an absentee owner & apathetic board are content to settle for a bit of a cup run & a top 4 position every season. No ambition to challenge as the money just rolls in.
AW just does enough & keeps his place. I bet he gets an extension. The fans who attend pay top dollar for season tickets & deserve better. We need a manager like Conte or Pochettino.

 

Didn't see the game today but it sounds like we were well beaten. What did people make of the first Chelsea goal ? I heard that it could have been ruled out for a foul on Bellerin.

 

Guess Liverpool have other ideas

 

I'm disagreeing with the statement we were 'never really in it'. We were well and truly 'in it' until they scored the 2nd goal.

He pulled off a great save in the first half. Pulled off a couple of absolute beauties against Watford.
He's still a great keeper.

 

Conceded 28 soo far this Season. Wenger has often stated that conceding 40 is too many to win the league. We are well on course to surpass that.

Coquelin is having an awful Season.
He's been shocking lately, still puts in the work but is constantly out of position and his distribution is erratic.

Kos and Mustafi won't work against the bigger more physical sides.

Gabriel has ability but he's rash and makes ALOT of mistakes.

Feels like the Arsenal defence from 5-6 years ago.

 

Coquelin just isn't all that great. Reputation built on that one game at city a couple of seasons ago.

 

I don't think it's fair to single out any one player, it was a complete team failure in my opinion.

 

Yes. Failures that have happened for years. There are quite a few weak players managed by a weak manager. One match doesn't alter any of that, it just means it's not a surprise when it consistently happens.

 

It was telling that Giroud scored when he came on. Personally I would have gone with a front three of Sanchez, Giroud and Welbeck. I haven't seen the game yet as I was working today, but it sounded like we were crossing aimless balls into the box, hoping to hit two of the smallest men in the PL. That is just stupid.

 

I bet he does too!!!

 

Giroud did what he always does, have an impact from the bench and score late, the problem was that Chelsea are just a far better team with a superior manager. Simple really.

 

Can't argue with that.

 

Yup, against a team who play two defensive midfielders and three CB's it doesnt make sense to try and play through the middle. We also could have used Girouds height in set pieces.

Against Watford he got his forward line totally wrong and he got it wrong again today. Wengers choices for subs and lineup dont appear to have the opposition in mind.

 

Would have been very soft if so. Alonso wanted it more.

 

I think that is fair comment - if it had been Giroud on Azpilucueta, we would have been very pissed off to have had it ruled out. Chelsea were superior, Hazard was magnificent where our mainstays didn't turn up. Ozil needs to be more honest about his commitment, but others were not up for it either.

 

You also need a major clear-out. We look at the length of grace periods given to many of your player and just laugh. If the likes of Walcott, Oxlade, Gibbs, Jenkinson, Ramsey & Welbeck haven't been good enough to challenge for top honours for 3-4 seasons straight, what on earth makes Wenger think that 'next year' will be any different? Whereas we have a manager who has shown a ruthless streak in showing the door to the likes of Townsend, Mason and Livermore (with Bentaleb now halfway out too), yours has built a squad literally bottle-necked by 'young talent' that in all honesty isn't that young anymore and isn't very talented.

You currently have no more than 2-3 players who are good enough to play in a title-winning team, and yet there seems to be genuine shock and surprise every single season when the highlight of the open-top bus is Jack Wilshere (another player who should be on the list above) singing obscene songs about Spurs.

Wenger's transfer policy reflects his personal stubbornness. 13 years ago, he achieved something incredible with a squad that he had built from scratch. No-one could accuse him of building from George Graham's excellent defensive foundations as they had 6 years previously. He did it all himself, signing numerous players who no-one had ever really heard of and making invincibles out of them. He has been attempting to repeat that formula ever since, signing players who most people have never heard of and clinging desperately to the dream that Theo Walcott will one day become a good footballer. This summer was a perfect example. Had any of you seriously heard of Mustafi and Xhaka before you signed them? The prices you paid tend to be for players who have consistently been making headlines for years. I mean, Victor Wanyama was available for £11m with 3 excellent PL seasons in his pocket, and you went and spent £32m on an unknown from a mid-table German side?! Don't get me wrong, Xhaka may well prove to be a very good player. But Wanyama is already a very good player - one of our most consistent performers in fact and a major contributing factor behind our conceding 16 goals in 24 games despite our defenders getting injured the whole time.

For Wenger, it's his way or the highway. Signing Wanyama never would've occurred to him because - quite simply - there would've been no 'wow' factor. No 'oh Arsene, you're so clever for spotting him and making him a PL success story, just as you did way back when with Thierry Henry'.

In a way, I'm disappointed that you lost as I felt it would be the last chance to stick a toe in the title race door, but it is now without question a foregone conclusion. There is no way a team that has lost once in 4 months and conceded more than a single goal just twice in the same period will drop 10 points between now and the end of the season, especially with no European commitments to worry about. The title chase is over and it's the beginning of February. I'm still convinced that it isn't so much do to with Chelsea's quality as it is to do with everyone else's chronic inconsistency.

 

Agreed about Ozil.
Him and Sanchez rarely turn up against top opposition. Ozil seems to be overawed when facing strong teams.
Whether he is worth paying more money just because he can turn it on against lesser opposition is debatable.
Wenger really does need to call it a day this summer, his tactics are astonishing to most people and he seems incapable of getting it right with team choices. He has a knack of picking players who are out of form.
Stubborness and a lack of flexibility are major problems with him.
Same old, same old.

 

Stubborn, inflexible. Terms I hear often describing Wenger. Disagree. Why can't we just be honest... He's been out of his depth for years because he's simply not very good.