Part of the problem is that the Yanks are Businessmen not Footballmen. They are in their comfort zone negotiating to takeover the stadium, but have out of necessity relied on Huw to advise on footballing matters. Huw got lucky with Bobby, Brendan & Laudrup who were able to overcome Huw's shortcomings. Since then, he's been been found out
I have just got back and am desperately disappointed with the score line, but not most of the performance. But, as a team 55 minutes of going flat out is simply not enough and it was clear we would tire in the end. Contrary to a few things I have read on this thread, I thought the back 4 did ok, Naughton for me was playing well till his OG and then fell apart. I thought Mawson and Fernandez did fine but class told in the end and we have to look at what we were matching them up against. The difference is 1 lapse in concentration by us and the quality Arsenal have they will punish it. In midfield Cork, Ki and siggy woked tirelessly, the issue is out wide we just simply don't have wingers who can damage sides, time after time we had the chance to put balls in the box but yet again failed to do so and would turn and start again. With Narsingh on the pitch may of made a difference but we need another winger. Llorente held the ball up well but we just didn't get the support quick enough to him and he was to often found out wide where Routledge and Dyer should have been and when we did get balls in the box they were either over hit or put into Chech hands. A much improved performance for 60mins and signs we had a bit of shape about us, apart from a few lucky deflections it could have been closer. The crux of the matter is we still need 3 or 4 players, not squad players like we are signing but starters.
I've just got home as well . I do think we need a right back as I don't think Naughton is mentally strong enough. Cork was dreadful today. Agree totally about players delivering in to the box. We competed well until the second goal. One thing I was concerned about was that our heads might drop, which they didn't and thought Arsenal were lucky with two of their goals. Want to see the penalty decision because if we had got it the game might have been different.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38624925 I agree with Wenger but, only IF we buy 2 CBs to go straight into the side. We should also look to sell Baston and bring in another striker.
I don't think we can offload Baston because his value must have dropped greatly the way he's preformed so far this season. We're not a club that can just write off £5 million or so. And TBH what club would spend £10 million on him the way he's been playing.
We'll have one next game in Narsingh IMO ..time will tell , something we are slowly running out of . My concern is spending to stay up and not staying up , with a financial onslaught facing us in the summer . Another player , maybe two at most and not of the crazy money variety and let the chips fall where they may . Personally , even though we are a point or two from escaping relegation , I think some of the worst is about to come the next 6 weeks with confidence dipping after that against " easier " teams , if there are any easier teams than us right now . Maybe Clement should " invite " Curtis to sit down for a crash course in SCFC....
I'm looking at Baston in terms of freeing up wages. Maybe ship him out on loan instead? But, we do need an alternative to Llorente. Baston, whether good or enough or not, just looks completely shot of confidence to me. Today should that for 55-60mins that we are improving under Clement, first half we were the better team imo. 2-3 quality signings, one of which must be captain material,and we can get out of this mess.
He's been found out big time these last few seasons, and the problem is he still has a strangle hold on the purse strings, and his cheap buys will take us down, he is single handedly destroying the club. Clement came here, with some very good contacts, but Jinx has frozen out yet again, another manager from any input in recruitment process, all three signings so far this transfer window are Jinx cheap buys, all we have been linked with before, and it's clear to me the Boardroom is clear out of any ambition for keeping our PL status, it so sad and tragic for the fans, to have to watch this cheapskate team of Jenkins, being humiliated week after week, while he sits in the stand with his trousers loaded with cash stripped from the squad, I cannot wait for the fraud to piss off out of our club, with the rest of the slime balls........................
Unfortunately, I don't think the Yanks have yet concluded that Huw & Dineen are surplus to requirements....
If this is the case, surely Clement should make it public. **** Huw, I'd make it public that he isn't allowing me to bring in my own players. What's the worse that could happen? At least we the fans would know who to blame for the crap signings, although we already know what bellend is in charge of that process.
^^^This. I expected to lose and we deserved to but there was an element of bad luck in most of those goals. Seeing signs of improvement so let's not get too hysterical, eh?
75% first half hour -25% the rest unlucky but you make your own luck ! = 50% happy with the improvement must do better.
4 goals that all were lucky in my opinion. 1. Ozil's tragically poor header deflecting straight to Giroud for a tap-in. 2. Own goal 3. Own goal 4. A good tackle on Ramsey on the edge of the box popping/deflecting straight up onto Sanchez's boot. Sitting right next to the Arsenal fans was particularly difficult yesterday as they taunted how **** we were, when in reality, they needed luck on their side to win this game that comfortably. Once the first OG went in to make it 2-0, you could visibly see the players heads go down as they must've bemoaned their luck, but furthermore you could hear the crowd get noticeably quieter too as we all prepared ourselves for "another one of those days". A game where we played well for most parts, but maybe allowed Arsenal too much territory second half. Perhaps we need to get slightly smarter - Arsenal were coming at us for a good 1.5/2 minutes in the build up to the second goal. We got pulled all over the place. When we had the chance, we should've sent the ball into the stands, even if it meant turning around and smashing it out for a corner. We needed to reorganise after such a sustained attack from Arsenal. Unbelievable luck with the actual goal looping over Fabianski, but perhaps a situation that needn't have happened in the first place. We move on. More performances like the first half and we'll score some goals against lesser sides and hopefully pick up some points along with it. PS. Anyone else find it strange that Dyer was taken off? The people I sit with and I thought that he was one of our best players on the day. Did he take a knock?
Can't defend the 1st, it was an utterly shocking attempt at the art of defending even by our own miserable standards...
It was a lose but not as we know it, I agree with bigkidders and 90% of TLF's assessment of the game. The only bit I disagree with TLF about was that I thought Mawson was poor yesterday and at fault for Arsenals first and fourth goals even thiugh both were lucky goals. He lost his man for the first goal and stood flat footed to watch Sanchez slot the fourth. Neither would have happened if he wasn't sleeping in the box imo. First half we competed well, penalty? definitely imo. Ki may have stuck his leg out but the defender took him out. When the footballing Gods are against you there's nothing you can do, two OG's, give us a break for **** sake. Those and the none penalty sucked the life out of the players and the crowd who were supportive and loud up until Naughton's calamity. It may be the same the picture but the scenery was very different yesterday imo. For the majority of the game we looked like a football team again and the crowd for the most part was up for it. Our results may pathetic but still we are only 1 point away from safety and after yesterday I think, excluding Leicester, we are better than the teams around us and Watford and Southampton are falling fast. Southampton home is our next cup final and we must win that one if we want to stay up.
You can say bad luck all the time, and if we keep saying it it will happen all the time. The truth is our defenders are lost they need a leader they are always in the wrong position, dont work as a unit, never look around, cant mark, dont chase down balls. It is coaching they need not being told they are unlucky.
...even if they were. I agree the defence needs sorting but luck is part of football and Arsenal had a lot of it yesterday.
