So far this season we have had 16 different goal scorers, which sounds good on paper, but when looking at the actual stats we see how completely reliable we are on RVP for goals, going through the list: RVP:25 Walcott:6 Gervinho:4 Arteta, Benayoun, Vermaelen:3 Arshavin, Ramsey, Chamberlain, Santos:2 Song, Koschielny, Park, Chamakh, Henry, Gibbs:1 So after RVP our second top scorer is Walcott with 6 goals, and that my friends is simply not good enough. Arsenal have always been a team that had quality goal scorers, we would have a leading striker getting us a lot of goals, but we would also have a back up striker and midfielders who would get their fair share of goals as well (even during our barren spell with no trophies in the last 6 years, one example is last season where our midfielders were picking up their fair share of goals). Our entire midfield combined have produced 22 goals, which is less than RVP himself! Walcott's really got to step his goal scoring game up, he's scored 2 goals for us this month, but his goal that came at Swansea was his first since his goal scored against Chelsea in that 5-3 thriller at the end of October, and that's just not good enough. Gervinho's been missing due the ANC but prior to that he had only 4 goals for us, he too really needs to step his game up once he comes back and needs to end with his wastefulness in front of goal. Down in the middle Ramsey also has to step his game up, 2 goals I'm afraid is simply not good enough for the man who's meant to be our creative attacking player in the middle of the park, for goodness sakes Arteta who is playing in a conservative role has more goals than him, which is not to say that Arteta needs to start scoring more as well. Even Benayoun who has played far less than Ramsey has more goals than him, and so does Vermaelen who is a defender!
Arsenal 87 - do you want to start a debate or do you just want to rant ? There's a lot of 'not good enoughs' in your article but I don't see you wanting to engage with others or looking for others to make a contribution. For the record, I don't disagree with the article in its entirety, I'm just confused what its' purpose is ?
Grizzly I think A87 is simply saying that the other players have got to raise their contribution in the goal scoring department. Even in recent years we have within the team, had a number of players who have got their names onto the scoresheet and with a good record to their credit too. Granted a lot of the time then too, RvP had been injured. Now that he's enjoying an uninterrupted season one would expect him to take the lion's share. However it does remain that we are very reliant on him and were he to be sidelined in any way one really hopes that the others can step up to the plate. At least that's the message I'm reading
well that's the problem, we aren't scoring too many goals, part of our recent problems has been a lack of goals, against City we lost 1-0, failed to convert our chances, we then drew 1-1 with Wolves after failing to convert chances, then against QPR we got a narrow 1-0 win, at Fulham we lost 2-1 with our only goal coming from a defender, against Leeds we needed a returning Henry scoring! We were struggling for goals and our form took a dip because of it. Even though we beat Villa 3-2, let's not forget, 2 of those goals were penalties, and the 2nd goal was very fortunate as the Villa defender hit the ball straight at Walcott bouncing back into the net, it's quite clear we are struggling for goals. Players need to start picking their form up and take the burden of RVP.
[The situation at present is very difficult with no attacking full backs. It is going to skew the numbers. We are playing a more conservative game than usual, because we can't attack as we normally do. One of these days you guys should put your heads together to see if there is anything we are doing right. Seems like we are 5th in the table, in the CL and FA cup and every player is crap. Even RVP is in trouble because he is scoring too much. We probably should let him go, the damn goal hog.
We've scored Six goals in our last three games. So we're not struggling for goals at all at the moment. I think what you'll find is that the team around RVP are playing well and creating chances for him. He's our CF so it's natural that he's going to get on the end of most of those chances. I don't deny that it would be nice for another player to have even have half of RVP's strike ratio, but in a 4-5-1, RVP is the spearhead. The fact that he's scoring bucket loads for Arsenal is a cause for celebration, not a reason to lambast the rest of the team in my opinion.
Toledo Seems to me you're saying 5th place is good. We're only hanging onto 5th place by the skin of our teeth my friend. Catching Chelsea would require assistance from them and other teams. We should have put daylight between us, Newcastle, Liverpool and Chelsea had we won our three league games of this new year but we failed to do that. Unless you and the other one has forgotten, we have scored four goals in the EPL over the past three games while the opposition has placed 7 past us, resulting in no points on our scoresheet so far in 2012 and we're coming into February now. We may be scoring goals but we certainly are not scoring enough. Yes we're in the CL for now and while the same could be said for the FA Cup, I think you would possibly agree that we almost didn't make it through. No one is dissatisfies with RvP. Quite the opposite in fact. A87 began this thread by lamenting that the other players have not taken the burden of scoring from our captain and talisman. If Heaven forbid he should be unavailable, what would happen then? Seems there are some here who think there is not a need for concern. I don't think our position in any competition is something about which to be content. If you think about it, over the course of the coming month we may be out in all three of them. That's how strong we are and if you believe otherwise, may I respectfully suggest that it could be somewhat unrealistic.
I don't think people are saying there isn't need for concern, but are urging people to recognise and acknowledge what we are doing well.
4 games in 2012 so far. 3 loses 1 win One in four isn't doing well Piskie, whichever way the picture is painted. Can you honestly say it is? And remember that Arsene said that Top 4 was our target. To have lost all 3 EPL games means we are definitely off target.
Point being that despite losing three in a row, we're still in contention for Top4, Champions League and the FA cup, so we can't be getting it all wrong.
I'm pointing out that although I think we can do better than 5th, we must be doing something right to be in 5th place. We can't keep lamenting that absolutely everything is wrong. Yes we can do everything better, but claiming every single player is useless and we need to but a 'Big Name' player in every position, change our tactics, manager, and board, just doesn't make any sense. I keep being told it's obvious, and it just doesn't seem that way. What doesn't seem obvious is why a lot of people are Arsenal fans, There isn't a single player they like, they don't like the board, manager, or style of football. The club isn't even doing as well as they think it should. A lot of the fans don't have any geographical ties to North London. When the team doesn't meet their expectations, the fans boo them; so it isn''t the actual act of supporting Arsenal that draws fans in. Whenever you try to see any positives at all, you are told anyone associated with the current team are the spawn of satan, because the group as a whole, don't meet this arbitary and unjustified standard. Anyway on the subject of goalscoring it is a team game. Who puts the ball in the back of the net is largely irrelevant. I would not as a manager tell, a player to take a poor percetage shot, to try and "spread the goals out more" rather than passing to the top scorer. Given the importance of full backs in the modern game and particularly the 4-3-3, I am surprised we are scoring as much with so may of ours out injured. I am not surprised that the scoring distribution is skewed due to this. It is a worry that we don't have a back-up for RvP, but hiring someone as good to be a back-up, is a near impossible task. I take your point that if you expect the impossible, you can hold the opinion that Wenger should be sacked for not doing the near impossible even if he does perform miracles, but I am just a bit more of a realist.
Well, people reported on this board reported as "not being good enough" this season - Fabianski, Djourou, Metersacker, Koscielney, Walcott, Ramsey, Arteta, Benayoun, Ox (when he was bought), Arshavin, Rosicky, Gervinho, Chamackh, Park, Henry, Almunia, Diaby, Denilson, Vela, Bendtner, Coqualin, Miquel, Dickenson, Santos, Gibbs, Wenger, Rice, Gazardis, Kronke, everybody else on the board, and the defence as a unit. In addition the tactics, style and attitude of everyone on the team is apparently bad as well. I think that just leaves Wilshere who hasn't faced any criticism, if you consider Vermaelen and Samba part of the defence and Van Persie part of the team.
Why are all the complaints about the team made to seem ridiculously unrealistic? At best only a very small minority say all the things that you are accusing many people of. For example in this article the OP is saying how RvP is scoring an incredible amount of goals but he needs to be supported by the rest of the team, but Piskie has somehow decided the facts, something that cannot be ignored, are too negative for his liking. Yes you are right to point out that our fullbacks are missing but even before they both got long term injuries Walcott, Gervinho and our midfielders weren't scoring enough. In other topics I have come up with a lot of valid reasons as to why Wenger is not doing an amazing job but it seems they are just swept under the carpet. I understand that at times it can get very aggravating to see constant over the top negativity, I know because I have felt the same way, but some concessions are needed otherwise things get polarised and people will start making personal attacks again.
You have come up with no valid reasons, that I have seen, for why Wenger is not doing an amazing job. It seems to centre on the fact that he hasn't signed players that weren't sold to anyone or that went to clubs with a bigger budget than we do. Once again you state, "Walcott, Gervinho and our midfielders weren't scoring enough", yet you don't come up with any justification of why or how you have arbitarily decided this. In the league we have one goal less scored than Man Utd and Chelsea. If you accept the total is skewed, and the defence don't score a lot, how do you come to the conclusion that the midfield aren't scoring enough?
and your happy with that? Soo we might make the top four if things go well... woop woop! The lack of ambition at Arsenal is probably the most worrying thing.
I continually post reasons why I think Wenger is doing a good job and I will do so again here. It is you or any of all these people that berate Wenger, that refuse to post any facts to back up or justify your ill-conceived and dramatically stated opinions. Once again when called out about our midfield scoring record, you don't admit you were talking absolute rubbish, which doesn't promote credability in your other arguments. However, Wenger is doing a good job because, in the absence of big signings joining any other club except those with a sugar daddy, he has kept us competitive in most competitions by spotting and developing youth players. I believe the number and quality of the successes set him apart from the other managers. The fact that when our players leave, they generally perform worse, leads me to believe that he manages to get a better standard of play from them than another manager would be able to. I think the last two seasons have been disappointing, but the injury situation and the loss of Fabregas and Nasri were unavoidable and had a sufficient impact, such that any other manager would have performed far worse. I don't think it is worth speculation on the budgets for transfers or wages because I don't think there is enough money to compete with United, City or Chelsea, however much it is, and I haven't seen a player go anywhere else I thought was enough of a sure thing to get upset about.
Chaps, i agree with some of the posters on the whole fall back issue. Having all of them out, we are forced to change the way we play a bit. For example, players like Vermaelen and Dujourou are less likely to bomb down the wings and cross the ball like Gibbs and Sagna. However, their seems to be an over reliance on RVP to score. Gervinho, Arshavin, Walcott, Ramsey and Rosicky should all be taking there chances and contributing. That is the way we play, unfortunately our midfield and support strikers are not clinical enough. In a way this season has been a bit of a miracle. RVP has not been injured at all and its February tomorrow. Who in their right mind would have guessed that? The biggest test is how our team will cope without the presence of RVP.......
