On reflection, it might do us good to have this "straightener" before teh Man City game. Given a choice between losing to City or QPR I'd take the latter. Let's hope we can up our game agin the City Mercenaries.
You might be right. There's nothing better than a loss to sharpen us up for the City game. It could be another Spurs-esque moment. One thing is for sure, we'll need to put in a much better performance and show a lot more urgency and determination against City.
thats the right attitude hope more people feel the same way. Its not going to get any easier from here onwards though so we ought to keep our expectations realistic.
Basically as fans, all we can do is get behind the team for the rest of the season. They've shown that when we do (against Spurs) we can win spectacularly and go on a winning run. I see no value in the constant slating of manager and players that some on here seem to love to revel in.
I have heard it all now. You said that we were doing well because we were confident now. How exactly is a loss the best thing to sharpen us up then? By the way, it was me that said we seem to hit some form only when our backs are against the wall and the players are getting really slated.
Because we know we can go on a winning streak. So losing to QPR will make us even more determined to put it right against City. We'll be at home and the crowd will be well up for it. Strangely enough, I don't think the loss yesterday will affect our confidence, I think it will galvanise us. I think it will be a similar game to the Spurs one, where we'd come into it on a 3 game losing streak, but played our hearts out and got the reward
Let's hope so. My worry is that we have shown that when we lose we go on a poor run of results - reach a crisis point - then come out fighting. It might take more than one loss for the players to start waking up and realising they cannot rest on their short term successes. We've seen it in the past. If you look back over the last few seasons it is characterised by pretty long unbeaten runs, followed by a run of poor results.
As I've said, I think it's about confidence. When we've been on a poor run, it's been because we've lost confidence. with that comes a lack of urgency and as Wenger describes is 'playing with the handbrake on' - we then make mistakes, get punished, other teams sense our weakness and it spirals out of control. I think the fact that we've just been on a really good run, will remind the players that they are never that far off from winning games and it's within their capabilities to do so. I believe that the loss yesterday will make us even more determined to beat City next week.
We were on a good run prior to our last defeat - which resulted in us playing poorly for a few games and getting knocked out of every competition before we woke up again.
That doesn't dictate that the same thing will happen again. Like I said, I think yesterday's defeat will galvanise us and make us even more determined to get back to winning ways
The key thing is going to be the fitness of RvP. I thought he looked jaded yesterday, overall. If the fella is suffering from a wee bit of burn-out, none of us would be surprised. But you definitely need him to be at his best against City. Don't forget that City had a bad game against Sunderland, and will be looking to make a statement against you, so you have to anticipate that they will be up for the match.
