But this isn't a rant, this is a serious point, Arsenal have zero tactics when it comes to big games, and most games. Unless you're telling me you some real tactical awareness from today's game?
Come on, you know our tactics. Keep hold of the ball, go through the phases of possession, rugby union style.
You go down to the best counter attacking team in the country in the first 3 minutes (for a complete non-chance, btw), tactics are worth ****. Even if we pressed them really hard they would still nick it with counter attacks. You can't go down to them as wastefully as that and expect to win a game. Panicking and pressing harder will just play into their counter attacking style.
The longer you sell your best players the longer you won't be the best nor win much, if anything. Considering how much you lot pay for tickets i'm surprised your owners aren't put under more pressure to invest. How long do you put up with Wenger? Being financially sound is one thing, but its pointless being a football team if there is no hope of winning stuf. Time to sit on the owners.
The top 3 will be: City, United, Chelsea (not necessarily in that order). After them, I see Arsenal and Spurs fighting for the 4th spot ahead of Everton and Newcastle. When push comes to shove, Spurs strike me as still being bottle merchants when it really matters, while I see Arsenal scoring enough goals and winning enough games on the road to grab a top 4 finish again. So I expect Wenger will be pleased as he achieves the 'trophy' he most covets again at the end of the season, but I envisage Arsenal fans will be suitably underwhelmed. That really speaks volumes of where Arsenal are as a club now in comparison with their 'Invincibles' era 7-8 years ago.
This seems to be the problem most of the time when we roll over. We saw it against Schalke, we were being overrun on the left side of the pitch almost from the start yet nothing was done about it. Anybody with even just a basic knowledge of tactics could see that Santos was having a nightmare and should have been substituted in the first half already. But nothing was done. Ferguson, Mancini or Di Matteo would have made the changes, both substitutions and tactical when required. Wenger doesn't seem to have a plan B, for when plan A is not working. He always leaves it too late to make a difference.
Neither are Manchester United for that matter. I didn't watch the game, but at stages last year Manchester City were not playing like an elite side. Very few sides play like an elite team every game. However it is only Arsenal fans that get so down on their side after bad performances. Most other fans fans continue to claim their teams are the best in the world no matter what.
Manunited may not be an elite team, but last I checked, they haven't been barren for the past 7 seasons in terms of silverware, in the past 7 seasons they have won 4 league titles, 1 champions league, and 1 carling cup. As for City, while they weren't playing like an elite side at some stages last year, they still ended up winning the league! So it's not even comparable to our situation, we don't play like an elite side, and never win anything, and consistently end up coming 4th best with the odd 3rd place. At least when Manunited don't play that well, they still win things! Arsenal haven't been playing like an elite side for more than 1 game: Chelsea, Norwich, Shalke, even the home game against Sunderland was bad. We've had a lot of toothless average performances this season, and the difference between us and your Manchester clubs, is that even though they won't always play good, they will always be there at the top competing for the title right to the end.
Also the reason Arsenal fans get so down on the team is because a lot of fans are running out of patience, they've had enough of mediocre performances and season after season without major success, there's only so much fans can take, hearing the same mantra to trust in the team, and that we will reach the mother land soon, all the while paying some of the highest ticket prices in England, so it's no wonder Arsenal fans are get so down on the team when they play like sh!t.
The problem for me is not that we pay the highest prices which then makes the shareholders richer while we purchase second string players. Its that Wenger seems to me to be tactically INEPT. As someone has already alluded to if you look at the Man Utd side over the years , they havent had the best players either , but they have won SH!T loads of competitions. Because Bacon face makes the right tactical decisions for (almost ) every game . And woe betide any player that puts in less than a decent shift. While wenger comes out with the " of course , its dissappointing because , i feel we controlled the game but ..........blah blah blah." Ad fuckin infinitum. Its all about the coach . I seriously dont think we will have any further success with Arsene at the helm . The premiere league has changed , and he cant.
Are you people attacking Arsenal87 honestly happy with Arsenal right now? It's constant disappointment every year. And how can this be a knee-jerk reaction when it's been the same for like 5 years? Even more than that in fact!
the 7 year knee jerk . The worst thing is that we seem to be further and further from the old Arsenal every year. The players get worse , and the fans expect less. when a player as consistently average as Ramsey gets a game week after week , that shows you our depth of squad.
Did you know our cheapest season tickets are cheaper than yours on a game by game basis and we don't charge away fans nearly £50 for a seat with a severely restricted view where you can't see the whole pitch
Is this the "old" Arsenal that i remember fighting relegation battles and playing to crowds of less than 20,000 ?
Why do people conveniently forget that we also have some of the cheapest ticket prices ? Some fans also forget which shareholder made the most money out of the Kroenke v Usmanov battle for control of the club
No , the one that used to attract top players. Not sell top players and not reinvest to maintain FOOTBALL success , not just commercial success. Its great to have all that cash in the coffers , (if your a shareholder) . Not so good when you cant even rely of beating the likes of Norwich. Remember ? answer me this honestly. do YOU think Arsene Wenger is a good tactician ?
So what you call "old" Arsenal is not as old as what i would call "old" Arsenal.The Arsenal you call "old" Arsenal is not really that old at all.
This team's problems run deeper than simply elite personnel or tactics I'm afraid. We have a board and owners with a policy of non-investment, and profit making agenda. We have a manager who is stubbornly sticking to an attractive brand of football, but flawed philosophy, playing players out of position, playing systems in a league that has developed since our side last won a trophy. We have no squad depth due to the consisten selling of best players and the failure to replace said players in order to make profits which we don't spend. This in turn weakens the club and leads to further departures. It's a vicious circle. More importantly though, the club lacks direction. The magic word. Fabregas left because he said he felt he had stagnated. I'm not even going to talk about RVP. When was the last time you considered what progress has been made as a whole since Arsenal won the FA cup in 2005, broke up a world class team and moved into a new stadium the following year? Do the owners, board, manager and players know what they are trying to achieve any more? I see some people saying we are team in transition, (despite having said this for years), we are developing young players (well many young players have grown up, failed at Arsenal and moved on), we are fighting for the title? We are not fighting for the title? Are we content with top 3 or 4 or even lower, year after year? As much as it pains me to say it, I think Wenger has stagnated at Arsenal. It's time for him to look for new pastures. We need to sell the deadwood, invest in a solid base of players, young players, squad players and proper world class replacements. Rip the whole lot out and start again from scratch. Easier said than done though.
well no i dont see any point in going back to the 1890s , it not exactly relevant to the premiere league is it. ?
