I can just see it now....Wenger on his knees in the dressing room in front of his players imploying them to try like mad and save my job! Blimey! That Emirates prayer mat does work.........
Just watched the game (been away) and not read through much of this thread but all I can say is that that game was basically what I was expecting. What a shame that around the time that Arsenal look really quite average we've lost our Get Out Of Jail Free card (Bale) and look our worst since...well when Harry left TBH. Last year we were pretty damn unimaginative but had Bale. Oh - just seen that Arsenal had signed Ozil. Bloody brilliant. Well let's hope that some of these new wonder-signings are so good they can make this team dangerous despite AVB's incredible negativity. I just don't get it - wingers have no-one to cross to, Soldado's got no-one anywhere near him the whole time, we play three midfielders who like to play sideways, we've got practically a new team, replacing players like Lennon, Sandro, BAE who didn't even need replacing. Townsend is now supposed to be better than Lennon?! Well he had a good year last year but I'll tell you what - he can't defend like Lennon. Or doesn't want to. While we're on the topic I'm pretty sure that any professional footballer could go past Nacer Chadli with very little difficulty. Christ our left side looks weak. Hands up who really expects a decent cross or shot from there nowadays? We were damned lucky to finish so close to 4th last year and even then Arsenal were ****ter than they have been for years. Compare: Friedel Walker King Kaboul BAE Lenon Parker/Sandro Modric Bale VDV Ade With what we have now. No comparison. AVB has had the unenviable task of trying to dismantle that team and build something better. It's not been great so far. No doubt there has been talk of knee-jerk reactions on here but the trouble with this team is the same it's been for over a year and now our one tactic (let Bale score a screamer most games) has gone. We're weaker than we were last year as far as I can see whilst also being a team of strangers. I think we're all left with blind optimism that Lamela and Eriksson adapt well to the league and look worth their price/hype. Or that Holtby can reproduce his Europa form in the EPL (or at least be given a chance). Something very big needs to change with this team - zero goals from open play in the first three games is not clever. It's pretty damn serious, in fact. Holy Christ - I've just seen that BAE has gone to QPR! And another Championship loan for Carroll. This has been a very bad news catch-up on the football front. Anyone want to talk about Spurs as title contenders now that some of the shiny new players have proven to just be boring old footballers like the last lot?
Eriksen and Chiriches haven't kicked a ball yet and Lamela was given a measley 14/15 mins. Eriksen and Lamela especially will prove to be fantastic signings, of that I'm confident. Ozil signature for them lot is a superb signing but every level headed Arsenal fan knows they're still weak in depth which could prove a huge problem. A long term Giroud/ Wilshere/ Koscielny injury and they're in trouble in my opinion. The fact we lost 1-0 despite looking very average and conceding through ridiculous defending, against a team who've been settled for a year and at home, it's not the end of the world. Yes there were a few issues such as lack of supply to Soldado being the main problem but with Eriksen here and Holtby bringing up his fitness, we're looking near enough full strength come Norwich with only Capoue out.
I know. It just doesn't look good, hasn't looked good for a while and now we've got to wait to bed in about seven to nine new faces whilst perfectly good, settled assets have been shipped out! Is a year of transition what we've been hoping for? I'm just down to blind hope that the new faces are something special...
