Well we can just disagree then. That many poor performances is a tactical fault, not individual fault. AW to blame. He has top class players. He can't get them playing top class football. He's not fit for purpose.
You can't separate it out into blaming either the players or the manager. Both have to take responsibility for tonights performance.
He's not talking about just tonights performance. He's talking about a consistent, regular failure to beat big teams stretching back seasons.
And sadly we won't make it to the later stages again until Wenger leaves. The CL has gotten stronger with so many good teams and so many tactically astute managers. Last season, I said that I hoped Wenger would not sign that new contract and instead would bow out on the high of that cup win, and today's game brutally highlighted Wenger's flaws. The man has been left behind and a club with our resources can attract these new young, brilliant managers.
Totally agree with this assessment. Wenger gave up on the title years ago. We always seem to have too many players in teh squad who are "developing talents", whereas what it takes to win the Leage/UCL is a SQUAD of TOP CLASS players. By the time these players complete their development (and there are just as many Bentdners as RvPs), they are off. Wenger doesn't seeem to realise that he needs TOP players to bridge the gap to City/Chelsea. I am fed up of being in the UCL only to get knocked out by the real contenders. Surely teh point of being in the UCL for a club like Arsenal is to try and win it, or are we like Galatasaray, Olympiakos, Shaktar, etc ... just there to make up teh numbers? Above all, I just wish Wenger would come out and just tell us what his true ambitions and strategy is, because it most definitely is not to win the title/UCL.
So Wilshere is potentially injured, don't think it's too serious though and may see him miss the Villa game only...This finally gives Ozil the opportunity to play in the middle, stick one of Cazorla or OXO out wide and I think we will look much better against Villa.
Can we just go back to 4-2-3-1? Playing with only 1 holding midfielder leaves us so vulnerable on the counter. It's no surprise we've looked poor with this new system. Luckily for us its still early days.
i previously stated in another thread that you need a good defensive midfielder, someone to protect the defence and you all called me a fool. i'd like a written letter of apology tbh
**** performance! While we all agree AW's faults, the players must take the lion's share of the blame for last night. It doesn't matter what position you are playing or what patch of grass you are standing on as a pro footballer should still be able to control a ball and pick a simple pass. Arteta had a mare, but I would say Sanchez was probably most guilty of playing like a twat on the night.
Exactly. Everybody wants to blame Wenger, but the players were culpable of being utter ****house last night.
Almost none of my complaints are specifically related to last night. My complaints are that last night was predictable and just a rehash of what has happened year after year after year. Tactically inept, play the same way whatever the opposition. And this has happened whatever the personnel on the field. You think Ozil and Sanchez have become terrible players overnight? They're playing in a system (if you can call it that) that fundamentally doesn't work. If it worked, it would have done in any one of the last 5 years where we've won squat (and no, one single FA cup of home wins and a scraped final against a Championship standard side is not consistent evidence of it working). This isn't a quick fix where we need players to start playing 'better'. We play a fundamentally flawed type of football that has never consistently done well against any team that's good. This is not the players fault. This is entirely Wenger's fault. It's been like this years and I would say that enough is enough... but a few have said this for a while now so it doesn't need saying again. There is no excuse to make for the football we play. We'll probably win more games than we don't this season and get 4th place, we'll probably get to the last 16 of the champions league before bowing out to a top team (because we can't beat top teams)... we'll probably get quite far in the cups... but at what point does this not become acceptable to fans any more? Where's the progress? I also have to question why Wenger bought Ozil if he was going to play him on the wing. If he needed a left winger (which we've not had for years) why not buy a left winger?
Alexis wasnt at the races. Seemed to think he had 5 minutes to pick a move and not 2 seconds. Got robbed of possession countless times .
My main issue is our new formation. 4-1-4-1. The problem with leaving Arteta to sit on his own is that he gets isolated and doesn't have the pace to recover. At least when we play a 4-2-3-1 we have either Ramsey or Wilshere back there with him and when one goes forward the other covers. Wilshere is enjoying playing further forward but without a quality DM I can't see this formation working. Also I know Wellbeck's getting critised for his finishing last night but for me he showed show really good movement. He needs to work on attacking the ball in the box but he is quality when running on to through balls.
You can't lay the blame on one specific thing, it is a combination of factors. Its the tactics to suit the occasion and alter when necessary, put a sub on at the right time to make an impact, get the players to play in the said system and have the right combination of players. The blame is with the manager and the players at the end of the day. They under performed in a system that just didn't work. Klopp out thought Wenger and his players out played ours.
