Arsenal seem set up to beat the majority of teams in the Premier League, which sounds sensible in theory. The problem is that they struggle against the better sides, both in England and in Europe. They have one way of playing. Top managers know how to deal with it. They've got some very good players, but there's also gaps in their squad and it lacks balance. Wenger seems to have developed an obsession for small, skilful, attacking midfielders and stocked up on them.
Various media reports about Walcott this morning, as he made a mouthing off gesture to Arsenal fans at the end of the game. What an arsehole.
His team has lacked balance, especially in midfield, since Vieira left. How many years ago? At the risk of repeating what has been said a thousand times, how long before the penny drops with a supposedly great manager? He only worries about what his team does with the ball. But a big part of the game is what you do when the opposition have it. Any top team needs players who close down the opposition's most creative players to put them under pressure when they are looking to play key passes or run with the ball. Matic does this for Chelsea very well. Keane and Vieira were the masters. They relieve pressure on the defence and in many instances win the ball back for their own team. When a team doesn't do this often enough or well enough, they are easily exploited by top sides, who can make use of good possession in good areas - ironically, just like Arsenal do. They get away with it against lesser teams who don't always have the ability to take advantage or cannot restrict Arsenal enough when they have the ball, but they get found out every time against leading sides. It's poor management.
Yeah, I agree. Ironically, his best side was the one he built around the old Arsenal back 4 - who he inherited. He put Vieira & Petit in front of them, and he was off and running. However, since Vieira went and the old back 4 retired, apart from stealing Judas he hasn't seen fit to replace that defensive capability. Big mistake, which has cost them dearly of the years, IMO.
Dortmund's awful season has continued, as an unexploded WWII bomb has been found near their ground. There are mixed reports as to whether their derby game will go ahead at the weekend, but it seems likely to at the moment.
Put Mourinho in charge of this squad and I will guarantee he will have a title winning in side in two seasons or so. Its not even so much the players we have but the lack of tactical acumen our manager keeps on demonstrating and a blatant lack of leadership on the pitch. Wenger said after the match that we were not mentally prepared enough. Only one person to blame for that...
If you had a title winning side, it would be because Mourinho would rebalance that squad. Most people can see what your problems are, but yes, one of them is Whinger's arrogant intransigence. Mourinho is also no respecter of reputations and one or two of your bigger names would find themselves in the transfer list!...
Mourinho changed the Chelsea team to address weaknesses. He bought Fabregas and Costa. He would look at Arsenal and immediately want £100M for a top class 'keeper, centre back and holding midfielder. That's the only way he could make them anywhere near title contenders.
Yes, he'd undoubtedly want to spend. However, I think a good part of it would be funded by some familiar names being shown the door!..
Amusing touch map on the BBC site: Berbatov made most of his touches in the middle of the park. He only touched the ball once in the penalty area when scoring the goal. http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/31635094
It just doesn't make any sense when you think about it because our 'Invincible' squad had a blend of technical, powerful and physically intimidating players who could play a combination of styles when needed. We weren't afraid to mix it up. How from that he has deduced that we need a bunch of technical midgets who can't tackle for toffee and fall over at the slightest bit of contact is just truly mystifying. The reason why we struggle against the better sides normally is because we either can't cope with the teams that press us high up the pitch and suffocate the spaces, as we are only used to playing a possession-based game, so we end up losing the ball, our wide player and forwards end up being isolated and our midfield ends up chasing shadows. See Bayern Munich at The Emirates for the last two years. Another reason is that we are just too naive. There are teams who will let us have the ball, let us pass it around and there's no tempo or urgency to our play. Our wide players lose tactical discipline and patience and then play too narrow so we lose width. This means that when the opposition retain possession of the ball, they can counter easily with speed as we leave so many gaps in behind the defence. Wenger said yesterday he 'couldn't understand' why we went so gung-ho at 1-0 when there was 35 minutes left. Well he should know. He's the manager. He trains these players and he tells them what to do. They're either ignoring instructions or Wenger hasn't put enough emphasis on the importance of defending properly. Either way, it certainly shows we won't be competing for major honours with him in charge.
Just that you have no reason to think that you should be always challenging for major honours. It's nothing to do with Wenger that football clubs have ups and downs. Nine years with one FA cup is nowhere near you worst run. You hadn't finished in the top 3 three years running since the war and before Wenger.
What has that got to do with anything? I'm sorry but this post is just ridiculous, frankly. There is no sense of entitlement here. I'm not saying we should be winning everything in sight, what I want to see is us not repeating the same mistakes every year and showing that we are progressing as a club. We aren't. People pointed to the lack of finances as to why we struggled to compete (which I didn't agree with at the time and I still don't), but the last two years have proven our issues are far deeper than that. What we did before the war and Wenger is irrelevant to the here and now. The landscape of football has changed dramatically and with the success Wenger brought us in his earlier years, the expectations were rightfully raised that we should try to be competitive on all fronts. He has failed to sustain this. If there's one thing Wenger has had plenty of, it is time to get things right. At no other top club would he be allowed to stay on at a club for 10 years and win 1 trophy, whilst taking numerous annihilations and regular defeats to the bigger sides.
You joke, but behind his flippant and somewhat disdainful remarks, there were elements of truth to what he was saying.
Liverpool going to penalties. They do love a shoot-out, though. Crowd should be interesting for this one.
