Man city results Burnley home 2-2 after being 2 up ...draw Sunderland home 3-2 after giving up a 2 nil lead again...win Everton away 1-1...draw Arsenal home 0-2... loss chelsea away 1-1...draw Stoke away 1-4...win Newcastle home 5-0...win Liverpool away 1-2 ...loss Leicester home 2-0 ... win Burnley away 1-0 ... loss west brom home 3-0...win Palace away 1-2...loss That 5 wins 4 losses 3 draws...that is piss poor firm for a club like city and they played like that against you imo...poorly. In the fa cup they scrapped past sheff wed after battering 7-1 just a couple of months earlier and then lost 2 nil at home to Middlebrough. ..in europe the lost twice to barca. So in all competitions they have won 6 drawn 3 lost 6....scoring 24 (9 of those were in 2 games v stoke and newcastle) goals and conceding 19. All of that shows that city have been ****e ... for a top club with those players...since xmas. Liverpool was an impressive performance...but that was counter balanced by the performance against us. If you play well and beat united and chelsea then i think you are justified in saying lessons have been learned. But like i said before, it is just an opinion
What's so damning about City is they have so much talent in their squad, yet they fall apart when Yaya Toure isn't on the pitch. It's more obvious when you consider the ACoN took place between 17th January and 8th February, and City's results in that timeframe sure tell a story: 1/1: 3-2 vs Sunderland (Toure's last game before departing for the ACoN) 10/1: 1-1 vs Everton 18/1: 1-2 vs Arsenal 31/1: 1-1 vs Chelsea 7/2: 1-1 vs Hull 11/2: 4-1 vs Stoke 21/2: 5-0 vs Newcastle (Toure's first game back) When Toure was away, they won six points out of a possible fifteen - prior to his leaving, they won 26 points out of a possible 30.
For me, it's the inevitable result of hastily putting together a bunch of money orientated mercenaries in search of immediate success. That includes their manager and director of football.
The point isn't about City though, it's about us. People have criticised us for not being able to go to a big ground away from home and grind out a win. City have not had a good season by any means, but when we played them, their only home loss in the league was against Stoke which was at the start of the season. They've had a poor season on the whole, but we could have easily rolled over for them like we have for several of the big sides in the past. We lost to a United side that finished 7th last season for gods' sake. This was our first win at the Etihad since 2010. And we ended the Old Trafford hoodoo as well - which was very important, considering they've been our bogey team for the past 5 years. The derby game you guys outperformed us and wanted it more. But this is what I was saying - sometimes on the day the opposition are better than you and you have to give them credit. It happens. I don't think that it was us being poor that we lost against you, you guys played like men possessed. This doesn't mean I think you're a better side than us though (as the league table shows). We aren't going to win every big game though. I just wanted us to end this horrendous run we had against them and try to start competing in these bigger games. So far, on the whole, we have been this season. We've not always won, but the margins have been a lot tighter compared to previous seasons gone by.
I don't get what you mean by this. If you're trying to suggest that we don't understand how lucky we are, then that is absolute rubbish. Arsenal fans pay the highest ticket prices in Europe, we are one of the top 10 richest clubs in the world, we've got more money than ever before in our history and we have almost as much in cash reserves than the rest of the other 19 Premier League clubs put together. Your adjust your expectations accordingly. If you're going to pay more than anyone else for something, you want to make sure what you're getting is of premium quality. For the last 10 years we've seen Arsenal never coming close to competing for major honours on a regular basis, getting battered by the other bigger sides in the division and in Europe, whilst constantly wilting at the slightest bit of pressure on us to perform. We've had every right to be pissed off with our club. It seems our fortunes may be changing this season (I hope it's not another false dawn), but it's been long overdue.
Again - expectations. We're one of the wealthiest clubs in the world and have a massive wage bill. Our record against the big boys and in Europe should not be anywhere near as poor as it is. Truthfully I don't know your record against the bigger sides, but I also know that you're not in a better position than us financially therefore can't lure the calibre of players that we can, so it's understandable that your record may not be that great. We have less excuses, in my opinion (prior to this season).
How much influence Wenger has at Arsenal, I've no idea. But, it seems that the man who is responsible for their success over the past 17 years or so, is now being blamed for not bringing the success that their fans now seem to expect. Whilst it strikes me that Wenger is somewhat too dogmatic and arrogant, I would ask Gooners to imagine where you might be if he hadn't come to your club.
This is true as far as it goes but in the last 50 or 60 years Arsenal and Spurs have always been around the 3rd and 4th richest clubs (usually behind Man U and Liverpool) and now we are both well behind Man U, Man C and Chelsea. You've just about caught Liverpool and we are sixth. So coming 3rd or 4th for you is outperforming just like coming 4th or 5th for us is.
I think he has been too dogmatic and arrogant. He believes in a possession game where his team control the ball and look to pass through and around teams. He knows his team's dominance of the ball will eventually overcome many opponents. His problems start when his team comes up against better quality opponents who are also good at controlling the game through possession of the ball. He has rarely adapted his tactics to tackle the threat posed by these opponents. That win at City was an example of when he did - to great effect. But in the past, he has been guilty of believing that he can have his team carry on playing the same way. The failings have been obvious. There has been no plan to play without the ball. When the opposition are having 50% or more of the ball, rather than the usual 25%, the manager needs to work out how to stop the opposition playing. If you just wait to get the ball back, then it will often be when the game is restarted after your opponents have scored. Wenger has had a poor record against top sides in recent years because of this myopia; he just sets his team up to play with the ball, not without it. Will the win at City and the way it was achieved be a Eureka moment for him?
It's not necessarily about success, it's about him making the same mistakes continuously and showing very little tactical flexibility (hence our rubbish record in Europe). It's about the fact that he has preferred to blood youth into the side and persisted with players despite them not being of the required quality (Denilson) which hindered our chances of bringing in a suitable defensive-minded central midfield player over the years. It's about the fact that we have had a series of injury problems for years and he does not seem to do anything about it. It's about the fact that he has been far too reactive, rather than proactive. These are the main reasons why Arsenal fans get annoyed at Wenger and why we get annoyed at rival supporters who accuse us of being 'arrogant' or 'having ridiculously high expectations' (not saying this applies to you).
I don't think you're being arrogant. And I accept that Wenger is very bloody minded and very loathe to change what he feels is right ( despite, as Luke says, being proved wrong many times) However, he has brought tremendous success to your club over the last 17-18 yrs. Whether he indeed experienced a revelation recently, we will see. It has been blindingly obvious to everybody, but Wenger, that you've needed a top class D.M. for ages.
The goons want to challenge Chelsea, United and City but we know they are nowhere near their level in terms of being able to win actual titles so they believe Wenger has held them back from moving onto "the next level" but he has done a superb job in making them the best of the rest (in terms of the top four) but until we see what happens when wenger is sacked, we won't know if a different manager could do better? I doubt they coud!
"The goons want to challenge Chelsea, United and City but we know they are nowhere near their level in terms of being able to win actual titles so they believe Wenger has held them back from moving onto "the next level" but he has done a superb job in making them the best of the rest (in terms of the top four) but until we see what happens when wenger is sacked, we won't know if a different manager could do better? I doubt they coud!" But he has played 'Europa roulette' with Spurs quite often in recent times. And a few of their supporters are frustrated, knowing his luck may well run out against someone (some of them believe this will be the trigger for his departure - because Kronke has no reason to get rid based on the club balance sheet) .
True, he has run a fine line at times but I have some admiration for Wenger, as he generally remains calm and can handle the criticism aimed at him while he always finds a way to finish top four! (to our frustration).
Dim Sherwood says the Villa/QPR match is the most important match he has ever been involved with. Who wants to remind him about the three North London Derbies he was in charge of last season?
1-1 Benteke. Villa win this and they are safe but the QPR fans aren't happy with the arrogance of Sherwood who apparently wants Ramsey as part of his coaching staff!
