Match Day Thread Arsenal vs Wolverhampton Wanderers - Matchday Thread

Let's be realistic. We are a team in transition. We have over achieved considering the circumstance. Poor performances and results will happen along the way. 14 games into a new regime would not turn things around overnight. No one is arguing that this is a good result on paper but on the grand scheme of transition it could be a necessary thing to happen to this team. We deserved to be beaten but we were lucky. It was a bad performance but it doesn't mean we should start blowing fuses over it.

 

Nah, can't agree with this.

They're a newly promoted side who have done pretty well.

They've been in poor form recently, but they've got results against us, Man City, Man United (at Old Trafford) and should have got something from the Spurs game (they had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside which would have given them a draw).

They've got a very good manager and purchased some dangerous players. Costa, Neves, Moutinho, Patricio, Cavaleiro, Jony Castro. A lot of those players have come from good clubs across Europe and are no mugs.

I think they deserve a bit more credit than you're giving them.

 

Overachieved? Are you crazy? You think a squad with our players (first XI purchased for £300m+) should be lower than 5th in the premier league and we're punching above our weight? Who are we above who we probably shouldn't be? Watford? Bournemouth? The onyl one you could argue with is United and there below us because they've been completely gash and are managed by a bigger muppet than Wenger.

I know it's sensible to give Emery time and he needs his training to take effect, his preferred players etc and it will take a while. And it does all look promising. But I'm sick of turd polishers coming up with excuses. Yesterday was ****, not necessary and we're not overachieving.

 

They'll finish 15th tops. None of those players are great. Sporting have players like that. And Sporting are ****e. If we'd have played properly yesterday we would have destroyed them. The deciding factor yesterday was us, not them.

 

I'm not crazy nor a turd polisher. Your overreaction to a bad result like this is sounds a lot more crazy in all honesty. Overachieving in terms of where we were and where we are. Yes, we are totally overachieving. 20 year of Wenger's rein is not easy to shift. We have been putting in poor 1st half performances yet getting results. We have been lucky a lot. This is overachieving to me. I never expected to be this close to the top or showing the signs that we are showing (promising like you rightly mention). These signs are what we should be encouraging and expecting from this team. We all agree yesterday was ****, but does that me we should forget where we are going and throw our toys out the pram?? We should back the team and the manager and stick together on this journey. You think yesterday was bad? There most likely will be another **** show around the corner. So just calm yourself down.

 

I'm not saying their players are great, I'm saying they have good players, with continental pedigree, who can cause many teams problems. And so far, they have.

I personally think with their squad, they can easily finish top 10. But even if they do finish 15th, so what? The facts are, in every game they've played against a top 6 side, they've given them a run for their money.

Presumably, like most, you think City will win the league. Wolves managed to get a draw against them. Something that Arsenal, Spurs or Man United haven't been able to do so far this season.

We have no divine right to win games by just turning up or expecting to beat them simply because they're a new side in the PL. You have to earn the right to win.

You can say that we were crap, and we were, especially when you contrast our intensity in the Liverpool game to the Wolves game. But they partly made us play badly. We didn't create a single chance until the 60th minute. That was because they were very well organised, kept their shape well and exploited our weaknesses on the flanks when we pushed high up the pitch. As you saw, Costa, Neves and Cavaleiro are no slouches; their pace, dribbling and interplay caused us numerous problems.

They identified weak points in our team and took advantage. That was by design, not fluke.

 

Dont agree at all. We certainly are not over-achieving. With this squad we should be Top four without a doubt.

 

Under these circumstances (i.e. change of regime and culture). If you look through my post here I've always said we have enough to compete for the league. Maybe not win but to compete. Obviously we have enough for top 4. When I say overachieve I mean in terms of how we are transitioning so far.

I am in no way saying on paper we are punching above our weight. Let's underestimate the impact of the last 20 odd years.

 

We are not overachieving with our squad. I don't understand how people genuinely believe that to be true. However, we're not underachieving either. Our squad really isn't as good as some people think it is. In some areas, we are very strong, but in other areas, we are seriously weak.

Our squad is not better than City's, it's not better than Liverpool's, it's not better than Chelsea's, it's not better than Spurs' (annoyingly), I'd say we're either slightly better or relatively even with United's squad on the whole (though there's not much in it to be honest).

If we can make the top 4 with the 5th/6th best squad in the league, that has to be seen as a success.

 

Emery is still probably 5 or 6 players away from how he'd like his squad to look. He's still sounding this players out to see what they can do and we've seen already that he's not afraid to hook or drop players and even show players the door if they don't fit into his plans. This is a good thing for Arsenal, because for years too many players were allowed to coast along being unchallenged and it created a weak mentality at our club.

Even with this squad, Emery is still doing well with what he's got and like you say, if he manages to get 4th with this lot in his first season, or win the Europa league, then that will be a fantastic achievement.

 

So the fact that we are at the moment still in the mix with 5th/6th best squad, going through drastic changes, by and large not playing well yet getting results... Is this not overachieving?? May be my understanding of the word is different.

 

We're 5th in the league with the 5th/6th best squad. That's not overachieving or underachieving, that's par for the course. In terms of league position, we are about where we should be so far. Obviously, we are still only 12 games in (not even a third of the way through the season) and 3 points off the top 4, so it's good we're still in touching distance of the pack. However, there is still a long way to go and this team still has a lot to prove.

To be fair, we are doing better than I thought we would be, and our new signings have settled in better than I envisaged as well. All of this, added to the fact we are less likely to roll over for the big guns like we did most times last season, is why I am more optimistic than last season irrespective of where we finish.

Emery's done a good job so far with the players at his disposal - but let's not pretend like he's pulled up any trees.

 

'5th best squad' is a totally subjective statement.

 

Totally is. Just out of curiosity where does our squad rank in your opinion?

 

I think we have a better squad than Tottenham and comparable to Chelsea.

 

Wow, OK that's high.

 

Although saying we have the 5th best squad is a subjective statement, I don't think you'll find many Arsenal fans agreeing with the bit quoted above.

Personally, I don't think our squad is better than any of the teams above us. I think we have better depth than Spurs do, but their starting 11 is better than ours.

 

The strength of the first 11 outweighs our over squad strength IMO. However this squad strength what makes me think we can compete with the others. If they suffer injuries we have the slight edge.

Chelsea overall squad on the other hand are just better IMO.

For me it is Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs, United, Arsenal.

Us and united fairly similar in overall squad strength, but Liverpool and Spurs have a very strong first 11 that puts them above us.

 

I think Liverpool have better squad depth than Chelsea, but overall, I agree with the gist of your post.

 

Wolves are a strange team. They put in good performances against us, United, City and Spurs, yet are losing 2-0 at home to a side that was bottom of the table at the beginning of the day in Huddersfield.

Guess they only like to raise their game against the big guns. Still though, doesn't reflect well on us that they created countless chances against us and caused us ample problems, yet are losing to a struggling Huddersfield team who are odds on to get relegated.