...at the first hurdle. Does this change anything? This is a pretty poor result for Wenger. Is it symbolic that the same competition that may have been responsible for him signing a new 2 year deal last summer now isn't here to save him again? Is this the start of him realizing his time may be up? Thoughts?
We were really poor today. But fair play to Forest, they played well and targeted our defensive weakness. We lacked ideas going forward and overall we were just second best all over the pitch.
Really strange team selection from the start. I was thinking it during the game, thought maybe I'm overreacting, but I'll say it: Every single experienced player who was in that squad needs to be sold / released. No one in that team is good enough to play for Arsenal - squad player or not. Mertesacker too old Walcott time to move on Welbeck not good enough Debuchy not mentally at Arsenal Elneny not good enough Iwobi imo not good enough Ospina and holding probably the only two I'd hold onto for now.
I'm so angry with this club. Just so f***** angry. This is why we let ozil and Sanchez' contracts wind down, so we can have proper players like the ones playing tonight have more game time. This is why we have kept our manager 10 years past his sell-by date. For fantastic performances like these. This is why we have over half the squad mentally checked out because they are out of contract; because it is 'ideal' This is why we have uninterested board members that are out of touch with reality let alone the fans because we believe in our 'progress'. How many more f***** fans are going to show up on our board saying we are 'lucky' to have wenger and 'be careful what you wish for'. Shambles. The players we have don't want to be here, we can't even get money for them. We have no money to buy new players (why would anyone want to join us anyway?) we are in a rut I cannot see us quite getting out of.
Once Wenger leaves it should remove one or the major deterrents to great players joining. Though that does also require an inept board to appoint someone who isn't similarly as out of their depth. Wenger has spent years ruining our club and it will take a long time to fix his ****ting on our club.
The only justification I can think of for Wenger fielding such a weak team and having a wildly inexperienced bench is that he's focusing on the League Cup and Premier League, as well as the Europa (though that's not until February). Due to the congested fixture list, he chose to take a hit on one competition and he probably decided that it had to be the FA Cup. The tone and body language in his post-match interview says to me that he didn't care about the FA Cup this season, which is ironic considering it's the one competition that has kept him in this job for so long. In regards to the game, I had a feeling an upset would be on the cards. Some of the players we fielded were 3rd/4th/5th choice and would struggle to get into the Nottingham Forest side. Looking at the team-sheet, we had some players that are past their sell-by date, some players who don't want to be at the club anymore, some players who lack experience and some who simply are not good enough. We were diabolical. And it is becoming an ever growing concern that we keep giving away cheap penalties at critical moments. That's 4 in the last 3 games now. Lord knows how many we've conceded over the course of the season so far but I wouldn't be surprised if it's double figures. Overall, a dreadful performance against a managerless Nottingham Forest side, who are 14th in the Championship. Brilliant. Doesn't get much worse than that.
I have no issue with the line-up but what's with the bench. That starting 11 should have been strong enough to win this.. but there was nobody of quality to change things on the bench.
Should be following Mark Hughes in the morning but obviously that ain't gonna happen. Too powerful and too arrogant.
He should resign by way of an apology to us the fans - it won’t happen as the board are happy with mediocre FFS
You win some you lose some. We've got a great record in the FA cup so sometimes you have an off day against a better team. The one I want this year is the Europa so hopefully we will be at our best for that. I'm not going on a Wenger tirade as his time is drawing to a close. I'm just hoping that when the new manager comes in he gets all the available resources at his disposal.
Iwobi is a very good player. We need to give him a bit of a break. He'll find his feet. Himself, AMN and Reece are great assets for us.
Definitely. He needs to work on shooting/finishing. Everything else he pretty much has. He's one of the more complete footballers we have. He's struggling a bit at the moment. Fans need to chill with bashing him. He's a young player and is just going through a rough patch. If rumours of issue with Alexis are true, with him leaving soon I hope to see Iwobi regain some form. I see him as the future of our club hopefully lead by Jack. Jack, Reece and Iwobi behind a decent ST would be interesting
