From Pete : Newcastle game
It’s obvious now – I’ve accepted it. I’m no longer in denial.
This team can’t win anything. Won’t win anything. Will never, ever win anything.
Not even the Carling Cup – they just aren’t winners, they don’t have a winning mentality, they aren’t competitors – they’re performers, and when they can’t be arsed, or they don’t think the fixture is of sufficient lustre – they don’t perform.
They are bunch of over-indulged, pampered and vain performance artists.
And the manager is to blame.
I’m writing this season off.
I was about to type “Can you imagine Alex Ferguson watching United play like that…?” when I realised that this comes weeks after West Brom at home.
If West Brom had happened to United THERE WOULD NOT BE A NEWCASTLE DEBACLE LIKE THIS!
Fergie would not allow it!
Fergie would tear them all a new one – they would not be allowed to even think for a second of playing so poorly again.
That is the truth I’ve been unwilling to face – but now I do, I feel so much better!
From The BearMan : A Brilliant Performance
What we must never do is start to write teams off before the game has started. The most we can do is say, “On paper Arsenal if they put in a brilliant performance the likely result will be x, y or z”. But no victory is ever assured, unless certain factors work entirely in our favour.
The problem is not with our system of play, but that we must be precise in the execution thereof, with little room for error. Plus every player must turn up; Arsenal must dominate the ball, be on target, pass the ball accurately, wear the opponents down, hope their keeper do not have as great a game and have fun in the process.
From Alex Marc : That was game 11…
so we are now beyond your 10 games mark!
I had pencilled this one as a potentially interesting one…so instead of releasing my 2 season tickets on ticket exchange, I got up at 5 am to get on a plane for a day out to the Emirates.
Great day to be out: crisp but with the sun showing some interest in the proceedings throughout the afternoon.
Overall, a nightmare and Newcastle had plenty of the ball, their wing backs looked faster than anything I have ever seen defending at the Emirates, and Coliccini was directing play at the back like it was the game of his life and heading away easily anything coming his way.
I have not seen the stats but I believe that in the end it must have been pretty even, and we never managed to pin them against the wall and really keep possession.Fabregas was very poor, Walcott discouraged after Enrique put up with him in a well organized double team a couple of times, Chamakh for the first time this year was a non-event. Our wing backs had very predictable overlaps…so in the end it was down to Wilshere, Nasri and mainly Song to create something…and it wasn’t much! At the back it was clear that “Kos” and “Toto” would have a nightmare of an afternoon with Carroll.
So much so that I had completely forgotten (after the last few games where he had very good saves) that we still did not have a keeper able to deal with very high balls into the box!!!!
Fabianski went for his little “excursion” just in front of us….a very ugly sight!
Off course we should not have lost but the Geordies came and played a reasonable game of football with desire and a great deal of solidarity. They created nothing but we did not create much more.
Last year we would destroy the so-called smaller teams but this year we already lost twice at home to West Brom and Newcastle.
Bottom line: as expected we will need an extremely favorable sequence of events to win anything this year. Another erratic season. Still waiting for Wenger’s masterplan to pay off next time around.
From Neil : That’s title aspirations well and truly over
What does Walcott do?
Cesc’s WORST game in an Arsenal shirt.
Was Chamakh aware that his spell in the side was coming to an end with RVP back on the bench? Because he was awful.
Fabianski – scared like a little girl when he saw the big northerner coming at him. He had to try and punch that.
WILSHERE – Why take him off when Song, Walcott, Fab4 are playing terrible? Why take your best player off? Why take the player who was dictating the play off….so to drop FAB4 back possibly? Maybe he didn’t want to bruise the egos of more established players?
Title dreams over.
Sequence – again Arsenal lose two in a row
Future – Wolves away, Everton Away…oh dear dear.
Wenger – affair!!!! Never saw that one coming.
From Martin Creaney: Arsenal ( no surprise)
Hi Myles.
I read your entertaining blog on a regular basis. Though I feel you do generally appreciate Wenger’s massive contribution to the club , I feel the negativity you’ve shown towards him, especially in these last couple of seasons, is more than a little uncalled for. I am actually a Nottingham Forest fan ( no sympathy please ), so I watch the Premier League as an interested neutral.
I know that football is about winning trophies, something Arsenal have failed to do in recent years, but sometimes just occasionally it becomes more than that. Some of the football played by Arsenal in the last few years transcends the sport, elevates it, brings joy to the soul , lifts the spirit. For me and a multitude of others this is a thousand times more uplifting than watching Chelsea or Man Utd bulldoze their way to another trophy. So Chelsea with all their millions win the league, who cares?
I think Wenger deserves all the credit in the world for taking a club with the tag of ‘boring boring Arsenal’ and turning them into what they are today. Throw in the fact that he oversaw the building of a new stadium, the revenue from which will keep the club competitive long after he is gone, and I think you must conclude his tenure there has been truly remarkable.
Anyway Myles, I’ll continue to read and enjoy your blog . Most enjoyable it is. Here’s hoping Arsenal can surprise us all and win at least SOMETHING this year. I think they just might..
From Pete Coles : Winners?
Hi Myles,
I’m a long time reader and I’ve written in a few times before, largely to discuss issues de jour and once when I was frustrated at what I saw as a sustained anti-Arsene polemic! In general though, like most readers, I find your points interesting, even when I don’t agree with them.
However, in light of the last couple of performances I’ve been thinking of what makes a successful team.
As seasoned Arsenal-watchers know, Wenger’s main criteria for selecting a player is technique.
From what we read, AW is more interested in whether a player has good technique than any other attribute.
With that in mind, I’ve been thinking of which players might survive a cull if he was to prioritise another attribute – specifically that of a winning mentality.
Of Arsenal’s current squad, I would say that only Sagna (based on his old performances rather than more recent ones), Vermaelen, Nasri, Cesc, Wilshere and RVP have a win-at-all-costs mentality. It’s too early to judge the new boys, and within the squad there are other players who are close or unproven (Song, Rosicky, Gibbs, etc). However, of the first choice 11, Almunia/Fab, Clichy, Arshavin and Theo (though you could argue he’s not first choice) don’t outwardly appear to have it. My question is whether a championship winning side can get by with over a third of their team not being too obviously bothered by losing.
Of course, there are other problems. This is, if you will, a sub-problem compared with not having a decent keeper. However, as we’ve not had a decent keeper for years, and Sunday’s loss can’t be blamed solely on Fabianski’s blunder (since the rest of the team were so anaemic afterwards), I’m starting to look at secondary problems, maybe just for the sake of having something else to focus on.
Keep up the columns. They are always interesting.
Best wishes.
From Brendan : Arsenal – Newcastle
I agree with most of what you’ve said in the piece Myles, I’m just wondering what Wenger will / can do with his goalkeepers.
Drop Fabianski now and we go back to square one – and we all know that Almunia is not any better than Lukasz, and in some areas is considerably worse. I tend to agree that the best of the lot is probably Wojciech Szczesny, who is making noises in the Polish press (I guess in the English press too) that he wants a chance at the first team, or he wants out. Difficult really, he’s only 20 years old, but he inspires more confidence in me somehow. I really want Lukasz to prove me wrong. But goalkeeper is a position where consistency counts more than in any other.
Still I think those who blame Fabianski outright for the loss are only partially right. To me the team didn’t look right full stop – embodied in no-one more than in the captain. He needs to get himself right, physically first, and mentally. It’s not like we lack options for creative midfielders, so give Fabregas time to get fully fit. Otherwise, it could be a disaster for us and him.
Thanks for the upbeat post today!
From William : One point this month won’t be surprising
Who will stop the rot? This bunch of proud sissies?
Don’t hold your breath, Myles.
We’ve seen it all before. Same script, different season.