From Greg L : Put a spin on it!
Enjoy reading the site…there seem to be a few less dreamers on here than elsewhere!
I have never written in to this, or indeed any other, fan site in the past but I feel this camel’s back has been finally broken in recent weeks (although it had been taking a fair bit of punishment prior to then anyway).
My main point is to state how lucky Arsene Wenger has been as a manager of late.
Most importantly, he has paymasters who do not care whether Arsenal win a trophy (that’s a pretty nice comfort for a manager of a so-called big club).
More pertinently to this season, how lucky he has been that a player who he expected to feature no more than 15-20 times is going to significantly more than double that amount of appearances over the course of the season. Jack Wilshire has offered about the only positive note during our annual implosion. Why it is left to a 19-year-old to attempt to rally the troops during our most important period of the season is beyond me. The others players should be ashamed of themselves for leaving it up to him (but they no longer surprise me).
Our manager’s final piece of luck? Robin van Persie’s sending off in Barcelona. That decision gave Arsene Wenger a get-out clause after what ultimately turned into another capitulation (and the manager or supporters can spin it how they like…that was the reality).
We failed to have a shot on goal in 90 minutes (more of which were played with 11 men than 10). That is unforgiveable.
Believe me, there are several teams left in the CL who will give Barca a far sterner test than Arsenal. For all that the scoreline was close the matches rarely were. Barca would have pulled the game back whether Arsenal had 11 or 10 men (in fact they started the game with 10 as Rosicky is just a passenger these days).
Besides, in the old days, Arsenal used to show resilience with 10 men as opposed to just folding. There is so much wrong with the current Arsenal team and one man has to take responsibility (just as he would were the team successful).
Why, when our defensive midfielder is injured, is the cover defensive midfielder not trusted to play in that role? I guess the answer is because that player is Denilson and he not good enough.
But if that is the answer, why he is still at the club? Why, also, when we needed a goal to go through was our ‘star’ summer forward signing not trusted to do the job?
Again, the answer has to be that he is not good enough.
It is an insult to the supporters that we have been sold short once again this season, thanks to cut-price signings not being up to the mark and existing players being persisted with on the basis they may have one good match in 10.
Still, as Arsene always says, judge me at the end of the season.
Why would I do that? You always move the goalposts to the following season.
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From Graham Keat: We want our Arsenal back
What would you say if your manager told you to go out onto one the biggest of football stages and defend, defend, frustrate and defend some more?
You would say to yourself, ‘I dont play like that, I go forward and attack at every opportunity, you dont teach me to defend.’
A tactical howler of the highest order. And now the Current Bun tells the Clock End faithful that Arsenal are the first team to not have a shot on goal for 90 minutes in a Champions League game, be proud of that Arsene.
I chucked my season ticket for the Emirates some two seasons ago.
Three rows back from the half way line and I still couldnt smell the grass or hear the fans like I could at Highbury half way up the East Lowers.
More to the point, I could see the slow demise of a once great club spiral out of control, the sapping of a winning spirit, the loss of a do or die attitude, the end of a desire to ‘give it a go’……
What would Wrighty, big Tony, The Merse Stevie Bould, Romford Ray, Rocky, Nige and everyone else who would give 110% for The Arsenal make of that malarkey in Spain the other night? shocking, shocking!I wonder what Mr Dein would have thought?
I have been saying it for years, time for Wenger to move on.
Not upstairs, up there he would have too much control and power.
Let’s put in bluntly in terrace terms ‘jog on Arsene’.
We want our Arsenal back.
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From Max Glover : a change of emphasis
Over the last five or six years, Wenger has proved himself to be what one might call a ‘method manager’.
The team are sent out to play the same way every week, regardless of who they are up against: be it Dagenham & Redbridge or Real Madrid.
Le Boss constantly stresses how important it is to impose the ‘Arsenal way’ on the game, to play the match on our terms.
I can remember you saying not too long ago that the tactics board in the home dressing room at the Emirates had been used once since 2006. It was as if playing your game on the basis of your opponents was beneath our manager.
The second leg against Barcelona was the first game I can remember in a long, long time where Wenger has looked at the opposition, assessed their strengths and weaknesses, and picked a team accordingly.
You could see that each and every player had been given specific orders to follow. Nasri never normally plays like that, but he did very well in front of Clichy against the marauding Daniel Alves (a despicable cheat I might add).
The only other occasion I can remember him doing something similar was during the early 2000’s, when he made the realisation (that might have been made for him by Adams et al), that the team could not play away from home with both Ljungberg and Pires in the side. One would drop to the bench, with either Edu or the Romford Pele coming in on the other flank to offer some defensive solidarity.
However good or bad we were on Tuesday night, whether the red card was deserved or not, there was a definite game plan from Wenger.
Is the Professor finally playing tactics?
If we can nullify Manchester United in late April like we managed to nullify Barcelona in the first half in the Nou Camp, we\’ll win the game, and probably the league.
Keep on writing, please Myles!