From Sunny : Wenger Out
Hi Myles,
Hope you are well.
I wanted to start my rant by firstly congratulating Watford – something you cannot help but like about “one of the smaller clubs” getting to Wembley.
When teams outside the top six have a chance to go to Wembley they play like it means something.
That said, I stopped watching the FA Cup game at 70 minutes, and if I had attended, I would have left.
I would pay money to see what is NOT taught at an Arsenal training session –
I am guessing defending is not on the agenda, and I would be hugely surprised if there was any tactical/organisational work. The first goal was something that you should not be tolerating in any standard of football – Gabriel so tight that one spin from the Watford striker takes him out of the game. Gabriel may turn into a regular in two seasons time, but at the moment he is a liability. A liability who should have seen Red earlier on.
The same mistakes are being made every season; it is almost laughable now, because you can predict what is going to happen. Too many injuries, suspensions, teams scoring from counter-attack, teams scoring from set pieces, defensive blunders, full backs too high etc. You could stick the analysis of most Arsenal games on record, and re-use every season.
I would love an angry bearded Roy Keane to come to the Arsenal training room and provide some home truths. The closest I can imagine in the camp at Arsenal have is Jack Wilshere; Who is incapable of playing 5 games in a row, and is a kid. But at least he has the passion for the club. I always get the feeling Gibbs wants to shout at people, but then stops himself.
Sanchez is starting to remind me a lot of Arshavin – Is it tiredness or is it just training with the Colney Creche which is taking it out of him? These days when he gets the ball – he is so indirect. Previously he would literally barge players out the way.
Now he is checking back, and trying for the killer ball. He does not have that drive. When he looks around at an Arsenal training session and see’s Koscielny, Cazorla, Cech and Ozil – he must be wondering why the hell they are all still there!
As far as I am concerned Giroud should not start another game for Arsenal. He is well suited to an up and coming team in the French League, but not a team that should be competing in the EPL. Although I am not a huge fan of Welbeck (because he does not score as much as he should) he makes the runs that occupy centre backs. Centre Backs must be high-fiving when they see Giroud start. One can mark him, and the other one can have the day off! Scoring against a poor Hull team did not warrant a start in this game.
Theo Walcott is someone who should stay at home and watch as many clips of Jamie Vardy and the runs he makes and be told to play like him, not Thierry Henry. You will never be Thierry Henry, never. But you could be like Vardy. A goal scorer who makes the right runs and gets himself into the right areas.
Coquelin/Elneny; Do not leave your Centre backs exposed; Don’t go past the centre circle. The amount of times we get hit on the counter attack is ridiculous. The reason – because there is no protective cover.
Aaron Ramsey, what kind of midfielder are you? You don’t score enough goals to be a Frank Lampard, you don’t drive through teams like Stevie G, you don’t create opportunities like an Andreas Iniesta, You don’t shield the back four like Claude Makele – What do you do?
I could go through the other members of the squad but I do not want to bore you any more.
I have not played football to a high level, but the game seems simple enough – Score goals & Don’t concede; Arsenal does not seem capable of doing either of those things consistently.
Arsenal will always be that nearly team; the core group of players are their; Sanchez, Koscielny, Cazorla, Cech, Ozil and maybe Bellerin; but other then that no one else would get into any other team in the top 6. I have a lot of time for Monreal & Campbell, as the work rate and effort can never be faulted.
The common denominator in everything mentioned is Mr Arsene Wenger. He has moved the club to a fantastic position – but unfortunately his lack of flexibility in the transfer market, and inability to adapt his coaching and tactics, have left the club stuck in a rut.
Rant over! Love the site, and never stop writing!
Myles says:
Style-wise, Ramsey suits a team that contains Giroud.
Sanchez, a South American warrior, is a different animal to Arshavin.
The melancholy Russian was disappointed from Day One that his contract with Arsenal wasn’t as big as he had hoped.
However, Arshavin was the best footballer in Euro 2002 – by a country mile.
His huge gifts were wasted by boss who did not buy him or want to build round a player who did not owe his career to the manager.
Ivan Gazidis was claimed he was always in control of that transfer. But King Arsene was in control of the way the team played and he was never going to give the Russian genius a big role.
My view: If Alexis Sanchez scored 4 goals at Anfield and Arsenal didn’t win, he would hand in a transfer request the following day.
PS. Arshavin was Limpar with bottle and more pace.
George Graham would have made the two-footed Arshavin an Arsenal legend.