Arsenal Thread 2013/14

[Marvin]

We really are struggling just now, not just results wise but performance wise. With the injuries we have the team has no balance, no direction it seems and they don't really know what they should be doing. We are losing momentum badly, and also losing players, and that's not a good cycle to be in at this stage of the season. They should rightly be worried about Everton behind them.

Im not saying its just the injuries by the way, and using that as an excuse. As I've said countless times, we aren't as good as City or Chelsea full stop. That's just fact. Watch City last night just confirmed it, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them do something similar at The Emirates. The surprising thing is how far Liverpool have improved.

Its something that needs rectified in the summer, with the signing of hopefully 3 top players in hopefully what I see in 3 weak positions in the first XI. This added with the return of guys like Ramsey and Ozil would add a full new dynamic to the team.

What I am losing confidence in though Wengers and Gazidis ability to see the same weakness and acquire the players needed.

I have little sympathy with Wenger. He spent £40m on a player you didn't need. It was a vanity exercise.

I'm not sure that's fair.

Whether you sympathise with Wenger or not is neither here nor there. Pretty irrelevant really.

I think Ozil was needed and the fact we were willing to spend to compete was a big gesture.

Vanity it wasn't.

Insofar as football is concerned, vanity is signing marquee players and not playing them.

Jovetic anyone?

Jovetic has been injured nearly all season and would be ideal behind a quick forward in Aguero

I've seen Jovetic a few times, and I think he will become a key player for City. Maybe even this season

Arsenal played well yesterday, but I was happy with a point. It wasn't good enough for Arsenal's title hopes, but I expect Arsenal fans will be very happy with Champions League qualification, and the FA Cup.

 

[mcfc1894]

We really are struggling just now, not just results wise but performance wise. With the injuries we have the team has no balance, no direction it seems and they don't really know what they should be doing. We are losing momentum badly, and also losing players, and that's not a good cycle to be in at this stage of the season. They should rightly be worried about Everton behind them.

Im not saying its just the injuries by the way, and using that as an excuse. As I've said countless times, we aren't as good as City or Chelsea full stop. That's just fact. Watch City last night just confirmed it, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them do something similar at The Emirates. The surprising thing is how far Liverpool have improved.

Its something that needs rectified in the summer, with the signing of hopefully 3 top players in hopefully what I see in 3 weak positions in the first XI. This added with the return of guys like Ramsey and Ozil would add a full new dynamic to the team.

What I am losing confidence in though Wengers and Gazidis ability to see the same weakness and acquire the players needed.

I have little sympathy with Wenger. He spent £40m on a player you didn't need. It was a vanity exercise.

I'm not sure that's fair.

Whether you sympathise with Wenger or not is neither here nor there. Pretty irrelevant really.

I think Ozil was needed and the fact we were willing to spend to compete was a big gesture.

Vanity it wasn't.

Insofar as football is concerned, vanity is signing marquee players and not playing them.

Jovetic anyone?

typical arsenal fan, knows absolutely fuck all. you carry on singing that booooooing song that was so loud and proud yesterday. arsenal, the pride of south east london

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Arsenal played well yesterday, but I was happy with a point. It wasn't good enough for Arsenal's title hopes, but I expect Arsenal fans will be very happy with Champions League qualification, and the FA Cup.

I'm not sure they can celebrate retaining their 4th place trophy just yet. Everton are 7 points behind with 2 games in hand and Arsenal go to Goodison next Sunday.

 

[Marvin]

Arsenal played well yesterday, but I was happy with a point. It wasn't good enough for Arsenal's title hopes, but I expect Arsenal fans will be very happy with Champions League qualification, and the FA Cup.

I'm not sure they can celebrate retaining their 4th place trophy just yet. Everton are 7 points behind with 2 games in hand and Arsenal go to Goodison next Sunday.

Still expect them to get 4th. Had they lost yesterday, then they could have gone on to crumble. Now I see them looking forward to Wembley and sealing 4th spot

I think Fulham will take points off Everton today

The toughest games at this time of season are against the Fuhams, Cardiffs, Sunderlands, Eagles etc

 

[mcfc1894]

Arsenal played well yesterday, but I was happy with a point. It wasn't good enough for Arsenal's title hopes, but I expect Arsenal fans will be very happy with Champions League qualification, and the FA Cup.

I'm not sure they can celebrate retaining their 4th place trophy just yet. Everton are 7 points behind with 2 games in hand and Arsenal go to Goodison next Sunday.

hope to god everton finish above them. not only cos I hate everything associated with arsenal but because it gives us another team to draw from pot one in the champions league that won't be real, barca or bayern

 

[Marvin]

Arsenal played well yesterday, but I was happy with a point. It wasn't good enough for Arsenal's title hopes, but I expect Arsenal fans will be very happy with Champions League qualification, and the FA Cup.

I'm not sure they can celebrate retaining their 4th place trophy just yet. Everton are 7 points behind with 2 games in hand and Arsenal go to Goodison next Sunday.

hope to god everton finish above them. not only cos I hate everything associated with arsenal but because it gives us another team to draw from pot one in the champions league that won't be real, barca or bayern

That's a good point. But if Everton get 4th, it means that they will probably have beaten City at Goodison.

 

[ali benarbia's studs]

Z gooners were good 2nd half last night. they need to buy buckets.....low costing "nobody`s"(the Arsen way) with a few grafting star players.
key players injured-they are 5-6 players from being serious challengers next year or more to the point-sustaining top 4 (from the scum?).

...........for their sake they must hope germany have a good world cup.... so they can make some cash back on ozil.

everton are their only challengers to 4th.

 

[Ronuja]

We really are struggling just now, not just results wise but performance wise. With the injuries we have the team has no balance, no direction it seems and they don't really know what they should be doing. We are losing momentum badly, and also losing players, and that's not a good cycle to be in at this stage of the season. They should rightly be worried about Everton behind them.

Im not saying its just the injuries by the way, and using that as an excuse. As I've said countless times, we aren't as good as City or Chelsea full stop. That's just fact. Watch City last night just confirmed it, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them do something similar at The Emirates. The surprising thing is how far Liverpool have improved.

Its something that needs rectified in the summer, with the signing of hopefully 3 top players in hopefully what I see in 3 weak positions in the first XI. This added with the return of guys like Ramsey and Ozil would add a full new dynamic to the team.

What I am losing confidence in though Wengers and Gazidis ability to see the same weakness and acquire the players needed.

I have little sympathy with Wenger. He spent £40m on a player you didn't need. It was a vanity exercise.

It was clear in the summer that the club recognized a need for a 'top top top' class striker (to use Wenger's words), hence the bids for Higuain and then Suarez, both of which fell through. Going into the last few hours of the transfer deadline day we had signed two free transfers, Flamini, who has turned out to be a revelation, and Yaya Sanogo, a 21-year old from the French 2nd Division. The fans, the players needed something more to show that we meant business. And Ozil was it. His signing give an immense lift to the whole club which I don't think you can really measure, but there's no doubt that just that good feeling contributed considerable to our strong early season form.

Yes you could argue that we already had Rosicky and Cazorla in the attacking midfield position, but Rosicky has had an injury-plagued career, and much of the creative burden last season was on Cazorla's shoulders, what happens when he has a bad day- as he has more frequently this season? Attacking may not be our weakest position on the pitch, but I think Ozil was definitely a player that we needed. His form may have dropped off recently, but he played a key role in bringing the best out of Ramsey before his injury.

There's no question that we needed a striker, and I think even the club realized this which is why its frustrating how they seemed to fail so completely to acquire one, with all respect to Sanogo. But I think its more a question of who we needed in addition to Ozil, rather than instead of.

 

[City Raider]

We really are struggling just now, not just results wise but performance wise. With the injuries we have the team has no balance, no direction it seems and they don't really know what they should be doing. We are losing momentum badly, and also losing players, and that's not a good cycle to be in at this stage of the season. They should rightly be worried about Everton behind them.

Im not saying its just the injuries by the way, and using that as an excuse. As I've said countless times, we aren't as good as City or Chelsea full stop. That's just fact. Watch City last night just confirmed it, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them do something similar at The Emirates. The surprising thing is how far Liverpool have improved.

Its something that needs rectified in the summer, with the signing of hopefully 3 top players in hopefully what I see in 3 weak positions in the first XI. This added with the return of guys like Ramsey and Ozil would add a full new dynamic to the team.

What I am losing confidence in though Wengers and Gazidis ability to see the same weakness and acquire the players needed.

I have little sympathy with Wenger. He spent £40m on a player you didn't need. It was a vanity exercise.

It was clear in the summer that the club recognized a need for a 'top top top' class striker (to use Wenger's words), hence the bids for Higuain and then Suarez, both of which fell through. Going into the last few hours of the transfer deadline day we had signed two free transfers, Flamini, who has turned out to be a revelation, and Yaya Sanogo, a 21-year old from the French 2nd Division. The fans, the players needed something more to show that we meant business. And Ozil was it. His signing give an immense lift to the whole club which I don't think you can really measure, but there's no doubt that just that good feeling contributed considerable to our strong early season form.

Yes you could argue that we already had Rosicky and Cazorla in the attacking midfield position, but Rosicky has had an injury-plagued career, and much of the creative burden last season was on Cazorla's shoulders, what happens when he has a bad day- as he has more frequently this season? Attacking may not be our weakest position on the pitch, but I think Ozil was definitely a player that we needed. His form may have dropped off recently, but he played a key role in bringing the best out of Ramsey before his injury.

There's no question that we needed a striker, and I think even the club realized this which is why its frustrating how they seemed to fail so completely to acquire one, with all respect to Sanogo. But I think its more a question of who we needed in addition to Ozil, rather than instead of.

Whilst this seems a balanced post and it's hard to disagree, it's what you don't say that's most revealing. You probably don't see it because most Arsenal fans I know think the game is only played with the ball.

The reason you get torn apart in your important away games is your back four get minimal protection. A Fernandinho type was who you needed, not Ozil.

 

[supercrystal7]

Ozil was not what Arsenal needed, but his impact has still been worth it. If Arsenal get top 4 and win the FA cup then in the short term Ozil was worth it. I wonder if Wenger will stay at the end of the season. At the moment his squad has decent quality, but lacks balance.

It's vital that they buy a top class defensive midfielder with great mobility. At the moment they have too many similar players that want to play in the same position. Arsene or maybe his successor needs to be ruthless and get rid of the top players that don't fit in. The current players probably suit a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1. A 4-3-3 has the benefit of allowing him to play Wilshere, Ramsay and a Defensive Midfielder all together. Walcott out wide and then maybe Draxler/Chamberlain on the other side with a new top striker. The problem is that formation alienates Ozil their most expensive and best player. If he chooses a 4-2-3-1 then he cannot really fit Ramsay and Wilshere together. Big decisions need to be made and perhaps players will have to be sold to raise funds to bring in a more balanced squad.

Tactically Wenger has been very poor and naive in the big games. Leaving the team completely exposed. It's not a problem when you have a team with the quality of Barcelona, but Arsenal are not Barcelona. At least for the City game he set up the team with more balance and got a better result despite missing a number of first team regulars.