Arsenal Thread 2014/15

[Bluewonder]

I think a top drawer manager would make Arsenal contenders for the league quite easily.

They're only in need of two or three players and a slight change in mentality.

I simply don't think Wenger is good enough to do that. It's not just one group of players, he's the problem. Arsenal have had 2 or 3 different teams now with the same problems - the blame has to be at Wenger's door.

Totally agree. His style of football hasn't progressed over a 20 year period. He has simply been left behind.

 

[Sir peace frog]

why couldn't Arse be that shite on Saturday?

Shows the benefit of pace though, we could do with someone quick off the left and Aguero fully fit, Arse haven't improved at the back since last season.

because they've done what the wanted to achieve this season and that is get in the champs league take the money from the group stages then concentrate on getting 4th this season,as a club arsenal have not one ounce of ambition,all they are interested in is bank balance. and 4th place,i really hope they fail to qualify for next seasons champs league.

 

[supercrystal7]

I think a top drawer manager would make Arsenal contenders for the league quite easily.

They're only in need of two or three players and a slight change in mentality.

I simply don't think Wenger is good enough to do that. It's not just one group of players, he's the problem. Arsenal have had 2 or 3 different teams now with the same problems - the blame has to be at Wenger's door.

Totally agree. His style of football hasn't progressed over a 20 year period. He has simply been left behind.

This couldn't be further from the truth. In fact if Wenger's style of football had not progressed over the years then Arsenal would be in a far stronger positions.

Wenger originally not only believed in fantastic technical players, but they were great athletes too. Guys like Henry, Pires, Anelka, Wiltord, Cole and Ljundberg were all great athletes. However, the biggest difference is back then he also had formidable athletes in midfield too. He is the man, who gave the Premiership such players as Petit, Vieira, Gilberto Silva and Edu. The early Arsenal teams were well known for their pace and power.

Now he changed his philosophy maybe because of Barcelona and suddenly believed in this new quick short passing game with less physically gifted players all over the pitch a bit like Guardiola. This is nothing like the earlier Wenger.

Wenger's biggest problem this season seems to be his desire to play both Ramsey and Wilshere in the first team, most notably Wilshere. Wenger seems determined to prove that his players can turn into superstars, but the formation is terrible. Yesterday they were just crushed by Dortmund's pressing. I feel sorry for the defence, because their was no midfield cover. Wenger needs to buy one and needs to revert to either a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 and drop certain players. Wenger also has the players to sell to raise the funds, but he is not prepared to make the big decisions like Mourinho.

 

[Bluewonder]

I think a top drawer manager would make Arsenal contenders for the league quite easily.

They're only in need of two or three players and a slight change in mentality.

I simply don't think Wenger is good enough to do that. It's not just one group of players, he's the problem. Arsenal have had 2 or 3 different teams now with the same problems - the blame has to be at Wenger's door.

Totally agree. His style of football hasn't progressed over a 20 year period. He has simply been left behind.

This couldn't be further from the truth. In fact if Wenger's style of football had not progressed over the years then Arsenal would be in a far stronger positions.

Wenger originally not only believed in fantastic technical players, but they were great athletes too. Guys like Henry, Pires, Anelka, Wiltord, Cole and Ljundberg were all great athletes. However, the biggest difference is back then he also had formidable athletes in midfield too. He is the man, who gave the Premiership such players as Petit, Vieira, Gilberto Silva and Edu. The early Arsenal teams were well known for their pace and power.

Now he changed his philosophy maybe because of Barcelona and suddenly believed in this new quick short passing game with less physically gifted players all over the pitch a bit like Guardiola. This is nothing like the earlier Wenger.

Wenger's biggest problem this season seems to be his desire to play both Ramsey and Wilshere in the first team, most notably Wilshere. Wenger seems determined to prove that his players can turn into superstars, but the formation is terrible. Yesterday they were just crushed by Dortmund's pressing. I feel sorry for the defence, because their was no midfield cover. Wenger needs to buy one and needs to revert to either a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 and drop certain players. Wenger also has the players to sell to raise the funds, but he is not prepared to make the big decisions like Mourinho.

No, he has failed to embrace the counter-pressing nature of all the top teams, and has failed to embrace the pragmatic nature of top-level football in this country. That lack of pragmatism is why they shipped 17 goals against us, Chelsea and Liverpool last season. It's all well and good saying that they had midfield battlers in the past, but it's far more about a philosophy than a couple of individual players. When Wenger started he was all total football, with little tactical discipline. It was fine then as it caught cold many of the dinosaur managers in English football. Since then, the influence of talented and proactive tacticians such as Mourinho, Benitez and Mancini have initiated more disciplined and pragmatic styles, where as Wenger has retained his blinkered philosophy of ill-disciplined, albeit pretty, attacking football.

You mentioned Barca as a total football style, but the two couldn't be further apart. Barca are built around an insanely strict horizontal style where they can monopolise possession and every 'attacking mechanism' is meticulously preplanned. Wenger is far more uninhibited in his approach as his players are encouraged to 'go out and play', with little tactical shape or discipline. This is exactly the reason that Fabregas struggled when he went to Barca, as he had come from such a 'free' approach to one where he was required to be ridiculously meticulous.

 

[supercrystal7]

Totally agree. His style of football hasn't progressed over a 20 year period. He has simply been left behind.

This couldn't be further from the truth. In fact if Wenger's style of football had not progressed over the years then Arsenal would be in a far stronger positions.

Wenger originally not only believed in fantastic technical players, but they were great athletes too. Guys like Henry, Pires, Anelka, Wiltord, Cole and Ljundberg were all great athletes. However, the biggest difference is back then he also had formidable athletes in midfield too. He is the man, who gave the Premiership such players as Petit, Vieira, Gilberto Silva and Edu. The early Arsenal teams were well known for their pace and power.

Now he changed his philosophy maybe because of Barcelona and suddenly believed in this new quick short passing game with less physically gifted players all over the pitch a bit like Guardiola. This is nothing like the earlier Wenger.

Wenger's biggest problem this season seems to be his desire to play both Ramsey and Wilshere in the first team, most notably Wilshere. Wenger seems determined to prove that his players can turn into superstars, but the formation is terrible. Yesterday they were just crushed by Dortmund's pressing. I feel sorry for the defence, because their was no midfield cover. Wenger needs to buy one and needs to revert to either a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 and drop certain players. Wenger also has the players to sell to raise the funds, but he is not prepared to make the big decisions like Mourinho.

No, he has failed to embrace the counter-pressing nature of all the top teams, and has failed to embrace the pragmatic nature of top-level football in this country. That lack of pragmatism is why they shipped 17 goals against us, Chelsea and Liverpool last season. It's all well and good saying that they had midfield battlers in the past, but it's far more about a philosophy than a couple of individual players. When Wenger started he was all total football, with little tactical discipline. It was fine then as it caught cold many of the dinosaur managers in English football. Since then, the influence of talented and proactive tacticians such as Mourinho, Benitez and Mancini have initiated more disciplined and pragmatic styles, where as Wenger has retained his blinkered philosophy of ill-disciplined, albeit pretty, attacking football.

You mentioned Barca as a total football style, but the two couldn't be further apart. Barca are built around an insanely strict horizontal style where they can monopolise possession and every 'attacking mechanism' is meticulously preplanned. Wenger is far more uninhibited in his approach as his players are encouraged to 'go out and play', with little tactical shape or discipline. This is exactly the reason that Fabregas struggled when he went to Barca, as he had come from such a 'free' approach to one where he was required to be ridiculously meticulous.

Again this is not true. Go and watch some of the old Arsenal team. It's not just about power. They were the most feared team on the counter. Whether Wenger had tactical discipline did not matter as much, because his players definitely did. Gilbert, Vieira, Cole, Edu etc understood the game and without being told new when to go and when to stay. They were never afraid to go long, which is the killer of pressing teams as seen by Chelsea's ability to hit the ball long and bypass Barca's pressing.

I will go into more depth after the Bayern game, but the difference between Guardiola's later Barca teams and Arsenal is in the quality of players and the pressing of the front men. The Arsenal team does not have a Xavi to dominate the game.

 

[Ronuja]

That was abject. With only two wins so far in the first seven games of the season, it's not been the best start. Far from it. I will never understand why we did not invest in more defensive cover after losing Sagna, selling Vermaelen and then even letting go off the youngster Ignasi Miquel. Sending Jenkinson on loan to West Ham certainly looks like a mistake right now, with Debuchy out for three months. Bellerin, our current starting rightback looks like a decent prospect at least from an attacking perspective but he's just nineteen. I've always told myself Arsene knows best, and deep down I continue to have faith, because without that what's the point, right? But since the transfer window closed I've felt fairly resigned about our prospects this season. Threadbare at the back, I think Welbeck looks like a decent acquisition considering our circumstances, but at the moment there is no balance in the team key players such as Ramsey and Ozil are struggling for form, and we're not even doing the basics right. You know you're covered in a blanket of shit when we can't put simple passes together.

Safe to say that I am frustrated with the manager, a state of affairs I was hoping would occur less and less starting from this season. The failure to strengthen the squad adequately seems blatantly negligent to me considering how early and effectively we began doing our business in the summer. I know that Wenger has a vision for the club, and he will always be an Arsenal legend, but sometimes I wonder whether that vision is too long term. I believe that the team he envisions Arsenal to be is slowly taking shape in the attacking sense with the likes of Alexis coming in, and players like Walcott, Oxlade Chamberlain, Sanogo, and Cazorla all offering something different along the forward line, and Ozil the chief source of creativity but I think for some inexplicable reason he's left the strengthening of the defense till later, thinking 'we can always do that next season.' I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't try to logic it. At the moment this team is not coherent on any level. I hope from an attacking perspective we'll soon improve as Alexis builds relationships with his teammates, and hopefully Wenger deals ruthlessly with players struggling for form, like Ozil, but I think over the course of the season our lack of defensive depth will cost us. The one, faint silver lining is that in contrast to last season when we had a flying start, at the moment we seem to have almost nowhere to look but up. Sure it could be worse, a lot worse, but as long as its bad, there is scope for improvement. Yeah, that's how I'll look at it.

 

[stony]

Just in case it hasn't been mentioned in a while, they're a bunch of hypocritical Tarquin cockwombles.

 

[AwayDay]

Again this is not true. Go and watch some of the old Arsenal team. It's not just about power. They were the most feared team on the counter. Whether Wenger had tactical discipline did not matter as much, because his players definitely did. Gilbert, Vieira, Cole, Edu etc understood the game and without being told new when to go and when to stay. They were never afraid to go long, which is the killer of pressing teams as seen by Chelsea's ability to hit the ball long and bypass Barca's pressing.

I will go into more depth after the Bayern game, but the difference between Guardiola's later Barca teams and Arsenal is in the quality of players and the pressing of the front men. The Arsenal team does not have a Xavi to dominate the game.[/quote]

Completely agree with this assessment , our 49 unbeaten run , 3 titles, 4 fa cups, were built on counter attacking with fearsome pace. I remember Gordon Strachan who was then managing Southampton saying that he told his team not to send anyone up for corners, because Arsenal were deadly defending at corners and breaking at speed. All that was done by 6 foot plus athletes who were physically imposing as well as technically dominant. Wenger seems to have got obsessed with tiki taka at some stage, but even that is outdated now.

On another note, City should stop trying to win the champions league with ex arsenal players, Nasri Clichy and Sagna always flattered to deceive in this competition, the ability is there, but for years they never stepped up in big champions league nights.

 

[SouthStandStander]

SSN: arsenal announce profit before tax of £4.7m for last season.

does that mean they have lost money after tax?

 

[MeatHunterrr]

SSN: arsenal announce profit before tax of £4.7m for last season.

does that mean they have lost money after tax?

Probably, or very small profit. So break even basically. Normal Arsenal, making little profit. Their revenues is £301m, Soriano predicted £330m for us? Arsenal will be left way behind. Impressive how our revenues is exploding and we are not even fully established in Europe (in CL) or in the world (fan base) basically like Arsenal, Ushited are etc.