Wednesday, May 06, 2009

A grim day for all concerned and it's time for a rethink

I don't think there's too much point in swathes of analysis for this match because it's all quite simple.

Yes, a horrible, horrible mistake from gibbs cost us early on; yes, almunia should have saved ronaldo's forty yarder.

But 4-1 was a fair refelection of the utter dominance united had over us over two legs. If anything, 1 goal for us was charitable, as was united only scoring 4 goals.

But that's whatr you get when you stick with players who don't know how to defend at the highest level. Last night we had toure, who's lost it, and Djourou, who may never get it, as our CB partnership. we played a kid at LB. United had o'shea, not the world's greatest player, but a solid one nonetheless. we even had a united cast-off on the bench. embarassing.

We had rvp sauntering around doing not very much, unable to cut it in another big game, while adebyor was almost as ineffective as he was in the first leg. nasri, song and fabregas tried but no-one really knew where tehy were playing. theo was anonymous.

But this is what happens when you take a policy of investment in talented youth to its conclusion - a lot of potential, inconsistent results. United have invested properly in their team and will defend their trophy in Rome.

So, mistakes cost us last night. Mistakes on and off the pitch. We lost because our first XI, let alone our squad, wasn't good enough and that has to come down to decisions taken by arsene.

Yes, we got to two semi-finals this year, but how many top-quality teams did we have to play to get there? Roma and villareal would not make the top-four in england, and we fell in the FA Cup as soon as we played a decent team.

If all we get this summer are more teenagers then we won't win anything because nothing will have changed. Arsene - it's time for a rethink. Look at the impact of arshavin before you go out and buy, because if you don't then your position needs to come under review, I'm afraid to say.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Uniteds midfield and attack was full of kids too.

The difference is the tactical naivety of Wenger. Rafa would make this same Arsenal team look worldclass.

I mean, I think we have better players then Carrick,Fletcher,Anderson,O'Shea and Park playing for us.

Wenger needs to rethink his team tactics and formation basically...

Anonymous said...

I will stick by what i thought for the whole season. All we need are two word beating centre backs like united have got. Then we will flourish. For the whole season, every time the opposition gets the ball, i think it will result in a chance. And most of the time it does.
That is where Wenger has made the biggest mistake, everywhere else is good enough to compete for honours

Anonymous said...

You lot are talking absolute crap.

An innocent and unlucky slip gave them a break, then a harmless shot goes in, and after 11 minutes the Arsenal players have all their hope and confidence sucked out of them, how do you think they will play? Yet they kept on going, and United now knowing that the game is won, will play with confidence and swagger, it's natural. If the situation was reversed, would United play with the same swagger, did they when Arsenal were ahead 2-0 at Emirates in the league earlier?

So stop talking rubbish guys.

Renoogami said...

Its very concerning that we have fallen so far behind United since the Invincibles.
The folly of not replacing the best with the best has come home to roost.
My worry is what the effect of not (seriously) challenging for top honours will have on future attendances and season ticket sales.

charlie said...

Let Ade go this summer, I'll drive the lazy c**t to the airport myself!

Anonymous said...

WHAT? I thought Gibbs slipped - how's that Toure's fault? Or Djourou's?

How's our awesome ECL record tarnished by our centre halfs?

How's VanP's foul on Ronaldo and subsequent SF burier either CBs fault?

I thougth Silvestre passed to O'Shea. Could be wrong.

For me the midfield is lost without the quality of Arsharvin (who would have fit in nicely with Pires/Vieira etc), Nasri went off the boil in game 3. Walcott's in and out, and Fabregas gets involved in the endless pass, move, pass, pass.

Insight needed up front, not new Centre backs. United don't win things solely because of Vidic and Rio. Get Real.

gazzap said...

you were right when you indicated we are clearly the 4th best team in england. that probbaly makes us about the 7-10th best team in europe - though that is hard to quantify.
we will consistently lose big games to English teams until we become better than them.

Anonymous said...

we need to be buying players in their mid twenties, and we need a few of the higest quality and not lose any of our players, that includes ade! plus a assistant manager who can help wenger with tactics and organizing a defence, would he listen to any1 else no. if anything he is gona dig his feet in even more until we ar battling for a place in the europa league!! i am exagerating but i hope this is the wake up call he needs!

charlie said...

I agree, we need to buy players in their mid twenties and hang on to the talented players we already have, but can Ade be classed as one of them? I am becoming increasingly infuraiated by his antics i.e flirting with European clubs. Ade is replaceable, and if we are offered silly money by Milan we should let him go.

Anonymous said...

Humiliated!
Here we go again. Another season gone by with hardly anything good to reflect on. This has been going on for the last four years all because we have a manager that cannot see what everyone else has seen for the past couple of years. I have always submitted through my previous articles in this forum that AW chosen to put his personal interest and pride before the interest of the club and its fans. Now when I say ‘’club’’, I do not refer to the board members who obviously are blinded by the fact that they benefit financially from this madness of AW nor do I refer to ‘’fans’’ as those fans of Arsene Wenger but rather fans of Arsenal FC.
This pursue of a youth policy agenda has over the years done far more harm than good to the club. On the contrary, it has left the club without any trophy for the past couple of years and turns us more into a selling club rather than a club of champions. History has shown that clubs like Ajax that has engaged in similar practices has over the years be relegated to nothing more that a market place for the bigger and more ambitious clubs to go shopping. While these clubs will indeed attract potential talents of the future, these players never hang around long enough for the club to actually benefit from their investments of nurturing them to maturity by way of winning trophies for the club. But rather they have come to see these clubs as a launching pad for their carriers and as soon as they manager to put in a good performance for a season, they are off to the next big stage thus leaving the club always rebuilding only to sell again next season. More so is the fact that players that would really want to stay ends up with the realisation that sooner or later their carriers will come to an end without having won absolutely nothing to show for their efforts. After all its all about what you won as a team and a player that matters after your carrier. This has always been the scale of reference and will continue to be. Ajax today can hardly win their domestic league just like Arsenal but rather settles for 4th or 5th position just enough to get them into Europe for the next season. Is that the definition of a successful season?
On the other hand, history has also shown clubs that invest in the youth policy of nurturing them and introducing them to blend with a mixture of older and more experience players ends up getting the policy right as these young players see their progress into the first team as part of their continuous learning program rather than an arrival on the world stage. A typical example of such a club is Barcelona FC.
I hold steadfastly to this belief now more than ever before as we are now seeing the result of accumulated mistakes resulting from blunt arrogance and disregard and in some instances lack of technical in-put from the manager. The team was left to roast yesterday against a very good and well balance Man U side that is performance driven managed by a very determined Sir Alex whom notwithstanding his trophy cabinet full of trophies still has a very deep hunger for success and knows how to achieve what he wants. This is where I seriously question the desire and hunger of AW. The only result that matters most in this business is achievements thus, if it requires one to buy the very best in order to accomplish this aim, all well and good because the history book will only say that ‘’club A or B’’ won this trophy or that trophy during this time or that time.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting that investments in the youth policy agenda is wrong after all it provides a continuous supply of fresh talents to the team but to dive into it so blindly as AW has done over the years sure leaves a bitter taste in your mouth at the end of every season. My issue with AW is the fact that he sees only what he wants to see even when it is very obvious to every one else that it is not working. On the contrary, he is always seeing positive, character, strength and blah blah blah. Hear him after the humiliation of last night:
"I felt the fans were really up for a big night and to disappoint people who stand behind the team so much hurts." -Where has he been?! The fans have been crying for it for the past four years. "
‘’We were out of it after 10 minutes and we had 80 minutes to play against a team who defend well and wait to counter-attack. We were in a position where we had to take all the gamble after having started quite well’’. – The team was left to roast due to a very high level of inexperience and yet the bench was nowhere to be found!
"I must say we can only look at ourselves. It is very disappointing to fight to get such a long way and to give the game away like we did’’. –That is what the fans has been saying for a very long time now. We have had this bitter taste in the mouth for the past couple of years.
"We were ready for a fight for the game but after 10 minutes it was impossible. We kept going and we did as much as we could. We played with pride and desire but of course some part of the belief had gone." – There you go again! The team lacks the experience.
"It could have been over after the first game. We had a good opportunity to come back but overall they were the better side." – I rest my case!
‘’Man Utd brushed Arsenal aside with a savagery, speed and ruthlessness that had plenty of observers labelling it as football's equivalent of Manny Pacquiao's demolition of Ricky Hatton’’ – Phil McNulty Blog

Already, the rumours are flying about the departure of some of our key players at the end of the season. The likes of Fabregas, RVP, Adebayor, Toure, Song and Almunia are all anticipated to leave. Should this happens, where does that leave the team? Who can really blame any of these players if indeed they leave for a team they believe increases their chances of winning medals. The likes of Henry and Viera has already left for exactly the same reasons. If you can’t pay them well enough like other teams can, you should at least give them the opportunity to win something!
Please Mr. Wenger, wake up! Your way is not working and there is really no evidence in the near future that it will work. By injecting some very good and experience players into the team, Arsenal FC will stand a better chance. This humiliation at the hands of Man United has been a long coming. Everyone saw it but Wenger.

Anonymous said...

If you are just arriving at a 'rethink' you, like wenger, are too far behind. We are way past 'rethink' and in the realm of totally damn obvious. The youth concept is built to entertain and win nothing, oh well, maybe next year.

Russian Genius said...

Is it just me or is anyone else bored of the thought of another summer spent worrying about the departure of Cesc, RVP, Ade and others? Listen Ade and co, the buck stops with you! The reason we are trophyless again this year is because you all consistently fail to put in a full shift.

Andre said...

37 goals in 38 games isn't really a bad defensive record. We can't blame the cener backs for the low scoring draws. 5 draws in a row... 4 of which were 0-0. Had the we been able to find the net in those games, we'd have gotten 10 more points out of the season. That wouldn't have been enough to win the league, but it would have given the squad the confidence to get more points later. Along w/ the Snderland draw and the Tottenham draw (which was a defensive problem), plus a goal in the last Man U game and suddenly we'd have been a point behind.

It's the goal scoring... not the defense. RVP misses the target all the time, Bendtner is a lazy fuck, and Ade is only there when he wants to be. Of the three, I'd choose Ade if he can keep his shit together.

We need to offoad Eboue, Bendtner, Silvestre, RVP, and Diaby and pick p stronger replacements.

Anonymous said...

Another one bites the dust?