Time for us Gooners to face reality
By Avenell Dave
Results like Saturday's are reason enough to hate international weeks - our flow and rythmn are disrupted and injuries always shore us of key players.
When I saw the team line-up against Sunderland on Saturday, I was delighted.
At last, Arsene Wenger had resisted the chance to go for a conservative line-up with players like Denilson and Manu Eboue and gone for an attacking line-up that would produce chances against a Sunderland team shorn of their target man and biggest threat, Kenwyne Jones.
Tomas Rosicky is a class player and with Samir Nasri able to pull the strings as well, it all looked good.
Eduardo has been scoring goals of late (Wolves and for Croatia) and is undoubtedly a world class finisher.
But Wenger was right to chastise the players - this was not down to personnel, it was down to application.
We cannot blame the absence of RvP or the intensity of the opposition - the fact is, Sunderland had chances and we did little to show we cared.
It's not the first time - AZ Alkmaar away and West Ham have shown a lack of mental toughness that will make us also-rans again.
Is Carlos Vela really the answer, as Wenger ahs hinted?
Certainly with a few games I can see the Mexican doing a job for us and if the referees had been a bit more lively, he would have won us penalties at Aklmaar and Sunderland.
But we have no Plan B. When things get desperate, we have no variation to our style - and perhaps the absence of Nick Bendtner has played a part in that because he would ahve made a real nuisance of himself on Saturday.
The defence is solid enough but we still lack someone really capable of putting their boot or head in no matter what - and we need a lump who cares only of clearing the ball. Our record at set piece defending is abysmal.
I met a Gooner on Saturday night who summed it all up: "People have seen Vermaelen scoring goals and making the odd tackle and forgotten that, good player that he is, he has been at fault for a fair few goals this season."
As was the case on Saturday. he is not to blame, but the mix is just not right for the long haul.
You just had to look at how Ch*vski destroyed Wolves to see the difference between thealso rans like us and Liverpool and the real contenders.
The Ch*vs can be without Fat Frank and Diver Dr*gba and still saunter to victory - we lose a player or two and we simply cannot cope.
That's the economic reality of having a young team and stadium debt rather than a sugar daddy loaning the club hundreds of millions and buying players at their peak.
Tomorrow night can't come soon enough.
Give Aaron Ramsey, who disappointed on Saturday, Vela, Theo Walcott and others a game where they can build up match fitness, confidence and get back into their rythmn.
Anything less than three points against the Ch*vs on Sunday would be a disaster and we need to find form and determination quickly.
DA
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Reader Comments (12)
great article mate! no need to panic just yet as we will beat the chavs on sunday. i am pretty confident about that. also dudu must find the goal as soon as possible again.
gunner4life
Yet another knee-jerk reaction.. Oh no, we lost, relegation looms!!
After the last International break both Man U and Chelsea lost away from home, and we won. Order reversed this time around.
Were you calling for a plan B after we scored 36 goals?!
Get a grip. Sunderland, after 2 weeks rest, were fresh for the challenge and playing at home. They've beaten Liverpool and should have beaten Man U. It's a tough away game and they just sneaked it.
People need to get over the fact that we aren't going to win every game; so when we lose maybe people won't get all pessimistic and cry about how none of the players want to win, there's no heart, life isn't worth living!!
It could be worse, we could be having a season like last year. Just ask Liverpool fans if they'd swap league positions with us!
vermalieans to small to be a centre half . a lot of teams looked at him and decided that. the keeper situation is not helping. almunia is shit. thats why its fullscale panic when a high ball comes anywhere near our box . we will have to score 3 or 4 goals a match to be certain of 3 points this season. we will struggle for a top 4 finish this season never mind chlalenging for a title. fucking buy a top class keeper and a big bruising centre half wenger or its over. any idiot can see that why cant
international break, we were tired, lacked sharpness etc etc etc. change the fuking record. i didnt know arsenal played internationals and no other team did. same old tired excuses by a manager whos blind to the faults of this team. crap keeper. 2 poor centre halfs, a plodder of a defensive midfielder and a team with no balls.
hm, get real. I am telling you Arsenal su[pporters are the worse. Please look at Man U, Chelsea and Pool and see the teams they have lost to.
Its one loss where the players lost focus.
the guy who said arsenal have no balls is an idoit !!!! He the stupid so called arsenal fan who boo our players and call wenger to be sacked i wish these idoits would just go away and support some other team cuz they dont help. the fact is that 1/2 the team came back from international duty and the othe 1/2 have come back from serious long term injuries then we had to go all the way to sunderland to play. it also doesnt help that ref would give pooney a penatly if he trip over a blade of grass but if our player has his leg taken off he get nothin
The posts on this site are laughable after a relatively good article. Getting on Vermaelan for that mistake is not exactly spoken by a knowledgable football fan but an idiot! Has Vidic, Terry, Ferdinand, Carvahlo, Carrager, Skertel, Agger never made mistakes .... of course they have! Get over it ... it's a loss and we move on ... the problem with Arsenal supporters is some of us get on the team too quickly rather than supporting them through tough times whereas Man U, Liverpool and Chelski supporters tend to be a bit more loyal. Take Henry as an example ... pitiful Gooner fans saying he went down in their estimations for that. Get a life! We'll be alright, maybe not champions but we'll give it a good run and constant support by the fans may mean an extra 3-6 points which we may need at the end. Don't be so fickle, We've got the best Dutch, Mexican, Czech, Russian, Belgian, Croatian, Cameroonian, Spanish (over-exaggeration on that one) players so we can't be that bad can we!!!!! I have always predicted we finish a close second this year and potentially win a cup which is good progress .... Rome wasn't built in a day ..... but then again ther didn't have Arsene did they! Gooner 4 Life .... keep the faith!
Why do some Arsenal "fans" expect us to win every single fucking game??? And then, when we don't, everything is wrong with the side and we need a complete overhaul!!! It really pisses me off that some people with a tiny bit of knowledge think that they know everything about everything. The internet has a lot to answer for!!!
We've been on a great run of unbeaten games and all the Naysayers and Doom-mongers had been in their little hidey holes. Until we lose, then it's all "we're the worst team ever" and "the manager needs to be sacked". Grrrrr.
Get a grip people! Support the team! Expect to lose once in a while (I know it hurts, but it does and will happen) and above all be happy with what we have and not what we haven't! If we'd lost every game or even had the same season as Liverpool then maybe we'd have something to moan about!!!
I just dont get these reactions?!?!
Man U have lost at Burnley this year, Chelsea have lost at Wigan, Spurs have lost at home to stoke, Liverpool have lost to everyone, Man C have drawn with shit teams home and away but when we lose one to a good team (a game that could have gone either way, Rosicky and Eduardo shud have scored) away from home, all of a sudden we are Sh!t.
Our youth/reserves are in the qtrs of the carling cup... we're pretty much through in the Champions league and if we beat Chelsea at home on sunday aswell as win our home game with bolton in hand, we go 2 points of the top.
Why does every Arsenal blog have to slit their wrists??
I think it's the blogs that start all this BOOOOing and sack le boss crap.
Yes, we could have played better and finished our chances, we didn't... Move on to the next game.
We beat Wolves scoring 4 away from home. We also had injuries. Chelsea still have the bases of a 200m squad. However, I think playing away after internationals is always tough. Of the top teams we are the only ones that played away. Man U, Chelsea, the spuds were all at home. I think had we been at home we would have won the game.
hm - you have got to be the biggest idiot on chat boards
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