I make no apologies for continuing the navel gazing that has set in following our defeat at the weekend. It’s the International break and things are slow; so, I will carry on regardless and address the one topic that still doesn’t quite sit well with me and that is the criticism of Wenger for the tactics he employed against Chelsea.
There seems to be two schools of thought; unsurprisingly, as we lost, there are those who think that Wenger needs to completely rethink his approach to how we play Chelsea and when we consider our win to loss ratio over recent years even the most loyal, fully paid up, card carrying Wengerites, such as myself, have to admit that this view may be worthy of a bit more than a cursory glance.
In one corner we have those who think that we should have tried to have kept a clean sheet at all costs for the first hour, I am not sure how they expected to do that but I can only assume that they would have advocated a “Park the Bus” approach. Hmmmm, did we really want to go there and simply try not to lose, should we really have been that craven?
Wenger went there to win and, I was about to prefix what I was going to say next with the words, in my humble opinion, but as I have never had a humble opinion in my life I see no reason to start now, lol, Wenger got the tactics spot on, we used our superior passing ability to move forward and had we taken our chances we would have been two up inside ten minutes.
I don’t see why Wenger is expected to take the blame for Koscielny or Chamakh’s misses, the fact that these opportunities were created surely only goes to prove that Wenger’s tactics were working.
Chelsea make the hollow claim that they were happy to let us have possession secure in the knowledge that we would lose it and they would hit us on the break and score, absolute tosh, yes they scored but it was a lucky goal and it went against the run of play. Our most potent weapon is our ability to move towards a team like Chelsea en masse and play our way around them. It just didn’t quite come off but that still doesn’t say to me that the tactics are wrong, it says that we need be even more precise with our passing.
Fàbregas would have helped as would have Van Persie; someone suggested that if you had put Chamakh next to Drogba before the game you would have been able to tell which was going to win by their body language; well, if Van Persie was there it would not have been so clear. This is all new to the Moroccan and he looks as though he needs a rest to take stock. Help is on its way: we get Nikki B back after the break and I am guessing that he realises that the bar has been raised and will want to prove that he is capable of being a top dog and talking of top dogs, even the Boy Wonder will return at some point and then there will be fire works.
No, I am not convinced by this call to change tactics, turning the team into a bunch of thugs in the hope that we will be able to beat Chelsea is not the answer, we need to continue doing what we are good at but do it just that little bit better. Keep the faith and enjoy the football.
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Morning all, all I’ve suggested is that it would behove us to have an alternative IF our usual game wasn’t working. I didn’t have an exact answer as to the best way to end our long run of defeats/draws against Fergie/Carlo’s lot but merely pointed out it was worth considering something else so I have to respectfully disagree with you that his tactics were spot on FOR THE WHOLE GAME.
If we had forced the Chavs to play the possession/passing game more then it would surely make them play in a way they are not comfortable with? Instead, IMHO, we let them play it the way they wanted to.
Nice one London- I wholeheartedly agree! It’s not fun having to suck up our last two league results during a lull for internationals (which I take very little interest in), but I share your optimism that things are about to take a turn for the better!
“it was a lucky goal”??!!
You Gooners really are the WORST fans in English football.
Five straight wins and counting.
Morning,
Fine post London.
I’m the heathen that suggested we should have tried to keep it tight for the first hour 😛 – but not at all cost. We could still play our possession football but not commit so many forward as to leave us vulnerable at the back.
If our aim is to get as many points out of the game as possible, I see no problem with taking a slightly more defensive approach to an away game at chelski, because after all …. points win prizes.
good read. agree on all points! keep it up
Turning the team into a bunch of thugs to beat Chelsea? I didn’t see Chelsea having to behave like thugs to defeat Arsenal.
The North London club plays five-a-side-style football with eleven players on a full-size pitch. All the talk of the team’s attractive play relates to a narrow, 20-yard band across the third quarter of the pitch. Within this limited area, Arsenal play their one-twos and flicks and generally do their five-a-side thing, but elsewhere, they are rubbish. I mean, absolute rubbish. If not for that one area of the pitch where they transfer their indoor football skills to the great outdoors, this is a team with no other strengths and no tactical nous. It’s all about one style for weaklings who would be better playing in a gym where strong tackling isn’t seen or feared. Once Fabregas leaves, which he is itching to do, Arsenal fans will see the light at last and realise that all the eye-candy is simply pretty wrapping paper, with no gift inside.
Empty.
Hollow.
Nothing there. And nothing in the trophy cabinet either. Yet again.
Agreed Farty calling that a lucky goal is weak. Drogba seems to be very lucky against us no? Agreed also with the author, nothing wrong with the tactics and everything wrong with using Nasri on the right against Cole. That’s 3 goals in two games have come from him not tracking the fullback. When is Wenger going to learn sometimes you need to pay attention to the opposition. Saying if we play our game we can beat anyone and don’t need to worry about what the opponent does is disrespectful and plain wrong. Because if it’s good enough for Man U and Chelsea to change their tactics against us (very successfully I might add) why is it not right for us?
A little less attacking verve and a little more concentrating on the basics like tracking back, would go a lot further than all this soul searching about tactics.
This post is nonsense, I am and will continue to be a season ticket holder at the Emirites but I do see the true picture, not through your red tinted specs.
It is a fact that we could have written the match report before the game: We have lots of possesion, we control the midfield but go no-where, they get 1 opportunity to score and Grogba takes it (as usual), second half …more of the same. the only thing that was missing was a goalkeeping mistake!
In my humble opinion I am sick and tired of hearing about possesion, our promise and how unlucky we are! we make our own luck, have a good look through our team and then compare to Chelski, we are short of talent, hunger and spirit. Cole is way better than Clichy, their CB’s are both better than ours and we had to play 5 in midfield to try to stop Essien dominating, lets not even talk about the goalkeeping department!
In all honesty i think we are doing well to finish top 4 which is all Wenger and the board seem to care about, we have allowed superstar after superstar to leave and replaced them with kids or journeymen, this week Squalachi captained the side which really says it all. Unless we finish outside the top 4 i do not see this approach changing as it suits the money men who lead our club.
Morning Chary & Rasp
You were obviuosly both the inspiration for the post, it isn’t supposed to be personal, I felt it only right that I contribute something during the break and the above is the best I could do.
Hi London,
Absolutely no offence taken, you can see by the strength of reaction that you have touched a nerve – well done 🙂
“have a good look through our team and then compare to Chelski, we are short of talent, hunger and spirit.”
I love this one coming from an Arsenal fan; no, the difference was someone with two hundred million to waste on players and their wages about three years ago. That is the real difference. There is no shortage of hunger at the club that I support.
Sir Cecil, I honestly have nothing to say to your post except this. You might at some point want to take off the invisible lump of concrete (the size of great Britain), acting as a chip on your shoulder. Quite honestly comparing are last couple of games against Chelsea there was a remarkable improvement, even the pundits on match of the day had to admit that Arsenal where the better footballing side and simply hadn’t been clinical enough. Given we so short on first team players and the way we played I am at last confident your thumbing from Arsenal in the not so near future my friend.
I think all Wenger cares is about attack until the end of the world. He doesn’t give a thought to defence.Remember Keegan in 1997.He should have bought a defender but got Aspiralla. Ther rest is history.
Wenger has been getting creative players. It’s about time he gets some thugs/destructive guys into the team
A couple of points:
“Our superiour passing ability”. Chelsea pass success 82%, Arsenal 79%
“Chelseas hollow claim thay were happy for us to have possession” Chelsea 52%, Arsenal 48%.
What is it with Arsenal? You seem to think no one can move the ball around like you can and you only get beaten by teams with “power” “strength” “out-muscled” etc, etc. You’re deluding yourselves, check the match stats and then man up and admit you were out-thought and out-played on the day.
There is a couple of chavs to deal with above
When Cesc bloody Fàbregas leaves? You are having a laugh, you are a car crash, a plane crash, a helicopter crash, oh yeah, you have already had one of those, you are one accident to Abramovich away from the third division.
As a Chelsea fan, I’m not quite sure I agree with your assessment of the game. I’m sure you’ll pour scorn on my thoughts, but in the hope of adding some perspective, here they are.
You pressed extremely hard when off the ball. This seems to me to be to be exactly the right thing to do. As the away team, playing a team who are perhaps not quite as rarefied in terms of possession play, but certainly in the ballpark, it’s as important to deny space as it is to create it.
Having said that, the idea that you were attempting to pass around Chelsea is, if you’ll pardon the negativity, absolutely wrong. As Wenger is well aware, there is no team in the league better without the ball than Chelsea. While much has been made, for more than 2 years now, of Chelsea’s encroaching age as a squad, it’s a far more cohesive unit than any other team in the “top 4”. Additions in recent years have been minimal and what you’re looking at is the nucleus of a team that’s played regularly together for 5 years. I guess my main exhibit for the prosecution would be the fact that that last three games we’ve played you, you’ve been unable to score.
Sadly, I’d also have to decry your assertion that “things would have been different with van Persie and Fabregas in the team”. Irrelevant, surely?
Finally, the suggestion that Drogba’s goal was “lucky”… well, again I appreciate that you don’t enjoy heaping plaudits on the man, but you do him a disservice. When Kevin McCarra describes the goal as “imrovisation close to genius”, Henry Winter calls it “a marvellous piece of skill” and you are the lone dissenting voice, it does seem more like sour grapes. I wouldn’t suggest that Drogba achieves the heady heights of Henry’s close control, but he’s far closer to it than your cursory dismissal suggests. Bullying your (sorry) mediocre centrebacks is one part of the man’s game, and when we play you it seems to be an important one. But controlling and turning a pass that was behind him, at such an acute angle to goal, is something that very few players in the world could have done. To deny this is… well, whistling in the dark.
All the same, you played as well at the Bridge as I’ve seen in 5 years, and probably deserved something to show for it. It was a brilliant game to watch, technically and in terms of pace, and if you’re able to raise yourself to those heights as a team on a more regular basis, I look forward to the return fixture.
I wud rather have 10% possession and win, rather than have 90% possession and lose. YU cant say Wenger’s tactics were spot on when we lost and have lost to Chelsea so many times playing the same tactics. Lets not defend the indefensible.
Quote: “The difference was someone with two hundred million to waste on players and their wages about three years ago. That is the real difference”.
Two hundred million to WASTE? On three PL titles and cups galore? And non-stop wins over Arsenal?
Arsenal have spent even MORE money than Chelsea, but chose to spend it on a stadium rather than players. So they’ve won NOTHING since. Once they fail to qualify for the Champions League (it’ll be very much sooner rather than later), they’ll have even less to spend on players because that stadium will have less spectators than they used to have at Highbury. Wait and see.
Morning London….I feel a little churlish having caused such a great post to be pushed back a day.
Still, it looks like its still generating the debate that it deserves, so all is well.
Jena
I just did defend it, my point above is just becasue we lost does not mean that the tactics were wrong……what was wrong was that we wasted our opportunities….very different.
Turned into a popular blog for the Chavs hasn’t it? Drogba’s goal being “lucky” is for us to say- he probably wouldn’t score it again if he had 10 attempts but of course it was skillful. I don’t think any true football fan would complain about Chelsea’s play- under Ancelloti they really play well and are strong favourites for the league. However, with more of our first XI and the same tactics and attitude the result would have been different. Enjoy your gloating Chavs, cos the future’s red!
Well said Carlito
If Drogba had the same chance ten times over it is highly unlikely that he would have scored even once again like he did, which makes it………a lucky goal.
How come’s there’s a lot of talk,about the freekick on song.and not about drogba being offside for the goal?
If a tennis player keeps hitting easy shots out, he’s considered useless.
If a boxer keeps missing his opponent, he’s simply hopeless.
If a darts player misses all night, he’s worthless.
But if Arsenal players fail to score open goals, they’re just unlucky. Laughable.
Losing to Chelsea has become a regular occurance over the last few years and accusations of being out muscled etc have probably been about right although I don’t think that was the case on Sunday. We controlled possession and created chances, chances we didn’t take. It pains me to say it but we were beaten by the customary Drogba goal (a goal I happen to think was a tidy finish). The Alex exocet was a bonus that no one could legislate for. If you look at it in that context, we lost a tight game against probably the best organised team in the league. Most games between 2 top sides are tight and this was another.
It may be irrelevant now but we missed chances and perhaps didn’t create as many really good opportunities as our possesion should have returned. There is a good argument to say that Cesc and RVP would have added to that count. There were occasions when the ball fed through to Chamakh and I longed to see Van Persie in his place. It does sound like an excuse but would Chelsea seriously be as dominant if we’d taken Drogba and Terry out of their side? I read a stat yesterday that said the 3 times we’ve played Chelsea minus Drogba, we’ve won twice and drawn once. I know 3 games isn’t entirely representative but it gives an idea of how important key players are.
I think our tactics were fine on Sunday. There is no good argument in favour of shutting up shop against Chelsea as a) we’re not good enough at the back and b)Chelsea weren’t planning to go at us hammer and tongs at any rate. I honestly dson’t think we need another inquest into this result. I was dissapointed to lose but thought we did quite well. We need to concentrate on getting results against the rest of the league and make sure we’re still in the fight next time we have a big test. That and hope our injury list clears up.
Sir Cecil,
Are you suggesting that Anelka is useless then, since he missed the easiest chances in the game?
Sometimes things come off and sometimes they don’t. Lady luck favoured your lot on Sunday, but as most honest Chelsea fans have admitted, we played well and it will be a different game when you come to the Emirates and we have Fabregas and van Persie back.
“If Drogba had the same chance ten times over it is highly unlikely that he would have scored even once again like he did, which makes it………a lucky goal”.
It certainly was. Lucky 13… in 13 games!
“It will be a different game when you come to the Emirates and we have Fabregas and van Persie back”.
It’ll be the last time Fabregas plays for Arsenal against Chelsea in the Premier League (assuming he doesn’t go to Barca in the next window rather than next summer), so I’ll look forward to it. Good player. Your best. And he can barely wait to leave.
That’s cool London, I didn’t take it personally. You’ve put forward your take on the subject of my rambling rant/whinge on Tuesday and while I don’t agree with it completely you have given me sufficient food for thought to modulate my view.
I like a well articulated post whether it agrees with my point of view or not.
OK SC,
You’re getting boring now. It’s fine to come on and give a reaction to our post, but if you’re just going to descend into schoolyard jibes I think it’s about time you found a chav site to inhabit that suits your IQ.
Excellent comment Smithy, I hope you don’t mind me being informal.
Sir Cecil- pardon my french but – F~*k off!
I got to agree with London, Wenger and Ray Wilkins. This was definately not a case of ‘same old’. We lost this game simply because we did not take our chances. We REALLY worry them….why do you think that they resorted to ‘parking the bus’. Is this a tactic of the reigning Champions or Stoke?
We controlled most of the tempo and created some clear cut chances. If we dont take these clear chances then we will never be Champions…simple. This was far from Wenger 1st choice team. The boys did good and deserve to be respected not slated for their efforts.
As for Fabregas going I cant see it at present. Barcelona are in serious financial difficulties and our Captain will not be allowed to go for £30m.
Smith14, hello and welcome.
I like your style! The combined weight of your comment and London’s post has given me renewed confidence in our ‘mission’.
We’d welcome your input into the site should you feel like submitting a post on any Arsenal related topic.
I’m lovin that comment Mahbury, you are welcome here any time.
Spot on Smith14- another perfect summing up of what all the sensible fans have been saying/ thinking.
Well said Mahbury, the emerging players at Arsenal are very exciting prospects and not the ‘off the shelf’ types that Chelsea bankroll. If/when Fabregas goes, it will be for a hefty sum and with best wishes from most Arsenal fans for his great service to the club – secure in the knowledge that Wilshere/Ramsey/Nasri will fill the void.
To be fair, i think it is shameful for Chelsea to have played that way with all the stars in their teamon that day .
But if that is how they so much fear our passing to the point that they had to result to picking on our usual defensive mistakes and goal keeping mistakes, i say we should play like Chelsea next time we meet.
Arsenal is the only team that can pass for 10minutes non stop without losing the ball.
Lets do that twice next time we meet that will be 20minutes gone from 90 minutes.
Wenger should test their patients for 20minutes in different occasion and lets see how patient they could be before they start coming out of their half to try and take the ball .By the time they start doing that , Anceloti’s tactics is off the window by then.
Also for once Wenger should let the players know that when they turn in a free kick, the ball goes through them. They also need to charge towards a shot made few yards from the 18 box.
Last but not the least , they should please and please switch-on when ever Drogba is close to the ball.
They need to wake up because Drogba is not the most exciting player in the World(he is markable) but a good goal scorer, he should never be allowed to touch the ball at all in the box.
IF Wenger’s tactics were spot on,Arsenal should have won. As it is ,it has been a long time since the gunners tastes the smell of victory.In all the games the gunners have lost to Chelsea and MU these few years,they were exactly the same tactics used.
It’s about time the FM admits his philosophy with regard to tactis and personnel aint working.But he won’t because of his ego. So gunner fans will need to be patient and wait and god knows when his methods will work. If not ,another five years will slip by and soon ten years and so on.
Great post London – and a fine debate you’ve kicked off. We’ve even had one or two intelligent Chav fans on here, which is nice to see (Rob @10.44 in particular, who made the unarguable statement that there’s no better team without the ball than Chelsea). Of course you hooked in a couple of typical Blue buffoons as well, but that’s par for the course.
What I find more baffling is the Arsenal fans who can’t see the difference between Sunday’s narrow defeat and the absolute maulings we have taken previously at the hands of the Billionaire’s plaything.
On Sunday we were properly competitive and were let down by not taking our chances.
By the way what are Chelsea fans looking for in this forum ?
Agreed that your games are boring but tell me are you blogs and forums boring as well?
Written like a true Gooner, London. 🙂
You were voicing an opinion and not trying to ram it down anyone’s throat, Chavs or otherwise.
My opinion, for what it is worth, is that whether or not Drogba’s goal was lucky, it was abad defensive goal to give away!
London in your article you say there appears to be two schools of thought. You mention those that think Wenger needs to re-think his tactics and then go on to describe the possession in the game we adopted.
It appears that I may belong to the “third hand” option. 🙂
I think we played well overall, in the game, and the tactics were not really a big issue for me.
So what is the third hand option? I have already alluded to the lack of pace in the team which restricts the effectiveness of our counter attacking and leads to the pass, pass, oops no opportunity to shoot mode.
In addition, Chelsea exploited our weakness in the full back positions. Every time they recovered the ball, it went out to the acres of space left on their wings, particularly by Clichy. ironically, one of the reasons for their first goal came because our left back had gone walkabout.
In central midfield we were so busy supporting our many early stage attacks, it meant that the CH’s were inevitably exposed.
In summary, the third hand gang (me) believe that there was little wrong with Arsene’s tactics, the cause of our loss, apart from excellent play by Chelsea, was the deficiencies in some of our players.
This is summed up by; a lack of pace; inability to comprehend that Chelsea were exploiting our full backs always being upfield and unable to defend their breakaways, and a midfield getting the balance of attack and defence wrong, i.e. too much attacking not enough defending.
The players got their roles in that game wrong or were not of the right quality to apply the manager’s tactics correctly.
Oops, their first goal, blah, blah “right” back, of course. 🙂
CharyB,
You love your music, you used the verb “modulate” above, so are you going to modulate the melody or simply change the key? 🙂
Rasp,
Glad I was able to reassure you a bit. I seriously think we’re going in the right direction. By the way, I had a blog up on Saturday before the Chelsea game. Hopefully be able to contribute again in the future.
London,
No worries. Smithy, Smudger, whatever, it’s fine by me.
Smith14,
Of course you did, and a very good post it was too – what am I thinking? Sincere apologies, I always go a bit insane in the interlull 😕
Smith14,
I got confused because I originally put another name for you in the author widget.
I have observed that the losses last season in the comparison of points widget came in pairs and this season has followed suit. I am not sure that there is any real significance.
Last season we went into long unbeaten runs following those setbacks, we have to hope that we can replicate that performance. Looking at last season’s stats, we did remarkably well in the circumstances and with a stronger squad now, we really should be optimistic.
I think I can change the melody slightly RedA – with a bit of syncopation thrown in for good measure.
I love a bit of syncopated rhythm, CharyB, especially when we play well. 🙂
Rasp,
I noticed that we lost in pairs last season. I think partly it’s down to the games we had back to back last season. We seemed to lose games we shouldn’t have, then go to the big games off the back of it. Maybe we are too pre occupied by the big matches that we take our eye off the ball and disrupt our preperations. We certainly weren’t at the races against WBA this term.
This partly goes back to what I was saying on Saturday. Psychologically the big matches loom over us too much. We need to play each game as it comes (sorry about the cliche) rather than building up every so called Big 4 game as a do or die event.
As I said on Saturday, the result wasn’t going to dictate anything against Chelsea but at least it showed we’d improved. Another day we’d have got something out of it.
Wot a cracking read todays comments have been !!
Special mention to Rob for contributing so well as a Chelsea fan. (Sir?) Cecil really should take note.
Mr Dyson, check your match stats m8, the complete opposite – this even includes a link from 1 of your very own fans:
http://www.skysports.com/football/match_report/0,19764,11065_3293521,00.html
http://www.chelsea.vitalfootball.co.uk/stats.asp?a=520602
http://www.globalpost.com/webblog/sports/chelsea-2-0-arsenal-%E2%80%93-video-highlights-recap-and-match-stats-%E2%80%93-epl-%E2%80%93-3-october-2010-1
Your obviously like the rest of the brainy Chelsea fans…got laugh.
Lol at dozy Dyson……BUSTED !!!
Charles,
You are wasting your time, I’m afraid. There are people who are only capable of seeing events thru filters.
You know the type; “He scandalously threw his face onto my boot, your Lordship!” “I am a brilliant manager, with a massive brain, and I am very slim!” claims well known idiot, Fat Sam, while scoffing his fifth pie. 🙂
Now I hate Drogba just as much as the next Gooner, but to say his goal was lucky is harsh. I recall a time when we had the best striker on the Planet going from stadium to stadium scoring left and right and at the end of the game it wasnt just the Arsenal support applauding him it was also the away support including Chelsea. So why cant we do the same. He scored at an impossible angle, but if you dont try you dont score, he tried it and it worked so fare play.
Every team has their era and now it is the Chavs, we will have ours again its only a matter of time.
Hi Dubaigooner
I am sure that if you try just a bit harder you could hate Drogba enough to say that his goal was lucky 😉
A quick note in defence of Chamakh.
1) All this ‘Drogba’s body language’ talk is specious nonsense based on being clever after the fact. There was nothing wrong with Chamakh’s body language or that of any other Arsenal player.
2) Chamakh has settled in astonishingly quickly to the EPL and did well on Sunday by holding up the ball, pulling the Chavs’ CBS around and getting a couple of chances on goal (against what is generally accepted as the best defence in the league). Yes, he should have got the second-half header on target, but all strikers miss the target on a regular basis, even Henry, even Drogba.
Basically, he has one game where he doesn’t get much joy out of the toughest defence in the country and people are already calling for him to be given a rest, or are saying: “can’t wait until RvP gets back”. Didn’t they watch Chamakh’s performances in his previous games this season? Did they not see his four goals already this term (not to mention the penalties won)?
What is going on here that we are now appreciating the Chavs.
They are a team that has being engineered with no soul (Girls Aloud has More Soul).
They are winning but really what can you remember about them really what ?
They are without any proper memorable moments which made the way Barcelona knocked them out of the champions league one of my most memorable games ever.
They just sat back and hoped the time will run out but Barcelona kept at them played their football and Iniesta the genius did his thing , i stud up in my living room and removed my hat for the Barcelona team.
Please dont use this forum appreciating the Chavs , they are in no way good for the premiership football, think about it since Roman Abramovich came to the premiership.
Anelka and Essien should have taken chances when clean through on goal.Chelsea’s plan worked perfectly.
Leave Arsenal have the ball to within 30 yards and then break.They should have had four or five.
Er, Liam, on that basis Arsenal should have had five or six (two Chamakh headers, one Koscielny header, Nasri just wide, two Arshavin shots that forced good saves out of Cech).
Presumably Chelsea’s ‘perfect plan’ depended on Arsenal having a lot of good chances but not converting them. Genius! But on another day they would have conceded three.
Great post and so are the majority of the comments.
We don’t have a bus to park, and in any case I am only interested in Arsenal not the Fulham Bus Stop.
Yes, we did play a lot better, the game was a lot closer but at the end of the day I am getting a wee bit tired about passing stats.
We need to be bolder in front of goal and shoot more often instead of tippy tappy football(which often works against inferior sides) and then pass it straight out to the wing, only for the same tippy tappy football to continue.
This is not a change of tactics,just a tweek here and there.
Hello Fan From Far Flung Place, can’t believe we’ve had chavs on here whingeing – they must be getting worried about the ease with which we carved out our chances – if I was a chav I’d be worried 😉
What a game it would have been if we’d scored those two early chances eh ………..
Frankly, I don’t give a monkeys about the Chavs! Praise them, don’t praise them, better yet just ignore them, who cares.
Like Kelsey, the only team I am interested in is Arsenal.
Rocky,
I have seen some of that Chammy talk and it should rankle that people make such comments.
As it happens, it does not, I simply let it go. The fans who say such things are brought up demanding instant gratification and if it is not provided they sulk and scweeam and scweeam!
Chammy has admitted he has found the sheer phyicality of the PL very exhausting and he is still adjusting to it.
By next week the moaners will probably be Manure fans!
As a Chelsea fan i believe in try to be fair whilst always supporting my team. Arsenal played well and possibky deserved something from the game. However, every neutral i have spoken to says they believed that there was only ever going go be one winner of the game.Arsenal did their usual in big games and flatered to deceive. It must be literally a dozen times in the last 2 or 3 years when the same thing has happend against Chelsea, Utd or in Champions league. You player the better (allegedly) football, have loads of possession, create some chances but don’t win the game. It happens time after time after time. That isn’t bad luck, it’s a serious fault in the team/squad/manager. For your supporters to describe our team as manufactured, plastic, created by money etc etc is laughable.Yes Abramovich spent a fortune in the first 2 years but we ahven’t spent big money for 4 season now. Teams like Spurs,Villa,obviously City and even Sunderland have had a net spend bigger than us.In the 6 years before Roman turned up we won 2 Fa Cups, a league Cup, The uefa cup and the super cup. To pretend that we just arrived from nowhere on a Russian barge is ridiculous and just plain jealousy.what your team really needs is some balls. The balls to really step up when it is needed, balls not to miss the one critical chance in a game, balls not to drop the cross, balls to track back when Ashley cole goes flying past you. Our players may be highly paid and may be getting old but i’d argue that for team spirit,togetherness,mental toughness and ability to respond to adversity they are the best side in the world. That doesn’t make us the most skillful but in my book sport is about winning. alex Higgins was a far more skillfull snooker player but steve davis murdered him as a champion.You have the making of agreat side and i’ll admit he is a great coach but his ego and your board are stopping you from being a truely great side.You HAVE to spend £50m and but a nasty centre midfielder, a quality centre forward and a good goalkeeper.Until then you won’t win a thing and it will be totally your own fault.
PS:Sorry about the dodgy spelling, trying to type fast whilst at work!
It must be very quiet on the chav sites today, they are all over here.
No,just good to contribute to a considered argument and to defend my side against the same tired old rubbish we get accused of all the time.
Kelsey,
In a way, probably the same people, are constantly carping at Diaby. Now I have been known to have had a little mumble about him too, for his inconsistency, but this has been to acknowledge his potential brilliance and my wish that he show his detractors how wrong they are about him.
They have apparently forgotten the dreadful, career threatening injury he suffered and the consequential chronic ankle injuries he continues to suffer.
It is all too easy, for the moaners, to forget that highly tuned athletes, and that is what footballers are, need to be at their peak, in physical condition, to produce the football we all crave!
But then, I know I do not need to say that to true Gooners. 🙂
True London, but I quite like it if they make reasonable points and behave with respect, as Rob did earlier and as John has just done.
John – some of what you say is true, but I disagree that Sunday’s game was another example of the same old pattern. That game could have gone either way and most unbiased critics have made exactly that point. We probably do need a couple more top acquisitions (mainly to account for the fact that our best players seem to be out injured for much of the time), but we are improving fast and I fully expect to beat you at the Grove this season.
Hi John,
Thanks for your comment. The article was about Arsenal but has attracted an unexpectedly high response from Chelsea fans. Rob’s comment earlier and your response have been well expressed and respected the ethos of the site.
The dividing issue between some Arsenal supporters is trophies v quality football and financial stability. Chelsea has no money worries (presumably) but most clubs in the prem are having to change their ways – manu in particular. Most of us on here are happy with the honest and dignified way our club has grown under Arsene Wenger and would choose our brand of success over any other club irrespective of winning trophies.
I hope you come on after our home game whatever the outcome and we will see how our relative progress over the season compares.
Maybe, but the fact remains that you fairly often dominate games and then don’t win them. Finding a way to win the games that could have gone either way is the hallmark of champions.Look at the Aussie cricket side (i know they are fading now),michael schumacker, rafa Nadal/roger federer,the england rugby team that won the world cup etc etc. They all regularly found a way to win when it seemed unlikely or perhaps didn’t deserve it.Chelsea have aquired that talent (apart from in the champions league where we always contrive some mad way to lose) and it has made us winners.Initially under Mourinho it was win ugly but now we still win and play good football as well. You almost never manage to do that.You only win when you absolutely dominate.Name a big important match where it has been really tight or really mattered that you have won, i can’t think of one. That is a failing of coaching,mentality or the players themselves. It can’t be coincidence or bad luck if it happens time after time.
John,
If I was a Chelski fan I would probably mount a passionate response such as yours. But you must know it is probably also going to fall on deaf ears over here.
I am sure that Chelsea spent some £20m on their Brazilian Meirless (?) this summer. That to me is big bucks. I also remember Chelsea almost going into liquidation before Abramovich bought them.
That’s neither here nor there, but what gets into my craw is that 90% of the current Chelsea fans did not support their club then or have suddenly decided, since Abramovich, that they are Chelsea fans after all.
Most of the gooners on this site have supported Arsenal all their lives and will do so until their dying day, whatever happens to the Club!
This is not aimed personally at you, as you have been polite and expressed yourself in a civilised manner, even if I disagree with you. But it is aimed at the vast majority of gloating new Chav fans, and you will probably feel the same way about the newly discovered Citeh fans in due course.
Again, i will defend my team and supporters. success attracts new fans, for any club. when i grew up in SW London in the 70’s & 80’s my school was full of Liverpool supporters. I wonder why that was. Arsenal have always been a really well supported club but you are deluding yourselves if you don’t think that support grew massively through your success of the 90’s and early 2000’s. Yeah, we have a load of johnny come lately, but so would you have done in the past, so will man city now and it can easily go the other way as well,take a look at liverpool’s crowds this season and no one has a pop at their supporters the way they do chelsea’s.Take a look at any of the historical stats and you’ll find that Chelsea are one of the best 6 or 7 supported clubs in the country (based on historical attendances) and that goes back 100 years. so this idea that we suddenly appeared from nowhere and had no team or supporters pre abramovich is a joke. we were selling out our stadium before he arrived, had been in the champions league consistently before he arrived, and had won a number of trophies in the years immediately before he arrived. All this talk of history and what constitutes a real club is rubbish spouted by fans of clubs who are worried that their club might be overtaken by someone else.Things change, so what, no-one has the “right” to win things just becuase they have achieved a lot in the past and i fully respect the right of any other club, be it Man City, blackpool or AFC wimbledon to grow their club and try to win things by whatever means are within the rules. Chelsea and Abramovich did nothing wrong, get over it. Your club have just announced £50 odd million pound profits. Can any of you honestly say you don’t want to see a large part of that spent on the team. if you don’t and then don’t win anything again over the next few years that is not Chelsea,Utd or City’s fault for spending some money, it is your board and wengers for NOT spending any.
O.K., I have been blogging away on and off all day, and apart from one response from CharyB, not one other blogger on the site has felt i had anything worth saying.
It’s not nice being ignored so i will go somewhere else and try my luck.
Hopefully tomorrow I will have something to say that interests someone? 🙂
Red Arse, what’s up?
No-one’s ignoring you, your recent comments have been addressed to John. Speaking personally, I can only visit my PC intermittently and so it is hard to follow the thread of a discussion. Don’t take it personally, you are a valued contributor to the site.
John,
I am delighted I have provoked a response from someone, even if it is a Chelsea fan. 🙂
I went to a chelsea match in the dog days of old Ken, to see them play Villa (I think) and if there was 10,000 fans at the game I would be surprised.
You may not agree with what I wrote, and that is your prerogative, but I am not on a Chelsea site giving you the benefit of my wisdom, and no one likes to be preached at, you know.
But thanks for chatting to me, all the same! 🙂
Rasp,
By this time next year you may have grown used to my humour. I did warn you. 🙂
To be candid, maybe everyone agrees with my words of wisdom and there is nothing to add! 🙂 🙂
(But I did get a response from you, and John too) 🙂
Lol, i was probably at that game, we had games where there were 8000 believe me. However i am also surrounded by gooners where i work and they tell me of dire days at Arsenal where the football was stale, the atmosphere was dead and highbury was half full. We’ve all been there.
Touché John,
You seem like a decent guy, and although you support the wrong team,……. obviously, it is interesting to hear a different perspective, like yours.
I am glad you might have been to the game I mentioned, and just between thee and me, (don’t tell my fellow gooners I said this 🙂 ) I have been at Highbury some years ago, in freezing conditions,for a game against the Hammers and there may have been 7,999 fans there + me! 🙂
Burgundy Bum, I may not be replying directly to you (I see this site as a sort of group therapy session rather than a series of one-to-one conversations) but you have amused me today.
I once had the dubious pleasure of watching us lose 4-1 at home on a bloody freezing cold January night to scarborough or it might have been scunthorpe amonst about 9000 very depressed, wet and cold fans.
Thank you Rocky, ditto. 🙂
My problem is that now I have known you all for years, … well, months then,…. O.k., O.K., let’s agree on days, and got to recognise the various personality traits that creep into comments, I feel like I am personally addressing friends, and the occasional civilised visitor like John, as if we are in a pub.
You may have gathered in the short time I have been assaulting Rasp and Peaches’ site, that i am by nature gregarious and if I feel ignored, I will poke the grownups with the odd bon mot to get their attention. 🙂
Rasp is a gentleman and a gentle person, and I feel guilty sometimes for teasing. But not too guilty! 🙂
John,
We are at heart, all fans, no matter what team we support, who suffer the travails of our teams and also exalt in the glory of the good times.
All clubs have “new” fans joining them, usually based on success on the pitch, and they are every bit as entitled to the long time fans.
For us long time fans, it is a bit galling when the newbies start to gloat at their new team’s success. As a long time fan (for the wrong team … of course..:-) ) you will understand what I meant when I referred to Citeh, because I think their “newbies” will shortly be on the gloating trail, unfortunately. 😦
You’re such a mischief RA!
I loved your exchanges with John, taking turns to under-bid each other on the worst game you’ve ever been to. It reminded me of the Monty Python Yorkshiremen sketch: “You were lucky. We lived for three months in a paper bag in a septic tank”.
Rocky,
I have only just stopped laughing at your comment, and I bet John is too. 🙂
In truth, I have a “slightly” soft spot for Chelski, as my best friend from school, sadly deceased, supported them. His dad was Grenadier, based in Chelsea Barracks and he made me go to watch Chelsea and I made him go to Highbury.
I used to be terrified that I would cheer and jump up and down when Arsenal scored, while standing with all the Chesea lads in the shed, or look glum and fail to clap when Chelsea scored. Scary! 🙂 He had the same problem on the North Bank but we had such a laugh.
Both of us remained true to our own clubs, to the end! 😦
That’s it, I am really off to terrorise another site now. 🙂
I might chat quietly to myself in a corner, most of the time, but AA is such a good and enjoyable site and the various different characters are its lifeblood! 🙂
Ta ta.
Red Arse, don’t worry mate, I’ve been reading your comments, just haven’t got the time to analyze and answer but appreciate what you’ve said.
I more than convinced,especially given our injury list that we will have our say against Chelsea this season. This blogg would have been so much more different had we been a tiny bit more clinical, especially in the first 5mins of the game. Arsenal fans shouldn’t be pessimistic – the improvement from previous games was obvious for me. You have to take into account the injuries plus a new defense that is in metaphoric terms – young children to the prem and undoubtedly will improve.
As for the incredible dull and what must be the reminiscence of the Chelsea head hunters, who with the utmost courtesy, delightfully graced us with there pure intellect – please get a different perspective in your tunnel vision life. This is not to say all Chelsea fans are alike but there are certainly 1 or 2 on this blogg who needed some genetic brain cell treatment before they were born.
Cheers RA. Talk later.
Fan From Far Flung Place here,
sorry red Arse, but I am flipping in and out this week as I am playing in a big tournament.
I was at Highbury in the sixties when we lost to Leeds and 4000 turned up(our lowest ever turnout.)
I have also been to Chelsea with my uncle,parked literally outside the ground and there were more players and officials than fans,there.
Things go in cirles and our time will come again.
5 years without trophy? Luxury, bloody luxury. When I were lad we went 17 years without trophy and to make things worse we had to wear flat caps and drink warm beer. Eye, them were the days.
London 😉
“17 years without a trophy?” 😯
Now I feel so young reading that London 🙂
That’s nothing! When I started supporting in 1893 we didn’t win a bloody sausage until 1930. Now 37 years is what I call a proper drought. You young ingrates don’t know you’re born.
Hello Irish. Where have you been? We’ve all missed your flair, humour and general naughtiness.
Darn it. She’s gone again.
Ok, I haven’t got a clue whats going on with the Internationals. I know that England are playing next Tuesday but aren’t the under 21’s playing too? When?
Bit rubbish for siteowner I know but I’ve been busy this week 😦
Has anyone got an offering for tomorrow?
Red Arse – “I feel like I am personally addressing friends, and the occasional civilised visitor like John, as if we are in a pub.”
Me too Red. Very well put….
Never fear that you are not entertaining us all, even if its only in the ‘morning catch up’ the following day
Night all.
Watching the Chelsea Arsenal there’s one thing that I took out of it and that is…no balance, especially in the midfield. I think all Arsenal’s problems stem not from the goalkeeper or the defenders but lack of balance in the midfield. I think if Arsenal had a Gilberto Silva or a Patrick Vieira in the side we would have probably not conceded the first goal.
“I don’t see why Wenger is expected to take the blame for Koscielny or Chamakh’s misses, the fact that these opportunities were created surely only goes to prove that Wenger’s tactics were working”.
He absolutely should take he blame for their misses. He bought them!
The fact is that Chamakh is not a goal scorer. He doesn’t have a goal scorer’s instinct and quite often when the ball is crossed into the box he is not there to take the chance so Arsenal are playing without a striker. He holds the ball up effectively and allows the midfield to get forward in support but in the big games like Chelsea you don’t get many goal-scoring chances so you have to take the few that you do get.
Arsenal’s problem have been the same for the last few years. They create many chances but I would hazard a guess that their conversion rate of chances to goals scored is one the lowest in the league because they do not have a natural goal-scorer. RVP is a great player, when fit, but he is a second striker, a classic number 10!
The other problem that Wenger has not addressed is the defensive midfield position. Alex Song is not the answer! Yes, he has improved beyond recognition but he still a very average player. He positional sense, his ability to anticipate danger and his recovery speed is poor and therefore the CBs are often left exposed.
I am so frustrated that Wenger has repeatedly failed to address these problems. Add a prolific striker, a quality DM and a top class goalkeeper to the current squad and Arsenal would dominate the Premiership and Europe but he won’t!
New post…….
As long as AW is always blaming others and not being able to see that the BIGGEST MISTAKE is “he himself” especially in his defensive tactic whenever the opponent is doing their swift counter-attack. The last big clash against Chelsea has shown just how many times Arsenal was PANIC & FRAGILE in their defence.
Is there any simulation practised in Arsenal’s training ground to cope with such dangerous counter-attack? Do hope the answer is a big “YES”.
[…] Wenger’s Tactics Were Spot On […]
Hi to every , because I am truly keen of reading
this web site’s post to be updated daily. It includes nice stuff.