Match Reaction vs Chelsea (neutral)

[Fist of Lehmann]

Or gouging Vilanova in the eye

From behind. And then he turns his back and runs.

So both brave and classy.

[AFC Leveller]

If any of these journos had a pair, they'd ask him "but Jose, why did you gouge a cancer patient in the eye? that must be something you regret?" i bet you he wont know what to say, the prick.

[Dein-machine]

We've just devoted 4 pages on slagging off "The chosen one" - he would love it. Don't give a fuck about the handshake & what they think of each other - our manager has been embarrassing on many occasions & you have to ask yourselves why he tends to prefer the managers he regularly beats as opposed to Mourinho & Pullis.

Back to the thread - always good to beat the top teams, in any game. Defensively, we stood up well but we needed to after backing off at 1-0. This is where I think our problem lies this year. Trying to hold on to a lead seemed to rear its head so much last year. Can't remember a Wenger side being like that previously. We have to put games to bed, we were the better team up until the goal, so why if you go 1-0 up do we feel we need to be negative. Then to make matters worse, we have the unbelievable substitutions that also seemed to start last year. Taking off your most threatening players & replace with defensive minded ones. All this does is create more pressure in our goal mouth as the ball will keep coming back. Eventually, no matter how many defenders you have on the pitch something will drop for the opposition in the box.
Taking Theo, Ox & Ozi off when you are playing on the counter attack is beyond belief. Having to put Gibbs into CM to inject a bit of pace is ludicrous.
Its also clear that Wenger is unsure about who is our main striker next year. How can that be? How many of the other top teams in England or Europe start a season without a striker they know can do the business.
I'm afraid the joy was short lived for me, I see this year being the same as usual, the team doing as well as they can in spite of Wenger, not because of him.

[Letters]

I'm afraid the joy was short lived for me.

Sounds like it was non-existent.

[Power n Glory]

We've just devoted 4 pages on slagging off "The chosen one" - he would love it. Don't give a fuck about the handshake & what they think of each other - our manager has been embarrassing on many occasions & you have to ask yourselves why he tends to prefer the managers he regularly beats as opposed to Mourinho & Pullis.

Back to the thread - always good to beat the top teams, in any game. Defensively, we stood up well but we needed to after backing off at 1-0. This is where I think our problem lies this year. Trying to hold on to a lead seemed to rear its head so much last year. Can't remember a Wenger side being like that previously. We have to put games to bed, we were the better team up until the goal, so why if you go 1-0 up do we feel we need to be negative. Then to make matters worse, we have the unbelievable substitutions that also seemed to start last year. Taking off your most threatening players & replace with defensive minded ones. All this does is create more pressure in our goal mouth as the ball will keep coming back. Eventually, no matter how many defenders you have on the pitch something will drop for the opposition in the box.
Taking Theo, Ox & Ozi off when you are playing on the counter attack is beyond belief. Having to put Gibbs into CM to inject a bit of pace is ludicrous.
Its also clear that Wenger is unsure about who is our main striker next year. How can that be? How many of the other top teams in England or Europe start a season without a striker they know can do the business.
I'm afraid the joy was short lived for me, I see this year being the same as usual, the team doing as well as they can in spite of Wenger, not because of him.

Still haven't seen the game but I'm hoping we're smarter with our sub choices this year.

[Dein-machine]

Sounds like it was non-existent.

Not far off to be fair - Just don't see things changing for the better under Wenger. Last year tells us that beating the title winners in the Charity Shield doesn't mean anything in relation to the league. The last 2 games of last season gave me a bit of hope, thinking that Wenger had finally realised that attacking teams, going for the 2nd. 3rd & 4th goals to kill teams off will result in more points than sitting back & defending. Our play on Sunday just looks like we'll be setting up to defend leads again - we're not good enough defensively to do this.

[Letters]

They already have changed for the better.
We've won 2 trophies in 2 years, signed several world class players.
We need to challenge properly for the league this year, IMO we're good enough to now.

[GP]

The positives FAR outweigh the negatives right now. Like it seriously isn't even close.
We're spending on the right players, the results are good, silverware in the cabinet.

There are no obvious weaknesses in the first team. It would take a genuine worldie to really improve us right now. Looking forward to this season.

[Dein-machine]

The positives FAR outweigh the negatives right now. Like it seriously isn't even close.
We're spending on the right players, the results are good, silverware in the cabinet.

There are no obvious weaknesses in the first team. It would take a genuine worldie to really improve us right now. Looking forward to this season.

Maybe no obvious weaknesses to you but the rest of the football world are aware that we need a proven goal-scorer - one of the most important positions on the pitch & our manager doesn't know who to play there. Personally, I regard that as a weakness.

[GP]

Maybe no obvious weaknesses to you but the rest of the football world are aware that we need a proven goal-scorer - one of the most important positions on the pitch & our manager doesn't know who to play there. Personally, I regard that as a weakness.

Yeah but you're an idiot.