What The Hell Is Going On?!

[Letters]

There's a lot of nonsense on here about what is going wrong.
I thought I'd deal with some of the main theories and give my thoughts on them. Other thoughts and theories welcome.


1) Wenger doesn't care about winning.
This is obviously balls. Obviously he cares. He's won enough trophies in his time, why wouldn't he want to win more? You can see the way he acts so stroppy when things aren't going well that it hurts him. I saw an interview with Dein where he said that they still have dinner after home games unless we lose in which case they don't because Wenger is no company when we've lost. Whether he's able to do anything about it is a different matter, but it's not indifference.


2) The players don't care about winning.
Again, I'm struggling to believe this. Why wouldn't they? They must be very competitive people, they've got to the top of their profession. Just last season they won the Cup, that must feel good. Why wouldn't they want more of that? It's there for the taking this season, why stroll around cruising into 4th place when you could be champions? Yes, you don't get paid any more (well, maybe a bit more) but why wouldn't you want that?


3) The board don't care about winning.
Well, this is true but I don't see how that affects our results.


4) Wenger is a poor tactician/he doesn't prepare them for games.
There is more plausibility to this one but what special tactics and preparation do you need to beat Swansea?! And these faults - and I do agree they are faults of his - have always been there, they didn't stop us winning the Cup the last 2 years and last year we were "calendar year champions". A meaningless thing BUT it does demonstrate a long, consistent run of form which were it sustained over a season would see us be champions. It isn't "a few good games" as some have said.


5) Injuries always kill us.
Well, they do, and that is something which needs sorting out. But most of our players are back from injury now and our run of poor form continues despite that. Carzola is out but I don't buy he's our only key player, Ozil and Sanchez are world class, we are surely good enough to beat a team like Swansea without Carzola.


6) We don't have enough up front.
Well this one is clearly true but we should have plenty of goals elsewhere in this team. It's a factor but not the only one.


7) We always bottle it.
I don't really buy this. It may be a factor but it's not as big a problem, IMO, as some make out. Last year we won the Cup, winning at Old Trafford on the way - and that wasn't a fluke, we were good that night, we stood up. We were fantastic in the Cup Final, yes we should be beating Villa but it wasn't a nervous win, we hammered them from the start. This season we've beaten Utd and City at home, both good performances and wins in games where had we lost they'd have leapfrogged us. There was nothing particularly high pressure about last night that hasn't been so on other occasions this season when we have won and won well.


8) We lack a strong captain.
IMO this is possibly the biggest factor. We haven't had a strong captain since Vieira. Who is out there when things start going against us getting us going again? Adams or Vieira wouldn't have ALLOWED a performance like last night, certainly not as often as we're seeing it right now. It was a clear foul for their equalizer but these things will happen. REACT! FFS, REACT! You have 60 minutes to sort it out and instead of reacting and blowing them away in the 2nd half we just limp along, concede again and lose. Pathetic.




There just seems to be a general, collective malaise and loss of form right now. Ultimately the buck stops at Wenger (although I don't absolve the players from blame, we had enough out there to beat Swansea last night), but I don't buy that we 'bottled' it or either Wenger or the players or both aren't bothered.

[The Emirates Gallactico]

Mainly 4 and 7 but also some of 8, 5 and 6.

Ultimately it's all down to one man, Wenger. He's clearly isn't capable of winning a title anymore.

[Letters]

Ultimately it's all down to one man, Wenger. He's clearly isn't capable of winning a title anymore.

Agree, but what is going on now which wasn't going on for most of 2015 when we were generally in form which could win us a title?
As I said I don't buy it's just 'bottling' it, we've handled plenty of high pressure games in the last couple of years.
IMO '8' is the biggest issue, or rather fixing it would provide the most benefit.

[GP]

We're shit and it's not going to get better without a drastic change.

[Letters]

We're shit and it's not going to get better without a drastic change.

Right now, we look that way. But this is the same side who throughout 2015 looked like a side who could win the title, and did win the FA Cup.
Why are we suddenly looking so poor? Some of the above are factors, there may be others.

[Niall_Quinn]

You said it yourself - a team like Swansea, just Swansea, etc. The manager and the players have a massive attitude problem. They don't have enough respect to prepare and be fully engaged for what they consider inferior opposition. It's an arrogance that started with a bunch of winners but was then transferred through to a cheapskate, weakling version of the squad in Wenger's later and disastrous years.

And it really, really does matter that the owners and board don't give a fuck. That sets the tone for the whole club. It determines what sort of pressure will or won't be placed on the manager and what sort of pressure he will then exert on the team. No pressure? No problem, but no titles either. Swansea may be a smaller club but football is about narrow margins. Let your game slip by a fraction and you'll get turned over. Skimp in the key areas, the spine of the team, and you'll pay for it when those narrow margins are being called.

Arsenal, the organisation, is about bare minimum, mediocre, it'll do, why do more, that's enough, we can get by on that. Maximum profit, minimum expense wile maintaining acceptable service. A perfect model provided you have a monopoly. Which they do.

This mentality infects everything. Any team can screw up, lose a title when they should have won it, get knocked out of a cup by a minnow, have an off-day and get hammered. But the repetition over such a long period at this club shows us something else. An attitude that stinks to high heaven.

That's the problem. We aren't winners and we'll never be winners until we refocus our priorities and use every last resource we have and apply 100% effort to claim more of those narrow margins than we lose.

[LDG]

There's a lot of nonsense on here about what is going wrong.
I thought I'd deal with some of the main theories and give my thoughts on them. Other thoughts and theories welcome.


1) Wenger doesn't care about winning.
This is obviously balls. Obviously he cares. He's won enough trophies in his time, why wouldn't he want to win more? You can see the way he acts so stroppy when things aren't going well that it hurts him. I saw an interview with Dein where he said that they still have dinner after home games unless we lose in which case they don't because Wenger is no company when we've lost. Whether he's able to do anything about it is a different matter, but it's not indifference.


2) The players don't care about winning.
Again, I'm struggling to believe this. Why wouldn't they? They must be very competitive people, they've got to the top of their profession. Just last season they won the Cup, that must feel good. Why wouldn't they want more of that? It's there for the taking this season, why stroll around cruising into 4th place when you could be champions? Yes, you don't get paid any more (well, maybe a bit more) but why wouldn't you want that?


3) The board don't care about winning.
Well, this is true but I don't see how that affects our results.


4) Wenger is a poor tactician/he doesn't prepare them for games.
There is more plausibility to this one but what special tactics and preparation do you need to beat Swansea?! And these faults - and I do agree they are faults of his - have always been there, they didn't stop us winning the Cup the last 2 years and last year we were "calendar year champions". A meaningless thing BUT it does demonstrate a long, consistent run of form which were it sustained over a season would see us be champions. It isn't "a few good games" as some have said.


5) Injuries always kill us.
Well, they do, and that is something which needs sorting out. But most of our players are back from injury now and our run of poor form continues despite that. Carzola is out but I don't buy he's our only key player, Ozil and Sanchez are world class, we are surely good enough to beat a team like Swansea without Carzola.


6) We don't have enough up front.
Well this one is clearly true but we should have plenty of goals elsewhere in this team. It's a factor but not the only one.


7) We always bottle it.
I don't really buy this. It may be a factor but it's not as big a problem, IMO, as some make out. Last year we won the Cup, winning at Old Trafford on the way - and that wasn't a fluke, we were good that night, we stood up. We were fantastic in the Cup Final, yes we should be beating Villa but it wasn't a nervous win, we hammered them from the start. This season we've beaten Utd and City at home, both good performances and wins in games where had we lost they'd have leapfrogged us. There was nothing particularly high pressure about last night that hasn't been so on other occasions this season when we have won and won well.


8) We lack a strong captain.
IMO this is possibly the biggest factor. We haven't had a strong captain since Vieira. Who is out there when things start going against us getting us going again? Adams or Vieira wouldn't have ALLOWED a performance like last night, certainly not as often as we're seeing it right now. It was a clear foul for their equalizer but these things will happen. REACT! FFS, REACT! You have 60 minutes to sort it out and instead of reacting and blowing them away in the 2nd half we just limp along, concede again and lose. Pathetic.




There just seems to be a general, collective malaise and loss of form right now. Ultimately the buck stops at Wenger (although I don't absolve the players from blame, we had enough out there to beat Swansea last night), but I don't buy that we 'bottled' it or either Wenger or the players or both aren't bothered.

In response:

1) Of course he cares about winning. He's just to stubborn to accept what he's doing is wrong, to proud to listen to anybody with half a footballing brain, too willing to help the owners with their own agenda (his good intentions of doing it the "right" way fit snuggly with people who want to make money)

2) I think they care, (some of them at least). But having a cushy paycheck does soften the blow...especially when they're not all as emotionally invested in the club as us fans.

3) Stupid point. We know the score here.

4) Bang on he's a bad tactician. He always has, and always will rely on his group of players to find the solutions for him, based on a passing game, where if someone is in a better position than you, you pass to them. That's it! Wenger's philosophy....he can't change a game (unless by luck)....his substitutions are awful, his motivation is clearly lacking. Our run of form last year was based mostly on him stumbling on the Coquelin thing....this was not his idea...it was the only option left to him. Coq was about to be sold, one would assume.

5) Injuries have been our scourge for years now. We've had all kinds of medical experts in looking at it. It's not bad luck. It's the game we play, and the way we train. Absolutely certain of it.

6) We should have goals in the team....but you need balance in a team in order to create them....and we're only creating for players out of form. It's all about tactics. If we can't pass it into the net, just fucking rain shots on goal from everywhere, whenever we're in position to do so...outside the box etc. Yeah, you'll blast a load over, but fuck it, some will start going in....which is when defences start moving to block you, creating space. If you do the predictable, it's fucking easy for the other team.

How can you utilise players best abilities if you set up to play a game that doesn't suit them?? We played a slow passing game against Utd with players that are based on speed and balls over the top.

Tactics, tactics, tactics.

7) not always about bottle....it has been in the past. I think this is down to really poor preparation for games, really poor tactics. A Manager who can't change things when we need to. A manager who (judging by his passive touchline personality) doesn't demand the players up the pace etc. Just a few simple guidelines from the bench...a bit of help, would go a long way, rather than letting the players try and work it out for themselves.

8) see 7) Do any other teams have that? We've got plenty of motivators. Cech, Merts, Flamini (even if he's shite). This is all about being a team. And we're not a team at the moment, through poor management. They don't know what to do. They're looking for guidance....and it's quite clear Wenger doesn't know what to do either....this strong captain thing is bullshit. They help, but it's not a big factor.


This all started in the league cup game vs Sheff Weds. Wenger didn't know what team to pick, whether to dump it, or try and stay in the cup. Consequently, he fucked it right up, lost the team it's momentum. We got two major injuries, and got dumped out of the cup.

The football thing. All Wenger. You get bad player performances, and some are clearly not up to it.

All Wenger.

[GP]

It is all Wenger.

I fully believe that money was witheld from him, still is to a certain extent. But that excuse doesn't fly any more. Look at the squad we have.

It's all about maximising what we have and he doesn't have a clue how to do it.

[Marc Overmars]

No tactics and no bottle.

I don't know how Wenger has managed to coach this group of players into such a collective mess. It's scary how much imagination we lack, the players have been conditioned to always look for that final ball. As a result we have forwards who pass when presented with opportunities to shoot and midfielders (Ozil excluded) that couldn't spot a pass if it whacked them in the face. No audacity, nothing off the cuff just the same old predictable, robotic nonsense.

Our best runs of form always come when we're nowhere near the title race and our worst runs come when we're in involved in it. That's not a coincidence, it's happened far too many times now. It's all well and good winning some high pressure games throughout the season but what good does that do when you end up losing the next week anyway? Anyone can win on their day but not everyone can see it through, that's where we lack bottle. Though I should say I think poor coaching is the main reason we've cocked it up this year, rather than the lack of bottle.

[Letters]

It is all Wenger.

I fully believe that money was witheld from him, still is to a certain extent. But that excuse doesn't fly any more. Look at the squad we have.

It's all about maximising what we have and he doesn't have a clue how to do it.

The thing is...what has suddenly changed? I had a look and in the calendar year 2015 we got 81 points over 38 games. Not good enough to win us the title in any of the last few years but probably good enough this year. Why is a squad of players who for much of last year looked like a side that could challenge suddenly looking so mid-table? Sanchez and Ozil are suddenly not firing, Giroud can't score for love nor money and no-one else is chipping in (and with the players we have, they should be).
All teams go through good and bad patches, that is the nature of football. It seems to me that when it happens to us we have no ability to claw our way out of it, or not quickly enough. Wenger can't lift us and we don't have a strong captain to either. It does all come back to Wenger but it's bloody frustrating when we have these long, good runs where we look like the real deal.