Match Reaction vs Chelsea (away).

[Alpha]

An honest man knows that one instance of Wenger not doing something crazy with the team selection, positions and tactics doesn't mean a corner has been turned. I don't think Wenger had anything to do with the defensive performance today, it was far too organised and we weren't leaving those huge gaps. The idea Wenger has changed and spent the week drilling the defence is far fetched. Perhaps he has finally relinquished his grip and let his coaches do some coaching. I hope so. It was also strange seeing the midfield play in a disciplined manner. Again, most un-Wenger like. And the passing was crisp and generally aimed towards the opposition half of the pitch. Hardly a Wenger hallmark.

I wonder if he had any part in today's performance. I'm not prepared to give him an ounce of credit until we see sane performances on a more regular basis. He's had far too many fuck-ups to be getting a pat on the back after a solid, if uninspiring, 0-0 against a top 4 opponent. We should be expecting, as a starting point, we can go to places like that and at least compete and it's embarrassing to be coming away from the match relieved we didn't get a pasting. There's no cause to celebrate avoiding humiliation.

I'm trying to find a right word to put here . Either you are being bias or just unfair. If Wenger always get sticks when things go wrong why can't he get an '' undeserved '' praise when he got it right ?
It wasn't an easy game away from home ground. Some even claimed Chelsea were there for the taking . Do they forget they are the reigning champions? Do they mistake them with Crystal Palace or Brighton ? We should have won it if we had taken our chances but a draw at Stamford bridge is not a bad result at all in my opinion.

[Niall_Quinn]

I'm trying to find a right word to put here . Either you are being bias or just unfair. If Wenger always get sticks when things go wrong why can't he get an '' undeserved '' praise when he got it right ?
It wasn't an easy game away from home ground. Some even claimed Chelsea were there for the taking . Do they forget they are the reigning champions? Do they mistake them with Crystal Palace or Brighton ? We should have won it if we had taken our chances but a draw at Stamford bridge is not a bad result at all in my opinion.

Wenger's getting stick from me all season long no matter what he does. He can be revealed as the son of God for all I care. His decision to stay was unforgivable. Call that biased if you want but Wenger made enemies for life when he placed his own interests over that of the club and went whining to Stan for a new contract.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Couldn't believe he started Iwobi to be honest and that's despite liking Iwobi. Suppose he knew Iwobi could and would slip into the middle to support when necessary.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Gotta love Souness...saying Luiz' tackle was a red card + and rightly pointing out WTF was Conte waving an imaginary card for in the same incident!??

LOL

[Alpha]

Wenger's getting stick from me all season long no matter what he does. He can be revealed as the son of God for all I care. His decision to stay was unforgivable. Call that biased if you want but Wenger made enemies for life when he placed his own interests over that of the club and went whining to Stan for a new contract.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion but it is sometimes dangerous when we are too emotional when analyzing. We lose common sense and become blind to some relevant facts .
wishing you a good Sunday.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I think NQ does have a point. Should we really be giving the manager credit for doing what is the bare minimum required of a manager to put a side out with a game plan and discipline.

Game plan and discipline aside if it had been a Diego Costa put through by Fabregas and not Pedro we would be talking about another predictable defeat.

This is very similar to the draw we got at Old Trafford two years ago to stop the rot of five straight defeats

It's nice but it means very little. Still haven't won away to one of our top six rival in the last fourteen attempts

Spurs 2-1 Arsenal
Man United 1-1 Arsenal
Chelsea 2-0 Arsenal
Liverpool 3-3 Arsenal
Man United 3-2 Arsenal
Spurs 2-2 Arsenal
City 2-2 Arsenal
Man United 1-1 Arsenal
City 2-1 Arsenal
Chelsea 3-1 Arsenal
Liverpool 3-1 Arsenal
Spurs 2-0 Arsenal
Liverpool 4-0 Arsenal
Chelsea 0-0 Arsenal

[Marc Overmars]

Wenger ran out of credit a long time ago, to simply not get hammered and put up a fight is no reason at all to make a point of giving out praise, we're not Brighton or Huddersfield. We should be standing up to Chelsea and others every time we visit their places. Yes people are quick to bash Wenger and sometimes unfairly but that's because he's got it wrong a lot more times than he has right in recent memory.

Performances like this away at rivals are often outliers that gain mythical status (0-2 vs City anyone?), so I'm very reluctant to think of this as anything other than a one off. Besides, we didn't even win this one and remain without an away goal. All we can do is hope that our poor little lambs have built up their fragile confidence again to go on a run until the next acid tests come.

[Power n Glory]

There is always one token game where the players turn up and defend as a unit but we never see the same sort of performance after that. This could have been that game.

[Power n Glory]

Agree 100% on Ozil. He is your guy if you're playing Bournemouth, Stoke, West Brom etc at home where he doesnt need to chase and harry but in the big away games, i dont think he should start. I think we should always have 2 DCMs + Ramsay and two wide attackers. This gives us a nice ballance.

I could live with Ozil's lack of defending if he made up for it with his attacking play. He doesn't.

It's not all on Ozil though. We need that same sort of effort and discipline from Ramsey and Xhaka for every game. If Iwobi keeps starting games, he has to defend and track back like we saw yesterday. Last season we wouldn't even bother to track back and a serious weak link down the left. Hopefully, he's learned his lesson.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I think last season we struggled massively with teams that pressed us on the ball

Liverpool, Spurs, City at the Etihad, PSG

Ramsey and Xhaka no matter how disciplined they play cannot deal with the high press.