Originally Posted by
Blink 1nce Quince 2wice
When I saw that chance in real time, Chamakh against us sprung to mind immediately. Had it been Chamakh himself we would all be laughing and stating that he bottled yet another chance in all likelihood. I was only aware of the virus after the game and I can only surmise that Ozil was feeling the effects and probably should not have been playing at all. As perhaps one or two others possibly shouldn't.
The flight of the ball was certainly not so tricky that a player who is regularly called a top 10 player in the world could not have accurately judged it. He didn't even poke his head out.
I think that it is not only reasonable but pertinent to factor in the effect of a sudden epidemic throughout a squad when looking at it in the light of a game where the margins between success and failure are thin. The higher the quality of the players and teams the more reasonable it is to expect games to be settled on very little. Despite not being at our best we could have easily got a point.
I also think the issue underlying a lot of the debate here is the fact that despite the impressive wins, we've beaten Dortmund before (albeit at home) and we generally have good records against Spurs and Liverpool who we beat also. Chelsea and United however have far too regularly got one/many over on us and so it leaves us with that somewhat convoluted feeling of 'nothing has changed'. Of course things have actually changed, but it would be nice to rubber stamp that by really sticking it to one of the teams we have now traditionally made hard work of. For some that will only come after we win a game that we typically lose.
I find it difficult to get too worked up about Bendtner's comments because I kind of had the feeling that his personal focus was always about ensuring he gets the best move out of here for himself. That is his best shot of finding a team who will be willing to pay him anything like what he is on now after all. I don't really have a whole lot of ill will left to spare but I am left with the lingering annoyance that having known what a tit he is, Wenger still allowed us to enter the season relying on a player who publicly vowed never to play for us again. At best it is a laughable situation and at worse it is negligent. Moreover we spent the saying hours trying to sign a player from a club who a) have absolutely no need for our money (and relatively little of it at that) and b) Would like nothing more than to see us fail.
I appreciate that we have Walcott, Podolski and Sanogo but what bothers me is the fact that they are options at CF the manager doesn't really trust. You get the feeling that they are options that follow as a result of our hand being 'forced' rather than actually 'opted' for. Not like making a choice between Chamberlain and Wilshere in midfield with both offering slightly different qualities which may be more or less suited to certain opponents. Or like choosing between Arteta and Flamini....
I won't give Wenger too much stick for it because we haven't been made to pay for our lack of options too severely yet, but I really hope this is an urgent matter to him which will be addressed as soon as he can do so. Even if it means moving one or two of his summer plans (assuming he has them) forward to January.
