Where did it go wrong?

[fakeyank]

It went wrong in 2010.. thats when we should have fired that dinosaur.

[Power n Glory]

Sorry, but I don't think that any of that matters. Had we won all eight of those matches 4-0, we would have just lost and gone through the motions in a different 8 games instead and there'd be a different list. We have our 20-25 games to play well in, to ensure 4th. That leaves 15 odd where you don't need to give a toss.

It also never ceases to surprise me that us signing quality players makes any difference at all. Had we signed a world class centre back, midfielder and striker in September, two things would have happened.

a) They have all been out injured for four months.

b) They'd have been conditioned to aim for fourth place, nothing more, nothing less.

It was destined to end up like this. It always does.

[Letters]

Manchester United (away) - 28th February 2016

Pundits believed that due to a catalogue of injuries for United plus their own indifferent form meant this was a likely win for us, it appeared that the players believed it as well and put none of the effort in required to secure that win. Defeats happen but they happen to Arsenal more often than not because the side can't be bothered to apply themselves.


Swansea (home) - 2nd March 2016

Typical Arsenal any poor performance has a knock on effect, totally inept performance and the point where we realised that the title had predictably evaded our grasp.

These two are where things really came to a head for me. Those before it, you're going to get bad results in any season but none had been catastrophic up to that point. The Leicester win put us 2 points off the top, we were over the worst of our difficult run, the late goal felt like a 'moment' and put us right back in contention for the title.
Then we go and lose to a Utd side ravaged by injuries and full of kids and then, worse, we lose at home to an awful Swansea team in a game we absolutely had to win after the Utd disappointment.
That's the moment when I snapped with Wenger. IMO with the trophies in the last 2 seasons he earned the right to have one last go at the title but he's completely cocked it up, and I don't agree with those saying he was done years ago, it's only in the last few years we've had the money to sign players like Ozil and Sanchez so I could accept a certain amount of treading water till then, but it's not good enough any more and it's clear he can no longer push us on.
I just hope he goes this summer - he won't, obviously, but if he did then I think he would still go out with some dignity and his legacy would be appreciated. I think it still will be in time, but the longer he goes on the more of it he tarnishes.

[Niall_Quinn]

This is what I mean about Wenger and momentum. That last gasp goal by Welbeck should have been the spark that ignited a genuine title push. Instead it was signal to start undoing all the good work. Happens all the time.

[Bumble]

Think the United away result was the turning point. To lose against a struggling side with more injury problems than we generally have was awful. It was our chance to show intent and that we mean business to win at the ground of the biggest club in the country.

instead we lost and it was terrible.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

People who want to defend the manager will claim this season as an outlier and say well for the most part it's money that brings titles. This season proves its possible to confound that belief.

Ultimately it's not about who is above us, it's about what points they are on relative to us. Leicester are champions currently ten points above us in third but they are ten points ahead of us on 77 points with only 22 wins and the maximum they are able to get is 83 points. Which would be the lowest total the league has been won by in five years.

So whatever you say about Leicester and credit to them, they have surpassed us with a very achievable points total.

We have once again lost seven games, just like the season before and the season before and the season before. In fact the last time we lost fewer than seven games in a league season was seven years ago (2008/2009 when we lost six). It merits saying that no side has won the title in the premier league era in a 38 game season with more than six defeats.

And then you look at where we are dropping points, we lost 4-0 at Southampton (a ground we have not won at since before they last got relegated from the premier league) who we also lost 2-0 to at St Mary's last season. We failed to beat them at home in the league either, and we struggled to break them down the season before only getting a 1-0 win in the final minutes of the game.
Then we have the 2-1 defeat to Swansea following on from losing 1-0 at home to them last season and in fact we haven't won a home league fixture against Swansea since September 2011.
We are doubled by the worst Chelsea side since Abramovich bought the club, extending our record of not being able to score against them since Walcott scored at Stamford Bridge back in January 2013.
Man United at Old Trafford? Since we last won there in the league in 2006 we have lost seven and drawn two
Making it just possible to conclude that we lose or drop points to the same sides again and again because we are so predictable....Stoke? We draw there this season but have only won there once in eight league encounters

Anfield? Fairly good record there comparatively but like last season we eek out a barely deserved lead but fail to hold onto it

Spurs? They have a competent manager so haven't beaten them in the last four league attempts, won once in seven at white hart lane, losing four and drawing three.

It's not just the way the season pans out that is predictable in many respects the individual fixtures are as well, there are just certain teams we can look at and say we probably will drop points in that fixture.

[Marc Overmars]

Do people even defend him anymore? I haven't heard a case for Wenger staying that isn't laced with sentiment for years. He's defended from the bile which is understandable but there's surely no case for him if you want to look at it purely from a football and results based perspective.

[LDG]

Do people even defend him anymore? I haven't heard a case for Wenger staying that isn't laced with sentiment for years. He's defended from the bile which is understandable but there's surely no case for him if you want to look at it purely from a football and results based perspective.

It's pretty impossible to defend someone who makes the same fuck ups time and time again.

Especially when it's fuckin obvious to most (amateurs and professionals alike) what the problems are.

[GP]

It's pretty impossible to defend someone who makes the same fuck ups time and time again.

Especially when it's fuckin obvious to most (amateurs and professionals alike) what the problems are.

Agreed.

Letters OUT!

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Do people even defend him anymore?

Yes, yes they do