Were there more signs of Arsenal's on-field decline on Tuesday?

[IBK]

@ the OP. I agree with your sentiment. I think the article you have quoted is spot on.

This from ANR today is also on the money.

Myles,

With the blogosphere still alight with comments on what Wenger should do with the current team's frailties, I think most fans are still of the misguided opinion that new star names will change the team.

That's not going to happen, because that's not really the problem.

I've been watching Carzola lately and he's getting that funny bug players get when they come to Arsenal, like a disease that afflicts a previously brilliant player (ala Arshavin, Rosicky et al) and slowly makes him insipid, indecisive and hopeless. He's also probably starting to tire because of the sheer number of games he has to play especially coming from a league that's less physical.

The group of people you work and play with can either bring you down or lift you up (Maybe explaining why RVP might have a blinder of a season).

Many good players come in to Arsenal and play really well for a season…or 2 if they are tough, but then the general culture of the club gobbles you up and makes you slow and uncompetitive. Something changes in your psyche as a player. It wasn't always like this, but now, now its gotten endemic.

At this stage it doesn't really matter who comes in.

Something bigger needs to change, the mentality needs to change, the spirit of play and the spirit of the team used to be slightly fragile even before during the invincible days, but now its getting dangerously close to being apathetic.

The players are mostly accomplished, talented..well most of them are and with a great change in attitude we'd all see it. Place this same team in the hands of Jose or Fergie and tell me we'd be seeing such abject displays week in - of course not. The problem is in the mind, the lack of purpose and belief is the real problem..so buying star players isn't really going to solve this little problem we have.

I sometimes look at Wenger and feel a mixture of admiration, pity and rage.

In so many ways he's brilliant, but he's not really one to observe and adapt to things. He's an innovator, he makes new things, forges new paths - but in the modern world, your innovations are only going to last as long as the next adaptation and reactions to them. Wenger at the moment is cannibalizing himself, tarnishing his legacy at Arsenal every season and not even seeing it.

Maybe he is a modern day Sisyphus.

In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was a king punished by being compelled to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, and to repeat this action forever.

This article raises a good point - the way Wenger's methods - while they work well with some players (generally the ones we flog every season) - seem to take away all spontenaity and individualism from others.

I agree wholeheartedly that the malaise with this team will not be solved by bringing in players - particularly the calibre of players that we tend to buy. And this is why I don't see what the club sees - which is some magical transformation of fortunes come FFP. I would love to see what a talented manager could do with the same group of players that AW has. My suspicion is that they would do better.

[jelgoon]

According to Jack Wilshere on the Arsenal website `we’re getting better all the time'. I know he's young but surely he's not that stupid/blind. Or does Wenger hypnotise them after each game.

[IBK]

Wishful thinking. I have no doubt that 'loyal' players believe. I have little doubt that the manager believes. The question is - where is the evidence? We all know that this team is capable of playing well on occasion. We all know that our players have the talent to play well. But for me it is equally apparent that this, like all of Wenger's teams (even as the article write points out - the Invincibles) is a mentally fragile team ill-suited to playing the brand of technical, confidence football that the manager is obsessed with.

I suspect that we look outstanding on the training pitch - after all the squad will play against itself - players playing the same type of tippy tap football. But we have had example after example of our team failing to bring training ground form into real matches. There is absolutely nothing to suggest that this team won't flatter to deceive at best - like so many others before it.

[GP]

lol, what else do you expect him to say to the official site?

[Boss]

It was only his third appearance for us after all, in an entirely new team.

It takes longer than three games to build a partnership.

[IBK]

It was only his third appearance for us after all, in an entirely new team.

It takes longer than three games to build a partnership.

Your point being?

[jelgoon]

Good post. Agree with you. I think a lot of our problems are in the mind. The way Wenger speaks in the media is just not the way that Ferguson or Mourinhou would ever speak. Wenger talks about the players lacking confidence so often now.

Wishful thinking. I have no doubt that 'loyal' players believe. I have little doubt that the manager believes. The question is - where is the evidence? We all know that this team is capable of playing well on occasion. We all know that our players have the talent to play well. But for me it is equally apparent that this, like all of Wenger's teams (even as the article write points out - the Invincibles) is a mentally fragile team ill-suited to playing the brand of technical, confidence football that the manager is obsessed with.

I suspect that we look outstanding on the training pitch - after all the squad will play against itself - players playing the same type of tippy tap football. But we have had example after example of our team failing to bring training ground form into real matches. There is absolutely nothing to suggest that this team won't flatter to deceive at best - like so many others before it.

[jelgoon]

Well not that. Maybe `we're shit but hope to get better'.

lol, what else do you expect him to say to the official site?

[GP]

Well not that. Maybe `we're shit but hope to get better'.

That's quite naive.

[Olivier's xmas twist]

Shit your right, the coaching is somehow making these players slip over.