Match Reaction vs Blackburn Rovers!

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

People complain about Wenger's lack of spending, i'd say he spends plenty, what people don't seem to realise is that transfer fees mean very little the real money is spent on wages so when the board say Arsene has 30-40million to spend per season they mean it and it is spent. If you look at what is spent on wages on the players who are out on loan (Santos, Denilson, Chamakh, Park, Bendtner) and the players who are just sitting around not getting games (Arshavin, Squillaci, Rosicky) and players that do get games but are clearly not good enough (Arteta, Ramsey, Gervinho, Mertesacker) over a four year period the amount would be staggering and it's money that's been hemorrhaged by the club needlessly.

[Power n Glory]

Is another debate about finances really necessary? We've been kicked out of another cup by a Championship division team again. Enough is enough now. Are we saying we need an extra £100 in wages and signings to beat these teams?

[Ernesto]

Whilst it's true the board are responsible for allowing this acceptance of underachievement, it's difficult to look beyond the manager when the team struggle in even the most straight-forward looking fixtures.

Any new manager is going to be a gamble but I can't see how Wenger being in charge is giving us the best chance of success anymore. The team have ability which they display sporadically but half of the time they look horrifically stale, like a shell of the team they could potentially be. You have to ask why the manager rarely seems to get a response from his players, what is he constantly failing to convey to them?

I struggle to think of the last time we started a game like a house on fire, grabbing a quick goal in the first 5 minutes and setting the tone for the rest of the game. The fact is, if we'd played like we did in the last 15 minutes yesterday in the FIRST 15 minutes, we'd have done em. Either through tiredness or individual errors, Blackburn would have let us in to score a goal.

But, no. It was stupid and selfish on the part of Wenger to 1) play a weakened team and, 2) to not give the team he played a proper team-talk (because that is inevitably where the problem is in so many of our games)

In Wenger's 16/17 odd-years at the club, he only ever went out once to a lower league club in cup competition (Burnley in the Carling Cup a few years back, when they were on the cusp of gaining promotion to the Premiership anyway). Within one season, it's happened twice. Add to that a home defeat in the Champions League to an overseas team who, as we showed in the reverse fixture, we could've dealt with quite easily at the Emirates. It's a downward spiral.

The only way the fans can get back at the manager, the board, the players, is to forget the game on Tuesday. Win, lose or draw, the Emirates remains empty and the VERY competition the board and the manager seem to pride themselves on is, in effect, belittled by the fans. It's an ideal scenario, but perhaps unrealistic.

[hobson's choice]

the thing I miss most about Arsenal these past few seasons, is the entertainment.

For a long time, when people tuned in to watch Arsenal, they were expecting to be entertained, and they were. Even in the 06/07 seasons, which before the last two seasons, was our most dire in the Wenger years. The football was good, lots of chances(couldn't score), players that gave it all, and always stepped up against the boys.

I just get bored as fuck watching Arsenal of the past couple of years play. It's horrid at times.

It's such a shame, a team that played such glorious football, is now essentially putting it's own fans to sleep.

[Injury Time]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21485114
cocksucker "response on Tuesday" "don't know how we lost to one shot"

[Marc Overmars]

If we win the CL it would be an even bigger fluke/miracle than Chelsea.

[Niall_Quinn]

If we win the CL it would be an even bigger fluke/miracle than Chelsea.

The chavs won it with their defence and organisation. We have neither. We have absolutely zero chance of winning the CL. The mere suggestion is us moving from having a genuine chance of winning a domestic cup to clutching at the very last straw. It's a disgrace the way we threw those cups away. People are saying we had enough on the pitch to have won the game. i don't think so. I think players like Diaby and Gervinho are piss poor, we always need our best players on the pitch to compete. Long gone are the days when we had quality in depth.

Also, that **** Kroenke is getting off very lightly. And the bastard shareholders who cut and run. Very true, they don't set the on-field tactics, they don't pick the team. But they sure as fuck gut the team every transfer window. Fuck them.

[Power n Glory]

The chavs won it with their defence and organisation. We have neither. We have absolutely zero chance of winning the CL. The mere suggestion is us moving from having a genuine chance of winning a domestic cup to clutching at the very last straw. It's a disgrace the way we threw those cups away. People are saying we had enough on the pitch to have won the game. i don't think so. I think players like Diaby and Gervinho are piss poor, we always need our best players on the pitch to compete. Long gone are the days when we had quality in depth.

Also, that **** Kroenke is getting off very lightly. And the bastard shareholders who cut and run. Very true, they don't set the on-field tactics, they don't pick the team. But they sure as fuck gut the team every transfer window. Fuck them.

We used to destroy these teams with our reserve kids back in the day so what the heck has happened? Are Diaby and Gervinho worse than Denilson and Vela? We never used to need a full strength squad and shouldn't take that either because the players out on the field should be better than Blackburn and any Championship team for that matter.

[Injury Time]

We used to destroy these teams with our reserve kids back in the day so what the heck has happened? Are Diaby and Gervinho worse than Denilson and Vela? We never used to need a full strength squad and shouldn't take that either because the players out on the field should be better than Blackburn and any Championship team for that matter.

They were on with something to prove (gain a place in a title challenging team) and the belief that they could win; now there is no real competition for places (if Aw doesnt rate you you go on loan or sit on your ass getting paid the same so why bother) and the belief that we can we win is long gone.

[selassie]

I couldn't bring myself to come on here yesterday after the aftermath of the defeat. The sad thing is I wasn't even that surprised we lost yesterday, a couple of years ago a defeat at home to a mid table Championship side would have been unthinkable...not anymore unfortunately.

I've not seen the highlights of the game, have not bought a newspaper and don't really care to listen to Arsene's post match press conference.

For me this season couldn't end soon enough, I don't believe in this team to finish in the top 4, don't believe in this team to go any further in CL and most crucially don't believe in our Manager, I haven't believed in Arsene for around 3 seasons now...things are just getting worse IMHO.

If we want to bring finances into this debate, I wouldn't trust Arsene with money even if the board were to give him significant funds, Arsene absolutely has to go, no more excuses.

That's pretty much all I've got to say on the current situation, I really do not see any progress, not under the current regime. Something has to give.....