Match Reaction v Man Utd

[Japan Shaking All Over]

got back from old trafford a few hours ago.

whatever you say about the players, whatever you say about the club, the one outstanding thing about the club is our fans. 3000 strong army went there and sang our hearts out. Even when we were 6-1 down, we sang 'we love you arsenal, we do' for 20 minutes straight. that is one thing you can never take away from the club. hopefully you could hear that on sky sports during the game.

now for on the pitch.

we have serious issues that cannot be addressed by simply buying players. we have underlying flaws and mentalities that cannot be changed through slight tweaks, instead we need an overhaul and a revolution, something like the type we saw when wenger took over. we wont get this, but its what we need.

jenkinson, for all his hard work, is not good enough. but who can blame him? hes trying his hardest but when you're physically not good enough and your body cant push as hard as needs be to perform, it isnt your fault. you dont see j.p morgan picking up a business analyst from marks and spencers and throwing them into the deep end without any formal training. im not knocking the lad cause he knows himself hes not good enough. he gasses out after 60 minutes and has no clue about positioning. anyone who saw dixons summary on motd2 saw that he needs a sol campbell, a tony adams or a keown by his side guiding him and nurturing him. we dont have any experienced players to do that.

ramseys playing like denilson when he can play like nasri.

coquellin's good technically but way too lightweight.

RVP's gone cold and seems to be low on confidence.

theo walcott looks like he's had enough of arsenal, his mannerism is turning somewhat into nasri's/fabregas'. hes getting frustrated with absolutely everything and you can see that on the pitch. he's frustrated and heart seems elsewhere. id put money on him leaving on a free next summer when his contract ends.

there's no point having the best young keeper in the world in wojciech when he has a pile of crap in front.

no width, no passion, no heart. man utd blend experience with youth and thats something we used to do under the invincibles, but now we hang our players out to dry. while united send out their youth to teams like sunderland and wigan so they can get experience and slot into their first team ready for the first team, we dont. instead we try to give them experience in our first team and this costs us games as they make mistakes. this was a big problem covered by dixon once again on motd2.

there are massive problems at the club, and if we dont sign anyone or sort them out, we will finish outside the top 6 this season. we were due an absolute battering and it happened. if wenger doesnt sort this out, the fans will have him out next summer. some of the away fans have already turned on him and it'll only get worse as the season progresses.

p.s. traore was the worst player on the pitch. lost the ball and jogged back casually ala denilson. get him OUT.

First you guys are awesome.......could hear you singing all the way in Tokyo.

I agree with you that Wenger is on his last legs and fuck knows why he let it get to this stage.
We knew Cesc was off and Nasri, well I think at first it was thought he would come around but when it was obvious he wouldnt we did nothing.

We needed to have the signing lined up, the replacements......we will go into the next couple of days hoping beyond hope that someone will sign for us but something just aint right.......

I cant help thinking that someone does not want to hand over the money to Wenger, that he has been given a an option to walk or kill himself on his own sword.......if this is the case we may not see any new signings before January and that he may not be around then either.....lets put it this way I wouldnt be surprised.......a caretaker manager awaits - Stewart Houston all is forgiven

[Power n Glory]

This has nothing to do with someone allowing Wenger to fall on his own sword. We've been humiliated by United on several occasions but this one takes the biscuit. We took that FA Cup beating where Giggs scored that wonder goal, the Carling Cup Spurs game, Man U smashed us in that same season as well, I think they scored 4....his team has the capacity to take that sort of a beating.

We've never done that to Man U and it would never be allowed to happen. This is Wenger's own doing. There is no excuse for a supposed top class manager getting smashed like this.

[-Xs-]

Well, it's not quite 8-2, but Mourinho's Madrid was spanked 5-0 by Barca not long ago, so top managers do take a beating from time to time. Think ours has taken a few too many for my liking though...

[Power n Glory]

Well, it's not quite 8-2, but Mourinho's Madrid was spanked 5-0 by Barca not long ago, so top managers do take a beating from time to time. Think ours has taken a few too many for my liking though...

With that result, it's a reflection of how good Barca are and Mourinho has made sure he hasn't been blown away by them again. With us, you're right, we've been smashed far too many times. That Man U side isn't even that good and it's not the toughest side we've ever faced. But Man U can say this is the poorest Arsenal side they have faced.

[AKBapologist]

The day we lost 6-1...

Man Utd: Barthez, Gary Neville, Silvestre, Brown, Stam, Beckham, Butt, Keane, Scholes, Yorke, Solskjaer. Subs: Rachubka, Chadwick, Irwin, Phil Neville, Sheringham.

Arsenal: Seaman, Luzhny, Cole, Grimandi, Stepanovs, Pires, Vieira, Parlour, Silvinho, Wiltord, Henry. Subs: Ljungberg, Bergkamp, Manninger, Vivas, Kanu.


Maybe theres some silver lining in this...

[cheesy bites]

After giving it a night, I thought I'd try and collect some of my thoughts.

From simply a player by player analysis, which no way covers all the issues with this team:

- One positive is our keeper. Szczesny is a quality goalkeeper, but most imporantly is developing some personality and confidence back there. He is becoming a leader for us despite his young age.
- Jenkinson is a trier, and you can tell he really cares. Unfortunately for him and the team, he is not ready for first team football. Positionally he is very weak and allied to his inexperience, red cards for chasing challenges are going to be common if he's continually put in the firing line.
- Djourou is a liability. With all the time he's been given to develop, his decision making is non-existant. The first goal for United is yet another piece of evidence that he has no decisiveness.
- Ramsey is not ready to take over from El Capitan. He clearly is a talented player, but he desperately needs a commanding experienced player alongside him. One thing I've noticed is when he loses the ball, he doesn't bust his gut to get back and either cover, or chase the ballcarrier. That is unforgiveable, especially with a defense like ours.
- I don't know what to make of Arshavin. One day, he takes on fullbacks like a man posessed, creating goals and causing havoc with his powerful shooting. The next week, he'll stroll about, lose the ball with regularity, drag shots and show a lack of effort. I do think he's good enough to be in the squad, but a bench player is the best he can hope for. A signing like Hazard would be preferable to Arshavin, but that's highly unlikely so he will have to remain.
- Walcott isn't really cutting it as a winger, as any Arsenal fan can tell you. He's not at his best with the ball at his feet taking on defenders; his quality shows when running in behind defenders and finishing for goals. With no Fabregas, the through balls that he feasts on are drying up, and he cuts a frustrated figure.

In terms of the team:

- The high line our defense plays is killing us. A lack of positional sense and poor acceleration from our defenders combined with a high line, means we will get put under huge pressure. We need to play a deeper line, especially due to our poor backup fullbacks. In addition to cutting down on balls over the top and through, a deeper line would allow us to play more counter attacking football with the opposition team drawn forward into our half more.
- We all remember that win against Chelsea last season, where we pressed all 90 minutes and reaped the rewards. The idea that we only play that way for the big games was well and truly shattered yesterday. But that's how we should play. Even without top quality defenders, a team can overall defend well if they all as a unit chase and put pressure on the other team.
- In addition to our defensive line, and as mentioned earlier with Ramsey, the gap between the midfield and defense is disgustingly large. The midfields are too lazy to chase back; our defenders are too scared to step up which gives an age for opponents to pick a pass or a shot. Ashley Young scored two carbon copies yesterday from long range, and even the Rooney free kicks due to tackles from chasing Arsenal players could have been avoided if our players were goalside of the ball.

A "quick" spewing of some thoughts really.

[Power n Glory]

The issue about the high line, lack of pressing and defending as a unit has been repeated on here time and time again. What us wrong with Wenger? How comes everyone else can see the problem but he can't?

[-Xs-]

The day we lost 6-1...

Man Utd: Barthez, Gary Neville, Silvestre, Brown, Stam, Beckham, Butt, Keane, Scholes, Yorke, Solskjaer. Subs: Rachubka, Chadwick, Irwin, Phil Neville, Sheringham.

Arsenal: Seaman, Luzhny, Cole, Grimandi, Stepanovs, Pires, Vieira, Parlour, Silvinho, Wiltord, Henry. Subs: Ljungberg, Bergkamp, Manninger, Vivas, Kanu.


Maybe theres some silver lining in this...

Yep, there is...thank god stepanovs wasn't playing yesterday!

[Ernesto]

F***IN STUPID FORUM!!!!

I had a reply made an everything, then it just decides to log me out! F****in thing!

[GP]

F***IN STUPID FORUM!!!!

I had a reply made an everything, then it just decides to log me out! F****in thing!

Fucking thing sucks!