Do we need Opta stats?Originally Posted by Munchies
Do we need Opta stats?
Theo Walcott was seemingly involved in an altercation with Arsenal supporters following his side's humiliating Champions League defeat by Monaco at the Emirates on Wednesday night.
After the final whistle the England international shared a tight embrace with Monaco defender Aymen Abdennour before swapping shirts with the Tunisia international.
The forward apparently responded by gesturing towards the Arsenal fans motioning with his hand to suggest the criticism did not affect him.
After such a shambolic display Walcott's reaction is likely to be received with further anger from the home faithful who booed their team off the pitch.
The Gunners were beaten 3-1 by the Ligue 1 side and now face a mammoth task to reach the last eight of the competition when they play the second leg in three weeks' time.
not really, just highlighting the welbeck point zim was making
Not just Theo and Welbeck, but several player combinations.
It's obvious Wenger has his favourites, probably because he trusts certain players over others. On AVERAGE, they repay that trust by delivering the coveted 4th place trophy every year. That's why Arteta will come straight back into the team when he is fit. And ON AVERAGE we'll do better with Arteta in the team. The problem comes in the key matches. Average just doesn't cut it.
My guess would be you have to jump on a culture early as a manager. If you put your foot down and let players know they are part of a squad and there is no such thing as a guaranteed start then rotation is an option. But if you make a rod for your own back by displaying favouritism or maybe even giving guarantees then you'll struggle to get the right team on the pitch for each game. Ferguson had the fucking do what you are told and shut your hole grip on his squad. Even Beckham got a smack when he stepped out of line. This seemed to waver towards the end though as that bitch Rooney clearly won concessions. Bad mistake. Utd have struggled ever since trying to accommodate that has-been lump.
I suppose you have to be prepared to lose the moaners for the sake of the team. We were losing players anyway during the eternal transition. That could have weakened Wenger's hand. Now the culture is in place and it has left us scratching our heads wondering why the fuck so-and-so is playing.
All pure speculation and gut feeling on my part. Something to do while we lament another abject outing on the grow-ups stage.
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Ozil was anonymous. When is he gonna produce real top quality performances for us? how long do we wait for him to settle in? Yesterday, he was hiding, he kept sulking everytime he gave the ball away amnd strolled through the game at hiw own pace.
Those faint blobs on the touchline were all made in the first 5 minutes too, when he was effective. You can blame the player to a degree, but you still have to ask what the manager is for if he sits there and lets it happen. Welbeck had the beating of his man down the flank, we could have got some joy there. Either Wenger should have enforced the plan (I stress, IF there was a plan) or Theo should have been on earlier (or Ox).
Btw, Ox is carrying flak for losing the ball for the third goal. Fair enough. But he was being played in central midfield. That's down to Wenger again. Ox is not a central midfielder, at least no more than Jack is a holding midfielder. Or Chambers. These stupid experiments have to stop. Rosicky was fit. Jack is fit isn't he? These are proper central midfielders. Why not play them there?
Well, because you have to somehow shoehorn Ozil and Cazorla into the same team. Or so Wenger thinks.
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Yep, I personally don't believe Ozil will improve much under Wenger. I personally feel Ozil could do with a manager who gets on his back a bit and demands more, I get the impression he's "Wenger's" golden boy and could do no wrong.
Ozil has been here well over a season and hasn't produced in a BIG game, his performances have been flaky at best after a pretty decent start. He's not even a guaranteed starter in his favoured position, that tells us all we need to know about his performances here so far.
If Wenger is going to stick around then I hope we move Ozil on because he has no business being in this team and he has no business being given a free ride by Wenger. We should cut our losses and sell him and start building a balanced midfield/team, what's the point of trying to cram in a bunch of attacking midfielders into our team, it's crazy!
Wenger doesn't want to play balanced football. He wants to play Wengerball where individual players are given extended scope. If Ozil goes then an unsuitable replacement will come in.
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Sad but true.
Maybe this is just part of a masterplan to get 4th position again which is the real goal after all. After the draw, they thought OMG we might actually get through to the quarters and that could distract the squad from the league, so how can we destroy that possibility but still retain confidence. So totally bollocks up the first leg then win 2-0 away to get a plucky defeat where Wenger can lament the away goal rule etc,but this performance gives confidence to the rest of the season as we scream into 4th place.
With regards Ozil, he has played in a very good Real side and a top notch German side. Playing in the Real side with Ronaldo up top would make you look a better player as your assists will sky rocket from his goal scoring. It needs to be him or Cazorla central.
I still like Welbeck he works hard and is a trier, prefer him to Giroud who I still don't really like (not sure why).
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