Summer Transfer Speculation and Shit.

[Özim]

All in all Wenger has become a joke of a manager more interested in proving people wrong than doing the logical thing.

Sick of him and sick of his nonsense, get some proper manager in who believes football is about doing the best you can rather than believing 4th place is the best you can do.

[Niall_Quinn]

tbf, he has proved a lot of people wrong. Lots of people thought we could compete this season. Wenger showed them up within 90 minutes.

[Power n Glory]

To be fair - and I don't know why I am being - those three results are fairly useless in the long run. Villa were a joke that day and the other two were inconsequential friendlies that only served to heighten expectation when really most fans should've been smarter about what was to follow. Ox started the first game and didn't play well, added to him contributing to their second goal. So Wenger reverted back to last seasons formula and pubbed a win, quite a lot like last season. I don't expect us to do more than pub wins because let's face it, most of the teams in the league do it weekly, top four included.

I don't think it was unreasonable to start with the same team that had just won us a game and was 'successful' last season. In the long run I expected us to come up short because the problems we have seen since the start of the season still exist but last nights first half was inexcusable. The defending was abysmal and the passing was just as responsible for putting ourselves under continual pressure. Added to a total of five shots on goal. Absolutely piss poor.

We could've started with all the width in the world yesterday but if the players can't do the basics, the performances will be the same. That game needed one or two players to take ownership when things were going wrong - not to drag it out for a whole 45 minutes. Unless we get some real, horrible scrotes into our team, it will always be the same. Even if we have an Aguero upfront, we'll fall apart in the middle and at the back at some stage, undermining our chances ourselves as we always do. The sort of players we hate seeing playing for other teams but would love in they were doing the same for us.

This soft-peddling, lightweight centre is never going to win us a thing. We used to have real bastards that could play and mix it up and the Invincibles weren't able to pass that on to the next team as the old English guard did to them because they left the club far too quickly to continue the culture. Wenger can't and won't do it. So we've been left with a big hole where we lack cynical players unwilling to disrupt the flow of a match, wind up opposition in order for us to recompose and stop a side taking control of the game. It's an essential part of any winning team - think of a continually successful one and the list of wankers is easy to pick out. Wenger out is the only solution to fixing this issue.

Ox played well in the first game but made a mistake. That's all. Also, I think width would have made a difference in that game because it was so open. Our passing was shocking in the first half and the way we're set it it takes a string of passes to break down a defence. Which means we need 3 or 4 players on form and we didn't have that yesterday. If we had Ox and Theo playing earlier we could gave played a more direct game. We were close to a clear cut chance when Ox broke down the wing and fizzed in a cross to Theo with Skrtel scrambling back to get contact on the ball otherwise it's a goal. If we had more of that direct play instead of the tippy tappy crap we'd have tired them out and little, had them in a panic and maybe scored a goal or two. It was a way more open game then expected and we could have actually counter attacked them. Wenger missed a trick.

[Kano]

Ox played well in the first game but made a mistake. That's all. Also, I think width would have made a difference in that game because it was so open. Our passing was shocking in the first half and the way we're set it it takes a string of passes to break down a defence. Which means we need 3 or 4 players on form and we didn't have that yesterday. If we had Ox and Theo playing earlier we could gave played a more direct game. We were close to a clear cut chance when Ox broke down the wing and fizzed in a cross to Theo with Skrtel scrambling back to get contact on the ball otherwise it's a goal. If we had more of that direct play instead of the tippy tappy crap we'd have tired them out and little, had them in a panic and maybe scored a goal or two. It was a way more open game then expected and we could have actually counter attacked them. Wenger missed a trick.

That's not the point I'm making at all. You should know that because we exchanged posts before the game talking about width and using one of Ox or Walcott which I fully agreed we needed. What I'm saying is that it was reasonable for Wenger to start with the personnel he did - Ramsey scored a legit goal after all and if we had won because of that, the issue of width wouldn't have come up so heavily for now. The players attitude on the pitch affected how we passed and dealt with the subsequent pressure created by ourselves. Having Ox out wide wouldn't have altered that in the first half. So again, if you read my post you will see I am not saying it was the correct decision but one that didn't affect the calamity that was the first 45 minutes. Our problems are much bigger than having width and a good striker - Wenger constantly leans on the excuse that we suffered psychologically and we can see that with our own eyes too, so many crucial games where we seem timid and afraid of the occasion. Personnel needs to change throughout the entire team first to install a new attitude and toughness to our approach but that won't happen under Wenger.

[Power n Glory]

That's not the point I'm making at all. You should know that because we exchanged posts before the game talking about width and using one of Ox or Walcott which I fully agreed we needed. What I'm saying is that it was reasonable for Wenger to start with the personnel he did - Ramsey scored a legit goal after all and if we had won because of that, the issue of width wouldn't have come up so heavily for now. The players attitude on the pitch affected how we passed and dealt with the subsequent pressure created by ourselves. Having Ox out wide wouldn't have altered that in the first half. So again, if you read my post you will see I am not saying it was the correct decision but one that didn't affect the calamity that was the first 45 minutes. Our problems are much bigger than having width and a good striker - Wenger constantly leans on the excuse that we suffered psychologically and we can see that with our own eyes too, so many crucial games where we seem timid and afraid of the occasion. Personnel needs to change throughout the entire team first to install a new attitude and toughness to our approach but that won't happen under Wenger.

I remember the conversation and understand your post. I agree in some parts but what I'm saying is we play a system too dependent on all components functioning to be effective. I don't think it's a problem with the players or their mentality. It's the system that's the problem. It's the coaching and philosophy Wenger preaches. It's the pass, pass, pass, pass, pass mentality that gets drilled into them. Or I should say the mentality stems from the system and coaching.

The players get too focused in trying to find a rhythm in their passing game and when that gets disrupted or we're having an off day, they'll keep trying to find that rhythm instead of trying to find a goal. They won't waver from their approach and try to be more direct, they'll keep attempting this intricate game and we saw that last night. Chambers trying to pass it out of goal instead of hoofing it. Coquelin passing it back into the danger area which lead to another passing mistake and forcing that Cech save. Mistake after mistake and it messes with our confidence.

When we have such games, we can't have a team full of passers on the field because the only way they'll take ownership of the game is by trying to dictate with their passing but it won't work if the surrounding players are having a complete mare with their passing game and control. It's a shame Sanchez isn't fully fit because he's often the type of player that would just go direct and save our bacon. It's why I think a player like Ox or Theo in that game would have made a difference. They'd attack the goal and get the team out of that funk of trying to find a rhythm.

[Kano]

Nah, this personnel aren't up to it. Not enough in there to achieve more that they have. There's no real backbone and they are too mentally fragile. No leaders in there when shit hits the fan. Ship out personnel with the manager and start this shit again. It's too far down the line to save or turn this lot around.

[Power n Glory]

Agree with shipping out the manager but it's not the players. It's the training atmosphere he creates. We've had this problem with several other teams.

[Kano]

The spine of our first eleven is weak. A new manager comes in with his head screwed on, he'd rectify that and we'd see some of our little technical darlings shipped on. We're too nice to win the league or anything else of importance. We need some real cunts back in our team, without them we're limited.

[Munchies]

Just saw this again,



As relevant as ever

[Power n Glory]

The spine of our first eleven is weak. A new manager comes in with his head screwed on, he'd rectify that and we'd see some of our little technical darlings shipped on. We're too nice to win the league or anything else of importance. We need some real cunts back in our team, without them we're limited.

Maybe a new manager would have a different approach but I wouldn't say we're dropping points because we're too nice. That's not what happened yesterday at least. It's Wenger's philosophy. We don't need a massive overhaul.