Match Reaction: Newcastle 0-1 Arsenal

[Özim]

No. No it isn't And you know it isn't. You accuse me of changing my argument (which isn't true, and I think you know that) but I at least believe my argument, I don't think you believe yours for a minute.

Our results so far don't show anything. And four convincing wins wouldn't show anything either. If it did then City are champions, Chelsea have no chance, let's all give up and go home and try again next year. You've been watching football long enough to know that over a long season things change as clubs have purple patches or poor runs.
We lost it last year in the first 12 games, we got it together after that but it was too late. This year we've got off to an indifferent start but so have the rest of the potential contenders, bar City. If we end up after 12 games 15 points behind as we did last year then yes, it's all over, Wenger Out, etc, etc. But it's 4 games in and we're in touch so stop all the hysteria.

I don't understand why you can't distinguish between Chelsea and us, Chelsea have a manager who's won trophy after trophy, including Champions Leagues, domestic titles, Chelsea have won a host of major trophies in the last 10 years, Chelsea have shown that when it matters they can put a run together and win titles, they're proven competitors in every respect........we on the other hand have proved in every single case in the last 10 years that when it comes to major trophies neither the manager nor the personnel have what it takes to deliver and go on runs when the major trophies are up for grabs. Chelsea's start is awful but you know because they've proven it, that they are capable of delivering championship winning form, what we know about us is that we either start badly or finish badly and put the odd winning run in in between (not necessarily with convincing performances) but that when the pressure to win major titles is there we can't produce.

You might believe things could be different if we'd gone into the transfer market this summer with intent and signed our targets without any fuss and made clear efforts to improve the squad, but we haven't, we've signed a good keeper but that's not significant improvement on last season, we all know what we need and we all know we haven't got what we need, because for some reason the manager cannot bring himself to buy players all summer and instead seems to spend the last day of the transfer window trying to pull off transfers at a time when realistically there's the least possible available, as clubs then can't find replacements. What's more it appears that this summer there's even less available than usual.

[Power n Glory]

Wow. You could be a pundit with that kind of insight.
Yes, obviously. But are you worried about Leicester being above us? Will they be there come May?
City and Chelsea are the sides who finished above us last year, they're the teams we should be most concerned about.
.

Obvious to most but you're a bit special.

You still can't rule out Man Utd and it goes back to what I said about excusing our bad results because our rivals are in bad shape. We should be taking advantage of these moments.

[Letters]

what we know about us is that we either start badly or finish badly.

So if we'd won the first 4 games convincingly you'd just be saying we'll collapse at the end anyway.

Like I've been saying, stop pretending your thoughts about our title chances are anything to do with our results, they're about our manager and your opinion of him. And actually, that's a fairly valid opinion. Thinking we've blown it after 4 games isn't.

[Letters]

Obvious to most but you're a bit special.

I'll take that as a compliment

I wouldn't rule Utd out either, I thought before the season that any of the top 4 are credible contenders, I guess I still think that. Us, Chelsea and Utd have got off to wobbly starts at best, only City have come out of the blocks flying but it's early days yet and they tend to hit bad patches here and there.

We do need to pick up quickly, so long as we can keep pubbing the results and staying in touch though I'm not throwing in the towel just yet.

[Niall_Quinn]

No. No it isn't And you know it isn't. You accuse me of changing my argument (which isn't true, and I think you know that) but I at least believe my argument, I don't think you believe yours for a minute.

Our results so far don't show anything. And four convincing wins wouldn't show anything either. If it did then City are champions, Chelsea have no chance, let's all give up and go home and try again next year. You've been watching football long enough to know that over a long season things change as clubs have purple patches or poor runs.
We lost it last year in the first 12 games, we got it together after that but it was too late. This year we've got off to an indifferent start but so have the rest of the potential contenders, bar City. If we end up after 12 games 15 points behind as we did last year then yes, it's all over, Wenger Out, etc, etc. But it's 4 games in and we're in touch so stop all the hysteria.

Classic.

Don't like what somebody is saying? There's an easy remedy.

Tell them what they know. Tell them what they think. Tell them what they believe.

Now that all the pieces are in place, tell them they are wrong.

[Özim]

So if we'd won the first 4 games convincingly you'd just be saying we'll collapse at the end anyway.

Like I've been saying, stop pretending your thoughts about our title chances are anything to do with our results, they're about our manager and your opinion of him. And actually, that's a fairly valid opinion. Thinking we've blown it after 4 games isn't.

Noone believes (almost noone) we can win the title because of what we've seen in the last 10 years, the problem is that the manager just doesn't do what's necessary in any sense to win big trophies, he doesn't spend wisely in the transfer market (in terms of signings players we need), he doesn't pick his teams well (based on form players and our opposition) and tactically he's been found wanting, his substitutions also seem to largely be way off the mark, the conbination of factors undermines any chance we have of winning the PL or CL, at least if he went out and spent the money available to him you might have some hope these new players could offer something different and give us a chance, he never does however, he's handicapping us at this point.

The only way I'd have believed we had a chance would have been if we'd signed a top striker and a DM on top of everything else this summer, without those I was never going to give us a hope, the fact is as well as tactical changes we need personnel changes and without both we won't win the PL. We've seen managers come in at clubs and change the tactics and improve their fortunes, but ultimately it's not until they've signed half a dozen players that the dream of titles becomes reality.

In addition Wenger simply can't motivate and drive his team, he needs generals on the pitch and in my eyes he never signs players like this nowadays, thus when the chips are down we tend to collapse.

[Power n Glory]

I'll take that as a compliment

I wouldn't rule Utd out either, I thought before the season that any of the top 4 are credible contenders, I guess I still think that. Us, Chelsea and Utd have got off to wobbly starts at best, only City have come out of the blocks flying but it's early days yet and they tend to hit bad patches here and there.

We do need to pick up quickly, so long as we can keep pubbing the results and staying in touch though I'm not throwing in the towel just yet.

But after wobbly starts, who is more likely to correct the mistakes? Are the mistakes we're seeing from Chelsea usual? No.

Taking the attention away from our rivals, are the problems we're having the sort we've had before? Yes. People are annoyed because we should have carried the momentum from two FA cups and last seasons run into the league, playing with more confidence and conviction. You'd have to watch the games and see how we're playing to understand.

[Niall_Quinn]

But after wobbly starts, who is more likely to correct the mistakes? Are the mistakes we're seeing from Chelsea usual? No.

Taking the attention away from our rivals, are the problems we're having the sort we've had before? Yes. People are annoyed because we should have carried the momentum from two FA cups and last seasons run into the league, playing with more confidence and conviction. You'd have to watch the games and see how we're playing to understand.

Our manager doesn't even see the mistakes or the areas that need improvement, so for him there's nothing to correct. Just persist, persist, persist and when everything averages out it'll be good enough to finish 4th. And he hates momentum, loathes it. Whenever we generate any he immediately drains the tank.

But you know, next season it might be different.

[Power n Glory]

Our manager doesn't even see the mistakes or the areas that need improvement, so for him there's nothing to correct. Just persist, persist, persist and when everything averages out it'll be good enough to finish 4th. And he hates momentum, loathes it. Whenever we generate any he immediately drains the tank.

But you know, next season it might be different.

That's the most frustrating thing. Another transfer window may pass without a top class striker.

[Letters]

Noone believes (almost noone) we can win the title because of what we've seen in the last 10 years

Which is a fairly reasonable position although, as always, you exaggerate his failings.
But the first 4 results and performances don't tell us anything new. I'm disappointed by the way we've started but I don't think it tells us much about our chances this year. If we're still in the mix with 10 games to go I trust this lot more than I would have a few years ago, after the Birmingham debacle I never thought we'd win a trophy under Wenger again but the last two years show they can finish the job in competitions. We've not competed for the biggest prizes yet but I think we're good enough to. We all agree we'd have a better chance with a top class striker though, that is a disappointment this summer.