Zagreb 2 - Arsenal 1 Match Reaction Thread

[Letters]

a lot tend to resort to WUMming or abuse when they can't engage with my position which is constantly caricatured.

QED

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I'm prepared to wait until the end of the season and remind you of what you said when the transfer window slammed shut

That if we fail to challenge for the title Wenger should be sacked.

[Letters]

I'm prepared to wait until the end of the season and remind you of what you said when the transfer window slammed shut

That if we fail to challenge for the title Wenger should be sacked.

I know what I said
And still I get this bullshit about defending Wenger no matter what and









Obviously by "challenge" I mean finish top 4

[Niall_Quinn]

[Niall_Quinn]

'We were a bit unlucky,' said Wenger. 'The first goal is offside and, after, the sending off is very harsh.

'Yes, he was rash. The first yellow is Giroud’s fault because he protested, even if it was not a foul against him. He should not have responded to the referee.

'The second, he is unlucky to touch the guy. I don’t understand the referee. It was accidental completely. It was not a second yellow. It has to be on purpose, a foul on purpose. He should have given many yellows tonight.'

'When you don’t win the game have to look at yourself and think you haven’t got it right, I don’t believe the players who came in had a bad game but it didn’t work, it didn’t work.

'Ospina is a very good goalkeeper and he showed that again. Petr Cech not having played a full season (last season) I tried to give him some rest mentally. It is the same for goalkeepers as the outfield players.

'We were a bit unlucky and we lacked cohesion in some situations. I have to analyse that. We have to look at ourselves. The second goal kills our game. On the corner we were guilty of not defending well, but we had a lot of ball even when it was 10 against 11.

'They defended well, I believe they stopped us in situations without being punished, counter-attacks where we had to play 10 against 11 in one half, very strong situations.

'We were not at our best but nor was the referee.'

'Mathematically, we can qualify without any problem, if we produce the performances we want at home. Overall, we had problems to start in every competition this season.

'We had problems in the Premier League and tonight in the Champions League but we can put that right. It is the first game, let’s see where we stand after six games. Then we can draw conclusions.'

The multiple-PL winning, CL winning, hugely experienced Cech needed a mental rest? Somebody needs a mental check-up.

It is the first game, let’s see where we stand after six games. Then we can draw conclusions.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I'm sorry but actually I think the team selection was good, we can't have it both ways the thing that frustrates me most about Wenger is beasting his players and not rotating.
Arteta is not good enough for Arsenal, neither is Ospina and the old git made no attempt to strengthen his squad so maybe it might give him occasion to reconsider his folly.
Also do any of us have any illusion of winning the Champions League?.....the league is unlikely but it's a damn sight more of a realistic prospect and I'd rather lose a game like this and have a fully fit and rested first XI against Chelsea.

[Niall_Quinn]

I'm sorry but actually I think the team selection was good, we can't have it both ways the thing that frustrates me most about Wenger is beasting his players and not rotating.
Arteta is not good enough for Arsenal, neither is Ospina and the old git made no attempt to strengthen his squad so maybe it might give him occasion to reconsider his folly.
Also do any of us have any illusion of winning the Champions League?.....the league is unlikely but it's a damn sight more of a realistic prospect and I'd rather lose a game like this and have a fully fit and rested first XI against Chelsea.

Team selection - all those changes? That's not rotation, it's complacency. Leaving Ramsey and Bellerin at home, that's rotation. Replacing the defence and dropping your most effective player in the first game of a major tournament - that's incompetence. Nobody is asking for extreme swings between running the players into the ground and replacing half the team. A little bit if tactical savvy coupled with the sensible rotation of quality players is what we need. Wenger has no savvy in this competition and he keeps proving it years after year, and he won't buy the players that would provide the depth and opportunity for effective rotation.

It would be easier to get knocked out of the CL early so we can focus on qualifying for next year's CL.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Team selection - all those changes? That's not rotation, it's complacency. Leaving Ramsey and Bellerin at home, that's rotation. Replacing the defence and dropping your most effective player in the first game of a major tournament - that's incompetence. Nobody is asking for extreme swings between running the players into the ground and replacing half the team. A little bit if tactical savvy coupled with the sensible rotation of quality players is what we need. Wenger has no savvy in this competition and he keeps proving it years after year, and he won't buy the players that would provide the depth and opportunity for effective rotation.

It would be easier to get knocked out of the CL early so we can focus on qualifying for next year's CL.

This is Dynamo Zagreb we shouldn't have to worry about the team we put out against them, this is not West Ham complacency, because half the premier league teams are better than the dross that qualifies for that competition.

Plus if half these players weren't strangers borne out of Wenger previously not rotating it wouldn't have been an issue.

It was a shame to see Ramsey left at home, means that he will play against Chelsea.

[IBK]

I'm sorry but actually I think the team selection was good, we can't have it both ways the thing that frustrates me most about Wenger is beasting his players and not rotating.
Arteta is not good enough for Arsenal, neither is Ospina and the old git made no attempt to strengthen his squad so maybe it might give him occasion to reconsider his folly.
Also do any of us have any illusion of winning the Champions League?.....the league is unlikely but it's a damn sight more of a realistic prospect and I'd rather lose a game like this and have a fully fit and rested first XI against Chelsea.

I disagree with you my friend. This was not a case of rotation in any sensible sense. It was a massive gamble based on an arrogant assumption that we could effectively experiment against a European 'minnow'. It is obvious folly making 6 changes - and more importantly dropping 4 of what passes for the first team line up these days. The gamble was made worse by the lack of playing time of the players he brought in. Whatever the merits of those brought in last night, it was folly to disrupt the team and bring in so many rusty players in a CL game. This was not the Carling Cup, FFS. Wenger's pre-match observation that we lost our first CL group match last year and still qualified tells you all you need to know about how he approached this game.


I'd even say he was misguided in the light of Saturday's match against Chelsea. We are at the beginning of the season, not two thirds through where players are out on their feet. For me, our 'first team' needs more, rather than less playing time to start functioning as more than a disparate group of players, and last night could have provided that.


Ironically given the criticism, one of the players I would have rested ahead of the weekend was Coquelin. But to think that Arteta - coming back from a year without any football - could simply slot into the hole he left without the likes of Ramsey (or even Flamini?) alongside him to shore things up was to my mind stupid. their first goal - with Zagreb carving through our midfield at will - was eloquent testimiony to this.

[selassie]

I'm sorry but actually I think the team selection was good, we can't have it both ways the thing that frustrates me most about Wenger is beasting his players and not rotating.
Arteta is not good enough for Arsenal, neither is Ospina and the old git made no attempt to strengthen his squad so maybe it might give him occasion to reconsider his folly.
Also do any of us have any illusion of winning the Champions League?.....the league is unlikely but it's a damn sight more of a realistic prospect and I'd rather lose a game like this and have a fully fit and rested first XI against Chelsea.

I dunno, a midfield duo of Arteta and Caz lacks balance IMO. I've never rated Arteta and Caz as a duo in CM, neither of them can run or tackle. We were getting torn apart on the counter yesterday even in the first half when we had 11 men, Arteta and Caz weren't soley responsible but whenever either of them gave the ball away or had to track their runners we were under massive pressure as neither of them are mobile enough.

It was naive of Wenger to pair them and clearly showed he hadn't done his homework regarding the opposition.

For me it's like Wenger just throws players together and hopes it will work. He doesn't manage the squad correctly and as already stated by NQ, part of the wider problem is the lack of options we have in the squad regarding specific roles. Squad management will be Wenger's undoing this season and it's part of the reason why he rarely makes changes because outside of his preferred XI which is unbalanced as it is he just has a collection of squad players who don't really fill specific roles in the team.