Match Reaction Arsenal 1-1 Shadow Dwellers

[Niall_Quinn]

Yesterdays game was a mini version of our inability to compete for the title under Wumger. Top of the league was there for us, we were at home to the Spuds, not Bayern, Barca or Man City - the Spuds!! & we were extremely lucky to get a point.
Its that will to win, the desire required to take you to the next level that we dont get under Wumger. We are happy with 2nd best (usually 4th best) because its now part of our make up.

Most of the Spurs team played on Thursday evening so lets stop the crap about being tired after the Bayern game. We started the game with 4 players who would struggle to get into the Stoke team, we ended up with 5 players on the pitch that would struggle to get into the Stoke team - therein lies our problem. The squad depth does not allow injuries to key players & we all knew this during the transfer window. We have had a decade of long term injuries to key players with limited back up. Lessons do not get learnt.
When we have to start relying on Gibbs as a game changer, you know we have problems.
If we really wanted to compete, we would have Augbemeang & Reuss competing for places with Walcot & Ramsey. We would have someone like Shawcross, defending like he's lifes on the line, alongside Kos as opposed to the dinosaur German we have.
We would have a centre forward who doesn't need 6 chances to score a goal. All these things should be in place by now if we actually do want to win the title.
For those that want to spout about us being 2nd in the league - wonderful, we've been there before Xmas in other years - proves nothing when you know you dont have the squad to substain the challenge.
For those same people, after our latest 2 performances - look at where Bayern were when we moved Stadium, look at where Spurs were & then explain how Wenger is taking us forward.

Share price is up. Ticket prices up. Bit harsh to say there has been no progress at all.

[Letters]

Yesterdays game was a mini version of our inability to compete for the title under Wumger. Top of the league was there for us, we were at home to the Spuds, not Bayern, Barca or Man City - the Spuds!!

The Spuds who have lost one game all season. They aren't a pushover any more, they've already played and beaten City. Like it or not they're a decent side now.
Agree about some of the concerns about squad depth but I wouldn't write us off just yet. After a shaky start most on here didn't think we'd be anywhere near challenging, after 12 games I'd have taken being level with the top team.

[Bumble]

The Spuds who have lost one game all season. They aren't a pushover any more, they've already played and beaten City. Like it or not they're a decent side now.
Agree about some of the concerns about squad depth but I wouldn't write us off just yet. After a shaky start most on here didn't think we'd be anywhere near challenging, after 12 games I'd have taken being level with the top team.

I wouldn't even say that our squad depth is really that bad. Campbell is only playing as the 4 ahead of him are injured. We put out a team that should have been Spurs at home. But Spurs played well and they should be kicking themselves for not winning.

It is a long season, we will drop points again but so will City. We have a squad that can win the league. Cech has made a massive difference. The league is very competitive, and City are still capable of dropping points. If we finish 3rd and play in the Europa I think that might screw us having to play Thursday then Sunday.

[Globalgunner]

I cant understand the mentality of people who always argue that where we are as a club is exactly where we ought to be.
We havent won the league in a decade, Next season will come on a decade since we moved into the Emirates, supposedly the start of a new glorious era for the club.
We have ironically stagnated since then. What was the point of the big move then. Progress in order to stay in the same spot. Pool, Everton & Spurs have been in the same spot literally for the same period and they havent shelled out 350m for a new stadium.
Seems we have been the victims of some massive scam or pyramid scheme

[Niall_Quinn]

I cant understand the mentality of people who always argue that where we are as a club is exactly where we ought to be.
We havent won the league in a decade, Next season will come on a decade since we moved into the Emirates, supposedly the start of a new glorious era for the club.
We have ironically stagnated since then. What was the point of the big move then. Progress in order to stay in the same spot. Pool, Everton & Spurs have been in the same spot literally for the same period and they havent shelled out 350m for a new stadium.
Seems we have been the victims of some massive scam or pyramid scheme

tbf, Liverpool and the spuds have shelled out 350mill on the likes of Lambert and Goaldado. Luckily for us they didn't buy decent players instead. Although that bloke the spuds have for a manager now seems to be irritatingly competent. And now Pool have Klopp. We'd best get a move on or we really will be scrapping with those two in the near future.

[Letters]

You missing the point by around 36 miles. The points total now might tell us who's NOT going to win the title (the chavs, for example) but the actual business of winning the thing is still way out in the distance and will require consistency between here and there plus bottle when it comes down to the final crunch matches.

I agree. That's pretty much what I was saying early season. You don't win the league in the first 10 games - but you can lose it, as Chelsea have. You win the league, or don't, in the last 10 games. Interestingly when I was saying that early season I was endlessly hammered for it by people who thought our shaky start showed we had no chance and we'd be out of it before we got going just like last year.

Everything we are displaying so far points to another failed tilt.

Really? Everything? Winning away at Swansea when City had won, beating Utd when they were 3 points ahead of us to leapfrog them, beating Leicester away when City had lost... I'm cherry picking a bit but everything?

But a real sportsman would rather die than lose. And it's that win at all costs attitude that actually gets the wins at the top level. When it really gets down to it, a winner will go the extra yard and claw out the victory.

OK, but you can't win every game. You just can't. Sometimes in football you don't play at your best and on the day you really should probably lose but you claw something out of the bag and get a point - not ideal but not a disaster and feels a lot better than a victory. That's what we did yesterday. Some people are acting like we should be sweeping teams like Spurs aside. IMO Spurs showed yesterday that in lieu of Chelsea they're genuine top 4 contenders. They've only lost one game all season and you can see why. They draw too many to be title contenders but I wouldn't write them off for top 4.

As for us, we don't have the manager to push all the way. How do we know?

Well, we don't know. Knowing implies certainty and we can't be certain. This manager has already won us 3 titles, why only consider the last 10 years? Why not consider his whole time with us?
Grouping the last 10 years in one lump is over-simplifying things. For much of that time we were hampered by the stadium move and there was the double whammy of the billionaires sticking their oars in. Without them I believe we'd have picked up a title or 2 over that period. 2 years ago the new financial deals came into effect and there was an immediate change in transfer policy which has brought us Ozil and Sanchez. There is no doubt those signings are making a difference. The FA Cup is not the biggest prize but it's a start, it's better than we had. We should have challenged for the title last year, our poor start made that impossible. Wenger should arguably have been sacked for that, if retaining the FA Cup bought him a stay of execution then I can live with that. We should have done more in the summer but Cech has been a good signing - we wouldn't have got a point without him yesterday, things like that over a season will make a difference.

You can analyse our run of form all you like, the net result is we're level at the top of the table. Could have been better, could have been a lot worse. You were the one who, as we drew against Liverpool and were then 5 points off the top, agreed that we would "definitely" be 10 points off after another 4 games. I keep reminding you of that because it should surely make you less certain of your predictions. Somehow though, it doesn't seem to.

Like the teams of Wenger's early years. Fans must surely remember that feeling of confidence every time the team took to the pitch? Can anyone, hand on heart, say they ever feel that confidence these days?

Well, over time I am getting more confident in the team again. I didn't think we'd beat Utd - they were 3 points ahead of us, it was a chance to leapfrog them, we had a horrible record against them, the exact sort of game we have historically cocked up. We blitzed them in 20 minutes. While we're here, I didn't think we'd beat City away last year and I wasn't confident of going to Utd in the FA Cup. Back to this season, Swansea is a tricky place to go, a point wouldn't have been a disaster, very good win. Bayern at home...well, they're Bayern and they'd won every single game up to that point. Very good win. So yeah, I am getting more confident in the team as they're getting results in games which I know a couple of seasons ago we wouldn't have.

After almost a decade he spent on a decent keeper. Well done. Only a decade too late.

Too late for what? Not too late to make a difference this season and it already has. He made an excellent save late vs Everton which kept us 3 points, he kept us in the game yesterday which was a part of earning us a point, same against Bayern at home.

The concern is about squad depth, especially up front. But right now we're level and after 12 games I'd have taken that - given your early season prediction surely you would have too. Last year we were out of the title race before we got going, this year we're not and we've got a run of very winnable games coming up before we play City. All you can ask at this stage of the title race is you're in contention. Right now, we are. You can cite yesterday's result of the same old failings, I can point out that Spurs are a pretty good side right now and other results have shown a difference from other seasons. We can go round and round doing that if you like but ultimately, right now, we're in the mix. While that lasts I'll believe we have a chance.

[Dein-machine]

I cant understand the mentality of people who always argue that where we are as a club is exactly where we ought to be.
We havent won the league in a decade, Next season will come on a decade since we moved into the Emirates, supposedly the start of a new glorious era for the club.
We have ironically stagnated since then. What was the point of the big move then. Progress in order to stay in the same spot. Pool, Everton & Spurs have been in the same spot literally for the same period and they havent shelled out 350m for a new stadium.
Seems we have been the victims of some massive scam or pyramid scheme

It doesn't "seem" so - it simply is so.
The stadium move was supposed to propel us to the top of European football with the additional revenues meaning we wouldn't have to sell out to a foreign billionaire. We took the mickey out of Chavs & Mancs by waving Russian & yank flags!
10 years on we are less of a European great than we were & we are now owned by a billionaire yank & Russian.
But Mr Wenger, the old shareholders & those still on board have prospered greatly during the time where we fans pay more for our season tickets than anywhere else in Europe & watch a team that is a shadow of what we had 10 years ago.

[Dein-machine]

The Spuds who have lost one game all season. They aren't a pushover any more, they've already played and beaten City. Like it or not they're a decent side now.
Agree about some of the concerns about squad depth but I wouldn't write us off just yet. After a shaky start most on here didn't think we'd be anywhere near challenging, after 12 games I'd have taken being level with the top team.

if we think that what we witnessed yesterday can be explained by "Spurs are not a pushover anymore" - what has been the use of the Emirates. We are 10 years on from the stadium move with all the benefits that was supposed to bring but Spurs are actually starting to outplay us in games. I agree the stadium move was necessary & great for the future but the finances are now in place give us a team that would beat teams like Spurs 80% of the time - whats holding us back, our manager.

[Letters]

if we think that what we witnessed yesterday can be explained by "Spurs are not a pushover anymore" - what has been the use of the Emirates. We are 10 years on from the stadium move with all the benefits that was supposed to bring but Spurs are actually starting to outplay us in games. I agree the stadium move was necessary & great for the future but the finances are now in place give us a team that would beat teams like Spurs 80% of the time - whats holding us back, our manager.

How did City, with all their money, get on against Spurs this season?

[Power n Glory]

Far from happy with the performance on Sunday and think we missed an opportunity to go top of the table but we’re still joint top at least. But our last couple of performances show what I mean about this team. There is no point in getting carried away when we beat teams like Utd and Bayern because we always have this sort of performance in us. Not sure how and why we’d fail to turn up for a NLD. Wenger shouldn’t have his players into shape for this sort of game but he may need to.

Some of the talk is a bit premature even if our fall is inevitable. At least wait until the wheels have actually fallen off. We’ve all had this discussion before and gone over it. At least come from a different angle if we’re going to retrace old ground. We can’t get carried away after a few ins and the same has to be said for setbacks. Certainly not when we’ve faced inform teams and still joint top. It’s one to keep watching.