Reaction Vs Aston Vanilla

[Niall_Quinn]

I didn't see the game but from the comments on here I'm happy to accept that we did. But I'm fine with that. We didn't need any more injuries, if we can beat a very poor side without getting out of 2nd gear then fine, let's keep some powder dry for tougher tests to come. We got the result, we're top of the league (for now). Job done.

Kano stuck up a mention of the Clough documentary on the Film thread. You should watch it. I did and it reminded me about how far away from being a football manager and a sportsman Wenger and our board are. There's no second gear - ever, ever, ever, ever and if you even contemplate second gear you're a loser. Guaranteed. Sure thing, you can beat up on Aston Villa, but the loser mentality will come home to roost when the big and serious boys come calling. Maybe we'll luck out on a few due to the outrageous talent of players like Ozil, but long haul Wenger's bare minimum mentality isn't a winning one. He's negative, he's fearful, for some fucked up reason he's trying to conserve the energy of the team while doing fuck all about the injury crisis we have year after year. What's the point in the players being match fit in terms of lung capacity but laid up with muscular injuries? It's a lunatic asylum.

That second half performance was totally unacceptable and show me a person who says it was okay and I'll show you a massive loser. Same shit with the run in last year. It was "understandable" we eased up and fail to keep the gypos behind us. No, never ever okay. Never ever understandable to be a loser. Losers are fucking just that, losers.

100% effort every game, every time or go home. It's called sport and the purpose of it is excellence and achievement .

Trouble is, the same sort of loser mentality you have is painted a mile wide right through the club from the board through the manager and certainly through those players, and why not? Give them an easy ride and they'll take it. We're top of the league because the gypos are playing crap, not because we're playing well. There you go, if you want to compare us with everyone else rather than actually look at us and what we are doing.

We get this mentality problem we have sorted out and we'll walk the league and compete in Europe. To get it sorted out we all know what needs to be done.

[Letters]

100% effort every game, every time or go home. It's called sport and the purpose of it is excellence and achievement .

No team in the history of football or any other sport has done that. The Invincibles definitely didn't, they often blitzed teams in the first half and then coasted through the rest. It is just not physically or mentally possible to play at the very top intensity for every minute of every game. And when you're playing a poor side you don't always need to give everything, you play within yourselves and save some energy for bigger tests. So long as you get the result.

We're top of the league and in the last 16 of the CL. So far, so good.
You were confidently agreeing that, when we were 5 points off the top after 4 games, we'd 'definitely' be 10 points off in another 4 games, and you declared us out of the CL after 2 (admittedly awful) games. Now we're you're just shifting the goalposts and complaining about different things. Had we lost people would be saying we spurned another chance to go top and Wenger out and . We won, went top and all you can do is moan we didn't win well enough? Sheesh, give it a rest.

While we're in the title race I'll believe we have a chance of winning it. If we fall out of it then we can look at other management options. For now we're top, the next trick is to stay there or close enough that we have a good chance of being there in May.

[Niall_Quinn]

In any other season we'd be well behind by now, this is a weird season where the top teams are regularly fucking up. For you it's Christmas all season long, a race to the bottom, the least fucked up team will win it. The opposite of excellence, pure mediocrity.

When we play well I say we played well. When we don't I say so. You, on the other hand, no matter what happens you're flying the Wenger flag. If he doesn't sign any players next season - he should be sacked. If he doesn't compete he should be sacked. Then reset at the end of every season and go again. Anyone who points out, hey wait a second, that's 10 seasons now, you're begging them to look everywhere but at the club, telling them they shouldn't be commenting until everything is done and the reset button has been pressed again. Doesn't work on me, I call it like I see it. Today was a shit performance regardless of whether we went top of a mediocre league or not. And our last few games in the PL were shit performances too, you can pretend whatever you want. You don't even watch the games. You banned Cripps for being a relentless WUM but look at you.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

33 points is six points less than Chelsea at this stage last season and they are largely considered to have run away with it. I don't think teams are really screwing it up that much more than in any other season really - Leicester I think are aiding that impression because it is they that have been on top, whereas usually the 'surprise' team will be in the top 4 position at best at this stage.

In 97/98 we had 27 I think.

[Letters]

In any other season we'd be well behind by now

Nope.
Last season we'd be in 3rd, 3 points off City, 6 points off Chelsea.
The season before that we'd be 2 points behind...us, we were top with 35 points.
We need to challenge for the title this season. So far, we are. While that continues I'll be fairly content with how things are going. If we cock things up Wenger should be sacked. I've said that consistently. I've also said I'll wait till that happens rather than shouting Wenger Out after every minor setback. 2 games in to the CL campaign you were throwing in the towel, you were pretty much doing the same 4 games in to the league campaign - and you have the cheek to call Wenger a loser!
No, I don't watch as many games these days. So what? I watch some, I see other highlights. Obviously it's nice to play well and win, but playing poorly and winning is part of a title winning campaign. Right now we're pretty much where we should be, in the title race. While we stay there the manager will have my support.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Up the Arse....!

I thought we were lax too often in the second half but of course I am just glad to get along for the time being with the points and without incident!

The drop off in quality means we cannot afford complacency when we're on top to become a habit!

[IBK]

Listened to the game. We coasted once we'd gone 2 goals up - which I will accept after the Olympiacos game midweek. In a perfect world yes we would have kept going for the jugular. I think we play a dangerous game playing well within ourselves at times, and we are where we are as much because other teams keep screwing up - even more than we do. But in fairness the fact that so-called lesser teams keep getting unexpected results against our so-called competitors do put our disappointing games in some context. Standards are lower this season for sure - but I won't complain as long as we keep our noses ahead on weekends like this one and last weekend.

[Letters]

You banned Cripps for being a relentless WUM but look at you.

Yeah. Look at me.
Saying I support the manager after the last 2 years when we've won a Cup in both seasons and are now top of the league and the last 16 of the CL.
What a WUM I am. I can see how saying that would wind up Arsenal fans.

If we don't challenge this year then Wenger out. Right now, we are

[Stilts1964]

In any other season we'd be well behind by now, this is a weird season where the top teams are regularly fucking up. For you it's Christmas all season long, a race to the bottom, the least fucked up team will win it. The opposite of excellence, pure mediocrity.

Top of the league, comfortable away win, great performance in Europe (albeit admittedly to salvage a desperate situation of our own making) and yet you continue to bleat on and on and on. Makes you wonder what fans of all the other teams below us in the league are saying about their teams / managers / boards etc. I thought one of the reasons why we love the game is because it is unpredictable - you seem to want to know the result before every game but, like a spoilt child who if they don't get what they want goes crying and wailing back to mummy!

I've been supporting this great club for 40 plus years. Where does this expectation that we should be winning everything all of the time come from? Wenger has delivered success that is the envy of almost every other club (and way beyond what we have achieved in our history other than arguably the Herbert Chapman era).

Get behind your team but if you can't do that then I suggest you keep your negativity to yourself. It's really very very very boring!

As for delivering excellence I wonder if you apply that same standard to everything you do?

[Coney]