What The Hell Is Going On?!

[Niall_Quinn]

The thing is...what has suddenly changed? I had a look and in the calendar year 2015 we got 81 points over 38 games. Not good enough to win us the title in any of the last few years but probably good enough this year. Why is a squad of players who for much of last year looked like a side that could challenge suddenly looking so mid-table? Sanchez and Ozil are suddenly not firing, Giroud can't score for love nor money and no-one else is chipping in (and with the players we have, they should be).
All teams go through good and bad patches, that is the nature of football. It seems to me that when it happens to us we have no ability to claw our way out of it, or not quickly enough. Wenger can't lift us and we don't have a strong captain to either. It does all come back to Wenger but it's bloody frustrating when we have these long, good runs where we look like the real deal.

Because Leicester have nothing to lose, the spuds were never expected to be up there at this stage and the chavs, gypos and utd have flushed themselves down the bog. Which leaves...

The pressure is all on us, at the business end of the season. Nothing has changed. At the critical moment we are collapsing, it's what we do. When we can't realistically catch a bunch of chavs then there are no expectations. When we are already 2 down to a Bayern or a Barca then we grab the opportunity of another glorious failure.

And the crappy manager. He hates momentum. Even on those long winning streaks he'll take big risks, chucking a minor cup without even trying, pissing away the top spot in out CL group because we've already qualified. We don't press the advantage, we slack off as soon as we have gained it. In matches and over seasons. It's called the winner's instinct. We don't have it because it's not something that is considered important at this club.

[Letters]

He hates momentum.

You were doing so well, then you slipped back into WUMming. Obviously he doesn't 'hate' momentum. Why would he? Stop being silly.

My point above was we have shown ourselves perfectly capable of handling pressure situations over the past couple of season. What we don't seem to be able to do, or not quickly enough, is drag ourselves out of a slump in form. Wenger can't do it and we don't have a captain who can do it either. IMO that is the biggest problem.

issing away the top spot in out CL group because we've already qualified. We don't press the advantage, we slack off as soon as we have gained it. In matches and over seasons. It's called the winner's instinct. We don't have it because it's not something that is considered important at this club.

I agree with that more, Wenger has a habit of resting on his laurels.

[Bumble]

We don't need new players, as we have a squad that is better and a lot more expensive than either Leicester or Spurs. In terms of injuries yes we have had a lot of them but we were never throwing in 3 18yo or anything into a game and defensively we have had pretty consistent selection. We were still playing experienced squad players. and generally still had the core.

imagine how much worse it would be if we didn't have Cech in goal!!!

I think the teams lacks an affective playing style. The formation isn't working and we cant change it. As has been mentioned we lack leaders on the pitch, we lack true dynamic players. We don't have anyone who can really take the game by the scruff of the neck and drag us over the line. Sanchez has been poor but he has played so much football that is probably tired and also it probably shows a bit why Barca got rid of him as he doesn't retain the ball as much as they need. Ozil has created so many goals this season but only a few assists since the start of the year. Giroud only scores goals in batches and then its generally after he has spent a few games out of the side. Walcott is awful now.

Wenger has never directed the players. he likes to give them responsibility themselves plus in the past the successful sides have always had big game players, strong characters and guys who could do something out of the nothing. Direct, powerful and pacy. That is what we need to go back to.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Our good form from January to May 2015 well there was never a title challenge in the offing

In August 2015 we start the season with a 2-0 loss to West Ham and never actually look like a title challenging team apart from the five game winning run between September and November. And even in this period, there are shocking performances in the Champions league caused by not taking the opposistion seriously.

Since November we have not won more than three league games in a row, and repleat with opportunities where the team either doesn't turn up or becomes nervous in front of goal.

Letters mentions that he doesn't think not having bottle is a factor, I'd remind him of how fragile we were in the FA cup semi finals and final of 2014....in the final just look at Ozil warming up at Wembley he is shaking like a shitting dog. There is a clear instance of bottle and mentality, even in the game against United at Old Trafford Letters cites there is a clear nervousness factor in that we had chances to kill off the tie and snatched at the chances.

This is a side that In equal measure is both complacent and highly strung, it lacks confidence because it lacks a leader on the pitch and more importantly it lacks a leader off it, someone who can shout and lead by example when the chips are down.
This has always been the case with Wengers sides to a degree being confidence sides, if you go back to 2004 look at the knock on effect that defeat at Old Trafford had, we won three out of the next nine games.
Similar after the 4-0 FA cup defeat to United in February 2008, we won two games from the next 11...which was compounded by the horror tackle on Eduardo in the Birmingham game.

The fact is when these players need confidence and leadership it is wanting, both within and without.

[Kano]

7) We always bottle it.
I don't really buy this. It may be a factor but it's not as big a problem, IMO, as some make out. Last year we won the Cup, winning at Old Trafford on the way - and that wasn't a fluke, we were good that night, we stood up. We were fantastic in the Cup Final, yes we should be beating Villa but it wasn't a nervous win, we hammered them from the start. This season we've beaten Utd and City at home, both good performances and wins in games where had we lost they'd have leapfrogged us. There was nothing particularly high pressure about last night that hasn't been so on other occasions this season when we have won and won well.

As you have said yourself, there are different levels of pressure. Last night was hugely pressurised. A response was required after Sunday’s lacklustre performance. A performance was expected to take the three points to take advantage of Leicester’s draw the night before. Last night was not a normal game and certainly more pressurised than playing City or Utd early in the season when there was ample games left to make up ground. We haven’t scored more than 3 goals in a single game this season. That never happens in a Wenger team. Too many of our players are woefully off form.

It is the manager’s job to keep the group mentally focused and filter out the nerves and problems that stop a team relaxing to focus on their ability. But what happens every year in a sustained competition like the Prem is the team is unable to do it. There was a graph on Sky that illustrated the month when Arsenal typically dip away from the title race and that month is March. Talking about wins away at Old Trafford in the FA Cup or league games against rivals midway through the season are only part of the test. The real intensity arrives now. When as a big club – ironically we are now the financial giant compared to Leicester and Spurs – we do not allow the nerves to eat away at our performance levels. But the exact opposite is happening again.

He is very much a confidence led manager. When things are going well he is able to maintain the level of performance, hence why we have historically gone on these long runs of form. When shit hits the fan however, he struggles to pick up the pieces quickly enough before real damage is done.

[Niall_Quinn]

You were doing so well, then you slipped back into WUMming. Obviously he doesn't 'hate' momentum. Why would he? Stop being silly.

My point above was we have shown ourselves perfectly capable of handling pressure situations over the past couple of season. What we don't seem to be able to do, or not quickly enough, is drag ourselves out of a slump in form. Wenger can't do it and we don't have a captain who can do it either. IMO that is the biggest problem.



I agree with that more, Wenger has a habit of resting on his laurels.

Not WUMming at all. People will know what I mean by that. When he sees momentum he wrecks it. He views it as an opportunity to coast or experiment with one of his crazy pet projects. Take Campbell. How many more times can that kid keep bouncing back after Wenger's dicking around before he's ruined too? When something starts working then stick with it, see how far it can take you. Any fool knows that, but Wenger is not your ordinary fool.

[selassie]

There's a lot of nonsense on here about what is going wrong.
I thought I'd deal with some of the main theories and give my thoughts on them. Other thoughts and theories welcome.


1) Wenger doesn't care about winning.
This is obviously balls. Obviously he cares. He's won enough trophies in his time, why wouldn't he want to win more? You can see the way he acts so stroppy when things aren't going well that it hurts him. I saw an interview with Dein where he said that they still have dinner after home games unless we lose in which case they don't because Wenger is no company when we've lost. Whether he's able to do anything about it is a different matter, but it's not indifference.


2) The players don't care about winning.
Again, I'm struggling to believe this. Why wouldn't they? They must be very competitive people, they've got to the top of their profession. Just last season they won the Cup, that must feel good. Why wouldn't they want more of that? It's there for the taking this season, why stroll around cruising into 4th place when you could be champions? Yes, you don't get paid any more (well, maybe a bit more) but why wouldn't you want that?


3) The board don't care about winning.
Well, this is true but I don't see how that affects our results.


4) Wenger is a poor tactician/he doesn't prepare them for games.
There is more plausibility to this one but what special tactics and preparation do you need to beat Swansea?! And these faults - and I do agree they are faults of his - have always been there, they didn't stop us winning the Cup the last 2 years and last year we were "calendar year champions". A meaningless thing BUT it does demonstrate a long, consistent run of form which were it sustained over a season would see us be champions. It isn't "a few good games" as some have said.


5) Injuries always kill us.
Well, they do, and that is something which needs sorting out. But most of our players are back from injury now and our run of poor form continues despite that. Carzola is out but I don't buy he's our only key player, Ozil and Sanchez are world class, we are surely good enough to beat a team like Swansea without Carzola.


6) We don't have enough up front.
Well this one is clearly true but we should have plenty of goals elsewhere in this team. It's a factor but not the only one.


7) We always bottle it.
I don't really buy this. It may be a factor but it's not as big a problem, IMO, as some make out. Last year we won the Cup, winning at Old Trafford on the way - and that wasn't a fluke, we were good that night, we stood up. We were fantastic in the Cup Final, yes we should be beating Villa but it wasn't a nervous win, we hammered them from the start. This season we've beaten Utd and City at home, both good performances and wins in games where had we lost they'd have leapfrogged us. There was nothing particularly high pressure about last night that hasn't been so on other occasions this season when we have won and won well.


8) We lack a strong captain.
IMO this is possibly the biggest factor. We haven't had a strong captain since Vieira. Who is out there when things start going against us getting us going again? Adams or Vieira wouldn't have ALLOWED a performance like last night, certainly not as often as we're seeing it right now. It was a clear foul for their equalizer but these things will happen. REACT! FFS, REACT! You have 60 minutes to sort it out and instead of reacting and blowing them away in the 2nd half we just limp along, concede again and lose. Pathetic.




There just seems to be a general, collective malaise and loss of form right now. Ultimately the buck stops at Wenger (although I don't absolve the players from blame, we had enough out there to beat Swansea last night), but I don't buy that we 'bottled' it or either Wenger or the players or both aren't bothered.

1) Wenger only cares about winning ONE way, his way. He's so entrenched in his philosophy that he will argue till he is blew in the face that his way is the right way.

2) They do care, they lack direction, belief and crack under pressure. It's a problem, but it's also a trait of Wenger's teams.

3) Winning is a bonus for them IMO, they place financial achievements above sporting achievements, they both go hand in hand, but the financial incentives are what drives the board.

4) IMO Wenger is a poor tactician, it's either that or the players don't follow his instruction if he gives any at all. He's been found wanting tactically for years now.

5) They are a factor to why we struggle every season, it's a major issue in itself.

6) Yep

7) The mentality of "Wenger" teams isn't right when facing adversity, we have seen many "Wenger" teams literally collapse under the weight of expectation.

8) Yes

[Ernesto]

I might be being outlandish but is there any chance of a Chelsea style player mutiny against the manager going on here?

They can't be that tired and they can't be that unprofessional. Who's putting the effort in? Who has put the effort in 5 games in a row?

I'm probably clutching at straws. I just can't put my finger on why these players are playing so badly.

[Niall_Quinn]

I might be being outlandish but is there any chance of a Chelsea style player mutiny against the manager going on here?

They can't be that tired and they can't be that unprofessional. Who's putting the effort in? Who has put the effort in 5 games in a row?

I'm probably clutching at straws. I just can't put my finger on why these players are playing so badly.

If you place your finger in the centre of the image below - job done.

[Kano]

I might be being outlandish but is there any chance of a Chelsea style player mutiny against the manager going on here?

They can't be that tired and they can't be that unprofessional. Who's putting the effort in? Who has put the effort in 5 games in a row?

I'm probably clutching at straws. I just can't put my finger on why these players are playing so badly.

The effort isn't in question. If you compared their run stats against any other season they'd probably be similar. The issue is being prepared well enough to go out onto the pitch to overcome their anxiety, so they can focus on their ability to play well.