Barca v Arsenal - Match Reaction

[IBK]

Ozil has created how many chances for us this season?
It's not his fault if the muppets in the middle can't finish them and if he's frustrated enough about that to leave then I wouldn't blame him one bit.

But on the other hand - its not all one way. We don't have the luxury of employing players - world class or not - who only ask what the club can do for them and not vice versa. We need world class talent that performs 100% in bad times as well as good. We have been dogged by players who are more interested in wanting away if things aren't going well - and this cycle is very damaging.

[Power n Glory]

Ozil has created how many chances for us this season?
It's not his fault if the muppets in the middle can't finish them and if he's frustrated enough about that to leave then I wouldn't blame him one bit.

The best attacking midfielders I remember would create chances and come up with the important goals. They’d have way more of an impact on the game besides creating chances. Zidane, Ballack, Sniejder, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Totti, Iniesta, Silva…..even Cesc….it’s a long list. Ozil doesn’t score enough goals and it’s not as if he’s creating quality chances where the striker of the ball hasn’t got much work to do. Cutting the ball back in a crowded box so someone can pop a shot off isn’t exactly a great chance created. Still requires a lot of work.

If he had pulled off that ball over the top Messi had or even the assist Campbell set up for Walcott the other day on a regular but we were fluffing our lines, fair enough. But he isn’t. I really can’t stand how often he’d choose to cut the ball back instead of dropping a shoulder and driving in on goal. Create a shooting opportunity for himself. All the best attacking midfielders have that ability and way more of a menace when on their best form. He doesn’t score enough for an attacking midfielder and doesn’t touch or spread the ball around enough to be an essential playmaking passer like Xavi and Pirlo. If this is the best he has to offer then I’m not really fussed. I’ve seen better players.

[Niall_Quinn]

But on the other hand - its not all one way. We don't have the luxury of employing players - world class or not - who only ask what the club can do for them and not vice versa. We need world class talent that performs 100% in bad times as well as good. We have been dogged by players who are more interested in wanting away if things aren't going well - and this cycle is very damaging.

Not that simple either. When you bring these players in it needs to be part of a bigger plan. You can't bring them in and say right, it's up to you to move us up a level. You don't sign Ozil and just get better. Instead, you get Lewandowski too. This ridiculous manager has Flamini and Ozil on the same pitch. His over reliance on individuals has always been a huge issue. Alexis carried him for a while. RvC before that. These types of players have stepped up, they have done their part but got fuck all in return except more weight for their troubles. Wenger and motivation go together like cunnilingus and herpes. When somebody gives, he takes and gives fuck all back. In every aspect of the team he leaves something incomplete, undone. He's lost his advantage in terms of spotting young talent and he hasn't got the balls to play in the transfer market with the big boys. So we are stuck in this frustrating in-between state. One step away from being mid-table, another step away from being able to compete. It doesn't help that our sugar daddy is a tight-fisted, miserly cunt of a bloke.

[Globalgunner]

The best attacking midfielders I remember would create chances and come up with the important goals. They’d have way more of an impact on the game besides creating chances. Zidane, Ballack, Sniejder, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Totti, Iniesta, Silva…..even Cesc….it’s a long list. Ozil doesn’t score enough goals and it’s not as if he’s creating quality chances where the striker of the ball hasn’t got much work to do. Cutting the ball back in a crowded box so someone can pop a shot off isn’t exactly a great chance created. Still requires a lot of work.

If he had pulled off that ball over the top Messi had or even the assist Campbell set up for Walcott the other day on a regular but we were fluffing our lines, fair enough. But he isn’t. I really can’t stand how often he’d choose to cut the ball back instead of dropping a shoulder and driving in on goal. Create a shooting opportunity for himself. All the best attacking midfielders have that ability and way more of a menace when on their best form. He doesn’t score enough for an attacking midfielder and doesn’t touch or spread the ball around enough to be an essential playmaking passer like Xavi and Pirlo. If this is the best he has to offer then I’m not really fussed. I’ve seen better players.

Dont worry , we wont miss him when hes gone. Wilshere will be back next season, just like a new signing. For 3 months of the season mind you.

Ozil is the least of our problems. He was never a goal scorer so why should we depend on his goal scoring now. Did we not know what he was before we bought him?. That like buying a Ferrari and complaining that its shit at the off road thing. Its a crap car, cant pass though a wet grass field FFS!.

[Bumble]

Thought we did ok although Barca won 3-1 without really even having to try or play properly. At least for about 10 minutes you thought if we could sneak another to go 2-1 Barca might panic. Then Suarez scored a player we could have bought had we not arsed around. Elmo does look decent not a world beater but someone who is consistent and good enough in the position he plays perhaps sign another defensive minded player alongside him a bit more powerful (Kante) . Welbeck did well again. I don't know what has happened to Sanchez though. Iwobi looked decent too.

We are out for another year and I am sure the same thing will happen this time next season as well because with our performances we will be the 2nd pot and drawn with Bayern, Real, Barca, PSG, Dortmund, Juve that level team. Basically Live.Die.Repeat.

[IBK]

Not that simple either. When you bring these players in it needs to be part of a bigger plan. You can't bring them in and say right, it's up to you to move us up a level. You don't sign Ozil and just get better. Instead, you get Lewandowski too. This ridiculous manager has Flamini and Ozil on the same pitch. His over reliance on individuals has always been a huge issue. Alexis carried him for a while. RvC before that. These types of players have stepped up, they have done their part but got fuck all in return except more weight for their troubles. Wenger and motivation go together like cunnilingus and herpes. When somebody gives, he takes and gives fuck all back. In every aspect of the team he leaves something incomplete, undone. He's lost his advantage in terms of spotting young talent and he hasn't got the balls to play in the transfer market with the big boys. So we are stuck in this frustrating in-between state. One step away from being mid-table, another step away from being able to compete. It doesn't help that our sugar daddy is a tight-fisted, miserly cunt of a bloke.

Don't disagree with that - but at the same time it does frustrate me that players' first instincts these days are to want away when things aren't going right for the team. Sure, Ozil has turned up this season. Sure - we all know that Wenger gambled with Giroud and Walcott, and this hasn't come off. But it's not a one-way street, and Ozil has gone missing in some key games...

[Niall_Quinn]

The best attacking midfielders I remember would create chances and come up with the important goals. They’d have way more of an impact on the game besides creating chances. Zidane, Ballack, Sniejder, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Totti, Iniesta, Silva…..even Cesc….it’s a long list. Ozil doesn’t score enough goals and it’s not as if he’s creating quality chances where the striker of the ball hasn’t got much work to do. Cutting the ball back in a crowded box so someone can pop a shot off isn’t exactly a great chance created. Still requires a lot of work.

If he had pulled off that ball over the top Messi had or even the assist Campbell set up for Walcott the other day on a regular but we were fluffing our lines, fair enough. But he isn’t. I really can’t stand how often he’d choose to cut the ball back instead of dropping a shoulder and driving in on goal. Create a shooting opportunity for himself. All the best attacking midfielders have that ability and way more of a menace when on their best form. He doesn’t score enough for an attacking midfielder and doesn’t touch or spread the ball around enough to be an essential playmaking passer like Xavi and Pirlo. If this is the best he has to offer then I’m not really fussed. I’ve seen better players.

There's no movement in our team. We're static. Slow. Fucked up little triangles, always finding the congestion, always dallying long enough or playing that extra pass sideways so the opposition can organise themselves at leisure. We create tight spaces, we engineer eye of the needle requirements, we make it twice as difficult as it needs to be. Wenger's system is fucked up beyond belief and it's killing all our players, not just Ozil but Alexis, Theo, Ramsey, all of them. Ozil often has to come and find the ball himself because the fuckers behind him won't move it on. It's as if possession is the only purpose, everything after that is a secondary concern or even unimportant. How many times do you see our players finally engineer a shooting opportunity and then opt to pass - again? That can't be what the player actually wants to do. That has to be some fucked up regime installed by he who shall not be named. When players join the team they look fresh and inventive. By the time Wengermort has weaved his magic they are confused, jaded, plodding imbeciles on the pitch. It's him. Forget about blaming the players. We spent season after season doing that but we've had so many players through the door now, so much talent, it's time to slam 100% of the blame where it belongs. He's fucking killing us. We can't even pass these days. Can't score a goal to save lives. Can't cross a ball. Can't defend. Won't press. A total shambles and we know why. It's as if the idiot has literally choreographed our football and players are compelled to pass to a spot on the pitch rather than directly to a team mate. The team mate in turn is expected to be on that spot, regardless of where the ball is. It's the only explanation that can explain our new found tendency to measure passes directly to the opposition or into a vacant space.

Get Owen Coyle in. Used to be a joke but now we need him before this gets worse.

[IBK]

There's no movement in our team. We're static. Slow. Fucked up little triangles, always finding the congestion, always dallying long enough or playing that extra pass sideways so the opposition can organise themselves at leisure. We create tight spaces, we engineer eye of the needle requirements, we make it twice as difficult as it needs to be. Wenger's system is fucked up beyond belief and it's killing all our players, not just Ozil but Alexis, Theo, Ramsey, all of them. Ozil often has to come and find the ball himself because the fuckers behind him won't move it on. It's as if possession is the only purpose, everything after that is a secondary concern or even unimportant. How many times do you see our players finally engineer a shooting opportunity and then opt to pass - again? That can't be what the player actually wants to do. That has to be some fucked up regime installed by he who shall not be named. When players join the team they look fresh and inventive. By the time Wengermort has weaved his magic they are confused, jaded, plodding imbeciles on the pitch. It's him. Forget about blaming the players. We spent season after season doing that but we've had so many players through the door now, so much talent, it's time to slam 100% of the blame where it belongs. He's fucking killing us. We can't even pass these days. Can't score a goal to save lives. Can't cross a ball. Can't defend. Won't press. A total shambles and we know why. It's as if the idiot has literally choreographed our football and players are compelled to pass to a spot on the pitch rather than directly to a team mate. The team mate in turn is expected to be on that spot, regardless of where the ball is. It's the only explanation that can explain our new found tendency to measure passes directly to the opposition or into a vacant space.

Get Owen Coyle in. Used to be a joke but now we need him before this gets worse.

Funny how this mirrors what's being said about LVG too...

[Niall_Quinn]

Don't disagree with that - but at the same time it does frustrate me that players' first instincts these days are to want away when things aren't going right for the team. Sure, Ozil has turned up this season. Sure - we all know that Wenger gambled with Giroud and Walcott, and this hasn't come off. But it's not a one-way street, and Ozil has gone missing in some key games...

Ozil is not the only guy who has gone missing. Far from it. It's not hard to go missing in a pit of quicksand, which is the best way to describe our game these days. Nobody can tell me Theo is really as bad as he appears right now. Or that Ox is genuinely that incompetent. Or Koscielny, a defender who was rapidly finding authority in this league, suddenly can't defend. And what about Alexis? What has been going on to make a guy so enthusiastic for the game appear as if he just doesn't want to be here? There has to be something catastrophic occurring behind the scenes. And that catastrophe has a name.

I'm not going to blame any of the players any more. It must be twice as frustrating for them, knowing in advance how the season is going to go and being powerless to prevent it because some fool has them tap dancing and striking balletic poses instead of playing football. Watching the emperor stroll around, buck naked, prattling on about his 4th place trophy.

Let's see how things are once he's gone. I'll bet anyone right now our football and results will be transformed once he fucks off out the door. That's if he hasn't destroyed everything beyond repair beforehand.

[Letters]

One good season out of three.

That's a complete myth. His stats over all 3 seasons are fantastic.