Where did it go wrong?

[Niall_Quinn]

Yes, yes they do

Bloody too right they do. I have a word for them...

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Bloody too right they do. I have a word for them...

Yes, yes you do

[selassie]

Apart from the obvious issue of not signing a single outfield until January, let alone a much needed striker these are to me the fixtures that caused our season to unravel.

I've whittled it down to eight fixtures


Chelsea (away) - 19th September 2015

Chelsea had made a truly awful start to the season and we had recovered after our own poor start. But again we showed our psychological frailty when playing a Mourinho managed side. A poor refereeing performance didn't help but let's face facts up until the time of Mourinhos sacking he managed to win twice more in the league against Aston Villa and Norwich.
Diego Costa should have been sent off but Gabriel should not have reacted


West Brom (away) - 21st November 2015

What makes a title winning side is to play badly and win, here we played well but contrived to lose with Cazorla even shooting over the bar when we were awarded a penalty to level things up. Gift wrapped both goals to the Baggies and missed a succession of presentable chances in the second half.


Southampton (away) - 26th December 2015

Defeats happen even in an otherwise good season, but from kick off to final whistle we just didn't look like a side that could be bothered, everything we could do wrong we managed to get wrong. Pushing up too much and allowing Southampton to get in behind us, constantly losing posession and creating nothing in the way of goal scoring chances


Chelsea (home) - 24th January 2016

Again an example of Chelsea being able to beat us with the minimum of effort, they know how to play us and failing to score in almost ten hours against Chelsea in the league is truly apalling, especially a Chelsea side that looks unmotivated and directionless.


Southampton (home) - 2nd February 2016

Fraser Forster made a lot of saves but none that he would not have been expected to make, the point where both Leicester and Spurs overtook us in the table....we have not been higher than third since.


Manchester United (away) - 28th February 2016

Pundits believed that due to a catalogue of injuries for United plus their own indifferent form meant this was a likely win for us, it appeared that the players believed it as well and put none of the effort in required to secure that win. Defeats happen but they happen to Arsenal more often than not because the side can't be bothered to apply themselves.


Swansea (home) - 2nd March 2016

Typical Arsenal any poor performance has a knock on effect, totally inept performance and the point where we realised that the title had predictably evaded our grasp.



West Ham (away) - 9th April 2016
Anything can happen in this league even if you are eight points behind, but we failed to put any pressure on either the league leaders or the team in second by completely collapsing after getting a two goal lead. Even not winning the title could have been mitigated by fighting to the end of the season but fight is what we lack.

The Southampton away thrashing was when I really started to doubt whether we could sustain the challenge, it was an awful performance and the result was completely unexpected. I didn't expect us to steam roller them but I thought we'd put in a decent performance and get something out of the game. That was the start of the collapse IMO, that defeat really exposed the mental weakness of this team.

Up until the United away defeat I was still doubting whether this team had the fight in them to challenge for the title but thought we're up against Leicester and the Spuds, surely we can keep apace, we'd just beaten Leicester so the momentum was with us, I thought this is our chance and maybe it's going to be our year at last though I wasn't fully convinced.

The United performance for me was our worst of the season, it was a disgusting and shameful performance, we were 2nd to everything and basically got played off the park by a struggling and injury ravaged United Youth team. I knew that was it after the game, we'd blown it, the title was gone. The defeat was very damaging.

I was numb to it all after that, I wasn't even angry after the Swansea defeat, the season died for me at Old Trafford.

[The Emirates Gallactico]

Southampton away was bad but we were still top or near the top at that point so I foolhardily chalked it up to a bad day at the office. Plus, not arguing against the fact that we weren't shit that day but iirc Southampton's goals were incredibly jammy, a once in a blue moon world class strike from a pub team player and Shane Long fouling Kosicenly and getting away with it due to incompetent referring from John Moss (I think?) ........... we probably should have squeezed out a 0 - 0 that day.

Chelsea at home and United away were the massive killer blows. We just incredibly poor and impotent ........ like we didn't want to win the title. Swansea at home was when even the faint hopes were completely extinguished for me. What a shit night that was.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Southampton away was bad but we were still top or near the top at that point so I foolhardily chalked it up to a bad day at the office. Plus, not arguing against the fact that we weren't shit that day but iirc Southampton's goals were incredibly jammy, a once in a blue moon world class strike from a pub team player and Shane Long fouling Kosicenly and getting away with it due to incompetent referring from John Moss (I think?) ........... we probably should have squeezed out a 0 - 0 that day.

Chelsea at home and United away were the massive killer blows. We just incredibly poor and impotent ........ like we didn't want to win the title. Swansea at home was when even the faint hopes were completely extinguished for me. What a shit night that was.

Surely you jest?

Our defence was shocking, we could barely string a pass together and created nothing up front.....whether the goals were legitimate or not brush over the fact that it would have been a travesty for us to have come away with anything but defeat. The attitude of the players stank, we didn't care and we deserved to lose we were certainly not unlucky in any way, shape or form.

[Power n Glory]

Surely you jest?

Our defence was shocking, we could barely string a pass together and created nothing up front.....whether the goals were legitimate or not brush over the fact that it would have been a travesty for us to have come away with anything but defeat. The attitude of the players stank, we didn't care and we deserved to lose we were certainly not unlucky in any way, shape or form.

Stats say Ozil created 4 chances. I highlight that point because it brings it back to that debate about how many chances we create and if they're of any real quality.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Stats say Ozil created 4 chances. I highlight that point because it brings it back to that debate about how many chances we create and if they're of any real quality.

That's odd, it's not like you to be facetious

I could turn it on it's head and say even in a game where he was apalling he was still creating chances, and if hell freezes over i might watch the whole game in it's entirety and tell you how good the chances were (i.e were the chances the kind a player like Aguero would have snaffled).

But i get the impression that having a debate with you will be as productive as having a debate with the girl i share a house with who at least has the excuse of not having English as a first language, and at least she has the benefit of being attractive.

[Özim]

Stats say Ozil created 4 chances. I highlight that point because it brings it back to that debate about how many chances we create and if they're of any real quality.

To be honest this point is hard to assess at Arsenal as we have some real donkeys up front, our strikeforce is just awful and misses chance after chance, only a madman would go into a season with that lot.

A more accurate portrayal of what he provides is how he performed at his former clubs and his stats were always very good there.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

To be honest this point is hard to assess at Arsenal as we have some real donkeys up front, our strikeforce is just awful and misses chance after chance, only a madman would go into a season with that lot.

A more accurate portrayal of what he provides is how he performed at his former clubs and his stats were always very good there.

Ooooh you've tagged yourself in

Go for it, i don't feel qualified to carry on this debate without continual use of Babelfish

[Power n Glory]

That's odd, it's not like you to be facetious

I could turn it on it's head and say even in a game where he was apalling he was still creating chances, and if hell freezes over i might watch the whole game in it's entirety and tell you how good the chances were (i.e were the chances the kind a player like Aguero would have snaffled).

But i get the impression that having a debate with you will be as productive as having a debate with the girl i share a house with who at least has the excuse of not having English as a first language, and at least she has the benefit of being attractive.

Really? This really has nothing to do with comprehension skills. It just boils down to having a different opinion and you can clearly understand my argument and I clearly understand yours. We just don't agree on certain points. You can attempt to turn this argument on its head and rewatch the match if you wish but you'd then be shifting goal posts.

Your initial first thoughts on that Southampton game says it all. You don't remember us creating many great chances. That's in line with my thoughts on a lot of games we've played recently. It's why I don't rely on certain stats if they don't line up with what I'm seeing during a game. I can't remember the Southampton game fully but over the past months our game has been stale and we haven't been opening teams up. That's not saying the fault is with Ozil 100%. I think it boils down to the type of movement we have going on in front of him and whether the striker is looking to find space or more interested in dropping deep and wrestling off the defender.

That should be a clear enough point that shouldn't cause much confusion. Whether you agree is a different matter and it's on you to come up with a clear rebuttal if you don't. It's ridiculous to question my intelligence and or grasp of English if you're the one unable to come up with a logical counter argument. Really!