Match reaction: Arsenal 2-1 Southampton

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Hence why I thought Theo should be starting up front. But we’ve played Sanchez and now have Perez up front and we still looked toothless. The pace is there. I can’t understand it. Ozil had an awful performance but he was playing with Coquelin and Cazorla behind him so it’s not as if it’s the wrong combo there. Plenty of pace up front as well so not sure why he wasn’t looking to dictate things a bit more. His touch was off, his passing was off…not sure what was wrong with him.

It seems to me that so seldomly does he put in such a anaemic performance that it becomes a genuine conundrum when he does

It is also somewhat troubling that his poor performance contributed so highly to the general malaise of the team even though there were few other dreadful performances.

Walcott wasn't fantastic but the desire to cross or get on the end of things himself was there, Cazorla was dynamic....Coquelin put in a shift....but yet with Ozil looking like he'd rather be somewhere else experimenting with a questionable young girl and the business end of a shisha pipe the whole thing just didn't work.

[Niall_Quinn]

Hence why I thought Theo should be starting up front. But we’ve played Sanchez and now have Perez up front and we still looked toothless. The pace is there. I can’t understand it. Ozil had an awful performance but he was playing with Coquelin and Cazorla behind him so it’s not as if it’s the wrong combo there. Plenty of pace up front as well so not sure why he wasn’t looking to dictate things a bit more. His touch was off, his passing was off…not sure what was wrong with him.

It's the tactics, if that's what you can call them. Possession based. Ten touched, when one will do. Static. Slow, unless Alexis or Bellerin get bored by it all and inject a bit of pace. The sideways pass when we need the forward pass. The backwards pass ignoring and wasting the effort of somebody who has made a run. Taking our foot off the gas when we get the upper hand. Exerting the absolute minimal level of effort we can get away with, much in line with Wenger's ingrained philosophy of doing the barest, barest minimum to scrape the CL cash (not the competition, because he makes no effort to compete in that, just the cash).

The garbage team selections. We have two new players so if you are going to play them both then don't go sticking two lightweights like Ox and Theo in the team. The idiotic rotational policy based on fear and negativity rather than planning. Xhaka has a good game and looks like he's settling, so stick him on the bench. Campbell was doing well last year too, benched. Iwobi looks like he could give us something that we lack, bench. Chambers started well when he arrived - bench him and then tell him he's a CM. This Wenger bloke is a serious fucking idiot and it's all on him why this team is playing so poorly and why it doesn't seem to matter who you stick in there. Wenger will always find a way to fuck things up.

The transfer policies. Refuse to spend, watch opportunity after opportunity slide by, then panic and blow more than you would have spent in the first place but in return for second tier players.

Here we go again. Another season of the same old shit and for one reason and one reason only. Wenger.

When he fucks off everything will improve overnight because we'll go from having a non-manager who can't even get the very basics right, to (I assume) a real manager who may or may not be a world-beater but at least will be able to pick an 11 and get something out of them.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I'm not sure if we could even say there is a tactical plan being most of the time, yes in the big games we have adopted more of a counter attacking mentality (evidenced by results against man city and bayern munich in the last 18 months or so) but can you honestly say there is a big emphasis on a game plan otherwise other than "go out there, show your quality and the result will come?"

The reason we play with too many passes etc, is because that is the natural game of so many of these players especially in the final third.

I think the only thing Wenger has instilled is avoid shooting outside the box unless there isn't a pass available because more often than not it will cause the end of an attacking move (because it will either be off target or blocked with the strong possibility of ceding possession). And in many respects this requires players with the judgement to know when to shoot and when to pass.

The issue with that game was a total lack of tactics, not the wrong ones.

[Power n Glory]

It's the tactics, if that's what you can call them. Possession based. Ten touched, when one will do. Static. Slow, unless Alexis or Bellerin get bored by it all and inject a bit of pace. The sideways pass when we need the forward pass. The backwards pass ignoring and wasting the effort of somebody who has made a run. Taking our foot off the gas when we get the upper hand. Exerting the absolute minimal level of effort we can get away with, much in line with Wenger's ingrained philosophy of doing the barest, barest minimum to scrape the CL cash (not the competition, because he makes no effort to compete in that, just the cash).

The garbage team selections. We have two new players so if you are going to play them both then don't go sticking two lightweights like Ox and Theo in the team. The idiotic rotational policy based on fear and negativity rather than planning. Xhaka has a good game and looks like he's settling, so stick him on the bench. Campbell was doing well last year too, benched. Iwobi looks like he could give us something that we lack, bench. Chambers started well when he arrived - bench him and then tell him he's a CM. This Wenger bloke is a serious fucking idiot and it's all on him why this team is playing so poorly and why it doesn't seem to matter who you stick in there. Wenger will always find a way to fuck things up.

The transfer policies. Refuse to spend, watch opportunity after opportunity slide by, then panic and blow more than you would have spent in the first place but in return for second tier players.

Here we go again. Another season of the same old shit and for one reason and one reason only. Wenger.

When he fucks off everything will improve overnight because we'll go from having a non-manager who can't even get the very basics right, to (I assume) a real manager who may or may not be a world-beater but at least will be able to pick an 11 and get something out of them.

In general, I agree with the problems we have but not for this particular match. What would Wenger have told them for this game that was different against Man Utd? I doubt the tactics vary game to game unless there is an obvious indication from the team selection. If he plays two DM’s, you can clearly see he’s going more negative. When he makes subs and brings on more defensive players, it’s the same. More negative. When he decides to sub a DM for an attacker, he’s going all-out attack. If he was playing Ramsey or a CM on the wing, he wants an extra man to support central midfield. He’s predictable and the tactics aren’t that varied. I don’t think much has changed since the Invincibles. We just lack the quality and the Prem has gotten a lot better. He was never a good tactician.

With the selection, we were set up to play fast football. The passes just weren’t coming. Not sure what Ozil’s beef was but it wasn’t tactical. He had three pacey players ahead of him and they weren’t just coming short for the ball. Two crosses, a cut back to Perez and that angled pass to Sanchez were all the chances he created. Nothing clear that puts a man through on goal without having to lot of work.

[Niall_Quinn]

In general, I agree with the problems we have but not for this particular match. What would Wenger have told them for this game that was different against Man Utd? I doubt the tactics vary game to game unless there is an obvious indication from the team selection. If he plays two DM’s, you can clearly see he’s going more negative. When he makes subs and brings on more defensive players, it’s the same. More negative. When he decides to sub a DM for an attacker, he’s going all-out attack. If he was playing Ramsey or a CM on the wing, he wants an extra man to support central midfield. He’s predictable and the tactics aren’t that varied. I don’t think much has changed since the Invincibles. We just lack the quality and the Prem has gotten a lot better. He was never a good tactician.

With the selection, we were set up to play fast football. The passes just weren’t coming. Not sure what Ozil’s beef was but it wasn’t tactical. He had three pacey players ahead of him and they weren’t just coming short for the ball. Two crosses, a cut back to Perez and that angled pass to Sanchez were all the chances he created. Nothing clear that puts a man through on goal without having to lot of work.

I don't think the team selection is the over-riding factor in how we play. All of our players seem to have been drilled into a stupefyingly counterproductive form of nothingball that is negative, boring, just garbage. And then, because they are talented players, they can somehow pull the odd passage of play from Wenger's shit stew.

Start two up top, start one, play pacy wingers, play none. Does it matter when there's always that first instinct to slow the play down, take the extra touch, make the safe pass. Wenger has become absolutely obsessed with possession. T such a degree that we can come out of games having had 70% of the ball but without having had a shot on goal. Just that endless passing backwards and forwards and then the inevitable fuck up with the final ball, almost as if training in the final third is banned.

In the last game it was the same. I said as much during the match. One incident summed it up perfectly. Perez and Walcott were breaking across the backline at pace and pulling defender all over the place. Soton were panicking. I can't recall who got the ball, may have been Coq but it doesn't really matter as they all would have done the same. Instead of picking a runner and picking the pass, the ball was tapped short and wide to one of the full backs who in turn tapped it across to the CBs. Move over. Perez and Walcott exasperated. How many times are you going to make that run again, if the ball just never comes to you?

The you have Ox. He can beat his man. He can inject pace. But when he tears up the pitch, NOBODY goes with him so he has fuck all options when he gets to the byline of cuts back inside. And even if he did have options, it looks to me like he's been strictly forbidden from practising crosses.

Having shooting opportunities open up - and refusing them, opting to pass again, and again, and again until statistical inevitability turns the ball over.

You can see these breakdowns all over the pitch, every match. Doesn't matter who is playing, where they are playing. It only matters that they have had stupidball drilled into them. The defence is the same. Standing there, watching opponents measure up their crosses. Marking giant strikers with midgets. Leaving huge gaps at the back and relating on blistering pace to get back there with last ditch challenges, rather than defending in an organised manner in the first place.

If I had to deduce Wenger's tactics based on the shambles week in, week out I'd say they are simple. Do what the fuck you want, except obey at all costs two key rules. 1. Do not lose the ball, ever, ever, ever. 2. Expend the minimum amount of energy. I think that's it. The entire genius of Wenger in two simple bullet points. I don't think he has anythin else in his locker and if he does then he sure doesn't show it.

Don't worry. When he goes, all those things that are inexplicable now will go with him.

[Niall_Quinn]

I'm not sure if we could even say there is a tactical plan being most of the time, yes in the big games we have adopted more of a counter attacking mentality (evidenced by results against man city and bayern munich in the last 18 months or so) but can you honestly say there is a big emphasis on a game plan otherwise other than "go out there, show your quality and the result will come?"

The reason we play with too many passes etc, is because that is the natural game of so many of these players especially in the final third.

I think the only thing Wenger has instilled is avoid shooting outside the box unless there isn't a pass available because more often than not it will cause the end of an attacking move (because it will either be off target or blocked with the strong possibility of ceding possession). And in many respects this requires players with the judgement to know when to shoot and when to pass.

The issue with that game was a total lack of tactics, not the wrong ones.

Yes, and those rumours that the players demanded a change in tactics still float around. True? False? Some of them came close to confirming it after the city match. And maybe Utd was the same.

For sure, Wenger will go to the ends of the earth to bring in passers and he doesn't seem to give much of a shit about anything else. His crackpot ideas that players should be capable of playing in multiple positions, all it means is nobody ever becomes accomplished in a single role unless they are exceptional to begin with.

And yes, the overwhelming desire to hang on to the ball, even if it means football goes out the window in the process, just keep that damn ball. Pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass... For ever and ever and ever. Pass...

It's horrifying.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I don't think the team selection is the over-riding factor in how we play. All of our players seem to have been drilled into a stupefyingly counterproductive form of nothingball that is negative, boring, just garbage. And then, because they are talented players, they can somehow pull the odd passage of play from Wenger's shit stew.

Start two up top, start one, play pacy wingers, play none. Does it matter when there's always that first instinct to slow the play down, take the extra touch, make the safe pass. Wenger has become absolutely obsessed with possession. T such a degree that we can come out of games having had 70% of the ball but without having had a shot on goal. Just that endless passing backwards and forwards and then the inevitable fuck up with the final ball, almost as if training in the final third is banned.

In the last game it was the same. I said as much during the match. One incident summed it up perfectly. Perez and Walcott were breaking across the backline at pace and pulling defender all over the place. Soton were panicking. I can't recall who got the ball, may have been Coq but it doesn't really matter as they all would have done the same. Instead of picking a runner and picking the pass, the ball was tapped short and wide to one of the full backs who in turn tapped it across to the CBs. Move over. Perez and Walcott exasperated. How many times are you going to make that run again, if the ball just never comes to you?

The you have Ox. He can beat his man. He can inject pace. But when he tears up the pitch, NOBODY goes with him so he has fuck all options when he gets to the byline of cuts back inside. And even if he did have options, it looks to me like he's been strictly forbidden from practising crosses.

Having shooting opportunities open up - and refusing them, opting to pass again, and again, and again until statistical inevitability turns the ball over.

You can see these breakdowns all over the pitch, every match. Doesn't matter who is playing, where they are playing. It only matters that they have had stupidball drilled into them. The defence is the same. Standing there, watching opponents measure up their crosses. Marking giant strikers with midgets. Leaving huge gaps at the back and relating on blistering pace to get back there with last ditch challenges, rather than defending in an organised manner in the first place.

If I had to deduce Wenger's tactics based on the shambles week in, week out I'd say they are simple. Do what the fuck you want, except obey at all costs two key rules. 1. Do not lose the ball, ever, ever, ever. 2. Expend the minimum amount of energy. I think that's it. The entire genius of Wenger in two simple bullet points. I don't think he has anythin else in his locker and if he does then he sure doesn't show it.

Don't worry. When he goes, all those things that are inexplicable now will go with him.

1. Do not lose the ball, ever, ever, ever

If that was a cardinal rule that you are not allowed to break, than why on earth does Ramsey get picked week in, week out when he is fit?

[Niall_Quinn]

1. Do not lose the ball, ever, ever, ever

If that was a cardinal rule that you are not allowed to break, than why on earth does Ramsey get picked week in, week out when he is fit?

Because in the main he doesn't lose the ball. It's just that when he does it's usually because he's done something dumb, like attempted a flick when a pass would do. Maybe we shouldn't be so quick to criticise him for doing something anti-Wenger. Maybe it's a little bit of rebellion in him that he can't or won't shake. The ambitious shot, the low probability pass attempt, the burst into the box that exposes his own midfield. Few of our players gamble. That's because they know their teammates won't either. Wenger has found a grinding, statistics based way to eek out enough points each season to earn CL cash. And I emphasise, the goal is the cash, not the competition. Because he refuses to compete when we are playing in the CL. Not unless he is forced to, not unless the cash it at risk. He's turned winning this cash into mock prestige built on the mock prestige of never finishing outside the top 4. It's mechanically reconstituted football. There's a little bit of the real thing mixed in with a big blob of shit. Wengerball in all its stench.

What we should be doing is telling the likes of Xhaka and Cazorla and Ozil to get the damn thing forward in an instant, just keep relentless pressure on the opposition defence. Run out of steam if necessary - that's what subs are for. Lose the ball 50% of time, not a problem at all. But stretch the opposition all over the pitch and do it fast. You know, like we used to. When we used to win.

[Niall_Quinn]

From Le-grove. More people who can see what the one, giant, ghetto-blasting, red luminous mega problem is:

We have a team packed to the brim with talent, and often we are relying on the individual brilliance of our players (Ozil, Sanchez, Cazorla, Koscielny) or refereeing high japery to win us games in a tactically limited set up.

The only thing holding the team back now is the manager.

Most Arsenal fans know this. It is out of an admirable but ever diminishing sense of loyalty to Arsene that he has been given the opportunity to try for one more season what hasn’t come close to working for the last eight. It comes at considerable personal expense to the fans, especially those who pay to go to games. But also to the club as world class players such as Ozil and Sanchez see us celebrate an abysmal but lucky performance like yesterday’s and wonder if they can’t do better elsewhere.

And:

We have a manager who really doesn’t have much of a clue about the issues he’s facing all over the pitch… he’s just hoping if he plays pretty football, and everyone is having a good time, the footballing gods will reward him with a Champions League.

Yes, I'm afraid i's true. The last 10 years have brutally exposed Wenger. The supreme ruler, with no clothes.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Because in the main he doesn't lose the ball. It's just that when he does it's usually because he's done something dumb, like attempted a flick when a pass would do. Maybe we shouldn't be so quick to criticise him for doing something anti-Wenger. Maybe it's a little bit of rebellion in him that he can't or won't shake. The ambitious shot, the low probability pass attempt, the burst into the box that exposes his own midfield. Few of our players gamble. That's because they know their teammates won't either. Wenger has found a grinding, statistics based way to eek out enough points each season to earn CL cash. And I emphasise, the goal is the cash, not the competition. Because he refuses to compete when we are playing in the CL. Not unless he is forced to, not unless the cash it at risk. He's turned winning this cash into mock prestige built on the mock prestige of never finishing outside the top 4. It's mechanically reconstituted football. There's a little bit of the real thing mixed in with a big blob of shit. Wengerball in all its stench.

What we should be doing is telling the likes of Xhaka and Cazorla and Ozil to get the damn thing forward in an instant, just keep relentless pressure on the opposition defence. Run out of steam if necessary - that's what subs are for. Lose the ball 50% of time, not a problem at all. But stretch the opposition all over the pitch and do it fast. You know, like we used to. When we used to win.

I'm quick to criticise him because he's slow, his range of passing is inferior to almost every other midfielder at arsenal, his tackling is often rash and he loses the ball by not having the speed of thought or movement in order to control the ball first time and run or pick out a team mate.