Match Reaction: Newcastle 0-1 Arsenal

[Syn]

Very good 3 points - top teams will drop points against them (Man Utd already have). But it was a very poor performance. Chamberlain and Walcott were embarrassing for all the pace and power they're supposed to bring. We're in trouble next month unless Sanchez gets back to speed and starts scoring.

[I am invisible]

This is a really confusing season for me? I've not really watched any of the games yet, so I'm largely going of stats and match reports - one side of it is showing that we've had more shots on goal than any other side in the league (over 20 a game, on average), and have just kept our second clean sheet in 4 games... but from everything I've read in reports and on here, we sound like a fucking shambles?!

What the hell is going on? Are we really that awful at the moment, or are we just getting more and more jittery because none of these chances are going in to settle us down?

[Niall_Quinn]

This is a really confusing season for me? I've not really watched any of the games yet, so I'm largely going of stats and match reports - one side of it is showing that we've had more shots on goal than any other side in the league (over 20 a game, on average), and have just kept our second clean sheet in 4 games... but from everything I've read in reports and on here, we sound like a fucking shambles?!

What the hell is going on? Are we really that awful at the moment, or are we just getting more and more jittery because none of these chances are going in to settle us down?

We need to sign a striker and an authoritative midfielder. Mind you, we've needed to do that for an age now so no real change. We have Cazorla playing a dual midfield role and he's not very good at it. Wenger thinks he is though, so that's why we have Coquelin (who is doing excellently considering) under so much pressure. Bif needs ten chances to convert one, not that we play to his strengths anyway. Walcott is imagined as a striker but we always crash back to reality when he gets a chance to show what he can't do. In terms of extracting what is possible from the team and squad (and we have seen some very good performances on a one-off basis) we have a manager who refuses to do it. He also refuses to sign the players we really need, but he's been refusing to do that for years. It's not a shambles, it's just a waste. Our defence looks good when we are up against teams that park the bus, but it falls to pieces against teams with more ambitions. Kos hasn't started well but he'll improve. Gabriel looks to be a prospect but he'll need to get up to speed very quickly and we'll need Wenger to make a decision on Merts, which no doubt he'll shirk.