Match Reaction: Newcastle 0-1 Arsenal

[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.

[Letters]

Err we won... what's with all the moaning?

Seems the thing to do on here these days.

If we play well but drop points then moan about the result.
If we play poorly but win then moan about the performance.

We've not looked that good so far thus one can conclude that we have no chance even though it's only 4 games in.

Chelsea though, who are below us, have a great chance and we shouldn't conclude anything from their poor start as it's only 4 games in.


Meh.

[Niall_Quinn]

Seems the thing to do on here these days.

If we play well but drop points then moan about the result.
If we play poorly but win then moan about the performance.

We've not looked that good so far thus one can conclude that we have no chance even though it's only 4 games in.

Chelsea though, who are below us, have a great chance and we shouldn't conclude anything from their poor start as it's only 4 games in.


Meh.

And you call other people WUMs?

[Letters]

What I've said is exactly what happens on here.
A lot of it has happened in this thread.

[Niall_Quinn]

What I've said is exactly what happens on here.
A lot of it has happened in this thread.

I suppose it is, if you simplify to the extreme and studiously ignore the responses you get when you post up this sort of tripe. You're the guy fixated on the chavs, everyone else has been telling you to ignore them and have a look closer to home.

[Letters]

Closer to home I see worrying performances, but results have been okish. From what I heard the Liverpool game could have been a win as the goal should have stood.
No-one is arguing that everything is awesome at Arsenal, I am concerned by the performances. But this lot showed they were a good team last year, I don't suddenly think they've become a bad one.
You don't win the title in the first 10 games but you can lose it, if we muddle through results-wise, even if our performances are poor, and stay in the race then we have a chance. Last season we showed we could stand up in big games and we showed we could cope in high pressure games. Good qualities if you want to be champions. IMO we're good enough to challenge so while I'd be happier if we'd signed a striker we should have quite a lot of goals in this team - the lack of them so far is somewhat baffling and troubling.

End of the day, it's a results business. We're not playing well but our results are good enough so far to keep us in the hunt, so long as that continues I don't see there's cause for too much moaning - especially after a win.

[Niall_Quinn]

Closer to home I see worrying performances, but results have been okish. From what I heard the Liverpool game could have been a win as the goal should have stood.
No-one is arguing that everything is awesome at Arsenal, I am concerned by the performances. But this lot showed they were a good team last year, I don't suddenly think they've become a bad one.
You don't win the title in the first 10 games but you can lose it, if we muddle through results-wise, even if our performances are poor, and stay in the race then we have a chance. Last season we showed we could stand up in big games and we showed we could cope in high pressure games. Good qualities if you want to be champions. IMO we're good enough to challenge so while I'd be happier if we'd signed a striker we should have quite a lot of goals in this team - the lack of them so far is somewhat baffling and troubling.

End of the day, it's a results business. We're not playing well but our results are good enough so far to keep us in the hunt, so long as that continues I don't see there's cause for too much moaning - especially after a win.

If we're serious then we can't be going on about ref's decisions and almost winning stuff. We aren't controlling games, we aren't obtaining results in an organised and professional manner. It's so easy to spot when a team is playing with authority and confidence. We are playing with neither, mostly due to the chaotic and disorganised approach of our manager. He mistakes possession for control, a fluked 3 points for progress. He's obstinate and infuriating but not stupid, he knows what we need and what we are seeing now is the result of his ongoing failure to deliver on those requirements. He has 1 day left, unless tomorrow's bank holiday is being ignored. In fact it's less than a day, isn't it? Because the window closes as 6 not 12. The first 4 games tell us everything we need to know. Nothing has changed with this manager despite the facts his "methods" have consistently failed to deliver. I hope he's on the phone non-stop because he needs to be. Then he needs to sit himself in a corner and have a word with himself.

[Dein-machine]

Seems the thing to do on here these days.

If we play well but drop points then moan about the result.
If we play poorly but win then moan about the performance.

We've not looked that good so far thus one can conclude that we have no chance even though it's only 4 games in.

Chelsea though, who are below us, have a great chance and we shouldn't conclude anything from their poor start as it's only 4 games in.


Meh.

If you read the Newcastle match thread plus many more over the past few years you will see that virtually every poster in unhappy with the performance even when we're winning the game. Under Wenger points won't win us the title, it's pointless getting into the C.L ( unless you think of finance ). The only positive of 3 points is to finish above Spurs.
All of this is down to poor players in key positions & Wenger trying to play a system of football that needs better players on the pitch. Where I agree with you is that certain posters like me seem to be able to moan every week whatever the result & what good does it do us - the only good is does for me ( moaning on GW ) is to see that others see what I see & to know that I am not turning mad.
When we play with pace & with the handbrake off like West Brom & cup final - have a look at my posts then. It's not because we won both games 4-0 that I thought we were good - the fact that we were good meant we won 4-0.

[Power n Glory]

Closer to home I see worrying performances, but results have been okish. From what I heard the Liverpool game could have been a win as the goal should have stood.
No-one is arguing that everything is awesome at Arsenal, I am concerned by the performances. But this lot showed they were a good team last year, I don't suddenly think they've become a bad one.
You don't win the title in the first 10 games but you can lose it, if we muddle through results-wise, even if our performances are poor, and stay in the race then we have a chance. Last season we showed we could stand up in big games and we showed we could cope in high pressure games. Good qualities if you want to be champions. IMO we're good enough to challenge so while I'd be happier if we'd signed a striker we should have quite a lot of goals in this team - the lack of them so far is somewhat baffling and troubling.

End of the day, it's a results business. We're not playing well but our results are good enough so far to keep us in the hunt, so long as that continues I don't see there's cause for too much moaning - especially after a win.

There is plenty to moan about because people are concerned about the performance. In the opening name when we lost to West Ham you accused people of not being able to separate the performance from result. Nonsense of course because today's performance wasn't good enough and it would be crazy for anyone to ignore it just because we got 3 points. It's great we picked up all 3 points but we must do better because we might not be so fortunate in the next game.

[Letters]

Yes, and as I said I'm concerned about the performance. But looking around, only City have had a good run at the start of this season. Our results have been fine, our performances poor but I don't believe we're suddenly a poor team.
It's nonsense to write off our chances after 4 games, especially when from last year's top 4 only City are doing better than us. Utd have the same points, Chelsea have fewer and a worse goal difference. Those are the teams we should be competing with so it's perfectly valid to look at how they're doing in comparison to us (although after 4 games any comparisons are less meaningful, let's see where we all are at Christmas and then Easter). Had we lost all 4 games we'd be 12 points behind already and I'd agree that even this early we could pretty much write off our chances, but we haven't.