The Arsenal Thread

[Quasit]

Thing is, we both know this, but money isn't the issue.

When are we going to see more astute tactics and better physio therapy? We've got around 150m of talent injured at the moment.

Wenger doesn't do tactics specified to counter teams, it is just against his principles. Many former players have confirmed this even Cesc.

I think you will like this if you havent read it already. Goes into all things that are wrong with us.

Guess which other manager has a degree? – Le Grove – The Arsenal opinion blog

 

[Montanaro]

Bit of an ego to think your tactics don't need changed based on matchup...like the tactic is unbeatable.

Or you could look at it that wenger doesn't like changing to keep it simple for his players.

 

[Quasit]

Bit of an ego to think your tactics don't need changed based on matchup...like the tactic is unbeatable.

Or you could look at it that wenger doesn't like changing to keep it simple for his players.

Yeah Wenger wants to play beautiful football, but being honest we haven't played that great football this season. Some great goals, but those all against lower sides.

JT said in interview that they kept training for a week for different scenarios in that PSG game. 1-0 down, 2-0 down etc, but always believed they could win. If he can handle that kind of thing I think our players can as well so no point keeping it simple.

I think everything comes down to that Wenger is too powerful. Somebody said that he now is the last King in football. The last dictator and wasn't wrong in that really.

 

[rephlex]

He's a good manager and has delivered success, but the 'evolution' has stalled at the club. As said in the above post, it's arrogance to play the same tactics in every game, home or away, and not tailor your setup to the opposition at all. There are some major blind spots to this approach, but fundamentally you need to have a better team than your opponent to beat them, and when your opponent tailors their tactics to you - then you need to be substantially better to consistently win.

There has been a lot of talk about the psychology of the club, and perhaps this is the real culprit. There have been many studies done o visualization techniques, which allow the individual to envisage an outcome and prepare for it more completely in order to perform better. I'm sure many people have used this technique when approaching interviews and suchlike. To not prepare is just idiotic, and especially to then moan about it afterwards. That, alongside most of the players still being injured for about five season in a row is just too irritating to deal with every single year.

Ozil was a great signing, but would have been truly great by buying a speedy forward to let him play throughballs. It seems in areas such as sports conditioning, tactics, training, injury recovery, transfers and overall motivation lately he is just at half-strength, and it isn't good enough. I'd vastly prefer Klopp shouting his mouth off, motivating his players and getting touchline banned every few games because he is giving absolutely everything, working against every opposition, focusing on firing his team up and providing that platform for them to succeed. I'm sure if I was Wilshere or Ramsey and looking at Wenger's record, if I waned to have a truly successful career they'd have to move away to find a manager who is that hungry for success. 5th might be the best thing to happen to the club for a while if it forces a (decent) manager change, as 4th and the FA cup is just going to maintain the status quo.

 

[Aannddyy]

He has never said it. Reading too much papers instead of going for original source.

"The first trophy is to finish in the top four," - Arsene Wenger

Ars?ne Wenger says Champions League place is a 'trophy' | Football | The Guardian

 

[Quasit]

"The first trophy is to finish in the top four," - Arsene Wenger

Ars?ne Wenger says Champions League place is a 'trophy' | Football | The Guardian

Hmm didn't remember that. Every interview I've seen has him mainly saying that 4th place is better than cup trophy.

 

[Operative Y]

Santi Cazorla tells Arsenal: Win trophies or I'm off | Football News | ESPN.co.uk

It was bound to happen. Apparently, Santi has also been appealing to Casillas to make a switch.

 

[ajt09]

Santi Cazorla tells Arsenal: Win trophies or I'm off | Football News | ESPN.co.uk

It was bound to happen. Apparently, Santi has also been appealing to Casillas to make a switch.

Bit rich of Cazorla bearing in mind he couldn't even pass the ball 10 yards to his team mates on Sunday. Only players who made an effort on Sunday were the Ox and Ramsey. They at least made more effort than the starting XI even when the game was lost.

Edit-will also leave Sagna from blame as he suffered from lack of cover half the time, and Szczesny who at least kept the scoreline respectable.

 

[GodCubed]

Bit rich of Cazorla bearing in mind he couldn't even pass the ball 10 yards to his team mates on Sunday.

Actually I'd say he was one of Arsenal's best players offensively. As for passing, he had a 97% accuracy, so...

 

[ajt09]

Actually I'd say he was one of Arsenal's best players offensively. As for passing, he had a 97% accuracy, so...

Meh. May have got the player name mixed up then. Still-Coleman made a mug of him lol. And it never grows old watching that clip either

 

[GodCubed]

Meh. May have got the player name mixed up then. Still-Coleman made a mug of him lol. And it never grows old watching that clip either

Could've done, but Arsenal as a whole passed really accurately, mostly because they weren't going anywhere. There was no movement in attack and a horrible lack of structure. Martinez outthought Wenger completely, but not a single Arsenal player did anything above "okay" in that match. Even Flamini, who usually does well in these kind of games, was bad.

 

[ajt09]

Could've done, but Arsenal as a whole passed really accurately, mostly because they weren't going anywhere. There was no movement in attack and a horrible lack of structure. Martinez outthought Wenger completely, but not a single Arsenal player did anything above "okay" in that match. Even Flamini, who usually does well in these kind of games, was bad.

Yeah I was really surprised to be honest. And I felt sad to see Arteta struggle like he did. Still have a soft spot for the guy but I really think his time has come. I don't know. Think a bit of sentiment is clouding judgement

 

[Quasit]

Yeah I was really surprised to be honest. And I felt sad to see Arteta struggle like he did. Still have a soft spot for the guy but I really think his time has come. I don't know. Think a bit of sentiment is clouding judgement

Bit same here. Been refusing to see it a bit, but now as I think of it been bit obvious since December. Ramsey was so good in both ways until his injury that he a bit cloaked the detoriation of Arteta. Would be happy to keep him for a year still, but mainly as a backup.

 

[Quasit]

Could've done, but Arsenal as a whole passed really accurately, mostly because they weren't going anywhere. There was no movement in attack and a horrible lack of structure. Martinez outthought Wenger completely, but not a single Arsenal player did anything above "okay" in that match. Even Flamini, who usually does well in these kind of games, was bad.

I think that Sagna was only good player. Vermaelen and usually pretty solid Monreal were both really poor. Mistake from Wenger really though as he could have countered Martinez with a single move to back three and moving Monreal up the field, but it's easy to say now. Everton still were better in every possible way.

 

[Quasit]

Actually I'd say he was one of Arsenal's best players offensively. As for passing, he had a 97% accuracy, so...

but he has still been below par for most of the campaign. If he really wants to go in summer won't mind it if we get solid replacement.

 

[rephlex]

Though that said, he's been average most of the season, but you don't "build a team" by letting Sagna go (as the club won't offer him an extra ?30k p/w), Vermaelen (as he seems to think he should be starting elsewhere), Cazorla (as he thinks he can win something elsewhere) and Monreal (as he wants a first team slot ahead of Gibbs, yet has been ***** in the 2nd half of the season).

Replacing those four would rather un-do the positives, I can live without 4th place for a season if it causes the club to blow some money on rebuilding, and the Europa league wouldn't be a disaster (winning it is far more likely than a CL at the moment). Overall though, the club has to push on, and I'm mightily sick of Wenger letting his team be *****-slapped by any decent level manager with a few tidy players in his roster, so any change for me has to come at the top. Sick of mediocrity, excuses and 'it was very close'. It's been very close for almost a decade, and an FA cup has to only be the start of something significant next season, even though we are all aware the same underlying tactical issues remain regardless of the quality of the first XI (if they arn't out injured all season due to overplaying/incompetent physios anyway).

 

[TheFalse9]

Though that said, he's been average most of the season, but you don't "build a team" by letting Sagna go (as the club won't offer him an extra ?30k p/w), Vermaelen (as he seems to think he should be starting elsewhere), Cazorla (as he thinks he can win something elsewhere) and Monreal (as he wants a first team slot ahead of Gibbs, yet has been ***** in the 2nd half of the season).

Replacing those four would rather un-do the positives, I can live without 4th place for a season if it causes the club to blow some money on rebuilding, and the Europa league wouldn't be a disaster (winning it is far more likely than a CL at the moment). Overall though, the club has to push on, and I'm mightily sick of Wenger letting his team be *****-slapped by any decent level manager with a few tidy players in his roster, so any change for me has to come at the top. Sick of mediocrity, excuses and 'it was very close'. It's been very close for almost a decade, and an FA cup has to only be the start of something significant next season, even though we are all aware the same underlying tactical issues remain regardless of the quality of the first XI (if they arn't out injured all season due to overplaying/incompetent physios anyway).

Do team qualify for the Champions League by winning the Europa League? If so, that could be a good way of qualifying next season, whilst also winning a trophy.

 

[Quasit]

Do team qualify for the Champions League by winning the Europa League? If so, that could be a good way of qualifying next season, whilst also winning a trophy.

Can remember there has been some talk of it, but nothing concrete organized. I'm still confident that we'll manage that 4th place as all but Theo will be available in week or two unless theres any set backs.

 

[Quasit]

Though that said, he's been average most of the season, but you don't "build a team" by letting Sagna go (as the club won't offer him an extra ?30k p/w), Vermaelen (as he seems to think he should be starting elsewhere), Cazorla (as he thinks he can win something elsewhere) and Monreal (as he wants a first team slot ahead of Gibbs, yet has been ***** in the 2nd half of the season).

Replacing those four would rather un-do the positives, I can live without 4th place for a season if it causes the club to blow some money on rebuilding, and the Europa league wouldn't be a disaster (winning it is far more likely than a CL at the moment). Overall though, the club has to push on, and I'm mightily sick of Wenger letting his team be *****-slapped by any decent level manager with a few tidy players in his roster, so any change for me has to come at the top. Sick of mediocrity, excuses and 'it was very close'. It's been very close for almost a decade, and an FA cup has to only be the start of something significant next season, even though we are all aware the same underlying tactical issues remain regardless of the quality of the first XI (if they arn't out injured all season due to overplaying/incompetent physios anyway).

I think Sagna should be kept. Main thing I think has been that we werent prepared to offer 3 year deal he wanted, but instead 2. He's been loyal to us and we should reward that. Nacho has been solid for 90% of the time and should be kept unless wants to leave. Vermaelen can be replaced easily by someone with lesser wages. Also selling would solve the captaincy problem as Wenger seems reluctant to revive him of it. I like Cazorla, but if he has no desire to stay he can easily be sold and replaced same as Monreal. I also think Podolski will be sold as Wenger doesn't seem to rate him. Joel Campbell will be given chance in summer and we will see if he can compete for spot. Also think Bellerin and Zelalem might have roles to play next season.

While this season we have seen these high scoring matches remember that in his 1000 games only in 1% of the games he has conceded 3 or more. ( If I remember correctly. Saw stat somewhere last night)

 

[TheFalse9]

I think Sagna should be kept. Main thing I think has been that we werent prepared to offer 3 year deal he wanted, but instead 2. He's been loyal to us and we should reward that. Nacho has been solid for 90% of the time and should be kept unless wants to leave. Vermaelen can be replaced easily by someone with lesser wages. Also selling would solve the captaincy problem as Wenger seems reluctant to revive him of it. I like Cazorla, but if he has no desire to stay he can easily be sold and replaced same as Monreal. I also think Podolski will be sold as Wenger doesn't seem to rate him. Joel Campbell will be given chance in summer and we will see if he can compete for spot. Also think Bellerin and Zelalem might have roles to play next season.

While this season we have seen these high scoring matches remember that in his 1000 games only in 1% of the games he has conceded 3 or more. ( If I remember correctly. Saw stat somewhere last night)

You mean lost by three or more, right?