Comfortably fourth. Below Sp*rs. *smh*
I would urge you dear reader to have a look at John Cross`s article in the Mirror today. I have said much of what he has said, many times to the extent that there is nothing I can add which would not be a repetition of my comments and articles since I began contributing to Gunners Town. How disappointed and frustrated I am this morning to find that we are now 4th and behind Spurs. This is the time of year when it is approaching St. Totteringhams Day but it does not look as if there will be a St. Totteringhams Day this year.
Look at the evidence. We have conceded 9 points out of the last 4 games against teams which we should have beaten. Five of those points were dropped against Southampton and the glaring reason for all of them is ( as John Cross said ) because Wenger did not sign a striker but most importantly, a defensive midfielder last year. The warning signs were there. Many commentators said that if anything happened to Coquelin, we would have no cover. Not only did we lose Coquelin, but we also lost Santi and with them we lost our engine room.
Ramsey never fails to disappoint these days. (Photo/Frank Augstein)
Flamini did his best and Ramsey tried to cover for Santi but in the first place he is not the same type of player and he has hit a bad streak of form. His passes go to an opponent more often than his team mates. Flamini just does not have it in him to break up and dominate attacks and he lacks the composure of Coquelin when he does get possession. There is simply no link between defence and attack and no visible shape to the team. They don`t look as if they have a plan. Last night we managed to muddle through thanks mainly to Sanchez and Ozil who together almost managed to compensate for our weaknesses up to now, with sheer skill. At the time When Sanchez was also injured, reality sank in. We can`t cope in midfield and we do not have players who are good enough to stand in for the key players in the team.
Wenger watches our title hopes disappear before his eyes
Arsene has been forced to admit today that we cannot convert chances to goals but he did not buy Charlie Austin. There is no question that he would have scored goals and he would have brought competition for Giroud for £6m! I don`t know if he made enquiries for a holding player but since nobody else seems to know of anyone either, I have to assume that he did not try to get one.
We are told that he had £80m to spend and he spent £7m on Elneny. He appears to be a good prospect, but he is more like Ramsey than Coquelin and therefore not what was required. What would it have cost to buy a good DM and Charlie Austin? Perhaps £40m. Compare that to winning the league. There is no sensible reason for his miserliness. Arsene has to take the blame. He says apparently that he feels guilty after the result last night, and so he should. I feel like Anne Hathaway in “Les Miserables” when all my dreams have turned to dust.
An incredible selection of authentic Arsenal shirts at amazing prices!As to his tactical nous; we lose many games because despite the fact that it is obvious that our weaknesses are mainly in the midfield area, he has no idea how to cope against two banks of 4 when the opposition swamps our midfield. He tried to compensate for Mertesecker`s lack of pace by playing Gabriel and it worked to the extent that Long made no impact on the game. Southampton`s midfield still controlled the game. The only reason we looked less bad was because Ozil and Sanchez almost single handedly conjured opportunities without any support from Ramsey or Flamini. We did eventually get the ascendancy and to be fair it took a miraculous performance from Foster to deny us a win. It was sheer effort that brought us back into the game last night. Ozil and Sanchez almost busted a gut but against Southampton who admittedly are a decent team they should not have needed to have done so.
Foster kept Ozil and Alexis off the score-sheet
Just as this situation comes up every season as sure as the sun rises in the morning, I know that the blind who follow the blind will be lambasting me for this article but please don`t accuse me of not being an Arsenal fan. I consider that we have a duty to point out the mistakes made by Wenger so that they can be cured. If you get porridge for breakfast every day and you don`t complain, you will expect to have it served to you every day.
Alas, since Wenger seems to have run out of ideas, I have to conclude that we shall be struggling to stay in the top 4 given our list of fixtures coming up in the next 3 weeks.
A sophisticated, articulate Arsenal Man of Mystery. Aged 70 and a bit.
we thank him for good memories. still feel wenger should leave our beloved arsenal to try his wengernomics with a bank. his stubbornness has costed us tittles. he has already thrown away big channce presented to us this season. mediocre
Thanks all gunners family,I really support this writeup, wenger is not a world class coach as he was rated to be.he gamble a lot with asernal fan by not taking our emotion serious as we thought of a good coach.am dissappointed with wenger policy.
if Arsenal would have bought Charlie Austin there would have been uproar! Everyone is fawning over Jamie Vardy too and rightly so at this time. Yet, imagine if Wenger had signed Vardy from the non-league when Leicester did. They would have been calling for his head again. As for St Totteringham’s Day, this has gone to the wire a few times in recent memory. Cast your mind back this time last year and Spurs had just beaten us at the Lane to go ahead of us so it’s complete rubbish to say this is the time of year we start to think of St Totteringhm’s Day. Yes it looks bleak for Arsenal right now due to recent results but we have the same number of points as Spurs, a team supposedly having the season of their lives. Some people need to grow up!
I think not Dick T. Arsene said that he would not spend large sums of money on players unless they were better than what he already had. Charlie would not have cost much so he could say that he had not broken his own rule. Given his record of scoring in the premiership with vastly inferior teams, I see no reason why there would have been uproar from the fans, Any uproar would have been quashed when the goals went in,
As to St, Totteringham, Spurs are a much improved team. They are young, balanced, physically strong and are playing better football. You may denigrate them and ignore the obvious, it has been a feature of many of our defeats that we constantly underestimate the opposition. Better to be accurate in your assessment and plan accordingly.
I shall not comment on your final comment. Personal abuse is no substitute for logic.
Its high time I submit Again that the Londoners need wake up from the deep slumber and force this man out (Wenger) the man has hit football menopause.
Everybody has said time and again and again Goroud cannot take Arsenal anywhere, Imagine what Lukaku does at Everton can it be compared to Goroud at Arsenal. Or is it because he’s French that he has to stay.
Take for example against Chelsea he was substituted we were 10 vs 11 but Arsenal played in a very good shape for the next 72min. and that points to one thing Mr. Wenger WHENEVER YOUR BEST BOY IS IN THE FIELD ARSENAL PREDOMINANTLY PLAYS WITH 10 MEN.
The guy cannot hold on to the ball, cant dribble, cannot pass the ball always running behind the defenders, any slight tackle he’s on the deck always waiting for easy tap ins. cant rem seeing an assist from this clown of a striker.
Same English Arsenal Supporter forced Ebouye out of the club for non performance why not Goroud? hypocrites the guy is rubbish. Walcot isn’t a central striker cant perform will never do in that position.
It’s a curse by his wife we will never win the pl with this joker he is not for the fan’s he is for filthy bosses the best for us is to boycott emirates and what they sell keep emirates empty for the reminder of the games it hurts and heart attack to let him ruin our club
I’m surprised you haven’t been insulted, patronised, told to head down the lane or support one of the oil rich clubs after this one Victor!
I don’t think Charlie Austin is a world beater but for £4m he could have come in and done a decent job as back up for the rest of the season, if it hasn’t worked out we would still have got our money back so to me it wouldn’t even have been a gamble….
Thanks Nick, what you say about Charlie is exactly my point. I have previously said that at the very least we would have tried and he would subsequently have been saleable.