Sloppiness almost cost us 2 points yet again. It happens so many times when the ball is in the box, we faff around and opponents get a chance as a result of it. Even though Palace played well, the reality was we were 2-0 up at the 93rd minute yet could've been 2-2 only 2 minutes later. I'm fed up waiting for Wenger to realise defensive lapses, zonal marking and general dilly-dallying, all of which can be ironed out on the training pitch, costs us points. The title contending teams would've closed that game out at 2-0 but we never close out games. The positives are Coquelin, Cazorla and Oezil seem to have fit in well in the new midfield even if their pass accuracy was poor today, Giroud keeps scoring and Sanchez looked back to about 85-90%. It's a shame that chance went wide after some good play by Oezil but he'll bury those chances in a couple of games time I'm sure.
@SteveHyland "The title contending teams would've closed that game out at 2-0 but we never close out games."
I love when people spew this nonsense. You must mean like when Man City "closed out" their home match with Burnley, which they led 2-0, by conceding two goals to settle for a draw. You must mean like when Chelsea "closed out" their home tie with Bradford City, which they led 2-0, by conceding 4 goals in an epic collapse. People who repeat this garbage seem to believe that every team but Arsenal win 5-0 every week. Stupid.
@Art_Vandelay- You give 1 example for Man City and that is when their first choice centreback (and captain, up there with the best in the world in both regards) was out and an F.A Cup game for Chelsea which is at best their 3rd choice competition. How many league games with their first teams out have they almost squandered a 2 goal lead in 3 minutes? You don't seem to realise that closing games out is the principle reason why teams become title winners, it's not winning 5 or 6-0 every game, it's making sure the opponent doesn't get a sniff.
@Art_Vandelay yeah. Anyone who genuinely believes they know more about football than wenger can pretty much be chalked off as cookoo as far as I'm concerned. Arsene has spent a fraction of other title winning teams (city, utd, chelsea) yet this guy still thinks arsenal should be winning every game 5-0. Arsenal would be a mid table team without Wenger's contribution. Best just to ignore him and listen to the real arsenal fans. A tough game yesterday, which we deserved to win.
@Dadaist- Real Arsenal fans? Do you mean the mugs who hold up "In Wenger we trust" banners and accept 4th place year after year and call that "success", pay the most in the league for tickets watching a team who are out of the title race every season before Christmas? You must be joking, surely? It's the attitude of these/you morons that has allowed a perennial title-contending team to become a perennial 4th placed one. We can't possibly question Wenger because he knows best. Yeah right, bring in a manager with fresh ideas, ambition and who gives the players the idea that anything less than winning the title is not good enough and you'll see how bad Wenger's last decade have been. As for the supposed lack of spending, we've spent £243,625,000 in the last 4 seasons averaging (for those who can't count) £60,906,250 per season. We in no way would've been a mid-table team without Wenger with the players we've had in our squad, that's the propaganda put about by Wenger apologists.
@SteveHyland Ok buddy, continue to spew your media spoon fed crap. In nett spend since 2003 Arsenal are the NINTH highest spenders on transfers behind Stoke, Aston Villa, Sunderland, Tottenham, Liverpool and WAAY below the other "big four" teams (the ONLY teams to have finished above Arsenal since Wenger took over) yet in that time have consistently finished in the top four and built and financed a new stadium. Your tired old cliched argument that Arsenal season ticket holders pay higher prices than other teams: Londoners get paid significantly more than people in other parts of the country, land is more expensive also (new stadium/see a pattern yet?). It's almost irrelevant anyway as each season ticket pays for less than a days pay for a player, see the recent media deal for the real money. Before Wenger, Arsenal weren't "a perennial title-contending team" since the 1930's. Arsenal are close to being great again and Wenger will be at the heart of it.
@Dadaist- As for your argument for the highest season ticket prices being justified because we get paid more and Arsenal have to cover the costs of the stadium etc. Firstly, the cost of the stadium has to be swallowed by the company NOT the fans, secondly living costs more in London so the pay is still relative to the wage is in other parts of the country and lastly Chelsea (perennial league title contenders) only charge £1,250 for their most EXPENSIVE ticket whereas we charge £1,014 for our CHEAPEST. Pretty sure Chelsea is in London....
@Dadaist- Actually the media are very much pro Wenger on the whole so if anyone is spewing media spoon fed crap it's you. It's also funny you've quote a source from transferleague yet haven't bother to acknowledge the fact we've spent alost £244m in 4 seasons, as I said, and have made NO progress in that time. How do you answer that? It also makes me laugh when talking to Wenger apologists that they bring up the glory days as though those who want Wenger out NOW ignore them. If Alex Ferguson had 12 years without contesting the title, he'd have been out and he was a much more successful manager than Arsene. I've said on here before that Wenger revolutionised football in this country not just at Arsenal but that doesn't give him the right to stay in the job being unsuccessful just because he used to be successful. It would happen in no other job in the world. pt 1/2
@SteveHyland Arsenal nett spend last 5 years: £95,825,000. Chelsea nett spend same period: £278,209,000, almost THREE TIMES more. It's common knowledge Chelsea are the plaything of a Russian Billionaire, Arsenal by a tight fisted American. That isn't Wenger's fault.
#Net Spend last 5 Yrs Purchased Gross Sold Nett Per Season
1 Manchester City £475,450,000 £147,400,000 £328,050,000 £65,610,000
2 Chelsea £498,609,000 £220,400,000 £278,209,000 £55,641,800
3 Manchester United £356,300,000 £82,600,000 £273,700,000 £54,740,000
4 Liverpool £351,950,000 £221,770,000 £130,180,000 £26,036,000
5 Arsenal £258,125,000 £162,300,000 £95,825,000 £19,165,000
If anything, Arsenal have over achieved. It's only been the last 2 years that big money has been spent. Arsenal are progressing and are close to having a great team again, see last seasons FA cup win as evidence. Anyway, if not Wenger, who?
We should try Wilshere on the right. He's brilliant at dribbling and key passing and it'd save us from shifting Ozil or Ramsey out wide whilst giving Wilshere a chance to play more.
We need a combo of ox and walcott, because ox isn't good at finishing and walcott isn't good at dodging and defense. Lets see who improves first, cause in a month from now they would be fighting for a spot in first team.
Time to get the away form up, at home the gunners lead the form table. I remember a year or more ago when the away form was formidable. Coyg.let's get that going!
Palace have only scored 1 goal over a goal per game average at home this season and with a settled defence and Coquelin playing ok, I would expect us to keep a clean sheet. It depends how we defend corners and free kicks because Palace are a tall team and our zonal defence (actually, ANY zonal defence) is ineffective. They have a generally tight defence so I can't see us scoring 3 or 4. The team listed atm is the one I'd go with and if that is the one put out, I'll predict a 2-0 Gunners win, hard to bet against Cazorla as MotM given his form of late.
Sloppiness almost cost us 2 points yet again. It happens so many times when the ball is in the box, we faff around and opponents get a chance as a result of it. Even though Palace played well, the reality was we were 2-0 up at the 93rd minute yet could've been 2-2 only 2 minutes later. I'm fed up waiting for Wenger to realise defensive lapses, zonal marking and general dilly-dallying, all of which can be ironed out on the training pitch, costs us points. The title contending teams would've closed that game out at 2-0 but we never close out games. The positives are Coquelin, Cazorla and Oezil seem to have fit in well in the new midfield even if their pass accuracy was poor today, Giroud keeps scoring and Sanchez looked back to about 85-90%. It's a shame that chance went wide after some good play by Oezil but he'll bury those chances in a couple of games time I'm sure.
@SteveHyland "The title contending teams would've closed that game out at 2-0 but we never close out games." I love when people spew this nonsense. You must mean like when Man City "closed out" their home match with Burnley, which they led 2-0, by conceding two goals to settle for a draw. You must mean like when Chelsea "closed out" their home tie with Bradford City, which they led 2-0, by conceding 4 goals in an epic collapse. People who repeat this garbage seem to believe that every team but Arsenal win 5-0 every week. Stupid.
@Art_Vandelay- You give 1 example for Man City and that is when their first choice centreback (and captain, up there with the best in the world in both regards) was out and an F.A Cup game for Chelsea which is at best their 3rd choice competition. How many league games with their first teams out have they almost squandered a 2 goal lead in 3 minutes? You don't seem to realise that closing games out is the principle reason why teams become title winners, it's not winning 5 or 6-0 every game, it's making sure the opponent doesn't get a sniff.
@Art_Vandelay yeah. Anyone who genuinely believes they know more about football than wenger can pretty much be chalked off as cookoo as far as I'm concerned. Arsene has spent a fraction of other title winning teams (city, utd, chelsea) yet this guy still thinks arsenal should be winning every game 5-0. Arsenal would be a mid table team without Wenger's contribution. Best just to ignore him and listen to the real arsenal fans. A tough game yesterday, which we deserved to win.
@Dadaist- Real Arsenal fans? Do you mean the mugs who hold up "In Wenger we trust" banners and accept 4th place year after year and call that "success", pay the most in the league for tickets watching a team who are out of the title race every season before Christmas? You must be joking, surely? It's the attitude of these/you morons that has allowed a perennial title-contending team to become a perennial 4th placed one. We can't possibly question Wenger because he knows best. Yeah right, bring in a manager with fresh ideas, ambition and who gives the players the idea that anything less than winning the title is not good enough and you'll see how bad Wenger's last decade have been. As for the supposed lack of spending, we've spent £243,625,000 in the last 4 seasons averaging (for those who can't count) £60,906,250 per season. We in no way would've been a mid-table team without Wenger with the players we've had in our squad, that's the propaganda put about by Wenger apologists.
@SteveHyland Sources: transferleague.co.uk/league-tables/transfer-league-table-2003-to-date.html en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Arsenal_F.C._seasons
@SteveHyland Ok buddy, continue to spew your media spoon fed crap. In nett spend since 2003 Arsenal are the NINTH highest spenders on transfers behind Stoke, Aston Villa, Sunderland, Tottenham, Liverpool and WAAY below the other "big four" teams (the ONLY teams to have finished above Arsenal since Wenger took over) yet in that time have consistently finished in the top four and built and financed a new stadium. Your tired old cliched argument that Arsenal season ticket holders pay higher prices than other teams: Londoners get paid significantly more than people in other parts of the country, land is more expensive also (new stadium/see a pattern yet?). It's almost irrelevant anyway as each season ticket pays for less than a days pay for a player, see the recent media deal for the real money. Before Wenger, Arsenal weren't "a perennial title-contending team" since the 1930's. Arsenal are close to being great again and Wenger will be at the heart of it.
@Dadaist- As for your argument for the highest season ticket prices being justified because we get paid more and Arsenal have to cover the costs of the stadium etc. Firstly, the cost of the stadium has to be swallowed by the company NOT the fans, secondly living costs more in London so the pay is still relative to the wage is in other parts of the country and lastly Chelsea (perennial league title contenders) only charge £1,250 for their most EXPENSIVE ticket whereas we charge £1,014 for our CHEAPEST. Pretty sure Chelsea is in London....
@Dadaist- Actually the media are very much pro Wenger on the whole so if anyone is spewing media spoon fed crap it's you. It's also funny you've quote a source from transferleague yet haven't bother to acknowledge the fact we've spent alost £244m in 4 seasons, as I said, and have made NO progress in that time. How do you answer that? It also makes me laugh when talking to Wenger apologists that they bring up the glory days as though those who want Wenger out NOW ignore them. If Alex Ferguson had 12 years without contesting the title, he'd have been out and he was a much more successful manager than Arsene. I've said on here before that Wenger revolutionised football in this country not just at Arsenal but that doesn't give him the right to stay in the job being unsuccessful just because he used to be successful. It would happen in no other job in the world. pt 1/2
@SteveHyland Arsenal nett spend last 5 years: £95,825,000. Chelsea nett spend same period: £278,209,000, almost THREE TIMES more. It's common knowledge Chelsea are the plaything of a Russian Billionaire, Arsenal by a tight fisted American. That isn't Wenger's fault. #Net Spend last 5 Yrs Purchased Gross Sold Nett Per Season 1 Manchester City £475,450,000 £147,400,000 £328,050,000 £65,610,000 2 Chelsea £498,609,000 £220,400,000 £278,209,000 £55,641,800 3 Manchester United £356,300,000 £82,600,000 £273,700,000 £54,740,000 4 Liverpool £351,950,000 £221,770,000 £130,180,000 £26,036,000 5 Arsenal £258,125,000 £162,300,000 £95,825,000 £19,165,000 If anything, Arsenal have over achieved. It's only been the last 2 years that big money has been spent. Arsenal are progressing and are close to having a great team again, see last seasons FA cup win as evidence. Anyway, if not Wenger, who?
We should try Wilshere on the right. He's brilliant at dribbling and key passing and it'd save us from shifting Ozil or Ramsey out wide whilst giving Wilshere a chance to play more.
Lets hope wilshere also gets a touch !! We would want as many player fit and performing as possible before UEFA .
x2&2+
We need a combo of ox and walcott, because ox isn't good at finishing and walcott isn't good at dodging and defense. Lets see who improves first, cause in a month from now they would be fighting for a spot in first team.
It will be at least 3 goals from Arsenal and dominate completely, Palace might get a fluke goal but highly doubt it! COYG!
Mesut Ozil, man of the match; 2 goals 2 assists
0-2 to the Arsenal. Ozil and Alexis to score. Wilshere to come off the bench. COYG
Time to get the away form up, at home the gunners lead the form table. I remember a year or more ago when the away form was formidable. Coyg.let's get that going!
With Sánchez again, think Arsenal can score more than two goals. With the recent matches of Palace, think will be 1x3, with, of course, Sánchez MotM.
Palace have only scored 1 goal over a goal per game average at home this season and with a settled defence and Coquelin playing ok, I would expect us to keep a clean sheet. It depends how we defend corners and free kicks because Palace are a tall team and our zonal defence (actually, ANY zonal defence) is ineffective. They have a generally tight defence so I can't see us scoring 3 or 4. The team listed atm is the one I'd go with and if that is the one put out, I'll predict a 2-0 Gunners win, hard to bet against Cazorla as MotM given his form of late.
This will be a tough game for Arsenal. 1-2