Comments on: Is This The Kind Of Thing We Should Expect This Season? (w/ Player & Manager Ratings)

by: Matthew Wade

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 02:31:56 +0000

The annoying thing is we always play shite after international fixtures….why does this always affect us so much more than our rivals. Van P’s goal against Russia was amazing, but his shooting for us has been non-existant since last season’s injury. DOn’t know what’s up with denilson…has really gone backwards. Letting Gilberto go was foolish and avoidable..exactly the kind of game we need him for. Assume AW is very confident of signing another midfielder, with either a bit of bite, or real class on the ball…

by: LBNo11

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:14:04 +0000

…Big -gun, point taken also (well 3 actually), but read the reports about unsporting behaviour of your own players from independent media - not kicking the ball out for injuries - twice, but our players did.

Oh! and it may be a long time before we compete in Europe again, but in the meantime we will probably win the award for the best fans in the premiership like we did last season (for the second time) - because we get behind the team, even when we are - not very good…

by: Big- gun

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 23:29:39 +0000

LBNo11, point taken! the majority of our fans are very sporting believe it or not, notice how none of us have mentioned your teams unsporting behavior, taking us out at every scoring opportunity we got and thats without mentioning the filthy tackle from your player on Eboue, as for true supporters, let me put this to you, Arsenal fans spend more on following their team in Europe in a few seasons than Fulham supporters will spend in thier entire lifetime which imo gives us the right to critisise after such a lack luster performance as we witnessed today.

by: COYW!!!!!!

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 23:12:11 +0000

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

The only consolation is that spurs are shite too!! and we all like to see them lose

by: lauritz

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 22:44:56 +0000

denilson don’t deserve a 5… that performance was crap! did he hit with any of his passes?
wenger lost his 5 when he put eboue in sentral mid! and did’nt help that he dropped Djourou for Toure, either. Wonder if our beloved captain had a word in it? don’t think I saw Toure holding the line once. Was his substitution because of injury or just tired? Song should have started in CM, and at least gotten a chance when wenger saw our midfield performance.

horrible feeling, loosing so much hope after just 2 out of 38 games :-/

by: Liam Brady's magic left peg

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 22:02:18 +0000

Today needs to be a wake up call for Wenger but i fear that he’s so entrenched in his ideals that he won’t see what is staring him in the face.
Just a few questions ;
1) Why did we spend £5m on Ramsey if he’s deemed not yet good enough to play in central midfield against the likes of West Brom & Fulham ?
2) Given that he hasn’t brought in anybody to replace him, why did Wenger let Gilberto leave for next to nothing ?
3) What’s the point of putting Ramsey, Wilshire & Gibbs on the bench if we’re not prepared to even give them 5 minutes to try and save a point ?
4) Why do we conceed so many goals from set pieces ?
5) Why do we so rarely score from set pieces ?
6) Will we ever win anything with Gallas & Toure as our centre half pairing ?
7) Will we ever win anything with van Persie & Adebayor as our forwards ?
8) Is Theo Walcott the most overhyped player in the country ?
9) Why does Wenger have such faith in players who are nowhere near good enough (Denilson, Song, Senderos, Eboue, Walcott and maybe 2 or 3 others) ?
10) Why did Robert Pires & Dennis Bergkamp, after all they had done for us, only get the offer of a one year contract when an injury prone Man United reserve get’s two ?
11) Are we now more reliant on Fabregas than we ever were on Henry ?
12) Given that we didn’t lose a league game until December last season, and that we only lost 3 in total but still didn’t win the league, can we only afford one more defeat in the remaining 36 games ?
13) Is there a real possibility that we’ll finish outside the top 4 for the first time since 1996 ?
14) Does Wenger honestly believe that we’re good enough to challenge for the league or is he just saying it to boost the self esteem of a young squad ?
15) Why does Wenger look so frustrated on the touch line these days and yet do nothing to address the reasons for it ?

I’ve always had massive faith in Wenger but I am begining to become seriously concerned about where we’re going. To think that it’s only just over 4 years ago that we went unbeaten, and how far we’ve fallen since, is frightening. With the possible exceptions of Sagna, Fabregas & maybe Clichy, how many of the current team would have got into that side. Perhaps even more worryingly, squad players from then like Edu, Keown, Parlour, Wiltord, Kanu and even Reyes would walk into the current side.

by: Mateo

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 22:00:51 +0000

For all of you taking shots at Toure, the man didn’t put a wrong foot in all game. He’s coming off malaria and still played his heart out (all while saving Gallas on numerous occasions). If you want to criticise anyone, it should be Gallas. For a captain who’s quick to point fingers, he makes a hell of a lot of crucial mistakes.

Oh and congrats to Fulham. Your passing was top notch today even though your final product left a lot to be desired (sounds familiar).

by: gazzap

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:24:12 +0000

yes I wanted to mention poor Djourou as well. he has been playing so well and then gets dropped. would we have conceded from that corner with JD on the pitch? he is a better set piece defender than Gallas and Toure. I think he was very unlucky to be dropped.
I dont really like the way certain players know they will play once they are fit. thats not proper competition for places. Toure could have waited at least until JD had an average game. dropping him after 2 blinders was unfair and sends out the wrong message.
I think Twente becomes an important game, as of course does Newcastle.

by: LBNo11

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:21:41 +0000

…well it’s interesting to see how easily you gooners after years of being either the top or in the top flight react to one loss in such a condescending manner (apart from manuel - who took the bias out of his eyes and acknowledged that Fulham turned up and Arsenal didn’t).

Take a good hard look at your support, there through thick and thin no matter the result, that is what has given us character. We may be a crap team in your eyes, but our support will be there even if we drop into the lower divisions that we have come from - could some of you here say that yourselves?

Oh! sitrafox, you come across as what most other fans in the league think of as a typical glory hunter, is you man utd shirt at the bottom of your drawer still - or was it chelsea? You have lost one game for Christs sake and you are talking about not going anymore - I’m sure the REAL Arsenal supporters will be mortified you will not grace them with your prescence.

I am sad I missed seeing Cesc Fabregas, an excellent player - reminiscent of our Johnny Haynes (who was also an Arsenal fan). You will get back to playing pretty football but start acting like real supporters. Oh! and to the bitter gooner who walked past two lady Fulham fans and spat “Fulham Shit” with venom - we just laughed at your poor sportsmanship.

Have a go - no skin off my nose - but just take the time to read this and take it in - save your abuse for some thought…

by: gazzap

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:16:50 +0000

that game could have gone on for another half hour and we wouldn’t have scored. 1 crappy shot on target in the whole match. zero control of the midfield. the midfield is normally arsenal’s strength and today it was our weakness, as it has been in the last 2 games but not to this extent.
If Den was having a stinker why isn’t he subbed off for Ramsey?

also why the hell has wenger taken so long to buy a DM when its clear we needed one in May? why did wenger want to put our first 4/5 games of the season at risk just to get a player late in the window?

its clear we are just as reliant on fabregas as man u are in Ronaldo. without him we cannot play the creative passing game. no one moves for each other so the passing just dies.
doesn’t explain why today most of our players could not pass over 5-10 yards accurately - they looked half asleep when they had the ball and were outbattled consistently.

Fulham were average but fully deserved the win, which says it all. we looked a long way of being potential champions, but a midfield of Inler and Cesc would alter the performance unrecognisably.