Absolutely Pathetic!

This is possibly the worst performance I have seen from an Arsenal team in the last 10 years. As soon as I found out Fabregas was rested I knew we would be in big trouble, and it proved to be that Arsenal couldn’t create any chances.

Arsene under-estimated Sheffield United and we’ve lost the chance to close in on Chelski who drew earlier today against Fulham.

We played for about 7 minutes but after that we just didn’t even try!

There were many annoying things about today’s performance but the worst was probably on 59 minutes when Sheffield United keeper Paddy Kenny went off injured – and United didn’t have a substitute goalkeeper on the bench. Outfield player Phil Jagielka replaced Kenny in goal so with over 30 minutes remaining you’d expect Arsenal to test the keeper right?

The first shot on goal since the midfielder was put in goal (which was also miles wide) was on 89 minutes by Aliadiere!

Many Arsenal fans (me included) thought that we might have just turned the corner with away games but this performance showed yet again if the opposition want it more they can beat Arsenal.

I’m finding it hard to understand what happened this afternoon – results aren’t everything but when the players put in such a dire performance like which is void of any actual effort then you wonder why these players get paid so much.

Arsenal thought they could simply turn up, play football for 10 minutes and win the game.

Yes, we’ve got injuries but don’t forget that Sheffield United rested 6/7 of their first team players today for their relegation game against Boro next week.

Our squad should have easily coped with Sheffield United even with the injuries we’ve got.

But Arsenal forgot that you have to actually play an entire match and win it to earn 3 points – something Sheffield United didn’t forget.

 

53 thoughts on “Absolutely Pathetic!

  1. The problem is that we have too many lightweight replacements:
    World Class:
    Lehmann, Toure, Senderos, Gilberto, Cesc , Van Persie
    OK(ish):
    Clichy, Rosicky
    CRAP:
    Baptista, Hoyte, Flamini, Aliadiere, Song etc etc
    We have no substitute for TH14 even though Ade is proving World Class…Without those we r stuffed. Send Baptista back to Madrid for goodness sake and sign someone like Bent to add some power…
    In midfield, we struggle without Cesc —again we need some need Mother to sort out the Morgans of this world…We have missed a Vieira type even since Paddy left – need a Papa Boupa of sorts!

     
  2. I think something needs to be done about these performances. Arsene knows but does he know what he is doing with this Arsenal side?We all know that Senderos, Hoyte, Flamini, Aliadiere are not good enough to play for Arsenal. Rosicky is too intricate & that doesnt work away from home. Van Persie shouldve taken more responsibilty instead of passing to the hopeless Aliadiere. Baptista and Clichy where the best two Arsenal players by far. Toure our best defender is costing us points now. Whats wrong with him?

     
  3. just right that was crap and the let me put it like this giving away the first goal in every other game is not funny anymore and the common denomanator is TOURE villa game who was marking melberg? everton game who mijudged there header from a corner?pompey who missed his header from freekick=? blackburn who give away pen? watford who got spun and skinned? and tonight was one of the worst peice of defending i have seen in a long time, i know there was a lot wrong but im sick of young defenders getting blamed for our problems when it is our snr defender it is time he was rested and quick

     
  4. the beast was not that bad tonight he tried to get stuck in and senderos was not that bad either both fullbacks were really bad the build up to the front players was to0 slow even a full team would have found it hard on that pitch giving them a goal start as i said as long as you give the other team a goal start on a pitch like that it is going to be hard i think its 12 times we have given away the first goal enough said!!!!

     
  5. oh what a waste of my time that was…one of the worst games i’ve ever seen. why are we letting these teams drag us down to their level instead of just getting the ball down and playing football?

    and how much space do we give them? the minute an arsenal player gets the ball there is a player all over him, but if an opposition player gets it he has all the time he needs to make up his mind what he wants to do! all these fucking long balls from toure and hoyte what the fuck?

    we can do long balls all day and they will laugh at us with aliadiere and van persie up front! why play baptista a LM when van persie can play there? and what the fuck was the ref doing, that was some of the worst reffing i’ve seen in a while.

    pathetic, atrocious and spineless performance. we were crap and that game showed up a lot of our team. the fact we havent kept a clean sheet in how long says a lot, and lehmann let us down with his decision making again. as did toure, jumping in like a schoolboy defender. aaarrrggghhh!!! so sick of staying up til 4 in morning to watch us get belted

     
  6. I have to agree this is the worst performance I have EVER seen in the last 10 years. Just when I thought we couldnt play any worst after Watford, Arsenal fail to disappoint.

    Toure has been a liability all season and majority of the goals conceded have been down to him.

    I figured what we are missing is experience – aged experience, so the sooner we get Lauren and Ljunberg back the better.

    Aliadiere, doesnt belong at Arsenal and should be offloaded immediately, Rosicky, big disappointment as well as Clichy. He has been proven to be no replacement for Cole (spit spit). What has happened to Gallas, what was supposed to be only 3 weeks out, has been now 5 weeks and no return date set.

    No leadership on the pitch and not enough experience. Without sounding racist, but we do lack english grit and on days like this, digging deep and mixing it up, is what we are lacking

    like Donjohnni – i cant be arsed with paying to watch this shit any longer – I wont be renewing my season ticket either next season.

     
  7. you cant just say, the injuries dont matter. they do matter and matter a lot. look at chelsea, take away just 2 players and they cant win and look vulnerable. we had about 11 injuries today and all players who if fit would have played.
    OK so the likes of Flamini, Hoyte, aliadiere are not good enough but they would not have played if we did not have injuries. the idea of a second 11 is to cover injuries not for the whole second team to play! that was a carling cup team out there tonight.

    we just were not good enough and sheff utd played the game of their season. its that yellow kit.

     
  8. Wengers policy on senior players is a joke, he wont shut up abt how young our team is!!! Obviously if u keep selling those who actually had an influence on these bunch of jokers pires, vieira, campbell!!!!!!!! Its not alright if we can turn up at stamford bridge and get an alright result if we loose 2 teams like capperfield united!!! Im getting sick and tired of it!!

     
  9. thats a great call ac, about toure i have been bleeping on for ages about toure not being the kings bollox and certainly not in the tohn terry class maybe some people will see what we are saying,

     
  10. That was one of the worst performances I have ever seen and it was against a team that aren’t even any good! I could see by half-time that Arsenal were going to lose and I don’t know why the hell Aliadiere keeps getting games for us – Bentender and Stokes are surely worthy of a place behind Henry, Adebayor and Van Persie instead of him! And Baptista was OK tonight but wasn’t helped by the poor performances of Rosicky and the others.

    Flamini tries but only works in a 5 man midfield when Fabregas is playing alongside him. Justin Hoyte was terrible and Toure was really poor for the goal, but has been one of our best players over the last few years so you can’t really blame him for one poor performance.

    The fact is after playing shite against Watford, Arsenal thought they could waltz this game too. Instead of forcing the game Arsenal yet again cruise and then stupidly gift the other team the first goal; Toure made a mistake going for the man instead of the ball and did Lehmann have to be so far out?? Senderos and Toure were close enough to force an error from the Sheffield United forward, but Lehmann made it easy for him by making him hit it first time.

    The point is we LACKED THE BASICS. On wet conditions we should shoot more but yet again we try to pass the ball into the fucking net! When their keeper got injured I thought God was looking down at us but he wasn’t even tested! UNBELIEVABLE!

    Adam’s right, this was such a spineless performance it’s just unreal. It’s one thing losing a match but when it’s because the team didn’t give a shit then that’s when it gets really pathetic!

     
  11. to right sam im not saying he is not a good player just that i played as a semi pro and the most important part of being a defender is decision making and consentration and both of these have let toure down all season he also has a habbit of running all over the pitch and thus the defence will lose its shape it would be a nightmare to play with him defenders should play as a unit and shut of space etc and as adam says we have no time onb the ball yet we let the other team have all the time they want but not repeat myself but in any good level of football giving away the first goal is a huge problem.take aston villa today is the first time in a year that they have scored first and lost that says it all!!!!

     
  12. we fuckin lost again!!!
    arsenal are totally fuked up in that fuckin game!!
    congrats to sufc players n neil warnock because u all won the game fair n square..
    what the fuck wenger is thinking?!!!
    he challenged baptista to prove himself,then he put him on wide left..
    n as we all know, he was totally awful there..
    but 4 me,it aint him who was wrong..
    u wanna challenge somebody to prove himself, put him in his best fuckin position!!!then u’l see whether he’s good enough or not!!
    n y the fuck wenger started aliadiere up front?!!!
    we aint gonna win any league games which he starts..mark my word….fuck off wenger!

     
  13. gazzap, no offence but you’re talking absolute bollocks! we had a weaker team against chelsea than we did against sheff utd! yes, injuries matter but we should have a squad capable of trying for christs sake! do the injuries mean we should play without any sort of effort like we did today?

    the chelsea arguement is flawed because while chelea struggle with conceding goals without cech and terry in the team arsenal on the other hand have shown they can win without henry and gallas! do we need henry in the team for us to not be spineless?

     
  14. still we were missing an awful lot of players, as were sheffield but replace one dirty lout with another who can tell the difference. hoyte is bloody awful cant wait for lauren to return,toure should not be senior partner in defence he is good with someone to tell him what to do, like when sol was playing well and not having mental breakdowns. also i think him and lehmann dont get on at all which shows in their lack of communication.

    time for new keeper, send baptista home and buy some muscle with english experience. no point in occasionally playing 5 man midfield when your throwing flamini in there, how many midfield headers do we ever win? we need someone tough in centre mid to throw their weight about in these games.

     
  15. ok..i got the point here..
    we got a lot of fuckin injuries..
    the team got no proper cover 4 certain positions..
    then spend the fucking money n get tha fuckin cover that we desperately needed!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    wenger doesn’t know what is he doing if u read the postmatch comment..

     
  16. This is what Wenger said after the game:

    “Overall I feel we were a bit unlucky – they showed great spirit and so did we. We were strong enough to win the game but it didn’t go for us and it’s hard to take.”

    WTF?!?!

    Was I watching a completely different football match??

     
  17. baptista is not a bloody winger!!!!!!!!!
    so does hleb, rosicky and van persie!!!
    ljungberg has past his best..and theo is too young..
    to make things worst, we aint gonna buy nobody in january..
    thanx a lot 4 the past 10 years wenger..

     
  18. Guys talent we have but attitude, application, experience and grit we severely lack. Wenger will obviously not criticise his team in public but his post match diatribe is severely pissing me off now. He has to shoulder the blame re tactics and team selection. Tuore is having a bad time but whoever thinks senderos is world class must be losing it. The worst players who started today Hoyte, Flamini, Baptista, Aliadiere for example wouldn’t get into our rivals 22. So build them up Arsene all you want- we know they ain’t good enough. Clichy, senderos etc are just average. Rosicky and van Persie have talent but play well every three games (generally at home). These are the realities my friends. Take out Lehman, Tuore (when in form), Gallas, Gilberto, Fabregas and Henry and we are plain average.

     
  19. i believe baptista is the player who not deserve the critisism.
    he tried his best..he did what’s the best he can do..
    he is out of position to play wide left..he’s still settling in esp away from home..what else?

     
  20. alf ramsey said after world cup 66 “11 godd players dont make a good team” we have enough top players say jens,gallas,rosiscky,henry,cesc are world class and van persie toure(when on his game) hleb gilberto ade are all getting there after all how many world class players do united have maybe rooney,ronaldo and rio,what im saying is we have enough good players its the manager that is accountable and he is getting it wrong pre and post match

     
  21. yeah..i’m totally agree with u ac..
    the talent is there..the squad is big enough (owh yeah?)..
    but still the manager got his tactics wrong.

     
  22. Wenger has lost the plot. He stubbornly refuses to change his policy of relying too much on young players. He has no other game plan other than pass, pass, pass. The players are softies on the pitch. Their physical fragility (constant injuries) are only matched by their mental spinelessness. Other teams would have fielded Lauren and he would have performed super on his first game back. C’mon Wenger – get some steel into the team. And tactically, please buy some proper wingers. I am so fed up with excuses …

     
  23. I`ve had enough of Arsene. The first 8 years – great! The last two – awful! Apart fra Cesc and RVP – no new talent the last two seasons! The way we play – 3 in 10 games are great, the rest rubbish. I`m tired of listening to him speak of all the talented players. I want to see Arsenal challenge for the top spot… We need players who can be part of this. We need them next week, not maybe in two years time..

     
  24. ARSENAL was missing NINE key players,and we condem themand Arsene? What would happen to MANURE if they lost ronaldo,saha vidic, scholes, and van der sar.Did anybody see them against reading? chelsea lost just 1, Terry, and the diffrence is clear .what if they lost Drogba,robben and lampard. Technically thier is no better side in Europe than Arsenal!!!!!!
    dont make me sick.

     
  25. something must be wrong I agree, REXES. So far this season it looks like the best team in europe will not play in the CL next season. So far Arsenal, bolton, portsmouth, everton, liverpool and spurs are batteling for the 3rd and 4th spot in CL next season. Last season we clinched the 4th spot in the last game. Things are not looking bright….

     
  26. th14,eboue,diaby,ljunberg,ade,gallas,hleb,walcott,lauren… and reyes?:P that is what …one…two…three… TEN players out .S**T that almost a full team.full of regulars and definite subs…we are at least playing at 40% of last seasons ability.

     
  27. it’s the excuses arsene keeps saying which annoy me the most – we had a great spirit? don’t make me fucking laugh!! the team were a complete shambles but wenger is the only one who doesn’t see it! when the team needed a right bollocking at half time it was pretty obvious wenger didn’t give one!

    gone crazy is right, we keep losing when things aren’t going our way against these kinds of teams and we don’t have a plan b if the ‘pass, pass, pass’ strategy doesn’t work! teams like bolton, everton, sheff utd and fulham know perfectly well that they can beat us if they’re just more physical.

     
  28. I don’t understand all of the doomsayers. Yes, we are missing a lot of key players but don’t blame Arsene for that. People get injured.

    The team performed ok, but not very surprising considering how many changes there has been over the past week. So most have never really played together expept perhaps briefly in a training session. Give people a break. It is better than last year and next year will be even better….We aren’t going to win any titles this year….

     
  29. ok here goes! today, car crash in slow motion, as i saw the team come out i knew we would lose… we have a great 11 if all fit but we have no squad, today proved it totally…. simple as that… we need 22 not 11… so:
    jens fantastic player for the club, but the end is near… before our very eyes.. need a new goalie should have bought buffon while we had the chance, too late now juve are on the way up… almunia crap.. big problem
    clichy, i so thought he was gonna be better than cole but oh dear he is not.. crap today, no other left back at all, thats crap too
    hoyte, playing for arsenal? would not get in the scunthorpe team, crap, lauren at the end of his career but was fantastic but in the viera days,
    eboue great going forward but cant defend, funny thats what lauren was like when he first arrived
    senderos, our best player today but usually our worst, not good enough to play for a team to win the league,not at all
    toure, problem is he has no other player good enough around him, he is compensating for the rubbish around him, compare lauren, campell, and cole in our championship winning team, enuf said
    gallas, class er i think, lets see
    djourou same as senderos
    so defence? crap basically and the stats and goals prove it…. big shame
    midfield?
    flamini, you have to be joking, the worst player since david hillier, beyond crap, a joke, an embarassment, runs around and does nothing at all.. argh! cesc, pure and utter joy to watch, class
    sivla, amazed me this season, a revelation and sensation, class
    rosicky, superb but not today, but still a class act
    helb, er same as roicky
    freddie, was sensational but shame he is gone, lost it, no pace, no nothing
    bap, ponderous, and we swapeed reyes? madness…shame
    theo, totally wasted on the wing, he is a striker, wasted wasted wasted
    diaby, lets see but from what i have seen, not good enuf
    song, crap
    so we only have 4 midfileders, shame, wont finish 4th then
    up front?
    th14… world class, amazing, crap this season, awful… please get better
    persie, nees 5 chances for every goal, would be a good sub, new bergie, yeah right, night and day…
    adebeyor, a revelation, please get better
    aliad, crap, play theo up front for fucks sake, duh!
    boy do we need to buy a finisher like torres, a proper winger like an overmars (ajax have one now), er a viera, buffon, and a proper centre half
    we wont finish in top 4 unless he does buy, which he already said he wont, which means well, as an arsenal fanatic who goes to lots away games and travels to europe… thats very very bad news ahead…. i predict we finish 7th behind the scum… and in our sensational new stadium too… big big shame

     
  30. Agreed we were poor our full backs are not good enough along with Flamini, Song, Adelaire and I could go on. True to say that the past 12 months have not been good enough however those that are talking about relinquishing their season tickets should be ashamed. Let me educate you, the joy of supporting a club is doing so through thick and thin not just when they are winning, if that is your attitude then Arsenal are better off without supporters like you. Hopefully you can go back to supporting rugby or even better Chelsea. And before you question me I had a season ticket through the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s before moving overseas and for much of that time I paid to watch poor sides because I supported the Arsenal and will always continue to do so regardless of success.

     
  31. I suggest bringing in Tony Adams to work on the physical side of the team. Or maybe a rugby coach. Its a shame to see RVP and even Baptista going to ground at the slightest nudge. On the mental side, we need real professional help as even TH14 has a problem. The team only performs well on sunny days, when the pitch is carpet and when the opposing team are fans.

     
  32. I know players like Edu, Vieira and Campbell have left us in recent years but it seems like ever since Manchester United beat us at Old Trafford a couple of seasons ago we’ve lost that physical presence on the pitch. We just don’t have that spine or backbone that we always used to have.

    It’s only been the last couple of years that we’ve struggled with away games to the likes of Bolton, Everton, Sheffield United, etc. In the last 8 years in the Wenger-era before that we would have easily beaten these kind of teams!

    The performance yesterday was just baffling for a number of reasons. Only last week we battered a Blackburn team 6-2 with a similar first eleven but against Sheffield United we couldn’t even score one against a struggling relegation side. We also pride ourselves on attacking football and yet can’t test a midfielder who played in goal for the last 35 minutes!

     
  33. When will Arsenal realise they can’t play their fancy football on a pitch thick with mud against a more physical side that worked hard to close players down? Baptista wanted another hour to set the ball and the Arsenal defence resembled a circus act. Well done Sheffield United for a committed performance.

     
  34. Well, that was disappointing wasn’t it? I think that comfortably quaiifies as our worst performance so far this season, but I think that ceratin posters are going overboard in their criticism.

    Nevertheless, in my humble opinion, there are a few things that grate about this Arsenal side, and yesterdays peformance in particular.

    Firstly, I have some pretty strong reservations about our tactical nous and decision making. I’m no Arsena Wenger (still a great coach, despite the grief he’s taken from some on this thread – my, my, how fickle you are), but it makes sense that a quick passing game may not be the best tactic on a bumpy, muddy, pitch. I guess being more direct would have been the answer, but neither v Persie or Aliadiere had the strength (or touch) to hold up the ball, and running onto through passes on such a sticky surface wouldn’t have worked either.

    What we needed was a strong, physical player upfront but Ade is injured and the only other possibilties were either banished to fight a losing battle on the wing (Baptista) or making a mockery of Championship defenders (Bendtner).

    We could also do with a more physical prescence in midfield – the only reasonably srong man in there is Gilberto, but even he isn’t that liable to mix it. Sure, him and Flamini and to a certain extent, Cesc, will run all day, but when the ball is up in the air and your opposition are willing (unlike us yesterday) to challenge and fight for every ball, a bit more power and intimidation is desirable. In this regard, I’m hoping against hope that Diaby can give us an answer, but like most of our 1st team, he’s injured – now there’s a suprise.

    Our defence is also lacking in some areas, but I’m convinced our 1st choice back four……Eboue/Lauren, Toure, Gallas, and Clichy is good enough. Eboue needs to learn more about defending but is only young, Clichy can become a fabulous left back with more experience, Gallas, well we all know how good he is, and Toure is also a top class centre back. In fact, I’m amazed at the stick he is getting: Not that long ago everyone was praising his name, saying he should be captain, etc. Now, suddenly, he has become a liabilty. Granted, he hasn’t had a good run lately, but hell, name me one player who NEVER suffers a dip in form. John Terry is an excellent CB, but even the most rabid chelsea supporter will confess sometimes he’s looked less than steady.

    It’s interesting I think that when Cesc was going through a bad patch, nothing was said. Toure however, has a few bad games, and now he should be sold. Unbelievable!

    The truth of the matter is that we aren’t as good as we thought we might be, but we’re not as bad as some are saying either. Players like Hoyte, Aliadiere, and Flamini may not be top class performers, but they are adequate cover considering none of them are first (and in some case, even second choice) starters. The fact remains however, if we put them up for sale, all of them could find a place in another premiership side….maybe just not a top one.

    I would give my right arm for another Adams or Keown in the side – not because they’re English, but because mentally, there is something wrong with us, which leads to the aforementioned bad decision making and tactics. Not shooting at a centre half in goal has nothing to do with skill or technique, it’s to do with a state or mind – one which says, “I’m going to pass it here, because I’m too scared to have a pop from 20 yards plus”. We need someone to read the riot act to our players when we’re not giving it our all and to get stuck in when needed. We have nobody capable of doing that at the moment, and more significally, our oppostion know it too. I know that Arsene praised us for ‘battling’ yesterday, maybe to deflect criticism from our players, but if someone behind closed doors didn’t give the team a major bollocking, something is wrong.

    Unlike some however, I’m into supporting Arsenal for the long haul. I don’t support them because they’re better than everyone else (in fact, when I first started following them, they weren’t very good at all), I suport them because I love em, and always will.

     
  35. some people do go overboard. Please do not renew your season ticket, that way I may get one. And as for worst performance in 10 years did you forget the FA Cup final against manure.

     
  36. what the hell are you on about? the performance against man utd wasn’t the best but at least there was some fight and desire in there! we played a system (4-5-1) which we had never used before in the wenger era so while the team didn’t gel or play well they still fought!

    but against sheff utd fight and desire was severely lacking and virtually non-existent!

    at least try and pretend you know what you’re talking about!

     
  37. hahaha. You poor sods . and to think you all laughed at me last season. Have you been looking through your binoculars to find us ?
    Cant wait to come to your Arabic stadium and whip your asses off.

     
  38. oh yeah U Daft ! the fa cup agianst man U. you idiot had you gone more backwards in that cup final you would had been playing behind the goal. you did good and you must be so proud to had played for a penalty shoot out.

     
  39. This sum up the whole of arsenal team of bad loosers and cry babies..esp the manager

    ‘If they want to be like big babies, let them be big babies,’ he said. ‘We expect that now from Arsenal – we have had it a couple of times. They don’t care to shake hands; they get very upset.’

    ‘That’s what happens when you have a lot of foreign players who don’t like the nitty gritty of the Premiership.

    ‘I’m sure they are just disappointed to lose, but as far as I am concerned you have still got to be sporting enough to offer a handshake.

     

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