The Day After WBA: Anger Turns Into Frustration…

What a terrible result eh? That certainly ruined my weekend.

But overall it was a crazy weekend in the Barclay’s Premier League. Chelsea lost to Manchester City, Manchester United dropped points against Bolton Wanderers, Liverpool drew, Tottenham lost and of course, probably the biggest shock of the weekend was Arsenal’s home defeat to recently-promoted West Bromich Albion.

And what can you say about it?

Views are split to whether it should be Manual Almunia or Arsene Wenger that takes the blame for the defeat. We all know that we need a top-class goalkeeper to really challenge at the top of the table but for whatever reason Arsene didn’t bring someone in. So you’re setting yourself up for possible shocks like yesterday.

The whole performance from everyone (besides Nasri, who has put in two stunning performances in the space of a week) was shambolic and however well West Brom played losing 3 goals without reply is something that should never happen at The Emirates.

And it really does say a lot when Almunia, who made some glaring mistakes was possibly one of our better players. His mistakes weren’t from a lack of effort, they came from the fact that he’s just not good enough.

If anger was the overriding feeling from yesterday, surely frustration is the biggest emotion from most Arsenal fans today.

As we look at the Premier League table today, we still sit in third place, one point behind a stuttering Manchester United and 4 points behind Chelsea. If we didn’t concede that last minute Darren Bent goal last week and actually tried against West Bromich Albion yesterday then we could have been top of the league on 16 points.

But one month into the new season we’re already playing catch up.

But it’s the same old story with Arsenal, we’re always talking about ifs and buts. If the last 5 seasons were about the ifs and buts then we’d have a Champions League and a couple of Premier League Titles, but the fact is it’s not. We don’t have the mental strength to seize an opportunity when it comes our way. We get so far but then hit a mental block.

I have mentioned this over the last few seasons and I’ll mention it again – Arsenal doesn’t have any winners, with the exception of Cesc Fabregas and Robin Van Persie. We don’t have players who know what it’s like to win, or get over the line. We have some players of exceptional quality and ability, but no winners.

That’s why Manchester United and Chelsea will always be there or thereabouts. They know what it’s like to grind out results over an entire season and push right till the end. That’s why mediocre players like Darren Fletcher, John Obi Mikel and Gary Neville are so vital to those teams – they know what it takes to win, see out games like Sunderland and get results.

Which begs the question why does Arsene persist in shipping out proven winners like Gilberto, Pires and Freddie so quickly once they hit their 30’s?

Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville have proven their worth over the last few seasons despite all touching 36 years of age. It doesn’t matter if they only play 15/20 games collectively their influence on the training ground and dressing room is far more important than the number of games they play.

 

5 thoughts on “The Day After WBA: Anger Turns Into Frustration…

  1. was not our day. One of the comments was very clever; bringing young players (2-3) is very good in this type of matches.Iit is at home, and they will show great detemination and work rate. We missed that a little bit yesterday.

    Fabrigas could have made the difference in the first half already, Im sure of that. I said before and I say it now, we are not the same without him.

    Nasri and Whilshere were the only two players who did their job correct. Nasri did very well, In other circumstances he could have been the man of the match for us for his performance.

    Chelsea can have a bad day too. They were also bad yesterday. United can not win when they travell, they prove that today too. They drops points too.

    I believe a win next week for us will bring the optimism back. It is still early to make judjments. I know a lot of fans have a lot of doubts about our team, but I m convinced we are more than capable of winnig the game next week and even winning the leagues.

     
  2. Well good luck Ibrahim but you will see that this team is going nowhere, with the likes of City and Spurs having bought some great players, you will see that we are going to get way down the table, not even qualify for Europe with this stinge of a manager who wants players free of charge…..ridiculous!!! We had a great team that did not lose the whole season and what did he do ….he went and destroyed it completely, instead of keeping the squad together and putting in some younger players for the future. Well goodbye Cesc and wish you all the best at Barca….

     
  3. Hi Prem,

    In an Arsenal internet full of ridiculous comments, your’s is an excellent contender for stupidest fucking comment I’ve read today. Congratulations! You manage to show an hilarious degree of pessimism, combined with an almost total ignorance of Arsenal history – and finally round off the proceeds by wishing our Captain all the best at another club.

    Tell me Prem, when you are as painfully retarded as you clearly seem to be – do you actually know you’re retarded?

    Your Curiously,
    Wandarah.

     
  4. great article mate.as a football fanatic and die hard gooner after the performance against wigan i was shocked as the other supporters,but looking at the positive we are just 6 games into the season and the first defeat since july 17th.man u drew,chelsea lost we lost,spurs lost everton drew …so it wasnt a great weekend for the big clubs.arsene has done much for the club wil never doubt him and because him we are one of the best in the buisness. a proper team meeting with players and understand the loopholes.
    next epl trip is to chelsea ,i guess wel have verminator and cesc back hopefully wil much for stability.dont care much abt the champions league wel top the table neways.
    hope for a strong reply next week a point or a win would be awsomeee!!!

     

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