Proof That Arsene Wenger Has Absolutely No Idea In The Big Games

Liverpool (5) – (1) Arsenal
Arteta 69′ (Pen)
Barclays Premier League

Well what a disgrace.

Arsenal have been playing well over the last 24 games except for when it comes to the big games. We lost 6-3 against Manchester City and 1-0 to Manchester United in performances which were below par, and today we got absolutely battered by Liverpool.

Only this week I wrote an article asking why Arsenal fans are so negative?

One of the main reasons was the lack of striker options, and the state of our squad.

Today we were well off the pace and I’ve never seen Arsenal get dominated so much in an opening 20 minute period. Liverpool were quicker, more determined and wanted it more. Arsenal on the other hand were slow, sloppy and were never in the game.

Liverpool were 3-0 up in the first 16 minutes but the game was over well before then. By 20 minutes Liverpool could (and probably should) have been 5-0 up and there wouldn’t have been any complaints.

Arsene Wenger got it completely wrong today, the same way he did against Manchester City, and a lesser extent Manchester United.

The stupid thing is, and this is something I can’t comprehend, is Arsene’s approach to the “big games”. Arsenal’s record against the “lesser” teams is fantastic, and over the last 24 games our position at the summit of the Premier League table has been completely deserved. But when it comes to the big games, his attitude makes absolutely no idea whatsoever.

Why is it that when the other big sides “struggle” against teams lower in the league are we so open in big games. Why not use a Chelsea approach and keep it tight, and try and nick a win? And if it’s a draw then it’s not a disaster is it? We’ve been top of the league for the majority of the season so we don’t need to desperately win these top of the table games.

Against Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool, we should have played conservatively and not so open. It is self-defeating, pointless and completely unnecessary. And look what’s happened – we’ve ended up humiliated.

We got taught a football lesson today and would a draw have been so bad? Arsene has shown he can play conservatively in games already this season, like we did against Borussia Dortmund.

We’ve got some massive games coming up and Arsene Wenger really needs to think long and hard about how he sets up his Arsenal team.

Today, it was criminal that he didn’t start Lukas Podolski and Tomas Rosicky. In the big games, Rosicky has always been the one that sets the tempo for the side and without him we were lethargic. Podolski is one of the few midfielders who actually shoots and scored against Liverpool last season. And Monreal has shown for me he is not good enough for Arsenal and is a liability.

Mesut Özil has not performed for a long time and it makes it more depressing that Arsenal probably could have secured the signature for Luis Suarez, the stand out player this season, for about £50 million in the summer. It would have certainly been better value than the German playmaker who was £42.3 million.

The January transfer window was a massive chance to strengthen our position at the top of the table and even the most optimistic Arsenal fan will have feelings that February and March could be a disastrous period in our season.

 

37 thoughts on “Proof That Arsene Wenger Has Absolutely No Idea In The Big Games

  1. “Arsenal probably could have secured the signature for Luis Suarez, the stand out player this season, for about £50 million in the summer.”

    Really? How do you make this stuff up?

     
  2. An EXTREMELY flattering scoreline for Arsenal, Liverpool could and should have had 9 or 10 goals today. The good news for Arsenal is that you have a nice easy match midweek against Moyes and the long ball Garbage from Salford.

     
  3. When one tells the truth about Wenger… that the man is of moderate ambition , some Arsenal fans call you idiots questioning whether you are true Arsenal fan ! I love you does not mean I should call a spade a spade . It was quite obvious from the January transfer window that Mr Wenger is stubborn , self- conceited and lack the required ambition to win the league ! A whole mouth no single signing !!!!

     
    • That’s why i said last week . There is pattern one needs to recognise in Wenger’s thinking. And a great man ;Conway ( that’s why there is a ‘con’ in his name) and said “WHAT DO YOU KNOW”, well that’s what i know : Wenger is a senile and old prof that should retire as he is no longer capable to put in a decent analysis of strengths and weaknesses. He has lowered the morale of the whole team by not showing any ambition in the transfer window.Well Mr Conway , you need to hide your stupidity and shut your bloody mouthas you happen to be a fool.

       
    • Because Arsene Wenger is a coach i will concede to his belief that the Arsenal squad is strong and doesn’t need addition. But i Must quickly note that Arsene Wenger is a bloody bloody bloody Liar. Quality strikers were available to be bought in the winter window. At least Fulham got Mitroglou, who we were linked with earlier in the window, Babartov was available. Yes these players are not the top top quality but they can add something to our squad at least in the meantime.
      Now from wengers belief something tells me that if this squad is as perfect as he says, then his TACTICS is the main problem followed closely by his stubbornness. Again I am not a coach but i will outline a couple of things Wenger got wrong in this game and the previous game against Man City.

      1. As great as the Mert-Kos defensive partnership is it will ALWAYS crumble against teams with pace and intelligent coaches can exploit it to our detriment as Brendan Rodgers did against us today. Arsenal should have started with Vermaleen instead of Arteta in the Midfield. Don’t forget our full back plays more of midfield roles than Defensive roles, they are more of wing backs and we end up most times with just the two at the back. Now that works for teams that are not as potent attacking wise, but can NEVER and will NEVER curtail teams with the pace and fire power of Liverpool and City. Play Vermaleen in the Defensive Midfield role and let me join up with the two other Central Backs when we are defending to compensate for Kos lack of pace. That way the devastating effect of our wing backs foray upfront will be minimised as there will be an extra man at the back. We won’t be the first Chelsea does it with David Luiz, United with Phil Jones, City with Demicheles and so forth. We keep the back tight and thereby frustrate their attacking players, who will eventually tire our anyways, towards the end of the game you can replace vermaleen or any other tiring defender with a proper midfielder hoping they will be tired and we can dominate for the rest of the game. Vermaleen is an Arsenal player and he is not as bad as we make him out to be. Any player who is been left on the bench for a while will definitely have to battle with loss of confidence and there is no better way to re integrate Vermaleen into the new team than playing him in a role where he can play without handbrakes and fear as he will realise there are still people behind him to clean up his mess if any.

      2. Wilshere had no business starting in this game. Arsenal had something great going from our last game against Crystal Palace and thats the form Alex Oxlade Chamberlain was showing in a central midfield position. This guy makes our game tick anytime he plays there. I still remember the AC Milan game with nostalgia. The Ox playing in central midfield scored a goal, assisted another and was brought down for a penalty which resulted in the third goal. He got injured in the second half and we stopped scoring. He was thereafter never played in that position again till the last game of last season, when he replaced the injured Arteta and in my opinion did better than Arteta could have done. The Ox is brilliant on the ball, very disciplined and with great pace. I rate him better than Wilshere on form for that position at the moment and he should have started there against Liverpool this afternoon and hold the position till the return of Ramsey who is by far our best player in the role at the moment, but lets even give the Ox a string of games in the central midfield position and see how it goes. Playing him there would have definitely made a difference today. We practically had NO midfield whatsoever today. Arteta and Wilshere were absent. Arteta lacks the pace and right behind him is per who is also not one of the fastest defenders, that was a recipe for disaster in a team that has Suarez, Coutino, Sturridge and Sterling – All extremely pact players. If Arsenal had started with the Ox in the centre that would have created a space for Podolski or even Gnabry to start. At least these are two guys who can create something out of nothing and guess what they what BOTH watching FROM THE BENCH. Giroud is a decent striker but his style of play require there be a more lethal finisher play slightly in front of him. Podolski is our ONLY option at the moment in this role. The reason he has not being successful in the role is because he plays too deep in the midfield to be useful upfront and he’s also not a very pact midfielder. He plays deep in the midfield because there is no Giroud to hold up play and set him up. He is not a Suarez that can take the ball from the midfield and set himself up. Again i agree completely with Wenger that we have a crop of decent players that can do the Job but that then makes me to question his astuteness and formation when the Job doesn’t get done, which ALWAYS the case against big teams.

      3. Our problem today was not due to a lack of strikers > i make bold to say they a Falcao or Cavani or Costa would not have made much difference in the Arsenal set up today. Because we barely created anything, we just always held the ball up until they get it from us and move on again. We created practically nothing in this game for any striker of note that make any meaningful impact. The base of our creativity lies with the ability of the two holding midfielders to dominate the game and control it. Their ability to put us in the drivers seat for a good part of the game, a la Yaya Toure for city. Have you noticed that we have not been winning big games since Arteta took over as our deepest lying holding midfielder? and to think he is now on the other side of 30 call to question the judgement of most Arsenal fans about our greatest need in this team. We will not win any big game until we have the right personnel to dominate the midfield play in those games.

      4. Arsenal have lost our attacking edge in the process of finding defensive solidity. We now have a tradition of starting the game very defensively and try to win in the second half. But do you notice that against city and Liverpool they came in and put the game past us before the end of the second half. There is a need for a balance and Mourinho edge over Wenger is the fact that he is a master at fielding the best players in his squad to do the Job at hand. Left to Wenger he will play the same 11 players and same formation week in week out irrespective of the opponent. I consider that less intelligent. We need to find a balance asap.

      Finally, i don’t think the most critical requirement in this Arsenal squad is an addition, but i think an overall change of strategy by Arsene Wenger. Now that we can add any player anymore for now he needs to get more creative and change his strategy especially when we play against the big teams. If not he will be eventually clear to everyone that his ways and tactics is the issue and not the players we have or don’t have.

       
  4. why keep on killing Asenal fans by your gambling,by claiming you have ig squad,there was January you did nothing,claiming transfer i last three days.Do you need some more days f ur your signings.pathetic Wenger

     
  5. the problem is not ozil the problem is boss cant fix the problem during the match dat it.please london arsenalfans mock wenger away pleazeee and we will help not buy puma product till wenger go away

     
  6. I feel that if Arsenal have all the money to spend they should get some strikers & natural wingers with speed. midfield too slow in getting back to defend when we loose the ball up front.

     
  7. It was clear that when we lot the Speed of walcott he should have been replaced but wenger rejected it ,gross neglicence in my mind.

     
  8. Wenger is very selfish,minding alone to his bosses forgetting the fans who inject in more money weekin weekout…i think its high time this man goes because he has more to give only to destroy the pride he had made. Good heavens why couldn‘t he sign any player.Wenger you don‘t own any single coin in Asernal club then why take the budden tobe so mean if your growing too old not think then better resign.SIR is the best example to you old donkey

     
  9. why should Arsene Wenger continues using Monreal in wanted games like this.
    Monreal is not a good defender at all, he always put pressure on the team by carrying the ball backward while the team on attack(he did it against Man-city,southampton and the list continues).why should you rotate players for games that you will not know the result? put our players in the game that we have 80 or 90 percent of wining then rotating then and having feeling disappointed.you have Gibbs,Poldoski,Rosicky put then there they are good in big games.I prefer SZscny,gibbs,sagna,metersacker,koshiny,-Santi,Ozil,jack,Rosicky,poldoski and Girould in our next match.Arsene you are the cause for our defeat aagain,please we do not want to carry”DID WELL TROPHY”this time around.

     
  10. Omg you lot lose 1 game to a very good Liverpool team on the day and cry about a change of manager you lot are only 2 points off the top of the league look how much city and cheese have spent what manager would come in and do better i would love to hear and i support united

     
  11. So long as Wenger continues to develop a complex of star players (never leaving them out or substitute them early) we will not win anything. Ozil is a luxury player in this team. He should not start in big games as he’s got a weak/fragile character. Arteta has done a good job in the transition period (thanks a lot) but he is not the defensive midfielder who will help us get the next level (too slow to transition quickly from defensive phase to attack, which allows opponents time to close us down and stop up passing through them). Per is the other slow player on the ball (same problem of slow transition. So the ball often goes to Sagna who is useless at creating an angle for a forward pass). We need to stay humble and respect opponents, meaning that when we play them we need to defend first, stay strong and not conceded then develop our play. Players such as Ozil will need to change their state of mind to help the team.

     
  12. Arsene winger is a stupid, the purpose why i said so if arsenal have march with tof clobs, the can not wine.look at to day march with liverpool arsenal absolutely do nothing.thesame thing with manchaster,chelsea last week.

     
  13. Do you lot watched the game?
    In a strange match when almost the entire squad didn’t turn up and you are slaying Wenger for it?

     
    • Wenger is responsible for the state of the squad and the eleven men who walk onto the pitch. So yeah, people are slating Wenger.

       
    • Mikel Arteta is not a DM, Aaron Ramsey, although he tried, is not a DM. Arsene Wenger is fully aware of that, that’s why he brought in the Swedish chap?! This was one of our major problems, Arteta simply does not have the build of DM – would you put Frankie Dettori in the boxing ring? A big problem about Arsenal is still money – is this refusal to spend coming from Wenger or the board? Is it being run as a money making machine, or a title contending team?

      The other problem was not starting Gibbs instead of Monreal. I don’t know why AW hasn’t seen this, as every fan has! It was very obvious in the Southampton game and Rogers is cloning Pochettini’s style of play. The way to break these sides is to park the bus in the first half, hit them on the break (for which Gibbs is ideal), and then hit them hard in the second half when they’re exhausted.

      We had experience of this against Southampton (trial run), we saw West Brom give us a demo of how to do it, yet we still go and mess it up?! Bayern Munich will almost certainly do this, we did it against Borussia Dortmund, so why have we found difficult to cope with this since then? Yes we’re missing Walcott and Ramsey, but I don’t think Walcott was really firing in the BD game.

      I honestly think if we have any intention of winning anything in the next three years, we have to go and buy a big striker in the summer – we have left ourselves short and don’t have time to develop anyone, we should also be developing in this time. We messed up with Suarez, but Cavani is better – better player, less problems. If AW lets him go to Chelsea etc. it will show a real lack of intent – the only negative is that he is not EPL ready, but any EPL club is now extremely reluctant to sell us any player. We also need a strong DM as well, these type of players have been so important to Arsenal in the past.

       
  14. I told every arsenal fan that if wenger refuse to buy in january, that mark’s the beginning of the end for the team this season. Wenger will surely regret his decision. Arsenal fans should prepare for the worst. Another trophyless season.

     
  15. Quite clearly your a twat!! Why change a winning side?
    If he had changed players for this game you’d of been slagging him off.
    Why don’t you leave you comments to you wife or somebody else who has no clue of what your banging on about, so people like me aren’t subjected to utter shit!
    Do yourself a favor and fuck off!!!

     
  16. Sadly to say but I think Arsenals team still doesn’t have the mental stability and strength to fight. This result is the start of a sinking ship with Wenger at the wheel and it will continue to get worse. I thought that at the January transfer window if we could add a striker or two players that’s going to give us the X factor we need. But I was wrong, I don’t think that it would have made any difference to a side that is clearly being Managed by someone who is past their best now.
    Wenger has shown that he has trust in his players, but has regularly condoned poor play and performances by the team and individuals. This demonstrates a lack of leadership, someone has to take control of this team and show discipline, teach respect for the club and fans, and build character in the squad.
    This performance today lacked all of the above. Do we honestly think the invincibles would have been had they not had all of these qualities.

     
  17. The press is having field day… but we have been here before… three times actually and each time we had the last laugh… So relax folks, this will sound crazy but pls. bear with me … This season stats show that we always enjoy an undefeated league run following a league defeat (regardless of the scoreline) call it responding, bouncing back, pride, maturity or whatever… and we have done it three times already.
    – After Villa we had a nine game unbeaten run before Man U
    – After Man U we had a four game unbeaten run before City
    – After City we’ve had an 8 game unbeaten run before Liverpool
    – Nobody can predict any game but with 13 games to go and an average bounce back rate of 7 games without defeat… if we remain true to our stats we can expect only one more BLIP before the season ends plus we have to maintain our average of 1 draw per 8.3 games. Sticking to this requirement will see us with 85-87 pts come 11th May 2014 but will it be enough?. Chelsea have to equal or beat this requirement to win it while Man City Must simply win every game from now. I wish Wenger would just understand that a big game is a big game you need tactics to get anything out of such games. set the team up properly, keep it tight, dig in, work hard, soak up the pressure, defend stoutly etc…for God’s sake even Big Sam knows this (no offence) . A big game should not be a goal fest It should be tight with very few chances. I can understand fans frustration we have maintained the lead effortlessly for much of the season, now instead of coasting we now must play with near perfection for the rest of the season. I think we can, but we need to ditch the other two competitions quickly. Bundesliga Teams have already crowned Bayern by offering very little resistance so far…. Bayern can easily concentrate on the UCL without fear of losing ground in their league Arsenal have no such luxury. The FA cup is another distraction, unless you have 2 star studded teams.

     
  18. The real reason for this loss is Arteta! He is finished as a player. Wenger is the only manager who cannot see this along with all the fans who can’t see it either! He was useless today. Arsenal play with 10.5 men every game he plays. Even Dennilson (Mr. Pass the ball sideways) was better except when he would collapse on the pitch.

     
  19. I am not bothered we lost I am bothered liverfool exposed our frailty that AW refused to see… Now I believe what most players that left arsenal said that AW is one dimensional n does not consider the opposing teams strength n weaknesses…liverfool played a well choreographed style that showed they had studied every weakness in arsenals team and individual players…
    Arsenal has being dropping form since december we just didnt notice because we always grind out a win and we praise them for winning ugly… now that we lost ugly Well… Arsenal’s mental fitness against top sides is a concern n frankly a teams mental strength is a reflection of the manager’s mental strength… AW has never been a mentally strong coach… Its obvious watch him when things are going bad… he’s always stuck with his zip or suddenly start feeling cold n shivery… Well lets relax n enjoy the rest of d season… as long as AW does not ramp up his mental side… lets not hope too much…

     
  20. Believe me or not,Arsene Wenger does not cognitive,very selfish and even a stupid coach,not a stupid person but a stupid coach,the days he won a trophy at Arsenal it was a time when there was no spending much on players during season signing,actually there was no competitions so he won on easy way,got on cheap!Wenger should leave our club bcoz is a stupid coach,nothing to blame at our players,they did at their level best and as they were instructed by a stupid coach and Foolish Wenger!

     
  21. as long AW is still at the helm of coaching Asernal lets forget about silverwares.in Europe if you dont spend forget about trophies.if you are dreaming that we will scratch something this year thats day dreaming

     
  22. We all know from the on set that this team has no depth and Wenger is the worst gambler of our time. Just oust Theo, jack and the man that scored most of our goals at the beginning, but also out bcos of injury, the team is finished. Wenger is certainly not a tactician but an economist making money for Owners of the club……..

     

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