Why Arsenal Have No Excuse Against Manchester United Tonight

Posted on by
2

Arsenal host Manchester United tonight in a game which will be at the very least, intriguing. It’s a game that both Arsenal fans and Manchester fans will watch with a hint of trepidation after the weekend – Arsenal reeling from a 5-1 drubbing from Liverpool and Manchester United disillusioned after Darren Bent’s last minute equaliser at Old Trafford.

The position in the league, the bookmakers odds and the experts opinion will all favour an Arsenal win. The problem is that we know that on any given night, anything can happen.

We were top of the league when we played Manchester United at Old Trafford and a sucker punch goal from *ahem* Robin van Persie gave them all three points. And in the defeats against Manchester City and Liverpool, we started the matches slow and heavily paid the price.

So it is extremely important we have a right go at Manchester United from the first whistle and after the disaster at Anfield, Arsene Wenger and the players will know that better than anyone.

Perversely as things stand, Arsenal are only two points behind Chelsea after their surprising draw at West Brom. With all of the drama on Saturday and the world collapsing around us, we can still end the week top of the Premier League.

That’s how crazy football is.

And that’s why Arsenal have absolutely no excuse tonight. They should be still licking their wounds from the massive embarrassment at the weekend and now, will have the added motivation of being able to take the Premier League title challenge by the horns and regain top spot.

Arsene’s team selection will be decisive factor in how Arsenal perform tonight. Nacho Monreal has proven he isn’t on the same level as the rest of the back four. He started the Liverpool and Manchester City games, the two games we conceded an embarrassing amount of goals. Whether Gibbs was rested or injured at the weekend, we have to pray that he is available tonight.

Tomas Rosicky was also another player who should have started against Liverpool. In the big games, like tonight, he is the man who sets the tempo for the whole team. He is full of energy and his desire and determination rubs off on the other players.

Another question Arsene has to ask is should Lukas Podolski start? He’s been mainly on the bench this season and surely with our limited options up front, he has to be considered? Manchester United’s back line isn’t the most mobile and his pace could hurt them. Olivier Giroud however, would be the player Manchester United would like to defend against because of his lack of movement and pace.

All eyes will also be Arsenal’s superstar signing Mesut Özil.

After a great start to his Arsenal career, he has gone off the boil in spectacular fashion. When we’ve needed him to perform and show that he is a world class player, he’s disappeared. Against Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool, all big games, he’s been invisible. Tonight is a game where he needs to get his act together and show us how talented he actually is.

There’s no doubt he’s a top, top player but there is a danger he could turn into an Andrei Arshavin. Except that Arshavin was brilliant for us for about 18 months before strolling around. Things like having Per Mertesacker bollock you on the pitch after the City game because he wouldn’t acknowledge the travelling Arsenal supporters isn’t positive and seems like the actions of a diva.

In his defence, at Real Madrid he was playing alongside world class forwards like Ronaldo, Higuain and Benzema, players who would bury chances to score. At Arsenal, he has to feed…. Olivier Giroud. Another problem Özil has is that he’s had to get used to a new league, a new country and a new climate.

Özil has a lot of credit with Arsenal fans because of his reputation and start to Arsenal career, but it won’t be long before fans get tired of his listless, pedestrian performances.

If there’s one player who needs to step up tonight, it’s Mesut Özil.

Humiliating Defeat To Liverpool Was All Part Of Arsene’s Master-Plan

Posted on by
28

As Arsenal fans overreact to the defeat to Liverpool at the weekend, no-one has considered Arsene Wenger’s master-plan.

Arsene Wenger is a hugely intelligent man, a miracle-worker and someone who has given Arsenal the greatest period in their history. We’ve been top of the Premier League for the vast majority of the season, despite the fact Manchester City and Chelsea have spent far more money, and have far stronger squads.

And with Arsenal being unable to beat the big teams like Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool away from home, it has reinforced the belief that Arsenal have a fragile underbelly and aren’t mentally strong enough to win the Premier League.

We suffered massive defeats to Manchester City and Liverpool, which were quite frankly embarrassing. We lost against Manchester United at Old Trafford, even though they are a shadow of their former selves.

But consider this for a moment, couldn’t the Anfield massacre be all part of Arsene’s master-plan?

After 24 games of the season, Arsenal had only lost three games and were top of the league. The level of consistency was amazing and after defeats to Aston Villa, Manchester United and Manchester City, we went of excellent runs.

Over the course of the season, there are games you need to win and those you can lose. The games against Aston Villa, Manchester United and Manchester City didn’t leave us in a position where the season was over for us. And the defeat to Liverpool is in the same category.

Arsene Wenger looked at the game at Liverpool and thought we could afford to lose it. We could play in first gear, let Liverpool dominate and get all the plaudits. By getting completely battered by Liverpool, there are a lot of positives we could take from it.

1. Reduced Expectations

By getting smashed by Liverpool, the expectations of Arsenal are instantly reduced. All the experts and media would label us as “bottlers” (not for the first time) and no-one would expect us to win the title.

When have we been strongest and performed the best this season? When everyone has written us off.

Now Chelsea and Manchester City are the “experts” favourites for the league and Arsenal apparently, have no chance.

2. Give Liverpool The Belief They Can Challenge

With a massive win like this, all the plaudits would go to Liverpool. Instead of being a team challenging for 4th place, they are now “title contenders”. So how does this benefit us?

In their remaining games against Manchester City and Chelsea in particular, they will have that extra belief and confidence they can turn them over at Anfield. We all know the atmosphere can be electric at Anfield and with all the fans behind Liverpool they will be a match for anyone. With that extra belief, it could mean the difference between beating City and Chelsea and only getting draw. And that could prove to be the decisive factor when it comes to the final Premier League table.

We can afford to lose against Liverpool, if it will help them get positive results against our closest rivals.

After all, what are Manchester City and Chelsea going to find tougher? A Liverpool side trailing by 10+ points or a Liverpool side who are in touching distance of the Premier League title?

3. The Players Are Rested

Let’s be honest, I don’t think you could name one player who would be tired from that debacle at Anfield. The players were strolling around the pitch and they’ll be fresh and ready to go for the visit of the reigning champions on Wednesday.

4. It’s A Reason To Go On Another Winning Run

As I’ve already mentioned, the defeats against Aston Villa, Manchester United and Manchester City were points in our season where the players needed a “kick up the arse”.

By setting them up to lose, Arsene Wenger has the perfect motivational tool to get the best out of the players against Manchester United. A moral-boosting victory on Wednesday would be the perfect tonic to perform and win against Liverpool in the FA Cup and give Bayern Munich a game in the Champions League.

Who Will Lose On Wednesday? Arsenal or Manchester United?

Posted on by
11

Both Arsenal and Manchester United come away from the weekend with their tails in between their legs, looking to quickly forget about Liverpool and Fulham and get a positive result. The question is not which team will win, but which will lose?

Many people believed that the Liverpool game was the start of a massive run of games which would define our season, and we could not have failed more spectacularly. The game was effectively over as contest after 16 minutes and Arsenal never looked like gaining their composure and getting back into the game. As time went on things got worse and worse and we ended up losing 5-1. In all honesty, it could have been a lot more.

Arsenal and Liverpool were polar opposites. Liverpool were the ones with the drive, determination, pace, decisive play and energy to win all three points while Arsenal weren’t at the races. If the match was a race, we would have been the poor lame horse that would have been put down.

Manchester United faired little better. At home they drew to Fulham, a side who are firmly rooted to the bottom of the Premier League. Theoretically speaking they couldn’t have had an easier game but still failed to take home all three points.

So Wednesday will see two heavyweights of the Premier League to head to head. Arsenal are devoid of any confidence after the battering at Anfield while Manchester United are struggling for any sort of consistency under David Moyes. But despite that, they still beat us comfortably at Old Trafford earlier this season.

Manchester United have been poor this season, but they still have the ability to lift their game in the biggest contests. Unlike other sides in the Premier League, Arsenal won’t sit back and make it hard for Manchester United to get through. Players like Juan Mata, Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney will have the chance to exploit the space Arsenal will leave and you would be stupid to think they won’t be any threat because of their current form.

The pressure will be on Arsenal to in both a performance and seal all three points. Arsene Wenger and the Arsenal fans know better than anyone that Wednesday marks a massive game in our season and Manchester United will know that. They also know that a draw would be seen as a disaster for Arsenal and a triumph for David Moyes.

All the expectation, pressure and expectancy is on Arsenal.

David Moyes will use this to his advantage and will know that if the game is still tied after an hour the Arsenal fans will get tetchy and the atmosphere will turn.

The big question is can Arsenal recover from the disastrous performance and result at Anfield and pick themselves up for Wednesday? I guess we’ll have to just wait and see.

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

Posted on by
37

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.

Why Are Arsenal Fans So Negative? And That Includes Me…

Posted on by
28

We’ve just completed Gameweek 24 of the campaign, we’re almost two thirds of the way through the season and there’s 14 games remaining.

And Arsenal still sit at the top of the Premier League table.

Yet the majority of people who follow football, and that includes some Arsenal fans, still believe Manchester City and Chelsea have more chance of winning the league.

And that’s what the bookies would certainly have you believe.

The thing is though, why are we so negative?

Yes, Manchester City have been firing on all cylinders, and yes, Chelsea are formidable, but the fact of the matter is that we’re top after 24 games of the season.

That’s no fluke.

And it’s also a fact that for all of their superstars, their bottomless pit of money and all of the goals they keep scoring, for the majority of the season we’ve been ahead of Manchester City at the top of the league. And the same goes for Chelsea (except for the goals obviously).

I have been guilty of this as well, but why are Arsenal fans so pessimistic?

Arsenal are top by 2 clear points, and yet it’s the Manchester City and Chelsea fans who are optimistic about lifting the Premier League trophy in May. Arsenal fans however worry about the fixture list, injuries and other aspects of the team.

We’ve had a couple of blips but over the last 24 games, you have to say we’ve been sensational – and the facts back that up. Our defense has been outstanding, we score goals from almost every position and the table doesn’t like. The players obviously have the believe (and it’s coming through in their determined performances) so why aren’t the fans the same?

The simple reason is probably because we haven’t been in this position in a long time. The last time we really looked like winning the title (or at least challenging for it) was in the 2007/2008 season. Eduardo and Adebayor were on fire, Cesc, Hleb, Rosicky and Flamini were dominating games and we had a solid defensive unit. And we all know if it wasn’t for that fathful day in Birmingham, we probably would have gone on and won the league that season.

But since then we’ve been fighting for 4th place. This season however, with only really two signings (Flamini and Ozil) we’ve gone up another level.

It’s amazing to think that for Manchester City’s “scintillating” form and Chelsea’s “dogged determination” we are still above them. That is a huge testament to what the current management and playing staff have done this year.

Arsenal fans were also downbeat about the lack of signings in the transfer window. But if any man can find a way through this tough period of games over the next two months, it’s Arsene Wenger.

#COYG