Just setting up an open thread to discuss this weekend’s game against Liverpool.
It’s well and truly make or break time but with Wojciech Szczesny, Johan Djourou and Alex Song all set to return to bolster our defence, we have the goods to take care of an in-form Liverpool side.
Djourou may well return against Liverpool
As always on these open threads: keep it fun, keep it friendly and enjoy yourselves.
Spread the Arsenal love by leaving a comment.
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High balls to Caroll will be the theme, hopefully our defense will not just be standing and staring
@henry
Agreed. As long as Djourou and Koscielny can handle the Suarez, Carrol partnership I believe this game will be relatively straightforward. As usual, our midfield will dominate and I have no qualms about our inability to score (only our inability to not concede).It is absolutely vital that our defense has an excellent game.
COME ON YOU GUNNERS!!!! 🙂
@Henry
Liverpool have a good target man in Caroll but more than that they have a classic No7 who eases past defenders. The game lies in denying the space for Suarez who dictates their entire attack. Hope song takes care of that.
Apart from that the game should be ours everywhere else.
Go on gunners!!! Manures arent too far!
Those guys being back is a huge boost. But I’m actually more concerned our attack and the quick, slick passing that goes with it clicks into place. It’s possible that it is just Wenger’s influence, but I tend to think that if we do play well, then we should win. We’re always liable to concede I suppose, but it makes it easier to defend too when we’re dominant in attack. Goals is the order of the day for me.
I feel this will be the first time since the first Barca game when we will actually man up, I think the stake of the game will catch up with the lads in a good way, and not make them more tense, but more focused. I haven’t seen Liverpool play in a log time, so I don’t know what tactics would work best for us, but I believe Walcott and Arshavin would be vital to breaking their defense. I won’t say much at this point because, surprisingly, I feel quite relaxed given tomorrow’s game, and I’m not sure if by this time the pressure it’s just too big to matter anymore ot it’s just this damn spring making me feel offbeat.
I’m worried about the Carroll/Suarez combination are a worry, they showed aginst Man City that they are starting to work well together. Hopefully Song will be able to keep Suarez under tight control without getting a yellow/red card. Midfield should be easily controlled by the gunners…. but my fear, another outstanding game against the gunners by the keeper!
The Fabregas-Walcott-Van Persie triangle should take care of liverpool. Don’t forget Nasri on the left. I am optimistic about this game.
Howdy all,
@shard
Slick passing we have had in abundance. What we need this week is cool,precise finishing and a little steel at the back.
No more Goalie/CB communication breakdowns(It’s always the same!)
Hey leftcoast,
i don’t think it’s been abundant actually. We have struggled to create at times recently. But yes, the finishing has been worse. Goals needed as I said. I think we’re better of attacking than trying to keep Liverpool out. That’s our strength and that’s how we should look to play.
Theo van nasregas will win the day 3-1 to teh arsenal do it for danny boys!
Citizens 1-nil 20 min to go.
ManU(re) down to the double?
Follow-up.
Scholes sent off and properly so. ManU(re) down a goal and a man.
74th min.
City do the biz. Old uncle alex is down to the double.
We must win tomorrow.
Berbatov missed two beautiful gilt edged chances right at the start.. The goal they conceded was Van Der Sar and Carrick messing up in succession.. ManU huffed and puffed without doing much at all. They also didn’t defend very well from set pieces, and didn’t close people down to prevent shots or crosses. Now if that were us, it would be because we are chokers and don’t have mental strength. Wouldn’t it?
It is a must win game for us.COME ON GUNNERS .MY 11
SCZEZSNY-EBOUE-DJOUROU-KOSCIELNY-CLICHY-SONG-WILSHERE-CESC-NASRI-VANPERSIE-WALCOTT
Well Carroll has had one good game. Suarez is the real threat. As long as the defence takes care of these two and our midfield has the usual game, I dont see us losing at our home. Clichy must maintain a proper line. GO GUNNERS!
we have to keep the momentum going;. we have to win against liverpool, then beat spuds and take it all the way till the last game of the season.
its all about momentum; if we do that we will win the league.
Manu will definetely drop points.
COME ON GUNNERS
BEAT LIVERPOOL
It`s getting better,all we need now is Vermaelen to get fit.An `in form` Liverpool? They were superb against Man City (well done Ya Ya for ruining Manure`s treble aspirations) but,I`m not so sure that they have played so great prior to that! Come on Gunners…win it for Danny Fiszman.R.I.P.
Liverpool have a lot of injuries at the back. We’ll win this game – obviously – by outscoring them. Wenger should bring a highly offensive game to win this one.
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha…wwooooooooooooooooooooowh……(wipes floods of tears from eyes)…………………………Ha Ha ha HA ha HA ha HA hahahahahahahahahahah, woah, waah, ahem.
Right Iv composed myself again.
Are we the most deluded simplistic fans in world football???????????????????
‘All we have to do is contain Suarez and Carroll, the rest should take care of itself’, that would appear to be the consensus, on here at least, today.
Im sorry but thats quite shocking considering what we have witnessed since last September, I mean what are you basing this on?
Andy Carroll played in Newcastle team that are not a patch on Liverpool and they beat us at home already this season 1-0, we couldnt handle them, and tomorrow we will play a team that could teach us a thing or two when it comes to resolve and determination off the back of a 3-0 drubbing of a City team that held us comfortably to a 0-0 draw at home when it was 11 vs 11.
Now Im an DIEHARD Arsenal fan but I just cant share this false confidence you throw out totally unmerited…..I think it will take more than us containing Carroll and Suarez to get the result WE need, it will take guts, something this team always leaving us in want of, but who knows, maybe finnesse will be enough tomorrow, I pray it will.
Hey guys; if we can score tomorrow and prevent the opposition from scoring after 90 mins, Im pretty sure the result will look after itself, football is, apparently, THAT simple.
What arsenal needs is a physical presence on the field we had it with Henry and the old team but not anymore AV needs to litsen to Vieira
Shambo – I often find it difficult to believe you’re a fan, because everything you ever write seems negative. Arsenal have displayed guts this season in many games but its the ones where they’ve faltered that people remember. They beat Chelsea and City in gutsy performances.
I’m not saying they shouldn’t be above criticism but I think, sitting second on the ladder, that sometimes they deserve some credit. Remember, they haven’t been beaten in the Prem league for more than three months.
Going to watch the game at a friend’s place. He’s a Liverpool fan, the other a ManU supporter. It’s refreshing to know that my mates actually admire our club for the way that it’s run. Although I have reservations about certain issues and disagreements on the way Arsenal is run, I find other clubs supporters more objective in their thoughts and open to sane dialogue.
It would be a good day of football regardless of who wins, if only I have steak…would be nice to have steak while watching.
Dear mates;
We are going to loose the game flatly, stop this dreaming. I don’t see an Arsenal defense that can hold the likes of Kuyt and Gerrard. This is one of the compulsory losses I told you about. The others are to Man U and Tottenham – Which will put us in our proper 4th position.
Emmanuel; Kenya.
Shard, I agree with the mental stregnth doo dah. They will play well because the pressure is off now (can only win by default) and we are where we belong. Like it or not, we arn’t champions and a top four finnish is a good result, heck, we’re even one place up from last season. Beware of chavski, the west london ego though.
@Emmanuel
Now i aint a livepool fan but i think heard something about gerrard being out 4 the season, anyway have some faith mate lol.
@Shambo
Aint u something,well thats gooner fans for you and i find this”we are 2nd position on the table” crap hard to swallow, if wenger motivates his players by telling them that 18clubs would die to be in our position, then he should also remind them that 19clubs would die to be in united’s spot.Talking of united, it was long overdue for them to be hit below the belt where it hurt, would have loved to be us but i dont mind it being city afterall my foes foe is my friend at least until they start challenging for the EPL. Wishing our boys best of luck cause they really are going to need it.
Oh and are we in 2nd cause we’ve improved or cause others have really sucked, just asking.
Shambo.. your post basically reads hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahhaha…. Waaaaaaaaanhhhhhhh waaaaaaaaaannnnnnnhhhhhh waaaaaaannnnnnnnhhh..
If the choice is between hope, and sordid gloom, I’d pick hope every time.
@tricia
We’re in second at this stage, closer to the top than last year. That itself is improvement. Is it not? If not because the league points have reduced or whatever, then no team has been a worthy winner since Chelsea won with 95 league points. You only win, in relation to the competition. That is the scale of comparison. So we have improved.
@fellow gooners,
I simply wanted to know where this over confidence stems from. There are alot more factors to consider in todays game than keeping Carroll and Suarez quiet. The best teams in the world, or those that aspire to be, do not concentrate on what other teams do or what their threats are, they go and play the game the way THEY want to, look at Barce and our team of 8 years ago, I believe our team back then was as good as Barce is now. That said Im sick of reading and hearing from fellow fans asking Bolton or Newcastle to ‘do us a favour’ against Utd, it wont happen and we would be winning the worst Premier League in years if we had of beat Sunderland away instead of missing a pen and conceding late, beat Spurs at home having been two up, beat Newcastle at home, beat bloody West Brom, beat bloody Blackburn, kept a 4-0 lead at Newcastle, I think the time and money Iv invested in the team I love allows me to be at least a little cynical.
Shard the fact that you can associate me with ‘sordid gloom’ on the basis of that post is indicative of the division between fans right now, you think your better than me because you have nothing ‘negative’ to say, well I think thats rubbish, I look forward and make time to watch all our games, I am always hopeful of victory but not craving it, I can except loss or drawn games as long as the team is giving its all, again I stand behind my right to be cynical on the basis of this and the all to familiar feeling of, how do I put this, pure flatness and lethargic attitudes of some of our players in the face of adversity, we dont win from behind and we lacked bottle, you can use me to vent your subconscious frutration with this is you will, but that wont change the facts.
Anyway lets hope finesse will be enough to close the gap to 4 points today and hope strikerless newcastle will beat Utd midweek.
@Shambogunner
I don’t think I’m better than anybody.. It’s not me that went Ha bloody ha at someone else’s post, or even the general discussion.
Where I agree with you is that it’s not as simple as keeping Suarez and Carroll quiet.. (and if we’re naming threats then Kuyt and Meireles have to be up there too).
Emmanuel@24
Your not one of us emmanuel quit posing. ManU(re) Lost yesterday and they’re
going to lose again so get some chickens and get over it.
hello to all…i am iggypup..an american gooner and proud to be. here’s to a big win for us…cheers..that being said, i would like to see arsenal come out today with a 4-3-3…with van persie, chamakh, and walcott up front..fabregas in the central midfield, and song and diaby in defensive midfield, and clichy, koscielny, djourou, and eboue in defense with szczesny in goal. this should supply plenty of offence with maintaining a strong defence, with enough height to deal with the threat from carrol..any thoughts on your line-ups ?? i would love to see what my fellow gunners line ups would be< not what av will put out< we all know what that will probably be< but what would you like to see
@iggypup
I like your XI.
I think with all the returnees in the side we will need 3 to win. Not just possession but winning second and third balls especially around the edges of both boxes will be crucial.
PS. So where are “The Stooges”?
hey leftcoastgooner…i had to send them packing, it seems they were snottenham fans, and i wont stand for that.and i agree, posession is good, but you have to do more than just keep the ball, and we’ve been lacking that finishing touch. chances are being squandered, it seems they try to walk the ball in sometimes, i am from the left coast as well,from oakland, and spent my first 35 years there, but have been landlocked in the midwest for the last 12 years, man…do i miss the beach..
@iggypup
I’m from upstate NY Plattsburgh. Moved here 35yrs ago and lived in Temescal Flats on the Oakland/Berkeley line where I learned to skateboard at Oakland Tech and carry a piece. Got my first bar-tab at “Sportsman’s Corner” at 54th where Shattuck and Telegraph come together. And staggered back and forth between MacArthur BART and the Coliseum platform in various and irresponsible states of consciousness.
man..what a small world. i used to hang out alot on foothill blvd, had alot of friends that were angels at the clubhouse, and still do. i come out for the halloween parties once a year. i live in st.louis now. i transfered here with my job on the railroad 12 years ago. my old yard was on middleharbor road, where the freeway collapsed in the loma prieda quake in 89. my best bud still resides in richmond…he’s another ny transplant…from yonkers..i still say growing up in the bay area in the 60’s and 70’s was the best time and place for a kid…skateboarding in pools..ect…it just seemed everything was happening there at that time…music…politics..pop culture…the best time…i remember it fondly…and if you don’t carry a piece there…your either a tourist or stupid
i have to ask…have you been to maggie mcgarry’s in san francisco to watch a match ? it looks like a great place. i plan on going the next time i am in town.
Yup, a fun but hectic time.
I’m glad I survived it all the way to peaceful Santa Cruz suburbanism.
Nothing much is up here besides the surf and I like it that way.
I now carry a car seat for the grand-kid in lieu of a piece.
Anyway 3 points on the docket It’s coming up on nervous time.
@iggy
Answer to your question. No never, but it looks like a great place from the website and to be honest I never watched a game in a bar dominated by gooners.
Here it’s Man(U)re or Chivas.
Promising first half. Still guilty of the usual sins; plentiful chances but no goals. However, overall I’m pleased with the opening forty-five. Our ability to retain and gain possession has been a notable strength, limiting Liverpool to barely any credible chances and field position. Nasri has been our best in my opinion.
Looking for Theo to test the young LB (understandably I’ve already forgotten the lads name) in the second half.
Unbelievable….
Anything further said would be mere keyboard venting..
What a nightmare…
That just ripped my heart out…..
Now there’s going to be A LOT of talking about how this game ended. If the ref was supposed to close the game after our goal, if Eboue really did commit a foul, if the whole world is actually shitting on us or if this team is immature or downright stupid to let suarez get so close as to grab the foul that led to the penalty. But in all honesty, at this very point, I don’t give a shit (sorry for the language, I generally avoid these kinds of words).
And I tell myself right now that as far as I’m concerned, this season is over, it ended tonight, and maybe we’ll do better for the next one, maybe summer will bring changes, I don’t know. I tell myself that I really need a break from this, that I’ll start watching some movies, read some books, play some World of Warcraft and get my mind together. And you know, like in Godfather, when that guy says “just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in”, a voice in my head starts whispering: “what if Newcastle beats Man Utd, and then we beat them? then the gap would be of only 3 points, we can still manage”.
But it’s an illusion, isn’t it? It’s all a goddamn illusion, as it has been for the last 7 games or so…
Well done fellas, got closer this year. Being a bridesmaid is better than simply being at the wedding I guess..
Heartbroken
Same feelings from UCL quarterfinals in 2008….no words to explain it!
What a pity,! Arsenal players and manager AW must take full responsibilty, no point looking for scape goats..ref etc. AW has said it was difficult to create chances cos Liv defended deep..whose responsibility is it to read game and offer tactical changes as need arises? AW would sit drinking from his water bottle wearing a forlon look of a clueless man. Why must Arsenal players always strive to pass the ball into the net,? There were so many opportunities to go for goal,yet they look to pass and invite challenges and interceptions in the box. Liv sat deep knowing how predictable Arsenal play is..and results dont lie.
Again vintage Arsenal throwing a lead with barely 2 minutes to go and a title is at stake. Is Patrick Vieira vindicated, Current Arsenal players inspite of huge talent..lack a winning mentality?
Is it all well with the team, i did not see the bench very excited when RVP scored… Did anyone else notice that..or its my imagination?
Wishing Gunners the best on wed against spurs, the title is ManU to lose and boy they r true fighters.
Despite lack of trophies i still love the way Arsenal play.. Sublime football..
God-damnit. The game was overall pretty good, and I really enjoyed seeing the lads playing it well. The defence was pretty good and annihilated Suarez and Caroll. Sczczny was good with some decent saves. The attacking movement wasn´t as great as I hoped, but still some moves by Cesc and Nasri, and for one or two times Walcott, made me hopeful… But still the lack of shots on target can drive a fan insane. 70% of the time the ball was in our control, and in the Liverpool half. Why were there only 6 or 7 shots the whole game?
The result itself was just tough luck. Both penalties were justified. You can´t blame the ref for giving Liverpool one last attack after Van Persie celebrated the goal for two minutes, at the very end of the added time. Eboue might not have intended to tackle Lucas, but he fell on him and did it anyway. The only ones to blame for the Liverpool penalty are the whole team. Allowing them to get close to the goal and foul their players at the edge of the box is just damn stupid.
Never has a team done so much in so short a time to tear our emotions to bits! I’ve had enough and I give up for good on this team. Wenger’s wankers are so afraid of winning that when it is given to them on a silver plate, they refuse it and somehow manage to find a way out of it. Not that we deserved to win, but with seconds to go ..unbelievable. Good that Kronke was in the stands – now he knows what a bunch of losers he is backing. I trust in his commercial sense to kick Wenger out and sell half the team while they are still worth something. True I only watched the second half but it is clear that Fabregas has lost interest in this team and should be auctioned in Spain this summer and buy some decent scorers. See you post-AW
I don’t think this Arsenal team lacks motivation or drive or passion as so many seem to suggest. IMO, most players played very hard out there today, with Eboue, Van Persie, and Clichy running all over the pitch, Fabregas trying his best to orchestrate our passing moves, and Djourou and Wilshire making all kinds of tackles to break up their attacks. No, the problem isn’t heart.
It’s a lack of cohesion. I’ve never seen Barcelona or ManU players run into each other as often as our boys did today. Not only that, but it never looked like our striker(s) knew where to position themselves in the area to make the job of our wingers easier. These are all the signs of a team that doesn’t player together often enough to build a real understanding on the pitch. The strength of Barca, ManU, Chelsea, etc. comes from the fact that they don’t face the kinds of disruptions due to injuries that we constantly face. It allows them to field the same team (with perhaps minor changes) for just about every game, big or small.
Think about Barca here. Xavi, Messi, Iniesta, Villa, and Busquets have played 90% of the team’s games together this year. It allows them to learn each other’s styles and moves perfectly. They always know where the others will be and it allows them to play the kind of flowing, mistake-free football that we can’t play.
Because we are constantly a team in flux. One week it’s Van Persie and Fabregas, the next it’s Walcott and Arshavin. These injuries are a terrible problem not just because they rob us of our best players but because they don’t allow the team to become cohesive. As long as we continue to face these kinds of injury problems we will never have a team whose understanding of each other will allow us to break down defenses consistently and avoid mistakes.
I remember reading a quote about Yasser Arafat that he was never one to miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. I think that sums up our lot.
Who else can take the lead with less than two minutes to go and still f*ck up?
Gutted.
AW.. has to go… period… 0 for 4… its been years and it will be another year…..
Lots of Gooners will point the finger of blame at the ref / at Kuyt diving etc, but I think the buck stops with us. There shouldn’t be any excuses for our dropped points. Plain and simple, we’re just not consistent or good enough to take our chances at the moment. Champions make the most of their luck and don’t throw away games from a good position.
Unfortunately we’ve been culpable of that all season.
Having said that, there’s still a little way to go in the league yet, and we shld back the team all the way, but if we come short (again), changes will have to be rung in the summer.
How big is the big picture? Good game, a bit unlucky. Well done to all except manager.
@realistic gooner
You are actually more optimistic than I feel right now.. We won’t win the title this season. ManU have to lose 1 and draw 1, apart from losing to us, and we have to win all our games. I just don’t see that happening.. However, we should back the team regardless. I agree with you there. And I also agree that somethings have to change. I think they will anyway actually.
One positive was Szczesny’s reaction when the late free kick was given. He was calming everyone down. He pointed to himself as if to say, I’m there. I’ll stop it. Don’t worry..
I think he is our No.1 for next season too.
Essentially, Arsenal played OK yesterday – it wasn’t a great performance, but there weren’t any players who stood out for being particularly poor. Fabregas and Nasri look like they’ve lost something recently, and had quiet games again, but aside from that everybody on the pitch did their job. The problem we had is that we cannot break down a team set up to absorb our possessive pressure – we’ve lost 17 points at home this season because teams know that if they are organised, if they are bunched and the defend well, we will most likely huff and puff and then conceded a sloppy goal.
When Arsenal won their penalty, I had a sudden warm feeling – this is the stuff of champions! Win the game in the dying minutes, a game that we hadn’t done enough to win! It’s what champions do! WE COULD STILL WIN THE LEAGUE!
And then Eboue was a massive thundercunt.
I’m not suggesting for one second that the manager throw his players to the wolves, or put them to the sword publicly, but admitting that someone made a mistake, that he should never even have given Lucas the opportunity to go to ground would surely have served to give our players some responsibility. We weren’t cheated out of two points, and the Arsenal players need to take responsibility for that. Too often, we blame everybody else.
The frustrating thing about yesterday was that on reflection I thought that perhaps we deserved to win the game, hitting the crossbar and forcing a few saves, but in reality this morning, we didn’t apply nearly enough pressure on a jittery, flappy Reina (seriously, how anyone can suggest Arsenal buy him in the summer is beyond me, he’s toss).
Lets face it, it’s symptomatic of Arsenal’s game currently – we’ve lost our potent edge, our ruthlessness. It was on display at Birmingham, it was on display yesterday – we simply don’t know how to finish teams off whilst on top.
As always, the “Wenger out!” brigade are spreading their message today, neglecting to mention the fact that Arsene Wenger can be held on no way responsible for the referee playing 14 minutes of injury time when 8 were indicated, and can be in no way held accountable for Eboue making such an awful mistake. The fact remains, Eboue is our back up right back – you will not find a better right back who is prepared to make only 10 league appearances (mostly as a substitute). You cannot blame Wenger for that.
A draw with Liverpool is not a terrible result. The manner of the draw underlines the feelings of doubt and sure, it feels like a loss, but at the start of the season I’d have taken 2 points from Liverpool. And we have.
I’m not the kind of person who thinks we should keep the manager based on past achievements – but the simple fact of the matter is, with 6 games to go we’re 6 points off the top and we still have to play the league leaders – we can still win this.
I’m certainly not one of the Wenger out brigade. He has done a marvellous job with the assets at his disposal. And continues to do so. And I hope he stays in charge for many years to come. (But wises up to the fact that he does NOT have a squad of world-beaters! 🙂 ) However, I do think his behaviour yesterday was over the top and unacceptable. To not shake Dalglish’s hand was school boy tantrum stuff and to blame the ref, well, the ref didn’t push/fall all over Lucas with the ball and the player causing no immediate danger to the Arsenal goal. Eboue would have known the free kick was probably the last kick of the game and HE is the only one to blame for the Penalty. He should be kicking his arse in the dressing room! They ref called it right in both big decisions. AW should now analyse why we lost a 4 goal lead against newcastle. Lost 2-3 to spurs when 2 up… and well… you know the rest.. all those other results at The Emirates.. West Brom, sunderland etc…If you only take one point from West Brom and concede 5 to them.. is that the stuff of champs?
Only AW could find a conspriacy in not playing on saturday’s for the rest of the season!?!? Really Arsene? C’mon… you had a perfect run in.. out of all comps, a full weeks rest between each game and you complain about something strange why Arsenal don’t play any more on saturdays.. Sorry Guys and Gals, I am big fan, but he is really behaving erratic recently.
And what’s so damm hard to take.. it that this league was just waiting to be won by anyone with a small winning mentality. If only… if only!
Now Arsene, get up the stairs and tell Kroenke the real world stars you want and go and buy 2-3 of them! (and off-load the second raters… xxxxxx, yyyyy, zzzzz, insert your own favourites there).
@Shaard
Optimistic or just totally numbed to the pain? 🙂 Haha nobody can accuse Arsenal of not being painfully entertaining to support thats for sure. Its been hell of an emotional roller coaster for the past few seasons. I don’t know where I find the strength to watch them play sometimes.
Anyhow, I really still think we’re in with a shout, however faint, if we can win our next two, and then the big one against Manure. Also good point about Sczeney, he has that aura of confidence that we need so badly, especially as most of our team, worryingly, are a bag of nerves when it comes to the crunch. I’d have him as No 1, with maybe an experienced goalie bought in the summer to be backup to him. Not entirely convinced by Fabianski but he can be No 3.
I really would like to see some changes being made in the summer. Some fresh new blood, with the underperformers being shown the door. Someone brought in with tactical nous among the coaching staff. I know we’ve debated at length about this b4, but if Wenger doesn’t set about to ring the changes, then imo, he should fall on his sword and let someone else do the job. Having said that, I do get the sense that maybe, just maybe, Wenger’s finally going to unveil his ruthless side. This summer will be an interesting one for sure.
@realistic gooner
I agree about an experienced keeper being backup. Basically a replacement for Almunia. Though Fabianski was starting to show some of his ability before his injury. How about Given? I thought that ship had sailed, but if he’s available, and willing to come and try and compete with Szczesny, then I’d take him.
I think your right about Wenger and the ruthless side. I still don’t think he was wrong to put his faith in the players we have. One, because we didn’t have the resources to go out and buy other players, and two, we know they have ability. But I think his patience has run out with a few, we have reserves pushing through who will hopefully be hungry to show their worth, and we have now saved up some money to be able to spend. I still maintain that the overall situation of our club is good. Oh, and there were reports that Pat Rice might actually retire.
For those criticising Wenger for what happened between him and Dalglish.. If the situation were reversed, I bet you would still have criticised Wenger.. I don’t care that Dalglish abused him, just like I don’t care if Wenger didn’t shake someone’s hand. (Which apparently they did later).. Anyway, my view of the thing was that Wenger wasn’t refusing to shake hands, but he said something which made Dalglish walk off while abusing him. Whatever.. Hardly important.
Gutted, we were back in the title race for all of 2 minutes. Liverfools were lucky.
Arsenal were labelled ‘boring Arsenal’ years ago. They now play boring ‘tippy-tappy’ football – gets ’em nowhere and never will. Time AW changed his tactics and got the odd player or two who’s not frightened to test the goalkeeper.