As Wenger makes excuses, I fear for Arsenal's season

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Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
26 Aug	5:15 PM	P	Manchester City (A)	0	1	Lost

It's taken me a while to find the strength to write this article, as the 1-0 defeat to Manchester City on Saturday was simply too much to bear and has me in as depressing a mood as your average Radiohead album.

To summarise: Arsenal were up and down - there was some dodgy passing which gave a very average Man City side some possession they barely deserved, and there was some lovely slick passing and free-flowing football...sadly it led to nothing.

I couldn't decide whether this overelaboration was down to a lack of confidence or an overabundance of it; were the players simply too cowardly to take shots themselves, therefore passing the responsibility on to someone else, even someone in a worse scoring position than them? Or were the players so arrogant they constantly thought they could afford to wait around to score the perfect goal?

Who cares? Either way it's pathetic behaviour from an extremely talented group of players.

In his post-match interview, Wenger made the excuse that a lot of our players have been at the World Cup and are not yet fully fit and at their best.

Wenger says: "After the World Cup we knew we could suffer at the start of the season. We have had a disappointing start."

I say: Rubbish. We have a team made up of some of the best players in the world, and even a part-timer has enough 'fitness' to put his foot through the ball and hit it at the goal. Our players should try doing that a couple of times early on, maybe score a couple of goals and then there is an excuse to try the fancy football, until then it is unacceptable.

And to be honest, I don't think Wenger encouraging them like this helps the mood or mentality of the players at all. He should be tougher on them instead of making these excuses for them. Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool had a lot of players at the World Cup but have had decent enough starts to their seasons, while we have a shockingly poor ONE point from two VERY winnable opening two games. And all because we can't perform one of the most basic acts of kicking a ball with a bit of power towards the direction of the goal.

Maybe I'm being too harsh. Afterall, van Persie hit the frame of the goal and Kolo Touré had a header cleared off the line (or against the bar, I can't remember), but there were other noteworthy problems with this Arsenal side.

One was the slowness of the buildup (cue more Radiohead comparissons) - if we're going to insist on playing this passing game we should at least do it a little quicker, and aim the passes further forward. The amount of times one of our players would just hesitate and end up playing it back or square was agonising. Be decisive! Take risks! All that happened was that City had more time to regroup and pack their penalty area full of players, making it even harder for us to get any passes in.

Another problem, it must be said, is the inclusion of Justin Hoyte at left-back in recent games. It's not just the fact that he gave away a penalty, he was targetted by City throughout the game, and Wenger saw that himself.

"They went for long balls to Corradi and Sinclair. They targeted him but overall Justin had a good game. He had two misjudgements on long balls but he had quite a good game."

I don't think he had a good game. I think that after the start he's made to the season he's made it clear he is not quite good enough for this level. It really shows. He is a weakness, and teams will exploit it. He also offers us very little in attack to make up for it, so overall he's pretty useless. Why Mathieu Flamini isn't playing there after his fantastic performances in that position last season is beyond me.

Apologies for the negativity. It won't always be like this, but starting badly really won't help the mentality of the players. Hopefully we can take encouragement from the quality of football we played and hope we will be luckier from now on. We were unlucky this weekend, it has to be said.

Next up we have an international break. Hopefully the players can gain some match fitness, either that or they'll come back too tired. Meh.

User Comments

Axel Foley

Posted on 29 Aug, 2006 at 07:38 PM - Reply

well my biggest gripe is we haven't signed at least one or two vet's...you have to have veteran leadership in order to succeed...now on the brightside we have great youth but wil we posess the patience to hold for them?

ken_75

Posted on 29 Aug, 2006 at 07:21 PM - Reply

Possession football does not win matches. Full Stop.

Asmodeus

Posted on 29 Aug, 2006 at 06:11 PM - Reply

A really negative, tepid and predictable article; as you yourself admit. These gripes are not a new phenomenon - this same playing style has encapsulated crowds throughout the final years at Highbury - were you complaining then?

Instead of this stagnant vituperative diatribe why not focus on the many positive aspects of this Arsenal side; and not dole out the sort of tripe that we're used to hearing from the tabloids.

In case you hadn't noticed, it was the shots that the players did take that were lacking. In Henry's case this could directly be attributed to lack of match fitness- not your frankly preposterous and utterly irrelevant ramblings regarding wages.

As you've already been advised - try to distance yourself from your subject matter, clarify your own expository intent and try to maintain perspective before you churn out such pointless nonsense.

mungoma

Posted on 29 Aug, 2006 at 05:24 PM - Reply

Hoyte being played in the place of Flamini? Can't just make out anything from that. It's a shame hearing Wenger saying Hoyte had a good game. Or is it because he didn't directly cause a goal? He is simply not Arsenal class.

RtC

Posted on 29 Aug, 2006 at 04:52 PM - Reply

Well p'ssed off about this article...Radiohead depressing? No way!

Ziqo

Posted on 29 Aug, 2006 at 03:36 PM - Reply

Good post i totally agree with you....
watching the game in the middle of the night (im in singapore) hoping for a win and an entertaining match ...
But the whole team was dissappointing .... Henry wasnt in his full fitness and everything and not trying shots outside area like he use to.....
Hleb was the one to blame again in the City game as he did not use the width he'd been given on the right...
Walcott did well

Josh

Posted on 29 Aug, 2006 at 02:44 PM - Reply

Totally agree with this article. We are not a team of rebuilding, we don't need to be, we have the money and the resources to bring players to the club, but insted we decide to promote youth that are clearly not up to the standard that is expected by the fans of the great club. Many world reknowned players have commented how much they would love to play for Arsenal, and it is only the matter or putting in a bid to secure their services. As fans we must remember that we are not a promoted team such as Portsmouth, who have money but no superstars want to play for due to their reputation, We are the Mighty Gunners, we have a huge fan base and many world class players would do anything to come and play for us (Ribery, Buffon (in a recent article) etc etc). The only excuse Wenger has is that of not wanting to drain out younger stars, but they fact of the matter is, it is what is best for the club, and the best thing we can do is to keep the supporters happy and keep winning, and the only way you can do that is by buying the players who will score the goals and defend and are of the world class standard. Don't get me wrong, i love seeing young kids play, as it is amazing at such a young age the standard they are at, but for the good of the club, no more excuses, the last two games were complete rubbish - We need to buy some players and the only excuse we have is the fact someone can not be bothered shopping.

white rabbit

Posted on 29 Aug, 2006 at 12:58 PM - Reply

Lets face it arsenal didnt reach the CL final by their usual style. They converted to a single striker and a fast build up. but Wenger is arogant about his ways. Surely the team is entertaining with the fast passing but its useless if no one wants too shoot on the goal if its more than 10 yards a way. And the opponent wont let you get that far easily or frequently.

Anti

Posted on 29 Aug, 2006 at 01:28 AM - Reply

After reading this I think I am ready to start posting again. Good post.

Wednesdayware

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 04:55 PM - Reply

Excuses seem to be the norm at Arsenal these days. Last season it was the African Nations Cup and injuries. This season it's World Cup and injuries.

The transfer situation would be laughable if I didn't care so much about this team. We have multi-millionaires who don't want to play for us, supposedly we have money in the bank to spend on new players, and the only move inward of note is Rossicky (whom I quite like thus far.)

Wenger has cleared the decks of the youngsters he's not going to use this season with loans, but he's neglected to provide adequate cover for the first team. God forbid we get any more injuries...

I wonder if it's time to let AW manage, and find someone else to find and sign new players. (or the other way around, as AW has a great eye for developing talent.)

rodnot71

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 04:54 PM - Reply

Well done Mark. I really aree with what you said.
One interesting point is why Flamini is not playing the role he played so well and heartedly last term?
Sorry for Mr. Wenger, but excuses and excuses. He should tell our players to shoot at first site and when we will be three up, let them play some fancy play.
Henry (sorry), said that he would be ready by october, if I am right, so why does he kept trying to do everything by himself?
The team comes first. Hoyte is just not good for the premier. How come he finds himself playing at full back?
Be aware of the jersey you wear, and put the name of our glorious club, before anything else.
Again well done MARK for the article

walcott

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 04:07 PM - Reply

There were no positives in the city game lets face it no one's happy to lose the way we did

Bobo D. Clown

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 03:21 PM - Reply

It's a good article but suggesting Wenger criticise his own players in public is something I don't agree with. That's Mourinho's tactic and his players operate through fear, not respect and admiration as our players have for Arsene.
I know no-one believes Wenger hasn't noticed the problems and isn't dealing with it on the training ground, criticising the players publicly will just deepen any bad morale cultivated by Reyes and Cole.
Even at our very best we could still have 0-0's with the Fulhams or Boltons, and this is the newest group of players we've ever started a season with. They need time, say more than the two matches so far, to play their best in the league but when they come good I wouldn't bet against another 7-0 as we've had the last 2 (underachieving) seasons.
I do worry about the lack of momentum and drive from our team but that always takes time to build and our off the field setbacks haven't helped. When our first 11 to 16 become settled with each other, and there's no more speculation constantly around the team, the schoolboy errors and lack of fight and shyness in front of goal will be reversed and the results will follow.

AJ

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 03:18 PM - Reply

How about the tight chairman Peter Hill-Wood getting the money out and giving Arsene some money to spend on a defender? Hoyte simply isnt good enough, he looked average in a poor Sunderland side last season and he will never be able to play in a top premiership side. I agree with the article, Flamini should be starting left-back!

Marce07

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 03:14 PM - Reply

Well I agree with many elements on the article, but not with TONE... we cannot get desperate… this is just the beginning of a long season. I believe we have to shoot more… be a little more pragmatic in our football, we need some players back, particularly Clichy, cause Hoyte is just not ready for the first team, but last night my nephew made a very good point when I was saying many of the things you cover in this article…”If Van Persie made that clear goal that just hit the bar, or the referee call that clear penalty on Van Persie , we won’t be talking about our crisis but on how well we were starting”.
He was right… I’m mad about loosing to Man City, I’m worry about a bad starting, and I’m convince we need to close the door to Cole and Reyes and get couple of gifted players in key positions, but we are not that bad, we are not in a crisis, and we have a wonderful team that is just beginning to walk.

V for MU

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 03:06 PM - Reply

All Arsenal fans are living in dreamland. Just because you have Arsene and Henry plus a new stadium, you think you have a great team. Your team lacks fight and dogged determination. Talent alone goes nowhere. Henry is second rate; 2nd in CL and 2nd in WC. Forget your chances this year. I forecast no trophies for Arsenal until stadium debt is paid in....2020 haha. Until then, just enjoy the occasional wonder goal.

Martin

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 02:13 PM - Reply

Couldn't agree more. If anything you were soft on the players. A supporter must give unconditional support but that support doesn't always entail patting the team on the head and making excuses for their boo-boos. Other managers in the top flight show some honesty about a teams poor performance. As for fitness, what a load of garbage, if they can keep the ball and dominate play for 90+ minutes they clearly have the fitness and let's be honest, the Man City game wasn't exactly a fast paced affair. By the way Arsene, LET COLE PLAY, if he says he is willing and we are clearly suffering in that position, do whats right for the club and it's supporters and field the best team AVAILABLE. Cole has already stated hes willing to play for the club as his resentment is only targeted at David Dein not the players, the manager or the supporters. Left back isn't even Hoyte's preferred position.

GB

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 01:03 PM - Reply

We failed to win against two teams we would normally expect to get results against, but these were not normal circumstances. Villa had the new manager effect going for them and City had a seige mentality following the Thatcher week from hell

Also blindly shooting when there are eight defenders in the box will usually result in the ball harmlessly rebounding away, you see it all the time. I think Henry, VB and co know a little bit more about shooting and when it's right to do so than the average Arsenal fan reading this article.

Wenger will not criticise his team in public and rightly so, but to assume he doesn't do it in private is just naive.

The main problem is the slow build-up play with too much sideways passing. This gives the opposition time to get 10 men back behind the ball. If we'd scored an early goal then City would have pushed forward leaving space at the back. Arsenal need to up the tempo and maintain it from the off so that the early goal is scored.

It will come right. Would you really prefer it if Wenger started playing like Bolton?

Don't forget that on another day the foul on Cesc would have been given and also the VB pen.

Geoff

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 12:46 PM - Reply

I agree with you 100% mate. It's going to be a long, hard, depressing season. Still no movement on the transfer front either. Why wait until the very last moment? Radiohead might even cheer me up at this point.

reading

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 12:35 PM - Reply

i'm totaly agree with the article..especially on justin hoyte...obviously not up to the standard of arsenal..why oo why wenger didn't play flamini on the position???...believe me...flamini can be better than cole in that position...flamini's best position is at tight area like right or leftback position...

Oldtwat

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 12:13 PM - Reply

Patience chaps - Rome wasn't built in a day.

We had ageing players and don't have the money to buy a team, like Chelsea.

AW has assembled the finest group of young talent & if you can wait 1/2 years you all will be pigs in shite.

Never out of top 4 in 10 years- fantastic achievment.

Larsenal

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 12:09 PM - Reply

Totally agree with you! I'm getting worried, especially of the weaknesses in defence. Flamini might not prefer playing left back, but now he ain't playing at all. He deserves a place in the squad at left back for his fantastic performances last season! Hoyte can have his minutes to grow to a better player, but only when we're 3-0 up.

Danny Boy

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 12:07 PM - Reply

Although it seems abit pointless to say, if Stuart Pearce was on the touchline kicking every ball for us we’d be unstoppable. For all Arsene's attributes he's never been unable to get a reaction from players through touch words or being abrasive. Just look at the Coleman-Malbranque episode at Fulham. Where Coleman has asserted himself and let players know who the boss is and what is acceptable Wenger has simply shown that his players they can lock horns with Le Boss and come out on top.

I also think it's a crime to absolve Henry of any blame for that performance. For everyone who believe in Fabregas we have a replacement was shown on Saturday that his boots haven’t been completely filled. The Captain's example Viera led by was far better (and unappreciated by me until now) than Henry's, who is Still growing into the role.

The fact Hoyte never looked good amongst some shocking Sunderland defenders speaks volumes about his ability. It seems we're missing the consistency Cole and Lauren provided at the back and playing together.

I'd hate for this to be a complete moan so early on in the season. Walcott, van Persie and Adebayor have looked hungry, Gilberto is playing much better than at this point last year, Fabregas gets more immense every time he plays! Djouroui is growing in stature game by game.

Bob

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 11:59 AM - Reply

I do not agree with the article. The passing game which you speak of so negatively is the same game we have played over the last three seasons, with great effect. What do you want, Arsenal returning to the days of long ball hoof?

Jason Aquilina

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 11:37 AM - Reply

i totally agree with this article. no you wasn't harsh you only said the truth. is there any order to the players not to shoot at goals from someone? we saw rochisky at the world cup how powerful his shoot is, why not with arsenal? i don't like fancy football only cause this alone does not give you the 3 points.

Rachid

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 11:30 AM - Reply

I agree with Mark Brus and think Wenger needs to cut the excuses out. If he's always making excuses the players will never learn.

My other concern about the Man City match was Wenger's poor substituting. Hleb had a really great game in midfield. He was getting forward alot and he was picking out some good passes. In my opinion he was our strongest player in midfield on Saturday.Wenger shouldn't have pulled him from the game because it also stopped Eboue from attacking the same way. Eboue and Hleb have a great partnership on the right wing and Eboue began to look a bit indecisive without Hleb. I think he should've brought Flamini in for Hoyte and then we would've had two full backs who could overlap from defence to attack and vice versa quickly on the pitch at once.

Gooner!

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 11:29 AM - Reply

By a quick skim of your article. I could not agree more of the fact that Flamini was not played ahead of Hoyte. The rest of the stuff is a matter of fact and opinion.

sk8tochris@hotmail.com

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 11:13 AM - Reply

As some what of an ambassador running this website, i think these main articles should promote the positives of Arsenal, in order to rally fans and help spirit. Every team goes through rough patches, But thats whats good about arsenal they don't have many of these patches. As Arsenal fans we are not acustom to encountering this, so naturally their is different views on the situation. But no matter what I will still support the team, and many people probably have this view aswell. Personally I think Arsenal are still coming out of thier transition, but maybe a few more games into season and well be right on track. Simply we just have to look at our achievments and what the entire club has just gone through in the past year and this is testimate towards everyones will and mind set to go forward within footballing status. It may be a rough start but we still may be challenging for honours this season, even without signings, because the good thing about having alot of young players is they mould to fill purpose within the team in order to achieve an objective. And the good thing about arsenal is that they have a probably the best system of promoting youth development. And with guidance that is the Wenger, Henry, Ljunberg, Toure, Gilberto and the other Experianced players, our youth can feed of thier experiance and grow exceptionally fast; as seen in players such as Fabregas, Van Persie, Eboue, Senderos and many more. In conclusion these things take time, but Arsenal can make it happen and with the clubs abilities we will be back to winning ways in no time. So just Buckle up and hold on tight cause its gonna be a hell of a ride with glory just around the corner, So I vote you dedicate this main page to articles of News and support of arsenal as testimate of our will to fight on and rally behind the team.

Yours Sincerely Chris N

longtimegunner

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 11:07 AM - Reply

some points i agree with some i don't you lot are being harsh on hoyte how would you feel if you were playing for a cack team like sunderland all year playing right side or out of position on the left, get relegated then come back to your team and asked to cover left full back cos we need matty flamini as cover for berto and cesc. It's not easy playing out of position and just because he hasn't set the world alight people like you lambast he's performances. Tell ya wot why don't you go down to london colney and see if wenger will start you at left back. See what you can do. Hoyte has the quality to make it in the prem, you've got to realise our squad at the mo is threadbare the only proper out and out full backs we have are eboue and hoyte, traore is too young and still needs nurturing. So we have no choice until we diaby comes back or we make a def mid signing (unlikely) we'll have to make do with hoyte playing out of position, and the fact that he's playing there instead of cygan makes me feel better. So lay off him, yea ok he made a mistake and has looked out of his depth but wouldn't any youngster playing with the likes of henry, hleb, cesc and rvp? let's not use him as a scapegoat he made one mistake which cost us but the team's refusal to try something different did not help the cause.

sobi_gonner

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 10:59 AM - Reply

Transfer policy of ours is a main factor to our bad performance; plus no matter what we should have resolved the problems of Cole & Rayes much earlier we still not sure of our squad so what else can you expect. I also think Wenger is asking too much from young guns when he has money in bank then why the hell he is not buying? not for the sake of buying only but to increase the competition & hunger among our own players. People like us who are not professional knows very well that we need to bring the big centre back, left back, Central defensive mildferider plus a centre forward who can score goals from six yards box then why the hell Wenger didn’t bought any of those players what is he waiting for? I am getting feeling that like Ajax even we will have big ground but no good quality players around plus I am amazed why wenger is playing henry in starting 11 when he is too short. Wenger few years back rested Vieira so that he could get to match fitness & played Cesc then why he is playing with Henry when he is not near to his shooting ability. That is not fair I mean against city we had three or four free kicks situation & when henry knows he is not in top form then why the hell he didn’t gave chance to RVP who is playing much better than many right now plus I am really disappointed with Helb it sucks now when people says that it requires time to player to adjust in England I mean why the hell do we have to bring a guy from abroad who needs 3 years to settle.

indian@arsenal

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 10:58 AM - Reply

is cole transfer bitterness and reyes transfer saga effecting the arsenal performance

Joel

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 10:43 AM - Reply

I wouldn't slate Wenger for not openly criticising our players. He's never done this and will always support his players in public, which is why people want to play for Arsenal and for him. What he says in the post match interview and what he says to his players behind closed doors is, I'm sure, very very different. The lads will get the kick up the arse they need.

devil_without_a_cause

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 10:42 AM - Reply

The trouble with Arsenal is Arsene Wenger. He sees everything through rose-tinted glasses and never has the courage or honesty to stand up and say that his team played crap and that he will not accept such shocking performance from his players. Arsenal has an excuses culture and no one least of all Wenger is held accountable for mistakes. If Arsenal wants to win the Premiership or even the Champions League it will need more warriors, not artists.

I am a United fan but am still disappointed and irritated at Arsenal's performance in the last 2 seasons. They give the league a bad name. If u dont watch out, u will become the next Real Madrid. The players arent mentally strong and dont have the motivation to fight and grind out the result. You need local lads like Parlour, Keown and Seaman to fight for your team. Otherwise you will be lucky to challenge for automatic qualification to Champions League.

Sobi

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 10:38 AM - Reply

Transfer policy of ours is a main factor to our bad performance; plus no matter what we should have resolved the problems of Cole & Rayes much earlier we still not sure of our squad so what else can you expect. I also think Wenger is asking too much from young guns when he has money in bank then why the hell he is not buying? not for the sake of buying only but to increase the competition & hunger among our own players. People like us who are not professional knows very well that we need to bring the big centre back, left back, Central defensive mildferider plus a centre forward who can score goals from six yards box then why the hell Wenger didn’t bought any of those players what is he waiting for? I am getting feeling that like Ajax even we will have big ground but no good quality players around plus I am amazed why wenger is playing henry in starting 11 when he is too short. Wenger few years back rested Vieira so that he could get to match fitness & played Cesc then why he is playing with Henry when he is not near to his shooting ability. That is not fair I mean against city we had three or four free kicks situation & when henry knows he is not in top form then why the hell he didn’t gave chance to RVP who is playing much better than many right now plus I am really disappointed with Helb it sucks now when people says that it requires time to player to adjust in England I mean why the hell do we have to bring a guy from abroad who needs 3 years to settle.

Matthew Stansmith

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 10:37 AM - Reply

What is the aim of the game? To win. I don't care how goals are scored even if it come off the butts of the goalie.Seriously we shd have btn the daylights out of Villa and MC. lnstead we see a mini renaiscance of Villa.

The acid test will be when we play the RD. If we are btn comprehensively which I think may happen as the are very quick on the counter attack and they can score goals with three to five passes.
Our overelaboration allows opposing teams to defend in numbers even offensive players are pulled back which makes it that much harder to score.
Back when we were scoring for fun the number of passes was not that many.
I hope I'm wrong but I did take Chelsea to bt us at
Highbury by two goals.

walkpass

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 10:29 AM - Reply

Personally, I do not agree with the shoot on sight thing. As with the current game, we had a few good chances and decent shooting opportunities (20 shots). To be fair, our long range shots weren't that good esp Henry on that day. Our finishing lets us down.
I agree with you absolutely on Hoyte. He is not good at LB. He didn't have a good game. He made two mistakes and one of them was punished.
Hopefully, the problems are ratifiable and we do ratify them.

herdee stringcity

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 10:28 AM - Reply

Patience pal - did you really think we'd win the title?

We are two years away from that - be happy with fourth place, CL qualification and hope that Cesc et al stay to see out Wenger's dream.

And in the meantime, focus more on your life and less on a bunch of millionaire footballers.

Taz

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 10:22 AM - Reply

You're going on about taking a shot but we created some brilliant chances playing as we did and on another day when thierry was fit we would have scored three. we had so many one on ones with the keeper which by continuosly shooting from 25 yards out we would never have created.

John

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 10:08 AM - Reply

Poor, negative article as you, yourself, admit.

We've dominated our first two league games but not got the result - this is a far better position than if we'd played, say, like we did agianst Bolton away last season.

Over-elaboration - where have you been the last few seasons? This is not a new phenomenon - remember buying Jeffers as the fox in the box to get on the end of all these passes.

Targetting Hoyte - yes but don't forget teams have use the same tactic when Ashley has played so again nothinh new.

Get some perspective!

Jaja

Posted on 28 Aug, 2006 at 10:04 AM - Reply

I quite agree with this write-up. AW is making too many excuses for his players. He needs to be a little tougher on them. Only Theo Walcott attempted a shot from outside the box throughout that game we lost.

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