EPL - Arsenal v Wigan Athletic - Mon 16th Apr 8:00pm - SS1

Ramsey is a strange one - he looks completely shot of confidence at times yet his performances are littered with moments of arrogance and nonchalance e.g flicks to nobody, jogging about and letting players walk by him. There were a few 50:50 balls to be won but he showed no desire to win it.

We must beat Chelsea now, crucial game. A slip there and the heat is really on.

some not good stat here

Our defense record in the last 5 seasons

Our defensive record... 31 37 41 43 43.

Thats 56 more conceded goals than United over the same period. That's what you get with signings like Squillaci and Silvestre. It is also a team and management issue for me. With FBs providing width I am not sure we have the players we need in CM. Maybe we commit too many players to attack to compensate for our lack of quality upfront.

Our deeper players push up at an abnormal rate, in order to compensate for our weak attackers. It's an issue we've had for years.

Wenger can really behave like an amateur sometimes. He wants his fullbacks to act as outlets, but at the same time, fails to protect the team with a player who covers them. Deploying offensive fullbacks without a DM is just suicidal.

Oh, and I'm surprised no-one mentioned that Wigan got in behind our defence via a throw-in. That was so ******* pathetic. One throw-in inside Wigan's half enabled Moses a one-on-one situation.

Yep Vermaelen was bombing forward yesterday, and we needed him to do it as the midfield was non-existent without Arteta. Vermaelen has his flaws but the man has balls and character, I'll give him that much. He wants to win badly.

Problems yesterday all over the field and all are accountable.

First we were horribly caught out down the right side with sagna and johan so bad positionally for the first goal along. Szczesny and the johan ****** right up on the second again and the whole team managed to forget what to do and never made it out of the changing room in the first ten minutes.

Then theo decided to go play as a striker and we lost any and all shape with yossi coming inside and santos and sagna playing as wingers but we had no plan at all to break them down. \Second half performance was worthy of a fines all-round as we did sweet f all for 45 minutes and didn't seem to get that we needed at least two goals, just popped the ball around beofer giving it away without generating a quality chance.

Its bad but at least its still in our hands to get third place, 4 wins and we'll get it for sure no matter what happens.


Arteta out is huge he is crucial to our play and has been huge all season now looks like he is done for the season so should put yos boss in the middle in his place, ramsey for all his potential isn't making the right decisions with the ball atm so unless song is going to stop charging round giving the ball away then we need a stable head in the centre.

some not good stat here

tim payton ‏ @timpayton
@LeGrove One more goal conceded by #Arsenal in the remaining four PL games makes it worst defensive season ever under Arsène Wenger.

Our defense need to improve here. next season.

Our defense record in the last 5 seasons

Our defensive record... 31 37 41 43 43.

I have never heard that... Oh wait, it is the cliche of the last 6 seasons.

The problem is that we were two down with only ten minutes gone. We were ok for most of the remainder of the half and played with a good tempo. But what bothers me about Arsenal and what I think seperates us from United is that we can't mix up our game.

I know United lost against them last week but you just know that if United were at home more often than not they would be creating chance after chance until sheer will gets them a goal (or failing that they'll just be given a penalty).

My point is, in the second half we never really looked like scoring. As hard as Wigan worked, and they worked bloody hard they never looked really stretched. They just sat and watched the game unfold in front of them because we don't really fizz balls in. We gave Van Persie absolutely nothing to feed off. We don't attack the box with any real intent. We have one real brave player when it comes to attacking a football and that is Vermalean. It was all to easy. We had 80 minutes to get that back and we failed miserably.

Ramsey is a strange one - he looks completely shot of confidence at times yet his performances are littered with moments of arrogance and nonchalance e.g flicks to nobody, jogging about and letting players walk by him. There were a few 50:50 balls to be won but he showed no desire to win it.

We must beat Chelsea now, crucial game. A slip there and the heat is really on.

I find it strange that for someone who covers a lot of ground, he's rarely ever at full tilt or force. Smaller players like Rosicky and Benayoun carry more force than he does. He was jogging around all game long.

The more I see Ramsey perform, the more I realise that he will live and die by his statistics. Similar to Walcott actually, in that respect. He's not authoritative or technically adept enough to perform as a DLP, nor does he have the vision or technique to become an AM. If he improves defensively, then he could become a box-to-box midfielder, otherwise he'll have to rely almost entirely on his shooting ability as he offers little in the build up play. His penchant for the side pass to Sagna more often than not is infuriating.

We need to bring in Victor Moses sharpish, that lad was the dogs bollocks last night. Twice the player Theo is, imagine him and Podolski on either side of RvP next season. Talk about a gunshow...

I put him in the wishlist a couple of weeks ago and was shot down for it.

The kid is class. Looked fantastic coming through at Palace and made what was in hindsight a quite sensible move to Wigan - somewhere he could develop out of the limelight. He just looks like an Arsenal player in the making to me and I'm sure he'd jump at the chance to move back to London. If he'd accept a squad role here then I think he could be a fantastic signing.

The more I see Ramsey perform, the more I realise that he will live and die by his statistics. Similar to Walcott actually, in that respect.

This is why I love you, Outie! 100% agreed and something I've touched on a few times.

Walcott has made his season semi-acceptable by producing decent stats even though the reality of watching him every week tells a different story. He's reasonably efficient, when compared with your average PL wide player at least. I personally don't find 12 or 13 goals as that impressive given his skill-set and the game-time he's been awarded over the last 6 years, but that's just me.

Ramsey should also have 10 goals by now, and I think end-product will determine how good he actually becomes. Right now he stinks, all season actually. And tbh I think he can do it, even though I've been one of his harshest critics and was hugely against him being a major player last Summer, when looking ahead to this season. But right now, we need a midfield signing who is better than Rosicky and Ramsey IMO.

Ramsey is a strange one - he looks completely shot of confidence at times yet his performances are littered with moments of arrogance and nonchalance e.g flicks to nobody, jogging about and letting players walk by him. There were a few 50:50 balls to be won but he showed no desire to win it.

We must beat Chelsea now, crucial game. A slip there and the heat is really on.

Excellent Post Fabo - sums him up nicely. So frustrated yesterday - MNF - Monday Night Farce.

We had enough of the ball to get the equaliszer but void of ideas and ball patience - trying to rush it constantly.

I find it strange that for someone who covers a lot of ground, he's rarely ever at full tilt or force. Smaller players like Rosicky and Benayoun carry more force than he does. He was jogging around all game long.

Yeah he is not dynamic enough even in comparison to players 10 years older than him. It could be the injury although I have heard some attribute it to late growth. I worry about finishing in the top 4 if he starts the next 4 games in CM. Our midfield really looks average with Arteta out now

well, if you are aware, you should not be as mad as now.

I thought we wouldn't slip against Wigan ******* Athletic, but rather Stoke or WBA.

fair point mate

I'll say one thing anyone else agree that Santo's is a LW all day and not a LB?

He was playing in that position when we bought him and quite frankly he looks better than Gervhino going forward.

I think Wenger needs to take a look at that especially if he doesn't take on Benayoun and doesn't buy a LW.

I'll say one thing anyone else agree that Santo's is a LW all day and not a LB?

He was playing in that position when we bought him and quite frankly he looks better than Gervhino going forward.

I think Wenger needs to take a look at that especially if he doesn't take on Benayoun and doesn't buy a LW.

I agree. Even the manner in which he goes forward is bizzare. Most full-backs bomb on down the outside - Ashley Cole, Maicon, Dani Alves, Evra, Sagna. He comes inside and wants to play football in the midfield. Not saying it's good or bad either way but it's pretty unorthodox.