Premier League 2016/17 season

[SA Gunner]

Its hard to accept that such an intelligent force in the game, cannot get it consistently right anymore.

Flashes of brilliance in parts, and signs of evolution in thinking and planning, but we always seem to leave something undone, under prepared, etc.

And what annoys me the most is that its not even about ability, or lack thereof. It just seems lackadaisical combined with a seeming refusal to adapt a style of play to deal with the current times.

Wenger isnt a fool, you can see how he can make things work with what he has. He has been able to adjust his tactical and playing approach to do the minimum to reach targets.

Why cant he just do more, look more, work more on a completely galvanised Arsenal side?

I tend to take a step back from the media and how it wants to portray things at the club. Our so called experts in studio knowing what's best. But the field of play doesnt lie to you, and when you slow down and look at what's going on.. you see the truth. Really disappointing.

We're good enough for the top 4 I reckon, perhaps 3rd depending on how Liverpool and City do. Despite our consistent handbrake play, we do have more variety to our game than Pool (yes they arent all that), and could take advantage of City's rebuilding project.

 

[ArtetaCognition]

Tony Adams was called the Professor of Defending by Arsène.

Well, the professor has been saying for years that Arsène cannot get the balance right anymore and his neglection of the defensive side of the game costs us year in and year out.

He's right. The unfortunate reality is we will probably go on a run and then when we have our next difficult game (Chelsea away?), our lack of defensive nous, organisation and discipline will cost us again. Just like it did against Sp**s, United, City and Everton. And like it has year on year.

I think it's important for us not to let our heads get down too much. We have to assume that the club will do the right thing by our future for now until they demonstrate otherwise and therefore, it is vital that we stay focused and guarantee CL football for the next manager.

 

[Sir Bump]

Another year of flattering to deceive, the same pattern happens every single year.
We'll be out of the race in January along with CL. Then once we are out, we'll go on a solid run.


Chelsea will continue on,
City will get it together consistently
You can see things moving forward at United.
It'll be another duke out for 4th with Liverpool and Sp**s.


Chelsea
City
United
Arsenal/Liverpool/Sp**s

 

[The_Playmaker]

Another year of flattering to deceive, the same pattern happens every single year.
We'll be out of the race in January along with CL. Then once we are out, we'll go on a solid run.


Chelsea will continue on,
City will get it together consistently
You can see things moving forward at United.
It'll be another duke out for 4th with Liverpool and Sp**s.


Chelsea
City
United
Arsenal/Liverpool/Sp**s

We did have two bad games but it's strange how because of losing two difficult away fixtures in a row and being unbeaten for a long period before that, you show a strange preference for teams with worse form than us.

United have barely won at home all season, City went through a spell where they couldn't win a game and Chelsea have a tricky run coming up.

I think we will win all of our games up until Chelsea and that will be the real test. sometimes one result can really spark a change. I would happily take the two losses vs Everton and City if we win all of our games and then beat Chelsea.

Of course losing to Chelsea would bring about the same melt down we just had.

 

[SA Gunner]

Some of the analysis on here post these two losses have just been irrational. People once again being brainwashed by the media bias against.

We are not at our best but far from the poor side we are made out to be. We may be flat track bullies and not doing enough against the bigger sides, but we are picking up the points regardless.

Just keep a level head in the good times to come and subsequent bad times. We are better than 4th and I'll say possibly 3rd as well, although I think we may end 3rd.

The league may be just out of reach for the moment, but its a funny old game this.

 

[SA Gunner]

Another year of flattering to deceive, the same pattern happens every single year.
We'll be out of the race in January along with CL. Then once we are out, we'll go on a solid run.


Chelsea will continue on,
City will get it together consistently
You can see things moving forward at United.
It'll be another duke out for 4th with Liverpool and Sp**s.


Chelsea
City
United
Arsenal/Liverpool/Sp**s

Where and how do you come up with such?

Arsenal out of the running by January, behind United I'd also presume, with just the league to play?

Not a chance, if I were a betting man. If anything, we'll have some here crowing about this being our year once again come February 1st.

I mean I've just come back from Redcafe and their delusion has already kicked in after three wins. One claims they are comfortably better than the others bar Chelsea

Our side may be flawed but its certainly a very slick side, easily in the top 2 of the PL. Not if, but when we get back to winning ways, we'll be devastating again

 

[Trilly]

We did have two bad games but it's strange how because of losing two difficult away fixtures in a row and being unbeaten for a long period before that, you show a strange preference for teams with worse form than us.

United have barely won at home all season, City went through a spell where they couldn't win a game and Chelsea have a tricky run coming up.

I think we will win all of our games up until Chelsea and that will be the real test. sometimes one result can really spark a change. I would happily take the two losses vs Everton and City if we win all of our games and then beat Chelsea.

Of course losing to Chelsea would bring about the same melt down we just had.

If we win all six of those games I'll eat my hat.

 

[GunnerBP]

These two losses were pretty bad, but no reason to become irrational.

We still have a really good squad and the problems that were exposed against Everton and Man City are issues that most teams won't be able to exploit and our squad depth will solve them.

Essentially, Gabriel and Coquelin don't have good enough technique to break the press. When two players right in the middle of the field keep on turning the ball over and/or can't transition the ball into attack it'll be hard for you to win matches.

However, Mustafi will get his spot back and I anticipate that Ramsey will partner Xhaka in the midfield.

Against lesser teams Gabriel and Coquelin will be able to cope and we'll be the team that does most of the pressing.

I think that there's a good chance that this team will be better in the second half of the season.

 

[Hunter Zolomon]

These two losses were pretty bad, but no reason to become irrational.

We still have a really good squad and the problems that were exposed against Everton and Man City are issues that most teams won't be able to exploit and our squad depth will solve them.

Essentially, Gabriel and Coquelin don't have good enough technique to break the press. When two players right in the middle of the field keep on turning the ball over and/or can't transition the ball into attack it'll be hard for you to win matches.

However, Mustafi will get his spot back and I anticipate that Ramsey will partner Xhaka in the midfield.

Against lesser teams Gabriel and Coquelin will be able to cope and we'll be the team that does most of the pressing.

I think that there's a good chance that this team will be better in the second half of the season.

you know what, for a club that prides itself on playing beautiful fancy football. Maybe we should start playing more like Leicester with the talent we got, i mean how worse can we be. Leicester won the league lol.

 

[Hyruga]

Hi all,

I am posting for the first time here.

I would like everyone to know what I think of each player.

First 11
Petr Cech
- Great

Hector Bellerin
- need to improve defensively

Mustafi
- good

Koscielny
- good

Monreal
- Dislike him. Feels that he needs to do more work, run faster and make more challenges instead of avoiding headers.



Özil
-Love/hate relationship

Ramsey
-good

Xhaka
-good

Iwobi
-Dislike him. Can't even shoot.

Sanchez
-Great

Giroud
-good


Tactics
Cech
Bellerin, Kos, Mustafi, Monreal
Xhaka, Ramsey
Özil, Sanchez, Iwobi
Giroud

People I want to see replaced in the first 11: Monreal, Iwobi, Giroud

Absolutely hate Walcott.
Walcott doesn't cut it. Ever since he joined in 2005, Arsenal could not win the title.
He always drifted wide and though he showed glimpse of brilliance from time to time, his 1-2 teamwork, dribbling skills, heading and first touch is still severely lacking (worse than Podolski). He has no football brain, makes the wrong decision, doesnt tackle much, cant defend, can't dribble, can't cross, can't pass, can't even shoot sometimes. Small presence, easily bullied.

The only reason why he's still around is because he's an Englishman and he can run fast though he only runs to the wing most of the time.

 

[Makingtrax]

If we win all six of those games I'll eat my hat.

 

[krackpot]

Absolutely hate Walcott.
Walcott doesn't cut it. Ever since he joined in 2005, Arsenal could not win the title.
He always drifted wide and though he showed glimpse of brilliance from time to time, his 1-2 teamwork, dribbling skills, heading and first touch is still severely lacking (worse than Podolski). He has no football brain, makes the wrong decision, doesnt tackle much, cant defend, can't dribble, can't cross, can't pass, can't even shoot sometimes. Small presence, easily bullied.

The only reason why he's still around is because he's an Englishman and he can run fast though he only runs to the wing most of the time.

we would have won mch earier with him in the side. Look at what happened when Xhaka made a run in the first half, and Ramsey came on.

Nobody makes good runs apart from Ramsey/Walcott.

 

[Hyruga]

we would have won mch earier with him in the side. Look at what happened when Xhaka made a run in the first half, and Ramsey came on.

Nobody makes good runs apart from Ramsey/Walcott.

That's because Walcott has been playing for 10 years. That's where experience comes in.

But Walcott's workrate is horrible. He doesn't tackle, doesn't intercept pass. He shy away from passes and always run to the flank. Moreover, he can't cross (despite being a winger), can't pass and can't dribble and can't shoot.

After he scored a goal, he will go completely anonymous, thinking he has done enough.

 

[Sanchez11]

The chavs are going to walk it, we messed up with taking 2 leads and still lost. That is where we lost the title!!

 

[Revolution]

T

Some of the analysis on here post these two losses have just been irrational. People once again being brainwashed by the media bias against.

Eh? Bias against Arsenal? We've seen the same mistakes time and time again, but you're just happy to pull wool over eyes.

The players had a chance to put a marker against Everton and City, but once again went missing in the second half and just didn't fancy the physical side of it.

A draw wouldn't have been a bad result. But to come away with nothing, having taken the lead, and missed so many chances........this is nothing new. Arsenal can't function against teams who harrass them and don't give them time on the ball. It's all well passing it in neat triangles, but why do they ****ing freeze time and time again?

When it comes to midweek fixtures like that, serious clubs, or true champions would have grounded out a solid 1-0 win, jumped on the bus and got back on the M6 faster than you could say Nwankwo Kanu.

We are not at our best but far from the poor side we are made out to be. We may be flat track bullies and not doing enough against the bigger sides, but we are picking up the points regardless.

And that makes everything better, does it?

Arsenal are predictable, that's what gets on everyone's nerves. I'd like to see Arsenal go to Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford and put in a ****ing good performance. But, alas, under Wenger they don't have that in them. And they won't lose against the lesser sides because they can just pass teams to death.

Even if they beat Chelsea, they would get big-headed and put in a ****e performance in the next game. Arsenal could lose six in a row, and they'll still finish in the top four. It's all very calculated and boring.

Just keep a level head in the good times to come and subsequent bad times. We are better than 4th and I'll say possibly 3rd as well, although I think we may end 3rd.

Why aren't we better than Chelsea?

Wenger has had three, four, five years to sort out the defence. He's had years to work on a gameplan, but nothing ever changes with him.

The league may be just out of reach for the moment, but its a funny old game this.

Sure, but Arsenal mounting a comeback would show how average Chelsea, Liverpool and City really are. One or two might collapse, but not the third team.

Frankly if Wenger couldn't even muster a title challenge to the death with Leicester, what makes people so confident he could win the title this time around? I don't even remember the last time Arsenal were actually in a title race.........eight years ago?

The fans have every right to express their opinions. Arsenal aren't in a crisis, and Wenger does a good job of stabilising their league position. But the ambition doesn't go higher than that.

The only reason I'm enjoying this season is because another failed title bid will surely see much needed managerial changes. Wenger will not have a leg to stand on if Arsenal don't even win a cup come May.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

Not sure where to put this, but we've gone through 2016 without losing a game by more than two goals. Pretty pointless stat I guess because a loss is a loss regardless but there was a time when we'd lose 5-1 to Liverpool and 6-0 to Chelsea in the same year. Basically we'd concede and then completely collapse. So I suppose it's something that we lose by 3, 4, 5 or even 6 goals to the bigger teams anymore.

 

[RacingPhoton]

T
Eh? Bias against Arsenal? We've seen the same mistakes time and time again, but you're just happy to pull wool over eyes.

The players had a chance to put a marker against Everton and City, but once again went missing in the second half and just didn't fancy the physical side of it.

A draw wouldn't have been a bad result. But to come away with nothing, having taken the lead, and missed so many chances........this is nothing new. Arsenal can't function against teams who harrass them and don't give them time on the ball. It's all well passing it in neat triangles, but why do they ****ing freeze time and time again?

When it comes to midweek fixtures like that, serious clubs, or true champions would have grounded out a solid 1-0 win, jumped on the bus and got back on the M6 faster than you could say Nwankwo Kanu.


And that makes everything better, does it?

Arsenal are predictable, that's what gets on everyone's nerves. I'd like to see Arsenal go to Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford and put in a ****ing good performance. But, alas, under Wenger they don't have that in them. And they won't lose against the lesser sides because they can just pass teams to death.

Even if they beat Chelsea, they would get big-headed and put in a ****e performance in the next game. Arsenal could lose six in a row, and they'll still finish in the top four. It's all very calculated and boring.


Why aren't we better than Chelsea?

Wenger has had three, four, five years to sort out the defence. He's had years to work on a gameplan, but nothing ever changes with him.


Sure, but Arsenal mounting a comeback would show how average Chelsea, Liverpool and City really are. One or two might collapse, but not the third team.

Frankly if Wenger couldn't even muster a title challenge to the death with Leicester, what makes people so confident he could win the title this time around? I don't even remember the last time Arsenal were actually in a title race.........eight years ago?

The fans have every right to express their opinions. Arsenal aren't in a crisis, and Wenger does a good job of stabilising their league position. But the ambition doesn't go higher than that.

The only reason I'm enjoying this season is because another failed title bid will surely see much needed managerial changes. Wenger will not have a leg to stand on if Arsenal don't even win a cup come May.

Great points. Really surprised with people still believing in title bid. Looking at the way we play now and how other teams are performing, we would be lucky to hold on to the fourth position. Last season was a golden opportunity for us. We missed out on it. Don't see us winning it this time when all other teams have strengthened considerably. Especially when two of the major competitors don't have European football to worry about.

 

[Trilly]

Not sure where to put this, but we've gone through 2016 without losing a game by more than two goals. Pretty pointless stat I guess because a loss is a loss regardless but there was a time when we'd lose 5-1 to Liverpool and 6-0 to Chelsea in the same year. Basically we'd concede and then completely collapse. So I suppose it's something that we lose by 3, 4, 5 or even 6 goals to the bigger teams anymore.

Each season we seem to improve yet always seem a way off. I know the squad isn't perfect but it never will be. We don't have Manchester money.

We need a manager who makes a team better than the sum of its parts. Imagine what managers like Klopp and Simeone - who have never had the big bucks - could do with our budget.

 

[Makingtrax]

Some of the analysis on here post these two losses have just been irrational. People once again being brainwashed by the media bias against.

We are not at our best but far from the poor side we are made out to be. We may be flat track bullies and not doing enough against the bigger sides, but we are picking up the points regardless.

Just keep a level head in the good times to come and subsequent bad times. We are better than 4th and I'll say possibly 3rd as well, although I think we may end 3rd.

The league may be just out of reach for the moment, but its a funny old game this.

Great post mate. It's a shame our record against top 5 clubs is taking a dive this year, when last year we were top of the mini league against the top 5 teams. Last year we struggled against bottom sides and this year we're doing well on that front.

Mustafi being out came at a bad time for those two games. He's a big miss. Still injuries are no excuse ffs.

 

[fabo]

Last year's record is probably skewed by us beating Leicester twice. Drew twice vs Pool, twice vs Sp**s, lost twice to Chelsea. Beat City and United, while drawing and losing away from home. So nothing to write home about.

If bloody Mustafi was fit. His mere presence might have meant that Koscielny and Monreal were doing their jobs against City and Everton. Maybe....