WHY IS IT ??

[KingReyes]

Just saw an interview with Ashley Cole and I can agree with what he said that we are playing without any confidence. Starting from the defense up to the strikers, look at the form of Reyes for example who was flying at the start, his form has dipped and alot of his game comes from the confidence he has. The same goes with the others, if we can get the belief and condidence back then we'll be winning games more often.

 

[kenada]

Id have to agree, def a confidence and form slump, we all know confidence takes time to build, but goes quickly.

Screw that plan b crap, if players dont have confidence to play at their potential or whatever then by just having a separate plan isnt gonna make much difference

 

[omega man]

fans are fickle

Fans dont get payed like the players and managers do. Fans (most) are
just passionate for the club and frustrations are hard to keep in and
the easy target is the manager.

 

[siddharth]

Its a dip in form, thats all there really is to it. What has not helped has been Chelsea's excellent from at the same time which makes our situation look much worse than it actually is.


If this was the middle or end of March I would be very concerned, and clealry we cannot afford to fall too far behind them now but at the moment it is not the crisis some people have made it out to be.

The last time we played like this was in the last 6-8 games of 2002-2003 and while it ultimately cost us the league, the difference is that now we have time to make up for the dip.

If we can keep Chelsea in our sites going into the last 10 games of the season we CAN retain our title.

Even if we do not, while we should clearly be disappointed we should not forget what this team has given us over the past 4 years, 2 Premierships, 2 FA Cups and an unbeaten season is a fantastic achievement and we should be very grateful for it!

Wonder if this run is actually a dip in form or actually oppositions knew how to play against us

No, as sides at the start of the season like Boro, Blackburn, Charlton and Villa were playing the same way and we battered them!

I disagree. The above teams have Mclaren , Souness (at that time) , Curbishley and O'Leary as their respective managers and they always play attacking football which creates the space for us.I don't remember these managers playing against us in the way palace, westbrom and southampton did, not to mention if u consider the way psv , panathinaikos or rosenborg played in europe .

Secondly teams have realised that they can't compete against our classy attacking football hence they are resorting to other tactics to tackle us and which lets be honest has been very effective. Liverpool away was just a classical example how Benitez would have played against us in europe. We were just outplayed.

Now i accept that our form is going to experience a wobble after that amazing run but it just seems that we as supporters are blaming wenger and the players on too many occassions rather than accepting that teams have been tactically outplaying us.

I don't know if you people heard this in the liverpool match but just like Andy Gray said.... " Arsenal are not playing well but perhaps they are not being allowed to."

This is what i was talking about.

Kop Find a Formula To Beat Gunners

Our confidence is not high and our form has suffered. The reason for that is we are not scoring goals. Most of the people suggest that it's down to our low confidence but i firmly believe it's got more to do with the opposition tactics. Pires and Reyes are off form but i reckon it's down to the way opposition have played. Pires and reyes are creative players who need space and time on the ball but they are just not being allowed to. Considering how pires and reyes are conservative in tackling they just look poor when they don't have the ball.

The fact is we are too weak in midfield like many people have pointed out in here. I remember wenger playing Pires---Gilberto---Vieira----Parlour in many big away and home games. Now just compare that midfield to the one we are playing right now and it's crystal clear.

 

[Florida Gooner]

Coaching staffs are not stupid. They may be slow to react and change tactics, but eventually they will. There isn't an offense in any sport that hasn't been eventually figured out and defended against successfully. EPL teams have had the entire summer and a few months this season to do just that to us, which by all appearances, they have. This should not come as a surprise or shock. It is then incumbent upon the opposing manager, in this case Le Boss, to come up with some answers of his own. Adaptability is the key here, and the ball is clearly in Wenger's court now.