Not much to say. Has the RVP well run dry? I only saw the last 20 so hard for me to judge. Did he have any service today? Most through ball attempts I saw were easily picked off (Gervinho still has to release earlier...thought he would of figured that out by now yet he runs directly at defenders till he gets stuffed over and over).
Drogba looks to be coming into some form here recently which scares me. We don't have a defender who can match him for muscle power in the box. Certainly not dijourou and Santos is to slow. Kos is out for Chelski right? Then its up to TV 5 which can go either way. And I was hoping for a "stress free" run in...ha ha ha.
I understand a lot of guys had a bad game, but at least Walcott can be a goal scoring threat, Ramsey is offering absolutely nothing. The whole game seems to slow down anytime he touches the ball. I get hes young and lost a year and such but we're in a race for a CL spot, not exactly a time to be hoping he starts playing well. OX needs to be starting, as soon as he came on he was the biggest threat on the field. Djourou needs to just, go away. Djourou and Ramsey on the field together makes me cringe.
There's a serious problem if Arteta can't go the rest of the season. It's been reported that he was on crutches with a protective boot on his foot. Ramsey simply isn't a starter on a top 4 team at the moment.
It wouldn't be Arsenal if we didn't make it interesting. Bottom line is that it's all there for the taking. Chelsea will be low on morale and energy this weekend after getting rolled by Barca. Chelsea and Newcastle play on May 2nd. Hopefully it will be a draw or a Chelsea win.
Neither are Santos, Rosicky and Yossi. And yet here we are, without our top 4 MFs from last year, clinging to 3rd. Wenger is to both applauded and criticized with the personnel he's glued together. Why he won't start Ox or even Gervinho at this juncture is a great mystery to me. Mind boggling. Yossi wasn't good enough to stick with the Chavs or Pool, but he's suddenly become "Arsenal quality" after riding the pine all season. At least Ramsey has an eye for goal.
The weakness of this team is in the depth, and that's been true all season. When we get a healthy XI, they can go on a run and look like title challengers. But if a key player has a run of bad form or we have players out, the wheels start to come off a bit. I don't want to single players out, but Djourou has proven to be a liability every time he's forced to play. I've defended him in the past, because he's the fourth CB and you're not going have top quality that deep. And I remember some decent games he had last year and before his injury. But I'm losing patience. I think LB is a mess. Santos is an...interesting player, but he's not an every day PL starter, especially when we have those stretches of playing every few days. And as much as I like Gibbs, he's broken and I can't remember a single healthy stretch in his career. It's a position I'm worried about for next year. If Arteta is out for the season, that's a huge blow. JW has bee ruled out for the season, and I forgot he even still existed. The bench is so thin that it's best to hope you don't need it. Chamberlain is the only one you really want to see, and Wenger has been so reluctant to use him for some reason. How shit must Park be if he can't sit on the bench once instead of Chamakh. Tempting to overreact, but we entered a stretch of the season where we really couldn't afford to lose games, and we've lost to QPR and Wigan. It's going to be a stressful run here...
How so? I didn't see some brilliant tactical master plan carried out to perfection. Their goals were down to some pretty major defensive mistakes and Szczesny losing out on two 50-50 balls. Then they basically just packed it in, and it still took some horrendous finishing from Arsenal and some great saves by their keeper to hold on.
lastly, I know people feel the urge to blame Ramsey when its not a sunny day but he was not even close to the worst performer out there. Sagna was done up, down, over, and sideways by Moses today. Theo looked like "Emirates Theo" today with how he could not get by Bousejour. Vermaelen and Djourou were on their comedy defending routine. I have no idea what Chez was doing on that 2nd goal when he didnt take the ball in. And Song tried to dribble past 5 players repeatedly. Ramsey wasnt good, but he wasnt anywhere near the worst performer More than anything tho, Wigan played a great match today. Completely outplayed Arsenal in attack (looked the more dangerous side) and in defense. lastly, not sure if its been mentioned but Wenger has shut down Wilshere for the season and Euros.
I agree with all of this. I think when Arteta went off injured that we all looked to Ramsey to hopefully produce, but he was poor once again. I think Theo has done well this season but I wonder what Moses or Hoilett would do in our squad? When I see Theo on the ball he just runs strangely and never beats anyone unless he has a ton of space to run onto a ball. He needs to get some moves but his body is so stiff.
Agree on Ramsey. Song and Theo, particularly, stunk the joint out today. The problem with the Welshman is that he has been routinely poor lately. I wonder if Diaby could be back for the Chelsea game. I would rather have him than AR. By the way, to add to the bad news, Arteta may be out for the remainder of the season. That sucks. PS. these Wenger's comments after the game deserve attention. " "On top of that we conceded a second goal with 10 men on the pitch. It took us too much time to change and it was absolutely unbelievable." I really wonder who dropped the ball there. Arteta was injured and asked to be replaced before the first goal. How did it happen that Ramsey didn't get in after the first goal and before the restart? That is totally amateurish! Unacceptable at this level.
The hard work was there, but we lacked quality and creativity to breakdown an impressive Wigan's defense today.