I'm very happy in my life it's just this addiction to Arsenal that depresses me in a sports sense Mad to think I'm more optimistic about Philly than Arsenal this season lol Trust the process
True. And yet we beat Chelsea in the Shield. Meanwhile ManU have 2 clean sheets in first 2 matches with +8 GD. After being whipped by Madrid in the UEFA super cup. Football's a funny old game.
Let me guess. Wenger will come out to say zat we have stroooong spirrit, goood qualiteee in za team, Sanchez is staying, za ref was noot goood, we believe we will compete for za title, other teams are spending too much moneiii, and there are no qualitie players to buy in za market.
Posted this in the transfer thread but gonna post it here too as it's about today's game. Robbie Mustoe just nailed it...says it almost doesn't matter who we buy because "the coach doesn't coach the team to be secure to be a unit defensively." Said the goal we conceded today is so Arsenal. We can "go buy another striker, go and buy another defender, go and buy another wide player because the coaching of that club is not right to be strong enough, to be driven enough to win a title."
The optimist in me knew this team would lose games, including some that they "shouldn't." Their overall form was strong and it's not hard to close my eyes and imagine this turning into a 3-0 or 3-1 win for Arsenal. The realist, however, knows this script and understands that until Arsenal wins games like this the season will play out the same each time. At the absolute least Arsenal has to be good enough to get a goal on days like today, against opponents like Stoke if they ever want to get more than 75 pts in the table. Absolutely necessary, even/especially if the calls don't go their way. Instead we get this: ...and this: And you don't need to be an NBC analyst to recognize the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts, and that the parts are not those of a title contender. As one analyst did point out, Plan A isn't working and the options after that aren't looking so great. Arsene continues to try and strike gold in buying talent just below elite levels, but in a league that's grown far more competitive since he inherited the Gunners that won't yield league challenges without a whole lot of fate and/or some far better coaching and managing. Only now he's just doing it with a more expensive payroll. I'll get over this, but man this is f***ing excruciating to watch all that talent being so slow with their passes, standing around, and otherwise visually demonstrating the gulf in talent between them and Citeh.
P.s. If you ever needed evidence of possession not meaning a whole lot in terms of results, today's Game is that evidence. We had 77% of possession. Wow.
I'm not sure how else to say it anymore. Wenger just won't accept that talent isn't the determining factor to success. Bellerin is a RB, not a RWB, not a RW, not a LWB not a RCB. He has one role that he is good to great at RB. Just madness watching how he sets the team up, I actually think the squad is good enough to win the title. Wenger is the handbrake for this team not talent or squad diversity.
Exactly why I believe we do NOT need to sign another CB, or RB, or LB. I really believe, and many will disagree with me, that our squad is good enough for a legit title challenge. Ozil, Mustafi, Per have big roles with the reigning World Cup champions. Kosc, Laca, Giroud, Ramsey, Xhaka, Alexis play darn well for their national teams. Some pretty solid countries to boot. Bellerin is good enough that Barca were chasing him. It's not the players. Sometimes you can't buy your way out of mediocrity. We have the players. We don't have the discipline. We don't have the good rotation once the season gets going. Every team has dead weight, but the best teams don't rely on that dead weight due to a flawed system and tactics.
We have no leaders. The team is full of mental fragility. The players AND the coach are not good enough. To think that if we just changed the manager we would make top 4 (let alone challenge for the title, that is laughable!) is arguable. Alexis and Ozil are class. Kos is a good CB. Laca is decent, but not as good as Lukaku or Morata. Giroud is a good impact sub. Hopefully Kolasinic comes good. Ox has done pretty well in recent times. The rest I can't be bothered with (I may keep Ramsey around) and should be jettisoned.
Wenger slammed the defense today saying it started too sluggish. This from the man who decided to play the players out of position...
He loves the control, money and is scared to death of not managing. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with Arsenal.
Wenger also said he wasn't convinced by our central defense today. Again, from the man who started a left back as the middle defender.