You have no way of knowing that. You may speculate, and that speculation, could be valid. I, however, prefer to believe, there is a resurgence of desire within every player on our team, to treat every match as if it were not a given 3 points.
Of course I have no way of knowing that. It was meant as a throw away tongue in cheek comment. However the number of times we have faced inferior opposition and lost because too many players thought that 90% or 95% would do rather than 100% is far too high, and yet various players still turn up to games such as Wigan and play less than 100%. A lack of effort, desire, concentration, commitment, focus, or preparation maybe a mixture of all of them. None of our players were staggeringly bad last night, but by being a few percent off what they are capable of, they were made to look poor by a very good Wigan side. Its happened too many times, too many times have the same players been trotted out on Arsenal.com to admit that maybe they didnt give the opposition team enough respect, and they'll learn from it and it wont happen again, and then of course it does. EDIT: It was also frustrating that the other than a few minutes of delight when we got a goal back, the only part of the SKY MNF show I enjoyed was the pre-game talk by Gary Neville about diving and cheating. Very refreshing to hear a professional saying all that. Excellent punditry
Not at all. I think RvP's attitude at the end showed how the players were feeling. They were pissed off. To the game, I thought Rosicky did well and Ox was quite good. I do not get all the hate for Santos. He was attacking all day and opened lanes up with his dribbling. I don't think he was slow at all. I would have pulled Rambo and kept Yossi on in the MF. Theo was pretty useless and that was not a surprise given how tight Wigan were playing. So, the Chelsea game is a must win. At home, against a team that will play 3 hard games is a job that can be done. We should win this. Come on Arsenal!
playing with a fullback and defensive wingback is hardly revolutionary. an empty net goal, and a crazy ricochet off the keeper goal are flukey. trying to remember an empty net tap in all year long. are you saying they play for a rebound off the keeper's hands from 2 yards out? where was this genius from martinez when we hammered them in Manchester?
kinda tired of seeing our left fullback play as a central attacking midfielder as well.. gibbs is needed just for shape.. jesus.
I never called Martinez a genius, I just notice he gets good results against Arsenal. Both goals were well worked. One where they broke off a corner and created a good chance. The other where Moses rinsed Sagna and put in a good ball. Those things happen when a good move takes place. That was Wigan creating their "luck." I didnt call the formation they had yesterday revolutionary either. They went with a 5-4-1 when off the ball and then a 3-4-3 when with the ball. They are the first team I have seen all season contain and then outplay the Sagna/Theo pairing on the right by having two good attacking players on that side of the field which forced us to less aggressive state out wide. All of their attacks came from that side, its not a coincidence. their 3 centerbacks allowed no space for van persie to operate in the area either. I cant recall one moment when van Persie had a shot on target yesterday outside of that 25 yarder. In all honesty, that was the best total performance ive seen from an opposing team at the Emirates all season. The only other maybe coming close is the Marseille match, and that is because of how sound they were defensively because they were nonexistant attacking us. Wigan defended great, shut down the place where Arsenal attacks the most (the right) by attacking that side, and they always looked a threat to score. Its just different. I dont think the 3-4-3 is revolutionary, but it has not been used much in England so I am interested to see how teams handle Wigan in the coming weeks. Idk, I just prefer to give the opposing team credit for their instead of taking away their credibility and diss our own players.
Hear, hear.... There was a lot of anger on this thread concerning how some guys played, which seems poor given how resurgent we've been since January. We normally go into a swoon, and yet here we are, firmly in third, with cushion over Spurs, Chelsea and a surprising Newcastle team. I mean, the criticism over Sagna's allegedly poor header (in their final 1/4 of the field) prior to their breakaway seems over the top. No, we didn't have a great game, but you know what, it's hard to be on top of your game 50 - 60 times a year. Sometimes good teams drop points. Yeah, looking at the table, some would think we should just chalk it up as a win, even before the other team takes the field, but that's naive. Wigan played well and for the second week in a row knocked off a top team. That does deserve respect.
This just shows that we cannot relax--even in the first minutes of the game. Wigan came out there and beat us with strategy yesterday. Hit us hard and fast; bunker and hit us with the counter attack when Vermaelen, Sagna and Santos are predictably in attacking position. This also shows how much we missed Koscielny yesterday ;he is quick, defensive-minded, can read the game; our best defender. Also, when team effectively bunker like Wigan did yesterday, it's hard for Walcott to get behind the defenders and do what he does best. Overall, we could have won the game if we didn't conceded two goals so early allowing them to implement the bunker strategy. Did anyone see the Wigan fans around the 90 minute? They looked like they just lost the game haha....The worried looked on their faces was hilarious. They probably lost more hair during the match then we did.
Fergie and Mourinho have/had better talent and can spend more. Martinez has a lot of inferior talent, is forced to sell players by Whelan, and gets results against Wenger. I dont really care for this discussion but Im way more impressed by what Martinez has done versus Arsenal than Mourinho and Fergie.
Personally, for reasons only half of which are directly related to games, I cannot bedrudge Martinez, Coyle, or Martin O'Neill wins against us under circumstances like yesterday's match (we just sucked, they did well). All of them are guys I have a lot of respect for who work well with what they have available, and from what I've read are unanimously respected by past and present footballers under them. With regards to our left backs, I would actually like to see Santos play as a left winger once (maybe in summer friendlies).
so beating us a few times (like fat sam did) with a shit team is worth more than preventing us winning the league? ok son
I don't get whats up with this shit. Its frustrating to be able to beat the top table but be constantly challenged by minnows. I used to chalk it up to being tired but its happening at an alarming level this season and can only be deduced that this team takes the pedal off against lesser teams. If you stop to think where this team would be this season if it had beaten all the clubs it should have...friggen ridiculous. These niggling losses have cost us big time.
Swansea as a city is 3 times bigger than Wigan. Wigan is a rugby league town. They don't a crap about the 'Latics. Why do you think the usual attendance is quite low at the DW. The DW is bigger than Loftus Road but on average has about half the attendance. If Wigan truly had more cash than Swansea. Than by now they would be doing better. Don't go on about Norwich they have a very good developmental system. Wigan probably have the lowest cash reserves in the Premiership definitely much less than Swansea.
I still think squad depth is a big issue. RVP and Song have been quietly lately. Maybe it's because they're forced to play every single game due to our lack of depth? As others have said, have a very strong best 11, but not much behind them. I wonder if Wenger made a mistake letting guys like Vela and Bendtner go out on loan. They aren't RVP, but they could probably score some goals, which can't be said for Park or Chamakh.
The Metropolitan Borough of Wigan covers 76 square miles with a population of 300,000. The total population for the Wider Swansea Urban Area, is 270,000. Swansea shares their smaller stadium with a Rugby team as well, the Ospreys. As i'm sure you know, Rugby is the national sport of Wales. Wigan's annual turnover is over 40 million a year, and i'm sure has been since they joined the Premier League. Swansea's turnover is 10 million a year. If Wigan is strapped for cash, it's only because they spend like a drunken sailor on wages. Never mind the fact that Dave Whelan is worth around 200 million pounds himself. But sure, Swansea City is Goliath to poor Wigan's David. http://www.myfootballfacts.com/PremierLeagueFinances.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-13430496
I was just able to watch this for the first time on DVR. Taxes and other stuff got in the way on Monday. We didn't really deserve to win that one, maybe draw perhaps. All is not lost but we need to get back on track with a win against a tired Chelsea, hopefully moping about being whipped by Barca. The one bright spot I took away from the Wigan match was Rosicky. And I'm the first to admit that I never believed a year ago that he would return to the form he's been in for much of this year. Well done to him!! Ox showed why he needs to mature. He's got great talent but he really threw away several good attacks by insisting on too much NBA-like one-on-one stuff. I noticed Ramsey was on the pitch early on but somehow missed Arteta going off. What was his injury? At all serious?
You're probably right, but I doubt he'll be going anywhere any time real soon. Arsene seems loyal to him, he's loyal to us, he doesn't seem to have that killer drive to be first-teamer, and I expect him to stick around as a 2nd or 3rd string squad defender. Until I suppose Miquel or someone else comes up and knocks Johan out of the squad.
First and foremost, you want to talk about the metro areas. I'm only talking about the actual town or city itself. Secondly, Swansea has more attendance on average and combined than Wigan. Just about Wigan but still over 1000 tickets more than Wigan. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/stats/attendance/_/league/eng.1/barclays-premier-league?cc=5901 Also, because Swansea's combined ownership is also worth about 200 mil. However, net worth means nothing. How much do the clubs allocate to the actual players themselves? How much is given for use in the window? Considering the moves Wigan and Swansea have made this year. Swansea has more and they are higher up the table as they should be. The DW is also a bigger stadium and can seat about 5000 more people than at the Liberty. Rugby is obviously the biggest sport in Wales that truly goes without saying. However, they obviously like their soccer. Considering the average attendance for this season and the stadium capacity. They almost sell out every match. So, Dave Whelan should fork over some more cash but Martinez can't help that which is what it comes down to. He can't take control of Whelan's wallet and I'm sure he has asked many times for more funds.
That's fine, but Wigan still brings in quadruple what Swansea does on a yearly basis, and have done for years. So how are they poorer again? Edit: Martinez has been spending 90% of their turnover on wages, so why are they permanent relegation fodder?
You're changing the subject. My point was Swansea have more to spend on players. Wigan have been losing money for a long time. Their wage bill is around 87% (not 90%) of the revenue but they make the lowest or very close to it at barely 40 mil. Swansea is (at the moment) profitable and they can dedicate more capital to the improvement of the roster (and they have spent more). Why are they permanent relegation fodder is because the players aren't good enough to play well, week in and week out in this league. Martinez gets the most out of them to compete and sometimes make an upset happen. Wigan went into the Emirates and gave Arsenal the finger and snatched 3 points. They came to play with a purpose. Obviously, Martinez put together a good game plan and motivate his team. Whether you like it or not, he will be going to a bigger club soon.