Manchester United 8-2 Arsenal: The Nadir, if We’re Lucky.

By: jg | August 28th, 2011

Laconic: We did not get any points this weekend.
Reality: I would say that this is just about the darkest day in the history of Arsenal Football Club.

That turd is smiling 'cause he's a Spurs fan.

When I write my match reports, I usually start on them during the match, in order to save time and get more info and thoughts on the match written down before I lose them. By around the 75th minute, I usually have a working title that captures the overall theme of the match. By around the 75th minute, the working title for this one was “Can it get any worse?” I quickly had to scrap that because, indeed, things DID get worse. I also didn’t want to jinx this team in case something truly horrendous could happen in the future, like if we don’t win the CL or something. Another working title was “Fuck This”, but inserting profanity into page titles that get Twitter and search engine hits is generally frowned upon at the Offside. So I chose the title you see at the top of the page.

Well, there we have it. This is the performance and face of a team that has been deprived of two of its best players, and failure to adequately replace them. A team with known defensive issues and injury problems, and failure to adequately address them. A team that so far, has been utterly abject when it comes to creating chances and creativity, and failure to adequately fix that. This is the result of Arsene Wenger, Ivan Gazidis, and the Board utterly failing to do what matters most- strengthening the squad when the squad needs strengthening in critical times like these.

For the most part, most of my anger and disappointment is not directed at the players- yes, a lot of the performances by our players this season so far have been far from good. Far from acceptable, even. But we knew this. Expected it, for the more cynical among us. When you start a game at Old Trafford with Francis Coquelin and Armand Traore on the pitch, you know you’re not going to get a footballing spectacle from Arsenal.

Hence the title. This SHOULD be the nadir for Arsenal Football Club, if we’re lucky. Hopefully this will spur Arsene Wenger and the board to make the required purchases and get this behind us as fast as we can. In two weeks time, we will play Swansea City at home and we better play a completely different line-up than the one that played today. We better see some new faces. Faces that are older than 17 years old and have more than 8 caps for their previous clubs. We knew that getting a positive result from this match, was going to be very, very tough, but only the most sado-masochistic among us expected this travesty. This is our worst league result in over 100 YEARS. This is also, of course, the worst result in Arsene Wenger’s reign at Arsenal. And I don’t think he’s going to have much time to top himself, because I feel his time is running out.

Finding pictures of this match was too painful, so I'm going to show you funny pics of cute animals.

I’m not going to go into too much detail about the match proceedings, because I’m pretty sure most of you caught the gist of what happened. Manchester United physically, footbally, mentally, and emotionally outplayed us from beginning to end. We were, for the most part, a nervous wreck for the 90 minutes.

The first goal was a travesty. Djourou was just completely walked upon by Welbeck who took the slightest of touches to get it past Szczesny. A bit later, Walcott was fouled by Evans in the box and, surprise surprise, Howard Webb called a penalty for us. It was a way to get back in the match and regain some of our lost confidence, so of course van Persie shot weakly to the ground so De Gea could be a hero and tip it wide. A minute later, a United attack led to Traore heading it straight to Young, who stepped inside Coquelin and shot an absolutely brilliant shot that Szcz had no chance on. 2-0.

United missed some easy chances later, but 5 minutes before HT United got a FK just outside the box and Rooney smashed it into the top left corner. 3-0. It was looking pretty bad at that point, but thankfully seconds before the HT whistle, Walcott got on the end of a pass and shot it between De Gea’s legs. 3-1, and a result that gave the smallest spark of hope.

After the restart, Arsenal began a 10-12 minute spell where they really threatened united and started playing like the better team. Only, the goals did not come. van Persie first timed it straight into De Gea when he had time to bring down the ball, and Arshavin went on two great runs only to shoot it weakly out or into De Gea’s hands. A few minutes later, Wenger took off our CM, Coquelin, for an attacking Winger, AOC. Bad mistake. Rooney soon scored from another free-kick, a brilliant one too, and the team just crumbled. Like a really flaky, soft cookie. 4-1 Completely crumbled. Nani scored a few minutes later when no one even tried to mark him or challenge him. 5-1. Park soon scored 3 minute later from a soft shot in the box that no one in our side tried to block. 6-1. van Persie soon made his amends for the penalty miss with a great volley from a good Jenkinson cross later, but by then, the damage was done. 6-2. Nearing the final ten minutes, Jenkinson was sent off, Walcott conceded a penalty, and of course Rooney converted to complete his hat-trick. 7-2. Finally, in injury time, Ashley Young scored another fantastic goal with a scrumptious curler that ended into the top corner. 8-2. When Howard Webb finally and mercifully blew the whistle, the Arsenal Nation felt like Luke Skywalker after the Emperor was done electro-torturing him. Or like the toys from Toy Story 3, only this time the Little Green Aliens didn’t save them and they just burned to death in the incinerator. Or like the Dude and Walter when Donny dies. Take your pick. FT, 8-2.

jeb

Fuck the stats, at least for today. Man United dominated us, plain and simple. Whether or not we got more corners than them doesn’t make a difference.

On to the ratings:

Szczesny: 6 He was let down by his defense for the first two goals, and although he could have done more for Rooney’s first goal, it was an expertly taken free-kick that he had very little chance of saving in the first place. As our 10 minute spell of playing well ended, he got down well to save some certain goals from Nani and Cleverley. Then the 4th came in and he just gave up. I don’t blame him.

Jenkinson: 4.5 Bless him, he tried. Turns out Manchester’s United left side attackers are on a whole different level than Udinese’s. Evra and Young completely tore poor Carl apart throughout the match, and you could tell by the shouting he and Walcott were exchanging as early as the 21st minute that he wasn’t taking it very well. Got himself sent off (a second yellow, thankfully) for heroically denying that stupid Pea a one-on-one with Szcz on the 77th minute. He looked pretty distraught as he walked down the tunnel, which just shows how much heart he has for Arsenal. It was very much an experience for him, but hopefully one that he’ll learn from.

Djourou: 3.5 Completely outmatched by United’s attackers. Was clearly at fault for the first goal and later on conceded the free-kick that led to United’s fourth and dashed any faint hopes we had of making a heroic comeback. To be blunt, he was absolutely horrible today and I’m not sure how much better he is than Squillaci. He played very well for about 3-4 months last season but after that, I have to say he’s been fairly mediocre. Once you get past Vermaelen and Sagna, most of our defenders just aren’t up for it. Reinforcements, please.

Koscielny: 5 The best of a atrocious bunch, although that isn’t saying much. Djourou was more to blame for the opening goal but Kosicelny didn’t do any better. Was more or less outstretched by United’s front line as he sought to correct his fellow defender’s wrongdoings. Made some expertly executed tackles to deny Pea several goalscoring chances, and that’s always a plus in my book. Needs Vermaelen by his side to truly fulfill his potential and ability.

Traore: 3 I hope that he never plays for Arsenal ever again. There I said it. In my opinion, the worst of the 4 defenders and that’s saying a LOT. Nani acted as if he didn’t have a left-back too go up against as he completely dominated our left side all match long. His half-hearted headed clearance led to the 2nd goal, and he was completely anonymous near the end as United got their flurry of goals. He offered nothing going forward and at 21, you could say he isn’t going to get any better, as opposed to Jenkinson, who still has a learning curve. And there are some saying he was grinning come FT. Despicable. He makes me miss Clichy.

Coquelin: 6.5 Man of the Match Gets the MOTM honor for being on the pitch and only see us concede 3 goals. Was being hyped up when it became clear he was going to start this one, and I thought he did pretty well. Composed on the ball, although his final distribution was still lacking, but at the same time his presence more or less stopped United from completely and absolutely running us over. Getting subbed for AOC just as we were getting back into the game has to go down as one of Wenger’s worst tactical decisions he’s ever made, though.

Ramsey: 5.5 He needs to learn how to shoot. He had the ball in promising situations at least twice and instead of pulling the trigger, he dilly dallied and lost the ball. Other than that, fairly average. Couldn’t cope with United’s players but at the same time no one else couldn’t, either. Will get better as he plays more, I hope.

Rosicky: 6 Helped Coquelin throughout the game, which was very nice and led to the Frenchman’s assured performance. An acceptable performance and was one of our better players, which isn’t saying much.

Walcott: 6 He won the penalty and scored deep into first-half injury time, which was good. Then he disappeared as United started scoring them like candy until he re-appeared in the final stages to give up a penalty as Evra took a tumble from his challenge.

Arshavin: 5.5 Should have been sent off for a challenge on Young in the first half. Had at least two chances in the second half to pull it back to 3-2. He missed them both and we lost 8-2 instead. This is the result of almost no competition among the first-team players. Arshavin was one of the most dangerous inside forwards in the world when we signed him 3 years ago. What the hell happened?

van Persie: 6 We really needed our captain to come to us today, so when he missed that penalty by carelessly trying to slot it weakly into the center-left, you knew things were going to go bad for us. That goal would have made it 1-1 and although we likely would have still lost, you have to say that goal would at least have changed the course of the game and improved our fledgling confidence. Missed a couple of other chances as well and was generally out of the game for the most part. Did score a really nice volley to make it 6-2, though.

Subs:

Oxlade-Chamberlain: N/A The AOC came on for Coquelin a little bit after the hour mark and that completely destroyed our game, I’m afraid. Of course, none of that is AOC’s fault so I’ll just go on and say that it was nice to see him finally make his debut. That being said, he was pretty anonymous throughout the time he was there but you could blame that on our overall state of affairs today more than anything.

Chamakh: N/A Came on near the end for van Persie. Didn’t really do anything, other than lose the ball twice in one minute. Totally expected from him, but doesn’t warrant a rating.

Lansbury: N/A Came on at the same time for Walcott. Didn’t do anything.

Away Fans: 10 Fans of the Match It’s safe to say that, after a pretty rough 2011 overall so far for Arsenal fans, they were more than entitled to be very displeased and angry at the turn of events for this club and to express that displeasure on the stands during our games. Indeed, during our dour 0-0 opening draw at Newcastle, chants of “Spend some F****** money” were very clearly shouted by the Arsenal fans. But for this match, I have to say the away fans were utterly fantastic. Even at 0-3 down, they kept shouting their lungs off in their efforts to encourage their players- indeed, I dare say our 10 minute spell of good play early on in the second half was directly related to our away fans’ efforts to galvanize their players. Class acts all along. I’ve read reports that captain Robin van Persie made every Arsenal player go out to the fans at the full time whistle and thank them. They sure as hell deserved it.

Arsene Wenger: 3.5: He gets that 3.5 for everything he did up to 2006. He is the best manager in the history of the club, and his efforts to revolutionize the club and successes when it came to trophies must be applauded. However, his gross underappreciation for signing experienced players ever since Henry, Gilberto, Toure, Adebayor, Gallas, Cesc and Nasri left has resulted in this: a mess of a team that has more injured and suspended players than available ones and has to feature 5 reserve players in a crunch match against our hated rivals. I don’t give two flying shits about how experienced signings would have hindered the development of our youth players. Traore sucks. Frimpong is too naive. Djourou sucks most of the time. Ramsey, Jenkinson, and AOC looked lost today, without the guidance of a true veteran in their respective positions to guide them and shape them into top-class players. Look at Alex Ferguson. Just look at him, Arsene. Today, the average age of his side was younger than ours. And they won 8-2, just to remind you. Why is that, Arsene? Could it be that while they made sure to buy promising youth, they also had top-class, veteran players to help guide them and mold them into future superstars? Carl Jenkinson and Ignasi Miquel have only Sagna and Vermaelen to look up to. Smalling, Jones, the twins- they have Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Evra, Giggs, etc. THAT is how you win with kids. You have until Wednesday to try to clean up the mess and sign players that will help us compete again and not be a laughingstock again. I don’t even want to think what will happen if our only subsequent purchase is Park Chu-Young, for your sake.

We all know what can go a long way towards fixing our troubles: going out there and getting some top class players. Wenger and the club have the money. Do they have the will? We have until Wednesday to find out.

This has been a very traumatizing result and day for us Arsenal fans, so if I may make a little suggestion, it’s that you all do something relaxing and non-Arsenal related for the rest of the day, after reading this. Go out for a walk, if you’re not in the Northeastern United States. Eat a fluffy cupcake, or some pancakes. If you have a spouse and/or kids, go play with them. Listen to Kanye, or Led Zeppelin, or Pink Floyd. Watch some South Park. And most of all, Have a good Sunday!

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Category: Fixtures, Manchester United, Premiership

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Samrin

Hey jg,

I am a Bayern and Arsenal fan- I have commented on this blog just once before. I enjoyed the report. I really really believe in Arsene Wenger but today was a culmination of things. We had Song and Frimpng out to start with. Missing Sagna and Vermaelen was probably the biggest bad news on the day. At the end of the day, it was horrifying. When I woke up the following day, the first thing that came into my mind was the match and I just wanted to throw up.

I had watched Bayern steamroll Kaiserslautern on Saturday, 3-0 and Sunday just left a bitter taste in my mouth. But, I have always said that there is no one out there who can manage Arsenal FC and keep us in Pot A (in the CL) except Wenger. The good news is mertesacker is in...and believe me, since I watch the Bundesliga regularly, he should be a good signing. Andre Santos is also in....

So, in Arsene we trust and in Arsenal we believe....no matter what happens....
Sport Download

atleast one honest arsenal fan.
Andylowe14

well we always seem to use the same excuse that we were unlucky with injuries, suspensions etc.. which is true, and to a certain extent means that the team we saw today was not really the arsenal team it should be.. even alex fergusen knows that it was not the real arsenal.. listen to his interview. But the point is we should have a bigger squad of top players. however, the only way to do this is to have massive loads of money. and i dont just mean a transfer budget from a few player sales, it goes much deeper than that, it requires a massive wage budget that has to be supported by the clubs income. wages are a much bigger cost than transfer fees. so thats the limiting factor. So why can man u play a better team than us even with a few injuries? well for a start we had many more players out, but still, the answer is, they have shed loads of money. ashley young is on 135000 a week. rooney is on 250000. this is the sort of club they are. how can arsenal really compete with this? the only way we can play awesome players like fab or nasri is to get them on a long contract before everyone else realises they are awesome. then we can continue to pay them less than they would recieve elsewhere. we could never buy players of that quality on the openn market and survive their wage demands.
dave

sorry ramsey .you chose the wrong team . how happy am i to see the the young team that was going to win four trophies implode . by the way we lost two of the best players in the world ronaldo and tevez and we won the league by nine points . you are a sad lot of whingers
Andylowe14

and we lost fabregas and nasri.. you have no point
brenton

Well, we're sad, it's true. We're also whinging a lot lately, because of the dire state of affairs in our first team. So yah, it fits. Thanks for the comment!
brenton

I am saddened and dismayed by this match report, and let me tell you why:

For starters, not one person commented on the animal pictures. JG puts a lot of work into these match reports, and if he doesn't do them then Homey has to and he probably would have just coded in a black background, with just the score in white and a crossed out Wenger head. And I can't take that much negativity. Today on the liveblog I was forced to find the silver lining in order to ensure that the liveblog didn't descend into a gang of monkeys throwing feces, and this is what I came up with: We're still above Spurs, and we're not in the relegation zone. So, to wrap up this point, please comment on the animal pictures that JG has so thoughtfully included.

Next, I just want to say that the monkey is not very cute. Monkey's are rarely cute. JG, you got it right with the white dog. That's a cute dog. Smiling, happy, cute. I suggest, if you're going to use a primate (but I wouldn't use a primate), a baby orangutan. Avoid cats. We don't want to become a cute-pictures-of-cats-site.
Sophie

Brenton, your silver linings were the only reason I kept the liveblog open. As I watched the game, I saw people spewing onto it more negative and borderline hateful things than the media say. Supposed Arsenal fans. But thank you for that.

Also, JG, I thoroughly enjoyed the picture of the dog and wholeheartedly approve of the usage of a dog instead of a cat. Cats are too stereotypically cute, and cute dogs are underappreciated on the internet. In addition, I really love your rating of the away fans. That is the kind of fans I appreciate, and we should all be. Our team is losing? We sing louder and support our boys.
brenton

Sophie, you're quickly becoming a favourite over here on the Offside. Pity you're a Sounders fan.
Sophie

Well thank you, but more realistically I'd have to say pity you're a Whitecaps fan. I heard they won for the fourth time this season! Impressive!
brenton

We're still last! We're still last!
Sophie

That there is positivity!
Bertrand

Nice pics JG.

Very thoughtful.
sb

i dont think traore would even fetch a single cent if he was put up on sale in e-bay...
brenton

We'll soon see, as he's heading for a medical at QPR.
FredJacob

thanks god atleast one good thin happened this week
brenton

And we've just signed Brazilian international Andre Santos as his replacement. Word.
FredJacob

I doubt he could be as bad as Traore
brenton

Youtube says he's quite skilled with the ball, as every single Brazilian player is.
Gigi_man

No need to buy, we have depth: because we have a good squad
But the good squad was out today: because we had no replacements (..ergo where is the depth?)
We are developping youngsters: they will leave when other youngsters are next to them and costing points.
A loss is a loss? No, this loss was horrible and shameful. Friends thought I was talking about a tennis result!!
If this dont tell Wenger and/ or the booard that they have to do something...its doom and gloom.
I said it before and will say it again, its psychological, if we had ONE defender signed for this game, the mentality would have been different,
Bertrand

Sets in tennis go up to 6 games.

So I don't see how 8-2 could be a possible result.
Gigi_man

Ok Bertrand, I know you are trying to minimize the facts, but I meant the result of one set of a tennis match of course.
O h and thanks, I follow tennis sometimes, and my friend is a huge tennis fan, and I think everybody understood my point:

THIS IS NOT A TYPICAL FOOTBALL SCORE.

Listen, you are reading this post for a while and commenting for a while, its no secret that I was a huge Wenger defender, but I think we reached a point. Six years, Promises, players leaving, and then, he says nothing is doom and gloom and...bam! in our faces! a joke! this result seems like a joke. And its the conlusion (not a single match, the conclusion) of several mistakes not accepted (and I dont care who is it, Wenger or the board, but somebody is dammaginf a lot of this team)
Bertrand

Not really a typical football score, but an impossible tennis score.

Tiebreaker ends with 7 points, set has 6 games, however you look at it there is 0 chance that a tennis match can end up with an 8-2 score. Very bad comparison I'm afraid.

A football match could though.
Gigi_man

See my comment below, oh wait you did and replied back something clever.
Ok, Bertrand, 8-2 is a football score.
If you dont see the between the lines here, maybe you wont ever...
Bertrand

You are dumb.

Stop talking.
Gigi_man

You are the dumb...I am writing, not talking.

Dumb: someone who thinks an 8-2 defeat is a simple loss...find some work to do or something, instaed of coming around and calling everybody names.

Frankly a shame that you an I follow the same team, oh wait you follow Wenger above the team, nevermind.

Oh and...bad for you I wont stop writing (its called writing not talking, if you read, otherwise you listen to someone talking...fyi)
Gigi_man

Oh and your phrase: "So I don't see how 8-2 could be a possible result".
Well it is "more possible" in tennis than in football.

Your phrase can easily be applied to a football game, 8-2? I dont see how could this be a possible result.

8 - 2 in tennis might not be possible, but 8 - 2 in football is shameful.
Bertrand

So no, its not 'more possible' in tennis, because it is impossible.

And nothing could be less possible than the impossible.
Gigi_man

If you are clever you get what the " are for in "more possible.
If not, end of discussion.
Gigi_man

Read again: "8-2 in tennis might ot be possible" (so we agree, dont see why you have to play with the wrods there).
brenton

This is exactly why they invented the internet.
brenton

That is an excellent point.
Gigi_man

Excellent regarding tennis? Wenger? Arsenal? the future?
Bertrand

Lolz
will

Perhaps Wenger could do better, I don't know. But I need to get this out load and clear: it is most likely the Board. THE BOARD. They do not let him spend. It's astounding he managed to challenge for the title for a good part of last season spending 1/10th the money drunken-sailor-Mancini did over the summer. I think he may be one of the few managers alive capable of this with the wage caps that are hindering him. And hopefully the board will remove their blindfolds after the thumping at OT..
mtuwetu

OK Will, lets keep WENGER and sack THE BOARD. We should lift the trophy in September!!
Bertrand

Agreed.

Don't think Mancini is as bad as you think he is, but Arsene does do quite an amazing job considering his budget (transfers + wages - I know our wage bill is 4th or 5th highest, but we more than make up for it with our positive transfer record).
caligunner

I have mixed feelings about this one. First, the lack of squad depth is unacceptable. Its also, as Homey points out, nothing new. Arsenal have bowed out of key competitions over the last 3 years due in some part to this same problem. You have to lay this at the manager's feet. The players that stepped in today were never going to win, but they were set up to fail, badly.

On the other hand, Arsenal was struggling, but holding its own at 3-1 (with a pen miss) until the key tactical failure of removing Coquelin. Wenger decided to go for it and he invited the deluge on. The back four needed cover and Wenger did not have the players to provide it from the beginning. He rolled the dice and lost badly. I'm positive that the loss would have been a bad, but not horrible, 4 or 5 to 1 if he had left Coquelin on.

Traore was awful, as expected, and it makes sense that he was likely on his way out of the club and wouldn't have played if Sagna was available. The more worrying performance, IMO was Djourou, who was absolutely awful. He was out of position on 2 goals (Park and Nani), and should have done better for the first. His performance cements the need to buy a CB. I think you can provide cover for 1 out of depth defender, in Jenkinson, but to have 3 on the field along with NO defensive midfielders, I'm not sure that there was any surprise in this deluge. I thought it would be 8 after the fifth goal.

You also have to give some credit to United's attackers. Rooney, Nani and Young were irrepressible and clinical. Smalling and Evra provided great width and Cleverly and Anderson played great balls into space.

Arsenal's attackers were actually pretty good today. I thought that Ramsey was patient and insightful with his passing, Arshavin had his best game of the season, and Walcott was dangerous in spots. Van Persie had an awful game, by his lofty standards. They created 2 goals, earned a penalty and had 2-3 more clear cut chances that were missed or well saved. The best attacking performance against United in 2-3 years.

Anyway, I think that this result further clarifies Arsenal's need to buy players:

1. Left back
2. attacking mid
3. CB
4. Striker

Anyway, back to talking about Arsene. . .
Tfyoung

Well as I thought Jenkinson got found out. Agree Traore needs to find another occupation but so does Djourou. Just not good enough at this level.
But i think we were tactically naive. We knew we were understrength so we should have packed the defence and played much deeper in the field. Sacrifice Ramsey for Lansbury. Basically play with 10 defenders and look for the occasional break for Walcott.
Sure it's ugly and we might have lost anyway but it wouldn't have been 8-2.
That's what weaker teams do when they come to the Emirates.
I think that's what AF would have done if he were bringing a very weak MU side to a rampant Arsenal.
I've come to think that AW is tactically rigid and inflexible.
evaldo

couldn't watch the game today. someone told me the score and my heart skipped a beat. i really don't know what to say anymore.

i want to cry. seriously
Gunnerlurker

The whole develop the youth project fell apart when we won nothing last year. After convinicing Cesc to stick around for one more year because we had a chance to win, it is no surprise that his departure led to Nasri's and we are back "rebuilding" with youth (some of whom have looked excellent). But honestly, of course, today was the nadir this year. Going into Old Trafford you feel great if you steal a point; going in with that lineup we really couldn't expect much good to happen. Further, it should be mentioned that losing our two best defenders after the final training session makes it even more difficult. Not to mention a very high pressure mid-week game.

So a ridiculous number of factors led to us playing the weakest, most unprepared Arsenal side in years at Old Trafford against an almost entirely healthy, undefeated Man U team playing at a very high level. Today's result does not have much predictive value for our remaining games.

We know this year's team will definitely remain vincible. But when relatively healthy they will be able to play with any team in the league. It would have been a lot better if we began the season two weeks ago rather than two weeks from now. Blame Wegner's inability to both buy and, just importantly sell, promptly for us starting the season when the transfer window closes rather than when the schedule began. But I have no doubts that when the Arsenal season begins versus Swansea that we will have 6 great September games, and would still not be at all surprised with 6 September wins (though Dortmund away will be tough).

Wegner is clearly a good manager of football players. Once he has a team they tend to play very well for him. So the fact that he may have honestly believed until mid-August Cesc and Nasri would be part of the team and that he still wants to sign more players in the next 3 days means the board needs to do somethng different during transfer season (maybe even strip him of some authority). But to manage this team to victories from September to May, we won't improve by firing him now. He clearly horribly mis-managed the transfer window, but we have to look forward not back.

So I am going to be cheering hard for these Gunner vincibles every game.I wish we had started the Premier League season with a full squad in August as our key opponents did but "if wishes were Messi's...." So please join me in September and enjoy the thrills that Arsenal football has provided all of us. Maybe top 4, but maybe struggling for Europa. Either way lots of great football ahead.

Go Gunners!
JG

PYC signing almost wrapped up. Expected to be announced by Arsenal tomorrow morning. Cahill deal reportedly close, and M'Vila is still on the pipeline, but possible. Let's make sure the next 3 days are busy ones.
FredJacob

was thinking of doing a top goals for each month, wonder what should i do know few
Anonymous

Interesting article for The Offside.

Wenger right signings won't change anything- Board Must Go
I see no crisis
By Boris Mellor
August 28 2011
This is the worst defeat in Arsenal’s history this side of WW1 (1896 8-0 to Loughborough Town), but who or what is to blame for this sad state of affairs? Nor is it true that this is a blip, unless only winning 2 games out of last 14 is a blip. One point out of last 7 EPL games is not a blip, it has never happened under Wenger before.It’s true that Arsenal played a weakened team, but whose fault was that? Is anyone surprised that Gibbs is off injured? It is up to the club to ensure there is a suitable replacement, there isn’t one. It won't do as an excuseJenkinson is a £1million player, and it’s now clear that Arsenal were robbed, lawyers should be checking the double no money back guarantee for a loop hole, he makes Eboue look world class.Who is to blame for the selling of so many star players over the last six years, and the failure to replace them with similar quality? Where has the money gone? In some businesses this would be described as asset stripping.Who is to blame for the selling of so many players this season and failing to replace them at this stage of the season with similar quality? Some fans have suggested that it was time for Clichy to go, well if it was because of a better replacement then fine, but sick note Gibbs? NeverOthers suggest Vermaelen could do the job, well if he’s is fit he might, but then that means that Koscielny plays with Djourou, who is also not up to it. Wenger says the defence is not a problem, well its conceded 10 goals in 3 games, which if continued would double last year’s already poor defensive record.Why is the club incapable of signing players? We are told that no suitable players are available, yet it was known well in advance that Fabregas and Nasri were going. Don’t ask me who the replacement should be – I haven’t got hundreds of scouts all over the world looking for players. Nor did I sign a young player who can’t get a permitNo these questions can’t be answered by throwing them back in the face of those with the temerity to ask them. They need to be answered because they prove serious mismanagement, that the ethos and structure of the club has become rotten.If fans were demoralised by two years of their captain playing footsie under the table with Barca, how did the players feel? And when it became clear Fabregas was going Nasri was made the Captain in some friendlies. Whilst one section of Arsenal tried to sell him, Wenger tried to keep him. If that wasn’t the board at loggerheads what is? Yet Arsenal are known to be angered about insinuations that Wenger has been at odds with the board. (See link at bootom of this page for AT exclusive on board at loggerheads)When this blog dared to suggest that Wenger and the board were at odds they wrote to me denying it as completely untrue within 48 hours, yet they still haven’t answered those who wrote in at same time questioning what is happening.You don’t have to be a genius to realise that the Nasri transfer saga demonstrated a split in the Arsenal management. This is a club that has no strategy for winning trophies, or even improving the squad. The idea that Ramsey can replace Fabregas is nonsense, you can see the burden of that has taken the joy out of his game.Missing team spiritNor is it the case that the youth strategy will succeed this year, or next, it’s not just a question of age, it’s a matter of quality, spirit and fight. Wenger claims his team has spirit and fight back written all over it, but ever since Eduardo’s injury at Birmingham this squad has lacked spirit, and at the same time players have been plotting their departure, Hleb and Flamini, then Fabregas and Nasri.You can guess who is the next to leave now that the captaincy has become a shop window position. Leadership has been reduced to a mockery. Wenger admitted that Hleb’s ice cream jaunt unsettled the team, as did Cole’s dalliance with Chelsea in the weekend before Man Utd beat us yet again. These events happen again and again, even the Cole incident show that Wenger and board are split. It’s clear the board overruled Dein and reneged on a pay offer.It’s not important that we were beaten by a Championship side in the Carling Final, its happened before, what is important is the club went into free fall immediately after. A free fall that hasn’t ended yet.That’s why it needs more than signingsThe problem isn’t money, although the club must have plenty after all the recent sales. Nor is the fact that fees are paid in instalments a problem – how do you think Arsenal pay for their incoming players?However the problem is bigger than how many signings are needed, it’s a matter of ethos and structure. Firstly players are not loyal to the club but to a manger. The players are also spoilt, Sol Campbell is right mediocrity is rewarded, it doesn’t matter how weakend the squad was players should fight for a place in the team. The ethos is weak, up one match and down the next. A lot of good games are talked, but rarely played. These players are selling the club short, and allowed to get away with it.Meanwhile the directors and scouting staff allow the squad to weaken, Wenger is forced to make financial excuses and talk up youngsters way beyond their ability. Meanwhile the directors planned to get rid of their shares at a premium price. One minute they had a share lockdown, the next minute they cashed in every penny. I have a larger shareholding than most of them.Their asset stripping and price increases have sent share prices sky high. Their actions have ensured we are owned by two billionaires, and the majority share holding has little interest in the team, as long as the books balance.Meanwhile Gazides has developed a structure where young players are put on long term contracts at exceptionally high rates of pay. Gazides claimed this was protecting Arsenal’s assets, nonsense it’s been hard to give some of these players away. Clubs don’t want Bendtner or Denilson because they can’t afford the wages. This strategy has undermined any chance of bringing in top quality players. Hence Wenger tell us he won’t bring in players of less quality. What he means is he will either buy more youngsters or top stars, but the board won’t allow money to go in wages for the top stars.The board have allowed Wenger to turn into a CEO, meanwhile no one has kept their mind on the strength of the squad, or progress of the club as contender, there is no vision. Wenger’s strength has been allowed to become a weakness.We need a structure where Wenger can concentrate on developing his squad and creating a robust club ethos. The current board have no authority, only Stan has shares. Having made their money on Wenger’s back they have no interest in arguing with him. Gazides acts as a bagman for Kroenke and is also scared of Wenger. Hence Wenger has led Gazides a song and dance over Nasri. Kroenke had to turn up to insist that Nasri be sold. It’s time the board and Gazides went, and Kroenke appointed someone to work with Wenger who actually knows how to develop a strategy that will develop the on pitch success. All Gazides has done, apart from Arsenalisation, is to get Indesit to sponsor the club, if you add an H that sums up his contribution.
Rickey_banks

Am I the only person who has read Nasri's comments about how our dear VIERA persuaded him to leave Arsenal for city?
Homey_Mills

Nope, I read that too. But it's up to us to either figure out a way to pay Nasri and keep him happy, or bring in other good players to take his place. Vieira is being paid by City now, and while that's not a warm fuzzy feeling for us, that's the way it goes. What are we going to do about it?
Kxevin

Just watched the match, and firing Wenger isn't the answer, short or long-term. To be sure, he's responsible for the players who went belly-up today, but this was also one of those matches in which the wheels just come off the wagon. Yes, questions could be asked about all the space that was so readily available behind your back line, the lack of pressure that allowed Ashley Young to score a couple of practice-pitch goals, and why not put a man on the back line on free kicks, as the announcer was suggesting? Can't hurt.

But the club has to put this match behind it. It's still more than good enough for top 5, as long as folks understand that there are plenty of points to be had from the rest of the Prem. Yes, there is a gulf between the Big Two (Manchester Twins), Next Two (Liverpool, Chelsea) then Arsenal. But the Udinese match should have shown people that you can compete. Winning spirit is a weird, nebulous thing. When Rijkaard was sacked, Guardiola took what was essentially his club, and won 6 trophies with it.

Does this argue for a coaching change, or a system/mentality change? Good question. Guardiola instilled discipline, new medicos, preventive methods to keep injuries down, etc, and worked on fitness and pressing, with the mind that if the opponent doesn't have the ball, they can't beat you. Arsenal need a couple of key signings, but mostly you need to get key players back on the pitch. No Wilshere, Gervinho, Sagna, Vermaelen. Not sure what people expect. What I saw was a dispirited club, but I didn't see a losing one.

As for firing Wenger and buying willy-nilly, the question becomes who on the market right now could have prevented today's result for you, coach or players? Would a different coach have packed it back, keeping 10 behind the ball in an attempt to hold United? Sure. And who would have wanted that? Would a player like Eden Hazard have brought midfield creativity and flair? Sure, but defense was the problem for you today. It's easy to panic in the aftermath of an 8-2 beating. Don't.
Gigi_man

Thx Kxevin, I always enjoy reading you around.
It might not be the answer but I will pseudo quote a Rosse Geller from a tv series called friends when he was asked by a Rachel Greene, why he had done something in order to obtain sex: "six months Rache, six months" (meaning 6 months without having sex).
well; I love Wenger, I wish he came up with the answer, I know firing him isnt an answer but:

" six years Kxevin, six years"
Bertrand

Trophies are overrated, and patience is a virtue.
Homey_Mills

Kxevin,
I always enjoy it when you stop by. But I'll use your words from a couple of weeks ago, when you wrote a comment underneath my big "Wenger Must Go" blog. Your words there were: "For me, were I an Arsenal supporter, I'd be for firing Wenger."
So I guess I fail to see why you'd write that a couple weeks ago, and then say that we should "stand by our man" today after seeing us take 1 point from our first 3 matches, and seeing us get destroyed 8-2 today.
Kxevin

I know. But in looking around the coaching world, and seeing how you played against Udinese, there's something there. But probably the two biggest reasons are there's nobody better, and the young'uns respond to him.
Ryan

As an outsider(you can totally disregard this opinion), my opinion is that Wenger is not insane, and should not be sacked. This all sounds all too familiar to our Benitez era at Liverpool, where our good manager was trying the best he could with what he had, but couldn't be the director of football and manager at the same time without the proper funding from the owners. And what happened with that saga should be an example to Arsenal showing that Arsene should not be sacked and replaced with someone like Roy Hodgson. I think someone needs to be brought in, someone like a Damien Comolli. I don't claim to know a lot about Arsenal, cause I really don't, but from the information I've gathered, it sounds like you guys had a Comolli type figure in the form of David Dein. Just seems like things have been downhill after Wenger had to fill a part of his void.
What's wrong with the club right now is Wenger's fault, but it's not because of Wenger' inability to prepare a team for a game. He's putting out the best 11s he can muster up at the moment; he knows how to pick a team. If someone else was brought into the club to help with player transfers and contracts-blablabla, a director of football, and helped bring in a left back, defender, and another striker, Wenger should be the one making the strategies for the upcoming games, instead of some new, inexperienced manager trying to remember everyone's names while at the same time trying to defend a massive club from being mid-table.

There is only 3 days left to get a player in, so I doubt all the replacements needed will be purchased. If Arsenal had no intention of spending all the profit from Fabregas in this summer window, I really wonder why Arsenal didn't try to get Thiago Alcantara on loan. Surely playing first team football at a top top club with a team that is already built around a Barca-esque midfielder would be better for Thiago's development than to be sitting on the bench. It would have made the Fabregas transfer not leave such a huge scar in Arsenal's chest. And it's not like Barcelona would be getting rid of him like they did to Cesc. I wish Thiago was still an option on-loan for Arsenal, but the small transfer fee from Cesc probably burnt a bridge or two, along with the "stealing" of Toral and Bellerin.

I've said a lot and I should wrap it up, so my final thoughts: Keep Wenger, try to nab a solid, proven defender in the next 3 days (even if they are old, all you need is EXPERIENCE), and hope for the best until January, and then spend every penny you've got. You guys usually fair pretty well until January, so hold on the best you can. Wenger is the guy you want to get the most points possible between now and January. On January 1st of last season, you guys had 40 points. we had 25. so let's say you get half as many points this season. That's only 5 points short from where Liverpool's comeback started. We almost made Europe, and we only brought in 2 players, without spending a penny by selling Torres (fabregas+Nasri=9 million more than Torres). There is still hope, and Liverpool knows exactly how you feel. I hope my time and effort helped to encourage a few of you, even if I was telling you what you already know. Just wish we could have been the ones to school you instead of Man U, no reason for them to get all the fucking credit.
Gigi_man

I appreciate your comments. But you guys brought in Suarez, man I mean..Suarez. I would habe drooled over for a Suarez to come in.
And yes, Experiecne is the key word, but this has been going on for years, Wenger felt (or at least he said so) that bringing more experienced players would stop the development of younger players. The facts proved him wrong, and then he brought Campebell and Squillaci, I mean, the guy rushes when he sees he is wrong. Not good from a managers perspective.

I know what you mean, and I always said: the biggest question about Wenger getting sacked is....who will replace him. I am no fool, I know what kind of coach we have, but he owes us fans a mea culpa accepting he was wrong and throw all the money we have in 3 big signings, as I said before, not for technical reasons only, but for huge, huge psiquis reasons.
brenton

Thanks for your thoughts, good sir.
Ryan

One last point, in case anyone claims that Liverpool's comeback came down to having a new manager. Dalglish did most certainly help, through tactics and inspiration. But we were desperately lacking in the tactics department with Hodgson, where Arsenal are not. In reality, Comolli, our director of football, brought Suarez and Carroll in, not Dalglish. Dalglish just got the credit due to the romantics at the time. Hodgson could have been the one to take all the glory for those 2 signings. What I'm trying to say is, you don't need Bergkamp to take over as manager to inspire the players in January. new players means ambition, and it translates directly to the player's attitude. So...+1 for Wenger!
Perry S.

AGREED.
Gigi_man

Perry my man, give me some hope on Wenger or the board here please...
Bertrand

Like ^

If Liverpool had kept Torres and still bought Suarez, then they would have truly challenged for the title this season, I think.

Thanks for a well reasoned and argued, and objective article.
Bertrand

Or comment*
87

WHERES MARTIN O'NEILL?
Bertrand

LOL^

Knee-jerk more pls.
Bertrand

And if you're going to knee jerk, at least suggest a manager whose actually DONE something for their teams.. someone like Spalletti or Klopp or Benitez.
Homey_Mills

I mentioned Klopp in my "Wenger Must Go" blog, but was still roundly laughed at anyway. So nothing works in that regard, I must say.
Bertrand

Well, your article was before this rather embarrassing defeat I must say. Knee jerk reactions must be expected from these results, even though at the end of the day it is still just one defeat.
orion

Soi went abroad to take a break from everything, including arsenal. I promised myself not to follow the team and not to visit anything arsenal related for a week. But 8 2 ? HOLY SHITBALLS.
brenton

We could have used your shitballs at left back today.
FredJacob

ManU vs Arsenal Post Match Conference

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Kas123

I have read all these responses talking about who we should buy, who we should sell etc. However, the problem at Arsenal is the culture. A culture that places our manager and board on a pedestal. A culture that preaches that our manager is infalliable, even though his decisions over the past 5 seasons have been less than great, and our board is the best in the world because we have a financial model that promotes self sustainability and lack of debt. This is all good and well, but obviously these facts have sent our beloved club into decline. The board need to understand that in addition to running a business we are also running a sports team. The goal of any sports team is to be successful at all cost while promoting the survival of the team, and at this we have failed. Wenger is no idiot, and I know he would make purchases if he could. He has demonstrated his ability to predict the league for the last 15 years and adjust to built title worthy teams. So what has now changed? Over the last year, the structure of the board has changed, thus changing the culture at the club. If you manipulate the head, it affects the whole body, and this is the case at Arsenal.

The culture at Arsenal currently involves,
1) Cutting corners.
2) Not doing our homework
3) Sending unqualified players to represent the club
4) Misrepresenting the club
5) lying
6) Deflecting blame
7) Incompetence.

That is our new Arsenal my friends. Problems not easily solved with new purchases.
Bertrand

I think you are right that there is a mentality problem at Arsenal.

However, not sure what you mean by 4), and 3) was kinda forced upon us due to all the suspensions and injuries.

And all managers do 5) and 6), whilst 7) and 1) are rather vague.

So i'm not quite sure what your point is.

It seems pretty obvious that the board as a whole does not care at all about the club, and only about how much profit it makes (and Arsenal is probably the ideal 'business' out of all the football clubs in Europe).
will

Also, for everyone who wanted an outright statement that Wenger is not the only one making the decisions, here it is, straight from the horse's mouth (and the Guardian): "We have the money if we can find players who can strengthen our team but I am not the only one working on that at Arsenal. We have 20 people working on that, but today we had too many players missing. We didn't have the squad to cope. We have not found the solutions. It is difficult to find excuses after a game like that but we are behind the other clubs in terms of wages."
Bertrand

Idiots will see what they want to see.

It is obvious why Wenger cannot proclaim outright whether or not that there is a problem with the board (I don't know if there is but it is feasible).
thechaikid

I'm not sure how I survived 90' of that. That was pure torture. It just got worse and worse. If ManUnited could have played more minutes against us, trust me they would have made more goals. Seeing that kind of score, another red card (as if we needed anymore), the blank face of Wenger, and players obviously giving up towards the end made me teary D:!

First of all, I didn't understand Arsenal's approach to the game. The result was more than due to lack of good players. It was visible the players and Wenger didn't have the mentality or tactics to pull this one off. Generally speaking, I felt there was wasn't much teamwork. I'm not saying there wasn't any but compare it to ManUnited... Their players played as one for all 90'.
I'm not sure what to say about Wenger. I don't agree all this lack of transfer is entirely his fault. The rest of the board isn't trying at all. They should have sold Fabregas the beginning of the summer and worked on looking for a player to replace him (he was going to go to Barca no matter way anyways, the whole thing reached its ultimate peak at that point).

What bothers me even more is that the majority of the players were inexperienced youngsters. Its one thing to integrate young players but successful integration relay on the majority of the team to be concentrated with experienced players. If reports are true, I think team has Park Chu-Young on his way to Arsenal. Sadly he isn't a defender but he is 26. AN OLDER PLAYER yes!Today was more than a loss but a sum up of all of what went wrong with Arsenal during the past 6 months. The team needs the board to wake up (as if this couldn't be said any more...), more experienced players are needed at pitch, new good players need bought, less red cards, and MOST importantly a good fighting mentality.
will

Taken from the comments section on the Guardian's website:
"Alright, I'll do it. I'll get it out of the way.I'd h8-2 be an Arsenal fan right now."
Richmoments

Two words. Just go.
Patoux21

erhh Juan Mata, one of Arsenal main target during the transfert window, did a very good job for Chelsea when he entered the game. Oh and he also scored a goal ...
ASDF

Ohh and by the way we have more red cards than goals after 3 games. That's a damning statistics for a team that's brander as playing the beautiful football.
Patoux21

Wenger still doesn't think the situation is terrible for the club he's making excuses for having 8 "confimed players not available". Someone should remind him that 3 of them were on suspension but that's football you have to deal with it, as for the other five no disrepect for Squi but he's not even a premier league level player. He should also ask himself why on earth do we have so many injured players. Any top manager would have try to understand and fix this. Wenger please resign if you have respect for the fans.
Perry S.

Good idea, Wenger should go to the media and proclaim that his club, his current set of players who vote confidence in him, his policies, they're all not good enough to compete. This will do wonders to resolve the situation.
No Lies

Sack the board. Next home game have chants & banners saying sack the board especially as I expect that we won't sign anyone of any significance before deadline.
Bertrand

Wish they would resign, or at least give us some more disclosure.

Unfortunately this is not going to happen. Who is going to sack them? Themselves?
ASDF

Homey can you please write a blog with just 1 sentence written in big, bold letters..."I had told you so". I think we should all brace ourselves to a slide like one that Liverpool had last season. Even if we get our best players back and sign a few good players, the process of healing the team's morale and getting the best out of them is going to be slow and could last till, I dont know, maybe Christmas or maybe end of season.
Also, Arsene Wenger has to fix himself before doing anything about fixing the team. I had pointed this out in the live blog and would point it here as well - his reaction when RvP and Theo came off the pitch after being substituted was oozing with negativity; no handshake or pat on back or even a smile...just a blank cold stare in oblivion. They were the goal scorers for crying out loud man..they tried to do their part. What happened to a more focused team that has been brought closer by the departures of Cesc and Nasri?? I don't know how he must be feeing when his oldest rival Ferguson defends him in the press and says that he wanted his team to stop scoring. Its like Fergie was talking about a League 2 team. People have started pitying Arsenal players and fans. The comments that I have on my facebook and twitter pages are of full of pity and people are almost apologetic about the loss. Even the Utd fans with whom I used to have heated arguments and discussions are like "dude i feel sorry for your team and you". Its such a crushing feeling :(
Bertrand

At the end of the day it is still just one loss.

With a makeshift defence and midfield, playing against a rampant Man Utd side that was on form, what did you really expect?

Still 8-2 defeat and 1-0 defeat is the same to me.

Don't know why people are overreacting this way.

Arsenal was (and still are) a big club, but that is thanks to Wenger and others. We are not any more entitled to it than Nottingham Forest are.
ASDF

In my eyes, its a defeat that has given us a -6 goal difference and 3 points to a team with which we are supposed to compete for winning the league.
Perry S.

We are the reason amongst the head hunters.
bobj canada

Inredibly sad and depressing, because its not going to get any better. I used to wish for some devastating losses in the hopes that it would wake AW up, but i've finally caught on that he will not change his mind/plan, no matter what happens.

Why he wont change is up to debate. Maybe its his arrogance in thinking that winning everything with his bunch of little boys would make him the worlds greatest manager, or maybe its because the board doesn't want to spend anything, prefering to keep the money thay make from selling players in order to redo the wallpaper in the boardroom; maybe both, but it doesn't really matter.

Yes, we have a group of promsing youngsters. But that is the same situation we have had for the last six years. "Just wait until they mature..." we continually hear; but by the time they do; they're gone and a new set of 17 year olds arrive at the start of the conveyor belt.

Man U have lots of youth, but they have balls, they work. Our youth are all of the prancing tippy-tappy variety, full of the innocence of not having to possess any discipline (at least we're leading the league in red cards), but aparently AW likes his boys like that. As jg has pointed out, some experience would help, but AW doesn't like that (feels threatened?) so he gets rid of them...

The problem is that the board/AW are not that worried about the situation because they're making lots of money; their champagne cabinet is stocked for years to come. I had thought that the arrival of Stan might change things, but i was wrong there.

AW is not going to change and he's not going to leave. We have to accept that what we saw today is what we'll have to put up with for the season(s) to come.

We're screwed. Get used to it
Francis Loughlin

The fact is the last 5 years of "beautiful" football has blinded us to the weaknesses of the team. It doesn't matter if you lose 8-2 and end up 17th or win most matches and end up 2nd, the result is the same...we don't win anything. The "spanish" experiment that Wenger stuck so faithfully to the last 5 years should have been stopped before we got to this stage.

I actually feel more positive about this side than anytime over the past 4 seasons, I actually see the basis of a good solid trophy-winning team, Wilshere, Gibbs, Ramsey, Walcott. Szczesny is a good keeper. When you look at out team sheet we have only 28 first team players, 4 of them are keepers which leaves 24 outfield players. With 8 of them being injured/suspended that left 16 to chose a team from. That is not enough, we need to strengthen the team and sort out the numerous soft-tissue injuries that out players pick up in non-contact situations. This is solely down to training techniques, we are the most injury-prone team in the Premier League and most of our injuries occur from non-contact or training situations; that is unheard of in professional sport.

Also we need to find out why top players don't want to sign for Arsenal, is this because of Wenger and the horrible allegations chanted at him by opposing fans??

In conclusion it's time to take a long hard look at the club's set up, from signing policies, to training regimes .
formos

I believe Arsenal problem is that they don't have fighters any more. Some of players would cut but they need a stronger and more determined players leading them. Like previous Arsenal teams had their Vieira's, Keown's, Campbell's, Petit's, Parlours, Fabregas etc. current team possesses only TV5 and SCZC, that's not enough for Arsenal.
Homey_Mills

Ok, a few comments:
1) I didn't get the watch the match, but I did just watch the "highlights."
2) I went out to get my cell phone after church get the final score, and I was genuinely hoping for a surprising upset win. At the same time, I do feel a bit vindicated regarding all the things I've been writing for the last month or so. This team isn't good enough, Wenger isn't good enough, and slipping past Udinese doesn't really prove anything to me. And this isn't a knee-jerk reaction from me after this loss. I said Wenger should go before the season started, and I think this simply proves that I'm right.
3) JG, are you really trying to get all Arsenal fans to break out their dictionaries while they read this blog? Nadir and laconic? Haha. Just teasing you. Nice write up. And I liked the pictures of the animals. Maybe you could have inserted a picture of Shrek next to Rooney or something too.
Gunnerson

You didn't watch the game. That is why you feel "vindicated" by the score line. If you watched the game, you would feel the hopeless depression the rest of us do. Its expected. We will hopefully never see Arsenal get 8 goals scored on again and neither will ours children's children. Who can replace Wenger at this point? A lot needs to change around the club before the club can start the process of finding a replacement, Wenger has a level of control other managers don't. After those changes in how things function at Arsenal, the club needs to scourge the globe for a manager that will fit in Arsenal's philosophy. Who? Who the fuck else can fill Wengers boots? Especially as such a crucial time at the club. And you want all this done with a couple of weeks left in the transfer window. Then, the new manager needs to meet your expectation of "fixing" this team by intelligent purchases in the transfer market with lesser money available, a Champions League qualifier around the corner, and no time left in the transfer market.
Wenger is fucking up, no one is denying that. But if this game proves to you that the smartest move by the club would have been to rid Arsenal of Arsene Wenger just before the season started, then you are highly mistaken. I think the best thing for you would be learn a thing or two from those away fans today and concentrate on supporting the team rather than Wenger bashing. There is enough of it going around and this is suppose to be a blog for the reasonable bunch, not an american version of Le Grove.
Homey_Mills

So what's your solution to the "hopeless depression"? More of the same manager who brought us to this spot? I don't get it.
And if you read my "Wenger Must Go" blog, I would hope you could see it's not like Le Grove or whatever else. I tried to be as measured and reasonable as possible. I didn't just hurl around insults and so forth, and I tried to answer all of the objections Wenger's defenders might raise. But if in your mind, being a "reasonable bunch" means all of us support Wenger no many how many times the club falls flat, then I guess this blog won't be reasonable all the time. At least not when I write for it.
Bertrand

Thing is, and I've been saying this over and over, you don't know the circumstances under which Wenger (or the club in general) is operating under, so the conclusions you draw, however 'measured and reasoned' (even though they are not, I try to point out the flaws which you will not reply to) are fallacious.

Still, I will concede that at least for you, your reaction is not a 'knee jerk' to this result, but that doesn't make it any more valid.

At the end of the day, it is still just one game lost. If it was 1-0 defeat, we would still not have gained any points, would that have been any better?
Bertrand

To clarify, Homey, when you draw sound conclusions from invalid or faulty premises, your conclusion will still be fallacious, so it doesn't matter if it is kneejerk (which merely increases the chance that you will be drawing conclusions from bad premises) or a long term view.
Bertrand

My opinion, anyway.
Joker from espnsuckernet

after real where trashed 5-0 by barca there were swift changes in both reals mentality and playing set up and soon real were able to win the supercopa and even match barcas gameplay in the supercup(which they narrowly lost)
i wont ask for wengers head after this defeat as it will be a knee jerk reaction but this was a huge wake up call which not even the hardest wenger enthusiasts could ignore like mou wenger has 2 bring swift changes or its looking bleak.
formos

Result is really embarrassing, but I'm willing to forgive Wenger on this one. We lacked so many 1st team players (TV5, Sagna, Gibbs, Wilshere, Song, Gervinho + Nasri and Fabregas sale) total 8 players + on the bench we lacked Frimpong as backup to Song. That actually shows poor squad depth and lack of decisiveness in transfer market (imagine if Smalling and Jones were captured by Arsenal, both were linked and bids made for them). But nether the less I have no doubt if those Vermalen, Sagna, Gibbs Wilshere, Song and Gervinho and Frimpong would have played it would have been completely different story. Team scored 2 goals and had a penalty missed. First team players would have made this shameful loss to a very competitive match.

I just hope that board and Wenger would get this match as a lesson and would act immediately bringing in few experienced bodies. Arsene had previously admitted that team lack 2-3 players and he is right.

I just believe it's actually more than 2-3 players. We clearly need a strong defender or two of them (I never rated Djourou), a strong backup or first team player in Left Back. Centre midfielder or maybe two. Left winger for sure and another top striker. That makes 5-7 players.
JG

Realistically, our "top striker" will be PCY. The center midfielder will, with any luck, be Yann M'vila. We're not getting LB, or Eden Hazard. We'll probably end up paying through our noses for Gary Cahilll, and that'll be it.
formos

Unfortunately you are right, I was just trying to delude myself :(
ASDF

Absolutely spot on. Those are the only 3 realistic signings that can happen by Wednesday, although I am not 100% sure about MV'ila.
Homey_Mills

I don't think we'll pay through our noses for anyone. When has that ever really happened? Either we get Cahill for a good price, or we don't buy him. I don't see Wenger changing direction at this point.
I also don't agree that we'll get M'Vila, given the price that's been kicked about. I'm hearing maybe Bendtner to Everton for Arteta. I could see that exchange, although it's not super inspiring, and I don't know why it couldn't have been done two months ago.
john

Oh yes, we will have to pay through our noses if we want to get anyone; prices for any Arsenal target will have gone up drastically after today; we're desperate!!