Fulham 2 – Arsenal 1: Collapse and Capitulation at Craven Cottage

By: Homey | January 2nd, 2012

DV1095272
Today’s result says a lot to me about where this team is right now. There’s not enough depth, and there’s not enough finishing. Not only is the league race way out of reach, but we have to stop and wonder about the likelihood of overtaking Spurs, and also finishing 4th. Hopefully this one will motivate Wenger to do some real spending in January, although I’m still not holding my breath. One could point to a couple of bad decisions by referee Lee Probert – a penalty non-call that should have been given in the first half, and a harsh sending off in the second half that changed the game. However, it must also be said that our wingers were particularly wasteful, and our tired legs faded in the second half.

If you were to compare the starting lineup with what I predicted yesterday, you’ll note that I was dead wrong at numerous positions. I thought Wenger would rest most of the guys who played just two days ago. But I guess I was giving him too much credit, and hoping for some more trust in our depth. Instead, the only changes were Gervinho in for Arshavin, and Coquelin in for an injured Vermaelen. And all 11 players at least had some action against QPR. As I noted in the preview, Wenger was faced with a similar dilemma last season (one day of rest between matches), and he rotated heavily. That didn’t pay off either, as Squillaci had an own goal to deny Arsenal three points against Wolves. So perhaps with that in mind, all of our top players got the start today. (I’ll also note that Fulham did very little rotation either, making only two changes to their starting lineup from Saturday as well.)
Goal at Fulham
The first half featured a ton of back-and-forth action, so hopefully I can recount all of the main chances on both ends. About one minute in, Gervinho had a bit of a chance, but fired over the goal. He also missed badly after a corner fell to him in the 8th. At the other end, Zamora forced a pretty good save by Wojo in the 10th. Three minutes later, Gervinho was the danger man again, as he danced around Senderos in the box, was tripped, and went down. After watching a couple of replays, it seemed clear to me that a penalty should have been given. (After the match, Martin Jol said, “He (Senderos) tried to get the ball, so it would have been a soft penalty.” Uh, ok Martin, tripping people doesn’t matter anymore – it only matters if you tried to play the ball or not.) Just a minute later, Riise broke free behind the defense down the left flank, but his cross to an open Zamora was off, and the chance came to nothing. The Arsenal breakthrough would come in the 21nd. Koscielny was forward after a corner kick, and after Ramsey’s cross deflected high into the box, Kos was wide open to nod it home. The marking could have been better, but Stockdale was also indecisive about whether to challenge the cross in the air or defend his goal. Just two minutes later, Arsenal had tons of chances in the box, with Ramsey’s shot well-saved, and Song’s rebound effort trickling just off the post. In the 31st minute, Ruiz weaved his way through the midfield, past Song, and unleashed a dangerous shot just wide. A couple of minutes after that, RvP was at the other end, forcing a nice save after a good cross from the left from Coquelin. The last clear chance in the half was in extra time, with Ramsey firing a hard shot that Stockdale controlled pretty easily.
SOCCER-ENGLAND/
As the second half began, Fulham had control of things for the most part. Both teams seemed to tire a bit, which was quite understandable. In the 57th minute, RvP was shoved off the ball in the box, and some fans wanted a penalty. In that situation, I felt a PK would have been a bit harsh. In the 60th, Sidwell took a pass off a free kick and fired just over the bar from long range. Warning signals went up in the 63rd minute, when Djourou made a bad challenge from behind on Dempsey and received a booking. The resulting free kick found the head of Senderos, whose header was just wide after Wojo made a mess of things. Wojo came out to challenge the cross, but came nowhere close to the ball, and we were fortunate that Senderos’ aim was just off. Wenger made his first sub in the 65th, taking off a poor Walcott and inserting a fresh Rosicky. However, things continued to be difficult, as Dempsey had a nice header attempt a minute later that went just wide. Arguably it was a foul as he rose over Mertesacker, but it’s also a shame that a giant defender can’t beat a much shorter man to the ball there. Wenger again made a sub in the 74th, bringing on Yossi for Gervinho. And again, Fulham had a chance a minute later. This time, Wojo made a nice reaction save off his knee, although Ruiz’s shot could have been directed a little better. In the 78th minute, the game really took a turn for the worse. Mertesacker, who was great in the first half and poor in the second, gave the ball away in a dangerous spot. Dempsey released Zamora, who was impeded by Djourou’s arm. This caused Zamora to fall to the earth as though he’d been shot by the cannon on Arsenal’s crest. Of course, he was quickly able to bounce up and argue to the ref that the foul was in the box, and should have been a penalty. Anyway, the ref gave Djourou a harsh second yellow, and we were reduced to 10 men. Trying anything to preserve the lead, Wenger gave Squillaci an unexpected appearance, taking off Ramsey (who I thought was one of our best players today). Soon thereafter, disaster struck. In the 85th minute, Fulham earned a corner. Wojo flapped terribly at the cross, Senderos headed it back into traffic, and Sidwell had an easy finish after the ball had looped over Koscielny. At that point, most Arsenal fans would have probably settled for one point. However, it was not to end that way. As things neared the end of stoppage time, Zamora latched on to the end of a cross and fired it to the short side past a helpless Wojo. Fulham led 2-1, and that’s how it ended.

Full time stats, courtesy of ESPN.com:
Fulham……Arsenal
22(5) Shots (on Goal) 19(9)
7 Fouls 13
4 Corner Kicks 3
4 Offsides 4
53% Time of Possession 47%
0 Yellow Cards 0
0 Red Cards 1
8 Saves 3

I’ll take a stab at some player ratings, and then finish with a few more remarks.

Wojo – 5.5. I don’t really know what it’s like to be a goalie, since I’ve never done it. Obviously they don’t do a lot of running around, so we can’t really argue that tired legs need to be rested. However, I do wonder if Wojo needed a break from a mental standpoint. Playing between the sticks takes a ton of focus, and I suppose it’s possible that he had a little bit of mental fatigue today. His choices weren’t as sharp as usual, even though he did make a couple of nice saves.
Koscielny – 7.5. MOTM. The goal in the first half was nice, although most professional players could have done the same from that spot. He also did a nice job defensively for the most part, although he was in the neighborhood for a couple of breakdowns too. I’d have to study the replays carefully to adequately assign blame. I know the first Fulham goal was just over his head, but I wouldn’t really say it was his fault.
Mertesacker – 6. Early in the second half, I was thinking I’d give him about an 8 for his nice work in this game. Then we were treated to a few of the frustrating things about Mert – getting beaten in the air by shorter men, clumsily losing the ball in a bad spot, etc.
Djourou – 5. He showed some glimpses of quality play, and the red card was a bad decision in my mind. If I agreed with the ref on the sending off, I would have rated Djourou lower. But still, that was the clear turning point that put Fulham over the top. Also, I have no idea how we’ll cope with another loss on the back line when Djourou sits out the next game.
Coquelin – 6.5. I like his skill, youth, and flexibility. He did a pretty good job overall today. On the down side, he gave it away a couple of times, and also seemed to forget he’s a left back at other times. I can understand getting out of position, since he’s not used to playing LB, of course.
Song – 6. It was amazing that he avoided a booking in this one, as he was close a few times. He played a decent game, and nearly scored a critical second goal for us. However, he also committed too many fouls for my liking.
Arteta – 5.5. Mostly anonymous, and like most of our team, seemed to become less effective as things wore on. I can’t remember too many important touches he took today.
Ramsey – 7.5. Some may disagree, but I thought he was really good today. He did well in dispossessing Fulham players, and he also created a few chances, including the opening goal. I didn’t really think he should have been the one to go off when we were trying to hang on to the lead.
Walcott – 4. Yowsers. I’m still a big fan of Theo, but today I kept thinking of a line in the movie Major League. I’ll have to clean this one up a bit. For those of you who didn’t watch this baseball movie, the team’s slugger (Pedro Cerrano) had this weird voodoo doll that he used to talk to in the locker room. He thought it gave him power to hit the ball. Anyway, at one point things weren’t going well for Cerrano, and he said the following to “Jobu”: “I’m pissed off now, Jobu. I go to you. I stick up for you. You don’t help me now, I say *go fly a kite* Jobu. I do it myself.” Anyway, Theo was particularly poor and wasteful in this one, with errant crosses matched only by errant shots. It needs to be better in a hurry. Maybe a rest would have been better in this one. I dunno… maybe an appearance of AOC would have created more results today.
Gervinho – 6. Same as always. Lots of nice running and dribbling. Not much in the way of clinical finishing. He had a couple of chances in the first half to really put us in control, but couldn’t do it. In his defense, it should have been a penalty on Senderos when Gervinho beat him. So I’ll have to give him credit for that at least.
RvP – 5.5. Arguably, van Persie exhibited the need for rest more than anyone else, and yet he went the full 90 minutes. I thought he was quality in the first half, creating chances and passing it well. But the drop-off in the second half was noticeable to me. Wenger simply has no use for our backup center forwards right now, and that’s a shame. Will Henry be enough? Is a two-month fix a real solution?

Subs:

Rosicky – 5.5. He came on and played down to the level of the rest of his teammates at that time. It was a reasonable substitution, to bring on fresh legs to try to kill off the game. But for a player in an attacking position, Rosicky offers almost zero threat to score a goal.
Benayoun – No rating. He seemed to play fairly well with his running around, but couldn’t get much going as we were trying to hold on for dear life. I really think he should have started this one.
Squillaci – No rating. I’ll be kind and give him no rating, but it must also be said that both goals came after he entered the game, and in short order.

Today’s loss puts us a point behind Chelsea, and still three behind Spurs, and they have two games in hand. We could fall into 6th place if Liverpool somehow wins at Man City tomorrow. So overall, things aren’t as cheery as they were at this time yesterday, but the season isn’t over either. However, this really brings home yet again the need to add some quality in the January transfer window. (Fortunately, all of the comments in the live blog after the game ended were very measured, calm, and reasonable.) Anyway, it’s clear that Wenger doesn’t trust his full squad at all, and is terrified to play the likes of AOC, Chamakh, Park, Rosicky, and Benayoun. To an extent, I don’t blame him, as some of those players aren’t that great. But whose fault is that in the first place? Why couldn’t we have added at least one more option last summer? Why can’t we spend real money this January and get at least one more thumper who can score some goals? Even if the Henry experiment works out, it’s only for two months, and it’s also while we lose two of our existing options. So it’s not like we’ll have even MORE depth over the next two months. We’ll just be roughly breaking even. The job that the back line and Wojo have done has been commendable overall, especially with the injuries and having to move guys around. Still, we can’t expect one goal to be enough every time either, as we saw today. And finally, with all the work that some of our players have been getting, I’m concerned that the wheels will fall off in the spring again, as bodies start to wear down.

OK, my rant is over. Time to go enjoy the rest of my day. Perhaps we’ll have some transfer updates between now and the match against Leeds in the FA Cup next Monday. Also, look for a new post by JG tomorrow.

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All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. II Timothy 3:16.

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Category: Arsenal News

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BleedWhite&Navy

Arsene "I did not see it - unless it was the other team" Wenger has totally lost it. His biased view of the officials at every game impacts negatively on his own team. He clearly feels all the EPL refs go out of their way to punish Arsenal, and the players read that as it's never their fault.

Stats; Arsenal are second in the total red cards since EPL started and third for the yellows among the six ever present clubs. Since 1995 there are only three seasons when Spurs got more red cards than the Gunners. Last three seasons you have ten red and 148 yellow to Spurs 4 red and 124 yellow - it's a pattern and it's hurting you!

The trip on Gervinho at Fulham looked a penalty, but he's got form for simulation like a lot of Brazilians, imho he did not get the penalty 'cos he went down after a small delay and threw his hands up.

Graham Poll says the sending off at Fulham was fair and may have been a totting up second yellow when Djourou could have been sent packing earlier. Wenger should have subbed him immediately after the serious warning for the foul before he got sent off - poor tactics.

The Arse (yes I am a Yiddo for forty five plus years - and I admired the way Aresenal used to play 6 years ago, even though it pissed me off something chronic), have a very poor disciplinary record under Arsene and the club needs to reflect that his attitude 'that the players are never to blame' has resulted in poor tackling decision making that results in many cards, again it's the manager's fault on the Buck Stops Here argument. If I were the Chairman I would be having a word in his shell-like about this kind of behaviour it makes him look ridiculous on TV and it's not helping their club on the pitch.

PS Welcome to the world of pain we in N17 know only too well. Time to stand up and support your team properly and stop whinging.
Perry S.

We were jobbed by the refs in this one, plain and simple. Two horrendous calls gave the match to Fulham. Yes, finishing was poor, but we were up 1 nil until the 2nd horrendous call and likely would have pulled this one out. This is the 2nd match in a row we've had poor officiating, only the last match we were fortunate enough to get the win. Secondly, last I checked this was our first legitimate EPL loss (not counting the Man City match), calm down people. Good lord, its as if you guys wait until we lose so you can pipe up again about some kind of shit in this team. Again, we will be fine (top 4) and its very likely we'll be getting a few new players in this month.
ASDF

The Blackburn Rovers defeat was not legit, the one against liverpool and Spurs?? And your definition of a "fine" club is one that finishes top 4, that's it? Is getting behind your team to win actual trophies now termed "too demanding"? Where's the Arsenal that used to thump Fulham 6-0 and stay in title contention till atleast April and go down fighting? We used to take the fight to other title challengers and that according to me was "Fine" not this.
Perry S.

Also, just so you're aware, Man Utd. just lost 3 nil to Newcastle. All of the top teams have lost in recent weeks, so its fair to say there is far more to Arsenal losing than "we're just not good enough" i.e. what I mentioned below.
Perry S.

Losing two top tier players, the mind-blowing number of injuries (even our depth players are injured), finishing top 4 is just fine to me. The team definitely needs additional players, but for now, with what we've got, top 4 is a great outcome.
Darren_V

Fulham were by far the better team in the 2nd half and deserved atleast a point for their play.
Sure, should've had a penalty and the red card was weak... but Arsenal were poor, there is no way around that.
Perry S.

Sure they were, but that happens all the time. A team clearly dominates, but doesn't get the win. We had the win in the bag up until the red, that changed the match for the worse. No red, Arsenal would have eeked out the win (or at worst, drew) by doing just enough in the first half to earn the goal, and doing just enough in the 2nd half to keep the lead. Again, the red card changed what "doing just enough" was in the 2nd half. I'm not saying we weren't at fault for our lack of finishing, but that comes 2nd in my mind when we've got the lead with less than 12 minutes to play in the match. In that 12 minutes is when Fulham took advantage of a completely incorrect call by the ref.
Bumblefock

yesterday we were Barcelona and Fulham was Arsenal. in that that we opted for a holding tactics for the entire 2nd half, and fulham came from behind in a valiant fashion
formos

Some of your ratings are rather off as whole Arsenal team were yesterday..
How on earth you can give Coquelin 6.5 when it was his responsibility to track back to position fro where Zamora scored. Second Fulham goal was absolutely his fault.
Song was actually the one who worked the hardest and deserves at least 7 for defensive display.
And finally Ramsey, he was alright, made an assist, but nothing spectacular to give him more than 7.

Anyway, it's shame that we couldn't finish job on first half as players were relatively fresh, second half killed us. No squad depth killing us.
Will

Taye Taiwo: “I am suffering every day because I don’t get to play football. I joined this club in order to play, but I have made only six appearances so far,”
“I don’t understand how things work in Italy. Sometimes I even have to watch from the stands, but I really need to play in order to show what I can do.”
“It looks like [Milan coach Massimi] Allegri doesn’t have faith in me. It’s not like me to just sit back and do nothing in a situation like this.”Looks like a player and a certain club both in bad situations need each other.
Homey_Mills

On the one hand, he's cup-tied and couldn't face his former team. So that at least makes it possible. On the other hand, I just don't see Wenger making an actual purchase at that spot, when Gibbs and Vermaelen might be weeks away from returning. On top of that, with Coquelin looking decent, I think AW may stay put entirely.
Will

I hope this most recent game is a trigger like the 8-2. I don't like our manager to be so reactive but if he must be, then this was perfect timing. He's already said losing games due to lack of fullbacks would be "stupid," but that's just happened. The players we need are Taiwo and Vertonghen, Huntelaar and Podolski, Cuenco and Reus. That would be the perfect haul. Sadly, the only man we've been linked with who I actually expect us to move for is Nick Powell. But I'm hopeful for a big signing as well.
Homey_Mills

This might surprise some people, but I wouldn't buy a new LB. I'll actually take the Wenger position here. We have several players who could return in the next couple of weeks - possibly Gibbs, Vermaelen, and Sagna. Any of them can play LB. So I don't know that we need to spend a transfer fee plus salary when it's for such a short term. On the flip side, I'd sell Arshavin and buy Reus and Podolski if possible. I think two players are needed in the attack, if AA is sold.
Will

Homey will relish that I think I've finally realised we're not catching the Manchester sides, unless they have some unbelievable fuck-ups. Now the only thing the team can do is step up. The fans are rooting, but there needs to be an amazing effort to see out the season, or it's going to be all disappointment. I know we can finish third. The second half was so bad, though... it wasn't Arsenal. It honestly didn't look like I was watching Arsenal. Where is our beautiful football? We didn't dominate possession at all, let alone lack a creative spark. Our entire midfield must step up. Our makeshift fullbacks have to do the best they can. Park and Henry need to step up for the next few (or 2 as the case may be) months. As a fan, I can only hope they all do. As for Wenger, I know he isn't stupid. Someone will join us this January.
Gigi_man

I wish AW or Stan or whoever is making the calls read this: RvP can leave if there is no ambition showed by adding depth. If Arenal dont qualify for UCL or worse for Europa, some fans wont be able to see the games via ESPN or Fox, because they wont show them. Even if we find some live streams in internet, we might get a little tired or out of date (not knowing players who came in), hell maybe some bloggers will leave!
So, people in charge, it will mean that not even an Asian tour will sell shirts...maybe the home audience will go to the Emirates , but Arsenal is (hpefully will continue to be ) a worldwide known and fan base club.....60000 people screaming, if ever, wont make ends meet...
No money for nobody, savings not good for nothing....bankrupcy.
Give it a thought.

Sincerely,
And sick of trying to find arguments,
Gooney Gunner

RvP has 18 games remaining as a Gunner. He will be offered a weekly salary between $150 and $200K per week by another team this summer. NOT A CHANCE AW matches that. Kroenke would shoot him first. Arsenal will be offered a transfer fee of somewhere around $30 mil pounds. NOT A CHANCE AW or Kroenke turns that down. So, irregardless of where we finish this season, RvP is gone this summer. Get used to it now. He's due to be injured any game now, anyway, if he doesn't get a rest. AW never learns. Then our medical staff gets involved......so he could be out 18 months soon.
Gigi_man

Oh and this is not a defensive issue Mr AW, it is a misguided objective, or goal.
See, the goal of this game is to score...goals.
If you only have one player to score it doesnt matter if the others play beautiful football.
If you have a 1-0 advantage and yo dont have people to kill the game you give the other team a boost, and if they equalise at 10 minutes to go, you give them more boost.
So lets not blame our defence even if they were not sharp, lets blame the fact that we didnt and are not in the work of hiring a true striker to pair with our only class player, who might leave because of that.
Will

I'm sure AW is not blind to how bad we were today. His after game comments did not signal much recognition to me, though.. but I'm hopeful and somewhat confident someone will join the club as a real help this January. Another impact signing, like Arshavin when he was signed a few seasons ago.
formos

He is not blind, he is too indecisive.
Gigi_man

I really hope you are right, after all, where there 's a will there 's a way, right :)
Homey_Mills

But at the same time, there have been numerous situations where Wenger seemingly WAS blind to problems with the squad. I look no further than when we had to use Silvestre a couple of years ago because there were no other options. There are other examples as well. So it's really up for debate whether something will change this time.
Gigi_man

Shameful.
We dont win, we dont play beautiful football.
Shame.
I would tell AW one thing a wiser older man told me: aim higher than what you target because: you are human so you can make mistakes, theres people that wnat the same thing and they will be competition, there are odds in life like bad health and bad finances....
AW always seems to be happy with exactly what he need, he doesnt seem to aim higher, not to be hogher but because the odds can play against and make you fall.
Shame.
It hurts to see this.
Patoux21

I deeply hope that Walcott performance was because he hasn't fully recovered from his sickness and if he wasn't 100% Arsh or Ox should have started
Zamil_m10

sadly im gonna have to say SONG WAS CRAAAAAAAP today. got passed by wayh too many times (or that fulham midfielder with the long black hair was pretty damn good)

Theo was shit aswell i feel he has lost love for the club, problem stemming from that wages dillema.
Squillaci defended badly in the last goal, bad positioning. Mindfucks me how Miquel wasnt put in instead of him

+ the refereeing arsenal has been subject to for the past 5 or so games have been rubbish! soooo (toooo) many uncalled penalties& too all the people saying Arsene is arrogant or stupid or naive in blaming referees all the time;shutthefuckup, its his job
Gunny4lfe

For 84 minutes it was 1 nil to the Arsenal. To be fair, Fulham always looked like scoring in that second half and had the much better chances. Wenger did the normal post game and blamed the ref. He could have blamed Walcott who can't put in a decent cross or pick out a man 10 feet in front of him. A final ball? He should just move away from the ball and let someone else come over to cross it or shoot it. He wants a new 4 year deal at $85,000 pounds a week and Wenger will probably give it to him. But RVP will just be moved for the BIG fee and AW will not even consider his new wage demands. Of course he'll blame it all on RVP not on Stan the man. He could have blamed Mert who is not only as slow as a reptile but at 6 feet, 6 inches tall can only jump up to 5 foot 10 inches. It's an optical illusion when he actually heads the ball. He could blame Wojo for not being more dominant in controlling the 6 yard box. He could blame himself for not giving players the rest many needed. He could blame RVP and Gervinho for not scoring. He could blame Djourou for picking up a second yellow on a silly foul. Shit, he could blame the Fulham players for running the entire 94 minutes and not stopping to catch their breath. They all forgot they played a game only two days ago too. Screaming fans will do that to you.

Wenger spent $50 mil pounds on players in June and August, so I don't expect him to make any big moves in January when the fees are exorbitant and teams do not want to lose real quality players. Arsene won't agree to a normally high fee for a real quality player in the summer when he has 3 months to negotiate so don't expect him to make a big move in January when another manager has a gun to his head.

Swansea away in two weeks is not going to be any cake walk and then United at home. Hell. Bolton away at the Reebok on the 31st should be a win, maybe. If Walcott learns to cross by then and backs off on his wage demands to $80,000 a week. Sadly, it may be time to fuel up the Homey train and add a few luxury cars for the run in to the station.
Will

Poor, poor second half from Arsenal. Followed the first via the live-blog and watched the second on TV, and given the talking up about our first half performance I thought Arsenal were absolutely terrible in the second. We were dominated by Fulham. Fulham! I made fun of my Pool-supporting friend when they lost 1-0 to Fulham, but at least they dominated for both halves!

Gotta say though, feel somewhat bad for Squizz. Saw him warming up, all smiles. But he just doesn't cut it.. hope we trim the fat and put on some muscle in January.
pool side

Laugh at the Pool at your peril, young lad. You are correct, Evra made 90% of that shit up about Suarez. We all hate him. Even 65,000,000 million French people can't stand him after their world cup debacle. Because he's a cunt. The only 2 French people who are not certain are his parents. And even they are not certain either way. He and Fergie make a perfect pair. Two little annoying pricks.
Will

Well we'll see who finishes ahead! I've got a bet going with the same friend Arsenal are playing Champions league football again come next season... looking forward to the next fixture at Anfield.
pool side

If Arsenal miss out on CL this year, your friend should donate his winnings to the Arsene Wenger retirement fund.
Sxu

For me Coq was MotM, especially considering how different the role was for him. Made numerous clearances and offered some threat going forward too. Also agree that Ramsey had a pretty good game, but almost no support from Song and Arteta. Rosicky once again proved that he does nothing whatsoever, and Benayoun clearly was desperate to be involved but again didn't help our cause much. Also, does Park even exist?
tolu openiyi

Honestly, for me, if Gervinho and Walcott are the first choice wingers for a team of this calibre then there is a lot to be desired. Go compare their quality with teams of this same calibre.
I thought Arshavin showed signs of improvement in the last two games and should have started today and be subbed for Rosicky for defensive solidity to close the game.
Orion

Defensive solidity? Arshavin? That's something I haven't heard of before.
tolu openiyi

Lachlan is right. I assumed Rosicky came on for Walcott to bring more defensive solidity on the right to protect the one nil
LachlanS

I think tolu meant that Arshavin should have started and when we received the red then Rosicky should have replaced him
Orion

It's easy to point out your finger at individual players, like Squillaci or Theo. Its even easier to point said finger at the referee. But I think the problem we had today had common traits with last season's capitulation at that scum down the road. Yeah, the 3-2. Judging by the away fans' vocal presence, morale was sky high, and the players might have thought the game was won. Of course, tired legs and some unlucky refereeing decisions did their bit, but this was a collective collapse. And we got what we deserved.
123

Firstly, the whining about referees is so annoying.

Secondly, Theo was (again) very, very poor.

Thirdly, with Arshavins and Squilaccis we will win nothing.
123 456 789

What might you have been expecting us to win?

BPL? We'll never beat/catch City, United or even Spurs.

Champions League. We'll never compete with Barca, Real or Bayern. Hell, we might not compete with Milan.

FA Cup? City, United, Spurs, Liverpool? Never! Even Blackburn or Fulham could beat us.

Carling Cup? We might have a good shot at this one. Next year!
Tfyoung

It's easy to be critical retrospectively but I think he made the wrong substitutions.
The big failure was our defensive midfield pairing Song was terrible
today totally exposed for pace and Arteta was anonymous at best. Ramsey
started well but really faded in the second half. Central midfielders
cover the most ground in a game and two games in 48 hours really
impacted them. They were all totally overrun in the second half.
From about 50 minutes I was screaming at the telly for him to sub Benayoun and Rosicky for Arteta and Ramsey. Not because they are so much better but that the other two were clearly tiring and unable to hold the ball.
If we had confidence in Miquel at left back we could have brought him on and moved Coquelin to central midfield for a fading Song. I thought Coq did well today and we could have done with his energy and mobility in midfield.

Walcott was awful and offered very defensive cover for Djourou. Gervino has had better games but I think he should have left them on and tried to eck out a 1-0 win.
Patoux21

As expected Wenger criticized the referee. But does he ever make his auto-critic? The club doesn't belong to Wenger and it's not because he won a couple of major trophies a decade ago that he's immaculate. He's trying to take credit for spending little and wisely and doing quite well which is quite relative considering the club hasn't a won a trophy for 7 years and many more to come. EVERY major club in Europe is spending last sums to acquire the best players and strangely they remain on top of their league. Arsenal has become an average club and that shows in our best players wanting to leave and no big signings coming. Thank you for making Arsenal a team people make fun of ... starting by Evra
Will

Man, I hate Evra. He likely made up that bullshit about Suarez. But you are right. Le Professeur's philosophy seems to be drying up in front of us. Maybe if only because the deserters cannot see his vision, but it's drying up regardless.