(The not-so-temporary quite-official) Gooner Thread (Part 2)

He grabbed two goals but was still absolutely horrible for 90% of the game. Doesn't deserve to start.

Özil is in!

Should've had a pen, but Gabriel is lucky to still be on the pitch.

Hopefully in the second half the chances we create won't all fall to Elneny.

Well that was a shower of sharke.

Yep I think we had 103 chances to score , they had 3

And we lost 1-2

Ozil was superb however his supporting cast was not.

Somethings got to change.

how many goals did we miss? At a minimum I'd say 20

This is not the first time this has happened 

The definition of insanity is...

The chances the chances the chances. 

Not good enough in front of goal. 

How does Welbeck not start that game? 

Sanchez is poor at the moment. 

I'm done with Walcott I think. He's no good off the bench and not consistently good enough to start. For me the major improvement in our forward line would be to ship Walcott out, and bring in that mythical world class centre forward instead, preferably one who can also play wide. We really need that neymar/suarez type to be honest. Not sure where to find that player but that's the next step.

Mertesacker and Gabriel were f*cking sh*t on that first goal. Per should not be losing headers to anyone at the near post from a throw. Gabriel criminally not getting close enough to Ighalo. He was lucky to be on the pitch from that tackle anyway. 

Ref was rubbish. Shoulda sent Gabriel and then after that he must've let a million fouls go, including one on Ozil when they got it off him for the second goal. Cech's height probably would've saved that too I reckon.

This and the Swansea game remind of losses we used to get 5-6 years ago when Almunia was keeping. Absolute domination, toothless in the box, and switching off in defence at one or two critical moments which cost us the game.

Not good enough, agree that something has to change. Wenger is league or bust now, if we go trophyless this season I can't see how he could be kept on.

What do you mean if? Do you think we have a chance of beating Barca coz there's no way in hell we'll be winning the Premiership.

What do you think I meant? 

You can give it up and have a tanny but that's not the way I work. If there's a mathematical chance, then there's a chance. Always hoping, always supporting. 

Thinking we won't win the league doesn't mean we don't support. It means we're frustrated seeing the same thing year after year for the last decade... when we moved to the Ems there was a reason (or excuse if you prefer). That reason no longer stands.

Clearly we need to do things differently if we are to be successful. I would love nothing more than AW being the catalyst for that change and for him to lead us to the beginning of a successful new era and sealing his legacy before moving on to a life of commentaries and consulting (and hanging around at the beach). Though the longer the same thing keeps occurring, the longer AW appears resistant to change, the greater the frustration and the further others are moving on (financially, tactically, and stylistically).

The club continues to treat fans as an income stream, rather than as partners, and the divide is continuing to grow.

I love AW and have the utmost respect for what he has done for our club over many years. Having said that, it's time he put his hand up, made some changes - or, someone is brought in who can.

I'm sick and tired of hearing effort, belief, injuries, and bad luck. We need results, and they currently aren't near good enough.

As per my earlier post (re the definition of insanity), something HAS to change.

And as per others, I will never give up on my club (EVEN if Sp*rs win the league and Wham win the cup lol).

Though that doesn't mean I need to accept the status quo (I don't) and can't call for changes/improvements (I do).

Forever Arsenal.

Who said it does?

I was just defending myself for apparently having the cheek to suggest the title race isn't over, that's all. 

Things in here are usually much more calm and reasoned - of course that's because we don't live within two square miles of The Ems and therefore none of us are real fans.

Pretty bad. 

Wenger on the verge. Needs to pull the league out of the fire. We've made the top 4 from tougher positions than we're in with this league, so who knows. Whole top four are dropping points left right and centre. 

Lets just hurry up and get Barca out the way, then get on with trying to save this sh*t. 

.

The fat lady is loosening her larynx and soon to make her way on stage... but she's not there yet...

That was dire again. Don’t know why Wenger can’t get the players motivated but we’ve played like we just don’t want it the last few weeks. There’s been no real urgency to anything we’ve done. Took until the last 5 minutes this morning to show any sort of desire. It almost feels like since top 4 looks virtually secured we’ve just said “job done” and we’ll limp home into the usual 4th now and go out of everything in the same week. With most of the traditional big teams out of the league and FA Cup I would have expected the players to be busting their arses off to win them especially those who are chasing Euro selection too but I just don’t see that from many players at the moment.

Ozil was the only one who seemed to be trying to get things going.  Gibbs,  Paulista,   Per,  Chambers and Alexis were absolutely  dire 

I want to disagree with this F365 opinion piece, but.... erm... can't.

We should have stayed at Highbury, not had the yank owning the club and been able to remain a football club that hadn't lost it's identity. The only saving grace from this season is Leicester go on and win the league so the filth up the road don't.

Depending on the Barca game we know we have a minimum of 10 games left. From here the team needs to focus on building momentum, ticking off wins, and finding form.

The Gaffer has got to do something to inspire these players, because tactically I'm not sure you can fault him for the teams & structure he is putting forward too much.

If anything we're ruing the absence of reinforcements in the middle of an injury hit season. With Ramsey, Wilshere, Rosicky, Arteta, Cazorla, The Ox all currently out injured, and Coquellin recently back you have to wonder.

Elneny was a good start, but if anything we could have done with a second midfielder, either on loan or perm.

just so frustrated because we all had such high hopes for this year and it is a rinse and repeat of previous years. 

That's the crux of it...

All the other seasons there were reasons here and reasons there. But now there's no reasons. Yes we had injuries, but we also have the squad to cope with it. 

Just not good enough. 

This is the best squad we've had for the last 5 years or so and this is easily the worst football we've played as a team. The fudge is going on? We don't even have a defined style anymore.

no idea what to say really, usual story really isnt it. Can't see Ozil resigning a new contract which is a shame. Wenger has put the best team out there so can't blame him for that but i do put blame on him for not signing striker or mid at the begining or middle of the season.

EPL is now our best shot which means winning 8 out of 9 games mmmmmm we are closer to 5th than we are 2nd. spuds have +13 GD as well.

we usually go through a good phase towards the end of the season so i'm really hoping we do again

Finally saw an extended highlights package. Elneny's finishing was poor, but the most guilty of them all in that situation was Welbeck. That open net missed opportunity is something that Ighalo had the ability to do with a defender on him and a keeper to beat. Welbz had bugger all pressure physically, just couldn't slot it. Also I think Chambers has to take the blame for the first goal and the flick on. Mertesacker is goal side of the attacking player as the ball comes in, Chambers gets disorientated and goes from being in front of the attacker to between himself and Per, taking Per out of the equation. Had Chambers stood his ground he would have probably won the header, if not Per would have and the chance would never have been created.

Its not even about the players we did or didnt buy.

This exact squad is more than capable of winning the league.

Everything looked to be falling into place, the capitulation is inexplicable, I'm struggling to come to grips with it. People can say they've seen it before, but the times before there were serious things working against us - shallow squad, incapable players, too many injuries to overcome, rivals showing strong form, those sorts of things.

There are none of those things now. Yes we've had injuries but this squad should've been able to cope with them. 

A lot of guys have not stood up when it counted this season, and Wenger hasn't been good enough to coax it out of them. 

I always thought Wenger would leave us with a fairytale last title win. I think pulling this one out of the fire is the last chance we'll get of that happening. 

Skeptical the board will pull the trigger

So one more season of Wenger, he's not going to break his contract.

No way will the board sack him. They don't give a fudge.

Any chance arsene will do a mini u turn and become arsenal's first director of football in the summer?

Based on what he says in the press, no - he's just as deluded as ever.

Another day.

Still depressed.

leicester 11 points ahead now....we have a game in hand

This would be ideal. 

However which coach is available to bring on?

Per made some interesting comments "...we just pass and pass until they score..." - this sums up our challenge for me. We're so used to bossing possession, but we're not converting it into goals. Barcelona have always been possession based, but now play the high press & the counter-attack clinically.

I would personally love to see the team take a drastic change in approach and turning every build up opportunity into a shot. Whether it means we start shooting from distance more, or stop cutting back rather than putting crosses in.

Look at Watfords goals - a flick in from a long throw, and a smash and grab cut back. We would never have attempted the flick on, and had that ball been laid off our full back would have taken it to the by-line & crossed it. Or turned back towards our players and swept it across the middle.

It's easy to say this because we lost - but Watford had two chances and took those two chances. It's actually quite rare that this happens in a game of football.

Playing a possession game and being reasonably patient around the box usually results in a higher percentage of wins over a season. We are just lacking a whole lot of confidence in front of goal and are fluffing chances. If we weren't creating chances, then sure, but we are - consistently.

This is basically Ernie's philosophy, too, so not just Arsene.