Your Vision Your Vision - The Death of Arsenal FC
Written by Craig Player on Sunday, 28 August 2011 15:57
Foooooook me. 8 bloody 2. One of the worst performances I have ever seen my beloved team play in. Humiliation of the highest order. Everything, just everything fell apart. But what positives can we take from such a torrid game?
Not much, that’s for sure. We only gave one penalty away, i guess that’s a plus. As Piers Morgan so gracefully put it, Jenkinson’s stupid red card means we don’t have to see him for at least three games. We have Frimpong back next game, a very good thing seeing as though I didn’t even realise Francis COCKuelin was on the pitch. Gibbs may recover soon, because Traore, putting it simply, is shit. Vermealen will be back to take over from that donkey that goes by the name of Johan Djourou, and who knows, Gary Cahill may be an Arsenal game by the time we face Swansea.
Now let’s look at the negatives, and I can assure you, this part is going to be a lot longer than the last. I’ll start with our defense. The same centre back pairing that played in Arsenal’s 1-0 win of Manchester United last season, the same centre back partnership that played in Arsenal’s 2-1 win Uefalona. Yeah, I’m talking about half donkey half man Johan Djourou and his accomplice Laurent Koscielny. Djourou is one clumsy defender... doesn’t know where to keep his hands and likes to run in to people… Jenkinson done quit a good impession of him, actually. Djourou really does let Kos down though, because I think Kos is a good player. Him and Vermaelen impress me when they play together. So don’t expect me pick out the faults in his performance because I like him too much. On to the full backs, who really did let the team down today. I’m not going to go on about signings, because I believe that Sagna (obviously) and Gibbs (just about) are good on our flanks. But fuck me, we have absolutely no depth in those positions. I hear the fans loud and clear when they tell me “Jenkinson is one for the future” and that he’s “been thrown in at the deep end”, but you have to question the boss; did he really believe that Jenkinson could be a good back up to Sagna, assuming he knew that Eboue would depart? I really can’t believe that, somehow. It’s quite amazing that both of his yellow cards were for exactly the same thing.. surely, as a young, improving player, you would not make the same mistake twice? If I was the Arsenal captain, I would just a few words for him. These words would be, “you silly, silly BOY.” Now on to Traore. Now this guy is, in my opinion, not good enough to wear our red and white colours (or light and dark blue, in this case.) He is just terrible; he has no positional awareness, and was a complete liability today. Defensive rant over.
Midfield; be prepared. Actually, I’m not going to say much about the midfield. Coquelin’s performance was okay, I suppose, for a young player playing with tremendous pressure in his first Premier League performance. Ramsey is not Cesc, silly Gooners. He never has been, he never will be. He is Aaron, and remember, he is a young man still recovering from his injury, and any abuse toards him is unjustified. Rosicky has impressed me recently, and impressed me again today, as surprising as that might sound. He is the sort of player we need, he doesn’t give up, chases lost causes, tackles and sets up attacks. So yeah, midfield, don’t worry, you weren’t to blame.
Mr £16 million European Championship’s most impressive player, once again, played like a twat. His yellow card could have so easily been a red, and he could also have got another yellow or straight red again after a challenge on Phil Jones. Robin Van Persie, our captain, couldn’t really do much today given the lack of possession, but the least he could have done is convert the penalty. Terrible attempt. Theo Walcott didn’t get in to the game also because of the lack of possession, and his goal shouldn’t have been allowed to go in, but hey, that’s David De Gea for you.
You might be able to tell, I got bored towards the end of this article. I don’t want to reminisce, becaue it was a shit performance and a dreadful result.
However, I titled this article ‘The Death of Arsenal FC’, as I have the confidence we can mount a resurrection.
Please, please, please keep the faith.
Follow me on Twitter - @c_player42
Thank you Craig, I am still sat here a little perplexed. A little unsure about what it is I am trying to say. Last night when the house was quiet, I attempted to write a post match thoughts article. I just couldn't do it. Too painful and just didn't know where to start with it. Today after painfully going through the highlights again it looks a little clearer to me.
The overall picture is that, this result was an absolute disgrace and I will stand and shout that as loudly as the next man. I will not attempt to defend the club, players, management after that because the score tells you much more than I could.
However, when Francis Coquelin was replaced in the 62nd minute we were losing 3-1, had a penalty missed and missed good chances. As awfully depleted and makeshift as some of that team was, they should never ever concede 5 goals in 28 minutes. Don't get me wrong, Manchester United had more chances that they could have converted but as it was, a very weakened Arsenal team had scored a late goal in first half stoppage time and had improved in the second half until we went for broke and were well and truly bankrupted.
Serious questions need to be asked as to why our professionals went AWOL defensively. It was embarrassing and should never happen at this level. It reminded me of when I play football on a Tuesday evening and the guy who randomly picks the teams for each week decides to fill one side with 8 strikers and one defender. That one defender was Laurent Koscielny and he was left horribly exposed.
I have so much to say but don't want to dominate your article with a load of drivel but I will say this. I am not convinced that Arsene Wenger should shoulder so much of the responsibility of not bringing in the players he wants.
I have already spoken about Liam Brady's comments on RTE about the board refusing to bring in certain targets because they were out of our price bracket in terms of wages. Forgetting articles published by people who claim to be in the know. Liam Brady works at the club and would know more than anyone. He also works very closely alongside Arsene.
What benefit would it do us for Arsene Wenger to so strongly say
"Imagine the worst situation - we lose Fabregas and Nasri - you cannot convince people you are ambitious after that"
Would a man who stated that then agree to sell those players? Seriously?
If I was to guess who deserves the lion's share of the blame then I am plumping for the Arsenal board. What manager would not want all his targets in as soon as possible so they can prepare for the season?
Certain fans do not like me defending our manager so here is something for them. In my eyes, Wenger was very wrong to approach the game the way he did. We were very weak and we played at Manchester United as if we were at full strength. He should have seen that Traore with Arshavin ahead of him was an explosion waiting to happen. He should have played as we did in Barcelona, conservative and used Theo and Arshavin on the break. His removal of our only recognised defensive midfielder along with the red card transformed a 3-1 defeat into a 8-2 defeat within 28 minutes. He is responsible for much of that.
Call me delusional, and I am sure many will. But we are not actually that far away from a very good team even without Cesc and Nasri. I shouldn't be writing that after a 8-2 defeat but that is my honest feelings. What is an absolute must to reach that very good team is to plug in the holes in the squad with experience quality, stop picking up bloody red cards and keep our players off the treatment table.
What yesterday showed is that when we are missing a large chunk of our squad then we cannot compete whatsoever.
Thank goodness for international football for a change. Let's see what happens on Wednesday so we can put this shambles behind us and start our season again in the way that we have been used to.
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