I'm really frustrated. I look at the league table and like many Gooners I hate what I am seeing.
This season could have been so different. The title is there for the taking.
Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United are not exactly setting the league alight and we haven't taken advantage of the situation.
We have struggled this season but Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United have too.
Inside Arsene Wenger must be kicking himself. If he could have managed to keep last seasons squad together and made a couple of summer signings, this season could have been the easiest shot at the title he has ever had.
Instead we face a battle for fourth place and wonder what might have been.
I have reluntantly ruled Arsenal out of the title race and hate to do so. I can't see us not losing another game this season. We are too inconsistent and lack the quality needed.
What is frustrating me is we were almost there last season and now instead of building on that we seem to have gone backwards. We have weakened when we should have strengthened.
This wasn't how it was supposed to be. Arsenal were back. Now I just hope for a top four finish when really I should be thinking that we are going to be champions.
Arsenal should have been in a strong position at the top of the table. The fixture list was kind to say the least.
The way the results are going if any of the top four put a run together then they would be title winners. It's too late though for Arsenal.
It may be too late but I often wonder what might have been. We could have won it this year. This could have been Wenger's easiest title win.
Keep it Goonerish.................
22 comments:
Stop bitching and moaning mate.. Do you stop for a minute to think why the heck are all top sides struggling (the same way that we are)?! The truth is that the other sides have closed the gap with the top teams and it's no longer a surprise that the top sides loose so much points. This has nothing to do with Arsenal being weaker! United, Chelsea and Liverpool did keep their squad together and added more to it as you suggest and you see they struggle too! Even if we had Hleb, Flamini, Gilberto and whoever else you are complaining about we'd still be in the same situation as we are now... FACE THE FACTS!
i agree with the above statement..other teams have definitely caught up..In the grand scheme of things Hull should be the righfull winners this season!!
good point wrighty,
if wenger had kept his promise of keeping the team together and adding to it, this years league was there for the taking,
the other teams havent caught up, the top teams just havent found form, but when march comes we'll see the top 4 pulling away and hopefully we'll be part of that group, maybe with a few jan signings we could find ourselves top of it,
wishful thinking but fingers crossed
Anon 19:18 look at the facts
After 18 games last year we had 43 points, no team this year can match that, I think we had an easy start to the season and have blew it. Wenger's faith in youth has not paid off and a lot of the players Song, Bendtner, Denilson, Diaby are just not ready to play at the highest level as they do not have the consistency of performance required to sustain a title charge. We pay through the nose in difficult times to support our team and we deserve better. I hope we see some experience players come through the door in January not just untested talent.
Al
Anon 19:34
As I said the LEAGUE has changed since last season, so you cannot compare last season's results because they were reached against weaker opponents. The same way after 18 games last season Chelsea had 40+ pts, United about this time were even with us... And yet let's do compare the results: didn't we stumble in Boro? didn't we got lucky not to loose to Villa at home? Didn't we stumble at home against a birmingham (comparable to Stoke/Hull)? Didn't we won LUCKILY against Wigan and Fulham with late goals? (which has nothing to do with the strength/weakness of the team, but it's all LUCK)
Well, this season we are NOT as lucky.. We didn't win over Hull even though we lead and hit the bar and so many other changes; we were UNLUCKY against the yids.. Add the stiffer competition as a factor and you'd be at the same team level as last season!!!
Spot on wrighty7.
You are not bitching, its obvious that Arsenal are weaker than last season.
Maybe you have a point. None of the other three is convincing. By stat: The chances of any team winning three years in a row is close to zero, ruling out United. The probability that Scolari will win the PL in his first season is very low. And Liverpool just dont look the real deal. So I agree with your premise.
I am less convinced about how much we can blame the manager. Players wanted to leave. If players really want to leave, you have to let them leave otherwise they can mess up the whole squad.
But to the extent we can blame the manager, I say; Damn you Arsene Wenger!
But again, I thought last season was our season. That was the season we had to win to keep that squad together, and keep belief in that squad. I thought, I really 100% in my mind believed we were the best team last season. I still feel the trophy ran away from us.
Anyway, I just wanted to point out that what we need to win the league now is 55 more points or thereabouts. That's 18 wins out of 21 games remaining. We're not out of it, even if we lose to Liverpool.
Anon 1944. u are exagerrating. wrighty's point is pretty valid
chelsea has clearly been off form and have been setback by injury.
man u too has suffered from the whole ronaldo saga.
liverpool is playing out of their skin right now and cant keep it
AV is overperforming also, they've got no bench.
If we were to play like we did last season, we'd be flying. its too bad we coudlnt keep the team together :(
Anon 19:18,
You miss the point.
Arsenal are a lot weaker than last season, its nothing to do with other teams.
How can you say we are not? We have lost Lehmann, Giberto, Flamini, Hleb etc and not really added to the side.
We needed more players than last season and instead we have ended with less and what is worst, less quality.
Comment 19:18 should FACE THE FACTS!
He obviously has his head buried in the sand.
Wenger needed to build on last season. He failed. Now Arsenal are failing.
End of.
Good post Wrighty
i think supporters are annoyed because the opportunity was there to win the title this year. Its not that the fans are spoiled and don't remember the difficult days, its because the opportunity was there for us to push on but Arsene Wenger blew it because he persists with players that everyone can clearly see are not good enough for The Arsenal. THATS WHY WERE FRUSTRATED. People should remember that Wenger is only an employee of the club, HE IS NOT THE CLUB, Arsenal existed before wenger and we'll exist when he leaves.
this whole thing about not replacing flamini has gone a bit too far. Flamini did a good job for Arsenal but nothing outstanding.
Song will grow into a far better player in my view, he gets stronger from game to game.
I understand what you mean wrighty it is frustrating - but if we had hleb and not nasri, would hleb have even taken a shot at goal against man utd? not a chance. I think we'd actually be further down the table if Hleb was still here. He'd make us even less direct than we already are.
Towards the end of last season, starting around the bham game, we started to decline, it's not like we got rid of outstanding players, and failed to replace them. Gilberto hardly played, neither did Lehmann.
It's practically the same team disregarding hleb and flamini, Sorry, hleb and flamini arent going to win you titles on their own. Bottom line is teams are getting better, having better players in their squad than in the past.
The only diff in Arsenal is that they lack the confidence and mental attitude they had at the beginning of last season. It started to die towards back end of last season and it's continued to do so. That's what needs changing more than anything.
Here are the facts!!! We are going to BEAT Liverpool and LOSE to Aston Villa...mark my words!!! We definately lack the quality, I agree with the author 100%
You're right, winning the title is well easy. On Championship Manager 2009 I won the league by 13 points. All we have to do is buy Ronaldo, Messi, Kaka and some big psycho english army lads to play in defense. When will Wenger learn? I've been patient with him during my 2 years as a arsenal fan, but that patience is running thin and now all I can say is ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. I AM ANGRY AND HURT. That Swedish bloke up front is crap I could do better, and real men do not wear pink boots they get ANGRY on blogs. (AND I AM REALLY, REALLY ANGRY!) Since we're already 50 odd points off the top we all know the title has gone, and unless he brings home either Wimbledon or the Grand National this year then I'm afraid to say it's au revoir Arsene! BRING IN JAMIE REDNAPP AND MAKE WRIGHTY HIS NUMBER 2 HE'D TEACH THESE OVERPAID FOREIGNERS HOW TO PUT IN A GOOD SHIFT
If we played the same way we did last season up tot his point we'd be ahead right now. We'd quite possibly be even further ahead than we were last season at this same point in time. We're 8 points behind the top and it's frustrating to think if we weren't so lax in the Spurs game that's 2 points then the deficit is down to 6. If we had beaten Boro like we should have that's only 4 points off the mark and if we managed to beat one of those lowly teams like we should have with damn near 60% possession we'd be close to the top at the very least. We know we can peg back the other big four clubs, but what use is that if we continually draw or lose to inferior competition?
anon 21.19
dont be a prick mate.
i dont think its all that bad, yes the team needs dm player,song is clealy just a defender covering you can tell because of lack of pass range he i snot very goot at getting forward and i dont think he poses the stamina but does protect the defence well,at the start of the season i dont think central defence partnership was working but now there defending alot better. i feel the strikers have not hit top form yet and the team is missing wide players and real pace along the flanks
Wrighty, i agree with you and you are right Ole Gunner, if the player want to leave it might be best to let them go otherwise he might fuk up the whole teams.
Wrighty mate, you talking some good sense here, but this was KNOWN over the summer by many fans. The longer Wenger waits to enhance the squad and with very high ticket prices, I'm afraid there will be fewer fans attending the games. Sound crazy? Wait and see, the fans, yes LONG TIME fans are not best pleased with the current state of affairs, not that I'm that put off, but Wenger has made some crucial mistakes and if we end the season in worse shape than last year's many fans will see tangible evidence that the club is going backwards. There's always competition and if it hots up we must do so as well, is competition now the excuse? Sorry, that's doa, again. Wenger has made an enormous miscalcultion regarding the fans paying these prices to watch transition year after year, why wenger risks his reputation like this is simply bewildering, it's as if he wants the fans to turn on him. Like many economists on wall street, Wenger has seriously under-appreciated the risks he faces. Given Wenger's track record it sadly seems inevitable that fans will turn and once that happens the wenger cult cum witch hunt will have a distinctly bitter after-taste. After beating manu and chels, the eboue episode was ominous to say the least. Wenger has still sufficient good will to save himself but that would require the highly unlikely softening of his youth policy.
good article Wrighty, I think you are spot on and all arsenal fans should be frustrated as well
you already have wins over chelsea and man u and even if you add liverpool on sunday most will still say your chances are outside ones
cuntchops
Fair points you make, but you havent stopped and considered that other teams are also much stronger! As you say Chleski, pool, utd all have dropped points - so what does this say? Its not just one big team dropping points but many! so chin up mate you never know!
Its a bit simplistic to say the title is there for the taking. There are no whipping boys in the league this year. On paper, the only area we are weaker is central mifield. Most people didn't rate Hleb, so you can't blame Wenger for selling him. Nasri looks a better player. Walcott is coming through, as is Djourou. Almunia is no worse than Lehmann. Its shades of grey really. If we could ever get our first XI out and playing for 10 games in a row, then who knows where we would be. Even the mighty spenders like Chelsea struggle with a big injury list.
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