West Ham Mf A Sun 16th April KO 2pm

[cameron326]

Yeah as much as there is comfort in the it’s in our hands mantra, the fact is we’re basically level on points with a side that’s won 10 on the trot, while we’ve thrown away two goal leads twice in a row. It’s not looking good.

[cameron326]

Yeah as much as there is comfort in the it’s in our hands mantra, the fact is we’re basically level on points with a side that’s won 10 on the trot, while we’ve thrown away two goal leads twice in a row. It’s not looking good.

[nut flush gooner]

If we don’t win it this season it will be hugely disappointing as it is a big chance we’ve ended up with - one we were never expecting to have. That said, and presuming we don’t totally collapse from here and finish with a minimum of , say, 85 points, I’m not sure there’s a reason for overly strong criticism of any indivudal, including Arteta. If we fail in the end it will bascially come down to the fact that City have greater strength in depth to cover their first choice 11, while we have had to rely on make do replacements like Holding and Tierney, as well as being unable to rest key players - again due to the falloff in quality. As soon as there’s a new face or two in the starting 11 we struggle, while City usually still cruise. That will probably decide it in the end.

I don't think Tierney is a make-do replacement for Zinny. He does represent his country at international level after all. And although in general Scotland are shit, they have produced decent fullbacks in recent years.

He has had to reinvent himself as an inverted LB now Arteta has chosen this route to get numbers higher up the pitch.

KT did ok yesterday, but he's not two-footed, you need the ability to pass inside and out when you play inverted. Zinny's passing accuracy is insane. Especially when a lot of his passes are offensive/forward minded.

[Clummo99]

If we don’t win it this season it will be hugely disappointing as it is a big chance we’ve ended up with - one we were never expecting to have. That said, and presuming we don’t totally collapse from here and finish with a minimum of , say, 85 points, I’m not sure there’s a reason for overly strong criticism of any indivudal, including Arteta. If we fail in the end it will bascially come down to the fact that City have greater strength in depth to cover their first choice 11, while we have had to rely on make do replacements like Holding and Tierney, as well as being unable to rest key players - again due to the falloff in quality. As soon as there’s a new face or two in the starting 11 we struggle, while City usually still cruise. That will probably decide it in the end.

I don't think Tierney is a make-do replacement for Zinny. He does represent his country at international level after all. And although in general Scotland are shit, they have produced decent fullbacks in recent years.

He has had to reinvent himself as an inverted LB now Arteta has chosen this route to get numbers higher up the pitch.

KT did ok yesterday, but he's not two-footed, you need the ability to pass inside and out when you play inverted. Zinny's passing accuracy is insane. Especially when a lot of his passes are offensive/forward minded.

Yep. It's no slight on KT at all but he can't play the inverted role that's asked. That's why Xhaka wasn't subbed yesterday, he moved into that role.

[TeeCee]

No fight, No Balls, No chance.

Simple.

[Almunia is a clown]

FFS how long is he gonna be allowed live off that crap ? He is in the job long enough now to not be allowed use inexperience and age as an excuse - nagelsman didnt get a free pass cos he is 35 years old, but arteta at 41 gets defended based on the lack of experience he had when he got the job. It isnt age or inexperience that is stopping him recognising xhaka as the useless c.unt he is, and likewise it is blindness and stupidity that is stopping him seeing vieira as the lightweight pussy that he is

I never expected to win the league this season and said all along I would be ok with coming second to city as long as it wasnt on the back of a collapse - this feels like a collapse and it is hard trying not to lose my head over it. Snidey comments on this thread having a go at other posters "negativity" is just plain deflecting - you seen the weaknesses in the team the same as we all did (and you openly criticised them) so it isnt a case of we are right and you were wrong, but you chose to believe that we could win a league with xhaka as key starter in the team, when every bit of logic would tell you that could never happen.

I reckon George Graham was STILL learning his trade at the age of 44 when we won the league in 1989, he'd won the League Cup when it meant something against Liverpool in his first season when clubs were banned from Europe, in the league the team collapsed after Xmas after being on a good run. 2nd season lost LC final to Luton 4th in league. 3rd season won the League. This was a manager who had won a 3rd Division title with Millwall & been a coach at Palace before getting the Arsenal job.

At the same time Alex Ferguson was in severe danger of getting the sack that very same season, a manager who had broken the old form domination in Scotland winning titles, cups & even won a European trophy. He was still a few years away from his first English league title, maybe he was also still learning his trade until '93?

Arteta has a similar record as Graham up until now, with an FA Cup win in his first season, followed by a collapse in form the next season.

As for the current "collapse" it hasn't even started yet, many have given up but I haven't. There's 7 games left & still many points to play for!

[BobbyPires7]

If we buck up and go and win the League then we will have earned it. If we lose the League or lose it by a couple of points I don’t want to be here to see it.

That Saka pen miss is going round and round in my mind. Short run up. Didn’t get his foot round the ball to curl it. I’d say it’s pretty much unforgivable to forget your technique when taking a penalty that is as important as that. A really shocking piece of professionalism. Casual.

[gazzatt2]

Could you not practice a few pens with him the next time you do his garden

[BobbyPires7]

Could you not practice a few pens with him the next time you do his garden

All of the balls end up in my garden anyway. Gives you a clue about how good he is.

[gazzatt2]

Could you not practice a few pens with him the next time you do his garden

All of the balls end up in my garden anyway. Gives you a clue about how good he is.

.

[the playing mantis]

There are 2 takes on this.

1. How many of us would have thought we had any chance of the title before the season started, or that we would be 6 clear with 10 games to go etc.

None of us. Not in our wildest dreams, anyone who predicted this would have been called out as mental, and rightly so, we all thought top 4 and a cup run would be the level we would be at.

bearing that in mind some of the reactions on here are OTT as we never expected to be in this position..

2. On the other hand, we did find ourselves in this position and the situation of our rivals, all over the place bar city, has meant a unique opportunity that we were taking advantage of that likely wont occur for another decade at least, but now appear to have blown it. Can we be upset about this? yes massively as we seemed to have done the hard work and fooked it up near the end, and the xhaka, lack of esr, viera and sub issues persist, yet arteta got us here in the first place.

Does 2 detract from 1? probably not...we have overachieved and can rightly be extremely disappointment and thus angry about how we appear to have blown it, but in reality we have outperformed anything any of us thought this group could. So where does this leave things...i don't really know. the manager has the negatives mentioned that baffle us, yet hes doing way better this season than any of us thought, so how do we quantify that...i don't really know!! he got us to a position none of us dared think, yet his decisions have undermined that initial good work.

if we have lost it, apart from the persistence in xhaka, viera lacks of ESR and the likes of holding still being here, i think we lost it in jan, trossard been good, jorginho actually ok but not a real impact, kiwior pointless (why sign someone in jan not ready to play?). But then we cannot spend massive and our lack of squad depth reflects that, holding and nketiah, should not be at any top half PL club, let alone 3rd choice CB at Arsenal. the hope has to be we carry on improving in summer, a very good 3rd CB, 2 CM's and at least one top striker. but even if we do all our rivals will get better and surely wont be as crap as this season.

[goonersid]

Whilst it's not looking good and I think we probably have blown it .
There are posters on here and they would rather be proven right than see The Arsenal win the league!
They will deny it! Yet there low profile when we've won games compared to their frenzied posting over the last couple of games, suggests otherwise!
You're a fucking disgrace!

[augie]

Whilst it's not looking good and I think we probably have blown it .
There are posters on here and they would rather be proven right than see The Arsenal win the league!
They will deny it! Yet there low profile when we've won games compared to their frenzied posting over the last couple of games, suggests otherwise!
You're a fucking disgrace!

You including me in that ?

[SteveO 35]

Life's about taking opportunities when they come along. We haven't had this good a chance to win the league for 19 years. It could easily be 19 more

Go back to 1991 when we were deducted 2 points by the FA, our captain and leader was thrown in the nick for 3 months, and we found ourselves battling all conquering Liverpool for the title. We had players like Andy Linighan able to come into the team and play to a set system- a lower league signing, paceless but disciplined

Who wants to be remembered for a "better than expected 2nd place" every 20 years. Regardless of how well we've played and arguably over achieved, with 7 games to go the destiny of the title is in our hands. A team of winners will find a way to get it done. A team happy to say "yay, we came 2nd...much better than anyone thought" won't. I can't believe Graham and his group of youngsters ever considered that 2nd would be admirable in a position like the one we've been handed

[BobbyPires7]

Arsenal at the moment are like the fat bloke who has unexpectedly trained for a marathon. Got up every morning and put in the hard yards. Eaten well. Not gone boozing. Monk like commitment. A week out from marathon day though they’ve reverted to type and decided to go out on the booze every night. A takeaway each evening. Haven’t gone for a run for the last week.

Having got ourselves in the perfect position to run a PB we’ve fucked it. Pointlessly fucked it. What was the point in getting ourselves into this position to fuck it away to West Ham??