CHELSEA AWAY THREAD

[Bergkamp-Genius]

I hope no one is getting carried away at the fact that we had so much possession in the game...they had the game won inside 30 minutes and then pretty much shut the game down, kept it tight where it mattered and hoped to sneak another goal.

I'm in no doubt and neither should anyone else be that if they needed to raise it a gear their was plenty more in the tank if needed.. the second half stats have no relevance to how much better than us they are..

Now on the face of it we are totally out of the title race, but if you look at the fixture list it's conceivable that by April we could be back in it..in one way that would make me very happy, but in another not, because it would allow our manager and his cronies to continue to delude themselves that they have done a good job and everything is OK and more of the 'project' will come..
Even though we have been practically brushed aside by every quality team we have played ths season showing us there is massive room for improvement regardless of how things pan out in the rest of the season..

[BT]

Exactly - but he can't keep thinking we can outscore the opposition and point to our 60 league goals. This time last year we had all those 0-0 draws. The year before that we capitulated after the cup defeats and the birmingham game when we were top. We always start off well. We always hit a low patch about this time. The low patch usually coincides with injuries and cup games and lo and behold, the transfer window which he refuses to spend in.

I'm just fed up of lessons not being learned. I really thought we looked to have more fight this year and had got rid of the lazy *word censored* but again, Wenger will cut off his nose to spite his face. I didn't see anything enjoyable in our possession today - just players tripping over their own feet and getting pushed off the ball and running into cheslea traffic time and again. And then us giving them loads of space in return. Exactly what i saw last weekend. Exactly what I saw at the chelsea home game. Exactly what we saw at United in the CL and Chelsea in the FA Cup and league home game last year.

[Eboue-Why?]

I'm just fed up of lessons not being learned. . I didn't see anything enjoyable in our possession today - just players tripping over their own feet and getting pushed off the ball and running into cheslea traffic time and again. And then us giving them loads of space in return. Exactly what i saw last weekend. Exactly what I saw at the chelsea home game. Exactly what we saw at United in the CL and Chelsea in the FA Cup and league home game last year.

Entirely my thoughts Miss T. We all see it but our manager who everyone believes is as intelligent as Stephen Hawking just can't see the elephant in the room

[Kiwi Gooner]

Yeah, very frustrating match.
We have played like boys against men in the past two games (and against our greatest challengers ffs!).
The way I see it, Chelsea are only their keeper (Cech) and striker (Drogba) better than us.
If we had Cech in goal and Drogba leading the line we'd be an incredibly formidable side.
That's our problem. Almunia kills our confidence and we don't have a scary striker (Drogba, Rooney) who hungers for goals.
RvP is the closest thing we have and he's skilful, but not that scary.
We have simply got to solve this keeper crisis.

[Rob]

For a long time i've defended Wenger having thought he was being restrained by finances but now i'm starting to think he is actually mentally ill.

How can he feed us that stuff all week about teh United game and then go out with the same naive tactics? How can he throw away the cup yet again and not realise that doing so in 2007/8 had an adverse effect on our momentum? How can he point to stats and persist with a goalkeeper who is rated 19 out of 20th in the league, when Shay Given was available for £6m? How can he sell Flamini, Gilberto and Diarra and replace them with Song and think its enough? How can he lose Adebayor, RVP, Eduardo and Bendtner and think its ok to go into our biggest games of the season without a recognised striker?

The thing thats pissing me off the most is his total disrespect for the fans. We were here before him and he is insulting us by dismantling all that he did that was great and all that this club stood for and making it so easy for Cesc to find reasons to walk away.

Great post BT

and Cesc will be gone in the summer

I actually think he'll be gone in the summer of 2011. Wenger might just do the same.

Good post BT. Did you go ? The atmosphere amongst the travelling faithfully conveyed itself very well on 5 Live. Flares and all. At least the fans turn up, even if the players and specifically the Management don't.

[BT]

Thanks and nope, couldn't get a ticket for love nor sexual favours. Which in hindsight i'm quite glad about. Will be going Wednesday though and feeling so unenthusiastic. Wonder what a triumphant cup replay against stoke midweek could have done for our confidence going into today? I really think throwing away the cup might have been our tipping point.

[Quintus]

For a long time i've defended Wenger having thought he was being restrained by finances but now i'm starting to think he is actually mentally ill.

How can he feed us that stuff all week about teh United game and then go out with the same naive tactics? How can he throw away the cup yet again and not realise that doing so in 2007/8 had an adverse effect on our momentum? How can he point to stats and persist with a goalkeeper who is rated 19 out of 20th in the league, when Shay Given was available for £6m? How can he sell Flamini, Gilberto and Diarra and replace them with Song and think its enough? How can he lose Adebayor, RVP, Eduardo and Bendtner and think its ok to go into our biggest games of the season without a recognised striker?

The thing thats pissing me off the most is his total disrespect for the fans. We were here before him and he is insulting us by dismantling all that he did that was great and all that this club stood for and making it so easy for Cesc to find reasons to walk away.

Great post BT

and Cesc will be gone in the summer

I actually think he'll be [/b]gone in the summer of 2011[/b]. Wenger might just do the same.

Good post BT. Did you go ? The atmosphere amongst the travelling faithfully conveyed itself very well on 5 Live. Flares and all. At least the fans turn up, even if the players and specifically the Management don't.

Hopefully sooner (Wenger not Cesc)

[Kiwi Gooner]

I reckon you're nuts if you seriously want Arsene Wenger gone.
Do you remember what it was like before Wenger?
I do. Very well.
Terry Neill, Don Howe, Bruce Rioch (Bruce F*king Rioch???!!!).
It wasn't pretty.
If Arsene went we'd end up with a football manager mercenary who hadn't put 14 years into Arsenal and loved the club like we fans do.
Some of Arsene's decisions (or non-decisions) have me as perplexed as anyone, but I have no doubt we'd be a lot poorer without him.
That said, I'll be gutted if Cesc goes and who could really blame him after we've proved this past week how far behind the top two we really are.
I fear another season with nothing, fellow Gooners.
We've been there before and it's no biggie.
But the frustrating thing with this squad is we seem so close to being something really special, but in the big games we lack the mental strength and winning mentality which the great teams possess.

[worthing_gooner]

Just got back to the game and although I'm disappointed with the result, the second half atmosphere was the most intense I've seen it. Fuckin awesome show to all the travelling gooners as ever. Whoever had the flare, you're a legend!! And those of you who think arsenal stewards are bad, take a trip to the bridge and check out those fuckin nazis!

[SteveO 35]

I reckon you're nuts if you seriously want Arsene Wenger gone.
Do you remember what it was like before Wenger?
I do. Very well.
Terry Neill, Don Howe, Bruce Rioch (Bruce F*king Rioch???!!!).
It wasn't pretty.If Arsene went we'd end up with a football manager mercenary who hadn't put 14 years into Arsenal and loved the club like we fans do.
Some of Arsene's decisions (or non-decisions) have me as perplexed as anyone, but I have no doubt we'd be a lot poorer without him.
That said, I'll be gutted if Cesc goes and who could really blame him after we've proved this past week how far behind the top two we really are.
I fear another season with nothing, fellow Gooners.
We've been there before and it's no biggie.
But the frustrating thing with this squad is we seem so close to being something really special, but in the big games we lack the mental strength and winning mentality which the great teams possess.

Conveniently forgetting the reigns of Graham and Mee of course to suit your argument. Did the years 1987, 1989 and 1991 not exist without Wenger ? Or what about 1992 - the year that we scored 92 goals in all competitions with some of the most exciting attacking football of its day.

That's right - there's no life without Arsene.

Did the club die after Herbert Chapman ? No, we're all here 70 years on with great memories of the club. And as for Bruce Rioch - yes, what a tit. Pulled us out of the last years of Graham's rule to sign the likes of Bergkamp and Platt and start to put us back on the map again.

I feel very sorry for all those who think life ends with Wenger. You need to live a little longer.....

[Quintus]

I reckon you're nuts if you seriously want Arsene Wenger gone.
Do you remember what it was like before Wenger?
I do. Very well.
Terry Neill, Don Howe, Bruce Rioch (Bruce F*king Rioch???!!!).
It wasn't pretty.
If Arsene went we'd end up with a football manager mercenary who hadn't put 14 years into Arsenal and loved the club like we fans do.
Some of Arsene's decisions (or non-decisions) have me as perplexed as anyone, but I have no doubt we'd be a lot poorer without him.
That said, I'll be gutted if Cesc goes and who could really blame him after we've proved this past week how far behind the top two we really are.
I fear another season with nothing, fellow Gooners.
We've been there before and it's no biggie.
But the frustrating thing with this squad is we seem so close to being something really special, but in the big games we lack the mental strength and winning mentality which the great teams possess.

Yes I do. It was largely crap but that is no reason not to change.

Frankly and I don't mean to be rude but saying we shouldn't move on because we might be like we were 20 years ago means we'll never change and we are just accepting a 3rd / 4th place finish, getting outclassed in the Cham Lge and tossing away the two domestic cups.

Personally I'd rather change to push in rather than worry about the risk of going back further. At some time in your life you have to take a step / a chance / a risk.

[selsdon]

Terry Neill, Don Howe, Bruce Rioch (Bruce F*king Rioch???!!!).

Don Howe was in charge for two seasons and Rioch just the one. Howe introduced a young player to the club by the name of Tony Adams and was an absolute doyen of a coach. Rioch pulled off probably Arsenal's biggest ever transfer coup in signing Dennis.

Both left the club after the the board approached other managers during their reigns (Venable in the case of Howe and Wenger in the case of Rioch).

Terry Neill provided us with three consecutive Cup Finals, never to be forgotten for this particular 10 yr old at the time.

[Kiwi Gooner]

You're right, of course SteveO 35, I did forget George.
But it wasn't deliberate or "convenient".
I loved George and he was hugely successful (Anfield '89 was the greatest day of my life as an Arsenal fan), but he did the dirty on us and it felt like being robbed by a family member.
I'n my opinion, Arsene Wenger is the best thing that's happened to Arsenal in 50 years.
I bleed like you, bro, when we fail.
Believe me. It totally F*ks up my week (I've just had a work muppet pop his head in my office and ask if I wanted a "chelsea bun" ffs!).
Yeah, I'm pissed off, too.
But I still remember well waiting 12 years to see Arsenal win the title.
I'm prepared to be patient for quite a while yet.

[SteveO 35]

Terry Neill, Don Howe, Bruce Rioch (Bruce F*king Rioch???!!!).

Don Howe was in charge for two seasons and Rioch just the one. Howe introduced a young player to the club by the name of Tony Adams and was an absolute doyen of a coach. Rioch pulled off probably Arsenal's biggest ever transfer coup in signing Dennis.

Both left the club after the the board approached other managers during their reigns (Venable in the case of Howe and Wenger in the case of Rioch).

Terry Neill provided us with three consecutive Cup Finals, never to be forgotten for this particular 10 yr old at the time.

Well said Selsdon - and I feel exactly the same about Graham taking us to the 87 and 88 Littlewoods Cup finals. I don't remember at the time when my Dad took me to Wembley for the first time....hmm, I much rather trade this for 4th place. When Charlie Nicholas deflected fluke of a winner bobbled past Grobbelaar I thought I'd die and gone to heaven. And when our present Goon-in-Charge shows the contempt he did to domestic cups like he did at Stoke he denies "particular 9 year olds" like my lad the chance to experience what we did back then.

Arsene knows

[TeeCee]

Patient days are gone unfortunately. If Arsenal slip out of the top 4 we will struggle to get back in unless Stan the Man or Usmanov come in and give us a shedload of cash to spend. As is proven by those outside of the top 4 currently, it costs a hell of a lot more to get in than it does to stay in the top 4, but Wenger seems hell bent on dropping us out of the top 4.
The man is killing our club, slowly, like a poison and he's still got a lot of people fooled.
I came to a decision today, if I can't offload my season ticket to someone else next season, it won't be renewed. After 30 years of being a ST holder I refuse point blank to finance this buffoons project any longer. I will not spend another penny (including my ST) on arsenal till Wenger goes. I pray that's at the end of this season, for the sake of Arsenal FC.