WENGER WILL NEVER LEARN

[Hagbard 23]

I think I agree with MM99. That is if I translated his post correctly.

[augie]

Personally I dont give a flying fcuk if we are in this position cos other teams have dropped stupid points.....what matters is that we are/were in a position where we could/can win the league but didnt strengthen when and where we should have. For a club like ours to be in the position we were in and with the injuries we had in jan and to only sign a 35 year old freebie is an absolute disgrace and that is in no way meant as a knock on sol. Wenger and/or the board must take the blame for any shortcomings we analyse at the end of the season (oh and average fcuking al can shoulder a fair amount of blame also )

[GoonerN5]

Let's be honest, we're only so close to challenging for the title because Chelsea and Man U have dropped points you wouldn't expect them to this season. We've lost/drawn games we did expect to. A team with a front line of Bendtner and Walcott is not good enough to win the PL, the same as a team with a goalkeeper who is arguably not a premiership quality keeper is not likely to win the PL (or CL)!
We're a decent team but are still 3 or 4 top quality players short of being likely winners of the PL or CL. Ultimately, that is unlikely to change under Wenger as he will point to this season and say we were almost there and hardly strengthen in the summer whereas United and Chelsea (not to mention City, Spuds etc) will undoubtedly strengthen, and they won't be signing 20 year olds for 4 or 5 million.
The problem with Arsenal remains Arsene Wenger.

Spot on mate

[harryo63]

Let's be honest, we're only so close to challenging for the title because Chelsea and Man U have dropped points you wouldn't expect them to this season. We've lost/drawn games we did expect to. A team with a front line of Bendtner and Walcott is not good enough to win the PL, the same as a team with a goalkeeper who is arguably not a premiership quality keeper is not likely to win the PL (or CL)!
We're a decent team but are still 3 or 4 top quality players short of being likely winners of the PL or CL. Ultimately, that is unlikely to change under Wenger as he will point to this season and say we were almost there and hardly strengthen in the summer whereas United and Chelsea (not to mention City, Spuds etc) will undoubtedly strengthen, and they won't be signing 20 year olds for 4 or 5 million.
The problem with Arsenal remains Arsene Wenger.

from arshavins website. can you not think for yourself

[TeeCee]

Harry - I've been saying the same kind of thing for ages, so no, it's my words, no-one elses. I haven't, and wouldn't bother reading our players websites, because the majority of them are thick as shite and are only interested in money and themselves!

MM - The reason for the dropped points statement is that it is quite surprising that a team like Chelsea loses to the likes of Wigan etc. I would expect Chelsea to maybe lose a couple against the top half teams but not teams from the bottom 6. Arsenal on the other hand, with our current squad I am expecting us to have a couple of nightmare results against lower teams, as we always do. So I think it is a valid point.

[Glitch33]

We have punched above our weight again this season. We were written off a couple of times but bounced back with a sub-standard squad. Let's be realistic that we have always been an outsite bet but tantalised due to the big spenders dropping points.

CL is clearly the priority for AW but I would have preferred seeing the best XI starting todays game. It is all about maintaining momentum.

Had we held the lead today the team and the fans would be far more optimistic for Wednesday.

We go in with the feeling that we can't hold a lead against second string teams.

I had a bad feeling about today but over the moon when we took the lead.
Gutted at dropping points and can't see us now getting better than 3rd place this season.

CL is going to need some luck and the whole squad on top of their game.
I'm sure that some players will up their game in the shop window.

[g88ner]

We have punched above our weight again this season

Have we???

We're in the position we're in because we've been consistent against the decent, average, mediocre and poor teams in the league, yet struggled against the top quality sides - I wouldn't say that's puching above our weight, to be honest.

Even in the CL, we're in the quarters by beating AZ, Olympiakos, Standard Liege and Porto, so I wouldn't say we're punching above our weight there either.

[GunnerDude]

We can blame the team selection but in the end, the players selected should know what's at stake and perform accordingly.

[brazilianGOONER]

I don't think there was anything particularly wrong with our starting line-up. Rosicky was our best player until taken off and Theo, although quiet, had our best chance of the half and looked our most dangerous forward (not difficult I know, given our general paucity in attack).

It's just that the team played below average first half; a bit better in the second, where we missed opportunites,and then criminally let the points slip when our mate in goal made another hash.

Like I said, I'm not sure the line-up or Wenger/the players thinking ahead to the Barca match was the reason we didn't win. Wenger's failure to strengthen the goal-keeping department was more of a contributory factor.

spot on, IHH. our team today WAS good enough for it.

a scrappy 1-0 away at a bham side who only lost twice at home this season is by no means a bad result. but then came almunia...

we lost two points today AGAIN because we don't have a proper keeper. END OF.

[slevinlacey]

Ive read some of this thread and for me as expected it seems certain people on this forum just were waiting for us to slip to say "i told you so". Very easy position, either we win the league and everyones happy or we slip up and minutes after we draw at a place where the top 2 also drew we get the "realists" posting.

The team out there was good enough to win and they didnt step up. There's one or two on here who seem to have a personal vendetta against Wenger rather than actually trying to have a constructive debate.

[seamoisalegend]

[quote="goonersid"]Once again Wenger has gambled away any chance of a trophy, his starting line-up today was predictable, as it was exactly the same sort of panic stricken selection we have seen for the past 5 seasons when faced with having to prioritise “must win gamesâ€

[wlchuccc]

We have punched above our weight again this season. We were written off a couple of times but bounced back with a sub-standard squad. Let's be realistic that we have always been an outsite bet but tantalised due to the big spenders dropping points.

CL is clearly the priority for AW but I would have preferred seeing the best XI starting todays game. It is all about maintaining momentum.

Had we held the lead today the team and the fans would be far more optimistic for Wednesday.

We go in with the feeling that we can't hold a lead against second string teams.

I had a bad feeling about today but over the moon when we took the lead.
Gutted at dropping points and can't see us now getting better than 3rd place this season.

CL is going to need some luck and the whole squad on top of their game.
I'm sure that some players will up their game in the shop window.

A draw will not necessarily bring down the momentum, but the way how it was drawn today definitely will? If it's 0-0 or we were down by 1 goals, a draw today will not make such a big impact (looking their home records this season). But the way AL gifted them an equaliser definitely will!! Can you imagine the situation in the dressing room today?!!

[gusher311]

Stfu sid. You flip flop in between decisions right when things start to go wrong. You were asking for AW to stay earlier and now you want him gone. Make up your fucking mind ffs you're making yourself look like a dunce

[LDB]

Its either a famine or a feast around here. I get it, people are disappointed, I haven't felt that sick after a football match in a long time. But come on, there was an incredibly fine line between "ground out a result" and "wenger should go".

And whats all this shit about wenger playing a weakened side? He played rosicky for arshavin and walcott for nasri... Hardly fielding the youth team is it?

Nasri is shit away from home and arshavin is hardly in top form at the moment. Weakening the team would have been to not risk B52 after his twisted ankle, or to field silvestre instead of campbell, or not to risk fabregas.

[Glitch33]

We have punched above our weight again this season

Have we???

We're in the position we're in because we've been consistent against the decent, average, mediocre and poor teams in the league, yet struggled against the top quality sides - I wouldn't say that's puching above our weight, to be honest.

Even in the CL, we're in the quarters by beating AZ, Olympiakos, Standard Liege and Porto, so I wouldn't say we're punching above our weight there either.

If we had or best XI for most games I would agree with you. However, we have had key players out for extended periods and they have done better than expected.

The quality of the players filling in are not up to league winning standard but they have kept us in contention.

Maybe punching above our weight is the wrong terminology but I tihnk under the circumstances they have exceeded expectations.