THE MIDDLESEX SWAMP DWELLERS AWAY THREAD

[StuartL]

Kos's "defending" for the winner has me totally fucking pissed off too. Kane is the only target in the box, Kos has him, then for some inexplicable reason lets him run off him and before he realises it he's lost him and it's too fucking late to do anything about it. That's rank rotten defending right there. Another goal conceded that was completely avoidable if we had any modicum of fucking defensive nous about us.

Fuck off

Not only that but the time and space given for the scum player t o look up and put the ball in was criminal. It was like a free kick with no-one allowed within 10yards of him

Wenker Out

[Eboue-Why?]

First trip to the shithole for a few years and predictably the team didn't turn up. As good as we were at The Etihad and the tactics employed there, I don't think we needed to be exactly like that yesterday and if you do set up like that you have to be disciplined and play well, neither of which happened.
Coquelin has recieved a bit of stick but I thought he did ok. We just didn't create or string passes together and invited pressure on us which they were gonna exploit with Kane in a good run of form.
The Spuds have a new tune which we hijacked for 60 mins...'Everywhere you go, everywhere you go, on Thursday night you're fucking shite everywhere you go'

Still as we always say at a time like this, we'll stuff Leicester 5-0, scrape into the QFs of the Cup and this result and performance will be forgotten

[Bradywasking]

do i really need to say anything else about ramsey?

Shouldn't be near our starting 11 at the moment. Some players play badly and have absolutely no effect on the game whatsoever as they are totally peripheral to it. When Ramsey plays badly he has a massive impact on a game because he is constantly losing possession in vital areas which kills our attacks and starts the oppositions. Needs to be dropped ASAP.

yes agree 100%...said to a friend after the game if Ramsey starts against Leicester I hope he scores after three minutes , and then maybe then he will realise it is a team game and he will contribute more than running into clogged up areas with the ball.

[northbank123]

EW it's a fair point. City we were bang on but that approach was perfectly suited to them. There's not just two types of required set-ups - default or defensive. A good manager needs to be able to Vary these approaches in terms of tactics, methods and personnel based on who we are playing.

[Ray C]

I dont actually mind that we set up to sit back, concede possesion, and hit em on the break. Dont mind at all. It worked at City and we were all delighted at the change of tactics because in the past Wenger has been rightly criticised for only playing one way and having no plan B

Well today seemed to be the opposite. We sat back and conceded possession but when we did get the ball we couldnt keep it and kept giving it straight back to them. Yes Caz and Rambo were poor but agai its down to Wenger to recognise these problems and take steps to change them. Instead he waited until the 66th min to make a change. Like so eone has said too little, too late.

I agree - good post. Against $hitty we won the ball deep in our half of the field & moved it quick. Today they slammed us & we looked scared to hold the ball.
Worst performance for the year in the game that matters the most. At least kane's header reminded me of 'Big John Radford' years ago. I can still remember that far back !. For those who think Walcott would have helped today I think your dreaming. He would have bottled it long before the end. When the going gets tough he doesn't get going.

[BFG4]

TYpical example is Giroud, we know hes a good player but was total rubbish today, did not seem interested could not hold the ball up kept losing it.,and worst of all looked LAZY.....Oh Yeah must Wengers fault......Ramsey and Cazorla wernt much better

wf, giroud was completely isolated by cluelesses crappy set up and tactics (or lack of), ie cede all possesion and attacking intent and just encourage the opposition to attack us at will.

that was the main problem.

why did ramsey remain on the pitch, he has been most of his arsenal career, bar one glorious goalscoring 3rd of a season, pretty crap. who makes the decisions to change things?

who set up those tactics of inviting the scum on all game?

I do put most of the blame at the door of Wenger, but im sick of people finding excuses for Giroud. You would have to go back decades when we had a more average striker leading the line. If Giroud wasn't French, then Wenger would have went and actually signed a quality striker( not Welbeck).

[markyp]

TYpical example is Giroud, we know hes a good player but was total rubbish today, did not seem interested could not hold the ball up kept losing it.,and worst of all looked LAZY.....Oh Yeah must Wengers fault......Ramsey and Cazorla wernt much better

wf, giroud was completely isolated by cluelesses crappy set up and tactics (or lack of), ie cede all possesion and attacking intent and just encourage the opposition to attack us at will.

that was the main problem.

why did ramsey remain on the pitch, he has been most of his arsenal career, bar one glorious goalscoring 3rd of a season, pretty crap. who makes the decisions to change things?

who set up those tactics of inviting the scum on all game?

I do put most of the blame at the door of Wenger, but im sick of people finding excuses for Giroud. You would have to go back decades when we had a more average striker leading the line. If Giroud wasn't French, then Wenger would have went and actually signed a quality striker( not Welbeck).

Giroud is the modern day John Hartson or if you want to go retro then Niall Quinn,simply not good enough for Arsenal

[BFG4]

TYpical example is Giroud, we know hes a good player but was total rubbish today, did not seem interested could not hold the ball up kept losing it.,and worst of all looked LAZY.....Oh Yeah must Wengers fault......Ramsey and Cazorla wernt much better

wf, giroud was completely isolated by cluelesses crappy set up and tactics (or lack of), ie cede all possesion and attacking intent and just encourage the opposition to attack us at will.

that was the main problem.

why did ramsey remain on the pitch, he has been most of his arsenal career, bar one glorious goalscoring 3rd of a season, pretty crap. who makes the decisions to change things?

who set up those tactics of inviting the scum on all game?

I do put most of the blame at the door of Wenger, but im sick of people finding excuses for Giroud. You would have to go back decades when we had a more average striker leading the line. If Giroud wasn't French, then Wenger would have went and actually signed a quality striker( not Welbeck).

Giroud is the modern day John Hartson or if you want to go retro then Niall Quinn,simply not good enough for Arsenal

Exactly, look through the last 20 years of the strikers we have had, Alan Smith, Ian Wright, Henry, Bergkamp, even Anelka was quality before he fucked off, and compare any of them to Giroud, he wouldn't lace their boots. This is typical of Wenger, who will stick with a player knowing he isn't good enough, but will arrogantly go on with that player, knowing it will affect our chances of competing.

[clockender1]

By the way does anybody know what tacticall insight is likely to be provided by the kit man (vik) or Paul Johnson who used to run the travel club? So why the hell are they there ?

i thought that about Vik a while back - yes, he's been our kit man forever - and the ladies coach at one time, but really ???? shouldn't a club with our resources have the best young technical advisers on the bench to advise wonga ?

i think he's there because he has a watch ....."70 minutes Arsene....time for that sub...."

[manorhouse]

Whoa hold on....GIROUD is meant to be holding up play with his back to goal allowing midfield to get out of there own half and most of all give the defence a breather from a fucking remorseless onslaught.
how did those defenders feel when he just wasnt bothered FFS, the ball just coming back time after time
IT WAS FUCKING INEVITABLE THEY HAD TO SCORE
He should have held on to it tried to get free kicks or a throw in something at least, anything....just show some fucking spirit FFS

If Sanchez was on he would have shown what i mean chasing down every fucking ball, and every lost cause, till the last whistle.

It was a fucking disgrace.....so what was Wenger to do bring on Walcott....no impact......Akpom???

Badly missed Sanchez yesterday

[manorhouse]

TYpical example is Giroud, we know hes a good player but was total rubbish today, did not seem interested could not hold the ball up kept losing it.,and worst of all looked LAZY.....Oh Yeah must Wengers fault......Ramsey and Cazorla wernt much better

wf, giroud was completely isolated by cluelesses crappy set up and tactics (or lack of), ie cede all possesion and attacking intent and just encourage the opposition to attack us at will.

that was the main problem.

why did ramsey remain on the pitch, he has been most of his arsenal career, bar one glorious goalscoring 3rd of a season, pretty crap. who makes the decisions to change things?

who set up those tactics of inviting the scum on all game?

I do put most of the blame at the door of Wenger, but im sick of people finding excuses for Giroud. You would have to go back decades when we had a more average striker leading the line. If Giroud wasn't French, then Wenger would have went and actually signed a quality striker( not Welbeck).

Wenger did not set up these tactics FFS....Spurs forced it on us with a remorseless fucking onslaught with no outlet or breather for our defence, as i say GIROUD was guilty of not holding onto the ball.
IT WAS FUCKING INEVITABLE THEY WOULD SCORE

[Brady's left peg]

TYpical example is Giroud, we know hes a good player but was total rubbish today, did not seem interested could not hold the ball up kept losing it.,and worst of all looked LAZY.....Oh Yeah must Wengers fault......Ramsey and Cazorla wernt much better

wf, giroud was completely isolated by cluelesses crappy set up and tactics (or lack of), ie cede all possesion and attacking intent and just encourage the opposition to attack us at will.

that was the main problem.

why did ramsey remain on the pitch, he has been most of his arsenal career, bar one glorious goalscoring 3rd of a season, pretty crap. who makes the decisions to change things?

who set up those tactics of inviting the scum on all game?

I do put most of the blame at the door of Wenger, but im sick of people finding excuses for Giroud. You would have to go back decades when we had a more average striker leading the line. If Giroud wasn't French, then Wenger would have went and actually signed a quality striker( not Welbeck).

Wenger did not set up these tactics FFS....Spurs forced it on us with a remorseless fucking onslaught with no outlet or breather for our defence, as i say GIROUD was guilty of not holding onto the ball.
IT WAS FUCKING INEVITABLE THEY WOULD SCORE

IN GAME MANAGEMENT! Or lack of is a very good reason to lay the blame at inspector clueless's door. There will always be occasions when one or more of your players will fail to perform, or to perform at a level far below what you would expect. It is how you react and the changes you make that dictate the eventual outcome, Wenger's in game management is piss poor and has been for some considerable time.
You cannot legislate for individual errors but what you can do is try to prevent those errors occuring in the first place, that involves tweaking with certain aspects during the game or maybe a bigger change at half time.
Yesterday's debacle not only stemmed from individual errors fom players having poor games, it also happened because of Wengers failure to correct our shortcomings which were apparent in the first half.

[northbank123]

Giroud should have done better but we weren't keeping the ball in midfield so unrealistic to expect him to make a huge difference. The relentless attacking onslaught you refer to was because of our set up being completely wrong, not keeping the ball as a team and not offering a counter attacking threat to make them rethink. We were playing Spurs not Barcelona.

That free kick Giroud gave away on Eriksen was moronic but anybody would be looking at that and thinking why the fuck is my line striker feeling the need to defend on the edge of his box in open play? Wenger obviously spotted it and thought quickly to change nothing.

[Theoperator]

By the way does anybody know what tacticall insight is likely to be provided by the kit man (vik) or Paul Johnson who used to run the travel club? So why the hell are they there ?

i thought that about Vik a while back - yes, he's been our kit man forever - and the ladies coach at one time, but really ???? shouldn't a club with our resources have the best young technical advisers on the bench to advise wonga ?

i think he's there because he has a watch ....."70 minutes Arsene....time for that sub...."

Generally disagree with that- its surprising what a stabilizing influence a kitman whos been around for years has on a side, my local team has a guy similar, poor man broke some ribs in the week, and couldnt get to the match at all, first he has missed for years. Though we won there were a number of players who didnt quite behave in the usual way.

A lot of players need the support that these sort of guys give, confidential stuff that wont get out to the media. the manager is often seen as aloof or at least above that sort of stuff, and given that opening up to them about problems in your life that could mean the end of your time at the club or even the game these sort of folk help a team along a great deal more than you would think. I havent a clue how much they cost a club financially, very little I suspect.

Theres a lot of pressure out there as we all know, smart psychologists maybe the in thing but again, they often represent the "nobby" end of life, total opposite to the kit man.

Obviously AWs been around for years, but for many clubs the kitman is about the only constant there is.

Agree perhaps tactically they are not necessarily the most helpful, but they do support the whole playing staff and team.

You could say the same for the Physio, why are they there on the bench, and not pounced ready to zoom on right on the line? they dont add to the tactics at match time usually , but again they are front bench personnel almost always.

[the playing mantis]

TYpical example is Giroud, we know hes a good player but was total rubbish today, did not seem interested could not hold the ball up kept losing it.,and worst of all looked LAZY.....Oh Yeah must Wengers fault......Ramsey and Cazorla wernt much better

wf, giroud was completely isolated by cluelesses crappy set up and tactics (or lack of), ie cede all possesion and attacking intent and just encourage the opposition to attack us at will.

that was the main problem.

why did ramsey remain on the pitch, he has been most of his arsenal career, bar one glorious goalscoring 3rd of a season, pretty crap. who makes the decisions to change things?

who set up those tactics of inviting the scum on all game?

I do put most of the blame at the door of Wenger, but im sick of people finding excuses for Giroud. You would have to go back decades when we had a more average striker leading the line. If Giroud wasn't French, then Wenger would have went and actually signed a quality striker( not Welbeck).

im not a fan of groud, hes a above avergae striker, and should be at best a bench option for us, but in this instance he didnt have much chance. u can say he didnt chase about but hes a lup with no pace so that would have acheived little. sanchez is a nuisane when he does that.