As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
augie wrote:I will be dead before le cock is fcuked out of our club
Augie you've surpassed your cuntiness and reached a level I thought only achievable by ikachagoogoo
He got it spot on and I felt chuffed for him
I was surprised that he picked wally and, even though I will continue to argue that he aint no centre forward, it was absolutely the right decision cos he was always going to cause villa more probems than giroud. I knew that he would pick Chesney as well and that too was the right decision so fair fcuks to him for getting both decisions right
That being said, we will never make that step up to league winners again cos he simply doesn't have the drive to do what is necessary
You don't know that mate. None of us do.
Gret result at the weekend and a great performance to boot. Delighted for the team and AW actually got his team choices right. The pole in the goal did a good job by unsettling Benteke early on. It was clear after that how their usual attacking method wasn't going to work and they didn't have a back up plan (so often our shortcoming).
I don't think I've ever seen a better goal in a cup final (sorry to the Romford Pele but that was better than yours)
I knew we had won when I heard that Walcott was starting.
good call from Wenger but it just goes to show that when he does make these decisions (ie play an in form player) that we can achieve great results. most of the time his stubborness doesnt allow that.
He needs to populate the squad with the sufficient quality in the first 11, so that they can go out and do the job over a season. The balance of the squad needs to be better.
The problem still is the underlying feeling that it is not about signings alone. It is about the kind of character we have in the squad, the type of collective mentality we have which enables one to overcome adversity and just keep plodding along.
Wenger's way has been and is pragmatic: He calculated that he couldn't challenge the big money so took the approach of as near as he could guaranteeing top four. The best of the rest.
So how far can he go in making the team real title contenders? All things considered, I think it's unlikely.
we will finish 4th next season - we always do after finishing 3rd under Wenger.
this season is as good as it gets because the club has no ambition to do any better.
thats why I enjoyed Saturday but does it make us a big team again? No because we never challenge for the title.
next season Mourinho will once again lead Chelsea to the title.
the two Manchester clubs will battle it out in 2nd and 3rd whilst we will plod along in 4th. totally predictable
The performance on Saturday sums up the dividing line between Arsenal fans. For some it is the frustration of knowing what we are capable of but do not produce often enough, for others it is a clear indication that we are ready for a challenge on the title and/or Champions League.
My view is that nothing will change next season. I do not want to take away from the glory of Saturday and maybe this discussion should be shelved for a few weeks, but in my view with Wenger in charge the frustrations will outweigh the glories again.
Bradywasking wrote:The performance on Saturday sums up the dividing line between Arsenal fans. For some it is the frustration of knowing what we are capable of but do not produce often enough, for others it is a clear indication that we are ready for a challenge on the title and/or Champions League.
My view is that nothing will change next season. I do not want to take away from the glory of Saturday and maybe this discussion should be shelved for a few weeks, but in my view with Wenger in charge the frustrations will outweigh the glories again.
On Saturday the team that finished 3rd in the league hammered the team that finished 4th bottom.......shouldn't that be expected ? I know that it is very unusual for us to be that ruthless but wouldn't we have expected last season's 3rd place team (the chavs) to do that to the 4th bottom team ?
We as a team turned up to play Saturday and that pleased me greatly but the only reason that everyone is surprised at the gulf between the teams, is because we rarely show up tuned in like we did on Saturday. What really pleased me Saturday was the tempo that we played with for 75 minutes - this is something that both BFG and cazorla referred to in their post-match interviews and it makes such a difference to us when we play that way.
For two days now we have rightly basked in the glory of another trophy and (maybe) our best performance of the season (citeeh away maybe ?), but if we are to seriously challenge next season, then there is a shit load of work to be done before august 1st and 90% of that lands at le cock and gazidas door
Bradywasking wrote:The performance on Saturday sums up the dividing line between Arsenal fans. For some it is the frustration of knowing what we are capable of but do not produce often enough, for others it is a clear indication that we are ready for a challenge on the title and/or Champions League.
My view is that nothing will change next season. I do not want to take away from the glory of Saturday and maybe this discussion should be shelved for a few weeks, but in my view with Wenger in charge the frustrations will outweigh the glories again.
On Saturday the team that finished 3rd in the league hammered the team that finished 4th bottom.......shouldn't that be expected ? I know that it is very unusual for us to be that ruthless but wouldn't we have expected last season's 3rd place team (the chavs) to do that to the 4th bottom team ?
We as a team turned up to play Saturday and that pleased me greatly but the only reason that everyone is surprised at the gulf between the teams, is because we rarely show up tuned in like we did on Saturday. What really pleased me Saturday was the tempo that we played with for 75 minutes - this is something that both BFG and cazorla referred to in their post-match interviews and it makes such a difference to us when we play that way.
For two days now we have rightly basked in the glory of another trophy and (maybe) our best performance of the season (citeeh away maybe ?), but if we are to seriously challenge next season, then there is a shit load of work to be done before august 1st and 90% of that lands at le cock and gazidas door
So could you explain how City where beaten by Wigan, Pool by Wimbledon and Spurs by Coventry. It's the cup final, league standings have no meaning. Half the peeps on this forum where absolutely shitting themselves last week.
I see a stronger squad than last year. Yes we got less points, but there is now strength in depth and competition for many places. This summer is crucial in the transfer market. 2 or 3 quality additions and its chelsea look out.
Because in a cup any team beat a top team on it's day and that does include a cup final of course - the point I was making, was that a good performance from a team finishing 3rd will (99% of the time) succeed against a team finishing 4th bottom in their division and that is what happened on Saturday. If you read back through this thread you will see that the peeps on here were not worried about villa, but were worried about our mentality and arrogance resulting in a defeat - villa is a team filled with average/shit players and on Saturday our quality players did exactly what you would expect them to do and showed villa up for the shit team that they are
Bradywasking wrote:The performance on Saturday sums up the dividing line between Arsenal fans. For some it is the frustration of knowing what we are capable of but do not produce often enough, for others it is a clear indication that we are ready for a challenge on the title and/or Champions League.
My view is that nothing will change next season. I do not want to take away from the glory of Saturday and maybe this discussion should be shelved for a few weeks, but in my view with Wenger in charge the frustrations will outweigh the glories again.
On Saturday the team that finished 3rd in the league hammered the team that finished 4th bottom.......shouldn't that be expected ? I know that it is very unusual for us to be that ruthless but wouldn't we have expected last season's 3rd place team (the chavs) to do that to the 4th bottom team ?
We as a team turned up to play Saturday and that pleased me greatly but the only reason that everyone is surprised at the gulf between the teams, is because we rarely show up tuned in like we did on Saturday. What really pleased me Saturday was the tempo that we played with for 75 minutes - this is something that both BFG and cazorla referred to in their post-match interviews and it makes such a difference to us when we play that way.
For two days now we have rightly basked in the glory of another trophy and (maybe) our best performance of the season (citeeh away maybe ?), but if we are to seriously challenge next season, then there is a shit load of work to be done before august 1st and 90% of that lands at le cock and gazidas door
So could you explain how City where beaten by Wigan, Pool by Wimbledon and Spurs by Coventry. It's the cup final, league standings have no meaning. Half the peeps on this forum where absolutely shitting themselves last week.
I see a stronger squad than last year. Yes we got less points, but there is now strength in depth and competition for many places. This summer is crucial in the transfer market. 2 or 3 quality additions and its chelsea look out.
someone has seriously said that each summer for the last decade now
it never happens
I think Wenger deserves huge credit for Saturday, to win a 6th FA cup is some achievement. I was also pleasantly surprised that he got his team selection right, but ultimately Saturday should have no bearing on anyone's view of Wenger positively or negatively. The criticism of Wenger is that he cant get the job done over 38 games in a league season, and nothing that has happened this time around has proved otherwise. IMO we are unable to challenge over the course of a season due to a couple of factors. 1. Not buying sufficient quality(using internal options). 2. Zero adjustment of tactics in order to suit the opposition we are up against. 3. out of date training methods that have led to many of our top players being injured at some point in the season. 4. Not addressing the issues that the squad has, e.g. the need for a CB last summer. It is highly unlikely Wenger will address these 4 issues, and until he does, we aren't challenging for the title again. Id expect that Wenger will see Saturday as a justification of his methods, so don't expect significant improvement for next season.
Listening to Adrian Durham, that Arsenal hating p***k on Talksport.
The one serious point he has not raised is about our recent 'big' signings.
Both Ozil and Alexis chose us because of CL football, but for how long will they accept going out in the first knock out round?
Not as long as us fans I would suggest.
foxinthebox2001 wrote:Listening to Adrian Durham, that Arsenal hating p***k on Talksport.
The one serious point he has not raised is about our recent 'big' signings.
Both Ozil and Alexis chose us because of CL football, but for how long will they accept going out in the first knock out round?
Not as long as us fans I would suggest.
Talksport are run by northerners totally biased against the Arsenal......all Liverpool and Man utd, Ray Parlour of course is a decent fella.
BBC on Build up to cup Final was nearly all about Villa, commentary also very pro Villa.
One good feature about Alexis that was it.
Wenger has really put himself in a position to nearly challenge for the title, just know he will fuck up by not buying the right players, probably settle for internal solutions, and a few youngsters.....really hope I'm wrong on this one
No matter how well we performed on Saturday, and in most if not all opinions on here we played better than we have in an extremely meaningful match for years under Wenger, but i still have absolutely no confidence in him going forward.
For years now he has left us with gaps in the team, transfer market after transfer market, always seeking to do things on the cheap or internally so as to massage his own ego. (Yes that's an opinion but an informed one.)
As others have said i have no confidence in him putting together a league title winning team ever again, however we are stuck with him for the next 2 seasons at least and therefore i find myself hoping that maybe just maybe he will learn from his mistakes and have a good transfer market, getting rid of a lot of deadwood and making some good buys not necessarily spectacular where we need them.
It just worries me that already hints are coming out of the club that this summers dealings will be done in such a way as to not upset the balance of the squad or in other words, not upset the bank balance too much
GoonerMuzz wrote:No matter how well we performed on Saturday, and in most if not all opinions on here we played better than we have in an extremely meaningful match for years under Wenger, but i still have absolutely no confidence in him going forward.
For years now he has left us with gaps in the team, transfer market after transfer market, always seeking to do things on the cheap or internally so as to massage his own ego. (Yes that's an opinion but an informed one.)
As others have said i have no confidence in him putting together a league title winning team ever again, however we are stuck with him for the next 2 seasons at least and therefore i find myself hoping that maybe just maybe he will learn from his mistakes and have a good transfer market, getting rid of a lot of deadwood and making some good buys not necessarily spectacular where we need them.
It just worries me that already hints are coming out of the club that this summers dealings will be done in such a way as to not upset the balance of the squad or in other words, not upset the bank balance too much
Totally agree with you. We know there'll be no title challenge next year if being brutally honest. We've got 10 years of evidence!
The expectation management already begun at the club with Ivan, then AW bringing out the "fine tuning only required" line. I just don't understand how a team so far off the PL and CL - for so long - could only need "fine tuning"?
