CHELSEA AWAY THREAD

[mrgnu1958]

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.

10 outta 10 for the beautiful one

[Dan_85]

I think Wenger will be off when his contract expires at the end of next season, I don't think he'll leave this summer. I wouldn't be surprised or offended if Cesc left at the end of this season if things dont improve, but i think he'll stay for another year.

Either Arsene wins us the PL or CL next season & bows out on a high or he doesn't renew his contract, admits defeat & leaves us in Summer 2011. That's how I see it playing out.

[SteveO 35]

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.

Thanks for the response Kiwi - sorry if I was a bit harsh. I think the combination of the third glass of wine and watching a re-run of their first goal made me more angry than usual.

Like you I remember a long wait without success - born in 1972 I missed the double by a year and watched the Mickeys pick up every trophy in town, whilst occasionally dining out on cup success in 1979 and 1987 before GG pulled off the unthinkable at Anfield.

However, my anger towards the club and the manager today is far greater than it was back then in the late 70s and early 80s when I too took loads of stick from South London kids growing up in Liverpool shirts. And the key reason is the mis-management of expectations.

I didn't want to leave Highbury in 2006 - I never wanted it. But we were told that this was the new phase in our development, the opportunity to compete with Europe's elite (how ironic that in our last season there we came within 15 minutes of winning the biggest prize in European football). There was no health warning about "needing 10 years to compete with Europe's elite". We ripped up 93 years of history and mortgaged the club's future with a phoney business plan.

Its all too easy to ask for patience now - what about back then we were being asked to fork out for Club Level season tickets and the most expensive Grade A match day ticket prices in the land ? Would the club be patient with us if we wanted to gradually ramp up our payments over 10 years until we could compete again. I think not - but now we are demonised for even asking the odd question about our transfer policy and wage bill since we moved home.

Back in the 70s and 80s we weren't expected to win things, so when we did it meant a lot and you could forgive the club when it didn't happen. Now, the money making corporate machine that is Arsenal FC want us to pay premium prices for a mediocre product.

[no. 1 is Perry Groves....]

Back in the 70s and 80s we weren't expected to win things, so when we did it meant a lot and you could forgive the club when it didn't happen. Now, the money making corporate machine that is Arsenal FC want us to pay premium prices for a mediocre product.

This is a very good point - our ticket prices are the most expensive in europe and yet arsenal do not invest anywhere near the same amount in players as the other top teams do and i think this is the thing thats makes me most angry when we loose these games.

I think being comprehensively beaten by teams like chelsea and manu might be a bit easier to take if we were not paying through the nose to watch it.

[franksav63]

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.

That really is a great post B.T. - Well said..

[g88ner]

I didn't enjoy that game today [sigh]

Losing hope... losing belief... my mental strength is dying away....

[VforVictory]

Wenger Team MKIII almost made it in 2007-2008, but now Wenger Team MKIV is the only team of his that has gone backwards.
Youth policy can work, but we need more experienced players to guide the youth and we need new defensive coaching.

[Rob]

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.

Yep ! Disregarding the FA Cup really does none of any good - and I said that at the time of the Stoke exit; not simply in retrospect.

What infuriates is that AW was DELIGHTED to lift the Cup a stunning 4 times and we were delighted he and the team/s did so.

But back then - AND WE WERE ALSO IN THE CL THEN, SO THAT EXCUSE CUTS NO ICE - we had players who could compete on 3 fronts.

Now our squad struggles to stay in any competition, in any meaningful sense, the other side of the clocks going forward.

[Kiwi Gooner]

The killer for me is how we didn't kick on when we were in the ascendancy after the Invincibles season.
Teams were terrified of us. I remember one manager saying he looked at our players in the tunnel and we looked so imposing he knew the game was lost then.
We were in the perfect position to establish a dynasty.
But we didn't.
That's the bit that really gnaws at me.

[VforVictory]

Wholesale changes are needed from top to bottom and a review of the manager's roles and responsibilities is overdue.

Wholesale changes?

I reckon it is simple but commonsense things that we need to change rather than throwing baby out with bathwater.

Four new experienced players:Goalkeeper, Centre Back cover; ball winning midfielder and striker.
Bring in proper defensive coach.

Review of managers reponsibilities?

Good point. Since Dein left it feels like we have lacked cutting edge in transfers, Arshavin aside. Gazidis has taken Deins role but I wonder if Wenger sends too much time helping out on transfers instead of managing players he already has?

[highburyJD]

The killer for me is how we didn't kick on when we were in the ascendancy after the Invincibles season.
Teams were terrified of us. I remember one manager saying he looked at our players in the tunnel and we looked so imposing he knew the game was lost then.
We were in the perfect position to establish a dynasty.
But we didn't.
That's the bit that really gnaws at me.

and why was that....?
Abramovitch end off
can't blame wenger or the board for that

[augie]

The killer for me is how we didn't kick on when we were in the ascendancy after the Invincibles season.
Teams were terrified of us. I remember one manager saying he looked at our players in the tunnel and we looked so imposing he knew the game was lost then.
We were in the perfect position to establish a dynasty.
But we didn't.
That's the bit that really gnaws at me.

and why was that....?
Abramovitch end off
can't blame wenger or the board for that

But you can blame wenger for continually buying the same type of midget players and leaving us more akin to a kindergarden team

And you can blame wenger for continually bending over tactically to get raped by teams like the chavs, manyoo etc - on here we rightfully slate players for not learning from their mistakes so why should the manager be any different ?

And you can blame wenger for rewarding unproven rookies with bumper contracts when all evidence to this point suggests that they aint worth it ?

And you can blame wenger for continually failing to properly assess the shite he is working with and take the necessary action - almunia is a case in point cos at 32 years of age he is as good as he is gonna get (shite) so why not throw fabinski into the team and if he improves then you know he is worth persevering with and if he doesnt then its another one for the exit door. It is not like the defence has any great confidence now in almunia anyway

And you can blame the board for continually allowing our assests to be sold off without being properly replaced. If we still dont have the money to replace them then they are a lying shower of bastards and should be exposed as such but if wenger did have the man shitty money to reinvest but chose not to do so then they are responsible to pull him to task over this

[highburyJD]

I think Carrick is hugely overrated and don't know why Fergie persists with him
Ballack does virtually nothing for £150k a week

I agree with you on Almunia think keepers are a wenger blindspot

for the board to 'reveal' they have no money would be a mistake
for them to reveal they have limitless amounts to spend would also be a mistake

personally I believe the FA should insist on total transparency for all football teams accounts
which I believe would go a long way to preventing Leeds/Pompey type issues

It would also remove any excuses for clubs to not have representatives of seasonticket holders as voting board members

but this is not the case so I so not expect the club to surrender financial information and give rivals an adavantage

personally I think fabianski is just as bad as almunia
roger chesnay at brentford is prob our best keeper
mannone is a great shotstopper but literally nothing sticks

wenger was criticised for allowing flamini to go
pre his last season the flamster was no better than a decent utility player
these new contracts are possibly as much a reaction to that

[augie]

Seen the replay of the chavs 2nd goal on ssn at lunchtime and I stand by my previous assessment that vermaelen was every bit as much to blame, if not more so, than clichy. When the chavs broke in midfield TV5 was out in the left back position marking dogbreath and clichy was in the middle but for some unknown reason he then sprinted across to the middle leaving dogbreath alone and started pushing clichy out there by which time it was of course too late as the *word censored* was already in possession and running at our back line.

Why did he leave dogbreath on his own ? If it was ok for him to follow the *word censored* out there as a man marker in the first place then why did he drop that responsibility ?

[goonersid]

Seen the replay of the chavs 2nd goal on ssn at lunchtime and I stand by my previous assessment that vermaelen was every bit as much to blame, if not more so, than clichy. When the chavs broke in midfield TV5 was out in the left back position marking dogbreath and clichy was in the middle but for some unknown reason he then sprinted across to the middle leaving dogbreath alone and started pushing clichy out there by which time it was of course too late as the c**t was already in possession and running at our back line.

Why did he leave dogbreath on his own ? If it was ok for him to follow the c**t out there as a man marker in the first place then why did he drop that responsibility ?

The defence is a shambles, that's why we are conceding so many goals, it can't all be Al's fault. As I have said before, there is one common denominator in what has been 3 or 4 seasons of poor defending "gallas".