THE WENGER THREAD

[g88ner]

Also I imagine if he would have put TH14 in he'd have fluffed it. Again.

[clockender1]

Are you being serious?

1-0 up, backs to the wall and down to 10 men with 17 minutes to go against Barcelona in the European Cup Final and you would have taken off a hard working midfielder (Freddie) and put on a 34 year old forward and played 2 up front?

Really?

If we'd done that and we'd gone on to lose, you'd be here saying it was the worst decision in history and proof that Wenger's an idiot for being so reckless when we had a chance of winning. I'm sure you would! - and if you wouldn't say it, most people would!

i am kind of.

Freddie wasn't in midfield - he was effectively playing two up with Henry.

Hleb, Cesc and Gilberto played a three.

i thought we were quite comfy - they had chances but we hit them on the break and TH14 had what 3 good chances, two 1on 1's ?

its what i said, i would dropped back Freddie and gone for it. another goal would have totally killed them and given us a decent shot at defending a lead in the last 10.

when Larssons fresh legs came on he lifted them and you knew it was a question of time - the best form of defence is attack, especially when you're a man down, you HAVE to give the back line a rest.

Dennis might have been 34 but he could of passed for 30 minutes couldn't he ? - TH14 could of stayed up on the last defenders and given THEM some problems instead we capitulated and tried to cling on.

How many times from 88 to 1995 and 97 to 2004 did we drop to 10 men and STILL go at the opposition, pin them back and make it look like 11 v 11 ? and then win ?

look at this list - dozens of games where we were down to 10 men after 40/50 minutes and still won - Newcastle, spuds, liverpool, chelsea cup games. look at the games where we scored 3 or 4 with ten men.

http://www.barriesview.com/2014/02/arse ... gers-reign

we were super awesome going forward at that time. defending a lead/ trying to hold on didn't suit us.

maybe i am wrong, but like now i'd rather we had a go than flange about trying to keep it tight and squeeze a result.

[Leyton Gooner]

Yes I'm afraid despite Lehmann's idiocy, TH14's misses are without doubt my abiding memory of that night. I loved the bloke but it saddens me so much that that he didn't really show up in what I consider to be his biggest and last proper game for the club At the time what Wenger did or didn't do never crossed my mind all I cared about was seeing out that second half, and I haven't been able to bring myself to relive that night in my head or watch footage of it since

[LDB]

if you spend 42m on a player YOU HAVE A DIVINE RIGHT to demand/expect success, and by success i mean strolling the league. buy three more 30m players, pay them whatever they demand (fuck it, it aint my money). i would exchange the 120m in the bank + another 120m of debt just to win the league once more

City paid 38m for Aguero, 30m for Fernandinho and a list as long as your arm of £25m players, I guess they have a divine right to stroll the league as well?

Shit, Chelsea paid 50m for Torres, I suppose they have a divine right to win the league too?

Me thinks whoosh maybe!?

Oh really? Is that what you thinks?

Me thinks that people need to stop trying to convey sarcasm through text without at least using a rolled eye smiley. Nonsensical arguments are fairly common place around here

[augie]

Yes I'm afraid despite Lehmann's idiocy, TH14's misses are without doubt my abiding memory of that night. I loved the bloke but it saddens me so much that that he didn't really show up in what I consider to be his biggest and last proper game for the club At the time what Wenger did or didn't do never crossed my mind all I cared about was seeing out that second half, and I haven't been able to bring myself to relive that night in my head or watch footage of it since

And at the risk of a backlash, can I suggest that you add that game to the list that includes the uefa cup final v the turks and all the fa cup finals he played for us

[northbank123]

clockender I have to say that we had done superbly to last so long with 10 men and as you say we were as comfortable as could have been expected whilst having a few gilt-edged chances to go 2 up. I know a lot of people feel bitterness about Pires' last appearance ending in that fashion and grumble about a few other decisions but if I was writing a book about how Wenger's tactics and team selection had harboured us this game wouldn't even be a footnote.

The subsequent two finals that you refer to however, different story. Didn't fancy winning the League Cup against the Chavs and farming Nasri out wide to make room for Rosicky who had barely played against Birmingham was crazy.

[1989]

Henry bottled it in the CL final. I still get nightmares about that second half chance. You'd normally back him to stick that away 99 times out of 100.

[clockender1]

clockender I have to say that we had done superbly to last so long with 10 men and as you say we were as comfortable as could have been expected whilst having a few gilt-edged chances to go 2 up. I know a lot of people feel bitterness about Pires' last appearance ending in that fashion and grumble about a few other decisions but if I was writing a book about how Wenger's tactics and team selection had harboured us this game wouldn't even be a footnote.

no, i think thats a fair comment - i think the 2005 United final was the beginning of the End.

One comment i read recently was that AW was the one with no Mental Strength, he certainly seemed to have lost it by May 2005.

i will always feel that even with Mad Jens going off we should have had the belief and nous to steal that second goal.

[phil_mitchell]

if you spend 42m on a player YOU HAVE A DIVINE RIGHT to demand/expect success, and by success i mean strolling the league. buy three more 30m players, pay them whatever they demand (fuck it, it aint my money). i would exchange the 120m in the bank + another 120m of debt just to win the league once more

City paid 38m for Aguero, 30m for Fernandinho and a list as long as your arm of £25m players, I guess they have a divine right to stroll the league as well?

Shit, Chelsea paid 50m for Torres, I suppose they have a divine right to win the league too?

Aguero won city the league the FA cup and league cup & torres won chelsea the champions league... you have proved my point for me. Thank you

[Leyton Gooner]

Yes I'm afraid despite Lehmann's idiocy, TH14's misses are without doubt my abiding memory of that night. I loved the bloke but it saddens me so much that that he didn't really show up in what I consider to be his biggest and last proper game for the club At the time what Wenger did or didn't do never crossed my mind all I cared about was seeing out that second half, and I haven't been able to bring myself to relive that night in my head or watch footage of it since

And at the risk of a backlash, can I suggest that you add that game to the list that includes the uefa cup final v the turks and all the fa cup finals he played for us

Sorry Augie, I know we all have our reservations about the CL in it's current guise and IMO it is THE very thing that is destroying this great club, or rather the obsession with the moolah it provides is. But, like it or not European Cup final is the most prestigious game in club football

[the playing mantis]

if you spend 42m on a player YOU HAVE A DIVINE RIGHT to demand/expect success, and by success i mean strolling the league. buy three more 30m players, pay them whatever they demand (fuck it, it aint my money). i would exchange the 120m in the bank + another 120m of debt just to win the league once more

City paid 38m for Aguero, 30m for Fernandinho and a list as long as your arm of £25m players, I guess they have a divine right to stroll the league as well?

Shit, Chelsea paid 50m for Torres, I suppose they have a divine right to win the league too?

Me thinks whoosh maybe!?

Oh really? Is that what you thinks?

Me thinks that people need to stop trying to convey sarcasm through text without at least using a rolled eye smiley. Nonsensical arguments are fairly common place around here

Indeed they are, that's half the fin of the place, as you would see if you lightened up a bit instead of being constantly on the blob these days it seems.

[the playing mantis]

Yes I'm afraid despite Lehmann's idiocy, TH14's misses are without doubt my abiding memory of that night. I loved the bloke but it saddens me so much that that he didn't really show up in what I consider to be his biggest and last proper game for the club At the time what Wenger did or didn't do never crossed my mind all I cared about was seeing out that second half, and I haven't been able to bring myself to relive that night in my head or watch footage of it since

And at the risk of a backlash, can I suggest that you add that game to the list that includes the uefa cup final v the turks and all the fa cup finals he played for us

Fa cup maybe, but that whole UEFA cup final was weird, the whole team just didn't seem up for it and didn't seem to care much either way it seemed to me when it came to the final, which was a Shane as it still held a bit of cachet in the fans eyes at least back then. I enjoyed the run to the final, and didn't quite understand why we didn't look motivated to beat an average galatasary side that on most days we would have battered.

The cl final was our chance to truly put ourselves amongst historys best and cement our position as one of the greatest clubs in European history, but we blew it when we had some great chances to put barca out of sight. I was so frustrated by TH that night. Sure blame Jens fir the red card, but imo we still had the chances to win and should have really.

[remigardeshair]

I guess a Champions League final against Barcelona is easily forgettable compered to a League Cup final against Birmingham

i'm in denial about it - 1-0 up with 17 minutes to go against Barcelona in the European Cup Final with only 10 men and we keep the World's Greatest Player on the bench while Barca bring on a past-it has-been taken-on-a-free-from-celtic Larsson ....

Imagine if we'd bought Bergkamp on for Freddie or Hleb while we were 1-0 up and he'd scored or put TH14 in...

but no Wenger waits until the 70th minute, swaps Cesc for Flam. Barca score two and THEN wenger pulls Hleb for Reyes when we're 2-1 down with minutes remaining.

i should of realized then that we were doomed to failure. weak, meek and reactionary rather than proactive, no change in tactics, hoping to hang on rather than looking to hit them on the break with pace.

that decision to keep Hleb on rather than pull him for Bergkamp and play Freddie out wide to protect the wingback, haunts every big game we have.

i'm just going off to have a little cry now. thanks.

Are you being serious?

1-0 up, backs to the wall and down to 10 men with 17 minutes to go against Barcelona in the European Cup Final and you would have taken off a hard working midfielder (Freddie) and put on a 34 year old forward and played 2 up front?

Really?

If we'd done that and we'd gone on to lose, you'd be here saying it was the worst decision in history and proof that Wenger's an idiot for being so reckless when we had a chance of winning. I'm sure you would! - and if you wouldn't say it, most people would!

Bringing Dennis on at that point would have been madness. The substitution that really fucked us was when he took Cesc off for Flamini (I do understand the logic, playing in midfield when the teams only had ten men for much of the game is tiring) but from that point on our ball retention was much worse than it had been with Cesc on the pitch, and consequently they had a lot more of it. It changed the whole pattern of the game.

[DB10GOONER]

I'd certainly have brought Bergkamp on for Hleb. Dennis would have given us that edge with his vision and creativity and I believe we'd deffo have had more opportunities to score with him on there. Let's remember this wasn't the great BarcaWhore side of Messi, Xavi and Iniesta - we held our own even with 10 men until the fresh legs of Larsson came on. Plus THBW14 had two sitters that he bottled. I think with DB10 on we'd have provided a couple more opportunities for him and the law of averages might have meant Henry finishing one of them. Or Dennis hitting the winner with a 30 yard screamer - which is how that poxy fucking final should have ended.

I still reckon their winner from that Belletti crunt was technically an own goal off the inside of the clown Almunia's leg. Watch it from the angle behind Belletti and tell me that shot wasn't going to scootch across goal and go out for a throw in on the far side...

Fucking game still haunts me...

[remigardeshair]

I've never been able to watch a replay of the game