EPL: Arsenal vs Chelsea - Sun. Jan 24th, 4:00pm

[KAB]

Overall, still not good enough to mount challenges at the top level. Need world class addition to the team. This is only Chelsea. We are going to play Barca later in the UCL.

 

[Himalayan_Gunner]

Overall, still not good enough to mount challenges at the top level. Need world class addition to the team. This is only Chelsea. We are going to play Barca later in the UCL.

Wont most world class additions be cup-tied for the CL assuming they are already playing/have played for CL clubs? We're doomed. Only way we can beat Barca is to get one of their players sent off like Chelsea did to us and hope. We should sign Costa this summer

 

[razörist]

If he wasnt such a **** I would take him too. Pretty complete performance yesterday, but again he tried to stamp Ramsey, we all know he would never get away with it as an Arsenal player.

 

[KAB]

Perhaps we should get an ugly player like Costa in our team. Our current players are just too kind and descent.
We played Chelsea with 10 man on both legs this season.

 

[Himalayan_Gunner]

Perhaps we should get an ugly player like Costa in our team. Our current players are just too kind and descent.
We played Chelsea with 10 man on both legs this season.

Yes, even that Barca team that won the CL final against us had Van Bronckhorst in midfield and we all know what a ***** Van Bronckhorst was.

We're like the powerpuffgirls of the football world built of sugar spice and everything nice. We need chemical X in our team.

 

[redanddread]

They've lost 9 league games, won 1 in 5 and still strolled up and dealt with us comfortably. Did we ever really look like scoring?

The 1-0 is how the big boys do it in their opponents backyard bro.

Sure we're down to 10 men but I remember Arsenal teams of the past winning with 10 men away from home at tough grounds, let alone at home.

They dealt with us like how they always deal with us - comfortable in the knowledge that we don't know how to beat them.

 

[Gooner_girl14]

Overall, still not good enough to mount challenges at the top level. Need world class addition to the team. This is only Chelsea. We are going to play Barca later in the UCL.

CL is a lost cause, I can't imagine anyone is seriously thinking we have a chance there (whether we drew Barca or not).

I don't even think we necessarily need world class additions. Wenger just needed to ensure we had better than Flamini and Arteta for cover which he failed to do.

 

[KAB]

I don't think Chelsea played well in the game. In fact, we played bad and opened chances for them to score. We have Southampton, Barca and Man Utd games awaiting in February. Wenger needs to rectify the problems real fast. Else, we might lost all points in all the three big matches.

 

[Rain Dance]

They've lost 9 league games, won 1 in 5 and still strolled up and dealt with us comfortably. Did we ever really look like scoring?

The 1-0 is how the big boys do it in their opponents backyard bro.

Sure we're down to 10 men but I remember Arsenal teams of the past winning with 10 men away from home at tough grounds, let alone at home.

They dealt with us like how they always deal with us - comfortable in the knowledge that we don't know how to beat them.

we can look at it that way, but if you considered how poor we were and we were playing 10 men against 11, another team would have squashed us like a bug instead only getting a 1-0 win.
other than Sanchez, Monreal Bellerin and Cech we were dreadful.

 

[MagicalRozza]

I blame the Arsenal for my kids getting to know all the curse words in two languages. I hate to feel like this after the game. Chelsea outclassed us or rather outmanned us, if there's such word in English. Our players from the beginning looked as if they left their balls in the dressing room. I don't understand why Gabriel did not start. He's already shown he was one of the few that would not get intimidated by Costa and Co. The player I am most pissed off with however is Theo. I understand we needed pace, but this is football not the Olympics and besides running fast you also need to play. He was dreadful and more importantly didn't seem to care at all. He needs to be dropped and reminded that he's not irreplaceable. I think people request too much from Flamini - who is a 3rd/4th choice and plays accordingly. Theo however was supposed to be the star of the team. Whenever I see him I want to scream give us our money back!

 

[TheArsenalis]

Felt like fraudster after yesterday. Ima leave it at that.

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

Did you watch the FA Cup final against Hull?

We won that game. Not a good example for bottling.

The examples...
Dynamo Zagreb this season.
WBA this season.
Southampton this season.
Chelsea this season.

Although we haven't lost anything yet, we make it incredible hard for us all the time.

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

Bash Wenger for not signing top players in the summer, and having average starters today, but I'm not sure how much you can bash for in the actual game.

You go a man down in the PL very early, you're dead.

Jebb, this is right.

Wenger hugely let down by his players. The teams he put out against Southampton, Dynamo Zagreb, WBA even Chelsea. They all should won those games.

 

[Lady_Gooner]

Not buying the bottlers thing. Just because we lost doesn't mean they bottled it. This is football. The only game this season we've bottled are Zagreb and Liverpool. Are some not good enough? Sure, but our players give everything tbh. Even Flamini. You simply cannot do more if you don't have the ability

One main issue we need to sort out is our inability to win after going behind. Our game plan is over reliant on us taking the lead

 

[redanddread]

Not buying the bottlers thing. Just because we lost doesn't mean they bottled it. This is football. The only game this season we've bottled are Zagreb and Liverpool. Are some not good enough? Sure, but our players give everything tbh. Even Flamini. You simply cannot do more if you don't have the ability

One main issue we need to sort out is our inability to win after going behind. Our game plan is over reliant on us taking the lead

I wouldn't say we're bottlers but we do lack the necessary nous to win the really big games & make no mistake, today was a huge game- we show that lack of smarts on too many occasions. Too many flaky players in the team.

A smarter team would have figured out how to score at least ONE goal against Chelsea in the last 3 years.

 

[Gentleman's Vegetables]

Not buying the bottlers thing. Just because we lost doesn't mean they bottled it. This is football. The only game this season we've bottled are Zagreb and Liverpool. Are some not good enough? Sure, but our players give everything tbh. Even Flamini. You simply cannot do more if you don't have the ability

One main issue we need to sort out is our inability to win after going behind. Our game plan is over reliant on us taking the lead

Our squad have the mentality of a bunch of complete losers. Thought this would be obvious given our embarrassing performances as a club over the last decade as a whole.
We hate pundits for saying it because they say the same things every year about us being 'mentally weak', but it's just simply true. 2 little FA cups paper over the cracks, we have barely progressed whatsoever.

 

[redanddread]

Arsenal now haven't beaten Chelsea in 10 competitive games. Lost 8 of those. Haven't even scored in their last 7.

ban worthy!!!

What's your record against them btw? Just asking. For all the stick Wenger got for never beating Mourinho, Fergie only managed it once.

 

[General]

I would really like to believe this as well, that its as simple as personnel issues.

We have problems yes, big problems and we hope that our returning players can address them head on. However in addition, do I think is there that mental fragility which remains a constant crutch on us. And that comes from Wenger.

Its like fabo has been saying, despite so much to happen this season, I get the feeling that we are going to end up short again this term. And I feel this way despite the potential return of most of our starters.

We have 3 fundamental issues in this team and in the order of importance, they are;
1. Quality
2. Injuries
3. Discipline ( Tactical and positional)

Put simply if you replaced Flamini with Coquelin in the situation before Willian released the ball, you and I would be discussing a different game. You cannot deploy sub standard quality in key positions and then blame mental fragility when they fail to meet the standard. In fact in Flamini we had one of better mentally prepared players in the team yet the most detrimental to our game. Doesn't that tell you something? We struggle to absorb injuries because of the noticeable drop in quality between our first and second strings. It's a long standing issue and undermined our best chance of wining the league in a decade in 07/08.

When Hiddink took over Chelsea, he knew they were short on confidence and were shipping too many goals so he went back to basics, brought Mikel out of the cold, paired him with Matic and reinforced the area in front of the defence. It hasn't been pretty but it gave Chelsea the platform to build on. Wenger has failed to make the necessary adjustments to compensate for our injuries and lack of quality and the warning signs have been there since we got pummelled by Southampton.

We were very much up for it yesterday from the get go and the tactic was clearly to deny Chelsea time on the ball and defend collectively. It worked well for a while but we looked inferior without the ball and just couldn't match Chelsea's organisation. Eventually their quality and better organisation gave them the edge, evidenced by the amount of time and space Fabregas had between our lines. The mental argument is convenient when finding it difficult to accept our inferiority against our bitter rivals. This is not to say it isn't an issue and it probably was against West Ham and but not yesterdat where we clearly lacked quality in the most important moments. We have the third best squad in the league ceteris paribus and that says it all.

 

[Tourbillion]

Ramsey one of the biggest culprits for me - forget Flamini, at least he doesn't really think he's of any use.

Ramsey, on the other hand, cannot, WHATSOEVER, handle players coming at him when he's in the middle/our own third of the pitch. His touch is shocking and he has close to no awareness.

I'm fed up with our neglected, makeshift, utterly bizarre central midfield. It has been like this for far too long.

**** Chamberlain too.

 

[SA Gunner]

We have 3 fundamental issues in this team and in the order of importance, they are;
1. Quality
2. Injuries
3. Discipline ( Tactical and positional)

Put simply if you replaced Flamini with Coquelin in the situation before Willian released the ball, you and I would be discussing a different game. You cannot deploy sub standard quality in key positions and then blame mental fragility when they fail to meet the standard. In fact in Flamini we had one of better mentally prepared players in the team yet the most detrimental to our game. Doesn't that tell you something? We struggle to absorb injuries because of the noticeable drop in quality between our first and second strings. It's a long standing issue and undermined our best chance of wining the league in a decade in 07/08.

When Hiddink took over Chelsea, he knew they were short on confidence and were shipping too many goals so he went back to basics, brought Mikel out of the cold, paired him with Matic and reinforced the area in front of the defence. It hasn't been pretty but it gave Chelsea the platform to build on. Wenger has failed to make the necessary adjustments to compensate for our injuries and lack of quality and the warning signs have been there since we got pummelled by Southampton.

We were very much up for it yesterday from the get go and the tactic was clearly to deny Chelsea time on the ball and defend collectively. It worked well for a while but we looked inferior without the ball and just couldn't match Chelsea's organisation. Eventually their quality and better organisation gave them the edge, evidenced by the amount of time and space Fabregas had between our lines. The mental argument is convenient when finding it difficult to accept our inferiority against our bitter rivals. This is not to say it isn't an issue and it probably was against West Ham and but not yesterdat where we clearly lacked quality in the most important moments. We have the third best squad in the league ceteris paribus and that says it all.

Solid assessment, and accurate when you look at the bare facts on the table. The mental issue is indeed a scapegoat for me, to cover up my refusal to believe they were better.

Fabregas has been **** for months, until recenty, and has come in and bossed the game against us yesterday. That was the obvious reality on the day.

You do speak confidently on the Coquelin replacement for Flamini at the time Willian had the ball. It would be great if what you saying there is true. Whereas it makes sense to me, I just cannot completely accept that personnel alone will save us this year.

I am concerned with both the quality and pressure of the coming weeks in this race. We may get the quality back to a certain level, but I feel it wont be enough for us. Lets see though.