PL: Arsenal vs West Bromwich Albion | 20/11/04

[sienna]

Has anyone noticed that Everton is only 2 points behind us? Man they just keep grinding out their 1-0 wins.

 

[RocktheCasbah]

Just back from the Twelve Pins. I thought we got exactly what we deserved today. I don't know if it's lack of confidence, but even at 1-0 up we never looked capable of pushing on and closing the game out. Very disappointed, but as Sol says, at least Chelsea got held.

 

[1886]

who the f**k are you?

in a nutshell, i started off as part of Don Howes Red n White army and am part of todays set up. Been home, away and abroad m8. hope that helps.

can understand ur frustration but there are ways of dealing with it. ur initial approach wasnt one of them. in fairness u came back with some half decent suggestions once ud simmered down.

breath mate cos the last time i checked we were in november.

its a marathon not a sprint.

 

[asajoseph]

I really think cygan can have a solid game but he has these tendincies to get in wrong positions and cause error's, but 90% of the game he is usually solid.

as for wenger not critisising the team, i think the team would lose some..if more confidence if Arsène came out and said we played absolutly crap. i think he knows what hes doing and i think he handles it right.

This is the Premiership, not sunday league. 90% solid just isn't good enough, especially if you're trying to hold onto a 1-0 win. You've got to play for 90 minutes, and if that is too much to ask, you're just not good enough. Sorry, but it's simple really.

As for Wenger not criticising the team, I think that criticism is best done behind the scenes before it is done in public.

 

[asajoseph]

its a marathon not a sprint.

Actually, I see it as a steeple chase, and we keep hitting the hurdles and falling in the water pits...

 

[RocktheCasbah]

I think (hope) this weekend sees one of the four bollockings Arsène believes you can get away with during the season. sabret00the, grow up and stop blaming Paddy for our troubles, there are another 10 players on the pitch that are all culpable.

By the way, I thought Freddie and Lauren were our best players today, Pires did f'ck all until the goal. Dennis has started going backwards, nothing came off for Thierry and Fabregas was loose in possession.

 

[sabret00the]

I think (hope) this weekend sees one of the four bollockings Arsène believes you can get away with during the season. sabret00the, grow up and stop blaming Paddy for our troubles, there are another 10 players on the pitch that are all culpable.

By the way, I thought Freddie and Lauren were our best players today, Pires did f'ck all until the goal. Dennis has started going backwards, nothing came off for Thierry and Fabregas was loose in possession.

i've blamed in this thread two people today the Manager and the Captain, surely their the ones that are meant to take the flack? i know if any team i've lead has failed i've personally apologised and taken the critism in order to move on and make sure to the best of my ability it don't happen again.

Example i'm an admin for a forum, if i feel theirs not enough posts, i make threads, if somethings in the wrong place i move it if i see it or send someone else to do it and if it all starts going belly up i apologise to everyone and fix it, i'm just a glorified captain.

 

[beyondforever]

see i know. he would smile and give excuse like we played a good game today, the boys are great etc. Arsène wenger are deceiving himself. he likes to do that. we played a below par performance and yet he said we played a good game??? he think we are all blind or he's the one who is blind??? if it weren't for the mistake made by the keeper, we wouldn't have scored that goal today and in the end would lose.

 

[StyleOFMarc]

I really think cygan can have a solid game but he has these tendincies to get in wrong positions and cause error's, but 90% of the game he is usually solid.

as for wenger not critisising the team, i think the team would lose some..if more confidence if Arsène came out and said we played absolutly crap. i think he knows what hes doing and i think he handles it right.

This is the Premiership, not sunday league. 90% solid just isn't good enough, especially if you're trying to hold onto a 1-0 win. You've got to play for 90 minutes, and if that is too much to ask, you're just not good enough. Sorry, but it's simple really.

As for Wenger not criticising the team, I think that criticism is best done behind the scenes before it is done in public.

i dont think you have to be 100% solid to have a good game all the time, but as for cygan..he isnt always 100% and you can see what happens.

 

[Robno.7]

see i know. he would smile and give excuse like we played a good game today, the boys are great etc. Arsène wenger are deceiving himself. he likes to do that. we played a below par performance and yet he said we played a good game??? he think we are all blind or he's the one who is blind??? if it weren't for the mistake made by the keeper, we wouldn't have scored that goal today and in the end would lose.

i agree, like if theres a bad incident involvin a player and he is asked about it after a match its always " i did not see the incident" lol, i think he is just protecting the players and he critises them when he needs to

 

[StyleOFMarc]

I really think cygan can have a solid game but he has these tendincies to get in wrong positions and cause error's, but 90% of the game he is usually solid.

as for wenger not critisising the team, i think the team would lose some..if more confidence if Arsène came out and said we played absolutly crap. i think he knows what hes doing and i think he handles it right.

This is the Premiership, not sunday league. 90% solid just isn't good enough, especially if you're trying to hold onto a 1-0 win. You've got to play for 90 minutes, and if that is too much to ask, you're just not good enough. Sorry, but it's simple really.

As for Wenger not criticising the team, I think that criticism is best done behind the scenes before it is done in public.

i dont think you have to be 100% solid to have a good game all the time, but as for cygan..he isnt always 100% and you can see what happens.

 

[Split]

Just back from the Twelve Pins. I thought we got exactly what we deserved today. I don't know if it's lack of confidence, but even at 1-0 up we never looked capable of pushing on and closing the game out. Very disappointed, but as Sol says, at least Chelsea got held.

I was watching in the Twelve Pins too. Have to agree with you about our performance. Thought we actually played pretty well, but it just shows how much of a difference confidence can make, we always look slightly uncomfortable and nervous, we had the chances to finish it off but we didn't and we were punished by what has to be acknowledged as a very good goal by WBA.

We need Sol back ASAP!

 

[asajoseph]

I really think cygan can have a solid game but he has these tendincies to get in wrong positions and cause error's, but 90% of the game he is usually solid.

as for wenger not critisising the team, i think the team would lose some..if more confidence if Arsène came out and said we played absolutly crap. i think he knows what hes doing and i think he handles it right.

This is the Premiership, not sunday league. 90% solid just isn't good enough, especially if you're trying to hold onto a 1-0 win. You've got to play for 90 minutes, and if that is too much to ask, you're just not good enough. Sorry, but it's simple really.

As for Wenger not criticising the team, I think that criticism is best done behind the scenes before it is done in public.

i dont think you have to be 100% solid to have a good game all the time, but as for cygan..he isnt always 100% and you can see what happens.

You do if you're playing as a CB at the top level. Most teams are good enough to punish even one mistake, and if you're haning onto a 1-0 lead, one mistake is all it takes to lose 2 points.

Players like Henry, Pires, Bergkamp can get away with it every now and then - other players can score goals, one mistake might cost a goal, but other chances will come, and they'll have opportunities to make up for it. How many opportunities will a defender that screws up once get to make amends? Normally, not many.

 

[Robno.7]

WBA did punish us with one chance because the stats show, they had 1 shot on target, proved to be the equaliser

 

[jasonlohkh]

I cant understand what wenger is trying to do. DB10 is clearly off form and why not he just try VP. Some of you might think that Wenger knows coz he is the one who see VP in training. But when DB10 is not producing the form needed why not try someone new. Wenger will never knows what VP can do if he just appeared for 3-5 min in a game. Our reserve team is playing better than our 1st team and yet Wenger try to stick to our 1st team. What is the point of doing it? Wenger please learn from Ferguson, if you cant produce the best for Arsenal, sorry you're out.
And every below par performance is follow up the effect of the defeat at OT. The defeat in OT is some time now and if we still cant overcome it then sorry, we dont qualify to be PL champion and we cant call ourselves the best team in England. Dont even dream of CL if we cant beat team like WBA, Palace and Soton.
I am really dissapointed with our performance today. Not worth to be England champion

 

[patrick42uk]

WBA did punish us with one chance because the stats show, they had 1 shot on target, proved to be the equaliser

yeah, similar stats too against our last 3 or so teams. southampton had 2 shots on goal and scored both for instance.

 

[jasonlohkh]

Pennant is playing very well for Reserve. so do VP. If they can beat Everton then i think they are good enough for PL and WBA. Why they are still not in our 1st team?

 

[Robno.7]

WBA did punish us with one chance because the stats show, they had 1 shot on target, proved to be the equaliser

yeah, similar stats too against our last 3 or so teams. southampton had 2 shots on goal and scored both for instance.

From that stat, we're really bad at defending AND very unlucky, both of those chances could have easilly gone wide and we would have gained confidence from that result

 

[patrick42uk]

Absolutly shocking, Bergkamp plays crap and Wenger plays him till the 86 min whats the flipping point. Whats RVP gonna do with 3 bloody mins?? The season is over im afraid and before anyone tells me to get a grip, u get a grip can u see Chelsea messing up? I can't

i can. its ****ing november! man utd were ruled out in october, but look where they are now. we were 5 clear of chelsea, but look where we are now. in the space of a month, there have been major changes. so how the **** anyone can rule any team out with 6 full months to go is beyond me. form changes. fact! i'd rather do badly now and have form change in teh new year rather than vice-versa. this is the same bloody team that won the league unbeaten for ****sakes so no one can dispute the fact we have it in us to change our form.

 

[Jkreffer]

Actually I thought Pires had a pretty good game. Looked very dangerous.