| West Bromwich Albion v Arsenal | 15:00 19 March 2011 |

[DanielVale]

Just watched MOTD, almunia, get the **** out and take denilson with you.

 

[mo50]

Why the fck was Almunia pushing Squillaci

Even for Almunia, that was ridiculous. I wonder what was running through his mind. Why the **** would you come out?

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

i dont know for what almunia go out squillaci was control the ball why the f**K you out to the ball almunia FFS

 

[Y va marquer]

It really did look as if Al had taken leave of his senses as he dashed out of the penalty area and shoved Squillaci out of his way.
Crazy stuff.

 

[Jury]

My gut tells me they'll score twice, so we'll have to score three times to get the win, I reckon...

Maybe should have. I'd never have thought we could concede a goal as bad as the second, though.

Almunia at fault for BOTH, for me. Squid probably could have dealt with it sooner and faffed about, but I'll have to live a looong long time if I'm going to see another decision to come for the ball as bad as Almunia's.

Absolutely unforgivable. Again.

 

[OohtobeaGoonerGal]

<a class="postlink" href="http://arsenalist.com/video/?id=xhpop0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://arsenalist.com/video/?id=xhpop0</a>
Some more replays of WBA's 2nd goal.
I still can't fathom what Almunia was trying to do there. I wonder what Lehmann was thinking at that moment.
The commentator "When they're attacking they're like men, when they're defend they're like children"
To be fair to children even at a young age, some kid keepers would think before rushing out like Al did there.

However no matter what happens now I still won't ever forget all he's done to help the club

For which he got (and still gets) paid a ******* fortune.

Why are you making it sound like he's doing us a favour?

He should be thanking his lucky stars every night that he has been able to retain the managerial job at a club like Arsenal having won **** all for 6 years.

I realise it's been a tough 6 years. My support for how Wenger is doing things currently is not as strong as it once was. The reason the board back him is because they're believers in his long-term vision, and are still believers in him. Except for the problem where Wenger is blinded by his stubborn habits, he has been putting his reputation on the line by sacrificing instant success after our stadium move, to instead take on a project that him, the board, and us as fans knew would take time, but we now feel like we're going through groundhog day come the final stretch of the season, and the time for judgement is constantly put off for more future promises whilst we get restless.

When he does leave though that's when you will probably be grateful for how his tenure has helped us grow as a club as a whole. But I completely understand why some fans are running out of patience.

 

[AnthonyG]

My gut tells me they'll score twice, so we'll have to score three times to get the win, I reckon...

Maybe should have. I'd never have thought we could concede a goal as bad as the second, though.

Almunia at fault for BOTH, for me.

Capitalising it won't make it true - Al, as bad as he was on the second, is pretty far down the list of culprits for the first.

 

[Lord Dula]

If we are to atleast put in a strong finish we cannot carry any passengers, this means dropping Al for Jens and dropping Denilson regardless of who is available, we'll just have to shuffle the pack/switch formations to exclude him.

While Cesc is out we must play Nasri central.

 

[dyeruz]

Today's match (and the last couple of weeks) has (have) proved that Arsène isn't able to lift the players up after setbacks.
Deep inside myself just after Kos and Sneezy killed our CC final, I knew it won't be easy in the next couple of weeks and Arsène has to do everything possible to ensure that they won't feel sorry for themselves.
Well, it didn't quite work out, did it?

Of course we came behind from two goals down and got a draw today, but that's neither enough in a title race, nor enough against teams who're fighting against relegation. If it wasn't for one moment of brilliance from Arsh, I doubt we'd have ever found the key to unlock their defence.

Such a shame that we're yet again falling apart.

My only remaining hope is, that our key players return after the break and get us going again.
The players who're currently playing, aren't up for it and we should get rid off some of them in the summer, because if you can't improve during such a title-fight, you're useless.

What todays match proved was when Wenger's back was against the wall he was forced to be proactive and make changes, I damn near fell of my chair when he brought on Chamakh, I wanted it but I didnt expect Wenger to actually do it. Unfortunately for that ****-up we could have actually done something in this game. We needed to win so he abandoned the notion of having two sitting midfielders and went out all out attack. If from this day forward he actually shows he's not inflexible and sets up the team positively then thats small progress for me

 

[Anzac]

If we are to atleast put in a strong finish we cannot carry any passengers, this means dropping Al for Jens and dropping Denilson regardless of who is available, we'll just have to shuffle the pack/switch formations to exclude him.

While Cesc is out we must play Nasri central.

Disagree - play AA as a SS & tell him to attack the box & to look to get into goal scoring positions. Still play Nasri from wide & Wilshere/Rambo from midfield for our creative build up play.

Essentially we should set the 4231 up as we would a 442/4411 with 2 strikers/goal threats.

 

[General]

Today's match (and the last couple of weeks) has (have) proved that Arsène isn't able to lift the players up after setbacks.

The past few weeks only? Arsène Wenger struggled to get the great unbeaten team to regroup after our run was halted so how much more this pathetic bunch of misfits. Biggus has always said that a team is a mirror image of it’s manager and this is an important observation when evaluating a team’s character. Mental meltdown after a major disappointment is part of Wenger's Arsenal DNA. This is why we are always treated with suspicion every time he talks up mental strength.

 

[Kain]

How to address the problems that we encountered in today's game?

No cutting edge in attack.
4-4-2 ?
No Denilson.

Defensive errors.
Jens instead of Al?

Probably far too simplistic an analysis but those were the most glaringly obvious issues.

The more complex problem would be the lack of confidence and overall nervousness that permeated our performance, particularly in the first half.
Hopefully the fact that we managed to recover enough to avoid the loss will contribute in some way to restoring faith.

Wenger has an awful lot of work to do in order to put this team back in the frame of mind that they were in when they beat Barca.

That seems like a lifetime ago now.

It couldn’t hurt could it, to play 4-4-2 with the players we had missing against teams in the ass end of the league, teams that we know will sit back and defend in numbers, it wasn’t like people were posting ‘use 4-4-2’ for fun at the start of the thread after watching our inept performances in recent weeks. If Cesc and Theo are back and can handle the rest of the season run in it becomes a non-issue but with them missing that’s where you need the manager, Wenger, to weigh up the options and come out with three points.

We all know Almunia is damaged goods, it’s not even funny anymore, what harm could playing Jens have been over a confidence deprived keeper that has no place at the club to begin with. Jens could do a job for us like Big Sol last season, I don’t care if he’s 41 or 70 we know mad Jens and we know he can organise a defence and shout at a player, the two goals conceded today was more amateur bullshit the exact same crap we’ve been seeing dished out for years now.

Hindsight’s a wonderful thing, the armchair fans biggest weapon, Wenger always had a lot of work to do if we won today he’d have a lot of work to do, we’ve all just seen it one to many times. Wenger has his gambles but playing Almunia in goal with the fact proven disaster centre back pairing of Koscielny-Squillaci in front of him & Denilson (I’ve heard the biggest cheer of the day form the Arsenal fans was when he got subbed off) in an injury ridden midfield in front of them, we didn’t need hindsight to know the outcome.

Wenger won’t even recall the loaned players, why not, when we need these guys to bolster our squad for a title run in, but no it would damage the frail confidence of the players they take over from in the squad, you know those that let us down again and again and again.

 

[Emma Lusa]

The reason we "defend like children" is ten years of Wenger defensive policy, ten years of Wenger signings and ten years of stubborn pride. There is NO WAY a club of our stature should ever have a starting line-up that has a known muppet like Al in goal and a central defensive pairing of Kos and Sneezy - it sould never happen.
For all you 'wengerites' out there please come up with any possible explanation as too how he has allowed our defence to sink so low? Don't even try with injuries, both Utd and Sp**s have three central defenders out injured yet both kept clean sheets yesterday ..... why because they sign cover where it's needed, FFS Spuds even signed cover from us !!!!!!!
AW this was an epic fail, and the failure was 100% your fault. I have no problem if we lose/draw to a better side, or to a side that scores a couple of net busting screamers. But to continually fail against inferior opposition because after ten years of your guidance we don't have the players or the tactics, in fact to put it bluntly we just can't defend - is not acceptable.

 

[Jury]

My gut tells me they'll score twice, so we'll have to score three times to get the win, I reckon...

Maybe should have. I'd never have thought we could concede a goal as bad as the second, though.

Almunia at fault for BOTH, for me.

Capitalising it won't make it true - Al, as bad as he was on the second, is pretty far down the list of culprits for the first.

As the last line of 'defence' is the GK, whenever a shot that should really be saved isn't, the majority of blame rightly falls on his doorstep. Ramsey could have jumped against Reid and made it more difficult, but Al should have stopped it. Simple as that. Almunias reaction said it all, for me. No need for capitals either this time.

Who else was to blame for the first, Ant?

 

[dyeruz]

First goal was piss poor defending but to put it all on Almunia is folly, so do we blame Sczeszeny for Zigic's first goal during the Carling Cup? Flew inches past his hands, eminently save-able..
Second goal by all means give him hell..and Squillaci too

 

[AnthonyG]

@Jury - Ramsey, Squid, and Kos for starters. And it's not like I'm really that into absolving or apportioning blame - just don't like to see it heaped on a GK, even Al, in that kind of situation. Yeah, he looks * sticking that useless claw up, but at point blank range and blocked off a good result would be to tip it under the top of the net, an absolute stunner would be to find a way to keep it out. Or blind luck. We had neither and the whole thing, from the lead up to the marking, was a cluster ****.

 

[mo50]

First goal wasn't Al's fault, he couldn't react fast enough.

The second one is probably the worst he's conceded in his time here, and I thought that would be impossible. I mean, running out of your box, then push your defender off balance, what the **** was he thinking?

The only explanation is that it was a big **** you to Wenger from Almunia.

 

[Rain Dance]

@Ant: Al has never instill any believe in his goalkeeping. remember the stat several seasons ago. the guy conceded 5 out of 8 shots on goal

 

[AnthonyG]

@Ant: Al has never instill any believe in his goalkeeping. remember the stat several seasons ago. the guy conceded 5 out of 8 shots on goal

I wouldn't expect him to.

 

[ultradoc]

I think almunia was pegged back to the goal line for the first goal-not that he's much of a charger-oh wait..-by some west brom player blocking him. Not that I'm criticising him for it or comparing with jens, but I think lehmann would never let anyone come in his way of anything.Period.
Push,shove,kick,elbow,knee or just scream madly and he'd have the perimeter with the diameter of his outstretched hands at the least to be his territory to move freely.Or you at least get that impression of his game. You don't get that kinda confidence from Almunia's keeping.