Debut Goal

By Boris Mellor
September 17 2011

Let’s look on the positive side, Arsenal conceded 50% less goals today than their last away league defeat, only 4 compared to eight. Also they found the net three times as against 2 times, so that’s another 50% increase.However, Sydney the cab driver text me to point out that Man U are Championship contenders, and Blackburn relegation candidates, so that means that improvement is against a team that is half as good, thus the improvement is no improvement at all – a zero sum game. Of course I could put on my Hansen hat and say you can only beat what’s in front of you, but there again they don’t very often.

True the team only allowed Blackburn 3 shots on target, but Blackburn scored 4 goals, so there is a certain touch of farce there.

I was hoping that Dortmund would be a turning point, but the team has failed to turn at Blackburn. Perhaps they are a bunch of big match night only charlies with only an interest in the CL? Perhaps the gutsy performances are only for the cup with big ears? Nor is this a blip, it’s now 3 wins in 16 games in the Premiership. It’s good to see an Arteta goal, but I wonder how he feels about seeing the lead he created melt away like the snow in summer?

Wenger could have played a stronger team but he was holding players back for Shrewsbury on Wednesday, which is worrying as that game is on Tuesday.

Who is to blame?

It has been my opinion for quite a while that Wenger lost the dressing room after the Carling Cup Final, the squad became scarred and disorientated. Probably not only due to the defeat to a relegation side, but probably because that flop decided Cesc and Nasri that they wanted out. That feeling was exacerbated by the end of season drawn out saga over Cesc and Nasri leaving. For whatever the reason the main signings, apart from Gervinho were not made until 31 August, and then it was international break.

There was also a mass clear out, some of it quite late, with some players still appearing even though they were due to leave the club in hours after their last game. None of this could have helped with melding the team together.  This means that Arsene’s real squad started its pre season preparation on the 8^th September, nearly two months after everyone else.

The Gunners now have players who have little experience of playing together and a captain who will want away in the summer. So it’s very hard to make an overall arching assessment of how good this team will be, or how bad come to that, until the pre-season routines and games are complete, that will probably be around the 22^{nd of} October. Mind you Blackburn, like Man U, Newcastle and Liverpool was a handy pre season warm up. Perhaps for Wenger the real season starts next week or the week after that.

Until the team has had time to work together it is not possible to make an assessment. However, the top 2 are already 8 points ahead with a game in hand, so it is highly likely that 4^th place will take one hell of a struggle to achieve from now on in.

There is no doubt that the poorest pre season preparation in my living memory has led to the inconsistency, sense of farce that surrounds the club at the moment. Whoever, or whatever allowed that to happen is to blame.

Arsenal improve away by 50% Wenger completes pre season prep

Discussion started by Arsenal Times , 17/09/2011 19:36

Arsenal Times
17/09/2011 19:36

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:09:24:10:24:01 by Padre Pio.

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AJ The Gunner
17/09/2011 20:19

i can't even see any positive from this game.. they way the defense went into disarray & players scoring own goals like they forgot which team they are playing for was quit alarming.. the defense has not improved one bit..they can't deal with set piece. i don't care if blackburn is our boggy team but come on!!! when was the last we were leading at half time & still won a game?? i can't even recall




was wengers head screwed up after this joy ride???

how can anyone explain to me this caving in..wenger knows @#$%& about defense technique..

Can We Now Trust The Process 🤔🤷🏿‍♀️ or Should We Still Remain Cautious 🙇🏿‍♀️

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Padre Pio
17/09/2011 23:48

Well we scored 5 goals

"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.

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Bergmars
18/09/2011 11:57

How many real top quality players do we now have,I reckon only TV5 and RVP would be our only two now,some have yet to prove they are consistently,Jack and Ches being the two that readily spring to mind.
Sagna may just scrape in but the rest are pretty much an ordinary bunch and some look as if they dont give a feck whether we win or not,and all that comes back to one man and I do not need to name him,a slow disintegration of quality since 2005 has now caught up amd our rivals are now Stoke,Spurs and Villa.

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AJ The Gunner
18/09/2011 16:24

Quote:

Padre Pio
Well we scored 5 goals

got that right

Quote:

Bergmars
a slow disintegration of quality since 2005 has now caught up amd our rivals are now Stoke,Spurs and Villa.

so painful but very very true

Can We Now Trust The Process 🤔🤷🏿‍♀️ or Should We Still Remain Cautious 🙇🏿‍♀️

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salisbury69
18/09/2011 17:43

What haunts me is seeing AW's face a short time before the transfer window shut. He was smiling and telling everybody that nobody was going to be leaving the club. Everyone knew Fabregas & Nasri were off and he was still in denial. Listening to some of the rubbish he comes out with makes me cringe. He must see where we need strengthening but refuses to do his job and rectify the problems. And anyone who cannot see that we made a host of panic signings is burying their head in the sand. We needed to add more class to what we had, so what do we do? We let our best 2 players leave and make no attempt to replace them with high quality. All this talk of £30 Million signings is just laughable. Here is the big question. Just how far are we going down the plughole before people come to their senses and realise we are in serious $hit.

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Slordio
18/09/2011 22:58

Wenger will see out his contract (2014). He's never walked away from one. The board won't sack him, they're nothing but politicians (Gazidis) and yes-men (the rest of them).

Arsenal will continue declining. RVP will surely move for his own career. And what if a big club comes in for Jack? We've seen many times that loyalty only goes so far when the club is a sinking ship.

We're looking at a return to the Stuart Houston days league positions soon.

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