Arsenal

[SantiSuk]

Tired and leggy all round. Qualification out of the group is going to be a much harder grind now.

Good job its only Palace at the weekend - hope that's not tempting fate.

[mrbojangles]

We had Dortmund in our group last year. Bladdy good team

[smokie36]

"Good game...good game!"

[jellydog]

Tired and leggy all round. Qualification out of the group is going to be a much harder grind now.

Good job its only Palace at the weekend - hope that's not tempting fate.

"Tired and Leggy" pretty much sums it up. Wilshere was poor, Ozil was marked out and Arsenal's main weakness, lack of good defensive pressure on the ball, was clear. Dropping points at home could come back to haunt them. Napoli's win over Dortmund could end up being huge.

[Chicog]

Wenger probably should have settled for a draw, but that's just not his style. I bet that ruined his birthday.

[alfieconn]

Tired and leggy all round. Qualification out of the group is going to be a much harder grind now.

Good job its only Palace at the weekend - hope that's not tempting fate.

"Tired and Leggy" pretty much sums it up. Wilshere was poor, Ozil was marked out and Arsenal's main weakness, lack of good defensive pressure on the ball, was clear. Dropping points at home could come back to haunt them. Napoli's win over Dortmund could end up being huge.

Wiltshire will always be poorish if he's having to go out wide, neither will Ozil for that matter, if Arse can't pass round a team then they havn't really got a plan B mind you Dortmond are very organized which obviously didn't help.

[uptheos]

Lewandowski to The Emirates in January?

Took his goal with ease.

[SantiSuk]

Expected to go to Bayern. Arsene would have to pay another 40m plus, but he needs to if we are to become Europe top 5 in his reign.

As good as Dortmund were, I really cannot understand how come we have come out against teams like Norwich like a railway train, pressing the ball all the time and yet 3 days later we sit back and deep and just let Dortmund play for 30 minutes. Sure they are more likely to be able to bite back, but the tactic just seemed to encourage the opposition who otherwise would have probably treated us with the respect our current EPL position would imply.

Must have been strategy, not combined tiredness surely. if so it was a hopelessly wrong strategy, made for an away tie and for a faster breaking team such as we can be when we have Walcott back and such as Chelsea were last night (very well done to them). On reflection I thought this was a completely misdirected game plan.

[jellydog]

Expected to go to Bayern. Arsene would have to pay another 40m plus, but he needs to if we are to become Europe top 5 in his reign.

As good as Dortmund were, I really cannot understand how come we have come out against teams like Norwich like a railway train, pressing the ball all the time and yet 3 days later we sit back and deep and just let Dortmund play for 30 minutes. Sure they are more likely to be able to bite back, but the tactic just seemed to encourage the opposition who otherwise would have probably treated us with the respect our current EPL position would imply.

Must have been strategy, not combined tiredness surely. if so it was a hopelessly wrong strategy, made for an away tie and for a faster breaking team such as we can be when we have Walcott back and such as Chelsea were last night (very well done to them). On reflection I thought this was a completely misdirected game plan.

Santi, I can't recall Arsenal putting pressure on the ball against Norwich. They gave Norwich loads of room and only paid a small price. As talented as they are in midfield, their back is not as talented, and not very speedy. They could use a mean ass sweeper a la Javier Mascherano. IMHO.

[Chicog]

That's Flamini's job, and his absence yesterday was palpable.

[jellydog]

That's Flamini's job, and his absence yesterday was palpable.

Amazing that the last second pick up of Flamini has turned out to be so important...but true.

[carmine]

Wenger probably should have settled for a draw, but that's just not his style. I bet that ruined his birthday.

Yes hopefully so and he's also aware that you are atlas going to have to play some good teams. You have only played one team in the top half of the table so far and that was a team that had about seven players in it that had barely had a chance to say hello to each other!! And a home game too. Now manager less Palace next weekend.

We'll see the real Arsenal in about six weeks when you actually have to travel to some decent teams. That berg Moyes must have been reading your fixture list when he started bleating about and anti Man Utd fixture calendar

Must be a bit worrying the ease with which Dortmund dealt with Ozil too. Should be video'd for all premier league managers for the rest of the season. Granted though, he's been great against the relegation strugglers.

Yes yes, i know, my jealousy is "palpable"….

Edited October 24, 2013 by carmine

[Chicog]

Wenger probably should have settled for a draw, but that's just not his style. I bet that ruined his birthday.

Yes hopefully so and he's also aware that you are atlas going to have to play some good teams. You have only played one team in the top half of the table so far and that was a team that had about seven players in it that had barely had a chance to say hello to each other!! And a home game too. Now manager less Palace next weekend.

We'll see the real Arsenal in about six weeks when you actually have to travel to some decent teams.

Yes, like West Ham at home, for example.

Yes yes, i know, my jealousy is "palpable"….

You said it.

[carmine]

Wenger probably should have settled for a draw, but that's just not his style. I bet that ruined his birthday.

Yes hopefully so and he's also aware that you are atlas going to have to play some good teams. You have only played one team in the top half of the table so far and that was a team that had about seven players in it that had barely had a chance to say hello to each other!! And a home game too. Now manager less Palace next weekend.

We'll see the real Arsenal in about six weeks when you actually have to travel to some decent teams.

Yes, like West Ham at home, for example.

Yes yes, i know, my jealousy is "palpable"….

You said it.

I'll take it from your reply you agree with me.

[Chicog]

Not really. We beat Napoli fairly easily, and they're a decent team. We should at least have drawn with Dortmund, bit of naivete there chasing a winner.

But as your own team of superstars has found out, any premiership team on its day can surprise you.

No team should take managerless Crystal Palace away any different from Man United, and I would not want Arsenal to go out there thinking they've already won it - bad mistake.

That's where teams drop points, and as your team knows only too well, at the business end of the season you simply can't afford to do that.

[carmine]

Not really. We beat Napoli fairly easily, and they're a decent team. We should at least have drawn with Dortmund, bit of naivete there chasing a winner.

But as your own team of superstars has found out, any premiership team on its day can surprise you.

No team should take managerless Crystal Palace away any different from Man United, and I would not want Arsenal to go out there thinking they've already won it - bad mistake.

That's where teams drop points, and as your team knows only too well, at the business end of the season you simply can't afford to do that.

No you should not have drawn against Dortmund. Didn't deserve it, they were the better side and played you for mugs. You were actually lucky not to go 2-0 down early on.

Anyways, my main reference is to the league and theres no argument there, right!

Where does the "your team of superstars" come from? Ozil cost more than about eight of our players combined of the team that faced West Ham, if thats the game you are referencing.

Edited October 24, 2013 by carmine

[Chicog]

Phew what a scorcher.

[Chicog]

Not really. We beat Napoli fairly easily, and they're a decent team. We should at least have drawn with Dortmund, bit of naivete there chasing a winner.

But as your own team of superstars has found out, any premiership team on its day can surprise you.

No team should take managerless Crystal Palace away any different from Man United, and I would not want Arsenal to go out there thinking they've already won it - bad mistake.

That's where teams drop points, and as your team knows only too well, at the business end of the season you simply can't afford to do that.

No you should not have drawn against Dortmund. Didn't deserve it, they were the better side and played you for mugs. You were actually lucky not to go 2-0 down early on.

Anyways, my main reference is to the league and theres no argument there, right!

Where does the "your team of superstars" come from? Ozil cost more than about eight of our players combined of the team that faced West Ham, if thats the game you are referencing.

Oh purlease, don't get so hung up on our 42 million pound purchase when you brought on 52 million quids worth of SUBS against Wet Sham, you <deleted> numpty.

And if Rosicky's effort hadn't been cleared off the line we probably would have won that Dortmund game, although I've got no complaints.

[SantiSuk]

Lets just see if Dortmund can get another 3 points from Arsenal shall we?

Yes, Arsenal did not deserve to do anything other than lose that game Carmine, but equally that was an uncharacteristically poor game from Arsenal, not brought on by Dortmund's brilliance but by a flawed game plan. Anyway it's not rocket science to know that the way to play Arsenal is to push them hard - trouble is that most teams that have done it in the EPL in the last 12 months (we have been the most successful EPL team for about that period now btw - this stuff about late-fading Arsenal is 3 seasons ago and beyond) have run out of steam in the last quarter and then we pick em off.

I don't mind if other teams decide to gang mark Ozil provided we have Cazorla, Ramsey and Flamini on the pitch as well. It was noticeable at as soon as Cazorla came on and started spreading the game wide at both wings that Dortmund couldn't devote the same level of cover to Ozil and he regained influence. Have to say that Jack's dashes down the middle are great when he's on song and can worry players but it only works when the central defenders are faced with divided loyalties - with no right wing threat from either Walcott or Cazorla or Ramsey, Wilshere just runs hard straight into central traffic and repeatedly loses the ball.

My biggest worry is still running out of steam ourselves. Wenger is going to have to gamble sometime and start using some lesser mortals like Gnabry, Bendtner (who scored twice for Denmark against a decent team btw 2 weeks ago) and that expensive left back he never gives game time to as starters. Bringing them on with 10 minutes left is a complete waste of time. I know we have to guard against losing momentum by dropping points against Palace but IMO its more important to have a refreshed starting line up including Cazorla, Ramsey, Giroud, Ozil and Flamini - we must get 1 point min from next Wednesday's game in the Ruhr.

While on the subject of full backs - did you see how far away up the pitch Sagna still was when Lewandowski scored their winner? His days are numbered - attacking full backs are all very well when you are playing pedestrian teams. Flamini would have already been chewing him out (or failing that covering his backside) had he been on the pitch.

[carmine]

Not really. We beat Napoli fairly easily, and they're a decent team. We should at least have drawn with Dortmund, bit of naivete there chasing a winner.

But as your own team of superstars has found out, any premiership team on its day can surprise you.

No team should take managerless Crystal Palace away any different from Man United, and I would not want Arsenal to go out there thinking they've already won it - bad mistake.

That's where teams drop points, and as your team knows only too well, at the business end of the season you simply can't afford to do that.

No you should not have drawn against Dortmund. Didn't deserve it, they were the better side and played you for mugs. You were actually lucky not to go 2-0 down early on.

Anyways, my main reference is to the league and theres no argument there, right!

Where does the "your team of superstars" come from? Ozil cost more than about eight of our players combined of the team that faced West Ham, if thats the game you are referencing.

Oh purlease, don't get so hung up on our 42 million pound purchase when you brought on 52 million quids worth of SUBS against Wet Sham, you <deleted> numpty.

And if Rosicky's effort hadn't been cleared off the line we probably would have won that Dortmund game, although I've got no complaints.

You were never going to win that. What a load of delusional clap trap.

Dortmund happily ceded possession, sucked you in, nullified all your attacking options, took Ozil out of large parts of the game and deservedly mugged you off. That ponce Wenger skipping up and down the touchline bleating at the officials was the most entertaining part of Arsenals play.

Go watch a replay. Mr Ed (still thinks UTD will mount a title challenge) liked your post too so i must be right

Edited October 25, 2013 by carmine

[Chicog]

Oh carmine you are a trier, but the stats unfortunately don't back up your drivel.

Mind you, I'm not surprised you don't know much about Champions League football, after all you haven't really had much experience of it, have you?

[carmine]

Oh carmine you are a trier, but the stats unfortunately don't back up your drivel.

Mind you, I'm not surprised you don't know much about Champions League football, after all you haven't really had much experience of it, have you?

Well of course if you read the papers there seems to be rather a lot of people that agree with me. You were well and truly mugged off sunshine by a superior team, a better organized team with a sensible game plan.

Anyway, lets no quarrel. The important thing is you lost.

So, Palace at the weekend and then you have to start playing some top teams. Happy days. Its about time the cracks started appearing.

[jellydog]

I must say the give and take between Chicog and Carmine is most entertaining. You would almost think they were married.

[carmine]

Oh carmine you are a trier, but the stats unfortunately don't back up your drivel.

Mind you, I'm not surprised you don't know much about Champions League football, after all you haven't really had much experience of it, have you?

Well the stats that seem to back up my drivel are that Dortmund made a total of 8 shots as opposed to you nine but 3 were on target as opposed to your pathetic 2 which, considering you were at home does not reflect a team that deserves to win, especially when more stats suggest that your shot accuracy was a mere 28.8% as opposed to Dortmund's again superior 37.5%

So mate, get over it, stats don't lie, and stop whining.

You talk about experience but considering the few games you actually get to play in the CL before getting knocked out i'd say Arsenal are still very inexperienced in europe

[SantiSuk]

Must be so galling for you Carmine that the 'so few' games we get in the Champions League come around every year with regularity and pay us handsomely and encourage players to want to come to us for Champions League football.

Beats the crap out of having tons of games on a Thursday night that no-one outside the confines of the clubs involved gives a toss about. And then there's playing on Sunday, like the bad boys left behind after school, again when everyone's interest level has waned for the week. Are you trying to turn North London into a second Manchester with your marked display of the 'bitters' of late?

[Chicog]

Oh carmine you are a trier, but the stats unfortunately don't back up your drivel.

Mind you, I'm not surprised you don't know much about Champions League football, after all you haven't really had much experience of it, have you?

Well the stats that seem to back up my drivel are that Dortmund made a total of 8 shots as opposed to you nine but 3 were on target as opposed to your pathetic 2 which, considering you were at home does not reflect a team that deserves to win, especially when more stats suggest that your shot accuracy was a mere 28.8% as opposed to Dortmund's again superior 37.5%

So mate, get over it, stats don't lie, and stop whining.

You talk about experience but considering the few games you actually get to play in the CL before getting knocked out i'd say Arsenal are still very inexperienced in europe

I never said we deserved to win it, but a draw should have been the result but for some gung ho attacking which left us open at the back. However, that's Wenger's style and I have no complaints.

When the tiny totts get close to Wenger's record, I'll take some of your whiny jibes seriously, but that's at least 16 years away innit?

[carmine]

Oh carmine you are a trier, but the stats unfortunately don't back up your drivel.

Mind you, I'm not surprised you don't know much about Champions League football, after all you haven't really had much experience of it, have you?

Well the stats that seem to back up my drivel are that Dortmund made a total of 8 shots as opposed to you nine but 3 were on target as opposed to your pathetic 2 which, considering you were at home does not reflect a team that deserves to win, especially when more stats suggest that your shot accuracy was a mere 28.8% as opposed to Dortmund's again superior 37.5%

So mate, get over it, stats don't lie, and stop whining.

You talk about experience but considering the few games you actually get to play in the CL before getting knocked out i'd say Arsenal are still very inexperienced in europe

I never said we deserved to win it, but a draw should have been the result but for some gung ho attacking which left us open at the back. However, that's Wenger's style and I have no complaints.

When the tiny totts get close to Wenger's record, I'll take some of your whiny jibes seriously, but that's at least 16 years away innit?

Just explaining why you were wrong. Could have nicked it, definitely deserved not to. Now the real season begins……….seriously though Wenger should have no complaints as to the way the fixture list has gone.

[Chicog]

It is what it is carmine, but you're right, now we have to start playing our rivals.

[MrRed]

Oh carmine you are a trier, but the stats unfortunately don't back up your drivel.

Mind you, I'm not surprised you don't know much about Champions League football, after all you haven't really had much experience of it, have you?

Well the stats that seem to back up my drivel are that Dortmund made a total of 8 shots as opposed to you nine but 3 were on target as opposed to your pathetic 2 which, considering you were at home does not reflect a team that deserves to win, especially when more stats suggest that your shot accuracy was a mere 28.8% as opposed to Dortmund's again superior 37.5%

So mate, get over it, stats don't lie, and stop whining.

You talk about experience but considering the few games you actually get to play in the CL before getting knocked out i'd say Arsenal are still very inexperienced in europe

I never said we deserved to win it, but a draw should have been the result but for some gung ho attacking which left us open at the back. However, that's Wenger's style and I have no complaints.

When the tiny totts get close to Wenger's record, I'll take some of your whiny jibes seriously, but that's at least 16 years away innit?

Just explaining why you were wrong. Could have nicked it, definitely deserved not to. Now the real season begins……….seriously though Wenger should have no complaints as to the way the fixture list has gone.

What a sad individual you are carmine.

The fixture list is it!!!

[SantiSuk]

Wenger respnded to press questions that he has no plans to write a book!

Good on yer Arsene There are more sophisticated and subtle ways of having a dig at your old enemies ... as your press comment has just shown us