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The Arsenal Society VIII

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Thing I don't get is that players were "rested" but many of them haven't even been playing many games at all this season. RVP, Walcott and Djourou should be able to run a marathon atm, never mind 2 games in 3 days. Considering their excellent performances against Chelsea I can't see the logic in dropping them. Our midfield always looks dodgy without Song present and because we have no backup DM (Denilson isn't really a DM imo) he needs to start every match.

Reply 301

RobbieC

The intensity needed for a game of football is very different to a marathon... though I believe Djourou should have been fine to start and play the whole game... so didn't understand that.

Reply 302

milkytea

Original post by RobbieC

The intensity needed for a game of football is very different to a marathon... though I believe Djourou should have been fine to start and play the whole game... so didn't understand that.

Of course... but surely with a day to rest, physically and mentally a professional player should be capable of putting in a decent performance?

If they've been playing all season then I could definitely understand them needing a rest, but seeing how few games RVP and Walcott have played so far I'd have thought they'd be able to manage it.

Reply 303

Concern'd Viewer

I think there was a lot of mental play going on against Wigan. Just as Arsenal used to have fear of the big teams, they now have fear of the little teams that could cause an upset. This will play a big part in the title race as Arsenal are now only mentally formidable against midtable teams, which change every year. Therefore, Arsenal do not know who they should be afraid of.

Strange situation, but I think it is a mental attribute that other teams will take advantage of.

Reply 304

RobbieC

Original post by milkytea

In the short term fitness of the player, their season-long history of playing/resting bears little relevance. If anything it would make them more likey to get an injury...

It was right to give some of them a break, but some it just wasn't. Either way it is the team's fault... not Arsene's.

Reply 305

Captain92

Original post by RobbieC

I think it's a bit of a mix tbh. He made a lot of changes, but on paper most of the players that he switched in should have been superior to the Wigan side. Having said that, I'd be willing to bet that 50% of their first-10-minute breaks were started by Bendtner losing the ball :facepalm2:

Sticking him on the right and Arshavin on the left was never going to work cos it usually takes them both 20 minutes to wake up, and the midfield don't have any options other than Chamakh to pass to.
Ref made some awful calls too. If he'd made the right decisions, it would have been 3-1. All in the past though, I didn't see the Birmingham equaliser against Man U but I read that it was also questionable, so meh.
I hate how we throw away points like this. :frown:

This wasn't a particularly aimed rant at you btw lol, it just led on from a comment you made :redface:

Reply 306

Louis.

Original post by Captain92

This wasn't a particularly aimed rant at you btw lol, it just led on from a comment you made :redface:

The question wasn't if there was an infringment but just how many infringments there were. But yeah **** happens, you'll get decisions for you and against you over the season and feeling sorry for yourself is the worst thing you can do.

Reply 307

JK.

Original post by Louis.

As a United fan, that's a lot easier to say. :colonhash:

I'm glad you said about feeling sorry for yourself and not over the season it evens itself out.

Reply 308

Louis.

Original post by JK.

As a United fan, that's a lot easier to say. :colonhash:

I'm glad you said about feeling sorry for yourself and not over the season it evens itself out.

You get decisions too, don't pretend you don't. The bigger the club the more decisions go your way, it shouldn't happen but it does. It doesn't even itself out but you get more decisions your way than the vast majority of teams in the league, and yes we get more because we're a bigger club. It's not some kind of conspiracy where all the refs get together and work out how to help us, which i'm sure some people actually do believe, it's just we're the biggest club in the league. Doesn't mean we get it all our own way though, the Birmingham game was a perfect example of this.

Reply 309

Overmars

Original post by milkytea

The bottom line is, it was enough for every other team (no small number, including Man City, Tottenham, Chelsea and Man Utd) so why not us?

There is no defence to that. Wenger did not give us the best chance of winning that game and he is to blame. But what's done is done and with a rested first-team midfield/attack, we should be beating Birmingham -- although it is a tough fixture.

I think everyone would've taken 7 points out of the 3 games (including a win against Chelsea) if offered at the start of the week but obviously it'd be disappointing that silly points were dropped to the worst opposition. Lets hope for a good win on Saturday.

Reply 310

RobbieC

Original post by Louis.

We are not a smaller club to Chelsea and no amount of Sky TV should convince you otherwise... However, we saw yesterday evening them escape a blatent handball and a semi-offside goal (he was a touch offside but it would be harsh)... while Arsenal? A stonewall penalty denied and a non-foul outside the box given as a penalty.

I don't remember the Sky commentary calling N'Zogbia a diver at all. If it were an Arsenal player, especially a foreign one, would it have appeared on the backpage of todays Sun with the word 'Shame' plastered over it? I would be a large sum of money it would have.

Like it or not, there is a real issue with the way Arsenal are treated by the media, referees and other managers in the league. It should be looked into, but for some reason Arsene has gone timid and mature when he really should be decrying it all.

Sometimes I wish he would surrender some dignity and just go nuts - in an academic and methodical way - all over the corruption.

Reply 311

Ar5enal Fan

All Wenger's done is heaped pressure on our next 2 games, both of which are going to be very tough. If we had beaten Wigan we could've afforded to draw one of them but now we must win both. He'd even got away with his team selection but for some bizarre reason refused to make changes. When it was 2-1, at around 60 minutes he should've brought Walcott and Nasri on and gone for the 3rd because that joke of a defence was never going to be able to see a one goal lead out. Instead he just allowed the game to coast, the players weren't even bothering to pressure Wigan anymore and in the end the goal came.

Reply 312

GunnerMT

Havard Nordtveit has departed Arsenal to join Borussia Monchengladbach for an undisclosed fee.

Reply 313

Louis.

And Arsenal fan's victim complex comes to light as soon as you start to struggle. Shock.

Rob, i'm not actually sure if you're wumming or actually believe the crap about persecution and corruption you always spout out.

Reply 314

milkytea

There is a lot of anti-Arsenal bull****e spouted in the cheaper tabloids, possibly due to a tendency to have a lot of foreign players in recent times. The whole media episode about snoods (usually accompanied with incriminating pictures of Nasri or Chamakh) was a good example of this, with aged cretins such as Alan Brazil chiming in with their unwanted, ill-considered opinions. On the other hand, there is a lot of praise for the team's style in the media, as well. Bit of a mixed bag if you ask me.

Reply 315

Economist

Original post by Louis.

This IMO is another myth spouted by the media. Ok so there may be an element of it at OT but I can state for Arsenal that we have had more incorrect decisions against us than for us in the past few years without any form of bias.
Take the situation where a big club is playing someone else, they score a goal which is incorrectly ruled out for offside, the game goes on and the big club end up winning 1-0 or whatever (most likely situation). Very little is made about the wrong decision at 0-0 but what if it's the small club who had a goal ruled out incorrectly, a huge fuss is made about it and all this bs about the big clubs always get the decisions.
The inferiority of the smaller club makes the decision more 'key' to them but it's not a case of that they get more decisions. Add to that i've seen Arsenal out of sight in many games and the ref just ignores pens because it's the easy way out, nobody is too bothered if its not awarded given the match situation.
Probert had a shocker last night, there's no defence for him. Having said that this season I think we've had an ok run of decisions for and against us

Reply 316

Overmars

How many people appealed for a penalty when the free-kick struck the arm? Nasri aside, I don't think there was a fuss. How many players complained when they dived and got the penalty decision? Again, there was no fuss. This is why I keep banging on about the importance of Fabregas -- even when he's having a **** game, he winds-up the opposition and he's in the ref's ear all game. He moans to the ref about every little thing and when it comes to giving the next 50/50, we get the decision.

Trying to be as objective as I can, I think we don't get our fair share of decisions but that's partly to do with the way we play. It doesn't make it right but that's the way it is. Refs have grown up watching old English football and started off by reffing the lower leagues. They're less likely to see anything wrong with tough tackles on the poncy foreigners and they'll be more likely to assume we'll go down too easy.

But there's not a lot we can do about that. I'm more concerned about the manager and players doing everything they can to win the game -- yesterday, that didn't happen, so the reffing decisions shouldn't take the spotlight.

Reply 317

Klinsmannic

I've come to the conclusion that 90% of PL refs are not up to scratch. PL/FA need to get some accountability in place and also open it up to foreign competition. Only then will there be any improvement in refereeing standards imo.

Reply 318

RobbieC

Original post by Louis.

I am illustrating some facts with my own conjecture.

Your theory falls down on the fact that Spurs and Wigan have both played us and got the significant advantage of decisions. Neither is a big club compared to us.

We've had the same with Stoke and other minnows.

It's impossible to illustrate it easily to someone who hasn't watched enough of our games and is too busy trying to prove the opposite to look at the facts.

Honestly, it's nonsense. We haven't genuinely had the majority of decisions go our way - over the course of a season - since 2006.