The Arsenal Society VIII

Hazard looks like a guy who knows how to play on the wing and torment a full back, we don't really have anyone like that atm someone who cant eally make a full backs life a living hell, and so most of our attacking play goes through the middle.

Yeh, the Everton one was a bit of an Arsenal style crumble but hey that's only one game, you might not be able to relax at 3-0 up, but you don't actively expect it to end a draw/loss.

I don't really find it that strange myself, we have a great bunch of players, but the mentality of them is awful. The home results can be put down to complacency early on in the season, then a combination of complacency and the inability to bounce back from other results (i.e. Barca/Brum) more recently. To let the failure in one competition seemingly sap all your spirit and drive in another like that is just pointless and so frustrating to see. The good away form can also be explained by complacency, imo - home teams feel that they can have a go against us as we're away from the Emirates and risk playing a higher line (look at how stupid Blackpool were last week for example), our team recognise that away games are harder than home ones and so don't let complacency creep into their game (certainly not to the same extent) and both combine to make things a lot easier for us to take 3 points. If the complacency/inability to move on from results were the only problems we had with mentality it'd be worrying, but add to that the fact that we can't rely on any lead to be enough, no matter how late we take it and things really don't look good.

We need more accountability enforced and we need proper leadership on the pitch. Both of these things come down to Wenger to sort, which, regardless of his stubbornness over things like style of play/transfer policy etc, you'd hope he'd recognise and actively try to fix, I just don't have faith that he will, though.

I think mental toughness is where the problem lies. I mean Wenger can remind tell them not to get complacent and they'd still go out and squander leads, imo. I see mentality as also being a skill - a very underrated one. I feel a bit of an addict bringing this up but it's kind of like Football Manager, but mentality isn't as visible in real football (I think people simplify it). I think of the Arsenal team as having good technical and physical attributes but very low mentality (very rarely do they pull through when things start going wrong), but people take mentality for granted, as if a player has all the technical attributes in the world his mentality will also improve by just 'giving him a rollocking' or something like that. The mentality of the Arsenal players hasn't shown any sign of improving, the same thing happens each season.

An actual reply would be nice.

I don't really have any complaints because:

(i) I didn't really have any title hopes after Liverpool, so I don't really see this as majorly affecting the outcome of our season.
(ii) I thought the team looked greatly improved from their performance against Liverpool, particularly with regards to ball retention under pressure.
(iii) We were actually shooting, and shooting well at that, which I found very encouraging.
(iv) As far as I could see, none of the goals we conceded were because of major defensive bloopers or the like: van der Vaart's goal was very well executed, Huddlestone's was also well done as well as being practically impossible for Szczesny to see, and the penalty was both fair and an outcome of necessary actions (I think Szczesny was right to go for the ball, and only just missed it).
(v) We could have scored 4 or 5, but we could have conceded 6 or 7.
(vi) It was hard for me to feel too bad after a game like that.

I've already explained why I think bringing on Bendtner and Arshavin was not a totally absurd thing to do, and also mentioned that I didn't think it was the best decision to make.

That Carling Cup loss may prove to be more costly than first thought.

Winning breeds winners.

Constantly getting close and then fallign away must start to play on peoples minds.

CL is much easier to win than the league.

Szczesny was at fault for Van Der Varts opener imo. His positioning was all over the shop, and left him with too much to do.

He's a winger, something I think we need.

There is no way you guys are getting Hazard, he's a £20m+ player. He'd be good no doubt but has too much of a reputation already, I can see Chelsea moving for him they need some youth, they can offer a higher transfer fee and higher wages.

Was it? It didn't look like that to me. Szczesny looked quite well placed - he was basically at the near post, wasn't he? He just seemed caught out by van der Vaart's timing (like Walcott's goal against Barca last season). The way I saw it, it was very well executed, and would have been difficult for most goalkeepers to stop.

If you guys finish the league in 3rd place, I don't see how Wenger can justify not spending.
Self-sustainability is great, but football is a sport first and a business second, if you don't achieve you're not really doing much, especially since the likes of Tottenham and Man City (especially) could overtake you in years to come.

Unfortunately you're wrong there. Football is a business first, sport second and has been for 20 years.

Making a balance sheet your main priority wont get you far competitively. You need to win.
Wenger needs to spend not massively or at once, but relying on inexperienced youth, is a massive risk and if it pays off is a stroke of genius. But when it doesn't you have to be able to switch your philosophy. Arsenal have a good team and play wonderful football, but at the moment that's all you've got to your name.

I agree with most of what you've said, as usual, apart from the bolded points.

About ii), I'd agree that we were slightly better in terms of ball retention and handling than what was shown on Sunday but it just wasn't up to part for a team vying for the league title - cases in point, Fabregas giving the ball away leading to Spurs' second goal, Diaby, and Song in some parts of the game, as well as Walcott wasting a golden opportunity around the 70th minute when he was in the box clear on goal and decided to just back off. There were fewer mistakes than the Pool game but the mistakes committed were still downright costly.

We could afford him if Cesc leaves. And tbh, we could probably only accommodate him into the squad if Cesc leaves.

Guys, could you explain to me how some of you have arrived at the conclusion that Chesney is the best thing since sliced bread?

I'm truly perplexed.

Its not a case of afford, its whether Wenger is going to use the money he gets to pay over the odds for someone, once a player has a reputation they always cost more than they are really worth, the only time you get them for their true value is if they want to leave and are going to in the near future. Hazard is under contract until 2015, he is a good enough player you aren't going to get him at a knockdown price, especially when Chelsea and potentially Madrid even Barca may be intrested. I don't think its in Wenger's mentality to pay that much for someone, he would prefer to find the next Hazard and pay £4-5m for him.

Guys, could you explain to me how some of you have arrived at the conclusion that Chesney is the best thing since sliced bread?

I'm truly perplexed.