Stoke 2-1 Arsenal – 01/11/08 – (Premier League) 2 November, 2008
Posted by lasagnechef in Arsenal News.trackback
We must beat Stoke in a week to forget – lasagnechef
“This game at Stoke has come at a perfect time. They will be difficult to beat and it will take some spirit, which is exactly what we need to show right now.”
“I don’t think the players will be down in the dumps. I think they will be really up for this one and keen to prove a point. Stoke should be worried, we will be angry.”
“I’m really interested to see how we play tomorrow. The players will know the fans are upset with them and they will know we will be looking for a reaction.”
Well I got my answer. A heap load of fucking shite.
I, along with a lot of other people were looking towards this game expecting something from the team, and the manager. Were we going to fight on, give everything to go for this title like they keep talking about or were they just going to carry on with that same attitude. Well if you saw the game, it was well and truly the latter.
Gallas didn’t start the game, but if anything we learned yesterday that we can still be shit and spiritless without him. Arsene started with an odd team which had me worried from the start:
Almunia
Sagna – Toure (c) – Silvestre – Clichy
Denilson – Fabregas – Song – Diaby
Adebayor – Bendtner
You know the team were bad when I had to just double-check that starting 11. They were that anonymous. They created fuck all throughout the game and defended like amateurs.
I was expecting a reaction from Arsene Wenger, he was angry after the Spurs game so I was looking towards the starting 11 to see a reflection of that. But no, it was the same old bollocks.
I mean, what kind of a midfield is that? Obviously Cesc starts, but what the hell is that around him? How can Cesc play his best game when he has those three to work with.
Song – shows potential but not good enough. Denilson – not good enough yet, a piss-poor and frankly lazy replacement for Flamini. And, Diaby – played well since his comeback but he is not a fucking left-winger, poor game for him yesterday.
So with that around him, Cesc had a poor game too. You cant just expect Fabregas to play his very best week-in week-out and everything will be fine. That’s the impression I’m getting from Wenger at the moment. We’re heavily relying on Cesc at the moment. He needs support. Wenger has let so many midfielders go without replacing them, we all saw it happening, now this is the result of that.
Wenger isn’t stupid, he would’ve known there was a problem. However he just chose not to replace them. It was very frustrating to watch him simply make that decision. Ok, I know we’re not rolling in cash at the moment but the board clearly said that if we needed a player fund would be made available. AND WE CLEARLY NEEDED A FUCKING PLAYER.
We went 1-0 down after 11 from the first long-throw of the game. Delap lobbed it in towards the far post and Toure just let the ball go over his head and Fuller got the slightest of touches to send it in. Terrible, terrible defending from Toure. He made no attempt to win the header, you could see the fear on his face when that ball was coming in and concentrated too much on trying to keep to his man. Awful goal to concede.
These long throws from Delap are fucking lethal, but we would’ve know about them and practiced for them (Or at least we should have done). We didn’t look organized at all and conceded the goal.
There was no reaction from Arsenal. No urgency to get up the other end and pull it level.
We couldn’t create anything. Our best chances were shots blazed over the bar. Frustrating and depressing to watch, not so long ago we could’ve been 4-0 up against a side like this, what has happened to us?
So half time came and something needed to be done. We weren’t working, we needed changes. The most obvious one was Theo Walcott, Stoke were slow and narrow-minded so a player like Walcott would’ve caused havoc.
So what did Wenger do? Fucking nothing. He just did his usual thing of, ‘oh, it’ll be alright, the players will do something I’m sure. No need to panic.’
BOLLOCKS!! We’re fucking 1-0 down to Stoke, being outplayed and creating nothing. How can you just carry on with that shite??!
So inevitably we carried on in the second half with Wenger just standing there. We did have more of the ball in the second half we there was still no inspiration, no penetration.
After an hour Wenger finally called upon Walcott taking off Sagna, moving Toure to right back and Song alongside Silvestre. I thought, ‘right, here we go, come on Theo!’ I hoped Walcott’s energy might inspire the team to get forward and create something. Theo’s pure determination is infectious so at this point I was optimistic.
5 minutes later the hopeless Denilson was taken off and Robin van Persie was brought on and we moved to a 4-3-3. And in the 73rd minute Wenger was forced to bring on Vela for Adebayor when he fucked up his ankle. I wasn’t really fussed, Ade wasn’t great again and Vela would probably do a better job.
Seconds later we’d conceded again. Exactly the same as the first. It was quite incredible really. I thought about switching off at this point because there was no way we were going to come back the way we were playing. But I didn’t, I wanted to see if this side had any spirit whatsoever.
Finally, there was a bit of urgency. So it takes us being 2-0 down to Stoke fucking City with 15 minutes to go for us to show some bloody urgency. Yesterday Hull went 1-0 down to Man United but did they roll over and die? No, they got stuck in, showed some much needed urgency and got themselves back in it.
I’m glad I did stick around though. Long enough to see van Persie get sent off for a fucking stupid challenge. The boy is fucking selfish; we all knew what Robin felt there when he bundled Sorensen over for time-wasting, but you just don’t do it. You show some restraint, hurry him up then get back in position.
He did not care about being sent off. He did not fucking care. That was his ticket out of here, and his way out of the Man United humiliation next weekend.
To add insult to injury. Walcott popped his shoulder again in injury time meaning we had to play the rest of the game with 9 men. Fantastic. He was down for some time so you know it’s not good.
From the resulting free kick we scored a consolation goal. Fabregas took the free-kick and confused everyone squaring it to Clichy outside the box who drove it low into the bottom corner.
I’ve been waiting a long fucking time for Gael Clichy’s first goal and I feel sorry for him that, that was the way he had to score it. That was my only highlight from yesterday, shame we didn’t get to celebrate it properly.
So, there’s a lot to be sorted out at this football club. And January will be a telling time. With Man United, Chelsea, Villa and Man City yet to come this could be a very depressing month.
Next up it’s Fenerbahce in the Champions League. Thanks for reading.
I think wenger only played diaby and denilson out wide to rest walcott and nasri for utd…didnt work,, and blame has to go to the players too….how can diaby and denilson not play wide agaisnt a team like Stoke, come off it, this team has too much youthful naiveness..there way way over confident. I just hope we can beat utd and restore some comfidence, because mentally were just not there. Good article too.
I really think supporters and fans need to stage a protest against the way the club is run and the direction its being going towards for the past few years.
I hate to admit it , but i think Mourinho was right after all when he said Wenger is no under any pressure to deliver trophies.
For goodness sake Mourinho was sacked despite winning at least 4 trophies and Wenger was never able to beat him…says a lot if u think about it.
Also i think the fans need to boycott at least one match and not pay for the ticket for the match so the board would know and feel it where it pinches ..cus i feel the board doesn’t give a damn so long as they keep making money from the fans…
Arsene Wenger is a golden goose for the board who lays the golden egg…as such it would be crazy of them to sack him…cus they would not be able to find another manager that can spend less and less amount of money every season.
We should have done better yesterday. Wenger picked the wrong formation but Denilson and co didn’t want to get near the box while Bendtner and Ade kept on getting out of the box. We must play closer to each other and give options around the box.
The players were partly to blame but it was Wenger who picked the formation. He should know that Diaby and Denilson wouldnt be able to play out wide. It was a horrible game but Wenger still wont have learned anything. He will stick with basically the same team as long as he can. The annoying thing is that he effectively has immunity. The board aren’t ever going to sack him so he knows he can do whatever he likes without having to face the concequences.
Almunia was caught out again by crosses into “his” penalty area and should be replaced by Fabianski, but i doubt that will happen. Fabianski, JD, Vela and Ramsey deserve more chances for obvious reasons. We have litle to lose as it is.
Rob Styles don’t like arsenal . He always decision to make the bad advantage to arsenal all the game and say to everyone that I try to do the best . The referee association should to be investigate some players try to injured the player and say just the game . F**k off
The referee association should to be investigate some players try to injured the player …………. yeah I agree
Arajav/Woody – Get it through your thick heads. This had nothing to do with Rob Styles – He did well. It was your spineless team who didn’t even want to be there why you lost.
“As for the referee association should to be investigate some players try to injured the player” Great English but maybe they should take a look at Van Persie !!
Rob Styles did not pick the Arsenal team.We lost because our team is a bunch of Gutless,Spineless,Pathetic over paid tossers who did not have any stomach for a battle.And we have a manager who is fucking stubborn
sack wenger now before its too late
SACK the fucking lot of em……and cesc, he’s been shit all season, lets get what we can for him now!
When we fail to qualify for the champions league at the end of this season i think that will mark the end of an era at the Arsenal. Players will leave in their droves and no one will want to buy the club with a £315 million debt around our necks, especially without CL mney coming in. We are in decline and wenger has allowed us to drift towards mediocrity for the past three years. Hleb,flamini and to a lesser extent henry all saw what was coming and it is too late to now stop the tide. Cesc next and then Theo. We are putting too much pressure on two good (but not world class ) youngsters. Our season is over before liverpool, chelseas or uniteds has began, and what with those lot down the road picking up points, its going to be a rear guard action to qualify for the UEFA cup let alone the champs lge.
well said sysuser, at long last people are waking up to our prediciment. Too many people on one sided blogs need to remove their designer rose tinted glasses and look at the bigger picture, we are in deep shit and with tricky games coming up our season is all but over. Wenger has got a job for life and it is that which is holding us back. If fizman says we have so much money then lets shift wenger to youth development before he pisses off to PSG and get a man in that can spend some tin on world class players.
I’m not going to add anything out of the ordinary to most of the thousands of other posts out there on our sites. We need to buy experience to reassure our youngsters and lighten their load.
Buying young and developing is admirable and absolutely neccessary in our financial situation but these kids dont always work out. We are building for the future but the future has been coming for 5 years now.
Consider this team of players in Arsene’s reign who were no good, left or were just mediocre.
Taylor
Volz
Grondin
Stepanovs
Upson
Boa Morte
Mendez
Sidwell
Pennant
Wreh
Diawara
11 players who could probably hold their own in the championship but were individually not the quality of an Arsenal premier winning team.
My thought was I cant think of a major established player who has totally let us down. Pires, Petit, Overmars, Campbell for all their foibles were still “go to ” players.
This team has an average keeper, weak centre backs, a genius on his own in midfield and no partnerships up front.
We need to set partnerships in the spine which means experience not a pix n mix of Djourou, Toure, Gallas, Song, Silvester or Diaby, Denilson, Song et al.
We need to concentrate on NOW or the future may never materialise.
Up The Gunners,
For fuck sake, yes we are playing shitly and have been beaten by 3 very poor teams, but we are still in all competitions and only 6 points off the top of the league with the other big 3 still to play twice.
Some of the fans (Iuse the phrase very loosly) are fucking ridiculous, calling for Wenger to be sacked? Asking if he knows what he is doing? It was only a week or two ago we demolished the turks, a few weeks before that we made Porto look very average and everyone was pulling themselves rigid over our football. How the fuck had 3 results changed all that? Last season were man u not having a nightmare? Yes they fucking were, the fans down there were saying Fergie has stayed too long and should have gone / been replaced and at the end of the season they were again singing his praises.
Yes the players have been poor this season, but so have we! every game that we have not won at a canter we have thrown our dummies out the pram and slated the club from top to bottom. We have let the players down, we have let the manager down and we have let our selves down.
This season has just begun and already many are saying it is all over. How the fuck do they get that? Do they not think Wenger has looked at his team and tried to bring in a few players? Do they honestly believe that come january we will not be in the market again for a player or two? Lastly, do they not think that Wenger feels just as much heart ache as we do with the results?
Get the fuck off their backs and start supporting the team……. really supporting the team.
Mickey C
I will always support the team.But who many more performances like Fulham Stoke Hull and to concede FOUR goals at home v Spurs are we going to put up with
I will say it now Wenger will not buy the players we need in January.A GK, CH, DM.Wenger will buy a couple of 17 year olds.Why if he didnt buy the players we needed in the summer do you believe he will in january
The blame for the performances this season are all down to Wenger
Mickey C when does the time come when we say enough is enough for Arsene to be still manager?.The end of this season,the end of next.
He has brought this pressure on himself by his failure to strengthen an already thread bare squad having lost Diarra,Flamini,Helb,Gilberto and Senderos over the last year.The decision not to buy a WORLD CLASS keeper and reappointing Gallas as captain.
He looks a weak manager now.And we cant keep looking back to past glories it is the here and now he should be judged
Eboue is a clown – Do you honestly think that we did not try to bring in oplayers in the summer? Ilner, Alonso and the affrican lad who’s name I forget were all bid for and this has been confirmed by the other clubs. Buying the type of player who fits in to our style is not as easy a job as simply going out and saying “I’ll have that one”.
You mention that we may buy a couple of 17 year olds – what like Ramsey? The Ramsey Man U, Liverpool and Everton were after? The 17 year old who has been called up for his national teams senior team? Or did you mean Coquelin – The defensive midfielder who despite his young years was being chased by all the big teams in europe including Real Madrid?
You also say the performances are all down to Wenger – wrong, the players are to blame aswell, after all they are the ones who actually play the football are they not?
We dont fear your throw ins Stoke – Enough is enough? Last season we were 1 win away from winning the league. This season we have lost 3 games (1 of which Adebayors goal should have stood), we are only 6 points off the lead. Let me ask you this – should we beat Man U on Saturday we will be above them in the league, but still more than likley 6 points behind the other two, will you be writing Man U off? and if you wont, why not? Liverpool were beaten by spurs and drew with stoke (the reverse of our results). It happens in football, the big boys get beat by the little guys, its why football is so loved.
You ask for a world class goal keeper – like who? seriously, who could we buy? who are the truly world class keepers out there? Buffon for £32 million? The Chelsea keeper who A – would never be sold to us and B – would never be in our price range, but after that there are not many are there? and they certainly are not available. Almunia has done well for us, yes he dropped a few clangers, but has more than made up for them.
I agree that Gallas as captian is not a good choice, but what were the other options? Cesc is too young and the burden would effect his game, Toure showed against Stoke that he is not respected enough and truth be told is an inferior deffender to Gallas. Van Persie is not picked every week and you have already stated you feel Almunia needs replacing so who gets the job?
I have pointed out above the attempted signings that were made public knowledge and I am sure that he tried more that we never hear about, I am also sure that come January he will again try to strengthen.
We have Rosicky and Eduardo to welcome back in January (not sure wich January Rosicky will be fit ha ha) and they will be like new signings.
You mention the players we lost, but out of the list only Flamini has really been missed. Hleb was great to watch but never actually did anything, Gilberto was well past his best and Diarra had no fight and wanted to be an automatic pick. As for Senderos, I think he should have been given every chance this season and I hope that the spell at AC will make him more composed so he will return to us better than ever as he is the big strong no nonsence defender we need.
I understand the frustrations of being an Arsenal fan – I am one aswell, a fanatic one, so I know how much it hurts when we get beat by poor teams, but I also understand how much Wenger has done for us (not just trophies) and how much he is still doing for our club. Look at the reserve and youth set up, look at our financial status and if you want to judge him on performances then go ahead, we may not have won anything over the last few years, but have we really been that far away? Champions league final, Carling cup final and 1 win away from winning the league.
Arsenal may suck now, but we will rule by the time the youngsters are mature.
Patience…
There are 5 houses in five different colors
In each house lives a different nationality.
These 5 owners drink a certain beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar and keep a certain pet.
No owners have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigar, or drink the same beverage.
The CLUES:
The Brit lives in the Red house.
The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
The Dane Drinks tea.
The Green House is on the left of the White House.
The Green House’s owner drinks coffee.
The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
The man in the center house drinks milk.
The Norwegian lives in the first house.
The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats
The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
The German smokes Prince.
The Norwegian lives next to the Blue House.
The man who smokes Blends has a neighbor who drinks water.
The QUESTION:
Who owns the fish?