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The 2016-2017 Football Thread
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And Arsenal, oh dear. Oh, dear. Oh, dear. Not their finest hour though well done to Liverpool.
Bournemouth did superbly - especially in the second half.
Yes it wasn't the best result for them. A 6 pointer in terms of Champions League places.
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Actually was a massive win for a change!
I love Mr Wenger - I really do, and don't much care for the sniping currently taking place in the undergrowth - but this perennial brittleness of Arsenal is not a new problem.
True. Changing manager regularly has hardly brought more success elsewhere in the league. Chelsea might be doing well this year, but who can forget last years effort.
Mind you Leicester are a different team their last two games.
Hm.
Re Leicester, yes, they are a different team, but I do have to question their work ethic and loyalty under Mr Ranieri.
If basic human decency and some of the more admirable qualities such as loyalty do not suffice, surely the adulation that they - that is, that team - would be guaranteed to receive for the rest of their lives in Leicester - plus, the massively enhanced contracts they received last summer in advance of the new season - should have been more than adequate to supply some motivation for performances marked by basic competence, let alone enthusiasm - or professional pride - for their standing and reputation within their chosen profession.
And - yes - I think some of those players may be busily putting themselves in the shop window for the summer transfer season - after all, if they were as lethargic, and listless as they had seemed in the latter stages of Mr Ranieri's stewardship, they few would be even thinking of placing bids for them next summer.
So, Wenger decides to play long ball - he's getting slain in the press over this but I think it was a completely reasonable decision given Liverpool's obvious weaknesses against the long ball. The failure was one of execution - Arsenal just don't play that way and you can't expect them to turn into West Brom overnight (thank goodness).
But still, Wenger playing longball - that's easily as big a shock as any that 2016 threw at us.
But still, Wenger playing longball - that's easily as big a shock as any that 2016 threw at us.
Methinks the press doth overreact a bit, as you suggest.
However, there appears to be a little more to the story than an improbable tactical stratagem: In any case, the Guardian/Observer have yet another dimension to this story, which is that Sanchez had been dropped for the Liverpool match because he had argued with - actually quarrelled (bitterly) with - team mates and had stormed out of a training session, and - it seems that this may have been one of the reasons he was dropped.
Maybe he was watching old George Graham error videos!
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The press overreact? Surly not!
Mr Ranieri - I hope he lands somewhere where he is appreciated. I still think the burden of playing in Europe led to their decline. Any of the top four(Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City*) can go over and play well there and come back home again and play well. It takes deep pockets, and a deep bench, to do that though. Look at Spurs, a not TOP 4/BIG 4 side, they struggle with Europa league every year.
* Didn't Liverpool used to be in this category?
But - to be honest - I don't think that they saw participation in Europe as "a burden".
Rather, I think that they saw it as a once-off adventure, one that would - most likely - never be repeated in the club's history - and therefore, they were prepared to enjoy it to the full. They did far better in Europe than anyone might have expected, and seemed to have concentrated on Europe to the detriment of the needs of their own domestic league competition.
Have to say we looked good against Chelsea for the first 20 minutes. Then it all went wrong. Come on boys lets pull this back!
eh, my point is made either way...
And, with the away gaol already achieved, it is not entirely beyond the realms of possibility that they would win at home in the return leg.
Re West Ham, - to be honest, my sense is that the score almost flattered them; Chelsea were by far the better team.
I am not looking forward to reading them.
This result was not remotely unexpected, but is brutally - and embarrassingly - bad.
I love Mr Wenger, I really do, and I cannot abide the mean-spirited whiners, whingers and those carping twits who are whispering - the usual "decapitate the manger" nonsense that you hear at this time of year - he's is the best thing that ever happened to Arsenal - but, for a team that once had a sort of rugged bulldog spirit, and knew how to fight, how to challenge for control of midfield and how to defend doggedly - they are beginning to capitulate and surrender abjectly rather easily.
Now: I don't mind defeats - anyone can lose to superior opposition and anyone can be outclassed on the day: However, I do mind capitulation - these are professionals, exceptionally well paid professionals - who, presumably, are somewhat talented and supposedly rather good at what they do, hence the rewards they receive - and one expects a degree of professional pride in "wearing the jersey", one assumes that motivation - and some sort of possible plan - (not schoolboy errors) - and it is also reasonable to expect that a team will want to put in a whole hearted effort - and that they might possess no small skill - at that level.
What bothers me about Arsenal at the moment are the number of defeats they have clocked up in their last six games. And this most recent defeat is more than a mere defeat - it is a humiliating capitulation.
I can only hope that now they are out of the Champion's League (even if their departure occurred under such excruciating conditions of complete capitulation and such abject surrender) that the cessation of such distractions (albeit remunerative distractions) will have a salutary effect upon their focussing power - that is, focusing power on football - for the rest of the Premiership season.
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Oh, yes, I can blame the players........and will.
Anyway, there is a fresh contract on the table for Mr Wenger.....should he wish to sign it.
Some of these young men are........incredibly pampered, protected and have cultivated a stupendously entitled attitude.
Now - while I am not - by any means - advocating a return to the days when Jimmy Hill had to fight (hard) against the imposed ceiling of the maximum wage - and social class divisions were brutally sharp in football (especially in the good old UK) - a little bit of a work ethic for £60,000 a week - a little effort, ambition, professional pride, feeling or loyalty to the jersey and the wider community which supports them - wouldn't go amiss.
Totally agree. Like that money we waisted on that idiot who wanted to go back to France. He was happy in the UK when he signed his new improved contract. Then suddenly he feels homesick when a club comes calling.
There are a few loyal players around, but less and less these days.
I just watched the highlights of BM/Arsenal match, OMG! My Arsenal friends are having a seizure right now.
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