What The Hell Is Going On?!

[Ernesto]

If you place your finger in the centre of the image below - job done.

I get where you're coming from Quinny but the players can't not want to play, can they? They have the intelligence to play the game, depending on the circumstances.

As someone has said, 11 against 11, player for player, our team sheet was better than those of Manchester United and Swansea yet we've picked up 0 points from these games.

I'm not absolving Wenger, not for a moment. I want to see a change because I want to see us beat Chelsea. I want to see us go far in Europe. I want us to beat a team 7-0, like I know they can, rather than sitting back (see Bournemouth, a few weeks back). None of this will happen under Wenger.

The attackers should know how to score, defenders should know how to stop goals going in. It's an inherent intelligence.

[Niall_Quinn]

I get where you're coming from Quinny but the players can't not want to play, can they? They have the intelligence to play the game, depending on the circumstances.

As someone has said, 11 against 11, player for player, our team sheet was better than those of Manchester United and Swansea yet we've picked up 0 points from these games.

I'm not absolving Wenger, not for a moment. I want to see a change because I want to see us beat Chelsea. I want to see us go far in Europe. I want us to beat a team 7-0, like I know they can, rather than sitting back (see Bournemouth, a few weeks back). None of this will happen under Wenger.

The attackers should know how to score, defenders should know how to stop goals going in. It's an inherent intelligence.

But even taking one instance, in a catalogue of screw-ups - we say the players are nervous, feeling the pressure, all true to some degree. Let's not even consider what should have happened BEFORE the game in terms of tactical and mental preparation, and not just before that game but before every game so it becomes a habit, a philosophy. What about DURING the game? We have one player that appears not be nervous, that appears not to be cracking under the pressure. He's having a good game, making things happen, he's scored a great goal, he's a thorn in the opposition defence. What happens? The manager removes him from the final segment of the game, the crucial phase where we had to get the goals. That's just vandalism really and it shows either a deep lack of understanding about what was going on on that pitch or, which is more likely and even more damaging, desperately disordered priorities that simply don't appreciate the time, the place, the circumstances.

I know it's hard to comprehend, but the evidence is there. This manager is completely out of his depth at this level and probably has been for a long time. So this is the guy you have directing the team, getting them focused, preparing them mentally, issuing the priorities. Is it any wonder we are a total shambles on the pitch? And you can ask well why was it not like this in prior seasons or earlier is this season? Pressure. Real pressure. The pressure that comes when the opportunity to correct mistakes and make up lost ground gets smaller and smaller. This is the sort of pressure Wenger has been cracking under year after year after year. His increasingly negative, unambitious and (I have said) cowardly tendencies become heightened until they strangle the team (like the last minutes against Liverpool where Wenger virtually gifted 2 points to the opposition and started this rot). His blind faith in certain players despite their form, his obsession with football expressed as numbers rather than a passion, guts, endeavour, a sport played by real human beings.

Take that pressure away and he's at his level, he can cope. Just about, but at least it's not catastrophe. Apply that pressure and he sinks without trace, along with every team he's put out there over the past 10-12 years. He's a mid table, no pressure, no expectations manager who, because of the resources at Arsenal, has bottled his averageness, his mediocrity, his par mentality and turned it into a Top 4 Trophy, CL Last 16 paint by numbers routine. And he's terrified to modify anything at all because if he goes over the lines or uses the wrong colour he'll find himself on alien ground. That's how he can sit through a whole match as we get hammered by a bunch of chavs, 6-0 on his thousandth game, and do fuck all. 1,000 games, up against the mortal foe, everyone looking for him to win, to make a statement, to break the hoodoo. 6-0. There's that pressure again.

[Ernesto]

But even taking one instance, in a catalogue of screw-ups - we say the players are nervous, feeling the pressure, all true to some degree. Let's not even consider what should have happened BEFORE the game in terms of tactical and mental preparation, and not just before that game but before every game so it becomes a habit, a philosophy. What about DURING the game? We have one player that appears not be nervous, that appears not to be cracking under the pressure. He's having a good game, making things happen, he's scored a great goal, he's a thorn in the opposition defence. What happens? The manager removes him from the final segment of the game, the crucial phase where we had to get the goals. That's just vandalism really and it shows either a deep lack of understanding about what was going on on that pitch or, which is more likely and even more damaging, desperately disordered priorities that simply don't appreciate the time, the place, the circumstances.

I know it's hard to comprehend, but the evidence is there. This manager is completely out of his depth at this level and probably has been for a long time. So this is the guy you have directing the team, getting them focused, preparing them mentally, issuing the priorities. Is it any wonder we are a total shambles on the pitch? And you can ask well why was it not like this in prior seasons or earlier is this season? Pressure. Real pressure. The pressure that comes when the opportunity to correct mistakes and make up lost ground gets smaller and smaller. This is the sort of pressure Wenger has been cracking under year after year after year. His increasingly negative, unambitious and (I have said) cowardly tendencies become heightened until they strangle the team (like the last minutes against Liverpool where Wenger virtually gifted 2 points to the opposition and started this rot). His blind faith in certain players despite their form, his obsession with football expressed as numbers rather than a passion, guts, endeavour, a sport played by real human beings.

Take that pressure away and he's at his level, he can cope. Just about, but at least it's not catastrophe. Apply that pressure and he sinks without trace, along with every team he's put out there over the past 10-12 years. He's a mid table, no pressure, no expectations manager who, because of the resources at Arsenal, has bottled his averageness, his mediocrity, his par mentality and turned it into a Top 4 Trophy, CL Last 16 paint by numbers routine. And he's terrified to modify anything at all because if he goes over the lines or uses the wrong colour he'll find himself on alien ground. That's how he can sit through a whole match as we get hammered by a bunch of chavs, 6-0 on his thousandth game, and do fuck all. 1,000 games, up against the mortal foe, everyone looking for him to win, to make a statement, to break the hoodoo. 6-0. There's that pressure again.

I actually can't disagree with any of that.

[Letters]

I do agree with a lot of that but was there not pressure in the last couple of cup runs?
Yes, we looked nervy in some of those games but we finished the job. When we were 2-0 down in the first of the Cup Finals we didn't crumble, we fought back.
At Old Trafford I thought we were outstanding and in the 2nd Cup Final we spanked them from the start.
IMO the biggest problem is the lack of a captain. Wenger has never been a great motivator, he's always relied on the players to go out and do their thing. And to an extent why shouldn't they be able to? But when things aren't going away we do lack leadership out there on the pitch, someone to pick them up.
Adams or Vieira wouldn't have LET us perform like we did against Utd or Swansea.

[Kano]

Adams was captain for a bloody long time but he also oversaw quite a few seasons of underachievement. So one man alone isn't enough. A strong captain would be nice but look at any successful Arsenal team or sports team for that matter (even Djokovic, one of the most prepared tennis players in an individual sport hired Becker to help him for crucial mental situations in the slams) and you'll see a group of psychologically strong people. George Graham's teams had them, Wenger's early teams had them but we haven't now for a decade. Winning one off games in a cup competition is a small step toward building a three dimensionally strong psyche that can sustain a 9 month competition and not crumble when the heat is really on, as happened in the last two games.

[Letters]

But the heat was on when we played City, they were thought by everyone to be the favourites, by beating us they could have leapfrogged us.
I agree that there is a different kind of pressure in a title race. IMO the big problem is an inability to dig themselves out of a bad run of form, we take forever to recover and by the time we do it's too late.

[Kano]

But the heat was on when we played City, they were thought by everyone to be the favourites, by beating us they could have leapfrogged us.
I agree that there is a different kind of pressure in a title race. IMO the big problem is an inability to dig themselves out of a bad run of form, we take forever to recover and by the time we do it's too late.

Sure, the pressure was there to a degree against City but with so many games left and no expection in terms of being the outright leader because of the time left in the season, it wasn't absolutely crucial to win. There were plenty more clashes against 'rivals' to prove our mettle in that regard. It was really just another of the small steps. The last dozen games are when the pressure really cranks up and the last two games have illustrated that when the intensity increases even further, the squad isn't prepared enough to cope. It has happened too many times over the past 5/6 years for it not to be an insurmountable problem for Wenger. He is good at working with players high on confidence - hence the long stretches of form at times - but he cannot find it within himself to dig them out of a hole when shit hits the fan.

[Letters]

but he cannot find it within himself to dig them out of a hole when shit hits the fan.

Agree, but I guess my point is...twas ever thus. Wenger has always had these flaws but when you've got players like Henry and Bergkamp and the rest and a captain like Adams and Vieira and it's not a problem.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

The problem started with replacing more physical players who had strength, pace and technique with smaller more technically centric players, that and the you tube generation meaning that future stars that he could once pick up for 500,000 were costing ten million +.

Sanchez is arguably the only player we have of both the technical ability and physique of the invincibles players

You see any ex pro talking about them, they said they were physically intimidating (most over 6ft tall and bulky).

And even then there could be a mental frailty, like the loss to Everton in 2002 was followed by three successive defeats

The collapse from 2-0 up against Bolton and then losing 3-2 to Leeds at home

The collapse against man united and Chelsea when we were chasing the treble in the unbeaten season

The collapse in form after Game 49 ending the unbeaten run in 2004

This suggests a manager who lacks the ability to pick players up and motivate them to deal with disappointment.

[mastermind84]

This is what is wrong. Not "Pashun" or "determination" or "leadership."



https://twitter.com/afcstuff/status/705500553909030912

We can't finish at all.