Match reaction vs Pool

[Power n Glory]

This is one of my biggest qualms with the modus operandi at the club. Everything appears to be as a belated action of a consequence we have just had to endure/incur. Nothing seems to ever be stemming from us taking the initiative any more....or to coin a phrase the club likes using at timely occasions, 'being ahead of the game'.

Being ahead of the game is the foundation upon which not only the Wenger legacy is built upon but the Hebert Chapman one is too. I'm not ashamed to say that I really do love Wenger and desperately and I mean desperately want him to be THE guy to take us forward..... After all, he is an Arsenal man and has been here the best part of 20 years. However, there are times when he makes it very difficult to defend him though which as a fan of a family centric club like ours can hurt against the mouthy arsewipes of other fans and the media.

I think it is easy to lambaste people for complaining whenever we lose. If you do it whilst we are winning it often comes across as superfluous complaining and nit picking for the sake of it and people aren't always discerning enough on this board and in general to tell when somebody has a genuine concern and point of view or when they are simply splitting hairs arbitrarily. The point at hand being made subsequently being swept by the wayside or being ignored all together as a consequence.

It is also quite churlish to say no forward steps have been taken. I for one was quite happy to see Wenger break the record on a 20-25 million transfer last summer and he went and broke the record 3 times over. Bloody hell, I thought. That act alone told me things are different but the more pertinent question is, how different? and is Wenger changing and adapting to the changing game quick enough? Is he thinking on his feet, is he boxing smart any more? You can't keep flogging us tomorrow. The time has to come eventually and the time is now.

His targets were a forward and a DCM last summer. He managed to sign neither of both the repute & potential long term standing. That was a pitiful way to meet ones targets at best even if the overriding feeling was elation (and relief) from the Ozil signing in a position which whilst more than welcome was not the most obvious. If you're going to cheap out, be found wanting or lacking in quality in an area in the modern game....you better damn well make sure it is in your forward line because you WILL be found wanting. And again...and again. Let's not pretend that forwards costing the most amount of money is a mere matter of glamour and prestige alone. You would be hard pressed to name a team who has won a major trophy without a world class forward and that is very difficult to get away from....and that's before even touching on the entire 1st halves of terrible, lethargic, football we periodically put out which we sometimes cannot recover from.

We were lining up here to ridicule the backline Liverpool were going to play against us and yet they may as well have had the day off because only their midfielders and Forward line saw the ball. As far as I'm concerned as soon as last Summer's window shut, January was always going to be a point of contention as to who Wenger would get in, because it was almost certainly going to be necessary. No point thinking...phew we got away with that one (in regard to transfers in the summer)....the pressure will only be back again in the next window, so we really ought to stop this lame routine of going into seasons with glaring holes and simply 'making do' or as Wenger says more often than I care to hear 'taking a gamble' on injury prone/young/untested players. At least not when we have cash reserves sitting in the bank.

I have said it before on here but we don't match up / compete with our former selves never mind with the current might of City/Chelsea. This Summer really should be make or break, but we kind of said that last summer, so it becomes increasingly harder to escape the feeling we are being strung along.

You've highlighted a key point when it comes to our transfers. It all seems very haphazard with no real purpose. I struggle to figure out what sort of style Wenger is trying to play or what he feels this team is missing. He has bought some players that you can see don't fit into our style of play or he's bought players that simply add more of what we don't need.

I have a feeling we're falling into the same pattern where we overload the team with playmakers/passers whilst being short on players that look to get in behind defenders or look to dribble past their man to create space. I think back to the time we signed Chamakh when we had this sort of problem. I still can't understand why Wenger would sign a player like this if he's not going to play inverted wingers that can score goals. There is no need for a striker that likes to drop deep if we're going to have playmakers either side of him.

I see a similar problem with the signing of Giroud and we've fallen into that same pattern for certain games. I don't know why he isn't giving Podolski more games and encouraging him to play closer to Giroud so they form a strike partnership. Some of the decisions are baffling. Like Chamakh and Gervinho, I can see him giving up on Podolski in the next window and it's hard to understand why he signed him in the first place if he's not sure how to use him.

I hope next summer we some signings that show some purpose. I don't want us to sign another player that results in us pushing a player like Wilshere or Cazorla or Ramsey out wide just to make room. Or signings like Arteta where try them in positions they've never played before. He must have a vision for the way we want to play or see a particular weak area and strengthen it.

[Maestro]

http://www.givemesport.com/429229-ar...n=outbrain-rss


now that's what you call a match reaction

cripps is out there