The Only way is Up? - The Gooners match thread

[jmjhb]

3-0

Confidence must be back at rock bottom now

[elfil76]

In two months we have been at the top and at the bottom of the table. I'm numb.

[Annoyed Grunt]

[Verbal]

i was quietly confident about this one as well.

hmm.

off to buy some arsenic, brb.

[Holden midfielder]

SKD with three giveaways in our end and ... Goal.

[norm the jedi]

This is complete shi'te. Absolutely no attacking intent, as shown depressingly by replacing N'gog with Davies.

Tuncay and Kakuta should be on. Now bloody wanking van Persie again.

ngog was concussed [sic] he had to go off with a head injury ?

I know N'gog had to go off. Do you really think that Davies was the best or only option?

He was the only 1 up centre forward to fit a 4 5 1 or 4 4 1 1

The choice of Davies rather than playing a potential game changer just proves to me that Coyle still does not get it.

What choice was there neither player you offer fits in a single striker formation..
or should we have gone 4-4-2 when the game plan was working and we were frustrating them and actually had a foot hold in the in game ?

[truewhite15]

What on earth did we do in around March time to anger the footballing gods so? No luck, no pace, no leadership, no confidence, very little hope. Things HAVE TO change, and now.

[chaddy_bwfc]

don't worry it's only chelsea next ......

[Holden midfielder]

Why do we bother speaking with the officials after the match? A little too late.

[elfil76]

Agree, better to talk to oc when can we play ping pong.

[wanderers_on_tour]

What on earth did we do in around March time to anger the footballing gods so? No luck, no pace, no leadership, no confidence, very little hope. Things HAVE TO change, and now.

Go on...what exactly would you do, fire Owen???

You hit the nail in the head right at the start, we have no luck! Ten men, away, against Arsenal and with our main attacking outlet, N'Gog taken off with concussion in the first half. A first half where all things considered we didn't perform half bad. All we were missing is options up front and for that you can blame Koscielny for giving David N'Gog a good ol whack or Klasnic for being a silly bugger and thinking he's mr hard man.

[CarlosHernandez]

Ok. Kevin Davies. I'm tearing my hair out. He barely wins an aerial battle, and if he does the chances it falls to one of our players is minuscule. He is shite at shielding the ball when in possession. His passes are usually overhit, or straight into defenders legs.

Sure he has done well in the past, but the bad is far, far, far outweighing the good these days.

And we all know this. Yet Tuncay and Kakuta sit on the bench... players with some pace and an ability to run with the ball, or get in behind defenders.

[bedwetter2]

3-0

Confidence must be back at rock bottom now

It's not just confidence though, is it?
There needs to be a complete review by Coyle of his individual game tactics, training methods and the people running the training, selection policy (meaning whether players merit being picked continually when they have performed poorly) and, the lack of fight (which may have something to do with lack of confidence).
I don't trust him to really be objective as he reverted to type for this game when it would have been far better to select as many of those who played against Villa as possible (obviously excluding Cahill, if he is ill).

[Ianmooreslovechild]

Missed the first half,why oh why didnt I make it a longer walk .
So 451 can work but only if Ngog is up top as mobility and hold up play is vital to the system,thought Wheater shouldnt have been sent off,Walcott runs across him and takes an easy fall but hey it's clattenberg and Arsenal away so.....
Once again torn a new hole down the left.Shame about Ngog and Wheater today as I really dont have any confgidence in Knight especially next to Robbo and Davies up top is just too slow and isolated.Just Chelsea to get out of the way and then we can start to see how bad/good this can get.

[bedwetter2]

This is complete shi'te. Absolutely no attacking intent, as shown depressingly by replacing N'gog with Davies.

Tuncay and Kakuta should be on. Now bloody wanking van Persie again.

ngog was concussed [sic] he had to go off with a head injury ?

I know N'gog had to go off. Do you really think that Davies was the best or only option?

He was the only 1 up centre forward to fit a 4 5 1 or 4 4 1 1

The choice of Davies rather than playing a potential game changer just proves to me that Coyle still does not get it.

What choice was there neither player you offer fits in a single striker formation..
or should we have gone 4-4-2 when the game plan was working and we were frustrating them and actually had a foot hold in the in game ?

I'm not sure why you think that Tuncay and Kakuta would automatically mean playing them as two up front. I would have thought that Tuncay playing just behind Kakuta would offer both pace - which we are seriously lacking - and guile (of which Davies has none).

[wanderers_on_tour]

Everyone realises Tuncay and Kakuta aren't centre forwards right...

[hi there, i'm chris]

3-0

Confidence must be back at rock bottom now

It's not just confidence though, is it?
There needs to be a complete review by Coyle of his individual game tactics, training methods and the people running the training, selection policy (meaning whether players merit being picked continually when they have performed poorly) and, the lack of fight (which may have something to do with lack of confidence).
I don't trust him to really be objective as he reverted to type for this game when it would have been far better to select as many of those who played against Villa as possible (obviously excluding Cahill, if he is ill).

Or...

We can wait til we have a run of games against teams that ain't title contenders before having a complete overhaul of the club. Jesus Christ.

[wanderers_on_tour]

3-0

Confidence must be back at rock bottom now

It's not just confidence though, is it?
There needs to be a complete review by Coyle of his individual game tactics, training methods and the people running the training, selection policy (meaning whether players merit being picked continually when they have performed poorly) and, the lack of fight (which may have something to do with lack of confidence).
I don't trust him to really be objective as he reverted to type for this game when it would have been far better to select as many of those who played against Villa as possible (obviously excluding Cahill, if he is ill).

Very good but WHO!!!! Kevin Davies, Owen had no choice. Knight? No choice. Steinsson? Played well, Robinson too.

[chaddy_bwfc]

3-0

Confidence must be back at rock bottom now

It's not just confidence though, is it?
There needs to be a complete review by Coyle of his individual game tactics, training methods and the people running the training, selection policy (meaning whether players merit being picked continually when they have performed poorly) and, the lack of fight (which may have something to do with lack of confidence).
I don't trust him to really be objective as he reverted to type for this game when it would have been far better to select as many of those who played against Villa as possible (obviously excluding Cahill, if he is ill).

Or...

We can wait til we have a run of games against teams that ain't title contenders before having a complete overhaul of the club. Jesus Christ.

norwich and arsenal aren't title contenders.

To be fair though 1 win and it's going to be a completely different story. If we can grind out a draw at chelsea (at the moment seems an impossible task but you never know) then we will have a bit of confidence going into the wigan game. Holden will play against chelsea though, he could be our saviour

[truewhite15]

What on earth did we do in around March time to anger the footballing gods so? No luck, no pace, no leadership, no confidence, very little hope. Things HAVE TO change, and now.

Go on...what exactly would you do, fire Owen???

You hit the nail in the head right at the start, we have no luck! Ten men, away, against Arsenal and with our main attacking outlet, N'Gog taken off with concussion in the first half. A first half where all things considered we didn't perform half bad. All we were missing is options up front and for that you can blame Koscielny for giving David N'Gog a good ol whack or Klasnic for being a silly bugger and thinking he's mr hard man.

Of course I wouldn't. You misunderstand my point. I have every faith in Coyle; he is, lest we forget, the same manager who had the team playing so magnificently at the beginning of the season, which means he has the potential to get us there again.

What I mean is more of a general hope that our luck will suddenly reverse. But I do agree with some posters, insomuch that Robinson, Knight and Jussi need to start taking more of a back seat, as does Davies, if at all possible. We're lacking pace at the back, and lacking confidence in several key members of our back line. I'd give Bogdan half a chance; play Gardner at left back; and play Wheater (or Boyata, now that the former is suspended) alongside Cahill when Gaz isn't throwing his guts up. We're currently in one hell of a rut, even if you are taking this season in isolation, and not sticking in our horrible run at the end of last season as well. Confidence will be absolutely shot, and I think we need someone like Reo-Coker to take this team by the scruff of the neck, and have our Martin Luther King moment of inspiration now, rather than allowing this run to stagnate on and on.