We have a higher wage bill than Bayern also.

Whoever wrote this is a clueless re tard.

"So Napoli are not a decent team then? We played them off the park. At our best we are brilliant. But we need all to be on form. We have no margin for error."
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Napoli are a good side and we did play exceptionally well that evening, but read what I said. I asked when was the last time we knocked out good side out [of a cmpetetion]? Big difference between he pressure exerted in a match day 2 group game and a qquarter final/semi final against a genuine trophy winning contender. We've not put one of those out of any competition since Milan in 2007/08. That's hugely disappointing.

Napoli are no Chelsea

comment by Castor Troy (U8700)
posted 44 seconds ago
Iim just tired of us repeating the same mistakes every season against the better teams.

Today's game was just another replay of the last 2/3 games we have played against them.

Doesn't it worry anyone how comfortable they were all game?
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I agree with you. It's frustrating. Prior to Roman's ill gotten gains being used to but titles and the Barbaric slave owners who bank rolled City, we were always duking it out with Utd.

In the modern game, money talks. Wenger has worked miracles to maintain our status as one of Europe's premier clubs.

More quality will follow Ozil and with Wenger at the helm, good players will want to come. We will end up 3rd or 4th this year and next year push for the title. I'm confident that in Wenger's last year he will leave us with the title before moving upstairs.

comment by Sheriff John Brown - bring back David Dein (U7482)
posted 11 minutes ago
We've been big game bottlers for quite sometime now. Routinely schooled by Chelsea under Mourinho, severally torn a new one by United, home and away, and it's been long we knocked out a Champions League contender. I wan't really surprised by tonight. A little luck with the injuries would certainly have helped but that team put out there was never going to do the job against Chelsea.
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Dont think you watched the game.

"Napoli are no Chelsea"
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Exactly. You don't win competitions on games won against the also ran's of the world. At some point, unless your draw is an extremely fortunate one, you're invariably going to have to play a side who also have more than just designs on winning trophy's; they expect to win them. And we, just don't seem to have a clue how to beat these sides in these games. Not just that, but the pattern in these games is more or less the same time after time. Again, that's hugely disappointing.

We have a higher wage bill than Bayern also. Different country mate. Compare us with other EPL teams. In short our competitors. City, Chelse, Utd all have more expensive teams and higher wages. And guess what? They win more trophies also.

Probably Liverpool also have higher wages than us. Dortmund also gang rap.ped Real and they have a team and wages a fraction of them.
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We have a higher wage bill than Liverpool. And while they're not exactly awesome, they generally give any big team a real fight and have some bottle. It's why they outperform us in the cups and Europe even when we're a comfortably superior league team. And as you pointed out, Dortmund shows you don't have to blow half a billion to make a big impact. There's something wrong with our mentality in big matches.

I still remember a laughable Man Utd starting 11 (with Fabio in midfield) that beat a strong Arsenal FA Cup line-up a few seasons ago.

comment by Günnerthrü - Arsenal thrü and thrü (U6675)
posted 3 minutes ago
comment by Sheriff John Brown - bring back David Dein (U7482)
posted 11 minutes ago
We've been big game bottlers for quite sometime now. Routinely schooled by Chelsea under Mourinho, severally torn a new one by United, home and away, and it's been long we knocked out a Champions League contender. I wan't really surprised by tonight. A little luck with the injuries would certainly have helped but that team put out there was never going to do the job against Chelsea.
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Dont think you watched the game.
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I didn't, as I was in transit, but I did follow the BBC livetext and have seen a few match reports that generally correlate on what was a tepid display from us.

Yes Dortmund team cost a fortune only

Paid 38M EUR for Mykytarian (sorry dont know how the right spelling is).

"I still remember a laughable Man Utd starting 11 (with Fabio in midfield) that beat a strong Arsenal FA Cup line-up a few seasons ago"

That was a joke. There is just sone sort of mental block we have against the better teams

comment by Sheriff John Brown - bring back David Dein (U7482)
posted 20 seconds ago
comment by Günnerthrü - Arsenal thrü and thrü (U6675)
posted 3 minutes ago
comment by Sheriff John Brown - bring back David Dein (U7482)
posted 11 minutes ago
We've been big game bottlers for quite sometime now. Routinely schooled by Chelsea under Mourinho, severally torn a new one by United, home and away, and it's been long we knocked out a Champions League contender. I wan't really surprised by tonight. A little luck with the injuries would certainly have helped but that team put out there was never going to do the job against Chelsea.
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Dont think you watched the game.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I didn't, as I was in transit, but I did follow the BBC livetext and have seen a few match reports that generally correlate on what was a tepid display from us.
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you come to the wrong conclusion son.

Pool show bottle by huffing and puffing. More perspiration than inspiration. It is not the arsenal way to huff and puff so it looks like we lack bottle.

Dortmund have a good young team. Watch the vultures lurking and ready to pick apart the tam. In 2 years they will be also rans and not contenders.

They remind me of the Ajax team with Davids, Kanu, George, Sedorf and the rest who won the UCL only to be picked apart within 2 years by bigger teams with bigger budgets.

comment by Castor Troy (U8700)
posted 23 seconds ago
"I still remember a laughable Man Utd starting 11 (with Fabio in midfield) that beat a strong Arsenal FA Cup line-up a few seasons ago"

That was a joke. There is just sone sort of mental block we have against the better teams
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My god Castor we need to sort out simple mistake at the back. Just cut out the mistake Ramsey mistake against Dortmund, just cut out Jenko's mistake today and we are fine.

Against big teams you cant afford to make these silly mistakes. Simple as that.

And yes ...would be very helpful if we wouldnt have so many longterm injuries and injuries to important players like Flamini when we face the big boys is always welcome too. We are unlucky.

Pool show bottle by huffing and puffing. More perspiration than inspiration. It is not the arsenal way to huff and puff so it looks like we lack bottle.
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That's a laughable assertion. They play pretty good, positive football. The so-called huff ad puff is a common feature of every team superior to Arsenal. Watch teams like Bayern, Dortmund, Barca, Madrid and Athletico play. Their energy, intensity and workrate is far superior to Arsenal. It's how Dortmund made Madrid look very average. We give teams a lot of time on the ball and fail to press before danger develops.

Gunnerthru

"We are unlucky."
============================================
Look, I'm not looking to pick a fight here (you seem always on the verge of throwing down when it comes to my posts oddly), but I have to ask, on a serious note, how unlucky can one club get? This isn't just a recent phenomenon, this mistake making and losing ridiculously to better teams, this has been an on-going theme for years now, so when does it stop being misfortune and start being something in the way the team are prepared, set-up, coached (whether that be physically or mentally) or do we just continue to cite bad luck whenever a good side bests us and we have 1 shot on target at home?

We don't have the physical side in our game to play the Dortmund or bayern

"My god Castor we need to sort out simple mistake at the back. Just cut out the mistake Ramsey mistake against Dortmund, just cut out Jenko's mistake today and we are fine.

Against big teams you cant afford to make these silly mistakes. Simple as that.

And yes ...would be very helpful if we wouldnt have so many longterm injuries and injuries to important players like Flamini when we face the big boys is always welcome too. We are unlucky"

How long has this been happening now for?

Also in these games we create f all.

This isn't a one of by any chance

My god Castor we need to sort out simple mistake at the back. Just cut out the mistake Ramsey mistake against Dortmund, just cut out Jenko's mistake today and we are fine.

Against big teams you cant afford to make these silly mistakes. Simple as that.
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You say it like it's easy. If it was that easy to cut out the mistakes, we'd have done it. There's a clear lack of bottle when we meet any team with a bigger pedigree and we often lose our heads.

Absolute myth Mourinho schools Wenger. Bar 05-06 season when Chelsea were by far the best team in the league and a Arsenal team in decline the other 2 wins have come against understrength Arsenal sides. When we beat them in the league this season it will shut up the anti Wenger naysayers.

You can jazz it up however you want but Mourinho knows how to beat our teams

comment by Sheriff John Brown - bring back David Dein (U7482)
posted 1 minute ago
My god Castor we need to sort out simple mistake at the back. Just cut out the mistake Ramsey mistake against Dortmund, just cut out Jenko's mistake today and we are fine.

Against big teams you cant afford to make these silly mistakes. Simple as that.
-------------------------------------------

You say it like it's easy. If it was that easy to cut out the mistakes, we'd have done it. There's a clear lack of bottle when we meet any team with a bigger pedigree and we often lose our heads.
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Such a lazy argument, could be a direct tabloid or rival fan quote, and obviously not from someone who goes to watch their team week in week out.

We are not bottlers, that's just a soundbite, we have frequently been tactically outmanouvered by good teams, that's why they are good teams

You are making it sound like this is always the case, you forgotten that 5-3 Chelsea, the 2-1 Barca, or when we did Bayern in their back yard last year?

Our problem isn't bottling, it's that we can't keep a squad together long enough to keep the energy it takes to perform consistently at a high level. That's why it's positive for us moving forward that we are bringing in rather than shipping out.

Yeah and you can continue being negative and not having a clue. I guess the likes of Klopp, Benitez and Guardiola "school" Mourinho. Not schooling when it is not a level playing field. Until then it is just a myth from the WOB and anti Wenger naysayers.

Such a lazy argument, could be a direct tabloid or rival fan quote, and obviously not from someone who goes to watch their team week in week out.
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On your next visit to the Emirates, tell that to thousands of fans who would say the same.

We are not bottlers, that's just a soundbite, we have frequently been tactically outmanouvered by good teams, that's why they are good teams
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If you're consistently tactically manouvered in crunch games (even in a league cup final against relegated Birmingham), maybe you're actually bottlers.

You are making it sound like this is always the case, you forgotten that 5-3 Chelsea, the 2-1 Barca, or when we did Bayern in their back yard last year?
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Of course it's not always the case. Any team could say the same. But it's generally the case.

comment by Sheriff John Brown - bring back David Dein (U7482)
On your next visit to the Emirates, tell that to thousands of fans who would say the same.

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No need pal, I already know what most of the regulars around me think.



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If you're consistently tactically manouvered in crunch games (even in a league cup final against relegated Birmingham), maybe you're actually bottlers.
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Oh we're bringing in Birmingham now, so shifting the goalposts. I see the argument that we haven't had a strong enough squad to outperform the handful of clubs with better squads was too simplistic for you, so you're bringing up a freak event instead. I suppose none of the games leading up to the final were crunch games that we didn't bottle in your eyes.



Of course it's not always the case. Any team could say the same. But it's generally the case.
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It's also generally the case that we beat at least a couple of very good teams each season, which would be expected from our squad. Hence, as I say, bottling is a lazy argument.