It's been over a decade mate, things aren't going to change now.

Is there a link to what Henry said by the way?

comment by Tu Meke Santi (U3732)
posted 30 minutes ago
Is there a link to what Henry said by the way?
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The Debate on Sky sports with Alan Smith also concurring with his analysis.

The Bould effect

Everyone including all our fans know that our defending was shambolic, it has been for a long time. If Henry tried to put a positive spin on it then he'd be a shocking pundit.

Not exactly a shock statement, only Liverpool have a worse defence out of the top 6 teams. You know it's obvious when every pundit in England says the same thing.

Henry is wrong, our defence is famously the best in the country, and tight, really tight, tighter than two coats of paint.

Arsenals midfield is as much the problem as the defence. As a unit they do not work hard enough and the defence, which isnt great anyway, is exposed. There's a real lack of energy in Arsenals midfield. If you look at Spurs' Eriksen (Ozil's equivalent) he does not go flying into tackles but he covered more ground than any midfielder in the league last season. He puts a shift in every time while also delivering at the other end.

Liverpools problem is more of a quality of defender issue IMO. They have plenty of energy as a team, and close and press hard but balls into the box cause panic and this stems from the keeper and flows through the CBs, none of which are commanding leaders. Someone like Sakho is sacrificed because he is not good enough on the ball when actually he's probably more of a brave leader than anyone in their current backline.

Both teams could do with a specialist DM, disciplined, screening the backline. The balance is too in favour of attack. The likes of Henderson and Granite are not that, and Elneny (sp?) is just lightweight and average....why you'd chose this sort of player over a british type player is beyond me. Someone like Ryan Mason is infinitely more committed and equally as capable on the ball as Elneny, but would never be considered. Just because he's foreign he's accepted. If he was call John Smith, he'd be considered as a typical technically poor english type player. This lack of ability on the ball was levelled at Wanyama and so he was not considered by Arsene...Christ what a difference he would make to either LFCs or AFCs defences.

"-he will never criticise his players "

In public you mean, this cannot be a criticism btw.

If you look at Spurs' Eriksen (Ozil's equivalent) he does not go flying into tackles but he covered more ground than any midfielder in the league last season. He puts a shift in every time while also delivering at the other end.

________________

Whilst Ozil hasn't quite delivered on the other end like Eriksen has in the PL, the German actually does cover a similar distance per game as the Dane.

Arsenals midfield is as much the problem as the defence. As a unit they do not work hard enough and the defence, which isnt great anyway, is exposed. There's a real lack of energy in Arsenals midfield. If you look at Spurs' Eriksen (Ozil's equivalent) he does not go flying into tackles but he covered more ground than any midfielder in the league last season. He puts a shift in every time while also delivering at the other end.
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I think the main problem is we commit to many players forward too often which can leave our defenders exposed on the counter. There needs to be a better balance with ensuring we have enough players to defend a counter attack if we lose the ball. We've (currently) got players like Sanchez who can do the hunting of 2 players off the ball. Ramsey can also bomb around the pitch as well. It's organisation and game management, this can be coached into these players and this team, but it won't be done by Wenger.

comment by The Candlestick Maker (U8959)
posted 40 minutes ago
Arsenals midfield is as much the problem as the defence. As a unit they do not work hard enough and the defence, which isnt great anyway, is exposed. There's a real lack of energy in Arsenals midfield. If you look at Spurs' Eriksen (Ozil's equivalent) he does not go flying into tackles but he covered more ground than any midfielder in the league last season. He puts a shift in every time while also delivering at the other end.
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I think the main problem is we commit to many players forward too often which can leave our defenders exposed on the counter. There needs to be a better balance with ensuring we have enough players to defend a counter attack if we lose the ball. We've (currently) got players like Sanchez who can do the hunting of 2 players off the ball. Ramsey can also bomb around the pitch as well. It's organisation and game management, this can be coached into these players and this team, but it won't be done by Wenger.
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Hard to disagree with any of this. Our players are of sufficient quality to repel the likes of Vardy and co. It's down to the system we play. Problem Wenger has it that if he was to spend big on a good DM (someone like Wanyama who is available) then he'd have to sacrifice Ramsey or Xhaka which he doesn't want to do as it goes against his attacking philosophy.

The team failed to make the top 4 because of a very poor midfield. The manager was forced to change the system to protect the defense. we can hide our faces in the sand and say our midfielders are fantastic, best in the world etc etc. But its the midfield that needs to improve.

Wonderful job by Pochettino, I have never seen a team so balanced as Spurs.

We have better quality players than Spurs but they have better manager, imagine Poch was coaching Arsenal, 🤤. When we play any game, most of our fans are transformed from happiness to almost getting heart attack that's totally unhealthy.

comment by Edinspur (U1109)
posted 1 hour, 54 minutes ago
"-he will never criticise his players "

In public you mean, this cannot be a criticism btw.
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yeah apparently hes lovely to the all, then when he drops them its for no reason at all

Roughly how much money in wages have Wenger and his players received in his 21 year spell? More money than the stadium cost?

Wonderful job by Pochettino, I have never seen a team so balanced as Spurs.

We have better quality players than Spurs but they have better manager, imagine Poch was coaching Arsenal, 🤤. When we play any game, most of our fans are transformed from happiness to almost getting heart attack that's totally unhealthy.
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Have your lips parted from his ar$e yet?
Spurs haven't done anything but become old AFC, (10 yrs ago) look pretty, dont win anything, and talking about winning the net spend trophy that no-one gives a chit about.

It really is an issue of attitude and coaching, not personnel. We've seen in some of the games towards the tail of last season, particularly the FA Cup semi/final, that when Arsenal really have to grind out a win, they're more than capable of playing with discipline and relishing the art of defending. But as soon as the pressure's back off, the lax attitude returns and we see a return to over-committing of players and team defensive effort taking a backseat to attacking fluidity. The fact that it happens at home on the first day of the season regularly really highlights that it's a complacency issue.

The the players will only over commit if they aren't told to do otherwise we have a really thick group of players

Maybe Koscielny should learn to not get banned.

comment by Choice City (U6187)
posted 34 minutes ago
Roughly how much money in wages have Wenger and his players received in his 21 year spell? More money than the stadium cost?
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Not sure what your point is...

What's your point?

comment by renoog (U4449)
posted 1 hour, 14 minutes ago
It really is an issue of attitude and coaching, not personnel. We've seen in some of the games towards the tail of last season, particularly the FA Cup semi/final, that when Arsenal really have to grind out a win, they're more than capable of playing with discipline and relishing the art of defending. But as soon as the pressure's back off, the lax attitude returns and we see a return to over-committing of players and team defensive effort taking a backseat to attacking fluidity. The fact that it happens at home on the first day of the season regularly really highlights that it's a complacency issue.
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Spot on

comment by Choice City (U6187)
posted 23 minutes ago
What's your point?
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That I'm not sure what your point is.

I asked a question and the point was the answer to it