AC Milan v Arsenal Post Match

We could have a line of top managers standing outside our gates if we even indicated we wanted a manager. It is absurd to suggest we couldn't get a good manager. Arsenal is still regarded as a top club.

Lets not forget Mourinho won the CL with Porto where he didn't have a buttload of cash to spend.

Dan,

Ancellotti has just taken over PSG who have waaaayyy more cash than we do .... so why would he come here? PSG is a big project for him .. no way he's going to give that up.

Guardiola is currently manager of the best (arguably) club on the panet right now. No way he's going to leave that for us.

Hiddink is an outside possibility but I have qualms about appointing a man who chucks his hat in the ring for any big job going. He'd be a short term appointment for us and not the long term option I feel we should be looking at.

Mourihno was replaced at the top of his game at Chelseas when he had built a squad....

We could of course go for Fabio

And that's my point. Yes I understand why there are frustrations at the moment. but to be honst I can't see a realistic improvment on what we have already .... if ... and it's a big IF ... he can turn things around.

My gut feeling is that for a number of reasons we've been living on a budget for the last few years. 1 is the stadium move and the 2nd is to build a long term stable financial base to the club. If ever there was proof of why that is needed just look at Rangers and Pompey... Man U ... Chealsea (if Ivan fucks off) and you can keep naming clubs up and down the country that are consistently living beyond there means.

duncan.cooper1 wrote:
Guardiola is currently manager of the best (arguably) club on the panet right now. No way he's going to leave that for us.

Guardiola has hinted he might leave Barcelona. Doesn't sign more than one year contracts with them.

Sami Rockfeller wrote:

duncan.cooper1 wrote:
Guardiola is currently manager of the best (arguably) club on the panet right now. No way he's going to leave that for us.

Guardiola has hinted he might leave Barcelona. Doesn't sign more than one year contracts with them.

Stop and think about what you've just said.... Pep is currently manager of the best side on the planet. We've just got spanked 4-0 by the OAP brigade ... why on earth would Guardiola want to risk the reputation he has built for himself by coming here?

More importantly why would we want to risk taking a bloke who inherited most of his side and has no track record of doing the sort of rebuilding job that we require?

Why wouldn't he? He's won everything there is to win with Barca, he's gone on record to have said he's looking for new challenges, so why not Arsenal?

I pretty much agree with everything (objectively speaking), but I really don't think we have money and Wenger doesn't want to spend. I heard Winterburn say it a few weeks ago, and Wenger said that he had to show the board a 15m-20m profit at the end of each season.
I think in this regard we can't put ALL the blame on Wenger (as much as you dislike him). Our board sucks.

McCarthyofcourse!! wrote:Big Sam was a joke yes - but what do you mean our situation. I think people are fools to believe this club has no money - we are the 7th richest in the game arent we ? again announced a tidy profit this year ... SO the question is really do we accept a deluded old hack like Wenger who is stubborn in his belief (which he does believe) that players like Ramsey, Walcott, AA must I go on ... are good enough or a manager that sees this squad needs a massive shake up ?

For the record I would take in a heartbeat - Ancellotti, Guardiola, Rogers, Moyes, Hiddink to name a few ...

Wenger has eroded this club over the years and it must stop it really is a disgrace ... I mean WTF last season a 6% increase in tickets and for what ?

Wenger is finished its just sad we are to gutless a club that concentrates on the business side of things than the actual game itself in recent years

When I sold my ST the start of this season I wondered if I had made a massive mistake - I just couldnt justify the cost of it and travelling to games - now I must say THANKYOU arsenal as it was the best thing I have ever done

I vow never to pay to watch Arsenal under Wenger again

I pretty much agree with everything (objectively speaking), but I really don't think we have money and Wenger doesn't want to spend. I heard Winterburn say it a few weeks ago, and Wenger said that he had to show the board a 15m-20m profit at the end of each season.
I think in this regard we can't put ALL the blame on Wenger (as much as you dislike him). Our board sucks.

MarkoMaksimovic wrote:Ancelloti? And what? Play boring football? Pep, he's only proven with an unlimited supply of cash. Mourinho, same story, mercenary in the world of managers... He didn't adapt, he had an owner buying all the best players. Guus Hiddink? Seriously!? I would rather play exciting football, have us financially stable than have a manager who starts pushing us into debt or claims the board has his hands tied and have us playing out 1-0 s...
hahahahahahah McCarthy, Conan of the Internet.

But we don't play exciting football. That was the legend , the myth.WE haven't for a while. We've had individuals playing exciting football -Cesc, Arshavin, Nasri, RVP ,but as a squad? No.
We play boring ,stultifying ,haphazard, erratic, excruciatingly PREDICTABLE football.
Arteta and Ramsey has to be the most pedestrian midfield I've seen in a while. I 'm not dumping on Ramsey, because he has exceptional skill but he's too young, Wenger has played him too much. Arteta provides some stability, but both are not quick, and we haven't had much aggressive attacking play out of central midfield all season. Not as much as we need ,at any rate.
The Blackburn win ? The shittiest side in the league, without their key central defender , who will probably get relegated and were down to 10 men. Yippee.

that beat utd at home...

Koscielny suffered a knock only apparently. Will be back in a matter of days.

That man is a machine.

Samritpal Singh wrote:Koscielny suffered a knock only apparently. Will be back in a matter of days.

That man is a machine.

Some good news at last....

Anybody wanna make it a double and tell me chamakh has fucked off??!

...that beat us at Ewood Park. They're still t-17 in the table.
The fact that we beat them 7-1, considering the general state Blackburn are in, doesn't really indicate anything about our quality or whether we are "exciting" or whether we can consistently play good football against strong opponents, any more then the scoreline of 4-0 yesterday testifies to Milan's quality.
Because Blackburn are crap and yesterday so were we.

Apparently (from what I read on Twitter anyway) Wenger blasted the team again using the "F" word and all that.

Who would have thought that day will come? Rightly so!

Anyway regardless of all this chat chat, people: you cannot flour up the demise of the greatman that once was; Arsene Wenger

Recent seasons have been like a broken record ! potential-promise-injuries-downward spiral -false hope- implode-emirates cup-sebastian frey spotted at nando's transfer deadline day!

And I for one am tired of it, the relationship between wenger and you average gooner is like the sex life of a couple married for 40 yeARs = non existent !!!

time for change!! I dont have a crystal ball but I saw this coming and predicted this demise in 2008! people called me crazy and the constant reply was always ''wenger knows'' I dont hear that anymore !! infact I think the new common phrase should be 'McCarthy knew' because lets face it I couldnt have been more on the money !!

Samritpal Singh wrote:Apparently (from what I read on Twitter anyway) Wenger blasted the team again using the "F" word and all that.

Who would have thought that day will come? Rightly so!

Wenger: "you're all a bunch of f... , f.... , f...FUDGE-KITTENS! Group hug everybody, come on in!!"

Our post-match dissection.

Seriously though, I know Wenger isn't the shouty type, so its good to hear he gave them a bollocking if true. I just wonder if its enough with some of these kids.


Also, I see us as exactly the club Guardiola could come to and do well. He invigorated a jaded Barca team; promoted youngsters nobody thought would make it, and instilled a work ethic and hatred of losing. We have a great foundation, a great academy, and overall good stability at the club. We're not spenders, but with a man like Guardiola, I think he could attract the best and bring the best out of what we already have.

And I see it as not entirely impossible, too. He respects Arsenal Football Club, he's said it before. He admires us. He's welcome when the time goes.

Please all remember this is football.

We copped an early freak goal, and then unlucky offside goal and key injury. We were chasing the game, needing an away goal.

You may say this is excuses, but you cannot deny any of it is not true.

Against Marseille away, was pretty similar, but they scored no freak goal, so we weren't chasing, and Ramsey got a late one. Suddenly the whole performance is seen in a different light?

Sometimes football is about scoring goals...

Jonathan Prendergast wrote:Please all remember this is football.

We copped an early freak goal, and then unlucky offside goal and key injury. We were chasing the game, needing an away goal.

You may say this is excuses, but you cannot deny any of it is not true.

Against Marseille away, was pretty similar, but they scored no freak goal, so we weren't chasing, and Ramsey got a late one. Suddenly the whole performance is seen in a different light?

Sometimes football is about scoring goals...

We didn't concede any freak goals, it wasn't offside we were well and truly beaten.

I thought it was marginal offside. A couple of weeks back when vp got caught offside with just his leg beyond the last defender people yelled at me that I dont know the offside rule and then here we have a Milan player with half his body offside and everyone is tra la la la...
Robinho's second was a freak goal, if Vermaelen hadnt slipped who knows. And obviously when AW changed the whole system to put Henry on and took of a defender we would always be vulnerable.

I'm pretty sure it was offside. Robinho's second was a bit lucky, and the 4th goal wasn't a penalty.

That's not to say we didn't deserve a trouncing, though.

Stephen Mitchell wrote:I'm pretty sure it was offside. Robinho's second was a bit lucky, and the 4th goal wasn't a penalty.

That's not to say we didn't deserve a trouncing, though.

Precisely.

if you count them as freak goals.then we may as well have conceded 7-8 goals if not for their indecisive finishing.
as sami said we were well and truly beaten and not for a second in a game we were the better team

Speaking in a national newspaper, Martin Keown a former heart of the Arsenal defence, said to reporters:

“As a former Arsenal player, I have a lot of respect for what Arsene Wenger and his staff have achieved and I can understand why he was so unhappy with his players after what I saw in Milan.”

“They seemed lost without the ball. To be a dominant defender, you really need to know the role of the person next to you, in front of you and beyond. This allows you to give information, encourage players and, if necessary, demand the same from your team-mates.”

“But when players are unsure and confused, you get the passive behaviour we saw at the San Siro. I didn’t see the communication you expect from leaders because players seemed unclear about their responsibilities.”

http://arsenal-news.com/arsenal-legend-gives-his-verdict-on-arsenal-players-after-ac-milan-clash/2466

Jonathan Prendergast wrote:Please all remember this is football.

We copped an early freak goal, and then unlucky offside goal and key injury. We were chasing the game, needing an away goal.

You may say this is excuses, but you cannot deny any of it is not true.

Against Marseille away, was pretty similar, but they scored no freak goal, so we weren't chasing, and Ramsey got a late one. Suddenly the whole performance is seen in a different light?

Sometimes football is about scoring goals...

Boateng's goal was not a freak goal. Ball over the top cut apart our defence, Boateng timed his run so he had a few yards on his marker and twatted it past Szczesny. Nothing freak about it. Vermaelen is ball watching and gets caught underneath it. Purely and simple just shit defending.

Ibrahimovic is marginally offside for their second, but Sagna is close enough to win the ball back as Ibrahimovic hesitates before running on. If Bac actually does his job instead of standing there waving his hand around, if he does what he is supposed to and plays to the whistle and worry about the non offside after the ball is safe, the cross doesn't come in. Vermaelen also is at fault for allowing Robinho to run across him and get a free header in.

The only one of Milan's goals that we can feel a touch aggrieved about is the penalty. By the letter of the law it's a foul, but contact was minimal.

Durrell wrote:

Jonathan Prendergast wrote:Please all remember this is football.

We copped an early freak goal, and then unlucky offside goal and key injury. We were chasing the game, needing an away goal.

You may say this is excuses, but you cannot deny any of it is not true.

Against Marseille away, was pretty similar, but they scored no freak goal, so we weren't chasing, and Ramsey got a late one. Suddenly the whole performance is seen in a different light?

Sometimes football is about scoring goals...

Boateng's goal was not a freak goal. Ball over the top cut apart our defence, Boateng timed his run so he had a few yards on his marker and twatted it past Szczesny. Nothing freak about it. Vermaelen is ball watching and gets caught underneath it. Purely and simple just shit defending.

The midfield didn't cover themselves in any glory. Song was sleep walking trough the whole 90 minutes. Ramsey was all over the place and looked completely clueless. Arteta was giving away the ball which was very unlike him.
Ibrahimovic is marginally offside for their second, but Sagna is close enough to win the ball back as Ibrahimovic hesitates before running on. If Bac actually does his job instead of standing there waving his hand around, if he does what he is supposed to and plays to the whistle and worry about the non offside after the ball is safe, the cross doesn't come in. Vermaelen also is at fault for allowing Robinho to run across him and get a free header in.

The only one of Milan's goals that we can feel a touch aggrieved about is the penalty. By the letter of the law it's a foul, but contact was minimal.

I think the worst thing about the Milan loss was that our best two defenders in Vermaelen and Sagna were rubbish with the basics !! Vermaelen has still not gotten over his ball watching routine. It might have been due to him being played as a left back. We missed Mertesacker. Even though he is clumsy, with him we at least look organised at the back.