Wigan post match

Am I the only one who thinks the ref lost it for us?

Sure, we were quite poor, but isn't that only made worse by a horrible ref? Wigan clearly were busting their guts and credit to them for that part of their game, but not their cheating. Al-Habsi should've been booked in the 1st half for time wasting. Instead Marriner waits until the 92nd minute, stops play (hence wasting more time) and books him. Their players walk off when being subbed off, while Marriner pretends to be busy talking to an Arsenal player. Theo is quite blatantly pushed when through on goal, and instead of a free kick in a very dangerous area we get...nothing.

Beyond that, every time we took a free kick from an offside or whatever, he pulls it back for a rolling back. A couple of times he just took forever to call an offside, and pulled our play back. Bosejeur or whatever stealing some 10 yards with every throw in. Wigan got away with a lot, we got away with very little.

All these little things, the little decisions that technology cannot fix, threw us off our stride. We were not great, but don't you think that was all contributory? To the extent the players didn't bother to argue the calls after a while, while Wenger was going insane on the touchline.

A shocking performance tonight. The minute Arteta came off it was game over for us.

We were poor throughout the pitch really. Constantly exposed at the back, lack of composure, concentration and complete complacency.

Sagna had an absolute nightmare tonight. Moses tore him apart from start to finish. Ramsey and Gervinho have been atrocious since the turn of the year. Gervinho's performances, since Christmas, have been no better than Arshavin's when he was playing poorly.

Walcott can't play football with a defence in front of him. He did one good thing all game which was to pull the defender towards him for the goal which allowed Vermaelen space for his goal.

No plan B. No alternative for RVP and no striker to play alongside him.

We've actually been quite poor in three of our last four games. QPR all over again and I tell you weren't much better against ten man Wolves.

Still A LOT of work to do. We really need to step it up in the last few games.

You're asking for trouble if you give a relegation contender anything to hold onto at our place. From a neutral point of view they were magnificent, but it was all very QPR all over again.

I wonder how we prepared for this game. Very poor. RvP seems quite distracted atm, Theo was non-existent, our defence was fat and the subs were slow in coming. Once Wigan took the sting out of the game we barely looked like scoring.

Yes, the ref could have been stricter on time wasting but there were also plenty of times when Wigan were just quicker or stronger to get to the ball.

No point bringing the Ox on and getting him to run at the defence if no-one is moving up front to give him anything to work with. Incidentally, has Wenger forgotten the Ox's role in revival? He might give the ball away but that's hardly his fault when he's given so little time to shine. Those applauding Wenger for managing his game time should also be critical of how slow Wenger is to bring him on when he and Rosicky are the only creators with any spark.

10th league defeat this season. Given the previous nine I suppose we shouldn't be surprised.

I agree, the ref had a nightmare. He let Wigan get away with time wasting from the 10th minute. And yes he made some poor calls/wrong decisions.

However I don't think we can blame him for our loss- we were really really poor tonight and we just have to take a look at our own performance rather than that of the referee.

John Foxall wrote:our defence was fat

Haha

Enough of this shit game, when is arteta back ?

We badly missed Arteta. We were 2-0 down and there was no one calm and intelligent enough to bring us back to the game. Sure, we played some pretty football up until the goal and ten minutes after it, but then we started playing very shit again. The ref was fucking poor but we were poorer.

ralph avedikian wrote:Enough of this shit game, when is arteta back ?

James Olley ‏ @JamesOlley

Just seen Arteta walk to the players' lounge on crutches and with right foot in a protective boot. Doesn't look good. #afc
Retweeted by Gingers for Limpar

Arteta was not the difference between victory and defeat.

He might not have created chances or done more than any of the ones who played in terms of attack, but his calm presence was much needed.

So we have Chelsea, Norwich, Stoke away and? Two out of that three are very losable games.

Van Roy Bostanian wrote:So we have Chelsea, Norwich, Stoke away and? Two out of that three are very losable games.

west brom away!!

I say we win against chelsea, draw at stoke, win vs norwich, lose to west brom and finish 3rd.

Van Roy Bostanian wrote:So we have Chelsea, Norwich, Stoke away and? Two out of that three are very losable games.

Wouldn't be surprised to see us beat Chelsea and Stoke, but go into Tim Lovejoy mode again against 'only' Norwich.

Van Roy Bostanian wrote:

ralph avedikian wrote:Enough of this shit game, when is arteta back ?

James Olley ‏ @JamesOlley

Just seen Arteta walk to the players' lounge on crutches and with right foot in a protective boot. Doesn't look good. #afc
Retweeted by Gingers for Limpar

could be a fracture or just precautionary. My guess is he wont be fit for the Chelsea game, unless he has an exceptional healing capacity.

Arteta out? Shit... that stinks more than a hobo's hoochhole.

John Cross ‏ @johncrossmirror

#afc Wenger looks in a dark place. Wenger says Arteta injury 'looks very bad.' And says Chelsea is now 'vital' says Wenger.

Arteta's season looks like to be over.Ramsey's recent form has been dreadful.So all eyes on Mr. Diaby now.

I'd actually play Chamberlain over Ramsey right now. Ramsey has been very slow in moving the ball and he needs to pick up his speed. Chamberlain needs to calm down a bit with the dribbling but I think he'd perform better. The thing is, Gervinho has been pretty poor so should we play Ramsey and Chamberlain or Chamberlain and Gervinho?

Adham Khattab wrote:I'd actually play Chamberlain over Ramsey right now. Ramsey has been very slow in moving the ball and he needs to pick up his speed. Chamberlain needs to calm down a bit with the dribbling but I think he'd perform better. The thing is, Gervinho has been pretty poor so should we play Ramsey and Chamberlain or Chamberlain and Gervinho?

Chamberlain and Diaby perhaps?

I don't think we should play Diaby right now. He won't have any game time before Chelsea and that's too dangerous for him. Thinking about it right now, I think Gervinho is more off form than Ramsey. I'd put Ramsey in the middle and Chamberlain as winger.

Wenger: "Arteta has an ankle problem. It looks quite a serious one."

Wenger: "Jack Wilshere will not play again this season, and will not play at the Euros. He is making slow progress. He will not be ready."

what a bad day this turned out to be

I actually prefer the current Wenger. In the quote I read from him after the game he placed the blame entirely on the team instead of talking about the referee even though he appeared frustrated with him during the game. Today wasn't the referee's fault, it was our fault as a team. Wigan were decent, but if we had been more caring we would not have lost today. I hope we win against Chelsea or else it will be very easy to play in the Champions' League next season.

One of the most frustrating evenings at the Emirates that I can remember.

Congratulations to Wigan, they deserved the win. Tactically, Martinez got it spot on. The way they utilised the space in behind our midfield and in between our full backs was great from their point of view. Moses and Di Santo (one of the worst strikers to regularly play in the Premier League) gave us a torrid time and defensively, apart from half an hour in the 1st half, they were solid. They were hungry, they won tackles and they were very good on the ball. Their time-wasting was shitty though but maybe if we didn't let them go two goals ahead that wouldn't have happened.

Arsenal? We were just terrible. Defensively, as a unit, we were a disgrace. How many times in recent years have we conceded a goal from our own corner/free kick? It feels like loads. I know Arteta was off the pitch when they scored their goals but that is no excuse to be caught out so easily. Absolute garbage.

Going forward we were slow, predictable, narrow, unimaginative... only Rosicky offered a drive and determination and a creative spark but even he slowed down in the 2nd half. We did have chances and I did think we would equalise in the 1st half but around the half hour mark the game slowed down, we couldn't maintain the pace and Wigan started to control the game better. As for the 2nd half? I wanted to tear my hair out because we just didn't have any cohesion going forward or going back. Off the ball, on the ball... it was just not there.

People will find their scapegoats but I don't think many players came out with credit. In fact, only Rosicky for me.

The back 5 - Haven't seen a replay on tv yet but Szczesny must be disappointed with the 2nd goal and our full backs were given a roasting all game. Santos defensively could have been beaten by anyone with a half brain and a couple of functioning legs tonight. Djourou always looks shaky, nothing new there.

Midfield - Arteta going off was a blow and will be a bigger blow if he misses the rest of the season because the player to replace him, Ramsey, is playing so bad right now. He slows down the play and he just isn't decisive in the final 3rd and he has the worst backheel in the game. He never hides though which is a great trait to have but I feel for the 1st time in this run he did in the 2nd half. And you can feel the fans frustrations towards him and his confidence is pretty shot and it isn't nice to see. He wasn't the worst player tonight but reading fans' reactions on FB and Twitter he is getting a lot of the blame. He shouldn't be near the 1st team right now but I can't see Wenger bringing in Coquelin or Diaby for a game like Chelsea.

Song was also pretty terrible. Going both ways.

Front 3 - RVP lacked any real service but he should have done better putting Rosicky through in the 1st half (ball slightly behind him) but other than that he just wasn't involved enough. Walcott can't perform against teams who pack the defence and Gervinho couldn't do anything to change the game, either. Ineffective. Benayoun was only taken off because he's the easier option, Theo was worse though.


We have gone and made life much harder for ourselves and the Chelsea game has now become huge. A win tonight and top 3 would have looked more secure, lose to Chelsea and top 4 is seriously under threat.