Arsenal v Aston Villa

Saturday 23rd
Emirates stadium 3:00pm


Back to what can only be described as must win again...we are playing arguably one of the worse teams this season..means nothing we could still fuck it all up..I want to see the strongest team available and I want to see us slap the shit out of them we need a positive result with the spurs game also coming up...I don't care if we stick 10 past them I just want organization,everyone doing what they need to do be in positions they should be and Gervinho nowhere near the pitch....


TEAM NEWS

Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna is out with a knee problem suffered during Tuesday's defeat by Bayern Munich.

Kieran Gibbs remains sidelined by a thigh injury but fellow left-back Nacho Monreal returns after being cup-tied in midweek.

Aston Villa pair Gabriel Agbonlahor and Karim El Ahmadi are available after missing the victory over West Ham through illness.

Charles N'Zogbia has overcome a thigh problem suffered in that match.

MATCH PREVIEW

It hardly needs saying that it has been a horrendous week for Arsenal.

Home defeats by Blackburn and Bayern Munich in separate cup competitions have left Arsene Wenger's side on the brink of an eighth season without a trophy.

With the way their season has collapsed, their realistic priority is to qualify for next season's Champions League by finishing in the Premier League's top four.

I don't foresee any imminent threat to Wenger's tenure but the next month will be as hard for him and Arsenal as the last week has been. Before visiting Bayern in the second leg of their Champions League tie, they face two rivals for a top-four finish -Tottenham and Everton.

Saturday's home game against struggling Aston Villa would therefore appear to be the perfect antidote to Arsenal's troubles. Villa have a poor record in this fixture, although they have fared a little better since the Gunners moved to the Emirates.

It will be interesting to see how Wenger freshens up the side, particularly a defence that's looked so vulnerable. Arsenal also need to get the crowd behind them by starting well, which they haven't been doing. They've trailed at half time this season as much as they've gone into the interval ahead, but their second-half record is unrivalled.

That could be a concern for Villa, who have tended to falter in the second half of matches this season. There was a rare exception in their last game, a much-needed win over West Ham that lifted them out of the relegation zone.

Manager Paul Lambert has said Villa must be prepared for "12 cup finals" as they battle for survival. Anything from this game or their next one, against Manchester City, would be considered a bonus but they then face two of their relegation rivals, Reading and QPR.

The next few weeks, it seems, will have a considerable bearing on the end-of-season outcome for both Arsenal and Villa.

------------------Szczesny-----------------
Jenkinson---Koscielny---Vermaelen---Monreal
-------------------Arteta-------------------
----Wilshere----------------------Cazorla----
Walcott------------Giroud------------Podolski

In my opinion, that's the best team we can use against Villa. Freshen up the defense a bit, and I believe our usual front six can dispatch AVFC's defense. 4-1 to us, hopefully.

I think we hold more than enough to dispatch villa....but then we all know what happened in the cups....

Michael Foster wrote:I think we hold more than enough to dispatch villa....but then we all know what happened in the cups....

Yeah, you've got a good point. Problem is, we don't have many options in terms of changing things up in our attack. Ox maybe, but Gervinho and Arshavin are useless.

Wenger had already insisted he would not quit in his broadcast press conference but here's the full Q&A, which offers more of an insight into his mind and thoughts given to the newspapers.

QUESTION: It's been a bad and difficult week, today you seem much more defiant?

ARSENE WENGER: "I'm in a strong mood because if I am not I don't see how my team can be. I have enough experience in my job to know you have to deal with all kind of situations and this is one that is difficult to handle but it's also a good opportunity to show that we have strength and we don't have to go too 'over-disastrous' about it. We are fighting for a Champions League place, not against relegation and we have to take that in a positive way if we are to stay at the top. For us the status of the club goes through the Champions League and we need some strength to get into the Champions League and I think everyone realises that."



Q: Is this your hardest test as Arsenal manager and has it been your hardest week?

AW: "It is a hard time, I'm not saying it's easy. But it is also a time where I can use my experience and knowledge to ensure the squad stays together and fights together."



Q: For you, is it a case of the harder it gets, the harder you work?

AW: "I try to analyse objectively what's going on. I try to take a little distance from things that are said and analyse well things that happened and why we lost games and then make the right decisions. That's our job."



Q: You have received the full backing of the board, you've got money to spend, but in the past why do you always seem so reluctant to spend?

AW: "I'm not reluctant to do so. First of all, we only had money recently. Secondly, in England there is a way of thinking that every problem is sorted out just by spending money but that's not always the case. If it was like that, the same teams would win the Champions League every year. There are two or three clubs in Europe who are richer than everybody else and do not play in the Champions League. I believe that the problem today is not the money, it's to find the talent that strengthens your team. And, as well, I believe we have to be faithful to what this club is about, which is to give a chance to the young players we educate - that is vital - and therefore to bring in the players only who give us really a plus. If we find tomorrow a player of top, top, top quality, we will take him."

"We can do it": Will Wenger sign Falcao?
Denis Doyle

Q: So, Falcao costs £40m, on 5-year-contract, would you sign him?

AW: "We can do it. If we can afford it, we will not say no. But, today, we have to focus on tomorrow [Aston Villa].



Q: If you finish fourth, you pay off the stadium. You're keeping a lot of people here happy...

AW: "No, I want to keep everybody happy, you know. I want to win the championship and the Champions League and if we can't do it, we have to question ourselves. But, to do that, first we have to be at that level and, for years, it was vital we were there to pay it back. I think, now, we are in a stronger situation where, like you say, we can spend some money. We went out to spend money at Christmas but we didn't find the players."



Q: If the club had been a bit more open about not competing in the transfer market after moving to the Emirates then would the fans have swallowed the trophy drought more easily?

AW: "Well, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. You cannot come out and say, 'Look, we cannot win the championship'. We were close during this period, you know, we were very close. Because I feel we had the quality. But, I think what angered more our fans is that we lost the players we educated, and that was much more difficult to swallow then all the rest, I believe, and that's what we have to change."



Q: You'll be able to change that now because of the money?

AW: "Yes, of course, There were many major issues we were fighting to keep our best players. You can only keep your best players, let's be realistic, by paying the wages of the market. To pay the wages of the market we have to put the ticket prices up. And then the fans turn against you and say 'but you lose the best players and we pay high prices for tickets' and they are right. But that was the consequence of the unfair competition that we faced. Having said that the fans are ready to pay the ticket price if you win the championship, but we didn't."



Q: Do you feel the fans are still with you?

AW: "I feel they are with the club, and that is very important. I work for the club and I try to keep the fans happy. If they are not happy then I am unhappy as well. That's part of my job, not everybody is always with you, and not everybody is always against you."



Q: You've said before that you would consider your position if you could not take the club forward. Do you still believe you can?

AW: "Yes of course I can take the club forward."



Q: Sticking with your philosophy, it must be tough, when others spend money and win trophies?

AW: "Depends on what you call trophies. Trophies for me is basically the Championship and Champions League because that is where the real quality comes out. This year you have first to consider the quality comes through the championship and not through the FA Cup or through the Capital One Cup. The real quality of the team is judged on where you are on a consistent level in the Championship and where you are in the Champions League. We are a bit short, we are not far away and we have to reduce that gap. I think it's difficult for everybody, the competition in the Premier League is absolutely massive for everybody. It's difficult to guarantee for anybody that they will win the Premier League. This year Man United looks well ahead, but usually it is very tight."



Q: For season after season, you fought to keep Cesc Fabregas, probably longer than you might have expected, but he went eventually. How long before there's a repeat of that with Jack Wilshere?

AW: "He has just extended to his contract. I believe in the longer term Wilshere will be the leader of this club and lead the club to trophies. That's what it is about as well for the great players and we have to make sure they they all stay here."



Q: What do you need to do as a club to join the likes of Bayern as a club?

AW: "Bayern is in the position where Manchester United is in England. They can afford to do what they want. They are the strongest financial club. You send Chelsea and Man City to Germany and we will speak about Bayern again. You have to compare what is comparable. They do what they want in their country and they can spend the money when they want as they are the only financial dominating club. They have no competition financially in Germany."



Q: To get to that level, do you need to spend money?

AW: "It costs a lot of money, it costs intelligent work. We are not so far when people think at the moment from Bayern. We need to be intelligent and strong in this period and not just think.....we have to keep a guideline of what we have done until now. Strengthen the team where in the positions we feel where we are a bit weaker. But we have a basis of a team that is very strong for me."



Q: Do you feel, then, that you are not that far away? How close are you? What do you need to change to get there?

AW: "We are not far away. Difficult to convince you today. We have to be clever. I believe in some areas of our team we can compete with anybody in the world as we are analyse all the European and English teams and in some areas of our team we are very competitive. We speak about the Wilsheres, the Cazorlas and we have a very strong technical basis but we have to be more efficient."



Q: Battle for fourth place, did you cheer that Spurs goal? Does Spurs being in Europe help Arsenal?

AW: "The goal was coming slowly. Is it good or bad for us? I don't know. It's not easy, but it is down to us. We play Tottenham and if we are consistent in the Premiership we will come back."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsene-wenger-press-conference-transcript-1725111


Interesting press conference.

Very interesting...as I said in another thread...is this the beginning of the barren end for us...will the money be spent..and spent well on good quality to help reinforce this team....I hope so.....but for now its as Wenger says....villa next......

Have we just decided not to play defense today?

Hisham El Mawan wrote:Have we just decided not to play defense today?

You're assuming we know how to defend .
Yeah,we really don't know what we're doing ,do we?

Aston Villa looking every bit our equal. We're just happy to be playing an open end-to-end game with them. Great.

Michael Schatzky wrote:

Hisham El Mawan wrote:Have we just decided not to play defense today?

You're assuming we know how to defend .
Yeah,we really don't know what we're doing ,do we?

The worst I've seen Villa in years, and we can't contain them.

2 or 3 times we've been dispossessed at their 18yd line and they've run the length of the field on the counter with little resistance.
Are Arteta or Diaby getting caught too far upfield?
No shield for the back four to slow Villa from countering

We're reaching a point with Arsenal where it's can't defend, won't defend.

I'll start with the usual disclaimer, I'm very thankful for what AW has done for the club etc, but either he can't fix the defence or he won't out of hubris - "We'll do it my way or no way at all. I'll show the critics etc..."

Michael Schatzky wrote:2 or 3 times we've been dispossessed at their 18yd line and they've run the length of the field on the counter with little resistance.
Are Arteta or Diaby getting caught too far upfield?
No shield for the back four to slow Villa from countering

Diaby is often the guy caught out with poorly weighted passes. In any case, neither is athletic enough to catch up with the AV attackers.

There's always an ocean of room between our defence and midfield in any case. Shit tactics and absentee holding players.

No one here on matchday?someone please describe the goal.i missed it

vyom.chaudhary wrote:No one here on matchday?someone please describe the goal.i missed it

Cazorla on the left side of the area took a shot which was blocked. It came back to him and he shot again on his right, deflected to the goalie's left through the legs of a Villa defender.

John Foxall wrote:

Michael Schatzky wrote:2 or 3 times we've been dispossessed at their 18yd line and they've run the length of the field on the counter with little resistance.
Are Arteta or Diaby getting caught too far upfield?
No shield for the back four to slow Villa from countering

Diaby is often the guy caught out with poorly weighted passes. In any case, neither is athletic enough to catch up with the AV attackers.

There's always an ocean of room between our defence and midfield in any case. Shit tactics and absentee holding players.

Yeah, Arteta and/or Diaby might be our holding midfielders but neither have a defensive mentality.
Another poor decision by Wenger ? Selling Song and thinking he could convert 1 or 2 players who have always been attacking mids , into holding players with an instinctive positional understanding etc...

http://ilemi.pe/85020/9/Watch-Arsenal-vs-Aston-Villa

link if anyone needs it...its not brilliant but ok...

Michael Schatzky wrote:

John Foxall wrote:

Michael Schatzky wrote:2 or 3 times we've been dispossessed at their 18yd line and they've run the length of the field on the counter with little resistance.
Are Arteta or Diaby getting caught too far upfield?
No shield for the back four to slow Villa from countering

Diaby is often the guy caught out with poorly weighted passes. In any case, neither is athletic enough to catch up with the AV attackers.

There's always an ocean of room between our defence and midfield in any case. Shit tactics and absentee holding players.

Yeah, Arteta and/or Diaby might be our holding midfielders but neither have a defensive mentality.
Another poor decision by Wenger ? Selling Song and thinking he could convert 1 or 2 players who have always been attacking mids , into holding players with an instinctive positional understanding etc...

Song was never ideal in that role anyway. Not an instinctive holder and poor positionally. Always turning up just as it was too late. With his passing and attacking instinct, I thought he could've done a decent job as the third midfielder, the Essien role, but not as the principle holder.

The problem is that we didn't replace him. Since Diaby got crocked, we've spent seven years not being able to depend on him, yet AW doesn't strengthen the squad. Quite the opposite, he didn't buy any replacements despite three holding players leaving the squad in 2008 - Flamini, Gilberto and Diarra. I think that was the first time I had doubts about his sanity.

that should have been 1-1

what the fuck!?!?!?!?

For fuck's sake, Olivier...

No excuses now for that. If he can't score, he should at least pass to someone who can.

one to the plums lol

Once again, Villa have been able to take the ball to our penalty box in a matter of seconds.

Unfortunately we sit with a cluster of forward's who have no composure when 1 on 1 against the gk. Giroud's been guilty of it so many times this season, especially considering he's had so many 1 on 1 opportunities this season. I won't even mention Gervinho's finishing, nevermind 1 on 1's. Walcott most compatent, but he's gone a bit off the boil since the new year.