Arsenal 2015-2016: The One That Got Away

Conigliaro's Potential

Conigliaro's Potential

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 24, 2010
11,003
Dunbar, Scotland (via Atlanta and Boston)
The Price Is Wrong

The Price Is Wrong

Banned
Dec 21, 2015
1,410
If it means more Joel Campbell, I think that will be a net positive. Ox is somewhere around the 8th-to-12th-most-irreplaceable person on the team. At the very least, this isn't bad news.

The only essential injury news for Arsenal is Cazorla's return, and whether Alexis Sanchez continues to stay upright.
 
fletcherpost

fletcherpost

sosh's feckin' poet laureate
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
12,175
Glasgow, Scotland
D'you think they're bottling it, or d'you credit Utd? Ok it's at Old Trafford, but Utd are playing on less rest, with da kidz.

Edit 3-2 now, cracking game.
 
B

blueline

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 23, 2012
389
If Wenger can't beat Leicester City and Spurs for the title, he'll be canned right? Wishful thinking I imagine.
 
Conigliaro's Potential

Conigliaro's Potential

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 24, 2010
11,003
Dunbar, Scotland (via Atlanta and Boston)
I had another commitment and didn't see the match - just heard the first and last 20 minutes on radio - so I can't comment on the specifics of what happened today. And I'm willing to reserve my ultimate judgement until the end of the season; even title-winning clubs slip up now and again. But this season has a depressingly familiar ring to it, doesn't it? Are we all going to be the same crap again this summer that we say every summer?
 
DennyDoyle'sBoil

DennyDoyle'sBoil

Found no thrill on Blueberry Hill
SoSH Member
Sep 9, 2008
42,839
AZ
Squeaky bum time now. These midweek games are massive. If Leicester City can take care of business against West Ham and then Watford, Tottenham could have a chance to make it a two horse race and put a serious damper on Aresenal's hopes in the NLD.
 
mikeford

mikeford

woolwich!
SoSH Member
Aug 6, 2006
29,656
St John's, NL
DennyDoyle'sBoil said:
Squeaky bum time now. These midweek games are massive. If Leicester City can take care of business against West Ham and then Watford, Tottenham could have a chance to make it a two horse race and put a serious damper on Aresenal's hopes in the NLD.
Click to expand...
Go look at Leicester's fixture list.

We passed squeaky bum time a while ago. Arsenal's title hopes are over.
 
Luis Taint

Luis Taint

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 7, 2012
5,883
ConigliarosPotential said:
Out of curiosity...28 hours later, do you still believe this is true?
Click to expand...
I do, they just aren't playing well at all. Something is wrong with this team. Ramsey and Alexis have been just god awful. The shopping list this summer is going to be long. And if I were Arsenal, I'd let a new guy do some picking.
 
Conigliaro's Potential

Conigliaro's Potential

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 24, 2010
11,003
Dunbar, Scotland (via Atlanta and Boston)
Arsenal is five points off the top of the table, and every single bookie at Oddschecker has them at shorter than 3/1 odds to win the title. I don't think they'll actually win it, for the reasons both of you mentioned and more, but their title hopes are categorically not over; they're certainly in better shape than they would have been if they'd defeated Man Utd but lost to Leicester. If Arsenal defeat Swansea at home and then win at the Lane, it's by no means impossible that they could be top of the league again by 3 p.m. on Saturday.
 
lars10

lars10

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2007
11,739
Luis Taint said:
I do, they just aren't playing well at all. Something is wrong with this team. Ramsey and Alexis have been just god awful. The shopping list this summer is going to be long. And if I were Arsenal, I'd let a new guy do some picking.
Click to expand...
I feel like Ramsey is the main problem, Walcott second. Sanchez has done everything he did last year except (and a big except) score. How many times did he try to pass from the top of the box and have every try not work? Last year he shoots from there.

Walcott is useless against anything other than a defense playing a high line.. He should play the last 30 mins tops.

Ramsey has been playing basically center forward all season as a mid. He's always in the way in the box, always turning the ball over and because he's too far up field he's also letting counters beat him back on the occasional off chance he hustles full speed to get back. He thinks he's a better dribbler than he is, better passer and worst of all he thinks he's a goal scorer..

Arsenal need cazorla back and a true no.9. That and maybe someone to help on defense and to get rid of Ramsey.. hopefully after a late season good showing.
 
coremiller

coremiller

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 14, 2005
5,854
Walcott really was dreadful against Man Utd. F365 pointed out that in 63 minutes, he had no shots, created no chances, completed only 6 passes, and in 17 touches managed to give away possession 10 times. It is hard to play worse than that.
 
lars10

lars10

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2007
11,739
coremiller said:
Walcott really was dreadful against Man Utd. F365 pointed out that in 63 minutes, he had no shots, created no chances, completed only 6 passes, and in 17 touches managed to give away possession 10 times. It is hard to play worse than that.
Click to expand...
He did complete a pass for Man U's first goal build up so there is that.. Plus he didn't try at all to get back in the play after..
 
mikeford

mikeford

woolwich!
SoSH Member
Aug 6, 2006
29,656
St John's, NL
ConigliarosPotential said:
Arsenal is five points off the top of the table, and every single bookie at Oddschecker has them at shorter than 3/1 odds to win the title. I don't think they'll actually win it, for the reasons both of you mentioned and more, but their title hopes are categorically not over; they're certainly in better shape than they would have been if they'd defeated Man Utd but lost to Leicester. If Arsenal defeat Swansea at home and then win at the Lane, it's by no means impossible that they could be top of the league again by 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Click to expand...
Go look at Leicester's fixture list and tell me where theyre going to drop points.

None of this "oh we could be top if they lose these games theyre obviously not going to lose" shit. What games will even be a contest for a team in their form?

Its over. Accept that.
 
Last edited:
deconstruction

deconstruction

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 27, 2006
3,664
Hanover NH
mikeford said:
Go look at Leicester's fixture list and tell me we're theyre going to drop points.
Click to expand...
It's unlikely that Arsenal will make up the 5 point difference (plus GD against Spurs), but I can see Leicester losing or drawing to Chelsea, Southampton, West Ham, ManU, Everton. Will they? Who knows. But dropping 10 points in their last 11 games is completely reasonable, considering they've dropped 9 points in their last 10 games.
 
fletcherpost

fletcherpost

sosh's feckin' poet laureate
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
12,175
Glasgow, Scotland
A week ago Arsenal were favourites. I don't think they are out of it by any means, I think they have the players to win the title, if we're going on talent, but i think a problem is team selection, formation and tactics. it's true Walcott had a mare on Sunday. he was never in the right place at the right time that often and when he was in decent positions he didn't get passed to, which might be an indicaction of something. Sanchez has missed quite a few games, he might have run off the rust, but he's maybe not influencing games as much as he did last season. I wonder if Giroud is being underused.

It's an old song but some pundits are saying once again that Arsenal might be lacking strong personalities in the dressing room, who can take leadership qualities onto the field. It's an intangible for sure.

Leicester have a tough final three games. And Spurs can't keep winning, can they? This title race isn't over. Haven't even mentioned City.
 
JimBoSox9

JimBoSox9

will you be my friend?
SoSH Member
Nov 1, 2005
16,675
Mid-surburbia
Anyone who thinks they can predict Leicester's outcomes based on the fixtures list.....I know where they're talking out of, I don't need to check how the breath smells.
 
The Price Is Wrong

The Price Is Wrong

Banned
Dec 21, 2015
1,410
mikeford said:
Its over. Accept that.
Click to expand...
I'm no Arsenal fanboy, but you sound like someone who would have been selling his tickets the morning of 2004 ALCS game 6, nevermind game 4. Who would have been leaving SB 49 at the start of the 4th quarter to get a jump on the traffic. This is damn near JulE6-grade madness.

They are down a bit. They are still within striking distance. There are 11 games left, and they're essentially 2 GB. This is not a longshot, dare-to-dream scenario, this is one that requires only a little hope out of you, and only a little luck to happen. What type of fan can't muster a little hope in this scenario? A Cubs fan, or pre-2004 Red Sox fan, perhaps.

If it's "over" and gunners fans should "accept that", what odds would you offer someone who wanted to bet on Arsenal against you? 10-1? 20-1? What does "over" translate to numerically, in your reckoning?
 
Conigliaro's Potential

Conigliaro's Potential

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 24, 2010
11,003
Dunbar, Scotland (via Atlanta and Boston)
deconstruction said:
It's unlikely that Arsenal will make up the 5 point difference (plus GD against Spurs), but I can see Leicester losing or drawing to Chelsea, Southampton, West Ham, ManU, Everton. Will they? Who knows. But dropping 10 points in their last 11 games is completely reasonable, considering they've dropped 9 points in their last 10 games.
Click to expand...
The conventional wisdom is currently that Leicester's counter-attacking style is actually less likely to be effective against lesser teams who set out to park the bus for 90 minutes. Norwich nearly proved this right on Saturday - they had good chances to score themselves and only conceded in the 89th minute - and in doing so may have provided a template for other teams going forward. The pressure of front-running is likely to tell at some point as well...as such, it wouldn't surprise me at all if Leicester drop points tonight against West Brom. (I think they're more likely to beat teams like West Ham, Man Utd and Everton than some of the bottom-half teams on the rest of their fixture list.)
 
Conigliaro's Potential

Conigliaro's Potential

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 24, 2010
11,003
Dunbar, Scotland (via Atlanta and Boston)
ConigliarosPotential said:
Arsenal is five points off the top of the table, and every single bookie at Oddschecker has them at shorter than 3/1 odds to win the title. I don't think they'll actually win it, for the reasons both of you mentioned and more, but their title hopes are categorically not over; they're certainly in better shape than they would have been if they'd defeated Man Utd but lost to Leicester. If Arsenal defeat Swansea at home and then win at the Lane, it's by no means impossible that they could be top of the league again by 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Click to expand...
I was nearly right - Arsenal would have been in position to go top by 3 p.m. on Saturday...if they had defeated Swansea.

Can someone tell me what Arsene Wenger is bringing to the table at the moment? I thought he was supposed to be able to bring the best out of players and develop them into world-beaters. What has happened to Ramsey? Is Theo Walcott a corpse at this point? Why does the defense make stupid errors every single game? What the hell was substituting Joel Campbell all about?

Today's match was just about enough to turn me into mikeford.
 
The Price Is Wrong

The Price Is Wrong

Banned
Dec 21, 2015
1,410
Wow, brutal.

Cech suffered the injury as he raced back towards his own penalty area after coming up for a corner in the last minute of Arsenal’s 2-1 home defeat to Swansea on Wednesday, a result which leaves the Gunners six points behind leaders Leicester and three behind Tottenham before Saturday’s north London derby.
Click to expand...
If it weren't for bad luck, Arsenal would have no luck at all. 5-6 weeks of Ospina? What a shit sandwich.

If they lose to Spurs tomorrow, I will concede here that I was wrong about Arsenal's league chances, and that it's most probably over. But still, Leicester have just three losses on the year, and two of them were to Arsenal... it's so hard to look at them and not see a real title contender.
 
miracleofmidre

miracleofmidre

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 5, 2009
283
Brooklyn NY
When I watch Wenger and Arsenal all I can think of is the last days of Don Shula.

The problem is what happens if Wenger goes, and it isn't likely to be much better than what we are seeing now, it could actually be far worse. Fun times.
 
deconstruction

deconstruction

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 27, 2006
3,664
Hanover NH
Some thoughts on the match:

Starting off, Arsenal couldn't get much going for the first 25 minutes. Spurs' pressure wasn't severe, but it seemed like just enough to disrupt Arsenal's link up play going forward, which has been uncharacteristically poor recently (Tim Stillman at arseblog has a good piece on the lack of technique with the current players). The Ramsey goal was after Arsenal had started to find some success on the left side, with Welbeck drifting and making runs, but it still felt like it came out of nowhere, and Spurs defenders looked a bit lethargic as it developed.

I thought Arsenal was the better side for the rest of the 1st half and until Coquelin's unbelievably rash, stupid sliding challenge for a second yellow. After that, they were in complete disarray for the next 15 minutes, and even though Spurs were dominating during this period, with lots of chances, their goals came off a corner and then a piece of magic (aided with being outnumbered) by Kane, and thus it kind of made sense that Arsenal bounced back a bit and actually had more possession than Spurs in the second half, and actually looked as, if not more, dangerous down one player in the last 25 minutes of the match.

Still, though, Coquelin, what the fuck, man?
 
sachmoney

sachmoney

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 14, 2008
9,513
Tim Thomas' Bunker
That Campbell pass was ridiculous. Really interested to see what the health situation is on the defensive front and who gets starting nods against Watford up front. I think Campbell's game, overall, has been the most consistent, but Walcott and Giroud may provide goals now with a little more confidence. Interested to see what decisions are made.
 
mikeford

mikeford

woolwich!
SoSH Member
Aug 6, 2006
29,656
St John's, NL
Campbell has to play. He might be our most in-form attacking player.

Seems like Mertesacker's just been diagnoses with the cut and no concussion. These things can change the following day but at least having 1 healthy real CB would be nice.

As for Ramsey... maybe its a bad idea to continually pin our midfield hopes on the chests of 3 guys (Ramsey, Wilshere and Rosicky) who can't stay upright for more than a few games at a time?
 
coremiller

coremiller

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 14, 2005
5,854
I hardly think Asenal have "pinned their midfield hopes" on those players when probably only one of them at a time is first choice when everyone's healthy. Arsenal's real problem in midfield this year has been the injuries to Arteta and especially Cazorla (probably their most underrated player).

Also, the Ramsey as injury prone thing is something of a myth (esp. compared to Wilshere and Rosicky). Since he recovered from the broken leg, his Games started/substitute appearances/total appearances for Arsenal in all comps are:

2011-12: 33/9/42
2012-13: 28/19/47
2013-14: 28/4/32
2014-15: 34/8/44
2015-16: 31/5/36 (so far)

Tangent: Arsenal are no longer a young team. Wilshere, Ox, Chambers, Campbell, Bellerin, Elneny and Coquelin are the only important first-team players under 25, and they have a lot of key players now that are 30+ (Mertesacker 31, Koscielny 30, Rosicky 35, Arteta 33, Monreal 30, Cazorla 31, Flamini 32). Compare that to the team that beat Barcelona 2-1 in 2011, when every member of the starting XI was 27 or younger and 9 of them were 25 or younger.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom