Do Arsenal have the bottle anymore?

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Wenger teams in recent years just don't seem to have what it takes to get themselves over the line when it comes to the major trophies. Our major issues still haven't been resolved in spite of the addition of WC talent such as Ozil, Sanchez, Cech, etc. We are still way too inconsistent (fantastic and awful performances regularly intersect), way too lightweight (physically) in midfield, too easily psyched out on the field (for evidence - see the Chelsea games) and have way way too many injuries. I may be being a bit too premature here (I don't care), but the main issues still seem to persist and will continue to do so until Wenger leaves unfortunately.

Until we see the emergence of a tougher breed of player at Arsenal, we won't be winning anything of note anytime soon, I think.

So will someone carry the fight this season? Will Arsenal prove me wrong? Discuss.

 

As much I am trying to be positive, unfortunately I believe the title is beyond us, it's not so much the points gap, but we don't look like a title winning team, we have dropped way too many points, very bad points, even before this dip, we had a bad November, failing to win games we really should have like West Brom and Norwich away, and you look at our away form as well, really poor too with our last away win to Villa in December, I think it's like 1 away win in 6. And with so many more big games coming, Spurs, United, City, Everton, and West Ham all away, I see us dropping many more points to come.

It's sad really, because this is a recurring pattern, every time we are in with a chance of the title, our form just dips really bad, and it does look like we do not have the bottle to cope with the pressure, and this all comes down to the manager, because he is the common denominator, players have come in, including super world class players who have won worlds cups, champions league, spanish leagues, copa america etc, and yet it's the same story of lacking the bottle, so the only explanation I can think of, is it's a managerial thing because he's been the one constant throughout the whole process.

We always say it, but if we truly bottle it again this year, then I think that might break the camel's back? Not saying Wenger will be sacked or move on, but do believe that a vast majority of fans will finally have given up on him, because there's just so many times you can witness the same thing over and over again before finally realising it's not going to change.

Nothing but the title will do for me this year, I'm very tired by the same old story every year, challenge, bottle, end 3rd or 4th, and repeat, this doesnt give any hope for the future of a club that's going places, it merely shows this club has stagnated, and has become too comfortable at securing the top 4 position, and that comes down from the board, to the manager, which then finds its way to the players.

 

I was pissed off all night and although I'm feeling calmer this morning, my sentiments have not changed.

If we cannot beat mediocre Chelsea teams or good but not great sides like Southampton home or away, then what is the point?

Our main tactic seems to be pass it to Ozil or Sanchez and expect them to do their magic but no one else really steps up when they're not in the side or when they're not at the races.

I'm not denying that Forster had a worldie yesterday but these are highly-trained professionals earning more in one week than what most people earn in an entire year. If our attacking players can't do the basics right with those chances, I don't know what to expect anymore.

We still have a number of problems. Firstly we are still suffering from the errors made in the Summer transfer window. That in itself was a sackable offence. Our chickens are coming home to roost now. Secondly Wenger hasn't shown much tactical flexibility either and due to the lack of signings in the window, as well as injuries (which I believe he is partly to blame), it means we couldn't rotate our squad as we'd like. Our players seem to be tiring out and it's only the start of February.

Do we still have a chance of winning the title? Mathematically and objectively, yes.

However, I don't believe that these players have the mental fortitude to get over the line and as I said yesterday, they are not being guided by the right man at the helm.

In my eyes, we are not title challengers because we have seen the same story all too many times where we falter at the most critical stage of the season. We've not scored in the last 3 games in a row and the last time that happened was 6 bloody years ago.

It's becoming a familiar theme in our season but the central plank of our problems at the moment are all down to one man.

 

But look at the FAKTS... we are five points off the top, in the last 16 of the CL and 5th round of the cup. FACHT!

 

Don't bet on it. What will come first... Iwobi reaching retirement age or certain people on here giving up on AW? I wonder.

 

Brunel makes a well thought out post and you pop up and post your usual ****.

You are a ****! Now go cry about the nasty man calling you names and how it's all so unfair

#pityparty

 

Can't take your comments seriously unless you back them up with some facts I'm afraid.

 

Well the evidence is showing that we are creaking under the pressure of expectation this season, especially as the title has been the most open in Premiership history. We also have the quality and good backup, which was an issue during our financially tight era.

What is clear is that the last champion side Wenger had was a different beast than the one we see today. As the OP states, we're just too soft mentally. The Invincibles were tough mentally, they could play ball but also be nasty if the opposition was nasty. We was not only led by a strong set of captains - Adams, Vieira, but the rest of the players took responsibility and were leaders in their own way. The problem with today's team is they have bags of talent and ability but they look like boys. All I see is Cech, Mertz and Sanchez as fighters and the rest don't look the part. Also, who is our captain? Our leader? We don't even have one. Look at Chelsea's successful era, Terry might be a c0ck but he led the side excellently. This is all down to Wenger and his 11 captains nonsense philosophy. People are born leaders and some are followers...

The biggest problem is Wenger's forgotten why he was so successful early on in his Arsenal career. It's almost like he stubbornly refuses to go back to any of his past methods, he wants to do it using his new philosophy and no other way.

 

Forster is a very good keeper. I wouldn't call what he had a worldie. Our attempts were pathetic. Except for the Giroud right footed curler.

 

We'll see. We we've had a run of poor/indifferent form. But there are still 42 points up for grabs this season, it's far from being over yet.

 

Look, I will give Wenger his credit for the things he does well but when it comes to 'bottle' I think this is his biggest weakness.

In tough situations you see him sitting nervously, bitting his nails, playing with his enormous jacket. He doesn't exude confidence. In fact quite the opposite.

When I used to work as a Strength coach I worked with a lot of combat sports athletes (boxers/mma fighters) where mentality is the key thing. Some athletes need little to no motivation whereas some can't perform without the people around them 'building them up' mentally. You often here the cliché that some people are born fighters and I think this is true. Wenger is a scientist more than he is a 'fighter' and I think that reflects on his sides. We have always had a nervousness about our teams under Wenger (post 2005 anyway).

If you look back to our 2004 side - We had Henry, Berkamp, Vieira, Gilberto, Campbell, Keown.. The side was full of leaders. All physically imposing and all confident individuals.

Post 2005 Wenger started to build teams based purely on technical ability. Not soo much a team of 'alpha - males' more small technical ball players.

I would say our current side has a better balance than some of our previous but I think a Kompany/Hummels type player at the back would give us more than just defensive stability. They would also effect the overall mentality of the side.

 

I think this is a bit of a muddled post. Sometimes you will see Wenger shouting his mouth off, gesticulating wildly etc on the touch line. In fact Wenger has had more than his fair share of touch line bans for his behaviour. Also I don't think you can read too much into it. Look at Klopp he's leaping around like a madman, does it get him better results ?

Also the point about small technical players has some flaws. Barcelona teams tend to be filled with these sorts of players and they are hugely successful. I know it's a different league and the prem is more physical, but we do have players like koscielny, Coquelin, Flamini and Sanchez who are fighters. It has to be a mix though, you can't just have a team of cloggers.

What I do think is a problem though is the mentality that we approach some games. We can tend to start very slowly, moving the ball too slowly out of defence and allowing the opposition to get back and defend, so that we end up against a brick wall. When we lose the ball we are straight on the back foot. Also we don't press enough, we tend to allow the opposition to play right through us and only think about engaging them when they are around out penalty area. We need to hurry the opposition, press them from the front and force them into making mistakes.

Overall I don't think we have weak players or a weak manager, but tactically we need to much more aggressive.

 

This has always been my view of Wenger. I think the players winning mentality are the reason of most of the success we had under Wenger. The difference between Wenger and SAF is that SAF can get an average group of players fill like world beaters. If we had SAF as manager in this Emirates era, we would have won a few titles!!!

 

Its not soo much about what he's physically doing just that he has a nervousness about him.

I think Barcelona are somewhat of a hard comparison seeing as they had the likes of Xavi & Messi (arguably the greatest ever) in their side.

If you were standing in the tunnel next to our 2004 side you would see almost everyone was 6'0 + athletic. I hate to use the term again but they are all 'alpha males' In a physical fight they would annihilate our current side. Teams didn't feel they could physically dominant them.


We use Flamini as the example for a tough guy in our side. He is 70kgs at most.

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I agree with you on Alexis he has added some much needed aggression/passion into the side, But I still think a couple more big characters (physically and mentally) would make a big impression.

Wenger isn't the greatest motivator IMO. Add a few natural leaders/tough guys and you will see the players around them playing with more confidence.

 

Yes, I agree that for sure.

 

what do you mean by the 'anymore' in the title?
you've been show ponies for a decade.

 

The image of this Arsenal side that comes to mind when I think of the current era is Mertesacker cowering away from the ball in the 2-2 draw at Anfield last season. Completely unacceptable.

 

We really miss Cazorla making our side tick. I won't turn this into a Ramsey bashing post as I think he's an excellent player but he doesn't fit this formation. What grinds my gears is that we have a lineup which utilises the best points of Santi, Coquelin, Mesut and Alexis and, imo, can best most teams. Problem is when one is injured we seem to just put another player in the same position whether they can do it or not. Out of our squad I'd say only Jack or Rosicky can do a similar role to Santi. If they're not about then we need to change tactics which we've not so far. Without him we've looked unbalanced, lacked control and, most importantly, lacked drive. F*cking annoying is what it is.

 

But no, I don't think many in the side are bottlers, I think we're continuing with a tactic which works fine with players we don't currently have available.

Cech, Coquelin, Alexis, Bellerin, Monreal, Campbell, Ramsey et all strike me as people who genuinely care. Great work rates and, in the case of Nacho, I love seeing the look of confusion on opposing players faces as they get a 1920s tackle laid on them by our pasty Spaniard!

I also think Kos, Mesut, OG and Merts care too but their body language leaves a lot to be desired sometimes.

 

I get what you're saying about having alpha males, but then you look at a side like Barca, they're hardly alpha males, more like prima donas, who fall over at every instance, and many of them aren't exactly big, just look at Messi-Iniesta etc, Neymar looks like he'd right fit in with One Direction.....And yet they are dominating, so it's not always about having so many strong players, but down to quality players who possess great technical skills, coupled with good tactics and so on. Just look at Stoke too, at least before, they had very strong players, but in general, they were ****, you can point to so many teams who have a reputation for being 'hard' but at best they're average, look at Bolton, those ****ers are about to go bankrupt and extinct, so being hard didnt exactly bring them anywhere.

At Arsenal we usually lack the skill set and tactical play. We have a lot of dead weight on this team, and players who are merely average at best, aka OXO, Wilshere, Flamini, and others who I would say are just good players, nothing world class or special about them, for the time being at least, like Campbell, and then a player Giroud who I would say is not average, and I would classify as a very good player, but not world class, yeah his stats sometimes look good when he is banging goals, but then he goes missing for like 10 games, he's far too inconsistent, and sometimes it's not just about the goals but your presence, Messi-Suarez may not score, but they will still hurt you in the game and create lot's of problems, basically like what Walcott was doing in some games back in October, he sometimes wasn't scoring, but boy did he cause a lot of problems for the opposition, with world class players they do that in 9 out of 10 games, even when not scoring, that's what we lack with Giroud and Walcott.