Nineteen seconds in. That’s about all it took for Peter Crouch to score the opening goal and signal to anyone watching that this would not be Arsenal’s day. That we went into halftime 3-0 flatters us a bit, and to finish 3-2 flatters us quite a lot. We’ll have a closer look at how it fell apart so quickly. For now, here are highlights of just how much we were outplayed (and, yes, outmuscled at times) by the Potters. I’d like to say “enjoy,” but, well, you know… In other news, I hope you’ll enjoy the highlights in French. It felt suitably ironic.
Woolwich 1886, an Arsenal site
A life-long Arsenal fan shares from his limited store of insight, humour, and wisdom…
I added a note at half time to the previous blog post that you wrote prior to the match. What can one add although I suspect that Arsene will have spoken about how the penaltiy to Chambers was “harsh”, that Crouch and others should have been carded if not sent off and how he admired the fighting spirit of the “boys” to come back the way they did.The common US term for all that is “blowing smoke” and trying to divert everyone's attention from the real issues: failure to address defense adequately all summer long (probably hoping for a cut rate deal on the last day), failure to set up the team properly, failure to adjust during a game, failure to have a team that is not sleep-walking at the start and during set pieces, etc.As the sink into the top third or top half of the table, let me repeat some prior thoughts or questions:1) Will Arsene buy anybody of quality in January? this is no longer a given because as others have noted on other sites, the price is going up rapidly as teams relaize how desperate Arsene is now. What might have been a fair prices by all standards but those of AW in the summer is now a seller's market and he will, no doubt, claim he is unable or unwilling to pay in January for what he could have bought in July.2) Will players of quality want to come to a team that is probably not going to be in the CL next year? Odds are getting better that we will not get there and players will either go elsewhere or demand more money than AW will pay.3) Will players want to come and play for a “specialist in failure”? Jose is being proven right even though I hate to admit it, but he sees the future and addresses weaknesses in his team without hesitation and without trying to go to the Paris or London flea market, the Moroccan or Abu Dhabi souq, or Istanbul bazaar to buy players or hope that someone is desperate enough to give away their best players at the 11th hour.4) Will the Arsenal Board, after watching this 1st half, push AW to the door and seek to have a manager of quality in place before the summer transfer season begins that will address the many holes in the team, the lack of organization, the need to play the contemporary game, etc? Furthermore, if they push AW upstairs, will he be willing to let go and will he still try to control things, let alone will anyone be willing to come in under such a situation? Finally, of course, will they give anyone new the money needed or will they deduct AW's salary from the available funds? BTW, we may have laughed at MU spending lots of money this summer, but it appears, despite their weaknesses, they have been or are achieving with that approach whereas AW and his miserly approach is on the down escalator. :