Arsenal v Man United – The team, Arsene’s mental block, and a Wenger poll

Arsenal face big troubles against Man United‏ by KM

Hi guys. So the Champions League week two of the group stages is gone and the clubs from Manchester rescued some of England’s pride at the competition after London failed miserably. Yesterday I watched the United game, because they are up next this Sunday at the Emirates and things do not look good for us.

I was happy to see them win, for two major reasons. One is that English clubs are so bad in the competition of late we are in real danger of losing our 4th spot, which Arsene so much loves. Second because it puts them favorites for the meeting we’ll have.

Similar to Arsenal, United conceded first, but there end all similarities between our performance and theirs. They showed spirit, went back to the roots of their success under Ferguson and eventually turned the game. At the end they survived a late surge from the German vice-champions but the results brings them back on track for escaping the group.

Things to note are their defence is still a bit shaky. Valencia was terrible at right back and was the worst player on the pitch with Wayne Rooney. What a drop of form for Shrek, but he really looks out of the game compared to his team mates. Up front Mata was again provider and scorer.

The little Spaniard who almost joined Arsenal back in the day, before Chelsea swept him up, doesn’t look like he’ll trouble you much, but his control on the ball and vision were great and he continues to contribute on a weekly basis.

Another player worth a mention is Martial. LVG got mocked for spending 30+ million on a 19 year old, but the guy has took United by storm and he looks a real bargain. He has physical presence, pace and he’s not afraid to run at the defence. He’s definitely one to watch out for.

Our leaky defense will be our main weakness. At home we’ve recorded just one win in all competitions and that’s a major concern. Although Walcott is scoring right now, I would go with Giroud up front. We lack presence without him, because our midfielders are all short. I’d ship Walcott on the right and move Ramsey next to Le Coq instead of Cazorla, with Alexis on the left and Ozil in the middle.

Until Chamberlain learns to help in defense and stop having the ball in our net off his foot, he’s a bench player for me. We don’t have a lot of options up front. In defense Mertesacker and Koscielny should start for me with Monreal and Bellerin on the sides. Do I need to mention Cech?

The biggest issue for the game is Arsene Wenger. He has a mental problem against the big clubs, United and Chelsea in particular. We’ve not beaten United in the league for a while and we missed some pretty good chances to do it when they were terrible. Now they’ll be confident, because they are first in the league and nowadays everyone has Wenger’s number, because he is so predictable.

Wengers godlike status at the club is a disease we cannot cure. The owner cares only about money in the bank and the board is in Wenger’s pocket. How about a director of football? Maybe a guy responsible for transfers that actually does his job? The fact that Wenger is everything means that every mistake he makes will reflect on the entire club, which is why we repeat mistakes on a regular basis.

To make a general step forward we need a change of approach. United for example are based on success. They can afford to spend 30+ million on Martial and not care if he fails or not. They did it with Di Maria and Falcao and not a single United fan will care, if they win the league. The same goes for Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Barcelona.

Barcelona have presidential elections. Because if you stand still you sooner or later fall behind. When was the last time we introduced a new member to our board? Someone young with new ideas? What job does Ivan Gazidis exactly have?

I’d like to see the ambitions of the club. A piece of paper hanging in the dressing room with the targets for this season. What are they? A top 4 finish and passing the group stage? Or the second is already scratched. Do we have such a list at all?

It’s a deadlock in the club with the manager, but I believe we as the fans can do something about it. The fans of Newcastle wanted Alan Pardew out and although he was doing a magic job in their situation they still got their wish and he was sacked. Arsenal fans can do it too. We can put the pressure on.

I’ve created a simple group in facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/100488083642338/ which i invite you to check out. It only has a simple poll of when do you want Arsene Wenger out. A global research of 2011 says that Arsenal have over a 100 million fans worldwide. It’s time to make our voices heard.

We all know that 11 years are enough chances. Let’s ignore the short term sightseeing of 3 points from the top and look at the bigger picture. Wenger has lost it and if we want to move forward, we’re the only people that can ignite the change.

Fear of failure? You cannot fear failure when no matter how many times you fail, nothing changes. But i believe the Arsenal fans have seen enough over the years. The examples of West Ham, Olympiacos, Chelsea and so on seem to happen more often than the signs of change.

People seem to forget and ignore the fact that we slept through the summer but back then was the time to do our homework. Analyse why we finished 12 points off the top? Why we failed to beat Monaco? Where the squad needed improvements? And we did nothing of that.

What we (as the fans) can do now is make sure that this does not happen again next summer. Because everyone knows that there is only man who’s responsible for all this.

I rest my case.

Konstantin