This season Arsenal have been continually repeating mistakes of the past even some quite resent ones.

In this game they started slowly against a Stoke team that have always known how to be tough at the Brittania Stadium. Arsenal needed to be tough back to counteract this strength and work rate they are famous for in these games.

Bellerin's inclusion was perhaps a bit forced by the injuries lately and he was often left wanting for strength, and Wilshere and Ozil being out meant that Santi Cazorla was a central figure but he has been quite lightweight in recent big games.

Koscielny was definitely needed for this game. Calum Chambers was ineffective for the first goal. Perhaps he could have been rested for Southampton instead of this one.

In the Anderlecht game we were too ambitious after they pegged us back to 3-1 and should have closed down the game more instead of attempting to score more.

That was followed by a similar mistake at Swansea after taking the lead after about 70 minutes. Surely they would have been warned against giving away a lead after Anderlecht.

In similar fashion I would have expected Arsene to have warned his players that Stoke are tough and that they should be prepared for a fight for every ball and not to give them an inch.

Also, they should learn from the things they have been doing right.. and the inclusion of Welbeck and Giroud together in recent games had provided reasonable success and perhaps dropping Welbeck was surprising. His pace and potential finishing power could have been important to Arsenal.

Stoke played a predictable game for them at the Brittania Stadium against Arsene's Arsenal so why did Arsene not anticipate it and combat it from the start. They obviously did something different during the second half so Arsene must have got that right so why did he not anticipate what was going to happen and combat it from the start...food for thought?



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Comments  

+1 #5 steven norton 2014-12-07 21:52
The fact that Wenger has got fans debating his position is surely proof enough that his time is up! Yes he has done wonders for Arsenal brought in world class players got the stadium built.Bring in Henry or Bergkamp to work along side him before moving upstairs.
+3 #4 Julious 2014-12-07 15:01
Wenger said Arsenals defence was too soft against Stoke, whose fault is that? Wenger never purchased the defenders he needed, and the sold one defender and loan out another. Sorry Arsene you have lost it, it is time to retire, thanks for the memories
+4 #3 Pierre Cauchi 2014-12-07 14:26
The present state of the team can be described in one word - shambolic. Yesterday's performance was disgusting and if one had to put hand to heart this was not the only such performance and it was only the final result that saved the blushes of the manager and players. We can no longer hide behind the excuse that the team has been decimated by injuries (which to a certain extent one cannot deny) However the players we possess are not world class and other are not performing to the desired level. Having said that the manager has to take the blame. I, like many others shall never forget what he has done for the club and I shall never doubt his integrity and dedication to the club, however the time has come for him to leave otherwise he shall be remembered as the Man who made Arsenal both Invincibles and saw to their Fall.
It wa pathetic to hear him say that he saw positives after yesterday's game and earlier he claimed that Arsenal could win the Premiership within three more years.
Thanks Arsene but the time has come for you to leave with dignity.
+5 #2 The BearMan 2014-12-07 08:10
What has been Wenger's greatest weakness throughout his reign? One word - Defence!
+5 #1 Jd 2014-12-07 08:07
I believe the mistake Wenger made for not recruiting the needed personnel during the summer is destroying arsenal, if a coach that get paid 8m a yr can't see that I think is gross negligence, poor planning and loss of reality understanding, in fact this mistake are far too elementary for him to do all the time . The man is slowly ruining ansenal