re: Arsenal 2014/15 Season Long Thread

Forgot to record the game, pissed at myself. Did we even put up a fight or were we outclassed? Reading reports make it seem like it was closer than the 2-0 score line.

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Did we even put up a fight or were we outclassed?

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It was pretty damn even for the most part outside of the tremendous run from Hazard that caused the penalty.

We just couldn't find that right pass in the final 3rd.

Arsene's subs were head scratching though.

Yes, we were competitive and matched Chelsea physically.

With our typical run of injuries, once again, I am simply hoping for a top four finish.

This gets old after awhile ... I keep thinking one day we're going to have the depth befitting one of the top clubs in the world who yearly should be competing for multiple trophies.

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Looks like kos is taking some heat, im assuming he caused the pk.

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I was more upset with how badly Costa beat him on the second goal. I always thought his best skill was recovering after getting beat initially, but Costa just burned him.

According to Arlo White: When asked why he did not sign Fabregas, Arsene Wegner replied, "because we have Mesut Ozil."

Funny. As much as Arsene likes to try to prove he is a genius by playing players out of position, it seems that having Fabregas aboard would have given him one more piece to play with.

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This gets old after awhile ... I keep thinking one day we're going to have the depth befitting one of the top clubs in the world who yearly should be competing for multiple trophies.

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Exactly my thoughts.

From a team/squad standpoint, it's clear that there has been a major shift since the summer of 2012 when Van Persie was the last big player to be sold in that Arsenal are no longer selling off their top talent, but instead making moves to lock up our top players already in the team to new long-term contracts while also improving the overall quality and depth of the squad in the transfer market.

What's frustrating I'm sure to all Arsenal fans like myself is seeing how some clubs will go out and address all of their needs in one transfer window (i.e. Chelsea, City, etc.), while Arsenal/Wenger chooses to address those needs systematically over a longer period of time and using 2 or 3 summer windows to build the kind of squad we need to compete on all fronts.

With recent news of Giroud being signed to a new 4-year contract and Arteta adding a 1-year extension to his deal, it looks like the last key current player that needs to be locked up long-term is Theo Walcott. And by all reports, that is not expected to drag out very long once talks begin.

Aside from extending contracts to players already in the team, it's exciting to now see Arsenal going out and buying big players in the transfer market, though I wish we would just address every need all in one window to give us the best opportunity to compete with the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City right now this season. But you can see from buying Ozil in 2013 to bringing in Alexis, Welbeck, Debuchy, Chambers, and Ospina this summer that we are moving in the right direction that we will soon (hopefully) have that type of quality and depth in the squad that we will be able to compete to win all competitions.

If what has been shown over the past two summer transfer windows continues next year, my hope is that we will see the remaining key pieces brought in to shore up the defense, particularly that imposing holding midfielder we all crave and cover in central defense. It's also going to come to a point where we will need to be looking for a long-term first-team replacement for Per Mertesacker, as he's now 30 and not getting any faster with age.

Like timlan2057 says, my hope for this year is that we do remain in the Top 4, perhaps advance to at least the quarterfinals of the Champions League, and put up a worthy defense of our FA Cup. It's evident at this stage that we don't have all the positions covered to be able to compete for the Premier League in 2014-15.

But in 2015-16, who knows? Perhaps we will add 2-3 more key pieces we are missing to have that title-contending squad we deserve.

Anybody else in the thread have any other thoughts on this, or am I living in fantasy camp thinking we're just 1 year away from being able to challenge in each of these competitions?

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Anybody else in the thread have any other thoughts on this, or am I living in fantasy camp thinking we're just 1 year away from being able to challenge in each of these competitions?

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I think there are 2 things that will keep us from truly competing:

Problem 1: I thought this was finally the year we would compete on all fronts, but the failure to address the needs of the team is always the downfall. I don't even think we are 2-3 players away. I feel that we are 1-2.

If Chambers is a CB or a DCM, that's absolutely fine with me. I actually think he is perfect for an imposing DCM spot. However, he cannot play there if he is the only backup to the CB and the RB spot. If Chambers was set to be a CB backup or a DCM starter/backup/understudy, then there's no reason Jenkinson should have left. He was a more than formidable backup who always showed that he could provide consistent performances when given a run of games. I don't care which signing it would be (DCM or CB), but Wenger had to choose 1 and didn't. If we had that 1 and kept Jenkinson, then I think we would be competing for the league.

We aren't that young team anymore full of potential. The young guys are now the core and leaders of the team and are either entering their prime years or will be entering them within a year or two. Windows like this for a team not loaded with sugar daddy owners are not long, and ours will close fast if there is still a negligence on the needs of the team.

Problem 2: The mental barrier. We lost that Chelsea game before kickoff even began. Arsenal somehow have a complete mental block when competing against the top teams. It was evident on that field as soon as Hazard drew the penalty that the team was shaken and no longer believed they could win the game. This team believes that we can only win those games if we play perfect football, and at the first sign of imperfection, we fold. It's like that for Chelsea, Man City, and somehow Man United.

Chelsea won that game when they walked on the field. The Arsenal players never truly believed they could win that game, and it showed as soon as the penalty was given. Arsenal have to shake whatever that mental block is if there is any hope of winning any time soon.

I hate to agree with Randy but it's evident Arsene doesn't mentally prepare the team for big matches. I was impressed by how solid we played for most of the game, and there were significant stretches where we looked like the better team. But again Arsene is the reason why we are missing key components that would make this team a title contender. Also, Mou is the better tactician, although I don't blame tactics for our loss yesterday, except for Ozil again not being played centrally.

Didn't look that way against City either.

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but for whatever reason, nobody actually wanted to take a shot.. too many passes in the box..

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We've done this in a couple of games hence 4 draws. The 2 games where that hasn't been the case were against Villa and Gala, where Ozil was shockingly playing in the middle.