Team News: Ipswich v. Arsenal

Er did Eboue run into his man and got that free kick..?

Time for the Coach of the Decade to start barking at half-time..

I am so fed up with Eboue. If he isn't rolling around in mock agony he's running around like a flaming headless chicken. The guy is so bad its unbelievable. He's making Connor Wickham look world class. Ditto our attack. Ipswich now appear have the best defence in the world after shipping 7 in their last game. Our inability to muster more than a feeble 3 attempts on goal is just unacceptable. Just what is the point of Bendtner? He frightens no-one. And Arshavin seems to have sent along his useless double again. You can visibly see Ipswich growing in confidence. We are that impotent.

Get ur semi on? Viagra required after that half.

...but, who do we call upon? They seem to be on the field already.

Is it freezing there and are they like me just not able to function out in the cold?

Heavens above! Why oh why is Fab not having a go at goal? He''s clean through and decides to pass it back????

Should be 1-0 to Ipswich. Wenger surely cannot be happy with this? We look like we're out on the training ground.

This is what I feared when I saw the lineup - I hoped it's worth it but now we've played Cesc and Theo without the reward yet. Come on you guys! Please get a goal please!!

Er okay Song with Den now, sigh. Or is Song going to do the Jack work now..??

0-0 isn't a bad result at all but this performance... -_-

I'd almost feel bad for Ipswich if we scored.

christ.....

Justice indeed. Ipswich have played well and deserve a goal.

Lol - quite literally the only funny thing you've ever said TRH.

No cutting edge in our play and this can affect the team's momentum in a crucial period of the season.

Are we watching the Leeds game re-run on TV or what?!

Has Chamakh just matched what Bendtner did in 63 mins by forcing a save?

Lou I think he just matched his career....

lol what a joke

You know what, thinking over 2 legs, I don't even have the 90th minute nerve willing the team to score a goal. That's how tired I am of watching this. I can imagine how much more of that kind of 5h!te mentality is getting to the players.

Abysmal. Utterly abysmal. We lost that match in the first half. Everyone saying Ipswich would get tired obviously hadn't counted on us giving them the belief they could score. We really know how to make things difficult for ourselves. Remember this is a team that have lost their previous 8 and were hammered by 7 in their last match.

And make no mistake about it. Ipswich are a poor side.

well...........what will his excuse be now? The moon was in the wrong house? Pitch was awful? The goat entrails he used to read what the team sheet should look like were off? ;) Well if they don't turn them over at the Grove then the jury is stil out on this team. I know people say that Eboue was awful and AA useless but it runs much deeper than that and Cesc was not much better than our worst players. No drive mislaid pass after pass and failed to lead the team and that is imo because he is to far up the field. He has not the time to pick the incisive pass that will kill a team as he is surrounded by players as soon as the ball reaches him and all the angles are closed.

Only Liverpool are worse than us, seriously.

A part from that Ipswich were actually quite good.

Many more directionless performances like today and we won't have to worry about Barca tapping up Cesc in the summer. And I dread the prospect of Eboue playing right back in the first leg against Barca. Maybe the Arshavin sickness is infecting the whole team . . .

The boss took the game so seriously by playing such a strong XI and the players didn't. How dared they?! I feel for the travelling Gooners frozen out there probably feeling colder in the heart. I'm having a cold, staying up late till like 6am for them and am bitterly disappointed. I can't imagine how they're feeling on their way home. So irresponsible and shameful of the players.

gunnerpig you don't get it do you? It's NOT the players that are the problem.....it's Wenger. Few years back we were loosing one nil to Lpool and at halftime Wenger lost his rag in the dressing room doe's anyone remember what happened next?

That was last season Armory, nothing has changed since then (which is the problem, really).

???? Armoury. Can't remember Wenger ever having to shout at Henry, Ljungberg, Pires, Bergkamp, Adams, Campbell (I can name more if you want me to). They were real footballers who wanted to win things. You couldn't motivate the likes of Denilson and Carlos Vela with a cattleprod.

Pathetic

And therein lies the problem gunnerpig. Not all players are of the same mental attitude. Some need a arm around the shoulder some need a kick up the hole and others just get on with it. Who buy's these players and picks the team? The physio? The tea lady? No Wenger does and it is HIS job to keep them motivated and focused on the job at hand. few day's ago the Ipswich team could not buy a victory under Keane. And now with the new manager in the stand watching and judging the players they play their hart out.

I am not saying you are not blaming who you think deserves the most criticism Gunnerlou....i just think you are wrong in blaming the players instead of looking to the guy that picks the team.

08/09 United lost 1st leg 1-0 away to Derby and went on to win the trophy. Result is retrievable but that performance was unacceptable.

And the manager should then buy a spanking new team and try again? If you as a company manager hired a bunch of slobs to work for you got no effort out of them kept on making excuses for them and saw the whole buessnis suffer for it are you not to blame? Keep on blaming the players and not the managers and I guarantee you that we will have another 5 years with out a trophy.

I seem to have contradicted myself somewhat there. :p Blame it on bad choice of words, hopefully you understood what I meant. If not: Wenger does have to motivate them, but he can only do so much.

Respect, Darren C-you could've come on here and gloated and insulted us. And given the way we played, we'd deserve it. You fully deserved your win, congratulations. You showed everything we didn't, all the qualities I so respect in the English game and that is often lacking in our team.

Armory, it is true the manager has a responsibility to lift the players but there are occasions when players need little prodding. For Gawd's sake, it was 180 minutes to a Wembley berth!!!! Playing against an, admittedly, bad side; having not won a trophy in 5 years (media makes them remember that, surely); Manager just got some recognition......What more motivation would serious pros need to just get in there and get the job done?? Sorry, these players have let fans (themselves too) down tonight and removed some of the Fabregas-Theo 'myth' to boot.

I don't think it's as drastic as a whole new team! RvP, Cesc, Nasri, Walcott Wilshere etc are very talented footballers and look to me to be very driven individuals. But I also think that the team has players now that have had nearly four or five years of opportunity and they STILL don't cut it. It's only a natural thing, some players will be good enough and some won't. And if you want the future of Arsenal to be Denilson, Eboue, Vela etc then good luck to you. I guarantee you we will have another 5 years without a trophy.

Denilsn was one of our better perfomers tonight, gp.

shower of *****e and pile of crap.

I should be laughing, gp, but Denilson did make some penetrating passes; he also plled a save out of their keeper. He did have a good game.

Did they play a goalkeeper? Ha! I can't help it, I'm afraid. I'm so disappointed.

I'm still getting over Cesc receiving the ball, with a clear opportunity in front of him, deciding to square the ball back into a mess of players instead of shooting. It summed up the entire evening for me.

Bendtner was dire too. Im not saying he got amazing service but where is the effort? Seems like we cant play well without Nasri in the team.

There's no escaping how poor the performance was last night, but a good deal of the anger is because Arsenal fans are hurting ebcause they feel silly. Theye xpected us to rock up, for Ipswich to roll over and have their beliies tickled and when it didn't happen and our arrogance as a fanbase is exposed, it hits a nerve. Ipswich made life incredibly difficult for us and didn't drop physically in the way I thought they would. Credit to them, we played badly but they played terrifically and forced a lot of our errors. The biggest fault is in conceding a stupid goal. Cesc may not have had his best game but our three best chances still came from his passes Walcott, Arshavin and he put AA through when he was completely wrongly flagged offside). Football is not an exact science, too many condense games into mathematical formulae- Ipswich are this far below us and therefore we will win by this many goals. It doesn't work like that and never has- Carlisle in 2001, Doncaster in 2005, Burnley in 2008- when have we ever had anything other than an incredibly tough time away at a lower league ground? So why were so many so sure we would turn up and win easily? Poor performace from the team, but poor show from the Arsenal fans too. And please stop peddling the myth that the away fans are better than the home fans, I saw two punch ups between Arsenal fans last night and I was called a **** for applauding one of our players off. That's how immature we have become as supporters.

One other thing puzzled me last night. After terrorizing O'Dea on the right wing and getting the Ipswich left back booked, why did Wenger switch Walcott to the left? Surely it made more sense to continue to put pressure on a player with a caution? I thought we let Ipswich off the hook here.

As navydave points out, what I'm talking about was very different from expressing disappointment and letting off steam Wyn. I had to break up a fight have way through having a ***** at half time and I too saw objects thrown and fights and arguments break out amongst our own fans. It's not wrong to want a better performance, though I would question the reality of expecting a super performance every time, paying for a ticket doesn't mean you're paying for a win or even a great display. But throwing objects, shouting down and fighting with your own fans for no other reason than you can't accept defeat shows an astonishing lack of emotional intelligence. It's not wrong to criticise that, just as it's not wrong to criticise the players for a poor display. Fans aren't excused from behaving like civilised human beings because Eboue can't trap a ball, people have to take responsibility for themselves without hiding behind footballers.

Thats what happens when 60% + of people attending games understand nothing about football. However, the performance was poor and lazy far too often. Often Koscielny and Djourou were bringing the ball forward from the back with 0 options and next to no movement from those infront. A lot was good pressing from Ipswich but a lot was because no one wants to take responsibility. We lack leadership, that person who drives everyone on, demanding better.

There is a strong sense of entitlement amongst part of our supporter base. In fairness its not unique to us and applies to all the bigger clubs but manifests itself more amongst some of our lot in growing frustration that their sense of entitlement hasn't been satisfied for a few years. Just as football has changed so have supporters attitudes. It's all taken far too seriously. Good natured enjoyment of the game and acceptance that things go wrong seems beyod far too many. I'm not sure why we have the idea that we're having an easier a ride in the CC this year than at other times. Our record in reaching the SFs is pretty good anyway. The prospects of ultimately winning it just seem more likely as none of the other top 5 sides are left in it but getting there is always a challenge whoever we're playing.

Amos, I would suggest that its taken more seriously because people invest more of their time, emotions and hard earned cash in the game than they did in yesteryears. I don't think Arsenal fans have a particular issue with losing so much. We've had a lot of experience of that in past years! I think its a matter of expectations being raised and not met. We have a world class stadium and were assured of a world class team to go with it. Is it really happening if we're struggling to overcome lower league opposition?

Nothing new in any of this Wyn. The history of the club is peppered with nights like last night. Even Chapmans all conquering triple title winners were turned over by 3rd division Walsall in the cup. Plenty will still remember Wrexham. Its taken more seriously because now we have, in some but not all, a generation of spoilt, humourless supporters who have lost all sense of perspective when it comes to their expectations from buying a ticket for an entertainment event.

Ok, but fans are not being paid fortunes to perform. That is the fundamental difference. We expect value for money these days. Its perhaps a sad reflection of present day football fandom, but there it is. We live in that kind of world now where we expect to be entertained. Higher season ticket prices? Fine, but let's see some silverware in exchange. However we're realistic. We're not expecting the big gleaming Champions League trophy. But how about that little blingy one we used to make fun of? There's only a championship side and 2 teams fighting relegation in our path.

Home or away. Doesn't seem to matter. We will struggle against buses and tractors parked in front of us if that is the tactic adopted by our opponents. Rather than the fans tearing strips out of each other I'd much rather see Wenger and Rice having a right good ding dong on the touchline.

I'm becoming increasingly convinced that many fans see the winning of this particular trophy as a kind of holy grail in itself. Perhaps subconsciously it represents a kind of watershed.

Wyn, no offence meant but surely there is something called a writers prerogative.

....We can still look forward to LD's report after all these?

Wow, my brain was full of mush last night after that performance. I posted a comment referring to our 1993 "league cup" final v. SheffUnited when I meant our FA CUP FINAL (1st leg) at Wembley v. Sheffield Wednesday!

By the way I look forward to LD’s match reports so despite the ravings here could we have one anyway?