Team News: Arsenal v. Blackburn

Phil Dowd. Damn it. God save us.

Nasri should come off. Not the same since the injury.

It's more worrying that we have our most dangerous players on and have had few openings. We must watch out for their breaks now and still try to get an early goal in the 2nd half.

GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLL

nosotros tenemos a cesc fabregas

Sorry Lou, my faith died weeks ago and I'm afraid that it's more of the same DROSS today. I fancy us to lose this. NO EXCUSES for what has happened this past month. Big changes this summer demanded.

Almunia has been great well deserved of his Number 1 shirt.discuss.

Let's not pour more negative energy into and around the team. If we want the players to keep fighting, so should we.

This fat ref has been ***** for years

If we score now i WILL marry julie

But er ajwb Julie is married.

Sigh...

wasteful. not good enough

there goes our season... drew 4 out of the last 6 games that we should have won; newcastle, sunderland, west brom & blackburn. now mu can even afford to lose againts chelski & in emirates but still take the title. talk about easier run in

It's just a matter of inches. more inch and we could have been 2 more points closer to the summit. It's a decent performance. Not bad. Plenty of players returning back. They will only get better in the next few games. Arsene's substitutions can be questioned though. Jack could have been taken off. He looked so tired. Instead he took off Nasri who was one of the shining beacons today. I think Nasri could have lasted the 90 and would have been useful in breaking them down. And what was Bendtner doing out on the right at the end. He's our best header of the ball. He should play in the centre. van Persie should be going out wide instead. It was tactical error after tactical error from the manager. We could have won this game if we gave that final push in the end. But the manager made a few debatable decisions that might have cost us 2 points.

**1 more inch

Oh dear oh dear you just got dominated by a rugby team today.

Cant be arsed to defend the team.They did not win.

I'm proud already. After the home tie against Barcelona I said I'd stay proud of the team regardless of how we finish the season. I'll keep my word because they still deserve my backing.

Not proud of today's performance I am not. But I'm hoping the team will do something in the next few weeks that we can be proud of.

Congratulations to Man Utd and Fergie on yet another title. This team simply cannot deliver when the heat is on. Injuries etc are all part and parcel of a season. It's simply no coincidence that Man Utd cope better than most. They simply have an amazing manager that knows how to prepare and set up his team to win. Our season in terms of sliverware is over. Yet again we get to crunch time and fluff our lines. Can't really criticise individuals today. We're a good side, but not good enough to win trophies. I can't see that changing unless we change our approach because although the team will be a year older, they'll keep hitting the same blocks again and you wouldn't fancy them to overcome then. Sigh...

if manutd fail to win the league from this position, and Arsenal end up winning it, I'll blame manutd more than I congratulate us,

Well, there goes any chance at the title. Quite disappointed. This team does not finish seasons well, suffering a dip in form at critical periods of the season.

I suppose all the fans that booed the team off the pitch yesterday will get their usual slaughtering from Amos and LD in the write up?

If the manager isn't able to inspire and get this team over the finishing line when it counts, then he needs to bring in 2-3 proven, experienced players in key positions. Obviously I'm not an expert, but if we are such a young team with an average age of 23, then it seems obvious that that's the problem. In any profession in the world, experience counts for an awful lot, no matter how much raw talent you have. I don't believe the players didn't try yesterday or want it. You have to think that it's actually the one way of playing that we have, the tippy-tappy, is part of the problem too. We've seen it so many times and I saw it again yesterday when we had a break on only for it to be slowed down and the opposition allowed to retreat. You could see the players being frustrated with each other yesterday, a sign that the tension of playing under pressure to perform is getting to them. That's probably what 2-3 experienced players will help to overcome. I've seen fans complain about Man Utd getting refereeing decisions. There's nothing lucky about them winning 11 titles and 2 CL and several other cups under Fergie. There's no way they'll let the title slip now and what's sickening is knowing that all the predictions that the pundits made about us coming true, i.e. that we'd choke when it counts.

Gooner_Vin, I'd agree with you but I have also seen young teams win things. Maybe, the personnel needs re-orientation (tactics, fire in the belly,?). In the German Bundesliga, a relatively young Borussia Dortmund side are runaway table toppers and were 13 points ahead at some time in the season. I feel our lads are weary from losing out of 3 competitions (especially the Carling Cup) in quick succession and only need to be relaxed and play their game. That is down to the individual players' hunger, not the Manager.

...especially as we are being told 24/7 by Wenger how this team is ready and how mature they are and how they are a year more experienced and are great. GREAT? Great teams win things, we don't.