Not making excuses here, Arsenal went into their shell at 1-0, Chelsea hit back and deserved the win. However, another bad decision against them let Chelsea equalize. 3 games in a row bad decisions may have cost at least 5 points.

I do agree they are weak at this moment and I think you are right, they will concentrate on the CL. The trouble with that, we've seen how they perform when not interested and it's possible they could get overhauled by Liverpool for 3rd now.

the only reason why we lost that match was kolo toure i think.he made two big errors and drogba scored...senderos is playing much better than kolo nowdays

awww i like Kolo, i think hes good.

i just dont understand why Eboue is starting ahead of Walcott. it seems silly

Walcott is not strong enough yet, he is still young.

lol you sound like a jedi...but anywho...i know hes young, but eboue is a joke and a complete waste of space most of the time. think theo should at least get a chance to start sometimes. if it doesnt work then he can go straight back on the bench

I think Eboue is bit mono-dimensional as well in his play but Theo really needs to beef up because he cannot really compete on strentgh and power against strong defenders while Eboue can ( when he does not fall over). Theo has actually started 15 games and came 15 times as a sub.

i wondered why wengers arms were constantly thrusting up and down on the bench.



that explains it

but would he be so speedy if he bulked up?! either way, in my opinion he should start ahead of Eboue...not saying its right, just what i think should happen

That's Tony Colbert job to make sure he does not loose is speed
If Eboue underperforms constanlty it's fair to give him a chance but as soon as Rosicky is back from injury Hleb will come back on the right wing anyway.

Walcott should start ahead of Eboue. Walcott is weaker strength wise, but his play in the last few games has been far better than Eboue. Keeping him on the bench and bringing him on as a sub in every match from now on will just derail his confidence once again and halt his great progress as of late. Wenger needs to play him while he's flying high at the moment. In the last few games he's finally made the right decision while playing, has put in the right ball/pass into the box and so forth. Even Capello has noticed it and has chosen him for the England squad against France. Not to mention Walcott has the ability to score unlike Eboue who couldn't hit a dead ball on target from the 6 yard box.

The Sagna/Eboue partnership has been poor as of late. During the Chelsea game, Eboue would get in the way of Sagna on multiple times. I clearly remember on one counterattack, Sagna was streaking up the pitch with the ball, and Eboue decides to run alongside (outside) him, in return pushing Sagna further in towards the middle of the pitch and right into the two defenders coming to close him down. In essence Eboue boxed Sagna in on that occasion and became a 3rd defender for Chelsea.

The only thing Eboue has over Walcott (other than strength) would be his ability to defend. However, Walcott did track back and stop Kaka in his tracks. So not all is lost on the defensive side with Walcott. And Sagna is more than capable to sitting back and defending the right. He does it when Hleb plays on that side, don't see why he couldn't handle the task with Walcott being in front of him.

even his defence has been shocking lately! he gets on my nerves because he just either misplaces every pass or he completely overruns with the ball and then loses it anyway. definitely agree with you saying that keeping theo on the bench wont help his confidence!

I sometimes find Eboue a bit predictable.

If Sagna is coming on the outside, 9/10 he will play the ball to him rather than taking the option to run on the inside and create something on his own, now I'm not saying that going outside is a bad option, but I think it is when defenders pretty much can anticipate what Eboue will do in those situations.

Walcott has the ability to drift in and out in that position and his variety of crossing has proved the difference in the two players over the last few months, creating goal scoring chances and making an impact straight away (more notably, the cross to Manny against AC Milan).

And the two goals he scored against Birmingham, one that he created out of nowhere. Also first leg against AC Milan, when he came on in the 75-80th minute, he's the one that caused Milan the most trouble, and put the cross in for Adebayor that ended up going off the bar. In the last 4-5 games, Walcott has performed way better than Eboue.

The problem Walcott used to have playing on the wing was his indecision, which ironically is caused by the amount of time he has on the ball out there (too much time to think of what to do on the ball). When he's played in the middle he's played on instinct and isn't given the time to think which is where he plays better. But in the last 4-5 games, he's played on instinct on the wing which has made him a bigger threat. He's made better runs, he's made crosses, he's put the ball on goal and so forth without thinking about it. He's grown a lot in the past month and Wenger needs to start him over Eboue.

Not to mention Eboue is a ticking timebomb. I have a feeling he's going to get a red card in a very important game if he's not careful.

yeah but on sundey he was awful

who? eboue had an absolute shocker and walcott came on too late to even make a difference

No Kolo. Especially on that second goal. He completely missed the clear.

Walcott didn't do anything because he never got the ball. I remember watching and I could see Walcott at the top of the screen just standing there in acres of space. We tried to exploit Essien at RB too much, became a bit predictable after awhile.

oh dear...i need to start opening my eyes!

yeah kolo was a bit rubbish!

i think maybe Kolo Toure left his mojo at the African Nations Cup ....

I would have to agree, especially with the way they lost and crashed out of the tournament. The injury he suffered there and against Milan hasn't helped him much either. He's definitely got a big dent in his confidence right now.

It's nice to know that i'm not the only person who feels Eboue doesn't belong out there. I'm an American (new to the site. gooner fan for over 10 years) who's watched almost every single (real) game this season and he has frustrated me the entire campaign. He's incredibly predictable and his technique has shown absolutely no improvement over last season. How many times does his first touch fail him? How many times has he screwed up passes, even the easy ones? How many times has he missed can't miss goals? Too many god damn times. I don't know what Wenger sees out there. His potential lied in his ability to go forward as a fullback not as a midfielder.

I also think Adebayor is one of the most overrated players on our roster and in the league. Don't get me wrong; he's had a fantastic season. However, his first touch is regularly dreadful. How many times has he screwed a beautiful pass from Fabregas or Flamini? How many times has that mistake cost the beginning of very threatening counter attack. I think he gives us something we were missing when we had Henry, a vertical presence. But, we lost so much with technique. Adebayor is not capable of just taking the ball down the field and scoring. He has to be in the 18 yd box. Someone has to feed it to him. He's not the greatest finisher with his feet either and that has cost us numerous times.

As far as Kolo is concerned, I think he's fatigued and in a bit of a slump. His athletic ability is light years ahead of Senderos, but I think his mental awareness and eye coordination are off sometimes.