• The Arsenal

  • How do we prevent our usual bottle job come Feb/March time

I don't know about you guys but despite our current good form, I still don't 'trust' us yet. A lot of pundits have also commented on this in that we are playing well but they can't really put us down as legit title contenders because we will inevitably fuck it up come Spring time.

How do we prevent this from happening?

Do we need to be practically flawless before then in order to give us a big enough cushion to fall back on in case we do indeed fuck up? Do we need to make sure that we strengthen in the right positions in the Jan Window? Do we need to have a different mental approach come the business end of the season?

Do we give up the FA Cup and just play reserves there so our first team is properly rested up for the rigours of the final third of the season? Do we need to ensure we finish top of our CL group in order to have one less thing to worry about come Feb/March time (although we could still face a big team) ?

Here are a few suggestions for starters

  1. Win the CL group and get a relatively easy draw in last 16.
  2. Field a strong team in the EFL
  3. Play Giroud for only half a season
  4. Give Wenger a copy of Purple Nose's autobiography as a Christmas present.
  5. Win Man U away and don't get beat at Chelsea.

Get rid of the domestic cup burden as soon as possible. Make proper signings in January to give the squad a boost.

Do we always bottle it around Feb/March? Going through the more recent seasons, it seems like we suffer from either a strong start or a strong finish.

I don't think it's realistic for any team to cruise to the title anymore with the level of competition and everyone's going to have a bad month or two, which makes it all the more important that we don't drop careless points when things are going our way. The Liverpool defeat at the start of the season could have easily been avoided through some better preparation, for instance. Similarly not qualifying early for the next round of the CL early will be equally careless and put the squad under unnecessary stress.

But if we sacrifice FA cup and don't end up winning the league/CL (something which has not occurred for the last 12 years) then we could end up with nothing ?

Looks like Wenger needs to do some serious risk assessments come Jan.

And General, I don't understand, why field a strong team in the EFL cup?

Mirth wrote:

Do we always bottle it around Feb/March? Going through the more recent seasons, it seems like we suffer from either a strong start or a strong finish.

2 out of the last three seasons we clearly bottled it around Feb/March. 2003, 2008, 2011 were some of the worst examples under Wenger of bottling around that period.

Sicario wrote:

But if we sacrifice FA cup and don't end up winning the league/CL (something which has not o cured for the last 12 years) then we good end up with nothing ?

We've only won the FA cup twice in the last ten years too. It's nice to have it around to repair some damage done to our season, but most seasons we end up with neither league, nor FA cup, nor CL. You can't bank on winning the lesser cup when it rarely ever happens anyway. It has proven to be a strain on a squad that is still way too thin in key areas.

I'd focus solely on the league if it were up to me. Champions League, the FA Cup and the league cup are just distractions, and the minute push comes to shove they need to have a lower priority. Win the league and build from there by adding to the squad. Make us increasingly better equipped to mount a challenge on multiple fronts.

Klaus wrote:
Sicario wrote:

But if we sacrifice FA cup and don't end up winning the league/CL (something which has not o cured for the last 12 years) then we good end up with nothing ?

We've only won the FA cup twice in the last ten years too. It's nice to have it around to repair some damage to our season, but most seasons we end up with neither league, nor FA cup, nor CL. You can't bank on winning the lesser cup when it rarely ever happens anyway. It has proved to be a strain on a squad that is still way too thin in key areas.

I'd focus solely on the league if it were up to me. Champions League, the FA Cup and the league cup are just distractions, and the minute push comes to shove they need to have a lower priority. Win the league and build from there by adding to the squad. Make us increasingly better equipped to mount a challenge on multiple fronts.

True but it' could be a bit of a catch 22 situation. For example, a heavy defeat to a rival in the FA Cup in March could have an even more adverse affect on our momentum which in turn could increase our 'bottle job' likelihood in the league as we are a confidence based team. Sometimes you got to be careful what you wish for, although I do understand where you are coming from.

Ideally you have a big enough squad that can compete in all major tournaments (I don't count the EFL cup here).

I want to take the EFL seriously. Wenger has never won it and it could be the springboard we need in Feb.

Sicario wrote:
Mirth wrote:

Do we always bottle it around Feb/March? Going through the more recent seasons, it seems like we suffer from either a strong start or a strong finish.

2 out of the last three seasons we clearly bottled it around Feb/March. 2003, 2008, 2011 were some of the worst examples under Wenger of bottling around that period.

It's not a bottle job when a flawed team finds their flaws exposed as the games mount up. 2003 was a massive bottle job, as was the 2004 CL run, but for the rest of them? Not too sure. The quality of players wasn't that high to begin with (or the team was already stretched) and that's what needs to be addressed before we get into the psychology of the players.

Probably because we spend too much time nursing the "like a new signing" players back to fitness in this period as there are often no alternatives in the squad.

I don't think we are in a position to forfeit games, basically, in any of the big three comps. I want us to field strong teams in each of those competitions, but at the same time I don't want Wenger to take stupid risks with important players' health. There is also a psychological aspect here; if Wenger rests Özil and Alexis on CL Wednesday because we have a 12.45 Saturday kick off in the league, that sends a message to the squad I'm positive Wenger does NOT want to send. And, let's face it, CL and PL congestion is usually at the root cause for us dropping off.

Keep playing with a high tempo and use the jan tran effectively

We didn't have a good squad for rotation when fatigue and injury set in. Things has change we have ample cover everywhere on the pitch right know.

If Kos and Mustafi both play 30+ league games this year we'll go a long way to being alright. I went to the Chelsea game, and was mightily impressed with Mustafi.

Too often Wenger has failed to get the team over the line with his over reliance on thin squads, predictable tactics and poor rotation. And then you have the other perrenial contributory factors like injuries, complacency and key players losing form when we need them the most. The left back position is a concern for me and whiles I think Monreal has done well, I don't think he can cope with the workload over a 38game season. How Wenger mitigates this will play a significant part in our season.

Not sure if the lack of depth reason is always true. There are various seasons we just seem to throw away all the good work we do when it comes to Feb and March. Last season comes to mind.

When you look back at our last 12 years, there's a good pattern to derive from. Seasons we start strongly and are contending for the title, we will throw it away in Feb/March/April. Seasons that we start meekly (even in the relegaiton zone in august), we tend to finish extremely strongly from February onwards. So it is not just about this period.

its always been a combination of a thin squad, inconsistency/immaturity, and poor preparation for big games. the thin squad problem is gone - it remains to be seen if the other 2 problems remain. hopefully to introduction of tougher characters like xhaka and mustafi will alleviate the mental problems, and keep competition for places high

Relying on sub standard players like Flamini and to a lesser extent Mertesacker and Arteta has also cost us dearly. Almost every season we've had at least one useless players who has ultimately exposed us. Against This season is the first in a long while the floor of the team has been raised to a decent level, especially in midfield. This squad wins the league last season.