Nela wrote:

Asa, I just have one question. Why were you still so positive after last weekend?

I came on here and was really susprised to see you of all people so positive about our league chances. But I couldn't really figure out why. The CC final killed whatever last hope I had in this team. If they're so mentally weak that they couldn't handle a CC final, how could they possibly handle any of the other bigger competitions we're in.

COuldn't figure out why? We were a potentially a point behind the leaders.

Not really in a position to call anyone mentally weak if you're resigned to defeat when we were 4 points behind with a game in hand.

Today had nothing to do with being mentally weak either, it's about not having 5 key players and a shit ref.

I think my slim belief is based more on the idea that we are better able to cope with our inevitable injury crisis this season than we were last season. (Fully believe that with our first choice available we would definitely win the title).

That coupled with the fact that United are not this flippin' unstoppable juggernaut that everybody here seems so terrified of.

Even if they win tomorrow I won't write off our chances completely.

I don't expect the road to winning a title to be some permanently joyous happy trip, like we're just going to win it without going through a lot of pain, stress, crisis and dark dark days.

We are, we do and we will.

10 more match days of this intensity (hopefully) to deal with.

Nah, I'm being negative not mentally weak.

Arshavin was clearly onside. Awful decision.

Poor game from us but I wasn't expecting much of a performance when I saw the line-up. Diaby and Denilson in the same line-up is always going to be a disaster.

Not sure why people are so confident Man U won't pick up all 3 points tomorrow in truth. I think they played very well against Chelsea, I think us failing to pick up 3 points today will spur them on, their record isn't bad against Liverpool at Anfield in recent years and Liverpool don't have Torres (who has caused them a lot of trouble in the past) anymore..

Nela wrote:

Nah, I'm being negative not mentally weak.

You've given up on us while we were still in a great position, call it what you like, it doesn't show a great attitude, regardless of how good we are or our recent history of screwing things up.

Nela, wasn't suggesting that you were mentally weak!

No one is denying we have problems but if only the men in black who have refereed our games in the last one month had done their job well we would be a point clear of Utd now, that simply can't be denied, one can curse players all they want.

I always believed all these things even themselves out over a season, but clearly this has not been the case this season.

Man Utd have gotten away at Blackpool, West Brom, Wigan and we haven't had such luck. I am not even saying i want the team to get such luck, we just need to get correct decisions, that is all.

I've certainly become a lot more negative lately. But it's based on what I'm seeing and percieving as an Arsenal fan. I don't think I have to be positive on a forum I come to to talk about Arsenal with other fans. I do however think Arsenal fans have the right to expect a better attitude and mentality from this group of players when they walk out on that pitch. I see it in players like Wilshere and Sagna. And I just wish we had a whole team with that kind of determination.

No one is saying you shouldn't expect better, I do too (though moreso against the likes of Newcastle, West Brom and Tottenham than today) or even to be a cheerleader on these forums, but doesn't mean you should feel numb during a game or act surprised that others are hopefull of us winning the league to.

Do you honestly believe the 'team' lacked determination today?

With all due respect I was asking Asa specifically though because I'm particularly interested in his take on it.

Oh, I see how it is

Rohit wrote:

Do you honestly believe the 'team' lacked determination today?

Actually, I'm one of the ones who said right after the game that you can't expect a team to perform in a fluid, high paced manner throughout ever game and that it's the little decisions like the penalty and goal ruled offide, that often decide matches because of the nature of football as a sport.

My complaint about the players attitudes and mentality is a general problem I have with this team. It's something I feel is systemic in our whole team dynamic and not necessarilly anything specific to today.

otfgoon wrote:

Oh, I see how it is

Didn't mean for it to come off like I'm not interested in other people's opinion as well.

I've just generally seen myself as a more hopeful or optimistic in my view of this team compared to Asa(and that's not meant as an insult in any way ) So I was interested in why he was so positive, when I felt so negative.

There is certainly a tendency to get complacent against certain opposition, i don't know what that is down to but apart from the ties in the cup i don't think we can accuse the team of such attitude in the league since the turn of the year. Teams do grow and mature so i am only hoping the same is happening with this team. The team worked very hard today and was very committed apart from Denilson who was far too cowardly going into any challenge. We have played an incredible amount of football this year and we did enough to win 3 points in a manner which if the scoreline would read 1-0 at the end would be deemed worthy of Champions but the referee had other ideas.

not long back from the game - feel so deflated.

what upset me most is bar wilshere and djourou, none of our players looked like they were hurting from a cup final loss and like they actually wanted to go out and win that damned match

denilson should never be allowed to play for us again

diaby can fuck off

and bendtner is lucky to be at our club. he's never on his toes and looking to attack the ball

Just saw some highlights. Chamakh should have scored with that header, there wasn't much pressure on him.

We battered them in the last 20 minutes, what a shame we didn't play like that a bit earlier.

I've had conflicting thoughts about this over time, but I'm beginning to think it's not necessarily a complacency issue. For me, it's an issue of our squad players being not good enough. Take a look at who performed and who didn't today: our back five was up for it, Jack had an alright game, and I thought both Arshavin and Nasri were quality. Who failed to show up? The usual suspects. It's been the same story for the last couple of seasons: when the backbone of our first team is alive and well, we're by far the best team in England. When they're not, we look mid-table quality. Players like Denilson, Diaby, and Bendtner will never be able to sustain a title challenge. If we're going to win the league, we'll need almost everyone fit. Simple as, really.

By the way, starting next season I'd like to see guys like Lansbury, Henderson, Eastmond, Frimpong, etc. getting the nod over Denilson, Diaby, and Rosicky. The latter players offer absolutely nothing, whereas the former players will play with a bit of fire, mainly because they'd be playing for their futures at Arsenal.

ya v marquer wrote:

not long back from the game - feel so deflated.

what upset me most is bar wilshere and djourou, none of our players looked like they were hurting from a cup final loss and like they actually wanted to go out and win that damned match

denilson should never be allowed to play for us again

diaby can fuck off

and bendtner is lucky to be at our club. he's never on his toes and looking to attack the ball

bendtner is infuriating to watch. mouth open, chewing on that gum, arms flailing like those hot air inflatable dancing men... just fucking get rid of him, please.