Arsenal's title challenge has died this month...

[Karl]

Arsenal's title challenge has died this month, ensuring a sixth successive season without a trophy for the club.

Many argue this season's failures are a result of bad luck. This week Arsenal supporters are placing the blame on the referee letting play go on for too long or on one of our most experienced defenders for committing a stupid foul in the dying seconds. In the weeks and years prior we have blamed referees, goalkeepers, injuries, and other excuses for our shortcomings.

These excuses have been offered by Arsene Wenger and echoed by Arsenal's fan base for years. It is time for the excuses to stop.
We will not win anything again this season because we are not good enough to win.

I am not suggesting that our team is not talented enough to win. I do not think it will take huge investment by the club's new owner, Stan Kroenke, for the club to finally win a trophy. This team was more than capable of winning the league this season. But major changes will be required for us to do so.

We have proven to be our own worst enemy. Our failures are completely our fault, not the referees' or anyone else.

In 10 games this season, Arsenal have dropped points that a champion would not drop. We have found ways to drop points seemingly every match. This is a match-by-match reminder of where Arsenal's season went all wrong.

[Karl]

Arsenal's title challenge has died this month, ensuring a sixth successive season without a trophy for the club.

Many argue this season's failures are a result of bad luck. This week Arsenal supporters are placing the blame on the referee letting play go on for too long or on one of our most experienced defenders for committing a stupid foul in the dying seconds. In the weeks and years prior we have blamed referees, goalkeepers, injuries, and other excuses for our shortcomings.

These excuses have been offered by Arsene Wenger and echoed by Arsenal's fan base for years. It is time for the excuses to stop.
We will not win anything again this season because we are not good enough to win.

I am not suggesting that our team is not talented enough to win. I do not think it will take huge investment by the club's new owner, Stan Kroenke, for the club to finally win a trophy. This team was more than capable of winning the league this season. But major changes will be required for us to do so.

We have proven to be our own worst enemy. Our failures are completely our fault, not the referees' or anyone else.

In 10 games this season, Arsenal have dropped points that a champion would not drop. We have found ways to drop points seemingly every match. This is a match-by-match reminder of where Arsenal's season went all wrong.

9/18: At Sunderland



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After a fluke first half goal by Cesc Fabregas (one of Cesc's rare goals this season), we dominated Sunderland at the Stadium of Light and Black Cat goalkeeper Simon Mignolet was the man of the match.

Despite our dominance, we conceded a late goal to Darren Bent on a poorly-defended set piece (an all-too-familiar Achilles heel for the Arsenal defense). The ball was whipped in to our box but was not properly cleared and Bent was there to finish and secure his side a point.

Sunderland were on the back foot for nearly the entire match and yet we threw away our lead with a poorly defended set piece at the very end.
Result: 1-1, two points dropped.

[Karl]

9/25: West Brom at Home


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Newly promoted West Brom had been pegged as one of the favorites to be relegated when they came to the Emirates. Arsenal apparently thought they had been relegated already, and did not show up to play the Baggies.

Only after falling a few goals down did Arsenal show any sense of urgency and ruthlessness going forward. Two late Nasri goals made the result more respectable but Arsenal's motivation to beat newly-promoted West Brom was completely absent, much like it has been in years prior against other promoted sides like Hull City at home.

A champion does not lose to West Brom at home.

Result: 2-3, three points dropped

[Karl]

11/7: Newcastle at Home

11/7: Newcastle at Home



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After losing to West Brom at home, Arsenal did not learn their lesson. Newly-promoted Newcastle outplayed Arsenal at the Emirates, held us to a clean sheet and beat us at home.

Newcastle grabbed a goal on a goalkeeping error by Lukasz Fabianski, after a free kick far away from our box put our defense under too much pressure. Andy Carroll capitalized on the mistake and scored.

For the remainder of the match, Newcastle defended in numbers and with discipline. They let us control the ball and made sure to keep us in front of them and kept us from putting the ball in dangerous positions. Their tactics worked and we did not score.

Again, a champion does not lose to a promoted side at home.
Result: 0-1, three points dropped

[Karl]

11/20: Tottenham Hotspur at Home

11/20: Tottenham Hotspur at Home



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If Arsenal had been accused of lacking heart and determination in their losses to West Brom and Newcastle at home, they certainly found whatever they had been lacking in the first half against Spurs. We went 2-nil up early and were in complete control of the game.

But with 60 minutes left to go, we thought we'd already won it.

Supporters cheered "ole" with every completed first half pass. We were in complete control and Spurs did not did not pose any problems for us defensively.

Perhaps motivated by the fans' cheering every pass as if the match was already over, Spurs came out in the second half and took the match to us. They grabbed an early goal and then equalized after "El Captain" Cesc Fabregas foolishly handballed a free kick in the box.

The blunder was all too frustrating for Arsenal fans because it was familiar: Fabregas had escaped without consequence when he similarly handballed a late Gerrard freekick against Liverpool at home the year before.

With the match tied two-two, Younes Kaboul scored the winner on another late set piece. We self-destructed, going from 2-nil up to losing 2-3 against our most hated rivals.

Result: 2-3, three points dropped


12/29: At Wigan



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One year before, Wigan's comeback 3-2 win against Arsenal saved their place in the Premier League and finished any hope Arsenal had of winning a trophy. Although they could not earn a victory against Arsenal this time around, we did hand Wigan an undeserved point.

Charles N'Zogbia was sent off in the second half with Wigan trailing 2-1. A man up and a goal up against one of the league's worst teams, we somehow managed to only get a point.

A late set piece put us under pressure and Sebastien Squillaci headed the ball into his own net, equalizing the score.

Result: 2-2, two points dropped.



2/5: At Newcastle



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For the first time in the history of the Premier League, a team scored the first four goals of a match and did not win.

Arsenal were 4-nil up after an amazing display of football in the first half. Johan Djourou went out injured at the start of the second half and was replaced by Squillaci. Squillaci then played a poor pass to Abou Diaby and Joey Barton made a very strong—and probably illegal—challenge on the 50-50 ball. Diaby didn't like Barton's challenge, retaliated and was sent off.

In the next 30 minutes, the Arsenal defense managed to concede two penalties and four goals, equaling the score and making Premier League history. It was the only history Arsenal made all season.

Result: 4-4, two points dropped.



3/5: Sunderland at Home



Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
Sunderland have been in awful form. They have picked up one point since February 1st. They earned that point at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal could not break down a Titus Bramble-led defense and could not score. Some questionable referee decisions did not go our way but we did not create and finish enough chances to win the game. Sunderland looked to sit back and defend and they did so well.

The point Sunderland earned at the Emirates might be the point that saves them from relegation.

Result: 0-0, two points dropped.



3/19: At West Brom



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Manuel Almunia made an utterly stupid error to concede the second goal but Arsenal did not appear to learn from their defeat to West Brom early in the season as, yet again, we were not as motivated and determined as the Baggies at the start of the match, and we fell behind as a result.
Some terrible defending in the opening minutes led to a West Brom corner. Our defense, led by Squillaci and Koscielny, struggled to defend another set piece and we conceded an early goal.

Only a tremendous effort by Andrey Arshavin in the second half and a scrappy goal by van Persie kept us from losing twice to West Brom in one season.

But we ended up taking one point of six from West Brom in two matches. Maybe they'll send us some of that Premier League money if they stay up.

Result: 2-2, two points dropped.



4/2: Blackburn at Home



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After the frustrating draws to West Brom and Sunderland, and with some key players coming back form injury, Arsenal supporters expected a dominant display against a Blackburn team that had conceded seven goals at Old Trafford earlier in the season.

Instead, we saw a toothless, leaderless display, as Arsenal struggled to create any chances and ended the match without a goal at home. Our best chance in the match fell to Wilshere in the first half and he missed it completely. We never created another chance as good as Wilshere's for the rest of the match.

Blackburn set out tactically to let us possess the ball but tried to keep us in front of them and they defended with discipline and with numbers. The strategy worked yet again.

Even though the title was in our hands, we could not learn from the past poor performances against defensive teams at home and yet again failed to break down the opposition.
Result: 0-0, two points dropped



4/17: Liverpool at Home



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New owner Stan Kroenke was in the stands at the Emirates Stadium to watch a truly unbelievable match. If anyone had told me Arsenal were going to score the first goal of the match in the 98th minute and not win, I would not have believed it.

Liverpool was decimated by injuries. Gerrard, Agger, Kelly, Johnson and other key players were out injured. Carragher, Aurelio and Carroll all were injured in the course of the game and took up all three of Liverpool's substitutions. They had unknown youngsters playing all over the field, some of who are even younger than Wilshere.

But Liverpool did not let their bad luck get to them. They defended with discipline and in numbers and kept Arsenal scoreless until conceding a late penalty. We then returned the favor four minutes later and the Liverpool equalizer came with the last kick of the match.
We played poorly and got what we deserved.
Result: 1-1, two points dropped.



Conclusion



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If you haven't been adding them up, that's 23 points dropped out of an available 30. If we could have taken a third of those points we'd be in first place. If we'd taken half of them, we'd be six points ahead of Man United, not six points behind them. If we had taken all of these points the title would be in our hands already.

The problems are consistent. We struggle to defend set pieces, especially late in matches. We struggle at home against sides who are content tactically to sit back, defend and earn a point. We struggle to motivate ourselves to play against teams who we perceive to be inferior opposition.
These problems have been consistent throughout the six-year trophy drought, which has led many to question whether Wenger is the right man to fix them. He has not in six years. I do not think he can in the future. My patience has run out. He should be replaced.

Keep in mind, the matches I have listed are only in the league. A similarly poor result against Braga in the Champions League kept us from winning our group and got us a match-up with Barcelona in the first knockout round.

The Carling Cup Final was a similar self-destruction by an Arsenal team who were not motivated to play against Birmingham City. And we fell out of the FA Cup after being beaten tactically by a Man United team decimated by injuries and forced to sit back and defend with seven defenders in their squad.

Arsenal's problems are deeper than bad luck. The sooner the club realizes that, the sooner we finally win another trophy.



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fabregas said that the team "lacks a winning mentality" .... who was the last person in that squad who had this winnng mentality? look no further than TH14.

it tek several years but you KARL will come to realise that that is where it all started ....... despite changes...man u always maintained winners of senior standing to inculcate this belief in the young players. gunners may well have a lost generation ......