So season over… we kind of knew that anyway right?
We were put out of the Champions League and then the Premiership in the same week. It has been a disappointing end to what has been our most competitive season in 4 years. I’m not going to sit hear and tell you I am pleased with how this year has panned out, but I am not completely gutted.
We’ve played some beautiful football at times, some average players have come good and we’ve shown that with a few select additions we really could be contenders next year.
The key to next year being a success is that Arsene and his coaching staff learn from the failings of this season, and probably seasons past. I am going to give you a break down of where I thought things went wrong yesterday, and what I thought was great about yesterday.
There is no need to go overboard today, I think its time for some honest reflection and for us as Gooners to look forward to next season.
So what happened?
Well, who looked at the line up and didn’t say… SONG! At centre back! What that fuck… is he mad! Yes, Song at centre back. Arsenal, one of the greatest clubs in the world was playing an average player in an unnatural position for the 2nd time in his Arsenal career… against the Worlds form team.
Then blogger Geoff made the good point…
‘Its better than having Phil there…’
A good point, he can’t be any worse can he? Is that something an Arsenal fan should ever be saying? Is that what our squad has boiled down to? Playing poor players out of position?
Wouldn’t logic tell you that Eboue should play right back, Toure should play in the middle and Walcott or Cesc on the right?
Anyway we played great football and we had the best chances. We dominated the first half and should have been 3 up.
Adebayor missed 3 absolute sitters. It was unbelievable how guilt edged the chances were, but he is a man out of form and low on confidence. I am not going to slate him, because I rate him. He ran his socks off and he worked himself into the positions. I’d prefer a player to miss 4 sitters than a player who isn’t good enough to get into the positions in the first place. The goals will come, it is just not happening for him at the moment.
When we went 1-0 up after Ade’s hand balled goal, I went mad… but how many of you actually believed in your heart of hearts we’d hang on? I didn’t. Nor did the other Gooners I was sitting with. This team doesn’t know how to close a game off do they, maybe that’s what Wenger meant about maturity.
Sure enough we were right… 10 minutes later and Gallas handled a through ball and gave away a penalty…
Take note Gallas… No one walked away and kicked the hoardings did they? No one went and sat on the half way line and sulked did they? I don’t want to completely lambaste the guy, but he is 30 years old and was once regarded as one of the top 10 defenders in the world… what has happened recently? We have two of the best full backs in the world, you can’t really argue with that… but we’ve only kept 12 clean sheets this year and I can’t remember many Manuel mistakes.
Is the problem that Kolo and Gallas aren’t as good as we think they are? I don’t know… but it’s worth asking the question because we just don’t seem to be able to crack it defensively do we? What makes it worse is Sol Campbell is doing really well down and Pompey… and we let him go on a free!
Next up on my list of moans was the free kick Gilberto gave away. Gilberto is just not…
No, I am not going down that route, Gilberto was excellent today and I think the worst thing we can do this summer is get rid of him. Why are people so quick to write good players off? He is an asset and I think his dip in form was due to match practice and being sacked off as the captain.
Sorry, I went off the point.
My point is, we conceded our second goal for the same reason we conceded the first against Liverpool (Away). Lehmann watched the player not the ball. He didn’t even dive! He was waiting for Ronaldo to shoot! I hope I am not alone in my thoughts on that… it was a good free kick, but it merited a dive at least.
I remember reading that when Beckham took free kicks against Seaman, he wouldn’t asked for a wall because great players didn’t worry about the wall. I am unsure why Lehmann left so much free space for Hargreaves? His kicking was poor today, but he did make a few good saves. For me, he just cemented my attitude… Almunia is number 1.
So how about the good things? Well, we’re not that far off being a great team. I hope Wenger is bluffing when he says we only need one player… even the most ardent ‘Arsene Know’s Brigader’ can see that is simply not true.
If we sorted out our defence in the summer by my reckoning we would only be a winger and maybe another midfielder off being a great team. I accept that Vela is coming, but he is not the answer… let’s not pin our hopes on up and coming children. I’ve had 3 years of doing that. How many of these kids come in and have an immediate impact? Hardly any of them…
Up front Bendtner looks like he is very close to becoming a great player for the club. Adebayor is already a good player, he just needs a bit of confidence and a rest. RvP will start next season, so hopefully he can fulfill his world class potential. Theo could come of age next year and we still have Eddie to look forward to at Christmas. Maybe we could do with a bit of proven goal scoring talent? I don’t know… just someone to bang them in when our backs are against the wall. We don’t have as many match winners as our rivals do we?
In midfield Cesc is just Cesc, he hasn’t been on fire during the tail end of the season but you know he’ll be stronger for next year. Hleb was fantastic today; I wish he could motivate himself to play like that all the time. The only problem I have with him is that he is only 70% of what is required… if you won’t shoot as a midfielder… players will stand off you. No one fears Hleb from 30 yards out.
I may as well just start the player ratings now!
Player Ratings:
Lehmann: Made some important saves early on but he let himself down with his kicking and his player watching for the Manc free kick. 6
Toure: Caught out of position a few times and skinned by Rooney early on… clearly not a right back. 6
Song: Not great for an Arsenal player, but good compared to Senderos. It’s not a glowing endorsement is it? Why can’t we just buy a decent back up? Why put a DM in at CB… 6
Gallas: He was doing ok until he conceded that ridiculous penalty. Arsene just doesn’t seem to be able to get the best out of him at Arsenal. 6
Clichy: I really rate him, he causes all sorts of problems going forward and he is spot on at the back. He had a good game today and added a bit of stability to a shaky defence. 7
Eboue: The guy is an appalling player. He feigns injury at every opportunity and seems to be living off a cross he made last year. It was one cross people… One CROSS! Rubbish as usual. 4
Gilberto: I thought he was great today, his passing was on and his break up play was great. Don’t sell him Arsene, we need to keep all the experience we can. 7
Cesc: I thought he played well today, I wonder where he left his shooting boots? They have been missing since December… If anyone has seen them, drop me an e-mail. 7
Hleb: My gosh, did someone promise him a free Mr Whippy at the end of the game? The guy was fantastic today; the ball stuck to his feet like glue, his passing was brilliant… but no shooting as usual. 8
RvP: Non existent most of the game. He is taking a long time to settle back into things; maybe Euro 2008 will give him the boost he needs! 6
Adebayor: Missed 4 guilt edged chances, but he worked hard and caused Rio and Pique problems all day. He got his reward when he elbowed the ball into the back of the net, but on his report card there is a big…’Must do better‘. I have faith in him though; he is very close to becoming a truly great player for the club. 7
Subs:
Theo: He got a whole 30 minutes today. I think we were hoping for more of an impact, but hey… he is only 19. Even though his contribution was low, it was still twice as good as Eboue’s. 7
Nikki B: Caused almost as many problems as Ade when he came on. He squandered to headers at the far post, but his passing and link up play was great. I think if he stays this summer, we could be in for a treat next year. 7
Hoyte: To be honest, he was a freeking revelation… he marshalled the back line with Tony Adams like authority and made sure no one gave Lehmann anything to worry about. If he’d have started… we would have won. Fact. 10
So in conclusion, we lost but we expected it.
Let’s not go down the route of blaming our collapse on luck, it’s a weak argument. In football, as in life… you make your own luck. When you start blaming your demise on things out of your control you start to feel sorry for yourself. Arsenal FC is not about that.
Let’s not blame injuries. All the big teams have had injuries. Let’s be thankful Cesc, Flamini, Hleb, Ade, Gallas, Sagna and Clichy went majority of the season unscathed. Let’s hope Rosicky has successful surgery in the summer and let’s hope RvP is over his thigh problems. Instead of moaning about injuries, let’s think about what a bit of decent cover could have done.
Please don’t call for Arsene’s head. The guy has worked wonders for us over the years and he is close to pulling off his next miracle. Loyalty works both ways. How many of the doom mongerers were signaling the end of Arsenal when it looked like he was going to leave? Plenty!
At the same time, don’t be satisfied with a trophyless season. It is not our divine right to win something every year, but it is our right to have a team that can compete on numerous fronts. We pay enough money to expect a big enough squad. Hopefully Wenger will realise that in the summer.
Next season begins today. Try and be positive because it ain’t all bad!
Happy Blogging Grovers!
Sorry for the long post guys, but a lot needed to be said.
Pedro –
Spot on; very good post, other than ade comment – sorry mate; he is a waste!! He’s been missing chances the last two seasons, this is not a recent thing. He is simply not good enough and he will never be!!
best post since i joined le-grove, well wriiten and thoughtful, feelin better already!
Do you really not rate him?
If he improved his conversion rate, he’d score 30 goals a year!
I don’t think his contribution has been that bad this year! 25 goals?
That is good, especially as he quite often plays up top on his own. I think with the right partner, he could easily repeat that tally next year.
Ethan is going to be pissed at my Ade opinion!
Great stuff Pedro.
I disagree about Song. He did nothing wrong yesterday and improved as the game developed, even to the point of taking on players in the centre circle. AW played him because he has more pace than Phil, andUtd don’t play long ball like L’pool.
AW’s tactics nullified Ronaldo, Gilberto was outstanding, showing that there is life in him, but that he needs a run in the team. I think he will be at THOF next season. And yesterday secured his contract ,though he may not settle for the year he will be offered.
If AW was insecure about Toure at RB and had to play Eboue as defensive cover, what does it say about Hoyte?
Good Post Pedro
Agree with most of wh\t you say but also with Scuba. Ade misses too many chances and his first touch is very poor. How many people have bee more stressed out this season than before? It may be my personal circumstances but as I watched the match with my mates yesterday we all commented on how much more stressed we have become this season.
Big raddy as I said last night I thought Song had a good match and I quit like the determination he shows
I also agree re: Ade. HOw can you get rid off a striker who will get you 25+ goals a season?
He will develop, but my main fear is that he thinks he is already the Man. He is no TH14 and I doubt if he ever will be.
And let us not forget that the very people who now immortalise the Great Man, were slagging hom off 18 months ago
Adebayor was dreadful – he missed sitter after sitter and his goal was an accident. IMO our worst player at Prawnville.
I’m glad you picked up on Hoyte….. going forward I thought he was outstanding and caused problems, overlapped and got into their box, and he stood up to Ronaldo doing the Riverdance insteaed of leaping in and waited till he had finished to kick him !!!
Anyway – we had 2 things that fucked our season, Rosicky and Eduardo. I can almost guarentee if we had those 2 available, we would still be 5 points clear….. Rosicky is as important as Cesc and Eduardo had the confidence in front of goal that ADe lost and is a natural finisher !
C’et la Vie. We had a light squad, that was stretched by 2 players too many, so by my calculations, that all we need to be champions, 2 new players !
Life’s not so bad after all !
good post Pedro but I disagree on 2 pionts. Are you joking about Hoyte? hes a terrible player, and as Ive said before, im willing to give Arsene another season but I must stress my loyalty is to Arsenal and not Arsene, so if he refuses to buy quality and we collapse again next year like we have done in the past few years then I dont think he should have our support and he has to go.
I think the opposite.
I think he has realised he is not the man and is now wondering whether all the early season talk is coming back to bit him in the ass.
Becoming a great striker is all about working yourself out of the dry patches… and he is still scoring goals even though he is playing badly.
Song made a howler that lead to that early Rooney chance! Remember… he slid and ronaldo done him?
I am not going to overboard with him, I don’t feel he is Arsenal material.
Raddy, spot on about Hoyte.
Yes, preparation for next season begins from today.
Major concerns now are transfer requests, from what Arsene has said, only those who want to leave will. We’ll have to wait for those offers to start coming through….and plenty of clubs out there could make use of what we have.
Eboue’s a funny fella, earlier this season he got stretchered off and came back next game….remarkable recovery!
Since the days of Ian Wright, Arsenal have had a supershot striker, this is what we badly need.
Almost every team out there demands goals off the wing. We need a right winger competing with Ronaldo, Eboue is a Wigan player.
We need a miracle up front, here’s my idea:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Mw14tt01F8c&feature=related
Real Madrid ar going for him this summer, we have to stop them.
All we need to do is show him the chances Arsenal have had and missed. Fancy a bit of that Klaas?
Please note Adebayor does not give the team 25 goals a season.
He gets so many chances even a lower league forward could get his goal tally.
He adds too much pressure to the team. We make all these chances and he fluffs them.
The midfield and others forwards have played so well this season, they deserve a forward who will convert the chances they are given.
We should have been 2 or 3 up at half time yesterday, and probably the same on Tuesday.
And to top it off, Adebayor thinks he is great.
HE HAS TO GO. GET RID OF THE EGO !!!
No Pedro I really don’t rate him.
Yes; big improvement on last year goal wise but his first touch hasn’t improved, his control is terrible, his positional play is poor, his decision making is woeful, the list is endless. I saw these faults when he first joined and as far as I’m concerned they have not improved. The fact that he has played up front my himself is totally irrelevant to this; it has absolutely no bearing on whether he can control a ball or not.
It is absolutely criminal the amount of chances he misses; he is not a quality player. And he can stary here another season or two and I’ll still be saying that.
I watched that youtube clip that finestcuts posted last night about Huntelaar – a blind man could spot the difference in the quality of his play – good control, good position, good decision making —- if he had played at OT yesterday we’d have won 5 – 2!!
Maybe 7 – 2 if Rio and Wes had put away their chances
Paulie, if you followed the RvP watch you’d realise that Hoyte is the bain of many jokes.
I think he is useless. My fault for not making that clear!
That’s the right attitude as well, we are Arsenal FC not Arsene FC. I think we owe him another crack though, he is not far off and certainly closer than last year.
It doesn’t make up for it, but at least we are nearly there. No one will be talking about the Spuds overtaking us this summer!
Oh… and A Big ThankYou to all our travelling fans. You totally outsung the MU. And all over the world, everyone heard ‘Shall we sing a song for you’ & ‘We love you Arsenal’.
You were all outstanding
Bud, dont forget Van Persie. Much as I rate him im afraid hes never going to do it consistantly for us due to the fact hes always and will always be injured. He should be seen as a squad player and a replacement is required.
Let me be honest to say i havent always agreed to the views of this blog, but i believe thats the best post i have read anywhere in a long while.. Hope im here to comment more often. Great Post.
Good to have you on board Sughosh.
Big Raddy – Thank You!
Sorry Pedro im new to this blog but I still should have realised you were taking the piss with Hoyte.
Can someone tell me why Almunia wasnt in goal?????
He has a wrist injury.
Its amazing how you take his distribution for granted isn’t it?
He has been solid this year. He has made less errors than the rest of the top 4′s keepers.
I don’t think we need to strengthen the keepers department in the summer.
i think pedro has got it correct…anyone who tries to lambast the team this morning really need to be careful with their comments because the team performance yesterday was very effective. Once again we outpassed and outwitted man utd. Has anyone seen rooney and ronaldo be kept that quiet in a game before??? Alex Hleb was dropping into great areas to receive the ball and was conducting the play the way the arsenal do. I agree that adebayor should be more clinical with his finishing, he has shown us a few times this season that he cannot execute that type of finish the same way you would of seen thierry do that, he is prone to being predictable with his shooting but the guy has been crying out for help up front the past few games and simply no one has been there to take over the baton. For V.Persie showed a lack of heart and passion i feel he could of deflected hargreaves free kick if he was concentrating and that has to be the major factor over the last few games. It seems that when the concentration levels drop the team are happy to allow the opposition to enter into a period of attack which will penetrate the defence and HOPE that we deal with it, the team for the first half yesterday pressed the ball really well and made man utd retreat back to van der sar many a time but as the game wore on we stopped doing that and the defence became the main focal point and coupled with some bad decisions and injuries we havent been able to be stern enough to resist opposition attacks no matter how scrappy or impressive the build up play was.
Overall, i think the team played well and had we been more clinical it would of been a huge, deserved and morale boosting victory just when the boys needed it most.
Undoubtedly again the defence will come under scrutiny and there are some deficiencies that must be addressed and i have every faith that wenger will want to enhance that aspect of our game.
Lastly, there is a comment i read somewhere that stuck in my head because i remember thinking it when i saw it myself….Gallas after conceding the penalty: strutting away blowing bubbles with his chewing gum!!!!…as a hardcore gooner i did not like to see that all, the biggest game of our season and he’s chewing gum, not a good look william!!
WE HAVE DESERVED MORE THIS SEASON BUT WE WILL GET BETTER!!!!!!
I thought Song had a solid enough game at CB, willing to get his foot in and can cope with physical stuff that Rooney gave.
Ade is low on confidence but I didnt feel confident he would put the one on one away.
Gilberto had a good game, plenty of pressing Manu into errors and winning ball back. I do think sometimes we could have played with two defensive midfielders, Gil and Flam with Fab out right. PS why keep playing Diaby out right??? Where has Denilson gone? We should not have let Diarra go! I was impressed with him. Oh well
Look forward to next season! without Eboue!
Being one of the “wenger knows brigade” don’t slate me. I think (hope maybe) Arsene means one big player and more like Sagna who are excellent but not what everyone expects. The squad doesn’t need a lot unless we’re going to have the same kind of luck next year.
Almunia was supposedly injured, and Senderos mentally shattered, why of fuckin why does AW think he can play players out of position. Toure RB, Song CB, RvP -LW, everyone knows you need balance, and you need players that know what is expected in their position. I rate Song highly, he just has not had the chances to settle in his preferred role (not sure if you aware but Song made it into the African Nations Cup All Star 11, he had a great tournament) so cut the guy some slack, he did ok at CB, but when partnered with an inexperienced RB he was bound to struggle.
I cannot agree with you on Gilberto, he was ridiculous, watch the game again and count how many times Gilberto was on his arse, he gave away a silly free kick in the first half which was not punished, and then gave a ridiculous free kick from which they scored. He needs to go, we dont need someone sliding around on his bum all game!
Im convinced Eduardo would have had a hat trick yesterday, and if RVP had played upfront he would have got a goal or two. No matter what Ade has done this season, the way Arsenal play they have to give Ade a goal on a silver platter for him to score (with exception to a few spectacular efforts!
Im very pissed off today
You know, If Almunia Is still injured, and after Lehmanns Abismal PErformance, and his big hissy fit in the week, then i wouldnt be supprised if we saw Fabianski in goals V Reading.. Great Analasys Pedro. Congratulations toAdebayors arm, and the Missing money it was revealed today is goin to gallas – So he can have his arm amputated!
Lame jokes aside, we really lost the season Pre-Liverpool, not post liverpool. While Wenger and The papers have just realised it, all us fans saw our season over ages ago.
Would anyone ever feel confident of Senderos playing in a massive match? Say a FA/ CL final. I wouldnt. U have to have pace as this level and he has none. Only difference between him and Cygan is age!
I think ade has let down Arsenal these past few weeks which show AW has not got any big time players. Perhaps ade like the rest are tired. If so the reason must be known to AW. If AW refuses to face the truth and continue to play great football that’s it folks.the worst is bing acknowledged by others but do not get any trophies.
who will be this big player?
A forward
A winger
A Defender
Personally I would like to see Robinho join.
Well I have to say your optimism is refreshing, on the whole your review is very positive, in contrast to what probably 95% of gooners are feeling today. However allow me to bring the tone down again
Agreed about the central defence pairing, it just isn’t right because when the chips are down, neither Kolo or Gallas has the steely determination to keep focussed. Kolo just relies on pace, and Gallas has shown several times now that he is only a referee’s decision away from meltdown. We need a big experienced stopper who will bark orders at the team and buck everyone’s ideas up when we are wondering what to do next after taking a 1-0 lead.
Adebayor was a god to us for six months, but something happened in his head (or on top of his head?) and he can’t find the net in the most ridiculously straightforward situations. I personally think it’s that fantastic chant he has been getting from the faithful, I think it has put him under immense pressure. Subliminally it is telling him that we expect him to score whenever he gets the ball, and as a result he has frozen up. Maybe everyone needs to shut up for a bit and let him relax! Anyway, I’d like us to BUY a strong determined direct clinical striker who stays central and has a foot like a hammer. Please.
Lastly (going on a bit here) I agree that we can’t just wait forever for the kids to come good. What Arsene has forgotten is that young players need role models. Van Persie has said in the past that both Dennis and Bobby were instrumental in his development, purely by watching them in training. TH14 learned a great deal from Dennis as well. Kolo had Sol as a mentor. Clichy must have aspired to be like Ashley Cole before he became Cashley. Cesc looked up to Vieira as the perfect midfielder. Amazingly just about every experienced player we had left the club – Vieira Henry Edu Wiltord Lauren Campbell Pires Ljungberg Bergkamp. Young people need something to aim towards. Who have we got left – Gilberto Lehmann and Gallas (what a great example HE is…). Who are our young team looking at? Each other. There are no rocks at the base of our side for the kids to depend on. When the chips are down, they need someone to look to with the mental strength that comes from experience. Without that, without two or three regular first-team players aged 27 and up who have been there and done it, we won’t progress.
Anyway nice blog, and a good community as well.
Good post.
I agree with everything said- not gonna dispute anything!
I went to the game yesterday with a friend of mine who’s a man u fan *ugh*, and as a result we were sitting in the home section, right up in the rafters.
It confirmed my view that your average man u fan is stupid and, unfortunately, racist.
Whenever we won a free kick, even for the most blatant of fouls, same old arsenal, always cheating sprang up in an instant. Do they have nothing clever to say?
As for the racist part, i was disgusted to hear not just a few but virtually the WHOLE STADIUM singing:
Adebayor
Adebayoooor
His Dad washes elephants,
His Mother’s a whore.
I’m seriously considering writing to Man U/ FA to complain about it, anyone know the proper channels i should go down?
Its just not right. Washes elephants? Its just so ignorant.
I realise nobody here is genuinely praising Hoyte, but some people seem to have forgotten Song’s multiple howlers yesterday – easily as bad as big Phil’s. Shoody tackles all round, but what about that time Song let the ball bounce off his calf past our line for Rooney to run on to? WTF?!! It’s just not something ferdinand, vidic, terry or richards would do.
Gentlemen,
other than Ade how many goals have be provided from our midfield or other players?
SEB
Excellent overview, i have to agree with you there. I think a striker who knows that things are not going in his teams direction and will at times have to resor to bullying the opposition defence to gain yardage to execute a powerful shot.
As for the youngsters, everyone needs a role model dont they????
Its easy to say we played well yesterday (& we did), but the fact is we lost & in the important games this season that has happened over & again. With just one exerienced player to be signed how exactly is that sequence going to change next season??
I seriously think you should all be very careful about your hopes for next year. Our squad is shattered now & it’s been showing for weeks, Gilberto apart they all had a proper summers break but this summer the majority of the squad will be at the Euro’s so don’t kid yourself we’ll do as well next season. Unless he has the players to rotate next season we will struggle to finish top 4.
pedro
Ade is fatally flawed .
Even when he was scoring goals ,his 1st touch was still shite , his passing was
non existent and any partner had a lean time of it ! His possession ratio was in the toilet and disrupted our game going forward all year . 80 % of his goals were scored in the 6 yard box ! what does that tell you ?
I pray next season he irons those wrinkles out .. But im not holding my breath
Nor do i think he is ever capable of ironing them out ..
To score 30 goals a season he needs to be a complete player and i cant see that happening any time soon !
Any player given his opportunities would score that amount of goals , our midfield is HUGELY creative and is a machine designed to create chances .
We clearly need a striker to capitalize on them chances ! NOW !
RVP will never get out of his slump whilst ade is his partner !
Sorry but im not ade bashing for the fun of it ! He deserves all the bashing
he gets because of the poor football acumen he has !
He is so un-arsenal like that our beautiful game becomes some ugly old hooker with no teeth !
Seb, great point about the role models and the need for a no nonsense defender.
Bradley, I haven’t forgotten songs howlers… I just think people are happy Big Phil wasn’t playing there.
Otariq, the second half of the season has seen a dip in the midfield’s goal scoring abilities for sure.
Great article and right on. Arsenal have given me so much pleasure here in Australia, when on song are the most exciting club in world football. They were written off before this season and OK we didn’t win a trophy, but I’ll stay up till 2.00am in the morning to watch them play than watch that Chelskie crap any day of the week. Sure I question Wengers tactics sometimes especially why not play Eboue at right back with Sagne injured and move Toure to the middle and Theo out right. But Arsene must see something in Eboue that we do not?. Song played a blinder in Carling cup and could be a dark horse, especially after rave reviews at Africans Nations cup. The one player I have seen who could be a good signing is Diego Capel. Natural right winger and cover for oft injured Rosicky. I think Arsene will spend and make squad stronger next year, without compromising the ambitions of the youngter players (which is why we sign the best young talent around the world) I am prepared to wait because the future of the type of football that this team create would be truly awesome.
Yes exactly Johnny, and the name that is popping into my head is – god forgive me for mentioning his name here – Drogba. Drogba is the epitome of everything we don’t have up front. We’ve learned this season to mix up our style of play, now let’s mix up our style of player. Of course we won’t be signing Drogba even if he leaves the bridge, but we need the new Drogba. I really don’t see Ade becoming a clinical striker – you either have an eye for goal or you don’t, you can’t learn it. He’s old enough to be banging them in by now, look at Torres for gods sakes. Another Drogba, another Yakubu – just find someone Arsene.
Otariq, The point I am making is the midfield create chances that lead to the goals Adebayor scores
For me Defoe would of slotted into our team play tremendously. I think he has the qualities Wenger looks for in a player…agile, mobile. adaptable and i think its fair to say we all know the guy is a predatory striker who knows how to ‘get in the goals’.
I dont think its beyond the realms of possibility considering our great relationship with pompey
Michael Gillon! Your like the fourth Aussie or ex aussie on here! Myself included. Good to see that Arsenal DOES have some really strong support down under!
Ethan, I don’t think Owen is a complete player and he is capable of 30 goals a season… Bent had a good crack at it!
He doesn’t deserve praise for his second half of the season, but nor do a lot of the other first teamers. Cesc should have wrapped his foot round a few of those chances yesterday and Hleb should at least humour us with a shot!
RvP have been very quiet as well, he is normally much more effective out on the wing.
Does anyone think Arsene might be thinking about RvP on the right next year, and bringing in a top top striker to play alongside Ade?
Or Ade and Walcott up top, with RvP out wide?
He must be thinking about something radical if he only wants one player?
Just Reading on the Arsenal Official website, Wenger said he didnt sign a CB in the January TP for whatever reason. Does that mean that we will be bringing in a CB? I would love to see RvP out wide, and Benzema Coming to arsenal. That would be a dream come true. Imagine a Benzema-Ade/Walcott/Eddy partnership?
GMR Isn’t that what everybody said last year about not being top 4?
Ok, I know I am going to sound like a bit of a cunt here…
Could Woodgate have made a difference with the benefit of Hindsight…?
Like myself, does anyone feel Diarra was the midfielder we now need to go and purchase???
Madrid Diarra, or Portsmouth Diarra?
If you listen to Arsene he said something like “only one experienced player” Hopefully that doesn’t mean one player full stop.
Howlers are mistakes that cost goals, Song was only guilty of simple mistakes which boil down to inexperience in his position. He got a mix up with Toure and let a Man Poo player through, and the ball that came of his knee was a flick on that he could just ahve easily totally missed. At least he tried to stop the ball.
The whole role model issue is valid point, but no matter what that ship has sailed. Eg Gallas has come in , hailed as a highly experienced CB, but look how he has performed this season. I rate him, but i dont see him keeping the back line solid…so if AW gets a really experienced player 1) he will be the new guy and will have to earn the respect of the other players 2) he will still have to settle into the ARsenal way of playing 3) He has to have exceptional quality, but i dont see AW splashing out 15-20 mill on a MF or DF.
Portsmouth Diarra
His qualities are much needed….powerful, dynamic, happy to get his jersey dirty, comfotable knocking it about, tactical nouse. He gave us a glimpse when with us, proving it right now at pompey.
Michael, yes they did but obviously the team they all backed to overtake us fell apart from day 1. I’m not saying that the current team isn’t capable of finishing top 4 next season (on a techinical level), but if Wenger isn’t going to sign the players we need then I fear the players we have will burn out even quicker next year due to the Euro’s. Would we have finished top 4 this season if our current form had happened a month earlier?? I don’t think we would. Luckily for us at the moment four of the teams who have made real progress also don’t have the squads (Aston Villa, Everton, Portsmouth & Man City). I do think though that Man City & Everton will strengthen significantly this summer & I’ll put money on it that the spuds will be much closer to the top 4 next year now they have a decent manager. Forget their form since the CC final as they had then qualified for europe & the league matches for them were all dead rubbers.
I think we have really missed Sicknote Rosicky, he and Fab are the only midfielders who are willing to test keeper from distance. All very nice getting to the edge of box, pass it around 20 times and lose the ball.
PS I would now make Fab the captain of Arsenal FC!! Agree?
Im sure it wont be just one player !
Because im sure theres a lot of potential candidates that will want out !
here my tips for walk outs ( in order of most likely )
Jens- gilberto-flamini-senderos- hleb-gallas -cesc.
5 out possibly 7
Its pretty plain to see if arsene keeps with this attitude,and talks about it even now
personal accolades for players in the form of medals and silverware
are a far away target 4 them !!!!
Im being realistic think , and i know if i was anyone of those players
and heard arsenes ramblings NOW id be packing my bag for the 1st major club looking my direction .. More money more chance of success!
Sorry whilst man U and chevski are so far ahead of us ( and have been for 4 seasons , we can forget about winning any trophy ! because like this year we have to get past them to do so !! and in this current climate we cannot sit and wait for this team to come good , when you only know too well half the teams in the EPL will be bolstering there stocks again with premium players for next season !
the proverbial quick fix as id call it !
Sorry D.D is right in my opinion , he can see us sliding away competitively
and i for 1 am agreeable !
oh and pedro i dont think owen has been capable of scoring 30 since he left the pool ! spain was unkind to him and dare i say killed off his career !
It’s a shame we can’t recall Gibbs from his loan spell at Norwich (where they aren’t even playing him). He has played well in the couple of appearances he’s made especially pre season & in the CC, so would be interesting to see what he could do in the premier league with better players around him.
Did anyone else notice Hleb’s reaction when Bendtner came on (at least I think it was him) & Wenger told him to go wide he was well p****d off!!
morning gooners, well my conclusion after old trafford is this………
A SUPER WORLD CLASS STRIKER to finish off the masterpieces we create, Ade’s has done well (even though he’s missed key chances at key times in the Key games) i would be happy to see the same goal tally return for next season, where we have lacked something is another striker, like Jonny Gooner pointed out , weve missed Eduardo for 10 games since his injury and Robin for even more, next season we cant afford to leave ourself in a position where we’ll be over reliant on Adebayor,
DEFENCE – since Stamford Bridge we have looked shaky at times at the back, the loss of Sagna was huge, it was the start of the “WHO WILL PLAY RIGHT BACK DEBATE” so cover for both Sagna and a replacement for Senderos is definaltley needed,
keeping hold of both Hleb and Flamini is vital, both are brilliant at what they do and Flamini is a leader on the pitch, so hurry up and sign Flam’s
Gilberto gave one of his best performances yesterday but its to little to late for him and a replacement for him is also needed (Diarra is a CxNT) and would have been a star for us in years to come,
Alex Song can be an asset for us next season as he’s versatile (so lay off him gooners)
Keep the faith, next season we’ll be stronger and with a little luck CHAMPIONS
johnny gooner.. can you please stop touting crap players for us??
Defoe is a loser .. just by coincidence i watched bits of pompey against the toons
he misses sitter after sitter
no .. we need a striker who can shoot .. simple as that..
Ade offers something different, but so far he is turning into a 2 yards poacher .. from 6 yards out, he becomes a rugby union player
people have also been a bit hrash on RVP .. he is injured and clearly fragile for the moment and was played totally out of position..I actually thought that he did well in the 1st half before he got tired
and can we please back off Song today? how would you react when you play your second game of the season out of position at CB at OT in a league decider!!!!!!!!!
considering the circumstances, he did reasonably well…….his ANC performances were as a midfielder, not a CB!!
Wenger decided to preserve midfield shape against defensive stability..this has not worked out
he wanted Eboue in every game to keep the same formation and therefore chose to break up his defence by playing Gallas with a variety of partners..this has not worked out .. simple as that
you need stability in the backs to create trust and understanding .. we are completely bereft of it ..
Gilberto must now leave the club..he is guilty for 2 bad challenges that lead to 2 freekicks and to one goal..
Lehman played well bar his kicking yet he has to go as well
Almunia is not good enough to play every game as an Arsenal keeper.. in the same way than Ade is not good enough to be leading the strikers line at Arsenal.. we need more class
biggest danger is that this squad will break up without Wenger buying replacements .. Hleb/Flam/Cesc/Gallas are/could all leave..
these are not necessarily the players we need to leave ..rather Hoyte/senderos/gilberto/lehman/..this is a minimum .. we dont need dead wood any longer
Wenger got a lot of work on his hands as senior players will be pissed off ..
keeping them might not be easy
if Arsenal have one more season like this one, then Wenger must be forced to resign
its very easy .. with the resources this club has now, 3rd in the EPL and 1/4 in the CL is the bare minimum!!!!!!!!!!!!
its his problem whether he choses to use the resources available to him or not
Wenger cannot be allowed to hide any longer
GMR .. please .. Gibbs doesnt cut it at Norwich (!!!!!!!!!!!) and you are touting him as Arsenal class here .. we are in the fukking league to win, not to promote useless youngsters.. if he was that good, wouldnt he play at Norwich?? for fukk sake!!!!!!!!!!!
Just accidentally watched a small bit of MOTD tonight and saw Adebayer banging on about how he didn’t understand how things had all gone wrong and then a clip of Wenger implying that we had been hard-done-to but then refusing to elaborate. He basically said “I understand how things are …” implying some sort of conspiracy, then clammed up. Maybe what’s happened has affected Wenger more than we really appreciated. He’s definitely been much more animated than ever before, maybe this run-in has really got to him and clouded his judgement. I trulyhope not but it really didn’t look good.
I think at the start of the season expectations were so low for this team that Arsene just sent them out and asked them to play and Fab, Hleb, Rosicky, Adebayor et al combined to produce so great football and some excellent results and he just kept sending them out. No pressure, no one talked us up everyone thought we’d fall off the pace. We destroyed Sevilla, Slavia Prague and Steua in the CL and suddenly people started talking. We were top of the league and running well in the CL and AW suddenly decided to start resting/rotating and tinkering. We then hit our little blip in November with the boro loss, the draw with newcastle the draw with slavia and the loss to Sevilla. Yet we held on to top spot comfortably until xmas. It was this turn of the year that spelt disaster for Arsenal. Milan in the last 16 was a tough tie and we had some injury problems. AW then played a substandard team against spurs and they got butchered. He tried the same against united and it happened again. We then had our most economic finished broken in half by a horrific tackle and our season was effectively over.
The team that were turning over all in front of them lost confidence, lost a player for a long time and lost their rhythm and luck in the process. From that point nothing went right for us except for that night in Milan. Everything else was against us. Even the win at Bolton only could be mustered from a position of 2-0 down and a man light. Since then we have seen players who were excellent in the 1st half of the season offer nothing significant – Fabregas’ goals dried up completely, Rosicky has not played since January, RVP has come back injured and short of match practise, Adebayor has effectively cost us points but failing to convert clear cut chances (sitter vs Wigan, failed to pass to Bendtner vs Birm, sitter against Liverpool, sitters against Man U) and Toure has come back with no sort of form from the ACN and has disrupted a defense that was seemingly working. Injuries to Sagna and Flamini have further weakened the squad. Then on top of all that the luck we have NOT had in the big games recently. Starting way back against Birmingham. Lets start of with Dudu’s broken leg, in the 2nd minute of a crucial game and the massive psychological impact this had on the entire team – unlucky. Then the penalty decision we didn’t get up there, and the one they did get given which cost us the points – unlucky. Wigan game we had a clear cut chance we failed to take but after that we were bogged down in the mire of their pitch – the worst it’s been all season and since which they have returfed and made a more even playing field – unlucky. Villa – they cross and aimless ball in and out CB slides to block it, deflecting it into his own net – unlucky. Linesman flags wrongly for an offside with Ade completely through – unlucky. Boro – Aliadiere offside for their opening goal – not flagged. Adebayor scores a perfectly legit goal and is wrongly flagged as offside – unlucky. Chelsea – 1st goal Drogba is clearly offside, not flagged, a handball in their area not given – unlucky. Liverpool CL – nailed on penalty not given – unlucky. Liverpool prem – another penalty appeal turned down – unlucky. Liverpool CL – a penalty awarded for them that was not a penalty – Unlucky. Add to these incidents the countless wrongly flagged offsides against us and seeming reluctance of referees to book opposing players despite persistant fouling of our players, but their eagerness to book and send off arsenal players for the same infractions. See MU vs Ars this weekend – committed less fouls, had far more players booked. Also add to this the referees never playing an advantage for arsenal in any circumstances, preferring to pull the ball back and then not even book the player despite stopping a good attack developing.
So has this affected AW? Yeah too fucking right it has. The man must simply feel powerless at the moment, no matter how well his team plays its football he is fighting too many battles, awful finishing from his forwards, awful decisions from referees, awful defending by the back four and awful injuries throughout his already thin squad. I think he must be frustrated because everyone has said arsenal blew it, bottled it, threw it away, and I think he cannot accept that diagnosis, he reaches for a more sinister excuse, a conspiracy theory against all that is arsenal. In reality this lack of luck has been compounded and infact exacerbated by Arsene – refuses to buy in January despite losing Diarra, Gilb being a spent force and Lehmann being a disruptive influence. So that’s 3 key players gone, on top of the persistant injury problems we had in the squad. He then continually played teams that were not the best starting 11 in the minds of the fans which makes the heartache of recent months harder to take – walcott scores both goals against Birm to give us a winning position, creates the best chances against Milan in the 1st leg and sets up the winner in the 2nd leg. Potential tie winner against Liverpool and yet Aw plays Eboue week in week out with no discernible justification. He plays Toure at RB rather than eboue, toure, gallas and clichy. He switches between 451 and 442 with no justification as to why and plays rvp off the front, then left, same with hleb. He plays gilberto despite him not offering anywhere near his usual levels, he plays Diaby on the Left even though he is toot. Wenger says he will only buy one experienced player in the summer citing the reason that he believes in this squad and the biggest challenge is keeping them together. Well guess what Arsene, I believe in this squad too. I believe this squad has some very talented players, I believe there are genuine players of class in the team, but I also believe that this team does not know how to grind out results, this team does not finish enough chances, this team cannot cope with injury problems due to a sub-standard squad, this team cannot defend a lead, this team does not have enough strength or power, this team have no plan B, this team whine and argue amongst themselves, this team has talented players who want to play with other talented players (just as TH14 did and he left due to your spending policy), this team are prone to get tapped up and picked off by the big teams in Europe (again see Henry, Cole and Vieira before them), this team needs rejuvenating with some genuine talents to compliment the existing squad. This team are not a championship winning team.
So Wenger is upset and frustrated and at the end of his tether? Good, so am I. I agree we’ve been unlucky but I also think that the fans of this club deserve more from the heralded genius that is supposedly AW. If Arsene Knows, then it’s time he started showing it and making this squad stronger, bigger and more dangerous by adding some real world class talent to it. Hleb, Flamini, Cesc and Clichy will not sit around and wait three more seasons for it like Henry did.
As for Adebayor….if he can’t understand what is happening maybe he should just fuck off. Have a look back through your recent performances for a little indicator of why we are where we are. You complete waste of a striker.
Rant over.
Did anyone else hear guilleme balague on sky saying the arsenal is a possible destination for saviola as madrid are having a huge clearout…..anyone think he could be a success??
united are very reliant on 2 players so dont believe they are strong all over the pitch and have goal scorers everywhere because its not true.
I was very proud of the team yesterday. this game was not where we lost it. Birmingham followed by the 3 draws after it where we were unable to react to what happened at Birmingham was where this season was lost.
when I saw how the players played against Villa at home, it was that day that I knew we were in trouble. I fully expected the reaction, but it never came and we got a late draw in the end.
I think Gallas did lose the respect of a lot of the players at Birmingham and it had a knock on effect to the following games. as a captain, its important you always have the respect of your players and from the outside looking in, it appears he lost that. where were the pre-game huddles that we saw earlier in the season? where did morale go?
Wenger yesterday bemoaned our luck in the last 2 months. I worked out there were 11 bad refereeing decisions against us in the the 11 games before yesterday. I found that bad run very strange because earlier in the season ie everything up to Birmingham, I didn’t feel we had that much bad luck, it was pretty even. so what broke? I cant answer that.
I think the fact that we dont have English players in the team leads to us getting fewer free kicks for us and more free kicks against us. I think the stats show as well how many free kicks to bookings we pick up where he ratio is higher for us than anyone else.
united seem to get away with assault without a free kick whereas we so much as breathe on an opponent and its an instant free kick.
take yesterdays game, the free kick that led to our goal was a terrible foul on Eboue but the ref did not even want to give it. he had waved play on but it was the lino that was flagging furiously (thanks for that lino). it should have been a clear booking but Evra was let off without even a talking to. Fortunately, no one saw Ade’s handball otherwise it would have been ruled out.
RVP got booked for a good tackle earlier in the game. then for united’s winner, for the free kick, Gilberto barely touched Evra. if it has been at the other end it would never have been awarded. this is what wenger is talking about – an institutional bias for united and against Arsenal.
I dont think chelsea or liverpool get bias either way – they seem to be refereed evenly. united definitely have things their way at Old Trafford in particular but we never get the same at the Emirates. Look at the ‘Boro game. We have a disallowed goal for offside when the ball was played by Boateng, then Boro get a dodgy soft free kick and score an offside goal. imagine that happens at OT, Fergie would be livid and would give the referee such a hard time, he would make damn sure he didn’t do it again.
but it made me think how come Chelsea dont get bad refereeing decisions. I mean Avram Grant is not scary and Chelsea cannot be respected for where they come from and who they are. But they do have a lot of English players. For me, that is important. Its the only thing wenger can change, though I dont suppose he will.
Take Walcott. when he gets fouled or even half fouled he always gets the free kick. thats because he is English. for one of our foreign players to get a decision going for them they need to be assaulted and even then its not a sure thing.
I am not saying there is anything deliberate going on from officials. I think its a subconsious thing brought about by small pressure over a long period of time. The anti-Arsenal and anti-foreign-players press have got a lot to answer for. refs know if they do Arsenal down, basically they are not going to get slated in the press because the hacks love to see us beat. the refs feel no pressure to shit all over Arsenal but are scared of Fergie.
so Arsenal need to be significantly better than the other teams to win it.
sorry for long post.
i like saviola he can score goals, but is he what we are crying out for (not sure) but would not be dissapointed if we got him,
saviola has been a failure in all previous clubs .. another loser we dont need to tout for our club!!!!!!!
eduardo is the first out and out goalscorer wenger has signed (so he must have though we needed that type of player in the summer) so now he’s injured im sure we will go after a similar type
We still need to keep up the performances !
finishing 2nd is still achievable !
from wanting chevski to beat man U now we have to want man U to beat chevski ! then we will still be in the fight for 2nd spot…
then the some who say we have improved wont be talking total bollocks !
I consider not having to qualify for C.L a bonus !
that is the only thing we can do now ..
But ade isnt the answer ! Its so clear he might as well be a window !
We lost Db10 and RVP was his replacement thru injury that hasn’t happened,
dudu was sort of a suedo replacement for the king TH14 …injured also
Its clear we haven’t got the strike force to win games !
END OF STORY !
No need to worry about the defense , im sure when your confidence is gone this is a natural result of it !
we have toure and gallas with sanga and clichy ..
those names normally you would associate with world class !
no one here can deny it !
Have you ever stopped to think the reason they suck at the moment is we arnt scoring goals and winning games ! ffs !
If i was a defender and was doing my job down one end but others up the other end wasnt , it has to take a toll on morale !
Look to when ade was scoring prior to ACN .. our defense looked solid !
We dont score the whole team morale suffers !
WE NEED A NATURAL SCORER !!!
If we win our last four games we would finish the season with a points tally better than last seasons by 15 points…and when we won the league we won it with less points than we will have by the end of the season…that must show that the ongoing transformation of our new team is working and coming to fruition under Wenger. We must strenghten and we will…… for us as supporters we must realise that arsenes methods are working and BELIEVE!!!!!
well said jonny
progression has definaltley been made and with further progression in the summer we’ll be fine
BB – don’t know if you caught my reply last night; yes, I thought Hleb had a very good game yesterday. We could do with that more often from him and dare I say, a shot on goal very now and again!!
Some great reads there! I could have made a couple of posts from a few of them!
Progression is great, as long as we learn from our mistakes.
There is no point in going into next season under prepared. There is no point in banking on 40-50 games from RVP and Rosicky. There is also no point in relying on Big Phil and Song for defensive cover and I think it is wishful thinking that Eboue will improve.
We need to keep the squad together over the summer and strengthen… but like many of you have pointed out, we’re not far off and if we win our last 4, I think we’ll finish closer than 9 points of the leaders.
Not bad, but lets not be to accepting of the progression line.
Remember we are winners first and fore most and only the best is acceptable at Arsenal.
Give me Robinho… not Saviola, he is a poor mans Eduardo!
GMR I take all your points but we are above Liverpool as well.
hleb doesnt shoot get used to it, what he does do is create almost every attack, and was yet again our most creative player, why is hleb not appreciated
Mark, Hleb is appreciated… but when you have a midfielder who you know wont shoot, you then put the burden of goal scoring on a defensive midfielder and a player who only plays a handful of games.
He is a tricky player, but he needs to add shooting to his game.
We are ahead of Liverpool but again would we be if our form had gone like it has a month earlier??
BB, cut the attitude we all have our own opinions!! I was simple saying it would be interesting to see what Gibbs could do in the 4 remaining games we have. I wasn’t touting him as a world beater, there are probably many reasons why Norwich aren’t playing him but seen as they haven’t from day one you can’t just assume he’s s***. He played extremely well against Inter Milan so don’t see why he wouldn’t be capable against the likes of Reading & Derby. Seen as thats your attitude though we may as well get rid of Cesc (who couldn’t get into the Barca B team so he must be completely s***)
I just cant envision Wenger making a big splash in the transfer market, not unless players leave, especially when he’s already said Vela is coming back and that players like Gibbs and Lansbury will be in the first team next season. Then there’s that Barazite fellow and Fran Merida. If anything I reckon the only signing we will see will be a centre back who can also play left back, kind of in the mould of a Lescott type player, though not him.
Wenger wont buy players if it closes the door on a promising youth player like Lansbury for example, he’s an idealist and a stubborn one at that,
in all fairness pedro hleb is NOT a winger !
he should be next to cesc ,creating , and the way flamini is going it might happen soon enough !
Well if he is an attacking central midfielder he should be chipping in with a few more goals!
GMR I think our form went out the window after Birmingham. I honestly think if we hadn’t lost him things would have been different. Not that we would definitely win everything just better. Agree with you on Gibbs he was great against inter. The theory about having an English backbone is true this year as they’ll all have a holiday!
GMR .. we bought Cesc when he was 15 .. hardly an age to play 1st team football at Barca.. as per attitude, I am getting frustrated by unrealistic comments
the situation is a bit more serious than touting players who dont even cut it in the championship
we dont need to be involved with every dog running in the street
this is the Arsenal .. come on..we are debating who is good and not good enough, so can we please avoid all the failures of this world!!
nothing against you in particular, but cant see what this guy would bring to our team
this rebuiliding is as much about getting rid of dead wood as about buying top quality guys
not the one day they might come of age attitude that is costing us legaue after league ..
i also watch the reserves games and as far as Nordveit/Bazarite are concerned or Sunu, they are far off the pace
Nordveit is still physically too weak to play in the EPL .. Barazite same story..Rui Fonte doesnt look that great and Sunu is still far too young
the only guys likjely to cut it in the seniors from the reserves are Traore and Djourou .. th rest are miles behind still
BB and GMR, I see where both of you are coming from.
Pinning any hopes on youth for me is a bit hopeless. Gibbs did look great against Milan but there is a reason he hasn’t played for Norwich.
You could compare his situation to that of Merida’s… and Wenger called him an amazing player a couple of weeks ago.
BB, it’s tough to know whether he has been dropped because he is rubbish, or dropped because he is not physical enough for the rough and tumble of the championship.
if ade’s passes to bendtner for 3-1 at s’t andrews who knows where we would be now
that moment and the referee’s decision at anfield to award the penalty were the 2 biggest moments of our season
ade is a selfish bastard .. we all know now.. he wanted to break wrighty’s record .. cost us the league .. and people still back him up
get him out
i have an idea .. get Benzema against Ade + cash .. sure this could work!!
Don’t you think it says a lot about a team who can’t recover from a last minute penalty against Birmingham?
Its a bit weak isn’t it? Our first real set back and we let it carry on for 2 months.
maybe you shouldnt call it our 1st real setback after the two humiliations at the hands of our worst rivals .. think of it
.. that arsehole of a red nose alcoholic ferguson is showing feelings of sympathy for us now.. he should fukking hate us .. but he knows .. we aint gonna win nada again this season .. losers .. fukking pathetic
gallas needs to kicked out of this club, the fuck face blue cunt.
after the way he bellowed down at poor clichy after that pen at brum ( which surprise surprise was not a pen ) young gael had every right to cry like a litte fucking bitch and kick a few hoardings like a real warrior and sit and sob by himself in the centre circle at old trafford yesterday.
i fucking hate you william gallas, you are a fucking disgrace, you are NO captain of this GREAT football club.
i would imagine messrs mclintock and adams would secretly echo these feelings.
I agree Pedro. it is weak. It shows a team bereft of leaders. Sometimes we should n’t look for exscuses and just admit that over the long haul of a season we have not been good enough and havent been for 2 or 3 seasons now.
stupid .. I am getting there myself .. he also said in the winter that we didnt need any new players and then when all goes tits up moans about our lack of depth/maturity
he played years next to Thuram who is a real leader and gentleman
gallas started his career as a striker but wasnt judged to be good enough..he suffers from that inferiority complex .. thats why he left Chelsea coz he wasnt recognized enough..maybe they had a point..no other blue tosser for us ever again
we should try and buy Berbatov..
the fucking mug asked for dennis’s shirt.
alarm bells should have been raised about the mentality of this self righteous cunt.
ok, no more vile swearing chaps.
my apologies
Adebayor as the sole striker in this potentially great team is like competing in the 100 mater relay with the three best sprinters in the world being 30 meters in front and passing the batton to the fourth sprinter that hasnt got any arms with only 2 meters left to the finish line. Adebayor is Crap!
Arsene dont be so cruel to the Arsenal supporters!
I don’t quite share the same passionate dislike of the man, but all the people who defend him forget it is very easy to be a good captain in a form team.
Its how you deal with adversity that really makes you a great.
PV04 for all his flaws was an excellent captain, as was TA06… we don’t have anyone nearing those leadership qualities.
Am I the only one who likes Gallas here?
Ok, he cost us a penalty against Manure but I like him as a captain and a player, but I don’t think he and Kolo can play CB together. Too similar – small but quick. Yes he screamed his head off when Clichy gave away that pen, but then again so did I! And yet some people call him blue! He is fighting for Arsenal and wants us to succeed. I rate him and I want him at the club. Just my opinion. Every one of of defenders have given away goals this season, not just William. Let’s be honest, it is easier to launch an attack on WG because he is new, a former Chelskite and our captain and he is emotional and outspoken at times. Easier to land on him than Kolo. We all love Kolo but people are loathe to critiscise him because he is so Arsenal and he has been so good. However he has come back from ACN a poorer player. Tired, lethargic and making sloppy decisions that have cost us. Is it his fault? AW plays him despite him clearly running on empty.
The defense needs a big lump in the middle of it. I vote David Wheater from Boro, who’s with me?
true pedro.. Gallas was never aything else than a good solid defender in his previous clubs and same story in his national team.. leaders were different people.. but he is fukking ambitious for himself .. but only for himself coz he’s got such a high opinion about himself..he is NOT a team player .. he is driven by greed and personal recognition
I have a right sneaky suspicion Wenger will buy Henry back at a cut price in the summer, otherwise why would he make the quote below…… mainly his first line “he hasn’t considered it AT THE MOMENT”……… we all know Henry wants to come back and now the team has grown up a bit more, he will not frighten them and he can come back without the chains of the captaincy !!!!!!
“[Bringing him back] is not something I’ve considered at the moment. I had him on the phone on Monday night and he seemed quite happy. He’s exposed at the moment in Barcelona because every time they have an opportunity to come back in the League they don’t do it but overall I don’t think he has done too bad.”
Others may not agree with me, but I for one would be fucking ecstatic !!!!!
first thing both those players had was a GENUINE love for the club.
the only player i see who really shows his true love for the club at all times is cesc.
the guy is arsenal pure and simple, yes he is a catalan, and yes he wil play for them again one day.. but he is 20… if he plays for us for another 5 or 6 years and then goes to barca, would anybody blame him?
wenger gets bent over hard by big personalities, henry, for all his greatness was never a captain… gallas clearly has not the mental toughness to be respected as a captain.
now look at the mess? no way will wenger take it off him NO WAY.
but you could see the way the lads were thinking what the fuck during that infamous team talk on the pitch at the bridge.
pathetic.
Who would you guys want as captain either at the club at the moment or someone you would like to see signed and given the armband?
no denying gallas is a very good defender.
just not a captain.
he has never ever throughout his career, apart from when others are injured, been given the captains armband, at any level of football.
there is a reason for that. a reason wenger got shafted on.
I wouldn’t take it away from him, how can you unless you sell him?
He is still a great defender no matter how bad his form has been of late.
More captains on the pitch would be nice.
Stupid, contracts aside, I always feel Flamini is a leader and a real Gooner.
Thierry was Arsenal through and through, it didn’t stop him taking his time to sign up.
TH14 sense of….. No you are not alone, I think Gallas was as much rersponsible as Wenger for making this team grow (up) !
I would LOVE to see the great man back at Arsenal. We are crying out for him. And an Henry who has left for a season and seen that the grass is not greener, cleared his head of personal problems and is ready to come back and fight for Arsenal would be sensational. He is exactly what we are currently lacking…a finisher, a predator, a talisman and a game winner. Bring back TH14 and his sense of arrogance!!
I would also like to make the following clear:
Gilberto is better than Flamini
Eboue is WAY better than Walcott and Sagna combined
Adebayor is the most natural player in the premiership, his first touch and control are mesmeric
Cesc is rubbish and can’t pass more than 3 feet without giving it away.
What good is a squad if you not going to use it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am happy we have punched above our weight this season, and just think if we had a squad like Man U, Pool, Chelski, we would still be 15 points clear because of the way we play…BUT
Wenger doesnt use a squad unless there are injuries, and even then he will use the one player that doesnt even play in that position to fill in for a couple of games!, then when we have talented players waiting for their chance we get stroppy squad players that leave because they not getting games, Diarra!
He split up with his wife, is a typical emotive frenchman, so thought he had to change his life and get away……. now he’s realised he fucked up, he wants back and I for one would love it…….. image Henry with Ade’s chances yesterday. We would have been 3 or 4 up before their penalty and the same goes for the Champions League !!!
comon lads, the writing is on the wall for flamini… seriously he is gone.
diaby has to be moved centrally next season to play with cesc, could be a huge blessing in disguise. i rate him, i really do… he was unreal, absoloutely unreal against the spuds at the emirates in the 2nd leg of the Carling fizzy pop cup last year… he has the ability to real own the position. his power and height would be a massive bonus.
Hi guys,apologies for the late entry. Iam sort of glad it was Gallas who got done for handballingin the box cos if it was someone else, he would have started pointing fingers and throwing tantrums. And what the hell was he doing during the Owen Hairgrief freekick backing the ball and badly positioned..?
Song(who i have never taken to) played better than Senderos and the Post-African-nations-cup-Toure, but that just goes to show the quality we have on the bench for a big club ike Arsenal.
Adebayor has missed alot of sitters…so did Henry!! Lets give him a chance,hes 3rd top scorer in the PL and Iam sure some managers in the top 10 wouldnt mind him in their squad.
Methinks the whole squad should go for therapy at the end of the season as the players seem not to have gotten over the Eduardo incident. AND, we need to replace/get rid of the following:
Gallas
Senderos
Song
Rosicky(sicknote)
Lemon(Lehman)
Big Nic(Bendtner)
Just my opinion and enough with sentiments
..sorry forgot Eboue and Diaby
Pedro you are spot on in reply to my last comment askin why almunia wasnt in goal. I was telling people last season that Almunia should be in goal and then when Jens arsed up against Fulham and Blackburn i knew Almunia would step up to the plate. I dont think we need to strengthen our keeper situation either. Fabianski has been here a season now and must be settled and ready for some challenges. When he was playing in the carling cup he was ok. He is an excellent shot stopper but was a bit nervy coming for crosses but put that down to playing in a new country with new team mates in a different atmosphere than he is used to. Fabianski will only improve.
i havent seen much of Vito Mannone but i hear good things.
we have another young keeper who is apparently pretty good but i am not going to even prenounce his name cause i cant even say it!
The only problem we have is do we think if Fabianski was to get a run in goal he would have the confidence to give William Gallas a row for sloppy defending if he needs it?
Pedro any idea how long Almunia will be injured for?
to everyone discussing the thierry henry issue. i think wenger should bring him back! And then tell him he has to fight to keep his place. i think henry would be so determined and glad to be back at his home that he would open up a can of whoop ass on the premier league and be amazing! i think it would also stop any idea’s that cesc has of joining barcelona.
Just as long as we play the same game we did this season and not look for henry to do everything..
Also i cant wait for Carlos Vela to be in the squad for next season. i have only seen him play once and he looked awesome!
Last season we took more points off the top 4 than we have this season.
We beat Man U home and away, and still finished 4th.
I like the analogy of yesterday’s game being similar to our season. A great start, and then a couple of mistakes and we are out of it.
Thierry back how can anyone not want that
because he is gone at the game, he has been unfit for half the season with the same sciatic problems and he wil turn 32 this summer
anybody who really thinks wenger would bring him back is mad. not a chance.
Wenger has to take some blame for not signing good strikers and wingers.
Arsenal surely need a quality striker and some good wingers to win trophy next season.
I would be very disappointed if Wenger doesn’t take responsibility and action to make the necessary changes.
guys is TH injuries behind him, there was a lot of talk about it earlier in the season and in particular how arsenal had not treeated him correctly blahblahblah,
but as in impact sub maybe it is worth considering, i dunno,
Stupid – Henry is 30. I know he is special, but even he is not that gifted he can miss a year !
Everyone said Pires had lost it and in his last half season with Arsenal he was dire, but he recaptured his form and he is still going great guns !
Henrys prescense in th eteam now would open up so much more space for the others, as other teams will always deploy 2 men against him and if they don’t then Henry will always beat one man !!!!!!
Bring him back and bring it on !!!!!
i stand corrected, he will be 31 this summer, lol
hardly a spring chicken, hey?
BB tell pat the goon i was right about flamini !
hapless moron that he is !
I think wengers decision making is the root of all evil here !
He plays players out of position .he makes gallas captain , who clearly lacks leadership skills ..But now its hard to take the dam thing off him ! Continual persistence with ade up front , and yes saw the replay ade didnt score with his head ! it was fuckin hand ball !
If this is the class your on about shoot me NOW please !
It s a disgrace ! geoff wasn’t far off yesterdays quote about the new maradonna scoring for us !
and what for the comments from cesc and hleb about how they are better off without this “presence” you talk about?
would be a major step backwards.
buy the new henry, benzema, not the old finnish won
As Crazy as this would sound, i would prefer Benzema over Henry. Granted Henry was one of arsenals greats, but he is and will remain part of Arsenals History, and not their past. Though, that being said, if he wanted to come back and coach, then i would be more than happy. But Henry is only going to get older, and the way he is playing and getting treated at Barca, Henry is going to need some time and work to fit in to this arsenal team.
On the Lehmann issue, i feel he needs to go. Also, while Almunia is injured, Fabianski should be between the posts. Lets face it, we have reading and derby coming up, and our season is practically over, so why not give the lad a go? With Vito ready to step up, as well as Wojciech Szczesny (copied from the arsenal website, cos i cant be stuffed writing the name out) in the wings, the last thing we need to worry about is GK, we have that sorted. We have a lot of midfield tallent coming through (Vela, meridia) so i think we need to buy a striker, Benzema.
ffs, have things got that bad that we are now seriously debating bringing th14 back?
fuck it, why not go the whole hog and bring tone back to marshall the defence, we could get a season or 2 out of spunky between the sticks… and ive always wondered how wrighty would get on with terry up front.
stupid .. he will turn 31 .. but point taken
anyhow .. lets rationalize the TH14 debate a bit
we seem to more or less agree that we need a striker .. RVP is injury prone and hasnt proven that he is the hot potato that evrybody believe s him to ne
realistically, with the kind of money Wenger wants to spend, Huntelaar/Villa/Berbatov/ etc are out of our reach .. Dudu .. unfort we cannot count on him anymore..he might or not make it gain
now if and I say if Barca was to change its furniture and that will happen unless they win the CL, which might happen btw, then the rumoured sell-off will materilaize
if they were to offload TH14 at a bargain price, why should we not buy him back??
there is still not much better around than him.. and yes, even today, he is better than Anelka
he knows the club and will have a point to prove.. the downside is his health, but then we might not look at him as the ultimate saviour, rather a top striker that should bring us goals..
so if he came cheap, to me he would look like a bargain.. we should keep our eyes open
ethan.. what does that old sod go on about now??
i dont post there anymore as you know .. cant stand all these losers.. him, howard and all the rest.. bunch of tossers..
Quote by Adebayor
“Arsène is a great man and a great manager,” said Adebayor. “He has achieved a lot of things with this club. For sure he is going to be here. He has a vision to bring a lot of good players to this club like Alex Hleb, Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue, Cesc Fabregas and William Gallas. They are his players. So, for sure, we will win something, no doubt about that.We will never give up. As a player I am not ready to give up. We will play until the end of the season.”
Now i will add comentary, denoted by **:
…”He has a vision to bring a lot of good **(But Even More SPASTIC) players to this club like Alex Hleb **(Great Guy, I Agree), Kolo Toure (Again, I agree), Emmanuel Eboue **(WTH???), Cesc Fabregas **(Love Him.. Legend) and William Gallas **(The Damn Sulk) . They are his players.”…
Well no duh they are his players, those are the practical foundations of the team. Unfortunately. 3/5 of the above are decent. the other two, i wish i had never heard of. If you want to get really critical of Gallas, look at it this way. CHELSEA HAD TO PAY US TO TAKE HIM. Isnt that suggesting something? Feel Free to Critisize my editing, but this is my reaction to the article..
BB
if they were to offload TH14 at a bargain price, why should we not buy him back??
he has a spinal condition ! thats why !!!! Sciatic Nerve !!!!
once it kicks in youll be in a wheelchair !
just ask veteran or old timer .. you know them ..
BB – Better put than I did when I started the love/hate Henry debate !
Anyway, another way to put it to all you detesters – We could/maybe/possibly get Henry back on the cheap to play 2 thirds of the season as part of a squad of players (not “THE” player as he was last time!), rotating with Ade, RVP, and Dudu (if/when he comes back) and have fresh legs up front……… just like Man U & Chelsea do – and one of those is gonna win the league !!!!!!!
think the way forward is to buy and up and coming hot shot as opposed to a over the hill legend.
Adebayor is the worst striker I have ever seen at Arsenal. He honestly would not be the striker in our local team. He is absolute crap. If we had any other striker this year from any other club get the chances made for Adebayor they would have scored 40+ goals. He is CRAP, CRAP and CRAP! And totally to blame for us not getting more goals despite living in the oppositions quarter!
Abebayor is CRAP!
Torres scored 30+ goals in his first year and Liverpool dont give their strikers anywhere near as many clear chances as Arsenal do!
I agree Stupid…
Buy Berbatov if you want something different that will bag you some goals… or buy Benzema if you want Europes hottest property.
Henry would be great, but will he take a pay cut? No way! Would he be a crock? Most likely… Like Ethan said… sciatica doesn’t go away.
what a load of shit, at the start of the season we were being praised for the way we could come back from a goal down, now it our inability to hold on to a lead. Gallas is crap, one big sulk( sell him) Toure is being played out of position, Song and Djourou rarely get a chance, i feel sorry for clichy, great player, has been playing right back and right wing at the same time for almost half the season, he switched off for a second at st andrews, made amends with a great tackle but still got a penalty against him. Need two new experienced defenders
Midfield, Fabregas is great but need to be able to rest against the lower teams in this league like ronaldo and gerrard do. Eboue has to go, but who the hell would want him. Flamini needs to sign now and give us some good news. Gilberto was great yesterday, i’d be happy if he stayed but i don’t think he’ll be happy as a squad player. Hleb, if he hit a shot every once and a while he’d be player of the year, the guy is the most skillful player in the league and the best dribbler of the ball i’ve ever seen. Rosicky is just to injury prone and we need cover for that. Need two-three good established midfielders.
RVP is injured every other month, won’t be surprised if he comes back from Euro 2008 injured too. Ade needs to be able to rest every now and again, the guy looks totally drained. Bendtner isn’t good enough and eduardo won’t be back to xmas. two more strikers needed.
Put that together with a new keeper and we need seven-eight players to bring our squad up to speed with chelsea and man u. I’m not saying go and buy eight players this summer. Buy three or four in the summer and three or four in the january window.
Berbatov is a worse sulky c*nt than Henry was and I DO NOT want any more up and coming players.
We have enough up and fucking coming players and all of you lot have moaned whinged and cussed to point of exhaustion about how you are sick of players for the future and you want some experienced players…….. suggest one in Henry and you all roll out of you prams and say you want up and coming again………
And sciatica can be treated, why all this ooooh his old and slow and has sciatica he is gonna be in a wheelchair soon bollocks…… he had sciatica, it is treatable, is an Arsenal supporting TOP player, and can score goals and win games…… END OF !!!!!!!!!!
Ggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr !!!!!!!!!!!!
BB
im in the same boat cant deal with the delusional babble ..
I can only guess they are patting themselves on the back at another fruitless season well done !
stating How they think ade is a god send , and that eboue is one of arsenes success stories ..
i think it was veteran who said he has sciatic nerve problems and TH 14 also has the same problem . he thinks once you have it , it restricts your mobility down to next to nothing as the years progress , given the problems we have had with injury prone players im sure wenger doesn’t want to pay TH14 75k a year or 2 for warming the bench !
ethan/pedro .. I am not making a case for taking him back .. just rationalizing it a bit .. btw and lets be honest, at Barca, he gets no balls from the Brazilians ..Ronnie the goat face and Deco, Ronnie the goat face’s asslicker
I do suffer from slipped disks problems, so I know te fukking pains and other unwelcome side effects this shit can create
but pedro.. keep on dreaming about Berba and the rest.. it aint gonna happen
right now, Wenger will struggle to keep this team together.. Cesc mentioned about 6 weeks ago how great Eto’o was.. these guys want reinforcements.. where does that leave Wenger?
Cesc’s 2 best mates are strongly rumoured to leave .. Hleb/Flam and with another bunch of youth players as the alternative, what is he gonna do?
he will fukk off.. as sure as hell
and then what?
i am sick of this continous selling off of our best players.. look to where it has led us
so we are stuck with the losers that nobody wants .. pathetic
Cesc will have a poor season for us. He is burnt out right now and will be even more burnt out after the euro 2008. Hopefully we’ll get £15 million quid for the ice cream muncher though.
normie
im with you fella !
Torres scored 30+ goals in his first year and Liverpool dont give their strikers anywhere near as many clear chances as Arsenal do!
ronald macdonald could score more goals than ade !
with the service hleb – cesc give the strikers at arsenal !
could you imagine torres on the end of half the passes ade was on this season ?!
we would be 10 points clear !!!
NO FUCKING DOUBT !!!!
let it go bud, let it go.
I know Berbatov won’t happen… nor will Thierry though, if you think Barca are going to take a knock down fee a year on, I think you are dreaming as well!
Bud, its not quite a black and white as that?
We want experienced players, yes. Not a 31 year old who held the team back last year. What makes you think he is going to come back and take a back seat? Sciatica can be contained, not treated. Fact.
When people talk about experienced, they are talking about Robinho, Berbatov, Quaresma, Ribery, Mancini… players who have been about a bit, but are young enough to represent VFM.
Bringing Terry back would be like brining Vieira back… he’d be a shadow of his former self and it wouldn’t send out the right message.
WOW
just seen an amazing stat on SSN.
on the last 8 games of this season, Arsenal have lost more points as a percentage of overall points lost ALL season.
31 points lost all season, 16 (52%) dropped since eduardo’s leg break.
Anelka would have been perfect in January for our style of football!
He could have made the difference upfront with Ade.
thats, arsenal have lost more points, as a percentage of overall points lost all season, over the last 8 games than ANY other premiership team.
including fucking derby
good one ethan_gunner!
I’m surprised that Arsene does’t see this as it is so obvious! I’m sick of seeing Adebayor get tangled in his own legs and when he doesn’t he cannot do anything anyway because he would probably be offside.
bud
why buy a player who has a known injury ?
its better just to grab a new Star !
with more legs ! and more time to become great…
This clubs needs a NEW th14
wenger needs to get the cheque book out and buy a world class striker
who has 6 or 7 good years to give the club ..
and we didn’t get anelka back so what chance have we with TH14 ?
Its obvious wenger doesn’t like a walk back thru memory lane ..
and its an admission of defeat !
Arsenal need only 4 quality players.!!!!!!
Gomes-Zapata-Benzema-Quaresma.
Arsenal X1=(Next Season)
Gomes
Sagna-Zapata-Gallas-Clichy
Quaresma-Flamini-Fabregas-Hleb
Benzema-Van Persie
Subs:Fabianski-Rosicky-Toure-Walcott-Adebayor-Diaby-Song
No team can beat Arsenal next season.
Ade has to be the most off sided player in Premiership history!
Not like he is short of pace and has to run early.
Anelka would have been perfect, but to replace Adebayor not play with him.
Quote from scitica org: With proper diagnosis the cause of most sciatica can be identified and the condition can be cured.
As you say though it probably will not happen, but if it could, he would be great for us. He would not be the leader any more and the other players have now grown their own bollocks and he is now used to being dropped or played out of position, so why would he not want to come back to play 3/4 of our games in his favoured position at his favourite club and be near his daughter again.
On his daughter, he has commented last week that not seeing enough of her is getting him down. He also said he would never play for another English club, so the only solution for him to see more of his Kid would be to come back to Arsenal and he would take a pay cut to achieve happiness. With all his endorsements and what he has earn’t till now, do you really think he is going to miss £20K a week and more importantly, would he put £20K a week when with endorsements etc he would still be earning over £100K a week above watching his kid grow up???
so barca just quietly take a 10m + hit?
ethan .. spot on .. with the number of chances we create, Torres would be hailed as the biggest boy wonder in modern football history
and we got the giraffes upfront
Any decent player in the world now will want £100K as they could get it at Man U, Chelsea, Barca, Real, Bayern, Juve, Milan, Inter, Liverpool and Spuds even….. and Wenger won’t pay those wages, so our superstar player count gets squeezed down to those that have a motive or benefit by joining Arsenal…….. Henry has both, Benzema & Quaresma dont !!!!!!
Fuck me, I have just read what I wrote and I have a point…… wonders will never cease !!!
You lot would prefer Anelka to Henry at the same time as saying Henry’s attitude would spoil the players we have…….. and Anelka will do what for squad morale????