So if you were expecting a Pedro match report I’m sorry, this is a Geoff end of the year report and I’m feeling pissed off so please read on, if you are one of the few that are happy with what you’ve been seeing, stop here and go to Arsenal.com you won’t like what I’m about to say.
Please, do you think you are talking to children Mr Wenger? Do really really have to come out with comments that you would give to a 7 year old to placate them?
We pay too much money for the garbage that too often these days comes out of your ever more bizarre press conferences. So if we lacked a bit of zip because we lost a two goal lead at Villa Park, what did Portsmouth lack? They lost their last game 4-1 and to West Ham at home.
Yes I know we we won, but only just and that 5 minutes of added time felt like 20 minutes.
If it wasn’t for a bit of brilliance from William Gallas and an Almunia like flap from Calamity James we may have lost that game we lacked a bit of zip in, I counted one shot on target, but then I was looking away in disbelief for a lot of it, So forgive me, there could have been more than one.
That’s disgraceful for any Premiership club, let alone the Arsenal.
It must be tough earning £80k a week like some of our players do and having to play twice in the space of 2 days, when I played football, sometimes it was a double header, one game after the other, many times I would play Saturday and Sunday, but you know what, I looked forward to it, otherwise I would have done something else, these young players of yours in many cases earn more in a week that many Arsenal fans do in a year.
Do people in football not realise how unbelievably privileged they are? I know we’ve said many times that Arsenal need to win ugly, but that wasn’t ugly, that was shocking, winning at Villa Park would have been ugly, but this was Portsmouth for Christs sake, at least apologise for a crap performance, get rid of the shit players and go and buy some decent ones instead, we’ve put up with this mediocrity for three years now and frankly we’ve had enough, don’t spoil 9 great years by being stubborn for 3, the fans will turn on you and no-one wants that, we think you have done wonders for this club, but there is a limit.
You’re wrong Arsene and I believe there are people on the board that have told you that, we the fans have told you that, the press are telling you that as are the ex players, so what, and we’re all wrong?
Every game we play I send out the rallying cry, we all get behind the team, you send out a shit side that plays like a shit side, then you come out with excuses, let’s have the last three games worth of excuses shall we.
Liverpool – You said we were the better side yet the whole footballing world said we weren’t, they said we were lucky.
Villa – You said that their management knobbled the referee, Jesus we should have been 4 down by half time not one up, we were lucky to get a draw, no matter how much we felt robbed.
Portsmouth – You said we lacked zip, Adebayor was crap and he wasn’t even playing against Villa for goodness sake.
Why can’t you just admit that we have 4 or 5 players that aren’t good enough, get shot of them and spend some money, our money, do that and we can clean up, everyone but you can see that.
Why is it that successful people so often fall from grace because they are too stubborn to think they are wrong, go and read Margaret Thatcher’s autobiography, learn about stubborness, see the light before it’s too late, we all love you, but the love affair won’t last for ever.
We can rule Europe with 3 or 4 top signings, that’s all, we won’t do it with what you have. Certain players need to be sold and everyone but you knows it, I won’t name them, but you must deep down know, you had the invincibles.
I didn’t go to the game today I watched it on a link, I didn’t go because I was protesting at the rudeness and aggressiveness of the stewards and from the holes I saw all over the ground many others didn’t go either but for some reason the announcers lie about that as they said we had 61,000 there, you may all think that you can lie to us for ever, but you know what, you can’t and next season when your experiment fails, as it invariably will, you’ll see people protesting with their feet, and however many fans you think you have waiting in the wings, they won’t be there, why? because the fans aren’t as stupid as you all think they are, many will be worried about the future, many will not want to pay to see what you are now serving up week in week out.
You act like you and the team are the victims, no sir you’re not, we are the victims, I woke this morning to hear that at least 100 retailers are about to go under, they say more people will lose their jobs than at any time since records began, you and your team on the other hand are recession proof and will always have a roof over your heads so please don’t have us feel sorry for you, we don’t.
Pedro went to the game yesterday with Finestcuts who brought us over a bottle of Vodka, all the way from Poland, so Finestcuts, thank you so much my friend!
Let’s hope you read this Mr Wenger and find out what the realities are in the real world and get us a team that will make the next year a little more bearable.
Dennish opened the gates for all the other foreign talent.
we can do better with who stu what keeper would you suggest
Zahavi wast involved with vieira, that was Marc Roger
he was a reason to keep the ball on the floor,and i think he practically won the league himself and inspired a longer career out of a bunch of old men,add vieira to the reason for winning too
marc roger was vieras agent,but he wasnt actin on behalf of madrid ,zahavi is a bounty hunter,show him your target an he will make it happen
pfhhhhhhhh, i dont know? Stekelenburg, Landreau, Adler, just to name a few. Especially for 8m. Dont get me wrong, I like Given but he wouldnt be the same here as at Newcastle.
you reckon?????
i really rate Shay Given. Perfect age, will come into his prime, 500 odd club games and over 90 caps – would be spot on.
to be honest i know nothing about goalkeepers, look what happened to richard wright,a good keeper but couldnt stand for 85 minutes waitin to catch a ball, look at the spurs keeper,he done a one man show against us over 2 legs in the CL league
i can still remember thinking why the hell we payin all this money for dave seaman,we have a top keeper already
i think reina is a quality keeper,best this season
even gerrard said given is world class so that says alot
Bergkamp, surely you mean Alex in the CL, no? He effectively knocked us out. Dont really remember Gomes much.
gomes made save after save after save,shyt loads of saves,alex was a tower in that game,it was hlebs stupid foul that cost us bigtime
that was after he conceded 5 BBK
lolll bergkamp if it was not for him it would of been 10
BBK, he may be world class but even though he makes all those saves he still conceded a lot. He appears so good because of all the shots he is faced with. Who knows how he would perform if he had to just play sweeper and make 3 or 4 saves in a game.
We dont know because at Newcastle he is busy for most of the game. One of our biggest problems in recent years has been conceding from very few shots. How can anyone be sure that Given will solve that problem?
Given is a very good GK. the thing bout good GK they need a good defence in front of them or they struggle.Cech concedes a lot when playin for their national teambut keep clean sheets for fun at Chelsea. Given is probably better than Cech but its hard to make the comparison.
im sure that almunia wouldnt have conceded more than 5 if he was in goal for newcastle in that game,infact thats a fact
id rather sign kirkland,he must be worldclass after our reserves battered him silly,and he conceded 3,or was it 4
a decent defence means less studpity coming towards him,but when the saves come they are usually big saves needed,thats what we want
Reina is probably the best keeper in the prem. Even though he has an amazingly well organised defence he is still always alert to any possible danger, he is a great keeper and makes top drawer saves. Thats what we need.
Q: Would you a) rather fix the defence and stick with Al, or b) get a top class keeper and stick with this defence.
With a) almunia might have nothing to do but concede from 1 shot.
With b) the keeper might sort out the defence and both could be fixed….so…??
who conceded 4 at anfield last season berg with less clear cut chances
Yes Bergkamp, thats exactly what we need. Anyone got Wengers email?
the problem with almunia stu is he sticks on his line,look at the stoke game,all he has to do is come for the ball,if he dont get it he will probably get a freekick every time
Franchise, that wasnt us, we drew 1-1 there last season. Do you mean 2 years ago? The crouch..ahem..hattrick..cunt!
Al can fuck off…. not commanding enough in his 18 yard box
if the goal keeper commits himself and fully goes for the ball with determination then he should either get the ball or the freekick every time,unless he misjudges the flight,,i think almunia bottles coming off his line
Stu champions league
ya Bergy, despite his inexperience Fabianski would no doubt have come and collected from both those opportuities, thus preventing needlessly conceded goals.
Oh ya Franchise, I try not to remember too much of that.
yeah but franchise given is conceding 3 or 4, 2 out of every 4 games,only arsenal forwards give charity to guys like given
A bit off topic but what I hate about us is that we never hammer our rivals.
We conceded 4 to pool twice in important games and 4 again to united but we never give then a hyding. Its always by the odd goal. Its pretty annoying.
one of the goals against stoke the super long throw comes in and it goes into the 6 yard box and only kolo and one forward are in the whole 6 yard box and kolo is getting swung round by his shirt far too easily to even be a man,its two steps off the line and he catches the ball,almunia didnt force his way into the team, jens self destructed,thats what i dont like about almunia song or denilson,when there was better infront of them they didnt show up an fight for a place,they just land on their feet
Given, Green, Friedel etc… certain keepers always have blinders against us. Why only ever against us?
oh yeah the chapions league game wasnt exactly almunias fault,we basically threw that game at anfield,kolo and phil lol
we’ve conceded 23 goals and newcastle 32 berg. weare 4th and they are 14th. we have a worse goals conceded to league position ratio (i made that up)
yeah stu,and that jock manc whats his name,the midfielder,usually two good games a season,arsenal home an away,whats his name again
And Bergkamp, along with that whenever they play poorly or a youngster plays better in a game the usual suspects regain their place regardless of their own form.
I seem to recall this season Almunia made a mistake in a match and Fabianski played the next game. The reason was that Almunia was ill. Fab had a great game but was then dropped and almunia played poorly again. Anyone remember that?
franchise everyone raves about villas new defence an goalkeeper but they have conceded one less than us only
Newcastle against Chelsea the 0-0 game. Given was from another planet
kolo toure is the prince,he couldnt be dropped last season,this season maybe injurys but kolo will always be found a spot in the team stu,refusin to play eboue at right back to accomodate the love children phil and kolo at anfield last season lol
Given is quicker off his line that any other prem keeper so he would work well with our high line
Thats could be any number of players….Fletcher, Park, Hargreeves. A lot of players play out of their skin against us, its like a rule or something.
i know berg i think they get thumped by the teams that should thump them unlike us
iv see given do great things,but iv never seen him play in a big team that needs a clean sheet,theres lots of great teams an he has been at newcastle for years with no one coming for him
I remember that in “teammates” Given said he was the fastest newcastle player over 5 yards i.e. closing down shots etc. Not quite sure if that relates to sweeping tho.
i wouldnt mind given ,but i think he would have to wait to get his chance to take almunia out
its no coincidence that almunia wears the armband right about now,wenger thinks he is the man
Him not leaving Toon might have as much to do with loyalty than anything else.
fulham have conceded just 14 goals
nah if a big team came he would have left toon,look how many goalkeepers liverpool have tried an tested,he would have gone there like a flash
I could never take a footballer who bleaches their hair seriously. He probably thinks it makes him better.
i think the way we play were always gonna concede goals,but were even givin more chances away by defendin like idiots this season, we need to be more clinical infront of goal to counteract
Fulham are amazing at defending this season. Thats down to their defensive coach. What are they Wenger?? Hangeland might have something to do with that.
especially a player who thinks his house is haunted an has to go home from training each day to check on his wife stu…thats almunia
at least we would know that given would be a better player then what denilsong is
Bergkamp, that excuse is becoming less convincing to me. Playing attacking football obviously leaves gaos but given that we generally have 60% posession per game we should be conceding so regularly.
they just defend as an organised team,their full backs dont go missing,and they clear the ball properly,a kolo toure clearance usually goes straight out of play not even up the line,and a headed clearnace usually goes all of 3 yeards in any direction
yeah but stu its the failure to clear the ball or not defendin the set pieces properly, we defend a set piece with 11 men and give up the rest of the pitch so if we clear it comes straight back,arsenal are full of flaws,why use theo walcott to defend a corner?? why not put him on the halfway line and watch how many players think twice about comin up the field,and if we clear it its not gonna come back with precision f the defenders beat him to the ball,arsenal are clueless
Organisation and Tactics. ” things that go a long fuckig way to keeping a clean sheet and potentially winning. Also 2 things that Wenger has never heard of.
Tactics who, organisation where?? As long as you can kick a ball Wenger will play him…well apart from Song that it, but he plays for different unknown reasons.
against stoke we were fightin to not give away corners even to the extent of puttin it our for throw ins which lead to both goals,everyone knows against stoke corners are better than throw ins,but our team just dont plot for the oposition,this season were crap so maybe we should start plottin for the oposition seen as we cant kill them off with our own way
and were two nil up and we dont think ok job done,lets cut down on bombin forward, we start defendin on the halfway line against the biggest hit an rush lucky team in the prem,then in the 90th minute with gallas kolo silvestre sagna and cliche all on the pitch we get into a 3 on 4 situation in our own box,and denilson freezes when a 6ft4 defender in a big purple shirt strolls past him into our box,gallas doesnt clear with conviction an we get bit on the ass,were our own worst enemy,not many of our oponants deserve credit for takin points
There’s loads of stats you can look at, Fulham have scored 18 goals in total.
They’ve only scored 2 Away goals in 9 matches.
I wouldnt be at all suprised if i was told that Wenger doesnt study anything about the opposition. I believe that he just focuses on our team and thinks our “footballers” will come out on top every time.
I know some people say forget everyone else, just play your own game but that doesnt apply these days.
Football doesnt win football matches anymore. Its all about tactics and knowledge of the sport and the opposition. Wenger doesnt seem to realise this. Other teams being forceful against us is their tactics. It gets them a result and rightfully so because they had a plan and it worked. Wenger has no plan and no clue.
the hull game denilson a brazillian invites a fellow brazilian who is legendary with his right boot to shoot,its clueless,we play defensive russian roulette, im suprised wenger dont rip his own hair out,im sure that he hasnt changed his philosophy to let teams walk on us and to go on strike in the 90th minute till the final whistle
Keyser,
thats the sacrifice that needed to be made to make them work. And it has worked too. Last season they just avoided relegation and this they are 8th. Goals MAY win you a game but a clean sheet will certainly prevent a loss.
Everton did a few years ago and got 4th. The majority of their wins were 1-0 but it got them CL football so essentially their plan worker.
galls the so called experienced pro,he hasnt got a medal that he has won as a first choice 11 player,always been a sub or a last resort,kolo the man who should know better acts like the youngest squad memebr on the pitch,strange stuff at arsenal
stu totally agree with you , on the away strip 3rd option for AFC last year … best so far …
and i thought the blue away strip also looked far better than chevskis 1st kit
!
It was wierd to see that against Pompey. Towards the end of the gane Vela, a 19yo mexican, went to the corner flag when in posession and the other players duly did the same. Its pretty fucked up when older players like Ade only do this for the first time when they see a kid doing it. Says a good bit about some of our players….sheep!
thing is its easy to point fingers at song and phil,but i think phil would have been better had he had a legendary sol cambell to hold his hand while he got his bearings,and song an denilson get each other to break themselfs in fully while cesc had gilberto and vieira,this is the problem at arsenal for me,no winners to pass the habit on
yep stu,that was wat was required at spurs even cesc tryin to play through balls to no one in stoppage time when all we gotta do is hold the ball
Jesus Ethan, i didnt have a clue what you were talking about. Caught me off guard there.
It really was a nice kit wasnt it. I prefer the yellow kit from 30-40 years ago but I prefer the blue now. Seems more professional if that makes any sense.
Well, if that kit can even be seen as blue. It was more a mix of a few colours.
steve gerrard has been charged with assault and affray,the average man gets a couple months for that
But hes a football star and a cunt so he wont get anything more than a fine or something like that.
Wouldnt it be brilliant is he got jailed and pool fell apart, had to sell Alonso to us to buy a Gerrard replacement!!! I can dream cant I.
Stu – They’re as many points from the relegation zone as they are from 5th or 4th, they get a few injuries or a couple of poor mistakes they’ll have nothing to fall back on.
We need to learn from the mistakes and hopefully the Portsmouth thing is the caution and concentration till the end.
he wont even get a fine,he will pay off the geezer and they will drop the charges,he will be photo’d now at every hospital with sick children and doin everything he can to get good publicity,i say he should take responsibility for 6 men stompin out 1 man,those were his people an he threw the first blow
http://therepublikofmancunia.com/free-steven-gerrard-now/ pahahahahahahhahahahahaha
Keyser, fair enough but i believe that if the defence is organised well enough anyone can come in and do a job, for however long.
The best examples of that are the famous back 4. Whenever someone got an injurt=y another defender came in and it was like nothing had changed. The best example of this nowdays is Liverpool….unless its carraher thats injured.
Bergie
So its true then, Gerrard has been charged for a scuffle or something while on the piss?
I bet this time he won’t get a penalty
the prick of a thing.
seems so gnarley,be interesting to see how the country reacts,specially if a few kids kill each other over the next few weeks,anyway im off
Night Bergkamp
Anyone else around? Anything to talk about. Just cant sleep for some reason.
Stu – I wasn’t around for the beginnings of the famous back four so I don’t know how long it took to assemble all of them together but it’s all about balance, George Grahams most successful sides were dogged in defence but also scored goals, so I would want us to work towards being solid all over the pitch.
When Wenger first came in he was thinking about implementing a 4-3-3 but Adams and the other defenders felt it left them too open so Petit was brought in.
Aginst Stoke, Almunia and the defence had prepared but it just didn’t work, they decided that Toure and Silvestre would deal as best as they could with the strikers and leave Almunia on the line instead of him coming out and flapping and them conceding anyway, it didn’t work as planned but if Djourou had been used instead there could have been a different outcome.
Djourou just shored us up aerially we look much better, and now it’s the turn of the midfield.
Keyser,
You werent around? Nor was I but i just read all about those things in different places etc. How old are you?
I’m in my early twenties dude, one thing I’ve noticed is that unless you were there things get distorted alot heh, even if you were thinking back on times we end up exaggerating, like if I think of Bergkamp he’s got this yellow glow around him LoL.
First thing that got me interested was the chants of Ian Wright Wright Wright and it was the first team I knew about and then I saw Eddie McGoldrick score a goal against Standard Liege I think because the Cup Winners Cup games were on TV.
Footballs changed a lot since then.
Ya things are never how you remember them, regardless of the time. I tend to remember the better things and most things get exaggerated a lot.
I myself was a relatively late newcomer to all things Arsenal but my devotion to the club has grown rapidly.
For all the attackig football under Wenger I would have loved to be aroung for the days when defence was the priority and 1 goal won it. I hate what the Arsenal defence has become under Wenger. It has taken a back seat to most other things.
I don’t mind the defence, even now it’s kind of love/hate with the way we’re playing it’s enough to give you palpitations but it’s exciting at the same time.
Last year I wouldn’t have said our defence was bad, we defended as a team and from a bunch of great individuals last year we had a team that had good players but a great team ethic.
The team of last season took a few years to become what it was. Flamini only got a first team spot in his 4th year, Hleb his 5th before he hit top form consistently, Easily Cesc best season as well as Rosickys. Ades only good season and RvP was typically injured for the majority of it.
The defence was the only thing that was relatively new. Only Gallas’ first full season with Toure as he had been dogged with injury in his debut campaign. Sagnas debut season and only Clichys first. For them Toures call of Duty ruined all that and after he returned things werent the same.
Sagna, Rosicky, Eduardo, RvP were all out for large parts of the “business end” of the season. Add to that oures amazing dip in form and the trauma to the young minds of witnessing Eduardos horrific injury and that explaing our collapse.
Failing to buy last January helped us lose the title. Lets hope for a reverse of fortunes this time round.
The growth and development of the team before last term resulted in half an amazing season. How long will it take this time, for this current crop to reach those same heights?
On that note- i’m off to bed. Night Keyser, til tomorrow.
Geoff/Pedro
Been doing a bit of a Spud watch myself, & from my observations they are definitely ripe to go down.
Wenger unsure of funds for transfer window
By Soccernet
December 29, 2008
Arsene Wenger has admitted that he would like to bring in reinforcements in the January transfer window to bolster his Arsenal side’s faltering title challenge but does not know the club will make the necessary cash available.
Arsene Wenger: Wants reinforcements
A late goal from William Gallas scraped a 1-0 win for the Gunners against Portsmouth on Sunday to keep their faint title hopes alive, however they still trail Premier League leaders Liverpool by 10 points.
Wenger knows his side must improve in the second half of the season but is hamstrung by long-term injuries which rule out Cesc Fabregas, Tomas Rosicky and Theo Walcott.
”I want a creative midfielder,” he told Canal+. ”That is to say a second midfielder, because my team is right in terms of manpower and experience.
”[But] I can’t spend money I don’t have. The [global financial] crisis is upon us and we feel it at the club.”
One player Arsenal have been linked with is Zenit St Petersburg playmaker Andrei Arshavin. However, Wenger refused to confirm he is chasing the Russia forward. ”There’s no point in giving me names,” he added.
Meanwhile, Wenger wants his controversial former captain Gallas to carry on scoring in the Arsenal cause.
Gallas, who was stripped of the captaincy after several flashpoints during his tenure, scored the late header that secured all three points for Arsenal in the win over Pompey.
There were rumours Wenger would try to offload Gallas but Wenger has insisted he does not want to sell any players in the January transfer window, which opens on Thursday.
Wenger said: ”He answers everybody by his performance on the pitch and that’s what you do when you are a great player. He started as a striker and looks most likely to score at set-pieces. He has good timing to attack the ball.”
The Frenchman also believes that his current injury-plagued side has received more unfair flak than any previous Arsenal team he has managed.
He said: ”The team is maturing and has shown great mental strength in the past few weeks. ”No team since I have been here has got as bad publicity and I don’t think it is fair because they have got great character. I want them to get rewarded for their character.”
Gerrard backs Liverpool to win the title
Speaking from his jail cell, the club captain Steven Gerrard has hailed the current Liverpool side as the he has played in and is backing them to clinch a first Premier League title
Gnarley, that’s because they have a shit manager, the smug cunt.
Stu I thought Hleb left us after 4 years, he made his debut against the Chavs in the charity shield in Wales and we lost 2-1 and Cesc scored, I remember I was there.
new post!