The road to El Madrigal shot by Geoff yesterday.
Don’t ask how that Photo was taken… just accept that it was at about 1400 yesterday afternoon… hail stones in Spain! About as likely as seeing Adebayor score a bicycle kick to draw us level in the Champions league quarter finals I guess!
Almunia
Sagna Toure Gallas Clichy
Walcott Denilson Song Nasri
Fabregas
Adebayor
Nasri slotted in for Arshavin and the rest of the team was the same as the City line up. For me, it was the best team the coach could have put out and everyone was pretty revved up for a Man City type mauling…
Were we as fans slightly guilty of complacency? I believe so…
Arsenal didn’t start particularly well… there was a lack of fluency and pace in our passing, there was little creative edge and to be fair to the Spaniards… they did a fine job of nullifying us.
It didn’t take long for the dead lock to be broken. Senna picked up the ball about 25 yards out, clipped his nails, made a cup of tea, read the first chapter of War and Peace… then picked his spot and buried a perfectly placed bullet into the top corner. It was sloppy defending from Arsenal, not the type of goal you’d expect to concede when you have two defensive midfielders in the side. Senna should have been shut down immediately and he should never have been allowed to get that shot off…
Things got worse for Arsenal… Shortly after the goal, Almunia decided an earlier challenge from Rossi was actually quite painful… so on came Fabianski. Questions over whether he was focussed enough were soon answered when he saved another pile driver from Senna, jumped up and saved the second shot powered in by some Spanish looking guy.
Oh… then it got even worse… Song cut across Rossi just outside the area… as he chopped him down, Rossi fell onto William’s knee and crunched him… Willy went off on a stretcher… then came back on… we nearly conceded… Willy decided actually medial knee ligament damage couldn’t be run off… Cheerio Gallas… season over. It’s not often I scream for the whistle to blow… but today I did… I was worried a lightning bolt would wipe out the team or something equally as unlucky might happen… as first halves go, it was a bit of a shocker!
The ref blew up… half time talk was of bringing on Bendtner to partner Ade… and it looked like Wenger was going to do that, but he changed his mind just before the game kicked off.
The second half started in a more familiar manner. Arsenal started to believe in their game, players headed forwards and we began our search for the elusive away goal. Nasri should have shot but instead over hit a pass to Theo who couldn’t get any power on his effort back accross goal… Ade headed just wide after one of those really neat chipped crosses from Theo (Did I say neat, I meant ineffective)… Kolo jinked into the box, played a cheeky cross accross the area, but no one was there to finish… were we ever going to get a goal?
We needed some magic…
Cesc picked up the ball about 40 yards out, looked up, played a perfectly weighted ball to Ade…. Ade, with his back to goal, chests it up… changes the angle of his body and hit the most outrageous overhead kick into the far corner!
Hooray I cheered! Hooray! We had the goal, and the rip roaring gooners were one up! Terrific!
Arsenal continued to push for an winner, but sadly it was not forthcoming. However, our slick passing returned and Villarreal looked pretty demoralised. The ref blew up, the game finished 1-1 and we had the advantage… now all we have to do is keep a clean sheet at home and hope Porto follow suit.
So… how about some player ratings?
Almunia: Could do nothing about the goal, shame he went off. I heard he’s out for two weeks. 6
Sagna: I thought Sagna had a solid game today. He made some crunching challenges and went forward with a bit more conviction. 7
Gallas: I thought he played quite well until he went off. I was a bit shocked he was sent back on when he was quite clearly in pain… that could have cost us, thankfully it didn’t. He looks set to miss the rest of the season. Bad luck Willy, you’ve done yourself and the team proud over the last few months. 7
Toure: I thought he stepped up quite well when Gallas went off. I was a bit annoyed he was out jumped at a corner, but other than that, he did ok. 7
Clichy: Zero input attack wise in the first half. He and Nasri don’t seem to click at all. I think he worked well with Rosicky because Rosicky released the ball quicker… Nasri holds onto it and tends to move into the middle. I thought he was better in the second half, he went forward more often and linked up in a lovely move in the last minute. Needs to work on that cross. 7
Song: I thought he had a poor first half. I thought he was slow off the mark to close down Senna, which cost us the first goal. His sloppy challenge cost us our best centre back and nearly cost us a penalty. Thankfully his game picked up in the second half and he made some good challenges… his passing has been better of late, but by Arsenal’s high standards, I feel it is pretty sloppy. 5.5
Denilson: I thought he was pretty impressive today. He is much more efficient than Song and he allows our quick passing game to flow. I think playing him and Song is over kill… it crowds out the middle of the park a bit too much. Denilson would be my first choice going into the next game. 7
Nasri: A bit like Robinho isn’t he? Very good at home… anonymous away. I thought he was very poor in the first half… i said earlier in the year that he doesn’t seem to have the drive to make things happen… I think he needs to work harder to create magic, like Arshavin does… he needs to take more risks. I also think he holds onto the ball too long. 6
Theo: I wasn’t impressed. He runs up too many blind alleys, he rarely runs at full pace because he’s thinking about what to do for ten minutes… and I hate his silly little floated chip crosses. They are rubbish. Theo needs to sharpen up… Eboue is fit and ready to take his place. * I was impressed by some great tackles. 6.5
Cesc: Wasn’t his best game… he looked a little rusty and I’m not sure whether playing in the hole suits him as much as playing a bit deeper. However, that pass to Adebayor was a little bit special. The freekick was a little dim, but I appreciated the ‘risktakingness’ of it all. Oh how we’ve missed him… 7.5
Adebayor: He was taking a lot of flak at half time… he wasn’t having his best game, but I think it’s pretty difficult to look good when you’re playing up top on your own. However, that goal was straight out the book of Thierry. Magical, majestic…unbelievable… pick your superlative… because the chances are it would be too modest! Goals like that are great for Ade… he thrives on confidence… so hopefully he’ll bang a few more in during the home straight! 8
Subs:
Fabianski: This was a big moment for the young Pole, could he come on in a crucial game and impress? Could he contain his nerves? Could he show us why he should be number one? Emphatically yes. Within minutes of entering the field of play he pulled off a remarkable double save. He commanded his box pretty well, bar a few communication lapses when coming out to clear the ball. Overall, I thought he played a blinder. 7.5
JD: Again, brought on at a difficult time against an extremely able team. There were a few moments of madness, but overall, I thought he did his first team credentials no harm. There have been some doubts raised over his ability to step up to the plate… but I am confident he will demonstrate his ability for us till the end of the season. 7
Eboue: A game just isn’t complete without the token appearance by Eboue. In fairness, I was still pretty awe struck by Ade’s goal to make a sound judgement on Eboue. From what I remember, he didn’t do to badly… so I’ll give him a 6.5
Conclusion
The important thing to remember is that form goes out of the window when it comes to these games. Everyone raises their game and I think the only criticism that can be levelled at the team was the lack of urgency to press Villarreal at the start. We more than made amends in the second half and I have to say, I’d be pretty upset if we didn’t make it through to the next round where we’ll be playing FC Porto.
So… what’s that… 18 games unbeaten now?
We’re turning in a bit of a run, aren’t we!
See you in the comments!
But i do know A, and we will.
I’m not looking forward to Chelsea in the FAC. Under Scholari they were shit, but look much better now and Essien will shut Cesc down.
Recession Updates
Ali Baba and the forty thieves are now Ali Baba and the thirty thieves. Ten were laid off.
Batman and Robin are now Batman and Pedro. Batman fired Robin and hired Pedro because Pedro was willing to work twice the hours at the same rate
Iron Man, He-Man and Spiderman now “air-pooling” with Superman to save fuel costs.
Women finally marrying for love, and not money.
Christano Ronaldo is stuck with the same chick for more than 2 weeks now.
The difference between an American and a Zimbabwean will be NOTHING, in a few months.
U2 is calling itself U1 now.
The credit crunch is getting so bad that when I let my brother borrow $ 100 a couple of weeks back, it turned out so that am I’m now officially the world’s third biggest lender.
A
True benitez will probably set his side out for one of his tactical battles.
Chelsea cannot rotate cos they just dont have a big squad.They only have 2 strikers and 2 wingers.The likes of lamard and all are sure to play
a chelsea are back on track now lucky fucks,im telling you the mancs will still win the league.the scoucers will be on a downer now
i hope not kevin. they’ve got ahead of themselves thinking they’re good enough to attack teams now, hopefully they’ll adopt the same mentality against us!
Same chick Choy?? Same dick morelike!
lol stu…
chavs are looking good eh… FA Cup.. fack drogba and essien!!!
i dunno bbk, they’ve only won 2 games in a row following a poor performance and loss against spuds, they need to win a few more to get some momentum going.
i don’t think utd will win the league now, they’ve got massive problems behind the scenes. I genuinly think we could end up close to utd come the end of the season
every fucking year them cunts get to the last stage of the thing,if they win it before we do that is a compete disgrace
A
Lol it’s so true. They think they the ability to score goals on a regular basis. Imo i think we should park the bus on them. Then feed it to cesc, who will either unleash walcott, or lift it to ade to EXPERTLY finish. LoL. But seriously if they come and attack us relentlessly we will abuse them.
a gallas is now missing that is a massive loss plus we have the harder games……
gallas is a big big loss, not been any news today on him or whether rosicky playing tomorrow has there??
if gallas is out for the season then i’d rather see song dropped into defence than djourou play
fuck having song in there he brought in silvest for times like these
Really BBK? Because i have heard some people say he was bought because he is a brilliant trainer. God forbid we buy a player to play!
Silvestre is…..well I’m scared when he is playing.
Wenger has f**d up again big time. You do need to have 4 central defenders to rotate.
we are light years behind barca in terms of attacking football
Look at the situation we are in. We lose 1 defender, although easily our best one, and we are screwed. We still have Toure but he is erratic, JD is somewhat error prone, Silvestre is just useless and Song is nothing.
BUT, ARSHAVIN will be available against Chelsea. Although Guus might know how how to stop him
everyone else is lightyears behind barca franchise!
yeah stu – i think that’s the biggest thing that will be rectified in the summer, it has to be
2 top class defenders, 1 great reliable backup and a youngster. So far we have Gallas, no reliable backups JD and Kolo are either didgey or good and Silvestre is a waste of space.
no team is sharper in the final 3rd. they play like they invented the slide rule pass. they have been doing this for 4/5 years consecutively
Lol
Fantastic Stuff Choy
kolo is very good alongside a top powerful centre back stu, and has improved against greatly recently. He isn’t the same level as gallas, but is just below, and easily good enough to start. I’m outraged at you mentioning him the same as JD!!
One top powerful centre back to play alongside kolo for the first team, and either senderos back as a back up or a top young talent in as back up and i’m happy. At the very very least a top young player (sakho) in as back up and senderos back to play whilst sakho is settling in in england.
I was hoping for lucio with bayern wanting to make space for breno to come through, though after today breno might take a while to recover!!
gibberish franchise – messi learnt it after watching wilshere in the reserves
Frank Ribery was shut down the whole game…it was kind of Sad….maybe Wenger was right not to go for him.
Outraged A?
Really?
Guys I know we have to keep the pressure on Villa in the league..but I would be tempted to rest some players against Wigan.
I would play something like this.
………………..Fab…………………
Eboue…….Kolo…..Silvestre……..Clichy/Gibbs
Nasri………Cesc…….Denilson……Arshavin
…………….Nick……..Vela…………..
If we have a lead….Diaby for Cesc at 60..we need him for the retuen leg.
Van persie for Nick on 70
Eddy for Arsh/Vela…..on 75
Walcott, Sagna, Ade are rested and Cesc given only an hour.
But a, without a commanding CB partner Kolo is remdered useless. Ergo he is similar to JD who is dodgey.
guardiola has improved the defensive aspects of their game
For the retuen leg..against Villa..I would drop Denilson
…………………Fab………………..
Sagna………Kolo…..Djourou……Clichy
Walcott…….Cesc…..Song/Diaby….Nasri
………….RVP………Ade………
For example Hangaland. But could he handle Messi?
Actually for the second leg against Villareal I would go for this
…………………Fab………………..
Sagna………Kolo…..Djourou……Clichy
…………Song………….
Walcott……….Cesc……..….Nasri
………….RVP………Ade………
I would get Diaby on for the second half.
Maciek,
Nope…i dont know anyone that can handle messi…but I think Clichy is just as quick….but he’s bound to get beat more than once….
*sigh*
nah hes still good stu – since he got back to fitness last couple of months he’s been very solid, though obviously with gallas and toure there are still alot of problems with a lack of power in the air.
that’d be crazy ja – we couldn’t handle them in the first 20 minutes, with song and denilson behind cesc. Cesc and diaby or song would be suicide! we’ve gotta play the same system with our best two defensive midfielders by a mile in song and denilson playing
with wigan it’ll all depend on players’ fitness, if vp and eduardo are fit they’ll likely get game time to get them as up to speed as possible before weds. Bendtner i’m sure will start, arshavin certainly, and most likely cesc
So A..you are suggesting we go 4-2-3-1 at home.
I dont think thats necessary honestly.
Away from home..sure…but why play that system at home…especially when we will probablyhave Van persie and some others back.
does anyone know who will play who in the semi final ie who’s at home first
i know if we get through we are away first but what about barca cuntski
We’re at home in the second leg of the semi final too.
Thank god for that as well. I don’t trust this lot to win a 2nd leg away at Porto, or anywhere for that matter.
We shot our ‘taking a lead away’ load a long time ago.
what about barca cuntski whos at home first????
Not sure, I was wondering that myself as well.
Whoever has the second leg at home in the 2nd leg goes through imo.
i make you right on that lets hope barca are away first
I make Barca 55-45 favourites in that match. It’s tight though.
Chelsea are not as convincing at home as Barcelona are so that should make Barca favourites.
All depends on Messi really.
Great news……….
Arsenal have this evening confirmed that highly-rated youngster Luke Freeman has signed a professional contract with the Gunners. The England under-17 international signed from Gillingham in the summer having made his debut for the Kent side at the age of fifteen.
A statement on the Gunners website reads as follows:
“Arsenal Football Club is delighted to announce that Luke Freeman has signed professional terms with the Club.
“Young striker Luke (17), who is an England Youth International, signed in the summer from Gillingham, then of League One, where he made his debut for the Gills’ first team at the age of just 15 years and 233 days, a record for the Kent club.
“Luke has already made a big impression at the Club, scoring seven goals from his 15 appearances for Steve Bould’s Under-18s this season. The young forward has also made one substitute appearance for the Reserves this term.
“Everyone at the Club is looking forward to Luke’s continued contribution and development with Arsenal in the forthcoming years.”
that result tonight would of lifted the cunts im just hopeing they get some injury’s
the lad is our michael owen, and he’s english.
great another 17teen year old
BBK – michael owen was only a 17yrd old when he lit the world cup up.
if you are good enough, you are old enough… especially as a striker or a winger.
There is no way Chavski will rest players next week, it is not their style. If Liverpool get an early goal there, who knows!!! I cant see them doing it, but Chavski wont risk it. The CL is their no.1 target,
in fact if anyone was going to rest anyone, it would be Liverpool, they may just accept defeat here and rest in the hope they can take the PL.
Personally, I think we will be ok for the Semi, with players coming back, we are able to rotate when required and fingers crossed we should have the pick of RVP, Ade, Eduardo, Bendtner, Arshavin, Vela up front and Theo, Cesc, Denilson, Song, Diaby, Arshavin, Nasri for the Midfield, and I think that is enough to have a real crack against Chavski.
I am not even that concerned by the loss of Almunia, as Fabianski is our future and a good keeper, nor Gallas, as Djourou is not too bad
My only fear is that we revert to Silvestre to partner Toure.
It’s written for Arshavin to light up Wembley and knock out his national team managers club side.
going by drogba’s performance tonight and him picking up form,i really fear for djourou if he plays,im hoping wenger will choose wisely and put silvest in there,
FM that script is so hollywood
faceman-not everyone is a m.o freeman has not even played in the c.c he can’t be that good
anyone know if barca are at home first against cuntski please help meeeeeeeeee i want know oh lo lo
Franchise – those kind of stories always occur.
hollywood would be more along the lines of, arshavin scoring a goal after dribbling past 7 chav players… including the goalie, flicking the ball up in the air and over head kicking it in.
but for him to lay on the winning goal for rvp, that is realistic.
Can Arshavin play at Wembley in the cup?
saying the script is hollywood was actually meant to mean it would be a great story. definitely possible
yes he can pedro.
only champs league is he barred from.
Excellent news.
we need a defence for the semi we ain’t got one im praying gallas is o.k djourou getting done by drogba wont be good for the lad
what a complete freek result tonight i don’t know how liverpool let that happen
ffs, i have to agree BBK.
this gallas out for the season is worrying me slightly, he has been awesome of late.
i like djourou but he seems prone to the odd costly mistake, maybe silvestre could do a job for the big games.
faceman that’s what i have been saying,silvest’s experience alone is worth more then what djourou can bring to the table
Chelsea looked back to there best tonight, could have
scored more i hope they dont play like that
next week as i fear for us if they do.
hmmm, you could be right, i hate to say.
djourou makes me nervous, and in a game like the 2nd leg of the champs league and the semi finals of the cup, one mistake and its goodnight.
you can get away with it in the group stages or the league.
Are you mixing up Senderos for Djourou.
Completely different player. I personally would feel a lot happier with Djourou at the back than Silvestre.
Silvestre is a Journey man that never impressed me when he was a Manc, and he still does not impress me now.
Give him a break guys and get behind Djourou,
djourou is just another one of those defenders in the class of senderos and cygan
what a waisman lollllllllllll
I dont Reggie,
A month ago, I would have feared it, but we are picking up now and if you can keep Drogba and Lampard out of the game we have a great chance.
I think we will do ok
That’s unfair BBK and there is no evidence or mass of mistakes to suggest it. On paper both Gallas and Toure have been guilty of some howlers this year.
If anything Djourou’s height gives us a weapon against Drogba. You put Silvestre in there and you are asking for aerial threats against him and Toure who are both only 6ft
Only if we can keep our key players fit, the
thing is when you have lightweights like song
denilson to take on quality like essien fat
frank it dont make me feel that confident.
but song would cover him, pat.
djourou might be tall but e’s not strong nor does he have the same experience as silvest
We are all doomed then BBK, might as well not turn up
in a big game like that experience is everything players who you think are alledgedly able are not the answer to win the game
too fucking right we are if djourou or song play there
Never have rated song or denilson nothing
against them but not arsenal quality, good
honest triers but playing for arsenal.
comon
too right reggie
reggie how did your operation go m8
senderos is a far far better player than djourou, which is why he’s a swiss hero and djourou doesn’t make the team. senderos is still a decent player and his contribution for us was underrated, and overlooked because he got humiliated by drogba and torres though they’ve done the same to the best defenders in the world.
Djourou isn’t ready to play the big games yet, he hasn’t had a game this season where he’s been solid and not made a mistake that could have cost us a goal, it’s a big big worry for me.
I’d 100% put song in there ahead of djourou, but i expect it will be djourou who takes over if our worst fears are confirmed and gallas’ season is over.
djourou against drogba though i wouldn’t be THAT worried about, but against utd or liverpool we’d be in big trouble
Watched barca tonite what a fuckin team
fantastic performances all round made bayern
look like a joke club.
pat if you rewatch previous games, every one djourou has played in in fact there is alot of evidence that he’s far from ready at the moment. The west brom game was on earlier on arsenal tv, it really was one of the worst individual performances by an arsenal defender i’ve seen, against anyone else we could have been destroyed purely because djourou was so off form
drogba tonight ruined jamie carragher what makes you think he wouldn’t do the same to song?senderos performances are underated,he’s shit end of matter it really baffles me how a player of his calibre could go to a club like milan wenger must have some dirt on them in prder for them to take him JEEEEEEEEZ
BBK
Everything fine mate, still a bit sore ok though
I think ure being a little over critical of JD..A,
The boy has done fantastic. Have we lost a game when he plays?
thats the point bbk, the people in the know, who are much more intelligent and knowledgable about football than the likes of us see something in the likes of senderos, and bendtner that they rate very highly.
Senderos has shown he CAN do it in the big games, but in other big games he’s been destroyed by world class forwards who have destroyed the best defenders in the world, but our fans and media scapegoated senderos and drove him out of the club
not yet david i give you that, but him playing in that semi there will only be one outcome
I agree with you on Senderos A, I have always liked him.
I still dont understand why we brought in Silvestre and let Senderos out on loan. I could go with it, if it was a World Class Improvement coming in, but fucking Silvestre.
It seems easy to be critical of Djourou who has youth on his side and room to improve, yet just as easy to mask the failings of Silvestre who was never good enough at Man Ure, often made howlers and never knew what his best position was. Experience is valuable but if you are an average footballer then it evens itself out.
cool cool reggie
man city david, and he had alot to do with that! he hasn’t had a single entire solid game for us. In alot of games at the start of the season he was very solid for 89 minutes, then made a mistake that could have cost us one goal. There hasn’t been a game this season where he hasn’t done something that COULD have cost us a goal, and would against top opposition, but the other 89 minutes of the games he was very solid and made some very good last ditch tackles etc.
against the likes of boro away that’s fine, because we can win 3-1, but in the big games where it’s 1-0 either way and against players who will put their chances away with him in the team it’s too costly
We need to scour the continent and find 2
new monster centre backs someone who
can head a ball, last night i lost count the
amount of time we headed the ball out, and it
travelled about 2 yards straight to one of there
players dont we practise heading the fuckin ball.
and that is exactly what sendy and djourou are (average)
I feel that is what you are doing to Djourou A.
I think he has played really well when used this season. I also seem to remember him giving Gallas a bollocking in a game.
Lets give the boy a chance. Its not like we have a lot of choice,
Djourou, Song or Silvestre?
And I put them in that order. Personally becuase of the height of Djourou, I think he offers the best mix playing alongside Toure, and you have to take that into account.
yeah i agree about djourou being young pat, i’m not ruling him out yet.
he’s currently at the same place that both rio ferdinand and titus bramble were at a young age – strong, quick, and made some great last ditch tackles etc, but made alot of mistakes too. i don’t think he has the intelligence to become anywhere near rio standard, but i expect him to develop past the level bramble is.
re. senderos i think it was half the fans after the liverpool game destroyed him, as well as the fact he wanted first team football and gallas and toure were going to be first choice for a while. silvestre was also brought in to cover left back, as we had absolutely noone to cover there back then. At the time i kinda hoped it was also because we agreed to loan senderos in exchange for first option on gourcuff in the summer, but after arshavin’s signing that isn’t gonna happen!
he gave gallas a bollocking in the first game of the season,hardly a fucking few words of wisdom for gallas now is it
can’t have ponderos.
FFS, especially against ferking drogba, how many times did drogba ruin him?
i remember about 2 years ago, in the space of 3 or 4 days ponderos cost us the carling cup and then let benni mccarty take the piss out of him in the cup replay against blackburn.
he also let torres take the piss out of him in last years champs league, he just has no pace and is nowhere near as strong as one might think he is.
for bravery i give him 11/10
yu ask any ex pro and they will tell you experience is second to none in a big game forget all the talk of he’s big and all that it don’t wash
not scapegoating djourou at all pat – he isn’t to blame for poor performances at all, he’s played in good performances, which have papered over his current immaturity as a centre back. I’m not writing him off at all, but just feel at the moment it’s a big worry the thought of him in the side. I’d much prefer song, as although he isn’t as tall, he’s much more composed than djourou, and seems to have matured alot as the season has gone on. The last game song played centre back he looked very solid, and was alongside djourou who looked shaky
Face
He can speak 6 different languages though!!
faceman the only people who have taken the piss out of senderos are drogba and torres. Torres did it to vidic 2 weeks ago does that make vidic shit?? skrtel was raped by drogba tonight, is he complete shit too??
senderos was playing right back against blackburn you can’t blame him when playing out of position like that
exactly he can hear what the other players say when they ruin him
i also remember senderos playing a fundamental role in our winning the fa cup final and putting in fantastic performances in both legs against ac milan in the champs league
we always seem to keep getting these players that are shocking if wenger keeps this up the new trophy cabinet will stay empty
Yeah shame on Gourcuff, although I think that move might still happen. I fear that Rosicky’s career is pretty much over, he will never be the same and maybe he will prove a bit of fitness and return to lower league in the summer.
Worst thing we did to Senderos was to drop him when Toure came back from ANC, he was forming a pretty formidible pairing with Gallas at the time.
He has no pace but he has intelligence and that can buy a defender a few yards. i still think he will excel in Italy and if Milan dont take him, I reckon someone else there will.
But Djourou has impressed me, maybe he is another marmite player, you have to give a CB pairing a few games to build the partnership. I really hope we give Toure/Djourou that. I just dont trust Silvestre.
senderos isn’t top top class, but is the next level down. All defenders at that level can get destroyed by the very top attacking players in the world when they’re on their game, there are very few that are infallible. Senderos certainly has his weaknesses, but if noone world class is available he’s as good as anyone else would be
Funny story, A… well remembered, he got put out at RB late on in that blackburn game… you are right…. and i had the chance to question the main man about it a few days after it.
My freind was considering buying a flash highbury square duplex and was invited to highbury house for a seminar… wenger was giving a speach and afterwards mingled with us.
I asked him straight why he played senderos at rb when gallas would have been a better option at full back… he laughed, mumbled well er um and walked off
gibberish pat!! i expect rosicky to return tomorrow to score a hattrick against the spuds in the reserves and go on from there! keep the faith!
wait a min did i read that right senderos has intelligence lol maybe he can speak a few languages but thats about it
pat, you are right, that was until he got torn a new one at stamford bridge and anfield and went back home crying to his dad.
The new trophy cabinet has got 11 framed photos
of alex song all signed
hahhahahahaahha reggie good one
yeah it was a weird one face! i do remember senderos making storming runs at left back in a couple of games, can’t for the life of me remember who against! or was that for switzerland?! i just remember his silky skills
I hope he does A, but I just dont see it. he was actually my fav player when fit.
but it is a long time to be out, and his career has been blighted by niggling injuries. Never seems to be broken bones, but hidden injuries in muscles etc.
I am keeping my fingers crossed, and hopefully we will give him another season to try and prove he has shaken it.
yeah bbk, there are very few professional footballers with more intelligence than senderos, on or off the pitch, and few football fans for that matter!
he’ll be back tomorrow, and fully fit after a pre season pat. Then he can rotate with nasri next year
did anyone else hear the rumour of gallas going to o.m in the summer and us getting bassong typical has to be a song in there
you cannot fault phillipe’s attitude and courage, he fights for the cause and was considered to be worthy of arsenal captain material by le boss only 3/4 years ago.. but alas, he lost his confidence bigtime after anfield…. not sure how he has done in meelan.
Excuse me A did you say silky skills then?
what you trying to say a im not intelligent lol,if you think that djourou and senderos are good enough for this club think again,no wonder the trophy’s have dried up,having players like them in your team…
very little face. He was injured up until december, and has been fit pretty much since mid jan but hasn’t been a regular, couple starts and sub few times, and started in uefa cup games but that’s it.
yeah bbk it was from myles palmer on anr, dunno what i think of it, wouldn’t mind bassong but would rather bassong as back up to develop and a lucio type for the time being
i dunno ermmmmmm a few pundits seem to think he’s a good player will be interesting tho
nah bbk, i’m saying he’s more intelligent than all of us on here, myself included, not just you!
the last trophy we won senderos was one of our best players in the final….
reggie yeah, i remember him even doing a step over, think he skinned someone!
Shame if Gallas leaves as he is head and shoulders
above everyone else!!
unless gallas leaves i cannot see wenger bringing in another CB, the one he missed out on last summer who seemed perfect for us was Squillaci from Lyon.
Think he is in italy now, but every time i saw him play he was a total ringer for bouldie in style.
how wenger let a french player in the mould of stevie bould slip the net is unforgiveable.
yeah bbk, newcastle fans absolutely love him, and i’d hope he hates playing with a bunch of thugs at newcastle
yeah he is reggie, but he’s definitely off unfortunately
The thing is A when Sendy plays for the
swiss he looks really useful.
gallas is leaving face, 99.9%. We had trouble persuading him to stay until the end of the season! dunno about squillaci, think about defenders who’ve been exceptional in france and spain but come to the prem and it’s far from a safe bet!
reg – thats because his game is suited to a slower international match not the ruff and tumble of the premiership.
international football is shit anyone can shine at that level the domestic shit is far better then that load of garbage
anyway, off topic for a bit, anybody know anything about all this writing off loans or credit cards before 2007?
Senderos at the back would do me as long as we didnt play such a high line against fast opposition.
*imo its no coincidence that our last trophy came with him in defence….and great defensive performances came when he was playing.
senderos left back on the bench would be better stu
Not really tho…..
One of the best foriegn centre backs to come
to the premiership is Carvellho
what about the c.c final and the champs league last season he was well and truely fuck over in those games
Or right back behind the goal lol
Yes Reggie, i agree with you there. He cost a lot, never an amount Wenger would spend, let alone on a defender.
All our defenders cost less than 2 million. We need a world class one for at least 15m.
yeah he was bbk, but so were vidic, cannavaro etc, top forwards in the world can do that to the best defenders in the world as well as senderos.
it don’t matter if it happend to the best defenders in the world we have not won fuckall in 4 years where as them players you mentioned have won things and having the likes of the players we have now that drought will be sure to continue
not at least 15m stu – lucio would cost less than that if bayern were willing to let him go. There aren’t many world class defenders about at the moment, certainly not many that are available. Our best bet would be to get in someone who will be world class in a couple of years like sakho, and stick senderos in there for the time being
bbk senderos was awesome last time we won something in the fa cup final, and was also awesome in the champions league when we got to the final
But BBK, we havent won anything while Senderos is out of the team either. Look at it that way. We have also won nothing with Gallas in the team….supposidly our best defender.
We got to the CL final with Senderos as a regular but he was dropped and we lost. Look at it that way.
A, there is no way of knowing someone will become a world class defender. Thats why i would prefer buying someone already proven other than waiting for someone young to take about 6 years to peak. Thats not what we should be doing.
*has been out of the team
i agree with that stu – but who is proven that we could get?!
put it this way we are not going to win a single thing with unexperienced shit like denilsong in the team or having shit defenders in the shape of senderos and djourou at the helm
you ask any other fan would they have denilsong,djourou,senderos,bendtner in there team and they will laugh in your face