A victory is a victory is a victory… however, I’m not subscribing to that game being something to be impressed by. We were poor on many levels tonight despite having an adequate team out. Wenger was talking about his injury problems in the press conference last night like we had a Carling cup team out… but Almunia was no loss, Denilson was no loss… and if we’re being honest, nor was Sagna.
Diaby was described as the new Paddy by Wenger a few weeks ago, we had Cesc, Rosicky, Bendtner, Eduardo and Song making up the rest of the midfield and attack… Eboue is more than able as a deputy and I reckon my Nan could have done a reasonable job in goal for Almunia. So Wenger’s crowing about squad depth is totally misguided in my opinion, because the only shock inclusion was Mannone.
The game was full of mistakes, bad passing, a lack of rhythm and cohesion… it was a poor showing. Yes, I’m pleased we won… but I’ve been here before… being told to take pleasure in hollow victories in the hope that we have this consistent 5th gear we’ll get into… that doesn’t really happen these days. Last night we lacked quality from our best players, and that is an all too familiar problem.
The first warning sign was when Clichy failed to deal with his man, the Liege player nipped in, crossed across the box… Song shanked it out of play. I love Clichy, but he’s been inconsistent for some time now… is it time to toe him up the ass and give the more than capable Gibbs a crack?
Shortly after, a corner was cleared, the ball looped out the box… Eduardo was under it, he flicked it back across goal to no one… Standard took advantage of our keepers lack of ability and slotted home at his near post. A weak goal if ever I did see one… fancy tricks on the 18 yard box are as appreciated as much as a bout of mouth herpes… near post goals are about as common place with our reserve keepers as swine flu in the work place… remember Chelsea in the semi? Why can’t a reserve keeper just come in and do the basics right?
Barely two minutes later, Gallas dropped the Liege striker with Eduardo like deftness in the box… Karma was restored, the ref pointed to the spot. 2 down after 5 minutes. Shocking.
The tone of the game was summed up when Cesc passed the ball out for a throw in after the centre kick… this was going to be a drag.
The first half was reminiscent of last season… I felt personally embarrassed that I’d ignorantly backed a squad with one addition. Where was the urgency, where was the fight… why did the players look nonchalant? I’ll tell you why… because it was the same bunch of players who underachieved last year. Sadly Lucozade doesn’t come with character supplements.
This was standard Liege we were playing, not Barcelona. We lack leaders on the pitch. Cesc leads by example… where are players who lead through inspiration?
We plodded through the rest of the half creating very little until late in the second half… Diaby powered through midfield and played Nik in with a defence splitting ball… he finished superbly with a nut meg that found its way into the back of the net. Is that what happens when you put a centre forward in the middle? Crazy thought, I know.
The second half started with more ridiculousness. Alex Song made a dreadful back pass… played Standard in, who finished poorly. This are the types of error that cost us against proper teams.
Nik was played in with a beauty of a ball from Rosicky… and was denied by a superb tackle. Arsenal were starting to play, the belief started to ebb back into the team.
Songs range of passing was back to it’s 2008 best… flying passes to the crazy people talking in his head.
Gael Clichy continued to play poorly, if anyone needs a chest infection it’s that man. I thought Fabregas looked sullen and disinterested, I quite often feel he goes missing when things aren’t going our way… mind you, you’re only as inspired as those around you… if I was a world class chef and I was working in McDonalds, I wouldn’t be flipping burgers with much verve or passion.
Eboue fell over. I watch football with my Sunday league team mates… watching Eboue is like watching your Granddad cracking on with a bar maid at a family party… a bit embarrassing, especially when your mates are watching.
Set pieces were rubbish all night… after all the early season promise, it seems that the goals we scored against Everton were more luck than judgement. Cesc’s deliveries seem to be consistently poor…
Rambo came on for Rosicky and his first contribution was a 25 belter at the keeper. Say what you will about his discipline, the guy offers more of a threat than most of Wenger’s favourites and he does have heart in bundles.
The goal ironically came from a bad cross, it was played into the back post… it bumbled around, and Vermaelen added to his tally. The goal was littered with controversy… Song looked to have hand balled it, he may have been offside… but honestly, in the grand scheme of giving a shit, my sympathies were low. We were back on track… Sagna and Wilshere entered the field of play.
Shortly after Eduardo went high and wide… then Vermaelen had a shot cleared off the line. You sensed a goal was in the offing… and it was…
Eduardo kneed the ball in from a low corner… superb. Thank the footballing Gods that the Belgian team were weak.
Rambo set Nik up late, but he placed the ball too far in front for the Dane for him to finish.
The ref blew up and we had delivered a victory which signalled how strong we are mentally, how young our average age is… and Wenger clearly demonstrated the strength in depth we have as a club this year.
Sarcasm isn’t clever and it isn’t funny… sadly though, it’s so true it hurts. Wenger pretty much delivered the above predictable verdict in his press conference. 99 people can see the problems with this squad, the other one is Wenger.
Personal mistakes luckily didn’t cost us today, but that’s because we played a very poor team. However, you’ve already seen what happens when these mistakes happen against better opposition. I think it’s terrible that these mistakes are even happening against outfits like Standard, I really do.
Having a superb starting 11 sadly doesn’t win you any awards at the end of the season. I feel Arsene has sold us down the river of fan delusion again and it’s not lies because he believes what he says.
Very disappointed despite a win… because we’ve been here so many times over the last 4 seasons… winning and playing badly isn’t the sign of a good team, because we don’t have it in us to go on a 15 game winning streak to nullify the bad games.
Ratings:
Mannone: Erratic, nervous and at fault for the first goal. His kicking leaves a lot to be desired as does his decision making. 5
Clichy: Mistakes are creeping into his game on a more frequent basis and it is a worrying decline. He needs to pull his socks up especially with a World cup looming. I think a couple of games on the bench would do him some good as I know he has it in him to be a great player for us. 5
Gallas: Dropped the Standard player on the edge of the box and I felt for him a bit. Not his best game in an Arsenal shirt but he coped better in the second half. 6
Vermaelen: One of the few bright sparks in a dire team performance. I like his never say die attitude and I love the way 90% of the time he comes out of the air as a winner with the ball. He did well to scramble home the second goal and he was unlucky not to get another shortly after. 7
Eboue: Slotted in a right back and to be honest, I couldn’t tell the difference between him and Sagna… which is more a sign of how Sag’s has declined over the last year. 6.5
Cesc: Quiet, sloppy… a touch miserable perhaps. He’s not coping well playing in our team at the moment and that is a big worry. I’m sure he was looking for big signings this summer and Wenger failed to deliver again. The coach talks about what he sees in training when he justifies his frugal policies… does he read the papers and the body language of his star names when he doesn’t sign players and think his policies are correct? I do wonder… 5
Diaby: Someone need to get this man’s coat and hail him a taxi. A truly diabolical performance by the lanky Frenchman… not even redeemed with an assist. His reactions are slow, his passing and control are shambolic at times and his mistakes are so amateur it brings a small tear to my eye or more than a few occasions. Stick Rambo in there… or Merida… get JET back off loan… anything please… 4
Song: I struggled to make up my mind about Song tonight. He made some important tackles and got in the way a few times, but his passing was terrible and he made some school boy mistakes. It really isn’t good enough for me… he needs to find consistency and he needs to do it quickly. What I did find interesting was talking to a Liverpool fan who was telling me how they all dread the inclusion of Mascharano in the starting 11 at Liverpool… everyone seems to be having a problem filling this DM role bar Chelsea. 6
Rosicky: It’s nice to have our dynamic china Czech back in the team. His class is apparent in whatever he does… he rarely wastes a ball and he has a lot of tenacity and aggression in his game. I would truly love it in a Kevin Keegan way if he managed to stay fit this year. 7
Bendtner: Finally played centrally… finally delivered an ok performance. He slotted between the keepers legs before half time with pretty much his first chance and he showed great strength an perseverance on other occasions. Is this the watershed moment for our Dane? Well… that depends on whether he is stuck out wide in the next game. 6.25
Eduardo: Much like he was when he first started for us… he’ll do nothing for 90minutes, then he’ll pop up for a goal. Not the worst attribute, but needs to do more for the team. Nice for him to get on the score sheet though. 6.25
Have a great day Grovers, see you and your pretty avatars in the comments!
P.S. I was only kidding about the Isle of Wight yesterday… you’re all beautiful people and you’re island fantastic! There are still Wigan tickets available in my Exchange… so message me if you’d like to go.
Pedro
And considering Rosicky will/should probably be starting ahead of Nasri (because he is a better player) this whole concersation will be moot.
Because its not like Wenger is gonna drop Song for Nasri, or drop Cesc so Nasri wont even be a regular starter. He will rotate with Rosicky (who will be playing attacking midfield).
Arsene Wenger has suffered a major blow in his battle to sign Marouane Chamakh after Italian giants Juventus moved in for the Bordeaux striker.
Arsenal boss Wenger stalled on signing Chamakh in the summer because the Moroccan is out of contract and available on a free transfer next July.
But Chamakh has admitted he is “fascinated” by the prospect of playing for Chamakh after the Serie A giants indicated they are keen on signing him in January after the two clubs met in the Champions League this week.
Juventus are looking for a replacement for French striker David Trezeguet who is set to leave next summer
————————-
Doesnt make any sense. Chamakh will be at the ACN
stu
we should have top class dm player but we dont so some players are going have play out position because i dont trust mr inconsistant diaby or delinson that much either the only other option would be ramsey,what saying is absoluty right but options very limited and right nasri is injured,there is no dought nasri is better suited going foward but i am think of player that has great passing range and play in central and i now nasri can and tracking back when needed,i hope ramsey starts as i realy like him he maybe better option and looks far better than delinson and diaby i rather see play behind striker
And who would sign a player that will be free in a few months.
He is free to talk to who he wants in Jan. Surely he will talk to a few clubs vefore deciding too. So we are in with a fair shout considering he had his heart set on a move here anyway.
But leon, why are the only options Ramsey and Nasri according to you?
Cesc is a CM so surely he is the best suited to play next to Song.
When Rosicky and Nasri are back they will be the attacking midfielders and the other 2 spots will be filled by Song and Cesc…and inevitably Denilson because Wenger loves him.
Eduardo’s goal was well exceuted…it was no fluke….I watched the replay many times and you could see him twist his knee as the ball came in….he redirected the ball superbly…..
he is a true goal poacher…..he and Gallas are our leading scorers with 3 each…..
hopefully he will continue and get atleast 25 goals…with RVP and Bendy getting 20 each…..Arshavin with atleast 15…..
And everybody else contributing..
IF it looks like Chicken, Smells like chicken, tastes like chicken, sounds like chicken, walks like chicken, cooks like chicken…and Thomas Vermalean says it beef. THEN THAT SHITE IS BEEF!
stu, who else is there,delinson,daiby ramsey cesc,cesc and ramsey are better options for me,i hope ramsey starts more as well as wintshire
Thomas Vermalean once ran the length of the pitch during the same time it takes for an attacker to raise his leg to strike the ball. (true story)
DM – Song
CM – Cesc starting, sub/backup denilson and reluctantly Diaby
AM – Rosicky, Nasri, Ramsey
Am i forgetting anyone obvious?
True story but also an exaggeration (ever so slightly tho).
Wenger’s son a.k.a Denilson is out for a few weeks
Gotta agree Stu, though I woldn’t want Diaby at CM, only at AM, he doesn’t have the passing to play CM, we lose ball retention massively.
I’d say
Song – DM
Denilson – DM, very occasionally CM
Cesc – CM, AM
Ramsey – CM/AM
Rosicky, Nasi AM, CM
Diaby AM, occasionally CM
I agree though, first choice will be Cesc, Song, and one of Nasri and Rosicky.
stu,that realy alot options is it what happens if song gets injured,
If Song gets injured then we are screwed leon because Denilson cant do it too well on his own. Hence the need for Song to start at DM with him. Im sure A will suggest otherwise tho
Yep I disagree Stu – though neither Song nor Denilson can do the job THAT well on their own, though Song is currently a bit better, we wouldn’t be screwed if either get injured, as we aren’t now with Denilson out for a while! We’ll be fine against the little teams, but I still worry about us against the big boys
Against a physical or fast team with only denilson yes i think we are pretty screwed. He wont lose us th game but because of his deficiencies (thats defo spelt wrong) he wont help us much either.
I disagree Stu, against a very good physical or fast team we’d be screwed, but against a very good quick passing or good footballing team we’d be screwed with Song too. Currently either are fine for us to win against anyone other than the top opposition, it just depends on our attacking players clicking. Both of them will provide enough of a defensive wall, and win the ball back enough for us to beat anyone but the top opposition, as long as the attackers are creating and scoring
when’s pedro coming up with that exclusive he was on about????????
In the Movie Matrix the first “One” was said to have freed the MOther of the matrix and freed the Children of Zion.
Rumor has it that his name the first “Neo” is Flamish for Vermaelen.
i feel song can play on his own against lesser opision but when playing against better team slike hem chelea and manu liverpool then 433player high up the pitch suits them alot more but i still think nasri in the middle were will be able play at a much higher tempo keep posession more
So basically we need both to have any chance of beating a good team,. Adding one of them to midfield takes a spot away from an attacker.
With everyone fit what midfield would you start against a top team. Do you pick Song so we dont get bullied in midfield, or Denilson so they dont pass their way through us. Or both and then we are minus one attacker (perhaps an important one).
In other news Belgium international Fellani grows his hair out so that he can distract opposing defenders from seeing the ball in an aerial challenge.
Arsenal beat Everton 6-1 with debutant Thomas Vermaelen taking about 30 minutes to get on the score sheet.
Upon further investigation it appears that Vermaelen can not only see through hair but he can see the through walls as well.
We were dominant with Gilberto (pure DM) and Vieira (part DM). With Song being the pure DM who could be our Vieira?
Cesc doesn’t defend anymore, Diaby never did and Rosicky doesn’t much anyway. That leaves either Denilson or Nasri to partner Song.
With both of them injured, either AW can convince Cesc to play lower or alternatively Ramsey gets his chance. If we persist with leaving Song as the lone enforcer the Citeh scenario will reproduce itself I’m afraid…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKp5iscRBGk&feature=related
Nice post Pedro,
I think there are a lot of players that need to take some time off and wonder if they really want to play football… Too bad that they cannot, since who is there to sub for players and positions, like Diaby, Cesc, Song and Bentner? As much as Le Grove like Bentner, really, he did nothing much in the last game, apart from the goal off course (which came from Diaby’s individual difference by dribbling passed players). A bit like Inzaghi playing against OM, he was nowhere but scored 2.
The issue is that Arsenal are not playing as a team, which leaves the fans looking for individual talents and performances… This is NOT Arsenal and moreover not ‘Wengerball’. If there is anyone that will make that difference is Cesc, but he keeps looking down, like the grass on the pitch will provide solutions. That is NOT professional, let alone Arsenal captancy!!! He had the same attitude against MANC (Grow up already)!
Cesc’s form is very poor, compare his last performance against what he was like 2 years ago, MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!
Dont get me wrong IMO Standard are a good team, and so are every other team we face in the CL. (Standard, AZ and Olympi are all champions of their respective leagues) But this is ARSENAL not Fulham nor Everton!!! Even that is an understatement, we were in the CL final in 2006 FFS… Since its been downhill.. I like this current squad but not when thay play like shit!
Arsenal really need Arshavin and Nasri back ASAP!!
Just watched 11:52 post by bbk on Diaby!
he is Viera-esk sometimes, it will be good when he gets consistant!
So, I hear that if we want Wenger to play Wilshere, Ramsey, Vela and Merida more they have to become his favorites; which means we have to boo them it seems.
Unless we appear to not have much faith in them, they will not become like his other favorites in Denilson, Diaby, Song and Bendtner. You can tell that he is getting up there in age now, he is beyond stubborn.
zeus
If what you say is near the mark, its a bit worrying. Wilshere & Ramsay are @ the stage in their development that Denilson & Song were when they got a go. But Jack & Rambo, I would bet, are of a higher quality.
Its really starting to frustrate me now. I had visions of PL champions before, but the constant stream of injuries & players being played who are never going to be top shelf IMO pisses me off.
@ gnarleygeorge9 – I could never boo a current player but it is frustrating that some of our clearly more talented lot don’t get a run out. Wilshere should be protected bcuz he is english and the last thinghe needs is to be knighted the new maradona.
But what is it with not playing Vela and Ramsey? And if he isn’t gonna buy players then he might as wel spend money on medical staff that can properly diagnose and treat injuries. Could have sworn Wenger said Walcott returns after CL game about 2 weeks ago.
What irritates me the most is that these guys earn bundles, more than all but a few of the fans who idolise our teams. Yet when they play, there’s often no spirit or sense of fight, and the complacency we’ve witnessed lately with careless passing is unnacceptable. I pay far too much money to watch guys who must think they’ve a right to be in the team make this kind of effort, its just plain shit and a pisstake to the fans who can just about afford to live and watch football. This mornings paper is full of whinging footballers. Here’s how to feel better, go on-line check your fucking bank account. works for me, just the other way round you see as I don’t earn 90k a week. I also respect my job, my empplyer and the people that pay my wages, so dont make fucking mistakes otherwise its my balls on the line
rant over…
Getting back on topic…whoever mentioned the youngsters is right. Ramsey looks ready to play now, and the few minutes we saw Jack for is all you need to see that given the chance he’s blossom, why the fuck AW is prtecting him god only knows. Didnt a 16 year old Shrek score a sublime goal against us???
Fuck all that, get him on and he’ll take the piss out of the older guys whos legs are a bit slower. Just dont play him too much. Not at all is just madness especially as LJW is pretty much better than most of the team we are playing, Ramsey too. That kkid can hit it and scores…
raynor
it would be ok to see the odd average performance if you didnt pay EMIRATES RATES !
i mean the BIGGEST PISS TAKE OF IT ALL !
THE BIGGEST !!! ….
is what these fucking idiots charge for tickets
to see SONG – DIABY – EBOUE BENDS!!! and our 1st pick goal keeper !
when you think of it from that angle they can ONLY be taking the piss !
then when we do get cash lined by selling a 1st team player the twats dont re-invest into the club …
if its not taking the piss then your a fucking slow learner !
I just hope that we get the opportunity to have every player fit this year, then if Le Gaffer picks the duds instead of the likes of Nasri, Rosicky, AA23, etc then something will be wrong – Officially!!!
The Emirates sounds sterile these days, but something like this would certainly bring back the noise
http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00810/Jack_Wilshire_280x3_810262a.jpg
He would be Good Karma……..Instand karma
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqP3wT5lpa4
Sorry guys… post will be here in a bit!
pffffff hurry up!
WHEN PEDRO? WHEN?
Morning by the way
Come on
getting silly now
Agreed, Pedro is silly.
WHO ARE WE? SILLY!
Why are we waiting….
Slow handclap..
Le grove is like Arsenal F.C always lying to usn
I think Perdo is testing us, it’s like when Sopranos made about 10 episodes about gays, to see if we still would tune in.
Pedro wants to see how far he can take it without posting…
Almost an hour of F5
No post today…what happened
Dan…i think its time to get a new keyboard
Its time to start doing some work Sabeel, I keep saying i’ll stop now and dont lol
NEW POST!
99 weblogs are up and running and 100th one is….
Pedro, there is a fine line between being very fit and being over trained. some players bodies cannot handle it so they get injured. its down to wenger to spot that.
What is (Eduardo) 6.25????
Make a decision man 6 or 7
worse than Wenger
MoM,
Eboue.
the team is well off without rvp