I’m not sure who is going to provide my ears with more propaganda this week. The Politicians, celebs and elites attending the Copenhagen summit (Meat free Monday), or Arsene Wenger, with his, ‘everybody’s fault bar ours‘ speech.
‘We have nothing to be ashamed of. It all went Chelsea’s way and I was not especially impressed with what happened on the pitch’
Really?
Almunia
Sagna Gallas Vermaelen Traore
Song Fabregas Denilson
Nasri Eduardo Arshavin.
I guess the first thing Geoff and I were wondering was why Denilson and Song both got a start. One can be stomached, two in the same team leaves me wondering how much Wenger truly rates wonderboy Song. A perplexing midfield trio. Don’t give me defensive stability either… Denilson does not offer stability against the power of Chelsea. The only way we were going to beat the scum from out west was to outplay them. For me, you play your best players…
Arsenal dominated the early possession, without ever really having a cutting edge. If playing football in the final third won you trophies, we’d be putting them in storage to accomodate an over crowded trophy room.
Chelsea gave us the first scare when Anelka capitalised on some sloppy play from Nasri. He broke into the box, Sagna got in between him and the ball and pulled him over. The ref decided it wasn’t a penalty, Arsenal fans could breathe again… it was stone wall for most.
It struck me early on that our game plan was slightly flawed. We were hitting the wings and whipping crosses into a forward line with an average height of about 5ft 7. Kind of like me trying out punch Mike Tyson in a bar brawl.
The first warning signs that Chelsea were warming up came when Drogba managed to get a free header in our box. It did make me wonder what the manager talks about before the game? Do they highlight the oppositions strengths, or just gloss over them and hope certain players don’t turn up?
Nasri had the first shot for Arsenal. He jinked inside Ivanovic and fired into the arms of Petr Cech.
Traore managed to get himself booked after a minor tussle on Frank Lampard… surprising after the ref allowed Mikel to get away with a cynical challenge on Eduardo.
Arsenal broke forward with Eduardo controlling the ball, he fed Arsh who cut tha ball back and played it into an empty box.
Then came the moment we were dreading. Terry passed to Cole… Cole crossed to Drogba… Drogba deftly flicked it in off the upright… the trio of filth combined to put Chelsea ahead. Gutting.
Soon after, the most hated player in football, Ashley Cole, whipped a ball into the box, the keeper and Vermaelen failed to communicate which lead to the Belgian slipping it into his own net. Poor defending from a team who continue to ship goals at an alarming rate. This was something I warned about earlier in the year… when the goals dry up, what happens?
The second half started, Song came off for Theo Walcott. Fair play, Song wasn’t exactly having the blinder people were hoping for.
Arsenal started well. Eduardo forced a save from Cech, the ball deflected out, Arshavin took an age to shoot, the ball ended up in Cech’s hands, Eduardo raised his foot above Cech’s shoulder, he dropped the ball, Arsh scored. Goal disallowed. Arsene, when a footballer who is 5ft8 has his ankle higher than a 6ft5 keepers shoulder, the ref is going to blow up.
Vela and Walcott didn’t really impress me. I think Theo is one of the most over hyped players at Arsenal and I really don’t believe he deserved a massive great new contract based on what he’s done for Arsenal. Vela hasn’t had a lot of time to shine, so it would be unfair for me to critique his performance today. Needless to say, we’re struggling to replace Robin effectively.
Chelsea absorbed the pressure and continued to dominate us with their power. Drogba demonstrated his superior strength when Traore literally bounced 6 feet off him after an attempted shoulder barge. Shortly after, Arshavin suffered the same indignity when challenging Ivanovic.
Shortly after, Drogba capped off Arsenal’s shameful afternoon by slotting a shot into the top corner from a dead ball situation. More world class keeping from Almunia, more humiliation for the home fans.
Lets not beat around the bush here, today really was a pitiful result. We were out played, out powered and out scored by 3 goals and we’re supposed to be competing for the league? The shame of it was we all knew it was coming. We all knew deep down we didn’t really have a chance. It’s ground-hog day, it’s December and we’re out of the Premiership again
So what did we learn from today?
- Well, playing the ball out wide and looking for crosses when you’re playing against the best aerial defence in the Premiership is dumb. Playing crosses into the box when you’ve got no one above 6ft is dumber
- Denilson and Song in the same team is unambitious in the extreme. People thought Geoff was joking when he said this would happen, sadly it wasn’t a joke… it was a prophetic statement.
- As for Song dominating the midfield. Well, we didn’t see that did we? I thought his performance was shoddy at best.
- Our goalkeeper needs to be changed. I don’t know how long Wenger is going to let him play badly before he ships him out. We’ve allowed 41 shots to land on target this year, we’ve conceded 18. Un-fucking-believable.
- Money buys you experience, power and winners. When has an Arsenal team ever achieved success without those ingredients?
Very disappointing. If this team is ready and it’s no longer young, well, we’ve got some serious shopping to do in January. There is only so long you can keep on talking about tomorrow.
“In England people think that the Solution is always to buy”
Arsene, that’s what people think all over Europe and guess what? They’re fucking right. We’ve got ourselves a young team of players who don’t know how to win. We need super human players like Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry and Bobby Pires. We need to start giving the real talent games and stop trying to stop gap with poor players.
Talk about finishing all you like, we didn’t create chances. Blame the referee, we’re not entitled to get every decision. Moan about missing Van Persie, he wasn’t going to keep Chelsea out three times. We’ve got the same fundamental problems we’ve had for the last three years. No power, not enough world-class players and a lack of a winning mentality. We’ve lost to Sunderland, Man City, Man United and Chelsea. That’s not title-winning form. If we continue to ignore the issues we have with the squad and continue to praise how young they are and how amazing the business model is, we’ll always be here, every year, moaning about the same things.
Arsene’s got it dreadfully wrong again, just a little later than he did last year.
The kids are no longer kids, they’re failing adults. Time for a rethink.
Ratings:
Almunia: Give me a keeper who knows how to communicate with his defence, has the guts to come from crosses and can stop shots. If anyone knows of one, please forward his name onto keeper.solutions@arsenal.com. 5
Sagna: Some typically woeful crossing from the Frenchman and a terribly clumsy challenge in the first half. Harsh on the crossing. I guess asking a full back to hit one of our ‘target men’ is a pretty impossible task even for the most gifted of wide men. 5
Gallas: Terrible mix up for the two goals. He’s there to stop dangerous balls and he failed. I wasn’t overly impressed with his Drogba hug at the end of the game either. 5.5
Vermaelen: Not his best game. He should have been more composed when clearing the Cashley cross and he could have given a penalty away in the second half after rugby tackling John Terry. 5
Traore: Not a bad game considering how many people consider him to be the weakest left back to ever wear an Arsenal shirt. 6
Song: I thought he had a very poor first half. He gave the ball away cheaply, struggled to keep up with players who are 7 -8 years older than him and hardly dominated in the way so many people promised he would. Not just that, he suffered the shame of being hooked off for the equally average Denilson. 6
Denilson: Why oh why would you put him in the same team as Song? Surely one defensive midfielder is enough? Passed better than Song, but offered nothing of note to the game. Irritating how often he smiles when he plays badly. A very odd decision from the coach. 5
Cesc: Never really got into the game. Against more powerful opposition, he needs to be protected. He wasn’t, so he couldn’t perform. 5.5
Nasri: Looked lively in the first half, but failed to really impose himself past the first 20 minutes. Very disappointing. Am I the only person who feels like all our players are indentikit versions of each other? I feel like I’m playing top trumps and I’ve got 5 Alfa Romeo’s (There’s a metaphor in there somewhere)… Rosicky, Nasri, Cesc, Arshavin, Vela… they’ve all got the same qualities, all got the same weaknesses. 6.5
Arshavin: Sorry? He played? I can hardly remember seeing him! Struggling to motivate himself playing in our team? Well, if that’s the case… he’ll miss out on that move to Barca this summer. They’ll only want players who perform. Time to think about the team who pay you £80k a week, time to stop being such a girl and get over your World Cup failure, time to start delivering on that reputation you have. 3
Eduardo: What happened to our confident, cool, calm striker? Where did he go? He was off the pace today and very quiet. Like he normally is, bar the goals. 3.5
Subs:
Walcott: I’m sorry, as an outed xenophobe, I feel ashamed to admit it, but I just can’t get excited by the pride of English football. He gets the ball, either touches it behind him, 15 feet in front of him, or palms it off as a pass. Very average and totally undeserving of a 60k a week contract. 5
Vela: Eduardo off, Eduardo 4 years younger on. He even has the problem of not getting penalties because he looks like the Crozillian. 5
Rosicky: Kind of got things going, should have started really. Must have been pretty shocked that he is finally fit and the coach preferred to stick Denilson in there. A bit like finding out your boss has asked his 13 year old son to head up a multi-million pound project at work instead of putting you forward. 5
So a day on and I’m still getting ‘Happy Days’ text messages from Chelsea fans. Geoff and I were planning a podcast for this morning… kicking off that chapter of Le Grove off with a miserable episode didn’t seem right.
Still, we must dust ourselves down and hope that Manchester City’s dismal run of draws comes to an end when we beat them this week. I have a spare for that game, 2 for Stoke and a few others if you’re interested.
Have a great day Grovers! See you in the comments.
Whatever formation you play you need good players.
Both the diamond and 4-3-3 requires a monster of a Defensive midfielder, and super full backs-we have niether.
Song is good, but we ask too much of him.
I was thinking about the sound effect in Tom and Jerry, when the Halo appears above his head in an episode.
Your word is probably more appropriate!
gunnerthestunners..
glad atleast i met see one guy who sees that,what i wrote at 15.26
Most people know this,but emotion has overtaken them to talk and post in melancholic moods..
but one thing i am sure,when next game starts in 4 days,everyone will forget this grieving posts,and hopefully look forward,for what will be a first of next 25 games to go..
For the summer I would buy
1. GK (or maybe Fabianski will come good)
2. Yaya type player(can play midfield or CB)
3. CF(If Bendy does not come good)
Renew Gallas’s contract and keep him and Vermy together..
Sell Silvest and other dead weight..maybe Senderos as well since it seems Wenger has given up on him…
If we get Yaya and JD comes good we wont need another CB..
But we definitely need a goalkeeper and a powerful CF if Bendy does not come good….
He needs a powerful CF to be either backup to RVP in 4-3-3….or be partner to RVP in a 4-4-2 diamond formation..I think the diamond can work because its the same as the 4-3-3 except you invert the front 3 players…
like Ja pointed out the 433 we play at the moment wont be different from a diamond 442. the triangle up front would just be inverted and the CFs would play closer to goal.
A&N its a case of how do i get the best out of my players. its probably wengers fault for trying to play CMers all over the pitch. Where are our wingers???
the best 433 ive seen in the prem was chelsea o4-06 with duff and robben on the wings and dider thru the middle.
afternoon All..
well well it was a disappointing gamne and result,still im not giving up that easy..and i still think we have a far better potential and talent than chelski,but i will admit…it didnt show this time around…and ill even go as far as to admit that we might be short of a new goalie(get Akinfeev)and due to RvP’s injury it seems that we need a strong powerful striker…
that said this is the time to stand firm and not judge Our Beloved Arsenal on one game…lets see how this turns out…its a long season and we’re not done yet…wait and see…i still think its going to be a battle for London…but i admit chelski got the upper hand now..well lets buckle down and fight for it…8 points..thats nothing…
Go on you Gunners !!!
tom
I got it Pedro – or how about the effect/sound that appears above Simon Templar’s head ?
our 442 of 07/08 was the best weve had in recent times. with cesc, vp, hleb and rosicky. It was a smallish team but they held their own
Wow people still willing to defend Wenger after another hammering by the chavs! tut tut some people never learn do they?
atleast am with u tom on those views,do read my comment on 15.26
tomstoned it wld be intersting to see where we end. one thing i can bet on though is that it is more likely for us to drop more points than chelsea would until May.
the 11 points could end up being 18 or more
we should just try and remain in touch by that i mean maintaining a minimum 8 point gap until December at the least. im assuming we would win our game in hand
Tommo before you say I’m crass, learn how to spell solutions, what you say will sound more credible.
As far as asking what you earn, I didn’t really want to know, I was being rhetorical.
Irony is an amusing thing.
in other words all 6 league games in December are a must win
we should be more worried at the moment about those sniffing around us than chelsea at the moment
the race is not mathematically over but it is a tall task for this team
Arsenal fans have done their part by keeping the belief. Its time for the manager to start disbelieving in this team. Spend some £££££££££££££££
fart
I tell you what Fran been a fan for over 40 years seen good times,seen bad times! this current arsenal team will not win a sausage and its due to piss poor management the club is rapidly losing its way,dont like saying it time for AW to do the decent thing and leave, for him to say after a defeat like that there was nothing to be ashamed of smacks of a very desperate man who is clutching at straws IMO!!
That post was spot on! Do I think this team needs major surgery? NO. But at some point we have to look at ourselves and ask, ‘why do we keep losing?’. The answer is def. the defence.
It amazes me that the back 4 individually range from good to very good and yet they can be so poor as a unit.
Fucking hell. We need the Wenger of 97-98. A ruthless manager with something to prove.
Get in some fucking height and power in central defence. If that means dropping one of Gallas or Verminator so fucking be it. They get paid thousands of pounds per week, I couldn’t care less about hurt feelings. At this level Wenger should not be comfort grown ass men.
Year on F*&^ing year we have no dominant player in defence and after Toure goes what does he do, Go for the fancy type barely 6 feet in defence again. I like Vermy, but we need to look at the needs of this team, not the aesthetics.
“Wenger should not be comfort grown ass men”
What about overgrown ass men like Arshavin?
That guy has a massive arse.
Zeus i thought it was more of cole raping sagna yesterday.
Cheers to everyone (and the boys at Le-Grove) for helping me get yesterday out of my system.
I’m sure by tomorrow I’ll have my rose-tints back on and be predicting 10-0 to the boys against City! Sh*t, guess that makes me as myopic as Arsene! I can’t stay angry at them for long – BBK, I don’t know how you do it!!
Arsenal eh? We don’t half make it f*ckin difficult for ourselves!
Who can remember a good game Theo has had against a top 4 side in the league?
4 years at the Arsenal in January
The next big thing since Wayne Wonder
disappointing really
Anfield last year.
Emirates against the chavs in the 4-1 defeat, too bad he couldn’t finish though.
@JA
lol. How did you reach summer already? Thats a far way away yet, and if you are under any illusions that Wenger will buy in the summer you are sadly mistaken.
If he didn’t by this past summer when pressure was beyond overwhelming, what makes you think he will buy when we will all be distracted by the upcoming WC to notice we still have the symptomatic problems we’ve had for the past 4-5 years.
t hurts to be a gunner.
Hey Franchise..remember last year how we complained about Nasri being on the wing?
I thought he switched to 4-3-3 to accomodate players like Nasri and Rosicky to play as CMs…..
Now he has been playing Nasri and Rosicky on the wings yet again…They dont play their best their..rosicky and Nasri have powerful shots on them…how are they supposed to use it if they are stuck on the wing most times… We all have seen what Nasri has done whenever he finds himself in the centre…
So why not play these guys in the CM to help Cesc creatively and play fast direct players on the wing…yeah I know Theo and Vela have been injured but I bet even now we wont see these changes..he will continue to play Nasri and Rosicky on the wings..then bring Walcott of the bench to change things somewhat…
I did not know Wenger created the 4-3-3 to accomodate playing Denilson and Song at the same time….I am disapoointed…
I thought we were going to see a Xavi Iniesta type partnership….
Diaby has done well there as well….but since he is out it should be Rosick or Nasri there now
This year Guardiola has changed to a Xavi Keita partnership but thats mostly because Iniesta and Henry have been injured/not in good form…
@ choy
Sagna wasn’t very good yes, but overall we have conceded how many goals by way of set pieces? Too much. Thats why we need a more dominating CB. Was just making a general point about our play rather than being specific to yesterday’s game.
Is it just me or has it become so boring and pedantic talking about the Arsenal’s problems. Can’t defend, sketchy keeper bla bla bla.
I forget who made the post Geoff or Pedro, but I remember a blog from last year where one of them said their m8 said he might as well save all Arsenal posts because the problems show themselves to be exactly the same season after season. Just adjust the date and scoreline and your fine.
What do ye think? I have been asked by a liverpool fan if i want to go to the liverpool arsenal match in 2 weeks. The question was vaguely(sp) asked so im just assuming its an invite. Havent answered yet. I would be sitting in the kop. Should i go for it?
@ Ja
I doubt very much that we will see a Xavi Iniesta partnership with these current players. For 1 thing Cesc who many see as the Xavi doesn’t really sit deep anymore. He gets the freedom to roam, to start and finish moves. Pardon the description here, but for me he has moved away from just being a Xavi type and is now more a hybrid between Xavi and Lampard/Gerrard with his late runs.
As far Nasri, I’ve said this before, but I’m not really a fan. Nowhere close to being the next Pires IMHO.He is tidy and will give you moments of inspiration few and far between but he in no way is decisive enough or consistent enough and not just from game to game, from minute to minute. For me, he has yet to play a full 90 mins worth of football for Arsenal, he just flickers in and out of games.
Your right about his wing play though, he is very predictable out there; he holds it up, try to beat his man and ends up giving it to the overlapping fullback, or he simply comes inside and makes the simple pass. Comparing him to iniesta is pushing it though, its a pity he doesn’t have Hlebs dribbling and passing range to go with his 5-10 goals he will give us.
Now that I think about it….I think 4-4-2 diamond is the way forward….with 4-3-3 being a option for tough games etc…
RVP has again proven to be fragile, so we cant rely on him to go all season as a lone forward…
So even when we get all the players back I would advocate for a 4-4-2 diamond
lIke this
………………Any world class GK………………..
Sag/Eboue……….Gallas………..Verm……….Any lB
……………………Song/Yaya/Den……………….
…Cesc/Rosick…………………………Nas/Abou…..
………………….Arshavin/Nas…………………..
………………………………….RVP/Eddy………
………….Bendy/Theo/Vela………………………..
Its time for Theo be trained as a CF….Wenger sees this as his long term future..so let him start practicing now….
IN the summer sell Silvest and Senderos(since Wenger doesnt trust him anymore)
I would also be tempted to sell Denilson..
Get in Yaya or Sissoko from Toulouse..but preferably Yaya because he is experienced and ready
Kolo helped to be invincible but his brother can probably help get us back on track and finally win the CL
We need a GK as well…..or lets hope that Fabianski is the answer..
Zeus but I am almost sure that if Nasri gets to play in the centre..then we will see more off him….you can see that he is not comfortable on the wing at all…..
When he played for Marseille you saw him taking on players and shooting alot more often…he cant do this on the wing..
I bet if he played as a CM we would see better…also I think the same is true for Rosicky….he is not a winger..he was his best playing through the centre for Czech republic and Dortmund…
So again I advocate for this formation
………………Any world class GK………………..
Sag/Eboue……….Gallas………..Verm……….Any lB
……………………Song/Yaya/Den……………….
…Cesc/Rosick…………………………Nas/Abou…..
………………….Arshavin/Nas…………………..
………………………………….RVP/Eddy………
………….Bendy/Theo/Vela………………………..
Ja let your voice be heard
u love your formations but u do know your football
Ja
Rosicky is better than Nasri. Yes both would look better in the middle, but as I said Fab4 gets so much freedom, can Song really be trusted to shield the back 4 on his own? I doubt that highly. In barca setup Xavi picks his moments when he goes forward, Iniesta does most of the roaming. As it stands now Fab4 is better at roaming and scores more than both Nasri and Rosicky, so whoever comes into midfield can’t have that freedom as well, they would more or less be a deeplying playmaker which is why I prefer Rosicky.
As for Walcott, at some point we just have to call a spade a spade. He is nothing more than a well mannered Jermaine Pennant. Any team that parks the bus and defends deep negates any quality that Walcott supposedly has. Apart from pace he is an average player.
we’re below the fucking spuds.
and we beat em GM
Duke, sorry fella, had to go do some work! Age, yeah I think Benzema could be the next big thing, especially if he was playing every week for us!
Ja;
I agree with that.
I think a 4-4-2 is best for us ATM.
4-3-3 is shit.
_________Fabianksi__________
Sagna–Gallas–Vermy–Clichy
Walcott–Fabregas–Song–Vela
________Bendy–Eduardo__________
Bendy and Eduardo have a great partnership.
Big man little man.
This 4-3-3 is crap. Always only 1 person (CF) in the box…..
Franchise
They’ve been beaten by the chavs and mancs as well. This really is a low point. Even though I didn’t expect to win anything before the start of the season I started geting my hopes up.
Still, we must dust ourselves down and hope that Manchester City’s dismal run of draws comes to an end when we beat them this week
please lets keep it real. Last time we played city, it was Ade against us midgets, yesterday it was Drogba against us.
We were classless in our performance, clueless in attacks, bewildered with the difference in size, and it hurts that manager can be so so so so so so so fucking stubborn to say it was Chelsea’s day when its hard to imagine if we were actually there.
After January I would like to see;
_________New Big GK__________
Sagna–Gallas–Vermy–Clichy
___New BIG CM–Fabregas–New BIG DM
______RVP–Dzeko–Arshy
Knowing Wenger he will buy no-one, which will add to the list of depressing transfer window’s…..
We were fucked yesterday ! We didn’t play football at all,, I didn’t see determination and creativity. The second half,, our players were just standing there lazily waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle ! i was so disappointed,, we played at home, against one of our biggest rivals, in front of our fans, and we got battered. Let’s not blame Chelsea or the others,, see our team ! Our players are weak, have no strong mentality, and will always be losers.
Football is all about mixing. Maybe we have tons of brilliant young and talented players,, but they won’t win you titles. It has to be mixed with powerful players, experienced players, good manager, fanatic supporters, fine management, etc. Wenger HAS TO buy in January,, if he doesn’t,, we’re screwed.
Walcott is just another above average player. I don’t see the reason why he’s gaining 60,000 a week. He’s blessed with his dazzling speed but he can’t cross, he can’t shoot, he can’t link up with his team mates, he can’t timed his runs, and he can’t blablabla. Almunia ? Wtf is he doing wearing the number 1 shirt. He’s completely a mess this season. If he can’t bring back the last season’s performance,, he should be out next month. Eduardo is fucked this season,, he clearly can’t match in our 4-3-3 formation. Denilson should have been the one who do all the “dirty” job but instead of doing that,, he was harmed all day long yesterday. Sagna needs to perform if he doesn’t want Eboue to take his spot. Fuck off Arshavin,, hate to say this (as he’s my favourite player) but if he keeps his performances like this he should be benched.
Our tactics were nowhere near perfect. Ancelotti was a genius knowing with our shitty 4-3-3 formation we were weak on wings. It’s either we go back to 4-4-2 or we’re fucked until (at least) Bendtner comes back.
We don’t want excuses like our goal should be allowed again. We don’t want yet another trophyless season. We don’t want same mistakes to be repeated. We don’t want shitty players in our team. We don’t want to be supporters whose opinions are just thrown away like that. We have to look forward. Buy as many players as we can in January because injuries will strike again and again. Win the next game or we’re fucked. Enough from me.
Zeus I hear you about Theo he might well end up being a casualty….
BUt from the formation that I put out..yes I do put Rosicky or Diaby as my preferred midfield partner to Cesc….
I would rather put Nasri at the top of the diamond…he and Arshavin could share that position…Rosicky could ven be used to rest cesc once in a while….
And yes our players have to learn to be smart about advancing forward…Barca have learned the art so why cant our players learn… IN the diamond this would be my preferred lineup..
……………………GK……………………….
Sag/Eb……….Gallas………….Vermy……..anyLB
…………………..Yaya/Song…………………
…Cesc……………………………..Rosick…..
……………………Arsh……………………..
………………………………RVP……………
…………..Bendy(or big powerful forward)………..
Bench: Diaby, Eddy, Theo, Nasri, Vela……..etc
I say any LB because all out left backs are similar they are all fast…however Clichy has the experience advantage while Gibbs and Traore have better end product and more potential..
Sag or Eboue depening on the opposition..
Obviously all players have to help in defending but I woulod trust Yaya because he has been there and done that with Barca.
I would go after him in the summer…Man City would be greedy to go after Yaya….they have decent DMs already in De Jong and even Barry if they are forced to use him in that way..
Man City problem more lies in defense and sometimes offense
i dont think this teams defensive problems is an indivual thing because sagna vern gallas clishy are all top class players its team thing as ateam they dont defend well enough for,its not that cant defend because i know they can but its there mentality not to keep a clean sheet but to just out score there opisition and thats no good.i dont think you can pick song to protect the defence its team effort starting from the strikers and the attacking midfielders if look at chelsea it was not just down to one dm player essien lambard all shiped to defend and protect the defence,they take great pride in the fact they keep a clean sheet evon if they are leading 5-0 hwo often do see aa go to help out in defence if you look at manu rooney is not a defender but whn needed he will help and protect the lead same of giggs ect,i have said it several times a good defence and fairly attack beats a solely offensive team and chelsea have the best defence in the legue,
Leon, very true. Arshavin should have cut out the pass for the first, I mean fuck me, JT is not exactly Beckenbauer is he!
Then Nasri fucked up for the 2nd, he was supposed to mark the thrower, got sucked in towards Anelka and left Judas to stroll down the line for the return.
I would have kicked both of them in the bollox if I was TV!
Mind you, Gallas should have cut out both crosses!
I’ve read several comments made by Mr. Wenger following yesterday’s match. His constant reference to “we” this and “we” that seems to infer that he himself was on the pitch and now, following a resounding defeat, “we” (the Royal We?) will have to maintain our confidence in the face of undeserved criticism from fans and the press. Hmmm..it sounds a bit paranoid and frighteningly insular. Has Mr. Wenger’s position at Arsenal reached a point where he answers to no one except the sound of his own echo? There is a detachment one sees between the players and the top manager’s in football: this detachment is not present between Mr. Wenger and the players at Arsenal. And as for providing the media with comments meant to mislead: please, that is absurd. He is without even the most basic humility that is born of harsh experience. To not admit that “on the day, the better team won” is an arrogance that this present team has not the resume to provide.
With the players we have now, this is how I would play it…
……………………GK……………………….
Sag/Eb……….Gallas………….Vermy……..anyLB
………………….Song………………………
…Cesc……………………………..Rosick…..
……………………Arsh……………………..
…………………………………..Eddy……………
…………..Theo/Vela………………..
Theo may not be all that skillful but imagine the fear he would put into CBs who are usually slower than fullbacks….
What we will get in January at best in my opinion will be Henry and Vieira on loans or Gervinho/Remy and Matuidi.
Barca ill try soften us up for a Cesc deal, Inter need Paddy out and the 3 French kids/ one Ivory Coast guys are mad to join us.
Of them I would sign Matuidi,Vieira and Gervinho.
Bendtner and Gervinho could battle out for striker s and look no matter how many strikers you have the cream will always rise to the top
i was suprised by the lack cutting edge but by this team defensive problems because its been there along along,with no rvp players like aa and edwardo and risicky must step up
We were fucked yesterday ! We didn’t play football at all,, I didn’t see determination and creativity. The second half,, our players were just standing there lazily waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle ! i was so disappointed,, we played at home, against one of our biggest rivals, in front of our fans, and we got battered. Let’s not blame Chelsea or the others,, see our team ! Our players are weak, have no strong mentality, and will always be losers.
Football is all about mixing. Maybe we have tons of brilliant young and talented players,, but they won’t win you titles. It has to be mixed with powerful players, experienced players, good manager, fanatic supporters, fine management, etc. Wenger HAS TO buy in January,, if he doesn’t,, we’re screwed.
Walcott is just another above average player. I don’t see the reason why he’s gaining 60,000 a week. He’s blessed with his dazzling speed but he can’t cross, he can’t shoot, he can’t link up with his team mates, he can’t timed his runs, and he can’t blablabla. Almunia ? Wtf is he doing wearing the number 1 shirt. He’s completely a mess this season. If he can’t bring back the last season’s performance,, he should be out next month. Eduardo is fucked this season,, he clearly can’t match in our 4-3-3 formation. Denilson should have been the one who do all the “dirty” job but instead of doing that,, he was harmed all day long yesterday. Sagna needs to perform if he doesn’t want Eboue to take his spot. Fuck off Arshavin,, hate to say this (as he’s my favourite player) but if he keeps his performances like this he should be benched.
Our tactics were nowhere near perfect. Ancelotti was a genius knowing with our shitty 4-3-3 formation we were weak on wings. It’s either we go back to 4-4-2 or we’re fucked until (at least) Bendtner comes back.
We don’t want excuses like our goal should be allowed again. We don’t want yet another trophyless season. We don’t want same mistakes to be repeated. We don’t want shitty players in our team. We don’t want to be supporters whose opinions are just thrown away like that. We have to look forward. Buy as many players as we can in January because injuries will strike again and again. Win the next game or we’re fucked. Enough from me.
On the bright side. Arsenal are signing a 14 year old Maradona.
Horrible day to be a gooner.
Humiliation from Management all the way down.
Arsene FC is embarrassing at-times.
Guys for the Carling Cup..I would play this team
using a diamond formation
…………………….Fabianski………………….
Eboue……….Senderos…………..Silvest………Traore
…………………..East/Coquelin………………..
….Ramsey…………………………..Merida……….
…………………..Wilshere(if fit)………………..
…………..Theo……………………Vela………….
With Watt, Sunu etc coming off the bench
According to reports, Arsenal FC are the fourth, yes fourth, highest payers to agents this year! On fucking what???? Backslapping contract extentions to a bunch of underachieving fucking chockers….
http://www.studs-up.com/2009/11/get-em-while-theyre-hot/
Gallas is our best defender but has inexplicably simplistic dodgy fuk up’s from time to time.
Obviously we would need a lot of help getting back in this one.
For someone who defends Walcott alot. I felt humbled by his shytness yesterday.
But then again. Someone like Walcott is never going to change a game when Chelsea decide to park the bus.
It is time for Le-prof to go imo…
What he says is so out of touch with reality i feel concerned bout his health now.
Great defence though, we should learn a thing or two from those chavs.
Just read that AW nearly signed Drogba. Thank fuck you didn’t Arsene, cos we got Diaby. What a ricker that would have been, signing possibly one of the worlds best players. Thank god you saw sense and then decided to let us all know, just after he pretty much makes a mug out of our team….(rolls eye’s for the umpteen times already this season!).
I posted this lot last Thursday;
dennisdamenace Says:
November 26, 2009 at 11:53
Fuck Chavski, Fuck SSN, Fuck all the so-called pundits, fucking take the game to these classless cunts, blow them away in the first 20 minutes like we used to do, and give a few of them a fucking dig into the bargain, cunts to a man…..
dennisdamenace Says:
November 26, 2009 at 12:05
Seriously, if we cut out the clown defending and go for their throat from the off they will be fucked, the crowd need to play their collective part too, GET FUCKING HOSTILE people………..GRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!
dennisdamenace Says:
November 26, 2009 at 12:07
Can someone please point me in the direction of a Chav supporter, I feel a row coming on!!!!
dennisdamenace Says:
November 26, 2009 at 12:17
Don’t get me wrong, if our boys let me down a la last season with another shocking, choking display they will get the wrath of dennis!! However, right now I feel fucking good about turning those classless chav cunts over, c’monnnnnnnnnnn boys don’t let me down, finally fulfil your potential and send a message out to the rest of the Premier League.
The Menace Has Spoke!
dennisdamenace Says:
November 26, 2009 at 12:26
Give that cunt Drogbreath an elbow in the ribs in the first couple of minutes, send him and his mates a sign saying that we mean fucking business!
dennisdamenace Says:
November 26, 2009 at 12:34
Fuck Song, the horse he rode into town on, any other of those highly paid under fucking achievers if they don’t give it 110% against those fucking dog shits on Sunday….. Seriously NOW is the time to stand up and be counted, not next season, fucking NOW!
I draw my learned colleagues and fellow Grovers to my 12:34 post above.
Well they’ve fucking blown it……….again! I don’t know what was more embarrasing, watching that lot ponce around impersonating an Arsenal football team or listening to Arsene Wenger’s post match waffle……
If AW believes his own verbal tripe then we are in for a long long painful journey Grovers. Because he will play and play and play the same failures until they play one good game, probably against a team like Burnley, so that he can tell all those who are bothered to listen that he has a great team!
No one in power at AFC will change what’s happening because he makes them money, noting will change with new ownership because they will relish earning shed loads of money off of the back of the cash cow that is Arsenal Football Club supporters……..
I spent all last night and all today taking flack from Millwall and Charlton supports ffs, not for out abject surrender at home, but for Arsene Wenger’s quite laughable comments in his post match interview.
I truly truly wanted us to bash those cunts up, and ALL the players let me down. But Arsene has gone beyond the pale for me now. I no longer have any interest in his plans fo AFC and will bide my time until he finally moves on and we can get back to being a proper football club, not a place for self serving idealists.
If another club had performed so ineptly at home a lot of Gooners would be looking at that club and wondering whether that manager had “lost” the dressing room, think on that….
He didn’t even apologize!
So we replaced Senderos with Djorou and the result is the same .. We tried the much hyped Vermalaen and the result is the same ..
Isn’t it time to accept that Senderos was not the biggest problem we had … We do not have any concept of team defending. Did anybody notice how chelsea was defending in numbers, closing angles and even drogba was helping out ..
In our case gallas misses a cross, and it is a goal .. None of our wingers/midfielders want o help out ..
We will never win anything till our defence is sorted out ..
Fucking woeful performance from a team that deserves it’s reputation of “If you can get at them, they’re fucked!!” This should finally spell the end for AW’s experiment of spending precisely fuck all, while allowing first team regulars to leave every fucking year! What one of the following wouldn’t have made the starting line up yesterday?? TH14, Gilberto, Matty Flamini, Alex Hleb & Adewhore… If they want to go, let the fuckers go in a heartbeat, but make sure you get enough dosh to replace them like Real & Barca do!
The spanish waiter is embarrassing! He should have let him go when he bottled the last 15mins of our Champo League final.
Denilson is an Hull City player at best and Eduardo has turned in to an Hull City player!! Finally, What the fuck is all this hype about Theo?? TH14 & Theo have just 2 things in common… Speed & the No: 14.. That’s it!! TH14 had skill, vision, a sublime first touch, devastating finishing & most of all was a winner. Theo is not familiar with any of these qualities… Roll on January, spend the dosh from the northern chavs to give us an outside chance in the Champo league and secure top 4 status!! Spend nothing and the gap will just keep getting wider… Ask any yid about the above, they have fucking years of experience!
That was fucking inspirational DDM.
According to SSN, Denilson will be on soon with his thoughts on the game and the title race, well let’s hope his English is better than his fucking performances, or we may need a fucking translator……
David – For me this is worse than last year’s setbacks, i’m hurting badly fella, really bad.
I’m no longer interested in hearing Wenger’s voice. Or any innane rhetoric from rubbish like Denilson, talk is cheap.
Anyone of those fucking Arsene Wenger apologists wanna come on here and back him now, or for the future????
The difference is i fucking care about my club, but i couldn’t give a fuck about the manager…..
Oh that’s all right then, we don’t need experience after all, we only need Wenger’s belief in the players!!
Thanks for that Denilson, i’ll sleep better for that you fucking one dimensional mug….
Try living my life, surrounded my AFC haters, you just jog on back your you pampered £30k per week life….
Oh, and just out of interest, what did you do on Sunday that justifies your manager’s belief in you????
Oh yeh, that’s it, your cheap!
Remember Dennis Arsene Know’s
Im surrounded by AFC haters as well.
Its fercking disgraceful. Alot of Chav c*nts and Manc Wankers.
What is even Worse is that I was told I was delutional about my squad.
When Flamini left I was told by my 12 year old cousin that Arsenal were too light weight…and they would get pushed over.
Fuck me.
Do you know what? Chavski didn’t even have to be at the top of their game to humiliate us at home, at home ffs!!
Would it really hurt Wenger to at least state that a performance like that is totally unacceptable at Arsenal Football Club, but no he drones on about how unlucky we were at that we didn’t deserve that blah fucking blah…….
I just really wish Wenger didnt say what he said about the refereeing.
That has fuck all to do with Sagna crossing to Midgets in the box.
Hi reggie – i’m not felt as low since the semi-final replay defeat against ManUre….
What I can’t understand is that when vela plays beautifully he is the best player we have. And when he has 15 minutes to prove himself and he doesn’t score than he must be sold???? WTF????? Give that boy time, he will be good for us. You can see his talent but again he is no CF he is good in a 4-4-2. What do you guys think about vela???
This team has no spine.
An agressive, strong, fast CF like Fabiano
An agressive, strong, dominating CM like Ya Ya
An agressive, strong, decisive CB like Chielini
An agressive, dominating, decisive GK ??????
Unless of course 4th plac every season is good enough, and being humiliated at regular intervals by MAnUre & the Chavs is ok with you….
As if we didnt know Van Persie is Injury Prone.
Sure.
We dont need a striker.
Chelsea are going to get Aguero in January when Drogba is off.
The rest of us are praying for Chamakh on a free.
Fucking ridiculous.
If only some of us could speak to Arsene directly….maybe he might listen to some new ideas..who knows..
I want to propose the diamond formation to him…because right we have no Cf’s capable of playing by himself…so we need 2 strikers…
We need more players in the box when we attack..instead of all of them standing at the edge of the fucking box..
……………….Back5………………..
………………Song……………………
…Cesc………………………..Rosick…
………………Arsh…………………..
………Theo/Vela………….Eddy………..
Those are the players available now..when and if a fullback crosses the ball we need Cesc Arsh Theo/Vela and Eddy to be in the fucking box….
With Rosick right out side the box to pick up rebounds/loose balls and power them in..We know he has a powerful shot on him
Then Song behind him ready to stop counter attacks…
The only way Wenger would get sacked is if we BOO him or protests.
If Wenger goes I also want the board to!!!
This board only care about their end of year bonuses which comes from Wenger selling our best players!!!!
Samir, who do you think from our talents will make it???
Alright Dennis same here fella, Wenger is embarrasing beyond belief when he said i looked at the video 5 times and still cant see why the goal was disallowed as a chelsea player had their foot high not eddie……..
Laugh or what !!!!
Guys….if Bendy develops we dont need a another striker….
But yeah someone like Fabiano or Chamakh would be welcome
However I agree we need
1. New World Class goal keeper
2. Another strong CM who can play CB(Yaya)
3. powerful CF(if Bendy fails when he comes back in a couple weeks)
If we get a strong GK, then Gallas and Vermy are ok…
If we had a commanding keeper who communicates, our short CBs would not be under so much pressure..
We need to switch the formation….even when RVP comes back…..we could play RVP along side Bendy (or that new aggressive CF like Fabiano or Chamakh)
JA_G
To be honest. None of these players are good enough. At least not yet.
Never looked like we were going to get back in it once we conceeded.
the people who critize wenger get slaughtered in the press, tv and radio .
i’m one who thinks that he should fuck off and go take this shower of shit of a team he keeps telling every one that are up for the challenge with him.
people say what will happen when he goes the answer WE START TO BUILD A WINNING MENTALITY AGAIN THATS WHAT .
FOR Those who say who will suceed him ,for me
lets give rikard a go maybe have Bouldie as his number two , he been outstanding with the kids .
6 million a year and our title dreams gone up in smoke before xmas ,thanks wenger .
Dutchman;
I do think most of them will make it BUT we don’t have time to wait for them do we?
I’d prefer already made quality not some youngsters with potential.
It’s fine having a few youngsters on the bench but not a full starting 11 with a bench full of them as well!!
We need experience and POWER!!!
Gus Hiddink.
Samir, I mean the likes of wilshere,ramsey,wilshere,watt,lansbury,bartley etc.
COME ON Kroenke or even Usmanov……
Buy us A.S.A.P and sack the cunts on the board.
good recruitment – DDM ..
I know it . you know it ..
but why doesn’t wenger or half the plonkers on the net realize it ..
We went down like cheap Ho’s to a better side .
thats what happens when 1 club is ambitious and others just go thru the motions and make money fleecing the fans of cash (priority 1 )..
some of our players are not good enough ,
the sooner the fans start making some noises
the better !
i hope some of you now will get with the program and bleat !
because with this club ONLY, when enough fans start making noises do players get purchased !
so stop taking the zanac’s and get off the song/denilson/diaby /senderos/big al train of love and dump these fuckers off at the platform!
and demand some real replacements instead of keeping the bums no other clubs make a bid for
and try to turn them into TOP CLASS players .
we still have these 2nd rate – injury prone players because no one else is mad enough to have them
Knowing our luck we’d buy 4 world class players and every one of the cunts would be seriously injured within a month.
It’s no kroenke or usmanov. WE HAVE MONEY BUT WENGER DOESN”T SPEND IT!!!!!!!
Wilshere,Ramsey and Vela are all good, but not good enough for a top 4 team at the moment.
Den@19.02 I could not agree with you more.
Ja no Bendtner is not good enough I have seen enough of him to know he is not the answer. No more languid slowcoaches please.
Dutchman;
I think most of our money has gone.
Giving player’s with great potential (sarcastic) new contracts and paying off some of the debt.
If we were too ask one of them two for 100m or even 50M each I’m sure they would give it to us.
With 100m and the money from selling;
Almunia 1M
Silvestre 500K
Senderos 3M
Denilson 5M
Diaby 5M
Eduardo 10M
Traore 4M
Simpson 2M
=30.5M
We could buy star quality and for once challenge for a trophy.
My question is who would you buy with 130M?
ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC has just signed for 5 year contact with Barcelona, the spanish giants have paid £40m PLUS Samuel Eto’o for the striker. Ibrahimovic is now the worlds most expensive striker.
But did you know that he came VERY close to signing for Arsenal?
In 2001 Arsenal agreed a £3m fee with his club at the time Malmo FF, Personal terms with Ibrahimovic were also agreed and his was even given the number 9 shirt (photo above) It all basically a done deal…Until it all went wrong.
Zlatan was sure the deal was done and even posed for photos with the number 9 shirt, He called his friends at Malmo and told them how happy he was to be signing for a great club like Arsenal.
Arsene Wenger then told Zlatan the deal was NOT done and that he would have to play in a trial match before he signed him as he was not 100% of his talents. Zlatan was so angry about this he refused to play in the game and walked out of the Arsenal training ground. Zlatan felt insulted by Wengers late decision and refused to go back as he knew there were other clubs who wanted him.
Wenger decided NOT to sign him for £3m and he was then sent back to Malmo FF.
Wenger said: “I rate him highly. I wanted to buy him when he was a boy but it didn’t turn out that way.”
Malmo then sold Zlatan to Ajax and Arsenal signed Francis Jeffers for £8m, for almost 3x times as much as what they could have signed Zlatan.
So i wonder how wenger feels now knowing he picked Francis Jeffers over Zlatan Ibrahimovic and at more then double the price.
Ohh well…In wenger we trust, RIGHT!
So we have missed out on who;
Ronaldo
Yaya Toure
Ibrahimovic
Cana
Benzema
Given etc etc
This could go on forever………
If Wenger had some balls we could be watching;
__________Given___________
Sagna–Gallas–Vermy–Clichy
________Y.Toure___________
_____Fabregas–Cana_______
_Ronaldo–Ibra–Benzema
samir
interesting spiel on zlatan, yes weve missed out on every TOP TOP WORLD class player to walk the earth, and yet we have managed to hold onto eboue – song diaby ,OH joy !
& who says shit doesnt stick ?
Samir I would not play Yaya and Cana..it would be one or the other……Thats like playing with Song and Denilson….
And I doubt Benzema can play on the wing..but all the others are good selections..
For the summer I would get
1. GK (Akinfeev, Lloris, or a German)
2. Yaya Toure
3. Fabiano/Chamkh/Powerful CF (If Bendy fails to fire since he will probably be the CF for the rest of the season since RVP is out)
Solve these 3 positions and we can win titles…
Some are asking for a CB as well….but I think if we get a commanding GK..then Gallas+Vermy is good enough…
A good goalie would have prevented the Vermy own goal yesterday…
i think david villa will be sold for more if he eventually does move on …
he would be the number 1 striker currently .
and thats what arsenal NEED !
no point to take a risk on buying them young !
we need NOW players , because we are in top flight football NOW !
Wenger is guilty of using the EPL as a hatchery
,when he plays his best squad in lieu of hopefuls , then ill know he is taking it seriously ..
denilson and song both in the starting line up ?
seriously ? he must be taking the piss !
this game rested on the midfield match-ups and we go in with 2 feather weights ..
is wenger trying to throw matches now ?
Its all adding up to REAL poor management !
and ive seen it all to often recently
If madrid was willing to part with 35 mill. euros for Villa and couldn’t get him, how in the world can we?
Plus he is not the tallest either.
Dzeko for me, even though I hate when people come on here and play football manager.
Plus the GK and CB positions mayber even the fullbacks even are much more pressing at present.
I would only play Cana and Yaya against the likes of Chelsea and Man u. They try and kick us, they would get it right back even harder.
Imagine one going up and the other taking his place in the DM role…..
Viera, Petit like!
But dreams over we don’t have them
The biggest mistake Wenger has made in the past few years is not signing Fernando Toress when Henry left.
To think Liverpool only got him for 26m, when we could cough up a fraction of that and include Jose Reyes. In the end we still sold Reyes to Atletico too. Pffffffff
Spilt milk…….
Showing the replay.
Ive juss seen Anelka run at Denilson, cut to the left then run past him like he wasnt even there.
And not resigning anelka
Zeus
You make it sound like it was just a question of money that determined who got Torres. It so obviously wasn’t, he wanted to play under the protection of a Spanish manager in the same way as many French players come to Arsenal to play under the protection and tutelage of a French manager.
Hey ethan, long time my friend……..
Did you all see the anger shown by Vermy after the own goal?
That’s what we need from all our player’s and the manager.
It really really really pisses me off when Wenger talkes his shit about “killing players”…..
Do we really give a shit mate?
If we have to kill them to win then go ahead….. I might even help you
I’m just talking shit actually……
We need answer’s from Wenger. The bloody bastard!!!
In England people think all the problems have to be sorted out by buying players. I believe that the biggest target is to work hard in training, improve where we can improve, and have confidence in the players we have.
We have money available. It is now for us to spend it in the right way. If we can add we will do. Unfortunately I cannot tell you that we are close to signing anyone.
The position of the squad is very good. It looks to me that the cohesion is there and that is down to the fact we have stability.
Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has revealed he used to support rivals Arsenal when he was younger – after his double dealt Arsene Wenger’s side a damaging blow in the title race.
Don’t believe that came into his thinking London. As far as Spanish players go, Fabregas has been the best in the Epl for some time now. If anything that would swing him in our favor. Rafa’s only claim to fame outside Spain is Istanbul but the argument is moot and about 3 yrs late so whatever. Its what do we do now.
What makes this worse than last year, well a season ago Wenger decided we had to suffer through the growing pains of denilson, diaby and song who he inexplicably thought of as ready for first team football; this season most actually started to believe and almost with the blink of an eye the dream is almost dead and buried.
I still can’t believe Spu*rs are above us and we are only 2 points above Liverpool. Surely my eyes are playing tricks on me, we should be so far ahead of those teams.
Watch Dispatches on Ch4+1, it about Rich russian billionaires including Usamov
When you don’t feel crook for 2-3 years you tend to start thinking you are invincible, but the bout of flu I’ve just got over, i tell you, its like, like, I’ve been in a crash involving a golf buggy going 10 kilometres per hour. BANG!! & as I come out of it, BANG!!!!!! The Arsenal get hit 0-3 @ home. Talk about a reality check.
……….but in reality, IMHO Le Gaffer won’t apply the necessary remedy to The Arsenals’ woes coz he is the Professor of stubborness. He will apply only mild oitments, salves, balmes to dress the wounds, when what is needed is a metophoric injection of 21st Century medicines, that being, cash @ transfer window time.
Pedro,
I thought Song did a good job and tbh, it was clueless of Wenger to drop him instead of Dennilson.
The point must be made that the players were so casual and lazy all around the pitch, no fight, no spirit. I felt Chelsea gave us another lesson on how to defend and attack- Did I really say that? Sad but so true!
Mon ami, its time to raid Stans “medicine cabinet” or to put it in a more appropriate way, that reflects the mood of the jaded fans, “war chest”.
The Big Guns that blazed the UK from 1998-2005 & for long periods over 125 years, have now fallen silent, & never more ineffective than when defending home ground on Sunday. It was a disgraceful effort by an extremely well marshalled, but under manned regiment.
History has proven that @ times like we face now, either reinforements are requested, or the head of command is replaced. The decision is yours Mr Kroenke.
Where’s Wrighty?
He owes me his car.
If Denilson wasn’t Brasilian, would he have been given the chances that he has been given?
He & his fancy little dance when he scores his 2 goals a season is pathetic. He is a luxury, like Theo & Eduardo who, @ the present time, only seem to be effective for certain situations, but are not the answer for the long haul. Don’t get me wrong, they must have talent to be able to play @ the ighest level, but there are 20 squads of say 30 players, & only 1 lot wins the Big One.
Buy! Buy! Buy! & in January. I agree with El Tel, Almunia is poor, get in a world class stopper & then the defence can start to build from him.
Albert Tatlock would do a better job than Almunia, not to mention Stan “between the goals” Hartley.
Stan “between the posts” Hartley, its the spanish waiter who effectively stands between the goals, that he continually concedes.
Lehmann was world class. Every keeper in the Polish league is better than Almunia.
And I’ve always said Kuszczak had the potential to be world class if he didn’t go to United.
I hope you saw guys saw his performance this weekend. Looked miles better than Foster and VDS have this season.
You could put a Slow Loris between the posts, & he would move quicker than Almunia
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1140/536314523_6d4ca40111_o.jpg
Ade set to play against us. Senderos is good enough to stop him.
I just hope Bellamy doesn’t play. He starts all their counterattacks.
Fabianski
Eboue Senderos Silvestre Traore
Ramsey Eastmond/Coquelin Merida
Wilshere Theo Watt
Pat Merida is suspended. I reckon one of Vela or Eduardo will start rather than Watt, or maybe both of them with Wilshere in midfield, and Denilson could play too. With Traore being first choice for the foreseeable future I wonder if he might be rested, maybe Silvestre left back
A, Merida’s suspension starts December 9th, or was it 4th? Either way, I read he’ll play.
Vela will start for sure, I forgot about him. It’s not a bad idea to start Eduardo as well. He needs to start scoring to regain confidence.
Them 2 can interchange on LW and CF. Wilshere in MF or up front? Denilson might play to regain form.
Now I forgot Theo! Front 3 of Theo, Eduardo and/or Vela. Wilshere to play up front if one of Eduardo/Vela won’t play.
Merida, Ramsey and a CDM in MF
oh awesome Pat, I didn’t realise that, apologies, great news! imo Vela should be starting ahead of Eduardo centrally against Stoke. I was going to say I’d start both of them in a front three with Eduardo, but imo that would leave the front three unbalanced as we need a playmaker in there. So Theo, one of Vela/Eduardo, and Wilshere/Merida with the other one of Wilshere/Merida in midfield, with Ramsey and Denilson?
http://arsenalyouth.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/merida-available-for-city-tie-despite-reserve-red-card/
So I’m going for
Fabianski
Eboue Senderos Silvestre Traore
Ramsey Denilson Merida
Wilshere Vela Theo
Though maybe Eduardo in up top, maybe Merida and Wilshere swapping round, maybe Bartley or Vermaelen in in defence and Silvestre left back.
Big big game for Fabianski, if there aren’t any massive problems for him I expect him to follow it up by starting against Stoke and Olympiakos, and taking it on from there as our number one.
Or Ramsey and Eastmond. De Jong works hard so we need someone with a high work rate.
Is Carlton Cole out for 4 months?
And still no news on Merida’s contract
Szczesny will definitely be our keeper in the FA cup. Arsenal didn’t give permission to whatever team he joined so he didn’t play in their FA cup game this weekend.
Fabianski’s time. I’m sick of Almunia
Merida has agreed the contract verbally, it really isn’t a big deal, it’ll be signed soon, along with Rosicky.
I didn’t know about Cole, when did that happen? Been out of the loop football wise for the last couple of weeks!
I agree about De Jong, dirty fuck too. I reckon Denilson and Ramsey can do that job, though maybe Eastmond
totally agree with vela and walcott, I had the chance to watch a game with his national team, and HE DOES NOT PLAY as a powerful forward, he is a left winger, what he does well is to score in the counterstroke, he has a very similar game to Pato from AC milan, and walcott well I dont think he even has a fair chance to be judged, but I think they have a better game than eduardo
didn’t know that re szczesny pat, maybe Almunia is gone in January then
I used to want De Jong at Arsenal when Flamini left. Similar players, but Flamini is much more likeable.
A, he came off injured against Burnley and there were whispers of torn knee ligaments. Not sure how that ended up.
Szczesny has been getting great reviews. He got man of the match even though his team lost 1-0. Saved 1 penalty and got a hand on the 2nd pen. Could have been an embarrassment from what I read
Ratings from that game:
BEES: Szczesny 9, Wilson 5, Osborne 7, Balkestein 7, Foster 6, Bostock 6 (Cort 69, 6), O’Connor 6, Bean 6, Wood 6, MacDonald 6 (Murphy 25, 5 (Taylor 83, 5), Strevens 6.
not great for Murphy! Didn’t realise he was subbed on then subbed off!
I dont know whay everyone has a go at Almunia!
…oh no, wait a minute, I do actually, its because he’s total fucking shit.
Are we allowed to deliberately not field a goalkeeper? is that allowed in the rules?
I think the centre backs would be more confident with thin air in goal for us.
Pure, succulent Oxygen could do a job for us. Think about it.
Ok, it’s Tuesday, we should leave Chelsea behind and start another winning run against Man City. Wenger should get back to winning ASAP, Man City would be a good start.
And 24 days till Christmas. I hope we have a winning Christmas run, and pre-Christmas run. Novermber is traditionally a poor month for us, and the stats are bang on, but we should pick up from now. The best way to pick the team up is to beat Man City.
Typical panic after a loss. Relax. A few things did not go our way. Our players are immensely skilled. With RVP we’d have scored and been fine.
samir if you sold like 10 players to spend 30 mil on one player have fun when you find you have a squad with no numbers at all. with senderos and silvestre sold we could always resort to playing some untested 16 year old cb you’ve never heard of if gallas or vermaelen get injured.
the result was terrible and the performance totally lacked penetration, but why am i not surprised that you’d take our poor result (defined by mistakes from the cbs and keeper and a lack of penetration from our strikers) to talk poorly of song and denilson’s performances in the middle when neither of them did badly. in the first half song played well. he didn’t single-handedly dominate, but i don’t think any single player on either team did. i’m not saying either of them were fantastic, but if they played the exact same way and we’d not made defensive errors and our strikers had done their jobs better we would have done ok, because it wasn’t really him who let the side down. what i’m basically saying is if he had been in a chelsea shirt instead of essien yesterday you’d have been saying how we weren’t up to players of his standard yesterday
without meaning to be a doom and gloomer. Man city will beat us no matter what team we put out.
sorry
zeus Says:
November 30, 2009 at 20:11
If madrid was willing to part with 35 mill. euros for Villa and couldn’t get him, how in the world can we?
—————————
well madrid is in the same li liga as Valencia .
you can understand the sell to a rival price tag !
i think we could secure him for 35 easily, maybe less ..
but he is what we need…. regardless !
we need someone as a goto man for goals !
as ive said a million times arsenal is a side that needs to score more than the opposition !
(especially with big al in goals !)
BRING BACK VITO !
yes we used to have that level of service up front with
TH14 – DB10 and support like PV04 – PIRES FREDDIE in the hay days .. if anyone thinks we have players to match the above past heroes currently (and more importantly wenger being intelligent enough to play them all at the same time ) there deluded !
sorry , the class of player needs to lift to even be back in contention , to be in contention
============================================
AA23 Says:
December 1, 2009 at 01:34
without meaning to be a doom and gloomer. Man city will beat us no matter what team we put out.
————————————–
given our poor away form and wenger’s lust to field a 2nd rate team for this comp , i concur !
the line up to me should have been more like
Almunia
Sagna Gallas Vermaelen Gibbs
THEO Fabregas song ROSICKY (nasri)
Eduardo Arshavin.
————————
then we would have had our best players on the pitch , the focus on dudu and AA for goal .
speed with theo to break them down
and the skill of rosicky on the other flank .
personally id prefer nasri over song in a holding role , he is far more technically gifted and would adapt quickly .
plus songs off soon anyhow , so give nasri the job as DM and we would have a GREAT midfield setup again …
(providing rosicky and theo can stay fit)
Served you right Wenger!
Told ya we need new players all along same thing past 5 years til now:
Defender – Hangeland (Vermaelen lost twin brother FYI)
Midfielder – Matuidi (what next if Cesc injured? The heck Sunderland get Lorik Cana!)
Striker – Chamakh (Eduardo, Arshavin simply unrealiable already)
That’s all just barely enough as genuine 1st team cover yet team wages similar to ManUre or Chelsea. Heaven knows if CL k-o stage we drew Barca or even Chelsea again next.
Wenger’s stubborness simply no longer a genius but a nuisance to Arsenal FC.
Murphy got injured I think