Make no bones about it, this game was, like Geoff said, more important than the Chelsea game. Lose and we’d have found ourselves in the same position we were before the weekend started, but we could have given Liverpool the impetus to kick start their season. Win and we’d close the gap on the Manchester United and Chelsea and put ourselves firmly back in the title race.
Could Arsenal show the needed hunger? Could they score points of a top four rival for the first time this season? Could they handle the pressure?
The team lined up as expected.
Almunia
Sagna Gallas Verminator Traore
Cesc Song Denilson
Nasri Arshavin Walcott
Arsenal lost the ball almost as soon as we kicked of. The opening 15 minutes was a cocktail of bad passing and poor play.
The first real chance Liverpool had was on the break… Gerrard slipped in Torres who left Song for dead, luckily for us the Spaniard had left his shooting boots in the office.
Moments later, he glided past Traore on the edge of our area, passed to Gerrard, who took an uncharacteristic heavy touch, followed with a clumsy challenge from Gallas which in fairness, was a nailed on penalty. Looks like the ref read the Grovers concerns about Stevie G landing a penalty against us!
Arsenal had their first chance of the game from a set piece. Vermaelen connected with an Arshavin freekick and headed over.
The first goal went in Liverpools favour. Stevie G fired a freekick into the box, Song lost Aurelio who did enough to force Almunia to flap and parry the ball to Kuyt who toe poked it through a sea of Arsenal players into the back of the net.
Arsenal had their far share of the ball in the first half. Sloppy play from key players and good tactics from Rafa were key to the our ineptness. Mascharano and Aurelio were doing a good job stifling our midfield.
As a fan, I did feel like there was a lack of urgency. No one seemed particularly bothered about taking the game to the scousers. I thought we were over powered in the middle and up front. Our team lacked power in comparison.
This team needed a bit of grit, someone to gee them up… someone to take a stand.
Cue Mr Wenger and the half time bollocking that kick started our year.
Arsenal came out a different team. We played with more purpose and fire. We pressed Liverpool from the front. If we couldn’t out power them, we’d out play them.
Song started the move to the goal. It was a nice 4 pass move that concluded with a superb own goal by £17million wonder signing, Glen Johnson.
Glen showed his value moments later when Fabregas picked out Arshavin at the back post, the diminutive forward cut inside Johnson and fired in a peach of shot into the top left hand corner. Reina left hapless. Arshavin ecstatic as he headed over to celebrate with Wenger.
Liverpool resorted to bully boy tactics, Gerrard and Kuyt doing their best to injure Denilson and Nasri. Typical really.
Arsenal soaked up the odd smattering of Liverpool pressure, but to be honest, Liverpool had nothing. A team devoid of ideas. There were two bum notes in the second half, the first being the curse of the left back. Traore hobbled off with a suspected hamstring problem. The second being the thigh injury Arshavin looked like he’d picked up.
Arsenal took the victory with a super two goal turnaround. The performance wasn’t amazing, but that’s irrelevant. Give me a ground out result against Liverpool over a superb spectacle of play with no result against United. For the first time in a long time, we took advantage of others poor results. That’s a very good sign, we dealt well with the pressure and we caught up with the league leaders. Hey, we may have contributed to a possible Rafa sacking!
Some mentioned in the comments that people were going overboard at half time in the comments, well, if it’s ok for Wenger to, I think it’s alright for the fans to! My hat goes off to the coach for turning the game around. It’s about time someone within the club iterated the meaning of playing in the red and white of Arsenal.
‘The boss screamed at us like I’d never heard before’
He said Arsenal lost the 50-50′s in the first half and he was right. Those types of challenges are about hunger… if your team can’t show hunger for the club, how can a Premiership challenge be mounted? The second half will give the team renewed hope for trophies this year… lets all start getting excited again and keep you fingers crossed that the injury to Arshavin isn’t that bad!
Santa is a Gooner, Santa is a Gooner, da da daaaaah da da!
Ratings:
Almunia: A poor performance for the consistently inconsistent Spaniard. He flapped for the Liverpool goal and his kicking was erratic. 5
Sagna: I thought he had a pretty solid game defensively and some of his crosses were very good.7
Gallas: On another day, he’d have conceded two penalties. A bit of a messy performance, but overall, I’ll take it! 6.5
Verminator: Strong play from the Belgian. He worked hard and kept Torres relatively quiet. 7
Traore: Caught napping on a few occasions and clearly lacks experience. I like his as a player, he’s powerful and he’s got a lot of desire. 6.5
Cesc: Instrumental in the turn around. First half I’d have given him a 3, second half I’d have given him an 8. His back post pass to Arshavin was world-class. 7.5
Song: I thought Song was the best player on the pitch today. His passing was a little dodgy in the first half, but overall he was the most consistent performer of the day. He made some great interception and he reduced Liverpool to zero chances in the second half. For those who don’t like his fouling, I hope you took not of what Mascharano does all game. 8
Denilson: Largely anonymous today. I struggle to see what he adds to our midfield. He’s very weak and he’s not much cop going forward. Still, he was part of a winning team, so credit where credit is due. 6
Nasri: A much better performance second and half and some flashes of brilliance. He set up the first goal with a tricky pass. I think he disappears for large parts of the game… if he wants to get better, he’s going to have to want the ball more. 7
Arshavin: Quiet in the first half, but hard-working. Then he did what no other player could do in that side. Created something out of nothing. He is a genius of a player and it was nice to see him run over to the coach, he’s not thinking about leaving any time soon. 7.5
Walcott: Ahhh Theo, what are we going to do with you? He was pretty hopeless today, causing minimal problems for Liverpool. He has very little skill out wide and he makes it pretty easy for experienced defenders to mark him out of games. Disappointing. When are you going to start showing us some value? 5
P.S. I have 5 Burnley tickets going and 2 Hull, e-mail me today if you’d like them! Oh and have a look at these two articles to warm the the cockles of your heart this morning, here and here!
A,
I said Melo was cack (as far as our needs are concerned) when some were gunning for him – for me he is just a bigger and dumber Denilson with a lot of stupid unnecessary aggression – if someone could somehow merge these two with just the right balance of intelligence and aggression, the end result would be a perfect DM IMO…
any mad scientists out there?
is vdv the one with the hot missus?
ardent,
as much as it pains me to say, Rosicky on anything other than pay as you play deal is just a waste of space and money…
it’s not like he has any resale value, does he?
SUGA3 there were always going to be niggles in Rosicky’s first season back, at least at the start, the fact that he’s being written off by so many is imo ridiculous.
A
kalou ?
what are you on about , i said kalou is better than signing no fucker !and that statement still holds firm . ive never compared him to RVP , rvp has never been fit long enough for me to gauge him anyhow , if i am to be honest …
so i would never make that comparison , if i made it over fitness , then yes RVP is worse , and i think currently given him being out for another 5 months , my calls for a striker were correct pre – season ..
yes indeed choy http://www.sylvievdvaart.nl/sylvie.asp
lol ethan, we had a big argument because you claimed that vp couldn’t play central, and would never score goals, and it was when we were rumoured to be after kalou and you were adament that kalou would be much better than vp, nothing to do with fitness, you said vp would never score enough goals, and kalou would
Suspended: None Doubtful: Fabregas (back), Gallas (thigh), Walcott (ankle), Arshavin (foot), Da Silva (thigh), Traore (hamstring), Diaby (calf).
A
No one is writing him off….He is still a class player… I am talking about the contract talks.. He shouldnt even think of not signing imo..what we have done for him m sure no other club would have done….Rosicky needs to repay our faith…and not wait until january to see if any other club comes with a better offfer…thats just shit if he isdoing that..
ooh la la
Rosicky’s only being kept on in case any of our top players need a new hip, kidney, liver, lung or skin grafts apparantly….
rosicky the doner
A;
A,
we are halfway through the season and he just pops in and out of the squad – there is really no point unless he can stay fit until the end of the season IMO…
we have stood by him and paid him wages for 18 months for doing precisely fuck all, so it’s his turn to give something back – I’d say good PAYP deal sounds fair, he should be fine with that if he can keep fit, right?
if Owen is not too good for that, neither is Tomas
kalou cant even score enough for his own club , preposterous notion , do you make this shit up
?
i said kalou would be better than not signing a striker at all ! and because you thought we didnt need a striker pre – season ( of which you were WRONG )
you decided to pick on me !
RVP came off a season of 9 goals and thankfully on the last day v’s a crap team he over took ade to end the season as the club’s highest scorer on 11 goals !
hardly sensational , but hardly our worst striker !
i only wanted our injury players ousted !
rosicky and RVP !
and i think if we are honest most would prefer
2 quality players who are injury free !
ive never doubted RVP’s skill on the pitch !
only him making it on to it to begin with
I can’t see Rosicky being offered anything other than a low basic wage with bonuses for playing, scoring etc.
He should play for us for free.. we paid him for what a year, where he didn’t even kick the ball.
I don’t know why it is taking so long? Is he engineering a move outside?
Where does one get an injury free player???
Do they make em in a factory somewhere?
ardent rosicky would be going on a free transfer in the summer if we didn’t offer him a contract. He’s gotten over his long term injury, and as he builds up his strength the niggles with reduce in terms of frequency and severity, we absolutely have to give him a new contract imo, he’s a top top player!
yep, I think he is and there is absolutely nothing Wenger can do about it….
Suga3;
Oh you cynical so and so!
Of course Tomas aint goin nowwhere… He’s staying put out of love, respect and honour…
A,
like I said before – he does not have any resale value whatsoever anyway, so I won’t be crying if he goes as long as he is properly replaced…
without rosicky and RVP the clubs medical staff would be doing crossword puzzles !
how much has these 2 really done for us in the past 2 /3 years ?
they are a big part of this clubs failings ..
they should just be culled off and replaced ..
years ago really …
if PV04 can go before his time these monkeys sure dont deserve a free ticket !
MG
A;
I remember quite a few people on here giving it loads about how RvP cant cut it as the main striker, is wasted there, cant score the goals, yadda yadda….
There are injury prone players and we have a few in our squad who would qualify
ManGoonian Says:
December 14, 2009 at 22:54
Where does one get an injury free player???
Do they make em in a factory somewhere?
—————————
obviously not at Arsenal !
oh yes we do have some !
eboue – alumina – song – senderos is always ready so is silvestre and dudu , maybe ….
I’d love Rosicky to stay at the club, stay fit and score the goal that wins us the title….
SUGA3 resale value isn’t an issue. I don’t see him being offloaded, and certainly not replaced – Merida and Wilshere are his replacements.
VP contributed 33 goals last season ethan, I wouldn’t exactly say he’s done nothing for us….
His injury now wasn’t a case of being injury prone either, if exactly the same challenge had come in one any player it would have been the same result.
MG,
I hold my hands up and admit that I was one of these who had this opinion – possibly induced by some square peg nonsense from OGL (like B52 played on the wing or WF)…
RvP is absolute class, so he can do well wherever OGL wants him to play, but I still think we don’t have a single out and out CF…
Yeah Mang, it was a constant theme! I bet when he returns from injury everyone will have forgotten too, and come out with the same things, not big enough, spends the whole time on the floor, too one footed etc!
ethan,
Almunia did get injured though – chest infection and all that
as for Song – thank fuck for that…
I just think when you have top class players like RvP, who loves the club and could have moved on if he wanted to, as he would’ve had his options available to him and plenty of teams to choose from, they deserve some loyalty from us, especially when they have shown some too….
If cesc got a bad injury, I guess people would want him out the door too…
well i always thought RVP is best as the main striker ! said it for years whilst wenger the wanker persisted with adethewhore ..
so A if you think i doubted RVP’s class your delusional ! he could be brilliant , if he remained IN FORM AND FIT within the same season .
its a case of either or with him ..
and that makes him i liability when chasing silverware
A,
yes, he won’t be offloaded, ‘cuz he will just run down his contract – he is 29 and will probably want to hit the last jackpot Flamini style…
Suga3;
We are definitely light in attack now…. And I fully expect a signing in this window… Either on loan or otherwise.
Rosicky is no Flamini SUGA, he’s a top quality player and not a nobhead either! He’ll sign up in the next couple of weeks, along with Merida and Gallas, and Rosicky will probably score against Villa too!
oh yes thats right suga he had a cold that lasted 2 months
some might call it suspicious
i call it a mixture of poor keeping and lack of anti biotics
MG,
no one wants anybody out of the door – I love TR7, but he is just too unreliable, unless we just consider whatever he plays as a bonus…
Suuuuper, super Tom
Suuuuper, super Tom
Suuuuper, super Tom
Super Tom Rosicky!
RvP hadnt played as the main striker ANYWHERE before this season had he?
Either for Feyenord, Holland, his under 6 school team…
Rosicky will come back, if he had something that was career threatening, he’d be retired now…
Its pure bad luck, just like RvP’s…. Fucking Dutch FA and their meaningless friendly…
Thats me done and dusted…
Ta rah chucks….!!!
He got over the injury Mang, now it’s just a case of getting his body up to playing regularly again, I’d expect Wenger to be more careful with him now
manG
If cesc got a bad injury, I guess people would want him out the door too…
———————————-
he did last season , but he has played a fair few games since and regularly starts for us ….
lets get A busy working out stats !
A , how many starts has RVP V’s cesc ..
and how many years have both been at the club ..
ratios please
Flamini is no nobhead, he just gave OGL what he deserved for taking him for granted – if we can offer a new contract to permanent crock Rosicky, why did we try to flog Flamini to Brum?
Right you are A…
Laterssssssssssss
hahaha ethan…
nite MG, be good
Who’s OGL SUGA? some juvenile name for Wenger?
OGL = Our Glorious Leader
how is that juvenile?
08/09 VP 42 Cesc 32
07/08 VP 22 Cesc 44
06/07 VP 31 Cesc 54
Go back further than that and they weren’t both regulars so not really relevant. Not sure what the point of that was though either!
SUGA3 Flamini was a complete dick, telling the club he was going to sign then not, and he wasn’t even that good.
ah ok, i’m guessing it’s sarcastic, very clever
It wasn’t a case of us trying to flog flamini for no reason either, he threw a tantrum and said he wasn’t willing to play at full back anymore
is flamini getting any playing time at milan?
A,
I hated how Flamini was handled by the club (CL Final + Brum nonsense) after being a good pro, so we have just got what we deserved, no more…
and don’t say he was not that good, I would replace Denilson with him in a snap…
the beauty of ‘OGL’ is that it can mean both
I dunno SUGA3, they’re pretty opposite types of players Denilson and Flamini, offer different things, though I wouldn’t be against that swap necessarily.
He wasn’t a model pro though, because he refused to play full back….
If he’d said I’m leaving because of x and y then it would have been debatably what we deserved, but lying to us and fucking us over wasn’t what we deserved, and just him being a prick
fair enough, A, but we both know that he would not play if he said that and we would lose quite a bit of bite in midfield without him that season…
Wenger tends to freeze out such players, does he not?
look no further than Phil…
Not wanting to play out of position after 3 years at the club is hardly throwing a tantrum. He was right to want to play in midfield because thats his best position and he clearly had a good understanding with Cesc imo.
He was a prick the way he went about it and got what he deserved but arsenal arent innocent in all of what happened.
A finally realising Denilson is shite
Denilson isn’t shite in the slightest Paulinho!
Stu when he threw the tantrum he didn’t have any sort of understanding with Cesc let alone a good one! He’d played a handful of games centrally and was 5th choice or so. Saying he won’t play at full back if the team needs him to is being a massive prick imo. It wasn’t like we wanted him to be a full back permanently, but just to cover there when he wasn’t going to be playing centre mid, but he’d rather sit in the stands than play in a position he didn’t want to – hardly a team player.
Ultimately we weren’t innocent, because in his eyes he was proved right that he’d do well in centre mid, as he had a very good season, but it was hardly six of one half a dozen of the other the way he went about things.
Denilson is an honest lad but his not ready yet thats all. his game need physicality that comes with age.
I dont agree that he didnt have an understanding with Cesc at the time. They had played a few games together before his “breakthrough” season and had done pretty well considering they werent regulars together.
Not wanting to be the teams utility player doesnt make him less dedicated to the team than any other player imo. He knew his best position and wanted to either play there or move on to someone who would.
In the end he made the wrong decision going to Milan but thats his fault and he can deal with it but we did force his hand by never playing him at CM.
Stu anyone who is happier sitting in the stands than being on the pitch even if not in his preferred position is not a team player imo, and it absolutely makes him less dedicated to the team than other players.
He said he wasn’t prepared to play out of position, despite being unlikely to get in the team in midfield, yet rejected a move away from the club, happy to sit and pick up his wages whilst offering nothing to the club.
Well when you put it like that sure it will make him sound worse. But after 3 years of being a team player i can completely understand his frustration and him wanting to either play or leave.
He obviously made his decision at the start of the season and decided he was going to leave. The clubs fault for not renewing his contract and Wengers for now giving him a new contract i guess.
I disagree about that though Stu – he had the option to leave at the start of the season, if he’d made his decision then then he would have left then…. I don’t think he was 100% happy, but wasn’t willing to leave to a smaller club on smaller wages, he was happier with us collecting his pay packet whilst not playing, which is damning on his persona in my eyes, probably more so than the way he lied to the club when he left.
I’ve gotta go to sleep…been up since 6.30am. Night A.
personally i think Arsene treated him shabbily enough, the boys performances demanded attention and praise.
plus was shafted in the CL final after a great defensive run.
Nite nite stu
still no excuse for dishonesty and fucking the club over colonel
With Rosicky’s constant injury problems, VDV coming to the Emirates wouldn’t be a surprise.
For the Dutch, he played CM and did all the dirty work at Euro 08. Engelaar and De Jong were the CDMS, but VDV is effective offensively and defensively.
Cesc-Song-VDV would be a joy to watch.
Not to mention VDV can play as a 2nd striker and score more goals than Rosicky and Nasri. Very versatile player.
Gregory Van Der Wiel says he wants to come to Arsenal and hopes RVP puts in a good word for him. Article says he’s a talented young CB, but I don’t know too much about him.
Pat I wouldn’t say VDV is effective defensively, much less so than cesc imo, I couldn’t see him playing in that three, certainly not in the big games.
VDV has a similar injury record to Rosicky, so it would be a bit weird, but if he’s available on the cheap I certainly wouldn’t be against it, though I’d expect him to feature more as a wide man than in the middle three.
Van Der Wiel is a right back rather than centre back, good to hear what he said though, obviously eager to come to the club
Though thinking about it it certainly could give us another dimension against the defensive teams, having a left footed player there would give us different angles, more options for passes, just as Vermaelen does passing it out from the back, would give the midfield three a real balance.
It wasn’t a case of us trying to flog flamini for no reason either, he threw a tantrum and said he wasn’t willing to play at full back anymore
—————————
what ? thats just silly …
he played a full season as our DM , keeping out names like diarra and bert , he wasnt ousted by wenger !
he left purely as a lucrative chance to make an extra years income for free when he got his tipping fee !
and apparently we wouldnt budge on paying him a tad more ..
he came out and said it after he left ..
not sure where you get your version of the story from A , but they negotiated from November right around to may and they still couldn’t conclude his signature
wenger in season 08 didnt play flamini at left back once ..
it all came about by wenger screwing the pooch ,
maybe now thats why he’s signing these kids on such long contracts ..
he was burned by the flamini flames !
I didn’t say he did play him at left back once Ethan – you need to read things thoroughly before posting, go back and re read things
wenger in season 08 didnt play flamini at left back once .. or any other position other than next to cesc for that matter …
fullback what ever …
and get the terminology correct DM – CM – CD …
fullback what are you playing aussie rules ? rugby !
get with the program …
I agree ethan, he didn’t play anywhere other than centre mid in 07/08, noone ever said that he did, go back and re-read it, and if you still don’t understand then I’ll explain it to you!
and i didnt mean to say just left back either
a left back or right back is a full back, full back is just the umbrella term that both right or left back falls under
ok ill put it simply for you
——————————–
he threw a tantrum and said he wasn’t willing to play at full back anymore
that statement is bullshit
Adamant: Flamini stresses cash was not the cause of his move
Mathieu Flamini has defended his recent move from Arsenal to AC Milan by revealing that the move was inspired, not by financial reward, but by sporting incentives.
* Arsenal homepage
* Arsenal set to sign Marseille’s Samir Nasri
* Premier League Transfer Talk
He explained: “I always said Milan would have been my first choice if I left Arsenal and I didn’t do it for money.”
“I don’t say it to boast, but I had lots of offers and I chose Milan because it’s every player’s dream. It wasn’t easy to decide to leave London but I knew what I wanted.”
ok ethan as you won’t go back and re-read it then i’ll explain for you!
Others said that we fucked over Flamini when we tried to flog him to Birmingham in the summer of 2006.
I said we only tried to flog him after he’d said that he wasn’t prepared to play at right or left back anymore.
Now do you understand?
Why are we talking about Flamini? He is long gone and would add nothing to the team. Has it not sunk in yet that central midfield is Arsenal’s strongest point, with Denilson and Song often out-performing every other player on the park.
Its just ridiculous how Arsenal fans still go on about it. 90% of discussion on every blog is about something which isn’t even a problem.
Why not concentrate on Theo Walcott, the left back position, who will play up front or the goalkeeper?
Why would we be talking about Theo MnM?!
Because he’s pretty average. Whereas Denilson is great, and still gets an incredible amount of stick.
Not average in the slightest MnM, gonna be a big player for us this season
Please explain, because I just see an average player who does very little for the team.
And how can a bench player play a ‘big’ part in the season?
He’ll score a good 10 goals this season MnM, and isn’t a “bench player.” He makes very intelligent runs, and gets in behind defences, which is something we’ve been lacking recently. He’s also our only forward with real pace, and stretches defences
He is a bench player. If everyone was fit I doubt he would even make the bench to be honest.
He has very little technique, doesn’t use the ball intelligently, looks lost when on the ball and rarely does anything of reral note in a game.
He could go on to be a top player, but that will be entirely down to Arsene’s coaching methods and the brilliance of others to get the best out of his pace.
But he is still not a good finisher.
MnM he’s a good finisher when he’s playing with confidence, but has issues with his confidence at times. He’s got very good technique too. He has the right ideas when it comes to using the ball, it isn’t his intelligence, but it’s his composure and confidence again with his final ball.
He has unbelievable instinctive movement, the timings of his runs are on par with what ljungberg used to do, and that’s the sort of player he’ll become out wide too.
With everyone fit there would be alot of rotation, Arshavin would most likely start most games, but then Rosicky, Nasri, Theo, Eduardo, Bendtner would all rotate in the other wide role, with VP central.
All of those five offer different things, and would be used depending on the situation.
Well, Bendtner is the obvious starter, and would be picked in almost every game if fit, but Theo would be behind Rosicky and Nasri, as well as maybe Eduardo and Eboue, if all fit.
Many players have great movement, many players have instinct and many players can finish, Theo doesn’t have the skill, composure or the finishing ability to match his pace and apparent ‘intelligence’.
Disagree totally MnM, Bendtner would certainly not start every game if fit, and obviously when everyone was fit Eboue wouldn’t start as a wide man. Claiming he would be ahead of Theo is ludicrous and undermines any genuine rationale in your critique of Theo!
Not many players have great movement, if they do they end up at top clubs…. Ljungberg built his entire career for us on his movement, and developed a composure in front of goal. I expect Theo to do the same, apart from Theo has more pace and generally more ability.
In any game our back 5, Cesc, VP, and Arshavin would start almost every game. After that one of Denilson and Song would start, along with either the other one, Diaby, Nasri, or Rosicky. Then up top we’d have Bendtner if we wanted the aerial ability and ball retention, Rosicky or Nasri if we wanted the playmaking, Theo if we wanted the pace, movement, and to stretch the defence, or Eduardo if we wanted the finishing. None of them would be any more first choice than the others imo, but would rotate depending on the analysis of the opposition, their make up, and strengths and weaknesses.
Arsenal’s first team is clearly:
Almunia (should be Fabianski_
Sagna
Gallas
Vermaelen
Clichy
Denilson
Song
Fabregas
Bendtner
van Persie
Arshavin
That is just an obvious observation of Wenger’s team selection’s in pre-seaspn and before the two front-men’s injuries.
Walcott does offer pace, I will give him that, but how often does he actually do something that truly effects a game? How often does he score or assist? Make a run that ends up as a goal or something similar?
We can go on about his injuries all day long, but the fact is, Tjeo was poor before his injuries, and he is after them.
MnM it’s ridiculous to claim that our first team is “clearly” anything.
Denilson, Song, and Diaby havn’t been fully fit at the same time, likewise the forwards.
I’d expect Diaby to play most games in the midfield three, with one of Song and Denilson.
And the forwards would just rotate the whole time.
Trying to go on this season, our first team would be
Cesc Song Diaby
Rosicky VP Arshavin
But it’s absolutely impossible and laughable to claim there’s any obvious first team because we’ve not been close to having everyone available at the same time, and pre season is even funnier to claim that it’s a representation of a first choice!
So far this season Theo hasn’t been fit yet, so it’s impossible to know how often he contributes, he’s only started 2 games and gotten 1 goal
Denilson is well ahead of Diaby in terms of team selection. That’s like saying Traore is our first choice left back.
And I think it is a pretty obvious first team. The only real change I would expect is Eboue coming in when we play the likes of Man Utd to give us more defensive protection, otherwise, Bendtner is the right winger.
As for Theo, I am not rating him based on his hapless performances this season, I am rating him on every one of his 100+ games for Arsenal, and his development as a player.
A thats still incorrect he was happy playing at left back ,full back .. anywhere providing he got a start (game) ….
he was frustrated at not playing in 2006 ..
thats why he probably thought a move away to another EPL club would give him more pitch time .
it was nothing about not wanting to play a position .. it was about not playing at ALL !
because he didnt complain at all until clichy returned to left back … then his bum got splinters ..
Theo will be a good player for us. He has good technique and is an instinctive finisher. It’s only when he gets too much time to bottle it that he ends up fucking it up. He’ll get over that, most players are like that when they’re young.
MnM Diaby has started every game he’s been fit for so far this season, Sunday was the first game he hasn’t started when available and he was coming back from injury and not fully fit, nothing like Traore now is it, let’s not be silly.
Ethan in the summer of 2006 Flamini said publically he wasn’t prepared to play at full back anymore.
We therefore said we were willing to let him go elsewhere to get first team football, and accepted a bid from Birmingham, but he rejected them.
Arsenal’s first team is clearly:
Fabianski_
Sagna
Gallas
Vermaelen
Clichy
Nasri
Rosicky
Fabregas
dudu
van Persie
Arshavin
imo ….
How often is Rosicky available for selection?
Eduardo too?
That is why you see the likes of Denilson/Eboue around the first team.
Giving Rosicky a long term deal is madness.
Give him a pay as you play deal, ship Eboue out (as Denilson is way too loved by AW), get VdV in…an attacker who has 10+ goals/season in him.
VDV is a luxury imo…So is Rosicky.
We need a tall striker. Wouldnt mind Ken Jones at this point.
Wouldnt mind a CDM/CB as well.
Liverpool spent 20 – 25 million on Torres.
If Torres was available today would Arsene pay that amount for him?
OFcoarse not.
That is our biggest issue with Le Prof.
Apparently AW wanted Torres at 16 and Atletico told him where to stick it!
I doubt we’re looking at more than one player to come in Jan…
You’re right though…a CF is priority…be it Dzeko/Chamakh/Gignac or A.N.Other.
If Song being away means more minutes for Rambo then I’m all with that!
If you think Song not being around means more time for Rambo then you are deluding yourself my friend, hard as it is to believe, but Denilson is ahead of him in the pecking order, be prepared for a month of frustration on and off the field in January….
Who will he pair Denilson with though?
Surely Diaby will be crocked every second game…
I don’t really think Denilson’s there to keep Ramsey out, if anything, he’d play next to him, Ramsey’s had several games and I think his physique has helped him to progress quicker than some of the others.
I hope no-ones rushed in, Vela and Walcott have had a couple of games back and they’ve already got people on their backs.
If your young and inexperienced, coming back from injury or trying to get your fitness back it’s one thing to come into a settled and experienced team, it’s completely another to come into a group of players who through injury or whatever reason are in the same boat learning and growing together.
We needed a game like the Liverpool one to push us on and hopefully they use it to get past the likes of Burnley.
I hope you’re right and we smash Burnley mate.
Can only go strength to strenght from there on.
I dunno, we need games to build on, it took Van Persie a while to get in the flow and once he did we looked pretty lethal then the injury, the way our luck goes we’ve just started to get it working again with Arshavin and he’ll probably end up injured or something.
Big game wins are real confidence boosters.
They will feel they’re ready for it all now.
Hopefully trouncing Burnley & Hull will get them even more fired up for the Villa game.
We don’t have a choice but to get behind the players we have for now and see what happens in Jan.
But if we do beat these 2 teams comfortably we’ll get Villa thinking for sure.
Someone like Torres in our side would just be awesome to watch.
Torres is just out of this world in terms of positioning, finishing, pace and power.
We instead play with Bendtner!
We have been just 1-2 players away from becoming a feared side for the past three seasons.
One real class upfront and one in the defensive mid area.
The thing is instead of having one or 2 world class players in attack we have 3-4 super class players… Fab Arsh VP Nasri Rosicky even Vela Nik and Eddy are players who can have a decent side built around them.
Morning all
spot-on ikon, 2 players and we would start to rule everything…
It’s really a bitch that we lost an in form VP. He was 1/3rd of the all conquering attacking trinity of him Arsh and Fab…
Zzzzzzzz….same old same old rico, it’s the same soddin argument/hope/discussion we’ve been having for the past two or three seasons, this manager’s not gonna buy what’s need because it would be viewed as a admission of personal failure….
morning dennis, i know, bloomin annoying isn’t it, just wish it would happen, but for sure it won’t be in january
How is buying a player admission of personal failure DDM? If SAF buys in the winter would he be admitting personal failure? We’ve always bought players under Wenger. We won’t be buying anyone by paying over the odds if that’s what you mean…
Morning all…
I see it’s a slow day today.
If he buys a Torres who gets binned? If he buys a Buffon who gets binned? Players who he has staked his reputation on for the past number of seasons….