Yeah we know Arsene, who’s fault did you think we thought it was? Pat Rice’s? Anyway if that’s your way of saying sorry, I accept, what I don’t accept however is this statement…
‘It’s very important that we win something, we’re here to win trophies, but it depends on what you call trophies, Is it the Champions League, the Premier League, the League Cup? If you win the League Cup you cannot say you win trophies for me’
Well at least he’s finally admitting he doesn’t recognise the league cup, something I have been saying now for a very long time, perhaps some of the sycophants will now believe it, as he’s finally admitted why he fields a youth team, that hasn’t a hope in hell of winning it.
What was more sinister though was this outrageous comment…
‘Of course [finishing third is better than winning a domestic cup]. It’s much more difficult’
So after reading this on Pravda, he has now finally got round to telling us, he isn’t interested in the FA Cup either and qualifying for the Champions league is his target, and why? It’s because he gets a huge bonus for qualification and the club earns good money.
I know that 4th place also qualifies but only for the qualifying rounds and not straight in.
So there you have it, from the horses mouth, Arsene and the board are only interested in the continuance of the gravy train, the Champions league shilling. At last it’s out and the doggedness of Le Grove sticking to our guns against all the abuse from certain quarters, that our leader won’t spend money on building a great team because he and his board are just not interested in silverware, it all about making money.
Onto today and our trip to Stamford Bridge, a big well done to Fabio Capello for being man enough to rid the country of that lout Terry from the England captaincy.
That turgid little arse kisser Pearce tried to tell the world, knocking up your best mates bird has nothing to do with football, Stuart, I bet your wife is proud of you mate, what a nice bloke you are, and another great example of celebrity loving, broken Britain.
Fabio, all I want to know is why it took 12 minutes, was it because you laughing yourself silly for 11 minutes and 50 seconds after you tin-tacked the mug and he was begging you to phone his bint?
Well let’s just hope as you are reading this that Cashley has been revealed by the News of The World as being the 5th man, I’d be surprised, as I always suspected that wasn’t really his thing, girls that is.
So I was offered the chance to sit in the directors box at the Bridge, by a very good friend, I declined his kind offer because it’s a long way back and I wasn’t that confident, that was however before we heard all the news about their shagging, I’m now hoping that will serve to distract them and we’ll get a result, well that and the way they played against Hull.
Mind you, I did say that last week. If he drops the hapless Denilson, we may have a better shape, if the team mans up and act like they want to win then we may have a chance of getting a result.
With the Mancs starting to play football again, we need to win to stay in the race, and with the scousers winning again, we really need to look over our shoulder, so a win will take away some of the pain and maintain a healthy gap in the table.
We absolutely have to play Bendtner and Diaby today to have any chance, I also hope we don’t see Eboue on the wing.
So this is my guess for the team, well it is if we want to show the chavs we mean business, please don’t make them laugh as hard as Fergie must have last week when he saw that team sheet Arsene.
Anyone but Almunia
Eboue Gallas Vermaelen Clichy
Song Cesc Diaby
Rosicky Bendtner Arshavin
I have never in my footballing life heard any manager, let alone an Arsenal one say that finishing third is more important than winning a trophy, so Arsene, let’s at least do that then, and start by winning today.
So the player we tried to sign was Sorenson, if that’s true he needs to drop Almunia, today, but the final word belongs to Cesc, we are offering him a new 5 year contract to stay, why? He already has one to 2014 doesn’t he??? What is the matter with us, that’s 4 years!
Have a great day Grovers, this is a must not lose game.
Yeah El Tel apart from the bad choices to come when he shouldn’t have, flapping and missing punches on the edge of the six yard box, his handling was better than it has been. Seemed we tried to do what alot of teams have against Chelsea and swing balls in towards him hoping for him to drop the ball or flap, but he caught all of them.
So you didn’t see him injure Terry SUGA?!
Cech is a keeper that if Chelsea win the title, they will have done so in spite of imo.
‘We told you so’
A
He missed two crosses of many.
If Schmeical was playing with this defence he would rip thier throats out.
The Clown just shrugs his shoulders.
Where were the defenders when Nik Anelka blasted way over?
I didn’t see an explosion of fury from the poodle handler.
Fuck being his handbag doggy, hope he hasn;t dropped the pooch too many times.
Poor little blighter must shit himself when over the Clowns shoulder.
NSPCA should send a free blindfold to poochy.
that flare was wierd i thought ok they are just trying to have fun now make a better situation out of a bad one top away support
bad result expected it really…
A,
please mate, that is just poor – ‘in spite of’? come on, if we were to win the title, that would be ‘in spite of’ fielding dross like Almunia & Denilson (who was thankfully dropped)…
if it was not for the woodwork, this game would be a carbon copy of the one at the Emirates…
to see us being a Drogba’s target in more or less the same way Derby was for Ade is ridiculous…
Yeah I agree with that El Tel, Almunia certainly doesn’t have much of a personality between the sticks, doesn’t seem to be a good organiser or a good communicator at all. Vermy and Gallas too, our defence’s organisation and communication seems very poor, yet Traore went on in an interview about how good it is playing with those two at centre back talking and organising all the time.
In the big games I swear the whole team just lose their heads.
Yeah SUGA, “in spite of”, rather than “because of”.
What’s the relevance of Denilson and Almunia to that?! I agree, they wouldn’t win us a title.
Chelsea have conceded one of the highest number of goals from set pieces out of everyone in the league, and a large number of those goals have been because of Cech.
Sharkeysure.
At the beginning of the season the only keeper IMO in the Prem worse than him would be Fatty Robinson but give me him any day now mate.
Bolton (a) first shot on target = goal (dissalowed for offside although that wasn’t known at the time it hit the net).
Bolton (h) First shot on target = goal.
Mancscum (h) I believe as I never saw the game first shot on target = goal.
Chavs (a) first shot on target = goal.
You probably guessed I hate Almunia but I do have a valid point regarding his shitness.
the relevance is in the gap between the quality of both
Coco or Cech? duh, that’s a tough one…
on that note, I shall bid you good night – quite tired…
if we had cech and they had almunia it would hav e been chelski 0-2 arsenal
El Tel,
Chavs had 2 shots on target in the first half and scored 2 goals…
both were avoidable – fucking Clichy…
Can’t agree there Gooby, Cech certainly wouldn’t have done anything more on the corner!
Le Gaffer was up to his old tricks again carryingon about time wasting. Really though it was he who was wasting time by starting with the line up he did. But who am I to question
No one tagged Dogpoo until it was too late. If The Arsenal had gone 2 up @ home would the management have changed to a sit back & hit one the counter, no ofcourse not, strategy to suite the occassion would be going against the principles of playing beautiful football.
I watched it live, but I won’t again. Footy season is about to start down here now. Go The Tigers!!!!!!!!!!!
A
I agree regarding Cech, he is over rated but he is still in the top 4 in the Prem IMO.
I said at the beginning of the season that VDS was thier best signing in recent years and you shot me down along with some others.
VDS has played with a different defence over the past few games but he makes a massive difference.
The Mancscum have been more consistent since his return from injury and he could possibly help them win 4 Prems in a row come the seasons end.
I wouldn’t have shot you down for saying he was an awesome signing El Tel!
BUT now he’s like Cech, nothing on what he used to be, flaps, unagile, poor decision making etc. He’s still a very good organiser though.
I wouldn’t say either Cech or VDS are in the top 4 in the league, or better than 16 other keepers anyways.
Reina is the best for me by a fair bit. Pains me to say it but Gomes is probably second!
Cech, VDS, Given, Freidel, Howard, Robbo, Hart, Jussi are all much of a muchness, decent but miles away from when Cech and VDS were good a couple of years ago, Jens, Seaman, Schmeichel etc.
A
in general, they would have conceded if almunia was their keeper. i felt we controled the game(fact) without being dangerous and that’s because we are playing with no fucking striker.
on the other hand i really can’t figure out wenger’s brain. he used to be so obsesed in stikers in the past and all he likes now is playing midfielders or wingers out of postion and getting his CB to go forward.
walcott shouldn’t play from the start in the big games, he should come in at the end and if he doesn’t show signs of a football player, we should sell him.
in clichy’s case- i really like the guy (ot should i say, i used to) he returned in action too quickly, wenger didn’t give him a rest, he should have been a sub for a few game.
Diaby is a huge player for us, really fights for the team and tracks back and rarely gets bullied away. he is going to save our season if there’s something left in it.
Gnarley old Pal.
Agree about your remarks but Wenger has a point mate. Around the 70th minute I remember saying to my Brother that “they were slowing things down” as we were starting to go past them at will.
I mentioned that “Terry had his leg bandaged on the pitch but walked off after it was strapped up”. They also made Subs every couple of mins, instead of bringing 2 on they staggered them.
I reckoned on 5 mins added on but my Brother said “yeh bollocks not at their place”.
Cesc’s free kick on the edge of their box (great save by Cech) was a joke as they wasted minutes and the ref gave up when they reached 7 yards instead of the 10 where he was pointing. What happened to the move the ball closer to goal rule?
We were building up a good head of steam and they were there for the taking buut we had no shootingg boots on again today.
and oh! we have a six pointer against liverpool
Gooby
I am not a Diaby fan but he played well today untill his legs went.
Song looked tasty too and Eboue.
If we lose against Liverpool we’re really in freefall, things could go from bad to worse
Stll pissed off with the way we have defended recently.
But all is not lost.
Nik B looks like he is back, Denilson was dropped and surely now Almunia must be on his way out.
injuries are still costing us much more than our competitors. Chelsea have drogba man u have Rooney, whereas we have RVP out for 7 months, Bendtner was out for 3 months. it does make it difficult. Wenger should have bought in the summer to replace Ade.
our midgets are no use without big men winning battles for them.
the back 4 and midfield 3 today are a decent set of players. If Arsh is played on the left and Nik B at CF, then we put Fabianski in goal, then we are a very good team. It sounds so easy, but it seems virtually impossible for wenger to see it.
Song is likely to be suspended for 2 matches very soon. only one more booking and he will miss 2 games. Denilson cannot replace him. Den should not be at Arsenal.
Top 3 should be safe IMO, so suddenly the CL becomes our main aim. we probably need to avoid the English teams but if we can defend just a bit better and get a bit of luck , you never know.
A
You are right about the much of a muchness of most of the keepers but reina is too short for me and not close to Cech or VDS IMO.
Reina, Good keeper but not great. I like Gomez too but again he isn’t great. Don’t like Given much and glad we didn’t get him.
Spot on Gazzap and A.
Got to go now guys. Good to chat.
I watched the game while ill, so it didn’t do much to help me lol. Again, Wenger has part blame to the way the season has turned out, but his belief in the team is not enough for me to say sack him (not at all). He might need to buy a few players, and I think I have an idea on who I would get, but it’s Wenger’s team, not mine.
Almunia……well. I used to defend him a lot, but he’s been so poor this season that I just want him dropped from the team. He has no confidence, no presence, flaps at crosses and while he is a decent shotstopper, he doesn’t seem to have the required reflexes to keep out shots that Seaman or Lehmann would have saved. We have been quite spoilt when it came to 1st choice goalies thanks to those two, and Almunia seems to be the combo-breaker. Time to promote Sczesny, who is the most talented keeper we have. He wins Brentford points.
Diaby was our best player today, and I always believed he would become a valuable member of the 1st team let alone the squad. I understood people’s frustrations with him completely, but I can’t believe some people used to call him shit lol. The same people that said Denilson was better…….well, look how that is turning out. Denilson has regressed so much that Ramsey is already out-performing him and he isn’t even ready. This could spell the beginning for Merida if he decides to sign on the dotted line.
As for our tiny strikeforce…..well it is easy to say that injuries forced our hand, but then we had a whole month to rectify that.
I agree that Reina isn’t close to either of them as they used to be, he’s nowhere near the level of top keepers in the past, but currently far superior to both of them imo. Reina isn’t that short….
I agree, neither he nor Gomes are greats, and Given far from it too, currently there aren’t any keepers close to being great in the prem!
Gomes, is your second best keeper?
Jeez A, that is scrapping the barrel!
Toodles El Tel.
Does anyone know a good website that shows TV shows? Looking for The Office episodes, the American version, Megavideo seems to have died.
I know Pedro, you have to scrape the Barrel when looking at the prem these days! Gomes is very underrated imo, though far from a top top keeper. He was a joke when first arrived, and is still ridiculed as such by alot of people because of that, but only Reina is better than him imo, though that isn’t saying much!
I don’t understand the judging of keepers.
According to a lot of people on here. No one is any good.
Sorry… but all keepers make mistakes, it’s about who makes the least.
VDS is top class, Reina is probably the best and Cech showed today why he hasn’t been flogged. I also think Freidel is a class act and I think Myhill has been pretty good considering the shower of shite he’s playing for.
I’m worried about Fabianski, from recent comments it seems Wenger has lost faith in him a bit, I really hoped and expected him to be number one by now, if it doesn’t happen very soon I fear it could never happen.
… and look to the foreign leagues.
Iker and Valdes both drop clangers.
The Italian league is hardly testing on keepers… the French league is the same.
The Premiership is the hardest league to be a keeper.
A, I reckon he’ll get a 32 year old stop gap and wait for Chesney.
Pedro did you not notice Cech’s mistakes today, on top of his saves? imo he showed today why Chelsea have conceded more than almost everyone else from set pieces, and injured his captain doing so! They were just lucky the ball didn’t fall to our players when he came flying out of goal and missed the ball, flapping or trying to punch and missing.
is diaby out?
i forgot to say that song is turning into world class, he knows when to get forward now and does it good. eboue clearly has a point to prove to wenger and today he conviced me, at least he creates danger up front and i have always likes his defending.
it was a big blow to lose RvP, chavs and mancs got there fw star. liverpool struggled from torres’s absence too.
i loved the moment when carvalho tried to push bendy and that cunt bit the dust. B52 showed class and strengh in that moment, hopefully he can drive us forward in the CL
A, I saw him dealing with almost everything we threw at him today. I saw him make a top class save from Cesc’s freekick and even better one from Arshavins Volley. He held almost everything.
That was a great performance… even better when you consider the rain.
Maybe Pedro, though I don’t see any 32 year olds I’d want us to sign at the moment, maybe just throw Szczesny straight in from the start of next season?!
cech comes from the french league.
Gooby, world class doesn’t lose Drogba when marking him on a corner.
A, I can’t see him doing that. He’d leave himself too exposed if he flopped.
Fair dos Pedro, I saw it very different!
I don’t believe you can call it a great performance when you do what he did when he injured Terry!
Should have got Sorenson or Begovic though buying him would have “killed” Fabianski and Chesneys developement
Collateral damage.
pedro
i said he is turning into one, not yet. losing drogba knowing he is there target man was plain stupidity
I still can’t believe how bad our defending was for the first goal Pedro, half our team were terrible there, and as a whole. It’s just against the big teams, we totally lose our heads.
Begovic Alex?! No closer to being ready to play than Fabianski imo. Sorenson would’ve been a better stop gap than Almunia though
i wonder if wenger has even a defensive plan for corners :O
Up to now we’ve been very good from corners this season Gooby, got a decent record at defending set pieces, today everything just went to shit at that first one, absolutely terrible in so many ways!
the second goal is much more depressing. loosing the ball stupidly(i think it was arshavin) and completly falling apart at the back.
Was it just because Arshavin AND Theo started, therefore we had two players who couldn’t or didn’t expect to defend? Up to now we’ve had everyone back, and one player on the edge, now with two on the edge, we had a player less marking, and everyone panicked when they realised
A, I agree… the first goal was
1. Vermy losing terry
2. Song losing Drogba
3. Clichy losing the post
I don’t think it’s only against the big teams… it’s just against the big teams, you’re not going to get 4 goals.
A,
Clichy was nowhere for the second goal – again!
i wonder what arshavin will say in the next day.
I dunno Gooby, the first one makes me very annoyed!
Arshavin, Clichy, Cesc with the organisational retardedness.
Vermaelen and Song with terrible marking.
The experienced players for not taking charge and organising the defence, or realising the problem.
Gooby are you mental!! Song WORLD CLASS!!
He was ball watching for drogba goal
A,
I would say our defending is always terrible.
Its just the smaller teams cant punish it like the best teams can.
on the other end we didn’t score. the untd game was a huge faillure we looked like bunch of sunday league players but today to be fair they didn’t look better than us expext in the key moments. and that is due to our lack of balance and proper tatics
Clichy completely screwed up for the first goal. All this pointing at Carvalho thing is a load of nonsense.
Clichy gained f-all by moving across the goal line, in fact it was totally irrelevant to Carvalho. He would have been better served staying exactly where he was.
Gooby agreed re Diaby the powerhouse. Song weren’t at his best today(even if you discount losing Drogba) but showed us enough to know he’s pretty much what we need in there.
It was great to not get completly outmuscled for a change.
Pedro I dunno if you can blame Clichy necessarily for the post thing, has to be shared! The whole team for leaving Carvalho unmarked, Arshavin for shouting rather than marking, Cesc for going to try and mark him, Clichy for going to cover Cesc, it was just a comedy of errors!
SUGA I dunno, it was both his fault and Vermy’s fault imo. Clichy moved inside tracking Anelka, he probably shouldn’t have done, he should have left Anelka with two defenders centrally, but once he had gone with Anelka inside Vermy should’ve gone to Drogba being the furthest left man, and then should have stood off a bit expecting Drogba to turn inside like that.
We lost against stoke, Draw against villa and lose against United and Chelsea!!! its a joke what has wenger done to Arsenal!!
wengers time is up!! BYE WENGER!!
How hard would it be to get someone in who knew how to teach defence?
George Grahams defence played Wengerball pretty well!
I do think it’s against the big teams we lose our heads – from set pieces we’ve been pretty solid and organised this season. Diaby’s own goal, Vermy’s own goal, mistakes from pretty much every player in the squad, be they established experienced players, or marmites, everyone has made individual mistakes which they havn’t over the rest of the season, I just don’t understand it. Maybe too inexperienced, can’t handle the pressure, no confidence. It isn’t the opposition being clinical, own goals scored by us isn’t anything to do with the quality of the opposition! Gallas’ miskick today too, just crazy
rob green
OK he made a mistake on the goal but he is a very good player on the field. i said he is turnning into world class and i belive he will be.
vieira made a marking error on materrazzi in the 2006′s world cup final and made his team loose the WC.
all this is my Humble opignon.
Pedro, but we all know how much Wenger likes to delegate power dont we?!
i am sorry but i really want wenger to go!! we need fresh blood!! I wont be surprised if fabregas goes at the end of the season!! I know the grass is not always greener but how long do we have to wait for a trophy! wenger says he has money but refuses to spend!
I know it wont happen but we need dein back!! its all gone tits up since he left
I cant believe wenger was the manager of the unbeatables!!
Pedro – get Keown basck. It reaklly does look that simple to me, not guaranteed but it Shirley is worth a try.
Ped, Rob G. Give song a break…he lost hios man, it happens. If Kaka does an air shot you don’t re-rate him on that moment alone.
Even not at his best today…he did a very good job for us….
Personally I wouldn’t say he was world class, but if I compared him to some of the shite thats been offered up as alternatives on here then I prob would.
Muamba, Cattermole !!!!
If we don’t practice defense in training… there is a start.
Set pieces need to be drilled imo… both ends.
We lose our shape and our discipline and it’s been the same all year. Look at the goals we’ve concended. 30 odd now?
That’s not championship winning defence…
Pedro I don’t believe it’s that at all.
The players KNOW how to defend, they do it the vast majority of the time. Just as Arshavin knows how to pass when someone is standing there for an open goal, or Nasri. Diaby KNOWS how to head the ball, Vermaelen KNOWS how to deal with a cross, Almunia KNOWS what to do when a cross is floated across, it’s just when it comes to the big games they don’t do it!
I really don’t see it as something the players need to be taught, it’s all psychological, belief/composure/intelligence/experience, whatever it is we don’t have it as a collective!
Who the fuck are the ‘unbeatables’..?? Lol
I thought our defense was awesome when Keown coached them, its weird that he did not continue.
Sharkey, Song hasn’t won World player of the year before!
He’s not world class, he has never been world class… and today highlighted why he’s not at that level yet.
He’s doing well, but I’m not packing my PV04 shirt away just yet.
Clichy’s been poor since coming back, bring back Traore?
Win against liverpool
Utd still have to play Villa, Liverpool, chelsea, City, Everton and Spurs.
and Chavs still have to play Everton, City, Utd, Liverpool, Villa & Spurs.
I think to have any chance we have to win all our remaining games and maybe afford a draw away at stoke. You never know.
Good shout on the pyschology A…how else do we explain some iof these individual errors..??
Anyway, A if you’re still ‘in limbo’ shall I say, the ACCA courses must be restarting soon….get youself sorted out !!
Nite all
i like this team
———lehman——–
-lauren–toure–sol—cunt
—-petit——paddy—–
-lujenberg———pires
——-denis B——-
———-Henry—–
Wenger has a team of technically gifted players but the majority are light weight we don’t have any powerful athletes!!
I don’t think the likes of clichy, sagna, nasri, rosisky, Walcott, Bedtner, denilson, Alumunia are world class and are as good as people think!!
Alex, i believe we still have a slight chance of getting the title
A, I know how to defend a cross, I’m not turning out for Arsenal on a regular basis.
You get better at things through practice… to suggest otherwise is nonsense.
You’re telling me that defending is all in the mind… sorry… it’s not… it’s in the practice.
We’re great at passing… why? That’s all Wenger teaches.
So the reason we cant beat the big boys is because of pyschology resons!! BOLLOX we are just not good enough!!
There are actually many studies that back practice as the common denominator in all greatness.
Oh yeah… I just pulled science into the debate.
You gotta love Alan Partridge;
Woman; “My Grandfather was in a wheelchair”
Partridge; “Really, was he born in a wheelchair?”
i am off!! i cant put up with this shit anymore!! Wenger is not taking us forward!! All he cares about is pretty football and his stupid fucking project!!
The Man is lost the plot!! We don’t need a striker!!
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-fantastic-vela-is-like-fowler
does anyone know why clichy left the back post?
vermaelen was with drogba when lampard started running with the ball I think he was at fault for the confusion for thier second
vela will suerly deliver in 2016(at barca)
Well, don’t say we didn’t warn Wenger.
Pedro I’m not saying that defending is all in the mind at all, i’m saying that the mistakes are all in the mind!
They practice it all the time, they do it game in game out, and deal with EXACTLY the same situations game in game out, then it comes to big games, and in identical situations, the players just totally go to shit. Football wise the situations are absolutely identical, the only difference is the seriousness of the game.
We’re great at passing 90% of the time, then in the big games at times the players in identical situations misplace passes, or make the wrong decisions, and the ONLY difference is the importance of the game.
Something REALLY needs to be done about it, but imo it has absolutely NOTHING to do with coaching the players, or getting them doing the right things in training, as they know exactly what they’re supposed to be doing, they do it the rest of the time, it’s just in the big games they lose their heads totally
kirby Clichy left the post to cover for Cesc, who left his postition to mark Carvalho, who Arshavin had run back to the edge of the box shouting about being unmarked. Dominos effect
Drogba ran over to the coaching staff after his first goal, in his interview he said they constantly practicing good crosses and bad crosses so they always improve.
Practive makes perfect, and the way the team got all cofused with the first goal was PATHETIC, I blamed Clichy at first after seeing him run from the far post, but after Andy Grey looked at it and showed it was more than just clichy at fault, i get to realise that it was a very tiny mistake that got punished by a quality team (striker), that wouldnt happen against the lower teams, but against the big sides we always pay the price.
I wanna know what Nasri was thinking when he was put through, that was the CHANCE!!!!! and he fucked it up
What did Andy Gray say it was Frichie?
imo there were three things that went wrong, two individual and one collective!
Cesc will crack and leave in the summer. He will pal up with his Spanish buddies in SAfrica with yet more empty promises of investment ringing in his ears. Wenger will never be forgiven for driving out a true Arsenal legend, that will signal the end of his reign…
This is doing my fucking head in.
Like one of those reoccuring dreams that you have no control over, you know the fucking outcome but its always going to finish the same. Like a broken record Wenger goes on TV with the same old shit, as always we bottle it when the going gets tough, then he reminds us how young the team is, we FUCKING know coz they ain’t only young their fuckin nieve. Then during the week the hurt wears off and I go searching for news on Newsnow. WHY there is no fucking news, he’s busy balancing the fuckin books and telling everyone that is stupid enough to listen that his team are so fuckin young. This is one horrible merry go round.
For the first time since I started to support Arsenal in 1970 I have began to dislike my own teams players! That is fuckin sad
pretty disgusted with the attitude on here…even after 8 minutes comments of fans throwing the towel in. pathetic.
we played well, lacked quality upfront, maybe if arshavin wasnt so wasteful (again) we could have been more of a threat. Im sorry, but if he is recieving the ball, and the CB has time to go round the front of him, and win it on the deck, then AA should meet the ball first. not hard.
diaby and song were excellent today and we really controlled the midfield.
one myth we can put to bed is men v boys. we were strong in the challenge and got stuck in.
did everything right apart from contain the best striker on the planet.
no problem of dispatching of the bin dippers if we play like that.
some of you should lay off the steriods. or stop hiding behind the internet and act on your ever passionate belief for wengers removal.
the longer and more self proclaiming this ‘i told you so attitude’goes on, the more and more pathetic you will look.
good support though. its decent to know a few of you can last more than 10 minutes before acting like children.
hurry up and cancel your season tickets. they are being wasted.
A: Whats been said already, Carvalho hanging back, Clichy and Cesc pointing, and he actually blamed Arshvin who was closest to him, who didnt get back to cover in time, hence the fuck up, Cesc decides to go go to the far post, clichy moves to cescs position, but cesc only gets halfway because only then did arshvin get into position.
I would say it was still clichys faults, he should have screamed his head off at Arsh and stayed on the far post…basic error of being sucked into position.
Also of note was that Vermaelen was marking terry, but chelsea player and diaby were next to them, and when terry ran around his own player, Vermaelen couldnt get goal side of terry cos he had to go around Diaby.
I agree with you A on the mental side though, its totally psychological, over the last couple of years we have developed an inferiority complex, fear if u like against the big teams.
They hit the wrong bus in africa, they should had gone for ivory coast, and gor drogba
Cesc_my boy (not to be confused with the rather abusive incesc)
Possibly the most postive thing I’ve read all night, since getting my cyber head kicked in for not agreeing with the negative flow on here earlier.
Actually read some of your earlier comments and again well expressed and thought out comments. A bit of a breath of fresh air.
I left earlier vowing to not come on again after a game as the comments on here from some people just beggars belief.
Yeah Frichie – Vermy was too far away from Terry imo, not marking anywhere near tight enough, which made it easy for Terry to manoeuvre himself into a position where Vermy couldn’t get to him.
Vermy didn’t have the best of games imo, as he didn’t in the first game against Chelsea, and against Utd. First season in a top league though so he’ll learn.
It’s weird isn’t it the psychological thing, I don’t get how we’re gonna get over it. I have little faith in the Champions League as a result of it, havn’t done since the start of the season, despite our beating Chelsea and Utd last season! Though I certainly didn’t expect us to lose at the Emirates in the way we did, away from home certainly, but not at our place.
Surely I’m not alone here in wondering why we try and cross into the box? Arshavin is 5’4 for ffs. Sagna and Walcott are probably the worst crossers of the ball in the league. I’d play Eboue ahead of Walcott every day of the week.
Clichy responsible for both goals.
Walcott needs to go back in the reserves or loaned out.
Almunia is a tool.
Play Eboue Right wing and keep Sagna at RB.
And of course sign a centre forward, whose to say RVP won’t be injured again next season.
All basic stuff.
Simples.
Cesc My Boy. I like it. A cool head amongst the general nutterdom and horrible personal insults.. There is such an imbalance at the club and a clear case of Arsene being omnipotent with perhaps too much power. But I cannot see Stan Kroenke loosening the purse strings enough to enable us to buy the 3 or 4 top players who would transform this team. Even if Arsene had the money, would he invest it in those players? The only way I see of us being able to compete is to get a huge injection of cash and David Dein back doing the wheeling and dealing. That would come at a cost though. I want to see an Arsenal where, when a world star becomes available, we are in for him. That is not this Arsenal and I just don’t see it being Stan’s Arsenal. He simply doesn’t have the money.
What do you guys think of Taiwo from Marseille? I’ve seen him a few times and he looked impressive, but not enough to really judge him overall. Clichy has been very poor, and not recently either. It’s been going on for a while. Ever since that day against Birmingham, it’s like that has just totally affected him. If we were to go for another LB, who would be a top choice for us? Again, I only really know Taiwo, but not enough to say HOW good he really is.
Gooby – your delusional if you think bentner will make a difference to us going forward. never in a month of Sundays will he be the answer.
taiwo? he is shite.
even clichy outclass him in positioning
………………….Sorenson………………….
Sagna……….Gallas………..Vermy…….Clich/New
………………….Yaya/Song…………………
…….Cesc……………………….DIaby………
………………………Arshavin……………..
…………………………..RVP………………
……………….Chamakh………………………
That would be my team going forward
2nd team
………………Fab/Man/Ches………………….
Eboue…….JD…………..Sol/New….Gibbs/Traore
…………………M.Diarra…………………..
……..Ramsey……………………Rosicky…….
………………………Nasri……………….
……………….Eduardo/Theo…………………
………….Bendtner………………………….
Vela Merida Wilshere and company to go on loan for the first half of the season to premiership clubs to get experience and toughen up….
clonel mustard-
what other choices do you have now other than getting behind the team.
the only striker we have left is bendy and we have to believe in him.
Well like I said, haven’t seen much to really judge him, but when I have he’s looked better than CLichy has done in a while.
Now that the big games are over we don’t need to make a difference, we just need to play exactly as we have been, and we’ll win all the little games. Just gotta pray for an unlikely collapse from Chelsea!
Obviously though Bendtner will make a difference, having a forward there with physical presence who will hold the ball up, and Arshavin back in a wide free role will be better than Arshavin central, but even with Arshavin central we’d be fine now, though it’s most likely too late.
Taiwo is better than Clichy going forward, not defensively.
I’d rather Traore played there, and competing with Gibbs from the start of next season
A
yep A exactly, taiwo is too stupid and always leaves highways behind him.
So who else would be a good shout for LB? I’m not familiar with that much LBs.
Yep agreed there Gooby, though he does have a hell of a shot on him! Then again, so does Traore!
imo left back is the least of our worries, three very good left backs in the squad, and although clichy isn’t on form now it’s largely because of his injury.
I’d stick Traore in now though, high hopes for him.
traore is rubbish
Anyway guys, I’m off. Have a good one. Or try to, after another miserable weekend.
taiwo got a dencent shot, very powerfull but he doesn’t score that much on free-kicks usually it gets stuck in the wall.
aly cissokho from lyon is a good left back as well as inter’s santon(haven’t seen him playing for a while now though)
What do you guys think of teams for next season…
We need to get rid of Almunia or bench him….
Sorenson would be a good stop gap until Chesney is ready imo…..
I think we should abondon, the Theo on the wing experiment…I think we should play him like Michael Owen was played…..he has speed but not many tricks so experienced athletic left backs totally shut him down…..Cole and Evra have showed that….
Lets get him into the centre against slower lumbering, less agile centre backs…
My first choice CF pairing for next season would be
1. Chamakh + RVP
2. Bendy + Eddy/Theo
So you would always have one big powerful striker along side a smaller more agile/technical one…
Imagine starting Bendy + Theo in the FA cup with the option of Eduardo…
In the league Chamkh + RVP with the option of Eddy
Thats excellent.if Vela is not on loan..then Bendy + Vela….
We dont have any wingers anyway….so we should play the formation that Chelsea plays…with the second striker or the man at the top of the diamond drifting wide if needs be to stretch the opposition…..We should also drill our fullbacks in crossing both low and hard and also high….
Sorenson is a great stop gap and maybe they will be willing to let him go because they got Begovic…..
Sorenson
Yaya/M.Diarra
Chamakh
All over 6 ft powerful and experienced..these could puch us over the line..along with some defensive drills….
Vermaelen LB.. campbell CB.
it’s always next season.
i am off, nice chat today. nite
………………….Sorenson………………….
Sagna……….Gallas………..Vermy…….Clich/New
………………….Yaya/Song…………………
…….Cesc……………………….DIaby………
………………………Arshavin……………..
…………………………..RVP………………
……………….Chamakh………………………
That would be my team going forward
2nd team
………………Fab/Man/Ches………………….
Eboue…….JD…………..Sol/New….Gibbs/Traore
…………………M.Diarra…………………..
……..Ramsey……………………Rosicky…….
………………………Nasri……………….
……………….Eduardo/Theo…………………
………….Bendtner………………………….
Vela Merida Wilshere and company to go on loan for the first half of the season to premiership clubs to get experience and toughen up….
No way we’ll change formation Ja, and WAY too early to even talk about next season, far too many variables!
Whether Gallas signs a new contract, whether Eduardo re-finds his scoring boots and stays fit, whether Denilson/Clichy’s back injuries are long term problems, how Bendtner and Vela develop over the second half of the season, how Szczesny develops at Brentford, whether Fabianski gets a go in goal and how he does, how the team as a whole performs over the rest of the season, whether we’re anywhere near winning anything at the end, or miles away, whether any players decide they want to leave, or get long term injuries etc etc etc
Honestly, if Stoke wanted a new keeper to replace Sorensen then i dont see how he can be good enough for us.
I would much rather either a keeper at his peak or someone in a similar situation to Sorensen but better.
Baring either of those..why not just make Chesney no.1. Noone has a bad word to say about him…
Didn’t Vermaelen say recently that in playing left back last season for Ajax he absolutely hated it and it was the worst season of his career?
He did indeed A. He also said he was shocked that having seen those performances that Arsenal were even interested in him. No way should he be made play leftback for us..
That wasnt recently tough…he said that just after arriving in the summer.
*though
Cheers Stu, I thought so!
I’d stick Clichy there against Liverpool, then after that rotate him with Traore, so as not to over exert his back problem, and that’s fine!
Rest of this season I’d wait until after Weds, then have Almunia come down with some sort of injury, and Fabianski take over, then come the end of the season, if Fabianski has done well he’s our number one, or if he’s done badly then see how Szczesny looks in pre season, and if he’s not ready sign a stop gap
Come this summer i think we should buy a left back regardless of clichys form. All 3 of our current leftbacks are basically the same. All pacey, 1 footed and with pretty poor positioning.
Should Clichy go (and he does seem the most likely to depart) then imo we should get a solid leftback, with good understanding of defending but still reliable going forward. Gibbs and Traore are better for supporting attacks against the lesser teams. A defensive fullbacks (to match Sagna) would be ideal imo.
On the right we have Sagna for defending and Eboue for attacking. But on the left we have 3 of the same.
A
Why not change formation?
If we bring Chamakh in,and still start with only RVP….then certainly that means Bendy would not get much games….
The only player we have that can play the wide forward role competently in my opinion is Arshavin…..Theo, Nasri and this version of Rosicky cannot…..not even Vela looks that good out there…
Arshavin however can play in the hole(at the top of the diamond) Theo needs to tried a striker imo….he is not a good winger by any means…..Lenneon is better than him as a true winger…
Theo needs to be more central where is thinking more about scoring than crossing…..
I just dont see the sense of playing RVP by himself and having Bendy and Chamakh on the bench…..
In our present formation its the fullbacks that give us width anyway….whenever Nasri plays as left forward…he never ever goes to byline…he either drifts inward, turns back completely or waits on Clichy to overlap him….he does not give us width at all….Arshavin is only one that mixes it up…and once Theo comes up against defenders like Evra/Cole he is absolutely useless because they are athletic/agile
So its a myth that the wide forwards give us width….Arshy is the only one who mixes and gives us width sometimes….
So why not just do away with it….
When Chelsea have trouble breaking ppl down..then Anelka or Joe Cole go wide..
If we play a diamond then Arshavin or RVP can drift wide if needs be….meanwhile Cesc can come into the hole to fill in for Arshavin to string the passes…
I think its the best system for the players we have…we have no wingers so why bother playing a formation which calls for wingers/wide forwards…theonly other person that may be able to play wide is Eboue..but he loses his head once he reaches the final third……
We should play a diamond and drill the fullbacks into proper attacking play..to give us width
Clichy has been complete garbage for at least two years. He’s just a shit player, just like Almunia, just like Denilson. Having shit players exacerbates the mental problems we already have.
And the mental problems fall on one man – Arsene Wenger. The team reflects him perfectly. Indecisive, jittery, contradictory. All comes from him. And it’s not to do with games against big teams either – it’s big games in general. It’s just so happened we’ve played against big teams recently at a crunch time.
With the 2 fullbacks we use JA (Sagna and Clichy) making them key to our attacking would be suicidal because neither of them are productive in the least.
And i also disagree that Arshavin can play as the point of the Diamond in a 4 man midfield. At Zenit and for Russia he played in the free role behind a single forward and they have lots of midfield runners.
However, if he played there in a midfield 4 he would be exposed as having very little defensive ability.
Not sure I’d agree with that Stu. Clichy was originally a good defensive full back, he’s never been great going forward, can’t cross, shoot or pass!
The same was said about Cole when he first came through re positional sense etc, I’d rather we developed Traore and Gibbs defensively than signed anyone, I don’t see anyone I’d want us to get who would be better. I’d rather we bought a right back tbh, so that we didn’t have to choose between offensive or defensive players, so that we had someone good at both, like Lauren was.
I could see Gibbs and Traore becoming that on the left, but we don’t have anyone on the right who would become that
This is how we should play …
When attacking
…………………Sorenson………………
…………..Gallas………….VErmy…………..
…Sagna…………..Yaya/Song……….Clich/new…
……………Cesc………………Diaby………..
………………….Arshavin…………………..
……………………………..RVP……………
……………Chamakh………………………….
When defending
………………….Sorenson………………….
Sagna………….Gallas…………Vermy…..Clich
………………….Yaya/SOng………………..
………..CEsc………………….Diaby………
……..Arshavin……………………….RVP….
…………………..Chamakh…………………
So its 4-4-2 attacking with the fullbacks supporting
and 4-5-1 defending with Arshavin dropping back/wide to help Cesc……
Clichy isnt exactly a quality player going through a bad spell imo. Think back through his career. Apart from 07-08 he hasnt ever really been consistently good for us. That season was his best/only great season for us.
Unfortunately the very same could be said of Ade, Almunia, Sagna and Eduardo (although its completely understandable for him considering the leg break and all).
C’mon now Ja, thats the third time you have posted that exact comment in the last hour. How about a new one.
Maybe not…but even still…the teams are getting confusing tbh..
Anyway…im off to have some nightmares about todays match. Night all..
Stu I hear you about Arshavin not having enough defensive ability to play at the top of a diamond…
But Joe Cole plays there for Chelsea….he does not have much defensive ability….but with proper training he can help his team out…..
If we have Chamakh and RVP for example then Arshavin would have to the man at the top of the diamond..
That is why I would go out and get Yaya or someone in that mould as well to help out the midfield as Denilson just cant do it…and SOng is still developing….
Stu the point is though look at Barca..even Lionel Messi fights to get possesion back….and until we do that we wont anything….so dont give me any excuses about Arshavin not good at defending….its all about good team defending with everybody helping each other…..
the problem now is we are on 49 points pool are on 44 if they win the next game (which they will be UP FOR !) they will go within a game of overtaking us with about 13 games to go !
can anyone see where im going with this ?!
- this is just in answer to some twat who said WHAT BIG GAMES DO WE ALWAYS FUCK UP ?
the last 2 for a start and go back thru the past few years there’s plenty of examples there too !
Liverpool will be another ..
this will truly be a defining moment for me if i can say with all honesty that we are better than pool OR not !
we failed V’s the C.L and home game last time out .. getting 1 draw and 2 loses .
and for the record we do have a chance in the pool game , i think a lot of us knew prior to this 4 game thing that the villa and pool games should yield us points ..
this next game will define and give confidence too the winner ..
as i said to A a few days ago all the quality top 4 teams eventually wind up on top …
you can try and throw people off with this mini league crap , but yesterday and last week pretty much proved my point !
let the battle for 4th spot begin ..
This was so predictable.
Wengker can’t learn obviious lessons – until we fire his sorry ass, we’re going nowhere as a club.
Fuck off you cunt, Wenger.
Ja there’s absolutely no chance of us changing formation, for a number of reasons.
Firstly it just won’t happen because we’ve been working on the current system for a good year to try and get it working, all the youth teams now play it to prepare them for when they come through, and it was created because it suits our players!
It suits Cesc, Song and Diaby absolutely down to a tee, which is why they’ve had comfortably their best seasons for the club thus far. It prevents us being crowded out and bullied because of the three men in the centre, and gives Cesc the freedom to create and score goals, Diaby the opportunity to use his attributes to win the ball back, without having the responsibility he has in a 4-4-2, and also creates all the space further forward for Cesc and Diaby to drive into.
The two wide forwards aren’t supposed to provide the width. The point of having three forwards there is that they all interchange, they drag the defenders all over the place, and that creates the space for others to run into, either each other, or the midfielders, which is why Cesc has scored the goals he has this year.
Theo I expect to do very well in it when he’s match fit, Vela too as he develops, they are two players whom imo were very much in Wenger’s thinking when he changed to this system, it should suit their attributes perfectly, as neither are really wide men in 4-4-2, nor central strikers currently.
It wouldn’t prevent anyone from playing when Chamakh comes in (if he comes in). That’s just another player who rotates, all Bendtner, Chamakh, and VP could play in any of the three forward roles.
The formation you’ve done there is basically what we play, apart from all three forwards central, which would make things amazingly narrow, and there would be no space at all. The forwards have to start wide as they do now, so that they can drag defenders out of position, and create the space for each other to exploit.
jimbo ,
id prefer if the board went 1st ..
i have an idea if anyone other than stan took over , we might get a cash injection .
problem is .. stan wants wenger in charge so i cant see things changing whilst we still get 4th spot every season
A…
Thats why I say the man at the top of the diamond or the second striker can pull wide if necessary……….
Yeah they can start wide…You said the formation is exactly the same except for the front 3….therefore it should not be hard to change to the new formation……but I would prefer if Chamakh and RVP play together….with Bendy Eddy and Theo all coming off the bench as back up stikers….Vela also if he is not sent on loan….
Regarding diamonds – we just couldn’t play that sort of system. Chelsea play it because they have the players to play it, almost all of their players are physical and athletic. Someone like Arshavin could play there if we had Song, Diaby, and one other physical player there perhaps, but if Cesc played he’d have to be the one at the tip of the diamond, certainly not further back.
Ja I’d rather we had three forwards who played together than three. If they all start central, then it means there are more defenders central, so less space there to start off with.
Two wide forwards starting off there means that opposition players find it difficult because they’re automatically pulled out wide, which creates the space for Diaby and Cesc, not to mention the wide men then are much harder to mark, starting out wide, and making late runs through the middle.
Having them start in the middle would close it all up, and totally nullify the effectiveness of Cesc and Diaby
A..
I think with Song/Yaya along with Diaby I think the diamond can work Cesc and Arshavin….
Chelsea do it sometimes with Lampard deep and Joe Cole at the top or like today….Malouda at the top of the diamond…..
Anelka started mostly from wide positions supporting Drogba
I think we can do that with RVP supporting Chamakh
Malouda is a physical athlete, it wouldn’t work defensively because we aren’t strong enough, and offensively because we’re a tricky passing team that creates space, not a powerful battering ram team like Chelsea.
Chelsea today though played basically our formation, Malouda left, Anelka right, as they have most of the time since December or so.
I just don’t think it could work, Chelsea are about as opposite as you can get to us in the way they play, it just doesn’t suit us at all.
The current system, we’re playing suits us down to a tee, hence the outplaying even the big teams, and thrashing the little teams, but it’s something to do with the individual and collective mentalities that’s ultimately leaving us falling short against the big teams, not the system, or the footballing quality of the players.
A…..if you have ….
………….Cesc……………….Diaby…………
…………………..Arshavin………………….
…………………………………RVP………..
…………..Chamakh/Bendy……………………..
Chamkah/Bendy would stay central most of the times and occupy the CBs……Arshavin and RVP can drift wide….then Cesc and DIaby and come into those holes that would be left…..
Anyway its just my suggestion…its obvious that against big teams we need something diff….so I think a Chamakh+RVP partnership with Arsh Cesc and Diaby supporting would make that difference..
We can always beat the little teams…but against big teams we need more physical threat up front and also some defensive drilling as well…
if i have to be cruel to be kind id rather we got 5th spot and gave the club a shock !it would force them to spend … and get in quality …
that is the ONLY way ….
because if wenger left , the board would only get in someone similar , who is a tight wad ..
if the board left and stan takes over nothing changes anyhoo !
stan is an admirer obviously of wenger’s style of management ..
sacking wenger will achieve jack shit !
the board leaving will achieve jack shit ..
either way we are screwed unless we fall out of this 4th spot comfort zone …..
its the only way i can see the club spending the type of cash the fans want to see ..
Ja I agree about the physical threat, but that isn’t a formational thing, it’s just having a physical forward there who can hold off the opposition, and bring others into play more. Not tactical at all imo.
If we had ANYONE who just stayed central, rather than drifting around, the space wouldn’t be there that’s given Cesc the opportunities to tear the league apart this season.
That’s why I’m very against the idea of getting a target man. For plan B by all means, but the system that suits our players so well would fall apart by just having one player in there that doesn’t move about.
A thats why the target man needs to be like david villa who possesses intelligence and interplay .
if you want in some ade clone who stands about and takes the long ball , yes it will break up play ..
we need a clinical TH14 style striker to open up the defense ..who can carve it in half and bring other players like AA rosick and cesc in ..
you get another tall rock ape , you might as well condemn this team to never ending failure .
it didnt work with ade and it wont work with another in his form ..
we need a torres style striker ..
a benzema ..
someone who has broad shoulders ..
and can finish like a pro …
and a keeper in lieu of a Muppet
Ok A…if we get Chamakh in……would you not start him?
You mean you would start RVP and have both Bendy and Chamakh on the bench….somehow someone would get fed up of being on the bench….
The thing is though….if you started Chamakh and RVP together in this same formation….then RVP would have to start wide right….and I dont think thats a good position for him…
What do you think?
If we got Chamakh how would we play them?
ethan I’d be very happy with Villa or Benzema! Both have the all round game to play there, and drift around, create chances for others too. Maybe something will be pulled out of the bag in the summer!
Why would VP have to play wide right Ja? Chamakh can play wide, and I would expect him to if VP is fit, just as Bendtner would if VP is fit.
I wouldn’t necessarily start any of them. Depending on the situation and opposition there are various combinations that would start.
First choice I think would be
Rosicky VP Arshavin
or
Bendtner/Chamakh VP Arshavin