I always read a lot of comments about the zero input of Pat Rice from the bench. Now, having not been around to witness him in his playing days, I feel it a bit cheeky to comment. However, I’m pretty sure he was a feisty player in his time and he certainly looks like a passionate guy. It’s not often you meet a meek Irishman, is it?
So, has anyone ever thought the reason Pat Rice never screams from the touch line is because he’s not allowed to? I’m sure Ian Wright said during the first games under Wenger, something went wrong during the first half, Rice came into the dressing room and went into one at one of the back 4, effing and blinding. Wenger walked in and told Pat Rice he was never to raise his voice in the dressing room again…
Well, that’s how I remember the story went! So what I’m saying is that it doesn’t matter who is the number two at Arsenal, the culture is one of calm and serenity… similar to the Le Grove comments section… and it’ll stay that way under Wenger. Give Pat a break!
In other more europeanish news, I had the pleasure / displeasure of the second round of the Champions League last night. I’m staggered that the commentators are still referring to Bayern as a weak team? Bar their centre backs they’ve got some quality! Ribery, Robben, Schweinsteiger, Lahm, Muller, Ollic (sometimes)…
Ribery went off for a ridiculous challenge. His week couldn’t get worse could it? Well, unless the hooker in question was doing a 2 for 1 with her younger sister! I feel he’s had a ‘Britney Spears shaved head’ moment!
Imagine how Bayern are feeling right now… their prized asset admitting that he’s shagged an underage hooker! Jeez, one minute you’ve got a £60million superstar on your hands, the next, you’ve got a pervert worth nothing commercially!
Dear oh dear! What is it with footballers? I thought picking up women was supposed to be as easy as Ulrika Johnson? In the UK the age of consent is 16… would it be crude to suggest that London is perhaps more suited to his social life? Maybe Gazidis could sell him into the Soho night scene?
Jokes aside… when you earn£150k a week, surely you should be doing something a little classier with your mates on a Saturday night? He’ll never shake that image now… who will want to purchase him now (Chelsea probably, not much will shock their shabby fans)?
Lloris looked very shaky nearly getting caught out with two crosses and Butt for Bayern was also more than a little dodgy! At 22, it could be argued that Lloris hasn’t proved his consistency at the top level. £20million might be a bit of a risk. There have been plenty of French flops in the keeping sense over the years. Maybe we could get someone like Buffon or Frey this summer? I’m sure there is someone solid and of the right age available this year.
Robben won the game with another superb goal. The guy is one of my favourite wingers. It’s a shame he can’t keep off the injury table, he’d have been one of the best in the world.
I do enjoy watching Louis Van Gaal’s teams. He plays a more direct attacking style to Arsenal and he also presses high up the pitch. The difference between his teams and our team is the Dutchman is a disciplinarian. His reaction to a petulant Robben after he tried to skulk off the pitch when subbed was brilliant. He grabbed him by the shoulder, made him look into his eyes and gave him a dressing down in front of the whole stadium. Top managing Louis! Loved it!
I’ve been reading a lot of things about project youth and it’s success or failure… then it got me thinking about a post Geoff wrote a while back which lead me to the question, has project youth even started?
If project youth is supposed to work like Barcelona, it has a flaw… nearly all of our players were bought in quite old and were trained elsewhere.
Who out of the first team is real project youth (Rough ages of purchase)?
- Denilson (Purchased at 18 for 5mill)
- Clichy (Purchased at 18)
- Cesc (Stolen at 15)
- Merida (Abducted at 15 and hidden in the mountains)
- Bendtner (Purchased at 18)
- Robin (Purchased at 19)
- Rambo (Purchased at 17 for 5million)
- Theo (Purchased for 12million at 16)
- Song (Purchased at 18)
- Vela (Purchased at 16)
Looking at that list, we’re just buying in rough diamonds at 18, then taking 4 years to develop them. Not really project youth is it? Pedro, Messi, Busquests and Pique were all playing for the club from 10 years old… that’s project youth. Ours is more like project barely legal. Out of those above, the only two who could be classed as close to youth who have made it would be Cesc. The others are young professionals.
So, when we talk about project youth, I feel we’re perhaps forgetting that the true project youth has yet to begin. Players like Jack, Kieron Gibbs and Lansbury are yet to make an impact. When they start breaking through and proving their worth, we can start talking about a true product.
My hope for Project Youth is that now we’ve created a solid base, we’ll build on it each summer with a couple of adult signings and compliment the first team with a couple of world class youth players. I’m hoping that the days of the 4 year development are behind us because that’s far too long. No one would begrudge watching Jack cut his teeth in a few more games this year because he is raw talent… would people be willing to wait 4 years to get a Song? I’m not so sure…
We’ve got a good platform to work from this summer, but Wenger has to be brutal in his assessment. I can’t believe he didn’t know at the start of this year that Jack, Fran and Vela weren’t going to play for us that much. So how about next pre-season, we play the players who will actually be starting in the squad in the Premiership next summer and not the players he is 1) Looking to sell 2) Looking to convince us are the future so he doesn’t have to buy!
Silly season has already started on the feeds. Arsenal have been linked with a £22million move for Agbonlohor. The first time I heard him speak, I assumed he was from some distant South American rainforest tribe. The guy is thick as two short planks and he plays in exactly the same manner. We need more than just speed and for £22million, I’d rather not!
Mr Nasri has been speaking to the Telegraph and he had this to say,
“It is annoying. The work we do is not getting the credit it deserves because we are not winning silverware,”
“It is unfair because I think we have more merit as a club than those who have built their teams with millions of pounds whereas Arsenal have brought in young footballers, who have come here to play a certain kind of football and who have developed.”
Samir needs to be told that football is a sport and winning is the name of the game. Arsenal have just copied Chelsea’s policy for adults and applied it to kids. I don’t think there’s anything ethical about nicking other teams young players just as they become good enough to get a run out in the first team. I don’t think there is anything ethical, or beneficial about paying kids huge sums of money to uproot and move to London. I don’t think having almost a guarantee at the first team before you’ve proved anything is a policy that drives competition and hunger.
We’ve moan about the mercenaries at City, well, we’ve got the same problem but they’re much younger.
Samir, our wage bill is £120million a season and I don’t think the fans get enough credit for funding that.
Arsenal are the 3rd most valuable club in the world, yep, more valuable than Barcelona. We should start acting like a club of that stature… starting this weekend against City!
I’ll be back with a preview tomorrow! Till then, enjoy the sun!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEEqVNhSH2s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhnRt48L2CA
Those are Nikki B’s stats
In the last 2 months Gambon…
If Bendy wasnt so useless he wouldve had many more assists at Burnley and at possibly at Birgminham.
There are some nearly assists like the scuffed one at Barca…
The point is that was 1 game. Though that team was full of winners.
David
How many goals has Bendtner had over the past 2 months.
We’ve has 15 games since the start of February. THeo has started 7 (2 goals 0 assists) and has come on in 7 (1 goal 1 assist) and was an unused sub against West Ham.
4 in 14?
In those 15 Bendtner has started 13 (8 goals 5 assists) and 2 as sub (1 goal 0 assists)
I wonder which is better?
hahaha Choy i am not fooled by those that quote 9 in 11.
A meaningless a hatrick at porto looks nice when you spread those goals over a few games.
I think theo can learn a lot from arshavin but wenger probably would rather have him in his lap.
Honestly, they are very similar short pacey. Arsh just uses him low center of gravity better, by shurging challenges and doing tricks.
Under a good manager Arsh should have theo adding to his game, in no time.
The nearly miss against Barca was Theos fault David. It was a pathetic excuse for a pass and if not for Bendtner we wouldnt have scored there.
ngog must suck rafa off to keep gettin games my right nut could offer more to liverpool than that reject can offer.
Theo at Arsenal
Games 134
Goals 18
1 in 7.5
That is worse than Vermaelen, and marginally better than Gallas, in other words, Woeful.
well david would u rather have ngog up front
Well its not easy to compare since Bendy has clearly the more minutes played by getting more stats…so naturally his stats will be better.
What we want to do is compare both of them when playing in the same position.
stats = starts
Mr B
The difference is Arshavin is a footballer, Theo is a sprinter who wishes he was a footballer.
Well they dont play in the same position though David because Bendtner is a better CF than Theo. Thats why Bendtner is prefered there.
Gambon
Thats not right…how many of those games are cameo subs? Im sure half of those arent starts!
Stu but Bendy plays on the wings when RVP is fit?
Rubbish Walcott is a footballer and damn good one at that…no wonder the game changes when he comes on…everytime!
Theo has 33 over all (goals and assists) in about 4 season and however many appearances (a134 if Gambon is right).
Bendtner has 48 in a few less games. ABout 120 i think…spread over 3 seasons.
Blame injuries if you want but however you look at it Bendtner is better than Walcott.
But if theo has the natural ability(pace), then learning a few dribbles is hardly a problem with work and motivation from the manager.
Wenger has fallenout with all his babies, Theo because he is with the national team too often.
i would rather have bendtner anyday over walcott
True David but Theo plays on the wing no matter how many CFs we are missing because he must not be any good there. Wenger sees him in training and i’ll blindly assume Wenger knows how Theo would fare against prem CBs.
David
There’s a reason he dont start, cos hes shit, the only thing he can do is use his pace against tired teams.
Lets look at who he’s scored against in the PL this year for example;
Blackburn
Burnley
Wigan
Our biggest home win, and about the worst defences in the PL.
I cant agree with that. Especially since Bendy has played both on the wings and at CF and Walcott has never been played at CF before.
Bendy has 120 games in 3 seasons and Walcott has 138 in 4…
Thats 18 games apart…that shows you that Bendy has had far more opportunities at the first team during the length of 3 seasons than Walcott.
He’s a classic Marmite. I bet Denilson has the same stats.
HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA they took off ngog that dumb NOOB hahahahahaha
Nikky is more productive but theo has more potential.
But surely a player that has more starts is seen as the better player because generally if you start it means you are good enough to do so.
Theo doesnt contribute nearly enough and thats why he doesnt start that often.
Wenger bought Theo way too early, and is now realising he made a mistake.
Theos potential is based purely on his pace and how he can use that to his advantage. But he has been here 4 seasons now and still hasnt added any tricks to his game. Surely if you are to fulfill your potential in any way you need to improve at things.
4 years on Theo still has a shit final ball. He just isnt learning.
hahaha..
Gambon Wigan beat us. If they have the worst defense then we are truly shyte.
Blackburn are no pushovers…ask Chelsea.
Theo doesnt start imo because hes had his torment with injuries.
The 4-3-3 is suited to pacey wingers like Theo and Arshavin.
I cant wait to get Hazard. It would be blinding…
W
Nicklas and Theo are 22 and 21 respectively. Both have massive potential, but need to be around great player to shine at this point in their careers. The can be the leaders of the team in the 3 or four years, but now need to be squad players that produce when they get the chance.
They’re almost the same age.
If there is one spot left on the team, whether RW or CF.
Nikki B will and should start.
Nah David.. not another potential..
We need another Arshavin.
But before that.. a Goal Keeper and a Defender
If theo is shyte then so is Hazard.
Wigan beating us was all to do with our shit defence. Scoring 2 goals away at any team is very good, Pompey have the poorest home defence in the PL but they only conceed 1.7 per game.
Hazard is different class to Theo, he has pace but is also a proper footballer.
you know who else is a decent footballer NGOG
Reyes still falling over every time someone goes near him
Wenger knew we were short on cash when moving to the Emirates, yet we spent 12million on a player who never played in the Premier League.
He has limited skill on the ball.
Wenger is a hypocrite because he said after a certain age a player does not improve technically.
Walcott will not improve and will have one promising moment every season and rarely be seen again.
07- Carling Cup Final
08- Liverpool QF CL
09- England Hat trick
10- Wigan goal
If you watch Atletico Liverpool which on now…..
You see the talent of Jose Antonio Reyes…..
Wenger never persevered with him and he was bullied by Henry
But Reyes is 1000 times more talented than Walcott.
Comparison are justified bcuz the club paid 12 million pounds or rather wasted it.
Reyes probably had his mum bring him some warm milk at half time.
If only reyes had some balls!
He is very very talented!
Boring at times, mind-numbing at others, but it’s the result that counts and Liverpool won’t be too disappointed with a 1-0 defeat and have a decent chance of making the Europa League final.
HAHAHAHAHA. God, as crap as we are, if I had to watch Arsenal play like that I would just about slit my wrists.
zeus
I dont think what you saw out there was crap i mean Reina had some top top saves.
But dont worry you can slit your wrists when we have the pleasure of watching fabianski again on saturday
Robben would be absolutely superb for us in the 4-3-3. Or Ribery.
We need a goal scoring winger, although Arshavin’s stats for goals and assists are better than Pires’s.
I think we should throw Szczesny in next season. He will not be fazed.
Every single Polish person tells me he has his father’s mindset. Which means mistakes won’t effect him. He’s cocky and rightly so. Not only does he practice with Arsenal and Brentford, he goes back to Poland for some lessons from his dad.
The kid really has potential, much more than Wilshere, Ramsey, etc.
I think Szczesny will be world class, but id like him to go out on loan in the prem or be our number 2 next year.
In fairness Pat, this is Robbens best scoring season since his days at PSV and with his injury record he probably wouldnt ever be fit enough to play for us. Of the two I would go for Ribery, if only for his consistency with being available.
Szczesny is to start on saturday. What hurt could it do
Lehmann is retiring in the summer, i wonder if he would come back as goalkeeping coach. Whos the current coach? He doesnt seem to be covering himself in glory with the work he’s done with our current “top 2″.
ha ha. Is to start. Thats my patois coming out there. Should start
Robben has 16 in his last 18 games. Ridiculous.
Not sure if you guys heard, but Szczesny is pretty much #2 for Poland now.
Boruc is #1, Szczesny and Kuszczak fighting for #2.
Made his debut a few months ago
Bendnter has 11 in his last 13. The only reason he doesnt have more than Robben is that he is not allowed to shoot from 30 yards like Robben is
sixx pac, or bendtner just doesn’t have the ability to shoot from far out….
I know he scored a nice goa; against blackburn, but he’s not explosive and never will be. He’s good in the box, but I do prefer Chamakh to be honest, if only for his work rate, desire, heading ability, and link-up play.
where is Fabianski on that list
I still think that goal last night against Lyon should be credited to Muller since he got the final touch and the decisive one too (if you consider Lloris has the original shot covered).
you do know that i was joking, right Pat?
Agreed stu. But u wouldnt have the headline ” Lyon left to rue Robben Wonder goal”
hahah I figured, but wasn’t sure since I don’t know what your views are on Bentdner
Hahahahahah Fucking gowl! Fella on phonejacker actually said his pincode for his bankaccount out loud…
Im trying to think of a good headline about Muller bending over to give Bayern the lead or something about Lyon not happy to see the back of Muller.
stu how about ribery the pedo
that fits in where?
does not matter hes a pedo
so is benzema and govou
Ribery is being unfairly treated imo. He made a mistake, but he admitted to it. He never denied it when he was asked. He didn’t say, ‘I have to comment to make.’ when the story broke.
He didn’t know her age. Does she look 17? No. She looks 21-22ish. He did a bad thing, but media are making too much of a fuss about it.
It doesn’t even compare to JT shagging his teammates wife and trying to hide it/not talking about it.
And why is the media focussing on Ribery so much. What about Govou? Benzema?
u africans arent saints u know
He’s hardly a pedo is she looks in her twenties. Its not like he shagged a kid or anything.
am not african sixx pac lol
stu i agree i was just jokin anyway have u seen her she does not look like a lot of 17 year olds huh hahahah
ur name says eboue,so…….. Where u from
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1268164/Juventus-target-Arsenals-Bacary-Sagna-Gunners-Gregory-van-der-Wiel.html?ITO=1490
How is shagging a 17 year old a pedo?
Juventus after our entire team!
Mugs
it is young that was before i checked her out she does look in her early 20s
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1268164/Juventus-target-Arsenals-Bacary-Sagna-Gunners-Gregory-van-der-Wiel.html?ITO=1490
I wouldn’t mind Van der Wiel in at RB and a Sagna swap for Buffon/Melo. Wiel wouldn’t cost that much anyway and is young.
scottish
i’d rather go trophyless than trade Mr Arsenal for Melo and Gigi. We can do way better
i’ve shagged 17 year olds. Im 21 though
u scottish are def no saints. Tommy Sheridan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPMcVzvr9Qc
For a mere song, Arsene Wenger could have signed Mark Schwarzer in 2008, who shits on Buffon, Slow Loris, etc etc.
wow we got people throwing M79 grenades into crowds in Bangkok here !
what a fuckin state !
1 man THAKSHIT SHITTY TWAT . is responsible for about 50 deaths now in my estimation and the world is doing nothing ….
well you dont throw an M79 , as its the launcher , but you get the idea .. i suppose i should have said firing flechette grenades into the crowds .. 3 foreigners injured and 22 thai’s …
plus 22 died the other day in street riots..
it just goes to prove the lengths he will go to get back into power here !
killing his own !
….the useless cunt !
he ya Ethan. Did ya see my apology the other day. So hopefully we can forget about the bet. If not, fuck off
It’s insane to use m79′s like that.
M203s are much more effective against crowds
are there guns in canada.
ethan
4 corners did a thing on the King of Thailand & his “lay about” son. It made it sound like the old bloke is corrupt, & the son is a wierdo.
OI!!!! Geoff. You back in Blighty yet
Hello Gnarley, yes mate I’m back and I’m very angry!
Oh shit
I’ve gotta go out now, its Friday night. But I’ll get back to read your angryness. We haven’t won a game since you left.
Talk to me Geoffrey…….
Morning Dennis, it’s no coincidence that my absence makes the team weak and spineless!
The real coincidence is dross = spineless = wouldn’t look out of place in a relegation threatened team….
And, do you know what, i don’t know what’s more insulting, watching what happened against Wigan or listening to certain individuals defend those same players!
NEW POST!