3 days after Wenger telling the world that the quality levels in his squad are the best he’s ever had, we once again trot out against weaker opposition (53 league places weaker) and struggle like hell to turn them over.
Huddersfield not only gave us a run for our money, they probably deserved to win based on how many chances they had. In the second half they battered us for large sections of the game. Once again, we had to turn to the creative powers of the one and only Cesc Fabregas to save the day.
We were flat and pedestrian. We lacked zip in our passing and the quality in the final third was truly woeful. In fact, the lack of quality displayed in many areas of our squad was shown up and this was against a team our Carling Cup kids team would normally have dispatched with.
The pre-match wasn’t exactly inspiring. I sat on the tube on the way up wondering if I’d got the times wrong for the game due to how empty it was at 1140. There were many empty seats at inside the ground. Clearly, many people had decided to take the day off. Is that down to over kill on the football front of late, or is that down to knowing that you’re likely to shell out £65 to see a half assed second string struggle to break down whoever is in front of them? The latter I expect.
Anyway, the usual suspects were in the side. Denilson, Squillaci, Eboue, Arshavin, Bendtner…. dare I say Chamakh?
We started off brightly, most of the creative stuff was going through Arshavin and Samir Nasri. Arshavin powered a shot over the bar and Nik B couldn’t bundle a loose ball into the net.
Arshavin went close but fluffed his lines into the side netting. Huddersfield went up the other end and nearly turned in a low cross which was pretty worrying.
After 21minutes our break through came, Nik B picked the ball up outwide, powered into the box and smashed it hard at the far post, the ball took a deflection and made its way past the keeper. The score board at Arsenal said it was an own goal, from where I was sitting that looked like an unfair call.
Arsenal’s complacency started to rear its ugly head, passes weren’t finding the feet of red shirted player and this was typified when Denilson slipped in Lee who fed Pilkington in with a great chance that he thankfully couldn’t convert. Denilson held his hands up, but it was once again a shocking show of ineptitude at tier 2 level football from the Brazilian.
Just before half time, Sebastian Squillaci had a chance to show the world why he was such a fantastic signing when he chopped down Jack Hunt mid way through a run that had taken him past two players. It wasn’t a surprise the outcome was a red card. It wasn’t surprise it was the Frenchman picking it up. If he’s struggling to pick up the runs of average players, what’s he going to be like when he’s inevitably paired with Song at centre back for the Barcelona game in a few weeks?
We also lost Samir Nasri after he chased down a long ball and pinged his hamstring. What a gutter. That’ll teach us for playing route one. I’m not subscribing to the ‘he shouldn’t have been playing’ brigade either. The only way he could have been omitted from the squad was if Wenger had assembled a second string capable of motivating itself to beat inferior teams. Sadly, we don’t have that. The FA Cup and the Carling Cup are not our number priorities but let’s be honest, they’re our number 1 hopes of Silverware. Rosicky joined the party hoping to inject some life into our game.
The second half began, Alex Song had dropped into defence for the anonymous Chamakh. I honestly can’t remember the Moroccan making a contribution in the first half?
Arshavin made a last ditch effort to stop Gudjonsson pulling the trigger. A timely intervention that certainly would have led to a goal.
Huddersfield were battering us, Almunia had to pull off a top class save to prevent us losing our lead. Then the moment came, a corner was fed into the box, our tallest player Abou Diaby was out powered and out jumped, Alan Lee powered a header home.
Typical.
We were shamefully poor. Denilson had been truly garbage and just to sum up how people felt about him, when he looked like he’d pinged a hamstring, quite a number of people cheered sarcastically. Of course, Denilson is the only player who could recover from a 3 week injury after 15.4 seconds which just goes to show you how little the second string fancy it. Very pathetic.
We had to call on Cesc to save our ailing day, the last thing we wanted was another replay. He came on and changed things up perfectly. His ability to find space and motivate the rest of the team cannot be underestimated. It was his cut back and teasing ball that lead to Nik being shoved over in the box. Cesc stepped up for the penalty, nearly stopped twice in the run up, but he was cool enough to bury the kick anyway. He picked up the ball, headed over to the corner flag, paid tribute to the odd jobs man, ran back to the half way line and dropped the ball so the Hudderfield players had to run back and pick it up.
At this point the ground started to empty, the crowd actually jeered the announcement of 58,000 fans.
The game played out, Cesc managed to pick up a booking for being pushed over. Well play Twattenburg. The result was called in, we’d picked up the result and the prize of playing Orient at home in the next round. Thank the lord, they’re about the level of our second string. Looks like a semi final could be coming our way, 3 games away from an FA Cup win, 4 games away from cup double.
So what did we learn today? Well, for me we learnt that Arshavin still hasn’t found his form but he’s getting there slowly but surely. He’s always a creative hub it’s just a shame he doesn’t try and keep it simple when he’s not on fire. Nik Bendtner, despite the goal is still a long way from being a top class striker. His control isn’t instant and his instincts for scoring were summed up when he was played into the box by Arshavin but took too many touches to shoot. Eboue is an embarrassment to the shirt, it’s amazing how many times a kick to the leg ends up as a facial injury.
Denilson was shocking in the middle of the park. I just can’t believe how many opportunities he is given to show how bad he is. Why not call back Lansbury and give him a go? At least we know he cares about playing for the club. Surely Aaron Ramsey would have benefitted more from a game like yesterday?
Abou Diaby once again finds himself straight back in the first team squad. I appreciate he’s been out for a while but there is no excuse for some of the lack lustre passes he was making and the simple rudimentary mistakes he was making all over the park, not least being beaten in the air when you’re the tallest player on the park.
Almunia? Well, what a waste of a place in the team. The guy might be nice as a pie, but he’s not fit to wear that green jersey. His indecisive line based keeping really wont be missed when his contract expires. We’ve got a gem in Chesney, I don’t even need to tell people that, he really is a class above anything we’ve got at the club and he should be given the number 1 permanently.
Chamakh put in another forgettable performance. I’m not sure where his confidence has gone, but all that time out he needed for a rest has clearly rotted his game because he was nowhere to be seen yesterday. Someone needs to have a word.
Finally, someone needs to fly a stern e-mail over to Wenger. He’s taking us into the final half of the season with 2 able defenders. Squillaci is a liability, Song is no centre back as there is no one who can do 50% of what he can do. Yet the coach thinks it’s acceptable t sit on his hands.
Suspensions and injuries will happen and the players that will slip in have shown against Wigan, Ipswich, Leeds and Huddersfield why they are not good enough to be reliable replacements against top class opposition. How many times have we been in situations like this?
Wenger needs to sign a centre back, inaction could be the undoing of our best chance at league title glory in a long time.
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first
do still read guys just dont comment
unfortunately i wasn’t rested yesterday
Morning
Sign someone please
is sol campbell back yet?
top 10?
maybe chamakh and bendtner cal play as CB’s… they seems good at drying up the goals
last day out. what’s happening Arsene?
I thought they said 59,300 which was rather embarrassing
great post…..
could not agree more…..we were poor all over the field until we had to bring on our captain…..god help us in the summer wheb he goes
I swear i heard the stadium announcer say “could Marouane Chamakh please make his way to the nearest football and KICK THE FUCKING THING”
morning guys
a terrible performance by a crap 2nd string team.why is it all the teams around us seem to be able to find players but we cant?
Morning all,
It wasn’t so bad was it? Well apart from a few players like Denilson and Diaby.
We played with 10 men for about 70 mins or so.
good blog pedro.
I personally think we need a CB and a DM.
What if Song gets injured or suspended.
We are too dependent on him.
Denilson and Diaby are not good enough. Ramsey cant come back until Feb, and I am not sure about Lansbury or JET.
Have you read the online gooner blog – http://www.onlinegooner.com/article.php?section=exclusive&id=2055
good points well made.
More bonuses for Wenger.
Yet another season gone down the drain.
I see no ships
Morning all, great post pedro, no player ratings? I’m guessing I know why!
Well I was rested yesterday and feel great, now I know how Diaby must feel except without the massive salary, I wished I was an Arsenal player.
I would say hello to Dennis, but he appears to have gone again.
I stopped watching yesterday after they scored, it was dreadful, I came back again because I love Arsenal but this second string is just a joke, we need a clear out and we need to buy some players that can play.
Squillaci, Diaby, Denilson and Eboue clearly can’t.
Absolutely Top Post Pedro,
But Unfortunately your post is falling on Deaf ears like Arsenal FC
Arsenal have 14 players out on loan, more then any other team, and yet they couldn’t ship out Denilson to anyone
I think it is high time we stop calling Wenger to sign a player. He will not. Maybe we should beg him to loan a player.
And for Denilson, I think it is high time we started praying for him to be injured. It is bad when a club’s fan wish their own player bad but the trust is that he will continue to play and mess up until he is injured.
Pedro:
Spot on blog.
You know, it’s amazing how many ‘sheep’ can’t see the worying signs.
The dross we have accumulated & wages we pay them is staggering.
I makes me sick when imbeciles chant Eboue’s name. He’s a disgrace. Even our playesr don’t even bother looking at him when he throws himself dowm. I wish he’d throw himself off the top tier hopefully strapped to Denilson.
Cheers Pedro, interesting write up. I thought differently about a number of things. I thought Diaby did ok. Particularly considering its his first competative game back. I also thought Niki B was ok. Nasri I thought had a shocker prior to his hamstring and I was wondering if he somehow knew it was going to go as he seemed to be running without conviction for the period he was on.
We were poor for twenty minutes of the second half other than that I thought we were always in control. People behind me were saying the first 40mins were like a training game and I had to agree. yes it changed with the sending of and Nasri’s hammy but once Cesc came on there was only ever going to be one winner.
Not sure why the negativity is always so strong on the blog. last time I checked we were second in table. Final of the first cup, a game away from the quaters in the second cup and in the last stages of the CL. Not sure whats to moan about. But heh I could be wrong.
Always enjoy the read but dont often comment. cheers Pedro.
BTW.
Don’t excpect anything to happen to us in the window today. so save your finger by not pressing F5 all the time
Pedro. Good post and we certainly need to clear out some dead wood. Denilson was embarressing. We haven’t got orient at home, it’s away I think?
Diaby…
How can anybody truly believe Diaby did ok ?? !
He was woeful. Offers absolutely nothing. A few pirouettes but nothing else.
Just to remind you all, he’s now been with us 5 YEARS !!
morning all
what a performance!!! i wonder how denilson and diaby become a footballer in the first place let alone an arsenal player
Still don’t understand why Lansbury and Ramsey are out on loan, both could have played yesterday and gained more from this, than running out for whomever they are currently with. About 13 hours to go, and we all know nothing is going to happen, have heard that TV is ahead of schedule and is planning on being back in 2 weeks, albeit without being match fit, which will be a worry, because of hamstring strains and the like.
With Nasri out for 3 weeks we are beginning to get very stretched again, and the dark clouds are starting to gather, trying hard not too depressed about it all, guess if we win the Carling Cup and continue to progress in the FA Cup, it won’t be so bad, about as much as we can expect until our knobhead of a manager wakes up.
Doublegooner
The fact that this useless retards Dudaby and Denilson has been with us for five years,eating our wage bills offering nothing on the pitch,apart from losing possession,and still plays whenever he is fit,is the prime example,why we have won fuckall and probably will win nothing under Wenger.
We will see the likes of Wellington,Miyachi being sold to other clubs,despite them being better than those retards in crime,but the fans will be subject to the abuse of watching those duds,as long as Wenger is here.
Fingers crossed Wenger wakes up and realizes we need to buy a CB today. Squillaci is the new Silvestre, we need better cover. Denilson is the absolute worst player I’ve ever seen in an Arsenal shirt. To think he is our DM if Song gets hurt or has to cover at CB worries me to no end. Arshavin’s goal saving tackle was Brilliant!
Paying to watch sub standard players
Footballs great in that people can watch the same thing and have different opinions on what they were seeing. I saw diaby play quite well, not great but ok. He missed a few passes but also made some great tackles, played some nice balls and added a level of skill I thought that was missing from Nasri and denilson on the day.
I’m not sure I’ve mentioned this before, but I really hate Denilson. what an absolute waste of space.
His coupe de grace was when he was through into the box with a simple pass to lay a tap in for the striker but he goes down like he’s had his knee caps blown off. You’re thinking, ‘it must be bad because we could have scored there’. Then moments later he’s back on. Fucking arsehole, fuck off from my club.
If Denilson had the balls to actually tackle the Huddersfield player in the 1st place instead of letting him just go past at ease then maybe that would not had resulted in Squid being sent off.
by the way, you are spot on about recalling Lansbury or Ramsey – they are streets ahead of a number of players that played yesterday.
Clown – 6
Ebway – 6
Squill – 3
Koz – 7
Gibbs – 3
Denilson – 1
Diaby – 4
Rosicky – 7
Arshavin – 7.5
Bendtner – 7
Chamack – 4
Nasri – 7
Fab4 – 10
Song – 6
It is strange – this year Wenger has fielded a stronger starting XI in the Carling Cup than the FA Cup.
However the club charge full price for the FA Cup, and reduced prices for the Carling Cup.
Can anyone explain that?
We’re in all four competitions just because the gods had come with us this far… [Other teams shedding points and we drawing Leyton Orient instead of Villa...well, don't talk about Crawley T.]. But Wenger is tempting them… Talk of continuing in sin out of the abundance of grace.
Can someone explain why Theo never starts these cup games at all. Surely he can’t be tired, he was out injured for some time, we needed his pace for Leeds and yesterday, it’s madness.
59800 is the tickets sold not bums on seats. I get you though why not say how many people in attendance not tickets sold.
“I honestly can’t remember the Moroccan making a contribution in the first half?”
So you can’t remember him creating the first goal then?
If we have to loan so many players out, we have too many average players. 14 is a ridiculous amount.
If Wenger believes so much in stats, he should read Denilson’s.
As for Dave T’s comments, Dave the last time I checked we were second, if we had signed some decent players, we would be 10 points clear and first, that’s why we are fed up.
The only way the club will improve is for fans to stop buy season tickets.
What was the price for to watch y’dayz FA Cup match?
So, Nasri out for the Barca game. Oh dear!!
Fully agree with ur post agree summed it perfectly..
I wonder if there is a UTD blog out there this morning saying EXACTLY the same as this: i.e struggled to beat a league 1 club 2-1. when you take out the first team, the reserves really aren’t that up to scratch etc…
I doubt it very much and do you know why? Because all they care about is winning, and we should be the same. I’ve lost count of the number of times recently we’ve all woken up and said “well we played well last night, just couldn’t score”, or similar. Now we’re winning games and not playing well, perhaps this is a good sign? as for the reserves, of course when you put them all in at once they don’t seem as good, but when we need them to fill in 1 at a time they’re more than adequate, in fact I;d say they’re very good.
As for the CB situation, spurs have 6, yet lost 4-0 at fulham!
Eboue, Denilson, Diaby, Almunia, Fabianski…
Is Wenger receiving the same brown envelopes as another past manager ?? !!
Wenger is crap. Yes HE IS SO CRAP
Geoff – we are 2nd to a utd team that currently has the same record as we did at the same stage as our invincible’s season – hardly cause for concern is it? Plus we have plenty of time to turn round the 5 point gap
Carlos Vela (at West Bromwich Albion until July 2011)
16 MF Aaron Ramsey (at Cardiff City until 26 February 2011)[101]
24 GK Vito Mannone (at Hull City until July 2011)
30 DF Armand Traoré (at Juventus until July 2011)[102]
33 FW Benik Afobe (at Huddersfield Town until July 2011)[103]
40 DF Craig Eastmond (at Millwall until July 2011)[104]
41 MF Jay Emmanuel-Thomas (at Cardiff City until July 2011)[105]
No. Position Player
45 DF Gavin Hoyte (at Lincoln City until 29 January 2011)[106]
46 MF Henri Lansbury (at Norwich City until July 2011)[107]
54 MF Mark Randall (at Rotherham United until July 2011)[108]
— MF Nacer Barazite (at Vitesse until May 2011)[109]
— DF Kyle Bartley (at Sheffield United until July 2011)[110]
— MF Francis Coquelin (at Lorient until July 2011)[111]
— MF Sanchez Watt (at Leeds United until July 2011)[112]
Mark C it’s just the way the draws have been – in the League Cup we’ve been drawn against better teams (bar Ipswich) than in the FA Cup.
Big Dave we need Theo’s pace against Everton. Playing twice in 48 hours is a risk for anyone, let alone someone like Theo with alot of previous when it comes to injury.
The mistake yesterday was starting Nasri, even with Rosicky not available I would’ve stuck in one of the youths in there
Has anyone got any questions on finance they’d like to be asked of Ivan Gazidis, my new best friend at the AST has said he’ll take the best ones to their meeting.
Let me know!
Jimbo, not with players like Denilson and Squillaci we won’t.
Big Dave and why do we have them, how many will ever make it in our team?
How about, why are Arsenal run like a bank rather than a football team?
Simple.
Chalk up another awful Chamakh performance. Chalk up another game where Bendnter is kept on in favour of the dodgy Moroccan.
How many more before Dale & co see the light?
Thank god Denilson is injured. I went to the game yesterday unlike other season ticket holders and just sat and watched Denilson in the second half and he is truly appalling. He fails to cover his midfield partner, fails to track back and never takes responsibility for picking up the nearest man. He is clueless.
Eboue is a joke at right back also. A clown who is not good enough.
Frimpong, Ramsey, Lansbury and Aneke would do a far better job and its time to forget players that have simply not improved.
That being said we are still in four competitions and supposedly Vermelean is back sooner than we think.
Morning, point remains that our second string should comprehensively thrash Huddersfield. I have no problem in playing all of them, yes Deni was shocking, and I didnt even realise that Chamakh wasnt on anymore in the second (was too glad Song was playing CB in stead of Deni). Very very sad Nasri picked up an injury, out for the first leg against Barca surely?
Our second string should show hunger and man for man we were 10 times the squad they are, but there is something seriously a-miss with our second string. No leadership? No cohesion, no definite game plan. Guys, you are not Cesc/JW/RVP/Theo/etc, so stop trying to emulate their playing styles, play to your strengths…
Biggest problem was probably that no-one in the midfield took control. Playing without someone like Cesc or JW… You cannot play with Diaby and Deni next to each other. Im not going to bash Rosicky as he had the flu and he is not back to full fitness, at least he tried.
Arsh was better than before too, loved that last gasp tackle, match winner! He just needs his shooting boots back and he could have easily had a brace and we would have been cruising.
Wenger where is our CB??????
Pedro,
Can I email you, have some news for you
And Fake Me – I think we have a chance if we can play Nasri, Fabregas, Walcott, Van Persie, Sagna, Clichy, Song etc in all the key games this season.
Almost all of our second stringers are total shite though, so every time we lose a first-teamer, we’re a significantly worse team for it.
Hey Geoff, still here fella……
Geoff – Don’t get me wrong I agree that Denilson and Squillaci aren’t good enough. But I think Denilson is getting all these games in the cup so he doesn’t have to play him in the league. Think the likes of Song, Cesc, Nasri, Wilshere, Diaby are all ahead of him for a CM spot.
Squillaci is worrying, let’s just hope TV does come back and JD and Kos can stay fit
I hear Lansbury’s being recalled, by the way.
Big Dave out of that list I’d say Randall and Hoyte are complete throwaways, althouth Randall will be gone in the summer. Watt and Eastmond I just don’t see making it either, and it seems that Barazite isn’t wanted at the club anymore but noone will take him permanently.
Not sure what’ll happen with Traore, he’ll probably be off in the summer I guess? I’d rather we kept him around though.
Torres for sale at the right price.
Isn’t he better than what we have?
Isn’t he the type of signing we move to the dust bowl that is the Emirates?
We should be pulling out ALL the stops to buy a guy of his abilities.
This player would (with what we’ve already got) win us the league without a shadow of a doubt.
But, i guess our transfer fund is earmarked for improved deals for dog shit like Diaby, Denilson, Bentner, Eboue, Almunia, Squillachi…….and not forgetting yet another tidy little bonus for their manager.
A.
What youth player is that then you would had gone with to start then ?
Morning Gents,
The perferomance was poor, but we are through.
United did exactly the same and people were calling it the stuff of champions.
I’m not defending all the players, but we have won, and we look good for the 1/4′s.
Lets focus on Everton, which, with the inclusion of the world class RVP, and threatening Walcott, we will look a different gravy.
I belong to the school that Nasri should not have been involved in yesterday’s game. For God sake, he is our best performer this season so why put him at risk against such an opposition? Clearly, it was a wrong move. Speedy recovery man! Someone educate me, is the transfer kitty Wenger’s private money? Why can’t quality players be bought to push the current squad for silverware. So is Squilashit the worst buy Wenger has ever made?
Hi Geoff, Maybe we would be, maybe we would not be. You cannot prove it one way or the other. What I can say is that the levl of maoning and slagging of our team and players (yes ours not Spurs or some other teams players)is disproportionate to where we are in all comps.
Equally I think it is rather paradoxical that people slag of Denilson, Diaby, Eboue etc for being so shit. For if they are as shit as people say and we are doing as well as we are then one of two things must be true.
One the players who are shit are playing above themselves and working thier bollocks of for the club. Something to be appluaded. Or Two the manager who seems to be the focal point of a lot of critiscm is doing a brilliant job in getting a tem of shit players to the lofty heighyts in the league and cups. Again would any other supporters slag of a manager who had acheived so much with shit players?
We cant have it both ways, you cant have a team of shit players being managed by a shit manager doing so well. It makes no sense to me
One questions for AST – why do we have so many mediocre players on the wage bill?
In fact why do we have such a large wage will when we never make any stellar signings. How does that happen? Surely the wage bill should be much smaller givenm the number of retrads in our squad. Not as financially smart as you like people to think you are Messrs Gazidis & Wenger, are you?
Thats six questions actually but never mind.
As it stands we have about 12 hours to get rid of squillaci and denilson.
We will never win anything with them playing.
just to higlight how bad denilson is again, why didnt he chop hunt down on the half way line like all GOOD dm’s would of done to save our shitty cb being exposed… i think that if arshavin and chamakh got some game time with the first string they would start to get the confidence back! watching the second string depresses me, so how must they feel! on another note wenger has cost us a meaningful trophy this season yet again! why for the love of god he wont just spend 15mil on a centreback when its plain for all to see that we need one i just dont know. got to admire desperate twitchy, trying to throw his money around, at least the spuds can hit refresh all day on the tranfer news button. but there is hope, 3 years ago when we needed a dm, he didnt buy and now song is class, 2years ago we needed a stiker and now theo is class, this year we need a cb and hes bought no-one so this time next year i bet miquel will be class! thats comforting that we may be ready to challenge this time next year!
ddm,
how do you suppose we match his £175k/week salary demands?
we could up 40 mill for the fee, 30 mill in wages over 5 years, extra 12.5 mill making way for cescs pay rise.
a nearly 100 million outlay to sign a plyer who is lilkely to score a hattrick, as he is to snap a tendon and miss 4 months.
huge huge risk.
dont get me wrong, i think he is quality. but i would rather sign aguero or lavazzi if we were using that level of cash.
We are lucky Afobe wasn’t playing. He wouldhv tore Denilshit and co a new 1
I dont think Wenger made a mistake starting Nasri. If he hadnt then everyone would be slating him for that. In hindsight you can say it was a mistake because he got injured but I dont blame Wenger for that. There were already enough sub standard players on the pitch without him throwing anbother one into the mix.
Just wanted to point something out – Wenger said yesterday that he didn’t want to pay 5 defenders for the next three years. Fair enough.
However, why the fuck have you given a Blackpool standard midfielder like Rosicky a new contract in the summer, WITHOUT even asking him to prove himself in the league? That’s ALL money down the drain, and a player we don’t need taking high wages for 3 years. We should have been doing everything in our power to rid himself of some of the expensive shit in our squad this January, and Rosicky needs to be near the top of that list.
I love all this we won’t win anything with x,y and z in the team.
We are 4 weeks away from winning the first cup of the season.
Great post but you let off NB52 quite lightly – air kick in front of goal – Arshavin cross just needed a touch he is not good enough by miles and meantime players like Suarez get snapped up and we buy no-one.
The reason we loan so many players out is that AW can keep claiming its like a new signing when they return and whats worse is that the Board buy it.
Rosicky, Denilson, Chamakh, Squillaci and Almunia.
Sell that collection of imbeciles, and the squad will be better without you even having to replace them!
Dave T do you know anything about football.
Had we drawn a Prem team in any of the recent cup competitions we would have been out.
We are not doing well at all,
dont forget the lossess to WBA, Spuds, Newc, Braga and the poor performances against Wigan & Sunderland.
We are only in the Champs league cos as our group was so weak.
Our second string players would fail to breakthrough in most Championship sides. They are living the life of Riley at AFC.
but dont blame them – blam the buy who signed them
I don’t mind if we play Lansbury, Ramsey together. IMO, if given the chance to feature regularly,you will realise they are better than Diaby and Denilskunk. @ Jimbo, are you serious with the Lansbury news???
If arsenal had any ambition as a club, we should be in for torres today, hes exactly the signing the club needs to take us to the next level.
Pedro
Dont be silly, the AST wont ask anything remotely challenging. They prefer questions such as “Mr Gazidis Sir, why is Wenger so awesome?”
Quote : The only way the club will improve is for fans to stop buy season tickets.
The Barca tie is the last on the season ticket , should we draw with Orient the replay would be on general sale . Be interesting to see how many people take up their option to buy.
Big Dave I probably would’ve thrown Aneke or Sunu in there, or kept Vela around until after the game. Could’ve even started Freeman.
hitman,
so you think if we were home against chelsea yesterday the same side would have been fielded.
smart.
oh, we won by the way.
Pedro, 4 games away from an FA cup final win. 5 from a cup double.
Your post is spot on…yesterday was shocking in all but the result. We spent alot of the second half laughing. You had to laugh else you’d have cried.
Buy a centre back, Arsene, pleeeeeeeease.
Torres will take the medical team to the next level.. that for sure.
Wenger was right to play Nasri. We needed some quality to win the game as we cant rely on the retards to do that.
Fabregas proves the point.
I think Wenger is just playing the percentages with regards to how many players he keeps on the books but sends out on loan. He probably figures the more he has on loan, the more chance there is of one or two of them coming good.
Isn’t the Barca tie the 6th of the 7 allocated in the season ticket?
DDM
Totally agree, we should 100% be in there for Torres.
From Wengers point of view there are 3 problems.
- Hes over 17 years old
- He isnt French
- He doesnt speak french
Cescs_MyBoy – we won’t win anything if we play Denilson, Chamakh, Diaby, Eboue etc against Birminhgam either.
Not a good choice A. If he don’t play Cesc he puts Nasri in their and visa versa for these sorts of matches. Nasri hami could had gone at anytime, if not yesterday then it may had gone if he played Everton.
My biggest fear was him getting injured.
gambon add in
- He’s ridiculously overpriced
- He has a similar injury record to VP
dennisdamenace
Torres at 50 million euros is a lot. Obviously better than what we have.
Luis Suarez is a primetime player who will get fans out of their seats. 24yr old. 25million euros. Bargain.
Toulalan of Lyon is one of the best holding MF in Europe. I think 18 months left on his contract. 10 Million Euros I would estimate. He and Song would boss the engine room.
If you’re Cesc, do you want to play with Denilson, Diaby,Eboue, Bendtner and Walcott or
Messi,Villa,Pedro,Xavi,Iniesta,Afellay and their annual marquee signing.
Great Players want to play with great players
Hitman, I bow to your knowledge and understanding of the game. Oh while bowing, did we not beat spurs on the way to the final, or has my lack of football knowledge got me confused? maybe they were no a prem team?
“Being an Arsenal fan on deadline day is like being in detention at school and watching other kids play outside!”
I just read http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk. It says Wenger may recall LANSBURY. I HOPE SO
Yesterday Denilson made Bendtner look like Messi.
And that, is a fact.
i reckon we will sign a new chef for one of the club level restaurants
some reporter came on talk sport saying he just seen per mertezacker land at heathrow dunno if it’s bullshit or not but the jurno on the radio sounded pretty sure on the radio that he is headed to us
Hopefully
Yeah true Big Dave.
To be fair it would only have been relevant in terms of resting him if he’d then done it against Everton whereupon fatigue could’ve been an issue.
It’s just the fact that imo he shouldn’t have been on the pitch. It doesn’t work well throwing in first teamers with the reserves in games against week opposition – they’ll always be taking it easy and more worried about getting injured, so we don’t have the same intensity and if they then have to pick it up it’s difficult.
Squid’s had a poor run of form, two own goals and a red card upon his return is disappointing.
Nasri out is a big blow as well, especially against Barca.
Nik B and Chamakh don’t make a good partnership.
We’re highly reliant upon Fabregas and Van Persie, with Walcott in form we have a potent attacking threat. Hopefully Arshavin can find his form again.
There are 2 positions that Wenger should find players in. Firstly a top quality centre back.
Someone who is really top quality. Maybe he’s waiting for Mexes?
We also need a top quality defensive midfielder, someone much better than Denilson.
How long have we all been saying this?
If that means he has to sell Squid and Denilson, he should.
We’ve seen enough from the away game against Ipswich and yesterday’s game against Huddersfield to point to the fact that we need to make the necessary improvements, otherwise we’ll be vulnerable again.
gambon,
torres would cost 50 mill (we dont have)
he demands 175k per week (we dont have)
if he signed, cesc would need a pay rise (we dont have the funds)
players like nasri, rvp, arshavin would all need rises (our structure doesnt allow for it)
over 5 years, it would be well over a 110 million outlay.
quality player, but a MASSIVE risk.
I thought we had strength in depth?
or that our squad is at its strongest ever?????
Crazy debate going on the other day between me and the keyser, A, Mayank etc and like I rightly pointed out we are been carried by a handful of players
we dont have the luxury to make wholesale changes irrespective of the opposition or whether we are home or away
u cant compare torres injury record to Mr Glass
I’ll tell you how, use some of the funds we are sitting on earning interest and not trophies. Use some of the profits we make EVERY year. Offload some of the average garbage we have currently on our payroll.
In fact i’m guessing that if you offloaded Almunia, Bentner, Eboue, Diaby and Denilson their collective wages would cover Torres’ pay.
Then bring back a few of our loanees to cover the “loss” of such “talent”.
This is turning into a joke now…. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/jan/31/spurs-atletico-madrid-sergio-aguero
Liverpool have accepted a bid for Torres according to journos on twitter….
This squad is not strong
Pedro – Ask Ivan how he plans to reduce the tax we pay on our profits?
If we are not investing in the club by getting new players, and not paying the shareholders dividends, then part of our profit is going to HMRC in terms of tax.
If our profits are so high, could it be time to reduce the cost to watch football at the Emirates?
Actually scrub that, silly me, why don’t we let Chelsea get stronger, and we can all enjoy Bentner’s development, who knows another four years and he might win us another game…….that way we get the benefit of bragging how much better Bentner is than Torres AND we keep all our money……
Harry is a secret gooner..
He’s going to spend all of the Spuds money to play in the Europa League.
franchise,
yes we played poorly but we won.
out of curiousity, what was your analysis of the united game? shit squad getting carried by individuals?
Absolutely right in your assessment of yesterday’s game.We need to buy Cahill today-but this will not happen and so another Season will fall by the wayside.Scillacci’s clothes line tackle was an absolute disgrace and he doesn’t look any improvement on Cygan,Stepanovs,Grimandi,Vivas,Senderos, or Sylvestre!Arsenal need a Premier League Ready Centre Back who can be depended upon.As slow as Campbell was last year his ability to understand how football in the Premier League is played allowed him to do a job (obviously the Champions League was a step too far!)Wenger’s obstinacy is killing the Club’s prospects.-By the way-we don’t need to spend £10 on another lightweight teenager from Southampton!!!
44mill for Torres
Pedro, bloody good post, your words are exactly how I feel at the moment; watching Winterburn reporting on the game yesterday on SSN, you could see he was totally dumbfounded as to why a team like Arsenal played so badly.
DDM: I agree with you, surely going for someone like Torres would show total intent? Also, would someone like Cesc also be very happy as well.?
Currently we only have 1 ‘good’ striker, VP, as for Bendtner; he’s not a ‘top’ striker that ManU, Chelsea or even Liverpool would buy in this window/presently, Chamach; has he been rested too long? Pedro/Geoff what are your thoughts?
Am disgusted!Denilson pls cancel ur contract.Subotic n Hummels ar d best CB partners wenger go get one.Gibb was dissappionting.
I just cannot understand how AW still continues to pick Denilson when his obvious failings have been exacerbated playing much lower quality opposition. You would expect him to raise his game against Leeds, Ipswich and Huddersfield. Yet the opposite happened.
You cannot keep picking him for one good half against Barcelona. Yesterday he was appalling. His tackling, his feigning a fall, poor passing, inability to track a much weaker and less fit player was there for everybody to see.
I like AW, I’m not an AKB as he clearly makes a few poor decisions, but hey, so do I. But how in the fucking hell does he think this player is good enough for Arsenal. I doubt he’d get into the side of any other prem team. He does nothing, and its just no co-incidence that when he plays as a team we just don’t click.
Agree, our second string think they are much better than they actually are. Whenever they play we are given a good game by anyone, any league division. They haven’t once shown that they are worthy of being first teamers.
Yet again we are several players short of a great team. Liverpool for all their debt, showing some real motivation to improve their squad. We just put up with the same lacklustre performances, over and over again.
It arsehog day all over again.
Cescs_MyBoy why are you worried about United? they arent the team looking to go 6 years without a trophy
they arent the fans that have watched challenges fade away yearly because of a poor squad
they arent the team that last won the league when Jose Mourinho was kind of an unknown
I can go on
So that performance was acceptable from an Arsenal Team playing a third div team was it CescMB? We shouldnt be struggling to win those games. You make Wenger sound like a genius for pulling off that victory. Far from it, we were never in control of that game. I just dont understand people who accept low standards.
We’ve been lucky with the draws so far including Champions League Group.
(but remember there is always someone luckier than you and they are called Man U. Typical they out do us and get Crawley).
The worrying thing is that we have been lucky with the results as well.
We’re beginning to lose the luck and the injuries will pile up bang on cue in the business end of the season. We’ve lost our 2nd best player for the Barc game. Best defender suspended. How many more to follow? We know the script from here on in. Lady luck doesnt like us in this part of the season. We cant play the first XI in every games.
Who fills the gap – 2nd string shit.
cahill spotted at the arsenal
that would be an amazing signing
Wenger is just playing Deni to increase his price because “he has so many games”. The thing is playing him more is just hurting his price because everyone is just seeing how rubbish he is!
Seriously think Deni will be out over the summer. Frimpong will be back so no need for Deni as back-up DM. I wouldnt yet sell Diaby, it was his first game back in a long while, I know he is very injury prone, but hopefully he gets a run without injuries, could add another dimension to our midfield as long as we play 2 of Cesc/JW/Song. At the moment both Cesc and JW is being overplayed, if Diaby is back to form and fitness he should provide us with a decent alternative to rotate the midfield around. Diaby better improve soon though otherwise he might also be out over summer, with Ramsey coming back in a month Diaby will be moved further down the food chain.
Also, can you imagine the impact a signing of Torres’ stature would do for the club?
Let alone how that would affect Fab4′s mind set.
Right now far too many Season Ticket holders are feeling disillusioned with the club/AW/the board’s transfer policy. More and more empty seats, more and more tickets going on general sale….
Dial Square – brilliant should win post of the month.
Lucky Wenger doesn’t chose the menu coz the starters for an FA cup game would be crap!
So way Suarez the Torres replacement all along? Or will they try and get Carrol?
If they’re after Carrol I wonder if they’ll do to Chelsea what they did with us and Alonso, and if it doesn’t happen pull the plug on Torres
Cescs
- We can afford the player
- We can afford the wages.
We were paying Henry £200k pw pre-emirates.
first of all LMFAO at doublegooners comment about eboue and denilson , almunia squillacci denilson rosicky traore eboue and bendtner need 2 go they are f*cking s-hit and wenger will not criticise these players why????? if he did they would actually f*ck off on free transfers free up wages for the club , thats probably the only reason they stay here because of the money they get and are told there good players by a deluded french idiot , if once in a while he told them your rubbish they might f*cking work harder and actually play football im sure theres people out their that can do better job how many proffessional footballers are there nowdays??????????????
ddm if we were spending ridiculous money like Chelsea have offered then I’d much rather spend in on other players than him
A
We didnt sign Alonso cos we were too cheap & wouldnt pay the extra £2m.
Nothing at all surprising about yesterday’s performance by Arsenal. Remember Leeds, Ipswich and (years ago)Northampton Town, Walsall and many other teams in the lower Divisions. Over decades in its history, Arsenal have struggled to overcome lesser opposition and conversely triumphed against all odds.
Having watched Andy Murray lose in the Ausralian Tennis Final, I read “Is there a more painful experience in sports viewing than watching him play?”
YES! I muttered.
Big Dave, fire it over!
Cescs_MyBoy says:
January 31, 2011 at 10:13
gambon,
torres would cost 50 mill (we dont have)
he demands 175k per week (we dont have)
if he signed, cesc would need a pay rise (we dont have the funds)
players like nasri, rvp, arshavin would all need rises (our structure doesnt allow for it)
over 5 years, it would be well over a 110 million outlay.
quality player, but a MASSIVE risk.
What exactly are you basing your ‘knowledge’ on here?? We don’t have the funds, please explain how you know this???
What’s more of a risk, going into the final third of yet another season hoping RvP stays fit, or hoping RvP AND/OR Torres stays fit?
so what your saying franchise is that you refuse to assess united by the same barometre that you measure arsenal, because of history??
thats fine.
but when we make wholesale changes to our first team, and progress in the cup, surely its the result that counts.
squad players are our of form, granted, and some are just not suitable for our club, but a win on tuesday, and over the next 5 games, we are in one cup final, 1/4′s of another, and chasing nicely in the league.
the result of a decent squad IMO.
In fact, I think wwe have the best squad in the league.
Wenger says we eased off why ? None of these games are easy, lower league teams go for it, look at notts county, we should not have this attitude. Orient will need the likes of Cesc, JW and TW to start.
Pedro – Ask Ivan why a club that makes so much fucking money sees the need to pass on the VAT increase on tickets to their fans?
every time i see denilson i just wish he some how pull semi mediocre performance – for one match at least
same as when u are not prepared for exam and just hope somehow you clear it
some one said yesterday a big fat zero for his performance but i think he liability and whenever he plays his performance indicator should be -ive number caz he brings down the performance of whole team
Lucio spotted at Finsbury Park tube station.
any transfer goss today then?
all I’ve heard is that Lansbury might be recalled.
Hello Grovers
Spuds are getting 30 million plus bids rejected.
WTF ARE WE DOING?
I wont be surprised if Spuds signed Benzema on a last minute deal.
ddm,
torres fee is public. his wages demands are public. he will sign a 5 yr contract as thats standard.
from that you can figure out how much he will cost over years.
incorporate that all senior players will need a wage increase, as seen by citys signings, then torres not only shatters our wage structure for him, but for cesc, nasri, rvp.
im not sure if i want a foundation of our club rocked for such classless, souless, money grabbing mercenary. his motivation is akin to adebayor.
DDM, cos they’d make less?
We have RVP, Torres is no better than RVP and both are equally injury prone. Torres is much better than our other 2 though (but that goes without saying…). We will never buy such a big player and then put on the bench for half the games that he is fit…
IMHO RVP will do fine for now, we just need better back-up. Someone like Suarez would have been much better as he can play on the wing/with another striker like he did with Forlan. JET looks good for the future, and I still think that Vela could be an immense CF, he has the pace, the finish, etc. They both (JET and Vela) need to step it up in training and show that they want it badly.
Bendy too has promise, but he has so many areas of his game to work on, and unfortunately he is often played out of position (just like Vela) on the wing.
My point is that there are many other areas that we need players before we get a top CF… CB, RB, DM, …
Not transfer news by any chance Big Dave?
A – Kind of agree that we should be buying another (quality) CB and getting a better CDM than Denilson, but as Torres is up for grabs we should be going for him too for many many reasons…..
Elvis spooted in Burger King in Seven sisters road!
This is turning into a joke now…. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/jan/31/spurs-atletico-madrid-sergio-aguero
Torres IS better than Van Persie. But they’d play brilliantly together.
Nope gambon, Liverpool pulled it because Villa wouldn’t let Barry go. We’d had an offer accepted, just as Chelsea have today for Torres