Good morning people of Le Grove! A massive game today against a team I know the players usually dread lining up against. Stoke come to town on their having jumped the barriers at Kings Cross, ready to mix it with Arsenal and prove that they are a force in the league. It’s up to us to show the Premiership that we’re no longer push overs and that we’re ready to kick on and give Chelsea a bit of a challenge next weekend.
Chezzer
JD Mertesacker Koz Santos
Arteta Song Ramsey
Gervinho Robin Theo
I’m guessing the above is how the team is going to line up, I’d have said Ramsey might not be in the line up considering his previous with Stoke, but the boss was full of high praise. When asked if he thought Ramsey could replace Cesc he said,
“Aaron is a different player. He’s more the type of guy to get into the box at the right time, a good finisher. I feel he has strong physical qualities. He’s a strong runner, he’s quick. If he develops his game he can finish in double figures for goals in the Premier League.”
Something I touched on the other day. Ramsey isn’t a Cesc replacement, he’s a different beast. If anyone is going to replace Cesc, I’d imagine it’ll eventually be Jack Wilshere. It would be great to see a super performance out there today from Ramsey, it’d be even better if he could change the game for us and send Shawcross and his chums back pointless.
Wenger has also done his best to forewarn the referees that Stoke tend to go in a touch more heavy-handed against us than they do against, say, Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United.
“Tackling, if it is done well — with the desire not to hurt, but to win the ball — is a fantastic technique. I’m not sure that the referees always make the difference between the intention behind a tackle.
“I like players who are brave. but with the right spirit. I think the bravest players I’ve met are those who were physical, but did not hurt people. Usually, the people who play to hurt are cowards.”
I think he’s right there and this is definitely something refs get hugely wrong in our country. Because most officials are career officials, they didn’t play the game or weren’t good enough and that’s why they’re officials. They rarely see the intent, or if they do, they turn a blind eye to it because Arsenal have a tendency to moan and complain.
Arsenal need to show some proper team spirit today. We need to be in their faces if they do something violent, we need to match them if they want to rough it and the players need to stick together. If Robin is having a ruck in the Stoke penalty area, the rest of the players need to be there standing shoulder to shoulder, not slinking off back towards the half way line. That’s real togetherness, that’s real team spirit and it’s not something we’ve shown since the break up of the invincibles.
We need to play our game today, we need to make sure our passes find their man and the forward three need to make sure they’re moving and creating options for the midfield. We can’t afford to let violence dominate the game and we can’t afford to feel sorry for ourselves. If it starts getting silly, lets give some back and let the ref deal with it.
The most important thing we can do today is service Robin, he needs to be given chances, if he is, we’ll score. The second most important thing that needs to happen today is a big, dominant performance from the keeper. I hope he’s been practicing claiming long balls into the box. If Pennant is playing, he’ll put the ball on the 6 yard line nice and high, hoping Crouch or one of their lumbering forwards will match the keeper and knock it in. We also need to be aware of the long throws, they’re a nightmare to judge, so I hope plenty of after training practice has been happening.
I’m confident we’ll win today but it won’t be easy, they have quality to add to their brute strength. This is a big game for us, it’ll prove whether we’ve got the fight to kick on this year.
Lets have a massive day from the crowd as well and plenty of vocal support for Aaron if he’s playing!
Right, I’m going to start making my way up to the ground, remember the Victoria Line is closed and that the under 18′s are playing after if you want to stay and watch!
now that we are the underdogs, but starting to work as a team, we might still get a good result against Chelsea.
oh thats a shame…
reckon we’ll beat them still.
incesc,
yeah, plenty of slapstick entertainment for 20 quid, but I’d rather not…
but do we have a choice?
kwik: always
had to level up with the crap I had put at some point
thanks Suga:
http://arsenalist.com/
all hail Arsenalist
yeah would be nice to see Oxo again, Plus Park
the bolton game is tricky one with whom to start adn bench…bolton’s fomr considered..still they are a premier league side and am not sure what impact a negative result would have on the team…we definitely cant have persie even on the bench…he needs a day off from training for the game. benayoun would start and of course ox as well as park and chamakh. coquelin an midfiled. Back four is a tough one cause mert and kos need a break.JD and miguel against kevin davies and company?
its a tough one…tougher than even the chelsea game in terms of who to pick.
also not many expect us to beat chelsea but a negative result against bolton wouldnt go down well
I think Gervinho can be played upfront in games that require more technical quality in place of chamakh…his runs might be better suited to such games. He has said several times he can play anywhere among the front three….Might be a one of the reasons why he didnt g for another striker but during ACN even he would not eb there so unless park can show us something ….we will struggle and yes….RVP postional play si second to none at the moment and he takes up positions nobody else seems to be able to
Team v Bolton
Fab
Lecoq Squill Miguel ?
Ox Frimpong Yossi Rod
Chamkh Park
———————–Fabianski (gulp)—————————
-Coq————Djourou—————–Miquel——–Santos
——————————Frimpong—————————-
———————————————————————-
———————————Yossi——————————
——-AOC———————————————Ryo——-
————————Park—————————————–
—————————————-Chamakh——————-
Maybe JD rb and Le Coq lb
Cheers ivory, maybe you’re right,
Dial, everything you say is comedy gold,
I’d be happy to see that team sugar, pretty attacking team.
Good to see alot of post’s today, some would have you believe that we only post when Arsenal lose.
Enjoy the rest of the night dudes, looking forward to match of the day 2 to enjoy all 10 goals again.
shame that nutty cunt is back though
Following this team right now is like watching a fawn try to walk for the first time. It can be painful but definitely worth rooting for.
Chezzer was fine again although his kicking looks a little suspect on occasion and his arrogance could bite him at some point.
Djourou seems to think he’s a creative midfielder on occasion and needs to focus on the simple things first.
Koz and Mertesacker looking solid.
Santos is going to definitely have his ups and downs, and he gives stupid free-kicks away. Still, it’s nice to have two generally capable left-backs who may be a little less predictable in attack than Gael.
Ramsey, Arteta and Song were fine overall. Song can sometimes drop a level after a midweek game and started off slowly. Maybe the 1.30pm start doesn’t suit his sleep timetable either. I’m still a fan though. Arteta was solid without ever giving the impression that he could be a difference maker. Ramsey will have a confidence boost with his pass for the first goal. He’s definitely a keeper for the long run.
Gervinho and Walcott: Night and Day. Gervinho was superb today and has the skill and pace to get round the full back. Even when Theo occasionally gets past his man, he invariably can’t pick out a teammate. Still, he’s worth sticking with because a goal or two and his confidence will be back up. I sometimes think he can be frustrating because he has so much potential and like Arshavin we forget the good things he does.
Chamakh looks to have his energy levels back and now just needs a couple of goals or assists to boost his confidence. He chased and fought hard, and held up play nicely on a few occasions. Let’s not give up on him too quickly. I personally think he’s only a good haircut away from a return to form.
RVP was sublime and Arshavin looked tricky today. Frimpong didn’t have much time to impress but gave the ball away far too cheaply.
Overall, another grind it out performance and we’ll take as many of those as we can.
Joe Cole scores for Lille and Levante going top of La Liga 0-2 up against Villarael O_O
http://api.ning.com/files/tCViiwZQfSz3CykMQ9kEnOPunq45hO6VDw-cr771Fff-*z0DJj-OsbSBRoU1PrApxTN8kXb18-BRtbDfp9T3dtE3ejTflltd/111022101152.pdf
Fuck me incesc for once i’m speechless
MOTD a bit of a treat for once
found it randomnly on twitter
you have to laff really
Suga they probably wont show our goals
Told to trash their Tevez shirts lol: http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/oddballs/879184-manchester-united-and-city-fans-urged-to-trash-their-carlos-tevez-shirt
balottelli looked offside there
how good is silva
Silva is brilliant. United were wide open even with 10 men though trying to get something out of the game but you know with all that quality City have inevetable..
Levante 0-3 up and going top now!
Watching MotD and the QPR penalty – I rate Luiz, but you do feel that’s the kind of self-destruct button he is capable of pressing in any match be plays
Helguson so dramatic from a little nudge..
look at chelsea round the ref
cunts
So, Drogba and Bosingwa will be suspended for our game? Brilliant
They’ll also be on low confidence whereas we should be on high confidence
haha what a miss from anelka
QPR look awful against 9 men.
shocked motd are showing the racism from terry
Didn’t know the NFL was over here heh.
haha zamora!!!
Zamora…
I reckon Dial and Gambon will get married one day
Tim Howard’s Camouflage kit is working wonders.
See Gambon was on here earlier moaning. Anyone would think his team had just been beaten 6-1 for goodness sake!
Team for Bolton?
…………………Fabianski……………………….
……Coquelin–Djourou–Squid–Santos
……….Diaby–Frimpong–Benayoun….
…Chamberlain–Park–Miyaichi……
What the fuck happened on here today? I thought Friday night was music time?
2 accidents waiting to happen ——Arsenal 2 Man U 8 and MAN U 1 MAN CITEH 6! Revenge?
Just a thought are Wenger and Fergy past it????
What next?
Wow john terry england captain how disgraceful.
Chamakh is pants.
post videos after 11pm
Wenger: “Unless I change to 442 it will be RVP or Chamakh”.
Theo wants to start contract talks aswell.
Levante also went top of La Liga with a 0-3 win against Villarael although Wellington hasn’t been involved alot..
Stoke have scored 67% of their goals from set pieces while we only have 8% but if you stop that from happening they lack a plan B, only at home with their small pitch and long grass their system works.
Again the attack was a little toothless apart from first half goal, until Gervinho sparked into life and RVP came on in the 2nd half, RVP got into good positions for his goals but than again thankfully Begovic wasn’t in the mood to do what Varas did against Barca on Saturday. Watching David Silva again having a immense game, imagine if we had a player like that we wouldn’t be biting our nails half the time lol.
Bought Hazard for £30m + add ons in FM2012 starting to feel I paid too much!
I thought Arteta surpassed my expectations today. He actually looked good.
arteta and ramsey did look better, but i put it down to the fact that song played the deeper role more often than not, allowing them to regulate the tempo more.
Morning chaps,
With this one, we’re 50 to 1000
Let’s kick it on!
The Arsenal is all about Robin those days
When he was our we were very sloppy, When he’s in we were almost lethal
We’re getting better attack wise, but we still concede too often
I like Song, I want him to succeed, but have to say he’s worrying, because he keeps making the same mistakes again and again
We won, but Arsene have to complain about the referee
He’s a mug, he denied us clear penalty and ignored obvious fouls they made on us, when every little touch of our players was announced as a foul
JD was worrying too…. you could see SZCZ had no faith in him, he almost made an Almunia-Squirll one…. (Remember last season against WBA away?)
Oppose to Lurch, I don’t think the midfield worked well, they did better than before, but still worrying prospect when Chavs away is our next game
I have a problem with Arteta (Turtle)
He’s not Denilson, it’s clear he is better, he delivers the goods defensive wise, but he’s to slow going forward
It’s like playing effectively with 2 DMs and 1 CM, we clearly lack creativity out of the middle due to that
Maybe we should consider playing Turtle and Song in the same formation the invincibles were played back then
Now I have to get myself rolling to my office, someone has to bring money to keep this site standing on it’s feet
Anyone can slot in to complete the 1000 ?
Don’t Stoke play 442? I think Delap has to play on Wing with Pennant still it’s harder to keep possession and control midfield with that extra man less. Just ask United against City with Yaya Toure in there especially even at home..
Ok I’m back from me office
la! la! la! la!
OPG,
It’s a myth, ask the invincibles ….. you can control with 442, no need for the other midfield duo to play on the flanks, they can share the possession burden, ask Freddie and Bobbie
We got out of jail only thanks to the prolific Robin, not because the formation is too right
When Jack the lad is back, we can play a 442 diamond formation, the best for us I assume
SZCZ
Sagna-Per-Tommy-Santos
——-Song/Arteta
–Rambo———–Jack
——-Arshavin/Yossi
Theo/Gervinho–Robin
We can field Park too, Chamakh i would throw out. With all the sympathy, his Arsenal time ended already. Time to say goodbye Marouane
Arsene, we’re happy with the win, but the worrying signs are all over, if you keep burying your head in the sand, it will end badly
Seems like all the righting off has given the players extra motivation to prove themselves
It’s nice, but it can’t hold by it’s own for too long Arsene
Complacency culture is our middle name of late years….. remember that always, so build a good formation now and drive the team to success
Let’s not forget, had SZCZ guarded Stoke’s goal, those two goals from Robin would have never happened
Very good moves for the two goals, but let’s be fair, a more committed keeper would deny those easily
There is something missing in our midfield
Its feels to defensive and not organised
No mugs to give me a helping hand on here? It’s not like I’m ought to write a full post-match on here
It’s not like I’m not able to, but we need to smash the four digits roof….
So, if I’m destined to be alone this morning, I’ll give you my ratings then…..
SZCZ,
Bad game from the keeper, judging by his own standards. He could’ve done more in few aerial battles, Almost Made an Almunia, and his distribution backwarded worryingly …. So 5.5
JD,
After that assist to win us a rare away win, we al thought we found our Rb, eh? Well, not quite the material we’re looking for. He’s playing in a hesitating way, it’s worrying and it’s giving the opposition a confidence to attack him. Failed to cross or pass properly, and made the defence look so shaky that SZCZ almost lost his calmness, and both almost duplicated that horror goal we concede last season away to WBA….. So 4.5
Santos,
Improving his positioning, although he was to blame (shared) for their equaliser. Lost his man, when the build up came from his side without any real challenge. He like to go forward, and he does it much better than Clichy did. But still, needs to work out his priorities right, his missions are defensively first of all….. 5
Kozzer,
Solid game from the obviously improving CB. Some thought he was on fault at their goal, I’m not he could’ve done better their. But an overall composed and very committed display. He will grow as an Arsenal legend I feel. He likes the partnership with the Giant German, they give us some calmness in the back…. 6.5
Bade the gooner (bernard)
Ever present on LG, frequently posting, even alone, Legend!
Rating; 6.7
Mertesacker,
The aforementioned about Kozzer applies to the Giant as well. Very good game. Obviously his aerial dominance helped us and in some way shook the Rugby’s long balls. We saw a significant decline in their long throws to our box, and I swear I even noticed once where Delap made a short throw! His partnership with Kozzer is growing to a solid one… interesting what will happen when Tommy is fully fit again… A healthy competition anyone? …. 7
Per,
It’s a fair rating… good but a room for improvement
Song,
The most ambiguous. Had some great tackles as some stupid moves. He;s irritating as he’s refusing to learn from his own mistakes. When he does a great tackle, he’s doing his job, but when he making those stupid drives around our box, or keeping the ball to much, or passing to ghosts, or driving into the bushes…. Well, if Kozzer needs fine tuning, Song needs a major one, brain usage wise…. 5.5
Arteta,
With his new nickname, Turtle, you would get the message I feel. He is good defending, he’s fighting so comparing him to Denilson is utterly unfair to him. But when it comes to the forward side of his game, he’s too slow to our game. He’s practically ruining our counter attacks when he gets the ball during one of those….I think he should be moved to a more defensive role, suits him better…. 5
Rambo,
Good game form the youngster. Don’t forget those were the Stoke cunts. Very good assist and overall very good game, was our best midfielder. Always composes a threat to the opposition, and isn’t shy to shoot from distance, something others should learn to do. He’s growing to be our Gerrard/Lampard, and left Song alone in the sloppy passes/weird runs department…. 6.5
Theo,
One of his worse displays for us, as much as I can remember. Anonymous all the game, large phases were you thought he wasn’t on the field at all…… 4
Gervinho,
Great contribution to us. Good goal with a very good move to escape the offside trap (Ade would’ve never done it, and where was Chamakh? he should have been there…), a very 2 good assists. At times he ran over the Stoke defenders as they were never there. In the down side, he tend to disappear for some spells. If he could be concentrated for a whole game, he’d be a giant buy for us….. 7.5
Chamakh,
Watching his horrific game, no wonder out of all the combinations he got the “shit-makh” nickname. What an awful display. I was wondering what has happened with him? He was prolific in the first 4months, since then he’s painful to watch, a shadow of what we saw from him in the beginning. He’s lost his positioning and his heading abilities now. Add that to the regular disability to shoot, and you got yourself a nothing player. It was embarrassing to see he wasn’t marked few times by the stoke defenders, as they don’t see him as any threat to their goal. How can anyone get lower than that. We should offload him in the January, before all Europe notice his inability and no one will pay a penny for him. He gets a rate only for the shirt…. 3
Arshavin,
Didn’t score or assist, but his mobility and energy helped changing the game, thou it wasn’t that hard to get a better display than Theo had in this game. He wants to play central, behind the strikers role and it’s obvious, for moments he slipped in their and I’m sure Arsene will be having a word with him over that. Overall in the small time he had, he was positive with no end game…. 6
Robin,
Well, what you can say about this guy? I’ll only say I will miss you Robin…. 25 goal in 26 games, when we don’t have the best feeding midfield …. He’s a legend, he’s our best player now, our only true star quality in the right age, completed striker. And to think I had doubts about him once! He’s my MOTM, with all due respect to Gerv great tally in that game, we would have not win it without Robin, as simple as that. He’s in for 20 minutes, with two goals, all the leadership you need, and you saw he was giving the team a calmness and a confidence. you knew we’re going to win it the minute he got on pitch…. 8
Frompong,
)
Didn’t have enough time for any impact, although he managed to lose a ball 3 seconds after his introduction… but hey, who cares! we won and that’s the important thing…. no rate (Ok ok, he’s young let’s support him, take a Fiver boy
Arsene,
I feared the substitutions were a bit late, but we won. So you can’t complain too much. Obviously he’s stuck to his ways, formation and sub’s wise, and I don’t like it too much. I though Park earned an introduction in the beginning of the second half, as theo and Chamakh were awful but again Arsene seems to fail to respond in time (or to respond at all sometimes) for what’s going on the pitch…. 5.5
8 to go ……
7 for the deadlock
6 …. is a pain number for Manc fans… please be sensitive!
5…. Have you no heart? It’s a well known fact 6-1 equals 5!
4…. is our trophy for this season… thanks to Arsene the mug
3…. Is a number I like generally
2…. is the place Chavs and Mancs will be fighting this season, pointlessly
And 1 is the new k ….
Or we should have been Had Arsene not lost his mind….
Fuck that was hard! I’m staying another few extra hours at work now….
NEW POST!
You know talking to yourself is often considered to be the first sign of madness – Bernard!
bade: great form.